The pages on the advantages
increase
of timidity and false shame in the
of belonging to the Italian Touring Club are productions of the modern press.
of belonging to the Italian Touring Club are productions of the modern press.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
Nay, my own life
was full of them; the flying moment was one ;
beaux of the middle of the last century, Last Stronghold” is defined as being the they rose out of the deep with the ticking of the
long after the tale itself is forgotten. peace of mind which is the outcome of a
Notable among arresting incidents is the quiet conscience. As we have hinted
Hard on this ecstatic assertion comes,
one in which the failings of genius are above, the artificiality of the device which like a frisky scherzo after a sublime adagio,
sympathetically limned in the delineation is introduced apparently to justify the a vehement and brilliant satire on collecting
of Edgar Allan Poe, who arrives at a title mars the complete naturalness of the and the gullibility of collectors. In that
dinner-party held in his honour so drunk whole.
satirr and in “The Self-Deceivers,' a story
as to be incapable of recognizing his
in which the argument for and against
free will and determinism is, as it were,
friends, but capable of enunciating with
silenced by a screaming paradox, Mr. Jacks
infinite pathos the Lord's Prayer. The
shows, like other intellectual humorists
66
clock. "
## p. 9 (#21) ###############################################
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
9
а
(Lewis Carroll, for example), that there is
We cannot now follow Mr. Locko further;
something festive about reason, though
but we can fairly congratulate him upon
few seem able to offer it as a feast. Ad-
HISTORIC FAMILIES.
& very efficient performance of a difficult
mirable is our author's study of the effect of
task. "Ho has told the story of more than
shock and disappointment on the mind of
four centuries with discrimination and &
an apparently perfectly balanced academic
The Seymour Family. By A. Audrey Locke.
sense of proportion, and a good deal of crisp-
type, and it is followed by a clever descrip-
(Constable. )-The Seymours, or St. Maurs-
ness in narrative and portraiture. But to the
tion of a reformer's paradise, in which like the Cavendishes, the Russells, the general reader it is, by reason of one serious
those whom the world calls cranks make
rose upon the ruins of the old after the Although there is on almost every page a
omission, a difficult and exhausting book.
a bizarre display of their theories. Some-
Wars of the Roses. Wealth came to them reference to genealogy, there are no genea-
what tantalizing and misty at the climax
is a little spiritual biography, named 'A and honours from the caprice of a king and the
from the spoliation of Church lands, power
logical tables.
Psychologist among the Saints. This story
ambition of a woman.
Their fortunes were
and the last encourage the idea of a super-
human directing hand, or of fate.
secured when Jane Seymour, one of the The Cavendish Family. By Francis Bickley.
eight children of Sir John Seymour of Wolf (Same publishers. ) The Cavendishes form
Hall, in Monmouthshire, and maid of honour à still more attractive and inspiring theme
to Anne Boleyn, attracted the attention of than the Seymours. There does not seem
The belief that the popular magazine has Henry VIII. , and, in the interests of the to have been a drop of “black blood” in
secured the monopoly of the short story, Imperialist faction, supplanted the “ Con-
Con- | the race. There is no sign of the savage
driving the artist to the more“ legitimate cubine as his queen. Within two years and overmastering ambition of the Pro-
modes of expression, is largely fallacious. Jane was dead; but the birth of Edward VI. tector Somerset, the colossal egotism of the
The superstitious dread of being classed had still further confirmed her two brothers, Proud Duke,” the arrogance of Speaker
as “raconteurs, which assailed many Edward and Thomas, in prosperity. At Seymour, or the vices of “ Lord Steyne. ”
meritorious writers, has evaporated, and Henry's death the elder seized the tutelage It may be said that the Cavendishes have
miscellaneous short stories attract a wide of his nephew, established himself as Pro- produced no outstanding genius ; that their
democracy of talent. Mr. Barry Paintector, and, when his brother became his story lacks the tragic element, as it lacks
has for many years reaped just fruits rival, slew him without a scruple.
the aggressive spirit and the double-dealing
of commendation for his efforts. His latest
From the two marriages of this bad man,
from which tragedy springs; and that it
volume, Stories in Grey (Werner Laurie), with Kate Filliol and Anne Stanhope, sprang for more than three centuries they have
is therefore deficient in
colour. ”
But
is more ambitious venture, for he
discards the gay trappings of the farceur Locke.
the race whose story is written by Mr.
Each of his wives left a son Edward.
been a superior race of stately orderliness,
and attempts serious observation upon life. For reasons which remain obscure the Pro- doing great work in the great manner.
He is not entirely successful in this new rôle,
tector repudiated Kate Filliol. We are
Wealth has been theirs, piled higher and
because his irrepressible gaiety bursts its not sure what this term exactly implies ; have been the chief strength of the great
higher with each successive alliance; they
bonds, indifferent to congruity;
quiet facetiousness and irony cling round it entailed illegitimacy upon the children; exclusive oligarchy in history; they have
his but, apparently at Anne Stanhope's instance,
Whig connexion, the proudest and most
him, where the utmost artistic repression and so the elder Edward was supplanted by
is required.
the younger in the headship
of the family; of the kingdom, not from love of action,
taken an unceasing share in the governance
The majority of the stories are of tragic None the less, we owe to the former, not
intent, and many of them are highly inge-
but as an unavoidable duty imposed upon
nious in construction. They are told with not fall to his line until 1748, the illegiti- they have been, in Mr. Bickley's words,
merely the present Dukes—the title did
them by their station; and throughout
a sure instinct for a story's sequence and macy having meanwhile been removed
rhythm, the mechanism is well oiled, and but also tho gallant Conways, gallant on
“ immaculately honourable, modest beyond
the touch upon the levers is light and flexible. land and sea; Sir Edward Seymour, the measure,
courteous and dignified. "" If
Mr. Pain is an epicure in “ situations,” and famous Speaker under Charles II. and
ever their epitaph comes to be written,
he manæuvres them with much adroitness William III. , a man of the most dissolute it will be in the words of John Bright, with
and dexterity: His humour has intact all morals, who's dealt in corruption his whole which, Mr: Bickley closes his delightful
its sly;, elvish flavour. But somehow the lifetime, but who positively cowed the book, Think of what the Cavendishes have
cumulative effect fails. He lacks the in- House of Commons by his arrogance and done in days gone,, by. Think of their
evitability, the wizardry, of the true artist.
The common things of life he cannot touch
determination ; and the third Marquis of services to the State. ”
Hertford who left a notorious mark on One marked characteristic, a kind of
into life. He flounders in the more familiar fiction. To the half-brother of his son, the indolence, almost of boredom, has been
waters, and inconsequently relapses into his natural child of his wife Maria Fagniani, is strangely permanent. The Duke of New-
old capers, with a naive indiscretion, delight- due the Wallace Collection.
castle, who sat smoking his pipe in his
ful in itself, but fatal to the purpose of his
story. His shortcomings in tragedy are
To Anne Stanhope's son, the second carriage at Marston Moor; the Duke of
recreation "-in
obvious, in spite of some shrewd charac- Edward, who married Katharine Grey-both Devonshire, whose chief
terization.
the language of 'Who's Who'-was retire-
being of the blood-royal-belongs the life-
long tragedy of that unhappy woman,
ment, who preferred a “blue great-coat
to a “blue ribbon":
through the jealousy of Elizabeth, and to
these have been
his grandson the similar tragedy of Arabella Duke who, at the festivities of his coming of
followed in our own time by the safe
The Island of Enchantment. By Justus Stuart, through the jealousy of James I.
Miles Forman. (Ward & Lock. ) - The One of his descendants was the Earl of age, went in first in the cricket match and
romantic stories in this volume
Hertford who was for a time tutor to
carried his bat through the innings for five
worth more than a casual perusal. Mr. Charles II. , who fought so well for Charles I. ,
Forman selects as his themes death and and gave so generously, even to his own
Two of Mr. Bickley's best chapters are
passion, and in a good percentage of the financial ruin.
those which tell of Bess of Hardwicke, the
stories death triumphs. The author excels It was for the representative of this branch firmed the greatness of the family, and
ambitious and indomitable woman who con-
in reviving scenes of the past, and the that the Dukedom of Somerset, which had William Cavendish, the great Whig, who
procession of Ruritanian kings and princes, been in abeyance since the attainder of the fixed their political creed.
Iords and ladies, passes by in dazzling Protector, was revived in 1660 ; and it was
array. Where all are good it is difficult to held by his descendants until the male line
There is a sympathetic account of the
select the best, but perhaps the one which became extinct in 1748, when it reverted, one dashing soldier of the race, the splendid
gives its name to the book and Camilla
as has been said, to the Filliol family. young cavalier who was killed at Gains-
Cornaro' may be singled out. Wo find The figure of outstanding interest among borough fight; while the famous Duke of
no indication on either cover or title-page the holders of the title was Charles, the Newcastle, of Marston Moor, and his
that the book is other than a complete “Proud Duke," a ridiculous contemporary
learned Duchess,” are equally well
novel. The stories also possess headings of his cousin the Speaker. To the depicted.
like chapters of a novel. We think
credit of the Proud Duke," however, it There is also the strange figure of Henry
that more indication should have been must be recorded that, while he loyally Cavendish, the shy, silent recluse of science,
given of the real nature of the volume than supported James II. at the time of Mon- of whom, as of the young cavalier, there is
the above facts convey.
mouth's rebellion, he was one of those a charming portrait, and so we
who invited William of Orange, and that, with
fascinated by the
reign of
Argyll and Shrewsbury, he baffled Boling. Georgiana,” Queen of Beauty and Wit and
broke's designs at the moment of Anne's Fashion, who overthrow the hoop, who took
death, and thus helped to save the country to herself the power which her husband
from illimitable confusion.
did not care to exercise, and who brought
66
are
runs.
66
go on until
we
are
9
## p. 10 (#22) ##############################################
THE ATHENÆ UM
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
>
E
1
2
66
ܐ
66
r
7
So
8
New World in an American ship, only to certainly a more brutal, if not more sordid,
t find themselves forcibly taken from it, as time than our own, which he is so fond of
f subjects of a hostile power, by a frigate abusing.
belonging to their revered French Republic.
Our author is keenly alive to the close
Aboard her the conditions they had to endure parallels that exist between England and
could scarcely have been harder ; not owing Venice. Both of them were aristocracies
to intentional harshness, but because no
for one thing, a fact which may explain the
s provision was then made for the comfort
wonderful stability of their governments.
of prisoners of war. They lived for months The short accounts of the complicated history
at incredibly close quarters with all kinds and constitution of Venice, and the descrip-
of room-mates, not to say bedfellows, and
tions of her art-treasures according to
knew the gradations of hunger and disgust
“sestieri,” are admirably clear, and the
between insufficient food, rotten food, and
same may be said of those of Padua, Verona,
none at all. They were not landed when
&c.
3 brought into Brest, but transferred from Italy, which Mr. Hutton is slowly com-
The superiority of this survey of
f
ship to ship till hope deferred nearly pleting, over most other series of guide-
broke their hearts, whereby they saw a deal
books lies-apart from its literary merits-
of human nature, British and foreign, besides
to a large extent in the fact that it includes
a guillotine on shore (visible from the stern not merely the capitals, but all the principal
galley, here
misprinted “ gallery ”), which places of interest in the districts dealt with.
was alleged to have slain its hecatombs in
- the quickest time known.
Released at last, they proceeded (by order We opened Italian Castles and Country
of the Committee of Safety) to Paris--in Seats (Longmans) with high hopes, but they
Martha's dreams the centre and zenith
were doomed to disappointment. Modern
of the magnificence of the world. ” There Italy has its poor, says Mrs. Tryphosa
1
they made many interesting acquaintances Bates Batcheller in her preface,
(amongst them Mary Wollstonecraft and “ but it also has its rich and highly cultured class,
Rouget de Lisle), heard the thrilling tales and it is of this class more especially that I have
of those who had formed part of the huddled
written. It would take a more nimble pen than
prison communities in the days of Robes-
mine to do justice to the charm and simple
elegance of the high-class Italian men and women,
1
pierre, and saw with their own eyes some who live their lives luxuriously, but quietly,
stirring incidents typical of revolutionary quite indifferent as to whether the world knows
Paris. Notable is the description of the city of them or not. ”
under arms, on a rumour that the suppressed This sentence gives us the key-note to the
Mountain was preparing a supreme effort to
book. The author has mixed with all that
re-emerge : still more
that of the
is best in the great world of Italy to-day,
t
demeanour of Fouquier-Tinville on trial.
and in these letters to her mother we often
1 Entirely different again, as becomes the hear at least as much of her friends as
account of a New World, is the whole atmo- of their castles. In our opinion the letters
: sphere of the book when at last the family should have been revised and severely cur-
treach America. They travelled to and fro tailed.
a good deal before deciding to settle down
Unlike the Englishman, the wealthy
in the valley of Connecticut ; and
find, therefore, an abundance of landscape and it is in his palace there or in a villa
Italian prefers to make his home in town,
y effects, and of regional and social compari-
f sons, in the notes of Martha, as well as of just outside the walls that he keeps most of
his treasures. He does not, as a rule, spend
2,
some others less enthusiastic, but by no
more than a few weeks of the year at his
means more intelligent, who now become
country seats, of which he often possesses
contributors to the record. We cannot
several.
He rarely entertains there, except
trace the further troubles which presently for the shooting; and the accommodation,
drove William Russell from America, and especially in Calabria and the South gener-
kept him in old age an exile in Europe ally is often exceedingly primitive in con-
cut off from his family. We content our-
sequence. Hence Italian country life is a
t selves with heartily commending the book sealed book to most foreigners. Yet in
to all readers who have a taste for the
number and in historical interest Italian
1.
better and more solid things in biography.
castles yield to no others in Europe. Mrs.
e,
Batcheller often includes short notes on the
y
families whose houses she visited, and these
certainly abound in contrasts, the modern
h
and the mediæval being strangely blended.
of
BOOKS ON ITALY.
There are many wonderful surprises and
1.
experiences to be had in Italy, but a garage
Venice and Venetia. By Edward Hutton. with beautiful frescoes by Zuccaro is a
(Methuen. )-Mr. Hutton came to Venetia rarity not to be duplicated, the author sur-
et
with Tuscany in his heart, he tells us, and mises. At her exclamation of surprise the
d
in this book he is distinctly out of temper Duke of Lante said: “Yes, but this large
1,
with Venice. Germany does more business
room I have no other use for, and it is exactly
with Italy than does any other country, we
suited for my automobiles. ”
of
believe, and Venice, like Capri, has become The photographs are as interesting as
y
a Mecca for the German tourist, whence Mr. anything in the book, and we wish there
е
Hutton takes occasion to complain that were more views of the castles and villas.
d
one hears almost as much German as Italian
-8 spoken in Venice. To him the hours amid
ne
the marshes and the islands, especially in After the superficial travel - books on
d Torcello and San Francesco, the Italy that pour from the press every year,
most precious spent in the district. Yet one turns to My Italian Year (Mills & Boon)
surely it is in Chioggia, with its magnificent with genuine relief. Mr. Richard Bagot has
le
fisher-folk, immortalized by Goldoni, the lived almost entirely with Italians of all
only great Venetian man of letters, that one classes for the last twenty years, and can
n
finds the most genuine survivals of the therefore speak with authority, but he never
is Venetians of old. Progress, especially ma- forgets to emphasize the essential difference
of
terial progress, is an abomination to Mr. between the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon
Hutton, but we suspect that he would have points of view. The headings of the chapters
co found much to shock him in the great age suggest a tour from Turin to Syracuse, but
of the Republic's commercial prosperity ; ' they are no index to the contents, for the
r
we
a
r
0
5-
:
s
were
n
r.
le
## p. 11 (#23) ##############################################
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
11
book is full of digressions on all manner of perceiving how unfortunate is the existing theoretic class feeling about women.
If,
topics ; and in spite of occasional repetitions, scheme of registration, that excludes from therefore, this collection of idealisms, epi-
this method, on the whole, proves eminently so many posts all married women and so grams, sallies, and denunciations regales
successful. Mr. Bagot is not afraid to speak many daughters living in the homes of their us with ribaldry directed against feminine
out, and he is no clerical, as readers of his fathers. Many opportunities of useful public foibles, with sprightly shafts of banter,
novels will remember. We sympathize with service in the departments of the poor law, somewhat unctuous summaries, and deft
his strictures on the Englishman who regards of housing, education, the care of the insane writing at women's
expense,
that is
Italy as a museum to be kept intact for his and of women offenders, are at present largely but in a minor degree the fault of the com-
own delectation, and protests against inno- wasted, partly because so many women of piler. The prevailing conception that
vations meant merely to benefit the natives. the leisured class are debarred from making women are the very devil, or, as Meredith
No wonder Italians resent such interference. use of them. Of course, it is also true that says, are “stars that are merely meant for
We wish the Italian editor had printed Mr. some women who might devote their time shining,” he or she placidly accepts. For
Bagot's proposed letters on the spirit in to the public service are hardly aware of all that, if a more instructive measurement
which similar works are carried out in Lon- the possibilities open to them. It might of life's values were considered, and if the
don. If the best ideals of creative art lie be very advantageous if large schools would estimates of the salient proclivities of women
dormant at present in the country, they are include among their lectures for senior girls were allowed fuller diversity and a more
replaced by inventive and creative genius a short course upon local government. For
universal outlook than these quotations
in other directions more important for the this purpose no better handbook could be afford, surely the material collected would
present generation. Mr. Bagot is an enthusi-employed than Mrs. Brownlow's volume.
appear less disproportionate than it is.
astic, if discriminating admirer of the pro-
In spite of the array of great names, many
gress of the last fifty years, but he admits
that the country is not, and probably never contemporary authors whom he does not
RELYING too much upon the works of of these jottings are the veriest veneer of
wisdom ; others-a serious minority-epi-
can be, united socially. It will be news to always quotě correctly, Mr. J. C. Wright in
tomize essential truths. At best, for an
many people that drink is a crying evil in Changes of a Century (Elliot Stock) does not
hour's reading, the gaiety of these saws is
the North and in Rome, and that unsuccess-
ful efforts have been made to diminish the confuses Jane Austen with Hannah More,
impressus favourably. An author who entertaining.
number of the wineshops.
who in the same line misspells the names of
In some interesting pages devoted to two famous pedagogic writers (Richmal
We have received The Post Office London
literature the author rightly regrets that the Mangnall and Jeremiah Joyce), and who
Directory for 1912 (Kelly's Directories),
foreign public still regards D'Annunzio as obtains from a modern essayist his account admirably bound for our special use by the
the noblest representative of modern Italian of a tale in a classic like Mrs. Leicester's publishers. The amount of detail included
literature. So small is the Italian reading School,' is hardly likely to inspire confidence in this analysis of London is amazing, and
public that Mr. Bagot maintains that even
in a reader of average acquaintance with the
the Introduction will give some idea of the
Carducci is known only by name to most of books of the nineteenth century. Yet Mr.
elaborate attention and perpetual vigilance
his countrymen. Surely this is an exag- Wright succeeds in exhibiting the objective which are required to keep such a work up
geration after the great success of the differences between the nineteenth century to its high standard of accuracy.
collected edition of his poems, in spite of the at its darkest and ugliest and the age we
fact that Carducci can never be a popular live in. It would be idle to enumerate them
poet. We have been able to mention only here ; perhaps one may say, however, that
à few points in this well-informed, readable the would-be evolutionists of our age have
book, which we cordially recommend to every somewhat ignored the bane that lies in a ROSAMUND MARRIOTT WATSON.
one interested in the present condition of superabundance of useful but unbeautiful
Italy.
things.
The death of Rosamund Marriott Watson
Mr. Wright justly calls attention to the on Friday in last week is a grievous loss to
Mr. Douglas Sladen is a born sightseer, tyranny of the advertisement. It is all true lovers of poetry. Ailing long since,
and in How to See Italy by Rail (Kegan Paul) indeed monstrous that the unoffending and often in desperate case, yet she seemed
he has compiled a book which will be in- passenger should willy-nilly have thrust one whose bright spirit and fortitude must
valuable to the tourist as a kind of primer upon him wherever he goes reminders of conquer once more, if only to see another
to the regular guide-book. It is built round diseases in the shape of advertisements of spring, to watch the changes of the year with
an elaborate chapter on Railway Routes remedies for them. When one reads of delicate intuition, and thrill to the birds
recommended to Travellers. ' The early children of three acting as candle-holders again.
chapters contain short accounts of Italian in mines, and of such cruelties to animals
Her work in poetry is not extensive,
painting, sc oture, and architecture, and as drew from Cruikshank the etching en-
though wider in range than has been sup-
describe the charms of Italy and its scenery titled 'The Knacker's Yard,' one is inclined posed-a single volume would hold it all ;
in the various provinces. We are glad to to accept our twentieth-century Parlia, but it is wonderfully level in achievement,
find Mr. Sladen upholding the country's mentary altruism as a substitute for national always felicitous in expression, nearly
claims as a holiday resort in late spring and joyousness, and an atonement for the
always of haunting quality.
The pages on the advantages increase of timidity and false shame in the
of belonging to the Italian Touring Club are productions of the modern press. Evil Some years ago she was recognized in
timely. In the chapters on how to see the utilitarianism was perhaps at its worst in
these columns as one of three women poets
who remained to us after the death of
chief towns in each province the author the early part of the nineteenth century,
never forgets that he is writing for the and at that time the jollity and heartiness Christina Rossetti. Her place in English
railway traveller. Part II. consists of lists of certain characteristic seventeenth-century poetry, should be secure, for she had-with
of galleries, churches, painters, monuments, poems may have sounded like echoes of a the gifts of technique which mark the
which is thoroughly up-to-date, &c. The lost civilization.
scrupulous artist, and which are, perhaps,
book owes not a little to Miss Dorothy
not so rare as they were--a sense of passion
Ripley's photographs.
and wistfulness that are all her own, a feeling
THE pseudonymous “Celt” who has for the ever-present beauty of earth and
garnered a posy of reflections concerning the elusive atmosphere, whether of London
the nature of women under the title of
Woman, the Good and the Bad: the Dicta dream trance which transfigures the world,
streets or country fields, combined with that
of Famous People of all Times (Gay & Han-
and conveys a gleam of intimate things
OUR LIBRARY TABLE,
cock), displays a catholic indulgence in
almost too subtle for expression to the printed
favour of both the moralist and the humorist.
Women's Work in Local Government (Eng- Indeed, as soon as the critic realizes the page. Humour freed her from that sim-
land, and Wales). By J. E. Brownlow. slender proportions of this volume and the plesse posing as simplicity which is the bane
(Nutt. ). —Mrs. Brownlow's little book sets ominous fact that virtually every writer
many a lyricist.
forth clearly and succinctly the nature of of distinction, even the anchorite who re- Her themes--the beauty of a summer
the various bodies by which the local gards the earth as the exclusive inheritance night, the miracle of recurrent spring, the
government of this country is carried on,
of the male sex, has turned the search- voices of the birds-above all, she was the
the work allotted to each of them, the light of his mind upon the problem of laureate of the blackbird—are such as have
persons who may elect them, and those who woman, he will readily acknowledge how engageď dozens of pens, and left us cold.
may serve upon them. On almost every creditably the anthologist's task has been the little flashes and mystic hints of life,
page she shows how necessary is the special performed. True, the homilist and the so significant for many groping souls to-day,
knowledge possessed by women, and how satirist of every age obviously possess are for the few who are ever young :-
inadequately the field is at present the field. Throughout the era of civilized
covered. It is impossible to read without | man, there has been a preponderance of
The heart of youth and the House of Dream,
They are here once more while the spring stars gleam,
in summer.
## p. 12 (#24) ##############################################
12
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
&
sense
re-
was
66
After The Bird Bride,' which has lyrical
II.
charm of too fantastic a sort, Vespertilia,
Little Grango: Woodbridge THE 'ODES OF SOLOMON. '
and other Poems,' 'A Summer Night, and
May 13 (1874)
other Verses,' and 'After Sunset showed
DEAR SIR.
Westroad Corner, Cambridge, Dec. 22, 1911.
I must thank you for your polite &
full maturity. They have
of
SINCE Dr. Rendel Harris first published
speedy answer to my Letter. I am glad that
atmosphere seldom equalled, and at their my little Picture does really represent a Spot has been written about them, and a good
the 'Odes of Solomon' in 1909 a great deal
best a concinnity of phrase such as comes which so many memorable men have haunted.
seldom without a severe classical training and really felt uncomfortable as the Catastrophe should be dependent for their text upon :
many regrets have been uttered that we
Mrs. Watson's care for form is, as we once
drew on-Letter by Letter-The early Murray
said, her least feminine attribute. That is
single very late copy. I write now to point
Letters had great Character & Humour ;
as nothing compared with the sincerity of minding one also of the more convivial Living
out that the greater part of these 'Odes’
the poet's vision, the feeling for colour and in those days. Some of the Correspondence as
are extant in a tenth-century Syriac MS.
mystery, but without it the labour is often of Playfair, Mackenzie, &c. I was not so in- in the British Museum (B. M. Add. 14538)!
in vain, the appeal evanescent.
terested in as doubtless many of your Northern I examined the MS. to-day, and hope to
There have been poets who achieved in the whole work is-Sir Walter's grudge against Journal of Theological Studies, but the mere
Readers would be. The only disagreeable speck publish a collation of at least part in The
success with little knowledge. Mrs. Watson Jeffrey for the Review on Marmion. I thought fact of the existence of this Ms. , so long
& widely accomplished woman, busy he was too brave, generous, and utterly careless
of what he wrote, to resent such a Review-
with journalism, an omnivorous reader
overlooked seems to me of special interest.
which also (as I remember) is not altogether
whose memory supplied the highest of unjust. Perhaps Scott thought himself attacked
I append Wright's description (C. B. M. ,'
1008a), merely translating where he tran-
standards. She wrote at one time on art as Tory rather than as Poet. I cannot bear to
scribed the Syriac :-
in The Academy, and gave evidence of her fine acknowledge a speck on his Chivalrous Character
taste in & volume on The Art of the House
-the noble, dear, Fellow !
“ 4. A collection of Hymns, very imperfect.
Fol. 149a. Those that remain are numbered
in The Connoisseur Series. "
I always knew that Lockhart had a vein of
In 'The Malice in him : but I scarce thought it would from 12 to 45, and from 57 to 58. The eigh-
Heart of a Garden,' a garland of verse and have extended to a misrepresentation of the Dead. teenth begins thus : My heart was lifted up
prose, she was happily at home. She in- However, one has no Worship of him to keep
in the love of the Most High and was enlarged :
spired in a great novelist one of his finest sacred as one has of Sir Walter. One wonders that I might praise him by my name. My
heroines. She took a keen interest in that two men so different should have become members were strengthened that they might not
so closely united : indeed we Southrons heard fall from his strength. . . . and the nineteenth
music, in many forms of art and literature, that Sir W. never liked him. Be that as it may, thus :: A cup of milk was offered to me: and I
and was an admirable letter-writer, abound- Lockhart was a terrible Hypocrite indeed if he drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the
ing in sympathy and humour.
did not love Scott; whose Biography must be Lord. The Son is the cup and He who was
All who knew her-of whatever rank or
one of the most interesting Books in our Lan- | milked is the Father: Yand that the Holy Spirit
Her
guage.
occupation-feel a deep sense of loss.
milked Him. . . . "
Permit me to say sincerely that your Book
intimates mourn the generous and loyal appears to me excellent in its unaffected sim-
When Orientals cannot find things that
heart, the gay humour, the easy freedom plicity of style, and Candour to all Parties. are under their eyes, they say “the Shaitan
from cant and pedantry, the quickest to
One is rejoiced to get hold of a Book nowadays was sitting upon it”; it seems evident
see, the first to encourage.
V. R.
that is naturally and easily written, without all that the Shaitan has been sitting hitherto
that Epigrammatic & Graphic slang which has
been the fashion since Dickens' days perhaps.
on this page of Wright's well-known Cata-
I love Dickens too : but if I had to write books,
logue.
F. C. BURKITT.
should return to dip myself in Sir Walter.
You are very hospitable in offering to let me
THREE NEW LETTERS FROM call on you if I ever go to Edinburgh. Ah!
EDWARD FITZGERALD.
let me get there !
Your's much obliged
THE BOOK SALES OF 1911.
THE following letters were written to my
E. FITZ GERALD.
father, Thomas Constable, who died in 1881.
III.
PART I.
They were found among his papers only
Little Grange : Woodbridge.
three months ago. They are printed with
Nov. 17
THE great event of the year, the sale of
FitzGerald's characteristic capitals and other- DEAR SIR-
the first portion (A-B) of the Huth Library,
I told you in the Summer that I thought well known to students and collectors
wise exactly as he wrote them :-
of going to Edinburgh ;
I.
in July—by Sea from London: & back again thirty years ago, was so recently described
whither I went through the catalogue published more than
Little Grange : Woodbridge: Suffolk.
after only three clear Days. It was stupid of
May 5/74
me' not to stay longer : but it has left me with in The Athenæum (Nov. 25th) that there is
SIR
a Desire to go again : which I scarce ever felt no need to refer to it again in a summary
I am being extremely interested in your before after such Expeditions. I went, however,
of the year's activities further than to say
Memoir of your Father | Archibald Constable
almost entirely to see Sir Walter's Home &
Whereabout: 'and I saw it all the very day makes it certain that this sale will, when
that the total amount realized (50,8211. )
and his Literary Correspondents,' 3 vols. , 1873];
of course the more so as I approach the final
before the House was closed to Visitors :
Crisis, which I so well remember.
account of some Honeymoon-an ill-omened completed, rank as the most important, from
I dare say you have been troubled with many
place for a Honeymoon, I thought. But it was a financial point of view, which has ever
letters from Strangers on the Subject of your Story.
all & more than I expected: House, Grounds, taken place in this country. Times have
Excuse my doing so—about a little matter too,
which (after all) may be irrelevant. You must burgh, 'like a piece of solemn Musick. Then I changed since the great Fonthill Library
not trouble yourself to answer if it be so.
was prevailed on to go for a Day to Lochs Katrine
was sold in sections for 89,2001. ; and even the
I have possessed for 20 years and more a little
& Lomond: which I felt sure I shd not care for comparatively recent sale of the Ashburn-
Picture by Stothard, professing to [be] a View
so much as under a Mist of Poetry & Romance-ham Library for 62,7001. affords but partial
of your Father's house near Edinburgh. I
nor did I. One day I drove about Edinburgh: evidence of what it would have brought had
cannot recall the name : but, beside that it is a
but went to see none of the Sights : which I say
it been reserved until to-day, when competi-
delicate picture by one of the most delicate & again was stupid : but, if one lives, may be
amiable of Painters, I have taken pleasure in
remedied. I thought the City beautiful ; Shops tion is so much keener and money of ap-
believing it to represent the house where your
so good & People so intelligent & civil. I was parently less account than it has ever been.
Father and Sir Walter may have often met. The
sorry not to have brought away with me a large For the Heber Library in 1834–7, 57,5001. was
enclosed sketch-a Scratch-will perhaps be Photograph of the Castle from Princes Str. at a
obtained; and the Sunderland Sale with
sufficient to remind you of any such place as it
Shop down some steps nearly opposite Scott's
purports to represent: and I should be obliged
Monument. But I hesitated at having another
its 56,0001. makes up the quartet against
to you if you could authenticate it to me. But,
Parcel to take care of. Could you tell me the which the Huth Library will, when it has
as I said before, not if it be any trouble to you.
name of the Bookseller ?
passed into history, be arrayed. All these
I have never been in Scotland, though I have
You were polite enough to ask me to visit sales were very rich in books of the kind
been these 20 years determining to see Edin-
you in case I went to Edinburgh: do not think
for which there is at present the greatest
burgh, and Abbotsford-Perhaps this Summer!
that I forgot or undervalued your kindness :
--I fancy, however, that this Picture represents
but I could not think of availing myself of such
inquiry, and which during the last few years
Scotch Landscape, at any rate : indeed the
an offer after so slight an Introduction, & of have become more and more elusive as the
Architecture of the House alone (very dimly my own making. Believe me that I am thankful : demand for them has become more wide-
indicated in this Sketch) is, I suppose, enough to
& that I beg to remain your's truly
spread and persistent. It may be said that
EDWARD FITZ GERALD.
assure me of that. I please myself with fancying
the great public libraries of the world have
that the man on Horseback may be a kind of By the by I will tell you that I wrote that little
Dumbiedikes -
Memoir of my old friend B. Barton which you
swallowed them up-all but a comparatively
Perhaps Stothard was, at some time, your
gave a word of Praise to in your Book. I won.
small number, and that a few more years will
Father's Guest ?
dered how B. B. or I had got to Edinburgh ; see the end even of these, so far as any chance
The Picture is, I am sorry to say, much cracked, and, on looking back to the Memoir after some
of private possession is concerned.
where the transparent Glazing was laid on 25 years, thought it a nice little thing,
T'he rich collector who would form a
perhaps before the under-colour was dry.
The picture mentioned in the first letter library on the principle of procuring the
Once more, excuse my troubling you, Sir ;
and believe, at least, that † am your's, very much was, I can hardly doubt, one of Craigcrook, very best that tradition has sanctified and
interested in your Book, EDWARD FITZGERALD.
where my grandfather lived about 1812. the needs of the hour have made imperative
Thomas Constable Esq :-
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, must set about it quickly, or he will be too
## p. 13 (#25) ##############################################
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
13
on the
at
on
was
late.
He knows it, and that in itself amply | (about 2,0001. ) ; some books and manuscripts portant of the year, many of the books as
accounts for the feverish haste to be “in at from the library of the Earl of Kinnoull recorded in the pages of Book - Prices
the death,” as other than bookish sportsmen (2,7601. ); and the collection of Dr. Augustus Current fetching large prices. Some of
have it, for there is a regrettable feeling Jessopp (1,7481. ). All these were private them were typical seventeenth - century
abroad among collectors of every school and libraries having one or more days given up American pamphlets of such extreme
of objects of every character that what is not to them, but they constitute only a small rarity that they are scarcely obtainable.
their own, and never can be, is dead indeed minority.
Sir George Peckham's True Report, one
to them.
Isolated books of exceptional interest are,
of the most important of the books, had
It seems that we are now in a transition consequently, in greater evidence, and they not been sold in this country for many
period, and that many books which have leave large gaps before and behind them: years, but one fetched 51. 188. in 1842.
passed out of reach are gradually having books like "The Waltz, an Apostrophic Gilbert White's manuscript. Flora Selborni-
their places taken by others of a similar Hymn, by Horace Hornem, Esq. ” fi. e. , ensis,' which realised 512. , is separate from
kind, but later in date. This is particularly Lord Byron), 1813, 4to, which sold at
the Garden Calendar which he kept regu-
noticeable in the case of Americana, eigh- Sotheby's in January for 641. (cf. leaf larly from 1751 onwards, and is to be
teenth-century books of that class having repaired); Ben Jonson's Works, '2 vols. , printed, it is understood, by the Selborne
acquired a much more important position folio, 1616-40, 311. (old calf
, not subject to Society.
than was the case a few years ago. They return); and ' Engravings from the Choicest The library of the Right Hon. James
seem to have become scarcer, and certainly Works of Sir Thomas Lawrence, published Round " and other properties,", to which
afford many examples of that “ levelling- by Graves & Co. in 1835–46, folio, 691. reference has been made, included a copy of
up" process which is seen to be going (hf. mor. ). All these were in a miscel- Sir William Alexander's 'Mapp and Descrip-
on in other departments of literature. laneous sale of January 16th, and there was tion of New England,' 1630, small 4to, which
The passing of the nineteenth century ap- nothing else of much importance. It was
sold for 1501. (unbound); and an imperfect
peared to make all books older by a hundred not, indeed, until the latter days of the same copy of Gower's Confessio Amantis,' printed
years-an illusion, no doubt, but the world month that any real activity became by Caxton in 1483, folio, which also realized
is full of such fantasies.
noticeable, viz. , at the sale of the library of the same amount. The most noticeable
On a survey of the Book Sales of 1911 the late Rev. J. H. Dent and other properties book in the collection, however, contained
it is plain that the ordinary bookman has at Messrs. Hodgson's. That the catalogue the Two Royall (or Queenes) Masques
still innumerable chances if he will be contained some very desirable books may and the ' Description of the Masque,' usually
content to grasp those within his reach, for be perceived on consulting The Athenæum known as 'The Hue and Cry after Cupid,'
really good books are now continually being of Feb.
was full of them; the flying moment was one ;
beaux of the middle of the last century, Last Stronghold” is defined as being the they rose out of the deep with the ticking of the
long after the tale itself is forgotten. peace of mind which is the outcome of a
Notable among arresting incidents is the quiet conscience. As we have hinted
Hard on this ecstatic assertion comes,
one in which the failings of genius are above, the artificiality of the device which like a frisky scherzo after a sublime adagio,
sympathetically limned in the delineation is introduced apparently to justify the a vehement and brilliant satire on collecting
of Edgar Allan Poe, who arrives at a title mars the complete naturalness of the and the gullibility of collectors. In that
dinner-party held in his honour so drunk whole.
satirr and in “The Self-Deceivers,' a story
as to be incapable of recognizing his
in which the argument for and against
free will and determinism is, as it were,
friends, but capable of enunciating with
silenced by a screaming paradox, Mr. Jacks
infinite pathos the Lord's Prayer. The
shows, like other intellectual humorists
66
clock. "
## p. 9 (#21) ###############################################
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
9
а
(Lewis Carroll, for example), that there is
We cannot now follow Mr. Locko further;
something festive about reason, though
but we can fairly congratulate him upon
few seem able to offer it as a feast. Ad-
HISTORIC FAMILIES.
& very efficient performance of a difficult
mirable is our author's study of the effect of
task. "Ho has told the story of more than
shock and disappointment on the mind of
four centuries with discrimination and &
an apparently perfectly balanced academic
The Seymour Family. By A. Audrey Locke.
sense of proportion, and a good deal of crisp-
type, and it is followed by a clever descrip-
(Constable. )-The Seymours, or St. Maurs-
ness in narrative and portraiture. But to the
tion of a reformer's paradise, in which like the Cavendishes, the Russells, the general reader it is, by reason of one serious
those whom the world calls cranks make
rose upon the ruins of the old after the Although there is on almost every page a
omission, a difficult and exhausting book.
a bizarre display of their theories. Some-
Wars of the Roses. Wealth came to them reference to genealogy, there are no genea-
what tantalizing and misty at the climax
is a little spiritual biography, named 'A and honours from the caprice of a king and the
from the spoliation of Church lands, power
logical tables.
Psychologist among the Saints. This story
ambition of a woman.
Their fortunes were
and the last encourage the idea of a super-
human directing hand, or of fate.
secured when Jane Seymour, one of the The Cavendish Family. By Francis Bickley.
eight children of Sir John Seymour of Wolf (Same publishers. ) The Cavendishes form
Hall, in Monmouthshire, and maid of honour à still more attractive and inspiring theme
to Anne Boleyn, attracted the attention of than the Seymours. There does not seem
The belief that the popular magazine has Henry VIII. , and, in the interests of the to have been a drop of “black blood” in
secured the monopoly of the short story, Imperialist faction, supplanted the “ Con-
Con- | the race. There is no sign of the savage
driving the artist to the more“ legitimate cubine as his queen. Within two years and overmastering ambition of the Pro-
modes of expression, is largely fallacious. Jane was dead; but the birth of Edward VI. tector Somerset, the colossal egotism of the
The superstitious dread of being classed had still further confirmed her two brothers, Proud Duke,” the arrogance of Speaker
as “raconteurs, which assailed many Edward and Thomas, in prosperity. At Seymour, or the vices of “ Lord Steyne. ”
meritorious writers, has evaporated, and Henry's death the elder seized the tutelage It may be said that the Cavendishes have
miscellaneous short stories attract a wide of his nephew, established himself as Pro- produced no outstanding genius ; that their
democracy of talent. Mr. Barry Paintector, and, when his brother became his story lacks the tragic element, as it lacks
has for many years reaped just fruits rival, slew him without a scruple.
the aggressive spirit and the double-dealing
of commendation for his efforts. His latest
From the two marriages of this bad man,
from which tragedy springs; and that it
volume, Stories in Grey (Werner Laurie), with Kate Filliol and Anne Stanhope, sprang for more than three centuries they have
is therefore deficient in
colour. ”
But
is more ambitious venture, for he
discards the gay trappings of the farceur Locke.
the race whose story is written by Mr.
Each of his wives left a son Edward.
been a superior race of stately orderliness,
and attempts serious observation upon life. For reasons which remain obscure the Pro- doing great work in the great manner.
He is not entirely successful in this new rôle,
tector repudiated Kate Filliol. We are
Wealth has been theirs, piled higher and
because his irrepressible gaiety bursts its not sure what this term exactly implies ; have been the chief strength of the great
higher with each successive alliance; they
bonds, indifferent to congruity;
quiet facetiousness and irony cling round it entailed illegitimacy upon the children; exclusive oligarchy in history; they have
his but, apparently at Anne Stanhope's instance,
Whig connexion, the proudest and most
him, where the utmost artistic repression and so the elder Edward was supplanted by
is required.
the younger in the headship
of the family; of the kingdom, not from love of action,
taken an unceasing share in the governance
The majority of the stories are of tragic None the less, we owe to the former, not
intent, and many of them are highly inge-
but as an unavoidable duty imposed upon
nious in construction. They are told with not fall to his line until 1748, the illegiti- they have been, in Mr. Bickley's words,
merely the present Dukes—the title did
them by their station; and throughout
a sure instinct for a story's sequence and macy having meanwhile been removed
rhythm, the mechanism is well oiled, and but also tho gallant Conways, gallant on
“ immaculately honourable, modest beyond
the touch upon the levers is light and flexible. land and sea; Sir Edward Seymour, the measure,
courteous and dignified. "" If
Mr. Pain is an epicure in “ situations,” and famous Speaker under Charles II. and
ever their epitaph comes to be written,
he manæuvres them with much adroitness William III. , a man of the most dissolute it will be in the words of John Bright, with
and dexterity: His humour has intact all morals, who's dealt in corruption his whole which, Mr: Bickley closes his delightful
its sly;, elvish flavour. But somehow the lifetime, but who positively cowed the book, Think of what the Cavendishes have
cumulative effect fails. He lacks the in- House of Commons by his arrogance and done in days gone,, by. Think of their
evitability, the wizardry, of the true artist.
The common things of life he cannot touch
determination ; and the third Marquis of services to the State. ”
Hertford who left a notorious mark on One marked characteristic, a kind of
into life. He flounders in the more familiar fiction. To the half-brother of his son, the indolence, almost of boredom, has been
waters, and inconsequently relapses into his natural child of his wife Maria Fagniani, is strangely permanent. The Duke of New-
old capers, with a naive indiscretion, delight- due the Wallace Collection.
castle, who sat smoking his pipe in his
ful in itself, but fatal to the purpose of his
story. His shortcomings in tragedy are
To Anne Stanhope's son, the second carriage at Marston Moor; the Duke of
recreation "-in
obvious, in spite of some shrewd charac- Edward, who married Katharine Grey-both Devonshire, whose chief
terization.
the language of 'Who's Who'-was retire-
being of the blood-royal-belongs the life-
long tragedy of that unhappy woman,
ment, who preferred a “blue great-coat
to a “blue ribbon":
through the jealousy of Elizabeth, and to
these have been
his grandson the similar tragedy of Arabella Duke who, at the festivities of his coming of
followed in our own time by the safe
The Island of Enchantment. By Justus Stuart, through the jealousy of James I.
Miles Forman. (Ward & Lock. ) - The One of his descendants was the Earl of age, went in first in the cricket match and
romantic stories in this volume
Hertford who was for a time tutor to
carried his bat through the innings for five
worth more than a casual perusal. Mr. Charles II. , who fought so well for Charles I. ,
Forman selects as his themes death and and gave so generously, even to his own
Two of Mr. Bickley's best chapters are
passion, and in a good percentage of the financial ruin.
those which tell of Bess of Hardwicke, the
stories death triumphs. The author excels It was for the representative of this branch firmed the greatness of the family, and
ambitious and indomitable woman who con-
in reviving scenes of the past, and the that the Dukedom of Somerset, which had William Cavendish, the great Whig, who
procession of Ruritanian kings and princes, been in abeyance since the attainder of the fixed their political creed.
Iords and ladies, passes by in dazzling Protector, was revived in 1660 ; and it was
array. Where all are good it is difficult to held by his descendants until the male line
There is a sympathetic account of the
select the best, but perhaps the one which became extinct in 1748, when it reverted, one dashing soldier of the race, the splendid
gives its name to the book and Camilla
as has been said, to the Filliol family. young cavalier who was killed at Gains-
Cornaro' may be singled out. Wo find The figure of outstanding interest among borough fight; while the famous Duke of
no indication on either cover or title-page the holders of the title was Charles, the Newcastle, of Marston Moor, and his
that the book is other than a complete “Proud Duke," a ridiculous contemporary
learned Duchess,” are equally well
novel. The stories also possess headings of his cousin the Speaker. To the depicted.
like chapters of a novel. We think
credit of the Proud Duke," however, it There is also the strange figure of Henry
that more indication should have been must be recorded that, while he loyally Cavendish, the shy, silent recluse of science,
given of the real nature of the volume than supported James II. at the time of Mon- of whom, as of the young cavalier, there is
the above facts convey.
mouth's rebellion, he was one of those a charming portrait, and so we
who invited William of Orange, and that, with
fascinated by the
reign of
Argyll and Shrewsbury, he baffled Boling. Georgiana,” Queen of Beauty and Wit and
broke's designs at the moment of Anne's Fashion, who overthrow the hoop, who took
death, and thus helped to save the country to herself the power which her husband
from illimitable confusion.
did not care to exercise, and who brought
66
are
runs.
66
go on until
we
are
9
## p. 10 (#22) ##############################################
THE ATHENÆ UM
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
>
E
1
2
66
ܐ
66
r
7
So
8
New World in an American ship, only to certainly a more brutal, if not more sordid,
t find themselves forcibly taken from it, as time than our own, which he is so fond of
f subjects of a hostile power, by a frigate abusing.
belonging to their revered French Republic.
Our author is keenly alive to the close
Aboard her the conditions they had to endure parallels that exist between England and
could scarcely have been harder ; not owing Venice. Both of them were aristocracies
to intentional harshness, but because no
for one thing, a fact which may explain the
s provision was then made for the comfort
wonderful stability of their governments.
of prisoners of war. They lived for months The short accounts of the complicated history
at incredibly close quarters with all kinds and constitution of Venice, and the descrip-
of room-mates, not to say bedfellows, and
tions of her art-treasures according to
knew the gradations of hunger and disgust
“sestieri,” are admirably clear, and the
between insufficient food, rotten food, and
same may be said of those of Padua, Verona,
none at all. They were not landed when
&c.
3 brought into Brest, but transferred from Italy, which Mr. Hutton is slowly com-
The superiority of this survey of
f
ship to ship till hope deferred nearly pleting, over most other series of guide-
broke their hearts, whereby they saw a deal
books lies-apart from its literary merits-
of human nature, British and foreign, besides
to a large extent in the fact that it includes
a guillotine on shore (visible from the stern not merely the capitals, but all the principal
galley, here
misprinted “ gallery ”), which places of interest in the districts dealt with.
was alleged to have slain its hecatombs in
- the quickest time known.
Released at last, they proceeded (by order We opened Italian Castles and Country
of the Committee of Safety) to Paris--in Seats (Longmans) with high hopes, but they
Martha's dreams the centre and zenith
were doomed to disappointment. Modern
of the magnificence of the world. ” There Italy has its poor, says Mrs. Tryphosa
1
they made many interesting acquaintances Bates Batcheller in her preface,
(amongst them Mary Wollstonecraft and “ but it also has its rich and highly cultured class,
Rouget de Lisle), heard the thrilling tales and it is of this class more especially that I have
of those who had formed part of the huddled
written. It would take a more nimble pen than
prison communities in the days of Robes-
mine to do justice to the charm and simple
elegance of the high-class Italian men and women,
1
pierre, and saw with their own eyes some who live their lives luxuriously, but quietly,
stirring incidents typical of revolutionary quite indifferent as to whether the world knows
Paris. Notable is the description of the city of them or not. ”
under arms, on a rumour that the suppressed This sentence gives us the key-note to the
Mountain was preparing a supreme effort to
book. The author has mixed with all that
re-emerge : still more
that of the
is best in the great world of Italy to-day,
t
demeanour of Fouquier-Tinville on trial.
and in these letters to her mother we often
1 Entirely different again, as becomes the hear at least as much of her friends as
account of a New World, is the whole atmo- of their castles. In our opinion the letters
: sphere of the book when at last the family should have been revised and severely cur-
treach America. They travelled to and fro tailed.
a good deal before deciding to settle down
Unlike the Englishman, the wealthy
in the valley of Connecticut ; and
find, therefore, an abundance of landscape and it is in his palace there or in a villa
Italian prefers to make his home in town,
y effects, and of regional and social compari-
f sons, in the notes of Martha, as well as of just outside the walls that he keeps most of
his treasures. He does not, as a rule, spend
2,
some others less enthusiastic, but by no
more than a few weeks of the year at his
means more intelligent, who now become
country seats, of which he often possesses
contributors to the record. We cannot
several.
He rarely entertains there, except
trace the further troubles which presently for the shooting; and the accommodation,
drove William Russell from America, and especially in Calabria and the South gener-
kept him in old age an exile in Europe ally is often exceedingly primitive in con-
cut off from his family. We content our-
sequence. Hence Italian country life is a
t selves with heartily commending the book sealed book to most foreigners. Yet in
to all readers who have a taste for the
number and in historical interest Italian
1.
better and more solid things in biography.
castles yield to no others in Europe. Mrs.
e,
Batcheller often includes short notes on the
y
families whose houses she visited, and these
certainly abound in contrasts, the modern
h
and the mediæval being strangely blended.
of
BOOKS ON ITALY.
There are many wonderful surprises and
1.
experiences to be had in Italy, but a garage
Venice and Venetia. By Edward Hutton. with beautiful frescoes by Zuccaro is a
(Methuen. )-Mr. Hutton came to Venetia rarity not to be duplicated, the author sur-
et
with Tuscany in his heart, he tells us, and mises. At her exclamation of surprise the
d
in this book he is distinctly out of temper Duke of Lante said: “Yes, but this large
1,
with Venice. Germany does more business
room I have no other use for, and it is exactly
with Italy than does any other country, we
suited for my automobiles. ”
of
believe, and Venice, like Capri, has become The photographs are as interesting as
y
a Mecca for the German tourist, whence Mr. anything in the book, and we wish there
е
Hutton takes occasion to complain that were more views of the castles and villas.
d
one hears almost as much German as Italian
-8 spoken in Venice. To him the hours amid
ne
the marshes and the islands, especially in After the superficial travel - books on
d Torcello and San Francesco, the Italy that pour from the press every year,
most precious spent in the district. Yet one turns to My Italian Year (Mills & Boon)
surely it is in Chioggia, with its magnificent with genuine relief. Mr. Richard Bagot has
le
fisher-folk, immortalized by Goldoni, the lived almost entirely with Italians of all
only great Venetian man of letters, that one classes for the last twenty years, and can
n
finds the most genuine survivals of the therefore speak with authority, but he never
is Venetians of old. Progress, especially ma- forgets to emphasize the essential difference
of
terial progress, is an abomination to Mr. between the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon
Hutton, but we suspect that he would have points of view. The headings of the chapters
co found much to shock him in the great age suggest a tour from Turin to Syracuse, but
of the Republic's commercial prosperity ; ' they are no index to the contents, for the
r
we
a
r
0
5-
:
s
were
n
r.
le
## p. 11 (#23) ##############################################
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
11
book is full of digressions on all manner of perceiving how unfortunate is the existing theoretic class feeling about women.
If,
topics ; and in spite of occasional repetitions, scheme of registration, that excludes from therefore, this collection of idealisms, epi-
this method, on the whole, proves eminently so many posts all married women and so grams, sallies, and denunciations regales
successful. Mr. Bagot is not afraid to speak many daughters living in the homes of their us with ribaldry directed against feminine
out, and he is no clerical, as readers of his fathers. Many opportunities of useful public foibles, with sprightly shafts of banter,
novels will remember. We sympathize with service in the departments of the poor law, somewhat unctuous summaries, and deft
his strictures on the Englishman who regards of housing, education, the care of the insane writing at women's
expense,
that is
Italy as a museum to be kept intact for his and of women offenders, are at present largely but in a minor degree the fault of the com-
own delectation, and protests against inno- wasted, partly because so many women of piler. The prevailing conception that
vations meant merely to benefit the natives. the leisured class are debarred from making women are the very devil, or, as Meredith
No wonder Italians resent such interference. use of them. Of course, it is also true that says, are “stars that are merely meant for
We wish the Italian editor had printed Mr. some women who might devote their time shining,” he or she placidly accepts. For
Bagot's proposed letters on the spirit in to the public service are hardly aware of all that, if a more instructive measurement
which similar works are carried out in Lon- the possibilities open to them. It might of life's values were considered, and if the
don. If the best ideals of creative art lie be very advantageous if large schools would estimates of the salient proclivities of women
dormant at present in the country, they are include among their lectures for senior girls were allowed fuller diversity and a more
replaced by inventive and creative genius a short course upon local government. For
universal outlook than these quotations
in other directions more important for the this purpose no better handbook could be afford, surely the material collected would
present generation. Mr. Bagot is an enthusi-employed than Mrs. Brownlow's volume.
appear less disproportionate than it is.
astic, if discriminating admirer of the pro-
In spite of the array of great names, many
gress of the last fifty years, but he admits
that the country is not, and probably never contemporary authors whom he does not
RELYING too much upon the works of of these jottings are the veriest veneer of
wisdom ; others-a serious minority-epi-
can be, united socially. It will be news to always quotě correctly, Mr. J. C. Wright in
tomize essential truths. At best, for an
many people that drink is a crying evil in Changes of a Century (Elliot Stock) does not
hour's reading, the gaiety of these saws is
the North and in Rome, and that unsuccess-
ful efforts have been made to diminish the confuses Jane Austen with Hannah More,
impressus favourably. An author who entertaining.
number of the wineshops.
who in the same line misspells the names of
In some interesting pages devoted to two famous pedagogic writers (Richmal
We have received The Post Office London
literature the author rightly regrets that the Mangnall and Jeremiah Joyce), and who
Directory for 1912 (Kelly's Directories),
foreign public still regards D'Annunzio as obtains from a modern essayist his account admirably bound for our special use by the
the noblest representative of modern Italian of a tale in a classic like Mrs. Leicester's publishers. The amount of detail included
literature. So small is the Italian reading School,' is hardly likely to inspire confidence in this analysis of London is amazing, and
public that Mr. Bagot maintains that even
in a reader of average acquaintance with the
the Introduction will give some idea of the
Carducci is known only by name to most of books of the nineteenth century. Yet Mr.
elaborate attention and perpetual vigilance
his countrymen. Surely this is an exag- Wright succeeds in exhibiting the objective which are required to keep such a work up
geration after the great success of the differences between the nineteenth century to its high standard of accuracy.
collected edition of his poems, in spite of the at its darkest and ugliest and the age we
fact that Carducci can never be a popular live in. It would be idle to enumerate them
poet. We have been able to mention only here ; perhaps one may say, however, that
à few points in this well-informed, readable the would-be evolutionists of our age have
book, which we cordially recommend to every somewhat ignored the bane that lies in a ROSAMUND MARRIOTT WATSON.
one interested in the present condition of superabundance of useful but unbeautiful
Italy.
things.
The death of Rosamund Marriott Watson
Mr. Wright justly calls attention to the on Friday in last week is a grievous loss to
Mr. Douglas Sladen is a born sightseer, tyranny of the advertisement. It is all true lovers of poetry. Ailing long since,
and in How to See Italy by Rail (Kegan Paul) indeed monstrous that the unoffending and often in desperate case, yet she seemed
he has compiled a book which will be in- passenger should willy-nilly have thrust one whose bright spirit and fortitude must
valuable to the tourist as a kind of primer upon him wherever he goes reminders of conquer once more, if only to see another
to the regular guide-book. It is built round diseases in the shape of advertisements of spring, to watch the changes of the year with
an elaborate chapter on Railway Routes remedies for them. When one reads of delicate intuition, and thrill to the birds
recommended to Travellers. ' The early children of three acting as candle-holders again.
chapters contain short accounts of Italian in mines, and of such cruelties to animals
Her work in poetry is not extensive,
painting, sc oture, and architecture, and as drew from Cruikshank the etching en-
though wider in range than has been sup-
describe the charms of Italy and its scenery titled 'The Knacker's Yard,' one is inclined posed-a single volume would hold it all ;
in the various provinces. We are glad to to accept our twentieth-century Parlia, but it is wonderfully level in achievement,
find Mr. Sladen upholding the country's mentary altruism as a substitute for national always felicitous in expression, nearly
claims as a holiday resort in late spring and joyousness, and an atonement for the
always of haunting quality.
The pages on the advantages increase of timidity and false shame in the
of belonging to the Italian Touring Club are productions of the modern press. Evil Some years ago she was recognized in
timely. In the chapters on how to see the utilitarianism was perhaps at its worst in
these columns as one of three women poets
who remained to us after the death of
chief towns in each province the author the early part of the nineteenth century,
never forgets that he is writing for the and at that time the jollity and heartiness Christina Rossetti. Her place in English
railway traveller. Part II. consists of lists of certain characteristic seventeenth-century poetry, should be secure, for she had-with
of galleries, churches, painters, monuments, poems may have sounded like echoes of a the gifts of technique which mark the
which is thoroughly up-to-date, &c. The lost civilization.
scrupulous artist, and which are, perhaps,
book owes not a little to Miss Dorothy
not so rare as they were--a sense of passion
Ripley's photographs.
and wistfulness that are all her own, a feeling
THE pseudonymous “Celt” who has for the ever-present beauty of earth and
garnered a posy of reflections concerning the elusive atmosphere, whether of London
the nature of women under the title of
Woman, the Good and the Bad: the Dicta dream trance which transfigures the world,
streets or country fields, combined with that
of Famous People of all Times (Gay & Han-
and conveys a gleam of intimate things
OUR LIBRARY TABLE,
cock), displays a catholic indulgence in
almost too subtle for expression to the printed
favour of both the moralist and the humorist.
Women's Work in Local Government (Eng- Indeed, as soon as the critic realizes the page. Humour freed her from that sim-
land, and Wales). By J. E. Brownlow. slender proportions of this volume and the plesse posing as simplicity which is the bane
(Nutt. ). —Mrs. Brownlow's little book sets ominous fact that virtually every writer
many a lyricist.
forth clearly and succinctly the nature of of distinction, even the anchorite who re- Her themes--the beauty of a summer
the various bodies by which the local gards the earth as the exclusive inheritance night, the miracle of recurrent spring, the
government of this country is carried on,
of the male sex, has turned the search- voices of the birds-above all, she was the
the work allotted to each of them, the light of his mind upon the problem of laureate of the blackbird—are such as have
persons who may elect them, and those who woman, he will readily acknowledge how engageď dozens of pens, and left us cold.
may serve upon them. On almost every creditably the anthologist's task has been the little flashes and mystic hints of life,
page she shows how necessary is the special performed. True, the homilist and the so significant for many groping souls to-day,
knowledge possessed by women, and how satirist of every age obviously possess are for the few who are ever young :-
inadequately the field is at present the field. Throughout the era of civilized
covered. It is impossible to read without | man, there has been a preponderance of
The heart of youth and the House of Dream,
They are here once more while the spring stars gleam,
in summer.
## p. 12 (#24) ##############################################
12
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
&
sense
re-
was
66
After The Bird Bride,' which has lyrical
II.
charm of too fantastic a sort, Vespertilia,
Little Grango: Woodbridge THE 'ODES OF SOLOMON. '
and other Poems,' 'A Summer Night, and
May 13 (1874)
other Verses,' and 'After Sunset showed
DEAR SIR.
Westroad Corner, Cambridge, Dec. 22, 1911.
I must thank you for your polite &
full maturity. They have
of
SINCE Dr. Rendel Harris first published
speedy answer to my Letter. I am glad that
atmosphere seldom equalled, and at their my little Picture does really represent a Spot has been written about them, and a good
the 'Odes of Solomon' in 1909 a great deal
best a concinnity of phrase such as comes which so many memorable men have haunted.
seldom without a severe classical training and really felt uncomfortable as the Catastrophe should be dependent for their text upon :
many regrets have been uttered that we
Mrs. Watson's care for form is, as we once
drew on-Letter by Letter-The early Murray
said, her least feminine attribute. That is
single very late copy. I write now to point
Letters had great Character & Humour ;
as nothing compared with the sincerity of minding one also of the more convivial Living
out that the greater part of these 'Odes’
the poet's vision, the feeling for colour and in those days. Some of the Correspondence as
are extant in a tenth-century Syriac MS.
mystery, but without it the labour is often of Playfair, Mackenzie, &c. I was not so in- in the British Museum (B. M. Add. 14538)!
in vain, the appeal evanescent.
terested in as doubtless many of your Northern I examined the MS. to-day, and hope to
There have been poets who achieved in the whole work is-Sir Walter's grudge against Journal of Theological Studies, but the mere
Readers would be. The only disagreeable speck publish a collation of at least part in The
success with little knowledge. Mrs. Watson Jeffrey for the Review on Marmion. I thought fact of the existence of this Ms. , so long
& widely accomplished woman, busy he was too brave, generous, and utterly careless
of what he wrote, to resent such a Review-
with journalism, an omnivorous reader
overlooked seems to me of special interest.
which also (as I remember) is not altogether
whose memory supplied the highest of unjust. Perhaps Scott thought himself attacked
I append Wright's description (C. B. M. ,'
1008a), merely translating where he tran-
standards. She wrote at one time on art as Tory rather than as Poet. I cannot bear to
scribed the Syriac :-
in The Academy, and gave evidence of her fine acknowledge a speck on his Chivalrous Character
taste in & volume on The Art of the House
-the noble, dear, Fellow !
“ 4. A collection of Hymns, very imperfect.
Fol. 149a. Those that remain are numbered
in The Connoisseur Series. "
I always knew that Lockhart had a vein of
In 'The Malice in him : but I scarce thought it would from 12 to 45, and from 57 to 58. The eigh-
Heart of a Garden,' a garland of verse and have extended to a misrepresentation of the Dead. teenth begins thus : My heart was lifted up
prose, she was happily at home. She in- However, one has no Worship of him to keep
in the love of the Most High and was enlarged :
spired in a great novelist one of his finest sacred as one has of Sir Walter. One wonders that I might praise him by my name. My
heroines. She took a keen interest in that two men so different should have become members were strengthened that they might not
so closely united : indeed we Southrons heard fall from his strength. . . . and the nineteenth
music, in many forms of art and literature, that Sir W. never liked him. Be that as it may, thus :: A cup of milk was offered to me: and I
and was an admirable letter-writer, abound- Lockhart was a terrible Hypocrite indeed if he drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the
ing in sympathy and humour.
did not love Scott; whose Biography must be Lord. The Son is the cup and He who was
All who knew her-of whatever rank or
one of the most interesting Books in our Lan- | milked is the Father: Yand that the Holy Spirit
Her
guage.
occupation-feel a deep sense of loss.
milked Him. . . . "
Permit me to say sincerely that your Book
intimates mourn the generous and loyal appears to me excellent in its unaffected sim-
When Orientals cannot find things that
heart, the gay humour, the easy freedom plicity of style, and Candour to all Parties. are under their eyes, they say “the Shaitan
from cant and pedantry, the quickest to
One is rejoiced to get hold of a Book nowadays was sitting upon it”; it seems evident
see, the first to encourage.
V. R.
that is naturally and easily written, without all that the Shaitan has been sitting hitherto
that Epigrammatic & Graphic slang which has
been the fashion since Dickens' days perhaps.
on this page of Wright's well-known Cata-
I love Dickens too : but if I had to write books,
logue.
F. C. BURKITT.
should return to dip myself in Sir Walter.
You are very hospitable in offering to let me
THREE NEW LETTERS FROM call on you if I ever go to Edinburgh. Ah!
EDWARD FITZGERALD.
let me get there !
Your's much obliged
THE BOOK SALES OF 1911.
THE following letters were written to my
E. FITZ GERALD.
father, Thomas Constable, who died in 1881.
III.
PART I.
They were found among his papers only
Little Grange : Woodbridge.
three months ago. They are printed with
Nov. 17
THE great event of the year, the sale of
FitzGerald's characteristic capitals and other- DEAR SIR-
the first portion (A-B) of the Huth Library,
I told you in the Summer that I thought well known to students and collectors
wise exactly as he wrote them :-
of going to Edinburgh ;
I.
in July—by Sea from London: & back again thirty years ago, was so recently described
whither I went through the catalogue published more than
Little Grange : Woodbridge: Suffolk.
after only three clear Days. It was stupid of
May 5/74
me' not to stay longer : but it has left me with in The Athenæum (Nov. 25th) that there is
SIR
a Desire to go again : which I scarce ever felt no need to refer to it again in a summary
I am being extremely interested in your before after such Expeditions. I went, however,
of the year's activities further than to say
Memoir of your Father | Archibald Constable
almost entirely to see Sir Walter's Home &
Whereabout: 'and I saw it all the very day makes it certain that this sale will, when
that the total amount realized (50,8211. )
and his Literary Correspondents,' 3 vols. , 1873];
of course the more so as I approach the final
before the House was closed to Visitors :
Crisis, which I so well remember.
account of some Honeymoon-an ill-omened completed, rank as the most important, from
I dare say you have been troubled with many
place for a Honeymoon, I thought. But it was a financial point of view, which has ever
letters from Strangers on the Subject of your Story.
all & more than I expected: House, Grounds, taken place in this country. Times have
Excuse my doing so—about a little matter too,
which (after all) may be irrelevant. You must burgh, 'like a piece of solemn Musick. Then I changed since the great Fonthill Library
not trouble yourself to answer if it be so.
was prevailed on to go for a Day to Lochs Katrine
was sold in sections for 89,2001. ; and even the
I have possessed for 20 years and more a little
& Lomond: which I felt sure I shd not care for comparatively recent sale of the Ashburn-
Picture by Stothard, professing to [be] a View
so much as under a Mist of Poetry & Romance-ham Library for 62,7001. affords but partial
of your Father's house near Edinburgh. I
nor did I. One day I drove about Edinburgh: evidence of what it would have brought had
cannot recall the name : but, beside that it is a
but went to see none of the Sights : which I say
it been reserved until to-day, when competi-
delicate picture by one of the most delicate & again was stupid : but, if one lives, may be
amiable of Painters, I have taken pleasure in
remedied. I thought the City beautiful ; Shops tion is so much keener and money of ap-
believing it to represent the house where your
so good & People so intelligent & civil. I was parently less account than it has ever been.
Father and Sir Walter may have often met. The
sorry not to have brought away with me a large For the Heber Library in 1834–7, 57,5001. was
enclosed sketch-a Scratch-will perhaps be Photograph of the Castle from Princes Str. at a
obtained; and the Sunderland Sale with
sufficient to remind you of any such place as it
Shop down some steps nearly opposite Scott's
purports to represent: and I should be obliged
Monument. But I hesitated at having another
its 56,0001. makes up the quartet against
to you if you could authenticate it to me. But,
Parcel to take care of. Could you tell me the which the Huth Library will, when it has
as I said before, not if it be any trouble to you.
name of the Bookseller ?
passed into history, be arrayed. All these
I have never been in Scotland, though I have
You were polite enough to ask me to visit sales were very rich in books of the kind
been these 20 years determining to see Edin-
you in case I went to Edinburgh: do not think
for which there is at present the greatest
burgh, and Abbotsford-Perhaps this Summer!
that I forgot or undervalued your kindness :
--I fancy, however, that this Picture represents
but I could not think of availing myself of such
inquiry, and which during the last few years
Scotch Landscape, at any rate : indeed the
an offer after so slight an Introduction, & of have become more and more elusive as the
Architecture of the House alone (very dimly my own making. Believe me that I am thankful : demand for them has become more wide-
indicated in this Sketch) is, I suppose, enough to
& that I beg to remain your's truly
spread and persistent. It may be said that
EDWARD FITZ GERALD.
assure me of that. I please myself with fancying
the great public libraries of the world have
that the man on Horseback may be a kind of By the by I will tell you that I wrote that little
Dumbiedikes -
Memoir of my old friend B. Barton which you
swallowed them up-all but a comparatively
Perhaps Stothard was, at some time, your
gave a word of Praise to in your Book. I won.
small number, and that a few more years will
Father's Guest ?
dered how B. B. or I had got to Edinburgh ; see the end even of these, so far as any chance
The Picture is, I am sorry to say, much cracked, and, on looking back to the Memoir after some
of private possession is concerned.
where the transparent Glazing was laid on 25 years, thought it a nice little thing,
T'he rich collector who would form a
perhaps before the under-colour was dry.
The picture mentioned in the first letter library on the principle of procuring the
Once more, excuse my troubling you, Sir ;
and believe, at least, that † am your's, very much was, I can hardly doubt, one of Craigcrook, very best that tradition has sanctified and
interested in your Book, EDWARD FITZGERALD.
where my grandfather lived about 1812. the needs of the hour have made imperative
Thomas Constable Esq :-
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, must set about it quickly, or he will be too
## p. 13 (#25) ##############################################
No. 4393, Jan. 6, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
13
on the
at
on
was
late.
He knows it, and that in itself amply | (about 2,0001. ) ; some books and manuscripts portant of the year, many of the books as
accounts for the feverish haste to be “in at from the library of the Earl of Kinnoull recorded in the pages of Book - Prices
the death,” as other than bookish sportsmen (2,7601. ); and the collection of Dr. Augustus Current fetching large prices. Some of
have it, for there is a regrettable feeling Jessopp (1,7481. ). All these were private them were typical seventeenth - century
abroad among collectors of every school and libraries having one or more days given up American pamphlets of such extreme
of objects of every character that what is not to them, but they constitute only a small rarity that they are scarcely obtainable.
their own, and never can be, is dead indeed minority.
Sir George Peckham's True Report, one
to them.
Isolated books of exceptional interest are,
of the most important of the books, had
It seems that we are now in a transition consequently, in greater evidence, and they not been sold in this country for many
period, and that many books which have leave large gaps before and behind them: years, but one fetched 51. 188. in 1842.
passed out of reach are gradually having books like "The Waltz, an Apostrophic Gilbert White's manuscript. Flora Selborni-
their places taken by others of a similar Hymn, by Horace Hornem, Esq. ” fi. e. , ensis,' which realised 512. , is separate from
kind, but later in date. This is particularly Lord Byron), 1813, 4to, which sold at
the Garden Calendar which he kept regu-
noticeable in the case of Americana, eigh- Sotheby's in January for 641. (cf. leaf larly from 1751 onwards, and is to be
teenth-century books of that class having repaired); Ben Jonson's Works, '2 vols. , printed, it is understood, by the Selborne
acquired a much more important position folio, 1616-40, 311. (old calf
, not subject to Society.
than was the case a few years ago. They return); and ' Engravings from the Choicest The library of the Right Hon. James
seem to have become scarcer, and certainly Works of Sir Thomas Lawrence, published Round " and other properties,", to which
afford many examples of that “ levelling- by Graves & Co. in 1835–46, folio, 691. reference has been made, included a copy of
up" process which is seen to be going (hf. mor. ). All these were in a miscel- Sir William Alexander's 'Mapp and Descrip-
on in other departments of literature. laneous sale of January 16th, and there was tion of New England,' 1630, small 4to, which
The passing of the nineteenth century ap- nothing else of much importance. It was
sold for 1501. (unbound); and an imperfect
peared to make all books older by a hundred not, indeed, until the latter days of the same copy of Gower's Confessio Amantis,' printed
years-an illusion, no doubt, but the world month that any real activity became by Caxton in 1483, folio, which also realized
is full of such fantasies.
noticeable, viz. , at the sale of the library of the same amount. The most noticeable
On a survey of the Book Sales of 1911 the late Rev. J. H. Dent and other properties book in the collection, however, contained
it is plain that the ordinary bookman has at Messrs. Hodgson's. That the catalogue the Two Royall (or Queenes) Masques
still innumerable chances if he will be contained some very desirable books may and the ' Description of the Masque,' usually
content to grasp those within his reach, for be perceived on consulting The Athenæum known as 'The Hue and Cry after Cupid,'
really good books are now continually being of Feb.
