No More Learning

It is the poet who must take the two great names in any relation what-
the footlights. In his Dramatic Lyrics the leap forward ; the philosopher must
ever. Indeed, most of those concerning
and in The Ring and the Book,' follow. Intuition and perception must Pitt belong to the time when Bonaparte
he places himself at the heart of his come first ; but Browning loved to argue, was only a general of the Republic, whose
characters, and endeavours to think to justify his own conclusions, as in
military qualities alone interested Euro-
their thoughts, to look through their · Rabbi Ben Ezra' and ' A Grammarian's
pean statesmen; while those in which
eyes. This it is which makes him, not Funeral. '
Napoleon is the chief figure are of the
only a religious poet, but also the greatest In 'Pauline' he avows himself
period long after the death of Pitt. This
poetic apologist for Christianity that the disciple of Plato. In his noblest work will be seen from an analysis of the con-
age has known.
the conviction appears that there exists a
tents of the volume. Of its 340 pages
To turn from this aspect of Browning's world of invisible realities, of which the the essays occupy 160. In the first, on
art, the learning shown in the selection of consummate expression on earth must be The
Oratory of Pitt,' there is only one
recondite corners of history, and out-of-the- inadequate.
way personages for dramatic treatment, is He has made a firm faith in the ultimate one repite and a smart Fitzwilliam Wand mon
simply bewildering, while technical know- spiritual destiny of mankind seem reason-
The Quiberon Disaster,' Napoleon is
ledge of one subject after another
con- able, enabling his disciples to do more not mentioned. In the fourth, entitled
stantly appears in their delineation. than “ trust
British Rule in Corsica,' an interesting
Browning himself was anything but un-
that somehow good
essay of 19 pages, there are not 30 lines
conventional in his
appearance and habits.
Will be the final goal of ill.
relating to the great Corsican. The
He was sturdy and outspoken, it is true. This is no light thing for any writer fifth, on the 'Relief of the Poor,' treats
“I was ever a fighter,” he says truthfully, to accomplish. His method of achieving of a domestic question. In the sixth,
and there is significance in the furious his aim may, to many, appear open to the longest in the book, entitled Did
lines he fired off to The Athenaeum on criticism. But it has strengthened men Napoleon intend to Invade England ? ' the
reading a thoughtless expression published for the battle of life, and encouraged all name of Pitt appears on five only of its 33
in Edward FitzGerald's Letters' re- brave and noble virtues.
pages.
In the three other essays, on
garding his wife's work.
Next Tuesday the centenary of the The True Significance of Trafalgar,' on
But the greatest hold that Browning poet is to be celebrated in Westminster Marbot's Memoirs,' and on Napoleon's
has upon the present age undoubtedly Abbey. Another tribute to the occasion Conception of the Battle of Waterloo,
comes from his idealism. His view of the is the handsome Centenary Edition of Pitt is not mentioned.
universal scheme of things, illustrated Browning's Works which has just been There are two other papers printed
from human life rather than from nature, begun. The volume before us is well among the essays. One is a reprint of an
is optimistic. Man's sense of the incom- printed in a bold and pleasant type, and Interview with Napoleon in Elba,' pub--
pleteness of the present is taken as a fore the text is the latest supervised by the lished in 1839, in which naturally there
shadowing of the future. The note is poet. A few short poems which have is no reference to Pitt, and the other is a
sounded in ‘Pauline' that vibrates with not hitherto figured in the collected collection of 'Some New Letters of Pitt'
solemn triumph in the epilogue to ' Aso- editions are to appear, but we are glad with some notes. The latter ought to have
lando,' and
to learn that some extant verses been printed in Part II. of the volume,
The heavy and the weary weight
deliberately excluded which, it is thought, which is made up of a large number of
Of all this unintelligible world
Browning would not have reprinted. letters, nearly all of which are to or from.
is lightened to those who follow him as The Introductions by Dr. F. G. Kenyon Pitt, some being of the highest interest.
their master. It is too often taken for do not include explanations of hard words Altogether there are 265 letters in this
granted that the girl's song in Pippa or difficult references. They show the volume entitled Pitt and Napoleon,'
Passes sums up an easy acquiescence in position of each poem in Browning's and it would have been difficult to select
the pain of life
life, the circumstances of its composition, another equal quantity of Pitt's corre-
God 's in his heaven,
and any bibliographical details worth spondence so destitute of references to
All 's right with the world.
mentioning, such as the issue of a reprint Napoleon. For there are only 11 among
of the original Pauline' by Mr. T. J. the 265 in which the name of Bonaparte
This was the glad overflowing of a
child's heart on her one holiday. The Wise in 1886.
or Napoleon is mentioned. Of these one is
poet himself knew that there was very this volume, which has also an interesting ferring to “ the French Usurper,” five are
Dr. Kenyon has done his work well in from Grenville, one from George III. , re-
much wrong with the world ; witness
portrait of Browning at 43 by D. G. from Canning, and four from Pitt himself.
the terrible tragedies he depicts. But
through all pain and stress, even in the Rossetti. A careful selection of such
The book may be described as a collec-
soul of the worst of criminals, there is a
portraits is to be a feature of this edition, tion of interesting and sometimes very
foreshadowing of ultimate redemption which is likely to be taken up rapidly valuable matter, unsystematically ar-
As a philosopher, Browning is in accord | Indeed, we should have thought that a ranged and inadequately annotated. It
with Hegel, that good is positive, and larger issue than 500 copies for sale in is therefore not so attractive as it might
must conquer in the end. His supreme
the British Isles would have been amply easily have been made for the general
idea of good is love. The world is tending
justified.
reader, and not very serviceable for the
slowly, through conflict, towards perfec- The Works of Robert Browning. Centenary ought to have been taken in the notes,
student. For the latter, greater care
tion, and man upon his way is guided by Edition in 10 vols. With Introductions by
August anticipations, symbols, types
F. G. Kenyon. -Vol. I. Pauline, Para- which are for the most part meagre, and
Of a dim splendour ever on before.
celsus, Sordello. (Smith & Elder. )
not always accurate.
6
are


## p. 493 (#373) ############################################

No. 4410, MAY 4, 1912
THE AT HENÆUM
493
6
a
or as
name
was
Artois"
or
The following will indicate the character has not that intimate acquaintance Waterloo. '
intimate acquaintance Waterloo. ' They are so full of facts that
of some of the inaccuracies we have noted with the persons referred to, which one they would be much more useful for the
in this volume. On May 9th, 1804, has the right to expect in a specialist. student if they were each prefaced with
Canning writes to Pitt: I have men- For instance, in the monograph on
The
a résumé of the contents, as was formerly
tioned what passed between us to three Quiberon Disaster' the sentence “In customary in historical works. This
persons only, Leveson, Morpeth and Brittany a royalist leader, Cormatin, remark also applies to the essay on
Borrington. . . . not to Lord Stafford. " reluctantly observed the peace," does not Quiberon. In it the author uses language
Borrington is an obvious misspelling which inform the student as to the identity of of needless violence in describing the
might have been corrected. Dr. Rose this person, in spite of a foot-note referring criticisms of the disaster by Fox and
adds the explanatory note : “Leveson- to a MS. in the British Museum, which Sheridan as “ disgraceful display of
Gower was third son of Lord Stafford. ” perhaps misled the author. Cormatin reckless ignorance
“ slanders so
He was his stepbrother. Lord Granville could hardly be described as “ a royalist diabolical. " One has to take into con-
Leveson - Gower, afterwards first Earl leader. ". He was a soldier of fortune sideration the general attitude of the
Granville, was the second-not the third- whose opinions frequently changed during Opposition at that period.
son of the previous Lord Stafford, who the Revolution. His real
This volume, containing as it does much
died in 1803. The Lord Stafford from Désotteux, and he was not a royalist material of the highest value and interest,
whom the confidential news was to be leader in the sense that others mentioned bears signs of having been thrown to-
withheld was his son, the future first Duke on the same page with him were-Charette, gether without sufficient revision, although
of Sutherland, who, as Lord Gower, had Stofflet, or even Puisaye, he being a some of the matter was printed in
been British Ambassador under Pitt to staff officer of the last named.
magazines six or seven years ago. The
Louis XVI. in the final days of the is an unusual designation of the future author has passed on his book a criticism
monarchy. It is the knowledge of the Charles X. It is as though one called,
as though one called, more severe than any of ours in publishing
identity of the people mentioned in at this period, the future George IV. it without an index, which is indispen-
these old letters which makes the cor- Wales. The correct style is given in sable to the utility of a work of this
respondence live again.
some of the letters of the period—“ Comte kind. He quotes the 'Dropmore Papers,'
In the essay on Pitt and Fitzwilliam d'Artois" Monsieur. ” There is a and we would commend to his example
we are told that part of the “unique perplexing note, repeated several times, the excellent index to that collection
claim to
supremacy in the
Whig See The Quarterly Review for 1912. ” | compiled by Miss M. H. Roberts.
phalanx” possessed by Fitzwilliam was When the book was published only one
that he was “the husband of Lady number of The Quarterly for 1912 had
Dorothy Cavendish. ” Without accepting appeared, and it contained nothing to
the suggestion of the “ supremacy
of which the note seemed to refer.
My Memoirs. By Marguerite Steinheil.
Fitzwilliam either within or without the The correspondence printed in the (Eveleigh Nash. )
“phalanx," we may point out that his volume is all worth reading, and though
lady's name was neither Dorothy_nor little of it relates to Napoleon, some of This unedifying work has not all the
Cavendish. She was Lady Charlotte Pon- the letters, on a large variety of other political importance which some of our
sonby, daughter of Lord Bessborough, subjects, are of great interest as throwing contemporaries have attributed to it.
and, though her mother was a Cavendish, a light on the atmosphere of the Court The first quarter of the book, which
she was not called Dorothy either. An and of the political world in Pitt's time. includes the chapters relating to the
essential quality for an expert in the Such is a letter of 1791 from Pitt to the author's connexion with the President of
political history of the reign of George III. owner of a pocket borough in Cornwall, the French Republic, Félix Faure, con-
is familiarity with Whig pedigrees, worth- recommending “an East Indian of good tains very little which is not familiar to
less though similar knowledge is in the fortune and character” who was willing those who were acquainted with the
history of politics in our own time. to pay 3,0001. for the seat. Such are inner movement of political life in France
The memoirs of Marbot supply a facile letters from George III. to Pitt, com- at the close of the last century. Never-
opportunity for criticism to a writer who plaining in 1786 that his six daughters theless, some of the pages in this part of
knows his First Empire. One of the have not enough money to dress upon-the_volume are of considerable interest
periods of Napoleon's life in which we can not so much as George II. 's " princesses ” to English readers. The rest of the book
follow his occupations day by day is in 1737, “ when every article of life was deals with the murder of her husband and
that of the “ Séjour à Bayonne ” in 1808. cheaper than now”; or, in 1787, about her mother, for which the author was tried
If our author had minutely studied it, the debts of the Prince of Wales, deploring and acquitted.
he would not have accepted one of his association with such“ a fellow as There cannot be many readers who will
Marbot's most glaring inventions. Dr. Mr. Sheridan. ” Pitt's controversy with have the patience or the curiosity to wade
the King, in 1794, about relieving the through the twenty-two later chapters for
Duke of York from his command of the the sake of the unpleasant details of the
“At the end of his [Marbot's] ride from forces, displays some of the difficulties crime. Yet they have a certain value for
Madrid to Bayonne, when he bore the news the minister had to contend with in the students of comparative procedure. They
men of Madrid on 2nd May, 1808, he was early period of the war. Another inter- not only give a complete
description of a
privileged to hear".
esting letter is from Windham to Pitt, French criminal trial in all its stages, but,
showing the pressure put upon the latter what is almost unknown in an English
and then he goes on to satirize Marbot's to help the French Royalists, in 1799, just book, they also furnish an official, verbatim
narrative of the private conversations before the coup d'état of Brumaire, which report of parts of the long interrogatory
he professed to have overheard. But changed the whole situation in France and undergone by a prisoner during the
Dr. Rose misses the chief point of Marbot's in Europe.
“instruction,' or private examination,
gasconading. He accepts his most
Of the essays, the most valuable is, in before committal to the assizes. Although
audacious fabrication, namely, that it our opinion, that on Pitt and the Relief the prisoner, before committal, has less
was he (Marbot) who“ bore the news of the Poor,' relating to distress prevalent fair-play than in England, it will be seen
of the suppression ” of the insurrection in England at the close of the eighteenth here that, under our new rule admitting
at Madrid. The officer who carried century. In these days of State Socialism the evidence of an accused person, he or
the dispatch which decided the destiny it is interesting to study the attempts she has a better chance before a French
of the Spanish royal family was Capt. made to remedy the Elizabethan system of than before an English jury, the inter-
Danencourt, and any other fictions with poor relief and to see that in Pitt's time a rogatory by the French presiding judge
which Marbot embroidered this story are contributory scheme of Old-Age Pensions being usually less severe than the cross-
of relatively small importance.
was proposed. Of the other essays, the best examination by an English counsel for
Certain passages or incidental allusions are, we think, ‘ British Rule in Corsica 'and the prosecution. Other advantages en-
in the book suggest that the author Napoleon's Conception of the Battle of joyed by the French prisoner, as shown
Rose says :


## p. 494 (#374) ############################################

494
No. 4410, May 4, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
66
“ The
here, are that there is no judge's summing- as “impudent. ” She replied,
up, and that the jury retire with the Marquess of Dufferin was a different man ENGLISH LITERATURE AND
eloquent pleading of the counsel for the though that quality had not spared him
LANGUAGE.
defence ringing in their ears. These pages a maladroit affront from the President in
also show how personal are the relations 1896. After Lord Dufferin had resigned The art of popularization and condensing
between an advocate and his client in the Embassy, and before the arrival of is one extensively practised to-day, but
France. On the other hand, the treat- his successor, Queen Victoria asked him not achieved, as a rule, with any par.
ment of an untried prisoner is much to be in Paris during the visit of the Tsar. ticular skill. The ready writer is turned
harsher in France than in England. The President refrained from recognizing on to the popular summary, and when,
Madame Steinheil was kept for a year his presence, and the Tsar showed his as often, he has no claims to be expert
in prison before her trial, and her un- sense of the proceeding by administering in the subject chosen, produces a work
exaggerated description of the horrors of a tactful and humorous rebuke to the satisfactory at first sight, yet all but
St. Lazare may be compared with the com- Chief of the State. The incident is too useless to the real student, because it
plaints of discomforts suffered by women long to relate, and it is not referred to in does not give him what he wants, or even
prisoners in England. The outrages in the book, though the author says: “The afford a clear conception of what he may
Alicted on the author before her arrest by Tsar struck me as more unassuming than expect to find.
representatives of the new journalism in the President. "
In several cases the “Home University
search of “sensational copy” show that In her account of the end of Félix Faure, Library” has achieved unusual success,
the Parisian press, notwithstanding its she says that she left him before he died, because the work has been allotted to an
great literary tradition, or at all events a and that, after he had seen a priest, he expert who can write, and retains enough
section of it, has nothing to learn from the handed a locket to his secretary to be sense of what others do not know to
worst American models.
given to her. This does not agree with emphasize the right points. This is, in
The earlier chapters, concerning the the report current in Paris that the itself, a feat more difficult than might be
author's relations with Félix Faure, de priest, casually passing along the Faubourg supposed. No average sailor, for instance,
scribe a curious phase of the politics of St. Honoré, was hurried into the Élysée speaks of the things that a landsman
the Third Republic, when France was by an affrighted servant and found the wants to know; he cannot conceive of a
divided by the Dreyfus affair and united President dead. Whoever was with him world ignorant of the A B C of his craft.
only in its enthusiasm for the Russian at the last moment, it is certain that the
alliance. Félix Faure was of a type not Parisian press treated the tragedy with
Prof. Ker has long proved his worth
uncommon in democratic governments— remarkable restraint. Political feeling
as one of the soundest scholars in English
we have, and he is the very man to put
the parvenu whose head is turned by was very bitter, political controversy was
political elevation, and who assumes violent and scurrilous, yet the President's rature before the uninstructed public.
an outline of English Mediæval Lite-
aristocratic or even royal pretensions in opponents, with few exceptions, respected His knowledge and taste are unimpeach-
his prerogatives, both of power and of his death-chamber at a time when nothing able, and his style is effective, simple,
pleasure. The President of the Republic, was sacred to polemical writers.
though Madame Steinheil does not tell the The book is written and compiled with breaks out ever and anon; unlike some
yet never dry. He has a sly humour which
story, once, when entertaining a grand ability worthy of a better theme. The of the learned, he can hear the singing
duchess at the Élysée, had himself served parts which are obviously taken from the voice” in a ballad ; and he goes behind
before the princess, on the ground that French are not badly translated, though details of word and rhythm to the mind
Louis XIV. was always served before attorney-general is not the equivalent of and temper of the people which produced
If he had confined his “ avocat-général,” and “hall of the lost them. Thus he tells us that the story of
mimicry of kings to such-like follies, he steps ” for salle des pas perdus suggests Orpheus as distilled by popular tradition
might have been alive now, and Madame Thackeray's “new street of the little into Sir Orfeo' has a happy ending,
Steinheil's ‘Memoirs’ would not have fields. ”. . . Whether the narrative portion nothing having been said of the injunction
been written. But he killed himself by was originally written in English or French not to look back :-
taking to irregular courses late in life, we cannot teil. It contains few Gallicisms,
after bringing France to the brink of a but many un-English expressions, such
“It was probably left out when Orpheus
revolution. Madame Steinheil confirms
sculpture, noblewoman,"
was turned into a fairy-tale, on account of
what we already knew-that he contem- entrained
the power of music ; the heart of the people
(of a person getting into a
felt that Orpheus the good harper ought not
my valet," meaning footmanto be subjected to the common plot [. . e. , the
by a coup d'état. “ Félix Faure has not Good taste is not to be looked for in a story founded on some act of forgetfulness).
the necessary qualities is her comment in work of this kind, and it is useless to so now the heart of the people insists
a passage supposed to be taken from her inquire if, in publishing a signed photo on a happy ending, and the purveyors of
diary of October, 1898.
graph of M. Bonnat, the portrait-painter, popular fiction would never venture to
This was on the eve of the Fashoda on a larger scale even than that of Presi- indulge in tragedy and ruin their sales.
incident.
It was a moment when French dent Faure, the author obtained the per-
The Introduction examines the various
patriots,” of whom the President was mission of the artist. The historical motives which draw people to study
the chief, were all Anglophobes, partly mistakes are fewer than might be antici- mediæval literature. Among these per-
from their love of Russia, partly because pated. Thiers was not Prime Minister haps the most frequent is the study of some
the English press was aggressively Drey- when the second funeral of Napoleon took particular author, who, taken up at first
of fashion placeThe palace where Queen Victoria
was unanimously hostile to Dreyfus, in- stayed in 1855 was that of St. Cloud. lation of a new world. ” To master tho-
casually, captures attention by his “reve-
cluding even certain Jews. As Madame “ An eminent English personage. . . . who roughly one great romance or poem is
Steinheil says: The strangest phe- told lively anecdotes about the ravishing the best way of approach to a period,
nomenon in that strange time was the sister of Napoleon” would surely have and we hope that no one who has read
anti-Dreyfusard attitude of the Jewish ascertained that Pauline Borghese never
this little book will feel that he knows
élite. ” So Félix Faure, as became a man
courtisan. ” In
of fashion, “was absolutely sincere in his the list of ministerial offices held by Félix it will be an excellent foundation for study,
enough about the subject. Properly used,
conviction of Dreyfus's guilt ”-and also Faure some of the dates are wrong, and but there are no short cuts to learning,
in his Anglophobia, which was not a creed the author omits to mention that his first and summaries are apt to produce pre-
confined to anti-Dreyfusards. Never- post was a minor office in Gambetta's tentious sciolists. In so difficult a subject
theless, the two countries were not so * Grand Ministère,” of which he was very
nearly at war as Madame Steinheil sug. proud.
Home University Library. --English Lite-
gests. But feeling was very bitter, and
Mediæval. By W. P. Kor.
Félix Faure denounced to his friend a
The English Language. By Logan Pearsall
speech by our ambassador, Sir E. Monson,
Smith. (Williams & Norgate. )
cs to
as
66
wore a crown even as a
rature :


## p. 495 (#375) ############################################

No. 4410, May 4, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
495
romance :-
are
rare.
are
as mediæval lore the positive results, always to go together) are aptly mingled on 'Language and History,' and two on
which naturally figure chiefly in hand in this summary of the Middle English Language and Thought,' express admir-
books, are as nothing compared with the attitude towards French
French models inably the vivid interest of the subject.
things that we do not know for certain,
Our only criticism is that he is too much
the gaps which must be filled in by guess-
“The English in the reign of Edward I. given to making catalogues of words.
work. The reader, for instance, who
or Edward III. had often much difficulty in A smaller selection with fuller explanation
goes from Tennyson back to Malory and understanding what the French romantic would have been much more effective,
the origins of the Arthurian stories may well school was driving, at-particularly when and all the words explained might then
get lost in a Serbonian bog of conjecture it seemed to be driving round and round, have been introduced into the Index,
which he did not expect.
spinning long monologues of afflicted damsels, which now only gives a few.
There is, naturally, in volumes of the between the knight and his lady. The diffi.
or elegant conversations full of phrases
We have frequently advocated the
scope of the “Home University Library
culty was not unreasonable. If the French addition of derivations, as fixing words
no room to deal with any poem or romance authors had been content to write about in the memory, and in the present age
in full detail ; but Prof. Ker has extracted nothing but sentimental conversations and they may even serve the purpose of per-
the essence of all the important things languishing lovers, then one would have suading people that the commonplaces
apart from drama, which is deliberately known what to do. The man who is look; of philology are not idle fictions. Ame-
left untouched
and the trend of the time ing at the railway bookstall for a good thyst, for instance, is simply duétvotos
,
is neatly hit off in discussing romances,
detective story knows at once what to say
“not drunk," the stone being supposed
when he is offered the Diary of a Soul.
ballads, comic poetry and allegory, sermons But the successful French novelists of the to preserve its possessor from intoxica-
and histories. The writer knows that twelfth century appealed to both tastes, tion, but we could not persuade a seeker
opinions expressed or implied on human and dealt equally in sensation and sentiment; after truth of this philological fact until
conduct are of deeper import than diffi- they did not often limit themselves to what we produced a Greek lexicon. Mr. Smith
culties of grammar or disputes about
was always their chief interest, the moods gives the superstition on p. 171, and tells
origins. He brings before us here and of lovers. They worked these into plots
us ten pages later that the word is Greek.
there quotations to illustrate the actual adventures were too good to be lost ; so
of adventure, mystery, fairy magic; the It is fair to say, however, that such separ
language, and due warnings as to rash the less refined English readers, who were
ations of things which might be said
judgments. Thus we learn that Danish puzzled or wearied by sentimental con completely once
The reader
pirates were not restricted to the profes- versations, were not able to do without the cannot fail to be struck with the frequency
sion of harrying, but were respectable and elegant romances. They read them; and of the prefix al- in Arabian words. Its
beneficent gentlemen at home; and that they skipped. The skipping was done for simple meaning might have been added.
“ Sumer is icumen in,” the song that them, generally, when the romances were "Enthusiasm and enthusiastic
figures at the beginning of English sions are shorter than the French in most rightly described as becoming in the
anthologies, is not a free outburst of
cases where comparison is possible. As a eighteenth century abusive terms for
melody, but governed alike by music and general rule, the English took the adven religious fanaticism and religious fanatics,
a Latin original. The English of these turous sensational part of the French but we should have gone further than this
earlier days seem to have been keener romances, and let the language of the heart to explain that in that century the Estab-
linguists and musicians than their de- alone. ”
lished Church was notoriously torpid, if
scendants.
What a contrast is such writing to the not a refrigerating machine. Pros-
The scholar, immersed in his special aridity of earlier instructors in literature ! perity to the Established Church and no
authors, is apt to find no faults in them, and
encouragement to Enthusiasm" is actu-
is a source of irritation to the less in- Prof. Ker ends with Chaucer, whose ally inscribed on a church bell of 1758 in
structed, whose standards are nearer to influence on the English of his day Mr. a Cambridgeshire parish. It was the
human pleasure. We are glad then to Pearsall Smith fully recognizes. The efforts of Wesley and Whitefield and the
find that the Professor's abundant learning latter offers an excellent summary of phenomena of revivalism that produced
does not lead him to overrate authors the merits and defects of mediæval the bad sense of the terms. The novelty
inaccessible to the ordinary reader. 'Beo- thought, and warnings as to the danger of “sentimental” might have been
wulf,' we learn, is commonplace in story of deducing too much from the absence of emphasized by Wesley's remark on read-
and feeble in plan; Anglo-Saxon poetry particular words at any period :
ing Sterne's Sentimental Journey' that
is often very tiresome, and merit is some- “If the Elizabethans had no word for dis.
the adjective was not English, and might
times of a negative character, as in Law- appointment or home - sickness, we cannot
as well have been “ Continental. ” The
rence Minot, who “can put contempt assume that they did not experience these history of “sentimental,' too, is
into his voice with no recourse to bad feelings, but only that they were not inter largely of religious reaction. Fashionable
language. "
ested in expressing them. '
society, shocked by the denunciations of
Reading such judgments, we are pre- The author in less space than 250 Nonconformists, selected the more tender
pared to enjoy all the Professoris obiter pages has certainly managed to include and graceful parts of the Gospels. Hell
dicta, and the literary taste often wanting a vast amount of information, and, while was not, of course, for people of quality,
in the specialist. He shows clearly the his writing is clear and lucid, he is always and they enjoyed the luxuries of romantic
survival of artistic methods throughout in touch with life, seeking for the frag- grief and pathos, while retaining a com-
the centuries, tracing the origin of all ments of belief and thought which have fortable indifference to the stern realities
modern poetry and novels to the society won the battle of linguistic competition
of life.
of the twelfth century, and discovers the and make us talk in terms of astrology,
In tracing the various channels through
“rime couée," or tail-rhyme, in the the Crusades, or other lost battles of which words came and the culture they
parody of Wordsworth among the Re- religion and science without knowing it. imply the author is at his best. We think,
jected Addresses, and the usage of the “ Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit” in however, he might have said something
illiterate of all ages in word - for - word Horace's neat phrase, but there was no
as to the Italian influence which was
translation.
such effective retaliation in this country. so strong in Shakespeare's day, and has
The influence of foreign elements on The various conquerors who brought new
naturalized some odd-looking words and
English romance and story is one of the elements to the nation imposed them forms. The ideas of evolution and pro-
most difficult things to estimate, much selves but slowly and partially on the lan-gress which permeate thought to-day are
of the matter used being common to guage of the people, and we possess to-day comparatively modern, and due to men
various parts of Europe, and romantic many pairs of words with a similar mean-
like Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The
heroes having at all times a tendency ing, but of different origin, which add Middle Ages had no such terms, and the
to flourish outside the limits of their infinitely to the richness of our tongue, explanation of this deficiency will serve
inventors' experience. On such points and have in course of time been differ-
as a good specimen of the author's style :
this little book is always illuminating. entiated to express slight nuances of “ The idea of progress may have visited
Humour and discernment (which ought 'expression. Mr. Smith's three chapters' the thoughts of a few lonely philosophers
one


## p. 496 (#376) ############################################

496
No. 4410, May 4, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
is
a
even
66
7
ܕܙ
as
are
un-
but it obtained no general acceptance, and say that, admitting for the moment the cannot be defended by any competent
found no expression in the language. The premises, this consequence does not follow. mediæval scholar. It
great
social consciousness was not favourable to As a matter of fact, the whole question of mistake to think that, because a law
it, being dominated as it was by the religious national Churches in pre-Reformation existed on the English statute
belief in the degeneracy of a world fallen times is one that requires careful handling. books, it was enforced on the people till
from grace, and fated to worse deterioration
before its sudden end, which might come
No one, least of all an archivist, can deny long after the Middle Ages. Further, the
at any time. Even at the Reformation the that there were Anglican, Gallican, Roman, decision in any case in a mediæval court
ideal, as the word Reformation shows, was &c. , Churches, quite apart from the usually depended, not on the law dealing
that of a return to the purity of primitive Catholic and Apostolic Church. John's with the point, but only on the law cited
and uncorrupted times; and the conception concession of his kingdom and his oath of in the case and the power of the opposing
of continuous evolution, of an advance fealty (most certainly drawn by a canonist) advocate to produce contradictory law.
beyond the limits set by the past, is one
which has appeared at a late period in the
were to the Ecclesia Romana, and obvi- Lastly, as Mr. Ogle points out, much of
statute
ously the Universal Church did not receive the Roman Canon Law is not
history of thought. '
the head-rent that England had to pay; at all, but merely declarations of custom,
Of the world in which we live and its Magna Charta confirmed to the Ecclesia obviously a different thing.
language not much is said, nor could Anglicana all its rights and liberties; the
If we pass over in silence the fact that
much be expected within the limits of a
Dictum of Kenilworth (1266) expressly the Canon Law made provision for dis-
small volume. Mr. Smith, however, notes differentiates the “Sacrosancta Catholica obedience to part of its code under the
the rage for introspection which has now atque Apostolica Romana Ecclesia” and pretext of " consuetudo”; that subjects.
almost become a disease. He leaves un the" Ecclesia Anglicana”; and Archbishop which are vital to its jurisdictione. g. ,
touched that Americanization which has Boniface summoned his clergy to discuss patronage-were excluded from English
affected the whole of our life, especially “Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ eventus. ' We have Ecclesiastical Courts; that its rules as to
in the press, and the increasing vocabulary thus some guide as to what was the ritual can be disobeyed; that its courts
of sport and pleasure, which erects the mediæval conception of the English can take cognizance of things with which
popular mime to the lordship over lan- Church. Of course, every member of the the Canon Law does not deal—if, in short,
guage deserved only by the poet. The Ecclesia Anglicana was also a member we avail ourselves of Friar Tuck's formula
pedantry of the learned, who frequently of the Church Universal, but the separate “exceptis excipiendis,” we can agree with
make mistakes when they pretend to be existence of the former is bound up with Maitland that the Canon Law had the
most accurate, is fully recognized in these that of rights and immunities, not of force of “ absolutely binding statute law”;
pages. Freedom from any such influ- theological doctrines or ritual observances. but it is as well that we should be clear on
ences is certainly a characteristic of the No lawyer can deny that, whatever these the force of this agreement. The whole
present age. Commerce and invention rights and immunities were on the day subject is difficult; early Ecclesiastical
go their own wild way in language. The that Henry VII. was alive and dead,” to Courts were not courts of record—all we
hostile and often furious abuse and fix a point when the English Church was know of their procedure is derived from
opposition ” of which Mr. Smith speaks by common consent Catholic, they were the documents drawn up by litigants in
is not so much “ hard to withstand
unaltered at the accession of James I. -
a few famous cases, and we
futile and useless. We look to such books that is, that the Ecclesia Anglicana in the likely to learn much more of them than
as this to improve the standard of English, only sense in which it ever had a legal we know now-still, we are thankful to
and to suggest to a public which is some-existence has had
existence has had a continuous one.
Mr. Ogle for a very clear and simple
what dazed, perhaps, by the flattering
Maitland's arguments were directed not criticism of Maitland's brilliant and stimu-
recital of its new powers and opportunities, to this point, but to the denial that there lating excursion into a part of our history
that it has a good deal to learn.
was any considerable body of Canon Law which has remained for centuries almost a
peculiar to English Ecclesiastical Courts. sealed book. Doubtless Mr. Ogle will be
He himself pointed out a number of answered by some of Maitland's followers.
The Canon Law in Mediæval England. By importance, while Mr. Ogle devotes much discussion of a purely historical question
divergences, of which he minimized the In the meantime it may be hoped that the
Arthur Ogle. (John Murray. )
space to emphasizing them. In this we will not
will not be complicated by modern
It is, perhaps, to be regretted that an think he is right. Canon Law has its basis political issues.
historical problem should be raised in the in Christian ethics and principles of Roman
discussion of Disestablishment in Wales jurisprudence, and many of the decretals
which, it is patent, will be settled on quite of the Roman Pontiffs are, on the face of
different considerations; and the publica- them, mere statements of what these FLEET STREET AND THE STRAND.
tion of such a clear and well-written con- involve in the particular case submitted MR. CHANCELLOR may consider himself
tribution to the study of the problem as
to them. When we put on
fortunate in that he is the first in the field
Mr. Ogle has given hardly consoles us for questions of property in its public aspect, in the separate treatment of the history
the spectacle of well-intentioned poli- with which English law did not allow the of two such important streets as Fleet
ticians and others quoting dicta of which Church to interfere, and matters
they understand neither the force nor the public policy, where writs of prohibition Street and the Strand. Much, of course,
this: prevented the Ecclesiastical Courts from thoroughfare stretching from the City .
Stubbs made certain statements as to coming to any decision, we have very walls to Charing Cross, but no distinct
the authority of Canon Law in English little left on which to found a separate volumes have previously been devoted
pre-Reformation Church Courts ; Maitland code. Maitland complains, for example
, to the registration of the varied occur-
thought that these were over-statements that there was no English marriage law :
rences and associations connected with it.
of fact, and quoted Bishop Lyndwood, naturally, one would think, since there
Boswell obtained Johnson's agreement
an English fifteenth-century canonist, to no English, but only Christian
prove that these courts were absolutely marriage. We have now
to his assertion that Fleet Street was more
an English
bound by every part of Canon Law. He marriage law, with the fantastic result delightful than Tempe, although the
then went on to deduce-or his inter- that a man may be legally married to grounds of comparison between the two
preters deduce for him—that,
are not very evident; and Lord Beacons-
three women in as many
as English
different countries.
Church Courts after the Reformation are Mr. Ogle's treatment of Maitland's field declared that the Strand was the
admittedly not absolutely bound by Canon attack on the position of Stubbs as to
finest street in Europe. Charles Lamb's.
Law, the post - Reformation Church of the authority of Canon Law in English The Annals of Fleet Street ; its Traditions and
England is not the same body as the courts errs, if anything, on the side of
Associations. By E. Beresford Chancellor.
pre-Reformation Ecclesia Anglicana. Now under-statement. The use of, and the
(Chapman & Hall. )
no one will suspect us of disrespect to so unconscious connotations implied by, such The Annals of the Strand, Topographical and
famous a scholar as Maitland when we 'terms as "absolutely binding statute law Historical. (Same author and publishers. )
was


## p. 497 (#377) ############################################

No. 4410, May 4, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
497
>
exclamation, “I often shed tears in the It has now been restored by the London Chancellor Earl of Beaumont), ambassador
County Council as far as possible to its to this country from France. The famous
much life," however, enlists our sym- original state as the office of the Duchy of Rosny, afterwards Duc de Sully, who
pathy more thoroughly, and makes us Cornwall under Henry, Prince of Wales. came to England in 1603 as Ambassador
feel its true influence in spite of its The charming Temple, with its beautiful Extraordinary to James I. , resided in
narrowness and want of grandeur. round church-one of London's greatest this house for a few days until Arundel
Both streets are ancient as roads, but assets—would alone give distinction to House was ready for his reception.
Fleet Street takes priority from being the Fleet Street, but there is much more of Butcher Row and its neighbourhood
natural outgrowth of the City, as one of great historical interest. The two came to be filled with disreputable inhabi-
the suburbs that gradually grew up churches in Fleet Street, St. Dunstan's tants, and was cleared away in 1813, when
outside the walls, and extended from the and St. Bride's, are described in a separate the considerable improvements advocated
various gates into the country beyond chapter.
by Alderman Pickett were carried out;
until they were included within the City The memory of the old Friary of the but Pickett Street was itself destroyed
jurisdiction as “the Liberties. " The Carmelites, or White Friars, has been when the fresh clearance of the site of
Strand was for some centuries merely a almost wiped out of existence, but the the new Law Courts was undertaken.
road for heavy traffic, lined on the south privilege of sanctuary which it possessed Of the early history of this east end of
side with the offices and stables attached
was continued to the inhabitants of the the Strand there is stiil much to be learnt,
to the mansions built on the banks of the precinct after the Dissolution. In conse-
and we may some day be able to explain
Thames. Its name is apparently much quence the place was named Alsatia, as the old tenure of the Forge of the farrier
more ancient than that of Fleet Street, as being one of the most dangerous places of the Strand, by the terms of which the
it was obtained long before any houses in London, where fraudulent debtors, Sheriffs of London still pay the yearly
were built there. Fleet Street takes its name gamblers, and the outcasts of society rent of six horseshoes and nails. The
from the time when the Fleet ditch (now gathered as to a favoured retreat. Mac- history of St. Clement's parish is illus-
a sewer) was really a navigable river.
aulay pictures it with vivid language in trated by a passage in Strype's additions
Mr. Chancellor gives a good account of the third chapter of his History of to Stow's 'Survey (book iv. chap. vii. ),
Fleet Street and its inhabitants, as well England. ' The baneful “privilege was quoted from information given by Re-
as the streets on the north and the south; abolished in 1697, but it was many years corder Fleetwood to Lord Burghley, to
but the varied interests of the locality are
before the neighbourhood returned to the effect that those Danes married to
so considerable that he must have found the ranks of respectability. Whitefriars English women who were left in London
it difficult to compress all he had to say has lately been largely rebuilt, by which after the others were driven out of the
into a single volume. It is pleasing to means more room has been found for kingdom, were constrained to inhabit
read of the changes in the character of its newspaper offices and warehouses more between Westminster and Ludgate," and
inhabitants at different periods of its
or less connected with literature. The built a synagogue called Ecclesia Cle-
existence. At one time it was the head- old Whitefriars Theatre was built on the mentis Danorum. " This throws some
quarters of printers and booksellers, such site of the hall of the Friary, to be suc- light on the known fact that much of
as Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Berthelet, ceeded, first by the Salisbury Court Fleet Street belonged to the Abbey of
Robert and William Copland, and others. Theatre, and then by the Duke's Theatre Westminster. The open-air court held
Before 1502, when Pynson removed to
in Dorset Gardens. The old Blackfriars by the justices itinerant at the stone cross
the George, next St. Dunstan's Church, Theatre was also not far from Fleet Street. opposite what afterwards became Somerset
he lived in St. Clement's parish without
The chapter on the taverns and coffee - House proves the great antiquity of this
Temple Bar. In later times many famous
houses contains a full account of the district.
booksellers had shops in Fleet Street. various signs which were plentiful in this
We are glad to be able to recommend
Now the leading newspapers have taken district, but we must protest against the Mr. Chancellor's two volumes, as
the place of the book - producers.
misquotation in Herrick's apostrophe to taining a mass of interesting information
For many years Fleet Street exhibited
Ben Jonson. The author has the grace in a convenient form. Both books are
in a special degree one of the chief features to add, “The Dog' is sometimes printed arranged on a similar plan, and as relating
of a suburb—that of being one of the instead of the ' Cheese ""; but
it is hardly to
one connected thoroughfare, they
show-places of London for monsters, giants, necessary
to say that “Dog” is the only should be read together.
dwarfs, posture-makers, and fire-eaters.