The Olaf Saga is
young) believes that the existing Labour South American state of Anchuria and its illustrated by reproductions of pen drawings
Party has already reached its political capital Coralio.
young) believes that the existing Labour South American state of Anchuria and its illustrated by reproductions of pen drawings
Party has already reached its political capital Coralio.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
4397, FEB.
3, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
123
was
wear
us
philanthropy, and commercial enterprise for the denationalizing school—there is room Plateau proper. Of the Kagoro and their
resources. What a chance was lost,"
for a third, one which, taking note to-day neighbours Major Tremearne, who
she remarks, “ for saying 'Soapine did it! '” that the West African is å landowner, stationed among them for some time, has
In the end she started in 1904, without skilled desires that he shall continue to be one much to tell. They are, or were, it seems,
assistance, and reached a height of 20,500 ft. | under British rule. Of the marvellous addicted to head-hunting, and the women
on Sorata. In 1908, with two Swiss guides, progress of Nigeria in recent times he tells an ornament fastened round their
her sixth attempt on Mount Huascarán was much : Ten years ago. . . . neither waists and jutting over their loins at the
successful.
property nor life were safe. The peasant root of the spine some remnant of phallic
The accounts of the various climbs are a Aed to the hills, or hurried at nightfall worship, Major Tremearne supposes.
tribute to Miss Peck's firmness, sagacity, within the sheltering walls of the town. Now The author records a curious custom pre-
and nerve.
She had a number of strange he is descending from the hills and abandon- vailing among a kindred tribe, the Moroa :-
experiences with her companions, and, ing the towns.
being a mere woman, was sometimes forced
“ With Moroa people, on the death of a chief,
The early chapters of the book contain his son (or heir if he has no son) must provide
against her judgment, which was amply much pleasant gossip and many interesting a mare which is led around the assembled guests
justified in the event, to adopt unsatis- notes on Mr. Morel's own travels, and he by a laughing woman, who is dressed up for the
factory ways and expedients. That she reminds us that but for the statesmanship occasion. It is absolutely necessary that a mare
herself got through with all her handicaps of Taubman - Goldie and others Nigeria the heir neglect to do so, the ghost of the deceased
and difficulties seems a marvel. Her most would now be the brightest jewel in will never give him any peace and she must
serious accident was the fracture of several the West African Empire of the French. " be sold afterwards ; if not, she will die. Why
did not realize the warning she gave them is. . . . equal in size to the German Empire, and 50 I suppose it must be correct, and after
ribs by a bolting mule. . The Swiss guides In another passage we read that “ Nigeria the woman should have to be laughing is past
of the great dangers of freezing, and one Italy, and Holland, while its population. .
of them, who seized the opportunity of
all it is quite a mistake to suppose that people
can hardly amount to less than fifteen must necessarily look glum on these occasions. "
being first on the summit of Huascarán, had millions. . . . nearly three times as numerous
to submit to amputation in both hands and
half of one foot.
as the native population comprised in the The chapters on courtship and marriage,
South African Union. ” He tells us of divorce and childbirth, music and dancing,
The volume gives full details of elaborate towns with populations of 150,000 and will repay perusal, although they do not
equipment in the way of dress and scientific 100,000, of which the very names are un-
impedimenta, including a “sphygmomano- known in England. His excellent chapter author has the unfortunate habit of wander-
meter," oxygen at high pressure, Japanese on the Agriculturist may cause some who ing off into discussions affecting these
stoves, an Eskimo suit, and a head mask look on the African negro as an ignorant and human peculiarities—from China to Peru.
with a moustache painted on it. “Mountain a lazy creature to change their views. Mr.
Here and there he lets fall words of wisdom
sickness" is, as usual, prominent, and it is Morel has undoubtedly studied Nigeria in regard to general policy when he pleads
clear that without an exceptionally sound with the greatest care, and when he writes for some notion of parallels in discussing the
constitution, as well as a good head, Miss of the necessity of amalgamating the two anthropological customs of primitive hu,
Peck could not have done what she did. Protectorates, his words deserve careful manity, and when he registers the profound
The “people below" provide a good deal consideration. He draws attention to the truth that“ a European will never get any.
of interesting comment, and there are some
inadequate salaries paid to some of our thing like as good or as willing service from
pleasant stories. The Indians are noted officials, and states that, when he visited a native as one of his own natural rulers
as still wearing the dress imposed on them
Kano Province, it was in charge of a Resi- would -a powerful argument for ruling
centuries ago by their Spanish conquerors. A
dent drawing 4701. a year. This for a these people as far as possible indirectly.
Peruvian bull-fight is a milder affair than
man responsible for a region as large as There are many photographs, some of them
those of modern Spain, less dangerous, Scotland and Wales, with a population of excellent, but others would more fittingly
in the author's view, and less brutal than 2,571,000 !
adorn the pages of an anthropological
big college games of football in the United The book has a useful Index, and is full of journal, and we cannot congratulate the
States.
excellent photographs. We have checked author on his frontispiece.
The illustrations are excellent; the map many of Mr. Morel's statistics, which are
gives an idea of the country in general, but up to date, and have found them correct. Mr. W. B. COTTON's unpretentious and use-
is not sufficient in detail. The book is well His suggestions in An Unauthorized ful book, published by Messrs. Rowland Ward
written, though we think the least profitable Scheme of Amalgamation ' are so thoughtful and entitled Sport in the Eastern Sudan from
of Miss Peck's excursions is that into the that we could wish he were in the House Souakin to the Blue Nile, is a welcome addi.
vivid ” present tense.
of Commons to advocate his views. His tion to the already voluminous library on
intimate knowledge of African questions the pursuit of game in Africa. The author
would be of service to the country.
wished to investigate the tributaries of the
AFRICA.
Nile in Abyssinia, and had enlisted the
but
sympathy of the Foreign Office;
UNDKR the title of Nigeria : its People
There will soon be no excuse for the the Government at Adis Ababa did not,
and its Problems (Smith & Elder), Mr. E. D.
British public to plead ignorance on the apparently, consent to his application, not
Morel has published a reprint of the articles subject of Nigeria, for Major A. J. N. Tre improbably because that part of tho country,
which he recently contributed to two leading
mearne's The Tailed Headhunters of Nigeria which is the borderland between Abyssinia
English newspapers on the greatest and
(Seeley, Service & Co. ) is the fourth volume and the Sudan, is inhabited by a wild race
most interesting of our tropical African
dealing with our West African Protectorate with scant respect either for orders from
Protectorates. He had no need to assure
which has appeared in the last three months, head-quarters or for the life of a stranger
us of his sincerity, for all in this country and two more are said to be on the way, within their gates. So, to use his own words,
know his work. As might be expected, he
On the whole, this must be pronounced a
pleads eloquently for the native. He
says
disappointing book, despite its sensational " having learned that the Abyssinian part of
that
my scheme was unworkable, I made up my mind
the native is the important person title. It suffers from the defect common
to be considered,” and he shows that the in books of this class, whose authors ramble to begin business by shooting ibex in the hills
Nigerian is not merely an incidental factor swamping matters of real interest in triviali
on with little or no sense of sequence, eastern skirts of the Nubian desert to Kassala,
but the paramount factor. He
afterwards to shoot along the valleys of the
powerfully against those who suggest that ties, and producing in the end a sort of dis- Atbara and Settit, then to cross the watershed
profits should be the exclusive appanage jointed, glorified diary. Now nothing is and shoot over the valleys of the Rahad and
of the white race, and replies to those who
more tedious than the hunt for pearls among travel home by rail and steamer við Khartoum
would "cheerfully impose their will by the leaves of a diary especially an African
brutal violence. ” In another place he diary. A good third of the volume is
speaks against those who argue that a
irrelevant to the subject specified in the Mr. Cotton commends the country, as
native, who learned how to smelt tin before title, and could have been omitted with healthy, and says he never felt better than
we knew there was tin in the country, should advantage.
when his trip was over, though from his
no longer be permitted to do so, now that The Kagoro, the tribe Major Tremearne diary it would seem that he suffered con-
we wish to smelt it ourselves”; and he designates more particularly as
stantly from headache. His Indian experi-
sketches a pleasant picture of the good Headhunters, are a southern section of ence in camp life doubtless helped him
qualities of his native carrier :
. . the the congeries of peoples remaining outside greatly in general management, and he
reckless, cheery, loyal rascal, who seems to the belt of Mohammedan conquest, and
took with him two Indian servants, who
me a mixture of the knight of the road and inhabiting a stretch of country, mostly added considerably to his comfort.
the poacher. ” Mr. Morel thinks that be- hilly and difficult of access, between the The book may be divided into two parts.
tween the two schools of thought in native extremities of the Zaria and Nassarawa The first, gives details of the camp equipage,
affairs-the damned nigger school and 'provinces, and running up into the Bauchi the battery, the wild animals of the Eastern
to London. "
66
" Tailed
## p. 124 (#106) ############################################
124
THE ATHEN ÆUM
No. 4397, FEB, 3, 1912
1
1
Sudan, and plans for shooting felines at Queensland plantations. He relates his ex- tears is easy, as he says, to snivelling and
night from a place of safety with an un- |periences with a minute fidelity to events giggles, but he will never reach that popular
fortunate animal tied up as a bait, and the which leaves the reader agreeably impressed Avernus, while he may, we hope, entirely
assistance of an electric lamp. The second with his lucidity and quick powers of observa- disregard that accusation of sécheresse du
part is simply the author's journal, little tion. Indeed, a close scrutiny of the book caur which has been made by the undiscern-
altered, we imagine, from the original, and makes one regret that civilization has failed, ing. His poignant and distinguished work
therefore more valuable, though revision for all its triumphs, to attain to the qualities in the language “of his secret choice"
would have improved the diction. At the of simplicity, geniality, and communistic need fear no criticism, and has long earned
end of the book there are tables of stores, generosity which many of the tribes in the regard of the minds best worth attention.
weights and measurements of game, and the the Solomon Islands possess. When their
varieties of game with their Arabic equi- cannibal instincts slumber, the majority DR. ESTLIN CARPENTER describes A Peasant
valents, but without the scientific names-a pass their lives in a prosperous round of Sage of Japan (Longmans) as & unique
regrettable omission. There are also a small content, equality, and good-fellowship, record in the annals of Oriental Philan.
Arabic vocabulary, an index, and a sufficient which industrial &urope and America might thropy. ” In his Introduction he says :-
map, but there are no illustrations.
well envy. In many communities the status “Coming with its message of sincerity and
of women is co-equal with that of men, and goodwill from a culture wholly different from our
existence, except for occasional cannibal own, it bears impressive witness to the funda-
forays, idyllic. Apart from periodic outbursts human service in the greatest of the religions of
mental identity between the noblest aims of
THE SOUTH SEAS.
of fine writing, the author's style is remark- the East and West. "
Dr. Max Herz, the author of New Zealand :
able for its taste and lack of attitudinizing.
It would, however, be difficult to name a
the Country and the People (Werner Laurie),
Western religion which inculcated the giving
undertook an expedition of discovery in
away of
all
unnecessary possessions,
New Zealand, and left it convinced of the
material or other, in the service of Heaven
country's vast resources and beautiful
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
TABLE. and mankind. ” Many will dismiss the
scenery. The book was originally written
work as merely a collection of copy-book
in German, and was translated, at least in MR. JOSEPH CONRAD, in calling his latest maxims, and for that impression we think
the rough, by the author. It is divided into book Some Reminiscences (Eveleigh Nash), the intentionally archaic form of the trans-
parts, which comprise an account of the prepares us for that selective talent which lation is to blame. It is a relief to find such
country physiographically, a history of the is a marked feature of his distinction, and a modern phrase as “ This is no time for
Dominion from its early days in succinct the absence of those personalities bordering red tape " put into the mouth of Sontoku
narration, a disquisition on it politically on indiscretion which make for popularity. Ninomiya, the Japanese sage and reformer
and socially, an appreciation of the scenery
His reminiscences go only as far as his life who is the subject of the work.
in the form of an itinerary, and a study of at sea, and the publication of ' Almayer's
New Zealanders themselves. Dr. Herz is
Folly, the manuscript of which wandered who insisted so much upon the spirit in
It is something of a shock to find one
no blind admirer of the people and their
with him hither and thither for five years. which an action was performed, rather
ways. On the contrary, he is at times a
He aims at showing the man behind the than the letter of its performance, setting
caustic critic. He gives a shrewd analysis of
books, and his self-portraiture is at once his wife to keep a man, who had been work-
the Prohibition and No-Licence movement, characteristic and unforgettable, a thing of ing against his schemes for benefiting his
and comes to the conclusion that the former significant glimpses and sayings, wilfully fellows, in a state of drunkenness for days
will never be carried, on account of the blow discursive-indeed, reminding us of Sterne in succession. In this Sontoku seems to
it would deal at tourist traffic and immigra- in its indifference to the claims of mere have stooped to a casuistry only too familiar
tion among other things. The recent elec. narrative and the subtlety of its touches. among altruists—the doing of a little wrong
tions in the Dominion, which resulted in He never wrote a line till he was thirty-six, in order that a great reform may not be
the defeat of the Government, lend force and now, after fifteen years of authorship, delayed. We gladly absolve the subject
to this opinion. Dr. Herz notes the failure he first allows himself some comments on of this biography from any attempt to
of the Compulsory Arbitration Act, from literary criticism. With him the strain justify himself by a belief in woman's moral
which enthusiasts had hoped so much. of creative effort is so great that the intru. or other inferiority. Sontoku Ninomiya
Its critics in this country have always sion of the well-meaning Philistine is agoniz- seems to have been advanced, for we learn
contended that the Act would be successful ing. He does not think that his previous that “all men he forbade to read the book
only so long as good times lasted, and that state of existence was a good equipment called Woman's Great Learning, which
with the fall of wages in periods of distress for a literary life and the reception of deals with the duties of wives to their
it would be impracticable to apply penal criticism. Perhaps not; but would any husbands. "
clauses to labour in the mass.
Only when the author comes to the
a temperament must, one thinks, suffer from A History of Labour Representation, by
"bush” is he wholehearted in his praise. the crudity, of average life, whatever its A. W. Humphrey (Constable), is, of neces-
His verdict on the forest of Westland no
environment or business. But it has its sity, full of details and of na nes, and the
one acquainted with the luxuriant vegetation exceptional pleasures as well as penalties, and latter, we note, are not illuminated by any
from the Otira Gorge downwards will at the world has Mr. Conrad's books, and is vivifying touches of character. Interesting,
tempt to deny. His enthusiasm naturally with Almayer, without which there would but not unbiased attempt to record the
profoundly glad that he went to that dinner however, it remains, as an evidently honest,
extends to the sounds and the southern
lakes, as well as to the Alpine ranges of the have been no line in print of his. We hear most important political
development of
Whether the history
South Island. In this region, owing to the nothing of the dinner, but Almayer lives for our day and country.
early explorations of Sir Julius von Haast us, drawn in a word or two, and there are will be perfectly comprehensible to readers
(misspelt
throughout by the
admirable sketches of the author's mother quite outside the range of that movement
printers), many of the peaks bear German
and relations, in particular his great-uncle, seems doubtful—the more so on account of
Labour
names, which tickles Dr. Herz's national from Moscow, ate a Lithuanian village dog. representation. ” In one
view - Labnument
a taciturn old soldier who, in the retreat the inherent ambiguity of the term
vanity.
In the portrayal of this stubborn man Mr. presentation" means the return to Parliament
Conrad gives us at once character and of working-men, irrespective of their political
I
My Adventures among South Sea Cannibalsi
narrative.
By Douglas Rannie. (Seeley, Service & Co. )
creed or of their party ties. This view
Since the age of five he has been a honestly supported by some pacific trade-
-After having digested the account of the great reader, and his introduction to English unionists, and
warmly urged by party
massacre on board the Young Dick, with literature was the reading of his father's Liberals--was, some twenty years ago a
sundry bloodthirsty descriptions of a similar translation of th The Two Gentlemen of great cause of confused thinking, and me
character, we were sufficiently schooled for the Verona. " He adores Bleak House," and serious hindrance to political organization;
nightmare that subsequently occurred. But read Victor Hugo in youth. His charac. while the contrary, view, namely, that
on a second perusalwe are inclined to revisean ters ” from various ships all contain the “ Labour representation" meant the return
estimate based upon
the momentary realism
words strictly sober," which are adduced to Parliament of members pledged to a
of nightmare. For the merit of this book to prove the general sobriety of his judgment certain political creed, and free to maintain,
is that its author has steered clear of sensa-
tion, and kept sturdily to fact and narration. Philosophers, for instance, who live in a
in mundane affairs. That will hardly do it against Liberals and Conservatives alike,
was upheld consistently by the clearest
He recognizes, that cannibalism, as experts Jaeger world and forswear strong drink,
thinkers then active in Labour affairs.
readily acknowledge, by no
be-
be suspected of more sustained madness Thus arose the first Independent Labour
tokens wholesale degeneracy among the than the occasionally inspired toper. There Party, 60 called, of which that singularly
natives who practise it or inherit its tradition.
can, however, be no question about the able and undaunted man, Mr.
He sailed for the Western Pacific as dignity and sincerity of Mr. Conrad's view Champion, was probably the real founder,
Government Agent to recruit labour for the of letters. The descent from laughter and while Mr. Keir Hardie was the most con-
1
$
1
1
van
means
## p. 125 (#107) ############################################
No. 4397, FEB. 3, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
125
-
1
as
-
on too
on
an
spicuous figure. Their doings were a great members of the Atkinson family seem rather with the episode of Eric Thambarskelvir's
help to the cause of Labour, and pro- less in place.
bow " What brake there so loudly ? ”
portionately unpopular with party poli.
“Norway in thy hands, ( King ! ”-fitly
ticians and with trade-unionists who called THE LATE 0. HENRY's American stories winds up Olaf's career. Harold Hardrada
themselves Labour candidates while standing are of that type of work which creates an had an even more adventurous life-passing
as Liberals. For several years these two uncomfortable disturbance in the atmosphere from the service of Duke Yaroslaf into that
men were abused, denounced, and calum. of contemporary letters. He made im- of the Greek Emperor, helping in the blinding
niated as very few men in our time have petuous onset upon the established forms of Manuel, fighting on almost every shore
been; indeed, the cloud of suspicion then and conventions, and by the sheer dash and of the Mediterranean from Sicily to Egypt
aroused continues, in the eyes of many tumultuous recklessness of his sortie levelled and Syria, and carrying off the Empress's
people worth regard, to envelope Mr. Hardie, those prim barricades and set his flag in the niece. His story ends in England at the
who is, to the present reviewer, the most centre of the citadel. In Cabbages and Kings Battle of Stamford Bridge, in the great fight
sternly logical and intellectually consistent (Eveleigh Nash) we are furnished some between Tosti and his brother Harold
figure in British politics to-day. Of course, insight into the workings of those sorceries Godwinson, and no one can read it without
the serpent of Champion and Hardie which captured the people of his generation a stirring of the blood.
has long since devoured the competing and held them spellbound. In form, it is Miss Heame's translation is very good,
serpents of those milder prophets, their a continuous narrative of the events and though sometimes she darkens counsel by
rivals; and Mr. Humphrey (whom we the personages who reacted upon them, using words that are not English, e. g. , rift-
may perhaps conjecture to be still rather who lived their little hour in the imaginary worm (for ring-worm).
The Olaf Saga is
young) believes that the existing Labour South American state of Anchuria and its illustrated by reproductions of pen drawings
Party has already reached its political capital Coralio. In spirit, however, the (some of them excellent) by Erek Weren-
maturity, and is, in its turn, on the eve of setting is purely a convenient background skiold, Christian Krohg, and other Norse
being taken in the flank by a new Socialist for stringing together a series of crisp and artists. The book is extremely well printed
party. Political parties, however, are plants pointed stories, intrinsically self-sufficing. (though ye” is occasionally introduced
of no rapid growth; and to older heads The style is oddly mated with the impres- for “the”) by the Chiswick Press, and is
it appears probable that Mr. Victor Grayson sion of the stories as a whole. It observes issued in a very attractive form.
was the sort of swallow that does not no laws, and treads in no prescribed path.
make a summer. The clog that really It is of an accidental, haphazard quality
delayed the formation of a Socialist political which solves the dilemma of achieving with a paper on The Early English Text
The Library for January (Moring) opens
party (as the Liberal-Labour theory delayed what it set out to do with a gay insouciance Society and Dr. Furnivall
, by Mr. H. B.
that of a genuine Labour Party) was the as delightful as it is indefinable. The core
non-constructive character of the Social of the matter is that the solution is effected. Wheatley, in which a notice is given,
Democratic Federation
speakers were apt in one breath to declare with the fault of occasionally gaining its end the Early English Text Society, and their
a body whose The author's method is studiously objective: largely from personal knowledge, of the
early history of the Oxford Dictionary. '
that the workers must seize the instru-by too patent an ingenuity. He excels in
connexion with the Philological Society.
ments of production,” and in the next to swift transitions, radiant audacities of phrase Miss Bartlett gives an account of The
denounce
mere palliative any and thought, which sweep us abruptly and
practicable step that might possibly lead almost unwillingly into communion with Mirror for Magistrates, and Mr. W. E. A.
in that direction.
Seventeenth - Century
his feeling. He is but seldom the nebulous
Axon reproduces a
Lament
That a Socialist political movement is visionary, loving to fill his canvas with
many books,"
by
nearly due is fairly evident.
note,
That it will broad, sharp, and even angular strokes, epigram of the same writer on Dr. Gilbert
Martin Despois, and, in
require at least ten years to become powerful, He never oscillates, either failing. lamentably Primrose, a collateral ancestor of Lord
and that the Labour Party is likely in the or reaching his goal with the inevitability Rosebery, whose recent paradoxical speech
meantime to wax a good deal before it begins of true art. H province is that
to wane, are forecasts sanctioned by the man's land,” or rather every man's land, gives an account of the scheme adopted for
inspired Mr. Axon's paper. Mr. T. W. Huck
precedents of experience.
which lies between tragedy and comedy,
and on the borderland of both. Here he is drawing up a Bibliography of London, and
Lafcadio Hearn. By Nina H. Kennard.
an adventurer in the best sense, not the
now in progress of execution by a small
(Eveloigh Nash. )-Without being a profound from what he sees, but the discoverer of
excursionist who snatches a fugitive joy
committee of workers, of which Miss Hadley
is the secretary:
Mr. Gray solves the
study of Hearn's character, this book pre- the eternal newness which underlies the point he raised in the July number of
sents him with a good deal of detachment
and spontaneous understanding. The writ-
The Library as to Bishop Fisher's sermons
common, fundamental realities of life. So
Mr. Hessels continues
against Luther.
ing is often slack, and the sentiments
his work attains to the generic, not by his examination of the so-called Gutten-
fall sometimes into confusion; but the
but the generalizing, but by perceiving the universal
Miss Lee's article on
berg Documents.
and in
likerative has, on the whole, an easy style of mankind. This high praise is but the Recent Foreign Literature, and paper
that the of
by
Oxford
journalism. Miss Kennard's main contribu: well known in America, but in Europe still
proper meed of appreciation for a writer
University Press and the Stationers'
tion to the subject consists of a series of
passages which she has been allowed to
to a large extent unfamiliar.
Company,' conclude the number,
select from letters written by Hearn to his
half - sister Mrs. Atkinson, with whom,
It was a somewhat bold enterprise to
through correspondence, he became quite attempt another translation of the "Heims- MISSING MSS. OF FREDERICK THE
intimate, although he never saw her. These kringla' after William Morris, though
GREAT.
letters, while they last, are full of tenderness justified in the case of The Sagas of
and consideration, of natural human curio- Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald the Tyrant
The University, Birmingham.
sity about relatives and ancestry, of plans (Harald Haardraade) by the attractive form WILL
to appeal, on
for a possible meeting and hopes of conversa-
in which Messrs. Williams & Norgate put | behalf of my friend Prof. Mangold of
tion face to face ; but, like those written to the translation before the public, and by the Berlin, to readers of The Athenæum for
Prof. Chamberlain, they were broken off limited
circulation of “The Saga Library information as to the whereabouts of some
under no ascertainable" provocation, and in which the former appeared. Miss Hearne of the missing MSS. of Frederick the Great of
Mrs. Atkinson was left to find out from has translated Prof. Storm's Norse version Prussia ? It seems that after the edition
a third party, months afterwards, that her of the 'Heimskringla' instead of the Icelandic, of his works in 1788–9 had been printed,
half-brother
still alive. After his and is thus at the disadvantage of losing the MSS. were disposed of by his publishers,
death she visited Japan and saw Hearn's some of the sharpness of outline of the Voss & Decker, partly by gift and partly by
widow and children in Tokio : Miss Kennard original saga; while the “ kennings sale. Prof. Hans Droysen, in his work
describes the impressions she received, and almost entirely smoothed away. Among entitled “Friedrichs des Grossen literarischer
thoy enable us to picture Hearn's domestic life the tales of the Heimskringla' the sagas of Nachlass. (published by Weidmann, Berlin,
in some ways very charmingly. Several of Olaf Tryggvison (we prefer the old spelling) 1911, price 18. ), has traced a number of
the illustrations to the volume are also of land of Harold Hardrada are in many ways these MSS. , and has also shown that negotia-
interest.
Kazuo, the elder of Hearn's the most characteristic, as they certainly tions for the sale of some of them were
boys, appears three times, and notably at are the most romantic. Olaf's adventures conducted in London in 1792 with a second-
the
ago
of
seven, when he is really a delicious begin almost at his birth, and his career hand dealer of the name of Heidinger.
No
imp, with Eastern eyes in an un-Eastern leads him through all the successes open to trace of this firm, however, remains at the
head. We see also Kazuo's mother and the a wandering swordsman in Russia under present day, and inquiries instituted by
picturesque figure of his nurse, not to men- Vladimir the Great at Novgorod, or to a Prof. Mangold at the Record Office and the
tion the gallant Major Charles Bush Hearn, Viking on the shores of Britain or Ireland. British Museun have been only partially
Lafcadio's father. The three likenesses of The last scene of all, the sea-fight at Svoldr, successful; yet everything seems to point
no
you allow
me
22
was
are
## p. 126 (#108) ############################################
126
No. 4397, FEB. 3, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
are
66
to the probability that some of the missing I admit that I have gone to school to might be stated to occur. A reference to
MSS. somewhere in England. The Edward Meyer, the ablest historian of Greece $ 24 will show that the absence of declension
statement made by Mr. Hamilton in his since George Grote, according to the writer by inflection in Persian is clearly stated.
Memorials of Frederick the Great' (London, on Greek history in the new Encyclopædia May I also say that domi of the Latin is.
1880, vol. i. p. 270), that he had seen an Britannica'; but your reviewer is unlucky really an adverb, and not comparable in any
autograph of the king's Pièces diverses in his choice of an instance by which to way with the Persian dar khāna, the equi.
in the private library of the Emperor Wil. prove my alleged dependence upon the valent of which in Latin is the rarer use
liam I. , is declared by Prof. Mangold to rest Berlin master. “Thus,” he argues,
in domo ? A similar adverbial usage occurs.
on some misunderstanding, and it is sug- our author alludes to a new fragment as if it in colloquial Persian, as when one says Āgā
gested that he may have seen this MS. some. were without doubt from Theopompus, because Ichāna ast (“the master is at home”), omit-
where in England.
this improbable thesis is maintained by Prof.
ting the preposition of the locative case.
Two centuries have now passed since Meyer in his edition of the fragment. ”
Secondly, your reviewer objects to my
Frederick the Great was born; yet we I do nothing of the kind. In my only allu-
possess no satisfactory critical edition of sion to the fragment in question have presentment of the functions of the particle
his works, excepting his correspondence. queried its attribution to Theopompus this particle by my dissatisfaction with the
A service to the cause of historical inquiry (p. 327).
would be rendered by any one who could There is no need to multiply instances of examples given in § 31a of my Grammar are
ordinary explanations of its function. The
send me information which might lead to your reviewer's inability to see what lies necessarily limited, but I have numerous
the discovery and collation of these im- in clear type on the page in front of him.
notes of the occurrence of this particle, and
portant documents.
I should like simply to add, Mr. Editor, in every instance I am convinced that the
E. A. SONNENSCHEIN. that a judgment based upon defective obser-author employed it as a particle of emphasis.
vation is worthless. If it were harmless, I I should be glad to have a reference to
should not have written this letter to you.
passages in which it can be shown that
'HELLENISTIC ATHENS. '
WILLIAM SCOTT FERGUSON.
Firdausī only employed this particle for the
Harvard University.
The reviewer acknowledges his error
purpose of eking out his metre.
in missing the foot-note references to
THE review of my book on 'Hellenistic
Finally, I hope that the wording of the
Athens' which appeared in a recent issue Droysen
and to Hertzberg in a volume (as he Remark on p. 48 as to the use of banda by a
of The Atheneum (1911, ii. p. 618) contains said). “ bristling with learned references. " But speaker” to indicate himself, in prefer-
he still maintains that the author made very ence to using the pronoun of the first person,
so many serious misrepresentations of fact
that you will, I think, acknowledge my
scant use of these two older books, one of is sufficiently clear. I can hardly think that
right to protest. “The subject," it is
which is officially on part of his subject, and any person who reads the Remark in ques-
claimed,
the other far more than an incidental treat- tion could imagine that it is intended to
ment of Athens. In the face of these two apply, to the “classical Persian literature. ”
"requires the skill and enthusiasm of a Droysen, elaborate books, the only real gap is from If a knowledge of Persian is to be of any
and, strange to say, his great history of Hellenism, 221 to 146 B. C. But the reviewer never
value to others than those who are content to
which covers the epoch_up to 221 B. C. , is never
even mentioned by Prof. Ferguson. ”
said that the older books put the new one read Firdausi and Sa'di, to the exclusion of
out of court. Here are his words :-
the idiom of the language of the present day,
This statement is inaccurate. Droysen's
work is cited by me in four of the five
There have been scores of monographs since such idiomatic usages as that to which your
a grammar of the language must deal with
chapters of my historical essay which deal published on special points; many inscriptions
have been found illustrating obscure matters, reviewer takes exception.
with his field (pp. 18, 125, 138, 178, 202,
so that, even after these pioneer works, there was
GEORGE RANKING,
234), and his name appears with an ap- ample material for Mr. Ferguson to arrange and
preciative comment in its proper place in
discuss. In the latter task he has shown himself
We cannot admit that the history
my general bibliography (p. 469).
highly competent,” &c.
and affinities of the Persian language justify
" For its latter portion,” continues my Regarding the book of Prof. Mahaffy in the addition of four cases to the five which
critic,
question, the reviewer has again to confess are commonly recognized. Of course, any
" there is the very learned and careful 'History
that he overlooked one reference to it in one is at liberty to say that dar khāna is a
of Greece under the Romans' by Hertzberg, a
a foot-note. Prof. Ferguson need not have locative case. Our point was that such a
book which seems unknown to this specialist in justified himself by the silence of Beloch, description is unnecessary, and therefore
the subject. Here again a capital source of any more than he need condemn himself on to be deprecated. We could supply Col.
information is ignored. '
account of the frequent mention of the book Ranking with numerous instances in which
Firdausi
By no means. It is neither unknown nor by Holm.
uses the particle mar without
ignored. I have placed Hertzberg's name
"The fragment of the new Theopompus(? )” intending to lay special emphasis on the
That man
with that of Droysen in my bibliographical is not a very clear phrase, which, it appears, following word. E. g. , he says,
appendix (p. 469), and I have also cited
our reviewer misunderstood. We now know of pure religion had a son," and immediately
him in the text where a suitable occasion that he meant the new fragment of Theo- afterwards, The ambitious youth had
arose (pp. 379, 427, 447).
pompus (? )
the name of Zahhāk” (Pizzi, Antologia
“There is another book which Prof. Ferguson general estimate of Prof. Ferguson's work as
We cannot agree that our learned reviewer's Firdusiana, p. 65, 11. 15 and 17). Although
mar is employed in the former instance and
mentions but once, and then to disagree with it,
“ is worthless. ” not in the latter, we fail to detect the
Diri Mahaffy's Greek Life and Thought' during We regret that Mr. Ferguson has been able emphatic force which Col. Ranking would
this very period. ”
This, again, is inaccurate. Dr. Mahaffy's though we
to prove some “ defective observation," ascribe to it invariably. He is mistaken in
book is cited more than once (pp. 90, 178), position in the world of letters.
are glad he appreciates our supposing that we objected to his dealing
with the idiomatic of banda. We
and not always to disagree with it. Nor
criticized his statement on the ground that
have I any apology to offer for this generous
it was not limited in any way, whence the
treatment of his popular work, though
reader would naturally conclude that it
Prof. Beloch, who thinks it has some merit "A GRAMMAR OF THE PERSIAN applies to Persian literature as a whole.
(iii. 2, p. 17), does not cite it at all in the
LANGUAGE.
volume of his
• Greek
History' (iii. 1)
which tells the story of the Hellenistic
Beech Lawn, Park Town, Oxford.
epoch.
May I be permitted to reply very briefly
BOOK SALE.
My book, as I state in a brief Preface, to the criticisms contained in the very appre- MESSRS. SOTHEBY's first sale of the new year,
"aims to fill a conspicuous gap in historical ciative notice of my work which you have which took place on Tuesday, January 23rd,
literature," namely, the lack of “a con- been so kind as to publish in your issue of and the two succeeding days, included the follow-
nected history of Athens during the Hel- | January 13th ?
ing interesting books : Beaumont and Fletcher,
lenistic period. ”. Your reviewer misquotes
Wit Without Money, 1639; Fletcher and Shake-
Firstly, fault is found with my statement
speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1634; and four
my text in making his argument against that there are nine cases, in Persian. I others, 311. Military Costume of Europe, 2 vols. ,
His argument, moreover, is not simply venture to think that the view is borne out 1822, 161. 108. A Collection of Playbills from
that my field is covered substantially by the both by the affinities and evolutional history the Library of John Genest, 26 vols. , 1786-1832,
old familiar histories of Hellenism in general of Persian, and by the phenomena of the
161.
THE ATHENÆUM
123
was
wear
us
philanthropy, and commercial enterprise for the denationalizing school—there is room Plateau proper. Of the Kagoro and their
resources. What a chance was lost,"
for a third, one which, taking note to-day neighbours Major Tremearne, who
she remarks, “ for saying 'Soapine did it! '” that the West African is å landowner, stationed among them for some time, has
In the end she started in 1904, without skilled desires that he shall continue to be one much to tell. They are, or were, it seems,
assistance, and reached a height of 20,500 ft. | under British rule. Of the marvellous addicted to head-hunting, and the women
on Sorata. In 1908, with two Swiss guides, progress of Nigeria in recent times he tells an ornament fastened round their
her sixth attempt on Mount Huascarán was much : Ten years ago. . . . neither waists and jutting over their loins at the
successful.
property nor life were safe. The peasant root of the spine some remnant of phallic
The accounts of the various climbs are a Aed to the hills, or hurried at nightfall worship, Major Tremearne supposes.
tribute to Miss Peck's firmness, sagacity, within the sheltering walls of the town. Now The author records a curious custom pre-
and nerve.
She had a number of strange he is descending from the hills and abandon- vailing among a kindred tribe, the Moroa :-
experiences with her companions, and, ing the towns.
being a mere woman, was sometimes forced
“ With Moroa people, on the death of a chief,
The early chapters of the book contain his son (or heir if he has no son) must provide
against her judgment, which was amply much pleasant gossip and many interesting a mare which is led around the assembled guests
justified in the event, to adopt unsatis- notes on Mr. Morel's own travels, and he by a laughing woman, who is dressed up for the
factory ways and expedients. That she reminds us that but for the statesmanship occasion. It is absolutely necessary that a mare
herself got through with all her handicaps of Taubman - Goldie and others Nigeria the heir neglect to do so, the ghost of the deceased
and difficulties seems a marvel. Her most would now be the brightest jewel in will never give him any peace and she must
serious accident was the fracture of several the West African Empire of the French. " be sold afterwards ; if not, she will die. Why
did not realize the warning she gave them is. . . . equal in size to the German Empire, and 50 I suppose it must be correct, and after
ribs by a bolting mule. . The Swiss guides In another passage we read that “ Nigeria the woman should have to be laughing is past
of the great dangers of freezing, and one Italy, and Holland, while its population. .
of them, who seized the opportunity of
all it is quite a mistake to suppose that people
can hardly amount to less than fifteen must necessarily look glum on these occasions. "
being first on the summit of Huascarán, had millions. . . . nearly three times as numerous
to submit to amputation in both hands and
half of one foot.
as the native population comprised in the The chapters on courtship and marriage,
South African Union. ” He tells us of divorce and childbirth, music and dancing,
The volume gives full details of elaborate towns with populations of 150,000 and will repay perusal, although they do not
equipment in the way of dress and scientific 100,000, of which the very names are un-
impedimenta, including a “sphygmomano- known in England. His excellent chapter author has the unfortunate habit of wander-
meter," oxygen at high pressure, Japanese on the Agriculturist may cause some who ing off into discussions affecting these
stoves, an Eskimo suit, and a head mask look on the African negro as an ignorant and human peculiarities—from China to Peru.
with a moustache painted on it. “Mountain a lazy creature to change their views. Mr.
Here and there he lets fall words of wisdom
sickness" is, as usual, prominent, and it is Morel has undoubtedly studied Nigeria in regard to general policy when he pleads
clear that without an exceptionally sound with the greatest care, and when he writes for some notion of parallels in discussing the
constitution, as well as a good head, Miss of the necessity of amalgamating the two anthropological customs of primitive hu,
Peck could not have done what she did. Protectorates, his words deserve careful manity, and when he registers the profound
The “people below" provide a good deal consideration. He draws attention to the truth that“ a European will never get any.
of interesting comment, and there are some
inadequate salaries paid to some of our thing like as good or as willing service from
pleasant stories. The Indians are noted officials, and states that, when he visited a native as one of his own natural rulers
as still wearing the dress imposed on them
Kano Province, it was in charge of a Resi- would -a powerful argument for ruling
centuries ago by their Spanish conquerors. A
dent drawing 4701. a year. This for a these people as far as possible indirectly.
Peruvian bull-fight is a milder affair than
man responsible for a region as large as There are many photographs, some of them
those of modern Spain, less dangerous, Scotland and Wales, with a population of excellent, but others would more fittingly
in the author's view, and less brutal than 2,571,000 !
adorn the pages of an anthropological
big college games of football in the United The book has a useful Index, and is full of journal, and we cannot congratulate the
States.
excellent photographs. We have checked author on his frontispiece.
The illustrations are excellent; the map many of Mr. Morel's statistics, which are
gives an idea of the country in general, but up to date, and have found them correct. Mr. W. B. COTTON's unpretentious and use-
is not sufficient in detail. The book is well His suggestions in An Unauthorized ful book, published by Messrs. Rowland Ward
written, though we think the least profitable Scheme of Amalgamation ' are so thoughtful and entitled Sport in the Eastern Sudan from
of Miss Peck's excursions is that into the that we could wish he were in the House Souakin to the Blue Nile, is a welcome addi.
vivid ” present tense.
of Commons to advocate his views. His tion to the already voluminous library on
intimate knowledge of African questions the pursuit of game in Africa. The author
would be of service to the country.
wished to investigate the tributaries of the
AFRICA.
Nile in Abyssinia, and had enlisted the
but
sympathy of the Foreign Office;
UNDKR the title of Nigeria : its People
There will soon be no excuse for the the Government at Adis Ababa did not,
and its Problems (Smith & Elder), Mr. E. D.
British public to plead ignorance on the apparently, consent to his application, not
Morel has published a reprint of the articles subject of Nigeria, for Major A. J. N. Tre improbably because that part of tho country,
which he recently contributed to two leading
mearne's The Tailed Headhunters of Nigeria which is the borderland between Abyssinia
English newspapers on the greatest and
(Seeley, Service & Co. ) is the fourth volume and the Sudan, is inhabited by a wild race
most interesting of our tropical African
dealing with our West African Protectorate with scant respect either for orders from
Protectorates. He had no need to assure
which has appeared in the last three months, head-quarters or for the life of a stranger
us of his sincerity, for all in this country and two more are said to be on the way, within their gates. So, to use his own words,
know his work. As might be expected, he
On the whole, this must be pronounced a
pleads eloquently for the native. He
says
disappointing book, despite its sensational " having learned that the Abyssinian part of
that
my scheme was unworkable, I made up my mind
the native is the important person title. It suffers from the defect common
to be considered,” and he shows that the in books of this class, whose authors ramble to begin business by shooting ibex in the hills
Nigerian is not merely an incidental factor swamping matters of real interest in triviali
on with little or no sense of sequence, eastern skirts of the Nubian desert to Kassala,
but the paramount factor. He
afterwards to shoot along the valleys of the
powerfully against those who suggest that ties, and producing in the end a sort of dis- Atbara and Settit, then to cross the watershed
profits should be the exclusive appanage jointed, glorified diary. Now nothing is and shoot over the valleys of the Rahad and
of the white race, and replies to those who
more tedious than the hunt for pearls among travel home by rail and steamer við Khartoum
would "cheerfully impose their will by the leaves of a diary especially an African
brutal violence. ” In another place he diary. A good third of the volume is
speaks against those who argue that a
irrelevant to the subject specified in the Mr. Cotton commends the country, as
native, who learned how to smelt tin before title, and could have been omitted with healthy, and says he never felt better than
we knew there was tin in the country, should advantage.
when his trip was over, though from his
no longer be permitted to do so, now that The Kagoro, the tribe Major Tremearne diary it would seem that he suffered con-
we wish to smelt it ourselves”; and he designates more particularly as
stantly from headache. His Indian experi-
sketches a pleasant picture of the good Headhunters, are a southern section of ence in camp life doubtless helped him
qualities of his native carrier :
. . the the congeries of peoples remaining outside greatly in general management, and he
reckless, cheery, loyal rascal, who seems to the belt of Mohammedan conquest, and
took with him two Indian servants, who
me a mixture of the knight of the road and inhabiting a stretch of country, mostly added considerably to his comfort.
the poacher. ” Mr. Morel thinks that be- hilly and difficult of access, between the The book may be divided into two parts.
tween the two schools of thought in native extremities of the Zaria and Nassarawa The first, gives details of the camp equipage,
affairs-the damned nigger school and 'provinces, and running up into the Bauchi the battery, the wild animals of the Eastern
to London. "
66
" Tailed
## p. 124 (#106) ############################################
124
THE ATHEN ÆUM
No. 4397, FEB, 3, 1912
1
1
Sudan, and plans for shooting felines at Queensland plantations. He relates his ex- tears is easy, as he says, to snivelling and
night from a place of safety with an un- |periences with a minute fidelity to events giggles, but he will never reach that popular
fortunate animal tied up as a bait, and the which leaves the reader agreeably impressed Avernus, while he may, we hope, entirely
assistance of an electric lamp. The second with his lucidity and quick powers of observa- disregard that accusation of sécheresse du
part is simply the author's journal, little tion. Indeed, a close scrutiny of the book caur which has been made by the undiscern-
altered, we imagine, from the original, and makes one regret that civilization has failed, ing. His poignant and distinguished work
therefore more valuable, though revision for all its triumphs, to attain to the qualities in the language “of his secret choice"
would have improved the diction. At the of simplicity, geniality, and communistic need fear no criticism, and has long earned
end of the book there are tables of stores, generosity which many of the tribes in the regard of the minds best worth attention.
weights and measurements of game, and the the Solomon Islands possess. When their
varieties of game with their Arabic equi- cannibal instincts slumber, the majority DR. ESTLIN CARPENTER describes A Peasant
valents, but without the scientific names-a pass their lives in a prosperous round of Sage of Japan (Longmans) as & unique
regrettable omission. There are also a small content, equality, and good-fellowship, record in the annals of Oriental Philan.
Arabic vocabulary, an index, and a sufficient which industrial &urope and America might thropy. ” In his Introduction he says :-
map, but there are no illustrations.
well envy. In many communities the status “Coming with its message of sincerity and
of women is co-equal with that of men, and goodwill from a culture wholly different from our
existence, except for occasional cannibal own, it bears impressive witness to the funda-
forays, idyllic. Apart from periodic outbursts human service in the greatest of the religions of
mental identity between the noblest aims of
THE SOUTH SEAS.
of fine writing, the author's style is remark- the East and West. "
Dr. Max Herz, the author of New Zealand :
able for its taste and lack of attitudinizing.
It would, however, be difficult to name a
the Country and the People (Werner Laurie),
Western religion which inculcated the giving
undertook an expedition of discovery in
away of
all
unnecessary possessions,
New Zealand, and left it convinced of the
material or other, in the service of Heaven
country's vast resources and beautiful
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
TABLE. and mankind. ” Many will dismiss the
scenery. The book was originally written
work as merely a collection of copy-book
in German, and was translated, at least in MR. JOSEPH CONRAD, in calling his latest maxims, and for that impression we think
the rough, by the author. It is divided into book Some Reminiscences (Eveleigh Nash), the intentionally archaic form of the trans-
parts, which comprise an account of the prepares us for that selective talent which lation is to blame. It is a relief to find such
country physiographically, a history of the is a marked feature of his distinction, and a modern phrase as “ This is no time for
Dominion from its early days in succinct the absence of those personalities bordering red tape " put into the mouth of Sontoku
narration, a disquisition on it politically on indiscretion which make for popularity. Ninomiya, the Japanese sage and reformer
and socially, an appreciation of the scenery
His reminiscences go only as far as his life who is the subject of the work.
in the form of an itinerary, and a study of at sea, and the publication of ' Almayer's
New Zealanders themselves. Dr. Herz is
Folly, the manuscript of which wandered who insisted so much upon the spirit in
It is something of a shock to find one
no blind admirer of the people and their
with him hither and thither for five years. which an action was performed, rather
ways. On the contrary, he is at times a
He aims at showing the man behind the than the letter of its performance, setting
caustic critic. He gives a shrewd analysis of
books, and his self-portraiture is at once his wife to keep a man, who had been work-
the Prohibition and No-Licence movement, characteristic and unforgettable, a thing of ing against his schemes for benefiting his
and comes to the conclusion that the former significant glimpses and sayings, wilfully fellows, in a state of drunkenness for days
will never be carried, on account of the blow discursive-indeed, reminding us of Sterne in succession. In this Sontoku seems to
it would deal at tourist traffic and immigra- in its indifference to the claims of mere have stooped to a casuistry only too familiar
tion among other things. The recent elec. narrative and the subtlety of its touches. among altruists—the doing of a little wrong
tions in the Dominion, which resulted in He never wrote a line till he was thirty-six, in order that a great reform may not be
the defeat of the Government, lend force and now, after fifteen years of authorship, delayed. We gladly absolve the subject
to this opinion. Dr. Herz notes the failure he first allows himself some comments on of this biography from any attempt to
of the Compulsory Arbitration Act, from literary criticism. With him the strain justify himself by a belief in woman's moral
which enthusiasts had hoped so much. of creative effort is so great that the intru. or other inferiority. Sontoku Ninomiya
Its critics in this country have always sion of the well-meaning Philistine is agoniz- seems to have been advanced, for we learn
contended that the Act would be successful ing. He does not think that his previous that “all men he forbade to read the book
only so long as good times lasted, and that state of existence was a good equipment called Woman's Great Learning, which
with the fall of wages in periods of distress for a literary life and the reception of deals with the duties of wives to their
it would be impracticable to apply penal criticism. Perhaps not; but would any husbands. "
clauses to labour in the mass.
Only when the author comes to the
a temperament must, one thinks, suffer from A History of Labour Representation, by
"bush” is he wholehearted in his praise. the crudity, of average life, whatever its A. W. Humphrey (Constable), is, of neces-
His verdict on the forest of Westland no
environment or business. But it has its sity, full of details and of na nes, and the
one acquainted with the luxuriant vegetation exceptional pleasures as well as penalties, and latter, we note, are not illuminated by any
from the Otira Gorge downwards will at the world has Mr. Conrad's books, and is vivifying touches of character. Interesting,
tempt to deny. His enthusiasm naturally with Almayer, without which there would but not unbiased attempt to record the
profoundly glad that he went to that dinner however, it remains, as an evidently honest,
extends to the sounds and the southern
lakes, as well as to the Alpine ranges of the have been no line in print of his. We hear most important political
development of
Whether the history
South Island. In this region, owing to the nothing of the dinner, but Almayer lives for our day and country.
early explorations of Sir Julius von Haast us, drawn in a word or two, and there are will be perfectly comprehensible to readers
(misspelt
throughout by the
admirable sketches of the author's mother quite outside the range of that movement
printers), many of the peaks bear German
and relations, in particular his great-uncle, seems doubtful—the more so on account of
Labour
names, which tickles Dr. Herz's national from Moscow, ate a Lithuanian village dog. representation. ” In one
view - Labnument
a taciturn old soldier who, in the retreat the inherent ambiguity of the term
vanity.
In the portrayal of this stubborn man Mr. presentation" means the return to Parliament
Conrad gives us at once character and of working-men, irrespective of their political
I
My Adventures among South Sea Cannibalsi
narrative.
By Douglas Rannie. (Seeley, Service & Co. )
creed or of their party ties. This view
Since the age of five he has been a honestly supported by some pacific trade-
-After having digested the account of the great reader, and his introduction to English unionists, and
warmly urged by party
massacre on board the Young Dick, with literature was the reading of his father's Liberals--was, some twenty years ago a
sundry bloodthirsty descriptions of a similar translation of th The Two Gentlemen of great cause of confused thinking, and me
character, we were sufficiently schooled for the Verona. " He adores Bleak House," and serious hindrance to political organization;
nightmare that subsequently occurred. But read Victor Hugo in youth. His charac. while the contrary, view, namely, that
on a second perusalwe are inclined to revisean ters ” from various ships all contain the “ Labour representation" meant the return
estimate based upon
the momentary realism
words strictly sober," which are adduced to Parliament of members pledged to a
of nightmare. For the merit of this book to prove the general sobriety of his judgment certain political creed, and free to maintain,
is that its author has steered clear of sensa-
tion, and kept sturdily to fact and narration. Philosophers, for instance, who live in a
in mundane affairs. That will hardly do it against Liberals and Conservatives alike,
was upheld consistently by the clearest
He recognizes, that cannibalism, as experts Jaeger world and forswear strong drink,
thinkers then active in Labour affairs.
readily acknowledge, by no
be-
be suspected of more sustained madness Thus arose the first Independent Labour
tokens wholesale degeneracy among the than the occasionally inspired toper. There Party, 60 called, of which that singularly
natives who practise it or inherit its tradition.
can, however, be no question about the able and undaunted man, Mr.
He sailed for the Western Pacific as dignity and sincerity of Mr. Conrad's view Champion, was probably the real founder,
Government Agent to recruit labour for the of letters. The descent from laughter and while Mr. Keir Hardie was the most con-
1
$
1
1
van
means
## p. 125 (#107) ############################################
No. 4397, FEB. 3, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
125
-
1
as
-
on too
on
an
spicuous figure. Their doings were a great members of the Atkinson family seem rather with the episode of Eric Thambarskelvir's
help to the cause of Labour, and pro- less in place.
bow " What brake there so loudly ? ”
portionately unpopular with party poli.
“Norway in thy hands, ( King ! ”-fitly
ticians and with trade-unionists who called THE LATE 0. HENRY's American stories winds up Olaf's career. Harold Hardrada
themselves Labour candidates while standing are of that type of work which creates an had an even more adventurous life-passing
as Liberals. For several years these two uncomfortable disturbance in the atmosphere from the service of Duke Yaroslaf into that
men were abused, denounced, and calum. of contemporary letters. He made im- of the Greek Emperor, helping in the blinding
niated as very few men in our time have petuous onset upon the established forms of Manuel, fighting on almost every shore
been; indeed, the cloud of suspicion then and conventions, and by the sheer dash and of the Mediterranean from Sicily to Egypt
aroused continues, in the eyes of many tumultuous recklessness of his sortie levelled and Syria, and carrying off the Empress's
people worth regard, to envelope Mr. Hardie, those prim barricades and set his flag in the niece. His story ends in England at the
who is, to the present reviewer, the most centre of the citadel. In Cabbages and Kings Battle of Stamford Bridge, in the great fight
sternly logical and intellectually consistent (Eveleigh Nash) we are furnished some between Tosti and his brother Harold
figure in British politics to-day. Of course, insight into the workings of those sorceries Godwinson, and no one can read it without
the serpent of Champion and Hardie which captured the people of his generation a stirring of the blood.
has long since devoured the competing and held them spellbound. In form, it is Miss Heame's translation is very good,
serpents of those milder prophets, their a continuous narrative of the events and though sometimes she darkens counsel by
rivals; and Mr. Humphrey (whom we the personages who reacted upon them, using words that are not English, e. g. , rift-
may perhaps conjecture to be still rather who lived their little hour in the imaginary worm (for ring-worm).
The Olaf Saga is
young) believes that the existing Labour South American state of Anchuria and its illustrated by reproductions of pen drawings
Party has already reached its political capital Coralio. In spirit, however, the (some of them excellent) by Erek Weren-
maturity, and is, in its turn, on the eve of setting is purely a convenient background skiold, Christian Krohg, and other Norse
being taken in the flank by a new Socialist for stringing together a series of crisp and artists. The book is extremely well printed
party. Political parties, however, are plants pointed stories, intrinsically self-sufficing. (though ye” is occasionally introduced
of no rapid growth; and to older heads The style is oddly mated with the impres- for “the”) by the Chiswick Press, and is
it appears probable that Mr. Victor Grayson sion of the stories as a whole. It observes issued in a very attractive form.
was the sort of swallow that does not no laws, and treads in no prescribed path.
make a summer. The clog that really It is of an accidental, haphazard quality
delayed the formation of a Socialist political which solves the dilemma of achieving with a paper on The Early English Text
The Library for January (Moring) opens
party (as the Liberal-Labour theory delayed what it set out to do with a gay insouciance Society and Dr. Furnivall
, by Mr. H. B.
that of a genuine Labour Party) was the as delightful as it is indefinable. The core
non-constructive character of the Social of the matter is that the solution is effected. Wheatley, in which a notice is given,
Democratic Federation
speakers were apt in one breath to declare with the fault of occasionally gaining its end the Early English Text Society, and their
a body whose The author's method is studiously objective: largely from personal knowledge, of the
early history of the Oxford Dictionary. '
that the workers must seize the instru-by too patent an ingenuity. He excels in
connexion with the Philological Society.
ments of production,” and in the next to swift transitions, radiant audacities of phrase Miss Bartlett gives an account of The
denounce
mere palliative any and thought, which sweep us abruptly and
practicable step that might possibly lead almost unwillingly into communion with Mirror for Magistrates, and Mr. W. E. A.
in that direction.
Seventeenth - Century
his feeling. He is but seldom the nebulous
Axon reproduces a
Lament
That a Socialist political movement is visionary, loving to fill his canvas with
many books,"
by
nearly due is fairly evident.
note,
That it will broad, sharp, and even angular strokes, epigram of the same writer on Dr. Gilbert
Martin Despois, and, in
require at least ten years to become powerful, He never oscillates, either failing. lamentably Primrose, a collateral ancestor of Lord
and that the Labour Party is likely in the or reaching his goal with the inevitability Rosebery, whose recent paradoxical speech
meantime to wax a good deal before it begins of true art. H province is that
to wane, are forecasts sanctioned by the man's land,” or rather every man's land, gives an account of the scheme adopted for
inspired Mr. Axon's paper. Mr. T. W. Huck
precedents of experience.
which lies between tragedy and comedy,
and on the borderland of both. Here he is drawing up a Bibliography of London, and
Lafcadio Hearn. By Nina H. Kennard.
an adventurer in the best sense, not the
now in progress of execution by a small
(Eveloigh Nash. )-Without being a profound from what he sees, but the discoverer of
excursionist who snatches a fugitive joy
committee of workers, of which Miss Hadley
is the secretary:
Mr. Gray solves the
study of Hearn's character, this book pre- the eternal newness which underlies the point he raised in the July number of
sents him with a good deal of detachment
and spontaneous understanding. The writ-
The Library as to Bishop Fisher's sermons
common, fundamental realities of life. So
Mr. Hessels continues
against Luther.
ing is often slack, and the sentiments
his work attains to the generic, not by his examination of the so-called Gutten-
fall sometimes into confusion; but the
but the generalizing, but by perceiving the universal
Miss Lee's article on
berg Documents.
and in
likerative has, on the whole, an easy style of mankind. This high praise is but the Recent Foreign Literature, and paper
that the of
by
Oxford
journalism. Miss Kennard's main contribu: well known in America, but in Europe still
proper meed of appreciation for a writer
University Press and the Stationers'
tion to the subject consists of a series of
passages which she has been allowed to
to a large extent unfamiliar.
Company,' conclude the number,
select from letters written by Hearn to his
half - sister Mrs. Atkinson, with whom,
It was a somewhat bold enterprise to
through correspondence, he became quite attempt another translation of the "Heims- MISSING MSS. OF FREDERICK THE
intimate, although he never saw her. These kringla' after William Morris, though
GREAT.
letters, while they last, are full of tenderness justified in the case of The Sagas of
and consideration, of natural human curio- Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald the Tyrant
The University, Birmingham.
sity about relatives and ancestry, of plans (Harald Haardraade) by the attractive form WILL
to appeal, on
for a possible meeting and hopes of conversa-
in which Messrs. Williams & Norgate put | behalf of my friend Prof. Mangold of
tion face to face ; but, like those written to the translation before the public, and by the Berlin, to readers of The Athenæum for
Prof. Chamberlain, they were broken off limited
circulation of “The Saga Library information as to the whereabouts of some
under no ascertainable" provocation, and in which the former appeared. Miss Hearne of the missing MSS. of Frederick the Great of
Mrs. Atkinson was left to find out from has translated Prof. Storm's Norse version Prussia ? It seems that after the edition
a third party, months afterwards, that her of the 'Heimskringla' instead of the Icelandic, of his works in 1788–9 had been printed,
half-brother
still alive. After his and is thus at the disadvantage of losing the MSS. were disposed of by his publishers,
death she visited Japan and saw Hearn's some of the sharpness of outline of the Voss & Decker, partly by gift and partly by
widow and children in Tokio : Miss Kennard original saga; while the “ kennings sale. Prof. Hans Droysen, in his work
describes the impressions she received, and almost entirely smoothed away. Among entitled “Friedrichs des Grossen literarischer
thoy enable us to picture Hearn's domestic life the tales of the Heimskringla' the sagas of Nachlass. (published by Weidmann, Berlin,
in some ways very charmingly. Several of Olaf Tryggvison (we prefer the old spelling) 1911, price 18. ), has traced a number of
the illustrations to the volume are also of land of Harold Hardrada are in many ways these MSS. , and has also shown that negotia-
interest.
Kazuo, the elder of Hearn's the most characteristic, as they certainly tions for the sale of some of them were
boys, appears three times, and notably at are the most romantic. Olaf's adventures conducted in London in 1792 with a second-
the
ago
of
seven, when he is really a delicious begin almost at his birth, and his career hand dealer of the name of Heidinger.
No
imp, with Eastern eyes in an un-Eastern leads him through all the successes open to trace of this firm, however, remains at the
head. We see also Kazuo's mother and the a wandering swordsman in Russia under present day, and inquiries instituted by
picturesque figure of his nurse, not to men- Vladimir the Great at Novgorod, or to a Prof. Mangold at the Record Office and the
tion the gallant Major Charles Bush Hearn, Viking on the shores of Britain or Ireland. British Museun have been only partially
Lafcadio's father. The three likenesses of The last scene of all, the sea-fight at Svoldr, successful; yet everything seems to point
no
you allow
me
22
was
are
## p. 126 (#108) ############################################
126
No. 4397, FEB. 3, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
are
66
to the probability that some of the missing I admit that I have gone to school to might be stated to occur. A reference to
MSS. somewhere in England. The Edward Meyer, the ablest historian of Greece $ 24 will show that the absence of declension
statement made by Mr. Hamilton in his since George Grote, according to the writer by inflection in Persian is clearly stated.
Memorials of Frederick the Great' (London, on Greek history in the new Encyclopædia May I also say that domi of the Latin is.
1880, vol. i. p. 270), that he had seen an Britannica'; but your reviewer is unlucky really an adverb, and not comparable in any
autograph of the king's Pièces diverses in his choice of an instance by which to way with the Persian dar khāna, the equi.
in the private library of the Emperor Wil. prove my alleged dependence upon the valent of which in Latin is the rarer use
liam I. , is declared by Prof. Mangold to rest Berlin master. “Thus,” he argues,
in domo ? A similar adverbial usage occurs.
on some misunderstanding, and it is sug- our author alludes to a new fragment as if it in colloquial Persian, as when one says Āgā
gested that he may have seen this MS. some. were without doubt from Theopompus, because Ichāna ast (“the master is at home”), omit-
where in England.
this improbable thesis is maintained by Prof.
ting the preposition of the locative case.
Two centuries have now passed since Meyer in his edition of the fragment. ”
Secondly, your reviewer objects to my
Frederick the Great was born; yet we I do nothing of the kind. In my only allu-
possess no satisfactory critical edition of sion to the fragment in question have presentment of the functions of the particle
his works, excepting his correspondence. queried its attribution to Theopompus this particle by my dissatisfaction with the
A service to the cause of historical inquiry (p. 327).
would be rendered by any one who could There is no need to multiply instances of examples given in § 31a of my Grammar are
ordinary explanations of its function. The
send me information which might lead to your reviewer's inability to see what lies necessarily limited, but I have numerous
the discovery and collation of these im- in clear type on the page in front of him.
notes of the occurrence of this particle, and
portant documents.
I should like simply to add, Mr. Editor, in every instance I am convinced that the
E. A. SONNENSCHEIN. that a judgment based upon defective obser-author employed it as a particle of emphasis.
vation is worthless. If it were harmless, I I should be glad to have a reference to
should not have written this letter to you.
passages in which it can be shown that
'HELLENISTIC ATHENS. '
WILLIAM SCOTT FERGUSON.
Firdausī only employed this particle for the
Harvard University.
The reviewer acknowledges his error
purpose of eking out his metre.
in missing the foot-note references to
THE review of my book on 'Hellenistic
Finally, I hope that the wording of the
Athens' which appeared in a recent issue Droysen
and to Hertzberg in a volume (as he Remark on p. 48 as to the use of banda by a
of The Atheneum (1911, ii. p. 618) contains said). “ bristling with learned references. " But speaker” to indicate himself, in prefer-
he still maintains that the author made very ence to using the pronoun of the first person,
so many serious misrepresentations of fact
that you will, I think, acknowledge my
scant use of these two older books, one of is sufficiently clear. I can hardly think that
right to protest. “The subject," it is
which is officially on part of his subject, and any person who reads the Remark in ques-
claimed,
the other far more than an incidental treat- tion could imagine that it is intended to
ment of Athens. In the face of these two apply, to the “classical Persian literature. ”
"requires the skill and enthusiasm of a Droysen, elaborate books, the only real gap is from If a knowledge of Persian is to be of any
and, strange to say, his great history of Hellenism, 221 to 146 B. C. But the reviewer never
value to others than those who are content to
which covers the epoch_up to 221 B. C. , is never
even mentioned by Prof. Ferguson. ”
said that the older books put the new one read Firdausi and Sa'di, to the exclusion of
out of court. Here are his words :-
the idiom of the language of the present day,
This statement is inaccurate. Droysen's
work is cited by me in four of the five
There have been scores of monographs since such idiomatic usages as that to which your
a grammar of the language must deal with
chapters of my historical essay which deal published on special points; many inscriptions
have been found illustrating obscure matters, reviewer takes exception.
with his field (pp. 18, 125, 138, 178, 202,
so that, even after these pioneer works, there was
GEORGE RANKING,
234), and his name appears with an ap- ample material for Mr. Ferguson to arrange and
preciative comment in its proper place in
discuss. In the latter task he has shown himself
We cannot admit that the history
my general bibliography (p. 469).
highly competent,” &c.
and affinities of the Persian language justify
" For its latter portion,” continues my Regarding the book of Prof. Mahaffy in the addition of four cases to the five which
critic,
question, the reviewer has again to confess are commonly recognized. Of course, any
" there is the very learned and careful 'History
that he overlooked one reference to it in one is at liberty to say that dar khāna is a
of Greece under the Romans' by Hertzberg, a
a foot-note. Prof. Ferguson need not have locative case. Our point was that such a
book which seems unknown to this specialist in justified himself by the silence of Beloch, description is unnecessary, and therefore
the subject. Here again a capital source of any more than he need condemn himself on to be deprecated. We could supply Col.
information is ignored. '
account of the frequent mention of the book Ranking with numerous instances in which
Firdausi
By no means. It is neither unknown nor by Holm.
uses the particle mar without
ignored. I have placed Hertzberg's name
"The fragment of the new Theopompus(? )” intending to lay special emphasis on the
That man
with that of Droysen in my bibliographical is not a very clear phrase, which, it appears, following word. E. g. , he says,
appendix (p. 469), and I have also cited
our reviewer misunderstood. We now know of pure religion had a son," and immediately
him in the text where a suitable occasion that he meant the new fragment of Theo- afterwards, The ambitious youth had
arose (pp. 379, 427, 447).
pompus (? )
the name of Zahhāk” (Pizzi, Antologia
“There is another book which Prof. Ferguson general estimate of Prof. Ferguson's work as
We cannot agree that our learned reviewer's Firdusiana, p. 65, 11. 15 and 17). Although
mar is employed in the former instance and
mentions but once, and then to disagree with it,
“ is worthless. ” not in the latter, we fail to detect the
Diri Mahaffy's Greek Life and Thought' during We regret that Mr. Ferguson has been able emphatic force which Col. Ranking would
this very period. ”
This, again, is inaccurate. Dr. Mahaffy's though we
to prove some “ defective observation," ascribe to it invariably. He is mistaken in
book is cited more than once (pp. 90, 178), position in the world of letters.
are glad he appreciates our supposing that we objected to his dealing
with the idiomatic of banda. We
and not always to disagree with it. Nor
criticized his statement on the ground that
have I any apology to offer for this generous
it was not limited in any way, whence the
treatment of his popular work, though
reader would naturally conclude that it
Prof. Beloch, who thinks it has some merit "A GRAMMAR OF THE PERSIAN applies to Persian literature as a whole.
(iii. 2, p. 17), does not cite it at all in the
LANGUAGE.
volume of his
• Greek
History' (iii. 1)
which tells the story of the Hellenistic
Beech Lawn, Park Town, Oxford.
epoch.
May I be permitted to reply very briefly
BOOK SALE.
My book, as I state in a brief Preface, to the criticisms contained in the very appre- MESSRS. SOTHEBY's first sale of the new year,
"aims to fill a conspicuous gap in historical ciative notice of my work which you have which took place on Tuesday, January 23rd,
literature," namely, the lack of “a con- been so kind as to publish in your issue of and the two succeeding days, included the follow-
nected history of Athens during the Hel- | January 13th ?
ing interesting books : Beaumont and Fletcher,
lenistic period. ”. Your reviewer misquotes
Wit Without Money, 1639; Fletcher and Shake-
Firstly, fault is found with my statement
speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1634; and four
my text in making his argument against that there are nine cases, in Persian. I others, 311. Military Costume of Europe, 2 vols. ,
His argument, moreover, is not simply venture to think that the view is borne out 1822, 161. 108. A Collection of Playbills from
that my field is covered substantially by the both by the affinities and evolutional history the Library of John Genest, 26 vols. , 1786-1832,
old familiar histories of Hellenism in general of Persian, and by the phenomena of the
161.
