a far more ugly customer than the mild
onlooker to the most primitive humanity No one but an expert photographer could Arawak, or even the bolder and once
that the present earth can show.
onlooker to the most primitive humanity No one but an expert photographer could Arawak, or even the bolder and once
that the present earth can show.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
” François me;
but I rather doubt it. . . . You will
tragic grace and dignity, though not in himself read 'Madame Bovary' aloud to bring the water for my shower bath at
beauty. It is time that Synge's version the servants, who were always looking I shall be very hot. Give me a light lunch,
let it be very cold, for certainly
was seen on the London stage, and that out of the kitchen window for a chance but let it be strongthening: two boiled eggs,
a more adequate production of 'The view of the author. Thus the cook learnt
a grilled steak, French beans, Gruyère cheese,
Tinker's Wedding' was attempted than to reverence the writer, and his book and very hot tea. '
the performance given at "The Afternoon shows how he valued a position so much The valet keeps admirably in tune. He
Theatre. ” Of the latter piece Mr. Howe more favourable than that of living next
door to Flaubert. He speaks of a boat quotes an old sailor's praises of Maupas-
that was converted into an apartment for sant's skill and boldness at sea, while “every
rich and genial and humorous; but there carried turbots by hundreds of tons. . . :") these praises. " He tells a story how,
chane Thinker's Wedding is. comody: himself at Maupassant's as (after having connoisseur said
my master
was a first-
is little in it of that deeper richness that
comes when life is viewed with tenderness
now stranded at La Guillette, housing
as well as humorous understanding. There the servant of a great writer. ” Phaselus after a long tug-of-war, the great man cut
a certain small leaf out of a branch
is fire in it, but it burns with a paler flame, ille! When he saw his master in moments
leaping a little hungrily. "
twenty-eight paces distant, and said,
It is also somewhat lacking in those sharp
Recollections of Guy de Maupassant. By I could go on shooting ten leaves off
his Valet François. Translated by Mina like that. ” Once he alleges that master
dramatic turns and twists which are the Round. (John Lane. )
and man, after a day's shooting, walked
common
well says :
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No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
>
6
$6
four miles in twenty-five minutes, the
Not much in the way of addition or
man carrying the gun. In another place
AMERICANISMS.
correction, for which Mr. Thornton asks,
he pictures his master dancing with two In a letter some thirty years ago Stevenson is possible, however, and seems to the
can be added to his volumes. Criticism
laughing ladies at once in a field, dragging invented an imaginary Cyclopædia (Gles-
them after him, and keeping them from
present reviewer profitable, concerning
falling down with laughter.
cow, Blaikie & Bannock), which included
the source of the quotations supplied.
That Maupassant thought much of
a description of the English as
Any assiduous student of language cannot
bodily prowess might almost be guessed“ a dull people, incapable of comprehending fail to notice the difference between
" ,
from his descriptions of characters. He the Scottish tonguo. Their history is so literature and
literature and journalism. Words, to
admired a man like the butcher of whom intimately connected with that of Scotland, have a good standing, must be employed
he said to François >
that we must refer our readers to that head-
ing. Their literature is principally the their career in a newspaper, but there
by responsible authors. They may begin
" He's uncommonly strong! His flesh work of venal Scots. "?
isn't flabby! I think he has twelve children.
they are on trial. Later they may be
And how he drinks champagne ! I've His jest was something like a prophecy, accepted as part of the language when
known him sometimes drink fourteen bot- for it heralded the rise of the kailyard they have been used by recognized
tles. ”
school. Lately the English world has writers of verse or prose. So the present
Energy, and perhaps blood also, delighted set itself to enjoy and understand Bunty' reviewer would have been glad to see
him, though he was kindly, a lover of and the Irish players, but it has also citations from, say, Mark Twain and
some live animals, and a hater of war. another task of increasing difficulty-- Whittier take the place of uses in jour-
His writing betrays a perhaps excessive to appreciate all the strange and vivid nalism. Thus “Ante off, ante up"=
preoccupation with the body; and one words which the Americanization of our “To exchange, pay off," suggests the
of his conversations here offers an ex entertainments and our newspapers has Ante and pass the buck ” (“pay up and
cellent description of an incredibly strong brought into vogue. The new language pass the pool”) of Mark Twain's Inno-
'
negro masseur at Tunis, who
is so cute, so bewildering in its metaphor cents at Home,' chap. i. The same
ii
to finish you up jumps on the table, seizos
and rapid in its changes, as to defy the writer's Life on the Mississippi ' would
your legs, and passes his heel all down collector. We had just discovered what supply in chap. xxxvi. :-
your spine ; then he puts you back on the
“rubber ! ” short for “rubber-neck ! "
table, just like a rabbit that one has killed means, when we were confronted with along a line that's being surveyed, there's
'Well, I know, and you know, that all
by this same operation. "
the statement that a man of note, inter- little dabs of land that they call “gores,'
Even his “ nightmare on
Night' is
viewed by a lady, “ got her goat. ” We that fall to the surveyor free gratis for
hard and firm in its anatomy. His valet could not imagine the process indicated, nothing";
shows us how much he desired health,
but a kindly correspondent explained
and
and particularly how highly he thought that he broke her nerve.
of bathing; he praised the Romans for
Mr. Richard Thornton in the two
" Heretofore the bets had been trifling-
their baths, and regretted the loss of their volumes of 'An
a dollar or two; but Backus started off
An American Glossary
with an eagle (ten-dollar gold piece] now. "
tradition; he thought Flaubert would wisely does not attempt to register the
have lived much longer with the help of voluminous outpourings of modern slang," The first verse of a Fourth of July song
shower baths. He did not prolong his but confines himself to words and phrases from The Baltimore Evening Post of July,
own life to a length anything like equal of recognized standing or special interest. 1805, illustrates sachem. ” We should
to that of his less hygienic master. But Still, he does touch in several pages on add from Whittier’s ‘Mogg Megone,'
down to the first symptoms of ataxy his the modern world. He gives us the “hobo'
1. 85:-
brain and body continued to be mar and the “ dude without their modern
And the fair-haired girl thou hast sought of me
vellous engines. The hard lucidity of his companions the “ tough," the “gorilla, Shall sit in the Sachem's wigwam, and be
writing suggests the engine—that head and the "spieler girl. " As he explains
The wife of Mogg Megone forever.
which no hat would fit because the family in his Preface, he includes forms of speech The same poem (1. 179) supplies the
doctor had moulded it perfectly round at now obsolete or provincial in England,
now obsolete or provincial in England, similar title which Mr. Thornton omits :-
birth, Artificial or not, the perfectly such as “gotten ”; names of persons and
Hold, Ruth,-'t is I, the Sagamore!
round head seems inevitable in the writer classes of persons, such as “Hoosier " ;
who treated with equal steely justice the words which have assumed a new meaning: Perhaps, however, Mr. Thornton takes
,
lives of romantic, gallant, or brutal men,
such as “card” for a special notice by the literal sense of " sachem ” for granted,
and of wild ducks.
advertisement; and words and phrases and records only political uses.
He spoke a good deal of himself to of which he has found earlier examples The revolver has always been a potent
François, who, as Maupassant once said, in American than in English writers, such feature in American life, and the wild,
had an excellent memory. A little more
as “alarmist and capitalize. ” The free habits of earlier days, not altogether
or a little less self-consciousness would previous Dictionaries of Americanisms, abated now in certain districts, supply a
have made the book better. The writer those of Bartlett and Farmer, are useful multitude of innovations in language.
is not quite naive; but, on the other in their way, but often vague. Mr. The “saloon-keeper," who has here only
hand, his intelligence is chiefly memory and Thornton's two volumes excel them, two quotations, derived from the New
discretion. He kept a diary, which he notably in the admirable list of quotations English Dictionary,' flourishes in the
has used, we know not with what freedom, they supply, which must have taken years literature of Nevada and Colorado. Mr.
but certainly with an admirable lightness to collect. There is no theorizing, no Thornton records the “sling," a drink
which seldom allows tediousness. In fact, vague statement that such a word was concocted with spirits, which is, we
the only considerable fault of the book current at a certain period. We find imagine, from the German “ schlingen,
is that it is illustrated by irrelevant throughout dated instances which show
“ Slings me a tract on the evils
photographs inserted by the publisher as clearly the development of language, and keeping bad company,” from Bret
marvels because Maupassant took them. give Mr. Thornton's careful and erudite Harte's Seventy-Nine, presents another
The publisher's own account is that he
work a status such as is accorded to the word which might be recorded as typically
“has spared no pains to embellish a book ' New English Dictionary,' which he American.
designed as a not unworthy tribute to occasionally quotes. His connexion with
"Small potatoes ” is a specimen of
the memory of a truly great man. " The Notes and Queries has also opened up a
Notes and Queries has also opened up a the vivid slang which abounds in this
translation is not first-rate. Some of the whole field of inquiry and research which book. It begins with Col. David Crockett
talk has the opacity due to imperfect is collectively invaluable.
in 1836, and the last quotation offers &
understanding ; a
variant. In 1880 Texas Siftings' re-
** If not she is offered to us instead of An American Glossary : being an Attempt marked that Ruskin's“ knowledge of the
to illustrate Certain Americanisms upon
English; and “so as " is used for so that
Historical Principles. By Richard L. spirit of the present age turns out to be
throughout the book.
Thornton. 2 vols. (Francis & Co. ) 1 mighty small pumpkins. . . 36 :
3
6
7
6
99
## p. 729 (#543) ############################################
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
729
some
66
66
sun. "
» 66
G
A person of consequence is
tion of the following additions : “ Chau- artist. Finally, the present account ap-
pumpkins” or “punkins. ” Much of the tauqua” conventions, &c. ; "dooryard," proaches to the intimate and personal at
highfalutin "scattered throughout these as in “ When lilacs last in the dooryard any rate a good deal more nearly than did
pages is amusing, and makes one think bloomed ”; “pie-plant," and some deci- the previous treatises. Joint authorship,
of Martin Chuzzlewit. ' Dickens intro-sion concerning" pie” as compared with of course, implies a joint responsibility that
duced to English readers a puzzling phrase tart”; “sky-pilot," an ingenious para- is shared through thick and thin ; and it
in
snags and sawyers," which will be phrase now, like "devil-dodger,” fairly was an evil myth that credited Liddell
found fully explained here. An Appendix current in England; and “trial-lodge
with the excuse,
Ah, that was Scott. "
offers some admirable specimens of " Tall (Indian, used by Whittier). Finally, at Yet, when we learn that “one of us
Talk” and other embodiments of the the risk of being dubbed a slang- arrived at Alice Springs as zoologist and
American spirit. We cannot forbear to whanger," he ventures the query, Why photographer of the Horn Expedition,
quote the following example of 1856 :- not include the “ blatherskite " ?
whereas one of us " had been there
"An Illinois lawyer, in defending a thief,
amongst the Arunta for more than
said to the jury : True, he was rude, so
twenty years as sub-protector of the
air our bars. True, he was rough, so air our
aborigines, it hardly takes a genius to
buffaloes. But he was a child of freedom,
AUSTRALIA AND GUIANA.
guess which was which. This question,
and his answer to the despot and the tyrant
was that his home was on the bright setting A BOOK that displays the names of of such
however, is better not raised in view
a story as that the natives
Spencer and Gillen on its title-page knew one of the explorers by the nickname
The buffalo has gone, but we gather from cannot fail to arouse feelings of excite- of “Small Stomach," whilst the other
police reports that the child of freedom ment in the anthropological bosom. It was distinguished by the simple noun.
still sizes up less enterprising persons with may, therefore, be well to explain at the At most we may attempt to correlate
a six-shooter.
outset that in this new work the authors this matter of an undistributed middle
The political world supplies some odd
are but retracing old and well-trodden with another story to the effect that when,
words like “ Locofoco” and “ Doughface. " ways. Prof. Spencer, it is true, has at Banka Banka in Northern Territory,
real fresh
Mugwump" and " Tammany" are both, lately been revisiting the far North of an old bushman provided
we learn, Indian in origin. Paper cur- Australia, where he has made numerous eggs, one of us ate thirteen, whilst
rency began in 1824 to be called “shin- fresh acquaintances amongst the native the other limited himself to six.
plasters. Greenbackers " advocated an tribes. Rumours have trickled through To speak more seriously, it is exceedingly
over-issue of such money in the seventies. to the effect that he is compiling a store interesting from a scientific point of view
One learns that the “ frazzle” which is of important material, some of it of novel to be able to set the categorized observa-
the declared terminus of Mr. Roosevelt's and strange complexion, the rest con- tions of the former works against the
combats is a “frayed-out end, and firmatory of his theory of a cultural background of a diary, however rough.
belongs also to East Anglia. Natural continuity between North and Centre, It was not possible before to gauge with
history is another source of strange maintained by a steady drift of customs sufficient accuracy the opportunities which
terminology. The chipmunk and the and beliefs that proceeds southwards the observers had of coming into close
mud-turtlo are as odd to the ordinary either to the west or to the east of Lake contact with the facts which they describe.
the lightning-bug and Eyre. But we must await with patience Now, at length, we stand by them as they
the squash. He knows what a coon is, the publication of his full report, a matter get to work with phonograph, cinemato-
but hardly realizes the sly racoon which of many months' toil when so high a graph, and so on. Of their methods all
supplied the term. The “ locust" may
standard both of observation and of are revealed except one, namely, their
be the locust tree, and Mr. Thornton illustration is involved. In the meantime, means of intercommunication, which we
produces a French translator of Fenimore however, our appetite for more may be cannot but suspect to have been largely
Cooper who, puzzled by a horse hitched staved off to some extent by restudying pidgin-English. It is an interesting point
to a locust, rendered the word "sauter in a new light those three notable expedi- when taken in association with Herr
elle," and explained that in the United tions—of 1894, 1895-6, and 1901-2– Strehlow's alternative glosses ; to which,
States grasshoppers grew to an incredible thanks to which the Arunta, hitherto by the way, there is not the slightest
size, were stuffed, weighed down with hidden away amid the central solitudes allusion here, the old terms, Intichiuma
lead, and used for hitching horses. This of the Australian Continent, have become and so on, being retained as if their
statement is from The Goodwill Record, one of the most prominent people in the authenticity were unchallenged. Mean-
and requires more benevolence than we world of to-day-or (shall we say ? ) of while, there can be no doubt that our
possess to believe it offhand.
yesterday--for, alas ! they are already authors enjoyed quite unrivalled chances
Mr. Thornton rarely permits himself
dwindling fast.
amongst the Arunta, and in fact at all
any criticism, but is clearly a sound scholar This book, which is lacking in the the stations along the telegraph line,
in Elizabethan English, whence he pro- prefatory word that is needed to furnish of seeing ceremonies performed on the
duces some striking usages. Thus“ horse the reader with his orientation, is clearly grandest scale. , Owing, it may be, in
of another color" is claimed
intended for the general public, For part to the fact that supplies were plentiful
Americanism until an earlier date than one thing, there is nothing in it that in the neighbourhood of the white men,
1798 can be found; yet it recalls a could bring a blush to the cheek of those the natives indulged in a carnival of
similar phrase in 'Twelfth Night. ' Mr. punctilious persons who are prepared to pageantry-one that, it is more than
likely, may never be repeated. Certainly
Thornton tells us that “side-walk” is take seriously Mr. Lang's joke about " 'ye
a word much needed in England. " beastly devices of ye heathen. ” Again, they were no longer completely wild
Our politicians have found "side-tracked" it is written in a fine, fresh style, redolent natives, like those Luritja of whom the
convenient, but for the ordinary walk by of colonial heartiness, and well designed travellers could make so little. The virus
the side of a street or road surely " path to portray a life in the open, amid simple of civilization, we must assume, ' was
way” and “pavement” are sufficient. conditions and wide spaces, even if, already in their system. But we may
There is much more that is noteworthy perhaps, a little hard on the natives, rest perfectly assured, from what we are
disparate, and exotic
told and are able to gather for ourselves,
in this fascinating Glossary, but enough mentality hardly Tends itself to the that this virus was still largely dormant.
has been said to show its interest. It is vocabulary of our bustling pioneers
, but The ceremonies ring true.
modestly called “ an attempt to illustrate calls for the finer touches of the literary
It is no insult, but rather a compliment,
certain Americanisms upon historical prin-
to the authors that their methods of field-
ciples," but it is so thorough and compre- Across Australia. By Baldwin Spencer and work should be scrutinized with the
hensive that it is worth annotation here F. J. Gillen. ' 2 vols. (Macmillan & Co. ) greatest care. It is the price that must
and there. The present reviewer, also a Guiana: British, Dutch, and French,
collector of words, suggests the considera-
Ву
be paid for issuing documents of the
James Rodway, (Fisher Unwin. ) utmost value to science. The student
as
an
66
9
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THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
must be able—nay, should be assisted, as even if they occasionally spear a white a supply of effective labour. The native
far as in them lies, by the observers them- man, or, at any rate, his cattle—that is Indian is quite useless as a tiller of the
selves--to write off the personal equation. no excuse for exterminating them. Even soil. He is excellent as a huntsman,
It has been the business of anthropologists though he be worthy of his name, the and will serve the white man faithfully
to ponder over the evidence supplied by Tasmanian “devil ” can claim the right in this respect. Also as a guide in the
these classical authorities page by page to live as a rare specimen. And these forest he is indispensable. But he will
and line by line. In the present work other rare specimens, human beings of not use the spade. It is woman's work.
they will discover nothing that is alto- high, if specialized, intelligence, as it The whites acquiesced in the early days
gether new to them as regards the insti- were our own far-off ancestors come back in this view so far as to turn his woman.
tutions and beliefs of the aborigines. But to life, can they not also claim to be let kind into slaves ; but the experiment
they will be confirmed in their original alone, and in this way-for it is the only answered only moderately. Then came
impression that Messrs. Spencer and possible way—to live on?
the African, a bane as well as a blessing,
Gillen, in conditions which, of course, It remains to add that the book teems since he had only to run away into the
they could not fully control--for test- with illustrations which, without any slight vast and indeterminate hinterland and
conditions are not within the range of to the letterpress, may be said to afford establish himself as a bush-negro—and as
the science of man-used worthily and an even better idea of these people, whose such he flourishes to this day-to become
adequately a unique chance of playing chief mode of self-expression is the dance.
a far more ugly customer than the mild
onlooker to the most primitive humanity No one but an expert photographer could Arawak, or even the bolder and once
that the present earth can show. have caught and fixed their fleeting cannibal Carib. After slavery was abol-
“We had actually seen," they say, movements, carried on, as often as not, ished, the negro disappointed his well-
speaking of the Luritja,“ living in their as night was falling or morning breaking wishers by failing to display the free
primitive state, entirely uncontaminated The pictures of plants and animals are man's pleasure in honest toil. Hence the
by contact with civilization, men who likewise very useful in these days of East Indian coolie is ousting him as a
had not yet passed beyond the palæolithic anthropogeography, as helping out our plantation hand. For the rougher work
stage of culture. ” The expression may conception of the life of the natural man. of balata-bleeding and rubber-collecting,
not be technically correct at any rate. The natives hold their own, in a country however, the negro, as the stronger man,
as applied to the Central Australians in that has long been in the throes of desicca- easily holds his own. As these facts show,
general-since the ground stone axe is tion, by taking advantage with quick nowhere could the anthropologist find
not unknown amongst them. But there perception of the minutest aids that a better series of object-lessons than in
is every reason to think that, on the their environment affords; and, for the Guiana, as regards the natural aptitudes
whole, we are here in the presence of a rest, they would eke out by magic their of the diverse races of mankind.
culture comparable only to that of the imperfect control of the elements, thus, It will be interesting to see whether
Older Stone Age of pleistocene Europe. as it were, prophetically expressing the this book induces any travellers of sport-
How long the Australians have been there racial claim to lord it over creation. ing instincts to seek adventures and
stagnating in this by-world of their own,
scientific material in the far interior. The
amid equally out-of-the-way mammals Mr. Rodway's Guiana,' like its com- photographs of Roraima, & mighty castel-
that wear pouches or lay eggs, is a problem panions of “The South American Series," lated rock-plateau on the Venezuela
that cannot at present be resolved exactly is intended to convey to the reader a border, are enough to attract every true
If, however, as appears almost certain, comprehensive notion of the history and mountaineer towards it, even if he learns
man introduced the dingo, whose remains present condition of a particular political that he must first work his way up a river
are found to be coeval with those of division or district of South America. and, as Baedeker says, “thence walk"
extinct marsupials, such as Diprotodon, In the present case we are introduced to for two or three weeks. Roraima, how-
which browsed on abundant" herbage a district, since under the common name ever, has been conquered, the credit for
along the former lakes and streams of the of Guiana are included Dutch, French, this feat being due, we believe, to Sir
now desert Eyrean region, then we may, and British possessions. We are thus Everard im Thurn.
Yet there remains
perhaps, attribute to the aborigines of given an excellent opportunity of studying the sister rock-plateau of Kukenaam, on
to-day a history-if it can be called a methods of colonization by the com- whose proud neek no man has ever yet
history—that stretches back unbrokenly parative principle. It would, porhaps, be placed his foot. Let the bold explorer,
to pleistocene times. In short, these flint invidious to declare which country comes then, scan the "travel notes
" which this
implements, cave-drawings, churinga, cere- out with the best record. There can be book provides. Here are a few of the
monies, and so forth, in respect to which little doubt, however, that the French headings : Pleasure of Camping Out,
such close analogies are forthcoming system of drafting off their ne'er-do-wells A Fow Pests,' 'Some Inconveniences,'
from prehistoric Europo, have persisted into Cayenne, if salutary to the land of Sickness. It is consoling to read a little
unchanged during endless millennia-to be France itself, is not calculated to benefit further on : 'No Fogs, Earthquakes, or
observed just in time by civilized man, it the "dumping - ground” across the seas.
Hurricanes. '
is true, but likewise at his first touch to The Dutch, on the other hand, would seem
wither away and disappear utterly. to have plodded away with some success
In regard to the extinction of the at Surinam, and it is certainly going ahead Bernard Shaw et son Euvre. Par Charles
aborigines, we are bound to add that at the present moment, though its finances
Cestre. (Paris, 'Mercure de France. ')
kindly treatment on the part of the still show a deficit. The English can boast
whites would seem to be the rule in the of having put more capital, and probably MR. HENDERSON'S recent biography at-
Centre, though the less said about what more energy as well, into the exploitation tempted to weigh the vitality and versa-
used to happen in other parts of Australia of their share of the coast. Yet British tility of Mr. Shaw as a man ; M. Cestre
the better. At the same time, we do not Guiana, if valuable to the mother-country, balances the intellectual quality and
learn from this book of any strenuous is not exuberantly prosperous. The sugar rebellious independence of his works.
attempt to establish reservations, or other industry, though showing an annual yield The result is a monograph in which
wise by isolation to protect the natives of over a hundred thousand tons, would the elasticity of the French tongue and
from the demoralization that awaits them seem to be stationary. The output of the critical intuition of the Frenchman
at the hands of more or less well-meaning gold is fairly large, but was a good deal combine in an addition to Shaviana-
intruders into their fastnesses. Surely it larger a few years ago. Balata and rubber comprehensive, clear, and reasoned. It
is possible to do something still. History promise well. The timber trade ought was doubtless written in obedience to
and science will be unsparing in their to be more extensive than it is, for the the finest of inspirations — admiration,
verdict if this unique link with the far region is naturally rich in this respect. but no courtier could more subtly veil
past of the race is destroyed by the mere The chief difficulty that stands in the every temptation to outspoken laudation
supineness of the Australian public. Even way of the economic development of a than the author, who excels in analysis,
if the natives are tiresome at times- tropical country is that of arranging for explanation, and comment. After a
## p. 731 (#545) ############################################
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
THE ATHEN ÆUM
731
66
brief sketch of his subject's career, he
Fow be my festal days, when, if the fre
And habit of ambition wakoning
passes in review nearly all his plays, NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
Should
with unbarnessed energy conspiro,
striving to introduce them to those who
Oh, steel me against Spring !
(Notice in those columns does not procludo longer
Teach me to face Desire,
do not know them—a large host in France roviow. )
And grimly to withstand her subtle sting!
presumably, as but two of the plays
Tbeology.
have been represented there -- with all
But the austerity of Mr. Campbell's
their originality and verve unspoilt. Then Catholic Encyclopædia, Vol. XIII. , 27/6
thought and language is exhibited more
Caxton Publishing Co.
fully in certain of the nature poems, and
follows a critical study of Mr. Shaw's
the final, 'Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam' is
complexities - the truculence, cynicism, This volume ranges from ‘Revelation
a musical and proud elaboration of the
individualism—the exaggeration, daring, to 'Simon Stock,' à Carmelite saint born
theme of mutability and the soul's sense of
and fertility which reflect the intellectual in Kent about 1165. It is well illustrated,
temporal things.
mobility, the restless curiosity, and the and abounds in historical and artistic
interest. The headings 'Rites,' 'Rome' It would be
easy by quotation to
egotistical trumpeting of contemporary and its derivatives, Saint and Schism, illustrate the accuracy of observation and
society. A chapter on form closes the study. Schools, Science, and Seals all supply the well-tempered delicacy that mark the
We join issue with our author occa- important and elaborate matter. A number best of the shorter poems. In its way
sionally. He labours a point which needs of biographies are interspersed.
the 'Epitaph on a Great Composer is
no such emphasis as he indulges in when
equal to the best Jacobean work of the kind;
Lillicrap (A. G. ), THE DAY APPROACHING,
castigating the English theatre before the
and how close is Mr. Campbell's observation
a Twentieth-Century Revelation, Sequel of nature is shown in ' A Bird, "The Drome-
recent renaissance. It is not true to say to 'When Ye Think Not,' 6d.
dary,' and 'Nightfall on a Sandy Shore. '
that no piece succeeded which did not
Reading, A. G. Lillicrap Two short lyrics we reproduce in full. This
deal (cautiously) with seduction or adultery We can see no excuse for the publication of is 'Through Tears! :-
Charley's Aunt' and 'The Sign of this exclamatory and italicized “ toshery. "
the Cross suited the popular taste without Rauport (J. Godfrey), HELL AND ITS PRO-
As when the bitter waters rise
Into the warm surrendering eyes,
any such bait. He underrates both the
BLEMS, being the Third Revised and
And lights throw rays, and all appears
quality and the quantity of Mr. Shaw's
Twinkling across a mist of tears;
Enlarged Edition of Thoughts on
popularity in England, and for all his in- Hell,' 2/ net.
So when a sorrow floods the soul,
tuitive faculty does not show any sign of
St. Anselm's Publishing Co.
As through a film she sees the whole
World and her life before her swim
comprehending an important contributory The third edition, slightly modified, of a
Jagged and luminous and dim.
factor thereto-the appreciation of women. treatise designed to show that the concep-
Mr. Shaw's works are the quintessence of tion of Hell as a definite dogma in the Here is . Animula Vagula,' a fine expression
revolt against the abuses of the strong, Christian religion is irremovable.
The argu- of a mood :-
from which women have suffered and ment is not likely to appeal to modern
Night stirs but wakens not, her breathings climb
the aberrations of the weak—of which
thinkers. Reading books of this kind, we
are reminded of Heine's story of the woman
To one slow sigh ; the strokes of many twelves
they have taken advantage. He removes
From unseen spires mechanically chime,
of Alexandria who passed through the streets Mingling like echoes to frustrate themselves;
the swaddling bands of a false romanticism, with a torch and a bucket of water, declaring My soul, remember Time.
and shows himself a member of the elect that with the one she would set light to
The tones like smoke into the stillness curl;
few who know what every woman knows heaven and with the other quench the fires
The slippered bours their placid business ply,
And in thy hand there lies occasion's pearl ;
-in him they recognize one who neither of hell, so that mankind should no longer
do good for the sake of reward or from
But thou art playing with it absently
flatters nor despises, but understands.
And dreaming like a girl.
Probably no two persons would agree
fear of punishment.
as to the interpretation to be placed on
poetry.
If Mr. Campbell is strong enough to avoid
the plays. On the whole, M. Cestre's
petrifaction by formalism, he may do great
work. As it is, he has given us much that
analysis calls for no adverse criticism, Campbell (Archibald Young), Poems.
Cambridge, Heffer; is remarkable for its rounded finish and
except in the case of ‘You Never Can
Tell, where his attention is caught by
London, Simpkin & Marshall maturity of conception.
Restrained form, masterful terseness of
the sex-duel theme in the younger genera- expression, are not prominent even in the Clough, Poems, 3d. Oxford, Clarendon Press
tion, to the exclusion of its more important best verse of our time, and few indeed
treatment in the case of Mr. and Mrs.
The selection in this addition to the Oxford
are the contemporary poets who approach Plain Texts is at once generous and judicious,
Clandon. M. Cestre classes Sait-on sublimity.
Yet here is a first volume and contains the flower of Clough's genius,
jamais ? ' with 'L'Homme et le Sur which displays all these attributes in a
homme' as a play of love ; surely the high degree, Not all the forty poems in which, if a small one, has a peculiar scent
of its own.
former should have come under
We are glad to see . The Latest
the book show the same high level of
'La
Famille,' as the precursor of many burne and Synge, for example, are common-
attainment. The memorial verses on Swin- Decalogue, a magnificent piece of ironic
writing, included. Extracts from the
dramas dealing with the problem of place in thought and expression; and in book. It would have been wiser, we think,
“Bothie' occupy over one-third of the whole
the tyranny of home and the conflicting other pieces Mr. Campbell aims at fantastic
ideas of two generations.
to reserve it for another volume, and to give
In Tanner he effects which unsuccessful. But at
more voluminous excerpts from the 'Amours
sees the Superman brought down from his least half of the verses are so good that de Voyage.
eminence, reduced to the ranks, vanquished we would not have them altered. Neither
by the Man within, a conception which in his shorter nor in his longer poems does
Mr. Campbell touch the Dionysian vein ;
Seen by Fire.
arrives at the same end, but by a different throughout he writes with a conciseness and
Dublin, E. Ponsonby
route from that usually followed.
This volume contains much scattered
dignity that sometimes border on pedantry merit, though as a whole it is disappointing.
and coldness. Æschylus, Sophocles, and It has no virile sustained wind of imagina-
the English eighteenth century have con- tion blowing through it, but rather little
BOOK SALES.
tributed to his style. In places, even in the scented puffs that die away from their
AT a sale held recently by Messrs. Sotheby impressive Ode to Art, an eighteenth-
the following prices
frailness almost as soon as they are born.
were realized : Voyage century mannerism brings the reader up
dans l'Oberland bernoise, n. d. , 631.
The anonymous author shows some delicato
détachées et Maisons de 'la Suisse, n. d. , 381. abruptly. Yet the stanzas are full of
intuition of rhythm and melody, and can
Views of the Rhine and Frankfort, n. d. (1818), 711. movement:
conjure up his emotional fect with fair
Audubon, Birds of America, 7 vols. , 1840-44,
lacking one plate, 311. Defoe, Moll Flanders, 1721;
Visit not me with thine invidious might!
aptitude. He is most successful with a kind
Fortunate Mistress, 1724; Memoirs of Capt.
Arm not my spirit with thy naked spear!
of mystical dirge. What is wrong with
George Carleton, 1743, 791. The total of the sale
Life itself pales on thy pulsating height,
him is that his vision is too vague and un-
And like to me is dear
was 2,5091. 38. .
A much more sure delight
certain. The fabric never leaves the im-
At their rooms in Chancery Lane last week
Than purblind Inspiration, and more near.
pression of being irrefragable. What is
Messrs. Hodgson sold the library removed from
Life? ' is full of a charining melancholy, and
Willoughby Hall, Lincolnshire, and other proper-
Leave une to move in mercenary toil
ties, including Shelley's Cenci, first edition, present-
Of brain or body with the thoughtless throng ; conveys exactly the mood which Coleridge
ation copy from Leigh Hunt to Charles Lloyd, 1819,
The droning
anodyne of life's turmoil
caught in Verso, a breeze mid blossoms
Shall bear my thoughts along,
801. ; and Lamb's Elia, first edition, 1823, 271. 108.
And occupation foil
straying,” and Moore in “Oft in the stilly
The total for the three days was 1,7271. 10s. Bd.
The far-off sleepless challenge of thy song.
night. "
6
are
## p. 732 (#546) ############################################
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No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Τ
a
ON
2
Bibliograpby.
Holcombe, a village of the Mendips, of so swift, it is good to have on record in so
,
,
which manor Mr. Wickham is lord. It is not attractive a form these features of the Oxford
Bolton Public Libraries : CATALOGUE OF
possible to praise it as an example of country.
BOOKS IN THE CENTRAL LENDING AND
REFERENCE LIBRARIES, USEFUL beginning to end. Although all sorts of Rand-McNally Indexed County and Town-
ship Pocket Map and Shippers' Guides :
ARTS, ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL TECH- subjects are treated, there is no general
ILLINOIS ; INDIANA ; New JERSEY ;
NOLOGY, MANUFACTURES, MECHANIC
index, and even the page-references are not
NEW YORK; OHIO; and PENNSYL-
TRADES, 2d.
given to the preliminary chapter-contents.
Bolton, Libraries Committee
Careless statements abound. The author
VANIA, 250. each.
discourses of frithstools, which he calls
Chicago, Rand, McNally & Co.
Boston, Sixtieth Annual Report
of the freedstolis," and says
Trustees of the Public Library of the City, also. ? ?
“Beverley had one
Sociology.
His accounts of sanctuary and
1911-12.
Boston, the Trustees sanctuary rights are wrong, and he actually Grahame (Stewart), WHERE SOCIALISM
Brown (James Duff), LIBRARY CLASSIFICA- states that the sanctuary man, on his FAILED : AN ACTUAL EXPERIMENT, 6/
TION AND CATALOGUING, 7/8 net.
abjuration of the realm, had to submit
John Murray
Libraco, Ltd. to be branded with a hot iron to mark If the author had avoided devoting, so
Croydon : TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
him as one who had only escaped by the much of his book to polemics against what
OF THE LIBRARIES COMMITTEE, 1911-12,
skin of his teeth. "
he conceives to be fundamental tenets of
with Appendices, and Twelfth Annual There is a good story, but it is of Early Socialism, his narrative of Lane's Utopian
Report of the Upper Norwood Public Victorian date, and pertains to the Vale settlement in Paraguay might have swayed
Library (Croydon and Lambeth), 1911- of Belvoir, which is sufficiently remote the minds of many unsophisticated readers.
1912. Croydon, Croydon Times : | from Holcombe and Somersetshire. Mr. Even such readers could not help being struck
Tidd Pratt, a Poor Law Commissioner, by the comparison of the devastation brought
history and Biography. asked a big farmer what were his principles. about by the autocrat Lopez under a capi-
“ My principles, sir, are Church and Ale. talist system which had everything in its
Hamilton-Browne (Col. G. ), A Lost LEGION- “How so? " said Mr. Pratt. “Well, it's favour and the trials so heroically borne by
ARY IN SOUTH AFRICA, 12/6 net. Laurie like this. Me and my men live on the same the pioneers of New Australia-trials many
A vivid series of adventures with the
farm buildings, and they have their supper of which might reasonably be said to havo
irregular forces engaged principally in the with me on Sunday nights.
but I rather doubt it. . . . You will
tragic grace and dignity, though not in himself read 'Madame Bovary' aloud to bring the water for my shower bath at
beauty. It is time that Synge's version the servants, who were always looking I shall be very hot. Give me a light lunch,
let it be very cold, for certainly
was seen on the London stage, and that out of the kitchen window for a chance but let it be strongthening: two boiled eggs,
a more adequate production of 'The view of the author. Thus the cook learnt
a grilled steak, French beans, Gruyère cheese,
Tinker's Wedding' was attempted than to reverence the writer, and his book and very hot tea. '
the performance given at "The Afternoon shows how he valued a position so much The valet keeps admirably in tune. He
Theatre. ” Of the latter piece Mr. Howe more favourable than that of living next
door to Flaubert. He speaks of a boat quotes an old sailor's praises of Maupas-
that was converted into an apartment for sant's skill and boldness at sea, while “every
rich and genial and humorous; but there carried turbots by hundreds of tons. . . :") these praises. " He tells a story how,
chane Thinker's Wedding is. comody: himself at Maupassant's as (after having connoisseur said
my master
was a first-
is little in it of that deeper richness that
comes when life is viewed with tenderness
now stranded at La Guillette, housing
as well as humorous understanding. There the servant of a great writer. ” Phaselus after a long tug-of-war, the great man cut
a certain small leaf out of a branch
is fire in it, but it burns with a paler flame, ille! When he saw his master in moments
leaping a little hungrily. "
twenty-eight paces distant, and said,
It is also somewhat lacking in those sharp
Recollections of Guy de Maupassant. By I could go on shooting ten leaves off
his Valet François. Translated by Mina like that. ” Once he alleges that master
dramatic turns and twists which are the Round. (John Lane. )
and man, after a day's shooting, walked
common
well says :
## p. 728 (#542) ############################################
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No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
>
6
$6
four miles in twenty-five minutes, the
Not much in the way of addition or
man carrying the gun. In another place
AMERICANISMS.
correction, for which Mr. Thornton asks,
he pictures his master dancing with two In a letter some thirty years ago Stevenson is possible, however, and seems to the
can be added to his volumes. Criticism
laughing ladies at once in a field, dragging invented an imaginary Cyclopædia (Gles-
them after him, and keeping them from
present reviewer profitable, concerning
falling down with laughter.
cow, Blaikie & Bannock), which included
the source of the quotations supplied.
That Maupassant thought much of
a description of the English as
Any assiduous student of language cannot
bodily prowess might almost be guessed“ a dull people, incapable of comprehending fail to notice the difference between
" ,
from his descriptions of characters. He the Scottish tonguo. Their history is so literature and
literature and journalism. Words, to
admired a man like the butcher of whom intimately connected with that of Scotland, have a good standing, must be employed
he said to François >
that we must refer our readers to that head-
ing. Their literature is principally the their career in a newspaper, but there
by responsible authors. They may begin
" He's uncommonly strong! His flesh work of venal Scots. "?
isn't flabby! I think he has twelve children.
they are on trial. Later they may be
And how he drinks champagne ! I've His jest was something like a prophecy, accepted as part of the language when
known him sometimes drink fourteen bot- for it heralded the rise of the kailyard they have been used by recognized
tles. ”
school. Lately the English world has writers of verse or prose. So the present
Energy, and perhaps blood also, delighted set itself to enjoy and understand Bunty' reviewer would have been glad to see
him, though he was kindly, a lover of and the Irish players, but it has also citations from, say, Mark Twain and
some live animals, and a hater of war. another task of increasing difficulty-- Whittier take the place of uses in jour-
His writing betrays a perhaps excessive to appreciate all the strange and vivid nalism. Thus “Ante off, ante up"=
preoccupation with the body; and one words which the Americanization of our “To exchange, pay off," suggests the
of his conversations here offers an ex entertainments and our newspapers has Ante and pass the buck ” (“pay up and
cellent description of an incredibly strong brought into vogue. The new language pass the pool”) of Mark Twain's Inno-
'
negro masseur at Tunis, who
is so cute, so bewildering in its metaphor cents at Home,' chap. i. The same
ii
to finish you up jumps on the table, seizos
and rapid in its changes, as to defy the writer's Life on the Mississippi ' would
your legs, and passes his heel all down collector. We had just discovered what supply in chap. xxxvi. :-
your spine ; then he puts you back on the
“rubber ! ” short for “rubber-neck ! "
table, just like a rabbit that one has killed means, when we were confronted with along a line that's being surveyed, there's
'Well, I know, and you know, that all
by this same operation. "
the statement that a man of note, inter- little dabs of land that they call “gores,'
Even his “ nightmare on
Night' is
viewed by a lady, “ got her goat. ” We that fall to the surveyor free gratis for
hard and firm in its anatomy. His valet could not imagine the process indicated, nothing";
shows us how much he desired health,
but a kindly correspondent explained
and
and particularly how highly he thought that he broke her nerve.
of bathing; he praised the Romans for
Mr. Richard Thornton in the two
" Heretofore the bets had been trifling-
their baths, and regretted the loss of their volumes of 'An
a dollar or two; but Backus started off
An American Glossary
with an eagle (ten-dollar gold piece] now. "
tradition; he thought Flaubert would wisely does not attempt to register the
have lived much longer with the help of voluminous outpourings of modern slang," The first verse of a Fourth of July song
shower baths. He did not prolong his but confines himself to words and phrases from The Baltimore Evening Post of July,
own life to a length anything like equal of recognized standing or special interest. 1805, illustrates sachem. ” We should
to that of his less hygienic master. But Still, he does touch in several pages on add from Whittier’s ‘Mogg Megone,'
down to the first symptoms of ataxy his the modern world. He gives us the “hobo'
1. 85:-
brain and body continued to be mar and the “ dude without their modern
And the fair-haired girl thou hast sought of me
vellous engines. The hard lucidity of his companions the “ tough," the “gorilla, Shall sit in the Sachem's wigwam, and be
writing suggests the engine—that head and the "spieler girl. " As he explains
The wife of Mogg Megone forever.
which no hat would fit because the family in his Preface, he includes forms of speech The same poem (1. 179) supplies the
doctor had moulded it perfectly round at now obsolete or provincial in England,
now obsolete or provincial in England, similar title which Mr. Thornton omits :-
birth, Artificial or not, the perfectly such as “gotten ”; names of persons and
Hold, Ruth,-'t is I, the Sagamore!
round head seems inevitable in the writer classes of persons, such as “Hoosier " ;
who treated with equal steely justice the words which have assumed a new meaning: Perhaps, however, Mr. Thornton takes
,
lives of romantic, gallant, or brutal men,
such as “card” for a special notice by the literal sense of " sachem ” for granted,
and of wild ducks.
advertisement; and words and phrases and records only political uses.
He spoke a good deal of himself to of which he has found earlier examples The revolver has always been a potent
François, who, as Maupassant once said, in American than in English writers, such feature in American life, and the wild,
had an excellent memory. A little more
as “alarmist and capitalize. ” The free habits of earlier days, not altogether
or a little less self-consciousness would previous Dictionaries of Americanisms, abated now in certain districts, supply a
have made the book better. The writer those of Bartlett and Farmer, are useful multitude of innovations in language.
is not quite naive; but, on the other in their way, but often vague. Mr. The “saloon-keeper," who has here only
hand, his intelligence is chiefly memory and Thornton's two volumes excel them, two quotations, derived from the New
discretion. He kept a diary, which he notably in the admirable list of quotations English Dictionary,' flourishes in the
has used, we know not with what freedom, they supply, which must have taken years literature of Nevada and Colorado. Mr.
but certainly with an admirable lightness to collect. There is no theorizing, no Thornton records the “sling," a drink
which seldom allows tediousness. In fact, vague statement that such a word was concocted with spirits, which is, we
the only considerable fault of the book current at a certain period. We find imagine, from the German “ schlingen,
is that it is illustrated by irrelevant throughout dated instances which show
“ Slings me a tract on the evils
photographs inserted by the publisher as clearly the development of language, and keeping bad company,” from Bret
marvels because Maupassant took them. give Mr. Thornton's careful and erudite Harte's Seventy-Nine, presents another
The publisher's own account is that he
work a status such as is accorded to the word which might be recorded as typically
“has spared no pains to embellish a book ' New English Dictionary,' which he American.
designed as a not unworthy tribute to occasionally quotes. His connexion with
"Small potatoes ” is a specimen of
the memory of a truly great man. " The Notes and Queries has also opened up a
Notes and Queries has also opened up a the vivid slang which abounds in this
translation is not first-rate. Some of the whole field of inquiry and research which book. It begins with Col. David Crockett
talk has the opacity due to imperfect is collectively invaluable.
in 1836, and the last quotation offers &
understanding ; a
variant. In 1880 Texas Siftings' re-
** If not she is offered to us instead of An American Glossary : being an Attempt marked that Ruskin's“ knowledge of the
to illustrate Certain Americanisms upon
English; and “so as " is used for so that
Historical Principles. By Richard L. spirit of the present age turns out to be
throughout the book.
Thornton. 2 vols. (Francis & Co. ) 1 mighty small pumpkins. . . 36 :
3
6
7
6
99
## p. 729 (#543) ############################################
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
729
some
66
66
sun. "
» 66
G
A person of consequence is
tion of the following additions : “ Chau- artist. Finally, the present account ap-
pumpkins” or “punkins. ” Much of the tauqua” conventions, &c. ; "dooryard," proaches to the intimate and personal at
highfalutin "scattered throughout these as in “ When lilacs last in the dooryard any rate a good deal more nearly than did
pages is amusing, and makes one think bloomed ”; “pie-plant," and some deci- the previous treatises. Joint authorship,
of Martin Chuzzlewit. ' Dickens intro-sion concerning" pie” as compared with of course, implies a joint responsibility that
duced to English readers a puzzling phrase tart”; “sky-pilot," an ingenious para- is shared through thick and thin ; and it
in
snags and sawyers," which will be phrase now, like "devil-dodger,” fairly was an evil myth that credited Liddell
found fully explained here. An Appendix current in England; and “trial-lodge
with the excuse,
Ah, that was Scott. "
offers some admirable specimens of " Tall (Indian, used by Whittier). Finally, at Yet, when we learn that “one of us
Talk” and other embodiments of the the risk of being dubbed a slang- arrived at Alice Springs as zoologist and
American spirit. We cannot forbear to whanger," he ventures the query, Why photographer of the Horn Expedition,
quote the following example of 1856 :- not include the “ blatherskite " ?
whereas one of us " had been there
"An Illinois lawyer, in defending a thief,
amongst the Arunta for more than
said to the jury : True, he was rude, so
twenty years as sub-protector of the
air our bars. True, he was rough, so air our
aborigines, it hardly takes a genius to
buffaloes. But he was a child of freedom,
AUSTRALIA AND GUIANA.
guess which was which. This question,
and his answer to the despot and the tyrant
was that his home was on the bright setting A BOOK that displays the names of of such
however, is better not raised in view
a story as that the natives
Spencer and Gillen on its title-page knew one of the explorers by the nickname
The buffalo has gone, but we gather from cannot fail to arouse feelings of excite- of “Small Stomach," whilst the other
police reports that the child of freedom ment in the anthropological bosom. It was distinguished by the simple noun.
still sizes up less enterprising persons with may, therefore, be well to explain at the At most we may attempt to correlate
a six-shooter.
outset that in this new work the authors this matter of an undistributed middle
The political world supplies some odd
are but retracing old and well-trodden with another story to the effect that when,
words like “ Locofoco” and “ Doughface. " ways. Prof. Spencer, it is true, has at Banka Banka in Northern Territory,
real fresh
Mugwump" and " Tammany" are both, lately been revisiting the far North of an old bushman provided
we learn, Indian in origin. Paper cur- Australia, where he has made numerous eggs, one of us ate thirteen, whilst
rency began in 1824 to be called “shin- fresh acquaintances amongst the native the other limited himself to six.
plasters. Greenbackers " advocated an tribes. Rumours have trickled through To speak more seriously, it is exceedingly
over-issue of such money in the seventies. to the effect that he is compiling a store interesting from a scientific point of view
One learns that the “ frazzle” which is of important material, some of it of novel to be able to set the categorized observa-
the declared terminus of Mr. Roosevelt's and strange complexion, the rest con- tions of the former works against the
combats is a “frayed-out end, and firmatory of his theory of a cultural background of a diary, however rough.
belongs also to East Anglia. Natural continuity between North and Centre, It was not possible before to gauge with
history is another source of strange maintained by a steady drift of customs sufficient accuracy the opportunities which
terminology. The chipmunk and the and beliefs that proceeds southwards the observers had of coming into close
mud-turtlo are as odd to the ordinary either to the west or to the east of Lake contact with the facts which they describe.
the lightning-bug and Eyre. But we must await with patience Now, at length, we stand by them as they
the squash. He knows what a coon is, the publication of his full report, a matter get to work with phonograph, cinemato-
but hardly realizes the sly racoon which of many months' toil when so high a graph, and so on. Of their methods all
supplied the term. The “ locust" may
standard both of observation and of are revealed except one, namely, their
be the locust tree, and Mr. Thornton illustration is involved. In the meantime, means of intercommunication, which we
produces a French translator of Fenimore however, our appetite for more may be cannot but suspect to have been largely
Cooper who, puzzled by a horse hitched staved off to some extent by restudying pidgin-English. It is an interesting point
to a locust, rendered the word "sauter in a new light those three notable expedi- when taken in association with Herr
elle," and explained that in the United tions—of 1894, 1895-6, and 1901-2– Strehlow's alternative glosses ; to which,
States grasshoppers grew to an incredible thanks to which the Arunta, hitherto by the way, there is not the slightest
size, were stuffed, weighed down with hidden away amid the central solitudes allusion here, the old terms, Intichiuma
lead, and used for hitching horses. This of the Australian Continent, have become and so on, being retained as if their
statement is from The Goodwill Record, one of the most prominent people in the authenticity were unchallenged. Mean-
and requires more benevolence than we world of to-day-or (shall we say ? ) of while, there can be no doubt that our
possess to believe it offhand.
yesterday--for, alas ! they are already authors enjoyed quite unrivalled chances
Mr. Thornton rarely permits himself
dwindling fast.
amongst the Arunta, and in fact at all
any criticism, but is clearly a sound scholar This book, which is lacking in the the stations along the telegraph line,
in Elizabethan English, whence he pro- prefatory word that is needed to furnish of seeing ceremonies performed on the
duces some striking usages. Thus“ horse the reader with his orientation, is clearly grandest scale. , Owing, it may be, in
of another color" is claimed
intended for the general public, For part to the fact that supplies were plentiful
Americanism until an earlier date than one thing, there is nothing in it that in the neighbourhood of the white men,
1798 can be found; yet it recalls a could bring a blush to the cheek of those the natives indulged in a carnival of
similar phrase in 'Twelfth Night. ' Mr. punctilious persons who are prepared to pageantry-one that, it is more than
likely, may never be repeated. Certainly
Thornton tells us that “side-walk” is take seriously Mr. Lang's joke about " 'ye
a word much needed in England. " beastly devices of ye heathen. ” Again, they were no longer completely wild
Our politicians have found "side-tracked" it is written in a fine, fresh style, redolent natives, like those Luritja of whom the
convenient, but for the ordinary walk by of colonial heartiness, and well designed travellers could make so little. The virus
the side of a street or road surely " path to portray a life in the open, amid simple of civilization, we must assume, ' was
way” and “pavement” are sufficient. conditions and wide spaces, even if, already in their system. But we may
There is much more that is noteworthy perhaps, a little hard on the natives, rest perfectly assured, from what we are
disparate, and exotic
told and are able to gather for ourselves,
in this fascinating Glossary, but enough mentality hardly Tends itself to the that this virus was still largely dormant.
has been said to show its interest. It is vocabulary of our bustling pioneers
, but The ceremonies ring true.
modestly called “ an attempt to illustrate calls for the finer touches of the literary
It is no insult, but rather a compliment,
certain Americanisms upon historical prin-
to the authors that their methods of field-
ciples," but it is so thorough and compre- Across Australia. By Baldwin Spencer and work should be scrutinized with the
hensive that it is worth annotation here F. J. Gillen. ' 2 vols. (Macmillan & Co. ) greatest care. It is the price that must
and there. The present reviewer, also a Guiana: British, Dutch, and French,
collector of words, suggests the considera-
Ву
be paid for issuing documents of the
James Rodway, (Fisher Unwin. ) utmost value to science. The student
as
an
66
9
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THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
must be able—nay, should be assisted, as even if they occasionally spear a white a supply of effective labour. The native
far as in them lies, by the observers them- man, or, at any rate, his cattle—that is Indian is quite useless as a tiller of the
selves--to write off the personal equation. no excuse for exterminating them. Even soil. He is excellent as a huntsman,
It has been the business of anthropologists though he be worthy of his name, the and will serve the white man faithfully
to ponder over the evidence supplied by Tasmanian “devil ” can claim the right in this respect. Also as a guide in the
these classical authorities page by page to live as a rare specimen. And these forest he is indispensable. But he will
and line by line. In the present work other rare specimens, human beings of not use the spade. It is woman's work.
they will discover nothing that is alto- high, if specialized, intelligence, as it The whites acquiesced in the early days
gether new to them as regards the insti- were our own far-off ancestors come back in this view so far as to turn his woman.
tutions and beliefs of the aborigines. But to life, can they not also claim to be let kind into slaves ; but the experiment
they will be confirmed in their original alone, and in this way-for it is the only answered only moderately. Then came
impression that Messrs. Spencer and possible way—to live on?
the African, a bane as well as a blessing,
Gillen, in conditions which, of course, It remains to add that the book teems since he had only to run away into the
they could not fully control--for test- with illustrations which, without any slight vast and indeterminate hinterland and
conditions are not within the range of to the letterpress, may be said to afford establish himself as a bush-negro—and as
the science of man-used worthily and an even better idea of these people, whose such he flourishes to this day-to become
adequately a unique chance of playing chief mode of self-expression is the dance.
a far more ugly customer than the mild
onlooker to the most primitive humanity No one but an expert photographer could Arawak, or even the bolder and once
that the present earth can show. have caught and fixed their fleeting cannibal Carib. After slavery was abol-
“We had actually seen," they say, movements, carried on, as often as not, ished, the negro disappointed his well-
speaking of the Luritja,“ living in their as night was falling or morning breaking wishers by failing to display the free
primitive state, entirely uncontaminated The pictures of plants and animals are man's pleasure in honest toil. Hence the
by contact with civilization, men who likewise very useful in these days of East Indian coolie is ousting him as a
had not yet passed beyond the palæolithic anthropogeography, as helping out our plantation hand. For the rougher work
stage of culture. ” The expression may conception of the life of the natural man. of balata-bleeding and rubber-collecting,
not be technically correct at any rate. The natives hold their own, in a country however, the negro, as the stronger man,
as applied to the Central Australians in that has long been in the throes of desicca- easily holds his own. As these facts show,
general-since the ground stone axe is tion, by taking advantage with quick nowhere could the anthropologist find
not unknown amongst them. But there perception of the minutest aids that a better series of object-lessons than in
is every reason to think that, on the their environment affords; and, for the Guiana, as regards the natural aptitudes
whole, we are here in the presence of a rest, they would eke out by magic their of the diverse races of mankind.
culture comparable only to that of the imperfect control of the elements, thus, It will be interesting to see whether
Older Stone Age of pleistocene Europe. as it were, prophetically expressing the this book induces any travellers of sport-
How long the Australians have been there racial claim to lord it over creation. ing instincts to seek adventures and
stagnating in this by-world of their own,
scientific material in the far interior. The
amid equally out-of-the-way mammals Mr. Rodway's Guiana,' like its com- photographs of Roraima, & mighty castel-
that wear pouches or lay eggs, is a problem panions of “The South American Series," lated rock-plateau on the Venezuela
that cannot at present be resolved exactly is intended to convey to the reader a border, are enough to attract every true
If, however, as appears almost certain, comprehensive notion of the history and mountaineer towards it, even if he learns
man introduced the dingo, whose remains present condition of a particular political that he must first work his way up a river
are found to be coeval with those of division or district of South America. and, as Baedeker says, “thence walk"
extinct marsupials, such as Diprotodon, In the present case we are introduced to for two or three weeks. Roraima, how-
which browsed on abundant" herbage a district, since under the common name ever, has been conquered, the credit for
along the former lakes and streams of the of Guiana are included Dutch, French, this feat being due, we believe, to Sir
now desert Eyrean region, then we may, and British possessions. We are thus Everard im Thurn.
Yet there remains
perhaps, attribute to the aborigines of given an excellent opportunity of studying the sister rock-plateau of Kukenaam, on
to-day a history-if it can be called a methods of colonization by the com- whose proud neek no man has ever yet
history—that stretches back unbrokenly parative principle. It would, porhaps, be placed his foot. Let the bold explorer,
to pleistocene times. In short, these flint invidious to declare which country comes then, scan the "travel notes
" which this
implements, cave-drawings, churinga, cere- out with the best record. There can be book provides. Here are a few of the
monies, and so forth, in respect to which little doubt, however, that the French headings : Pleasure of Camping Out,
such close analogies are forthcoming system of drafting off their ne'er-do-wells A Fow Pests,' 'Some Inconveniences,'
from prehistoric Europo, have persisted into Cayenne, if salutary to the land of Sickness. It is consoling to read a little
unchanged during endless millennia-to be France itself, is not calculated to benefit further on : 'No Fogs, Earthquakes, or
observed just in time by civilized man, it the "dumping - ground” across the seas.
Hurricanes. '
is true, but likewise at his first touch to The Dutch, on the other hand, would seem
wither away and disappear utterly. to have plodded away with some success
In regard to the extinction of the at Surinam, and it is certainly going ahead Bernard Shaw et son Euvre. Par Charles
aborigines, we are bound to add that at the present moment, though its finances
Cestre. (Paris, 'Mercure de France. ')
kindly treatment on the part of the still show a deficit. The English can boast
whites would seem to be the rule in the of having put more capital, and probably MR. HENDERSON'S recent biography at-
Centre, though the less said about what more energy as well, into the exploitation tempted to weigh the vitality and versa-
used to happen in other parts of Australia of their share of the coast. Yet British tility of Mr. Shaw as a man ; M. Cestre
the better. At the same time, we do not Guiana, if valuable to the mother-country, balances the intellectual quality and
learn from this book of any strenuous is not exuberantly prosperous. The sugar rebellious independence of his works.
attempt to establish reservations, or other industry, though showing an annual yield The result is a monograph in which
wise by isolation to protect the natives of over a hundred thousand tons, would the elasticity of the French tongue and
from the demoralization that awaits them seem to be stationary. The output of the critical intuition of the Frenchman
at the hands of more or less well-meaning gold is fairly large, but was a good deal combine in an addition to Shaviana-
intruders into their fastnesses. Surely it larger a few years ago. Balata and rubber comprehensive, clear, and reasoned. It
is possible to do something still. History promise well. The timber trade ought was doubtless written in obedience to
and science will be unsparing in their to be more extensive than it is, for the the finest of inspirations — admiration,
verdict if this unique link with the far region is naturally rich in this respect. but no courtier could more subtly veil
past of the race is destroyed by the mere The chief difficulty that stands in the every temptation to outspoken laudation
supineness of the Australian public. Even way of the economic development of a than the author, who excels in analysis,
if the natives are tiresome at times- tropical country is that of arranging for explanation, and comment. After a
## p. 731 (#545) ############################################
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
THE ATHEN ÆUM
731
66
brief sketch of his subject's career, he
Fow be my festal days, when, if the fre
And habit of ambition wakoning
passes in review nearly all his plays, NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
Should
with unbarnessed energy conspiro,
striving to introduce them to those who
Oh, steel me against Spring !
(Notice in those columns does not procludo longer
Teach me to face Desire,
do not know them—a large host in France roviow. )
And grimly to withstand her subtle sting!
presumably, as but two of the plays
Tbeology.
have been represented there -- with all
But the austerity of Mr. Campbell's
their originality and verve unspoilt. Then Catholic Encyclopædia, Vol. XIII. , 27/6
thought and language is exhibited more
Caxton Publishing Co.
fully in certain of the nature poems, and
follows a critical study of Mr. Shaw's
the final, 'Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam' is
complexities - the truculence, cynicism, This volume ranges from ‘Revelation
a musical and proud elaboration of the
individualism—the exaggeration, daring, to 'Simon Stock,' à Carmelite saint born
theme of mutability and the soul's sense of
and fertility which reflect the intellectual in Kent about 1165. It is well illustrated,
temporal things.
mobility, the restless curiosity, and the and abounds in historical and artistic
interest. The headings 'Rites,' 'Rome' It would be
easy by quotation to
egotistical trumpeting of contemporary and its derivatives, Saint and Schism, illustrate the accuracy of observation and
society. A chapter on form closes the study. Schools, Science, and Seals all supply the well-tempered delicacy that mark the
We join issue with our author occa- important and elaborate matter. A number best of the shorter poems. In its way
sionally. He labours a point which needs of biographies are interspersed.
the 'Epitaph on a Great Composer is
no such emphasis as he indulges in when
equal to the best Jacobean work of the kind;
Lillicrap (A. G. ), THE DAY APPROACHING,
castigating the English theatre before the
and how close is Mr. Campbell's observation
a Twentieth-Century Revelation, Sequel of nature is shown in ' A Bird, "The Drome-
recent renaissance. It is not true to say to 'When Ye Think Not,' 6d.
dary,' and 'Nightfall on a Sandy Shore. '
that no piece succeeded which did not
Reading, A. G. Lillicrap Two short lyrics we reproduce in full. This
deal (cautiously) with seduction or adultery We can see no excuse for the publication of is 'Through Tears! :-
Charley's Aunt' and 'The Sign of this exclamatory and italicized “ toshery. "
the Cross suited the popular taste without Rauport (J. Godfrey), HELL AND ITS PRO-
As when the bitter waters rise
Into the warm surrendering eyes,
any such bait. He underrates both the
BLEMS, being the Third Revised and
And lights throw rays, and all appears
quality and the quantity of Mr. Shaw's
Twinkling across a mist of tears;
Enlarged Edition of Thoughts on
popularity in England, and for all his in- Hell,' 2/ net.
So when a sorrow floods the soul,
tuitive faculty does not show any sign of
St. Anselm's Publishing Co.
As through a film she sees the whole
World and her life before her swim
comprehending an important contributory The third edition, slightly modified, of a
Jagged and luminous and dim.
factor thereto-the appreciation of women. treatise designed to show that the concep-
Mr. Shaw's works are the quintessence of tion of Hell as a definite dogma in the Here is . Animula Vagula,' a fine expression
revolt against the abuses of the strong, Christian religion is irremovable.
The argu- of a mood :-
from which women have suffered and ment is not likely to appeal to modern
Night stirs but wakens not, her breathings climb
the aberrations of the weak—of which
thinkers. Reading books of this kind, we
are reminded of Heine's story of the woman
To one slow sigh ; the strokes of many twelves
they have taken advantage. He removes
From unseen spires mechanically chime,
of Alexandria who passed through the streets Mingling like echoes to frustrate themselves;
the swaddling bands of a false romanticism, with a torch and a bucket of water, declaring My soul, remember Time.
and shows himself a member of the elect that with the one she would set light to
The tones like smoke into the stillness curl;
few who know what every woman knows heaven and with the other quench the fires
The slippered bours their placid business ply,
And in thy hand there lies occasion's pearl ;
-in him they recognize one who neither of hell, so that mankind should no longer
do good for the sake of reward or from
But thou art playing with it absently
flatters nor despises, but understands.
And dreaming like a girl.
Probably no two persons would agree
fear of punishment.
as to the interpretation to be placed on
poetry.
If Mr. Campbell is strong enough to avoid
the plays. On the whole, M. Cestre's
petrifaction by formalism, he may do great
work. As it is, he has given us much that
analysis calls for no adverse criticism, Campbell (Archibald Young), Poems.
Cambridge, Heffer; is remarkable for its rounded finish and
except in the case of ‘You Never Can
Tell, where his attention is caught by
London, Simpkin & Marshall maturity of conception.
Restrained form, masterful terseness of
the sex-duel theme in the younger genera- expression, are not prominent even in the Clough, Poems, 3d. Oxford, Clarendon Press
tion, to the exclusion of its more important best verse of our time, and few indeed
treatment in the case of Mr. and Mrs.
The selection in this addition to the Oxford
are the contemporary poets who approach Plain Texts is at once generous and judicious,
Clandon. M. Cestre classes Sait-on sublimity.
Yet here is a first volume and contains the flower of Clough's genius,
jamais ? ' with 'L'Homme et le Sur which displays all these attributes in a
homme' as a play of love ; surely the high degree, Not all the forty poems in which, if a small one, has a peculiar scent
of its own.
former should have come under
We are glad to see . The Latest
the book show the same high level of
'La
Famille,' as the precursor of many burne and Synge, for example, are common-
attainment. The memorial verses on Swin- Decalogue, a magnificent piece of ironic
writing, included. Extracts from the
dramas dealing with the problem of place in thought and expression; and in book. It would have been wiser, we think,
“Bothie' occupy over one-third of the whole
the tyranny of home and the conflicting other pieces Mr. Campbell aims at fantastic
ideas of two generations.
to reserve it for another volume, and to give
In Tanner he effects which unsuccessful. But at
more voluminous excerpts from the 'Amours
sees the Superman brought down from his least half of the verses are so good that de Voyage.
eminence, reduced to the ranks, vanquished we would not have them altered. Neither
by the Man within, a conception which in his shorter nor in his longer poems does
Mr. Campbell touch the Dionysian vein ;
Seen by Fire.
arrives at the same end, but by a different throughout he writes with a conciseness and
Dublin, E. Ponsonby
route from that usually followed.
This volume contains much scattered
dignity that sometimes border on pedantry merit, though as a whole it is disappointing.
and coldness. Æschylus, Sophocles, and It has no virile sustained wind of imagina-
the English eighteenth century have con- tion blowing through it, but rather little
BOOK SALES.
tributed to his style. In places, even in the scented puffs that die away from their
AT a sale held recently by Messrs. Sotheby impressive Ode to Art, an eighteenth-
the following prices
frailness almost as soon as they are born.
were realized : Voyage century mannerism brings the reader up
dans l'Oberland bernoise, n. d. , 631.
The anonymous author shows some delicato
détachées et Maisons de 'la Suisse, n. d. , 381. abruptly. Yet the stanzas are full of
intuition of rhythm and melody, and can
Views of the Rhine and Frankfort, n. d. (1818), 711. movement:
conjure up his emotional fect with fair
Audubon, Birds of America, 7 vols. , 1840-44,
lacking one plate, 311. Defoe, Moll Flanders, 1721;
Visit not me with thine invidious might!
aptitude. He is most successful with a kind
Fortunate Mistress, 1724; Memoirs of Capt.
Arm not my spirit with thy naked spear!
of mystical dirge. What is wrong with
George Carleton, 1743, 791. The total of the sale
Life itself pales on thy pulsating height,
him is that his vision is too vague and un-
And like to me is dear
was 2,5091. 38. .
A much more sure delight
certain. The fabric never leaves the im-
At their rooms in Chancery Lane last week
Than purblind Inspiration, and more near.
pression of being irrefragable. What is
Messrs. Hodgson sold the library removed from
Life? ' is full of a charining melancholy, and
Willoughby Hall, Lincolnshire, and other proper-
Leave une to move in mercenary toil
ties, including Shelley's Cenci, first edition, present-
Of brain or body with the thoughtless throng ; conveys exactly the mood which Coleridge
ation copy from Leigh Hunt to Charles Lloyd, 1819,
The droning
anodyne of life's turmoil
caught in Verso, a breeze mid blossoms
Shall bear my thoughts along,
801. ; and Lamb's Elia, first edition, 1823, 271. 108.
And occupation foil
straying,” and Moore in “Oft in the stilly
The total for the three days was 1,7271. 10s. Bd.
The far-off sleepless challenge of thy song.
night. "
6
are
## p. 732 (#546) ############################################
732
No. 4418, JUNE 29, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Τ
a
ON
2
Bibliograpby.
Holcombe, a village of the Mendips, of so swift, it is good to have on record in so
,
,
which manor Mr. Wickham is lord. It is not attractive a form these features of the Oxford
Bolton Public Libraries : CATALOGUE OF
possible to praise it as an example of country.
BOOKS IN THE CENTRAL LENDING AND
REFERENCE LIBRARIES, USEFUL beginning to end. Although all sorts of Rand-McNally Indexed County and Town-
ship Pocket Map and Shippers' Guides :
ARTS, ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL TECH- subjects are treated, there is no general
ILLINOIS ; INDIANA ; New JERSEY ;
NOLOGY, MANUFACTURES, MECHANIC
index, and even the page-references are not
NEW YORK; OHIO; and PENNSYL-
TRADES, 2d.
given to the preliminary chapter-contents.
Bolton, Libraries Committee
Careless statements abound. The author
VANIA, 250. each.
discourses of frithstools, which he calls
Chicago, Rand, McNally & Co.
Boston, Sixtieth Annual Report
of the freedstolis," and says
Trustees of the Public Library of the City, also. ? ?
“Beverley had one
Sociology.
His accounts of sanctuary and
1911-12.
Boston, the Trustees sanctuary rights are wrong, and he actually Grahame (Stewart), WHERE SOCIALISM
Brown (James Duff), LIBRARY CLASSIFICA- states that the sanctuary man, on his FAILED : AN ACTUAL EXPERIMENT, 6/
TION AND CATALOGUING, 7/8 net.
abjuration of the realm, had to submit
John Murray
Libraco, Ltd. to be branded with a hot iron to mark If the author had avoided devoting, so
Croydon : TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
him as one who had only escaped by the much of his book to polemics against what
OF THE LIBRARIES COMMITTEE, 1911-12,
skin of his teeth. "
he conceives to be fundamental tenets of
with Appendices, and Twelfth Annual There is a good story, but it is of Early Socialism, his narrative of Lane's Utopian
Report of the Upper Norwood Public Victorian date, and pertains to the Vale settlement in Paraguay might have swayed
Library (Croydon and Lambeth), 1911- of Belvoir, which is sufficiently remote the minds of many unsophisticated readers.
1912. Croydon, Croydon Times : | from Holcombe and Somersetshire. Mr. Even such readers could not help being struck
Tidd Pratt, a Poor Law Commissioner, by the comparison of the devastation brought
history and Biography. asked a big farmer what were his principles. about by the autocrat Lopez under a capi-
“ My principles, sir, are Church and Ale. talist system which had everything in its
Hamilton-Browne (Col. G. ), A Lost LEGION- “How so? " said Mr. Pratt. “Well, it's favour and the trials so heroically borne by
ARY IN SOUTH AFRICA, 12/6 net. Laurie like this. Me and my men live on the same the pioneers of New Australia-trials many
A vivid series of adventures with the
farm buildings, and they have their supper of which might reasonably be said to havo
irregular forces engaged principally in the with me on Sunday nights.
