No More Learning

however, lurks behind any universal What family tragedies have we not all
By “Silver Cockle. " (Clowes & Sons. )
training for citizenship—that of party beheld, of which the root was the desire of
The Ethics of School Life. By J. Howard propaganda. Our author, indeed, ex- a parent to mould a child, or of a husband
Moore. (Bell & Sons. )
pressly declares that civic instruction or wife to mould a partner!
an
man
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No. 4403, MARCH 16, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
>
each -
Education, as Mr. Smith perceives, and office,” she is further told, “is not that even then—would all of them be found
as leaders of education in this country are of the critic, but of the helper. ” Surely widely different from those of the extreme
happily beginning to perceive, has, for the higher duty of teachers, and the one Protestants of the present day.
generations past, been engaged in the of which they rather need to be reminded, His lectures very properly are not
same singularly injurious endeavour, and, is to preserve independence of mind, and confined to the limits of Britain, but
most unfortunately, has often succeeded not entirely to subordinate their teaching include all the movements of the Western
up to the limit of possibility ; the short and their pupils to the idea of the school Church in which any British bishops or
faculties have not been developed, but or the system.
monks were concerned. Thus the famous
the “ long” ones have often been effectu-
ally stunted.
'A Good Citizen Catechism for Au Synod of Arles was attended by three
Children’ was composed as a counterblast British bishops, who brought båck the
In the second half of his volume Mr. to a Socialist Catechism that had fallen decrees of that Council to their homes.
Smith traces the history of the American under the writer's notice; but it is so
Indeed, for centuries the Church of
schools, framed to impart “a classical
education
lacking in argument, so narrow in out- Southern Gaul stood in very close rela-
render it possible for
and
every child, rich or poor, to go to college. "
look, and so amusingly cocksure that it tions to that of Britain. Even in the case
Certain stages of certain studies occupy adversaries rather than its friends.
will be ammunition in the hands of its of Ireland, there seem to have been
He early groups of Christians before St.
grade”; and pupils who fail in has, doubtless, no intention of being blas- Patrick in the southern provinces; and
any subject remain in the grade, repeating phemous, and does not, probably, recognize the track of this early faith was probably
the whole of their work until the required the enormous presumption of supposing from Marseilles, across the south of France
standard is attained. If that attainment that he knows for certain why God to Bordeaux, or even to Northern Spain,
is continually missed, they drop out of created the human race, and that God from which early communication with
expelled. Such pupils do not get educated designed the precise form of government the south of Ireland seems to have existed
expelled. Such pupils do not get educated and dominion now prevailing in this long before the spread of Christianity.
country. The intellectual calibre of this But, if there was any close intercourse
years are made intolerable to them. They production may be fairly judged by the between Marseilles and Ireland, it would
are not necessarily stupid ; some are very following question and answer
give some colour to the frequent assertions
intelligent, but their intelligence, facing
of the Irish archæologists that Greek was
along a road not travelled by the school, for the defence of your country and Empire
“ To oppose compulsory military service
known and taught in their schools. Dr.
remains untrained and often useless. is therefore wrong in principle and dis- Williams evidently does not believe this,
In all such cases the children have been graceful ?
and goes so far as to cite Pelagius's
sacrificed to the school, a most disastrous “Yes. Every individual should regard knowledge of Greek as evidence that
perversion of a school's true purpose. it as the highest privilege and honour to he had not been educated in Ireland.
The necessary remedy consists, pri- undergo military training and service for In the absence of any clear proof we are
marily, in a changed educational spirit, Our author has evidently no perception conclusion that Pelagius was a Briton.
disposed to agree with him, as well as in the
a desire not to shape which is generally
impossible—but to develope the indi- of a difference between things desirable
He holds justly that, although early
viduality of every child ; and, secondarily,
to do and things desirable to be enforced.
Latin versions of the Bible were current
in so widening methods and curricula Nor does he, we venture to say, realize
compulsory
in England and Wales, the teaching was
as to open to every child subjects of that he has advocated a
"
teaching that the laws of his nature military training and service for girls
. probably in the vernacular, which never
To the advocates of military glory girls loan words from that language. In
fused itself with Latin, though using many
permit him to assimilate. To keep a
child grinding at things for which he are, of course, not individuals.
support of this opinion he might have
has no capacity, or for which his capacity The teaching of morals is required by cited the fact that in the earliest Irish
has not yet come into existence (and the law in the public schools of Illinois. Prof. Latin MSS. there Celtic glosses,
periods at which capacities appear vary Howard Moore has consequently given a showing that explanations were required
extremely in different individuals), is lesson at a technical High School of in the vernacular. The existence and
not only to waste his time and destroy Chicago on ‘The Ethics of School Life. popularity of earlier versions than St.
his happiness; it is also to waste and His twenty pages are full of practical Jerome's Vulgate are known from ample
impair that common stock of intelligence advice, delivered with homely and effective evidence. In Ireland, though the Book
which is the greatest of a nation's vigour.
of Durrow is copied from the Vulgate,
treasures.
there are variants from this version in the
The late Mr. Soldan's essays have been Christianity in Early Britain.
Book of Kells which seem to show that
By the
selected and published since his death by late Hugh Williams. (Oxford, Claren- the writers either had before them, or
“a group of his intimate associates,
don Press. )
remembered, the older versions.
who would have been better advised if It will be a surprise to many of our
Nothing distinguished these early Chris-
they had left the manuscripts, as appar- readers that the Davies Lecture Trust attached to subjects which we cannot
tians more than the vast importance they
ently the author did, in privacy. Evi- Fund should provide the assembly of regard as better than trivial. Thus the
dently the strong educational influence the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists with so
which Mr. Soldan
is said
to have exercised broad, learned, and
philosophical a course great quarrel
about the fixing of Easter
must have been due to powers other than of lectures as are contained in the volume Church was declared heretical, and worthy
those of a thinker or a writer.
We before us.
The author, who was Pro- of exclusion from the Communion of the
fail to find anything original in the fessor of Church History at the Theo- Saints, seems to us now incomprehensible.
essays, while the deficiencies of style and logical College of Bala, shows himself Even had it been a quarrel about a fixed
even grammar suggest that English was a master of his business. Above all,
not the writer's native tongue.
he treats it strictly as
day in the year and month we might try
an historian, to appreciate it. But we must take the
The essay headed Teachers' Duties being free from the prejudice, common
dwells with dangerous emphasis upon among Protestants of most kinds, that, ages as we find them. Here is a sound
the , full loyalty and unswerving sup- if the unsound accretions and additions passage apropos of Constantius’s ‘ Life of
St. Germanus':-
port owed to "the system of public to the creeds of Anglicans and Catholics
schools of which she is one of the repre- in the course of centuries were but stripped ' Any endeavour to remove,
sentatives," and to the principal who off, what remains would be the doctrine lessen, the supernatural element in a book
represents the authority of the board,” of the primitive Church as it existed in
such as this would be a historical blunder.
The author belongs to his age ; saints and
by every teacher—the teacher, it may be the early centuries of our era. He says
relics are to him naturally accompanied
noted, is always “she” in these pages,
than once that these primitive with many and frequent miracles, and,
and the principal always “he. ' Her Churches-for there were more than one ' without committing an anachronism, we
66
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or
even
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No. 4403, MARCH 16, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
303
6
>
>>
3
are more likely to find the truth we are in This prefatory explanation is necessary,
search of if we approach his work with some not only on account of the rich promise and
FICTION.
amount of sympathy. To whittle away
the miraculous would certainly leave us the comparative neglect of Mr. Stephens's first
The
volume, but also because The Hill of
Matador of the Five Towns. By
poorer ; to rationalize excessively, and by
Arnold Bennett. (Methuen & Co. )
doing so to find a deep recondite meaning, Vision 'marks a curious development of,
frequently turns out to be a grave mistake. and even departure from, the territory This is a collection of twenty-two short
This miraculous element in Christian litera. he had mapped out for himself. His stories—contributions to periodical papers
ture appears early as a component part even expression is now obviously more ripe, -of which five are designated “Tragic,
of contemporary and genuinely historical and has gained in deftness of handling and the rest “Frolic. " By far the best
narratives.
and spontaneity what it has lost in ruth is the one which gives its title to the
The editors have performed their pious lessness, austerity, and grim stalking of book; in fact, we question whether Mr.
labour very well ; but there are a few the truth.
In some
ways it would Arnold Bennett has ever written forty
spots on the sun, which seem to point to seem as if in this volume the poet was
pages more compact of life and imagina-
Dr. Williams's want of care in translating recreating himself, before, like Alastor, tion than these. The diction runs easily
or quoting classical languages. His audi- he girded himself anew for the high places and without affectation, yet it is strong
ence was probably the cause of such a and solitudes of poetic endeavour. But and serried, free from superfluous words:
note as this : “Lucan was the nephew his emotional quality, always poignant the amount of detail included is astonish-
of the philosopher Seneca. Besides other and straining eagerly at freedom, has been ing, but the general effect is kept broad
works he wrote an Epic poem, of which the not so much diluted as deflected into other and simple. The “Matador," à certain
poetic value is small, called 'Pharsalia. '”
modes of poetic realization. Still warm- Jos Myatt, “is the finest full-back in
But presently he says, “ Lucan, in the ing“ both hands before the fire of life," he the League”; and as the central scene
dozen or fewer of lines of his preserved, has, except for rare impulses, ceased—we of the tale we have a football match,
seems to me to be reproducing Cæsar. ” hope, momentarily—to bank it up himself. viewed from the grand stand, with the
This is strange. He mistranslates érì with We feel that other hands, greater and less players looking like red and white dolls,
the genitive" at the hands of,” instead than his, have experienced a kindred and the vast multitude of spectators
of witnessed before the rulers, and so glow before him.
glow before him. In 'A Prelude and A itself
the chief actor.
spoils his quotation. “Quot pæne verba, Song,' for instance, there is a note of "Tragic” though the tale is called, the
tot sententiæ sunt,” is surely not “his fresh, joyous aspiration, a sweet self-humour interwoven with it, the unobtru-
very words, almost, are sentences,” but identification with natural phenomena, siveness of the concentration, give it
rather“ there is a thought in almost every which reminds us vividly of Keats, when rather the character of "pathetic. In
word. ” This is indeed the explanation he tells us how his spirit entered into that Mimi' there is a charming child, who
given of Tertullian's style in the preceding of the sparrow picking from the gravel stands apart among Mr. Arnold Bennett's
words. These are but trifles, as are also a outside his window. Here and there is a children in being shown simply as she is
few patriotic verdicts which magnify the touch of that pellucid melody the cunning-neither as conforming to the carefully
Welsh saints in comparison with the Irish, stops and keys of which are well known calculated exigencies of heredity, nor as
whom the author strangely enough, in one to Mr. W. H. Davies ; here and there a painfully foreshadowing her own later
place opposes to Celtic ! But the whole drop into the soft melancholy of regret, development into the commonplace or
book is full of interest. There are fre- which sounds in “Fair Daffodils, we weep the surprising.
quent lists of important modern authori- to see. . . . ” But Mr. Stephens never Of the Frolic' tales, Jack-at-a-
ties, and we cannot but deeply deplore relapses into the mincing gait, exotic Venture,' 'Under the Clock,' and 'Hot
the loss of such a scholar and thinker to tonality, and spiritual anæmia character- Potatoes' seem to us the merriest, the
the Churches of Wales.
istic of the modern craft of verse.
most skilfully told, and the most worth
We notice that one or two of the shorter, telling. We find two, or perhaps three,
more dramatic poems have been reprinted more which are well enough. The rest are
The Hill of Vision. By James Stephens. from The Nation. The first two stanzas clumsy, far-fetched, and jejune ; and, if
(Dublin, Maunsel & Co. )
of “The Fullness of Time' we cannot they offer us here and there a good epigram,
WHEN Mr. Stephens's first volume- forbear to quote :
a vivid or a grotesque bit of intuition,
* Insurrections '- came into the world,
On a rusty iron throne,
there is plenty of Mr. Arnold Bennett's
its appeal for the most part fell upon chill
Past the furthest star of space,
work in which such excellences as these
I saw Satan sit alone :
and unheeding ears. But the inspiration
may be enjoyed without the expense of
Old and haggard was his face ;
and message contained in it were as a
For his work was done, and he
ennui.
hawk swooping among the chirruping
Rested in eternity.
company of songsters whose puny voices
And to him from out the sun
represent the verse of to-day. That
Came his father and his friend,
Saying, now the work is done
Charity. By R. B. Cunninghame
first volume had poetry in it charged with
Enmity is at an end,
Graham. (Duckworth & Co. )
vitality It cast away the swathings
And he guided Satan to
with which modern minor verse screens
Paradises that he knew.
PERHAPS “ Charity' was selected as the
itself from reality, and swept out upon us The last stanza Mr. Stephens has unfortu- title for this collection of eighteen
a new thing in full panoply of its own. nately retouched in such a way as to sketches, or stories, because Faith
The author's most potent gift was poetic lose the depth and strength of its sim- and 'Hope' had been chosen for the
dramatization, the faculty of presentation plicity. • Nora Criona,' which also ap- volumes which preceded it from the
in condensed tabloids of thought. He peared in the same journal, and 'Danny same pen. At least, it is not easy for
rejoiced in elliptical expression, subtleties Murphy' are in their fashion perfect the reader to discover any other reason.
of transition, and daring strokes of caustic pieces of characterization, conveyed in The book begins with a cruel and
irony that caught up the reader rudely broad, casual, yet secretly intimate poignant tale of a Spanish brothel,
into the mood which engendered them. strokes, the curt, fiercely direct, concrete and the infamy of an Englishman.
Occasionally, he achieved a harmony of style, purged of all excrescence, fusing The author has a tendency to dwell
rhythm almost as rounded and sonorous with and, as it were, exhuming the general upon the brutality of Englishmen in
as the Miltonic. He was an insurgent, effects. But these lightning Aashes, rend their relations with women. In the case
and flung his gage, as the insurgent ing open far, spacious, sombre horizons of Latins, and especially Spaniards,
minority should Aing it, hard and straight of thought, are less numerous than in he is indulgent towards excesses of
in the face of the adversary. His style, Insurrections. More frequently now is various kinds. Indeed, Mr. Cunning-
except where it gathered speed and the spirit of the lyrist speeding after Joy, hame Graham's "sweet reasonable-
volume, was lean and lithe, stripped like Apollo after Daphne-
is apt to be smothered beneath
naked and unabashed, admirably fitted
the brilliance and interest of his style
for its rough and vigorous work,
Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips,
Bidding adieu.
and the agility of his mind. He is a
>
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304
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4403, MARCH 16, 1912
we
man
was
master of atmospheric effects, and, like at large, but also for the intended bride, and
Heine, plays upon all the sympathies even for the despicable little murdered
TRAVEL.
which feel, consciously or the bridegroom. If we are tempted to ex-
reverse, for the rebel. In modern onerate the murderer's deed, we recoil from
THE flow of books of travel shows that
fiction we have no more accomplished his subsequent concealment; and although things have changed since Shelley said that
reviler of the existing order, the the one
an immeasurably there was nothing to be seen in France. A
orthodoxy of the day. He lashes our worthier creature than the other, yet, recent volume, which we have already named
complacence far more effectively than in the matter of falsehood towards the in our "List of New Books,' is Burgundy :
Mr. Gilbert Chesterton has done, and woman, no essential difference existed the Splendid Duchy (Francis Griffiths), by
in the lashing contrives to present us between them. No diligent reader of Mr. Percy. Allen, with many illustrations by
with gem-like cameos of descriptive Mr. Onions will believe that his acute Miss Marjorie Nash. Our author has read
writing reminiscent of Mr. Joseph and ironical mind failed
much, and he writes so well that we wait
to recognize with interest for the volume which he pro-
Conrad in such books as ' Almayer's this, though he gives no indication to mises on the Northern part of the Duchy.
Folly' and 'Romance. He is a lover that effect.
In his present work he deals with South
of the people, but his princely scorn
Burgundy, and his “ list of works consulted ”
is the disdain usually associated with
should be useful to any who propose to
pride of blood and of race, the distinc-
follow in his steps. Throughout the book
tion of which is implicit in his work. Up to Perrin's. By Margaret B. Cross.
By Margaret B. Cross. rities. He takes us to Autun, to Cluny, and
he is careful to give references to his autho-
The present volume furnishes an ex- (Chatto & Windus. )
to Cîteaux, and then on to Berzé-le-Châtel
cellent specimen of it.
WEARIED by the never-ending plots and and Tournus, and to other places of much
charm. He has borrowed freely (with
counter-plots, impossible heroes and lan- acknowledgment) from P. G. Hamerton, and,
guishing
heroines, apparently indispensable in quoting from The Mount,” he reminds
Commoners' Rights. Ву Constance to the majority of modern novels, we is that Mont Blanc may be seen from the
Smedley. (Chatto & Windus. )
read with zest and gratitude Miss Cross's neighbourhood of Dijon. Mr. Allen should,
simple, yet subtly told narrative of life however, have corrected Hamerton, who
We all know the fatal tendency of heroines in a West - Country fishing village. On said that the distance from Beuvray, to
described as charming every person in closing the book we are at once struck by The distance from Dijon is about 135 miles
their own book to fail in charming any- the skilful artistry which prepared us, and from Beuvray it must be much the same
body outside of it. Especially is this unknowingly and unostentatiously, in the —which is a very different thing. We like
misfortune apt to befall intelligent heroines earlier chapters for the cyclonic sequence Mr. Allen's remarks on ancient customs
with minds and views of their own. But of events to follow. As we look back, we and his notes on the patois of Burgundy, and
Miss Smedley's Georgiana, although con-
spicuously intelligent, modern to her of quiet village life the elements of tragedy Church of Brou will turn to the chapter
see underlying the vivacious description we wish he had told us more about that
finger-tips, and even a little“ managing,” gathering in gradual, but ever-increasing near the end, but they will not be satisfied
is so genial, so full of kindness, and so force. When the storm finally bursts, with the illustration of the famous tomb of
free from self-consciousness, that it becomes both literally and metaphorically, the Margaret of Austria. Notes and Queries
impossible not to love her, and almost author lays hold of the facts of life with has often dealt with the mysterious letters
possible to believe in her rapid conquest of real power ; she writes not a word too FERT," but we do not remember if the
the new and exceedingly prejudiced neigh much or too little. There is something explanation of the guide at Brou has been
bours to whom her marriage introduced fine in the idea of an old man, long quoted in our contemporary. The true
her. The weakness of the book-apart past active service, taking his son's place to Mr. Allen, is “ Fide Et Religione Tenemur.
”
from its loose texture- lies in a too cheerful in the lifeboat in order to save the family One version given in Notes and Queries was
optimism that presents as comparatively name from the charge of cowardice, made “Fodere Et Religione Tenemur. ” When
easy the task of diffusing tolerance and all the more damning by a slumbering Mr. Allen is writing or quoting French, we
charity throughout a small rural com- village feud. The picture of the rough, think that he sometimes wearies his reader
munity rigidly divided into social grades, untutored son's hopeless passion for the by too much translation ; for example, on
and bisected laterally by a difference in cultured woman of the world is arresting, P. 29
A finals to the Christian name of
In a few
religious and political creeds. The eight while his elder brother, the central cha: George Sandis, unnecessary.
illustrations by Mr. Maxwell Armfield racter of the book, is a realistic piece of for trivial mistakes, in French as well as in
cases Mr. Allen's printers are responsible
succeed in catching the character of the work. The characterization generally is English. The volume contains a useful sketch
Gloucestershire landscape.
beyond reproach, though one or two
or two map and a full index; and more thought
people are, perhaps, superfluous.
has evidently been given to its preparation
than is the case in the majority of books
of travel.
In Accordance with the Evidence.
Oliver Onions. (Martin Secker. )
The Shadow of Neeme. By Lady Bancroft. Costumes, Traditions, and Songs of Savoy.
(John Murray. )
By Estella Canziani. (Chatto & Windus. )
THOSE readers who ask in circulating
-The author of this sumptuous book is
libraries for “a nice book” will not be A GENTLE benignity of spirit animates this happy in her subject. Whilst volume after
happy with Mr. Onions's remarkable new artless story and makes criticism seem
volume is published yearly upon Brittany
novel. To people who care for style and ungracious. All engaged in it are free and other well-known regions of France,
composition, and appreciate the absence from stain on heart or character, Lady devotees of Jean Jacques. The
Savoy has been left to valetudinarians and
of non-essentials, it will give great satis- Bancroft handles the supernormal skilfully, recalls only Aix-les-Bains and Les Char-
faction, though even among them some and is successful with her rustics. Many mettes. In a momentous book of one of
will be dismayed by certain elements of of the scenes and little touches describing the most momentous years of modern history
the central situation. That the hero of a gestures recall countless comedies, and we find the following entry :-
story should deliberately murder a man, remind us of the author's long association “The 23rd (December, 1789). Pass Saint Jean
and afterwards, without remorse, marry with the footlights. We are puzzled to Maurienne (sic), where there is a bishop, and near
the woman whom his victim had been on know how the leading lady, introduced as
that place we saw what is much better than &
the eve of marrying, may appear at first a tall “good-fellow,” can become a charm- bishop, the prettiest, and indeed the only pretty,
woman we saw in Savoy. "
revolting. But are subsequently ing “Nell Gwynn” later on, or why so
forced to admit, that, granted the much pretty horror is aroused by familiar Despite this fact, Arthur Young made no
characters of the two men, things may slang terms.
halt at the ancient ducal seat, continuing
amid snowclad hills his thirty miles' ride
well have happened thus ; and that
to Aiguebelle. Miss Canziani, as she naively
it was better that they should so happen,
tells us, caught sight, not of a pretty woman,
not only in the interests of the community
but of one wearing an exceptionally pic-
By
name
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No. 4403, March 16, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
305
à
was
the poor.
Her pages
turesque costume as her train approached
In the Carpathians. By Lion Phillimore.
St. Jean de Maurienne. She decided to (Constable. )-Mrs. Phillimore is slow in
ANTHOLOGIES.
alight, although in ignorance of her where starting. She takes two chapters to get
abouts, and here began these unsophisticated to Cracow, and hardly tells us as much of
In Praise of Oxford : an Anthology in
records of life in the least sophisticated that city as of her drive to the station in Prose and Verse, compiled by Thomas
French province.
London. It is not until we get to the seventh Seccombe and H. Spencer Scott-Life and
Rousseau described the Savoyards as chapter that, at Zakopane, for 251. 108. ,
Manners (Constable), is more successful
than the first volume, which we reviewed on
the best and most hospitable people he knew. she buys the horse and cart in which she
To the quality of hospitality all travellers makes her tour. She had decided to sleep December 10th, 1910. It is devoted to pas-
in Savoy can bear witness, and this lady, in the open air, and she surprises people by sages dealing with life and manners at the
Italian by birth, but English by bringing up, camping-out the first night-not in the University. The system of snippets when
speaks highly of their bonhomie, trustful- wilds, but just outside the hotel where she applied to history and topography seemed
the
ness, and sociability. For hard fare, primitive found herself. The book is full of trivial unsatisfying and unnecessary. But
accommodation, and rough modes of travel things, but the little incidents of the road various verdicts upon the spirit of the
she was amply compensated by pleasant
are narrated in a style so bright that it is place, collected by the indefatigable editors
intercourse.
thoroughly readable. Her remarks about from sources far and near, combine to pro-
hotels in the Carpathians suggest that all duce a picture of Oxford which almost
The good faith of the village folk was are dirty, and at one place even lodgings were betrays "the secret none can utter. ” As in
especially striking. Like the Hebrew work- extraordinarily dear. The joys and the
some dark-panelled common-room, lit by
men who " in repairing the house of the discomforts of her tent life and the many candles, tiny lights scintillate upon
Lord dealt faithfully," one and all seemed serious difficulty of obtaining food in many the shining surfaces of polished tables, but
here equally, trustworthy. We read of the places bulk largely in her narrative. She united diffuse soft glow throughout
artist studying her engaging models in a is constantly saying hard things about the the room, so the dim, mysterious charm of
little shop out of which led a bakery. Jews, and finally admits frankly that she Oxford is more than half revealed by
Stripped to the waist, a man was always there has been unjust to them. She saw wolves this varied collection of praise, criticism,
ready to bake the peasants' bread as they and she heard of bears, but had few adven- and abuse. For in this new Seccombe and
brought it in, each saying as the dough tures. Of dangerous Wallachs she
Scott, this lexicon of Oxford glamour, the
was handed in, “Take that which is due to constantly warned, but she never met any editors have wisely included all shades of
you”;
whereupon, without weight
who were not perfectly friendly. She found opinion, some of it pious, some not. Fearing,
measure, he kneaded off an equivalent for numbers of people who had been in America, perhaps, lest overmuch laudation should
his services. Generous of the generous, the and some who had returned to their own prove cloying, they have salted their sweet-
people help their unfortunate brethren and country with considerable savings, but met
ness with many extracts that are certainly
If a house is burnt down, the
no one who had been in England, and she not in praise of Oxford. ” It adds zest
owner makes the round of the village with says that “ the English-speaking world had and reality to be shown both sides of the
a cart, in which neighbours place goods, its centre in the United States. " She seems
medal. Whilst some great men, like
chattels, clothes, and forage. Another to have been as fond of bathing in the rivers Gladstone, Salisbury, Dr. Johnson, New-
good characteristic is the kindness shown to and streams as was the author of that man, Arnold, Wordsworth, and 'Taine,
On one of her mountain rides delightful book A Girl in the Karpathians. ' exhaust their eloquence in gratitude and
Miss Canziani's driver amused her with Being tied to the road by her horse and cart,
admiration for a University which was not
chats about his beast. Whenever he took Mrs. Phillimore saw less of the mountains always theirs, others join in the chorus of
a long journey, he said, he fed his horse
than do many
travellers.
Gibbon's snarls or De Quincey's grudging
with bread soaked in wine and water; at
will hardly tempt others to follow in her defence. Mr. Brookfield despairs
of ever
other times he gave him beer, cheese, footsteps, but they may be thoroughly seeing a halfpennyworth of vigorous and
fruit, and milk.
recommended to those who have to stay apprehensive mind from that precocious
Somewhat redundantly, perhaps, are por-
at home. The map is defective, for, though school of gentility”; and Mr. H. G. Wells,
on visiting a University town, is only
trayed the well-favoured housewives and purporting to show the railways, it does
not show them all.
conscious of a
maidens of the different regions, and divert-
feeling of ineradicable
contagion. ” If he were to judge of Oxford
ing is the account of their garde-robes.
Miss Canziani could not understand the
THAT there is some danger of Indian wit from the specimens in this volume, we
differences between the uncared-for, even
Frontier problems being neglected on account could heartily sympathize with his depression,
squalid cabins and the spick - and - span in England and the parts of the Empiro wide reading, have collected scarcely a jest
of internal unrest is very probable, specially for, indeed, the authors, in spite of their
feminine attire
Sundays. She
discovered that the garde-robe here, like and the Indian
remoto from that locality, so Gun-Running worth printing, or an anecdote that is not
North - West Frontier, by flat and unprofitable. But these are acci.
that of Marie Antoinette and fashionable Mr. Arnold Keppel (John Murray), may dentals, like the idiosyncrasies of a par-
ladies of to-day, stood for no mere wardrobe, be welcomed as inviting attention to the
ticular don, or the domestic habits of a
but a room ; here, indeed,
a building connexion between maritime supremacy particular era, Monastic colleges succeeded
devoted to clothes.
In a little wooden in the Persian Gulf, whereby the arms and halls, and villas are supplanting the monas-
folded garments on shelves : bodices, shawls, the N. -W. Frontier is controlled, and the
lodge adjoining the cottage she saw neatly ammunition traffic with Afghanistan and teries. But in each age the glamour and
the influence of Oxford have persisted.
aprons, and the rest, the whole making up tribal disturbances which from time to time Strangers look with eyes of admiration, or
a goodly show.
arise in the borderland. There is abundant askance, upon this accidental or upon that.
With the same artless
grace
insects,
evidence that the trade has been brisk, and They think that Oxford is an affair of
flowers, birds, and natural aspects are
has already reached such a point that an
lawns or boat-races, of port, theology, dons,
nursery - maids.
But her charm is a
treated. One day, as the artist was sketching extensive rising on our frontier is now
in a flowery field just ready for the mower's
much more serious business than of old, the fluid thing, and her influence eternal,
scythe, she saw 'lovely blue and crimson tribesmen being armed with modern rifles. because with each generation she renews
winged grasshoppers, the dainty creatures Consequently the need for complete control her youth, ever receiving, in surroundings
of natural and architectural loveliness, the
proving no less sociable than the peasant by the blockading squadron, 'in order to
folk. They would sit on her paint - box, preserve peace on the Indian border, is heirs of the future to dwell in her halls
enjoying cadmium and aureolin, and imperative. Indeed, it may be feared that and be inspired by the lessons of the
loved to suck paints from her fingers. supervision comes rather late; and a further past.
They also appreciated music, and with the complication is supplied by the attitude of
lizards would remain stockstill so long as
Afghanistan and the Amir of Kabul. The Das Oxforder Buch Deutscher Dichtung vom
she whistled to them. Of flower lore and
book_generally is based on articles to 12ten bis zum 20sten Jahrhundert. Herausge-
legend we find a good deal. There is a The Times and on experience gained in a geben von H. G. Fiedler, mit einem Geleit-
certain monotony in the portraits, and the comparatively short space of time ; a cold worte von Gerhart Hauptmann. (Oxford,
colouring must be charged with crudeness, weather” was apparently spent in Peshawar, Clarendon Press. ) — Prof. Fiedler's selection
but the drawing is excellent. The subjects
and it is not clear what time was occu- inspires, perhaps, satisfaction rather than
from models are far superior to the land-
pied in extensive travel about Persian enthusiasm. Capable scholarship, wide read-
Mekran, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian ing, and sound judgment have clearly gone
scapes.
Gulf. The conclusions arrived at by the to the making of it, but the sure and sensitive
The collection of songs and tunes would author are, so far as we understand them, critical faculty that rejects all but the best,
have gained in interest if dated. On pp. sound; his power of description is con- and perceives excellence which has been
19 and 79 occur mistakes in the time value siderable and his style pleasant. The photo- overlooked by others, is not conspicuously
of notes; in the latter (Chanson de Fileuses') graphic illustrations are well chosen and
in evidence. However, we are sincerely
two slips have escaped notice.
reproduced.
grateful for what is in many respects the
seen
on
a
or
9


## p. 306 (#236) ############################################

306
THE ATHEN ÆUM
No. 4403, MARCH 16, 1912
room.
con-
most satisfactory anthology of German out the range of English literature. Wilde The school song ends * Floreat Etona,
verse that has been published in this country, is represented in three excerpts, and floreat, forebit. " It is the future that is
and we trust that it may succeed in making Pater, who is next to him, in one, which is doubtful. The book, we may add, is adorned
English readers better acquainted with the a disproportionate dispensation. Neither with some interesting reproductions of old
work of various poets who are still too little Stevenson nor Swinburne finds a place, in prints and pictures.
known among us, and who are here at last spite of the fact that the polish of the one
represented with some adequacy; we may and the excess of the other are not always
THE third edition of The Harrow School
mention specially Mörike, Hebbel, Conrad over-emphasized to the detriment of rhythmi: Register, 1800-1911 (Longmans), is edited by
Ferdinand Meyer, and Gottfried Keller. cal and impassioned expression. Perhaps M. J. Dauglish and Mr. P. K. Stephenson.
The range covered by the volume is wide, considerations of copyright have excluded the services of the former, always given
but the earlier periods have only a meagre them. We are glad to see that Donne, freely for his old school, were cut short by
space allotted to them. Four or five pages Hooker, and Jeremy Taylor, less lauded his sad death in February of last year. Mr.
of extracts from the Minnesingers, trans- than Sir Thomas Browne, are given ample Stephenson, too, being appointed to a post
lated by the editor-not always very success-
There is an excellent and succinct in Melbourne, has now given over his duties
fully-into modern German, and sometimes, preface.
to Mr. Lionel Hewitt. In spite of these
as in the case of Walther von der Vogelweide's
difficulties, the Register, now first under-
* Elegie,' consisting merely of a single stanza
taken by the Harrow Association, shows
from a longer poem, together with a few
admirable care in its preparation, and in
samples of Freidank, exhaust the twelfth
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
every case where we have looked for the
and thirteenth centuries; the fourteenth is,
latest details of the careers of old boys, we
not without justification, left a blank; and
Floreat Etona. By Ralph Nevill. . . (Mac-Mr. Dauglish was gathering when he died
have found them satisfactorily recorded.
the fifteenth and sixteenth are also rather
summarily disposed of—we should have millan. ) --Eton inspires in almost all its boys
welcomed, for example, a more liberal
a peculiar devotion which never leaves them matter concerning the century-old history of
throughout their lives, and which often Harrow, and the present volume includes a
selection from the delightfulen Holkslieder draws them together again in after years. good many names and facts of interest from
of the times. From the seventeenth century In this way unhappily the school manages
It is hoped to carry these
onwards, however, we get abundance and
variety; the scope of the book includes to escape some well-directed criticism, for records further back.
only an old Etonian is thought com-
The term as well as the year of entry is
not only the lyric proper, but also light verse,
ballads, and narrative poems, and a
petent to criticize such a unique and printed at the top of each page, and each
The Index,
siderable number of the didactic Sprüche to peculiar institution. Mr. Nevill has evidently section is in alphabetical order.
which the German Muse has always been greatly enjoyed the task of collecting which is full and accurate, would, we think,
memories and anecdotes, and this must be be simplified by adding merely a reference
partial. It is, of course, inevitable that we
should look in vain for certain favourite or
his excuse for adding yet another book to to the page on which a name occurs.
familiar poems—the absence of such på already in existence. Nearly all his stories
the large collection of volumes on Eton
triotic songs as Die Wacht am Rhein and of the past have appeared before. We
'Deutschland, Deutschland
is perhaps worth noting—but most of the look therefore to his account of modern
Eton for something new, and here for
RECORDS AND CLOSE ROLLS.
pieces that one has a right to expect in a
collection of this kind are duly included,
a few pages he is justly severe. He
Close Rolls of the Reign of Henry III.
and we find plenty of others Tess known speaks of the heaven of indolence which preserved in the Public Record Office, A. D.
that are well worthy of a place beside them.
permeates the school,” and says that there
1237-42. (Stationery Office. )—This, the
are now
The editor has not followed the example
fourth volume of the Deputy-Keeper's
of Mr. St. John Lucas in the Oxford books an increasing number of sons of millionaire • Close Rolls of Henry III. ,' supplies, like
of French and Italian verse, by giving a parvenus who are allowed extravagant sums by its predecessors, the Latin text of all
parents anxious to forward the social success
preliminary sketch of German poetry and of their offspring by any kind of means.
those valuable documents up to 1242. No
its development, his introductory note being parents have for the most part no real wish that
reason is given in the few lines with which
almost entirely formal. The explanatory their boys should be educated at all, and send them
the Deputy-Keeper ushers in this volume why
notes at the end of the volume are commend-
to Eton simply to form friendships and to be the Close Rolls should still be reserved for
ably brief and to the point, and we welcome, enjoys the reputation of being a fashionable in full. The Patent Rolls, printed in full
turned into gentlemen ; or perhaps because Eton the exclusive distinction of being printed
as of special interest and value, the mention school. ”
of the best musical settings of the poems.
up to 1232, were thenceforth summarized
Germany is peculiarly rich in such composi- He considers, however, that there is less in a Calendar, and it is hard to understand
tions, and in many cases the music affords idleness now than thirty or forty years ago,
why the Close Rolls should receive prefer-
the best possible commentary on the words. when in many respects
ential treatment. Perhaps this is the last
The little preface by Gerhart Hauptmann
volume of the text, since there are no
strikes us as a trifle perfunctory and dis-
“the school work was idiotically useless and bad, announcements of further instalments of
appointing : it says à few. obvious and to entail a maximum of drudgery with a mini- in the advertisement at the end of this
a great part of it having seemingly been devised
it, or of Calendar in lieu of it,
amiable things in a sufficiently obvious mum of useful information. "
manner, but there is nothing of any real
volume. If, however, the Record Office
consequence in it. Of the admirable form But we may doubt whether there is any thinks fit to continue to publish the Close
of the book we cannot speak too highly.
fundamental change except the exercise of Rolls in full, we hope it will not continue the
more pressure to bring boys up to the neces- mistake made, perhaps in inadvertence, in
sary standard for examinations. Mr. Nevill the later pages of this volume. The text
An Anthology of Imaginative Prose. By is also alive to the besetting sin of British printed between pp. 495 and 533 has already
Prof.