Its effect de-
The author has set himself the task of good lines, and the latter part of When We pends chiefly on neat metrical arrangements,
defending the belief in the existence of are Old ’ is simple and sincere.
The author has set himself the task of good lines, and the latter part of When We pends chiefly on neat metrical arrangements,
defending the belief in the existence of are Old ’ is simple and sincere.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
Kenyon, whose contribu-
lation of money_rather than the right dailies.
tion to the present volume will be specially
spending of it. Here are his words :- -
referred to presently, writes as follows :-
“ If there be any slackening in the demand
Since the character of the mistakes in
for an anti-social thing, the people employed Coptic Biblical l'exts in the Dialect of bility of its being an original translation,
this Codex is such as to preclude the possi.
.
There will be unemployment and poverty,
Upper Egypt. Edited by E. A. Wallis it is fair to argue that the version itself must,
all the weight of which will fall upon them ; Budge. (British Museum. )
in all probability, have come into existence
while even if the money saved be spent Egypt is the land of literary discoveries
before the end of the third century; while
in some more useful ways, other people
it may, of course, be yet older. ”
and not they will get the benefit of it. par excellence. Besides the mummies,
Their interests, their personal and immediate the monumental inscriptions, the pyra of certain traditions, Dr. Budge, with
On the question of the authenticity
interests at least, are bound up with the mids, and the stelæ, which it possesses in
evil thing; the success of their lives depends such rich abundance, that ancient land
equal emphasis, declares that
upon its growth and prosperity: When holds embedded in its soil, or secreted in the evidence afforded by our papyrus
their daily bread is threatened, it is no use
talking platitudes to them about the
its antique buildings, large quantities of Codex tends to confirm early monastic
'interest of one being the interests of all. priceless papyri capable of throwing floods traditions concerning the spread of Chris-
They see clearly how a change will affect of light on topics in which humanity tianity in Egypt,”
them, only dimly the good it may do to will never cease to be deeply interested. so that there is, to take the most salient
the world as a whole. They know very | At
time a
new papyrus of the instances,
well that if their trade is ruined, they and Book of the Dead comes to light; at
those they love will be ruined also ; and another an ancient mathematical work is
good reason for believing that Anthony
the very strength of the Guarantist instinct unrolled before our eyes ; on another
did hear the Scriptures read in his village
within them, the instinct on which we must
church in his native tongue, and that many
normally depend for the advance of demo- occasion, again, compositions like the of the earliest monks in the deserts of
cracy itself, will compel them to resist. ” Aristotelian treatise on the Constitution Nitria, the Red Sea, and Upper Egypt,
of Athens or the poems of Bacchylides learned to repeat the Psalms and whole
Such sentimental pleading is hard to
are added to our literary treasures ; and Books of the Bible by heart from Coptic
eradicate, but people do not deserve to be
considered educated until they realize Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B. C.
a few years ago, quite suddenly, Jewish and not from Greek manuscripts. "
For a detailed description of the codex
that fault lies in using even the minimum
were unearthed at Elephantinê in Upper we must refer the reader to the printed
of energy wastefully, when the maximum Egypt. Such finds make one wonder volume itself
, which also offers a most
used to the best advantage will not free what further things may yet be in store for useful aid to appreciation in the shape
the country of evil for many a long year us in the near or distant future. One of of excellent photographic reproductions
to come.
the several not unreasonable expectations of several pages of the MS. , including
We cannot agree with Mr. Villiers that
that may be entertained is that some the Coptic note in a Greek cursive hand
Government departments, when slack, day a pre-Massoretic form of the Old at the end of the Acts of the Apostles,
should be allowed to compete with private Testament text will be found, such as which has been a decisive factor in the
enterprise; we prefer the idea that such
was used by the Septuagint translators determination of date. Our own task
a period should be the opportunity of at Alexandria. If that should ever hap- must rather be to furnish an account,
the Development Commissioners. Perhaps pen, Bible students all over the world will together with an appraisement, of the
the fact that some of his statements are so
be presented with a great sensation in work accomplished by the learned editor
bald as to be misleading may be accounted this literary field.
and those who have given him their
for by the attempt to deal with such
The find with which we have to deal on active, scholarly support.
enormous subject in one portable
For instance, on p. 229 he says
the present occasion is neither sensational
volume.
After giving an exhaustive external
nor epoch-making, in the usual sense of description of the codex, with a clear
that,
those terms, but it is highly interesting indication of the extent to which the Book
taking the country as a whole, there are and instructive all the same. The ripest of Deuteronomy, the Book of Jonah, and
far fewer women than men eligible for and best expert knowledge available has the Acts of the Apostles are preserved
membership of Trade Unions ; this means
been brought to bear on the question of in it, Dr. Budge proceeds to a comparison
that a vast majority of the (Labour] party the date that is to be assigned to the of this form of the Coptic version with
are men. '
papyrus codex from which the Coptic other forms of it, as well as with the
Some day the shortsighted policy of version of Deuteronomy, the Book of respective Greek portions of the Bible
early trade - unionism with regard to Jonah, and the Acts of the Apostles are on which it is based. The many textual
women will have to meet the fierce light here reproduced, and as a result we have facts here accumulated will no doubt be
of the examining publicist.
the emphatic declaration that it cannot scanned with great care and attention.
Many readers may become somewhat be later than the middle of the fourth On a number of critical details other
depressed whilst reading through Mr. century, and that it is, therefore, not only scholars may find themselves at variance
Viſliers's two hundred odd pages of plain “ the oldest known copy of any translation with Dr. Budge, but there can hardly be
common-sense, and may even suspect him of any considerable portion of the Greek a doubt as to the correctness of the
of lack of enthusiasm, but those who per- Bible," but also “probably as early as general results of his investigation.
an
9
## p. 590 (#442) ############################################
590
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
66
66
The comparison of “the text of Deutero- Novum Testamentum Græce,' and he In the same sale there is a long letter to
nomy as it appears in this papyrus Codex then compares extracts from the texts Jane Clairmont, produced jointly by Shelley
with such portions as are extant of the of the Apocalypse published by. Goussen, hard talk about Byron in it. The first sheet
and his second wife, with a great deal of
versions which were current between the Ciasca, and Delaporte from Sahidic MSS.
seventh and eleventh centuries” has led of various dates with the Coptic of the Shelley; the second is wholly in Shelley's
was written by Mary after consultation with
to the conclusion" that when the papyrus present volume.
writing; and the poet appears to have
was written, the Coptic text of Deutero-
In the last part of the Introduction taken a fresh sheet and gone on with a
nomy had already
been fixed. ” Regard- the learned editor supplies an historical sentence, left unfinished by his wife because
ing the Book of Jonah, Dr. Budge finds sketch under the heading Christianity there was no more room on her sheet.
that “the Coptic text agrees generally in Egypt and the Coptic Version of the
Another Byron MS. in the same sale, of
with the received text,” though“ there Old and New Testaments. " We have very high interest as a relic, is a quarto
,
are many small variants which agree with already quoted from this part a sentence of Don Juan attacking Wellington read
sheet containing in his writing that passage
readings given by A and Q of Dr.
relative to the evidence in confirmation to Hobhouse at Pisa in September, 1822.
Swete's list. Blunders of various kinds of early monastic tradition afforded by It had been intended for the opening of the
are numerous in the Acts of the Apostles ;
the papyrus
codex. But Dr. Budge aims third Canto, but was ultimately reserved
and, as all the
three Biblical Books are sup at going beyond this. He begins his for the ninth, all but two stanzas which
posed to have been copied by the same
Apollos the Alexandrian relate to Juan and Haidee, and with a slight
scribe, it is rather difficult to explain why Jew," who had knowledge of the alteration were made to serve alone as the
the Acts should be so much
more faulty than baptism of John," and touches upon all opening of Canto JI! ! The variations from
III.
the two other Books. Dr. Budge seems the successive important data that interit seems, from a transcript thought to have
the text of the Wellington passage, printed,
to waver between attributing the mistakes vened between Apollos and the date of been made by the Countess Guiccioli, are
to the archetype from which the copy was
the papyrus codex. In referring to the not very striking; whereas the poet's
made and ascribing them to the ignorance tradition, current among the Copts
, " that aplomb in dealing with the situation created
and carelessness of the scribe.
the first Patriarch of their Church was by the temporary withdrawal of that pas.
Dr. Budge's general conclusions are Ananius, who was appointed by St. Mark, sage from Canto III. is distinctly character.
authoritatively enforced by the precision who is said to have visited Alexandria istic. After finishing with thỏ Duke, he
had written :
and cogency of Dr. Kenyon's remarks in about the year A. D. 64,” Dr. Budge says:
Part VII. of the Introduction. In addi- “ That this tradition is substantially
Now to my Epic-We left Juan sleeping, &c. ;
tion to the sentence already quoted from true there is no good reason for doubting. but when he decided to let Canto III. begin
this section, it is necessary to state that But it is only right to remark that such with the stanza of which that was the first
in Dr. Kenyon's view the collation of the a question can hardly be decided in this line, he altered it to
sixty select passages from the Acts of the
manner. The mere fact that neither
Hail, Muse! et cetera. -- We left Juan sleeping-
Apostles set out in Prof. Sanday's ' Ap. Clement nor Origen says anything about
pendices ad Novum Testamentum Ste- the supposed sojourn and work of St. which is richer metrically and much more
phanicum,' with the Coptic version con- Mark at Alexandria is, indeed, sufficient racy. .
tained in the papyrus codex, tends to to make one pause before venturing upon
confirm
an affirmative answer.
“ the evidence of the later Sahidic MSS. , Of the printing of the volume, it is THE EARLY CHRONICLES OF
on which we have hitherto been dependent, enough to say that it was done at the
SCOTLAND.
and to establish still further the character | Oxford University Press, and we believe
of this version as one of the best authorities that the photographic reproductions were
Monrieth, May 20, 1912.
for the text of the New Testament. ”
also prepared under the expert care of with my sketch of the early Scottish chro-
Your reviewer has dealt very leniently
Mr. Horace Hart.
As an object-lesson of the care with
nicles. I have not the book at hand to
which the literary treasures acquired by
refer to, but I feel that I must have expressed
the British Museum are treated, the con-
myself very ambiguously in referring to
tribution to this volume by Mr. Bell of
David Macpherson, the editor of Wyntoun,
the MSS. Department should be mentioned. SHELLEY AND BYRON AUTOGRAPHS. In stating that he was the son of a tailor
Even the cover of the important codex
in Edinburgh,” so far from suggesting, any
AUTOGRAPH collectors will have a rare disparagement, I intended it as a tribute
was made to yield some interesting little Byron and Shelley chance next Friday, to his attainments in the teeth of what
possessions, which Mr. Bell describes for when Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge must have been circumstances unpropitious
us with great clearness. A small vellum will offer at auction a well-known letter to independent study. I regret that your
fragment apparently. of the fourth century, well-known one relating to it from Byron base descent”
from
an equally reviewer should have imported the term
the handwriting being not dissimilar
into relation with the
to the Vaticanus,” is shown to contain | 1821, about the proposed burning of á entered into my head to regard, as less
to Moore. They are the letters of December, parentage of Macpherson, which it never
Theodotion's Greek version of Daniel i. sacrilegious priest described by Shelley as honourable than that of the great Orientalist,
17-18; and there are besides fifteen his " fellow serpent,”
a phrase explained by Dr. Alexander Murray, son of the shepherd
fragmentary Greek papyri in cursive Byron as a buffoonery” of his own,
of his own, of Dunkitterick in my native Galloway hills.
script of the third to the fourth century, founded on the words my aunt the re-
HERBERT MAXWELL.
thirteen of these being accounts, and the nowned snake used by Goethe in his
remaining two contracts.
* Faust' to describe the serpent who tempted
Eve. In his letter to Moore, Byron appears
Besides the contents of the papyrus to have spelt the demon's name Mephis-
BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.
codex, which formed the chief raison tofeles,” not“ Mephistofilus” as in Byron's
d'être of this publication, the volume
· Letters and Journals' (1901, v. 496), or
ON Thursday and Friday in last week Messrs ·
includes the Apocalypse of St. John in Mephistopholes " as in Medwin's Life of Sotheby held a sale of books and manuscripts
which included the library of the late Sir J. D.
Coptic, printed from a paper MS. of the Shelley' (ii. 230). But the point for the
Hooker, &c. , the most important lots being the
British Museum, written in a fine bold autograph collector is that in this “lot,” in following:
A Collection of over 2,000 pamphlets on
four
hand of the twelfth century. A facsimile concerned, the holograph letters of Shelley the Birds of Europe, 9vols, 1871-96, 62. Apabering
French , 501. Dresser, History of
of a page of this MS. is shown on plate x. , and Byron are on one and the same piece of Platonicus, Herbarium, printed at Rome, c. 1884
the nine other plates representing dif- paper, Byron having written and signed his 53. Milton, Areopagitica, 1644, 211. gloamne sie
ferent pages of the papyrus codex. The note to Moore on the back of Shelley's to
Cuba, , &. , 1491, 351. Sir
W. J. Hooker and others, Icones Plantarum,
treatment of this part of the Coptic his lordship. A note on this composite 30 vols. , 1837-1911, 671. Edwards's Botanical Re-
. , signed “M. ," says
Aunt gister, 33 vols. , 1815-47, Sir J. D. Hooker,
taken from the papyrus codex. Dr. Muhme : surely Byron was justified in Botany, 1845; Flora Nova Zelandiæ, 2 vols. , 1853-
1855; and , 2 . , 1860
Greek text printed in Prof. Suter's equivalents of that word.
, a vols. , 1840, 201. The
total of the sale was 1,4881. 14s.
>
66
>
66
.
1
## p. 591 (#443) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
591
THE ATHENÆUM
sense
verse
numerous
element they all have in common, and this,
A Witch, a Witch is sleeping. . . . "
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. as might have been foreseen, reduces itself
The shrillness ebbed away;
to the affirmation of the existence of
And up the way-worn moon clomb bright,
Hard on the track of day.
(Notice in those columns does not preclude longer God, with the conviction that it is not
review. )
In the poem 'Arabia,' in Where,in a
Tbeology.
by reasoning, but by a holy life, that
man can attain to Him. The most interest-
score of the briefest and lightest of lyrical
Bardsley (Rev. J. U. N. ), THE CHURCH OF ing papers are those by Father Hetherington pieces, he achieves exquisite musical effects,
ENGLAND AND HER ENDOWMENTS, 2/ net.
on the Roman Church, and Mr. Grubb on
He has an effective simplicity:-
Skeffington the 'Friends. "
A very old woman
Lives in yon house-
Six sermons with special reference to the
The squeak of the cricket,
Welsh Disendowment Bill, preached in the
Poetry.
The stir of the mouse,
Lancaster
Are all she knows
Parish Church, January and
Of the earth and us.
February, 1912. They form an excellent state- Anderson (J. Redwood), THE MASK, 4/ net.
ment of the position of the Church of Eng-
Oxford, Thornton ; At present his poetry is all lightness and
land in regard to endowments, and should
London, Simpkin & Marshall fancifulness. But he has charin, and a
do good service in correcting the widely These productions of Mr. Anderson's are beauty of form rare enough to-day, com-
prevailing misconceptions on the subject. in some cases positively unreadable, owing bined with a definite vision.
The author's attitude towards the Reforma- to their wilful ugliness, poor wording, and
tion, and his doctrinal statements, will here undue length. If his 'Hymenæal Ode?
Henderland (George), THE HEART OF BRUCE.
and there provoke dissent on the part of had been purified by a rush of real passion,
Paisley, Gardner
those members of the English Church who, we might pardon its lack of reticence.
This story of the Bruce in alternately
if they cannot submit to the Papacy, yet Buckeridge (E. G. ), SPINDRIFT, 3/6 net.
rhymed decasyllabics is a model of neat
hold by the full Catholic tradition.
and correct versification, of measured and
Stock subdued rhythm. But the whole poem is
Case (Shirley Jackson), THE HISTORICITY OF The author of 'Spindrift' has imagination dull and monotonous.
It dozes through
JESUS, A CRITICISM OF THE CONTENTION and a perception of the beauty of nature, nearly sixty pages in somnolent grace,
THAT JESUS NEVER LIVED, A STATEMENT together with a
of rhythm. He and lacks the spice of life and imagination.
OF THE EVIDENCE FOR HIS EXISTENCE, gives us the impression of being facile,
AN ESTIMATE OF HIS RELATION TO but this facility will, unless he is severe
Herbert (A. P. ), Play HOURS WITH PEGASUS,
CHRISTIANITY, 6/ net.
on himself, tend to become his chief danger.
1/ net.
Oxford, Blackwell
Illinois, University of Chicago; Some of the is sentimental, but
Mr. Herbert's light verse is of the con-
London, Cambridge University Press scattered through the volumne are several ventional University type.
Its effect de-
The author has set himself the task of good lines, and the latter part of When We pends chiefly on neat metrical arrangements,
defending the belief in the existence of are Old ’ is simple and sincere. It is a pity unusual rhymes, topical allusions, and a
Jesus from the point of view of “liberal ? that in more than one instance Mr. Bucker- blend of colloquialism and “ literary lan-
theology, i. e. , without recourse to the super- idge has spoilt his poem by putting in too guage.
With deftness above the ordinary:
natural. We could wish the first part of the many verses.
he sings of his Bath, of Airmen, of “ Toggers,
book had been somewhat longer and fuller.
of Compulsory Greek, and so on, in such a
No line of attack has been omitted, nor is De la Mare (Walter), THE LISTENERS, AND
way as to raise continual faint smiles, but
there failure to indicate the line of reply ;
OTHER POEMS.
Constable never a peal of laughter.
two or three points have, indeed, been ade-
In metrical skill Mr. De la Mare is scarcely
quately discussed, and we are glad to ac-
surpassed, or indeed equalled, by any of Kelleher (D. L. ), POEMS 12 A PENNY.
knowledge that the
foot-notes
the younger English poets. He can turn
Liverpool, ' The Liverpool Courier. '
show the reader where to go for verification
from one metrical form to another with The author makes an anthology of his
of what has been told him. Still, the effect confidence and success, and shows rightness verse, which with sublime self-con-
of the critical portion of the work is, on the But there is something much more than
and certitude in his rhythm and diction. fidence and in large lettering he calls 'The
whole, that of something more hurried and
Fine Melody of my Feelings. We can only
slight than it need have been. The state prosodical excellence in his poetry. He is dimly surmise the quality of the rejected
ment of the evidence for the traditional view not a philosopher like Mr. Abercrombie. pieces.
seems to us much better and more forcibly He is not a reformer like Mr. Masefield. Nor,
done.
on the other hand, is he one who sings with Lounsbery (G. Constant), POEMS OF REVOLT,
the bird-like spontaneity of Mr. Davies. But AND SATAN UNBOUND, 3/6 net.
Ferguson (G. A. ), How A MODERN ATHEIST there is in his poetry much of the sweetness
Gay & Hancock
FOUND GOD.
Lindsey Press of song; in its musical quality it is direct,
The writer of ' Poems of Revolt' is a slave
A not very successful expression of the concrete, sensuous. But purely spontaneous, to his desire to make rhymes, and has an
personal experience of one of whose artless poetry has limitations which with unfortunate habit of selecting unpoetic and
sincerity there is as little doubt as of the hold from the poet the widest exercise of his ugly words. The theme of the play 'Satan
repellent egotism which colours the story gift. Mr. De la Mare could not achieve his Unbound' is no less a one than the divinity
of his “almost unique experience. "
variety and wonderful modulations of metre of discontent; but, owing to a lack either
Isaacs (Abram S. ), WHAT IS JUDAISM ? A if poetry had not been for him a technical of technical accomplishment or critical
SURVEY OF JEWISH LIFE, THOUGHT, study as well as an inspiration. It is im- perception, Mr. Lounsbery never rises to
AND ACHIEVEMENT, 5/ net.
possible not to recognize the subtle influence the height of his argument, and is sometimes
Putnam's
of Rossetti-both in matter and form—and grotesque.
A collection of a number of essays con-
in a more obvious way that of Coleridge.
tributed within recent years to various He gets something of that wistfulness, Meyrat (Emile Louis), EURYDICÉAN, A POEM.
periodicals, presenting along different lines
Boudry, Switzerland, Baillod
that shy spirituality, which Rossetti loved,
the message and meaning of the Jew's something also of the mingled grotesque- M. Meyrat scours heaven and earth for
religion and history. What the author has
ness and sweetness of Coleridge.
metaphors, analogies, and similes, Alinging
to say in vindication of Jewish character and
Mr. De la Mare is a romanticist. He them on to his pages without apparent con-
sideration as to how and where they fall,
services he says in a laudably dispassionate loves the strange, the grotesque, the far-
manner, but the disconnected origin of the away ;, magic and witchcraft and sorcery Consequently, he is more often than not
various chapters is apparent throughout, native play with the 'goblins of childhood; of his catholic receptivity of words :-
frequent repetition of similar phases occur-
ring. This
and all nature is haunted for him with
unpretentious treatment” of
Wrath sister thy claw
a great subject will doubtless serve to arouse
the strange and the beautiful.
Integrant must skein
interest in it; but, unfortunately, Prof.
He has a fine faculty which readers
Wan white lilies, and four
Roses of pain.
Isaacs supplies no hint as to where students of 'The Mulla-Mulgars will remember
may find further elaboration of such fasci- of combining playfulness with grim fantasy, We soon tire of his verbal gymnastics.
nating essays as his . Talmud in History' or
as we have it here in 'Never-to-be. ' In
The Story of the Synagogue. '
* The Witch'he produces the eerie effect of Ragg (Frederick W. ), LAST POST AND RE-
the supernatural :
VEILLE, 1/ net. St. Catherine Press
Montefiore (C. G. ), Hetherington (Rev. A. J. ),
There is no poetry though a quantity of
and Others, THE UNITY OF FAITH,
Owl and Newt and Nightjar:
They take their shapes and creep,
bad argument in these belligerent verses.
edited by Geoffrey Rhodes, 3/6 net.
Silent as churchyard lichen,
The author rages in tumid polysyllabics, ex-
Kegan Paul
While she squats asleep.
pending much windy energy upon criticism of
A series of essays by writers holding differ-
All of those dead were stirring :
the Parliament Bill. A modicum of sobriety
ent forms of the religious belief current
Each unto each did call,
would have been a wholesome corrective to
in the West. The idea is to discover what
“A Witch, a Witch is sleeping
Under the churchyard wall;
his objurgations,
own
## p. 592 (#444) ############################################
592
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, MAY 25, 1912
OF
66
no
Seranus, IN NORTHERN SKIES, AND OTHER manesque. He strives after no paradox, sympathy, introducing many quiet pictures
POEMS.
nor abhors the platitude, but expounds his of the domestic environment at Haworth.
An exiguous booklet of polished but doctrine of self-trust and the worth of the The judgment is full of discernment, and,
derivative verse. Seranus is best in individual” in dignified prose which soothes as an introduction to a family circle in
her sonnets, where severe restriction of the reader without raising him to the higher which there was so much humanity and
length and form prevents her from lapsing planes of exaltation. The writing is too tragedy, no more fitting , book could be
into diffuseness. Some feeling for landscape easy, and the author too content with his recommended.
is displayed
main thesis to pursue it down to details, so
we are left with a feeling of dissatisfaction.
Mathew (Rev. Arnold H. ), THE LIFE AND
Stead (Robert J. C. ), SONGS OF THE PRAIRIE,
TIMES RODRIGO BORGIA, POPE
1/6 net.
Gay & Hancock history and Biograpby.
ALEXANDER VI. , 16/net. Stanley Paul
This little collection of songs is among the
The author in this book returns to the
many books of modern verse which seem to Bagshawe (Frederic G. ), THE HISTORY OF
subject and epoch he has already treated
us negligible. The author lacks taste and THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ENGLAND, 2 vols. , somewhat voluminously in former volumes.
charm.
21/ net.
Sands Unfortunately, our confidence in him as an
This is not a book founded upon original historian of repute has been impaired by
Warner (Irene E. Toye), IN LIGHT AND
research, nor does it lay claim to such pre certain discoveries relating to the origins
DARKNESS-HOPE! 1/6 net.
tensions. It is an account of the private, of some of his work. The illustrations are
Kegan Paul
as opposed to the public, history of the interesting.
The best that can be said of these poems several kings and queens, of their children,
is that they breathe a spirit of altruism and
and of such of their immediate descendants People's Books : ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE
sincerity. Æsthetically considered, they are
or relatives as have played any part in
Ages, by Elizabeth O'Neill, 6d. net.
not striking and are defaced by mawkish English History or have lived in England. ”
Jack
ness and banalities.
Thus, while drawing upon accessible docu-
An excellent account of the spirit and
Williams (Harold), THE BALLAD OF Two ments and histories, it avoids trenching general trend of the history of England in
GREAT CITIES, AND OTHER POEMS, 1/ upon the political province of the regular the Middle Ages compressed into some
90 pages. There are a few minor in-
net.
Fifield | historian.
These verses give evidence of thoughtful- | Croly (Herbert), MARCUS ALONZO HANNA: versity of Oxford
accuracies of statement-e. g. , that the Uni-
came into being” in
ness, care, and modesty. There are no
HIS LIFE AND WORK, 10/6 net.
1214 which do not affect its suitability
raw and garish effects, nor is the author a
New York, Macmillan Co. for the use it was designed to fulfil. The
light and idle dilettante. He writes in
This biography of 480 closely printed essential features of Medieval England are
elegiac strain, and radiance flashes
pages is not well or lucidly written, and, clearly traced and set forth.
through his grey monotones. His studied, like its subject, badly needs some central
pensive lines are well worth perusal. We guiding principle. Out of it emerges at Geograpby and Travel.
feel, however, that his thought hardly runs
last the image of a man whose lack of intel-
naturally into metrical forms. The sense of lectual grasp, wido views, or high ideals Handbook to Belgium, including the Ar-
rhythm is often painfully halting. But there was obscured by his pleasant sociability dennes and Luxemburg, 2/6 net.
is merit and talent in the volume.
and hurnane kindliness. Fundamentally,
Ward & Lock
Bibliograpby.
perhaps, what Hanna chiefly suffered from This sixth edition is revised and enlarged.
was a defective education. Had his early It appears admirably adapted for tourists
Aberdeen University Library, BULLETIN, training chanced to bring him under the bent on seeing Belgium in a hurry, although
April.
The Library sway of noble traditions and clear thoughts, even they might appreciate a slightly more
O'Donoghue (D. J. ), THE POETS OF IRELAND :
his energy, vitality, instinct of domination, incisive phraseology.
A BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
and happy endowment of being “hail Walter (L. Edna), THE FASCINATION OF
fellow well met with all his kind might
DICTIONARY
IRISH WRITERS
HOLLAND, 1/6 net.
Black
ENGLISH VERSE, 21/ net.
have made him a good influence and,
This is no mere guide-book, although
Dublin, Hodges, Figgis & Co. ; possibly, a great leader in American politics. entirely descriptive. It does not profess
Dublin, Hodges, Figgis & Co. : As things were, his fine business talent and to contain anything like a complete picture
London, Frowde
The author in 1892 began publishing his his aptitude for organization were directed of Holland, giving, for instance, but the
· Dictionary: in parts, which he got printed men, he believed the interests of his own class author has been successful in conveying in a
to no high ends. Like most semi-educated barest notice of Rotterdam. But the
and sold himself. They succeeded, in fact,
to be those of the community.
without the usual aids of advertisement.
As an em- few pages much of the charm of Dutch towns
The good foundation then laid has received ployer his genial accessibility and good
heart and scenery.
made him infinitely better than his public Holland might well select the little volume
A prospective visitor to
so many additions and revisions that the
reputation, and it is probable that he never
book before us may claim to be a new one.
instead of the ordinary guide-book.
deliberately did a wrong to any fellow-
It is an admirable record, giving brief
creature.
but sufficient biographical details, and notes essentially provincial in mind is always
But the political power of men
Sociology.
about prose
well
showing wide research concerning pieces of dangerous; and the effect of this laudatory Addams (Jane), A New CONSCIENCE AND AN
Life is to convince the reader that, in high
ANCIENT EVIL, 4/6 net.
pseudonymous or disputed authorship. Thus places, men like Marcus Alonzo Hanna
.
New York, Macmillan Co.
there is a poem signed "Speranza
are bad citizens.
In its presentation of facts connected with
was not by Lady Wilde. Prof. Tyrrell
the system of commercialized vice no more
figures as a translator of The Acharnians Livingstone (R. W. ), THE GREEK GENIUS convincing, sane, startling, yet optimistic
and a writer in Kottabos, which he edited AND ITS MEANING TO Us, 6/ net.
for some time.
volume is likely to reach the public than this.
It might be added that he
Oxford, Clarendon Press Miss Addams has studied the outward phe-
started the magazine himself in 1869; also An excellent exposition for the general
that he and two friends published some reader by one of the younger race of Oxford inner meaning, and expressed her conclu;
nomena of the subject, searched for their
translations in 1869 under the title of scholars. Chapters are devoted to the sions in incisive terms which reveal
Hesperidum Susurri,' and that he edited salient qualities Beauty, Freedom, Directness, the clear head and warm heart of one whose
the first collection ever made of 'Dublin Humanism with Pindar and Herodotus passion for social justice is typical of the
Translations into Greek and Latin Verse, as types-Sanity and Many-sidedness, Plato
best men and women of our day.
our copy of which is dated 1882. Most of and other exceptions to the tendencies just
the renderings had, however, already ap- mentioned, and The Fifth Century and
Her facts are drawn from American
peared in the publications mentioned above. After. A brief Epilogue deals with the
sources, and particularly from informa-
“modernity” of Greek literature. The
tion received as an official connected with
Philosophy.
book is decidedly attractive.
the Juvenile Protection Association of
Chicago. In England we are spared the
Kirkham (Stanton Davis), OUTDOOR PHILO- Masson (Flora), THE BRONTËS, 6d. net. flagrant connexion that exists in the States
SOPHY, THE MEDITATIONS OF A NATU-
Jack between the legal control of commercialized
RALIST, 5/ net.
Putnam's This volume of the People's Books vice and the functions of the police, but
“The vulgarity of publicity and the is not by any means a brilliant pre. we are unfortunately without that public
tedium of an over-organized society" are the sentation of the lives and atmosphere of opinion which,
in all those States in which
spur which has driven Mr. Kirkham to seek the three sisters, but it is informed with women are enfranchised, has raised the age
the calm of trout-streams and the pleasures much delicacy and intimacy of treatment. of consent to 18 years. As an example of
of & meditative life. Emerson is his an- Miss Masson is much indebted to Mrs. Miss Addams's sane optimism we quote her
cestor, and Thoreau his spiritual father, Gaskell’s biography, but is not subservient reflection that in the midst of a freedom
with here and there a strain of the Whit- I to it. She writes agreeably and with strong such as has never been accorded to young
OF
OF
as
ti which
2
## p. 593 (#445) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
593
THE ATHENÆUM
own.
women in the history of the world, under The numbered paragraphs of the Articles of a literary as well as a pedagogic
an economic pressure grinding down upon Introduction, with its emphasized headings, character are wisely included, and the
the working girl at the very age when she point the same way; and if any are a little present number includes a paper on 'Current
most wistfully desires to be taken care of, more lazy than others, they will find in $13 Opinion 'of considerable interest, another on
it is necessary to organize a widespread a neat summary of everything they want Bacon as Writer,' and a third on Some
commercial enterprise in order to procure a to know about the composition of Hero- Obstacles to Spelling Reform. ? We hope that
sufficient number of girls for the white slave dotus's history. The point is, that the student the Journal will take an early opportunity
market. " It would seem to show that the need not have exercised any judgment at all, of examining newspaper English, which has
virtue of women is holding its own in that yet he may produce on paper an answer to so vast an influence to-day, and explaining
slow-growing civilization which ever demands satisfy the examiner by learning a dozen its merits or demerits as a vehicle for thought
more self-control on the part of the indi- lines of the Introduction.
and expression.
vidual.
When we have said this, we have said
Bremner (C. S. ), DIVORCE AND MORALITY,
almost all that we wish to say in the way of Thornton (R. H. ), AN AMERICAN GLOSSARY,
2 vols, 30/ net.
Francis & Co.
with Preface by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle criticism.
lation of money_rather than the right dailies.
tion to the present volume will be specially
spending of it. Here are his words :- -
referred to presently, writes as follows :-
“ If there be any slackening in the demand
Since the character of the mistakes in
for an anti-social thing, the people employed Coptic Biblical l'exts in the Dialect of bility of its being an original translation,
this Codex is such as to preclude the possi.
.
There will be unemployment and poverty,
Upper Egypt. Edited by E. A. Wallis it is fair to argue that the version itself must,
all the weight of which will fall upon them ; Budge. (British Museum. )
in all probability, have come into existence
while even if the money saved be spent Egypt is the land of literary discoveries
before the end of the third century; while
in some more useful ways, other people
it may, of course, be yet older. ”
and not they will get the benefit of it. par excellence. Besides the mummies,
Their interests, their personal and immediate the monumental inscriptions, the pyra of certain traditions, Dr. Budge, with
On the question of the authenticity
interests at least, are bound up with the mids, and the stelæ, which it possesses in
evil thing; the success of their lives depends such rich abundance, that ancient land
equal emphasis, declares that
upon its growth and prosperity: When holds embedded in its soil, or secreted in the evidence afforded by our papyrus
their daily bread is threatened, it is no use
talking platitudes to them about the
its antique buildings, large quantities of Codex tends to confirm early monastic
'interest of one being the interests of all. priceless papyri capable of throwing floods traditions concerning the spread of Chris-
They see clearly how a change will affect of light on topics in which humanity tianity in Egypt,”
them, only dimly the good it may do to will never cease to be deeply interested. so that there is, to take the most salient
the world as a whole. They know very | At
time a
new papyrus of the instances,
well that if their trade is ruined, they and Book of the Dead comes to light; at
those they love will be ruined also ; and another an ancient mathematical work is
good reason for believing that Anthony
the very strength of the Guarantist instinct unrolled before our eyes ; on another
did hear the Scriptures read in his village
within them, the instinct on which we must
church in his native tongue, and that many
normally depend for the advance of demo- occasion, again, compositions like the of the earliest monks in the deserts of
cracy itself, will compel them to resist. ” Aristotelian treatise on the Constitution Nitria, the Red Sea, and Upper Egypt,
of Athens or the poems of Bacchylides learned to repeat the Psalms and whole
Such sentimental pleading is hard to
are added to our literary treasures ; and Books of the Bible by heart from Coptic
eradicate, but people do not deserve to be
considered educated until they realize Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B. C.
a few years ago, quite suddenly, Jewish and not from Greek manuscripts. "
For a detailed description of the codex
that fault lies in using even the minimum
were unearthed at Elephantinê in Upper we must refer the reader to the printed
of energy wastefully, when the maximum Egypt. Such finds make one wonder volume itself
, which also offers a most
used to the best advantage will not free what further things may yet be in store for useful aid to appreciation in the shape
the country of evil for many a long year us in the near or distant future. One of of excellent photographic reproductions
to come.
the several not unreasonable expectations of several pages of the MS. , including
We cannot agree with Mr. Villiers that
that may be entertained is that some the Coptic note in a Greek cursive hand
Government departments, when slack, day a pre-Massoretic form of the Old at the end of the Acts of the Apostles,
should be allowed to compete with private Testament text will be found, such as which has been a decisive factor in the
enterprise; we prefer the idea that such
was used by the Septuagint translators determination of date. Our own task
a period should be the opportunity of at Alexandria. If that should ever hap- must rather be to furnish an account,
the Development Commissioners. Perhaps pen, Bible students all over the world will together with an appraisement, of the
the fact that some of his statements are so
be presented with a great sensation in work accomplished by the learned editor
bald as to be misleading may be accounted this literary field.
and those who have given him their
for by the attempt to deal with such
The find with which we have to deal on active, scholarly support.
enormous subject in one portable
For instance, on p. 229 he says
the present occasion is neither sensational
volume.
After giving an exhaustive external
nor epoch-making, in the usual sense of description of the codex, with a clear
that,
those terms, but it is highly interesting indication of the extent to which the Book
taking the country as a whole, there are and instructive all the same. The ripest of Deuteronomy, the Book of Jonah, and
far fewer women than men eligible for and best expert knowledge available has the Acts of the Apostles are preserved
membership of Trade Unions ; this means
been brought to bear on the question of in it, Dr. Budge proceeds to a comparison
that a vast majority of the (Labour] party the date that is to be assigned to the of this form of the Coptic version with
are men. '
papyrus codex from which the Coptic other forms of it, as well as with the
Some day the shortsighted policy of version of Deuteronomy, the Book of respective Greek portions of the Bible
early trade - unionism with regard to Jonah, and the Acts of the Apostles are on which it is based. The many textual
women will have to meet the fierce light here reproduced, and as a result we have facts here accumulated will no doubt be
of the examining publicist.
the emphatic declaration that it cannot scanned with great care and attention.
Many readers may become somewhat be later than the middle of the fourth On a number of critical details other
depressed whilst reading through Mr. century, and that it is, therefore, not only scholars may find themselves at variance
Viſliers's two hundred odd pages of plain “ the oldest known copy of any translation with Dr. Budge, but there can hardly be
common-sense, and may even suspect him of any considerable portion of the Greek a doubt as to the correctness of the
of lack of enthusiasm, but those who per- Bible," but also “probably as early as general results of his investigation.
an
9
## p. 590 (#442) ############################################
590
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
66
66
The comparison of “the text of Deutero- Novum Testamentum Græce,' and he In the same sale there is a long letter to
nomy as it appears in this papyrus Codex then compares extracts from the texts Jane Clairmont, produced jointly by Shelley
with such portions as are extant of the of the Apocalypse published by. Goussen, hard talk about Byron in it. The first sheet
and his second wife, with a great deal of
versions which were current between the Ciasca, and Delaporte from Sahidic MSS.
seventh and eleventh centuries” has led of various dates with the Coptic of the Shelley; the second is wholly in Shelley's
was written by Mary after consultation with
to the conclusion" that when the papyrus present volume.
writing; and the poet appears to have
was written, the Coptic text of Deutero-
In the last part of the Introduction taken a fresh sheet and gone on with a
nomy had already
been fixed. ” Regard- the learned editor supplies an historical sentence, left unfinished by his wife because
ing the Book of Jonah, Dr. Budge finds sketch under the heading Christianity there was no more room on her sheet.
that “the Coptic text agrees generally in Egypt and the Coptic Version of the
Another Byron MS. in the same sale, of
with the received text,” though“ there Old and New Testaments. " We have very high interest as a relic, is a quarto
,
are many small variants which agree with already quoted from this part a sentence of Don Juan attacking Wellington read
sheet containing in his writing that passage
readings given by A and Q of Dr.
relative to the evidence in confirmation to Hobhouse at Pisa in September, 1822.
Swete's list. Blunders of various kinds of early monastic tradition afforded by It had been intended for the opening of the
are numerous in the Acts of the Apostles ;
the papyrus
codex. But Dr. Budge aims third Canto, but was ultimately reserved
and, as all the
three Biblical Books are sup at going beyond this. He begins his for the ninth, all but two stanzas which
posed to have been copied by the same
Apollos the Alexandrian relate to Juan and Haidee, and with a slight
scribe, it is rather difficult to explain why Jew," who had knowledge of the alteration were made to serve alone as the
the Acts should be so much
more faulty than baptism of John," and touches upon all opening of Canto JI! ! The variations from
III.
the two other Books. Dr. Budge seems the successive important data that interit seems, from a transcript thought to have
the text of the Wellington passage, printed,
to waver between attributing the mistakes vened between Apollos and the date of been made by the Countess Guiccioli, are
to the archetype from which the copy was
the papyrus codex. In referring to the not very striking; whereas the poet's
made and ascribing them to the ignorance tradition, current among the Copts
, " that aplomb in dealing with the situation created
and carelessness of the scribe.
the first Patriarch of their Church was by the temporary withdrawal of that pas.
Dr. Budge's general conclusions are Ananius, who was appointed by St. Mark, sage from Canto III. is distinctly character.
authoritatively enforced by the precision who is said to have visited Alexandria istic. After finishing with thỏ Duke, he
had written :
and cogency of Dr. Kenyon's remarks in about the year A. D. 64,” Dr. Budge says:
Part VII. of the Introduction. In addi- “ That this tradition is substantially
Now to my Epic-We left Juan sleeping, &c. ;
tion to the sentence already quoted from true there is no good reason for doubting. but when he decided to let Canto III. begin
this section, it is necessary to state that But it is only right to remark that such with the stanza of which that was the first
in Dr. Kenyon's view the collation of the a question can hardly be decided in this line, he altered it to
sixty select passages from the Acts of the
manner. The mere fact that neither
Hail, Muse! et cetera. -- We left Juan sleeping-
Apostles set out in Prof. Sanday's ' Ap. Clement nor Origen says anything about
pendices ad Novum Testamentum Ste- the supposed sojourn and work of St. which is richer metrically and much more
phanicum,' with the Coptic version con- Mark at Alexandria is, indeed, sufficient racy. .
tained in the papyrus codex, tends to to make one pause before venturing upon
confirm
an affirmative answer.
“ the evidence of the later Sahidic MSS. , Of the printing of the volume, it is THE EARLY CHRONICLES OF
on which we have hitherto been dependent, enough to say that it was done at the
SCOTLAND.
and to establish still further the character | Oxford University Press, and we believe
of this version as one of the best authorities that the photographic reproductions were
Monrieth, May 20, 1912.
for the text of the New Testament. ”
also prepared under the expert care of with my sketch of the early Scottish chro-
Your reviewer has dealt very leniently
Mr. Horace Hart.
As an object-lesson of the care with
nicles. I have not the book at hand to
which the literary treasures acquired by
refer to, but I feel that I must have expressed
the British Museum are treated, the con-
myself very ambiguously in referring to
tribution to this volume by Mr. Bell of
David Macpherson, the editor of Wyntoun,
the MSS. Department should be mentioned. SHELLEY AND BYRON AUTOGRAPHS. In stating that he was the son of a tailor
Even the cover of the important codex
in Edinburgh,” so far from suggesting, any
AUTOGRAPH collectors will have a rare disparagement, I intended it as a tribute
was made to yield some interesting little Byron and Shelley chance next Friday, to his attainments in the teeth of what
possessions, which Mr. Bell describes for when Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge must have been circumstances unpropitious
us with great clearness. A small vellum will offer at auction a well-known letter to independent study. I regret that your
fragment apparently. of the fourth century, well-known one relating to it from Byron base descent”
from
an equally reviewer should have imported the term
the handwriting being not dissimilar
into relation with the
to the Vaticanus,” is shown to contain | 1821, about the proposed burning of á entered into my head to regard, as less
to Moore. They are the letters of December, parentage of Macpherson, which it never
Theodotion's Greek version of Daniel i. sacrilegious priest described by Shelley as honourable than that of the great Orientalist,
17-18; and there are besides fifteen his " fellow serpent,”
a phrase explained by Dr. Alexander Murray, son of the shepherd
fragmentary Greek papyri in cursive Byron as a buffoonery” of his own,
of his own, of Dunkitterick in my native Galloway hills.
script of the third to the fourth century, founded on the words my aunt the re-
HERBERT MAXWELL.
thirteen of these being accounts, and the nowned snake used by Goethe in his
remaining two contracts.
* Faust' to describe the serpent who tempted
Eve. In his letter to Moore, Byron appears
Besides the contents of the papyrus to have spelt the demon's name Mephis-
BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.
codex, which formed the chief raison tofeles,” not“ Mephistofilus” as in Byron's
d'être of this publication, the volume
· Letters and Journals' (1901, v. 496), or
ON Thursday and Friday in last week Messrs ·
includes the Apocalypse of St. John in Mephistopholes " as in Medwin's Life of Sotheby held a sale of books and manuscripts
which included the library of the late Sir J. D.
Coptic, printed from a paper MS. of the Shelley' (ii. 230). But the point for the
Hooker, &c. , the most important lots being the
British Museum, written in a fine bold autograph collector is that in this “lot,” in following:
A Collection of over 2,000 pamphlets on
four
hand of the twelfth century. A facsimile concerned, the holograph letters of Shelley the Birds of Europe, 9vols, 1871-96, 62. Apabering
French , 501. Dresser, History of
of a page of this MS. is shown on plate x. , and Byron are on one and the same piece of Platonicus, Herbarium, printed at Rome, c. 1884
the nine other plates representing dif- paper, Byron having written and signed his 53. Milton, Areopagitica, 1644, 211. gloamne sie
ferent pages of the papyrus codex. The note to Moore on the back of Shelley's to
Cuba, , &. , 1491, 351. Sir
W. J. Hooker and others, Icones Plantarum,
treatment of this part of the Coptic his lordship. A note on this composite 30 vols. , 1837-1911, 671. Edwards's Botanical Re-
. , signed “M. ," says
Aunt gister, 33 vols. , 1815-47, Sir J. D. Hooker,
taken from the papyrus codex. Dr. Muhme : surely Byron was justified in Botany, 1845; Flora Nova Zelandiæ, 2 vols. , 1853-
1855; and , 2 . , 1860
Greek text printed in Prof. Suter's equivalents of that word.
, a vols. , 1840, 201. The
total of the sale was 1,4881. 14s.
>
66
>
66
.
1
## p. 591 (#443) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
591
THE ATHENÆUM
sense
verse
numerous
element they all have in common, and this,
A Witch, a Witch is sleeping. . . . "
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. as might have been foreseen, reduces itself
The shrillness ebbed away;
to the affirmation of the existence of
And up the way-worn moon clomb bright,
Hard on the track of day.
(Notice in those columns does not preclude longer God, with the conviction that it is not
review. )
In the poem 'Arabia,' in Where,in a
Tbeology.
by reasoning, but by a holy life, that
man can attain to Him. The most interest-
score of the briefest and lightest of lyrical
Bardsley (Rev. J. U. N. ), THE CHURCH OF ing papers are those by Father Hetherington pieces, he achieves exquisite musical effects,
ENGLAND AND HER ENDOWMENTS, 2/ net.
on the Roman Church, and Mr. Grubb on
He has an effective simplicity:-
Skeffington the 'Friends. "
A very old woman
Lives in yon house-
Six sermons with special reference to the
The squeak of the cricket,
Welsh Disendowment Bill, preached in the
Poetry.
The stir of the mouse,
Lancaster
Are all she knows
Parish Church, January and
Of the earth and us.
February, 1912. They form an excellent state- Anderson (J. Redwood), THE MASK, 4/ net.
ment of the position of the Church of Eng-
Oxford, Thornton ; At present his poetry is all lightness and
land in regard to endowments, and should
London, Simpkin & Marshall fancifulness. But he has charin, and a
do good service in correcting the widely These productions of Mr. Anderson's are beauty of form rare enough to-day, com-
prevailing misconceptions on the subject. in some cases positively unreadable, owing bined with a definite vision.
The author's attitude towards the Reforma- to their wilful ugliness, poor wording, and
tion, and his doctrinal statements, will here undue length. If his 'Hymenæal Ode?
Henderland (George), THE HEART OF BRUCE.
and there provoke dissent on the part of had been purified by a rush of real passion,
Paisley, Gardner
those members of the English Church who, we might pardon its lack of reticence.
This story of the Bruce in alternately
if they cannot submit to the Papacy, yet Buckeridge (E. G. ), SPINDRIFT, 3/6 net.
rhymed decasyllabics is a model of neat
hold by the full Catholic tradition.
and correct versification, of measured and
Stock subdued rhythm. But the whole poem is
Case (Shirley Jackson), THE HISTORICITY OF The author of 'Spindrift' has imagination dull and monotonous.
It dozes through
JESUS, A CRITICISM OF THE CONTENTION and a perception of the beauty of nature, nearly sixty pages in somnolent grace,
THAT JESUS NEVER LIVED, A STATEMENT together with a
of rhythm. He and lacks the spice of life and imagination.
OF THE EVIDENCE FOR HIS EXISTENCE, gives us the impression of being facile,
AN ESTIMATE OF HIS RELATION TO but this facility will, unless he is severe
Herbert (A. P. ), Play HOURS WITH PEGASUS,
CHRISTIANITY, 6/ net.
on himself, tend to become his chief danger.
1/ net.
Oxford, Blackwell
Illinois, University of Chicago; Some of the is sentimental, but
Mr. Herbert's light verse is of the con-
London, Cambridge University Press scattered through the volumne are several ventional University type.
Its effect de-
The author has set himself the task of good lines, and the latter part of When We pends chiefly on neat metrical arrangements,
defending the belief in the existence of are Old ’ is simple and sincere. It is a pity unusual rhymes, topical allusions, and a
Jesus from the point of view of “liberal ? that in more than one instance Mr. Bucker- blend of colloquialism and “ literary lan-
theology, i. e. , without recourse to the super- idge has spoilt his poem by putting in too guage.
With deftness above the ordinary:
natural. We could wish the first part of the many verses.
he sings of his Bath, of Airmen, of “ Toggers,
book had been somewhat longer and fuller.
of Compulsory Greek, and so on, in such a
No line of attack has been omitted, nor is De la Mare (Walter), THE LISTENERS, AND
way as to raise continual faint smiles, but
there failure to indicate the line of reply ;
OTHER POEMS.
Constable never a peal of laughter.
two or three points have, indeed, been ade-
In metrical skill Mr. De la Mare is scarcely
quately discussed, and we are glad to ac-
surpassed, or indeed equalled, by any of Kelleher (D. L. ), POEMS 12 A PENNY.
knowledge that the
foot-notes
the younger English poets. He can turn
Liverpool, ' The Liverpool Courier. '
show the reader where to go for verification
from one metrical form to another with The author makes an anthology of his
of what has been told him. Still, the effect confidence and success, and shows rightness verse, which with sublime self-con-
of the critical portion of the work is, on the But there is something much more than
and certitude in his rhythm and diction. fidence and in large lettering he calls 'The
whole, that of something more hurried and
Fine Melody of my Feelings. We can only
slight than it need have been. The state prosodical excellence in his poetry. He is dimly surmise the quality of the rejected
ment of the evidence for the traditional view not a philosopher like Mr. Abercrombie. pieces.
seems to us much better and more forcibly He is not a reformer like Mr. Masefield. Nor,
done.
on the other hand, is he one who sings with Lounsbery (G. Constant), POEMS OF REVOLT,
the bird-like spontaneity of Mr. Davies. But AND SATAN UNBOUND, 3/6 net.
Ferguson (G. A. ), How A MODERN ATHEIST there is in his poetry much of the sweetness
Gay & Hancock
FOUND GOD.
Lindsey Press of song; in its musical quality it is direct,
The writer of ' Poems of Revolt' is a slave
A not very successful expression of the concrete, sensuous. But purely spontaneous, to his desire to make rhymes, and has an
personal experience of one of whose artless poetry has limitations which with unfortunate habit of selecting unpoetic and
sincerity there is as little doubt as of the hold from the poet the widest exercise of his ugly words. The theme of the play 'Satan
repellent egotism which colours the story gift. Mr. De la Mare could not achieve his Unbound' is no less a one than the divinity
of his “almost unique experience. "
variety and wonderful modulations of metre of discontent; but, owing to a lack either
Isaacs (Abram S. ), WHAT IS JUDAISM ? A if poetry had not been for him a technical of technical accomplishment or critical
SURVEY OF JEWISH LIFE, THOUGHT, study as well as an inspiration. It is im- perception, Mr. Lounsbery never rises to
AND ACHIEVEMENT, 5/ net.
possible not to recognize the subtle influence the height of his argument, and is sometimes
Putnam's
of Rossetti-both in matter and form—and grotesque.
A collection of a number of essays con-
in a more obvious way that of Coleridge.
tributed within recent years to various He gets something of that wistfulness, Meyrat (Emile Louis), EURYDICÉAN, A POEM.
periodicals, presenting along different lines
Boudry, Switzerland, Baillod
that shy spirituality, which Rossetti loved,
the message and meaning of the Jew's something also of the mingled grotesque- M. Meyrat scours heaven and earth for
religion and history. What the author has
ness and sweetness of Coleridge.
metaphors, analogies, and similes, Alinging
to say in vindication of Jewish character and
Mr. De la Mare is a romanticist. He them on to his pages without apparent con-
sideration as to how and where they fall,
services he says in a laudably dispassionate loves the strange, the grotesque, the far-
manner, but the disconnected origin of the away ;, magic and witchcraft and sorcery Consequently, he is more often than not
various chapters is apparent throughout, native play with the 'goblins of childhood; of his catholic receptivity of words :-
frequent repetition of similar phases occur-
ring. This
and all nature is haunted for him with
unpretentious treatment” of
Wrath sister thy claw
a great subject will doubtless serve to arouse
the strange and the beautiful.
Integrant must skein
interest in it; but, unfortunately, Prof.
He has a fine faculty which readers
Wan white lilies, and four
Roses of pain.
Isaacs supplies no hint as to where students of 'The Mulla-Mulgars will remember
may find further elaboration of such fasci- of combining playfulness with grim fantasy, We soon tire of his verbal gymnastics.
nating essays as his . Talmud in History' or
as we have it here in 'Never-to-be. ' In
The Story of the Synagogue. '
* The Witch'he produces the eerie effect of Ragg (Frederick W. ), LAST POST AND RE-
the supernatural :
VEILLE, 1/ net. St. Catherine Press
Montefiore (C. G. ), Hetherington (Rev. A. J. ),
There is no poetry though a quantity of
and Others, THE UNITY OF FAITH,
Owl and Newt and Nightjar:
They take their shapes and creep,
bad argument in these belligerent verses.
edited by Geoffrey Rhodes, 3/6 net.
Silent as churchyard lichen,
The author rages in tumid polysyllabics, ex-
Kegan Paul
While she squats asleep.
pending much windy energy upon criticism of
A series of essays by writers holding differ-
All of those dead were stirring :
the Parliament Bill. A modicum of sobriety
ent forms of the religious belief current
Each unto each did call,
would have been a wholesome corrective to
in the West. The idea is to discover what
“A Witch, a Witch is sleeping
Under the churchyard wall;
his objurgations,
own
## p. 592 (#444) ############################################
592
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, MAY 25, 1912
OF
66
no
Seranus, IN NORTHERN SKIES, AND OTHER manesque. He strives after no paradox, sympathy, introducing many quiet pictures
POEMS.
nor abhors the platitude, but expounds his of the domestic environment at Haworth.
An exiguous booklet of polished but doctrine of self-trust and the worth of the The judgment is full of discernment, and,
derivative verse. Seranus is best in individual” in dignified prose which soothes as an introduction to a family circle in
her sonnets, where severe restriction of the reader without raising him to the higher which there was so much humanity and
length and form prevents her from lapsing planes of exaltation. The writing is too tragedy, no more fitting , book could be
into diffuseness. Some feeling for landscape easy, and the author too content with his recommended.
is displayed
main thesis to pursue it down to details, so
we are left with a feeling of dissatisfaction.
Mathew (Rev. Arnold H. ), THE LIFE AND
Stead (Robert J. C. ), SONGS OF THE PRAIRIE,
TIMES RODRIGO BORGIA, POPE
1/6 net.
Gay & Hancock history and Biograpby.
ALEXANDER VI. , 16/net. Stanley Paul
This little collection of songs is among the
The author in this book returns to the
many books of modern verse which seem to Bagshawe (Frederic G. ), THE HISTORY OF
subject and epoch he has already treated
us negligible. The author lacks taste and THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ENGLAND, 2 vols. , somewhat voluminously in former volumes.
charm.
21/ net.
Sands Unfortunately, our confidence in him as an
This is not a book founded upon original historian of repute has been impaired by
Warner (Irene E. Toye), IN LIGHT AND
research, nor does it lay claim to such pre certain discoveries relating to the origins
DARKNESS-HOPE! 1/6 net.
tensions. It is an account of the private, of some of his work. The illustrations are
Kegan Paul
as opposed to the public, history of the interesting.
The best that can be said of these poems several kings and queens, of their children,
is that they breathe a spirit of altruism and
and of such of their immediate descendants People's Books : ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE
sincerity. Æsthetically considered, they are
or relatives as have played any part in
Ages, by Elizabeth O'Neill, 6d. net.
not striking and are defaced by mawkish English History or have lived in England. ”
Jack
ness and banalities.
Thus, while drawing upon accessible docu-
An excellent account of the spirit and
Williams (Harold), THE BALLAD OF Two ments and histories, it avoids trenching general trend of the history of England in
GREAT CITIES, AND OTHER POEMS, 1/ upon the political province of the regular the Middle Ages compressed into some
90 pages. There are a few minor in-
net.
Fifield | historian.
These verses give evidence of thoughtful- | Croly (Herbert), MARCUS ALONZO HANNA: versity of Oxford
accuracies of statement-e. g. , that the Uni-
came into being” in
ness, care, and modesty. There are no
HIS LIFE AND WORK, 10/6 net.
1214 which do not affect its suitability
raw and garish effects, nor is the author a
New York, Macmillan Co. for the use it was designed to fulfil. The
light and idle dilettante. He writes in
This biography of 480 closely printed essential features of Medieval England are
elegiac strain, and radiance flashes
pages is not well or lucidly written, and, clearly traced and set forth.
through his grey monotones. His studied, like its subject, badly needs some central
pensive lines are well worth perusal. We guiding principle. Out of it emerges at Geograpby and Travel.
feel, however, that his thought hardly runs
last the image of a man whose lack of intel-
naturally into metrical forms. The sense of lectual grasp, wido views, or high ideals Handbook to Belgium, including the Ar-
rhythm is often painfully halting. But there was obscured by his pleasant sociability dennes and Luxemburg, 2/6 net.
is merit and talent in the volume.
and hurnane kindliness. Fundamentally,
Ward & Lock
Bibliograpby.
perhaps, what Hanna chiefly suffered from This sixth edition is revised and enlarged.
was a defective education. Had his early It appears admirably adapted for tourists
Aberdeen University Library, BULLETIN, training chanced to bring him under the bent on seeing Belgium in a hurry, although
April.
The Library sway of noble traditions and clear thoughts, even they might appreciate a slightly more
O'Donoghue (D. J. ), THE POETS OF IRELAND :
his energy, vitality, instinct of domination, incisive phraseology.
A BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
and happy endowment of being “hail Walter (L. Edna), THE FASCINATION OF
fellow well met with all his kind might
DICTIONARY
IRISH WRITERS
HOLLAND, 1/6 net.
Black
ENGLISH VERSE, 21/ net.
have made him a good influence and,
This is no mere guide-book, although
Dublin, Hodges, Figgis & Co. ; possibly, a great leader in American politics. entirely descriptive. It does not profess
Dublin, Hodges, Figgis & Co. : As things were, his fine business talent and to contain anything like a complete picture
London, Frowde
The author in 1892 began publishing his his aptitude for organization were directed of Holland, giving, for instance, but the
· Dictionary: in parts, which he got printed men, he believed the interests of his own class author has been successful in conveying in a
to no high ends. Like most semi-educated barest notice of Rotterdam. But the
and sold himself. They succeeded, in fact,
to be those of the community.
without the usual aids of advertisement.
As an em- few pages much of the charm of Dutch towns
The good foundation then laid has received ployer his genial accessibility and good
heart and scenery.
made him infinitely better than his public Holland might well select the little volume
A prospective visitor to
so many additions and revisions that the
reputation, and it is probable that he never
book before us may claim to be a new one.
instead of the ordinary guide-book.
deliberately did a wrong to any fellow-
It is an admirable record, giving brief
creature.
but sufficient biographical details, and notes essentially provincial in mind is always
But the political power of men
Sociology.
about prose
well
showing wide research concerning pieces of dangerous; and the effect of this laudatory Addams (Jane), A New CONSCIENCE AND AN
Life is to convince the reader that, in high
ANCIENT EVIL, 4/6 net.
pseudonymous or disputed authorship. Thus places, men like Marcus Alonzo Hanna
.
New York, Macmillan Co.
there is a poem signed "Speranza
are bad citizens.
In its presentation of facts connected with
was not by Lady Wilde. Prof. Tyrrell
the system of commercialized vice no more
figures as a translator of The Acharnians Livingstone (R. W. ), THE GREEK GENIUS convincing, sane, startling, yet optimistic
and a writer in Kottabos, which he edited AND ITS MEANING TO Us, 6/ net.
for some time.
volume is likely to reach the public than this.
It might be added that he
Oxford, Clarendon Press Miss Addams has studied the outward phe-
started the magazine himself in 1869; also An excellent exposition for the general
that he and two friends published some reader by one of the younger race of Oxford inner meaning, and expressed her conclu;
nomena of the subject, searched for their
translations in 1869 under the title of scholars. Chapters are devoted to the sions in incisive terms which reveal
Hesperidum Susurri,' and that he edited salient qualities Beauty, Freedom, Directness, the clear head and warm heart of one whose
the first collection ever made of 'Dublin Humanism with Pindar and Herodotus passion for social justice is typical of the
Translations into Greek and Latin Verse, as types-Sanity and Many-sidedness, Plato
best men and women of our day.
our copy of which is dated 1882. Most of and other exceptions to the tendencies just
the renderings had, however, already ap- mentioned, and The Fifth Century and
Her facts are drawn from American
peared in the publications mentioned above. After. A brief Epilogue deals with the
sources, and particularly from informa-
“modernity” of Greek literature. The
tion received as an official connected with
Philosophy.
book is decidedly attractive.
the Juvenile Protection Association of
Chicago. In England we are spared the
Kirkham (Stanton Davis), OUTDOOR PHILO- Masson (Flora), THE BRONTËS, 6d. net. flagrant connexion that exists in the States
SOPHY, THE MEDITATIONS OF A NATU-
Jack between the legal control of commercialized
RALIST, 5/ net.
Putnam's This volume of the People's Books vice and the functions of the police, but
“The vulgarity of publicity and the is not by any means a brilliant pre. we are unfortunately without that public
tedium of an over-organized society" are the sentation of the lives and atmosphere of opinion which,
in all those States in which
spur which has driven Mr. Kirkham to seek the three sisters, but it is informed with women are enfranchised, has raised the age
the calm of trout-streams and the pleasures much delicacy and intimacy of treatment. of consent to 18 years. As an example of
of & meditative life. Emerson is his an- Miss Masson is much indebted to Mrs. Miss Addams's sane optimism we quote her
cestor, and Thoreau his spiritual father, Gaskell’s biography, but is not subservient reflection that in the midst of a freedom
with here and there a strain of the Whit- I to it. She writes agreeably and with strong such as has never been accorded to young
OF
OF
as
ti which
2
## p. 593 (#445) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
593
THE ATHENÆUM
own.
women in the history of the world, under The numbered paragraphs of the Articles of a literary as well as a pedagogic
an economic pressure grinding down upon Introduction, with its emphasized headings, character are wisely included, and the
the working girl at the very age when she point the same way; and if any are a little present number includes a paper on 'Current
most wistfully desires to be taken care of, more lazy than others, they will find in $13 Opinion 'of considerable interest, another on
it is necessary to organize a widespread a neat summary of everything they want Bacon as Writer,' and a third on Some
commercial enterprise in order to procure a to know about the composition of Hero- Obstacles to Spelling Reform. ? We hope that
sufficient number of girls for the white slave dotus's history. The point is, that the student the Journal will take an early opportunity
market. " It would seem to show that the need not have exercised any judgment at all, of examining newspaper English, which has
virtue of women is holding its own in that yet he may produce on paper an answer to so vast an influence to-day, and explaining
slow-growing civilization which ever demands satisfy the examiner by learning a dozen its merits or demerits as a vehicle for thought
more self-control on the part of the indi- lines of the Introduction.
and expression.
vidual.
When we have said this, we have said
Bremner (C. S. ), DIVORCE AND MORALITY,
almost all that we wish to say in the way of Thornton (R. H. ), AN AMERICAN GLOSSARY,
2 vols, 30/ net.
Francis & Co.
with Preface by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle criticism.
