No More Learning

cynicism and caustic common-sense. Fortu- Low & Co.
nately also, though he delights in dialectic,
MACLEHOSE & SONS
MACMILLAN & Co.
he is not above elaborating a plot or afraid MAGAZINES, &c.
of handling grim and exciting situations. It MISCELLANEOUS . .
NOTES AND QUERIES
is his plot, however, based as it is on a far.
fetched idea, that is most open to criticism, PAUL & Co.
and leaves the playgoer rather sceptical PHILLIMORE & Co.
in the midst of genuine emotion.
PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS
The whole action turns on the will of an
PUTNAM'S SONS . .
eccentric millionaire, who disinherited the
SECKER
only energetic member of his family, and SHIPPING
so arranged matters that the rest would SITUATIONS VACANT
benefit by this son's death. The said son's TYPE-WRITERS, &c.
SITUATIONS WANTED
210
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By HORATIO W. DRESSER, Ph. D. ,
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THE FOLLOWING OF THE
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With Coloured Frontispiece by F. H. TOWNSEND.
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CATALOGUES
:::::
of
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210
213
212
209
237
209
211
209
214
211
240
214
239
210
238
210
239
214
210
209
236
210
239
239
209
THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD.
By EVELYN ST. LEDGER. 63.
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Translated from the French of COLETTE YVER.
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210


## p. 245 (#191) ############################################

-912
No. 4401, MARCH 2, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
245
NS,
CONTENTS.
PAGE
245
.
A COURAGEOUS ESSAYIST
GEORGE III. AND CHARLES Fox
246
247--248
248
not.
I to the
249
de
251
. .
de.
251-252
252
257
LIST OF NEW BOOKS
LITERARY GOSSIP
SCIENCE
MEASURES ; DISTRIBUTION AND ORIGIN OF LIFE
258-261
Music
ght
to
DRAMA-'989' AT THE CRITERION
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
S.
9
66
he
teaching. During years when the United hater was founded. He cites some of the
SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1912. States was swept by violent and often contrary passages also, but he says
contradictory gusts of sentiment and nothing of the dramatic significance of
ON.
enthusiasm, Sumner found himself almost either set. He treats them as though
invariably in opposition to the prevailing they were as detached as the Ten Com-
S
mood. He was in turn and together Anti- mandments; and of the profound sym.
IN
Protectionist, Anti-Socialist, and Anti- pathy with the race of women ” revealed
FINLAND, THE LAND OF A THOUSAND LAKES
TA.
247 | Imperialist. He showed the failure of in nearly all the poet's tragedies he does
NEW NOVELS (The Forest on the Hill; The Golightlys, “ black brotherhood ” and negro suffrage, not give a hint.
Father and Son ; Almayne of Mainfort)
but he denounced lynching with a vehem- Such criticism may appear rather out-
THE PEOPLE'S BOOKS . .
ence only too rare, even in the Northern side the scope of political science, but it
PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC (An Examination of Bergson's States. "He was an ardent Free Trader shows how misleading a guide even the
Baby
Philosophy; Henri Bergson, the Philosophy of
Change; A New Logic)
from the very first, though the full weight bare collection of apparently scientific
FRENCH BOOKS (Robert Herrick; George Sand; of both
political parties was against facts and historical statements may
ION
Correspondance générale Chateaubriand
him. When Socialistic dreams, like Mr. become. Like statistics, they can be made
Smoleosk ; La Chanson populaire de l'Ile de Corse :
D
Rome au Temps de Jules II. et de Léon X. ). . 249 —250 Bellamy's, were eagerly accepted as to prove almost anything; genius is shown
This WEEK'S Books (An English-Greek Lexicon ; practical proposals to be realized in a year in the discovery of what they really do
Boswell's Autobiography; An Introduction to the
Study of Prices)
or two, he stood firmly for individualism
prove. Sumner certainly could boast
PROF. HOPE W. HOGG; GRAHAME OF CLAVER-
and distrust of State action and State à vein of this conclusive power, though
HOUSE'; THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK
officials. When his fellow-citizens were
he was very cautious about using it. He
carried away by boastful excitement and possessed the balancing mind of the
the easy victory over the crumbling relics academic. He refused the smallest con-
RUINS OF DESERT CATHAY; MEN AND of Spain, he demonstrated that it was Spain fidence to popular cries or accepted
IX AMERICA; EVOLUTION IN THE PAST; SOCIETIES ; which had really conquered them, for they catchwords. While denouncing mili-
MEETINGS NEXT WEEK ; GOSSIP
had adopted the vain ideals that brought tarism, he carefully admits all that may
LIS. FINE ARTS-GREECE AND BABYLON ; EXHIBITIONS ;
PICTURE SALES ; COINS AND MEDALS; GOSSIP
281–283 Spain to ruin. When the Press and poli- be said in favour of war as an instrument
COLOUR-MUSIC; MUSIC AND ITS ASPECTS ;
ticians were raving about necessary expan- for consuming obsolete rubbish and sup-
GOSSIP; PERFORMANCES NEXT WEEK
sion, inevitable destiny, and an American plying a needed ferment to the world.
264 Empire overseas, he denounced the whole He denies that vast wealth is necessarily
284 principle and application of Imperialism. harmful in private hands. He is an
When the British and American examiner rather than a preacher. He
worlds had combined to extol the glory questions the use even of such words as
and romance of arms, he set himself to
LITERATURE
progress” and
advancement. " He
analyze with philosophic calm the real is seldom quite sure that “reform is
meaning and result of militarism and war. either possible or advantageous. In one
We must call Sumner, then, a wholesome of the very few passages in which his
A COURAGEOUS ESSAYIST. rather than a popular teacher--a physician clear and powerful style rises a little
rather than a confectioner, to adopt the above its usual restraint, he writes :-
ONE word of complaint first: this book Socratic distinction. Among English
of remarkable essays, so valuable for thinkers, he certainly came nearest to
“If this poor old world is as bad as they
political and economic reference, has Herbert Spencer; and he might be called of the headlong reformer. It is at any rate
say, one more reflection may check the zeal
neither an index nor a table of contents. Spencer's disciple, though he regarded a tough old world. It has taken its trend
Even the page-headings are mere repeti- Spencer's method of generalization as and curvature and all its twists and tangles
tions of titles, and the reader has no guide too rapid and unsure. He chose Darwin from a long course of formation. All its
or assistance of any sort. If he wants to
rather as his type of scientific mind, and wry and crooked gnarls and knobs are
discover a fact or an opinion, he must set before himself an ideal of economics therefore stiff and stubborn. If we puny
hunt through the length and breadth of and history that should follow a strictly straighten them, it will only be by modify-
men by our arts can do anything at all to
nearly 400 pages, and ten to one he gives scientific method, based on the slow collec- ing the tendencies of some of the forces at
up the search
in despair and throws the tion of facts. Some of these essays, as, work, so that, after a sufficient time, their
book away. The volume is printed by for instance, that on the Status of Women action may be changed a little, and slowly
the Yale University Press, and is sold in the ancient world, consist almost en- the lines of movement may be modified.
here by the Oxford University Press. tirely of collections of passages from This effort, however, can at most be only
In the
Yet
this is the poor service done by two various historical and literary authorities, slight, and it will take a long time,
Universities to the memory of a dis- without much attempt to draw any con-
meantime spontaneous forces will be at
tinguished professor !
work, compared with which our efforts are
clusion at all. It is in many ways an like those of a man trying to deflect a river,
We gather from Mr. Keller's Introduc- admirable method, avoiding the tempta- and these forces will have changed the whole
tion of biography and reminiscence that tion to doctrine, formula, and rhetoric. problem before our interferences will have
Prof. Sumner had a strong personality. Yet, careful as Sumner was in his examina- time to make themselves felt. ”
For thirty-seven years he was Professortion of authorities, he was sometimes led But this intellectual scepticism, some-
of Political and Social Science at Yale, astray by accepted errors and by a certain times almost approaching the counsels of
,
and during all that time he exercised a want of literary perception or training- despair, never made Sumner hesitate in
very potent influence over the students, à want equally remarkable in Herbert his condemnation of outrage or error, no
and, indeed, over all who came within his Spencer himself. In that same essay matter what unpopularity his opposition
wide range of activity. A thinker of upon the Status of Women, for instance, might bring on himself. It gave, indeed,
such moral courage and intellectual he quotes Antigone as saying, “ We must a strength to his decisive utterances, as
honesty was sure to win that reward, remember we are only women and cannot often happens when a sceptical or moder-
at all events. It cannot be said that he strive with men. We are under au-
ate man takes a strong line at last. We
made his opinions prevail, but, standing thority. ” From that detached and ironic may quote a few examples. Of the
by them unmoved, he showed that the quotation no one would suppose that the lynching of negroes he wrote:
popular currents of the day did not whole play turns upon a woman's intui-
coincide with all the forces of reason- tive perception of a higher law, and her " It would be a disgrace to us if amongst
perhaps not with the greatest forces. own rebellion against the authority she
us men should burn a rattlesnake or a mad
Courage was certainly the note of his is here represented as upholding. Simi- | dog. The badness of the
victim is not
an
all
larly, in his string of quotations from burning are forbidden, not because the
War, and Other Essays. By William Graham Euripides, he cites several passages on victim is not bad enough, but because we
Sumner. (Oxford University Press. )
which the poet's reputation as a woman- are too good. ”


## p. 246 (#192) ############################################

246
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4401, MARCH 2, 1912
Of war he writes :-
trenches and demolish houses which France had taken sides with the United
“It is evident that men love war : , when of the French prisoners to Exeter, and though hopelessly belated, was sincerely
obstructed the line of fire, the dispatch States. Lord North's Conciliation Bill,
two hundred thousand men in the United
States volunteer in a month for a war with the arrival of the gentlemen-volunteers meant, and after the rupture with France,
Spain which appeals to no sense of wrong from London. The same finish of treat there was nothing for it but to fight on.
against their country, and to no other strong ment marks the sketch of social habits There was every reason for a change of
sentiment of human nature, when their interpolated by Sir George into a chapter Government, but, wedded to his system,
lives are by no means monotonous or
on Charles Fox's Parliamentary position the King persisted in retaining against
destitute of interest, and where life offers after his breach with Lord North. It their wills about as incompetent a set of
chances of wealth and prosperity, the pure does thorough justice to the great English Ministers as ever mismanaged the affairs
love of adventure and war must be strong
in our population. Europeans who have
landowners : Aristocrats of the right of the country.
to do military service have no such enthusi. sort, they were fiery, if not very laborious In the conduct of Charles Fox during
asm for war as war. "
politicians; well-read gentlemen for the the years covered by this volume Sir
On Socialism :-
most part, and sportsmen every inch of George Trevelyan has an easier case, and
them. ". They knew their classics, they presents it with remarkable skill. Though
“I maintain that it is at the present time stocked their libraries with the best his language ran to extravagance, the
a matter of patriotism and civic duty to editions of modern works, and they kept young man played a patriotic part in
resist the extension of State interference. a good, if plain, table. They were to be denouncing the incompetence of the Lords
It is one of the proudest results of political seen at their best on their country estates ; of the Admiralty in general, and of the
growth that we have reached the point where
individualism is possible. Nothing could
as Sir George neatly puts it,“ the drawing- Earl of Sandwich in particular. The
better show the merit and value of the
room at White's or Almack's, after the First Lord's persistent attempts to conceal
institutions which we have inherited than hazard-table had been lighted up, was no the real weakness of the Navy, both in
the fact that we can afford to play with all paradise for men of sense and intellect. ” ships and men, formed an ample reason
these socialistic and semi-socialistic ab- George III. receives no quarter in Sir for the votes of censure hurled at him by
surdities. ”
George Trevelyan's pages. Where some Charles Fox. Yet the King upheld Sand-
Finally, speaking of the sudden passion can discover certain qualities of royal wich at all hazards, forcing Lord North
for Imperialism in the United States, he constancy, he can only descry narrow- to see that defaulters from divisions were
writes :-
minded obstinacy; and he derides the “strongly spoke to. ” His deplorable
“ foolish " and "most cruel policy” of partiality is acutely explained by Sir
“The sum of the matter is that coloniza- prolonging the war with the American George. George III. found in Sandwich
tion and territorial extension are burdens, Colonies by holding on to the coast, and a Minister exactly to his mind,“ sub-
not gains. "
relying upon the play of faction in Con- servient in the Closet, masterful and
Whether we agree with them or not, such gress, and disappointment and discontent overbearing in the Cabinet, and a fearless
sentences show a steadfast, if perhaps a on the population. Yet on p. 302 we read : bully in debate. " He was therefore kept
rather inflexible, mind. It certainly was
a mind of absolute intellectual honesty be a novelty in the political world, and would
“' A bankrupt, faithless, republic would safely in office in spite of the scandal
and courage, medicinal rather than sooth- appear among respectable nations like a murdered Miss Ray, and though the out-
ing, and in every way wholesome for the common prostitute among chaste matrons. ' break of war with France and Spain
present world.
So Congress proclaimed to the world in a rendered a stronger administration at the
public address of September, 1779, and none Admiralty imperative. Charles Fox did
the less in March, 1780, it calmly passed a his best for naval efficiency both within
law enacting that forty dollars in paper and without the House. He seldom ap-
were thenceforward to be the equivalent peared to greater advantage than when
George the Third and Charles Fox : the of one dollar in specie. In other words then he posted down to Saltram,
eagerly learnt
Concluding Part of the American Revolu- American Government declared itself bank.
tion. By Sir George Otto Trevelyan. rupt to the extent of nineteen shillings and whatever the officers had to tell him,
Vol. I. (Longmans & Co. )
sixpence in the pound. That announce- and arranged with Jervis of the Fou-
ment killed the public credit, swept the droyant to be taken on board if there was
PURISTS may complain that they do not market bare of cash, and demolished every
a prospect of a battle. Later in life, after
get very much in this volume about vestige of commercial utility that still long opposition had soured him, Fox
George III. or Charles Fox ; and the title, The evil consequences fell with intense
attached itself to the Government paper. rejoiced over the discomfiture of his
as implying a continuous clash of wills severity upon the comfort, the discipline, country's allies.
between the two, is no doubt a little mis- and the efficiency of the army. Congress Sir George Trevelyan's descriptions of
leading. The general reader, however, found it all but impossible to enlist fresh naval battles are vivid, and the story of
has no cause for grumbling, since he will troops, and very difficult to feed and clothe Ushant and the court-martial of Keppel
encounter Sir George Trevelyan in his those whom it had already. The soldiers which followed that engagement has never
happiest mood. No man has a defter in the Continental camps, except that they been more happily told. We agree with
knack of extracting from the eighteenth spent more nights in bed, were hardly better him that Palliser was no coward when he
”
century its brightest and most salient
ignored the signals of his superior officer,
characteristics, while passing lightly over In other words, the policy of husbanding and that personal enmity combined with
the
and brutality which resources and watching opportunities had the malice instilled into him by “ the
Hogarth drew and Savage wrote down. a good deal to be said for it. The stead- Bedfords " while he was at the Admiralty
Sir George by no means abides by the fastness of New England remained un suggested his unworthy conduct. But
strict canons of biography, nor does he shaken, but disintegration was at work Keppel's magnanimity was of the Roman
exactly produce history, whether judged in the south, and Cornwallis's Carolina type ; when Palliser blundered on to his
by English or German standards. But campaigns came within a reasonable own undoing in the House of Commons,
he catches the spirit of the age, and by measure of success until, through Clinton's those who heard his reply “thought,"
a diligent use of pamphlets and newspaper
fatal inaction, he was driven into a corner as Horace Walpole puts it,“ his homely
files he imparts to his pages a warmth of at Yorktown.
figure was shot up into heroic stature,
colouring which more scientific writers But we are anticipating events which and his bearing at the court-martial
generally contrive to miss. Nothing could Sir George Trevelyan will treat in his was a model of generosity: “Mr. Presi-
be better than his description of the pre- second volume, already, as we are glad dent, as that alteration in Capt. Hood's
parations for the defence of Plymouth to learn, more than half written. Our log-book affects my life, I shall ask him
in 1779, derived from the columns of present point is that there was nothing no more questions.
the daily journals. The whole scene is in the situation on the American conti- A hero like Keppel may present few
displayed : the Cornish “ tinners" leaving nent, as it stood in 1778, to justify an difficulties to an eloquent writer, but it
+heir mines and marching off to dig abandonment of the war, even after I is otherwise with a dark and devious
coarseness


## p. 247 (#193) ############################################

No. 4401, MARCH 2, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
247
а
to spare.
character like Benedict Arnold. Here,
“The velocity increases from minute to, and art are full of valuable matter, which
again, Sir George Trevelyan has succeeded minute; the surface of the stream has a had not been previously accessible. Edu-
to admiration. We need not stop to visible slope, it is as though part of the cation is universal and highly prized ;
inquire into the exact pertinence of the Atlantic were rolling down an incline. . . but the Finn is frequently regarded as
chapter setting forth Arnold's
attempted And then, just as you are about getting
used stolid and slow, needing " à petard in his
betrayal of West Point and the hanging the river makes a sudden bend, a rock
to the whirling perilous pleasure of it all, back to make him move. That this
of the unfortunate André in a work impedes the passage, a whirlpool waits
view is in the main unjust is shown by
which began, at any rate, by being a for you on the other side of the rock. . . . To the last chapter, on · Social and Economic
biography of Charles Fox. Sir George avoid the barrier amid this howling torrent of Movements. There we read that the
Trevelyan evidently enjoyed writing this water and at this speed seems well - nigh Home Research Society—which is less
chapter, and he displays much insight into impossible. The boatman leans upon his than twenty years old, and deals with the
Arnold's motives. Arnold despaired of the oar, and the boat makes straight for the natural history, physiography, archæology,
Republic, and
cliffs as though purposely to dash itself to
fragments. Almost as the nose of the
and folklore of the country-counts among
' in the latter part of the eighteenth century boat touches the bank, the whole weight its eager workers many labourers and
the example of General Monk had still a of the pilot is thrown on the polo, and peasants, as well as scholars and professors.
singular and powerful attraction for ambitious the craft sweeps lightly as a cork out into Mr. Young says truly that an appeal
men of the sword. In France, under the the mass of seething, boiling foam that to the British agricultural labourer to
Directorate, when a reaction against the swings itself everlastingly from side to side take part in the collection of scientific
Jacobin rule had set in with irresistible in a mad and ceaseless passion of hate. "
and historical data would meet with little
force, the admirers of more than one Re-
publican general fondly expected that their The details supplied concerning the or no response-indeed, he would be
hero would consent to play a part analogous country and people are of the deepest incapable of understanding the aims of
to that of the cool-headed and stout-hearted interest; for they show that the Finns
such movement. Another society-
saldier who took the tiden at the turn, and have made
remarkable progress during the the. Ungdomsforēning (Young People's
throne. There then were Royalists, and past century, in spite of their political tellectual and social life of the villages.
many Royalists, who carried infatuation to
troubles in
recent
such a height, and ignorance of personal principal wealth lies in her forests, which In speaking of “the unutterable dullness
character to such a depth, as to entertain cover more than half the country; and,
of the English village in winter,” Mr.
a hope that Napoleon Bonaparte had pos- as in Norway and Sweden, the develop- Young forgets that our labourers are too
sibly made the Eighteenth
Brumaire in the ment of scientific forestry has arrested tired after
a heavy day to care for more
interest of his legitimate sovereign. "
the heedless waste which threatened their
than the newspaper and the village club.
In
Dumouriez, Moreau, and Pichegru were, destruction. There is an excellent account
a country where winter darkness
of course, all more or less bitten with the of farming operations and village life ; permits little work there is far more energy
idea of leading a restoration. Much but the writer scarcely seems aware that
later, the same delusion floated before the many of the customs which he describes
bemused vision of Bazaine. But the at length are in no way peculiar to the
deliberation with which Arnold planned Finns, but are common to the whole of
NEW NOVELS.
the surrender of West Point, and the Scandinavia. He gives in rough outline a The Forest on the Hill. By Eden Phillpotts. .
eagerness with which he took up arms history of the people, which in its earliest (John Murray. )
against his own countrymen, are unique stage is open to some criticism. He tells THE first and obvious fault of The
in the annals of treachery.
us that Tacitus mentions the Finns; Forest on the Hill' is its inordinate
but he adds in the same breath that from length, which must amount to somewhere
their costume and habits these Fenni
near 150,000 words. Its pace is fatigu-
Finland : the Land of a Thousand Lakes. may have been Lapps. It is evident they ingly slow, and the long conversations of
By Ernest Young. With 32 Illustra: could not have been the ancestors of the persons but little relevant to the main
tions. (Chapman & Hall. )
modern Finns, if the immigration of the issues would have been better omitted,
latter took place, as he states, about the although they are good in themselves. So,
MR. YOUNG is a warm admirer of Finland, ninth century. Dr. Nansen, in his recent too, the many pages of description lose
and his book is so well written as to infect book, thinks that the Fenni cannot their value through their very length,
the reader with his own enthusiasm. He certainly be identified with any modern and retard the reader disagreeably. Of
has given us a charming description of her stock.
course, as might be expected, the charac-
lakes and forests, and of the customs and A few
pages are devoted to the ters are well defined and (with one serious
amusements, the arts and industries, of recent misfortunes of Finland ; and Mr. exception) lifelike ; and, equally of course,
her honest and hospitable people. His | Young justly considers that the restora- powerful and passionate situations are set
illustrations, too, are good ; but some tion of her constitution in 1905, as a against the wild backgrounds that the
views of scenery deserve to have the result of the sudden, but perfectly orderly author knows so well. The one char-
locality specified. He has written, he
of a whole nation, is one of acter whose truth to life seems question-
tells us, with an eye both to the possible the most astounding events of modern able is otherwise straightforward
traveller and the general reader ; but times. On the exact details of the young woman, who, yielding to threats
for the sake of the latter he has “deli- constitution he is less clear. On one page of disinheritance from her lover's uncle,
berately discarded anything like a guide- he tells us that “the imposition of taxes gives up the man she loves, denying him
book arrangement. ” The traveller, how has been removed entirely from the any explanation, and, unable to support
ever, though he will find the book replete control of the Diet"; on another, that her loss, proceeds to starve herself to
with interesting information, will look in the Grand Duke cannot impose any death ; but, on her rescue and recovery,
vain for any hints for a projected tour. new taxes without the consent of the speedily transfers her love to a man whom
He must go for these to Paul Waineman's | Diet. " The latter body has attracted she had for years steadily refused, and
excellent volume, or to Mrs. Tweedie's considerable attention in Europe ; for ceases entirely to care about her first
lively account of her adventures; for it is not only largely elected by female choice. Of course, a woman of weak,
each of those works contains a good map, suffrage, but also contains a few women fickle nature might have behaved thus ;
which Mr. Young has unfortunately members, who are described as “ mostly but this woman is of a fine, strong charac-
omitted. But the present book, though of middle age, grave, and even portentously ter, neither timid nor mercenary, and Mr.
largely the fruit of the writer's observa- solemn. ” But, though females compose Phillpotts does not succeed in persuading
tion, is in no sense a narrative of travel. 53 per cent of the electorate, they form us either that she cheated her first love
The following sketch of the “ running only 8 per cent of the Diet. A male for the sake of benefits to him which he
of the famous Pyhakoski Rapid, which member is of opinion that “ they are a despised, or that she was capable, while
we quote only in part, makes us regret nuisance, but only a little nuisance. ” she knew him living, of being happy with
his self-imposed limitations -
| The chapters on Finnish literature, music, a second.
strike"
an


## p. 248 (#194) ############################################

248
THE ATHEN ÆUM
No. 4401, MARCH 2, 1912
intersected by railway-lines, and the Mary Queen of Scots played no great part
The Golightlys, Father and Son. By competing parties are Almayne, scion of in national history; she is essentially a
Laurence North. (Martin Secker. ) an ancient, but somewhat impoverished romantic figure, and this side of her has been
house in the North of England, and a
happily emphasized by Mrs. O'Neill, who
THE rivalries in the British Press offer a mysterious old man with a daughter. The background of history. Mr. Coxon's Roman
may be depended on for accuracy in her
rich satiric harvest, and in the Pro- legal transactions are somewhat hazy; Catholicism is a straightforward account,
crustean adaptation of writers, enamoured and from the cattle-reiving exploit, with mainly derived from unimpeachable sources,
of ideals incompatible with journalistic which we start out, to Almayne's return such as the General Councils of the Church.
success, to the iron framework of popular home with his wife, there are too many
organs is that tragedy without dignity incidents which send the reader off on a In Women's Suffrage : a Short History of
which a satirist's graver mood demands. false scent—a proceeding never fully a Great Movement, Mrs. Fawcett has made
That which is at once gigantic and trivial, justified by the further progress of affairs. I good use of the inadequate space at her
unimaginative and speculative, pachy. Superficially, the author's method reminds the page headed List of New Books, if
dermatous and professionally sensitive, us now of Broke of Covenden,' now of - Sir only by adding and Periodicals,” the
tempts even a critic to limn its features. Richard Calmady’; while we seem to more so as her booklet is useful rather on the
How, then, does it affect a novelist who detect, beneath these presumably chance historical side than on that of “history in
accepts it for an inspiration ?
resemblances, the influence of a study of the making. " The few pages on recent
On the whole, Laurence North is to be Balzac. Indeed, the view of society, the developments are already out of date,
congratulated. The curious parallelism characterization, and the emphasis in the especially in regard to the inconsistency of
Cabinet Ministers. Recognition has been
between the periodicals issued by the dialogue, strike us as being in many accorded to others whose methods differ
two magnates who, imitating Sir George respects more French than English. This from the author's, but we should have
Newnes, surpassed him in daring and the is not intended as disparagement, nor preferred, in spite of Mrs. Fawcett's broad-
noise of their “ splashes," appears to
as a denial of originality, but rather as mindedness, to have a chapter from one of
have so impressed him as to impel an expression of our sense that it is real the Militants.
His
him to appropriate it for fiction and work that the writer offers us.
Dr. Julius Cohen's Preface admits that
invent a dramatic reason for it. How- technique is better than his invention,
ever that may be, his novel is an admir-
or better than his present luck; and he probably lose themselves in its pages, and
able presentation of the humour and has plenty of power, if he can' but find probably lose themselves in its pages, and
tragedy of the market-place where words the true field for its exercise.
is not only too vast, but also too technical,
are bought and sold. But he has taken
The personages—with the exception of to be treated in a hundred small pages,
care to please lovers of drama as well one villainous little lawyer—are all of the
and even to guess at the meaning of what
as likers of satire, and he deserves praise clean, gallant type, gentle, yet superior ; vious study. The
is here discussed requires considerable pre-
for the fact that, though he indulges in and the best thing in the book is the brief, adopted will be unfamiliar to the general
system of notation
three ironic catastrophes, their romantic but lyrical love episode.
reader, who will gather little from the few
value justifies them, while their plausi-
words which Prof. Cohen devotes to its
bility does credit to his craftsmanship.
explanation. It was discussed at length
The spirit of regret is almost as impul-
by Prof. Norman Collie in a special article
sive in him as that of satire. Loving
“ THE PEOPLE'S BOOKS. "
in The Athenæum some years ago. On the
whole, organic chemistry is not a matter
the serenity of the scholar, the distinction
THE idea of “The
of the classic note in a volubly commercial
People's Books that can be usefully summarized in a popular
handbook.
age, he is haunted by visions of those who (T. C. & E. C. Jack) was, we understand,
conceived before
Home University
have left not only Oxford, but also the Library was announced. It is certainly
The Science of the Stars will convey to the
tranquil height of wisdom and art which
a remarkable enterprise in the way of attentive reader an enormous amount of
it inadequately but charmingly symbol- cheapness, the little volumes being bound information in a small space, being clear and
izes, to choose the arena where thought in green cloth and well printed. We think, abreast of current knowledge. It takes the
is mean and, in Matthew Arnold's too however, that the limits within which student back to the starting - point of the
noble phrase, “ignorant armies
ash by
the contributors have had to work have science, and carries him on to the various
night. '
proved a serious handicap to their efficiency. lines of research that have opened up from
In the character called Dorian Prof.
Herford has under 90 pages for his it, briefly indicating the extent and contents
Stepney our author realizes the tragedy Shakespeare. It is a sound piece of work, of the wide field of astronomy to-day. The
of a finer spirit self-condemned to intei- but makes no pretence to even proximate chapter, on The Members of the Solar
lectual stultification at the call of Mam- completeness," and omits some of the infor- System is wonderfully comprehensive,
mon. He and the two women who cast mation we expect to see. Why does not the especially on the study of the surfaces of the
a glamour over his life of editorial toil are Professor say, for instance, that the collected sun and Mars, with which Mr. Maunder's
excellently drawn, and so is the mentor edition of the Plays and Poems put forth by name is closely associated.
and patron who tells him :-
Heming and Condell in 1623 is everywhere
known as the First Folio, and add, since Mr. J. A. S. Watson's Heredity can be no
You can't create public interest. You
there is room on the page, how far it is the more than an introduction, but his survey
can only follow it up, give it a loud voice, chief authority for Shakespeare's text? The of the subject is accurate, and written in a
and then claim to have created it. "
Bibliography, a matter of prime importance simple manner which will stimulate those
in such a series, is meagre, omitting, for who are interested to wider reading.
The author deserves a liberal measure
instance, Sir Walter Raleigh's fine book. Mr.
of that interest. He bas produced an ex-
A. Ferrers Howell in Dante : his Life and Work
Botany : the Modern Study of Plants, by
ceptionally bright and sparkling novei, in students, and, going less into critical detail alia, with morphology, anatomy, cytology,
has a full and excellent Appendix of books for Dr. M. C. Stopes, attempts to deal, inter
which tragedy, apart from one harrowing than Prof. Herford, has made a survey which physiology,
ecology, and palæontology. The
incident, makes an effect like wit.
should be really useful as an introduction author has both verve and knowledge, and
to the subject.
has done as well as could be expected ; but
Mr. O'Neill's Pure Gold suffers from far too much has been attempted.
Almayne of Mainfort. By R. H. Gretton. being arranged in alphabetical order. There
(Grant Richards. )
are not generally more than two or three In The Principles of Electricity Mr. Norman
pieces from well-known poets, but they are
R. Campbell does not seem to have decided
FROM the critic's point of view this is a usually either too hackneyed or too little for what class of readers he is writing. The
novel of more than common interest. known. The one is not fair to the reader ; first half states at some length, and in an
Its faults are considerable ; most of them, the other to the poet. Swinburne, for elementary manner, the fundamental ideas
perhaps, to be accounted for by the fact instance, is represented by the first chorus of electrostatics, and the remainder is
that the writer has not hit upon a good of Tristram of Lyonesse. '
from 'Atalanta' and the dedicatory sonnet devoted to general theory. The theoretical
Otherwise this treatment disqualifies the book for the
idea for his plot. The story turns upon is an admirable anthology: The suggestions
beginner, while elementa y questions such
the ownership of a patch of London slum for further reading are brief, but sensible. as What is an ohm 1-remain unanswered,
“ The


## p. 249 (#195) ############################################

No. 4401, MARCH 2, 1912
THE ATHENÆ UM
249
sense
" the
are
SO
and concisely. The little book is a master- "view of the world of experience is of
PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC. piece of plain English. Notwithstanding, the nature of a metaphysical construction,
we would reiterate the piece of advice which with difficulties of its own. Has, he for
THE Bergsonian philosophy, which was Mr. Carr in the Preface offers to his gotten Berkeley, and cleared his mind of
somewhat slow to cross the Channel, and readers, namely, that if they are interested, Kant ?
did not, in fact, arrive in this country very and therefore desire to become genuine A word as to “ Traditional Logic. ” Dr.
long before the philosopher himself, has, students of the Bergsonian philosophy, their Mercier includes in this compendious title
even as he did, made itself thoroughly at bounden duty is to go on to tackle M. nearly every thinker from Aristotle to the
home amongst us.
We recently reviewed Bergson in the original.
present day. But he objects most strongly
two short studies of his writings, Mr. Lindsay's
to a system which is less Aristotelian than
(Athen. , July 22, 1911) and Mr. Solomon's
A New Logic. By Chas. Mercier. scholastic.