THE

NEW AGE A WEEKLY REVIEW OF POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND ART.

.Vol. VI. No. 25. THURSDAY,APRIL 21, 1910. THREEPENCE.

CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE NOTESOF THE WEEK ...... 577 STYLEIN MODERNLITERATURE. By Edwin Pugh ...... 588 FOREIGNAFFAIRS. By Stanhope of Chester ...... 579 THEORDER OF THE SERAPHIM. III. Bp Allen Upward ... 590 CRIMINALLAW AND ADMINISTRATION.By C. H. Norman ... 580 VESPERS. By VincentO’Sullivan ...... 592 DESOLATE.By E. H. Visiak ...... 582 NEWWINE.Walter By Sickert ...... 592 CONCERNINGSECOND CHAMBERS. By St. John G. Ervine ... 582 BOOKSAND PERSONS. By JacobTonson ...... 593 THEPHILOSOPHY OF A DON.V...... 584 ART. By Huntly Carter ...... 594 THEETHICS OF TRIMALCHION’SDINNER PARTY. J.By Stuart CORRESPONDENCE ...... 596 HAY ...... 586 ARTICLESOF THE WEEK...... 599 MR. BELLOC,M.P., v. MR. SIDNEY WEBB ByCharles BIBLIOGRAPHIESOF MODERN AUTHORS. XXII. Edward CHARRINGTON...... 587 Clodd ...... 599

Subscriptions tothe NEW A GE are at the following do on the morrow of the late election had his majority rates :- been unquestionableand unexceptional, namely,advise Great Britain. A broad. the King to exercise his Royal prerogative and to create s. d. peers to overcome the opposition of the oligarchs. But One Year ...... 15 0 17 4 having consented to offer this advice, the Premier has SixMonths...... 7 68 8 wisely declined both to define in advancethe form his Three Months ... 3 9 4 4advice will take and also to announce whether he will All orders and remittances should be sentto the NEW AGE further advise thathis adviceshould be taken. It is as well in thesematters not tointerpret too liberally PRESS,38, Cursitor Street, E.C. (orshall we say Radically) thetext of Mr. Asquith’s MSS., drawings and editorial communicationsshould be statements.The meaning must be takennot at its addressed tothe Editor, 38, Cursitor Street, E.C. maximum,but at itsminimum value. And at its mini- All communications regarding Advertisements should be mum value it is obvious that Mr.Asquith’s announce- addressed theto Advertisement Manager, 38, Cursitor mentmeans no more than that he will consultthe Street, E.C. King’s discretion in the matter of exercising the Royal prerogative. *** NOTES OF THE WEEK. Now, we are equally convinced that the bestadvice IF they had any gratitude, the Radicals would now be that could be offered theKing by Mr. Asquith isthe thanking their moderate friends, ourselves among them, advicenot to take the advice to create peers seriously for having saved them from the worst excesses of their and at once. There has been a great deal of talk about recentfanaticism. Only a few weeks agocharges of demanding guarantees of the King; but thosewho know treacherywere being freely brought by themagainst anything of what is due to one of thepersons of the not only their nominalleaders, but even against their constitutionaltrinity know very well thatthe demand might fairly be made from the other side. The Crown, “ great leader ” Mr. Asquith. Because he did not con- sult P.W.W. everyhour of the day, or inviteMr. that is, may notunnaturally demand guarantees in Massingham to hisCabinet meetings, andbecause, returnfor guarantees. “ Suppose,”the King might moreover, in theabsence of suchheart-to-heart talks, say, “ that I give you a pledge to create peers as you P.W.W. andMr. Massingham were unable to divine suggest, are you prepared in return to give me a pledge the direction of events,these journals concluded that that the country will back you up? ” The Crown has not onlywere they being blinded, buttheir party and no desire to alienate both the Lords and the People by theircountry were being betrayed. We did ourbest a singleand irretrievable act. The alienation of the then to point out that it was probable that the Cabinet Lordswith the full consent of the people mightbe knewits business, that Mr. Asquith’s famousAlbert possible, and even patriotic and necessary; but if there Hallpledge to obtain guarantees or die applied to an is any wish thatthe people will notconsent on the electoraland not a royal guarantee, that the result of fullest reflection, then the risk should be taken, not by the election gaveministers a legitimateexcuse for theKing, whonever soughtthe dispute, but by the differing in details, that the Parliamentary majority in party that did. *** Januarywas not whatit was in November,and that, on the whole, Radicals would do well to “ waitand This reasoningappears to us unanswerable by any- see.”They have waited with some impatience,it is body who takes the trouble to put himself in the place true, and not without frequent alarums and excursions of the King; and it enforces the conclusion we came to in quest of referendums and political wild-fowl of that last week that a General Election should be held imme- description; and their patience has at last been rewarded diately on the rejection of the Resolutions by the Lords. by the spectacle of a Cabinet that has, we hope,suc- We areglad to see that our wordshave had their ceeded in satisfying both Radicals and some of the more effect in inducingthe “ Nation ” to withdraw,or at immoderate political Socialists’ that it means business. least to modify what appeared to be its rooted objection *** tomaking sure that the nation, as well asthe We arenot out of the wood, however, by a long way “ Nation,’’ was in favour of revolution. In its current yet; and a number of cautions must be addressed to our issue, the ‘‘Nation ” not only discards the Referendum friends both in the Cabinet and out of it, which we trust (which now, by theway, has leftMr. Barnes for that will be received in the spirit in which they are offered. Home of Lost Clauses, Mr. Balfour), but actually con- In the first place, it is our duty to repeat our warning templates without a shudder a General Election in June; thatthere is noroyal road to revolution.Acting on supported, no doubt, in its new resolution by Mr. the advice of hisRadical supporters, Mr. Asquith has Churchill’s bold wordson Tuesday : “ We arenot at last consented to do now what he was prepared to frightened; we are prepared to trust the people, and to 578 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

runthe risk. ” The “DailyNews,” similarly, is now Cabinet,has never threatenedto defeat the Govern- prepared to echoour advice and to face a General ment if this or that procedurewere not adopted, has Electionwithout flinching. And bothjournals, we may notbargained for its support of theBudget, evenof add, repeat our contention that the Election should be thoseclauses which theparty opposed lastyear, nor foughtas far as may be on thesingle issue of the has it threatened, like theNonconformists, to raisea Democracy versus the Oligarchy. holy war if its viewson education were not adopted *** by the Government. For all itsmagnanimity and its So far, so good. Rut there are stillone or two con- rare politicalhonesty, theLabour party is now, it siderations,and one in particular, to be taken into seems to berewarded with something even lessthan account. Mr. Churchill was unwiseenough to enumer- apromise; itis tobe, in the councilsof the post- atethe major measures which would be passed when revolutionaryCabinet, absolutely ignored. the Lords nolonger blocked the way. We deprecate *** altogether any mention at this moment of what may be All we can say is that if suchis to be the case, or donewhen theLords’ veto is removed;but if these if such is made to appear to be the probable case, the promissory notes are to be drawn at all, we hope that Liberals will be wise to postpone the General Election the list will notbe so ludicrouslyincomplete as Mr. until theirterm of office isexpired. Let them remain Churchillmade it. Only four measures did he name at in office, with the help of their Radicals and Welshmen, all;and these were Home Rule for Ireland, Disestab- their Nonconformists andtheir Irish Nationalists, as lishment of theWelsh Church, a PassiveResisters’ long as they like. So soon as they go to the country, Recompense Act, andElectoral Reform. Frankly, if thetruth of theirpolitical ingratitude, cowardice and that is all Mr. Churchill’sCabinet hopes to be able meanness will bemade known and a revengetaken. todo after abolishing the absolute veto of theLords, Is it to besupposed thatthe Labour party, and not the revolutionis not worth thetrouble of making. only theLabour party but the Labour and Socialist What, as Mr. Balfourpertinently asked,have any of movements,deliberately suspended theirproper work these thingsto do with Social Reform?Not one of of economic agitationand education simply in order them is of the slightest economic importance to a single thatthe passage of trumperytinkerings withpetti- poorman in the country. We have been led to believe fogginggrievances of a purely political natureshould that whenonce theLords’ veto was destroyed there be facilitated throughthe House of Lords? We will might thenbe thebeginning of the real economic except, if anybody objects, the Home Rule Bill for Ire- revolution for the want of which this country is dying, land ; but does anybody seriously pretend that the other the revolution which will distributethe means of life measuresnamed can compare in realvalue with a equitably to all. Afterall, that isthe test of social Right toWork Bill ora Direct Income Tax Bill, or reform, whether it makes the rich poorer and the poor a Railway and Mines NationalisationBill? We have richer;everything else is idle wind.If, therefore,on only solemnly to repeatour warning that it would be the list of reforms to whichMr. Churchill regards the better for Liberals to stick in office until their salaries House of Lords as an impediment, there is not placed learn by habit to walk into their pockets, than to risk a single measure of Socialreform in thismaterial a GeneralElection on aRevolution, the only objects sense, then either the list is shamefully incomplete and of which are thosenamed by Mr.Churchill. should never have been published, orit is wickedly * * * incomplete and should be instantly repudiated. * * * That in saying this we are not blind partisans of the We may beperfectly certain that a gooddeal of Labourparty will beevident when we remarkthat capital will be made by theUnionists out of this, we with theattitude of theGovernment in thematter of hope,inadvertent, but none the less significant,cata- the Osborne decision we are almost completely in agree- logue of Mr.Churchill’s. We haveseen that Mr. ment We sayalmost, because while we are opposed Balfour has, in fact, already begun to make capital out to theLabour party in thisparticular instance, the of it,and with everyjustification too. Challenged to Government, in our opinion, was notnearly clear name any measures of Social Reform which the House enough in itspresentation of thealternative policy. of Lords has blocked in the recent past, we have always Our readers are by this time familiar with the position takenthe ground that the sins of theLords werenot underdiscussion relative io the question of whether past so much as to come,and thattheir action in or not tradeunionists, officially affiliated with the rejectingthe Budget because containedit Socialist Labour party, should be bound, legally and under pain finance demonstratestheir determination to nip in the of forfeiting all union benefits, to contribute individu- bud the economic changes which every reformer knows ally tothe support of Labour members. It was the to be necessary. Hut presentedwith such a list of decision, of the Judges in the House of Lords that such mightyreforms asthat compiled for ourfruition by compulsion for such political purposewas not only in Mr.Churchill, Mr. Balfour has only tosay, as indeed excess of trade union regulations but wascontrary to he did say, that they are trifling and less than nothing public policy. And itis this decision thatthe Labour in comparison with the promises the Unionists are pre- party is seeking to have reversed by Act of Parliament. pared to make in the direction of Social Reform. Never *** forget, Mr. Balfour told his party, never forget that you It is, in our opinion,beside the pint that the deci- arethe party of progress.Programme for programme sion as it standsis detrimental and perhaps fatal to that commandsassent if we areto take the Liberal programme asexhausted by Mr. Churchill.However, theLabour party as we know it. Nobody nowadays, the last has not been heard of this by any means; nor as Mr. Doyle observed,has any real hatred of the will the country at large be allowed to forget it. Labour party in so far as it consists of trade unionists * * * bent on carrying out their industrial policy by political means.On the contrary, as we haveoften remarked, What really we are afraid itcomes to is this : that the Labour party has received moreindulgence at the theLabour party have notgiven theGovernment hands of politicians than its effective strength entitled troubleenough. All theother constituents of the it to.Nor isit true by anymeans that there is any Coalition,the Irish, the Welsh, the Nonconformists, considerablesection on either side of theHouse that and the Radicals,have sold theirsupport and have would gladly see the Labour party abolished ; however seen that they gettheir price; but, theLabour party, trueit may be that plenty of members would not die actinghonestly and onconviction, without haggling of grief if such afate befel it.Rut theLabour party andwithout bullying, are to be ignored on that very mustput out of its mind the idea thatthere is a account. It isvery coincidental, is it not,that the list maliciousand generalconspiracy against its welfare, of reforms promised by Mr. Churchill, whether with or even against its welfare as a Socialistic if not Socialist withoutpremeditation, did in fact provide a sop for party All thecriticisms in thepresent instance are exactly thefour partners of the Coalition thathave directed against it not on account of its programme or donetheir best to make things hot forthe Go:-ern- on account of itsopinions, expressed or unexpressed, ment ? TheLabour party has, so faras we know, but on account of real objections grounded in a legiti- neveronce broughtcharges of treacheryagainst the APRIL 21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 579

mate and not unworthy view of the nature of politicaI “ Would notpayment of membersmeet most of the freedom. difficulties ” Of courseit would;and of coursethat *** isthe only practicalalternative. But canthe ques- tion be said to commit theGovernment to a promise Neither Mr. Taylor, who moved the resolution, nor that Payment of Members is likely to be adopted before Mr. Harvey, whoseconded it,appeared to realise the the Labour party is dead? While that grass is grow- gravamen of thecharge theyhad to meet. Itwas ingthe Labour steed will bedying We will ask tothe effect thatthe rulethey were seeking to re- anotherquestion : Shouldnot the Labour party now enforce involved a trespass on theright of the indi- refusefurther support of the Governmentuntil Pay- vidual to choosehis political representativefreely and ment of Members is actuallypromised? without regardto unrelated considerations. That such a right had been in fact ignored by general negligence for forty years could not be held to annul it altogether; Foreign Affairs. and it has always been open duringthese forty years to any member of atrades union (and morepatently By Stanhope of Chester. since the Labour party came into existence) to resume MR. ROOSEVELT’Sholiday tourhas been upsettingthe his right with the practical certainty that the law would respectable gentlemen who control the Chancelleries of support him. Therewas, as everybody will admit, Europe. TheVatican incident very much annoyed the less ground of offence when theLabour members, re- Viennesepoliticians, and therewas noenthusiasm in turned and maintained by trade union funds, discharged Vienna at Mr.Roosevelt’s visit. ‘‘ Inspired ” state- trade union business in the House of Commons as the ments have been issued in the Berlin Press containing paid delegates of their societies, and for the rest were alist of thesubjects upon which Mr. Roosevelt is free to representtheir constituencies. After this man- advised to hold his tongue. Two of the forbidden ner, we believe, two or three representatives of the topics are the Anglo-German rivalry in armaments, and elementary teachers’ union were returned to Parliament, thePrussian franchise question. Mr.Roosevelt is re- among whom wasDr. Macnamara, now a member of ported to have already damned the Reform Bill of the the Government and beyond the need of pecuniary sup- Prussian Government, while great efforts are being port by his union. If we rememberrightly, however, made to prevent him calling upon Herr Bebel ! Euro- one of theteachers’ paidrepresentatives was a Con- pean diplomacy will not breathe freely until the “ Teddy servativeand the other a Liberal, so lightwas the Hear ” issafely back in hisown den. That is the pledgeexacted from them. And so longas the poli- worst of the diplomats.They are so immersed in the ticalrepresentatives of the trade unions remained free dignities of tradition that a Roosevelt in a free, critical to pursue theirbusiness in eitherparty at the discre- mood is a terriblestrain upon flabby nerves. That is tion of theirdirect constituency, so long noquestion alwaysthe way withthese social bureaucrats.The of political freedom in their union was involved. But quarrel between the Methodists and the Vatican shows when it came to taking a pledge not merely to carry out that the theocrats have learnt nothing during thepassage their industrial business but to associate strictly with a of centuries. The progress of knowledge and science has single political party and to be boundby the constitution weakened the ordinary man’s religious beliefs ; and this of thatparty, the question of freedom wasquite pro- weakening is not lessened by the acrimony with which perlyraised. theconforming section of Christ’sapostles attack the *** non-conformingsection of His ministers. W-e are,however, far from disposed toregard the *** formation of theLabour party, ever, withits pledge- The homeand continental reviews have been much bound constitution,as a mistake; stillless toregret perturbed by theKnox proposal for the neutralisation that the earlysectional character of Labourrepresen- of the Manchurian railways, which amounts to a revival tativeshas been transformed. Onlyit mustbe recog- of the “ open door ” policy in China. England is in an nised that these changes have actually been made and awkward predicament. TheKnox policy isfounded that they require a readjustment if not a complete re- upon thebest principles of Englishforeign and trade versal of the old trade unionconditions. Mr. Taylor, policy. But Japanis really claimingan economic for instance, was inclined to make a merit of the fact monopoly in SouthernManchuria as one of the fruits that the Labour party was no longer sectional, but was of theRusso-Japanese war. Under the Anglo-Japanese fast becoming what Mr. Keir Hardi:: desired and we all Treaty,Japan is England’s ally till 1915. The United desire that itshould become, anational party with States Government is being severely badgered by the interests Co-extensive with the interests of all ; but this American trade interests, who are demanding neutralisa- potentialvirtue of theLabour party is precisely what tion orwar. The tensionbetween the United States deprives it of the right to be supported compulsorily by andJapan is alwayspresent, because of the racial trade unionists. Trade unionistsmay fairly argue that feelingon the Pacific slope.But Russia and China are a sectional party,a party completelydevoted to their notvery friendly to Mr. Knox’ssuggestion. Japan is sectional interests, is well within their right to maintain naturallystrongly opposed to it. England is almost by compulsory levies; but a party that aims further at compelled to follow Japan; yet another instance of the the general interest has no claim to their exclusive sup- vice of concluding alliances with a power like Japan. The port. ‘ We will maintain,’they might say, ‘ Mr. danger of the situation will arise should China suddenly Shackleton or Mr. Seddon, since these men are, so to become convinced of themanifest advantages to her of this American move. At presentthere is no serious say,our delegates ; but why shouldwe maintain Mr. Sanders or Mr. Stanton Coit, whosefirst allegiance is peril to peace; but should the United Statesinsist on continuing the discussion diplomatic complications must due to theirconstituents? ’ We do cot profess to be follow. This play andcounterplay has relation tothe discussing the question fully, since other opportunities economic interests of the peoples involved, butthat will certainlybe presented. But we suggest that the doesnot matter. The democracies of the world are case for the Labour party’s contention needs consider- still thepawns of financiers,diplomats, princes, presi- ably strengthening if it is to be won. Also we suggest dents,and kings. That is a truth which shouldnever that the Labour party will be well advised in view of be forgotten by the democrat. the discussion which hasalready taken place, to con- *** sider the alternatives to their extreme demands. *** Last week’s “Saturday Review” contains a singular Our criticism of the Government’s reply to the case criticism of Sir Eldon Gorst’s Egyptian policy and per- as presented on Wednesday is that it was confined to sonality. The leader writer accuses Sir Eldon Gorst of generalities. The Attorney-Generalitymay have been bringingEnglish prestige into discredit by adopting rightto urge that this was notthe moment forany slovenly modes of dressand careless habits in his declaration of contentious policy, Lut thatargument dealingswith distinguished foreigners and Egyptians. Sir Eldon Gorst is charged with making a speech at an would have applied to Mr.Churchill’s little list even internationalbanquet in which hestated that “ more emphatically. As analternative to the reversal the British were not a fighting nation and would lase corn- of theOsborne decision,the Attorney-General asked : 580 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910 mand of thesea.” The wildness of thisaccusation imagination ! Of thishandsome sum, itappears, half mustmilitate against the other statements inthis is sent to “ hisrelatives ” in India. My correspondent astonishing article. The real explanation of this anony- practically admits “ the cruelty,” though he says “ ill- is mous onslaught on Sir Eldon Gorst that he had been treatment is rare. ” Unhappily, he thinks that a shilling givingthe Young Egyptian Party a betterchance of a day is a princely wage. By this, one may judge what influencingthe Government than Lord Cromer did. mycritic means by “rare ill-treatment.” English Theleader writer does refer to the deportation policy slums are bad; so are Indian; so are Malayan; but can as reactionary,and he denounces the employment of anybody sincerely defend a standard of life represented nativepolice for English police. Unquestionably,there by one shilling a day? Eastern labour has been forced is a good deal of substance in thesetwo points. The downto the lowest economic rung on theladder of employment of illiteratenative police may produce a social life. It is astoundingthat English men and series of miscarriages of justicesuch as have been women have the conscience to pocket dividends derived the scandal of Indiafor years past. Undoubtedly, from the work of people who are paid a shilling a day. all isnot well withEgypt. The bureaucracy of Lord Cromer has been too rapidly transformed by SirEldon Gorst in somedepartments. In other respects, such as inthe establishment of deportationoases, which are Criminal Law and Administration.. somethinglike Mr. Sidney Webb’s detention colonies, Norman. Sir Eldon Gorst has set up a reactionarymachinery By C. H. fromwhich even Lord Crorner shrank. The British Tm bureaucracy engaged in administering the English administration is blowinghot and coldin Egypt,and criminal law has established a cruel maxim that every- thereis discontent on all sides. body is assumed to know the law. This maxim is most *** unjust, because it is impossible for every citizen to know The Anglo-Russian Loan was rightly rejected by the the ins and outs of the English criminal, civil and canon PersianGovernment. The conditions were onerous and oppressivePersia was requestedto hand over her law. Certain broad features of the law are understood financesto the practical domination of a number of byeverybody, but the rate at whichthe criminal law Frenchfinancial experts who may be betterdescribed is being extended will soon make even this general idea as tariff manipulatorsand revenue thimble-riggers. beyondthe attainment of theordinary man. More HadPersia consented to the loan, her future history legislativeenactments of a penalcharacter have been wouldhave followed along the same lines asthat of placed upon the Statute Book in the last couple of years Egypt.The country would have been divided into spheres of influenceby Russia and England. Persia’s thanin the previous decade. Moreover, there is not a shadowyindependence would have rapidly disappeared sign of any protest against this steady narrowing of the beforethe reality of Anglo-Russiansuzerainty and oc- bounds of freedom, chiefly becausefew people appre- cupation.Sir Edward Grey’s methods in the past few ciatethe incessant infringements which the legal monthsin Persia have been very shifty. He pledged bureaucracy have been making upon individual liberty. his word of honour that the Russian troops would not permanentlyremain in Persia. He stated, specifically, In British dependencies this tendency is more marked to a correspondent and in the House of Commons that thanin England. In India, in Egypt, in Southern thepresence of Russiantroops was a matter of tem- Nigeria and elsewhere legislation against offences of a poraryprecaution. The latest Papers on the subject political character has been pressed beyond all reason- prove that his assurances were worthless. The Russian ablelimits. Deportations without trial and without troopsare in Persia,and are likely to staythere for chargehave been frequent in India. Deportations to aughtSir Edward Grey will do.Persia may become a what are described as “preventive oases,” without trial secondEgypt; but the pacific penetration of Persia would create religious andpolitical difficulties which and without charge, are becoming numerous in Egypt. didnot exist in Egypt.The partition of Persiawould ForSouthern Nigeria a seditionordinance has been raisethe whole Central Asian Question and bring the submitted to Lord Crewe for approval, though no act of Asiatic andMohammedan races into conflict with seditionhas ever been committed in the fifty years. Russiaand England. Southern Nigeria h,as been under the British Crown. Y * * The legislation of Imperialism has, soon reacted upon Thevictory of theLabour Party in Australia was generallyanticipated, though the optimistic hardly ex- theEnglish democracy. The repressive features of the pectedsuch big gains in theSenate. Mr. Fisher, the Prevention of Crime Act and the Children Act are quite leader of the Labour Party, is a cautious man. Australia astounding when examined. is many decades from the socialisation of the means of Thevital section in the Prevention of CrimeAct is production.There are three important items on the Section IO :- Labour programme : the nationalisation of monopolies; a drasticgraduated income-tax; and the founding of The Court if of opinion that byreason of hiscriminal habits and mode of life it is expedient for the protection of a commonwealthbank. The Labour Party will do a the public that the offender should be keptin detention good deal if theycarry this programme. But one may for a lengthened period of years, may pass a further sentence, have doubts.Labour Parties are not very heroic in ordering that on the determination of the sentence of penal theiradministration, and the Australian Labour Party servitude hebe detained for suchperiod, not exceeding is no exception tothis comment. Yet the Labour ten, nor less than five, years, as the Court may determine. victory is a signthat the Australian electorate is pro- Whatare the consequences of thissection? Those gressing in itspolitical and economic education. In people who have seen Mr. Galsworthy’s play, “Justice,” Englandthe electorate is distrustful of Labour.That will havesome idea of howEnglish justice is admini- is not surprising when Labour members will make such speeches as, forinstance, Mr. Seddon whose servile steredby the legal bureaucracy. The criminal law, references to theKing sent a broadsmile round the having stamped out any good there is in a man by the socialring of silencewithin which thedestinies of awfulinhumanity of penalservitude, calmly proceed.; England are manipulated. What does Mr. Seddon know to preventively detain him for not less than five years.! about the King’s life and character? How the Socialist Some members of Parliament,such as Mr.John M. and Labour Parties abroad must laugh at the oratorical Robertson, supported this measure because of its cura- cant of the English “ leaders of the social revolution ” ! *** tivevalue. There is a bitterirony about this process of curingafter killing. Had the preventive detention A gentlemanhas written all the way from Perak to tell THE NEW AGE readersthat “wages are fixed sentence been concurrent with the penal servitude sen-. tence, then the plea for curative treatment would have by supply and demand,” and “ as labour is scarce, the coolie gets a shilling a day ” on the rubber plantations ! had somevalidity. Whatchance is there of curing a What he wouldget if labourwere plentiful is beyond man who has been brutalised by the most brutal prison APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 581 system in theworld? To be of anyutility preventive maybe convicted of any offence underthe Vagrancy detention should be made concurrent with the term of Actsor under the Children Act, 1908 “--observehow penal servitude. The only result this Act has had is to allthis legislation is cleverly dove-tailed in !-“orof lengthenthe terms of statutoryimprisonment by five having in such a way as to haveled to any publie assist- orten years. Assuming a manhas three convictions ancebeing granted to himself, or any person legally proved against him he can be sentenced to then years’ dependentupon him, without adequate excuse, habitu- penal servitude and ten years’ preventive detention, or ally failed to work .according to his .ability, opportunity, twenty years’ penal servitude and ten years’ preventive and need for the maintenance or benefit of himself and detention.This legislations hasmerely added, under thoselegally dependent upon him, may be committed the cloak of. curative proposals, five or ten years,’ addi- by a court of summary jurisdiction to detention in any tionalpunishment to theestablished statutory punish- such colony forany period not exceeding twelve ments for given offences. months.” This is ‘establishing helotry by Act of Parlia- Thiskind of legislationis founded on a totally im- ment, aided by the machinery of the criminal law, and moralprinciple--that of segregatingcriminals in a so creating the crime of unemployment ! society where the chaotic state of social conditions must Considerthe position towardswhich legislation of lead to crime. The criminal law, once a man has gone thischaracter is guiding us. Admittedlythere is an astray, has its grip on him for ever. Police supervision, anarchicstate of industrialism in whichmen may be after a first conviction fora serious offence, will pre- thrownout of work throughno fault of theirown. vent the released prisoner securing- honest employment Then begins the pitiful search for work and the failure or will persecute him out of it. He must live, so he is to find it. Anyonewho has experience of thetroubles driven to commitanother crime. Such is the process of industrial workers will agree that demoralisation un- whichmust inevitably end in penal servitudeand pre- consciously sets in where unemployment is continuous. ventive detention. Theweary tramp after work will ruinthe best work- The Children Act, with its heavy penalisation of care- man bydisheartening and demoralising him. Finding lessness,isan enactment which has amazed even no work, he may begin to loaf. Then society will seize hardened police magistrates.Happily its very severity him and despatch him to “a detention colony of a pre- is rendering it unworkable. The other day three children ventive character.” That will help him along the road, were burned to death. The mother was charged under asour institutional reformatories do nowadays with the Children Act with manslaughter. The magistrate (X “wild ” boys, to penalservitude, anbmore criminals think quite illegally) refused to hear the case, and dis- will be produced. missed the prosecution with some strong remarks about This is the sort of remedyfor unemployment which this Act. The penalties for poverty and carelessness in the signatories to the Minority Report might have been the Children Act are simply inhuman. expectedto devise. But such legislation would only ThisAct was drafted by an educated and well-paid beequitable had the balance of economic conditions Jewishbureaucrat. Most of theclauses only apply to alreadybeen readjusted. As it is, theseproposals aim the poorest classes, who are too ignorant to uderstand at punishing the unhappy victimsof an anarchic society. them.Overlaying and allowing children to be in a Moreover, to grant to courts of summary jurisdiction roomwithout a fireguard are offences. Now,the very powers of this kind would imperil the moral foundations poorcannot buy large beds to avoid overlaying, nor of England.Freedom cannot maintain herself against can they afford fireguards ; moreover, their intelligence thisperpetual sapping and undermining The bureau- cannotgrasp what this oppressive Act has imposed cracy is getting an all-spreading grip upon the English uponthem .as parents or guardians The middle and people ; but those who love liberty should resist to the upper classes who sanctioned this Act in Parliament live verylast this scheme forhelotising the workers. The in large houses, are well off, and are well educated. It LabourExchanges are acting as “blackleg ” institu- is class tyranny of theworst description. Carelessness tions already, and with a ready supply from “preventive in the home has reached the dignity of a crime. Well, colonies ” of industrialhelots, the capitalists could if the Government officials at the HomeOffice were held smash every strike in England with ease. criminally responsible for their negligence hardly one of Even “The Women’s Charter ” is filled with punitive them would not be serving a long term of penal servi- enactments. WasHerbert Spencer right in his warn- tude, with five years’ preventive detention as a curative. ing against bureaucracy ? This ominous multiplication AnotherAct, also passed in 1908, under whichmost of legislativeencroachments upon social and personal atrocioussentences are being inflicted is theIncest liberty is most alarming, because the workers are being Act. Again,the peculiar disadvantages of working- slowly enclosed in a ring of efficient, machine-like, non- class life shouldbe remembered in consideringthis human bureaucrats. crime.Speaking from a painfulexperience of these The grave evils of criminal administration cannot be horrible cases, I have been struck with several common overlooked.The judges lack perspective. After an factors. The offences areusually committed by attendance at hundreds of criminal trials I have never ignorant men who are unaware that they have done any- heard a judge ask for the evidence of a pathologist to thing wrong. They are widowers, asa rule, who com- be tendered for the assistance of the court. Yet patholo- mit the offence in a semi-somnolent condition, living in gists are the best people for testifying as to moral and a house where there is one bedroom, very often only one mentaltwists which would explain many inexplicable bed,for the whole family. They are crimes specially crimes.The reckless mannerin which sentences for attributable to social, economic and educational defects abortionare pronounced canbe illustrated by two insociety. The details of these charges are so revolt- examples. Mr. Justice Bray, at a recent Leeds Assizes, ing that juries are prejudiced at the outset against the tried a woman named M. L. for .abortion. The woman prisoners, so that it is difficult to get an impartial. in- wassixty-two, and she was so infirm as hardlyto be vestigation. The sentences imposed range from five to able to followthe trial. She was convicted ; but there fifteenyears’ penal servitude. Personally, Iknow no wasno previous conviction. against her. Sir Reginald casewhere a less sentencethan five yearshas been Brayimposed the awful sentence of tenyears’ penal inflicted upon these wretched men. At the risk of mini- servitude,which was practically a deathsentence. At misingthese terrible offences, I do feel thatthe sen- thesame time Mr. Justice Hamilton tried a case at tences permitted by this Act should be more merciful. Birmingham.The facts were similar,but the woman In criminal annals, there is no case wherea prisoner has was younger. The judge inflicted a sentence of twelve been charged twice with this species of offence. months’ imprisonment. Some months ago, in a letter to the Press, I pointed Some judges are so biassed against particular crimes out that the Minority Report would set up a helot class that nothing will restrain the ferocity of their sentences. whichwould beunder the absolute control of a Two types are Mr.Justice Phillimore (moral offences) capitalist GovermentThere has now beenpublished andMr. Justice Grantham (drink and arson). Sir “ThePrevention of Destitution Bill.” That Bill con- RobertPhillimore’s peculiar moral outlook,the self- tains this clause : “The Minister for Labour may estab- righteoushypocrisy of whichoffensively pervades the lish and maintain one or more detention colonies of a whole atmosphere of his court, has been responsible for reformatory character, and any able-bodied person who most brutal sentences. His sentences on Von Veltheim, 582 THE NEW AGE APRIL2 I, 1910

on Mr. W., on an officer chargedwith conspracy to procureabortion (in thisinstance twenty years’ penal ConcerningSecond Chambers. servitude),and in “unnatural ” casesare a sickening By St. John C. Ervine. catalogue of judicialharshness His record in civil cases will showhow incompetent a judgehe is. Dur- ALLISON came into the smoking-room. ing a recentsix months he presided at thefollowing “ You are reading the Times’,’’ he said. “You are trials :--Wyler v. Lewis,Rowley v. Hyatts,Ltd., probably being informed by that journal that a Second Woolner v. Baker,and Pap6 v. O’Driscoll.The first Chamber is absolutelyindispensable to the integrity, case occupied thirty-four days, the second case occupied etc., of thisgreat nation. Remarkable paper, the eightdays, the third case occupied ten days, and the ‘Times.’I doubt whether there is a man on its staff fourth case occupiedeleven days. In every one of who is conscious of anything that has happened in this theseimportant actions Mr. Justice Phillimore’s judg- world since I 840. ’ ’ ments were reversed bythe Court of Appeal.Several “ Surely,”said I, “you, as a reasonableman, agree minorcases, intervening between thesebig actions, that some sort of Second Chamber is absolutely neces- were taken to the Court of Appeal, with similar conse- sary ?” quences. Oneor other of theparties to these actions “AS areasonable man I object to Second Chambers hasbeen ruined by the costs. But Mr. Justice Philli- altogether, and I will undertake to destroy the case for more, with a smugcomplacency, is stilldrawing his any such institution in fifteen minutes.” £5,000 a year from a long-suffering country. “But, my dear fellow-, all nations of consequence and The sad thing is that the High Court judges merely mostnations of none have a SecondChamber. Now administerand rarely humanise the law. They could do you account for the fact that when an autocratically- end penal servitudequite easily. The Chairman of governednation sets about establishing a constitution Clerkenwell Sessionsrecently stated that he believed it never dreams of omitting a Second Chamber ?” sending people to prison was a useless procedure. The “ Isn’tthe reason obvious? Is notEngland the HighCourt judges as they grow older reform them- pioneercountry in constitutionalmatters? Do not all selvesand the criminal law by imposing more savage nationswhich contemplate fundamental changes in sentences. theirsystem of government look to England for guid- Thecourts of summaryjurisdiction are in a worse ance?And looking to England, what do they find condition.Many times haveI been sickened by the there? A House of Lords ! Whenwe abolish the perverse and scandalous deecisions of magistrates. One House of Lords,ultimately other nations will follow instance may be quoted. An employ6 of Gamage’s was suit. ” “You mean that seriously?” charged with stealing a “Teddy bear ” in these circum- “ Absolutely.” stances : A customer had purchased one “ Teddy bear ” andhad paid for it. Before he left the shop the pur- “I don’t agree with you. I think a Second Chamber chaserwas stopped and requested to showhis parcel. is necessary. ” It was opened, and two animals were found. The pur- “Why, O my babeand suckling, why?’’ chaser was arrested, as was the shopman. No previous “ Because it is essential that all legislation should be connectionwas shown between the two men. They considereddispassionately bymen subject noto werecharged with conspiracy to defraudMessrs. emotionalinfluences, in orderthat no hasty or vote- Gamage of IS. 91/2d. On the first hearing the case was catching Bills shall become law.” adjourned,the magistrate refusing bail, thoughthe “O thou of littlefaith in democracy ! What subject employee of Gamage’shad years of goodcharacter. on this earth has ever been considered dispassionately ? Themen did not, or could not, procure a solicitor. Theimpartial man does not exist, and ought not to Police evidence wasgiven that nothing was known exist. A man without prejudice is a man without prin- againstthe men. On the resumed hearing the magis- ciple. No, no,my friend, these things must be judged trate sentenced these men to two months’ imprisonment bytheir fruits, and no Second Chamber that the wit withhard labour. Mr. Ricketts was then instructed to of man can devise can possibly be free from bias. And applyfor a re-trial,which was refused by the magis- let me tell you there is no such thing as hasty legisla- trate.This magistrate was Mr. d’Eyncourt, whose tion,particularly in thiscountry. Take the Land conductduring this case certainly did much to manu- Clauses of LloydGeorge’s Budget. Were land taxes facturetwo criminals. It was a casewhere no jury sprungon the public? Have not people been talking wouldhave convicted, nor anyone in theirsenses, about these things for a generation at least? Does not exceptMr. d’Eyncourt and some of hisprecious col- a societyexist in this country for the sole purpose of leagues. Is itsurprising that crime is notstamped educating people in the knowledge of the need for such out ? taxes ? Hasty be blowed !” Then,the Poor Prisoner’s Defence Act has broken “ Superficial, Allison,” said I. down. At a recent assizes out of thirty-seven prisoners “ I thinknot. Now take all this rubbish which has tried on indictment thirty were undefended by counsel. beentalked of lateabout the necessity for a revising chamber,removed from all chanceand electoral influ- Most reluctantly, I have arrived at this definite judg- ment : thatcrime is a vestedinterest. Few of those ences, to stand between the emotions of the people and who batten upon it, from judges, counsel and solicitors thepeople’s reason. How does this sort of stuff work out in practice?As between one intelligent man and down to warders,have any desire that it shouldbe abolished orhumanised. It is a conspiracyto protect another,you must admit that the present Lords is a a lucrativelivelihood. How this league of officials can deplorable institution.” be crushed by the democracy isa most difficult problem ; I admitted as much. but they must be, ere crime can be rooted out. “Mindyou,” he went on, “the charge against the Lordsis not that it is abnormally silly. It is con- ceivablethat an abnormally able Second Chamber, testingon the same foundation as thaton which the DESOLATE. Lords nom rests,would be an infinitely moreserious UNDERthe moon, on a night of June, danger to the democracy than a congregation of entirely I played in the desert on my bassoon : fatuous old gentlemenand partially grown-up young It was mastwonderful and grim menforcibly wrenched from the doors of theGaiety To play tothe listening Seraphim; anddragged to Westminster to decide what is good It was most marvellous to play forEngland. It isn’t the silly lordswe have to fear. In the lonely desert;under the moon, Theymerely argue from their instincts, and their While a lion sang to the deep bassoon : instinctsdon’t carry them far. It’s theclever And louder I played, with a touch of iron; chapswho have got to be resisted tooth and nail. For I was desolate and grim, Thattheisgreat danger thetodemocracy at And my heart was one with the heartof the lion, this moment, thatit may be led intobelieving that a Tuned by the holy Seraphim. reformed House of Lords will be better than the House E. H. VISIAK. of Lords as at presentconstituted. In point of fact, APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 583

a reformedHouse of Lordswould to all intentsand “ No,’’ he went on, “ I’m not being superficial ! I’m purposesbe precisely the. same body as the present notsneering at trade ! I leavethat sort of thingto House of Lords. The great taunt hurled at the “back- tenth-ratesuburban smart-set novelists and decadent woodsmen ” was that they attended at Westminster so minorpoets. What I meanis this. The very fact that infrequently, if ever, that they actually had to ask their a manhas built up a successful businessor achieved way about. A reformed Lords, therefore, would mainly greatrenown in a scienceis the very reason why he consist of the persons who now attend with some show shouldnot be allowed to interfere in the governance of regularity.The more we change the House of of England. For this reason As thingsare, the build- Lords on those lines the more it will be the same. ing up of a great business demands complete concentra- “Apart from all that, however, the case against the tion of thought and energy and time on that business, Lordsis finally andirrevocably this--that itis a andthat business alone. That is is to say, the great chamber concerned primarilyand eternally with the businessman is a specialist,and a specialistis, of all maintenance of the vested interests of a small portion humanbeings, the very person who ought not to be of the community against the interestsof the remaining allowed to interferein governance, for governance is andgreater portion. A SecondChamber composed of mainly a thing of generalisation-Idon’t mean the the clever members of that minority, and owing no sort administrativeside, but the legislative--and demands of responsibility to, andderiving no sort of authority in thosethat govern a capacityfor considering all from,the majority, would not make any ameliorative thingsmore or less equally and not too accuratelyor differenceto that majority. Probably there would be precisely--that is to say, a capacity which is exactly the an insidious negativing of theefforts of democracy opposite of the capacity required for the building up of towardsgreater democratic control, so insidiousthat a business or the attaining of renown in science. Look thedemocracy would not know what was happening. theat remarkable success of Mr. Balfour ! He The mob can understand the habit of mind of a person notoriouslyis not a specialist. Hemakes innumberable whothreatens to dismiss gardeners, curtail subscrip- ‘ howlers,’treats figures with contempt, and commits tions to hospitals, refuse rabbits to the sick, and reduce brutal outrages on the law of averages; and when his hiscontributions to the Sunday school treat if certain attentionis drawn to the fact, blandlyasserts that It taxes are enforced; but it will find considerable difficulty doesn’tmatter. And itdoesn’t, my young friend. The in detecting the danger to itself in the action of persons trouble with all the other chaps is that they’re too par- whopretend that a violentinfringement of constitu- ticular.He’s quite general, and quite right.” tional law is the same thing as a referendum.” I dissented. I said that Mr.Balfour’s leadership of “Bu: why not an elective Second Chamber? ” theTory Party had not been so successful as Allison “Butwhy an electiveSecond Chamber? Surely an appeared to believe,but he disposed of mesomewhat electedSecond Chamber, whether elected by the mem- cavalierly by asserting that Mr. Balfour’s mistakes had bers of theCommons or the electorate directly, will arisenfrom anattempt to be particular instead of amountto this-that theGovemment of theday will general.He pointed toMr. Balfour’s earliercareer, have a majorityin the Lords, and automatically the andstated that he had then consistently disregarded Lords will repeatthe performances of theCommons. facts of detailand concerned himselfsolely withfacts Theworst of somepeople is that they think such a of principle. thundering lot of that blessed word ‘elective.’ “I shall never forget,” he went on, “that he told Mr. “ I am inclined tothink that an elected Second Chaplin that .no one knew less about the principles of Chamberwould serve our purpose. I donot think farming than the farmer. It staggered Chaplin, that ! ” much of yourpoint. There are a number of eminent “Let us get back to Second Chambers,” I said. men, great scientists,artists, philosophers, preachers, “Very well, then.Let me repeat that the reason doctors, and what not, whose views one never hears in whythe business man qua businessman cannot be a anyfullness concerning current politics, because they successfulstatesman is that the circumstances of his will not submit to the rough and tumble of a popular life oblige him to exaggerate one side of his being out election.And their views ought to be heard,and of all proportion to theothers. A successfulpork would be heard if we had a Second Chamber composed merchantmustlimit himself understandingto, of personsnominated fortheir lifetime bythe thoroughly the vagaries of bacon in order to become a Commons.” successfulpork merchant. The statesman mustn’t do “That,” replied Allison, “ is wicked-positively that because he is not concerned with particular things, wicked. It is themost brutal and cynical charge that butwith general principles; not with the needs of a has ever been made against the mob, that it is too low particular class, but with the needs of the whole nation. andinferior for its great men to comeinto contact Now,have you ever met a businessman? I have. with it ! ” I’ve lived andworked with them for over ten years, “ I don’t mean that ! ” andtheir ignorance of anythingoutside their imme- “Oh, yes, youdo. You all have that at theback of diate work is astounding. The man in the office who is yourmind when you talkin that strain. It sounds so mostsuccessful is theman who knows least about reasonable to saythat we cannot expect the eminent things outside the office. That’s the curseof specialism ! Smith, the great chemist. or the remarkable Jones, the Perhapsit can’t be done without, but its effects are biologist, or the astounding Robinson, the philosopher, deplorable. All these.specialists are limitedin vision, tosubmit to the rude heckling of a heftynavvy. fearful of progress,lamentably ignorant of firstprin- Imagine Darwin, you say, being invited by a labourer ciples,and distrustful of theaspirations of thegreat in Bermondsey to chuck it, or being flatly insulted by a inarticulatemob. A nationgoverned by such men leeringclerk in Brixton. It’s very specious, but it’s would speedily be reduced to sackcloth and ashes. muddle-headed, all the same ! ” “And so withthe men pre-eminent in art,science, “ Explain,”said I. theology,or war. Their eminence in their particular “ Well, first of all, it seems to me to be the greatest walk of life nomore fits themfor the governance of nonsense to assume that because a man knows all about menthan a capacityfor battering butter into seemly electionsor the book of Genesisthat he therefore shapesmakes an artist of a grocer.There are plenty knowsall about human governance. It doesn’tseem of eminentmen whose political views are simply to me to follow that because Darwin knew how species absurd, and whose limited knowledge of human needs originatedthat therefore he knewhow species should wouldscandalise a message boy. Besides,why beruled. The argumentis on a parwith the highly shouldn’t they face the roaring mob at election times? fatuous suggestion that England should be governed by It’s the only chance the mob has of getting its own out a Cabinet of business men. That eminent man, the Earl of the great ones. A general election is our Saturnalia, of Rosebery,shared with the equally eminent Mr. the time when the labourer can jeer at the lord and the HoratioBottomley the renown to be derived from duke.Besides, contact with the noisy, irreverent, such a brightthought. Good heavens ! try to imagine vulgar mob would do some of our mandarins a world of theBritish Empire controlled by a Cabinet of stock- good, even if it only resulted in lost tempers. Consider a brokers, insurance agents, and licensed grocers ! ” what flood of light was let into the minds of the peers I made .a gesture of annoyance. recentlyFor the first time in theirlives they realised 584 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

thatthe working man does not respectthem. They when we attempt to express it, becomesmore cryptic may have suspected it before; they know it now, and It thanany Pythian oracle. Itmust have been an Ox- will make men of some of them. No, old chap, the man bridge don who enunciated the aphorism that Silence is who puts forward the plea that an eminent man is too golden. great to be heckled by the common man should be dis- As Ihave already hinted, I myself aman eminent franchisedfor the remainder of his unnatural life. instance of this strange inarticulateness. My conver- What we want is a system of short Parliaments-three- sational powers-I sayit from no vain love of self- yearlyaffairs, like the L.C.C. Ithink you could get disparagement-areneither very brilliant nor very practical continuity of policy, if you want it, by making copious. I do notpossess in anymarked degree the one-third of the members of the House retire annually. Ciceronian gift of fluency. My stock of words is You could get overthe difficulty of proportion of limited-even more limited than is my stock of ideas. members to party by means of proportional representa- In brief,I am likePlotinus who isdescribed by Por- tion. That would bebetter than a referendum, much phyry as one less clumsy anddisconcerting. We don’trequire a It is only fairto add that this limitation does not SecondChamber. We--you and I,the mob,the com- distress me in the least. I am not like the “ fool ” of mon man-never did requireone. Itwas only the Ecclesiasticuswho “ travailethwith a word asa lord-the holder of a vested interest,the superior woman in labour of a child.” There is no itch of self- person--who needed it.And, my friend,I assure you expressionin my composition. I can holdmy tongue now is the time to abolish the superior person.” as easily as other men can wag theirs. If anything, I am rather proud of this capacity. For manyyears ago Diodorus declared that “ thosewho The Philosophy of a Don. speak most know least,” and I have found, from long and painful experience, that habitual conversationalists V. Style. seldomhave anything of realvalue toimpart. It is true that they seldom make any pretence of imparting “ WHYdo you publish so little?I am sure you must anything of realvalue. Inspeaking, they seem tobe have a lot to say. Why do you never say it? ” This question was addressed to me the other day by actuated by a desire to enlighten themselves rather than my colleague Chesterham. theirlisteners ; and the most emphatic of their asser- At the moment the Spirit of Flippancy prompted me tions often have for their sole object to strengthen their- to answer airily : own beliefs. The majority of them do not aspire even tothat measure of coherence. Theyare frankly con- “ Perhaps I have too much to say to say much. ” tent to disport themselves in a sort of intellectual chaos. “ By dooming yourself to silence you miss one of the But what their conversation may lack in definiteness is greatestdelights in life,”he wept on. “ Wordsare the strongest links between man and man.” morethan made up by itsextent. Like an opulent river of theOrient, their stream of vocables spreads “ Words,”I retorted, “ are likeleaves, and where theymost abound much fruit of senseis never or over the dinner-table, aimlessly yet ruthlessly, submerg- ing beneath its tepid volume all the ordinary landmarks seldom found. ” of logic. Onlistening to theirinexhaustible inanities “ The onething that distinguishes a humanbeing from a brute is speech, and the more highly developed Iam sometimes tempted to ask, with the Disciples in thehuman being the more abundant his speech.Look Rach’s “ Passion ” : “ To whatpurpose isthis at me,” he said, with unconscious cynicism. waste? ” I hatewaste, if itbe only of water. “ Speech,” I rejoined, “ is largely a matter of nose. Inutterance, therefore, as in thought,I am tempe-. I am convinced that, if monkeys cannot talk as you do, rate. There are extremely few topics I care to discuss it is only because they have no nose to use as a sound- withstrangers, and I am usuallyprevented from dis- ing board. ’’ cussing eventhose topics partly by nervousness and “ You arejoking,” he said,looking at me sus- partly by an intuitiveperception of their unsuitability, piciously. As a rule, I do my best to endure silently and stoically “ No, Iam not joking. Haven’t you heard that a the aggressive volubility of men and women, and I only distinguishedAmerican surgeon, officially attachedto talkin self-defence. And whenforced to do so, I the New York Zoo, has declared thatit is so? It is prefer the obvious to the abstruse. Unlike Chesterham, also reported that he has undertaken some experiments Iam not afraid of beingunoriginal. Ido not strain in order to provehis theory. Hehas selected two after novelty. Ido not shy at platitudes.I do not orang-outangs, two adult monkeys, and one intelligent try to scintillate. I speak, as I think, in well-established baby monkey, upon whose faces will be grafted artificial formulasmore or less skilfullyapplied. Ihave the noses. amI very anxious tu see the result of the courage to be commonplace ; for I well know that even- operation. ” a truism may contain an untruth. For some reason or other Chesterham took this sally Let me give one example of my conversational art : as a personal insult, and went away muttering unprint- She : “ How funny that you should have come across able things. my cousin Jones ! ” Perhapshe was right in resenting my levity ; for, I : “ This world is such a small place, after all, isn’t although in talking to him I maintained that my scanti- it? ” Silence. ness of expressionis wholly dueto my excess of I : “ And how have you enjoyed your holiday? ” wisdom,far down in thedepths of thething which I She : “ Oh, we’ve had a perfectly charming time. It may designate my soul I knew that I was lying. was so good of your aunt to have asked us.” To be quitehonest, my poverty of speechis not so I : “ Not at all. Itwas so good of you tohave much theresult of superabundance of sense,as of a accepted the invitation. ” curiouskind of chronicaphasia from whichnearly all Silence. dons suffer. Remtene, verba sequentur, saysCicero, She : “ The sun, too, has been perfect. Things look and the saying may be paraphrased into : “ Take care ever so much brighter in the sun-don’t you think? ” of thesense, and the sounds will takecare of them- I : “ Yes. Ihave always said that the sun does selves.”I have no doubt that Ciceroknew whathe make a difference.” was talking about ; for are not my shelves encumbered Silence. withten large volumes of hissounds? But I cannot She : “ Only last Wednesday we were caught in the conscientiously corroboratehis dictum either from rain,and I had a newfrock completely ruined. I had personalexperience or from my observationof my left my umbrellabehind.” brother Boeotians. We all,being scholars, must of I : “ Of course, if you leaveyour umbrella behind, necessity have a great deal to say. Yet scarcely one of it’s sure to rain.” us seems to be able to say it with any ease, grace, or Silence. evenordinary intelligibility. Thesounds, somehow, Suchis my ordinaryconversation : simple,sober, refuse to take care of themselves, and the simplest idea, clear,direct, Attic. There is nothing forced about it. APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 585

It isthe spontaneous ebullition of apeculiarly consti- by Act of Parliament, or even by divine commandment, tutedgenius. Rather heavy? Why, so isgold. towaste your preciousminutes on my booksif you And Iwrite just as I speak.Here are some of my don’t like them.” favourite apophthegms : “ Yes,” I answer, “ I am, I feel, as a scholar upon I. “ Aristophaneswas a great comedian-a very whom thespiritual future of thiscountry so much great comedian ; but, of course, he wrote for the masses. depends, irresistibly impelled-if not actually compelled Hencehis coarseness, his vehemence,his picturesque- -to glance into every book that comes within my pur- ness-in one word, his vulgarity.” view,always in the hope of finding in itsomething. 2. “ Virgil is a grand poet ; but somewhat tiresome.” And it is more than irritating, it is a positive outrage, 3. “ Marcus Aureliusseems to have been an honest to find nothing ! ” man-a thoroughly honest man, though not very amus- This melancholyexperience, however, has not been ing. ” wholly negative. Ithas taught menot to do unto 4. “ Horaceis a charmingwriter. Hecaptivates otherswhat I would notthat others did unto me. As alwaysand captivates all. Turningover his pages is thesagacious reader may have already observed my like travelling in a land where it is always after dinner.” pagesare neverdisfigured by verbalpyrotechnics or Theseapophthegms have appeared at varioustimes dialectical acrobatics of anysort. In them ne is sure inthe pages of the Oxbridge Review, andmet with to find are-statement of thingsalready well known general assent in the best of our Boetian circles. Every- ratherthan guesses at thingsthat are scarce worth one said that, although so pithy and sententious, there knowing,balance rather than brilliance,reason rather is nothing far-fetched about my style-nothing of the thanrhetoric, fact rather than point. The effect, I exercisein cleverness for its own sake. Ithink the acknowledge, may be somewhat depressing. criticismwas perfectlyjust. With some of ourbest “ Your remarks,” said to me Chesterham the other writers, I find, the habit of correct writing often pro- day, “ are a little obvious and even, at times, trite.” duces a certain appearance of labour and study. Others I received the criticism with that well-bred repose of there are who suffer a more subtle frustration-authors manner which never forsakes me in any circumstances. so fastidious asto hidethemselves deliberately in commonplace lest they should degrade their high call- “ Whatof that? ” Iasked, smiling. “ All great ing.But that is not the case with me. In my case truths, just because they are true, are obvious and trite : witnessthe axioms of Euclid,the definitions of style is, indeed, as the great Gibbon says, “ the image of character.”amI no neo-phraser by nature-no Aristotle,the rules of whist,and the Ten Command- concocter of epigram or paradox. In fact, I loathe the ments.Indeed, I will ventureto affirm, nothingthat ; so-called epigrammatic fashion of writing with a great is new can be entirely true for, if it was, it would have loathing.In my judgment,epigrammatic smartness been discovered longago. Our ancestors, my friend, verges perilouslyon pertness. Besides, it is so easy were not so blind as we are pleased to imagine.” to be epigrammatic in thesedays. As thePoet has “ Yourcomments,” he persisted, “ are of the ex- pected and inevitable. ” said : “ Nothing is that’s worth a damn. So are the seasons of the year, so are the sunrise Ink is fluid epigram. and sunset, so are the snows and the roses, so are all thebeautiful phenomena of Natureabout which our Epigramsare the delight of small,acute minds, as poets rave melodiously. Theyare allexpected and in- fireworksare of children. Whiletheir brilliance lasts, evitable. Are they, on that account, the less welcome? ” they maylighten our leisure and stir our grosser sensi- bilitiesinto a ripple of amusement. Rut they fail to He was obliged to concede theirrefutable logicality of my argument,and to agree with me that nostyle reach the deeper layers of the soul, and for that reason deservesthe name of goodwhich is not, above all they donot last. How could it beotherwise? Your things,true and simple. Of course, I admitthat mere epigrammatistis not a thinker,but only a talker. truth is not always sufficient For example, who wants Tempted by hisfatal faculty of expression,he gives articulate form to the confused ideas that are bubbling to be told, atthis time of day,that Julius Caesar is in the minds of hiscontemporaries. He seizesthose dead, or that murder is a crime, or that Mr. Balfour is ideas,passes them through his literary furnace, and clever?Such statements, be they as true as they may then hurls them back again at the heads from which he -and theirtruth is largely a matter of opinion-are got them, in a shower of polished, sparkling, startling neithervery interesting nor evenhumbly instructive. ineptitudes. They add neither to the wisdom nor to the joy of life. At best,they are mere prosaic facts, just as a coal- Nor doI feel morekindly towardsparadoxes. I have a suspicion that a modern paradox usually is but scuttleand the Poet Laureate are facts. Yes, truth an ancient platitude turned inside out. alone, though a virtue, may prove a very tiresome one. A tiresomevirtue ! Could themost vivacious of At best, both paradoxes and epigrams belong to the humourists desire anything more ineffably depressing ? decorativeclass of art-of allclasses of art the most expensive and least durable. Writers, like my colleague Simplicity also, I grant, may be carried to the point Chesterham,who indulge in thesevain puerilities re- of monotony,just as courtesymay be carried tothe mindme of tradesmenwho stock their windowswith verge of mendacity.But my style,though simpIe, is showy finery in order to conceal the inner emptiness of notmonotonous. There are two kinds of simplicity : their shops ; or of savages who girdle themselves with the simplicity thatcharms, and the simplicity that fringes of glittering beads in order to cover their naked- charmsto sleep. Mine, I believe, belongs to thefirst ness. In the onecase as in theother the screen only category.There is more than one string to my lute, emphasises what it is meant to hide. andI well knowhow toattune it to the occasion. If I dared to forestall the verdict of posterity, I would say “ But most of us paradoxical writers find thousands appreciative readers,” he said to me once. that wit, at once quixotic and incisive-a sort of subli- of mated impertinence-is themost salient characteristic “ Amalarious swamp finds millions of mosquitoes of my manner of writing. All my pages are illuminated which,no doubt, appreciate its merits keenly,” I re- plied. by a whimsical,yet gracious, irony. Above all,they are steeped in anatmosphere of delicate, mellowed, In truth, whatever the majority of people may think, tenderwisdom, and that facilefatalism which is I regard a book of that class as a personal injury. Why wisdom’s natural offspring. should I be made to waste precious inches of my brief span of sojourn on thisplanet upon So-and-so’s If I do not give to the world as much of my mind feeblescintillations when there are hundreds of real as my colleague Chesterham does, that is partly because books I have not read, of worlds I have not explored, I am handicapped by academic aphasia, partly because of heights I have not climbed, of sights I have not seen, I should like to go down to future ages as a luminous of empires I have not conquered-all, simply, for want rather than as a voluminous writer, and partly because of time? I labourunder a sense of humour : I love theworld enough to laugh at it; not enough to help it laugh at “ But,”says Chesterham, “ you are not compelled me. 586 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

omitted, no bit of ostentationhad been forgotten in The Ethics of Trimalchion’s order that the donor might shine in the eyes of another world. Dinner Party. Perhaps a sample of the menu would awake memo- ries of Plutocraticdining tables in certain parts of By J. Stuart Hay. Britain’s metropolis; but they will be memories with a TRIMALCHION was a portlyperson with a bigincome difference. Thepoint of similarity is extravagance, and a largehouse. He lived in theearlier period of not to saythe expected ostentation. Now a little extravgaance is acceptable;indeed, one has known Augustus’Empire, at whichperiod hefound that occasionswhen a lot of itwas extremely gratifying, freedmenand ex-slaves, even though fabulously rich, and most comfortably assimilated; but so is originality, werenot of thesame importance that they have now andostentation is never such; on the contrary, it is assumed in these later ages of European decadence. abyssmally commonplace. Still,the acquisition of immensewealth was by no Not so imperialRome, it wasstartling, filled the meansdespised in the City of the Caesars;everybody world with the uproar of its incredibilities; but common- was extravagant, and the upper classes were forbidden placenever. Howdifferent was Trimalchion to Mrs. Boundermere.One scarcely thinks that she would by lawto engage in anhonest trade. Naturally, havecared for the earlier party, with Agamemnon as under these conditions, the wealth fell to the freedmen, fellowguest, and the chorus of shriekingsong which andthey expected to rise accordingly. Trimalchion greetedher entrance into Trimalchion’s dining-room; aspired to social honours, and seems to have consulted itwould have been so embarrassingto that lady to ourold friend Petronius Arbiter on his disappoint- havehad the local choir manicuring her toes and ments,confiding to thatworldly-wise journalist that finger-nailsto the accompaniment of theirlatest glee, hewanted to get intosociety, and begging advice as andBoundermere himself would havebeen horribly flusteredwhen his host’s butler presented the pre- tohow he should do it. “ Biteby Bite,” said Petro- liminary cocktail with a sharp-toned ditty set to music. nius,and I ’willwrite the record of at leastone feast Unfortunately,chez Trimalchio the servants all sang, whosemagnificence shallsubmerge yourquasi and all sang loudly, urged on by the old bounder him- phantasmalcondition in a plutocratic flood, whichin self, so that if yourefused one dish in order to avoid turn will encircle you in the halo of a golden fold. thecompliment, you had to endure the performance Petroniuswas writing up inhis patron much what when the next appeared. By way of horsd’oeuvres, Trimalchion served dor- Mr. Punch writes down to-day, Mrs. Boundermere and mice baked with poppies 2nd honey, or, at your choice, herooze of wealth;with this difference, that whereas sausagesfrom a silvergridiron, cooked with plums in London you begin by being smart and end by going andpomegranates. Between whiles, there circulated into trade, Petronius tells. us of the people who began a little ass in bronze, whose paniers held olives, black bygoing into trade, and ended by being stupid. Of andwhite. Now, in Romethe between whiles were course,Petronius, like Mr. Punch, is very pleasant surprisinglylong. Lamprimdius tellsus, concerning the reading.Unfortunately, he is verylittle read, his EmperorHeliogabalus, that his feasts often lasted charm is notthat which appeals to chambermaids. more than a day, and when one considers the fact that But to thefeast. As Mons.Loubet remarked he used to take each course in the house of a separate shortlyafter he vacated the Presidential Chair, “ The friend,one can quite believe it. Maecenas introduce! destinies of Franceare involvedin the supremacy of amazonathletes, who wrestled for the gratification of hercooks.” Naturally, itwas a remarkwhich he thecompany, as thoughthey had been at the games, couldnot have propounded officially. Even as itwas, andperformed other unmentionable courtesiesduring Teutonicnations considered it arrogant, because the this period of digestion. relationbetween destiny and gastronomics is an un- As the pause lengthened a slave from the farmyard exploited science in this land of 100 religions and only appeared, carrying with him a basket which contained onesauce, a confectionwhich is,parenthetically a wooden hen, whose wings were spread as though she speaking,indifferent even at that. So indifferent, werehatching. From beneath this fowl other slaves indeed, so thoughtlessare the dishes of modern drewpeahens,’ eggs, which were then distributed to domestic cookery, that in Epicurean Rome the authors the guests; “ not, of course, the mere tasteless absurdi- thereof would not have been merely cursed, they would tieswhich we were expecting,” says Petronius, “ but havebeen crucified. Perhaps the practice was drastic, facsimiles in richpastry, each containing a succulent it certainlymade the functionary careful. We have littlefigpecker surrounded with peppered egg yolk.” got so proud of saying “ Godbless our home,” that Unfortunately, the spoons were too heavy for comfort. we have quite forgotten that it would be a much better Trimalchion’sostentation had ordered them to weigh place if wesaid “ God damns our cook ” occasionally notless than half a poundapiece. Indeedwith Tri- instead. malchion,silver was likerefuse. A pagedropped a It is the wise manwho helps himself, whichbrings platter, and was cuffed, not for the mess he had made, oneto another difference between Mrs. Goldberg and butbecause he had stooped to pick the dish up; “ let her antique prototype the Plutocrat of Augustus’ day. the sweepers be called to remove the refuse ” was the Trimalchionand his wife Fortunata realised that it order of magnificence. was not manners which had made the millionaire, and To-dayamongst smart folks there is a custom of lived on the millionaire without making a bid for more serving nothing but champagne; even if they be pluto- thanan affectation of thelearning which was then cratic and not smart, they will still serve the same wine possessedby the middle classes. Mrs. Issacstein has and tell youits value. It is, however, a beverage a fine affectation of aristocratic manners, and an equal lighterthan brandy and soda, which is best servedto contempt for literature, a contempt which, though fine, demi-reps and gourmets, and Trimalchion was neither; is hardlythat which is bred of familiarity,but she is, he was just a bald-headed old glutton in a red gown, a generallyspeaking, above petty details in arrange- ~ man who likedhis money’s worth. He, therefore, ment;she has a soul above the preparation of her paraded amphorae marked “ OpimianFalerna, 100 meals,this is leftto menials, and the lady considers yearsold,” and, fearful that the great journalist had that she has done her little all, when she and her crowd not sufficiently noticedthe compliment, he tried to have consumed heartilywhat she never knew was enhance it by remarking that “ there was no mistaking coming, and thenhinted at its enormouscost. The medicinefor Madeira, or chemicals for claret here,” simpler-mindedbounder of anearlier type busied andadded that the night before he had had more im- himself,and his wife atthe same time, by inventing portantguests to dine, but had not served such price- new dishesand new ways of servingthem, fresh sur- lesswine tothem. Perhaps it masanother of the prises for hisguests as eachcourse appeared; and things best said otherwise; certainly Petronius thought thentold you equally plainly, with his modern arche- so. type,that no expensehad been spared, no vulgarity During the second interlude, slaves exhibited a silver APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 587

skeletonwith curiously fashioned joints, which danced to the eternal music; to drown which we had to shriek Mr. Belloc, M.P., v. Mr. Sidney as though at the dead. Then followed what Fortunata on was pleased to term the Zodiacal dish. It was a huge Webb Social Reform. hemispherical tray of silver ,engraved with the 12 signs By Charles Charrington.

of the Zodiac, at each of which were arranged appro- WHY is Mr. Belloc so bitter against " The Prevention priateviands : overGemini were kidneys ; overLeo, of Destitution Bill'? " If Socialismis as wicked a figs; overCapricorn, a lobster,and so on and so on: thing as heand the Pope believe it tobe, it might the while an Egyptian boy perambulated a silveroven havebeen thought that the Bill, having,as he insists with hot bread. so strenuously,nothing Socialistic about it, would not All was so admirably thought out, but it wasspoilt haveprovoked his anger on that account. Yet that bythe objurgations of ourhost to eat heartily, since seemsto be the gravamen of hisindictment. One we were only now beginning, though, in truth, we felt thingonly about " thisdangerous and wicked eccen- mostuncomfortably satiate. The remark was un- tricity "--so he labels the Bill based upon the Minority necessary, the dishes of the second course followed one Reporton the Poor Law-angers him morethan its another fast and furious : fat fowls and a hare tricked non-Socialisticcharacter. Ithas been drawnup, it outwith wings like Pegasus, Caviare, and fish which appears, by " Mr. SidneyWebb, the statistician,with swam in a miniaturelake. Wild boar withbaskets of the aid of hiswife," and has all the marks of its dateshung from his tusks. It was here the trium- diabolicalorigin. phant climax, at which a huntsman,as carver, was It is a pity that Mr. Belloc, who can write so charm- calledinto requisition. You can imagine Mrs. Gold- inglyon so manysubjects, should sometimes allow a berg'sastonishment when shesaw live thrushes fly smalland scratchy, almost a spiteful tone to mar his from the gash made in that carcase. It was an artistic entertainingwork. Iremember some years ago see- trickwhich all men applauded first time. ing a kinemetographexhibition in Paris.Paris was To followhim was a sow, whose entrancewas the then full of them, as London is now ; London, as usual, occasionfor various ceremonies, and then a welcome starting to take up a fashion furiously about ten years respitefor the flatulent. Even Trimalchion could go after her Continental neighbours arc beginning to tire nofurther at present; in earlier life he had forgotten of it.One of thepictures I saw showed Le Bon Dieu theprayer, " GoodLord reliver us," andbegged us -or was it St. Nicholas?-I forget which-looking out to make ourselves comfortable in like manner, lest we of Heaven and scattering gifts-it was Christmas time should likewise suffer. --among thepoor children of thecity. Now the saint But it was a mereruse, another way of parading wealthand magnificence, as welearnt when the orGod was made up exactly like Mr. Sidney Webb, stewardcame to readthe private daily news sheet and I recollectthinking that the artist who had whichreferred to his master's immense wealth and designed the moving-picture showed considered insight vastpossessions, so few of whichhe knew even by and knowledge of character in his choice of a person- name.Then followed acrobats who balanced them- ality. Of all ourmodern humanitarians, Mr. Sidney selveson ladders and told untellable stories to the Webbbest represents, it seems to me,the mediaeval frieze. idea of thePater Seraphicus. His characterbeing Homeristae followed, who conducted their dialogue in one of unstintedbenevolence, he has given himself Greek,till at the psychological moment a boiled calf wholly tohumanity. But, alas, his superiority, like made its appearance with Ajax, sword in hand, to dis- Dr.Johnson's, according to Bozzy, angers people be- tribute portions thereof to the guests. Anon the ceiling cause he will not stoop. opened,and a circlewith golden crowns descended, Perhapsit is Mr. Belloc's disdain for the encroach- bearing alabaster pots of ointment for our perfuming, ments of the other ses which has induced him to follow and apples which, when seized from the lap of Priapus, up the label of " statistician " with the further taunt, emitted sprays of oenanthe for a similar purpose. " aidedby his wife." Whateverthe motive, the fact At the next interval Fortunata was made to exhibit mustbe admitted : it is toonotorious to be denied. her jewellery, and, amidst a general orgy, since all the Inthis particular task, indeed, considering that Mrs. guests were overfed,and over seas as well,the order Webb sat on the Poor Law Commission, and that Mr. was given to bring up a second meal, before which the Webb didnot, Mrs. Webb might almost have figured tableswere removed, the floors perfumed with crocus as criminal-in-chief, whereas Mr. Webb was but acces- and vermilion, and then we were served with thrushes sory.Be that as it may,between them they laid the in pastry,quinces stuck with thorns, to represent sea egg whichisnow being slowly--oh ! so slowly- urchins, and with a dish that looked like a fat goose ; hatched,or addled, in Parliament.But, really, Mr. with fish and birds of all sorts around it ; whichcon- Belloc,does " thestatistician " containthe essential fectionour complacent host informed us was " most truth? Is Mr.Webb rightly described in that way, skilfully made to consist almost wholly of pork. '' Oys- merely because heproves his case by collections of ters and scallops followed, African snails from the grid, laboriouslyand carefully collated facts and figures in andthe entremets sucrés which were of anart so matters of widepublic import where mere individual wonderfulthat they existed entire merely in that opinion,even backed by hisgreat experience and Sybaritecity, and whose traditionsare preserved by genius couldcarry but little weight? As well might but a few of theNeapolitan chefs ; theirnumber was one call Charles Darwin " the pigeon fancier " because legion,their prodigality extreme Trimalchion knew hebred pigeons to assist him in hisevolutionary onething that we are apt to forget : thatwithout studies,or Mr. Belloc " theclown " becausehe uses prodigalityhe might lead a pure life, but would never humour so largelyas a wayof argument, as callthe be a success as a host. Whathe didnot know was author of " IndustrialDemocracy," " The His- thatlavishness must be in theservice and appoint- tory of TradesUnionism," and of the encyclopaedic ments ; that the surprises of the chef must not consist in work " withthe aid of his wife " onMunicipal Ad- vulgar plenty, and that general ignorance makes both ministration," the founder of the School of Economics, our literature savourless and our cooks a shame. themaster mind of theFabian Society, and the man President Loubet is right when he assimilates the art whose brain has been at the back of most modern social of cookeryto the fate of nations.The cultivation of legislation, " thestatistician " because hehas not re- cooks means a return to the ages of vitality and well- mained satisfied with his own unsupported assertions ; beingfor the inner man ; italso means the art of whichseems to be Mr. Belloc's method of investiga- domesticeconomy, and the return, of the culinary art, tion. But setting aside personalities, whether devilish or much as wehad the return of theart of sculpture, divine, let us see how far Mr. Belloc's slashing article paintingand music after their eclipse for 1500 odd is valuableexcept as a piece of delightfulreading in years.It is the return to civilisation,this return to that genre, and therefore a means of calling attention thewisdom that made it. It is thecontemplation of to a comprehensiveand most carefully considered beautifuland scarcely possible things, things that are measure,which needs opposition to bringout its not, but which should be, and so on, and so on. virtues. 588 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

Granted that the Bill is not rightly called Socialism- whoseaid we cannot legislate? It is a truedema- and why should it matter to Mr. Belloc, such a stickler gogue'ssuggestion, utterly unworkable, leading no- forideas versus words, what it is called?--let us see where,but sounding so democraticto people who do whatit is andwhither it leads. To furtherservitude, notthink about democracy but only mouth it. says Mr. Belloc, theold " coming slavery " ideaover which HerbertSpencer, a farabler dialectician and betterequipped social philosopher than Mr. Belloc, Style in ModernLiterature. came so hopelessly togrief. But, worse than this, the Bill still permits the rich to enslave the poor. It tends By Edwin Pugh. toperpetuate this horrible state of things by recog- nisingit. Every time the iniquitous relation between ITis a farcry from Phericydes, who is said tohave employerand employed is recognisedin a Bill the invented prose, to the writers of the school of Mr. Bart rivets of the chain are to that estent strengthened by Kennedy, who may claim to have invented the language legislation. of punctuation.Yet that ancient moonstruck Greek Now what in the name of sanity is the Bill-or any whofirst set words free from the trammels of poetic other Bill forthat matter-to do,unless to recognise metre has this in common with the modern heaven-born thingsas they are, instead of as Mr. Belloc or I journalistwho brings them to a full-stop asoften as would like them to be? possible, thathis work is as little remembered to-day What is thealternative? And here Mr. Belloc is as the work of his successor is likely to be remembered convicted of the want of thought and meaning-he who to-morrow.The one established, and the other carries on, the same long tradition ; that is at once the likeness is bitterlyscornful of muddle-headedness!--shown so and the difference between them. They both try to ex- by the veriest tub-thumping friend of the " pore." press themselves in the most direct and telling fashion. The Bill, in common with all recent legislation which They both created a new mode out of old materials, as givesresponsibility to employers, does nothing,says theup-to-date maiden creates a newfrock out of her he,to distribute the employers' capital, and therefore mother's old wedding-dress. It is still the same silk or we are moving, not in the direction of Socialism or of shoddy, only the pattern the style, is altered. something else which, if Mr. Belloc will permit himself to think a little, can mean nothing but anarchism, but Many'critics aver that the style is the man, and no of slavery. doubt it is very often the best part of an author ; but Mr. Bellocthroughout his article makes a quaint when that is the case his work is seldom of very much distinction between Socialism and his own creed, what- importance.I would rather liken styleto a tool. If everit may be. Socialism,it seems, collects, whereas the man is a good craftsman, he will often make a better hewould distribute the means of production.This is thing with a bad tool out of mediocre stuff than a bad notthe place where this extraordinary antithesis can craftsman will make with a good tool out of excellent stuff. Indeed, if the bad craftsman does achieve beauty beexamined. But he makes a mistakewhich shows at all it is usually by a succession of flukes ; and you hehas not mastered the first elements of economics. will generally find on a closeexamination that the He confusesmoney payment with real wages. beautyis of that meretricious sortwhich has to be He doesnot see that if an employeris compelled overloaded with ornament in order to conceal faults of tospend some of hiscapital on the safety, comfort, workmanship ; whereasthe good craftsman in a few and health of his workmen, to that extent, other things sure strokes will be found to have achieved the far more being equal, he is compelled to distribute his capital. difficulteffect of anaustere perfection. Moreover,he All this talk of " servitude," which is, of course, not has made what he set out to make, and so the result of worthdetailed examination, only proves that Mr. hislabours has a definite,consistent meaning, whilst Belloc, like all persons of his type of mind when they the other, trusting more or less to luck and a potful of firstapproach politics, finds himself amongthe Com- paint, has made only a closely-wrought glittering thing munistanarchists. A good company-it numbers that is meaningless. Thusthere is more of thetrue Ruskin and Morris-a greatideal, may it some day spirit of art inmany a humbleheadstone in a village come to pass among men-though that must be when churchyardthan there is in theAlbert Memorial. Popeand Parliament have long passed away; but Which is not to say, however, that simplicity is every- it hasit nothing to do withcurrent politics. Just thing.Simplicity is as oftendue to lack of imagina- picture thesort of administrationwhich Mr. Belloc, tion, barrenness of invention, ordulness of perception who certainly has no experience in that direction, pro- asto profundity of thought,depth of feeling, or poses as a presentpossibility, if hehas anything to strength of conviction. It is .asoften the outcome of proposebeyond a growlagainst constructive, or, as an excess of meticulous pains as over-elaboration is. hecalls it, " creative " thought. " When did I pro- No. Thething that really counts is sincerity, for poseanything? " thinksMr. Belloc " passi tête." sincerity implies inspiration, and though sincerity may, But we havecaught him. Hehas much ,to say, like andvery often does, manifest itself inabsurd or most " Radicals "--that is what anarchists call them- grotesque or evenugly forms, it is neverbanal or selvesin Parliament-about how things should not be vulgaras affectation must be. For ,affectation is the done. He eventakes trouble to invent picturesque death of art.It is notthe art that conceals art, but abuse, such as " spewing out of his mouth the inhuman the art that has nothing to conceal which is truly the stuff " suggested by Mr.and Mrs. Webb. But in an highestart of all. Theauthor who unduly vauntshis unguarded moment he has actually given us ahint of mastery of technique is as stupid as a tailor would be howthey should be done. It is only in a parenthesis who wore his garments inside out to display the neat- of a fewwords, but 'twill serve. He pourscontempt ness of hisseams instead of relyingon their general on " the authority " proposed by the Bill, and especi- appearance to attest his proficiency. ally on the power given to a committee of the County Inthe moment that style becomes self-conscious it or borough Council, for doing certain things connected beginsto deteriorate. I believe,for instance, that if I with the " very poor," mainly, it seems, because those were writing on any other subject than Style in Litera- bodiesare composed of well-to-do people.But the ture, and were not as an inevitable consequence acutely mostshocking of alltyranny he finds in theclause aware of the fact thatI am setting up standards by which providesfor an appeal from the committee to whichI must myself bejudged, this essay would be thewhole Council. What is hisalternative? The betterwritten. All authors of experience knowthat, appeal he complains in the aforesaid incautious paren- as .a rule, their best work is that which they have done thesis, is not made " to the popular vote." withthe least effort, and in proportion as theyhave Fancy a clausein the Bill providingfor an appeal foundprogress difficult so havethey found the result " to the popular vote " as to how an " unemployable " ineffective. In this respect the literary stalwarts of the person should be treated, and its reception by any body past had a great advantage overus present-day writers. of men whohave thought for ten minutes about ad- Theyhad never heard of "Artfor art's sake," that ministration as it is. How woulditbe received in stultifying ordinance ! It was art for bread-and-butter's Parliament by thosewicked front benchers, without sakewith them, or art for the sake of themessage APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 589 theyhad to deliver ; and so long as thebread-and- ashamed of writing stories for children-even children butter was won or the message was delivered they cared ofmature age-throw in a littlemake-weight of nothingabout the means employed. They did not preciosity. So, theirstyle is badbecause it is stilted spend the whole of one morning in putting in a comma and self-conscious,and it isvulgar because it is pre- and thewhole of theensuing afternoon in puttingit tentiousand affected. Their swashbuckling idylls are back again, as the late Oscar Wilde pretended that he as infer'or to thehonest blood-and-thunder of Steven- did.They said what they had to say in thebest way son’s "Treasure Island " as Stevenson's " Catriona " is they could ; it was only when, like Addison occasionally, inferior to the " Robinson Crusoe " of Defoe. they had nothing to say that they devovled upon mere But there is a very different style in vogue just now, elegance.But nowadays, when allthe most fruitful which is hardlyless pernicious and abominable than themes are hackneyed, we are more dependent upon the thisartificial ornate .style. It is thatstyle which I had originality of ourmanner than the originality of our inmind when I denied that simplicity is everything. matter ; and so it comes about that those who have the For simplicity sometimes connotes baldness. And there least to say are usually the most careful how they say isno more beauty in a baldstyle 'than there is in a it. Thuswe find suchromanticists of the school of baldhead. Therefore I deprecate the growing practice RobertLouis Stevenson as Maurice Hewlett, whose of employingloose colloquialisms and slovenly, worn- only ostensible function in the sphere of letters is to re- outphrases instead of sound,honest prose, a practise tellold tales, ,refining and polishing their diction and whichmany of ourmodern authors seem to follow of welding it into new forms and combinations as a house- sheerperversity. But the reason why even thosewho wife contrives a patchwork counterpane out of odds and knowbetter do this is thatthey are afraid. They are ends of cast-off,worn-out finery. But whereas Robert afraid to let themselves go. They are afraid of appear- LouisStevenson wrote penny dreadfuls with a quill ingto strain after an effect, and so forgothe effect, that was shaped out of borrowed plumes--plumes from althoughthey could achieve it withoutstrain. They thewings of dead-and-gone geniuses-his disciples are afraid of the sneers of successful mediocrities who, have onlytheir gold-nibbed stylographs to help them lackingforce and fire andliveliness themselves, to ape the sedulous ape, to imitate the imitator. If you solemnly assure their younger rivals that it is bad form compare these dealers in second-hand goods--”made to to be brilliant and vulgar to be vigorous ; that reticence look like new "-with a man of the calibre of Rudyard isthe only abiding test of strengthand drabness of Kipling,who really didbring brand-new goods to artistry.Just now, for instance, it is thefashion to market, you will see how he created his own style whilst decryall forceful, all fine writing.Purple patches are theirstyle may be said to have created them. Strip tabooEven witsuspect.is And, thoughsome away their dainty trappings of words and you will dis- humour is permissible, it isbound to damage an, cover at last only an ingenious piece of mechanism ; author's status ; whilsthe may only be broadly funny butthe more you strip away his rags and tatters of so long as heis content to be broadlyfunny always. slang and poesy the more flesh and blood you will lay Aboveall is any infusion of frank,hearty sentiment bare. deridedand condemned-as if sentimentwere not the And within the compass of this contrast is contained, half of life ! And passion, if it be handled at all, must I think,the whole difference betweenthe man who besubjected to a scientificautopsia. Finally, authors writesbecause he must and the man who writes be- may not try to introduce colour .and vitality into their cause he wouldrather like to. There are many varia- work by the use of any vivid or picturesque language, tionsfrom these two extreme types, of course.But unless they are out to dazzle with historical romance ; essentially they will .all be found to approximate to one normust they betray the least sympathy with any of or the other of them. theircharacters. And I thinkit is mainlyfrom this Youmay or you may notlike Rudyard Kipling's causethat all John Galsworthy's work and Arnold style,but you cannotdeny that it is inimitableIt is Bennett's“Old Wives' Tale " missgreatness. proved to beinimitable by its countless would-be Geniusesshould not be any more ashamed of their imitators who achieve only turgidity where he achieves warts than of their heads. But since these dicta of the distinction. And you may or you may not like Maurice quidnuncs have the hollow ring of commonsense about Hewlett'sstyle ; butyou are bound to admit, if you them,even our artist born, who is also a creature of haveany literary flair, that it is a stylethe trick of hisepoch, repents him of hishardihood and resolves whichhas been caught, or has been derived from never more to be true to himself, lest he seem false to MauriceHewlett's exemplars, by many other writers, other men. popular and unpopular, any one of whom might under- What is goodwriting, then, if thesestyles that I study any of the others without much risk of his. fraud have tried to indicate are bad? I think that good writ- being found out. Charles Marriott (in "The Column "), ing,like a good woman, isnever obtrusively good. Agnesand Egerton Castle, Bernard Capes, and that You onlyrealise its goodness afterwards. If at the last, most abject recruit, H. C. Bailey, are names that time itseems to bedemanding your admiration, you occur to me in this connection. They are all dealers in may bepretty sure it is notadmirable. If it seems to oldcuriosities, and their style is, appropriately,the murmur as itruns : "Justnotice this. isn’t this fine? style of WardourStreet, or, less appropriately, the Doesn't this grip you, thrill you?" it is probably rather style of Mr. Clarkson,costumier. poorstuff. Good writing does not insist upon itself, Andthere is no harm in theirantics for those who doesnot take you by storm, but invests you imper- approachlife in the carnival spirit of one taking part ceptiblyuntil you are completely under its influence : in a fancydress ball ; but if your point of view is that an influence thatmay move youto tears or laughter, of one to whomlife is realand earnest, then their horror or delight, indignation or pity, ecstasy or calm, antics, though at first they may seem amusing enough, anger or revolt, but which never lets you escape from willpresently begin to bore, and end by exasperating itssway. If it is a style difficult to follow (as itmay you. For youcannot believe in them.Their armour be), then it is still engrossing, as chess is. If it is easy on their motley does not fit them. Their swords are so and graceful it is never dull or insipid. obviously made of painted wood and their pea-bladders I would like to give you examples of what I think is hiredfor the night. If theywould only put off their good writing ; but, fortunately or unfortunately, good masqueradeand come home with you andspin you a writing- usually suffers by being torn from its context, yarn across your fireside in the language of every day- being all of a piecelike a noble statue. One might as as StanleyWeyman or Conan Doyle or A. E. W. well go over Saint Paul's Cathedral with a microscope Mason does-you wouldbe vastly more thrilled, and in order to judge of its artistic merits as try to appraise their yarn would be less likely to get into a tangle. the beauty of a man's style by studying it in detail. The sad truth is, to drop metaphor, that these writers Ayear or two ago there was published an An- pander to a certainweakness in us whichmakes us thology of EnglishProse which contained extracts ashamed of reading an adventurous tale for the mere from the works of some modern authors, I believe ; and adventures' sake : we want to persuade ourselves that among them, I seemto remember, it published a pas- we read it for some rare literary quality that we profess sage from the writings of Wilfred Whitten. In that it to find init ; andthey, on their side, being equally didwell, for Mr. Whitten is a stylistwho only wants 590 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

something to say to be a genius. It is from this same lack that Mr.Andrew Lang and Mrs. Meynell and the The Order of the Seraphim* III lady whowrites as “ VernonLee ” havealways suffered. One feels thatany of these could havedone By Allen Upward. finely in literature if only they had ever been interested Humanity. in anythingthat really matters.It is in theperverse nature of things that they can write, whilst such a mind THEEnglish word Man has been replaced by the Babu as that of Bernard Shaw should be hampered by an in- word Humanity within thelast hundred years, and ability to express itself except in the language of not- almost within the last generation. The change of words very-smart journalism, and that a man of his wit who marks a change in man’s opinion of himself. thinks in epigrams should never have coined one phrase As long as the Christian religionprevailed the word or saying that will outlast his day. If only the style of Man was used as one of thepair, God and Man. It suchmasters of prose as theseI have mentioned, or marked off thecreature fromthe creator,the sinner otherssuch as G. S. Streetand Kenneth Grahame, could be grafted on to Bernard Shaw’s originality and fromthe saviour, and therefore its use was associated virility,he mighthave been greaterthan Carlyle. As with a sense of modestyand even abasement.The it is, he who understands so much is doomed to be mis- word Humanityhas come in ratherto mark off man- understoodbecause of hisincoherence ; whilstthese kind from the other animals, it is a term of praise and others’ great gift of words only serves to revealtheir pride,reaching apotheosis in thephrase the Religion shallowness. of Humanity-which isthe religionactually prevalent Style is to literature what clothes are to the human to-day over the Western world. body. If the body be puny or weak or misshapen, well- Inthis its modernreligious use the word Humanity made clothes may do much to disguise defects ; but the chargedis with two ideas, distinct although con- face, which may stand for the soul, is always left bare. nected;first, that there is an infinite gap between the And if the soul, or the face, be vacuous or silly or for- highestanimal and the lowest human form, and bidding the most beautiful raiment will not countervail. secondly, thatthere is, or ought to be, no gapat all Rememberingsome chapters of “ TheTime between the lowest and the highest bipeds having broad Machine,” onedeplores the loss of Mr. H. G. Wells, nails. who has travelled so much farther through space since The first of these ideas is carried to its extreme limit those days, and faredso much worse, that he seems now in the practice of vivisection (which I am not here con- to be striving to express himself entirely by means of cerned to excuse or abuse); the second, in the political dotsand dashes and aposiopeses. His elements of institution of manhoodsuffrage. On landing in the greatness are likely to be scattered and lost for want of EastEnd of London themost intelligent chimpanzee a unifying medium. To a future generation the cliches may bebought, imprisonedor slaughtered with and colloquialisms of “ Tony-Bungay ” will be as tire- impunity, while the ape-likedwarf of the Andaman some asthe crypticisms of theOrmulum. In H. G. Islands becomesentitled to legislate for the university Wells we have the visionallied with a voice that has of Cambridge. That heis not entitled to any voice grownhoarse and broken from misuse. And as he in legislatingfor the Andaman Islands, whenhe goes confesses to “ certainstreaks of a slovenlinesswhich back,is merely one of thosefreaks of the British seems to be an unavoidabledefect in ” him,we may Constitution in which patrioticBritons aretaught to regard his last state as hopeless. take a pride. A fellow galley-slaveis Mr. RobertBlatchford, who Withthe first of thesetwo ideas we are only con- also pulls a good oar and sings as he rows. At his best cerned in so far as ithelps to illustrateand support Mr. Blatchfordhas a style which is betterthan the second. Thedogma we have to investigate is the Ruskin’s ; clear,strong, vivid,picturesque, easy, and equality of men,proclaimed a hundredand fifty years graceful,yet concise and full of pith.There isno ago by Rousseau,adopted into the’ constitution of the writer, living or dead, who says more precisely what he United States of America,and accepted as a self- sets out to say, and, at the same time, strews so many evident truth by most of those writers who govern the flowers of speech by the wayside. There isno note in governments of the world to-day. the gamut of humanemotions whichhe cannottouch This famous dogma, or delusion, ought to be treated with sure fingers, when he is in the vein ; and there is no tenderly,because it was inspired by tenderness. I do argument too intricate and involved or abstruse for him not thinkI could havebrought myself to say it nay tostate with ineluctable force. If hegave us only of unless I hadfirst satisfied myself that it wasworking his best he would be supreme among modern writers of as much harmto the underman asto the overman; English ; but,alas ! heseems unable tosustain the that it was cruel to the tree’s roots to make believe that burden of his own excellence on a long flight. they werebuds, and when they askedfor water, to Then, in his own peculiar genre,there is Mr. give them light. JosephConrad, who does not write English as to the I. manner born,but uses wordsas Napoleon used men, A brilliant writer in the last generation pretendedto marshallingthem in hugemasses which are never in attribute moderndemocracy to a mistakeninterpreta- theleast unwieldy, though theymay seem so at first, tion of thelanguage of Roman law. That equality in deploying them andmaking them march and sending theshape of uniformprecedure and universal legisla- them into action as from some hidden coign of vantage tion which theRoman jurists evolved from the com- above the clouds. petingLaws of theCity, of theLatins and of the And, above all, there is Mr. Barry Pain,who, once Foreigners,was confused by Rousseauwith political upon atime, might have done anything-and now and social equality,and hence the delusion which has does ; but whose flippancy and cynicism mask a talent overspread theearth. for writing which would suffice to equipthe loftiest It is never wise, because it never can he true, to genius. It would be seemlier in me to concludewith attribute great eventsto trivial causes. No falsehood ever somemore pompous example, perhaps. Certainly, I became powerfulunless it hid within its bosom some shall get more credit for knowing my business from my greattruth, howeverdistorted and obscured. This has mention of Mr. Andrew Lang, though Mr. Lang, at his been the common error of those who have attacked hest,does not write so well as Mr. Pain would write Christianity.They have seized upon its superficial at his worst, if hehad a worst.It ishis crowning faults, its ignorant chronology, its superfluous miracles, attribute,however, that, he always writes well, even and its moral aberratioas; but they seem never- eo have when hewrites trivially, as hedoes too often. But he askedthemselves whatwas the need that Christianity did not always write so ; and if it is not too late, and he came to supply, what was the work which it had to do ever againtakes himself seriously,he may getrank in the world, whatwas the lesson which the Master amongthose who have helped to dignifyand illustre * Copyright, 1910, in theUnited States of America, by Mitchell the English tongue. Kennerley. APRIL 21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 591 of Life meant them to read in it; and hence they have teacher;and Buddhists, like Christians, worship where not known what they were talking about. they cannot imitate. It is the same with those who vulgarly attack Trades Onthe other hand it is truethat every man is en- Unionism or Socialism or any other honest and honour- titled to work out his own salvation, if he feels strong ableeffort to grapple with the task which the feudal enough,and that no priestly caste or church ‘has any aristocracydeliberately laid down, in order that they rightto hinder him, or to toll andtax him in its own might concentrate their minds, as Carlyle remarked, on economicinterest. It is by overlookingthis truth that preserving their game. theChristian Churches have sinned against the Holy To withstandanything we must understand it. The Spiritto their own undoing. In every age there are idea of humanequality did not start with Rousseau, born’priests after the order of Melchisedekand it is and its history is not hard to read. because the Popes have declared war on these, instead of making provision for them in the Catholic economy, II. thattheir Church has shrunk to a discreditedsect, The clock of secular time struck the hour last at that confined to Mediterranean peasants, when it might have decisivemoment when Prince Siddharta, meeting a hadthe empire of theworld. Yet theRoman Church leperby the wayside, was so penetrated by thecon- has been an advance on the hereditary priesthood of the trast between the leper’s misery and his own happiness Jews,and that it hasbeen so is clue to itsBuddhist that he left wife and child and rank and riches, and set inspiration.Its priesthood has on thewhole been himself to discover the cause of human sorrow, and its founded on the principle of vocation, and not birth; and cure.The truth of that far-off tale is vouchedfor by hencehasit survived the feudal monarchies and thelives of many a saint down to the present day. In aristocracies. thestreet of Harrow a tabletrecords that the good IV. LordShaftesbury, standing on that spot while still a The doctrine of equality, as we can see, is true as a boyin Harrowschool, was moved by thesight of a protest against the doctrine of heredity, but no further. pauper’s funeral to consecrate his life to the service of And it is especiallytrue and valuable in the field to thepoor. Thus across five thousandmiles and two whichitwas confined byits first teacher, that of thousand five hundredyears the Hindu prince and the spiritualgifts. Physical characters, like health and Englishnoble heard the same summons, and obeyed it strength and beauty, have a fair chance of being trans- each according to his talent. mitted in the case of individuals, and more thana chance Towhat shall we attribute these mysterious im- inthe case of wholetribes and races. The horse- pulses?-one of them destined to turn the mind of the breeder cannot be sure that any one foal, though it be worldinside out. Thanks to the wanderings and con- descendedfrom a dozenDerby winners, will winthe quests of mankind,and the incalculable tides of love, Derby, but he can be fairly sure that among many such each of us seems an epitome of many divers ancestors, foals,most will be swifter than a foal without a pedi- andthe blood of kingsand slaves wrestles for the gree.The strongest believer in breeding,however, masteryinour veins. It isatavism, perhaps, the would hardly expect the foal of a circus horse to show ascendency of someforgotten strain, that determines a peculiaraptitude for circus work, or the litter of a eachone’s affinities. Thelabour leader may be urged performing dog to yield a higher average of performing to thefront by some. Plantagenet sire; an ancestral puppies. serfmay be expiated by the cowardice of a Bourbon There is no need to labour the case against intellectual or the philanthropy of a Howard. Here is, at dl events, heredity. Itis the opposite error, the belief that all fruitful soil for such a seed as the dogma of Humanity, foals can win the Derby, and all puppies be trained to and here one truth which it falsely expresses. perform equally well, with which we are concerned. III. V. Theteaching of everyprophet is shaped,under the TheTime Spirit revealed itself byother lips than Law of Shapes,by the conditions with which the those of the Buddha. In the same age K‘ung the Master prophetfinds himself atstrife. The original doctrine was engaged in shaking the superstitious reverence for of Siddhartawas that man’s path to happiness lay unworthy princes among the Chinese, and founding the throughthe extinction of desire. But this meant that system of government by an educated class, drawn from each must work out his own salvation. Now there was all ranks of the population. Even in barbarous Europe in India a hereditarycaste of saviours. Half priests, the Greeks and Romans were deposing their hereditary half gods, the Brahmans held themselves out as incar- priest-kings, and replacing them by consuls and archons nations of the highest, deity, their function being to save andelected magistrates. Ancestor-worship received its the lower orders of mankind by the familiar means of death-bloweverywhere round the globe almost in the prayerand sacrifice and mortification. This powerful same century. tradesunion saw itsmonopoly threatened by the free Whenthe doctrine of spiritualequality reached trade in salvationproclaimed by the Buddha, and de- Europe,therefore, it foundthe soil preparedfor it. It clared war against him and his followers. was implied in the teaching of every philosophical sect, The fullhistory of the struggle has not come down andit was extended into the region of politicsby the to us, but we know that in the end the Buddhists prac- predominant sect of the Stoics. tically disappeared from the whole region within which Every student of history is familiar with the impetus the Brahman caste held sway. The conflict between the given to theidea of humanequality by thecoming two opposing principles comes out clearly in a chapter intoexistence of greatempires. In oar own case we of theDhamapada which is theflower and crown of see the gradual disappearance of the white man’s pride theBuddhist scriptures. “Himcall indeed I a of raceand colour, brought about by thetremendous Brahman,’’ is the opening refrain of nearly every verse; forces of India. No futureprime minister will dareto andthe whole psalm is a denial of theBrahmanical repeat Lord Salisbury’ssneer at the black man, and pretensions. Salisbury himselflived to seea black man among his “ Not thinealtar makes thee Brahman,not thy raiment’s ownsupporters in the Home of Commons.One race priestly art, does not really conquer another; a11 that takes place is But the fire of sacred wisdom burning brightly in thy heart. anexchange; and in a hundredunnoticed ways Him I call indeed a Brahman, when he longs and wants no Hindustan has been conquering us. more, Wandering here, but not abiding, every earthly wish is o’er.‘’ Howfar the idea of Humanity-forwe may now beginto use that word-had gainedground in the The doctrine of spiritual equality thus launched upon Romanempire. m-e know fromthe applause which the world contained both verihood and falsehood. It is greeted a tag of the theatre,-- not true that every man can work out his own salvation. A great part of mankind need, and feel that they need, “I am a man, andnothing that is human do I consider a saviour, one outside themselves, and better than them- alien to me.” selves; so that the Buddha himself hasbeen taken by Whenthe emperor Caracalla extended the citizenship themass of hisfollowers as asaviour, rather than a of Rometo every free man, he carriedthe doctrine of 592 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910 political equality about as far as it has been carried in modern times. New Wine. VI. By Walter Sickert. We are now in a position to see through the shallow sophistry of Maine on the subject of Roman law. MR FRANCIS HOWARDand his friends of theInter- Thegreat code which has supplied the working nationalSociety of Sculptors,Painters, and Gravers, morality of Christendom had its rise in the humble and havetaken the bullby thehorns. With an altruism accidental circumstance that the older Romans were too worth) of Arnold von Winckelried they have seized an jealous of their City law to extend its benefits to foreign armful of theFrench lances and pressed them into immigrants. To meetthe case of thegrowing popula- their own bosoms in the Grafton Gallery. tionattracted to Rome from outside, the magistrate Now thatSir Hugh Lane has been knighted for who had to deal with aliens framed a simple code based admiring Manet-I wonder if Manet would everhave on those general notions of justice which were common beenknighted for being Manet--and that Manet is to all the surrounding peoples. classified in London as Mesopotamia, it might perhaps The body of lawthus put together, and expanded bepermissible without blasphemy to speakthe sober from year to year with the growth of empire could not unhystericaltruth about him. ‘He was themagnifi- but eclipse by sheer merit the archaic Law of the City. centpainter of the morceau. Giveme a hamby Accordingly the latter fell into disuse, and disappeared Manet, a fewoysters, a dish of figs, butan “ Ecce amidthe later legislation of theemperors, while the Homo” ” isnot for him. Give me by Manet a head more liberal code was developed into a universal juris- with a bonnet, a figure in a crinoline with the delicious prudence, stretching its sway into three continents. mixture of grace and gaucherie that touches the heart, Such a phenomenonwas well calculatedto impress andclings to the memory, the eternal feminine that themind of anythinking man, and the great jurists we can hold on canvas in the sunshine of art for years wholaboured in the civilisation of mankindwere fully afterthe dear model has eluded our grasp.In com- conscious of thegrandeur of their task. The mission positionlike the “ EcceHomo ” hegoes off his own of Rome had been defined by Virgil- ground,where he stands firm and is supreme,on to “To fix the age of peace, a quakingmorass. He becomes the critic,the appre- The broken spare, and beat the haughty down ; ” ciator. He says, “ Seehow admireI Velasquez, and if the sentiment of human equality does not breathe Ribera, etc. ; ” in fact, “See me tumble !” inthose lines, where are we to find it?The Papinian It is curious how this sort of insincere tableau vivant whose decisions were afterwards erected into the stan- in a coalhole dates. I can see it redrawn by Cham with dard of law lost his life in resisting tyrannical violence. appropriate legend, “ Le Christ ennuyé par ce que les Justinian’seditor, Tribonian, launched his immortal soldatsRomains ne veulent plus manager desroseaux, revision of the imperial laws in sentences that breathe maisdemandent avec insistence des asperges.” the loftiest spirit of philosophy. Such men must not be Thelittle old gentleman in a casqueon the left of confounded with English judges, enslaved to precedent, the picture is Cham, “ all spat,” as they say in andjuggling with technical reasons for common-sense France. And on the whole the touch of the born pain- decisions.They were legislators rather than lawyers, ter, doubled with that of the marl who knows,almost theyacknowledged no authority but reason, and they too well,what painters like in painting.It is almost worshipped Justice as a goddess. matinéepainting, painting to a house filled withpro- Thus it came to pass that in the end they identified fessionals,all paper. canI see a ceremony. Grasso theirown code, distilled from the laws of allnations, should be there, and should come forward and embrace withthat natural law which the Stoics professed to Mr.Peploe. Not a dryeye in the house ! discern written in the conscience of mankind; and who Nowlet us look, a fewpictures to the right, at shallsay that they were wrong? It was something No. 145, aperfect flower of thebest that the Impres- morethan a coincidence,it was a case of theory and sionistmovement has yielded. Lesstapageur, less practiceworking towards the .same point, and corro- Now, without moving from here, let LIS turnand boratingone another. Julian and Gaius, Papinian and divinePissarro ! Nowthis artist-impressionist, this Ulpian feltthemselves to be engaged on something painter-impressionistdiffers from the mass of theory- morethan a piece of practicalstatecraft; they saw it impressioniststhat the movement naturally bred. A to be a sublime experiment in morality. They dignified goodpupil and a greater than Corot hismaster. A theirachievement with the proud name of the Law of pupilnot of thelarge, heavily-framed Bond Street Nature,and as such it passed into the canons of the Corot, the silvery sky and oblique-?he Corot we know Church and the secular policy of Christendom. inEngland, but the Roman Corot, the studio-model Rousseau,perhaps, had never heard of Buddha,and Corot of thelittle canvases they know and value in neverturned the pages of theRoman code. But by France. I don’tthink a finer landscapeexists than right of geniushe stood nearer to the minds of his thisview of theLouvre. The green sunlight over the unknownforerunners than the English jurist was able length of thebuildings is colour in excelsis.Least to(stand. His proclamation of thenatural equality of assertiveand truest painter, the gentle Pissarro will mankindwas the true interpretation, and the right beavenged by posterityfor the somewhat back seat corollary, of the Dhamapada and the Corpus Juris. The he was awarded in his lifetime. delusion was theirs as well as his. Now, without moving from here, let us turnand It remains to be shown that the dogma of Humanity look at Vuillard’s Déjeuner. How hisvoice carries ! has had other sponsors, more powerful than Rousseau. What astounding knowledge of effect ! He has proved himself delicate a thousandtimes. And fromhere how delicate and powerful isthe effect of the scrawled VESPERS. splashes of distemper that examination will reveal. An THEearth smokes like a censer swung old-fashioned person like myself--I was born in 1860-- On the ladder of Heaven’s lowest rung : is shocked at the violenceof the means, but even my The tangled branches drip and drip, ossifie,:! intelligence must bow to the following- reason- And rabbits through the hedges slip. ing,which my juniorshave no difficulty at all in absorbing. “ Since you admitthe effect to be power- The laboured fields and patient skies ful,beautiful and true, you will admitthat an added Blend. In the wood an old owl cries. stroke would be tautology and a detraction.” I should A red moon slides above the dune, likehaveto written about tempera, about Mrs. And wild-geese fly across the moon. Herringham’sbook, about the difference between A weary wind, blurred stars, and hark ! Mantegua’streatment of workfor far and for near, The velvet footsteps of the dark. aboutZuloaga’s magnificently drawn old man, but Through the black thicket streams a line space forbids. Of yellow fire-the Seven-nine. I see clearly a certain cleavage asserting itself more VINCENTO’SULLIVAN and more in modern painting. I see. on the one hand, APRIL 21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 593

picturespainted by artists as servants of theircus- before of authors who issue four novels in one season. tomers.And, on the other hand, pictures painted by Well,who are they? Let us hear who they are. Pub- artists who are masters of theircustomers. Vuillard’s lishednovels cannot be confidential secrets. Needless draught-playerson the shingle, being French, may to say, he quotes with approval and with unction some havethe esprit to say : “ Tout de même,sommes platitudes by Sir William Robertson Nicoll upon which nousassez ridicules comme ça,” but the work is not I hadoccasion to animadvert a few weeks ago. done.from the professional portrait-painter’s point of *** view. Turnto the interiors of drawing-roomsby Mr. Also, in the same letter, he gives a paragraph to Mr. Blanche,who is a professionalportrait-painter. Every C. E. Montague’s “ A’ HindLet Loose.” Hesays : touchbespeaks them painted for the owners of the “ FromMr. Montague’s preface it would appear that rooms.Livery is an honourable wear, but liberty has on thisside of theAtlantic we have at least one a savour of its own. honourablejournal, andthat ‘ TheManchester Guardian.’ ” Thereis no prefaceto Mr. Montague’s novel. Mr. Bullock oughtto be morecareful. He is Books and Persons. assuredly a conscientiousnovelist, but as a journalist (ANOCCASIONAL CAUSERIE.) heis hasty, and defective both in goodtaste and in the sense of responsibility. Perhaps he does not realise By Jacob Tonson. the great weight of his name in an ingenuous city like I FREQUENTLY read the London literary letters of some Chicago. Mr. Bullockis not the only sinneramong of theprincipal American papers, because for some Englishnovelists who contribute literary gossip to reason orother I amoften being mentioned therein, Americanpapers. I beg toannounce that I havemy always with gratifying decorum and respect, so that I eye on them. discover the said letters among my press-cuttings. And *** I think the time has come to inform plainly the editors A fewremarks on genius :-Genius, whatis it but ofthe principal American papers that in respect of thepower of beingable to read? No respecterof literary information concerning London, their wonderful birth, it chooses the cottage gladly, hiding in the rags organisationsare still capable of improvement. Ameri- of a tinker,loving the hovel, the ploughland, the caneditors seem to fancythat an English novelist is grimedand smoky roof. It is a personality, a living theideal person to send over the news of literary creature,and greater than man in man, a reading London tothe United States. Thus the “ Chicago master, an agent of kindnessand a tyrant of cruelty, Evening Post ” employsMr. Shan F. Bullock,who is smiling at the pupilone time, scourging him another; a novelist of reputationand excellent performance. and as the body comes to its power with years it hears What his experience as a journalist may be I know not, themaster always teaching, never at rest, speaking but his contributions to the “Chicago Evening Post ” with a distinctvoice, unfolding pictures without end, are diverting. In a letter recently to hand he discourses and the amanuensis cannot keep pace with this tyrant withevident joy on a notoriousspeech of Sir Alfred who hurries him on with “ See this,” and “ See that,” Bateman at the annual meeting of theRoyal Literary working while the body sleeps, showing portions of the Fund.Sir Alfred, you mayremember, stated that he way and work of life which are still far ahead, planning knew of a casein which the author had been offered out the whole life right up to the end, giving everything “ £15 for the copyright of a book,” etc. On this text eagerly, if withpain, when the time comes. That is dozens of sermonshave been preached in the press genius,the power that works not for the man, but during the last month, each more silly than the others. against him. No labourcan make what is notthere. ButMr. Bullock can improve on the text. Heknows Applicationmakes a manable to learn, but not to of a firm of publishers whose priceto “ well-known teach, and if the master be absent no learning will call him, just as without learning-or great tribulation-he authors ” of novelsis “ £25 downfor all rights.” I should much like to know the names of the firms-and cannotbe awakened; for genius is nothing but the theauthors. Of course,there is nothing to prevent a power of reading what has been written upon the mind well-known author from accepting £25 in full payment in an unknown tongue; and without a Daniel the writing for a novel; butthe well-known author who does so cannot be interpreted ; and Chaldeans and astrologers ought to consult a doctor, or to put himself in the hands will strive in vain. of thePublic Trustee, or at any rate to employ an *** agent.What is thematter with him isthat he has Theabove sentences, as you havenow no doubt quitted the maternal breast too early. guessed,are not by theundersigned. I purposely *** omitted the inverted commas in order to get the better

Mr.Bullock, characterizingthem as “ lesserwriters of the reader’s tendency to skip quotations. It appears who must live and provide €or families and rainy days,” tome that here and there they contain extraordinary mentions, in one breath, Madame Albanesi, Mr. Charles fineglimpses of thetruth, and that as a wholethey Garvice,the brothers Hocking, and Mr. Eden Phill- deserve to be called anoriginal contribution tothe potts. (To putMr. Phillpotts in thisgalley displays a subject of genius. I think every artist on reading them lack of the sense of values which in the case of a man will exclaim : “ That’s a bit of me.” I foundthem in of letters like Mr. Bullock is deplorable.) He says that Mr. John Trevenna’s novel, “ Granite ” (page 64). some of these novelists “ get good prices for their mer- chandise-from £70 to £80 a book at times, and occa- sionally £100 and £150 withserial rights.” In REVIEWS. addition to being mere glorious impudence, this singular statement is one more proof that American papers will NOVELS. swallowanything. Let Mr. Bullock makeenquiries According to Maria. By Mrs. John Lane. (John from Mr. John Murray or Messrs. Methuen, and learn, Lane. 6s.) if he can, the extent of his ridiculousness. Mr. Bullock We will not pretend that because a book has bored really becomesoutrageous when he adds : “Butwhat us it is a goodsatire. We haveread before of a stuff themerchandise must be ! ” Hemight advan- woman educated at a suburban academy, married to a tageously read some of the merchandise. He might try suburban grocer who attains the prosperity of limited a few chapters, for example, from “ The Whirlwind.” liability,seeking social advancement with the aid of a Not all his apparent crassness could then, I think, pre- caseful of visiting cards and a bookon etiquette. Not vent him fromperceiving the depth of ineptitude to even the so-called poetic justice of the conclusion, when whichhehas fallen. I do notmince words. A sheattains her ends by a meansshe previously de- novelistdiscussing, as Mr. Bullock does,the activity spised,her husband, can reconcile us tothis book. of another novelist who could simply write his head off, Maria is an ass, and we refuse to be grateful for her makerings round him, and leave him out of sight, presentment.One reviewer has mentioned Thackeray merits a certain vivacity of castigation. in connectionwith this book. Mrs. Lane is welcome *** tothe praise if shelikes it. If shedoesn’t, she had Inthe same letter Mr. Bullock sayshe has written better write a book of her own. 594 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

TheExiles of Faloo. By Barry Pain. (Methuen. 6s.) Mr. Painexports to Faloo a gang of well-meaning ART. but misunderstood people, some of whom are described By Huntly Carter. by Mr. Parget, detective, in the following terms : “We’vewanted Sweetling for years. Hewas the THE “ Academy ” of April 2nd publishes a letter on Hazeley Cementswindle, as you mayremember, and “ The LogicalClimax of the ModernityMovements.’’ the Tarlton Building Company, and a lot more. There’s Theletter is signed E. Wake Cook. It is a letter Hanson,who killed his girl;Mast, a nasty case; Fel- which purportsto be onthe side of conventionand lowes, who sold thesecret explosive ; LordCharles reason. The author refers to an allegedhoax recently Baringstoke, who forged hisuncle’s name ; Trimmer, played upon the Salon des Indépendants and which he of theCornish coal fraud-a whole lot of backnum- bers nicely bound together.” These good people build claimshas been themeans of loweringthe lights of a club house and live likegentlemen; they drink, they that institutionbefore the public in a ridiculous and play cards and chess, bet on lizard races, smash glasses humiliating manner. He is either concealing or is igno- in thefaces of thenative servants, rape the native rant of facts that ought to be stated. The reason why women, andform a syndicate for trade, of which the the Salon des Indépendants accepted and hung a daub nativeking ismanaging director. Sometimes they painted with an ass’s tail is because it had no power to varytheir pleasures by committingsuicide. They are rejectit. It has noselecting jury, and nothing in the in danger of beingexterminated by thenatives when Mr. Lechworthyand his niece arrive. He isnearly world but gross indecency could prevent a picture enter- murdered by a white man within an hour or so of land- ingits doors. Even if Mr. Cook himself painted a ing : so hetakes refuge with the native king. His picture (whichheaven forbid !) it would be compelled niece falls ill, and a doctorcomes from the Exiles’ to admit it, of course, provided that Mr. Cook paid the Club totreat her. They fallin love. The nativesrise, few francssubscription. It was not even an hoax. All burnthe clubhouse, and massacre the members. Mr. that happened was a man used a donkey’s tail instead Pain’sinimitable humour achieves a masterstroke here. of a brush. ‘There is nothing extraordinary in the pro- ceeding. Hemight have used a cow’s tail, or Mr. For Kett and Countryside. By F. C. Tansley. (Jar- rold. 6s.) Cook’s doormat,and still the fact would not be This is a novel dealing with the rebellion of the Nor- sufficient to raise the voice of a sane person in anger wich commoners in thetime of Edward VI. Kett was and shame. The most that can be said for it is that it theleader of this revolt ; itfailed, and he was “in- is anass’s joke that has only taken in asses. It is famously done to death at Norwich Castle.” He is not amazing that the “ Academy,” with its fierce hatred of thehero of this romance. The Norwich rebellion cantand hypocrisy,should printsuch transparent occurred so that Martyn Holmes,printer’s apprentice, rubbish. It is also very strange that the “ Art News,” shouldhave some adventures,fight and defeat Lord Mautham,and marry Mistress Rose Craimer,the which is on the side of the most modern movement in printer’s daughter. The hero expressly declares that “he painting,has not pointed to the essentialfacts of the had no rightto speak, €or he was of poor estate and matter. But there is yet time €or it to do so. she was of high gifts ; he was one in a perilous venture, x * * but she of a nature too pure and rare to be outcast and despised.’’ To remove thisinequality someupheaval Mr. Cook has written his letter with a view, no doubt, wasnecessary ; so the Norwich rebellion served its todamping the enthusiasm of thosepersons who are purpose. As thehero failed in almosteverything, he likely to see any good in certain of the exhibits by the undertookand yet married Mistress Rose, perhaps his International Society- atthe GraftonGalleries. I am remarksquoted above sprung from too a great afraidthat Mr. Cook hassadly wasted histime. His modesty; perhaps his lady was not too good for him. phantasy will have no other effect than that of making Anyhow, Kett suffered death for leading the rebellion, Mr.Cook look exceedingly foolish. I believe that the rebellion failed,and Martyn Holmes was married. despite the absence of the aesthetic sense in the English At theSign of the Burning Bush. Bp M. Little. race,despite the lamentations of scaremongers,and (Chatto and Windus. 6s.) misguidedpersons like Mr. Cook, despite the corrup- This is a story of ministerial life in the Presbyterian tion of the public taste by critics and the press, there is Church of Scotland at the present day. The book opens a small section of the public whose taste (such as it is) with a talk between three divinity students, Mackenzie, isfar sounder, far surer that it is imagined to be. I De Stuynier,and Lewis Pink. Lewis Pink isa hypo- also believe thatalthough this public has been pretty chondriac,with all the tame virtues of impotence ; slow in takingto its bosom theFrench Impressionist De Stuynier is a genius, we are told, of the movement, it has in its own stupid, blind, and stumbling mystical,poetical type,and after an unsuccessful and way come to recognisethat the men-some of whose socially disastrousministry to fisher-folk hebecomes works are now in our midst-are sound and honest, and a Catholic.Mackenzie began his career by a faux pas not sensation-mongers, boomsters, and painters out for with his landlady’s daughter, continued it by marrying profit.Accordingly, such personsas composethis her,and astonished everybody by livingcomfortably, section of the public will maketheir way toGrafton if not happily, with her. Of course she is only a beauti- Street, there, unmoved by Mr. Cook’s tears and lamen- fulbody, and Mackenzie has doubts about the immor- tations, to admire the many things that deserve to be tality of the soul. But hemeets a young ladynamed admired. Melicent Marquess,and she restores him hissoul, * * * sheleadeth him in thepaths of righteousnessfor They will likeLouis Legrand’s live line,some of his name’ssake. We haveseen herat the Eustace JosephPennell’s fine work,the fine quality of the Miles’ Restaurant, and it will take us as long to become etched line in Anthony R. Barker’s very largely treated conscious of thefact that we love her as itdid Mac- “ Arrival of theSteam ’Tram.’’ They will noticethe zenzie, aboutfour years. The bookends without a beautiful life drawings and animal studies by John M. suggestion of divorce court proceedings, for affinity of Swan, and how his very scholarly work in which every souls is not a groundfor divorce in Scotland. If we line,every piece of modellingis intensely felt, renders say thatwe have enjoyedthis book we donot speak E. J. Sullivan’s interesting draughtsmanship coarse by ironically ; it is well written, well characterised, and is comparison.Mrs. A. S. Hartrick’scharming flower honest in itsportrayal of the hypocrisyof established studies will arrestthem in passingto Forain’s clever religion. Thefurtive indecency of some of thechar- littlewater-colour impressionist sketches, which they actersbelongs to them, not to the author. We should mill prefer to his larger studies, seeing that the latter, say that the book is the work of a fastidious agnostic thoughinteresting, show toostrongly the influence of who has been an ardent worshipper. Daumier. APRIL 21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 595

In the large gallery they will come to the feature of less mud. The very charming colour sketches by Irma theInternational Society’s exhibition. If the vision of Richter will interest them, and the meretricious Cheap- vibratingcolours, the sound of singingcanvases does Jackproductions by C. Léandre will makethem ill. not arrestthem nothing will. Facedwith the modern But a pick-me-up may be found in the interesting Pre- delicate problems of light and atmosphere, solved with Raphaelitewater-colour by EdgarDavis, and a tonic a rare freshness and purity of colour, opinion may differ that will completelyrestore them in Lucien Simon’s as towhether the predominating note of truth and clever impression of peasant life (253), in which one can fidelityis oris not in tune. To oneobserver the hearthe verymovements. If they find that F. H. spectacle of thecanvases of livingand deadFrench Newbery’s “ Regatta,” though possessing excellent in- revolutionaries will appear chaos illumined by dazzling tentions, strikes a flat note, they will discover that the flashes ; to another the use of bright tones will have the portrait by Olgade Boznanska (259) isperfectly in effect of making the majority of the English canvases tune.Here they will admitis a cleverPolish painter, look extremely dirty in colour and messy in execution. whosemasterly and sincere treatment many of our Even the rich, harmonious interiors of the Frenchman, Englishportrait painters might take a lessonfrom. J. Blanche, will seem mechanical and tame by contrast. C. Halford’squiet and effective noteon Nature will The reception accorded to these works of different merit leadthem up toZuloaga’s magnificent outburst of will greatlyvary. One observer will declare that dramaticforce and intensity. They will confess that Monet is very unfa\-ourablyrepresented ; thatManet, “ LucienneBreval ” isthe most powerful canvas in though obviouslysincere, is seen under themantle of the exhibition. It revealsthe characteristics of Zulo- the earlier Spanish School; that Sisley, in one specimen aga’sother extremely fine canvases,the great feeling (137) gettingis dirty through exposure. Another for line and decorative arrangement, the very large and observer will be seized and held by the poetry of Aman- simple treatment,the subtle and harmonious colour. Jean,who isseen to bepraising life so beautifully in But above all it reveals the painter’s ability to discover design and colour; charmed by the brilliant American, thesoul of hissubject. In this masterly canvas the Mary Cassatt, who feels, understands, and loves paint, mysterioussoul of thegypsy looks out from a pair whose every touch is delicious ; fascinated by the deli- of dark, fathomless eyes-a pair of eyeswhich, cate, minute veracity of Pissarro, who here introduces strangely visioned, follow and dwell upon you,pene- him to one of his finest things (145), the sensation of a trateand mesmerise youtill they finally hold you faintlysunlit winter day with anatmosphere full of bound.Following the virile note of Zuloagacomes in snow ; delighted with the subtlety of Sisley (143) in the rapidly descending scales, as it were, the fresh, vigor- characteristic mood of theimpressionists recording a ous, vivid,lightning-like impressions by S. J. Peploe, landscape filled withhaunting shadows, luminous and of which the one with most colour is less characteristic full of rich violetcolour ; andenchanted by Simon andmore interesting. Some discords, aberrations-- BUSSY’Ssymphony tothe glory of sunlight. Though someconsecutive fifths in paint,and L. RavenHill’s hemay inquire of thispainter whyhe spotscertain nice placid littlesea-piece provides suitablea and objects in pure black when the whole thing is coloured, harmonious close. As tothe sculpture, allthey will he will not fail to pay a tribute to the many fine features find itnecessary to sayis that the works by Rodin, of work in which he is shown two telling figures thrown Prince Troubetzkoy, FrancisBurlison, Conrat,J. in relief against a mass of houses crowding down to the David McGill, and C. A. Palmer call forth most praise ; dim blue river; in which everythingis important; in andthe caricature of JohnGalsworthy, by K. Bruce, which thetwo women meansomething, and are not deserves most blame. stupid layfigures like thewoman in Nicholson’s *** cleverly-drawn but artificial work (122) ; in which every- Oliver Hallis exhibiting at Messrs. Dowdeswell’s thing, in fact,palpitates with the joy of life. Another Gallery. Bond Street, a series of clever, highly finished spectator will be attracted by the daring extravagance cabinet pictures in oil. Mr. Hall has an individual style of C. Guerin,who shows how thestrongest primary and a truesense of values. His nice quality of colour colourscan be used withoutcrudity, and whose work may be seen in the interesting tree studies (8 and IO), has a decorativevalue which the average muddyand as well as in his study for a larger picture (26), which colourless work of our day does not possess ; and caught isindeed charming. His chief fault is a too great in- by the amazing technicalability and rapidity of vision sistenceon finnicking detail. Walter W. Russell has of Edouard Vuillard, whose power to seize an impres- an exhibition at the Goupil Gallery of water colours and sion and put it down instantly in tempera is seen in 150, paintings, veryclever academic work thatcommands andwhose daringand delicateoriginality appears in attention.There are four canvases that best display (153). He maycomplain that MauriceDenis failsto thecharacteristics of Mr.Russell’s open-air painting. impress him seeingthat his workis hung in Hehas got the sunlight into these pictures. No. 54 a manner quiteunsuited itstodecorative quali- is flooded with it ; 57 is dappled with splashes of it ; 49 ties,and will tell Besnard timeis it hegave and 52 are full of lightand atmosphere. “ TheRain- up doingwomen’s backs,presenthis studies bow- ” is a strong piece of work. The portrait study is being pretty bad ; and will neglectPeppercorn’s alsoexcellent, but his figurework hardly upholds his cheapimitation of Corotand Pointelin. After theIm- reputation. pressionists, allowing Orpen the merit of being fresh in * * * colour, andcodemning P. H. Padwick’sdirty colour The next Art Supplement will probably deal with the andconventional treatment (125), he will greatlyad- importantquestion of appropriatestage decoration mirethe immense charmand simplicity, the very from the painter’s standpoint. Arrangements are being harmonious and delicatesense of colourshown by made for articles by painters to appear week by week, Albert Morrice in his two works (129and 138). among those who will contribute being Mr. T. Sturge *** Moore. An announcement of interestto those who follow theImpressionist movement in thiscountry is In passing to the other galleries many observers will that Mr. Walter Sickert, beginningwith this week, be struck by the able work by Alexander Jamieson ; by will contribute a series of weekly articles. It will the excellent Mark Fisher which seems to say that the doubtless be recollected that Mr. Sickert and his group painter’sbest qualities are derivedfrom theImpres- of talentedpainters, in relation tothe most modern sionists ; by theinteresting qualities of Mr.John movement of painting,form the backbone which is Lavery’scanvas, which,however, lackingis in rapidlycoming tothe front, as they say in Ireland. I plein air feeling. The woman’s toofaceis notice thattwo misprints crept into my notesand muddy.They willCharles two the note correspondencelast week. “ Baccherina ” should Ricketts for the painter’sRickettsthe for fine ability to read “ Boccherini,” and “ Blaker ” “ Blake.’’I make express emotion in,colour ; thedistinguished designs thesecorrections since I wish neitherappearto by Shannon (191 and 7) ; and they will advise Horace discourteous toan opponentnor tosuggest that Mann Livens to take a note from the French and get Mr. Neville’s Arabsteeds are underthe influence of more freshness and the joy of life into his colour, and wine. 596 THE NEW AGE APRIL21, 1910

thingbut the recognition that as women we arenational CORRESPONDENCE. citizens. What we may be. able to do with the vote depends entirely upon the kind of welcome we receive into political WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE. life, and the degree to which men will be ready to work with TO THE EDITOROF “ THENEW AGE.” us. Let us never imagineto force men. The fact is that if men Yourcorrespondent, Mrs. W. W. Jacobs, will. perhaps reallyturned their force against us we shouldbe beaten. pardon me if I do not reply completely to all her questions. The militants owe their survival to-day to the forbearance of I am ,occupiedwith othersubjects for the moment, and I men in the mob; in fact, to chivalry. am not a veryquick writer. But Mrs. Jacobs’willingness Mrs. Jacobsbegs me to answer the following question: to listen to a point of view which must be so different from “What has brought the suffrage question out of the drawing- her own is altogethertoo pleasing a phenomenon tor be room ? ” Sheasked this question before ; but I really did neglected for want of time or trouble. I think I may waive notthink she wanted an answer. I believed her merely to herquestion about the difference between naturalculture beemploying a dialectical device by making a statement andmere education. That is a difference which, if notin- inquery form. However, I must plead a suggestiofalsi in stantlyperceived by anyone, would needmore space for thestatement. In the drawing-rooms which, asayoung demonstration than I could give it here. I pass by, also, her miss, I hadthe honour of adorning-anaverage kind, I rather too abstractopinion that I “try to ignore the fact believe--I never heard the suffrage so much as mentioned. thatcauses and effects havea way of gettingcuriously The suffrage was emphatically never an afternoon-tea sub- mixed.” jectamong drawing-room ladies. It would betruer to say I accept her suggestion that the motive of the militants is that the militant movement forced the suffrage into drawing- to inspire other women with a wish for expansion and im- rooms and aroused the ladies to anti-suffragism a very sad provement.My objections have been directed against the form of enthusiasm.And here, perhaps, I mayrefer to method of violence and theatrical display through which that what is certainlythe most short-sighted of all the recent spiritual wish hasbeen coarsened almostout of recogni- militant moves, namely,the appeal to the W.S.P.U. to tion. A result of this method I observedin last week’s patroniseonly firms who advertise in “Votes for Women.” “Votes for Women.” The total subscription offered towards For if thepaper, as described, is really dependent upon the educative Mission to Women--this mission which was to advertisements, it only needs for the anti-suffragists to adopt be worked fromthousands of centres-was onesolitary similar mean and petty tactics, and, by boycotting all firms half-crown. Who can doubt longer that the orgies of rough- who donot advertise with themilitants, to ruin the paper and-tumbleprocedure and the puppet-shows, thoughthese in a week. comparatively,are innocence itself, have,cheapened the Mrs. Jacobsconcludes, with vicariousasperity, that the “desirefor expansion andimprovement “ when the value militantleaders, although at “large for the present,” are setupon reasoning and undterstanding is declared by the too busy pursuing “peaceable ” propaganda to attend to me militantsat thirty pieces of copper? and my plea for reason The latest outcome of their councils As to the question concerningmy ways of “convincing indicates that they may be worse employed than in attending the unregenerate,” I declare I never attempt any such thing. to outside suggestions. The love of freedom is notin the unregenerates’ bones I am much obliged to pour Correspondent for her patience They might play our game abroad, but certainly their own in questioning me, and I trust that my replies may not in- at home The constitutional suffragists, unfortunately, have creasethedifferences between us. D. TRIFORMIS. appealed too frequently to this class of women. When Mrs. *** Fawcettdelivered herself of the following.oracle. she was playingdown tothe unregenerates. Incriticising the TO THE EDITOROF “ THENEW AGE.” charter, she welcomed an equal footing in cases of intestacy. D. Triformisstigmatises Lady McLaren’s Charter as a There is a very strong argument to be made for this reform, “vain scheme for the protection, of women.” Of course, it is but how didMrs. Fawcett argue it?“She mentioned a notprotection but justice women ask for,and the power case,”says the “Daily News,” “in which the wife of a to decide, withmen, what justice demands. It isdifficult, London porter received legacya of seventeen thousand however, to see how the cause of womenis helped by such pounds. After a yearor two the wife diedwithout making ridiculous propositions as the following :- her will, and the money went to her husband, who took to TheMilitants ought to setthemselves to the task of drink and married an undesirable woman, to whom he left prison reform, instead of worrying about the vote. everyshilling at his death.” On the face of this“argu- They have dazzled married women into believing their ment,” how would it mend matters if the wife, in her turn, “ rivals ” will disappear the day the vote is gained. were laidopen to thetemptation of takingto drink and Women are cowards, who put up with anything to get marryingan undesirable man? It is really quaint how married, suffering infidelity cheerfully without imperilling oftenthe “ undesirable woman ” slipsinto suffragist anec- their souls; but any attempt to alter this will only make dotes. A sop, she is, poor phantom ! heldout to married marriage too dear, and is sheer madness. women to galvanise theirinterest; and Mrs. Fawcett, be Women already have hundreds of ways of maintaining she never so constitutional, was guilty of vulgarity in telling their independence, and if they liked could find a hundred thatinflated story at that moment. Mrs. Jacobssuggests more. that I may possess some “new andoriginal ” arguments. The meanness of this sneer at women’s cowardice is only Well, I amnot disposed altogether to deny this. I find it equalledby the falseness of thestatement about the hun- effective, forinstance, to tell the truth about the general dreds of openings available to them. How are women to fight condition of women’s minds and capacities. If I were able, I againstthe assumptions that, although they originated in think I should write a pamphlet upon the woman-made and times when might was right, still prevail under the present woman-obsessed conventions, and entitle it : “You Have Got conditionsl of masculinecontrol of posititonand capital. YourDeserts ! ’’ Possibly women inlarge numbers would Theseassumptions are : (I) A woman needs less thana not follow a banner inscribed with this device; but it would man to live on ; (2) that marriage is the proper goal of all set them wondering, and from that they might get to think- women who are not too unattractive, and for the latter there ing.This uncommon methods of mineleads me to eschew is always the doemstic andthe more disagreeable, service the glory-and-divine-mystery-of-womanhood topicsand to of the community. choose instead such facts about our condition as prove our Many businesses need capital, but daughters in the classes need of expansionand improvement. Not these our low where moneycan be found are rarely able to obtain, it. wages, ourunpaid wifehood, butour vanity, our clinging Parents will not allow them sums sufficient to free them from toceremonies, our prohibitive andcensorious preferences ! thedomestic bed, board,and time-sheet, much less capital I never hand people “Votes for Women ” to read. I lend my to risk in business. MaryWollstonecraft, that they may behold a womanbe- Many women, late in life, are left money with the express ginningregeneration from within. I say that to beborn a object of theirnot having to work. They stood no chance woman is still to be born among a semi-conscious class, and of being‘entrusted earlier with any capital. Were a dowry thatthe “woman’s secret ’’ is actuallyall flattery and tohave been required for them, it would, perhaps,have wheedling, thecunning of a bewildered victim. I saythat been granted liberally enough. we are a drag upon progress, and for this reason : Not be- The cheerfulnessunder infidelity alluded to so genially cause,as thte common opinion goes, not because we are is, some readers of THE NEWAGE may be surprised to hear, slaves, but precisely because we are not slaves, and because frequently in whole, or in part, thecheerfulness of ignorance. no era of external subjection can ever make us slaves. We The freemasonry among men, and a certain class of women, have for that too much natural power as the blood relations too, I am bound to admit, successfully conceals one side of of men. Theonly reason we needgive for ourright to the lives of casual lust or deliberate selfishness led by many vote on the same terms as men, as national citizens, is that husbands. The hapless wife mightotherwise dwell, noton we are women. To theunregenerate this reason seems no whether she and her husband were “imperilling their souls ’’ reason at all, and until they realise it to be one it is a vain bypetty pretence on one side and lies and evasion on the business to try and set them crying “Votes for Women ! ” other, but on whether she was to imperil her own health and They would only mean votes for a lien, votes for a say about that of her children by risking contagion from one or fifty vaccination, votes against “ undesirable ” rivals, etc. other women. Also, she might consider whether the worldly I never urge the vote as a means primarily of getting any- goods with which the man pretends to endow his wife, and APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 597 tothe increase and upkeep of whichshe frequently con- sister, make one think of the recent remark of a speaker to tributes,is to bespent on the family or on theamorous the effect that it is possible to disbelieve in that figure, but pastimes (usually relatively very costly) of the husband. it is not possible torationalise it and explain it in any It will be time enough to allude to this cheerfulness when humanterms. This I thinkis true. But Mr. Baxand the the calling of mistresses and prostitutes is recognised as an superiorbrother both attempt this impossible explanation. honourableand necessary one. Perhaps then the money Mr. Bax finds the figure to be that of a short-tempered per- spentor themwill beat least as open a matter in the sonof mock humility. The superior brother finds it to be accounts as thaton polo-playing and scientific research, altogetherinferior to his standards, and in consequence, I hobbies, let us say, to be set against theatre-going and pic- suppose,places it among the unintellectuals. May I sug- ture-buying a wife might spend her share on. gest that these impressions are not by any means exhaustive, “Makingmarriage too dear,”indeed ! Thedearness is but that it is possible to receive many other impressions of not, as a rule,the wife’s fault; and where it is due to her thatstrange figure of which theEvangelists give us such aspirationsand ,extravagances, a definiteproportion of in- meagreand tantalising portraits. To read the Gospels come set asidefor the woman apart from household ex- fairly is to see a complex, contradictoryfigure emerge. A penditure, instead of a system of (‘coax, badger, or risk it,” figure that canmot be placed in any human- category.- Now would, with thehelp of anautomatically altered point of emerges the hastyperson Mr. Bax sees, now thesimple view of the public, tend to remove the fault on both sides. personthe superior brother sees, now anentirely lovable REGINALDH. POTT. person fond of children, now a violent person with hot denun- *** ciation on his lips, now a natune-lover, now a person making huge,authoritative assertions, now a personfull of some THEPREVENTION OF DESTITUTIONBILL. purposiveintention, “ like one on a secreterrand,” now a TO THE EDITOROF “ THE NEW AGE.” strangelyisolated person, in the world, butnot of it. The Is not Mr. Belloc’s criticism of the Anti-Destitution Bill figure is strange, complex, andcontradictory, and for this detached and unpractical, just because it is ideologistic? He veryreason, monstrous as it may sound, some of us find has an idea about the future arrangements of social condi- the explanation the Church gives of it more satisfying than tions,. andhe visualisesthis idea and its implications so explanationsthe of modernmen. P. D. E. vividly thathis practical judgment isoverwhelmed. One’s *** view of what the next development of society ought to be- “DOWNWARD : ASLICE OF LIFE.” whether in the direction of the distribution or the collection TO THE EDITOROF ’‘ THENEW AGE.’) of themeans of production,either or both, byturns or I havefrequently observed the strange hostility of your mixed, or neither-cannot be left out of account in the con- reviewers towards almost all the novels noticed in THE NEW )) sideration of proposals such as those of ‘(Minority Reform. AGE. In the issue for April 7th my own book, “ Downward : But it is factor upon which too much emphasis may easily a ASlice of Life,” was thevictim. “ Downward,” yourcritic be laid. Evenassuming Mr. Belloc’s “distribution ” idea states, was written for men only, whereas the contrary was to be, in its politics, in its economics, and morally, all that the case. If your critic be a woman, I shrewdly surmise she may be claimed for it, how is it possible to arrive at prac- a happens: to be childless. “ Motherhood,’, she writes, ‘(isno ticaljudgment with regard to theproposed solutilon of an crowning glory to a woman who has dropped into it without immediate and pressing problen without taking account of consideration.”Surely, if awoman be a good motherand the minor premiss, that “ what is,” as well as the major pre- love her child devotedly she need not necessarily be a stir-. ” miss, “whatought to be ? One wishes Mr.Belloc could piculturist (is thatthe word ?) todeserve the “ crowning persuade himself toget a grip of the“what is,” that he glory.”But I don’t think your reviewer knows much about might take first hand information on the subject of destitu- maternity. She naively informs us that when a baby is born tionand semi-destitution, such, for example, as that which “ the motherwants to seewhat itis like ” (fancy !), and a manager of a labour exchange gets (if that were possible). “the firstlook maymake her love it.” May makeher ! Then we might have his(‘distribution ” ideabrought into May! As if one needed to see one’s own baby before loving relation with the conditions of the immediate problem. it ! As if one hadn’t been loving it passionately, absorbingly Take-in illustration of the difficulty as it exists to-day-- for months past ! (O my Little Children ! That a NEW AGE three typical cases which I know personally in an industrial reviewer shouldseek to teachYour Mother about the centre :--(1)Able-bodied skilled workman (with wife and one mother-heart !) child), aged 30, a rivetter,out of work 21/2 yearsowing to (‘Of course, the child is a boy! “ thecritic continues. slacktrade, deteriorates in moral and industrial character But why thesneer? Surely a child may be a boy ! Boys owingto the futile search for work; tramping the streets, arefrequently born, I understand,even in these women- drawing on his savings, being “run out “ of his trade union ; riddenislands. Then my heroine’s longingfor a second pawning his own clothesand those of his wife andchild; child--”alittle daughter withdewy eyesand long, silky selling his furniture at “knockdown ” prices, starving himself hair “ is‘described asthe “ common woman’s notion of a and family, finally applying to the guardians, and being told prettydoll to dress up.’’ Doeslong hair, then, constitute that he could only have a workhouse order because with only clothes?This vulgar dressing-up notion is entirelyyour one child he was not qualified for the stoneyard privilege; reviewer’s own. No hint of itoccurs in my book. (O and so on. (2) Able-bodiedlabourer, vigorous steady- Unjustand Unseeing !-can younot understand what the going man from a village, gone to pieces, and now on the long hair of her little woman-child-symbol of their common rates with hisfamily, after four years of little work and womanhood-can mean to a mother?) much looking for work as a builder’s labourer in the town. Next, your reviewer cavils at Dolly’s mother for not giving (3) Aprinter, steady, intelligent, displaced,. after nearly her daughter “ a scientific negative to the life force”-though 20 yearscontinuous employment, owing to introduction of Dolly was butfifteen when hermother died. A unique machinery, and going through the whole gamut of torture standard of refinement might be expected from a critic who that precedes application to the guardians. findsa marriage of affection between two suitablepersons A close study of cases such as these shows what a part of “unpleasantly vulgar,,) but I find this suggestion regarding the immediate problem is, namely, that you have a process a girl of fifteen much worse than unpleasantly vulgar-I constantlygoing on which leadsto deterioration of indus- find it frankly disgusting ! We are told that (‘in some ways ” trialand moral character, suffering of men, women, and “ Downward ” is “lessreal ” than“Ann Veronica.” “ If children,and much economic waste; and that the present Ann had been a hospital nurse like Dolly, and it had been social conditions--Poor Law or otherwise,and the present assumedthat she was ignorant of the scientificnegative- organisation of industry--don’t allow of meansfor finding how Mrs. Braby herself might have smiled ! ’’ Mightshe ? work or, failing that, provision, which are either reasonable, I canonly say that my idea of a mirth-provoking subject or humane, or economic, and do not provide a remedy. differs from that of your reviewer ! Mr. Belloc isa critic of the“Minority “ proposals ; he I am nextaccused of “playing down toprejudice “ be- scoffs atthe proposed training establishments as “ com- cause of thethree actresses in the book two are of unim- pounds “ (aren’t the precincts of St. Stephen’s just as much peachablecharacter and one is dissolute. Would it, then, a “ compound “ to a policeman on duty, and what is a mine havebeen more life-like to havemade them all dissolute? to a miner ?) ; and so on. Or ought they all to have been immaculate? Your reviewer What I should like to ask is: Does Mr. Belloc admit that misses thepoint that of the two decent ones-one plays there is an immediate and urgent problem ; and, if so, will Shakespeare and the other isa comedienne, whilst the disso- he state what alternative he has to the proposals which hold lute one is a star of musical comedy. The differentiation is the field? If he admits the problem, and has an alternative, crude, I admit, but its significance will be grasped by any in what sense is his alternative consistent with an approach reader who knows anything about the musical comedy stage. to his “distribution “ idea? Agood example of the reviewer‘s extremelysuperficial P. J. REID. method is tobe found in the statementthat Dolly “ talks *** like a Fabian miss. . . . Thisjargon is not heard outside THECHRIST-FIGURE. advancedcircles, and Dolly would have no opportunity of picking it up.” It happens that all the “advanced talk ” TO THE EDITOROF “ THENEW AGE.” comes in the latter part of the book, when Dolly has learnt In THENEW AGE for April 14th two letters, dealing partly bypainful experience, andhas naturally acquired theories with thecentral figure of the Gospels, onefrom Mr. E. in defence of her practice. Belfort Bax and one from a rather superior brother to his 598 THE NEW AGE APRIL 21, 1910

Finally,your reviewer does me a greatinjustice in the is so conspicuous in almostevery statement made by the statementthat the idea of thesoul does not occur in this defenders of vivisection in justifying it--of which perversion book; that it is all concerned with material needs and bodily of truth Mr. Paget’s own letter is a good example-and also comforts.This is a libel, as all readers will quickly find theattitude of thePress, making it next to impossible, outfor themselves. Imight quote here the opinion of Mr. either here or in the United States, to get free publication Charles Marriott, who writes: “ I do not think I ever came of matterdirected against vivisection, thoughalmost every across a finer treatment of maternity in a novel.” But then day space is given to thewildest distortions of fact by medical your reviewer doesnot understand maternity, or he would menand scientists to justify it-a policy,like most others know that the best part of a woman’s soul is in the mother- now-a-days, nodoubt enforced and paidfor by those inte- heart;he would have understood better my story of the rested. MILTON ROSMER. woman who-coarse in fibre, passionate, undisciplined, *** materialist, egotist, found her soul only in that great golden “ENEMIES OF THE POOR.” moment when her babe quickened to life, and from that day To THE EDITOROF “ THENEW AGE.“ strove to climb upward, led by a little child. MAUDCHURTON BRABY. Mr.Ernest Paget is moth with mefor describing his fraternity of vivisectionists as “ enemies of the poor.’’ He (Author of “ Downward : a Slice of Life.”) alsotalks about “wild and false charges.” The enclosed [Wenaturally confess to a hostility, thoughnot strange, cutting from the “Pall Mall Gazette ” of April 13th will show to al! the novels adversely reviewed in our pages. It is not how well founded is thefear that there is no limit to the our fault that they are many, or that Mrs. Braby’s is among them. Authors’ onlyremedy is to write better novels.-Ed. cruelties which maybe practised by those scientific men who surrender their morality to the interests of vivisection. “ N. A. “ * * * C. H.NORMAN. “Something in the nature of a sensation has been caused ANOTHER REAL. LETTER. inPhiladelphia by the disclosurethat pathologists of the ’‘ Leave thou thy sister where she prays.” University of Pennsylvaniahave been practising withex- Dear X., April 13th 1910. perimental medicine upon orphan infants there. I have re-read your letter in THE NEW ACE, and wish I “ Leaders of the New York Anti-Vivisection Society and of had had more time to talk it over with you. the American Anti-Vivisection Society in Philadelphia have As one of my French friends says, “ ce qu’on apprend c’est learned(says the ‘New York Herald’ Paris edition) that a surtout la pitié,” and as I grow older in life and free-thought group of young physiologistsidentified with theWilliam I feel as I didnot feel once-towards those who need a Pepper Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania have faith. I look on that need as written in a man’s or a woman’s been applyingtuberculin tests upon 160 orphanchildren, destiny, which is one and the samething, with theinborn inmates of .thePhiladelphia Public Hospital and St. Vin- temperamentand the happyor unhappy development of cent’s Home. that. I thinkfaith or non-faith is onlysecondarily a ques- “ The discoveryhas led to a completeoverthrow in the tion of education and will. The better I understand the ins medical staff of St. Vincent’s Home.The board of direc- andouts of otheremotions, the better I understandfaith. tors, headedby Archbishop Ryan, states authoritatively Butclear thinking is always to bedesired and strenu- that the inoculations of Koch’s tuberculin, or, as responsible ously ‘(thought for,” asSpinoza said. And as one must try experimenters term it, the instillation of poisonous tuberlin to sit in judgment on one’s emotions, for the sake of human into the orphans was made without the knowledge or autho- dignity and for the discipline needed in life, so one should rity of the directors of St. Vincent’s Home. look one’s faith in the face, if one can. However, it is hard, “ Finally, against the protests of the Sisters of Charity of and I (thoughquite without faith) can see that. And, as I St. Vincent de Paul, who are in charge of the institution, it see now that there is no single joy in life that has not some- isauthoritatively stated that in the winter of 1908 and the thing of illusioncIinging about it, I donot feel as if I spring of 1909 an epidemic of measles and bronchial pneu- could risk striking at any illusion thatis very dear to another. monia struck St. Vincent’s Home after there had been inocu- Therecords and symbols of most greatillusions in man’s lations, and that 95 per cent. of the children, including those historyare more sacred to me now thanthey used to be. into whom tuberculin was instilled, are now dead. Yet I crave to livedown illusion myself. Andthough I ‘‘ This frightful mortality, adds the above-named journal, look to the future with aneed to hope for mankind, I see was laid unjustly on the Sisters in chargeof the institution. how difficult it is to leave the old paths. “As the result of these preliminary disclosures a committee I have come across very little bigotry in my own life, and of prominent citizens now demands an official investigation thereforeperhaps I am too readyto believe thatan ideal into the entire affair.”--“ Pall Mall Gazette.” is sought byothers where there is reallynothing an view *** butthe world and the things of the world. But I beginto ANDROMACHE. feel thatbigotry can be fought better by fair, temperate, TO THE EDITOROF “ THE NEWAGE.?’ plain speaking than by a passion for liberty. Bigotry easily creeps in. I could find itin my heartto let fly atall dab- Yourcontributor D. Triformishas plenty of ground for blersin Oriental religions. And then I sayto myself: despisingthe artificial Andromache of Euripides.The “Whyshould not they dabble? Why should notI allow Greekname of thiswoman signifies “ManFighting.” Pro- fessor Murray, whose pretty rendering of the decadent Euri- that others must take a point of view different from mine? ” As formorality, whether supposed to beconnected with pidesis so curiouslyadmired in feminine circles, does not any particular faith or not, I expect none from anybody ex- suppressthe fact that Andromache, in the pictures of the cept suchas the social forces have hammered into them; sack of Troy, is representedfighting with thesoldiers To orsuch as their own temperament positively inclinesthem her rescue child. *** T. L. K. to. How the morality of the great mass of thepeople is to move on a bit, I don’t as yet see, and how they are to get ACORRECTION ? any(‘inward felicity,” I don’t seeeither. Blind patriotism, TO THE EDITOROF “ THE NEW AGE.” blind affection, blindfaith, serve that purpose. If I reason Will youkindly allowme to correct an inaccurate state- I see nothing which looks hopeful and rational, too, but the mentmade by your contributor D. Triformis? I didnot remotest and highest dream of Socialism ; and this to most saythat since THE NEW AGE existedfor free discussion it peoplelooks like the wildest illusion of all. was not worth threepence of my money, and that I wouldn’t I amtruly glad THE NEW AGE publishedyour letter. I buyit any more. I said : “Womenconsider threepence a only wish I couldlive to see one of the great dailies do as week too high to pay for a paper which is apparently run in straightforward a thing. the interests of their opponents,” those opponents being, of Yours ever, M. K. R. course, the LiberalGovernment. As amatter of fact, I get *** THE NEW AGE every week tosend to a supporter of the ANTI-VIVISECTION. Liberalparty who lives inthe country, and he cheerfully pays for pays it. FLORENCEA. UNDERWOOD. TO THE EDITOROF “ THENEW AGE.’’ *** Will you allow me to tellMr. Stephen Paget the real reason why themovement against the abomination of vivisection SOCIALISMAND SUPERIOR BRAINS. makes,apparently, no headway, and in spite of a tremen- TO THE EDITOROF “ THE NEW AGE.” dous force of opinion,finds the mass of thepublic inert? Mr.Robert Jones has forgotten that it is a reviewer’s Broadly speaking, either it is because the public is ignorant business to review a book,not to preach his own or Mr. --.some in a greater, some in a less degree-of what really Jones’ideas of political economy. Wealthmay be defined happens in vivisection experiments, or else the tendency of byeverybody to suit themselves, but a pamphlet that pro- our so-called civilisationhas already made men the un- fessedly answers anddemolishes Mr. Mallock’s arguments humaneand selfish cowards which seemsinevitable unless ought at least to deal with them. If Mr. Jones will read Mr. itis soon forced into a better track. I have, so far,been Mallock andMr. Shaw, andthen read my review, hemay unable to decide which, but one of these is the reason. Nor be able to see that I was not preaching 18th century or any is it, as Mr. Paget says, such admirable and fearless reason- other economics, but was simplyprotesting that the ing as Mr. C. H. Norman’s article which is responsible, but pamphlet did not answer Mr. MalIock. ratherthe misrepresentation and perversion of truth which YOUR REVIEWER. APRIL21, 1910 THE NEW AGE 599

McCABE, JOS., “ TheReform of theDivorce Articles of the Week- Law,”Literary Guide, April. MILLIGAN,GEORGE J., “ Seeingthe Comet,” AFLALO, G., “ BirdVoices,” Morning Post, F. MorningLeader, Ap. 14. Ap. 12 ; “ TheFutility of TravelBooks,” Pall Mall Gazette, Ap. 16. MONEY, L. G. CHIOZZA, “ CorneringBottles : TradeAgainst Trade,” Daily News, Ap. 14; “ How ANDERSON,Sir ROBERT, “ Parnellismand BritishProtectionists Close Colonial Markets,” Crime,”Times, Ap. 12 (letterto the editor). Morning Leader, Ap. 14; “ Making Emigrants : Profit ARCHER, WM., “ Macdermottism in Politics,” PlusPolitical Capital,’’ Morning Leader, Ap. 13. MorningLeader, Ap. 16; “ Revivalsat the Repertory Theatre,”Nation, Ap. 16. MORGAN,Prof. J. H., “ Mr.Asquith’s Resolu- tions : A Textual Commentary,” Westminster Gazette, BARING,MAURICE, “ DiminutiveDramas : Ap. 12. Ariadne in Naxos,”Morning Post, Ap. 12. MOSELY, A., “ TheLabour Party and Tariff Re- BEERBOHM, MAX, “ Habit,”Saturday Review, Ap. 16. form,” Times, Ap. I I (letter to the editor). NEALE, ARCHIBALD, “ Getting Ready : The Turn BELLOC,HILAIRE, M.P., “ TheInternational : II. the Motive Force,” Dublin Review, April. of theYear,” Morning Leader, Ap. 13. O’CONNOR, T. P., “ Mr. Lloyd George : How His BENNETT, ARNOLD, “ Inthe Twelfth Largest Handswere Tied in Dealingwith the Irish Leaders,” Town,” Daily Chronicle, Ap. 12. BETTANY, F. G., ‘‘ LaurenceSterne,” Sunday Reynolds’s, Ap. 17. PENGELLY, R. S., “‘TheConspirators : Sir R Times, Ap. 17. Anderson’sDisclosures,” Morning Leader, Ap. I I. BJORKMAN, EDWIN, “ Bjornson,thePoet- Reformer,” American Review of Reviews, April PHILLIPS,CLAUDE, “ TheOrganisation of Museums,”Daily Telegraph, Ap. 16. BLATCHFORD,ROBT., “ RetiredHurt : The Story of a Great Innings,” Clarion, Ap. 15. PUGH, EDWIN, “ TheTorture Chamber,” Morn- ing Leader, Ap. 16. BREMNER C. S., “ The Divorce Laws of Europe,” Pall Mall Gazette, Ap. 13. REEVES, The Hon. W. 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DESLYS, GARY, “ Hooligans who Dance : The End “ : of theGrotesque Apache Craze,”Daily Express, TOMLINSONH. M., TheRubber Trade III. Ap. 14. The Green Hell,” Morning Leader, Ap. I I. TRACY, BEATRIX, ’‘ The Dignity of Dormesticity,” DESMOND, G. G., “ Washing Day,” Daily News, Ap. 13. EveningNews, Ap. 13. WAGHORN, ARTHUR, “ OnBeing Exalted,” DOUGLAS,JAS., “The Fallen Horse : A Deadlock Morning Leader, Ap. 15. in Oxford Circus,” Morning Leader, Ap. 12. WOLFF, H. W., “ Liberalsand Small Holdings: FISHER, The Hon. SYDNEY, “ Canada’s Future : TheGranary of theEmpire and the World,’’ Daily Co-operationfor sale, Purchase, and Work,” Daily Chronicle, Ap. 16. Chronicle, Ap. 13. WOOD. Field-MarshalSir EVELYN, V.C., etc., FYFE,H. HAMILTON. “ The Seeds of Unrest,” “ TheSiege of Delhi,”World, Ap. 12. Daily Mail, Ap. 14; “ The Last Stronghold : My Visit to El Hazar,” DailyMail, Ap. I Y. GEORGE, W. L. “ The Truth About Emigration,” Daily Chronicle. Ap. 14. Bibliographies of Modern Authors, GLYDE, C. 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