New-York tribune. [volume], February 20, 1910, Page 6, Image 20

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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6
/v ROUXEY UARSH: IT BUVRIBB.
Itv HERBERT TRENCH.
O were the deep fields of the heaven
Beneath our feet like these—
Could we surmount the shad.- of Death
And his all-shaking seas
Were mortal feet for ever meant
From life to life to run
Through a million-dawned firmament
Breaking from sun to sun-
How well with thee were I content
For soul's companion!
Only with thee and beauty blent
Always to journey on!
®Ije ffixoM&sk. @wJ»s«&
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY •_*•». I!>l<>.
The Authors' «'lni> in London recently gave
a dinner to Mr. Arthur Rackham, whose il
lustrations for "Peter Tan," "Rip Van Winkle,"
the "IngoMsby Legends" and divers other
works have won him international repute.
Much was saiil upon this occasion about the
making of pictures for books, and the guest
of the evening had a number of suggestive- re
marks to in. ike. Most Interesting of all was
his protest against the photograph, followed
V], by the statement that "the illusive resem
blance to nature has nothing whatever to do
with the {esthetic value of a work of art."
I teveloping this point he said :
I car. believe that many .1 living author will
not feel that lie can receive any great advan
tage from illustrations. Regarded as additional
lures, !ik<> gold leaf on the cover, they may have
some pow« r of increasing a circulation. But
that is not a point for the artist to be much in
terested in, is if. 1 He knows that for his illus
trations to ':»■ worth anything he must be re
garded as a partner, not as a servant. An
illustration may legitimately give the artist's
view of the author's ideas; or it may give his
view, his independent view, of the author's sub
ject. But it must be the artist's view; any at
tempt to coerce him into a mere tool in the
author's hands can result only in thr most lis
mal failure. . . . The most fascinating form
of illustration consists of the expression by the
artist of an individual sense of delight or emo
tion aroused by the accompanying passage of
literature.
Surely these are legitimate observations, and
if ail illustrators were as clever as Mr. llack
ham one could leave the whole business in
their hands without a murmur. Bat the author
who is not infrequently to be found craving
the blood of his illustrator is scarcely to be
blamed. The violence done to his work is some
times merely outrageous.
It is reasonable enough to object, iv. litera
ture, to the kind of accuracy that you get iv
a photograph. As Mr. Kaekliam says, to put
before your readers, "even if tho book is about
places at home or abroad, an actuality, the
actuality you had before you when writing, is
ruthlessly* to rob off all the bloom of imagina
ticn. of temperament, of personal view, of
atmosphere, which are your chief, your only.
great claim to consideration." The authors
to whom lie addressed these remarks promptly
cheered him. They liked being reminded by
him i hat they were not "copying clerks or
phonographers or recording angels." But we
dare say that while they sympathized with Mr.
Rackhanfs plea that the individuality of the
ii lust rat or should be granted a similarly free
play, many of them oiusi have recalled with a
rueful smile instances of illustrative originality
[hissing into ii.v misrepresentation. The truth
is that the an of illustration has in recent
years developed some deplorable tendencies.
especially in the realm of fiction. Not only
l;.vc illustrators wantonly disregarded their
text, producing designs comically false in de
tail, but some of them have so imposed their
types and mannerisms upon publishers and
editors that the characters and scenes of scores
of writers have ail been made to look alike.
What is more, this ridiculous popularity of a
lew pretty siemiis Las reacted in disastrous
fashion upon both the literary and artistic in
terests involved. The illustrator of individual
ii> whose minis! rations might be welcomed by
this or that author has been needlessly dis
couraged. Full of willingness io be loyal to
il.e book that is. perhaps, the one book in the
world for him to embellish, lie and the man
v.ho wrote it arc kept apart by a silly fad.
Another celebrity in the world of books who lias
just been publicly feted, Sir Arthur Conau Doyle.
lias been talking about his profession. Speak
ing to the members of the New Vagabond Club.
lie emphasized the familiar fact that in the
author of any substance whatever "there was
something which was inborn, and not made,"
and lie wondered what the teachers in "schools
of literature" could do with the pupils upon
whom nature had nut bestowed "the guiding
instinct." Humorously he cited a friend who
had said to him, 'I am going to give up lit
erature and write Sherlock Holmes stories,"
but, he added, his friend had subsequently re
marked. "I sat down to write them, but I
could not gel the beginning for the first."
Granting the possession of an instinct for au
thorship, and proceeding to the question of
style. Sir Arthur made the curious and con
tradictory observation that "No man has an
inborn style; all was moulded on preceding
Style, and the first step was for the aspirant to
impregnate himself with the style of the best
writers, avoiding those who had peculiar styles."
Here i.s a fine derangement of epitaphs. If
btyle is not born in a luan we would like to
know what is*
NEW-YOliK I>A"Y TRIBUNE. SUNDAY. FEBRUARY 20, 1810.
G2ORGE THE FIRST.
A Favorable Modern Estimate of
the Man.
.... „ [,-irst rJEORGE In Hsinover and England
n\ 1 ew»s Melville Illustrated. Two volumes.
Svo PP - : ' : - '-''-■ Charles Scribner's Sons.
Mr Melville believts that King George the
First has not been justly treated bj British his
torians, and ho endeavors En these two bulh
volumes to show thai the Hanoverian was more
intelligent. Judicious and moral than he has
been popularly supposed to be. Thackeray, we
remember, wrote long ago: "There are stains ...
the portrait of the first George and traits In it
which none of us need admin-; but among the
nobler features are Justice, courage, modera
tion." Mr. Melville, writing at length, alters but
little these lineaments of the portrait drawn by
the great essayist He has, however, collected
from many sources much interesting detail,
and he offers v- a specimen of the current fash
ionable biography which, to say the least, is
worth reading.
As Elector of Hanover George Lewis did not
cut a very attractive figure. He served as a
boy in the Imperial Army, and is said to have
then shown bravery and military' capacity — a
creditable record for .1 litt!" officer of fiftei n
years. He had scarce any education — the scions
of German dukedoms in those days were not
supposed to be in need of learning — but he could
write a reasonably good letter, as appears from
that penned in London in 1680 and addressed
to his mamma in Hanover. He was twenty
one then, and had been sent to Kngland to make
the acquaintance, with a view to matrimony,
of his cousin. Princess Anne, daughter of thf
Duke Of York. King Charles, he tells the
Duchess Sophia, received him "most obligingly."
and mad'- him kiss the hem of Queen Cath
erine's petticoat Next day he was permitted to
salute Anne "by kissing her. with the consent
of the King." He is at pains to indicate that
there was no disrespect intended in his Uncle
Robert's (Prince Rupert's) reception of him
when snugly tucked up in bod. for Uncle Robert
had a bad leg and had f.o take care of himself.
As for the London news of the day h<> tells
Sophia that "They cut off the head of Lord
Stafford yesterday, and made no more ado about
it than if they had chopped off the head of a
pullet." We do not know whether the Han
overian dukeling enjoyed this first visit to Ay
country over which he was oni> day to reign as
the successor of the princess whose hand he
sought That bride he did not capture, and his
biographer admits that he was scarcely a young
man to allun- any girl: —
He was below the average height, with an
awkward figure and entirely devoid of good looks;
his manners were deplorable, and not even a brief
course of training at Versailles, the home of ele
gance, had wrought any improvement while bis.
uni»rpno«>se .Min;; S appearance was not redeemed by
■VnvsnCTeeable accomplishment. Such virtues an
1 "Wf honesty and truthfulness, were not apparent
no nan, '"'' „, „„ 1 even if they bad been, were
on th<; Sl ."' themselves likely to turn the scale In
scarcely in '', "; , „.i r, „r a g.H of fifteen. HI;
bis favor "/bravery was his sole as,,t in th«
reputation •>>' '» 7 ' 1 * '-
court ol _ lo * e - said, however, that at first Anne
•mm. -i v^i ' '„, or less Indifferent, thinking, per-
) l Xi"- i: »V., on" political marriage might be no rnnrr
i w"ti, ,?• 1, 1- tl an another: but Iha I after a while
"hi wonhllwv" nothing more to do with him. The
she would \u i\> ; ■ "]V,';, rgv |. ( .,,,s did not push hi
s,iH rV v ( k rv' S -i - >rou-iv. and that William of Orange
»|Lr v to be conveyed to her that this heslta
i ,-V which i' tuallv came fr.-m shyness, arose from
a Msias • for her pirson that he conceived at first
St.'it This if ! tri-. would account for the ani-
Sty with which Anne treated George Lewis
throughout her life.
n is not at all impossible that the shrewd
William did interfere with a marriage which
would not have suited bis plans for his wife'a
sister; however that may »»•■. George Lewis's
father recalled him and betrothed him to hia
German cousin. Sophia Dorothea, the young
heiress of the dukedom of Celle. The girl was
charming, pretty, accomplished, emotional, sen
timental; the bridegroom was, as Mr. Melville
observes, cold and reserved, not giv n to any
GEORGE r.
(From the portrait by Kneller.)
show .if foiling, ■' r > 1 •■I'-rriiig hunting and
military life to ■».. r . .aionial dialogues. The
biographer absolves George Lewis from the
charge of intidelity to his wife; and be re
bearses with complete sympathy for his h^ro
the now threadbare tale of the romance of
Sophia Dorothea and Count Philip yon Konigs
inark.
His wife safely divorced and imprisoned for
life in th* 1 castle of AhJden, and his old father
and uncle dead, the Elector. George L*-wis, pro
ceeded to govern in peace for many years hi-<
dukedoms of Hanover and CeDe. His admin
istration was pronounced "equitable, mild and
prudent." He was frugal in laying out the pub
lic money, himself superintended the manage
ment of public affairs, skilfully avoided trouble
with his neighbors, and was highly popular
among his subjects. After the Act of Settle
ment was passed by the English Parliament anj
all men knew that the Electress Sophia and her
h»'ir3 were established in the line after Qu<va
Anne, the British visitors to the Continent be
came loud in praise of George Lewis. As for
Sophia, they described with admiration her Eng
lish ways, her lively conversation in the Eng
lish language, her extraordinary knowledge of
the British constitution and of English fam
ilies, laws and customs. Death took from her
her chance of sovereignty — a pity, for this grand
daughter of Jam^s I would have made a Queen
of an imposing sort. She was a brilliant woman,
even a learned one, practical, sensible, full of
humor, open-minded, and not a little cynical.
She wa.s much cleverer than her son — a fact
which he may hare resented, for he was never
particularly considerate of her. and ignored her
wishes and advice as much as possible. She is
quoted as declaring that she would die happy
if she lived long enough to have inscribed on her
tumb "Here lies Sophia, Queen of Ensland".
yet. as Mr. Melville pomt 3 out. she was ,j
cerely attacked to her kinsmen. James n a '^j
his son. and had a return to the throne' tl,
possible for tb'-m sh»- would not willingly ha-*
become ■ rival claimant Hut :>.,-.- was to hi
no King James rh. Third and no Queen Socr*
George Lewis was fifty-four years old who
he wa<s summoned to England to take the thro
of his mother*! ancestors — and to ,---.. the T|^
try from the advent of the Pretender and of ajj
the evils attending that young man. w e ,
told that perhaps the most unhappy day ...
Elector's life was that on which he learned tr »
he was King of England He was so comfort.
able in Hanover! He was fond of hi 3 p^ OrV *
and th' y were fond of him. His word was £ '
in his country-— and England, alas, had a cr
stitution to which the King had to bend. yL*
was a hard thing for the arrogant little c,.*
man prince to contemplate. He hated r<-»
ceremony, he didn't like th. English, and ■ >
knew that they wanted him only as a bulwri
against a Roman Catholic rule. All through l
years in England he longed to bo la Him,
and returned there as often as he could aM
stayed as long as he dared. The English Ji
liked him; Mr. Melville acknowledges that iher
ill opinion of him survives to this day. -p^
underlying cause of this dislike, it is not denied
was that they "resented b'-ing ruled by a fo
elgner, even by a foreigner whom they ha?
called to the throne." They did not like li 3
looks; nor hi* habits; nor his inability to s^-ak
English; nor the Germans, men and womf-ti
who had accompanied him to ?;r.sf!an<l. Amo" »
these people; to be sure, there were leech 3
who hoped for peerages and fat offices in Eng
land — but they were faced by a law whi*h
Mocked such chances for foreigners, and Geor™«
apparently, lid not try to evade or change it
.But while they did not gf-t what they fcaj
hoped for they found scope for their greed i
other directions. What they could not get for
themselves they couFd get for British asp-;-.
ants who would bid high enough for their in-
Horace. Three, at least, of the Hanoveriins
who surrounded the King traded incessantly
titles and appointments. Mr. Melville .-ays thy
George seems to have put no check on th»
rapacity of these men:
liy accepting their nominations he r:ir.not be h»!j
innocent ol the charge of having given them tlipw-l
encouragement to persevere in th»-;r scaadaloia
conduct. Indeed, though he did not plunder ta
himself, he was quit*- ,wi ■_• that the memh^
of his suite should do the best th^y o>t;M for thf~.
selves in this way. . . . As he coold not-r-
ward his followers with offices or pensions char^ l
able on the Enellsfa or Irish establishments. h» Hi
the next best ihini? and gave th>-m "pp<>rtun!t!^i
in other ways to amass mom Thus, Robetha
procured from him the tyrant of «'!*-rk of the Parlia
ment for anybody he would name when death re
moved the present holder of that appointment; nil
the confidential adviser sold th»- reversion to Spa
cer Cowper, member of Parliament for Truro. for
the sum of one thousand eight hundred pounds.
When a cook George had brought from Hanover
asked permission to return because he couM r."t
be responsible for the prodigal waste that was a
such startling contrast to the ri^i.l economy of
Herrenhau^en. "N< v--r min^l." th»- monarch is re
ported to hay* said, "my present rfvenaes itCl
bear the expense . 'i • you steal like the rvst"— hi*
laughed — "be sore you take en<>ush." This arr>l
other stories may well ■•• apocryphal, but it has
1.^.-n stated again am! asain on pocd authority that
George had no heli-f in th<^ disiatmstednesa .if
statesmen, ami when Walpolr '■orr.p.'ained ot the
predatory habits of "the foreispsers." he retorts I.
■'I -..,-.. you also are paid for your recommenda
tions:-
Mr. Melville dares that, according to his
light?, George ira honest. loyal to his frier.-i?,
and just, and often generous, to his enemies,
Then- is a story that whei masked lady it a
ball asked him to lii: to the Pretender he
raised his glass and said with a bow to ;b
reckless dame. "I will drink with all my heart
to the health of any unfortunate prince!" It
may be that there was a something of softa>i
in the heart of the fat, elderly King for on*
who was, after all. his kinsman. Not wholly
without sympathy was this Han ■•—.in. set
and again he did things that were kind. It vaa
long remembered of him that during a paajaai
through the English provinces he released
from gaol at his own expense all prisoners con
fined for debt in any town through which ta
passed. He had a acme of humor which W33
somewhat coarse; and he liked lax ing •..-.!
music. Of art and literature hi koeai lit" •*
and for them cared less. Hating formal court
entertainments, he enjoyed listening in silent
to clever, witty talk. He loved good eating. ac<L
most of all. his pipe and beer of an ever.ic-r
with friends about him in the drawin? room cf
the yon Schulenburg, the far from fair Melusin?.
who was, the biographer believes, his morgan
atic wife. Of all the incarnations of greed who
surrounded George this lady waa the most au
dacious and unsparing; she sold her interest
whenever she saw profit, and her accumulation
were prodigious.
George's chief virtue as King of England *aa
that ho was content to mind his own busmen
and let his English ministers conduct the srov
eminent. "In private life." wrote Lord Ches
terfield, "he would have been loved and esteeni^l
as a good citizen, a good friend and a good
neighbor." Lord Mahon, in enumerating hi*
solid qualities, said: "He was apt to rerneni
ber services much longer than injuries — a qual
ity rare in every rank of life, but least of ail
common with princes." These commentators
have, we believe, been just in their estimates.
There have been worse kings than was this
coarse, dull, little man; — and we do not care
to think of what might have happened to Eng
land under the rule of the third James of tefl
Stuart line.
Mrs. Humphry Ward's new book is due Jn
April. Will her high born British widow niarr>
her humble Canadian politician? is the i;-'--
tion which is prompting some discussion amon^
the feminine readers of the aerial chapters.