New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-02
NOTES FROM LONDON.
TENNYSON AND Mr.. LESLIE ~STEPHEN-S
MR.. WATERHOUSE, R. A., AND THE
ADVERTISER-MR ALBERT CHE
VALIERS CARRIAGE.

ADVERTISER-MR ALBERT CHE
vALIERS CARRIAGE.
London, November IS.
Tennyson has still another successor-not az
| Poet Laureate, not as President of the Society
| Of Authors, but President Of the London
| Library This time the choice is not grotesaue
az it was in the case of the Society Of Authors.
IL is respectable, if not ideal. Mr.. Leslie
| Stephen is the new President He would be
well fitted for the post if real head Of this
important collection Of books were wanted, anl
| not q figure-head The real executive Of the
| Library is its Librarian and Secretary, Mr..
Robert Harrison; and there is competent
committee. What is wanted in addition to that
is a name which will impress and attract the
public, as Tennyson's did This Library relies
largely, if not entirely, on the yearly sub.
scrption of its members, and desires to in
crease the number OF them. For that purpose
Tennyson's was useful name, as Car%le's
was his immediate predecessor-not, / fear.
| Mr.. Leslie Stephens. So far as Mr.. Stephen
is known 70 the general public, lie is known as
| an accomplished man of letters, who has pub
lishcd number of excellent books, which haze
| had no great popular success and edited part Of
a Dictionary of National Biography from which
| i'll health unhappy compelled him to retire.
| But he is the author of no one work Of sur
passing merit; he has made no very deep
mark on literature or the thought of his
age: he has not even, like Mr.. George Meredith,
gathered about him coteric OF fauatical
deyotces. His, in short, is no name to conjure
with. Why not Mr.. John Morley, if a man OF
letters were wanted? His name at least stands
for something which the reading public can APP
preciate and care for
Presently suppose, we shall be hearing Of some
|
other post which Tennyson held and honored. They
are parting his mantle among such heirs can
be found to his immortal legacy. 1t is as IL
there were an effort to make it clear how
lonely was the splcndor of his last years In no
branch Of art is the great artist easily replaced.
When Nine Sarah Bcrnhardt quilted the
Francois NJ Perrin, whoever was then director
OF that great theatre, sought hther and thither
for actresses to fill one and another Of Nine.
Sarahs parts. To find any one who would
ever attempt all of them was admittedly hope
less. The "Charivari' Of the day published
cartoon, in which the departing actress
depicted as the fgure-head gold coin, and
a group Of newcomers in heap of little silver
pieces with this legend: /" Pas facie trouver,
Ia mOnnaie de Sarah Bernhardt.' Nor is 10
more easy to find small change for the coined
gold of Tcnnysons genius. No candidate for tho
Poet Laureatcslip satisfies the public, and it i
now said that no appointment is likely to be-
made at present.
protest has appcared-certainly none too soon
against the advertiser. The protester is Mr..
Warehouse, the eminent architect and Royal
Academician One might have expected a re.
monstrance from the Royal Academy of Art long
since what is an Academy of Art for If not to
protect the interests of art, and to preserve the
architecture of the capital from deiilement? But
this conundrum which nobody has yet been able
10 answer. The dweller in the capital may b
thankful that single member Of this august
body, which at times seems 10 care more for
commerce than for art, should come forward to do,
so far as in him lies. the duty Of the whole come
pany of his colleagues
Mr. Watcrhouse makes bold to call the modern
mania for advertising disease. The disease. he
declares, has gone far TO destroy the appear
ance of our towns. Brobdingnag lettering and
colossal sky-signs have almost ruined our street
architecture He complains that the walls OF
railway stations are SO overaid with big-lettcred
placards that the name OF the station itself is lost
among them. lie might have said the same thing
Of the London omnibus, on which everything il
conspicuous except the points Of departure and
arrival The omnibus has become itinerant
advcrtsing-van. whereon he who wishes to go to
the Bank or to Shepherds Bush may find either IL
he can amid announcements of somebody's black
lead and some other body's infant food, and the
virtues OF "A dozen competing soaps.
But what has finally aroused Mr. Waterhouse
is not the woes of the would-be traveller, nor all
the vulgar and ostentatious parade Of many
various wares in the streets of London. IL is the
vandalism which has broken out in the country;
the desccraton of the lovcliest spots the Thames
Valley the country about Malvern the picturesque
IN VOL. ,lo
Devon or these the advertising hend has taken
possession exactly as he has in America Of the
admirable Hudson, and Of much else that is most
admirable from one end Of the Continent 10 the
other He is bad enough in Ncw-lork Broadway
il one long avenue of competitive vulgarity: with
the result that in the glare of universal publicity no
single sign is easily visible. or easily found If you
look for il. But whether in London or Ne~-iork IN
the Adirondacks or in the rural solitudes of kdnt.
the advertiser is in possession, and seems Inclined
to stay.
How is he to be dislodged? Mr.. Waterhousc
does not content himself with a protest; lie faces
the practical difficulty.
If the public would only reflect on the enor-
nous sums spent in advcrtising-money which
come. eventually out of their own and not 70
advertisers pockets-they would cease 10 bolster
n rotten system by purchasing articles so adver-
tlsed."
That il an idea which has been heard of before.
but has never been worked out on great scale.
and brought To the knowledge of the advertiser
himself Many sufferer acts on it: rronaoiy
the advertiser would be astonshed il he knew no"
many persons are repccd by his odious puhely'
how many make il rule never to buy what u
advertised Extensively. Mr.. Waterhouse suggests
that these huge bills and boards should be taxed
taxed heavily enough TO tax them out OF existence
The Chancellor of the ENchequer, as wei as inc
public. ought to be grateful 10 him for the s"S-