New-York tribune., 1896-11-22

anecdote, but IL Is irritating III '"e
have 10 get at them through dreary ""''' "
garrulity concerning an infancy, DoHn"ou' VIC
may even say manhood upon N'''" "
thoughtful person could be expected 10 peS'o"
more than passing glance. we 90 no' ""',.
value Mr.. Hares services 10 taNc"e's'
ho,dboors are among the best and most use
ful publications of their KIND. we WIN - "
thor and sav that long familiarity with the gen
tlemanly gossip of those books hdu ''u''
noctations Of some admirable memoirs from the
authors pen But Mr.. Hare would nave " We
q senius indeed before the heartlessness or MS
parents became Of any consequence 10 tie WI Az
at large and he would have to be something
more than a genius before his little Whi'e night
shirts and red coral necklace, and other lhiah''c
onnanoges made imperative demands upon our
curiosity. That is nummery. pure gorgeous
nu,nmerv Imagine a person long since arrived
al wears of discretion, recording impressiVeN
.hat ..It uas on this occasion that first wore Il
morning coat instead Of jacket, and very prouu
7 was of if" No doubt but why IN the name ot
tan Thousand platitudes should the pubic DE
told ANYTHING about it? How much wiser IL
,,ouId have been had Mr. Hare suppressed the
mass of twaddle with which he has expahded
his ,u.o volumes and restricted himself TO de-
scrintions as vivid as this one Of landor. COM
,nen,orative of the authors stay at Bath IN 1913:
..Once n week | used to go into Bath itself, To
dine with my fathers old friend Walter savage
Iandor who had been driven away from MS
Florentine home by his wfes violent temper
Mr. Landor lived alone with MS hcau'i-
ful white Spitz dog Pomero which he allowed 10
do whatever II liked, and frequently to slt IN
the oldest way on the bald top of his head lie
would talk to Pomero by the hour together
poetry philosophy. whatever he was 'hlhh'hs Oh
all of it imbued with his own personality ana
would often roar with laughter TIL the Whoie
house seemed to shake. In the eNch"7'
he would sit for hours in impassioned contem-
plation: I'm the mornings he wrote necessarily, 70
fling off sheet after sheet for The Examiner
seldom looking them over afterward.
Another person whom he liked was a pretty
young Bath lady. Miss Fray, who often came to
dine with him when / was there. After dinner
Mr. Landor generally had nap. and would say:
Now. Augustus, I'm going to sleep so make love
to Miss Fray'-which was rather awkward
When he writes In this vein Mr. Hare is good
company, In spite OF his frequent outcroppnsS
OF egotism, as when he takes pains to tell US
that Landor seemed to prefer him to any OF
his own children. He can be forgiven lapses
like that for the sake Of the glimpses he gives
us OF people about whom can never hear
too much His story OF Jowetts rctort when
he had ventured TO say something during Il
walk the retort which Informed the master
companion that his last observation was
sineularly commonplace" is passing old: but
there are other anecdotes about the great man
, nut, htch eaar, IN us newer "IIs
ouaint breyity Of speech was never more re-
markable than when the Council. met In solemn
conclave summoned the little hereto, az ne
used 10 be called into its awful presence. Then.
bene asked. Now. Mr. Jowett. answer the
truth; can you sign the Thirty-nine Articles
he dumfounded them with. II you've n niue
ink He could be very satrical ! reinemp'r'
in after years. when Jcx Blake. aiterward Dean
Of Wells. had been talking very prJsliy. he saio'
I have long known that law comes froih Lev
but never knew til now that Jaw comes from
lex" We quote this checrfully ana We c'uii
quote much more OF the same sort, hut II '"'''
is one tradition more than another WhlVh h''"S
exploding it Is that hoary one when accepts A."
biography as masterpiece because II -
ora,ned with stories II ,his is the way the
matter is to be settled. the best biography "ou''
ho o co,nnendium Of "anecdotes have heard.
invented and stolen Taste IN JOKES Is Sh'u ~
10 = or.,t touchstone for character. and possibly
I he Kind Of stories a man thAH'l'b "'"'
vea, the man But this Is fantastic The biog-
raphv that is worth anything IL DlosraP"J
that Ike Johnson's. may be packed with anec-
dotes. and yet is full-lcngth portrait. care
fuI. eloouent picture Of the man. what we
would take from Mr. Hare with interest wouid
he a clear outline OF his career. something
,ha, uouId tell us lust what he is like His
,wo thick volumes merely present an image
IIe has nothing 10 tell
Of his own thinking that is not siekiy seh'i-
,oor,al All that is good in his book IL the
letting forth OF what this celebrity or that
so,d mr. had happen to him. Surely something Is
wrong here.
Uamerton's autobiography offers wholesome
oon,roet lie too has some hard things To
sov about his father II one looks merely nj the
enectace he unveils ~ a harsh-tempercd. drink
ing Englishman treating his motherless poy
without vestige Of tenderness. ana, ihucod' VS.
it,nr downright brutaitles upon the chiId heSi'
ono 4. tempted to group this volume WIN MT
uare's egrcgious production. But Hamer'oh WAN
IN tbe best sense OF the word "A gentleman lie
,ived Ike one and he wrote like on" Ills "li''
adding TO his autobiographical fragment Il me-
moir filling out the record OF his career ccie-
brates that career In his own modest N'ifl' Iio
was born in tn. same year with MT Hare lo'''
and his tastes turned naturally to much the
Sam. things which have occupied the life OF hs
contemporary. They both cared for art. Ihey
hotb drew and wrote They both devoted them
selves to lines Of aesthetic study. Yet one re-
veals himself as a spineless dilettante with inau-
din emotions The other has all the traditional
reserve Of an Englishman. and with it "A GER
tain intellectual vgor which kept him invariaDly
from the commission Of absurdities Hamertoh =
recollections of childhood are. on the whole, OF
practical service to the student Of his career.
When workmen were making alterations ana
repairs to his uncles house the lad provoked
their wrath bv constant observations on what
they were doing. There was an old master
mason who did not like me and my criticisms,
and he swore at me- freely enough, In an explicit