New-York tribune., 1896-05-03

t,on which II gives from Mr. lie Gallienne's "con-
tributions to critical Journalism during the last
five wears might serve as a sort OF
literary diary of the tme," and Of course, every
studious man needs such diary. Ihen MT. LIE
dallienne has reviewed" many conspicuous
writer's, and this leads him to think that MS
book may "be found representative Oh what l
venture to believe will be most enduring In the
literary output of the period 1t covers 1t seems
really to distress this author to find that ny
sheer accident" he has omitted an article on MI
A. c. Benson Think of IT, Mr.. A. c. Benson
left out! And Miss Olive Custance-in regard 10
whose poetry Mr.. lie Gallienne says that lis
striking promise has been eVidehceu
by her contributions to various magazines. but
Miss Custance has not published volume yet
apparently she has not been sufficiently assiduous
in cultivating The Bodley Head and. therefore.
Mr. lie Gallienne cannot review her. Here the
supreme secret Of Mr. lie Galliennes art is
reached There were some other writers wnom
he had to omit and over their absence he grows
eegiac in this wise: Il am denied the pleasure
of decorating my headlines with such names as
those Of Messrs. Zangwl Arthur Morrison,
Anthony Hope Frankfort Moore, Harold FRED
eric Morley Roberts and Coulson Kernahan;
also those of Miss Harraden and Miss Ella
Darcy" The afflicted reader might pause to be-
wall the absence OF shining lights like Mr.. Coul-
son Kernahan and Miss Ella Darcy. but the
pang in this passage is located In that clause
which indicates Mr.. lie Galliennes specific dep
rivation. He cannot decorate his headlines
with the names Of these immortals. And what
are headlines what are literary" lines, any
way, IL they be not decorated? There Is the
Clever mans aim and there lies the boredom
of his readers He must be decorative He
must be epigrammatic. He must be able to talk,
as Mr.. lie Galllehne talks, about "the imperfec;
digestion of certain modern science and philos-
ophy which Is becoming painfully obtrusive
through the apple-cheek outline Of Mr. Hardy's
work" And when he says things like this he
thinks he Is uttering words Of wisdom and
charm. But wisdom ought to tell Mr.. lie Gal
llenne that the imperfect digestion" Of any
thing whether 1t be of science or philosophy, or
more material things. is absolutely never appre-
hended through the outline of a mans work
And Mr. Hardy. who is full OF charm, would
lose 1t all If his work had an "apple-cheek out
line" There are more fecites of this kind In
Mr.. lie Gallienne's two volumes. Maybe 1t has
come ofa not unfounded distrust OF prosemah
verse" That Is specimen. And here Is
another: Tragic beauty is the rainbow Of
promise glowing above the mere tragedy The
beauty seems 10 say: All Is well beneath THIS
suffering and wreck. Else how could smile!
A smiling rainbow.
Mr. lie Gallienne's readers will skim those
pages in which he passes from Wordsworth
to Mr.. GOsse, from paEte TO Miss Agnes
Repplier from Joseph SkIpsey to Tennyson,
ana go on through the long list OF writers liv-
ing and dead. upon whom II has been his de-
light To turn decorated headlines" And, hav-
ing SKINNED them. they will admit that their
author has tried earnestly to tell them some
thing Instructive I'm en- entertaining way They
will hardly blame him because he has had moth
Ing new To tell them. That Is not his fault
1t Is fault. however, to put before the pub
lie things unworthy Of serious attention 1t
H. easy 10 rejon that some OF the most ravish-
ing works of art in the world are among the
worlds most fragile trin"s. but that Is obvi-
ously n quibble A Shakespearan song four
lines long Is taken as seriously. In It's way. as
is the Parthenon by serious minded people.
But by the books and papers that are printed
every year and deliberately offered To the puO-
lie as Of substantial value such people feel
wcarel beyond telling Clever" writer's put
their journalism into book form-these volumes
of Mr. lie Gallienne's provide tn. most con-
spicuous ~ recent examples. but not the hrst.
by any mcans-ani In periodicals everywhere
the fact that thing Is said with more or less
''clcvcrness' H. considered To br sufficient war
rant for It's appearance In print The clever
thing Is becoming more and moro the disin-
tegratlng force In art and literature. IL comes
In the track Of the art for arts sake theory, To
which, Indeed. II Is closely related since most
~ the CLEVER things printed nowadays seem to
have been said for the pleasure OF saying them.
Witness the arple-cheek outline Of Mr.. Hardys
work" Could that after all. have been intended
~ mean anything? 1t seems incredible