The times., 1897-09-12

ing the authorship of Henry cabot Lodge
United States Senator. ia the present
volume there are nine essays and the
first nf them Certain Accepted Heroes,
isthe source from which the book horrows
its tide With the exception OF the last
essay in the book they have all heretofore
appeared in periodicals: Scribner's, the
Cosmopolitan, and tile North American
Review The titles Of the nine essays are
Certain Accepted Heroes The Last
Plantagenet,' ''sha kespeare's Ameri-
Canisnts. .'Chatterton, '.Dr. Holmes =
"A Liberal Education,' The Home Of
the Cabots, 80 British Elections j" and "Our
Foreign Policy
They are al examples OF ripe scholar
ship, and the flow of graceful and force
ful pen. The first taree have strong
attraction for tile student OF bellies
Iettrcs Without impeacning the positive
value Of the others, il is, nevertheless, these
that gladden. the students heart that they
have been rescued from the oblivion OF
magazine flies and now graduate 20 the
dignity and perm8nenoy Of bookdom. where
we MAJ lay hands on them readily In
these three essays Mr.. Lodge reflects what
is said to he the salient characteristic OF our
age, and that is emancipation
In Certain Accepted Heroes he takes
up arms against Achilles and other Homeric
heroes. and, with the sling OF history
and the pebbles of facts, he actually van
quiShes the heretofore pre-eminent Greek.
II He makes cut bad case for Homeric hero
ism, which really seems to have lacked all
those ennOfiing characteristics which we at
tribute To it. As Mr.. Lodge points out. we
have mistaken the magnifIcence OF the
poem for tie maeni1ieence OF the
central figure. If this essay Were care
fully considered il would send all back
10 our II Toners to find that Achilles though
strong and an important chief, was a
pouter, a sulker, a vindictive traitor
simply an unusually brutal savage Of col
lossal strength, treacherOus and crnel,
ready 10 sacrifice friends for a quarrel over
the spOiis, utterly devoid OF generosity
toward his foes and not particularly brave"
There is emancipation from one accepted
hero. with vengeance.
The last PIantagenet IS, of course
Richard III. This essay Of Mr.. Lodge
is 5.lready quite famous. Il reviews the
ground traversed by chroniclers. histo-
I1ans and critics, who have treated of
the character and actions of this reputediy
cruel King. It Is said that 1.-The youth
of England take their theology from Milton
and their history from Shakespeare"
However this may apply TO England's
youths 1t Is quite certain that the cha racter
Of Richard II, as given by Shake peare. is
The character iadelbly impressed upon tile
minds uf Americans, youths and adults
The name is synonymous with defomed
tyrant, who skuiHs around dark castle
passages numbering everybody in reach
with the abandon OF neal-eating and, Ia
60
Lodge attempts TO emancipate Us from
rhis idea. He attempts feat worthy of
sanson. Yet, if you viii patiently and
attentiyely review the procession OF au-
thori.ies he marshals to combat the &C
ceptcd te.timuny of a subject Of the Tudors
yCG VIII incline TO a faint hearted fear
thtt, after all, our lifelong delight in the
incoIEpa hle example of an arch-Inur Iai;.r,
the shudders and chills expended on the
CyBteIs plation Of his hoITcTs, We're wasted
on a shadOw,a fiction, a lie; that Rich Irl
was n.,u such tad sort OF fellow eithe-
to the eye or TO the measure Of a just
man.
One cannot but agree with Mr.. Lodge
that TO the multitude who read looks,
10 The vaster and uncuunted multitude
who 20 10 the theater, there will never be
but one Richard-the Richard OF Shakes
peare. Bat the same art which has
SHOWN them the cruel, deformed, hypO-
critical tyrant, has shown them the mans
ability and power his force of win and his
dauauess courage. When the supreme
moment comes the popular sympathy is not
with Henry, loudly procIairning his virtuous
sentiments, bat with his fierce antagonist
The applause and cheers which greet the
final sene are not FOL the respectable
Richmond. but for linn who kills five
Richlaouds; who enacts more wonders than
q mar, and who dies King Of England
heihined 10 by his enemies. as full of valor
as OF royal blood; desperate in courage, as
in all else: fighting grinly 10 the last, like
true Plantagenetl"
In SbaLespeare's Americanisms the
writer SUITS his ground a trifle 1t il in
reality an open letter TO certain OF our
English critics, who seem TO think that,
In classifying certain words ana PHRASES
rs "AnteTicanisms'' they not only relieve
themselves Of all responsibilities for the
existence Of tf 'se offending parts of speech,
but that Uley also in some mysterious man
ner make them things apart anil put them
outside Of the pale OF the English Ian
guage But this performance is not Hieryly
unjust. it is ridiculous i'm this dag when
English IL no longer merely ..the Queen
Enclish, for today English is spoken by
more people who owe no allegiance to Eng.
lands Queen chan by thyse who do.
However, these ''Americanisms'' have
their justification, as Mr Lodge points
out The English snear at our use oT the
inttrtection Well. Of "a deck OF cards
instead OF "a pack baggage for lug
gage; trunk for box TO stage" for TO
place uD1n the stage napjack for "A
large ETiddle cake: Il gu .ss-' for Il Think
mad in the sense of angry sick
in the sense of ILL., TO fire ouf,'' and
many Others. Mr.. Lodge carefully cites
Shakespeare for thu use Of every one Of
these worus and phrases, not only single
Instances, nut repeated uses. He sug-
Eests tl,at the s-ttl-rs OF Virginia and New
England who came from Englan d when the
Qneea's English was shakespeare's English
brought over these words and have been
more loyal 20 the original than our cousins
across tie water today. II is an interesting
defense OF 'Americanisms'' and. If the
English would hut accord it careful con
FideTation- there would be a end of their
Unreasonable Eneering.
Tie last essay in the book s the ONLY one
heretofore unpublished. II is on .'our For
eign Policy, topic which Senator Lodge
Is privileged TO discuss authoritatively. He
summarizes his position in his concluding
paragraph The mission of the great
ripnr FFar.,yrr,.o--