New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-18

| valued member Of the household al Ar,
| (Hcr eptaph in Ashley Church is as folows ~
| memory Of Harriet, wife Of RObt Evans ~
I many years the Friend and Servant OF the p. w
/ lily at Arbury.O She must have had annie ~
! pOrtunites Of hearing the usual gOsslp hanS,
| down by housekeeper to housekeeper concosa
! ing the sayings and doings OF the family "
! those days. when feudalisc veneration ,,,s ~
! nourished, these traditions were reckonsd :.
/ greater Importance than since the world h
/ moved onward at a giddy pace. and eyelisss
/ influences have been at work and are woyLiss
for good as well as for evil No douht rs
| stories from the big house were treasured I'm u
/ the immediate neghborhoOd and by none M
! than by the estate bailiffs little daughter NJ
! Anne Evans was born at the South Farm wiz
in the precincts of the park at Arbury and az
! has told how later on she used to be h.,
! fathers constant companion In his business CT
/ petitions. While Robert Evans was transaein,
estate work with the Squire in the library sbs
| probably waited for him in the housekeeneTs
! room at Arbury This picturesque old room Ia,
! been accurately described by her and Ar.
pears in more than one of her works
! 1t was probably through the favor Of the house.
! keeper that George Eliot obtained her know.
: edge OF the rest Of the house while her d.
scripiions Of Sir Christopher and Lady Cheverrl
are evidently taken from the fuength pa
/ traits of their originals in the saloon at Ar.
/ bury"
! Among the many new books on the late Ger
man Chancellor is Mr.. ]. w. iicadam's Bis.
marcl< and the New German Empire: How II
Arose and What 1t Displaced" This work
/ which has been In preparation for the last fou
years, is on the Putnam press
Writing about popular decisions and the fixed
| idea q contributor to the London Spectator
| says: Take the Bacon Shakespeare controversy
Ii is an absurd and wildly impossible theory thai
Bacon wrote the plays Of Shakespeare. so that
we are at first apt to suppose that It's authon
nod in iIIpa tic pu,
were this carried out, we might also ask whs
among US would be safe. for there are few men
| to whom the fixed idea does not appeal at soma
side Of their natures, and from which they can
| not draw with powerful reasoning the most mad
| conclusion. The Baconian fanatic starts with
the fixed idea that mere player, son OF bour
| geOs parents In a small country town, about
whom we know scarcely anything. cannot have
| produced those wonderful plays: but that great
| contemporary the wiseSt man OF the tine. NOT
only could have produced them but had reasons
| for not allowing his authorship 70 be known
| Now once get that double hypothesis firmly Into
| your head and you will. by process as strictly
| logical as the reasoning of Aristotle. discover
| az you read the plays all manner OF internal
| evidence which seems to confirm past all doubt
| the idea with which you have started. You have
| no conception how strong the evidence becomes
| when linked on 70 the hypothesis when tosma
| its starting point. SO far from the Baconlan
| being irrational people, IL is no exaggeration 70
say that one-tenth the intellectual Ingenuity
| they have spent over this subject might On
| sound lines OF thinking. have resulted In con-
| siderable positive gains for the human race
Some years ago appeared very amusing saufe
| on the Bacon Shakespeare controversy. designed
| to show that Darwin was the author OF PICK
| wick It sounds ludicrous enough in all con-
science but the satire had its serious purpose u
| that II indicated the remarkable syllogsms W
which an originally false hypothesis can be sup
| ported"
One OF the most delightful books Of the laa
decade Is "Earthwork Out OF Tuscany, W
Maurice Hewlett. author OF The Forest Low
ers" We are glad to note that the PutnaEis az
| bringing out 4 new Illustrated edition.
Mr.. Rider Haggard Is Unexpectedly interest,"
ing in his recital OF his farming experiences and
O preliminary taste OF his quality leads one
anticipate with pleasure the publication nen
year OF his Farming Commonplace BOOK. hS
iaborS began in the year 1889, when ne tooA
about a hundred and twenty acres in hand %
the occasion Of his tenant giving up the tG1
letting the rest In small parcels. Inc iano
which took over" he says, naturally good t@
the most part. was In 80 scandalous cohailue
that now. after eight years cleaning ana msnur
Ing 1t has only just recovered its fertility az
heart had been dragged out OF Il and very HUE
put into it In return For instance. II remem-
Der right, the back lawn had been mown NV.
years in succession. Moreover. the arabic was
for the most part a mass OF docks and otna
weeds-indeed, such was its condition that avg
vainly attempting TO clean one piece lor wv
years. we had to abandon the effort and sum r
mer-tilP Il. Another field Of four and nan
acres let of. Meeting the tenant WINE ar
terward | asked him how he was getting w
with it, whereupon he Informed me, almost VIE
tears. that he had spent ia in labor IN getuas
the docks out of il! In proof OF his words, &c
showed me the docks themselves heapea m m.
long hale like beet. with salt thrown oe'
them In due course they rotted there anu MY
put back on to the land as manure. To-day ,na.
field is a pleasure 10 look AZ. The oecup's,
farms it in four shifts as though II were w ~.