New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-03

conduct through life: for have always set a
greater value on the character OF a doer OF
good than on any other kind of reputation: and
have been. as you seem TO think, useful
citizen. the public owes the advantage of ii to
that book"
laration Of faith from Tennyson he thus quotes
in THE London Times: What the poet said
then. was precisely this: The ounces fancy it
is thought that makes poetry live. 1t isn't; it's
the expression, the form: but mustn't tell
then-so they wouldn't know what we meant.
1 should explain that the ounces were people
who trace smiarities and think that n medic
ere poet is more to be praised than Il good poet
who succeeds him. If the latter adds nothing to
the substance under treatment.
Like ell great men, Tennyson was not con-
cerned TO be consistent. and for other occasions
he had. no doubt, other formulas. But that
afternoon he WAS occupied, | thought, in deClar-
Ing and defending the mysteries Of the art of
poetry. Accordingly. 1 ventured TO remind him
or the ritual of the ancient Society of the Rosi-
cructans: our holy house, though n hundred
thousand men should have looked upon Il, Is
yet destined to remain untouched imperturba-
bic, out OF sight. and unrevealed to the whole
goddess world forever He paused TO listen. and
then beat his walking stick upon the gravel
with fervent approval Yes, yes he murmured
that Is the truth about the highest poetry; it
may be popular and praised in the magazines,
and yet the secret of it IS "unrevealed to the
whole goddess world forever Those who re-
call the gracious majesty of TennySOn's pres
ence will imagine how Irresistible 1t was to re-
gard himself for moment as the archpriest OF
some such immortal and mysterious CONTRA
ternity.-
II IS pleasant to note that a duplicate Of the
memorial to Sir Walter Besant which has been
placed in St Pauls Cathedral Is to be erected on
a public site on the Thames Embankment, in
London
Whence came Pierrot--poor Pierrot"? Miss
Mary Durham in her Just published book OF
travels writes at Scutar: 1T is the dress of the
men on the early Greek vases; of the Dacians on
Tratan's column; OF the captive Gauls in the
Louvre; the dress. in short of all the bar
barians' the braccatf OF the Romans. .
They have learned to shave their heads and to
wear a white feZ, and with this modification we
at once recognize them as our old friend Pierrot
did come from the Near East Venice had all
the Dalmatian coast and part of Albania
Venice was the home of Mosques and panto-
mines. and among the existing prints Of the
pantomime characters Is 'Zanne' In the
familiar Pierrot dress. What more likely than
that the fool of the piece should be represented
as a boor from conquered province? . .
Zanne came to England. and figures among the
sketches for one of Ben Jonsons masques"
Have the Browning societies been unnecessary
organizations for the calculation OF obscurities7
The recent performance OF "A Souls Tragedy'
moves the critic OF THE London Outlook to an
interesting conjecture. Strange as II NAV
SEEM" he says, 1.-The performance was a completes
and even startling success. I do not mean that
the play presented no difficulties IN It's fnterpre-
tation. On the contrary. IL absolutely brfstled
with them. But the difficulties which looked In
surmountable in the study'-why are plays
never supposed to be read anywhere save In Q