The sun., 1905-08-20

bored a. tho author Of 'John Inglcsant.
,rhe memoir. for which we are indeoted
to his widow, introduces us to a man OF
singular personal charm, whose career
may from certain points OF view be looked
upon a. unique In his day and generation
He was born and spent his life In suburb
Of Birmingham, perhaps the last place IN
England from which \ romance invested
with the spiritual fascination OF John In
glesant' would have been expected. Tho
family Of which he was an oi1shoot had been
Ouakers for hundred and fifty years,
and no himself remained member Of the
Society OF Friends until he was about 40,
when he not only became q member OF the
Church Of England. but fervid sacramen-
talist. although in respect OF dogma his
opinions seem to have been as latitudi-
marian "a were Dean Stanley's. He became
Latin and Greek scholar and q deep stu
dent OF Plato, although he never went to
what Is known in England as public
school," or to q university. At the age OF
10 he went to q private school kept by
Quaker, and five years later. was sent for
short time to Tottenham College. a sectarian
institution. On his return home he had for
short time tutors for French, Italian and
uIlWlu4s puV LuCIO ubo OAuS"SAOht Nv 80 ~
1t was derived from otherr. may be said to
have ended. His own love OF books, how
ever, led him then, and to the end Of his life
born In 1884, he died in leo3--to read ana
study for himself with indefatigable zeal
At the age Of 10 he entered upon business
life, and continued to prosecute with ASST
duty his fathers business, that OF manu-
facturer to about q year before his death.
He was Of delicate franz and constitution,
and during large part Of his life was the
victim Of q serious malady. He was also
afflicted with painful stammer. In spite
OF these disabilities, his was an exceptionally
winning personality In conversation as
we'll as correspondence. He made a great
many friends and lost none after the pub
location Of John Inglesant' made him an
object Of general interest and curiosity.
We say curiosity, because the fact early
became known that, although John Ingle-
SAINT presents q succession Of vivid Italian
landscapes and OF transcripts from Italian
life In the seventeenth century and depicts
with extraordinary fidelity the state Of
things at Oxford during the period when
King Charles l., driven from London. made
the university town the royal capital. the
author had never at that time visited Italy,
nor known anything Of Oxford, except
what he could see while sojourning for few
days as q stranger at an inn
In . sympathetic introduction to the
memoir, the Rev. j. Hunter Smith recalls
that John Inglesant' has often been COM
pared to "Marius the Epicurean.' In
both books the hero serves as q vehicle to
convey to tho reader the thoughts OF the
author on the opinions current in the times
with which they deal and Of the permanent
bearing OF those opinions on human thought
Mr.. Smith finds likeness also in Mr.. Short
houses principal work to the two re-
markable novels recently translated into
English by the Russian Merejkowsh.
termed -The Death Of the Gods" and THE
Forerunner,' in the former Of which the
hero Is the Emperor Julian and in the
latter Leonardo da vinci. It is suggested
that an interesting parallel might be drawn
between John Inglesant' and the Fore
runner for as in the spirit Of Inglesant
we see the contest between the ascetic
and the humanitarian view OF religion, so
In Leonardo we zee the seemingly incon-
gr,lous elements Of the pietistic and the
nascent modern spirit. It is az though you
had side by side pictures Of the Madonna
and bacchante. OF the dancing faun and
the crucihed Christ Mr.. Smith allows
affection to carry him so far as to COM
pare John Inglasant' from one point OF
view with the .Faerie Queene.' It is GER
tain that Spenser was an offshoot from
Puritanism, as Shorthouse was from
Quakerism. and that each personifled a
reaction from the conception Of the present
and the future life amid which he had been
reared. The souls OF both, too. were
ravished with the contemplation Of tho
saint who was also the gentleman. With
q friends Partially, Mr.. Smith even VEN
lures to say Of Shorthouse what Dean
Church says Of Spenser. that few persons
Of his time approached him in the capacity
OF feeling the presence OF that command
ing and mysterious idea. compounded Of
80 many things, yet OF which the trle secret
escapes us still, to which we give tho name
Of beauty. A beautiful scene . beautiful
person, . mind and character with that
combination OF charms which, for want Of
another word We call by that half spiritual,
half material word, beautiful at once set
his mind at work to respond to and reflect
it. Even those who hesitate to compare
the lesser with the greater lights OF litera-
ture will admit to be true OF the work Of
shorthouse. what is preeminently true Of
Spenser. that in It face to face with the
epicurean idea Of beauty and pleasure, we
behold the counter charm Of purity, truth
and beauty
In the volume devoted to Mr.. Short
houses literary remains arc included q
few short stories and some thirty essays,
. few OF which have been previously pub
lished, but most Of which are here printed
for the hrst time. Tho papers which de-
servo most careful attention are those
on .The Humorous in Literature and
Tho Platonism Of Wordsworth We have
also been particularly struck by the COM
ments on Paradise Lost, and ON Tenny-
sons .Idyils Of the King considered
in connection with their prototype, the
.Morto d'Arthur.' 1t Is noteworthy that
Mr.. Horthouse differs from most other
Commentators on Miltons MASTERPIECES.
in holding 1t impossible to appreciate fully
the paradise Lost unless the poetry is
separated from the subject Of which it
avowedly treats. Most other essayists
in Wow the story or plot contained in