New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-02-18
MERE RHAPSODY.
The Tribute of Mr. James Douglas
tn Mr.. Theodore attS-Dunton.

,,-ohah,1, he the last person in the world to see
where the Joke came In. He is hero worship
per of the most hopeless type; one of those lit
erary fanatics who. in making their genuhexions
before their chosen idol, forget all the laws OF
proportion, and wind up by making themselves
and the object Of their alteration sublimely
ridiculous. With an absence OF humor so COM
plete thu; It seems almost unnatural. Mr..
Douglas sings the praises OF his hero to the
beating of drums and the blowing Of trumpets,
lauding HIM as though Mr.. Theodore Watts
Dunton were avatar, all in one, of Shake
speare Dante Milton, Scott and all the other
classics. A whirIing dervish could hardly sur
pass him in the intensity Of his devotion II is
impossible to read these pages without feeling
at times glow OF righteous indignation against
the man capable OF gross an affront to the
dignity OF the art OF criticism. But these mo-
rnents pass and as the character of the book
as whole is apprehended the reader finds him
self wondering If. after al. he has ever en-
oountered before a work so deliberately absurd
Mr.. Theodore watts-Dunton is estimabe
gentleman the son Of a solicitor of St. Ives who
came up to London in the 7Vs and presently en-
tered literary Journalism. For thirty years or
more he was on the reviewing staff Of THE
AthenRurn," and produced many creditabIe. but
3n no wise extraordinary. articles for that ex-
cellent periodical In London he made the ac-
cuaintance OF certain distinguished people. be-
coming especially intimate with Rossetti and
Bwinhurne For long time he and Swinburne
have been housemates. He has written guam
tity OF distinctly unimportant verse. and few
years ago he published. in "Aylwtn." a mediocre
novel. Obviously. there is nothing in this record
20 suggest that Mr. Watts-Dunton is qualified
70 set the Thames ahre. To some fervid souls
however. It has lately seemed as If he had
started the greatest confederation ever known
A. e.
oil upon the flames with an assiduity positively
astounding. Why they have done this thing it
S. indeed. quite impossible TO say. for
1oath TO believe that in applauding "Athe-
aaurn" reviewer they have been actuated by
lively sense OF favors TO come, and the idea
that they have suffered complete atrophy Of the
critical faculty is equally repugnant- But they
have certainly not been justified in their ire
mendous enthusiasm by anything that Mr..
Watts unton has actually accomplished.
We can understand Mr.. Swinburne's calling
him "the first critic OF our time perhaps the
largest minded and surest sighted Of any age"
for we know how joyously he scales the heights
OF hyperbole. and we know, besides, that when
Il comes to friendship many a man is, like
Habbakuk, capable Of anything. But Mr..
Douglas could hardly pretend to claim the in
diligence which grant matter of course
TO the poet whom he quotes and Mr. Douglas
knows absolutely no discretion in speaking Of
his hero. mo critic has surpassed his uni
versatility OF range" he says. "Out of full
intellectual and imaginative life he has evolved
speculations which cut deep. not only into the
fibre Of modern thought, but into the future of
human development Mr.. Watts-Dunton
has built up a optimistic philosophy of
life which. think, is sure to arrest the devas-
tating march of the pessinists across the his
tory Of the soul Of man" It never occurs to
He states his opinions as facts Thus he says
that undoubtedly the greatest philosophical
generalization Of time is expressed in the
four words, The Renaissance Of Wonder a
phrase which Mr.. Watts Dunton devised to cover
a notion about the development Of modern
thought which is not in the least momentous
But. for Mr.. Douglas. the uplifting of his hero's
little finger is apparently enough to shake the
spheres.
he has a pretty way Of dragging in the i'm
mortals for purposes Of comparison. a certain
elegiao poem 10y 1lr. Watts Dunton may be
placed, he thinks. beside Miton's "Lycidas"
Shelley's "Adonais' Matthew Arnolds "Thyr-
sis" and Swtnburnes Ave Atque Vale" Prais-
ing one Of his authors sonnets for it's verbal
parsimony.: he adds that he deies any one "to
find anything Ike it except in Dante, the great
master Of verbal parsfmony." He considers Mr..
Watts-Dunton the most original poet since
'Coleridge," and. turning to "Aylwin." he OBJ
serves that since Shakespeare created OpheIia
there has been nothing IN literature so moving,
80 pathetic, SO unimaginably sorrowful as the
madness OF Winnie Wynne" The same BOOK
leads him to say that difficult as was Thack-
'erays tour de force in 'Esmond,' it was nothing
20 the tour de force Of 'Aylwin.'" We are told
that 1.-THE picture Of Lord Sleaford is by far the
most vivid portrait Of a nobleman that has ap-
peared in any novel since Lothair,'" and that
''Thackeray never knocked Off q uobIeman so
eirily and so unconsciously as this delightful
lordling. whose portrait Mr.. Watts-Dunton has
blown upon his canvas in the true Gains
borough way" The character OF Mrs. Gudgeon,
in the novel. stands as entirely alone among
humorous characters as does Sancho Panza,
Falstaff Mrs. Quickly. Mrs. Partridge" and
there Is IN all that she says does "a pro-
funoity Of humor so much deeper tuan the
humor Of Mrs. Camp that it wins her a separate
niche in gallery Of humorous women" And
80 on. and so on.
1t would be bad enough IL Mr.. Douglas had
been content to offer us his own estimate Of
Mr.. Theodore Watts Dunton as writerF but he
frequently makes illusions signifying that his
hero has won q worldwide acceptance. Thus IN
treating OF an essay which Mr. Watts-Dunton
contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica
he asserts that ut has been said over and over
again that since the best critical work Of Cole
ridge there has been nothing IN literature to
equal this treatise on poetry" Before attach
any Importance to the point would at least
like TO know who the critics are who have so
declared themselves lover and over again" We
confess are not in the least impressed by
the announcement that Mr. Richard lie Gal
nenne has said that he bought the Encyclo-
padia Britannica simply to possess one article
Mr.. Watts-Drnton's article on Poetry" Mt.
DOuglas refers O one Of Mr. Waffs-n,1ntorsa