New-York tribune., 1905-08-30


darsnr an explo!t as that facile scamp ever put
TO his discredit. Presumably the series. In book
form. will figure among the early autumn puoi-
cations
I'm forthcoming volume of Memoirs and
"Reminiscences. by Thomas Waters Griffith. a
baltimore gentleman. the following passage OF
peculiar interest az this moment occurs;
= Commodore John Paul Jones died in Paris soon 9S
,fer the writer's arrival there in July l1s ano tne
sn5 small .5a1usation from the Assembly. without
priest minister. attended the lures essf Of the
town. where a few soldiers hred NoHeE OA mus
ketry in honor OF the national hero
The gentlemen above named" We're Messrs
Charles Anderson. Joel Barlow, James c Mount
florence and A. Contes-
The first instalment Of the Letters ana
Diaries of George Bancroft" is printed IN '5crlo-
ner's" for September II introduces US to hm III
his European student days early In the last
century He settled at G0tingen in 1918 10 pur-
sue his studies. but the letters contain much
that an American not only a student, but sharp
observer OF people and things in general might
have been expected 10 note. He saw Goethe. who
praised Byron lin the highest terms. declared
himself one Of a large party in Germany who
admired him undoubtedly & seized on <
swallowed everything that came from him
The Young visitor did not fail study the great
mans appearance. sending home this vignette:
As for his person. Goethe is somewhat large.
3@ne @ clear eve. large & very expressive features
well built 6 giving at once favorable imprees- pe-
he has sort Of dignihed stiffness. which he means
should pass for genuine dignity he waIbs bsn I4
has on an Oberrock-i o. a surtoui- but no waist
coat ruined shirt, not altogether clean, cTavat
like the shirt fast incning TO dark complexion:
His boots were Of quite an ordinary cut NC Danui
would have worn them
s, RapprOftfs
correspondence with his family. but some of the
lesser lunainaries are sketched with even greater
piquancy Writing TO his father. he gives the
following account Of the famous Homeric scholar
OF that day:
Wolf the Greek professor at Berlin. is perhaps
the greatest scholar in Germany, as such
terms Of the highest admiration His character
Z man IS an entirely different affair q
thing which never comes into consideration when
he is spoken OF as scholar He treated
now lives He has . daughter. also. This poor
Ing Homer 70 him while he lay in bed. & if the
unhappy creature happened 10 nod little toward
y or i O'Clock he would give her a violent box on
The ear. The consequence of this was that she
took the FIRST opportunity 10 elope with young
Wolf is now quite old OF course, his days of
most sctive exertion past. He now does little
or nothing The salary which he receives as pro-
fessor he procures without giving much in return
& thar author, but he merely makes beginning.
reads for week TWO 4 then makes a journey
A short time ago he gave out that he would read
lectures At all. & was actually determined TO
government, however. interfered. & told him that
= he read lectures he should receive no salary.
We'll" said he, IL il must be done-I dine from
10 3: so will read lecture from TO !, just 10
assist digestion"
It is good news that Mr. Hewlett is to be
honored by inclusion I'm the series of beautiful
limited editions in which Tennyson, Arnold,
Pater and FItzGerald have already been printed
by the Macmillan Company. The first volume
of his complete works will be issued this
month. in all the panoply of fine paper. press
work and binding. The custom Of printing the
works Of living authors in this fashion is hap
PLY increasing in favor. Writers as brilliant as
Mr. Hewlett amply deserve the compliment.
Edward Everett Hale. jr.. in his small volume
recently published by Henry Holt Co. and
entitled ''Dramatists of To-day" INDUCES in
what he is pleased 20 term an informal dis
cussion'' of the significant work of Rostand
Hauptmann, Sudermann, Pinero, Bernard Shaw.
Stephen Phillips and Maeternck- Nor does he
neglect Ibsen. who. while he is, NJ. Hale re-
marks, mot precisely dramatist Of our day
IS a remarkable influence on the drama of our
day" What Mr. Hale has TO say about Ibsen
however is found in the articles above men
TONED when tracing his influence the work
of other writers or making comparisons be-
tween their plays and his. The book opens with
q short essay on Standards Of Criticism" and
closes with longer one on 'Our Idea of Trag-
edy." II is not by any means necessary always
agree with Mr.. Hale to find his volume both
instructive and entertaining. He makes at
tempt al complete and systematic review of
the drama of to-day, largely because. while he
supposes that current criticism should . .
result in something pretty definite in the way of
ideas" he doubts IF il need result in anything
definite in the way Of system" j. is the au-
thor's belief that our interest in contemporary
dramstists lies I'm the fact that I'VE get some
thing from them" and he undertakes forthwith
20 define what, in his opinion, this something
is in the case Of those of whom he writes. In
his discussion of Pinero Mr.. Hale gives the read
er his idea of problem plays in general. 1t is
worth quoting showing the authors general
attitude and method:
do not for the term "a problem play" It
may be convenient expression for a play that
presents a problem but certainly il is inelegsnt;
tory play, manners play. But more fundamentally ~
are not especially good subjects for plays PLAYS
deal with life. and life does consist very large
deal with problems. but the average man or woman
has not much TO do with them. save as inter-
with living, doubtless, but living does involve
how to manage small income or how TO - brns
up ones children or how 10 carry ones business
or how to settle ones religion or politics. Other
wise, the main thing is how to carry an ideal
which forms itself within not by the resolution
Of problems generally, but in much more subtle
ways- And even II problems a current factor
N lfe play would be a poor place for exploiting
mem a noVehst may perhaps deal with problems
ior he has space in which TO argue pro and con,
but arguments are not very interesting listen to-
The manners and customs OF birds. or OF any
wild thing, for that matter, are extraordinarily
interesting when come to understand them