New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-08-26

SUNDAY, AUGUST &c. 1906.


of a widening and deepening interest in the
author of Studies in the History of the Renais
sance' Some new books on him are actual;
more are spoken Of in preparation" We
know Just how Professor Saintsbury feels. We
have felt that way ourselves when this OF that
author has more or less suddenly been made the
subject of several books. Yet we have
again and again been led to surrnise that these
new books do not always mean 50 widening and
deepening interest in the matters with which
they deal They mean very often nothing more
than the merest accident. A series of bogra-
phies is started and, automatically the editor
reaches q name TO which, in ordinary circum-
stances, he would pay only casual attention.
Just because the name has for some time been
neglected there Is a little passing excitement over
II and the indiscreet critic furnishes up some
CT mis- old phrases, as, for example, 'srhere are
signs Of a revival of interest" '"rhe time has
arrived for dispassOnate consideration" etc,
etc. This is bookmaking age. If there is no
demand for a book then the demand must be
created. Professor Saintsbury may be right
about Walter Pater. There is often good reason
for just such differences as he has drawn But
1t is perhaps worth while to point ont the danger
Of accepting the point involved a kind OF
unassailable principle The signs of "a widen
ing and deepening interest" have too often
turned out to be ludicrousfy deceptive.
There Is an unWritten laW-exceSSfvely cruel
and, in fact, utterly ndefensible forbiddfng the
Literary Person indulgence in the luxury of
writing to the papers in the dog days about the
sea serpent and similar themes Therefore he
writes about one or another of the horrible in
justices which are constantly being inflicted
upon his exalted profession. Just now, for ex
ample, we find Mr.. Arnold Bennett inauguratins.
with a long and patronizing article in The
% 0Do 0f
Modern Critic" Being a novelist himself, Mr..
Bennett obviously speaks with authority when
Ire says that "the novel has practically nonop-
oily of the imaginative literary power In England
to-day" and hence it follows in his opinion, that
"the literary critic is chiefly critic of fiction"
Yet when he comes to the colosSally important
question as to what causes book to SELL he is
constrained to protest that while reviews help,
the important thing is the casual remark of one
layman to another: 81 say. I've just been read
ing awfully good book. You ought TO get it
It'll suit you" After this We can see the mod
cru critic taking in shoals 10 some really useful
and honorable profession. Why should he linger
on when all his back breaking efforts to perform
the one sacred duty of those who devote them
selves to literature, the duty Of making books
sell. are rendered super1uOuS and even contempt
ible by the artless inspiration of the crowd?
The only thing for him to do, If he is to survive
at all, is to go out on the road for year or two
under the wing Of an experienced drummer. IL,
on his return, he can prove that he has sold a
hex Of water coIors and dentists chair to every
farmer in every state he has covered" perhaps
he may hope to qualify as a practically useful
commentator on modern fiction.
The late William Thomas Arnold, brother of
Mrs. Humphrey Ward, was a journalist with a
hobby. The history Of Rome absorbed all the
leisure that he could give TO reading, and the
dream of his life was 70 write big book on the
subject He never managed it. ALI that his
duties On ''The Manchester Guardian left him
time to produce in the field that he loved so
well was a group of fragments which has just
been published under the title of Studies of
Roman Imperialism" To this we may have
occasion TO return, but in the mean time what
interests us Is part of letter that he wrote
some years ago. 81 have been much preoccupied
nel -