The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-26

Another volume is added to the mass of
literature on the possible escape of the
Dauphin, Louis XVII" from the Temple
in M. Frederic Barbey's "A Friend Of Marie
Antoinette Q.ady Atkyns)' (E. p. Dutton
and Company. Sardou in one of his plays
had introduced Lady Atkyns, who had been
an English actress. named Charlotte Wal
pole, as a visitor to Marie Antoinette in
prison, and had been accused OF i%nventing
her out Of the whole cloth. He ~instigated
a young French investigator, the author,
to hunt up what could be found out about
her, and he had the luck to come upon a
batch Of her letters. In these is the account
of a visit to the Queen and Of a plot to save
the Dauphin, which M. Barley thinks was
successful. He follows up the history
of the several obscure participants in the
plot with diligence, but is unable to throw
any light on the escape or on what became
OF the Dauphin II he did escape,
In the walter Pater,' which Mr.. A. G.
Benson contributes to the English Men Of
Ietterss series Macmillans) he does not
come I'D to his usual high level as a biog-
rapher. 1t may be lack Of sympathy,
or it may be the difficulty Of describing an
absolutely colorless life, but his heart does
not seem to be in his work, as it was in the
sRossetti" and the "FitzGerald.' Doubtless
the influence that Pater had on a certain
class Of Young English writer's justified his
inclusion In a series whose bounds have
been extended 30 as to be more than cath
clio. vet his life as a fellow at Oxford is
amazingly destitute OF incident. Mr.. Ben
son is Obliged, therefore, to fall back on
a~na,vsis and estimates Of his books. a thank
less task for an author so modern that his
works are easily obtained, but one that is
performed co-nscientiously. We imagine
that a much better idea of Pater will be OBJ
tanned by reading sMarius the Epicurean'
or the Imaginary Portraits than from the
biography.
An indictment Of Portuguese administra-
ton in Africa so. far as 1t deals with the
natives Is presented in Mr.. Henry W.. Nevin-
sons "A Modern Slavery Harpers). That
forced labor from uncivilized eavages
should be demanded in Africa for its de
v elopment' OF" civilization hardly required
demonstration. That it will be demanded
regardless Of treaties is likely until labor
in a different form can be applied to the
reclamation Of tropical lands, 1t is a neces-
sary corollary to the white mans invasion
of the black mans country, n II Mr..
Nevinson had inquired he probably would
have found conditions differing only in
degree. in the Congo, the Cameroons,
Nigeria, Senegambia and, with slight modi-
Acations, in British South Africa. Some
thing like these labor conditions in essence
might be discovered, too, In the East End Of
London. He has shown, at any rate, the
cost in human life Of our cup Of cocoa and
our rubber tires.
It is a rather curious anthology that Mr..
Augustus White Long has put together in
american Poems, 177e-l9o0' american
Book Company, as the authors standard
of taste seems to vary according to the
period. For the earliest period popularity
is clearly the measured; we have The Old
Oaken Bucket" "Woodman, Spare That
Tree" Home, Sweet Home the patriotic
songs and others. This may account for