The Washington herald., 1907-05-26

Blessings be vita them and eternal praise,
Who. gave Us nobler loves and nober cares.
The rsef= who on earth have made rs heirs
OF truth and pure delight. by heavenly LAYS
Wordsworth.
OF ali modern poets. who has been 50
beloved and so mourned as Shelley To
the Young men Of his age there seemed
something divine about him, and 10 US
OF a later year. still does his young figure
stand cut pathetic appealing to all our
sympathy It is good to chronicle that a
colossal monument to his memory is
shortly to be erected near San Terenzo,
Italy. where he spent the last days OF his
life
The work is being executed by the ltal-
ian sculptor Fontana. II is to be about
forty-fye feet high. and is to be attached
70 cliff facing the Casa Magni. in
which Shelley and afterward Byron lived
The keynote to the monument is taken
from Shelley's poignant tragedy. Pro
metheus Unbound" It displays the figure
OF the Titan writing on the rock. with
the lightning. which, like Jupiter, he
grasps in his hand. The inscription the
Titan has writ is: ITO Shelley, from the
world unbound"
It was a bright day. July Is, lS22 when
the body Of poor Percy Bysshe Shelley
came ashore at Yiarregio. He had been
drowned ten days before in a small yacht
on his way from Leghorn TO san Terenzo
There at Viareggio a funeral pyre was
erected and the body Of the poet was
committed to the flames. But Shelley's
heart was snatched from the burning by
his friend, Trelawney, and that heart lies
buried in the Protestant cemetery at
Rome Of which Shelley had once written:
1T might make one I'm love with death
10 think it would make one IN love with
so sweet q place" There is a simple
monument 10 the poet over his grave Of
his heart, but in this cemetery is no fit
place for such a design as this which is
being made.
At Viareggio. where the funeral pyTe
burned while Leigh Hunt poured wine
ike incense on the flames. and while
Lord Byron read poetry over the flames.
there is another small Shelley monument
but the fiat coast affords no scope Tor
such a monument as this Of Fontana s.
And so it is that for this fine tribute the
shore Of the Gulf Of Spezzia and the
neighborhood Of his last resting place
has been chosen, a place 10 which many
who will desire 70 pay honor 20 his men,
ory Will hail az poetic mecca.
In spite Of the immense admiration the
rest of the civilized world has been ex-
pressing for things japanese, and thJ
great vogue enjoyed by japanese prints
both in this country and in England. it is
well that We should have some expert
advice on the subject The greatest OF
all the japanese artists was, perhaps,
Hokusai a monograph on whose work
has recently been issued I'm London boy
Edward F. Strange Mr.. Strange IS a
recognized authority on the color prints
Of Japan. and to understand the WORK OF
Hokusai IS 20 be able 20 comprehend the
true significance Of many japanese prints
that are now only admired for theil
beauty Of perspective and their wonderful
color and detail So little are japanese
prints really understood by WeSteTneri
that il was recently said that there Wa.
only one man in all England who c0ulC
really identify Hokusais signature at th'
first reading. Hokusai stands for all tina
was best i'm japanese art. Always poor
CeaSelessly industrious, full of humanity
and genial humor, indomitable; he wa:
the grand old man. Of japanese art
His characteristic dying speech. at th'
age Of Lightweight. was IF Heaven hat
only lent me ten more years-but fvr
years more-I should have Become a tru'
painter"
There seems to be a steady growtl
Of appreciation Of certain Of the Russian
noveliyts. although for a time there wa
q marked reaction from the worship o
Tolstoi, Cork. and the realistic Russian
school But the old school, of which Ivai
Turgenief was representative, is havini
its vogue again. 4 new edition Of Tur
genieff is even now coming out I'm thi
country. the translator being Miss lisa oe
7. HapgOOd. 1t is strange that lovers o
TuTgenied should grow. for he was no
the exponent of any new gospel as is hi
contemporary. TOlstOi. TUrgenieff wa
content 10 be an artist, pure and simple
content TO observe and describe men an,
women. And this is one reason, perhaps
why his works promise 10 live longe
than those Of his contemporaries On
notable thing about the author Of 20
the Eve" and Smoke" is that his fam
did not suffer the temporary eclipse tha
usually follows the death Of a writer
even Of the first class Even those VIII
are repell-d by a certain bleakness Fl
northern literature. who have little sym
pathy with Scandinavian or Russia
modes of thought make an exception j.
the case of TurEenieff. There is some
thing about his work which makes it
appeal as universal as that OF Balsac. An
yet his writings are typical Of his tim
and of his country. lie was the Sla
genius personifed, and in his volumes
interesting fiction as they are, reader
may learn much Of Russian characte
that the historians have overlooked.
When Thomas Nelson Page drops int
poetry, as he has done in "The Coast o
Bohemia"-and William Morton Paya
says that Page can do well anything tha
he tries 10 dO-everybOdy will be satisfe
with the lyric and gratifed by the com
ment. SAYS Harper's Weekly. Everybod
likes 20 think that Page has succeeded il
anything he has undertaken. for not onl
has he great merit i'm fiutterinC things fror
the pen, but he has induced the world Z
look upon him as he looks upon the worlC
And this is how IL is: One day I'm a clu
some men were handling an absent man
character with freedom They had con
ClUded that this man was CantankerOus
snarling. malicious defaming wretch, wh
had started out well before he was under
stood but had finally reaped the rewar
Of his bad manners and his mean nature.
What I can't understand" said one. Il
that Tom Page likes him"
oh, that's easy" spoke another
TOMS such a good fellow himself tha
he thinks that every one else is good fe
low
President Arthur Twining Hadley. &
Yale. who stands with President Butle