New-York tribune., 1907-12-29

GENIUS LOCI. Notes OF Places. Ry Vernon Lee !
Is mo. rI- =, The John Lane COMPANY
CITIES OF ITALY. BY Arthur symons. With
photoerayrlre :-outisplece. limo, pI- X -oo L
P DEttc1 4 co.
The modern traveller, making book about
the things ne has seen, is generally strong on
matters q information He is very generous,
taking Infinite pains 20 smooth the path Of his
reader. the la1ter .eing presumably 4 potential
tourist. Frequently enough, however, in these
loyaaciops DAYS the traveller is magniicently
Indifferent to your thirst for facts as to rail-
way routes or comfortable inns He offers you,
ir1ead ''the adventures of soul amongst
masterpieces the super subtle record Of fleet
ing moods and Impressions This kind of
traveller may be. in his way. amusing. but we
c. not get very far in his company Witness
the kind Of books that Vernon Lee makes out
q her wsnderings. My friends she says,
~eren The nearest and dearest, imagine to
have oeea born and brought I'D in = gypsy cart.
al any rate me1aphorically.'' That is odd
To judge from her writings, the idea that she
could 60 a-gipsying IS the last idea in the world
10 suggest itself. She has contemplated many
Romantic scenes but when she is describing
them she seems always 10 be looking from the
sarne study window, 70 be seated among her
books and 20 be thinking OF ner subject in Z
bcokish manner.
There Is something tantalizing about the two
little volumes from her pen which lie before
II each the table OF contents rouses an
ucipaIion CT peculiar delights Prague and
the Princess" '"TIvoi and the Sibyl" THE
Witches OF Fribourg.' Among the Marble
Mountains --Ansbach and the knights Of the
SRan"-su7ely, We say, essays with titles like
these mus1 have atmosphere and picturesque
ness i they have nothing else Unfortunately
Vernon Lee IS keen upon almost here that
She just misses capturing it She seems per-
Tetuay 10 be trying for il through little verbal
lelicIies through matching the color and senti-
InerI Of Z place with 2 turn Of style, and in the
long the spirit % her theme evaporates 1t
is the human interest that IS lacking Alluding
10 the fact that she likes see cemeteries, she
says My fondness for churchyards
does rot depend upon their inmates being dead,
hut rather upon their having been alive
Nevertheless the people she sketches here and
there are never quite alive. Take for example.
her essay on ''Narni and TERM" 1t opens in
this promising fashion: My impressions of
Narni are colored by the fact that I travelled
up from the station to the town in the com
pany Of a newly discharged convict" After this
one expects q vivid If not q poignant note But
the convict is 50 lightly drawn, the accent OF
genuine sympathy is SO faint, that the result
affects Us as might a pretty but insipid water
ccl0r. Vernon Lee, widely read as she is clever
a. she Is, is always the verge Of making a
living picture, full Of light and air; she never
actually brings her scene ard its figures before
us> Her work is perfect Illustration Of what
the decadent motive runs to in the literature OF
travel-graoeful form but no satisfying sub
stance
The author Of Cities Of Italy" is in precisely
the same case. His sincere feeling for his sub
Ject is Unrnistaka bic When he goes to Rome
or &c Venice, 10 Rayenna Bologna, he takes
with him the discriminating taste of a man
saturated in aesthetic experience and you know
that he viii talk about his new sensations with
admirable Intelligence and some play of fancy.
On the other hand if you have any knowledge
q The men and events in Italian history you
cannot but find MIR. Synons's deftly turned
pages il rather quaint contrast to the tre-
mendous weight and richness Of the material
On which they are based. Like Vernon Lee, he
Is pretty and shallow where the occasion calls
Tor q kind Of grave eloquence- This triviality
q the traveller bent upon being, above all
uhlngs, exquisite is dangerously plausible. Just
as Vernon Lee again and again promises clear
impression and then withholds it, so Mr.. Synons
VII talk around Leonardo, say. Botticelli
ano go 50 near 10 throwing a CLEAN Of light
upon the one or the other that the ultimate
tiln delive-ance seems almost incredible But
1c 70 sic