New-York tribune., 1907-10-13

frankly says that ''his glory took on a kind OF
sanctty which ii will not retain,'' and while
we are grateful for the terse severity OF hts
Judgment on the brothers Edmond and Jules De
Goncourt we are disappointed In what he has
20 say about certain other writers. To give
two appreCative pages to Flaubert, but only
| one. and that of rather qualified admiration. to
Balzac is surely to reveal some want OF per-
spective II is hardly fair, either to the intel
IectuaI character OF the younger Dumas. TO say
in explanation Of his decadent qualities that "oc
the society which surrounded him he knew moth
Ing but the world Of idlers, Of fashionable scoun-
dreIs and their natural companions" IT, too. VI.
Faguet had resolved upon absolute CandOr in
dealing with comparatively recent authors he
might in the course of his long note on Maui
passant have been little more frank on the
things in that writer's work which scarcely
make for Immortality. But the reader viii not
hold this historian too severely 10 account for
the uneven quality of his closing chapters. In
the writing of these he suffered from a natural
disability which perhaps only man Of genius
could in the circumstances. hope to escape. The
bulk of the book is as sound it is enter
tanning.
/ Mr. Tiuey's monograph on RabeIais IS an al
unirable popular study of a subject on which the
general reader is likely to be in want Of light.
1
external facts Of the great hunorists career.
As he says 'the record of Rabelats's life. when
it has been stripped OF all legend. is somewhat
| bare of Incident He makes the most that can
be made OF his authors childhood and education.
and the wanderngs of his maturity. OF course
| he shares the doubts of his predecessors to
the truth of the assertion Of Rabelais that he
was a native OF ChinOn 'the famous. noble and
ancient town Of Chinon, the first town in the
/
born IN the town itself ne was born At la
Deviniere, only three miles away. and indeed.
nothing can ever deprive the town OF that
glamour which has been so worthiy celebrated
in Mr.. Frank Taylor's beautiful poem:
In that bIest nook Of broad Touraine.
| Where strays Vienne among the flowers
White Chinon lifts her crown Of towers
| Above the green and golden fen.
White Chinon by the blue Vienne-
No vibrant hammers Chnon plies.
| Nor strident forge, nor murky mill
But Ike lazy beauty lies
And southwark smiling seems 20 WOO
The smiling fields of fair Poitou-
To Chinon by the blue vienne
She came The heavenly hearted Maid
And men to gods through christ her ala.
To battle in the wasted North
Lilies OF gold and sword Of fame,
| Down the steep path shs rode sublime
| To Rheims and ROuen due tim.
Wherefore I wOt that when ye stand
At ChinCn. IL is holy land.
Likewise for him who first drew breath
Among the vines NJ ChirOu town
Who laughed the Philistires 20 death
| And Knocked their dismal DaE0us down
For Master FrancOyS RabeIais
In ChinOn keep high holiday
He hoseed the monks he fayed the Pope
TIE lawyers Wrthed beneath his rod.
He Eibed the axe. he ieered the rope
He made 4 Jest of all God.
Wherefore IN Chino1 think 20 pray
For Master FranCoys RabrIas.
And yours the loss. II We should f1u
To climb the CliT. when Gay is dad
And moonlight floods the shadow vale
As though Nienne had burst her bed
, For best OF all is Chinon then.
White ChinOn by the blue Vieune.
MI Tilley. loyal RabeIaisfan. Is true 70 n.
sentiment of these lines. Both in his biog-a-hi-
cal pages and in his long analysis Of the works
he goes sensitively TO the heart OF the matter
His chapter on the art OF RabeIais is fun of