New-York tribune., 1908-03-29
@be Nelupnrk grlbn1t&
SUNDAY, MARCH %, 1908.

,,, ..-;oa,s who are requested to help the |
erection in Europe of memorials 10 autnoi' "
foreign birth will not be unreasonaDie LII PoS'
noning their always ready generosity Hor .0.e
;s need of money at home il worthy tribute IS
to IN. paid to our own fine novelist, james feh
imore Cooper. A Cooper Statue Associa'ion
has lust been formed. President Eliot Is Tue
chairman and another nieInDer Is froAee'oi
II tounsbury of Yale, IN eminent man OF ieS
tors n whom we owe the delightful biography
of Cooppr-a book of permanent value Lug
aim of the association is the erection OIL stalue
of the novelist near his old home in CooperSto"h.
1t is an object which should De heartiy LUZ
thprpd by every American capaple OF appie
a,ting his work. 1t is Illuminating TO ihiS coun-
fry that no proper memorial should yet nave
been dedicated to the man who as writer ana
as citizen deserved both honor ana aHectioh al
her hands Yet we dare say there are some
nnople who might be disposed to neglect thS
nroect and respond to the appeal Of the Mayor
of Iichfiad for funds wherewith to restore the
birthplace of DR. johnson. 1t is an EnSlishman,
bv the way who has just called attention to the
f: ct that 'Lichield is a rich, substantial CITY
which should be sufficiently proud OF DIT John-
snn to be able to supply all the money required
f. restore the johnson house and to keep it Id
good condition for all time
Thor, i nothing more delightful than the
survival in this materialistic age of that chiv-
alrous feeling which q few rare historians nnd
not incompatible with scholarship. We are re-
minded of this by Mr.. Langs criticisms or M.
Anatole Frances book on Jeanne q Arc Inc
work has. Of course, been received IN MANY
Quarters with unqualified enthusiasm, based on
absolute confidence in the writer's authority
There is after all. good deal of convention in
these matters NJ. France is distinguished
TIa
history of Jeanne dare. Ergo, anything he has
10 S1v on the subject must necessarily be con
elusive But Mr.. Lang knows the authorities
,s well as NJ France knows them, ana he gives
CHAPTER and verse to justify his refusal to ac-
cent the portrait drawn by the Maids latest
b,psrapher as faithful one. M. France
Should abandon history he says, and cling 10
h> novels about Professor of Latin, with ms
wife whose stockings and sins were of scarlet
UAc value Of Mr.. Langs criticism OF NJ France
is due in the first place, to his knowledge Of
the subject but what we want more particu-
I,rly TO dwell upon is the fine spirit in which
hn comes to the rescue of the great French
heroine He has done this sort of thing before
in his writings on Mary Queen OF Scots 1t is
good 70 see such testimony to the impotence
of heart and imagination as well as of brain IN
the discussion of historical problems, for the
tendency of the socalled scientific school is to
over 10 one can assert that Mr.. Lang is 4 sen
tlmcutaIiSt amateur. Freeman himself
was no keener at getting al the truth.
The wise novelist long ago gave up trying TO
influence the artist summoned to illustrate his
pages But a new practice has made it more
desirable than ever that something should be
done The popular frontispiece nowadays is
portrait OF the heroine, and in painting this |
portrait the illustrator only concerned TO
suit is type OF "illuStratOn' that is positively /
droll in its exclusion of everything that might |
hint at personality. 1t is true that the average |
heroine docs not abound in clearly marked /
traits but she is supposed to have something in
the way of character Author and illustrator |
ought to get together and do the best they can
to give this something n certain relief in the |
frontiSpiece portrait. Instead OF handing his |
book over and leaving the artist to interpret |
the heroine for himself, the author might in q
page two draw up specifications for his |
crllatt0r1tCr to follow. The process might clar |
ffy his own ideas, and between the two they |
might very possibly produce an image of not
altogether inspd girhood. The frontspiece
that presented heroine with character in her /
face would be tolcrably OF increasing the .
number of tie authors readers even though /
the yOucg woman We're made distinctly plain |
1hc siGipcring matinee girl is getting to be a