New-York tribune., 1908-07-05
Gsoe 9Getu21nrls Gribaaeess
SUNDAY, JULY 5, 1908.

fears ago Of course one has conclusive
knswer TO the question, but that does not make
1t any the less amusing as topic. The latest
lnXious inquirer is a writer IN the LONDON
Nation" According to him the great men of
the 70's came at time fortunate for them
selves ''Poets artists, eSsaySts, scientists,
were in large measure the conscious prophets
Or interpreters Of new, large, Transforming
ideas. the quick fruitage Of recent discovery
and audacious speculation in fifty new fields
Now, it appears, such oracles are dumb. and "the
great Lucrative and stimulatiye thoughts OF
q generation ago seem to have become conser-
vative and restrictive, almost paralyZlng In
fuences of to-day" How are we to explain the
slump in oracuIar stimulus? Science must be
our new whpping-boy. If We are to believe
our piaintye little oracle it is science that has
"over- mechanical our thinking and our outlook
upon life as it has our industries" We have
fallen upon evil days. 1.-The glow and inspira-
ton have died out of the new thought, and have
left dull heritage Of semi-fatalistc for1nulsn,
breeding excessive caution, and imposing the
Intellectual duty of going slow" All this Is
exceeding dreadful and we hope that a man OF
genius will turn up without delay.
Apropos Of genius. we may note an aspect of
It brought out by Lord Rosebery in speaking
of Lord Kelvin. what most struck me-" he
indefatigable humility. In him was visible none
of the superciliousness and scorn which some
times embarrass the strongest intellects. With
out condescension, he placed himself at once
on a level with his companion. That has seemed
to me characteristic of such great men OF
science as have met" 1t goes with greatness
IN every field. The Saturday Review" COM
nenting on Lord Rosebery's words, aludes to
the smaller men, the men who have never
originated anything. as SO often being "mpa-
tient spiteful jealous, assertive impressed as
profoundly by their own superiority as by the
stupidity of nine-tenths of humanity" If the
scientist is capable Of this foolish conduct the
mediocre author or artist can easily beat him
at the game. The great writer, looking back
over years Of splendid achievement, will dis
close in his talk a simplicity and a modesty
positively beautiful We have heard a great
painter speaking of art in general and of his
own work in particular in such wise that no
one unacquainted with his history would have |
suspected the position he held in his world. 1t is
noticeable, too, that men Of this kind apt
to be chary of words and that when they do |
speak they have something to say The small
fry in both professions are bad enough when !
they are grossly self-assertive, but they are |
worse when they adopt what can only be de-
scribed as a tone of quiet complacency.
Is any romancer looking for material out Of |
which to make tidy little vOlumc-and tidy |
little sum? Let him profit by the generosity |
of Mr. Andrew Lang, who makes him pres |
ent, if he chooses to take it, of all that is need |
full for his purpose. The hero, ready to the |
Industrious nOyelists hand, is a COyenanting !
gentleman whom Mr.,Iang thus describes:
He what you may call blade: always
first in the charge and last in the retreat. He
could not ride league without meeting an
adventure. The ladies his best allies,
and he had such strong sense of hunnor that
he set the sanguinary Privy Council of Scot
land of whom be the prisoner, laughing at
the delightful coolneSs with which he chaffed
bishop. They did not torture this hero they
did not hang him, though he guilty of |
high treason man could be. He was in the |
thick of battle against his King. but he had |
carefully prepared excellent alibi He used
to have prenonitory dreams. which came true
and so he steered clear of every danger
Who was this paragon whose sense of honor
was rs strong as his sense of humor, to whom
persecution was q lark, and who married the
woman he loved when they both very
young, and lived in happiness with her for more
than fifty years? Are TO take him as only
a fgment of Mr.. Lang's always fertile imag
nation? Far from it. He minister of
the Kirk, the Rev. William Veitch, and -four
ished nightly in Scotland in the good old
Covenanting days He left some memoirs
which were edited by the late Dr.. M'Cre some
fourscore years ago and duly published by the