New-York tribune., 1909-01-16
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Current Talk of Thsngs Present and
to Come.

The new year has brought no more welcome
| book than Professor Martin L DOoge's work
| on THE Acropolis Of Athens" just published
/ by the Macmillan Company. 1t is an exhaustive
study Of enchanting subject, based on ripe
! scholarship but written IN style well calcu-
! lated to appeal to the general reader Inc
! numerous illustrations embrace halftones from
/ photographs drawings. diagrams and maps
/ NJ. Ribot's recently published paper on antlp-
/ athy has stirred Mr.. Andrew Lang to charao-
| teristically amusing comment. He does not
/ agree with NJ Ribot in considering antipathy to
! be "an attitude Of spontaneous and unrefective
/ repulson" On the contrary. he thinks that
! antipathy has plenty Of reflection at the bottom
Of it. but the reflection is so rapid that care
I less psychologist. like the author Of the quatraln
/ on Dr. Fell" ('T do not like you, DR.. Fell, The
reason why cannot ten.") "is unconscious OF or
does not choose to take note Of his own proc
F cesses OF reflection" And here Mr.. Lang brings
in his own experience, asserting that he con-
ceives perfectly rational antipathy when he
conceives any at all. Reasoned experience" he
says has taught me that certain sort of voice
a certain kind Of SMILE a certain oleaginous
/ pallor, mark an Enthusiastically and hostile ami
NAL He, she (after all. ladies cannot be
/ omitted) 'gars me a grue' in the words OF the
/ Ettrck Shepherd, evokes moral shudder not
! caused by mere ugiiness-the person may De
/ much admired by others. Long ago MI Robert
! Louis Stevenson and myself, comparing our
emotions, found that the same lady CARED US
a grue,' and never deviated from that prim-
! tive impression But deny that II was In
! tuittve' was not based on reflection and
/ perience 1t spontaneous but not irrational
/ or. without good grounds in experience People
/ like that knew, did not suit us, were to be
/ distrusted by US"
Mr. Lang thinks that there is only one mys-
! terry about these antipathies and that is, why
| are they not universally shared?" He continues:
! Women sometimes adore whom every man
| not q "decadent" knows. at the first glance. to be
! for the first time, and when the man had gone
saa Ihat ma tenoW is murderer whiGh M np7d nap
a financial scoundrel (A) made the acquaintance
his conadenfe a and and ruined him The same sooun-
drei approached another man CO. Of my acquaint-
poisonous villain. at the first glance. How did
A fail to perceive what was so manifest to q
II the reader hesitates as to his opinion on
this matter he should reflect upon Mr.. Lang's
final sentences The very word 'antipathy.'
by It's etymology. implies that antipathy is
sensation whereas II is the result of experience
and reflection. though most people do not take
the trouble 10 analyze their emotions. The
practical conclusion seems to be: II you have
an antipathy stick 10 It; keep out Of the way
of the person by whom It IS inspired"
THE Americans at Home" work which the
late Rev David Macrae published many years
ago. and which vas enjoyed by the British
reader Of the period. has just been reprinted IN
Glasgow. He was extremely frank in his
sketches and the Americans who find pleasure
in collecting the books of our foreign critics
should not miss this work.
Writing about Daniel Defoe in The Fort
nightly" Mr.. John Maseaeld says that fondness
for the industry Of man limited the sympathies
of the author OF Robinson Crusoe." He was
sensitive 10 natural beauty. says the critic. only
when 1t gave evidence OF mans labor. He liked
TO see orchards full Of fruit. fields full Of grain
hills covered with sheep. valleys full of farms
and rivers with many mills upon them. He
did not care for towns; they had no interest for
him. unless they drove a thriving trade. prefer
ably in the drugget or baize line; but any other
line such as salt fish. spirits. would rouse
an emotion In him. The only buildings which
stirred him such gentlemanly buildings
as a Lord Mayor would build on retiring from
the city. a gay sort OF retirement or so. a
very handsome house. an agreeable lodging.
Mr. Maseheld dwells remorselessly on this COM
mercial side Of Defoe:
He was devout. thrifty. very orderly man. dill
gent and resourcefu in business but full of in
fire at one time that his businesses never pros
pered for long; they were always destroyed by that
in so many walks of life. Business or rather com
merce in its principles and practice, always inter
the great principles Of Internal onal trade
about both He had probably complete expert
ence OF both; for before he was an elderly man he
ruined. But he always probably more Of the
merchant-ad venutrer than anything else. yenturing
large sums for large returns IN what would De-
for a trader, rather brilliant. imaginative man,
with traders with their natural enemies. such as
pirates and shoplifters His moral judgments are
souls attain grace by becoming traders like the
saved.
Mr.. George Meredith has just contradicted the
old story that he had left Rossettrs house in
Chelsea because Of the appearance OF ham and
eggs on his breakfast plate. Devotion to his
work in contempt of nature killed him."
saws the venerable novelist in THE English
Review" "On no other subject have I spoken
Of this dear fellow but with the affection I felt
sometimes playfully with regard TO his peculiar
habits dare say, never in the gossip's manner"
The question as to the authorship of the
beautiful Canadian Boat Song" otherwise THE
Lone Sheling" appears to be settled by the
Blackwoodss statement that the manuscript OF
the poem, now in their possession, shows that
1t was written by Lockhart and Incorporated by
him In "Noctes Ambrosanae." Lockhart how
ever, said that the poem came to him from "a
friend in upper Canada" and the Blackwoods
think that the friend John Gait. This may
be true, yet there is nothing in the work of Gait
that inclines US to believe that he could have
given form to the haunting music Of the Lone