New-York tribune., 1909-06-05
SOME CHARMING ESSAYS.
The Anliable DiOersiorS of Nan of
Politics.

THE WANDER YEARS Being Some Account Of
YoxaiI NJ p Emo, Pp Viii a8a 8sa AT By Dnttal u n
& Co. " = D-0ii
The author Of this book is a member Of the
House Of Commons who delights In politics but
is nevertheless glad to escape from his Parlia-
mentary duties and to ramble in the bvwavs
OF life He cares for old bookshops and for
bargains In china. In historic city or out
upon the countryside he is equally happy, re-
membering the past and taking the present in
optimistic and even jolly mood. Indeed, he does
not always have TO step abroad in order to
stimulate his fancy and set his pen to work
Even in the House he can prodigiously enjoy
himself. There are times" he saws "vhen
all at Westminster seems pragmatisrn and pre-
tence; the Session and the sittings last too
long; they are TOO continuous; you tire. YOU
slcken, and you break away TO some calm
garden or to bathe your mind in a book There
is much bomhast; there is some hypocrisy; high
comedy dashed with farce is a prevalent note, >,
If this were all perhaps even Mr. Yoxalls high
spirits would occasionally slacken But the
House has other moods. AT times the Tragic
Muse will enter brusquely. dark trailing gar
ments, Ristori gestures, a Siddons face. How
often have seen bitter hate flash out from
under friendly seeming vizors. Campbell
hded TO me his private opinion of chief oppo-
nent; I remember those surprising words Of his
though I do not quote them here And to sit
spectator, 10 watch, study and understand the
play and the players at St Stephens Theatre
makes hctfve dramas seem tame" He gives
you in few of his pages an uncommonly vivid
sense of the humor Of the political play.
He does this. too. without bringing in per-
sonalities. That is his gift. Beginning his last
chapter, ne remarks. To wander gives You to
meet strange folk, and once saw Huysn1ans.
the man who knew cathedrals best and most
Pallid and dark and racial-Hispano-F -Flamand-
he sat enthroned, the Sir Oracle Of ca baret
TOPPING his absnthe il it were wine and wafer.
and talking, talking. taldng and theorizing in
the most irreverential way" You expect him
to continue about Huysmans. He does so,
through a few lines, but then he discourses of
cathedrals, and is ali enthusiasm for sheer ro-
nance. He is very clever about II. Possibly
he is a shade too clever. At all events you feel
that the engaging quality of these essays is
due not so much 10 an artless and altogether
spontaneous faculty for dscursive prose as il
is to the authors saturation in the writings of
Sterne and Lamb and Stevenson. In other
words vein Of self-conscfousness runs through
his work; he is little too much the ingenious
craftsman. But his ardor is unforced. His
love for travel and for the collectors advent
ures is Enthusiastically sincere. Genuine, too, is
his love Of letters, and when he breaks off to
reflect on this or that famous figure we easily
forgive him his rhetorical habit. which is. after
all, harmless enough, and agree that he makes
amusing company. Take him, for example, in
the following passage:
on the nanteI shelf Of the room in which 1
write white figure Of Goethe stands ghost-like
antique. il is fine. it was moulded and marked
at Schlaggenwaid century or more ago. and
in Hammersmith Broadway such declension
had it come. 1t was never popular in Germany
even, dare say, for it shows elderly Goethe.
and Germans prefer the Apollo Adonis bust Of
him BryQnic KIND Of Goethe with eurls like vine
figure the old man stands high, erect, and i'm
at Jena. carrying his head Ioftiy and seeming
when he spoke TO grow taller and statelier. and
the courses OF the stars" Here's a man. If you
like Napoleon said of t.. him about that period.
tn ana Woe frToT his i face think the mouth n
the lips are pressed into such a pompous line;
accents of naughty brows above far-searching
eyes. big nosed, chin outpushed hair thrown back,
parfair egoiste,' he stands, "porphyTy intel
lect hard as nails In rigid ID old age. face and and
he could love-above all, clasp "sculions
to Christine Vulpus in that however; though 'the
poor thing is what Goethe himself repeatedly
Audrey mind you-'a poor thing, but mine own;
for there was little humor In Goethe. Il Lhumour
n est pas un don de resprit, il est un don du
ccnur'' Unfair TO expect a Goethe TO be humor-
Gus. indeed; he was German; there Is little humor
anvwnerc among Latin O Slavonic peoples and
still less of il in Kaiser-land. / do not forget
Jean-Paul. I remember Heine and Boerne; but
no IL was no Touchstone whm which drew
Hausminister. Geheimlegationsrat and hammer
president Goethe toward Christine Sophie Eulpius,
1T was belated passion. II the swell Of the
widest waves again: from which, o brotherhood
OF ereving heads pray Heaven defend us all! For
look YOU what is the conclusion of that matter?
ST. Martins summer goes down IN fog and sleet
epitaph, and "a bitterly was Goethe to repent
In these and other comments on Goethe we
note that Mr.. Yoxall is sympathetic but cool
headed. At many points. in fact. he impresses
us by a critical judgment sounder than that
which one expects in a traveller who is some
thing of q sentimentalist. Partly ascribe
this authors excellent balance to his culture
and partly to his sense of humor. Though he
writes with seemingly impulsve gusto, he sees
things in the right perspective; he has a just
idea sf proportion Best of all, however, is his
zest of appreciation, his way of finding inter-
esting things TO celebrate briefly and with a
light touch Whether he is recalling picturesque
modes of travel IN other days or is describing
q French chateau. or is telling how Josiah
wedgwood civilized and aserticized the uten-
sis which people who could not buy porcelain
might use az table, is rejoicing over Altdor-