The Washington herald., 1909-01-10

A correspondent Of T P.'s Weekly con-
tributes the following bit Of Dickensians.
81 have been interested IN the Efforts Of
YOUR correspondents TO trace the origin Of
This DicEensian name. and may perhaps
throw little further light upon the sub
jet In Leeds at the present time We
have living among us the elder grand
son o. the original OF the 'Pickwick
Papers a Nr- A p. SnOdgrass. vino has
given considerable attention 10 the works
Of Charles Dickens. and who is also
clever poTtTayer Of lis creations. I be-
lieve he has son who is on the staff Of
the 6. p. o. central Office here Another
brother is located in Exeter as an official
Of the corporation there From what
have cleaned from Mr.. Sn0dgrass. the
family originally came from Edinburgh
or the L0wIands OF Scotland. and the
original OF Pickwick migrated 20 Bath
and became "a hotel keeper about 1926 70
about 49, and It was in Bath that Dick
ems probably met him also met a Mr.
Sn0dgrass in Omagh about twelve years
ago. but not a member Of the Dickensian
family. The derivation OF the name is
probably Danish. siguifying close or neat
grass and arises from some popularity
about the ancestral homestead 1 think
il viii Re found that the name Snod-
grass is not unknown in Liverpool and
Manchester, though they may not have
connection with Dickens"
Il is now announced that the subject
selected by the English department for
the John Hubbard Curtis prize at Yale
this year Is a critical essay on the
novels OF William De Morgan. the award
for which VIII be 500 in cash. Prof.
William Lyon Phelps. who is well known
not only at Yale. but throughout Tie
country, for his interesting lectures. is
an enthusiastic admiTer Of Mr.. De Nor
gan
Dual personality has been rather a ia
vorite theme with the nOvelists OF late
years. and II is a curious fact that mast
Of the writer's who make Pictorial use Of
this fascinating problem unscient;fcaliy
assume that the good" phase OF char
acter must always be the real and per
manent self On the other hand. ". H
MallOck, the English writer. whose much
discussed novel. An Immortal Soul.
has been brought out in this country
BY the Harpers, takes quite an opposite
standpoint, and surprises his readers ~
making his heroine turn out 10 be more
the reckless. somewhat shocking young
person than the girl Of nunGke aspiration.
as she at first seems TO 5e. It may be
because Mr.. 8IaIlOck IS q philosopher and
psychologist. as wei as a novelist snd
poet that his views awaken unusual re-
spect, and that his story, far more than
most OF its kind, makes q man willing
10 look for a minute or two, a. any rate,
into the mystery Of the human soul
The drawings Of Alfred Stevens are in
Guided in the latest addition to the Sc
ries Of Drawings Of the Great Masters"
The reproductions of forty-eight OF his
drawings in different media and STYLES
are prefaced by brief paper on Stevens
lie and work. written by Hugh StannUs.
The plates have been beautifully repro
duced and the book is an important pub
LEGATION in the series
The Westminster Gazette takes Hall
Game severely 10 task for the injudicious
and distorted revelations in the autObiO-
graphical record that he calls My Story"
Mr.. Han Game is led astray by his mis-
taken sense Of what is great and
tragic. We are told Rossetti was
bizarre. mysterious highly gifted, NOR
bid eccentric, almost anything one likes
rather than great and tragic. His poems
are so1sUoCs, vOluptCoUs. delicate. plas-
tic, mythical-again z whole range Of
epithets is open-but they are not great
and tragic Above all they are literary.
IN the sense that one thinks OF them