Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-04
BOOK REVIEWS

Nv Wv W. - w "
ITALIAN HOURS. BY Henry James.
Illustrated by Joseph Pennell. Bos-
ton: Houghton Miff1in Company.
a HOLIDAY largess here both OF
~ form and spirit. One pauses to
~ feel the promise OF it through
its outer beauty of amplitude
and color and design. Within
there is. first. the lovely picture-then
MANY of these-all charming, softly brood
ing, melting pictures that overflow theh
shadowy borders in a maze OF far-Hung
suggestion and enchanting dream. But,
best of all. there is the golden promise,
immediate in fulfillment. of strolling the
hours away among Italian scenes In the
company of this president man. thls
leisured traveller and artist, before whom
objects seem naturally Ito compose with
surpa ssing fidelity and charm. In read
ing here one has his wonder all over
again at the magic of words-so volatile,
so elusive medium of expression. Here.
however. il is captured and held and i'm
pressed gloriously to the service OF max
ing pictures-pictures as vivid, as vital.
as tangible, as painter ever spread on
canvas and hung upon wall. Pictures
fresh and springing-nade in joy, spon-
taneous like. Yet one knows by signs in
fallible that if these were the outcrop-
pings of a native, crude spontaneity. in
place of being the product of the select
ed matured. mellowed sort, there would
in that case be wealth-a probable riot
of it-but never these supremacy beautiful
and complete things OF art. harmonious
and significant. from which one turns
with a truer sense of their counterparts
in life.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF THE ENG
LISH PEOPLE-Volume III; from
the Renaissance to the civil war.
BY j. ]. Jusserand. author of Eng
lish Wayfaring Life in the Middle
Ages etc. New York: G. p. Put
MANS Sons.
The literature of any people-that rela-
lively untrammeled. footloose thing,
working quietly, close to the common HUI
man life pulse-is bound to be, out of its
elemental essence. the most significantly
revealing national product. The literature
of the English people. that extraor-
binary development consequent upon
the full-blooded. lusty. adventuring life
of this unfretted insular people-out OF
the very audacity of its originality and
it's compelling perSonality-haS cast a
worldwide spell of wonder and pursuit.
For some reason, so far uncovered-may-
be some long-buried subway or kinSnlp
and sympathy, or possibly. only lnteliec-
tu1l acuteness and temperamentai htnesS
France has given the best service 10
English literature in the way of analysis
and literary value and national import.
The present volume. one out or a series
devoted to the literary history of the
English people-sOmething organically
different from the mere abstraction OF a
history of English literature-deals with
the development of the drama in its
response to the play-call of English lie.
Moving along with this through its child
hood youth and manhood are mysteries.
moralities, dramas of manners and OBJ
servation, on up to the elimination In
Shakespeare and his life dramas-uni-
versal, cotemporaneous Then the SUD,
sidence in an aftermath of imitators and
logical variants. II the complete series
NAV be Judged by this volume-and why
not?-this is scholarly benefaction to
the students of English literature. and.
deeper down, to it's friends and lovers as
well.
PENGUIN ISLAND. BY Anatole France.
author of Joan of Arc" etc. Trans-
lated by 4. w. Evans. Edited by
Frederic Chapman. New York: John
Lane Company.
AS mere matter of material, some
thing conditioned by number, size. shape,
color, texture and decorative art, this
production is an exclusive and esthetic
concern Out of it's fanciful originality
it is intrinsically exclusive as well. A
satire. mellow as honey, but filled, too,
with the wild grapes tang. A whimsy.
with something elusive in the witchery OF
its style and an inimitable grace In the
art of its construction. This purports
10 be a history--it is one, tOo-apprOach-
ed with an eXtravagantly solemn decla-
ration of purpose and devotion, with a
for Oft ifN- q nd
original investigation. all in support Of
it's authenticity. This is the history-so
the book says-Of a breed OF birds. the
penguins: ridiculous birds, that stand
up. manlike, in pompous gravity Of pose
and look out upon nothing with wise
ewes of serious consideration. manlike,
too. The development of these absurd
creatures along lines analogous to those
of human progress holds up with amaZ-
ing cleverness the sophistry. the inutility.
the sham. the ignorance, the folly OF a
serio-comc world in the multiform phases
of it's feeble pretentiousnesS.
MEMOIRS OF THE DUCHESSE DE-:
DINO: 1S31-IS3S. Edited with Notes
and Biographical Index by the Prin-
ceSse RadZiwill. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.
Gathering the substance of a memoir,
any memoir. comes in the main under the
head of labor. and not. one might
suppose. under that of diversion. To col
lect tne matters of concern out of the
abundance of tittle-tattle relating to social
functions. precedence. costume and what
not: to throw away from these and
then to articulate the parts left:
to place this reconstructed, organic
thing properly III the larger movement
of which it is part: all this is a matter
of labor. skilled labor. calling for anal
Nsis method and an appreciation OF the
general world current. On the other
hand, the purely personal outlook OF the
memoir. with it's varied interests. trivial
and weighty, all glowing together-iike
the friendly letter, the neighborly chat
over the fence, the touch-and-go chance
meeting on the street-gives II the CRATE
full warmth and color missed in more de-
tached writings and furnishes the slighter
element of the hours entertainment The
present volume has the reorganization
OF its kind, almost but not quite. because
of a sort of conference gained by the use
OF one mans career as the center of Its
multiform radiations. This memoir cir
cles about the inspired services of the
Prince de Talleyrand in the field of dplo-
macy. His political insight and strategy
in the affairs of Europe. focused here In
his mission to the court of st. James
make up the larger text of this volume
The personality and public significance OF
this prince of diplomats. the world import
of this period in its struggle for constitu-
tional liberty. the special political aspect
of Great Britain. with its seesaw OF
whig and tory in the strain of parlia-
mentary reform give to this particular
memoir substance and dignity. Nor can
one desire To ignore the Duchess de Dino
herself She reminds too wildly of the