New-York tribune., 1909-07-31

viii reprodIcti9ns from photographs and from
drawings by famous artists SVo' Pp- Al 0'1
Mitchell Kennerley.
The world has been talking about George
Meredith and his novels for a long TIME MI
FIammerton has looked over lot of SUCH OF
this tan, as has found its way into print and
has complied volume rom which we may
learn what Stevenson. say. and his friend Hen
ley have thought about Meredith, or even what
orsinions have been held on his work by Hannah
Lynch and Richard lie Galiienne- We are NOT
sure that it greatly matters. 1t Is true 1haI
some of the criticisms cited in this hook have a
certain interest intrinsically, or as showing the
treatment received by Meredith at a given time.
Fu. the only part of Mr. Hammerton's book
which has any great vitality is that in Whlcn ne
outlines the story of his hero's life and work
and exhibits his personal characteristics in the
recollections Of his friends The material pre-
sented, though neither voluminous nor very new.
at least serves the convenience Of the reader in
being brought compactly together from many
scattered sources.
one of the writer's earliest quoted in this vol
ume is a contributor 20 The Manchester Guar
dian,'' whO pointed out that Meredith's name.
familiar Welsh nazhe. is invariably pronounced
incorrectly by Engiishmen. Nearly all Eng
lishrnen he said. placed the accent on the first
syllable. whereas TO welshman would dream of
placing If anywhere but on the second in ac-
sordance with the iron Welsh law that the ac-
cent must always be on the penulumate syi-
liable Mr.. Hammerton states that he never
heard any of Meredith's intimates accentuatlng
the name differently from the common render
ing. He gives good enough sketch of the nov
elist's earlier years considering how little Is
known Of the subject. There is a dron illustra-
ton at this point of the way of the modern
biographer When Meredith was young man
had lie he
sournalisrn. Speaking Of this years afterward 20
his friend Edward CIodd, who in The Fort
nightly Review has recently reported the talk'
he said: "I got work on one Of your Suffolk
papers The Ipswich Journal which kept me
going Some ghoGl has lately threatened to
make search for these articles; may the Com
rnination service be thundered in his ears" We
hope that be was not naive as TO suppose that
the articles in question would be left TO slumber
indefinitely. IL seems that in 1893 a MIR. Fred
erick Dolman prepared a piece for one Of the
rnagazines on George Meredith a Journal
tst~ and as a preliminary 10 that exploit he
duly burrowed in the files Of The Ipswich Jour
nal" Mr. Rammerton is quick 10 avail himself
of his obvious opportunity, and reproduces some
Of his predecessors extracts Perhaps no seri-
Gus harm is done. Here. from an article on the
Prince and Princess Of Wales, is a specimen Of
Meredith's Journalism:
Our ladies' wish, they tell Us, and we can more
1iIiiner in spirit devouty desires the Princess
Alexandra VIII relieve them from servitude TO The
Crinone Empress The introduction OF the crino-
line has been in its effects morally worse taaR IA
utterly destroTed more tenpers; II has put i'm
division between the sexes. II has obscured
us. smothered Us, stabbed Us
The solemn resurrection Of this paragraph is
funny enough. but even funnier is Mr. Ham
merton's grave assertion that the last sentence
in fc1s5l6 have been M NJ
nsIist al that time Indeed,
or another phase Of Meredith's journalistic;
\ career Mr.. Hammerton is a little more inter
u esting- II is natural TO assume that the work
= done by the novelist as a war correspondent.
following the struggle between Italy and Aus
tria- must have possessed at least a measure of
originality. His present biographer has exam
ined his letters to 1.-The Morning Post" and
speaks Of them with unexpected mildness. He
says:
He did not see great deal Of the actual fighting.
OF their movements and marched and camped with
hand vivid. gripping stories: but no better than
many war correspondent has done before and
since Written most likely in haste to catch the
courier, they are reInarka6ly dict IN style OF
only occasional faint echoes Of the Meredithian
manner There is little. If anything in them that is
worthy o. reprnting.
The memories of Meredith assembled by Mr.
q
preston He appears TO have been ever full Of
good talk and high spirits. Most of his friends
have something TO say about his laughter There
are, of course a number Of more OF less amusing
anecdotes in the book We choose the following:
The widow OF Andrew Crosse. the celebrated cleo
trician. was there. very lively and talkative lady,
in Richard FeHereI" which had prejudiced her
against friend n. 4. overheard this conversa-
ton but did not catch the words Of the OFFENDING
passage, when the ladies retired 10 the drawing
room. she boldly asked Mrs. Crosse what IL was.
She somewhat surprised at the reply. 1t was:
kissing won't last but cookery WILL as piece
q advice TO persons about TO marry" On the
drive home We discussed it with Mrs. Meredith
George riding outside smoking cigar. and she
said that when she was going TO be married
old aunt wrote her letter OF dtscotra eeTnen ana
encouragement, saying inter ala that she had read
somewhere, years ago. in book whose title she
had forgotten that kissing won't last, but cookery
will Was not this singular when she going
10 Be married 70 the very man who had written it2
Odds and ends Ike the foregoing are not, per-
haps Indispensable TO a critical appreciation OF
Meredith either author. but
they make fairly amusing reading Other books
about him win be published, and some Of them,
despite his prohibition. viii take the Biographical
form. To the writers Of these Mr. Hamrnerton
VIII render some slight service. Here and there
in his pages they viii find material enabling
them &C add effective touch 10 the novelist's
portrait
They will. for example come upon some use
ful descriptions Of Meredith as a taIker In that
capacity he seems almost Invariably to have
thrown something like fascination over his in
terIocutor He was, 10 begin with handsome
man picturesque. and with certain distinction
Those who knew him well speak with peculiar
appreciation of his smile, "a smile that seemed
caused by a light upon the face rather than by
the play Of the features Merely to meet him
face 70 face was at once to be interested. and
A.,