New-York tribune., 1909-10-24
GOOD CONP4NY.
an anthology of ManIy Types.
Grare and Gdy.

/ F. V. Lucas. 16mO, pp- K. o. The Macmillan
| Company
| The first Of the books published BY Mr. Lucas
this season, q collection Of essays. left a rather
doubtful impression. but that was almost en-
tirely removed by his second venture, a Wan
derer in Paris and it is finally atoned 1or oy
the anthology with which. it is 10 be presumed.
he rounds out his work for the winter Here
he is on safe ground. safe because It is indeed
his native heath Mr.. Lucas is a born collector
of literary odds and ends. He not only knows
where to find them, but, having covered his
desk with these fragments. he rearranges them
in just the right order. framing charming de-
sign with an almost impeccable touch Once n
a while in the oldest fashion his tact deserts
him. One of his quotations in this book. an
'Imaginary Conversation of LandOT's has
chapter TO itself and fills thirty pages That
it is a beautiful piece of literature is beside the
point quotation thirty pages long is hope
essly out of place in a compilation of this kind.
But otherwise Mr.. Lucas pleases US as he
pleased us in 1.-The Ladies Pageant by making
his selections with taste and a sense of humor.
His scheme of classification is persuasive. He
begins with Chance Acquaintance choosing
his illustrations from Pope and Lowell Hazitt
and Mr.. BellOc. and then passes 10 urban
Humorists." Good Servants, Human Diyines'' ''
The Law" ''WiId Irishmen' Collectors" and
\ -
Gratis which begins.
give you the health Of the oldest friend
That, short of eternity. earth can lend
A friend so faithful and tried and true
That nothing him from me and vou
In one respect Mr.. Lucas has been Iuckier in
making this anthology than he was in making
the one on woman. The wide range of mascu-
line life gives him richer coIors. The idiosyn-
crasies of man are enriched when they are not
actually created by his occupation The law
yer's Wit, or the soldiers has a SAVIOR all its
own The doctor or the sportsman is moulded
day by day by his environment and the latter
tells not only IN his talk but in his traits ON
the other hand some of Mr. Lucas's best por-
traits owe their merit 10 the Intervention of art
His first type. Mr.. LintOt. "a redoubtable rival
of Mr.. Tonson." could not have been as amusing
in himself as he is in Pope's satiricaI descrip-
ton. So it is with some of Lambs heroes. FL
liston was. of course. superb. but if we rejoice
IN him 1t is because Ella sketched him with his
incompatible brush and flung over him tha
charm that even at his best he could not himself
nave eXerted- Fortunate indeed have noted men
sometimes been in their painters. And how they
have deserved such celebrants, Browsing
through this book. thinks wistfulIv of Jobn
Baliantyne, of Pat Power of DaragIe. of the
Kew X y HaWker. and a score of other en-
tindling souls What company they must hive
made!
Here and there Mr. lucas brings hack tba
memory of men who inspire no thoughts of com
radeship. but fill us with a kind of awe mo,
Ike Caesar and Napoleon But it is not to in
woke such solemn apparitiOns that he has made
TINS volume His attention is chiefly given 10
friendly human creatures to the types that
endear or amuse, and though most Of his me-,
are more or less famous he finds room for the
hunolest specimens. One of his happiest Sc
leetions is this picture from Heine:
The TheTe lives in HamhuTgh. in the Baecker RraiteD
SiAs py gutter, a man named Moses IrImD -
NS Cstll iiiA t4npS, for short. and he rls rD,,s1
H SEt NIloS Week IN wind and rain with his Dar 81
lIN DICK 10 earn a few marks Well when ESTs7S,.
evening comes round he goes home AMI riD-Js -,
-nIdnCIed lamp all lighted a clean vybfto clt6
lilc 'luls' anu ne puts on his pack and All ~
OloWS anu SITS down at the table with biS croOJ
MlLe thu CFoOkeder daughter, and eats with t6S,,,
Ilsh tlat nave been cooked in a nice white sIarl,.
StGct ana sings the finest SONGS of F[iD- TSo,;S
ana reJoiCt.S with all his heart at the Esi7,s . 80
,si'lHfen OF Israel from Egypt. TIe feels ria5 -,
.t tll az Tue pad people who did anything ba5 -,
thek di.G at last: that King Pharaoh Nssb,--iis.S
,, st1ian. AntiochuS, Titus and srlcb III
are AN dead. but that I.urnpy is still 9Iire -
"'S liSh win MS wife and child And / tel voJ