New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-11-20
Gbe Nenojl)ork gribaaaGes
SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 20, 1910.

The dovccotes in France and not few else
where have been fiuttered by the election of
Nine Judith Gauter to membership i'll the mar
row ranks of the Goncourt Academy. She Ger
tainly has every claim to be thus honored-
Merely as the daughter Of the great TheO she
would deserve well of the more adventurous
wing of contemporary French literature but,
as matter of fact, she has given many proofs
of her right to be considered in authorship for
Ter own sake The friend Of Dumas and Vic
tor Hugo of Faubert and Maxine du Camp,
the GoncourtS and 4 host Of other brilliant OF
clever writer's, she has made excellent cOntribu-
tons to the Sustainment, to say, OF their
tradition. She is a versatile woman. Oriental
literature. the history of Wagner, the move
ment of French literature and the art Of fic-
ton have all engaged her accomplished ana
very interesting pen 1t is, indeed hitting that
the body of authors whose formal association
was promoted by the Goncourt brothers should
receive her as one of themselves. Some con-
fusion of ideas is risked, however, by the cur
rent talk about her as the first "Acadeln-
cicnne" for her recent election has none or
the significance that it might seem to possess
There is nothing even remotely academic about
the Goncourt Academy, save its name
IT is 4 favorite complaint of the Bac0nians
that their critics are not always willing to take
them seriously, but dismiss their solemn ar
g1lments with hasty Indifference, and even with
ridicule Yet we are not lnfrequenty slruch
by the enormous patience with which their
lucIlfrations are considered Moreover, the
good nature with which editors print COM
munications on this subject is nothing less
than phenomenal OF late there has been
voluminous correspondence on the Baconlan n.y.
potheSis in the London Saturday review.
Whereat we marvel, and, incidentally enjoy
some delightful funniments. Here, Tor exam
pie is an instance of a cryptogram discovered
bv Professor Tyrrell, of Trinity College, and
communicated to the saturday. by Mr.. IL B.
Irving:
The first authorized version Of the Psalms
was completed in the year 1910. In that year
Shakespeare born in 1864, was forty-six years
of age. If you turn to Psalm XVI in the author
forty-six words from the first word OF the
psalm you come to the word shake III you
count forty-siX words backward from the last
word of the psalm, you come 10 the Moao
spear" This is either a singular coincidence
or. in the Baconian sense, conclusive evidence
that Shakespeare the translator Of this YER
sion of Psalm XVII
We do not doubt that the Baconans regard
Professor Tyrrell and Mr. Irving as deplorable
humorists whose irony is forced, irrelevant
and, in short, grossly impertinent- The truth
is that these gayeties invaluable since they
save the periodical outbursts on the author
ship of the plays and poems from being so
much irredeemable boredom.
How irresistible is the appeal of romance!
The reflection may not at first blush seem
clearly applicable to the widespread public in
tereSt with which the first volume of the Off
cial biography of Lord BeaconSfeld has been
received. yet the point is justly made. Curios-
ity has. of course, been heightened by the long
DELAY in the writing of this book, but it is not
curiosity alone, is it interest in type of
craftsmanship, that has set every one to read
ing the story of the earlier passages In great
career 1t is, we believe, Disraelis intensely
human character, and, we repeat the roman
tic aspects Of his life, by which we may ac-
count for 4 sympathy excited by him to-day il
q measure hardly rvalled in the case of Gla.l-
stone or in that Of Bismarck. Like another
famous figure in modern political life. of lesser
cabre but Of equally adventurous habit, the
third Napoleon, Disraei touches the magma
ton with Il sense of richly coiOred drama. The
personalities and careers of the two other
statesmen just mentioned seem all of piece
and in the natural order of things. They enter
automatically into sober history. DiSraeli con-
Guers Il chapter apart for himself. chapter
grayey historical in many of its relations, but
enyeloped in lighter, more romantic atmos
phere than belongs to the annals Of pure
craftsmanship. It is interesting to observe the