New-York tribune., 1911-01-07


cause | cannot think 1t likely ind ,o =.
sane persons did abandon theil nrioi,,ai ~
initiating the great apocalypti. ~ ,1,h,aL
He pretended to love the countiy, %nIcn ,
he liked as much as Mr.. Cho,,, u n.'
Craigenputtock. and he went aoout hoh
don with a scowl, hating 'no "'iu
not thinking well Of the poor
Scientific professors OF the n,y iy oi
literature wish to provide suppy OF
literary history without biography where
there Is no demand except among olher
professors and few young persons VINO
desire PROFESSIONAL chairs. 49, iously
the general public cares innnitey less
for literature than for inforrlel.on apout
the makers of literature. feopie VINO
never read Shakespeare's sohhets are al
agog when they hear that be ONE Ioueed
at the house OF a rowdy French husue-
not wigmaker. 1 learn on excehent au-
thority that this same wigmaker' thousn
a sad good Protestant at heart ana an
exile for the sake Of his religion was
communicated from his tabernacle be-
causse he was a night rake, an outher,
not a consistent walker, but rather
staggerer. The problem at once rasnes
on the mind Did the society OF snake
speare corrupt the once austere frencn
perruquier and Puritan, his ianolord!
Or did Shakespeare sedulously put vain
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people have a right TO know, put preHit
noY alta
II the demand for personal details Is
not gratifed. then even persons OF cult
ure much prefer TO read new DOCKS or
essays about old books than 10 read the
cid books themselves. They would rather
have heard La Fontaine talk about
Baruch whom he discovered than
study Baruch himself. Who has not read
lers.-- .Gz-l. nVTah a.
cauay about the comic playWrlsnts OF
1865 100; and who reads the plays or
the playwrights? In Thackerays lecture
on Congreve he says: II have read two
or three Of Congreve's plays over before
speaking Of him" What concession
to research He does not say: i nave
read them over again" Having read
them over, two or three of them. Thack-
cray did not desire to pursue his studies
-manifestly he was bored to desolation.
TITS a weary feast, that banquet Of wit
where no love is 1t pals very soon
1t does indeed; and rs for the wit. is II
really so witty? Monsieur Jules Le-
maitre, / think. In his capacity as a
dramatic critic, said of a new play tnat
II was like ap beau page ddtge0'e' a
pretty page out Of Colensos Algebra, a
gentleman in the stalls arose, and, press
ing his hands on his fevered brow, cried
aloud: 81 don't understand single word
of itv' Such are Mr. Congreve's plots.
Leigh Hunt candidly says: Speaking
for ourselves we can never attend sufii-
ciently to tho plots of Congreve. They
soon puzzle us, and we cease to think
of them" n the plays are witty they
are wit in a Mist" Thackeray began
by Informing the most literary audience
in London that 1T is Of the men ana
their lives, rather than OF their DOCKS,
that ask permission to speak to you
IL would have been useless TO speak OF
the books: Il was enough to speak In
the style of angels about the venerable
chestnuts such as Mrs. Bracegirdle's
legacy Of 200 from William CongreVe,
the Duchess of Narlborough's diamond
necklace (f7OOO from the same august
and gouty hand. ] am able to add de-
tail from an unpublished letter or Lazy
Louisa Stuart's, A later daughter or the
Churchills asked the innocent question:
why is the necklace marked with the
initials w. CT" So Lady Louisa wrote
10 Walter Scott. Here is an addition 10
literary biography!
Professor Schelling answers in his own
way the question about the higher aims
of literary study" The aims are the
recognition of those unseen Influences
literary and other, by which even the
greatest man becomes the product or MS
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nuences unseen without the biography
The Dark Lady Of the Sonnets Is thought
nv some venturesome critics TO have been
the making Of Shakespeare. Without
her there would, II seems. be In the
plays no dark ladies, Cleopatras and
Cressidas; that Is If Cressida were dark
she was probably OF an Aryan stock
who came through Thrace TO Asia. In
any case, there would be no such dark
and demoralizing enslavers In the plays
but for the Dark Lady. Therefore, we
must, II we would recognize the unseen
Influences" pursue the biographical track
and hunt for the Dark Lady. Can she
have been the wife OF the r&wdy Puri-
tan, the French wign,aker?
Mr.. Schelling AYERS that History has
divorced Biography. History now
} chronicles the common man." Not She
Human history Is not the history OF the
growth Of q coral island, built ZIP by
the minute industry OF innumerable and
indistinguishable little beasts. History
is the work OF dstinguishable persons
Of character. Even the bees have had a
bee of genius, who hit on the right way
Of constructing honeycombs. There was
a fish Of genius who was the first TO
blow water at floating fly. drown It,
observe II. and eat It, Trout can blow
a thing out OF their mouths with amaZ-
ing force, but no trout Of genius has
arisen to drown a floating fly and then
ascertain whether It Is the genuine ar
ticle or the product Of human industry
with a hook in It. No; history cannot
get away from the biographies OF Han
nibal and Themistocles. Julius Caesar
and Napoleon Bonaparte, Mary Stuart
and John Knox; and literary history
let the professors say what they Will, is
| ,ndIasoIubIv united to literary biography