New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-13
Literary .NesOs anc' Criticism

Der Of studies before commencing the pici-
ure itself Usually there was an 800 ~ "a,
ingly minute and conscientious pencil u,
ing, then a large charcoal cartoon anu ne
ter that for the sake of the color sSheln nd
version In water color. In pasteis any
generally one In oil. ,,. ,,adov
Brown pointed with his brush 10 the nd
of his name Below it, on the leit na ~
side, the picture was completely Ill., 20
on the right 1t was completely pIa That
waste of slightly yellow canvas '""'
cleaned I'm the dusky studio. He sald;
You see, have got to that X. an,
glad of It, for half the picture is done anu
IL feels as If / were going nome.
He put aside his brushes and palette
and went upstairs to bed-and there he
was found next morning lying dead.
There are in these pages many quaint
slimpses Of the -Raphaelite followers
as they appeared in the days when the
author was small and shy boy. Wit
ness the encounter on Piccadilly OF TWO
Of them, little Fordie being the COM
panion of one A piece of good news as
to the success of one -Raphaelfte IN
selling picture for Holman Hunt caused
the other to open his arms wide and cry
in ecstasy. Let me kiss you, Harold!
whereupon the two artists fell into each
others arms in the midst of Podsnap-
plan London and wildly embarrassed
end Mortified little boy fed at the top or
bis speed and hid himself under the or
chestra steps in st. James's Hall. These
people could always be counted upon for
the unconventional, from the poet who
xrl,xx
friends breakfast table marked his place
with a slice of bacon to William Morris
himself firing a plum pudding down the
back stairs on to the head of the COOK.
Most of them were as unconventional in
language as in behavior-as when MADDOX
Brown described Ruskin as in appear
ance like a cross between a friend and
tallow chandler" which was, in truth,
an excellent Characterization. Mr.. Huef-
fer IS perfectly candid in his statements
as to the Philistine England of his father
and grandfather. The pictures of the
-Raphaelites reused no more violent
opposition than did the music of Wagner,
which was heartily sustained by the emf
HeDI HluSlCdI CfiliC OF lIe LINES. IHe
author has in his possession three letters
whose writers stated that unless DR..
Eueffer abstained from upholding the
blasphemOus music of the future-and in
phemous-he would be respectfully
stabbed, ducked in a horse pond and
beaten to death by hired roughs."
About literature and authors Mr. Huff
fer has many entertaining pages-enter-
tanning, if not always convincing. He
is extremely pessimistic as 10 the present
state of English literature and makes
no bones Of declaring that authors them
selves have contributed 20 the want Of
interest in literature that the public dis
plays and that this is "a legacy of pre-
Raphaeism-the worst legacy that any
movement ever left behind it,:
For those young men from whom l fed
into the country invented later. or had
already invented, the dreary shibboleth
that literature must be written by those
who have read the "Cuchulain Saga or
something dull and pompous, for those
who have read similar works. Literature.
these people say. is of necessity abstruse.
esoteric, far fetched and unreadable. Moth
ing is less true. nothing more fatal. Great
literature always is and always has been
popular 1t has had, that is TO say, its pop
ular appeal Homer was a popular writer.
Chaucer wrote i'm what was then called the
vulgar tongue of the common people. This.
too Dante did.
And then our author expresses his con-
victions as to what the writer who is
worth while will he and do. Il do not
think" he says. that he will have the
Cuchullain Saga BY heart"