New-York tribune., 1912-02-11

1
names of Irish masterpieces beside
which those of Corneille and Racine and
Moliere are Of little account. These
French plays, 1t is true, are not of re-
cent times. but they are acted in recent
times. and are therefore within the
range of his comparison. For two cen
turies and more not France only but
| Europe has revered the genius Of
| French dramatists, studied their art and
studied their language. Ought Europe,
then, to have taken Gaelic as a model
in literature and burnt its midnight oil
over Gaelic writer's instead Of French! =!
Is everybody else wrong and Mr.. Roose-
welt alone, as he has assured us, "abso-
lutely wise and right?
There has been of late so much con-
troversy in England about the censor
ship that a contribution TO the debate
from America attracts even more atten-
ton than usual. Civil proceedings have
here been thought sufficient to protect
the morals of the stage, but II Philadel-
phia, in a paroxysm Of municipal moral
ity, thinks proper to set the criminal law
in molten. the English assume there
must be a sufficient reason for II. or
some Of the English do Mr.. Shaw, who
is an Irishman. but temporarily a sub
ject Of the Crown. has, naturally enough
found, and still more naturally declared
In print, a reason of his own. He tells
us that all decent people are arrested IN
America, II is painful 10 have TO infer
that the ninety millions or more OF un-
arrested Americans are all indecent bur
I should no more think of questioning
Mr.. Shaws statement than Mr.. Roose-
velt's
It is we'll known that Mr.. Shaw has
great difficulty in overcoming his natural
modesty and presenting himself in print
| TO his admiring public. Those who say
/ that impudence is his chief stock in
, trade are quite wrong. He really be-
| lieves that his views on socialism and
] the censorship and other high matters
are important to the world, and in order
| that the world may not suffer he does
/ violence to his own nature and brings
out his candle from under the bushel;
and the light Of it is such that the way
faring man though a fool need not err
as to Mr.. Shaw's meaning. Whom he
loveth he chasteneth Perhaps Mr..
Shaw dissembles his love for us too care
J fully. but II Harlequin makes faces at
his public from across the footlights all
he really intends is to make the public
! laugh.
| Mr.. Filson Young is another dissem-
! bier. Unlike Mr.. Shaw. he has, so far
as ! am aware, no grievance against the
| New York police. He is angry because
Lord Tsnkerville prefers Boston TO Eton
! for the educating Of his son; which is
surely not our fault But Mr.. Young
thinks the most effective way of protest
ing against Lord Tankerville's act is 90
assure the readers Of THE Saturday
Review" that all Americans are vulgar.
Let there be no invidious discrimina-
tion. II is better we should all be vul-
gar together than that only some of us
should be. When Mr.. Filson Young
wrote about us last month I'm The Eng
lish Review he was. all things consid-
cred, rather civil. Now that he returns
70 THE Saturday" he is less so. His
! environment IS too much for him
can remember when The Saturday Re
view" was often called THE Saturday
Reviler." This, Of course, was unjust.
! II IL said hard things Of US and OF others
who did not conform 10 it's own stand
I ard OF politeness or virtue, II can only
! have been from an overmastering sense
| OF duty. il held up a friendly nation
| TO contempt and hatred from the same
lofty motives which led the late Mr.,
| Labouchere 10 expose usurers and other
! impostors. We ought 20 think it priv
| ilege TO serve as a warning and to rec
ognize the devout spirit in which the
writer's of The Saturday" thank God
! they are not as these American scribes.
| Not only are we vulgar; our tendency,
| in contact with anything else, is 10 vul
garize IT," And lest We should be In
any doubt what our critic means, he is
good enough 10 define his view:
This applies particularly TO their
social Nfe and by vulgarity in social life
! I mean general meanness and narrow
J ness Of outlook, preoccupation with other
peoples affairs instead of minding ones
own, passionate annoyance with people
who hold ideas of life and conduct quite
different from ones own, and constant
and actual interference, under the pre-
| tence Of a sense Of duty, with those
whose lives are younger and nobler and
/ fuller than ones own. This kind of vul-
earity is much more deadening and
stupefying than the mere vulgarity CT
display and bad taste"
= Such a phrase as u mean general
meanness" is below the Saturday
standard. and so is "one's own" instead
OF their own" which the context re-
ouires. But when man Is playing Jere-
nniah he cannot be expected TO be careful
about niceties OF style. MIR. Young Is
! Hebraic He seems. however, 10 have
endured this American yulgarity for
some three months which he spent, as
he was careful to tell us. chiefly among
the upper classes. He tells us also that:
American wives and American money
have not had II uniformly happy effect
Oh English society OF the upper classes;
and it would he hard to say which has
done more harm, the wives or the
money"
If an American had said that would
Mr.. Young have called IT vulgar? And
shall I be vulgar If / suggest that Mr..
Young himself is "preoccupied with
other peoples affairs; that he, like rs,
shows d passionate annoyance win