New-York tribune., 1912-03-17

of his time he achieved q position very
markedly his own The greatest of them
ALL Matthew Arnold. despite his activi-
ties as a school inspector. despite his ex-
cursions into religious and social con-
troyersy. was enveloped all his life long
as In a purely literary garment Those
ESSAYS of his which have done SO much
to leaven English thought enkindled as
they are with solicitude for the needs OF
humanity, express nevertheless both In
substance and in style the genius of a
poet and classical scholar. With all the
rest, whether it is Stephen with his drily
pbilosophic cast of mind or Symonds ani
bis romantic turn. Pater and his precios-
cities or Lang and his humor, the judi
cious II orley or the garrulous Saints
bury The reader is bound to return,
sooner or later, to the still atmosphere
OF the library The late w. E Henley
sought tle hurly-b burly of the public
arena, but he was essentially a minor
type Of criticism. and, so far as his writ
ings show, had no very wide stores OF
learning. Collins alone revived some
thing Of the peculiar zest and force OF
Hazlitt. and besides his instinct for con-
flict he had prodigious resources of
strictly literary nature. He was above
all things a militant man of letters and
ns such lived a life which deserved some
memorial after his death.
The one embodied in the present vol
ume is not very satisfactory in form. We
have in it, rather. the material for a
better balanced monograph on smaller
SCALE But at least the material Is avail
able. Tho broad impression received from
II is of q man who loved learning for its
own sake and served the Muse with all
his energy, but. possessed Of humor and
common sense could not but recognize
the fact that life also has its claims.
Adoring the Greek and Latin classics,
and ever eager to insist upon their i'm
portance in the development of modern
culture, Il still infuriated him that the
masters OF antiquity should be allowed
10 shoulder Great Britain's own litera-
ture out Of the modern English univer-
city system. With him to be indignant
was TO advocate reform, and the story OF
his career is one Of splendid and ulti-
mately successful fight to obtain at least
a certain measure of consideration for
his leading educational principle. More
overland this we are sure would have
warmed his soul-the soundness of his
argument has received further practical
recognition since his death. The com
mittee formed TO devise some means of
perpetuating his name appropriately dis
tributed its fund so as to establish Chur-
ton Collins prizes, at the universities Of
Oxford, Cambridge, London and Birm-
ingham. for the encouragement of the
study of English and, or. classical liter
ature.
There is many an interesting passage
ip the history Of the long campaign thus
honored, but of even greater moment is
the character of Collins's work as a
whole. His son records that the critics
arst contribution to the Saturday Re-
view" was made in 1894, when Frank
Harris took over the edltorship. 1t was
entitled "A Specimen of Oxford Edit
ing" and while memory does not retain
the name or the subject Of the book re-
viewed we recall the inspiriting tone of
the piece. Collins was always inspiriting.
His last article in the Saturday Re-
view" printed in 1906, was entitled
"Twadd.e from a Great Scholar" and
that, too. was very like him. He was
outgpoken, scornful-and invariably he
gave good reasons for his wrath. 1t was
in lust the knowledgable and construc-
tive drift of his criticism that he rem
dered sterling service and gained an hon.
orable repute. The swashbucklng Of
Henley was emotional, capricious, and,
as often as not, denoted prejudice
40 grotesquely narrowminded as to de-
serve the epithet of provincial" Collins
was not only wont to know what he was
talking about, but he had sense OF per-
spectiye. Because he had talent rather
than genius and was in no sense mas
ter of style he fell far short Of the dis
tincfion OF Arnold and exerted nothing
like the influence Of that master OF gen.
oral ,dsas, But In . period Of much