New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-16
A WOMAN'S ESSAYS
Social and Literary Studies OF
Mrs. Andrew Lang.

MEN, WOMEN AND MINXES, BY Mrs
Andrew Lang. 8vo, PIP. 3o2. Lonsmahs'
Green e. Co.
Mrs. Langs essays are pleasant ana
they are wise. Her perceptions are
quick and true, her conclusions JUST
she has sound culture and much OF
humor. Her subjects are chosen WIN
sense OF that picturesque human IN
terest which most promptly appeals 10
the reader Of to-day. II she writes OF
books, 1t is generally from the amusing
point of view of morals and manners;
her social studies are made wildly
entertaining with anecdote and per-
sonal description. II she deals with the
trials of the wife of literary man,
there is comic and Yueful atmosphere
Of reality in her pages. NO wonuer'
she declares, that literary ladies' are
proverbially somewhat short In their
tempers. II wife. like her husband.
she saws. occasionally has a fancy for
'dabbling In literature then every
word she writes (aJ long as 1t is worth
ANYTHING at alb will be ascribed d.
rectly or indirectly to her husband. 1t
matters nothing II the subjects she
chooses are those of which he Is en-
tirely ignorant; 1t is to no avail that
her name. and not his, appears on the
title page Of the book: II Is ne and not
she who will obtain all the credit and
all the praise"
In her paper on minxes she gives her
self TO a lively disquisition on the
French and English representatives OF
the role 1t is in novels that she finds
her types. In England IT is Thack-
eray's Blanche Amory and Miss Aus
tens Isabella Thorpe; In France II Is
Gyp's Bijou and Ariane. Most people
would conclude that Becky Sharp was
eminently mink; our essayist holds
more OF an adventuress-on the ground
that a mink acts entirely by calcula-
ton, while an adventures is some
times moved by impulse. land is most
commonly ana 10 ldlks eANtHN Anc
prey OF circumstances" II We cannot
quite concede the value OF Mrs. Lang's
arguments as TO Becky we must admit
that they are interesting. What are
minxes? the reader may ask. Here Is
Mrs. Lang's answer-a good specimen
Of her writing:
They Cultivate surface emotions az part
Of their stock In trade, on the same prin-
ciple as the hardest hearted people are
most easily moved by "A play. They are
practical and farseeing and do nothing
without careful calculation; they have A
passion for notoriety and are possessed
with burning desire 10 epdteT IetrS
| cdmdrGdes. They have no interest In In
tellectual pursuits for their own sake.
but only value them as a means for show
ing on. they are as incapable Of love as
they are Of gratitude or OF any fixed
sentiment that does not tend 10 their own
advantage. The mink Is cruel for the
sheer love OF cruelty, and she revels In
mystery. even when straightforward
methods would serve her turn as we'll
Her ambitions are OF the earth earthly
and begin and end with money and power
while her conversation IL sure TO work
round TO herself In the long run, how
ever remote the starting point may APP
parently be. II Is needless 10 add that
minXes have no humor, or most probab bly,
they would never have become minXes;
for humor is sense OF the relative pro-
portions Of things, and min1es take them