New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-25
The Magical Touch of the Late
Andrew Lang.


Wac there ever writer quite so De-
quilting as was the late Andre" Na"e
The Raconian hypothesis is the ou''es'
nc duu subjects. probably the HioS'
wearisome in the whole history Vi NJ
man folly. but Lang could make "oon
about II which il is pleasure 10 rea"'
!, &c IN he read primarily. in fact' io'
his sake. but he was not ma" ~
waste his time, and this Is no' Only 9"
entertaining but useful pook'
scholar in him goes hand in hand WIFI
tho wit Following that canny, thoush
sseninglv plavful method of his, which
made him one of the most succesSiui Va
literary detectives. he Sits the ancient
drearv business, brings order OUT VI
chaos and with lawyerlike astutehess
clinches the argument for Shakespeare.
Enthusiastically his treatment vi
those whom he neatly desigha'es Tvs
Williams" in this preposterous
conflict is sweetly urbane. 1T was 40"
surprising to read in letter OF MI -.
q Creenwood's TO the London limee
the other day that Lang had ollereu "
sard him the proof sheets OF these
,,aees and had, in fact. forwarded an
instalment or two just before his dea'"'
He PLAYS havoc with the conclusions
reached by Mr.. Greenwood IN Inc
Shakespeare Problem Restated. put ne
fights fair" and remains in this con-
troversy as in so many others just
the gentle. generous, disinterested lover
Of letters.
He needed his scholarship to walk
securely through his subject, but lie
needed more the humor and the COM
mon sense which he knew so well 70"
10 bring into play. The intricate
marchings and countermarchings Oh
his criticism we need not attempt 10
exhibit. There is better stuff for our
purpose in the broad nature OF Lang
quietly effective attack. 1t is not MS
way pedantically to chop logic WIFI
the Baconian, 10 put that nuisance
down with a new reading of an ola
text. Using 10 Soou PURPOSE "N "
proper times, such documentary ma
terials as are available, he nevertht-
less constantly makes his appeal 10
the intelligent human beings ordinary
sense of things. A good illustration is
accessible In his chapter on The IRA
ditional Shakespeare" The Anu-WilI-
ians are great dealers in tradition, at
taching vast weight to the shreds and
matches of il that suit their book, or
preening themselves over the absence
of IL when, for example. they 20 nosing
around the Stratford of the poets time
and.faif to reap a rich harvest Of au-
thentic memories. Lang realizes. Of
course. what the Baconian can never
see. that the literary reporter, practi-
caliy inactive if not absolutely non-eX-
istent in Shakespeare's London, vas
even less likely to turn up in the poet
native town Furthermore. the gossip
of this type has never been either ex-
haus.ive or of a papal infallibility, and
TO enforce the point Lang lightly dis
courses as follows:
In 1856 l was an undergraduate of a
years standing at Balliol College. OK
ford certainly not an unlettered acad-
envy In that year the early and the best
poems of a considerable Ballol poet were
published; he had gone down some
green. eagerly sought for traditions
about MI. Swinburne. One Of his con-
temporaries, who took First In the final
Classical Schools. told me that "he was
ADn no n
burne and his friend Cater Scotch pro-
fessor) were not cricketers. they proposed
that they should combine to pay but a
single subscription to the Cricket Club.
A third, a tutor of the highest reputation
as a moralist and metaphysician. merely
smiled at my early enthusiasm-and told
me nothing. A white-haired College ser
want said that Mr.. Swinburne was a
very quiet gentleman
A very humble parallel may follow.
Some foolish person went seeking early
anecdotes of myself ut my native town.
gent townsman he gathered much that
was true and, interesting about my
younger brothers, who delighted in horses
and dogs, hunted, shot and ished. and
ple yed cricket one Of them bowled for
Worcestershire and Oxford. But about
me the inquiring literary snipe only heard
that "Andra was aye the stupid ane o
the family" Yet, j. too. had bowled for
was forgotten.
over and over again he brings the
soaring theorist to earth in this simple
fashion. AS we look on We wonder
again why in the world it Is that NOM
inally rational folk should need, as the
Baconians do need. to be shown what
the schoolboy takes in through the
pores from average human experience.
Most Of us are too exasperated and
Disguised to argue about Shake
speare's authorship Of the plays and
poems. Lang keeps his temper and is
benignly patient The book is dedi-
Gated to Horace Howard Furness. lin
memory of an old promise" and we can
see how Lang. having made up his
mind to put the job through, reso-
lutely faced even the stupidest fences.
With what demure fun does he reduce
them to kindling. The Anti Williams
triumph prodigiously over what they
call the silence" Of Shakespeares con-
tefhporarics about him. With unfail-
ing good nature Lang explains to them
that commonplace of history, at which
we have already gisnced-namely, that
the <Elizabethan age was really very
different from our own, that there was
no public excitement about the char
acters, personalities and anecdotes of
vnDrolv literary mon pnofo ord pIay