Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-15

name. This was proved few years ago
by the popularity OF the articles by Jacob
Touson. which appeared i'm the New Age
in London from 1905 to 1911. They were
witty, sparkling. brilliant Jacob TOnSon
welded Caustic pen and expressed his
opinions of contemporary men and
women of letters and English institute
tiCns with admirable frankness. II is
now known that Tonson was Arnold Ben
nett. The best of the New Age articles
have been gathercd together in a book
for the delight and ediiication of the
iudicious. Even those who. having met
Mr. Bennett when he was in America.
found his personality left something to
he desired viii enjoy the sparkling of
his intellect so long as they can sec the
corruscationS while he is leagues away.
But they will chuCkls when they read
his confession in the course Of dis
agreement with Chesterton Hence | am
an unspeakable Englishman."
Those who Judged Mr.. Benefits man.
ner outside of his novels by the common
placeness of How to Live Twcnty-four
| Hours a Day" will be surprised by the
discovery that he really can write some
thing besides fiction. Take the deScrip-
| tion Of the death Of Swinburne and its
effect ON London for an example. 1t
| appears in Books and Persons the
| volume in which the New Age articles
/ are collected II begins with the state
ment that on Good Friday night he was
ont in High street "at the crossroads,
where the warp and woof of traffic as
! Fault each other under the great glare
! of lamns" Then follows Il description
! Of night in the streets covering Two
pages. THE policemen and the loaiers
, in the ring Of fire made by the public
houses at the crcss-roads--"Nen these
were grave with the universal anilction
| of life and grim with the relentless, uni
versal egotiSm. Lovers walked as though
| there were no heaven and no earth. but
only themselves" and So on And he
! continues
few yards hoyoLd, where the auto
buses turned. was certain house win
E"'er ths sreStest au lyric v"rsiii"r that EnranI
| ever had and one 9t The great boots %,
| the whole world and Of all the ag"s was
l 1yiug-a nam" immortal. hut nobody
| looked. nobody ss@mCd to gnrr; rn doubt d"unt
| lcgligcnce appeared To me to he me, 10
! be magnihccntly human.
! Then he says that the next day the
/ shops were all open, the flags waved
| on high and business went on as though
nothing had happened. This was be-
cause the nation did not know Swim
hurne. And in parenthesis he says
"By the nation ! mean newspaper
readers. The real nation busy with the
| problem of eating dying and being horn.
| all in one room. has never heard of either
| Tennyson or Swinburne or Cf George H.
| Sims" This essay Is work OF con-
summate art. 1t produces the effect
| intended and only II master of literary
construction could have written IT,
The volume is full of brilliant and
penetrating comment. of BrieuN he
says that If the Frenchmau were in
u. 4 g,r1 laK .lt
for he is a vegetable. lie speaks Of
a hypothetical spectacle in London that
Americans would pay to see" lie re-
marks of Galsworthy that he thinks the
Original Will. or the first cause. made
a grotesque and fundamental mistake in
the conception Of our particular planet"
He says that Henry James is skillful in
making stone soup and dsmisses Alfred
Noyes with the statement that lie is
| Thought by many TO be poet
1t will be evident from the foregoing
that Mr.. Bennet could be sassy" when
writing under a pseudonym. lie an
nounces now that he Is allowing the mat
| ter to be published under his own name,
| that he stands by nearly all of the crit
ical judgments, though perhaps with
"A less challenging Vivacity. TO this daS. >"
Another English essayist whom it is
a pleasure to read is Il. T. Benson. In
THE Freaks or Mayfair he mas pro-
duced a collection of scintillating COM
ment about and description of the types
common in every large city: the snob.
the amiable young woman who passes
for "A man, the widow who has to have
fourteen servants to wait on her in order
that she may maintain the position Ia
which s her family and birth tite her
the childless wife. who t&s up with
every fad that is going; y Social asps,
who take pleasure in poi Ing the lives
of their acquaintances, SAd lot more.
The Rittenhouse Square set. In this city.
will doubtless find many portraits In the
volume. All that Is necessary to make
them local Is to change the place names
from those Of London and its environs
to those of Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Ladies' of leisure are likely to find II
more exciting than a noval. for they will
recognize the, portraits Of their acquaint-
/ ances, not to say OF their bosom friends.
Another pdVsher-beggiR his par
.I| |