The sun., 1918-12-29

EIIlt viii 'f'li III 1000 ti'
present writer met him on the Pacific on
his way to the northern island Of Japan
to spend his vacation in shooting bears
there. BIrne-Jones also designed the
Thanksgiving Window for the west end
Of the church at Hawarden, to commence
rate in stained glass the long married
life of Mr.. and Mrs. Gladstone. he
was wont TO say, however, that people
expected too much from stained glass.
They looked for a picture instead Of be-
ing content with a cartoon. at is very
limited art" he said, "and its limitations
are its strength and compel simplicity, but
one needs to forget that there are such
things as pictures in considering colored
window
The spontaneity and light touch OF most
of Mary Gladstone's other correspondents
are lacking in the somewhat formal letters
of Lord Acton, the Roman Catholic pro-
fessor Of modern history at Cambridge
who was made a peer by Mr.. Gladstone
in recognition of his ardent support of
Liberal principles and his profound
scholarship. Unfortunately Lord Aeton's
literary output was incommensurate with
his abilities and scholarly attainments.
Lord Acton was one Of the first prominent
Englishmen to prepare list of the ''best
hundred books" which lists were feature
Of literary life in the early 1908. His list
is given In the present volume
A Hundred Best Books"
So unfamiliar are many of the works
contained therein that we venture to ssy
that one third Of them are nsznes which
would convey no meaning to most Of the
mepbers of the University Club. Tins is
indicative of the character of Lord Acton's
scholarship. Here are some names from
his list: (2) Scks-K~g; 10y PeIogi,ss;
800 Sentences Peter lombard; 1861
Gerson; 1881 De Donatione Constantine;
(45) De ReUoIEtiori6as; az Liberi Ar
Litra ConcOrdia; (5s) Robinson; (61)
Richard Simon; (S1) Appea! from the
Ner to the Old Wigs; and 1867 L,Homnse
Physique. Such a list promises an ex-
ceptional kind and quality of previous
learning on the part of the young reader
to whom it IS recommended, namely, 'the
English youth whose education IS finished,
who knows common things and is not.
training for a profession" We wonder
what the late Henry Adams would have
said to Lord Aeton's list as an aid to
education.
Lord ActOn's estimate of George Eliot
was very high. When she died he wrote
to Mary Gladstone that it seemed as if
the sun had gone out. He regarded
as the greatest Of her books.
Until George Eliot appeared, he thought
George Sand the greatest writer of her
sex in all literature; but subsequently he
was inclined to call her "a bad second;
such as Swinburne to Shelley, or Heine
10 Schiller-eompansons which involve a
great deal of disparagement."
Cambridge Correspondents.
Other Cambridge correspondents of
Mary Gladstone were Henry Sidgwick,
professor of ethics, whose wife was q sis-
ter of Mr.. Arthur j. Balfour; and the
late James Stuart, professor of applied
and at the same time manag-
ing director Of Colman's celebrated mus
ard mandatory and manager Of the Star
newspaper. Prof. Sidgwick was ardently
in the higher education Of wom-
IN; and it was largely dine to his ef-
forts and those Of his wife that Eewn-
nam College (for girls) was founded at
Cambridge. Nevertheless, he conceded
hat there was come fsree in the arga-
nent that the very frst rank Of thinkers,
,aysnts and artists does not include
women. His literary criticisms include
me Of The Trasie Axss of Henry James,
"a which he makes cne remark which
would have been most painful to the
American novelist who became o natural