New-York tribune., 1918-03-02
Debts to the Dutch
[ egends and Literature From
the Netherlands

LANGUAGE AND LlTENATCKE. By Z. De
Nrl'e j. b. Sro. PIP. Sss. ( Grs..4erach. Oh!
It would be difficult to determine the
factors which have been mainly instrru
mental in developing that department.
of the worlds literature dealing with
The influence which the writings Of one
country have upon those of another
country. 1t is a comparatively recent
growth, but one that is steadily assum-
ing larger proportions. Needless 10
say that Germany has contributed an
eXtraordinary number OF works in
winch the influence of German thought
and speech upon those of other coun-
tries IS set forth with the thorough
ness and insistence characteristic of
the German professor Even in our
American colleges we have had not a
lew theses written in German depart
ments which dealt with that subject in
some phrase or another. It must be
welcomed as healthy reaction against
What threatened to become q one-sided
aeveior mcnt OF comparative literature,
that nations heretofore too modest 10
compile proofs of their influence are
beginning to make themselves heard.
IRON this point of view the work of
MY. /. de Nries derives its chief i'm
portancc tor American students who
nave not forgotten what a valuable fac |
tor the Dutch have been in the settle
ment OF this country. There is pc
culiar timeliness, too, in the sentiments ,
expressed in the preface. Nj. de Vries
deserves credit for his seriousness and
sincerity IN defining what should be the
a1tltude of the foreign born citizen
toward the country of his origin and
In2t u OF his adoption. In emphasizing
lloiIanc s spirit OF democracy and the
par 1T played in the Reformation he
o'luss ir,, .he country very close to Us.
,, ne nrst , part of the book deals with /
raorIaho t influence upon the develop
ment or comparative philology, and
contains much that will be new to the
average reader. That Dutch scholar
IN the sixteenth century found in
remote corner of Russia remnants Of |
tne old Coths and collected specimens
OF inc language, and that another pre-.
served Tor US the Bible of Ulhlas. are |
tactS .tS worth remembering. That Seg-
irled was a Dutch prince from Santen,
IN the Southern Netherlands; Gudrun
a princess from the neighborhood OF |
antwerp; Elsa, a princess of Brabant,
etc., gives the Dutch the right to claim
the Nibelungen Lied, Gudrun and I.ohcn-
grim as thslr own, though there is hard |
~ any doubt that the sources of these |
stores are very much older than either
germany or Holland. 1t is interesting
10 learn that the great Christian epic
OF Germany, Holland" was written bv a |
Du5cn missionary, or one of his pupils,
and that Henrjc van Neldecke became
the chief German lyric poet of the |
thirteenth century. However futile dis
cussIons of priority may be. there is
ample evidence that the earlier ltcr-
ature of Germany, Holland, and even
France, had much in common. If Hol- !
land seems to have been ahead of her
neighbors in literary development, Mr.. |
de Vres explains it by greater wealth
and leisure at time when the standard
of living in other countries was COM
paratively low
Mr.. de Fries dates the beginnings of
the influence Of Holland upon England
from the time when William the Con-
queror brought Flemish soldiers and
Flemish weavers to England and mar
ried a Flemish princess. He traces that
influence in the words which were de-
rived from the Dutch and in the writer's
from Caedmon through Spenser, Sidney
and many others, to the eighteenth
century, which marked Hollands de-
cline. Especially interesting are the
chapters on Elckerlyc, the Dutch moral
ty which is the original of Everyman;
on Erasmus, and on the relation of Mil !
Ton 10 NonQel, whose "Luclfcr' inspired |
him.
There are. however, not a few pass
ages which make one wish that the au-
thor took himself and his literary mis-
sion a little less seriously. For in his
Indignation 1T errors committed by
English writer's on Holland and the
Dutch in his criticism Of the realism
of Smollett and his censure of Scott
and Irving he frequently trespasses
against the canons IF good form. I'm !
necessary reitcration at times breaks I
the thread of the narrative Mr. de
Nries states in the preface that tho
book was suggested by lectures he had /
given at the University Of Chicago. BY /
q little more care in the editing of the !
manuscript the traces of it's origin |
might have been obliterated There are
also few typographical errors.
R0ok NJe,.yc