New-York tribune., 1919-09-06

centuries arc conveniently left out. His
final estimate of Nillon states, "a
most sympathetic and attractive per-
sonality dctaches itself from the un-
sparng candor of his confessions.
One cannot help loving the frank.
witty, dcvil-may- caro- poet, with his
ready tears and his as-ready laughter,
his large compassion for all pitiable,
and his unaffected sympathy with all
noble. things. Specially attractive is
the sweetness of his goo, humor."
Mr. Stacpoole is more tolerant than
Payne and more truculcnt than l. "Of
this sane and superb mind critics, with
few exceptions, have written as
though it were the mind of petty
t"iof, or of decadent poet who had
a0rnra porfrait ta'et of J-,ion We haye not even
swear it showed a better face than the
swine face of Rabelais-R Rabelais. a
great genius who rolls in ordure and
honor, whilst Nillon, greater, walks
dospised by people who call them
selves honest men. When 81
man is living and breathing no other
man may dare to attack his reputation:
only when he is defenceless through
death may the literary kites assemble
to dig in his eyes and entrails and
make profit out of the corpse of his
MisQuotation is sin avoided NV
Payne and Mr.. Stacpoolc, and one into
which fell in incorrectly referring to
Mr. Hughes's novel. But he is in err
ror when he infers that l haven't read
1t. And that brings me to the pith
of the argument. That "The Unpar-
donable SIM was "as veracious piece
of fiction as (Mr. Hughes) could com
pose after the most careful investiga-
tlon and Recommendation" I never
doubted. But if a cavalry troop of
eminent authors were to charge down
on me in defence of the theory that
real people talk and act as they did
in that novel, l should perish under the
horses feet rather than admit their
contention. 1t has been known for
some thousands of years (and has
probably come to Mr.. Hughes's atten-
tion) that the fact that a book con-
tains concrete truths does not neces-
sarily make it mirror of life There
may be twice as much semblance Of
reality in story based on nothing but
the authors imagination as in one that
demonstrates that three times three is
nine. 1t Is not q question Of "docu-
mentation," but vision.
This vision, which Villon had in such
rich abundance, is naturally of little
concern to his well-fed present-day
detractors. Unconscious of anything
more "unpleasant" in life than the
cliche of q man behind a curtain point
ing revolver at another man and
girl, they complacently ticket certain
sets of their characters "wicked" and
consign them to the CIV" drawer, and
other sets "virtuous" and consign them
70 the "N" drawer No wonder that
the cries, the squalor, the splendor, the
crimes and the virtues Of fifteenth
century Paris come to them little
sordidly across the years. No Won
der that they regard as "yellow dogs
men who accept good-hearted prosti-
tutes as fellow humans, and not as
medieval vampires, and who know that
hunger and neglect might send the best
OF US to pilfcring, flight and disgrace.
! should like TO see our current year
and country turned back to the France
of 1860, and to place Mr.. Hughes in
the Cour des Miracles or the Abreuvoir
Popin, with no fiction royalties due
and an internal yacuity in his stomach.
| wonder if he mightn't be tempted to
drop in at Margot's for a hand-out. or
even go on pork-and- d-wine foray with
the shaven abbess.
Now, l do not contend that "to rob
and kill is a good life" I even admit
that it is more comfortable to be a
bishop intlicting detached tortures with
tears of anguish on a prisoner whose
Expense of spirit" ended in "wastc
of shame" But I do contend that it is
better to consort with honest light
women when great ladies have acted
dishonorably; to defend yourself
against an armed priest; to steal in
stead of starve, than to pretend you
are a paragon and force the pretence
down posterjty's throat, as Nillon, with
his matchless power of self-depiction,
could have easily done. incidentally, l
believe it to be an unsurpassed i'm
pertinence for the author Of excuse
Me" to criticise, ethicallv or artis-
tically, the author of "rhe Great Testa-
ment," though that is beside the present
point
am not concerned either, with Mr..
Hughes's easy dismissal of Villon's
burning remorse or his fear Of death.
But hope that he will learn some day
that "The objectionable Sin" is not
tipping or coming, but the falsifica-
tion Of life by art OF that crime. at
least. Villon stands clear. "lIc says
horrible things; he says sordid things,
and he says beautiful things, but he
says one thing Away ys-the truth"
RICHARD DESMOND.