The New York herald., 1922-02-26

Or HIS LIFE AND WORK. By z.
v. Lucas. Two volumes, with two
hundred illustrations. Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons.
"HE centuries have their sea-
sons like individual years. A
warmer sun melts the SHOWS
OF human isolation and irresistible
tides of life stream through the river
mouths of genius into the ocean Of
race life. The same wave of power
that rose in Shakespeare broke in
colonization on American shores.
Prof. Gayley of the University of
California published an Admirable
study on this relationship in
shakespeare and the Founders Of
Liberty in America"
1t is not strange that in theater
and studio the works Of Shakespeare
should find the most sympathetic
Interpretation here. Booths Ham,
let and Abbey's illustrations of the
chief plays are among the art
achievements of America that are
among the worlds acknowledged
masterpieces in their kinds. And
curiously enough, in each case, the
achievement is notable for it's deli
cate distinction, it's fineness of feel
ing and of craft rather than for such
brute energy as one might expect
from young pioneering people.
Yet Abbey the man was a creature
Of abounding life. The exquisite pre-
cision Of his craftsmanship had
nothing Of primness or triviality in
1t. Abbey's was an abundant nature
controlled and disciplined to high
ends. SO he Is presented in this
magnificent unity of picture and
text, a well woven fabric. 1t may
be well to begin with a phase of the
mans life In England, little known
to Americans. ]. M. Barrie con-
tributes this account Of Abbey as
a cricketer:
"In autumn and winter Abbey
painted. but in spring he oiled his
bat and in May he put on his pads.
Then the fun began. He was tre-
mendously professional and looked
with remote reproof at you if you
did not call the ball the sphere or
the leather. Tossing for first innings
was a solemn ecstasy to him. =.
1t was in fielding that he was truly
great: he had vast courage as we'll
as enthusiasm, and would have tried
to stop thunderbolt to save the
third run. He Is standing at
mid-off-not really standing, for he
Is so fond of cricket that in the
field he makes himself as like the
ball as possible. The only fault
he found in cricket was that it was
not sufficiently dangerous. He tried
to remedy this. As soon as you
struck the ball you remembered
Abbey and flung yourself on your
face. Even now IL / meet his
shade suddenly at street corner
it Is the cricketer / think of first
and involuntarily duck my head"
He remained always an American.
a perpetual ambassador representing
our best to England's best, or rather
proving that there Is no real divid-
Ing line between the best in every
land. AS Mr.. Lucas writes:
England was to Abbey a happy
hunting ground, indeed, but pri-
marily only that the spoils of the
chase might be set before the eyes
Of his compatriots, to delight and
enlighten them. He may be said to
have come to England as kind of
Retrospective Columbus, and every
drawing that he sent back. in many
Of the years Of hard work that were
now to follow, was another proof
Of how fair a land he had discovered
and how well he had discovered it."
The book is evenly good, but
naturally there is more Of the per-
oOnal element in the earlier narra-
tive. Abbey was so much of public
figure in his later years that a good
deal of space goes to his Royal
Academy work, his famous friends,
his great commissions. The first vol
ume deals with adventure and dis
coverv H1rners cont him IN E,,, ,pIand