New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-07-02

I Ma HunlpeIS Oh people VINO
q "A cannot write and have moth
&A ing save dreary court func-
v tons to remember insist on
producing their memoirs!
And how dismally often the men and
women who have most profoundly in
huenced their age and have been most
intimate with the great f/ures in lit
erature and art among their contem-
porarles, decline, through modesty or
laziness to put down on paper what
they alone can tell.
The average volume of "reminiscences
is indeed such unmitigated kogwash
that it is not to be wondered at that
the appearance of Mr.. W. B. Teats's
OF the Veil" is eagerly awaited both
in England and in ireland. The book
is now on the press and will be issued
in a month or two by Mr.. Werner
( Laurie in limited edition, for sub
scribers only.
Mr.. Yeats, now family man, has
been living for the last three years in
Oxford, in the historic Broad and it
is presumably in the queer atmosphere
OF that city of memories that he has
been engaged in writing down his own.
I | confess the title of the book makes
my heart sink little, because it sug-
Eosts that he is going to be highbrow
all the time. Yet Of ali gossips about
people and books. places and ideas,
Mr.. Yeats-in expansive moments,
when the clock strikes nothng-is by
/ far the best | have ever encountered.
/ | shall be bitterly disappointed if his
| book does not contain more chapters
Of Yeats the talkcr than it does Of
Yeats the pontifT
! A ND what material he must have to
"A draw upon! There can be very
few figures Of outstanding interest in
! literature and art during the last thir-
ty-tive years, whether in Ireland or in
| England, whom he has not met, and
many Of them he has known intimate
ly. 1t is said that his book is mainly
concerned with the origin and growth
of the Irish literary revival; but we
are promised some autobiographical
chapters, descriptions Of his early life
in London. and portraits of eminent
Nictorians like Professor York Powell,
of Oxford, Henley and William
Morris
No doubt there will also be some
account Of the years spent in those
rooms of his in Woburn Buildings.
| loomsbury-a stones throw from
Euston station, whence the Irish mail
train starts for Holyhead- Of the
famous literary gatherings held there
! in the candlc-lit sitting room with its
blue green hangings and its smoky
! ceiling.
Tho Reissue of Mr.. Holbrook Jack
sons volume, "The Eighteen Ninetics"
has drawn attention once again to a
period which seems 10 have a perennial
interest. 1t is a period about which
no living man could write with as much
intimate knowledge and authority as
Mr.. Yeats. 1Ic was one of the leading
spirits in the Rhymcrs Club and lie was
closely in touch with all the men re-
sronsibie for The "Yellow Book" and
"The Savoy" 1t was in the sacred zoos
that he first became famous and his
own poetry has perhaps more perma-
nent value than any other poetry which
those years produced.
imagine that good deal Of the
book will be concerned with what some
Of the poets friends describe con-
temptuously as "Ycats's spooks." AS
every one knows, Mr.. Yeats has spent a
great deal Of his life in the study of
the occult sciences and of the Wisdom
religion, and these studies are now pers
haps his deepest interests. He came
in contact as young man with Madame
Elavatsky, and subsequently with that
: profound scholar, the late S. L. Mac
/ Gregor Mathcrs. To a certain section
these personalities and about his own
| Investigations will be looked for with
peculiar eagcrness.
1t was Ezra Pound, | remember, who
F; first took me to one of Yeats's Mon
days Mr.. Surge Moore was there
sitting in corner, golden bearded
nursing peculiar musical instrument
on which he never played. We drank
Chlanti and we talked by candle light
! about Jeanne dare and Giles de Ret
And then we listened in silence while
Pound explained to US, at enormous
length and with con siderable vehemenco
now poetry really ought to be written
/ 1t was wicked pleasure to watch Mr..
Surge Moore's faccD
fancy, also, that this particular
evening was one Of the very few occa-
sions on which Yeats has been known
to sing. Lured on by an Indian lady,
VINO lad sung some of the airs of her
country, he chanted for US The Lake
Isle OF lnnisfree' to the melodv which
mad been in his head when he was writ
ing It. I'm afraid il wasn't o.eat
help. The melodies in poets heads are
always most successfully reproduced
on paper,
i MR. COMPTON MACKENZIE, in
4'N his latest novel, THE Altar Stems. ;,
has dropped the magazine style of re-
cent years and gone back to his car
Her and more ambitious manner. The
story, evidently the Arst volume Of a
series which may easily surpass Sin
lister Street" in length, gives very
vivid picture Of the extreme Catholic
section Of the Church of England. It
must be difficult, even for English read j.
! ers not brought up in High Church CIV
cios. to find Mr.. MacKenzie's charactor's
credible; but since spent nv own how.
hood among the kind OF people he de.
scribes can testify to the accuracy
of his observation. believe the next
volume n is to be called The Parsons
The vogue of the victorians' which
mas been increasing steadily since Mr..
Lytton Strachey set the ball rolling. has
Just been given decided film SV IVA
publication Of Mr. Michael sadlei~,s
excursions in Victorian Bibiioeranhv .
ST, Sadleir is a young man connectsd
"ita tbs publishing house Of Constable
VINO recently wrote successful nova
called Privilege"