Evening star., 1927-08-07
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

novel-as il should. Worth writing
at all. its dominant figure is OF sub
stance either to inaugurate and push
through important issues on tue o"e
hand, or on the other nand 10 rep
resent adequately and 10 influence
markedly the vital affairs of its period
and place. Given such a figure. then,
the business OF the hiographer. like
that of the novelist, is 10 set ii down
alive, outstanding and effeCtive--at
the center of the drama of which 1t
is the exponent and interpreter.
Philip Guedalla has. for the purposes
of this story of Palmerston. rounded
the drama of a long and significant
period in English politics and diplo
macy. Within it moves the figure of
Lord Palmerston. The whole-the
man and his setting--reads like story
whose brilliance of projection has
drawn from enthusiastic readers and
competent critics comparisons that
liken the literary ways of Philip
Guedalla in this enterprise with those
OF Macaulay, Gibbon, Carlyle. Let us
listen to the man himself as he speaks
of the purpose of this biography:
The life of Palmerston was the life
Of England and, to large extent. of
Europe in the last Is years of the
eighteenth and the first 65 of the nine
teenth centuries. He covered an
amazing span. Stated in terms of
art. his life unites an almost legen-
Diary past to our own time; when he
was born, Reynolds was painting Mrs.
Siddons, and Mr.. Swinburne published
"Atalanta in Calydon" in the year
that he died. A regency beau. he spoke
in debate when Mr.. Pitt and Mr.. Fox
had not long fallen silent, and he was
secretary of war against Napoleon.
His first diplomatic duels were fought
with Talleyrand and Metternich, his
last with Mr.. Lincoln and Prince Bis
marck. He possessed positive
genius for survival; perhaps the rea-
son why he left no disciples was that
he had survived them all. I have
done my best tQkpaint his portrait, to
catch something of the movement of
his world and to bring back the dead
without sacrifice either of accuracy
or Of vividness. The figure that
emerges from these pages may be
found to differ in certain respects
from the traditional effigy of Lord
Paimerston. More liberal, more cos
mopolitan, more assiduous in the per.
formance of his public duties (than
this one or that among his associates
and successorsl, he was no less engag
ing in such public service than the
smiling figure that endeared Cupid
and Pam to three generations of
Englishmen; and perhaps in his long
passageS1s may be counted the last
fragment OF the eighteenth century" :"
To American readers the hero of
this brilliant geographic romance is
remembered chiefly by reason of his
advocacy OF the Confederacy in our
own Civil War time. This was a posi-
tion, however, that had nothing to do
with either the question of slavery or
that of the Union. Rather was il
sourced in that which the prime min
lister looked upon as the relative COM
mercial advantage of England itself
Mention is made of this point-a really
forgotten one now-to provide an i'm
mediate contact with the central fig
ure in a masterpiece of geographic
conception and projection.
X y 4
POORHOUsE SWEENEY: Life in a
County Poorhouse. BY Ed Sweeney.
Foreword by Theodore Dresser.
Illustrated by the author. New
York: Boni & Liveright.
Oscar Wilde in Pen. Pencil and
Poison" writing Of the artist and
murderer, Thomas Griffiths Waine-
wright, says in defense of this gifted
mans authorship. The fact of a man
being a poisoner is nothing against
his prose" So, here. The fact of
being in a poorhouse is nothing
against the urge to tell the world
about it by way Of a book. The hue
and cry about Sweeney as a fake
seems unimportant and inconclusive
Certainly here is material for the
deepest of realism. And among the
inmates of the poorhouse it is con-
ceivable that there Is one who senses,
vaguely, maybe, the picture and the
drama of the situation. At any rate,
here we have it-a new Main Street"
laid out in the commonwealth of the
poor and the enfeebled and the dere-
lict. A crude account Of few reti-
eencies, of almost no exclusions. No.
not a pretty story, certainly not. But
the county poorhouse does exist. Ard
in it are those who, for reason or no
reason, couldn't make the grade
This is Ed Sweeney's material. 1t is
q terrifying story. No, the fright
doesn't rise out Of the condition of
these odds and ends Of humanity. It
rises out Of the clear fact that they
are no different from the rest of us.
Here they are. trying to get pleasure
out of life. trying to outdo one an
other. playing at love-making with its
hatreds and jealousies-all revolving,
10 be sure. But, in their surroundings
and in their personal deterioratons
and failures, they seem like the rest
OF creation to be trying to get what
they can out OF the day as it comes
along. "F'umbling, and one might al
most say inarticulate" Theodore
Dresser talking-''it is still gripping
and does give the sense Of reality.
Art? No. A great book? No. Yet
a very exceptional one. And, but for
the lack OF poetry. great one. For
had this record of the sordid, mean.
tragic, daily routine of the poorhouse
been presented by some one who
occasionally took his eyes from the
ash heap, it might have ranked with,
say REPRESENTATIONS Nickelby'."
X j. x x
THE MANCHU CLOUD. BY James
w. Bennett. New York: Duffield q
Co.
All love stories are alike, whether in
books or out in the open. The neces
sary elements are. invariably, three
people-two Of kind and an odd one
Beyond this selection the course OF
true love is a series of advances and
retreats and side-steppings, repeated
over and over with as much original
ity of gesture and genuflection as may
be devised in so limited movement
Gradually. in the progression, one OF
Sthe twain weakens and ultimately
tfalls by the wayside, leaving love tri
umphant, so to speak. This formula
sinviolable. is the one that every novel
ist uses. His only chance for fresh
ness OF effect lies in the setting and
background of the stereotyped per
formance of love. And right at thi.
point Mr.. Bennett has done exceed
ingly well. Nothing less than t.
transfer the well-worn budget Of 70
nance over into China, where he Gun
ninply placaS IN in the very middle n