Evening star., 1933-09-30
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.
SHERIDAN. BY w. A. Darlington.
Great Lives Series. New York: The
Macmillan Co.


Sheridan was popular figure in the
memoirs and private correspondence OF
his period, in which many lively anec-
dotes of him are related. These per-
sonal sources are valuable for q BIZ
ographer, and Mr.. Darlington has made
full use of them. He begins by criti.
cizing certain other biographers OF
Sheridan because they have fostered, or
at least done nothing to check. the
Campaign of calumny' which attacked
his reputation after his death. Mrs.
Oliphant, Mr.. Darlington says, after
grudgingly admitting Sheridan's po--
tentialities, rises in all the outraged
virtue of Victorian matron confronted
with sin and sings mud at hin" J"
Sheridan's chief faults, viewed by any
biographer, were love Of drink and
pleasure. His indulgence IN these was
responsible for the narrow limits OF his
creative work, as well as for the irrl-
tating habits of not paying his bills or
keeping his appointments. The fact
that his wife continued to love MIN
devotedly in spite Of drunkenness. ir-
responsibility and growing infidelities,
as in the case of the wife Of Edmund
Kean. may argue something inherently
lovable about him, or something In
herently loving in her. Elizabeth Linley
Sheridan, gifted and charming
woman, was suspected by her contempo-
raries of her own peccadilloes, but, in
spite of everything on either side, she
and Sheridan remained devoted to each
other until her death, which took place
"a years before his. From the time
of her death Sheridan was like
a ship that had lost its rudder. Some
times, favorable winds and currents
carried him forward on his course; but
for the most part he was helplessly
adrift, with little hope of sighting land,
and none of making port"
Sheridan's first success came from
"The Rivals" from which his last
ing fame derives, yet at its initial pro-
duction it was a dead failure. The
second performance, after revisions and
a recasting of parts, was triumph.
Shortly after, in 1778, his connection
with the theater, which was to estab-
lish him socially and financially, was
confirmed by his purchase Of Garrick' S
share in the Drury Lane Theater, car
rying with 1t the management. His
second masterpiece, THE School for
Scandal" which completed his dra-
matte writing Of value, was produced
in 1777. 1T Is odd to reflect now that
Sheridan never took himself very seri-
ously as a dramatist" He fancied
himself more as a politician, He Is
lot the only man great in one field
who has preferred another. In which
he was unable to excel. Michelangelo
is said to have placed his poetry above
his painting. AS member OF the
House of Commons, Sheridan made his
reputation as an orator, but he was
toe temperamental to be good party
ft1 ha n
fight between Pitt and Fox, on the
side of Fox He spoke for six hours for
the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
But Mr.. Darlington quotes contempt
rary opinion to the effect that. though
the Wings and the Prince of Wales
we're always ready to make use OF
Sheridan's oratory, they were distrust-
full of him and never offered him re-
sponsible Office. In fact, the general at
titude toward him was that nobody
in the public life of the time trusted
him or believed in him" The in
teresting personality, the striking gifts
and the grave faults Of England's lead
ing eighteenth century dramatist are
ali fairly and adequately treated by
MI. Darlington.
WHAT St1ALL i EA oy Co1I1l IA
Barber, B. S., M. S. New YORK;
The Macmillan Co.
The illustrations. by Helen E. Hokin-
son, suggest that this is just another
funny book about fat people and their
efforts to grow thin without giving up
any food delicacies except. perhaps
| watermelon and celery But What Shall
I Eat?" is both serious and sensible
~ q
lecturer on history of cookery, House
hold Arts Department, Teachers College
| Columbia University, and sensible, be-
cause she recognizes that good meal is
"one that you enjoy" 1t IS also humor-
ously and vivaciously written. Miss
Barber first discusses How to KeeI
Happy Though Healthy" and admits
that, entirely apart from health needs
you really must take up a diet, If only
| lust to protect yourself conversation
ally" After few words about diet ir
! connection with beauty and charm.
which will arouse interest in even the
most prosaic, she gets down to the real
| business of calories, vitamins, and pro-
teins. Her Rule of Seven in Nutri-
| tion' reads like a creed. Briefly sum-
narized. it Is as follows: A quart of milk
a day for a child, cup for an adult;
! plenty Of vegetables and fruit; an egg
every day for child and at least sew
| eral times a week for an adult: meat
| fish. eggs. or cheese; vitamin D from
sunlight or cod liver oil: enough butter
and other fats, sugar, bread and cereals
| to give necessary calorles; six to eight
| glasses of water a day.
If any questions are raised about the
need for milk or eggs or anything else
the answer is vitamins. A few years age
no one had ever heard of them, but
they were there. all the same. or if they
we're not there. children had ricketS anC
| adults had numerous colds, muddy COM
| pleXions, and skin diseases. A variec
diet will usually supply all the needed
vitaminS, without specific thought, bu'
| let the man or woman beware who
through nervous fears based on past
digestive upsets, has decided that fish
eggs, raw fruits, milk, and dozen othel
things may not be eaten and has limited
the diet to few daily-repeated articles
diet fads" do not, in general, NEE
Miss Barber,s approval, though she doe:
| not deny the fat-reducing efficacy o1
some Of them. The chapter on '"Thost
Food PrejudiceS" should be read by
every one who still believes that lobster
and ice cream ought not to be eaten to.
SCtilC1, IlAdG 1Iult IlOL Ut tdkel
at the same meal with milk, and tina,
canned vegetables and fruits are hardly
flt to eat There is good chapter or
the treatment of colds, with plenty o.
water. a little baking soda, and frui
| juices, with suspension Of a heavy diet
A number of menus are supplied which
| take into consideration both food values
and cost.
| \ X X
BACK NUMBERS BY Joseph c. Lin.
coin. New York: Coward-McCann
Before Cape Cod became the resort
| of Summer cottagers and motorists, II
had an honorable past, in the days o1
sea captains and their sailing vessels, ir
the days of whaling. Joseph Lincoln
has for 80 years kept alive Cape Coo
traditions in his many novels and short
| stories Of the old days and the new day.
on the Cape. Back Numbers" is a col.
| lection Of tales, most of them salty. ol