THE BOOKFELLOW.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1910, Page 9

THE BOOKFELLOW.

Written for The Post, by A. G. Stephens. (Copyright.— All Rights Reserved.) eug"enics. Sir Francis Galton, in the newest English review, The Eugenics Review, detides incidentally that New Zealand is a prosperous community. The application of his words, of course, is not his j but it will be agreed that New Zealand exhibits the stigmata he mentions. A prosperous community, then, is distinguished 'by the alertness of its members, by their busy occupations, by their taking pleasure in their work, by their doing it thoroughly, and by an honest pride in the community as a whole. The members of a decaying community are, for the most part, languid and indolent • their very gestures are dawdling and slouching, the opposite of smart. They shirk work when they can do so, and scamp what they undertake. A prosperous community is remarkable for the variety of the solid interests in which some or other of its members are eagerly engaged, but the questions that agitate a decadent community are for the most part of a frivolous order. Prosperous communities are also notable for the enjoyment of life, for though their members must work in order to procure the necessary luxuries of an advanced civilisation, they are endowed with so large a store of energy that, when their daily toil is over, enough of it remains unexpended to allow them to pursue their usual hobbies during the remainder of th# day. In a decadent community, the men tire easily, and soon . sink to drudgery ; there is consequently much languor among them and little enjoyment of life. The Eugenics Review is certainly a review for earnest New Zealanders. It made its publication-bow last year : it is published quarterly by the Eugenics' Education Society at 6, Tork Buildings, Adelphi, London; it costs Is 3d. And what is Eugenics? The term was originated by Galton. It means loosely the science of good parentage. The lofty purpose of the Eugenics Review is "the betterment of the human race." The first four numbers are well compounded, and contain a great deal of authoritative matter applicable to New Zealand use. C. W. Saleeby is quoted : We must establish Eugenic selection. And in education we must educate as for parenthood in both sexes. It is of little use that a girl has played centre-forward at hockey, or has been a wrangler, if she cannot nurse her baby or produce one. That education which teaches a girl to despise motherhood, whilst making her incapable of it, is not "higher," 1 but "lower" education. The Rev. W. R. Inge, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, writes an article fill) of religion, wisdom, and wit. He points out the danger of too much "humanitarianism." One good principle which I believe to be incontestable is that if natural selection is inhibited, if nature is not allowed to tafte her own way of eliminating her failures, rational selection must take its -place. Otherwise nothing can prevent the race from revelling to an inferior type. Humanitarian legislation, in practice, requires' to be supplemented, and its inevitable evil effects uountercicted by eugenic practice, and ultimately by eugenic- legislation . . . I cannot say that I am hopeful about the near future. 1 am afraid that the urban proletariat may cripple our civilj isation as it destroyed that of ancient Rome Christian ethics does not (as is often supposed) teach the duty of multiplying and preserving life at all hazards. Once convinced that so-and-so was an undesirable citizen, the j Church, while, it believed in itself and i had the power, lost no time- in hurryI ing him out of the world. No doubt | they usually burnt the wrong people, : which was very unfortunate ; and you must not suppose that I want to see autos da fe even of our mosfc degraded specimens,- but my point is that there is nothing inconsistent with Christian- ! ity — the real thing — in imposing as well as enduring personal sacrifice where the highest welfare of the community is at -stake. All morality aims at subverting the conditions of its own existence, and if it does not^it at once ceases to be moral. The Christian prays to be delivered from temptation and evil, which are the conditions under which alone moral activity is possible, and his whole life is a struggle against obstacles, which at the same time he recognises to be integral parts of the constitution of the phenomenal world. If you once give your moral assent to other people's sins and sorrows, as affording a field for your altruistic activities, your moral sense must be in a sadly diseased condition. The Churches must recognise that increasing knowledge has revolutionised our methods of dealing with evil. Instinct and superstition have been useful to the race in many ways ; but in the higher stages of culture they must give way to a far finer instrument, namely, reason. It is not Christian, \t is only barbarous and mediaeval, to say that cure is right, and prevention wrong. ,. . • This opinion, so signal from such a source, is directly applicable to an important aim of eugenics — the prevention of degenerates from propagating other degenerates. , ENGLISH POETRY. A professor of divinity who takes a gloomy view of the future of English, society has just been cited. It is not encouraging to find a professor of poetry expressing doubt that is scarcely less gloomy. The spiritual ideals predominant in the mind of the English nation are obscure and ambiguous, says W. J. Courthope. Until the day of Sir Walter Scott, "the unbroken continuity of our national life is reflected in all the changes of our art and literature, and presents for the study of the nation a veritable 'politikc paideia,' a public school of liberty and patriotism." "Now we are being asked to decide whether or not we will abruptly take our leave of the great continuous traditions of the past." Mr. W. J. Courthope is a fellow of the British Academy. He was formerly Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford. He has come to an end of his great task of writing a "History of English Poetry" — the sixth volume has just been published by Macmillan, a firm that publishes so many excellent English books. To thih work Mr. ' Courlhope has brought unusual learning, the necessary industry, and a sufficient talent. It is really a work that transcends the capacity of one man, however erudite. So vast "a field requires a committee of scholars fo cultivate it to the finest i.ssuej since an independent judgment upon every worthy author in the 'ong roll of English letters cannot be reached by the most studious commentator. Even so, Mi*. Courthope cannot have fewer than 10,000 definite images of authors assorted in the pigeon-holes of his brain. Not thai there are ten thousand woithy authors in English, but Mr. Courthope builds upon a foundation of European languages, ancient and modern, and besides the worthy he must have measured the unworthy. Think what il means to have acquired a knowledge of the territory, and some knowledge of the territorial' place, of virtually every European writer from Homer *to the

moderns, including the medisevals o< whom most people know nothing ' Perhaps it is m dealing with those me*, . disevals that Mr. Courthope's strengtl is most evident. When he comes U Byron and Shelley, Blake and Burws/ he enters a domain traversed by manj specialists ; and to some extent relief inevitably upon other people's opinions, '■His laht volume, dealing witb the ris< of the Romantic School, is perhaps tha most generally interesting of all. Yet it is also, perhaps, the volume in which he displays his owji powers to least advantage. His complete history well de-i serves to be read throughout, and remains a valuable work of reference. It is written in an easy and captivating style; and in those most difficult summaries of an age or author, it displays many* passages of clear vision and jusfc expression. The chief critical objection to bemad* to Mr. Courthope's work is an objection to the theory upon which it is based. He has treated poetry as "an expression of the imagination, not simply of tha individual poet, but of the English people." That is, he has considered poetry, not wholly as a reflex of the poet, bufc partly- as si reflex of the social surround-, ings in which the poet lived and wrote. The theory worked well until the eighteenth century, while English poetry ■remained chiefly a description of Eng^ L lish life, or a commentary upon English thought and manners. Then came the Romantic escape, when tie pbeti looked into his heart and wrote ; wliem he realised himself as an individual liv 3 ing often in a society alien or afoof, and commenced to sing joys and Borrow* that were no longer typically English, but cosmopolitan, human. "The Lak», School," with Byron, Shelley, imtfi Keats,, come into Mr. Courthope'* scheme only as reactionists. One cannot help feeling that the anti-English-quality in their reaction lias vitiate*** Air. Courthope's English judgment con-, cevmnpc them. He raises the questioav whether the principle he has "deliber* ately adopted of regarding Poetry -a* the reflection of our social life," rathe* than as the reflection of the Kfe of tha individual poet, is not as anything butt a working plan, unwarrantable. "IMPROPER" NOVELS. The English alliance of libraries against "improper" books continues to excite a great deal of discussion ; but, except as concerns the libraries, the plan is plainly futile. ' That is, while their action is emphasised, the libraries will be purged at the expense of - tho community. For, as in the beginning, human nature covets the forbidden.- A, publisher or a bookseller has' only to advertise a book by Miss Blank or Mrs. JJash as "Prohibited at all the libraries," and ne gains a certain sale for his rubbish. The first result of the legal prosecution uf certain books in New Zealand two years ago was to fill the booksellers' shops vtiHi furtive em-, quirers, who promptly bought the whola available stock. As the writers of tabooed books ar« chiefly women, so the readers are chiefly women— and girls. The manager of a, Sydney circulating library, claiming 5000 subscribers, recently picked out for me a, dozen current novels described as being "in great demand by theladies. We can't keep one of them on the shelves."' Eleven of the twelve were written by women. Not one was written well— not one worth reading — not one could he read. All were erotic — which is not necessarily a fault in fiction ; but all were cheap, obvious, tiresome. I had never heard of nine of the twelve authors ; they 'are never reviewed or criticised ; but some of them have half-a-dozen books to their credit, and the books are read. .So intrudes the point of view. Mine does not settle the matter ; but theve is a fair personal argument to the inutilily of such fiction. It serves for the sensual excitement of inexperience. Publishers and booksellers are in busiaiess to. mako money , and tlit few who taboo the rubbish do not stop the sale. News of a novelty flies from reader to reader like wildfire. It is evident that the only appeai worth making is th» old appeal to the home arid the parents. In default of success there, perhaps it' is reasonable to suppose that in the end a healthy organism breeds its own anti-toxins and creates its own taboo. An unhealthy organism doesn't. The orux is the betwix-and-between organism, with, a predisposition that may fall victim to a plague. NOTES. The opening of the Mitchell library m Sydney makes free to approved students and others a vast collection of literature relating to Australia and New Zealand, including many old newspapers and documents otherwise unprocurable. The collection was a labour of love to the deceased donor, parallel to the labour represented by Dr. Hocken's similar collection at Dunedin. For local antiquarians, historians and biographers — wfien they come — the Mitchell library will be a treasure. Just at present it is not clear what precise use will be made of the treasure •other than for reference ; and what will be the precise use of the use when made. The trumpets have sounded j but where are the literary warriors arrayed for battle? RECENT FICTION. Yet another Anglo-Indian novelist, K. M. Edge, makes a thoughtful and attractive story in "The Shuttles of th« Loom" (Murray). The hero is "a grave, strong, silent man," a Forest Conservancy officer, an assiduous coral insect employed in building, the Empire. His character, and its relation to work, women, and circumstances, are displayed intelligently. "Believe me, Mrs. Marlow," said a commentator, "it is not the man who carries out a rash act when his nerves are struDg to a frenzy of excitement that we should extol. It is the man who brings brain and intellect to work, who steadily conceives a hazardous task, and carries it through, bravely, that merits the highest award his country can give him." Take a point of langnage in passing ; He held her thus; then he kissed her thrice passionately — on the brow, on the eyes, ( on the mouth— and put her from •him." Now the most passionate lover can Kiss only one eye at a time, and, as he had only three kisses, and two came on the brow and mouth, he kissed only one eye. But if the author had written he kissed her "on the eye," that would seem to us comical. Whatever a hero does with one eye in practice, lie has to kiss both eyes in print. Miriam Michelson points out in Michael Thwaite's Wife" that writing novels is really a woman's job— and it is. Still, novels are a necessity of tha age; and if the women do not write them well enough? They write them well enough while they cleave to things ■ seen ; they are unsurpassed realists ; yet a.= soon as they let imagination loose nine in ten are undone. "Michael Thwaites Wife" is in noinl. Mi«s Mirhelsons "Yellow Journalist" and lhe Madigans" were admirable pictures ot fact "Michael Thxraite" soars l.ito the realm of disproportioned dream, and in becoming false becomes flat and rather foolish Victoria Cross s . t Jds her portrait to The Eternal Firos." which is a comPi°", nc ! f mora ' aml Physical nonsense that lacks narlir ulav relevancy or interest. As a feminine document * read with an eye on the author, it has fome scientific value. What the author says does not matter. But how and why she says it is worth scrutinising ; and the hovering spirit of comedy may discern a great deal of unexpressed "truth Occasionally the expressed truth is funny : "Men hate all argument, all referring "to abstract standards of conduct. They know they always get worsted by a clever woman and ghov. up badly.' 1