BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 14515, 5 November 1910, Page 9

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

11 That Printer of Udell's.' By Harold Bell Wright. Loikloii ; Hcdder and Stoughton. Dunedin: K. J. Stark and Co.

M» Wright ©pons no now ground in tho ibove- He- contents himself with following somewhat closely, both in manner and matter, the many writers who havo argued the pros ami cons of the churches and Christianity through tho mouths of fictitious characters and tho medium of strikes and capitalists. We do not wholly condemn this form of purposo novel, but, in oommon with most, it runs the risk of being regarded not from the standpoint of current fiction as literature, but as a political, social, or economic broadside. Wo cannot entiroly disregard the arguments, tho partisanship, or tho moral, and if wo dissent from thcec wo aro apt to dissent from the book—which may or may not be just. Writers of this 6tamp appear in a duaj capacity : they are purveyors of fiction and teachers of lessons, and, candidly, tho two rarely blend. One feels that tho novelist is taking an unfair advantage. Ho makes use of tho most popular known medium for a purpose with which that medium has not, primarily, any concern. Ho almost seems to say : " I want to talk seriously to you about tho Church as it is to-day, but I know that if I writo what I have to say in pamphlet form not five hundred copies will be sold, so I intend to dish up my opinions with a little love-making, moonlighting, murder, and crime. In this way I may possibly sell 5,000.'' And this, as far as the title or contents page indicates, is not unlike obtaining a hearing under false pretences. Mr Wright 6ecms desirous of exposing the hypocrisy of church members, the heartlessnoss of tho majority, and at tho some time of emphasising the need there is and must be for Christianity when interpreted along_ tho lines of Salvation Army and Church Social Reform organisations. Wo havo tho familiar illustration of the. honest worker, who is genuinely starving and hunting for the job lw> cannot find, seeking fhclter in a fashionable church, sitting in a comfortably cusliioned and carpeted pew under tho shadow of a richly-colored stained window on which is the figuro of tho Christ, hearing a touching sermon on tho text: " Come unto Mo all yo that labor and aro heavy laden," etc., and then being cold-bloodedly and ruthlessly sent about his business by preacher, deacons, and congregation. Mr Wright's contrasts aro of the most intenso and far-fetched land, and his colors, we think, aro laid on too thickly. That there is some truth in his picture wo cannot, to our shamo he it said, deny. In the United States particularly, where the scene of tho novel is laid, tho dollar-standard church bulks largely and mockingly. Tho author, however, does not throw Christianity altogether on to the rubbish heap. It is still a power unto salvation, only it 3 power and efficacy have been hidden by humbug and make-beliovo. Let men but seo its humandivine aspect, translate its teaching into practice, ani remember that in the last resort it is the character of its professor that tells, and all will bo well. This appears to bo Mr Wright's teaching. There is, as we have said, nothing exceptional in such a themo, and wo doubt whether Mr Wright's manipulation of his old material is sufficiently arresting to imbue it with fresh life.

'Love's Barrier.' By Annie S. Swan. London: Cassell and Co. Dunedin .• R. J. Staxk and Co.

Mrs Burnet Smith generally can bo iclicd upon to provido a harmless, pleasant, simple story on conventional lines. We do not grumble at the conventionalism, and could wish that more writers confined themselves to tho strictly plain, healthy, and normal, which, after all, is what conventional means. But wo have to confess that the samo stories, told in tho same way, with a change only in names and places to distinguish them, aro apt to pall. We aro never tremendously interested in what becomes of her men and women. We know that the heroine will get the hero, or that the darkening cloud will pass, or the unspoken word be spoken at the right tin* (about three, to four pagos from the end), but we do not work ourselves into a passion concerning either. When Annie Swan has introduced her handsome clergyman (clever but poor) and her lovely aristocrat (poor and not very clever), and made the husband a strict churchman with ritualistic leanings, and the adorable wife a frankly unconscious pagan, we can predict 200 pages of misunderstanding and ruptnre, with a reconciliation over a gravestono or a baby's cradle at the close. Such stories, provided they are agreeably told—as Annie Swan's arc—call for no particular praise or blame. They serve their purpose, which, though not a very high or very useful one, is not destituto of defence.

'A History of French Exploration ar.d Project* in Anstralia.' By Ernest Scott. London :*Methium.

Abundantly illustrated, this work, taken cither as an analytical work on a littleknown phase of colonial history, or as ;i book of stirring adventure, is an admirable contribution to Imperial literature. On April 8, 1802, a dramatic mooting occurred in Encounter 13ay, oil the coa&t of what is now known as the State of South Australia. The British ship Investigator, under the command of Matthew Flinders, which had sailed from Spit head in July, 1801, hero met the French vessel Le Geographe, which, with the La Naturaliste—both under the command of Nicolas Baudin —had left Havre- in the preceding October. France and England were then at war, but Mr Scott nnkes it abundantly clear that Baudin's business in Australian waters was as purely in too interest of exploration and discovery as that of Flinders. His expedition wa.s promoted entirely by the Institut de France. The particular features oi pre-sent-day interests presented by the book are whether France entertained at any time territorial designs upon Australia, and the influ'jace of a sea Power on such a question. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the only part of Australasia occupied by any white nice was Norfolk Island and a small area on the mainland at Port Jackson; no other nation but the British had ventured to annex an inch of the inland continent, or seemed to care much about it. This indifference was most marked in 1804, when Rear-admiral Liuois, who had been sent to administer the French colonics vvhifh had been retroceded under the Peace tit Amiens, was in the Indian Ocean. On the recommencement of the war ho mi.'ht Kisily have sailed to Sydney and seized the British settlement as a basis of supplies for the Isle, of France (Mauritius). But lie preferred to waylay rich East liidiamen, and as history records was admirably befooled by one Nathaniel Dance by means of painted bulwarks and wooden guns. It wan not till 1310 that Napoleon Bonaparte lilted out an expedition for aggressive service iu Australian waters, and ordered an attack on Port Jackson, l'oraibly. as Mr Scott suggests, he- had time seen tho official account of the Baudin expedition, with itt> maps, which were made all the moro attractive by such names ao '" Terre Napoleon." However, the expedition never si't forth. It it had left port it could scarcely have gone far, for the British had command ( >{ tho sea, and in tho following year vindicated ti£ claim .it Trafalgar. The author traces the vital importance of this view of the case both before, and after the Peace of Amiena, ;:iid cays: The facts set forth ..." are sufli-C-fet to .''.how that tho people of no portion of tho British Empire have greater Tcasoii to be grateful for the benefiu; conferred by the naval strength maintained by the Mother Country during tho past one hundred years than have who occupy Australia. Their country had, indeed, been in a special degree the nursling of so a power. By naval predominance, and that alone, the way has been kept clear for the unimpeded development, on British constitutional lines, of a group of flourishing States forming "one continental is'e," whose bounds arc '' the girding alone."' A3 to 'the fuwip■v.-rtiivo rrtmlts of tho Flintier* S'nti t.cplontory expeditions, 'Mr Sooiil :'r:«> 'ery flaVny. " While T.aadiadallioii, Hinders snatched tho ciown ~»' accoruplislimoiit by his own diligence and

intelligent application to tho work entrusted to him." Tho French (in tho Carte Genoralo o! 1807) published the first map ot Australia in outlino, "saviug defectcr," in which tho Terro Napoleon appears as covering parts of South Australia and Victoria, "but the circumstances in which this result was effected wero avot such us secured any honor to tho expedition." Flinders, captured in December, 1803, on his way home, and held prisoner till July, 1810, in tho Isle of Franco by Goueral Hccaen, in spite of air order for his rcleaso, "'was working away at his own complete map of Australia . . . while his splontlidlywon credit was being filched from him." The French map, as will be seen from the above-mentioned date, was issued during ! the period of this imprisonment, but Mr Scott completely disposes of any suggestion that Flinders's papers wero "tapped." A SENSATIONAL BOOK. Something of a sensation has been caused in Paris by tho announcement that the MSS. of Jean Baptisto Kleber, Napoleon's companion in arms in his Egyptian campaign, havo been published in full. This publication of what is known as 'Lo Carnet do Kleber' comes as a surprise, for very few people knew of tho existence of the documents. Tho statement written outsido the worn and stained note book, deposited among tho archives of the French Department and known as ' Piece No. 13,355/ was always thought to bo false, and no credit was given to Kleber' for its contents. But on thumbing its brown and grease-stained pages some months ago ono of the keepers of the archives examined tho faded handwriting more- closely than any of his predecessors had done, and, with the knowledge of authentic documents in Kleber's hands, ho affirmed tho authenticity of this interesting manuscript. It has since been established that Kleber had this note book in his pocket when the Egyptian fanatic Sulci nan stabbed him to death at Cairo on June 14,1800. Another ' Carnet ds Kleber,' better known, but not in Kleber's c.wn hand, is by General Damas, who wrote down Kleber's sayings much as Boswell cited Johnson. The chief interest in the camet is tho judgment on Napoleon. Kleber, a son of a shrewd Asiatic mason, was a severo judge of men, and ho was also interested in psychology. It is well known that his chief desiro when he heard that ho was to meet Napoleon at Toulon (1793/ was that ho should bo able to observe tho character'of one who was already famous. Throughout his note book he shows himself preoccupied with a wish to obtain a truly just estimate of Napoleon as a general ani as a man. —Napoleon's Impudence. —

His judgmsut is generally rather unfavor ablo to tho First Consul, as may bo gathered from tho following extracts: " Ono day Bonaparte, with impudent presumption, spoko to mo of reverses which ho should have expected, and of successes which he hoped for after the battle of Aboukir, and ho said: 'I play with history; 1 can calculate more coolly than another in this kind of event.' But to play with history items to me to play with events themselves, and to play with events is to play with tho lives of men. with public and private fortunes, with the happiness and prosperity of the country. Is that what tho hero would have mo understand? I don't know but what I should have understood him if he had said: 'I live- only that my name shall lill pages in history; celebrity is my only object, and all the rest has no meaning to me.' Bo that as it may, I was so struck with tho impertinence- of tho words that an involuntary expression cf indignation showed itself, an! caused ltirn to chango his tone and his language. France coulJ not havo been subjugated by a more miserable charlatan on the Eighteenth Brumaire. Ho will not save the country. The Constitution is a sorry mask which the tyrant has thought better to wear for the time being, and which ho will throw out of the window before it becomes useless to him. Turunno acquired his glory in fighting Montocuculi. the greatest general of the century; Napoleon obtained his ceiebrity by lighting against all tho most imbecile generals that the House of Austria could provide. Is ho liked? flow could he bo'.' Ho likes nobody, but he thinks ho can do without affection by making men bend Ui him by promotion and presents. No fixed plan, everything goes by leaps and bounds. J-.'aeh day settles its own affairs. And ho pretend* to beliovo in fatality!" The truth of some of Kleber's remarks and tho prophetic strain of others give this sheaf of notes a certain value in the Ustory of Napoleon. BALZAC AND BAILIFFS. 111-luck in money matters seems to pursue Balzac beyond the grave. Tho impecunious and improvident great man spent his life in contests with creditors, and thoro were months and oven years during which he never ventured out of doors by daylight for fear of bailiffs. His abode was often unknown to all but two intimate friends, and tho most complicated devices were resorted to for the fiafo delivery of his correspondence. Balzac himself beirig dead, bailiffs now threaten the Balzac Museum. The Treasury claims £lB 6s Id for rates and taxes for 1909, and £lB 19s lid for 1910, the assessment having, for some unexplained reason, been increased. Tho tax collector threatens to put the bailiffs in for tho total amount of £37 6s immediately, if the fiuni- bo not forthcoming, and eventually to sell up the mementoes and portraits of the unfortunate Balzac contained in tho museum. No harder fate could happen, surely, to tho impecunious great man's memory than that his bust should be sold to pay tho taxes on his mu6t>um after his death. The curator, rather naturally, declines to pay tho £37 6s out of his own pocket, and says that tho income of the museum is barely sufficient to pay for the upkeep, while ho cannot decently come down upon tho donors, who have already given what property the museum possesses. Tho donors, for that matter, will at once claim back tho mementoes of Balzac given by them if the tax collector puts bailiffs in. Tho president of the Society of the Friends of Balzac writes indignantly and sarcastically to tho responsible authorities, claiming thai, as an establishment of national interest-, tho Balzac Museum is legally exempt from taxation, and that, should tho Treasury persist in its threats, it will incur odium and possibly somo ridicule. —Paris correspondent 'Daily Telegraph.'

11USKIN, CARLYLE, JOHNSON. There- is ivn article by P.rander Matthews in the ' Century' "for July entitled 'The Dovil'G Advocate, with Suggestions of What He May Say about Thrro Celebrated Writers* —namely, John lliifiki.ll, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel JolWoii. —J!u.4:ii!.--Kuskin wis a master rhetorician. Henry James is quoted as paying that "as to Urn-kin's world of art ' li'dnj; a. place where- wo may take life easily, woe to the luckless mortal who enter;; it with any such disposition : instead of a garden of delight lie finds a port of assize court in perpetual session.' '' Braadw Matthews goes on to a<l<l :---- " it, is y. fact., whatever its Mgiiiiican<■ '. that lliisklu's conliibulios.s to economic theory have been brushed aside by nearly all serious students of social conditions with the. same coniempt displayed by painters and architects toward his contributions to the theory of the line arte. It is p.u-lmpj. scarcely too much to say that those who are mo.sr. intimately acquainted with theet* (Uibjects hohl that, although llu«kin-could talk beautifully, he did not know what' he was talking about." In proof of which Lord Ave bury is quoted ! Admirers 01 Kuskiii will probably regard Ivord Avcbury as a. rudimentary survival of the prc-lluskinian day*. Keen Lord Avcbury's eulogy that lluskin's writings are "thoroughly Christian in spirit" is hotly inipiignc-d by -Mr I'.ninder Matthews :—" Iluß.kin. in it very large part of his writings, wu<; notoriously querulous and scornful. It i« diflicult to discover the Christkin virtue <t[ humility in a writer who degenerated into little better than a common scold. C;i;i even the most devoted (idiniror of I'u.-.kin claim that he was dowered with the e.-ential Chii-diaic virtues of faith and hope and charily'.' He had very bud manners, and they were

rooted in a belligerent self-esteem and in an offensive* disregard for the feelings of others."

—Carlyle.—

Of the Sago of Chelsea Mr Blunder Matthews says that ho " shrank from nc self-revelation of his .selfish disregard fo. his fellow-beings." " (Jarlylo was unforgiv ably contemptible in his reference, lodiarle.' Lamb, a far nobler character than hitusoli. Ho defended Eyre, the brutal tiovcrnoi. and ho sneered at Howard, the prison le fonnor. Ho had tho infelicity of beiin 'wrong-headed on tho wrong side. Ho sav. no harm in slavery, and ho boasted thai he longed "to get his kuifo into Ceorgi Washing-ton." He became bitterly joaloii. of Emerson, to whom ho was under obligation for lßonoy at a limo when mono} was most welcomo to him. Thoro wa> envious condescension in his remark t< Colonel Higginson that Emerson thought "everybody in tho world a 6 good iis hini self."" Certainly Carlylo made sure tha; nobody could ever truthfully mako a simi lar remark about him. Envy is the keynote of Carlylo'e character —tho mean envj of a peasant, aware of great gifts, yet v:i easv in the company of those better graced than himself. This envy prompted his sell ronscioueness to eelf-display in total disregard of the society in wiiich ho found himself. Gallon met him at tho Ashburtonand thought him ' tho greatest lore that a house could foleiatc,' raving against dc generaey ' without any facts in justification. and contributing nothing to tho in forma tion or pleasure _£ tho company.' Ho was ill at easo in liis century, since ho wan wholly out of sympathy with its two must salient characteristics.—tho democrat i< movement and tho scientific spirit. II itwork was essentially negative and defttrr.itivo. A man might learn from him what to hate, but never what to love." Tho most serious charge is advanced by Professor Morse Stephens: "He has recorded how Carlylo deliberately neglected tho enormous collection of French rtevolu tionary 'pamphlets in tho British Museum. These documents are absolutely essential to a full understanding of those troublous times; but Carlylo rofnscd to profit by them, simply because- tho authorities <u the library declined to set aside a special room for "him in which to consult them. Perhaps it is bocause ho wantonly ignored theso sources of information that Carlyle'.Trench Revolution,' with all its gleams o:' genius and its flashes of insight, is as lantastic as it is—a nightmare- of history." —Johnson.—■ Of Samuel Johnson .Mr Brnuder Matthew*: eays that his critical decisions on Shakespeare aro often only a little less absurd than his judgments" on Milton. In his conversations, as in his writing, ho displayed tho sanio trampling arrogance that wo discover in Kuskiu and Carlyle. His stylo is as artificial and demoralising as the stylo of Carlyle. Johnson was on occasion harsh and brut;d ; used bis strength often to crush down tho weak ; ho was a wretched glutton, and pitiably superstitious.

Notwithstanding the protests of a siting of female friends, the aged but vivai-ioi:.-. Countess Cardigan declares (hat she is engaged upon a further instalment of he: reminiscences, which will shock Society more than her iirst and (as some people say) infamous effort. The book is expected to be issued in December, when this remarkable old woman, with Jier indiscreetly sharp memory, will celebrate her eighty-eighth birthday. Already timorous Society folk are saying, with dolorous accents, in viow of tho book's appearance : " And we thought we were going to have a merry Christmas."