International studio (24.1904/1905(1905))

Book Reviews

The illustrations are chiefly from photographs,
well printed in brown tinted ink, and from clear
negatives. They picture the subjects of the text
profusely, ranging from impromptu snap-shots of
nooks and corners, to quite first-class full-page
half-tones. The end-papers show the map of
England upon which are indicated the places
through which the author conducts her readers.
The Burns Country. By Charles S. Dou-
gall, M.A. 8vo. Pages 322. Illustrated.
London: Adam & Charles Black. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
‘“I have no dearer aim,’ said Burns, ‘than to
make leisurely pilgrimages through Caledonia; to
sit on the field of her battles; to wander on the
romantic banks of her rivers, and to muse on the
stately towers or venerable ruins, once the hon-
oured abodes of her heroes.’
“This volume is the result of such leisurely pil-
grimages as Burns desired to make. I have
wandered on the banks of the rivers and streams
which owe much of their romance to him; I have
visited his homes and haunts in Ayrshire and Niths-
dale; and I have picked up, on the way, stories of
himself and his friends, and facts and traditions
concerning the people who lived and fought and
suffered in his country. The land of Burns can
also claim to be the land of Bruce and Wallace.
It was the home of Lollards and Covenanters; it
witnessed centuries of feudal strife; Galt and Bos-
well, Ainslie and Cunningham, Burns and Scott,
are among those who have invested it with the
charm of literary associations. I have tried to set
down the fruits of my gleanings in this rich field
simply and clearly, in the hope that those things
which interested me will prove interesting to all
who share my admiration of the poet and my love
for his native land.”
It is one of the strange paradoxes of the age that,
with increased facilities of locomotion, so that no
civilized spot on the earth’s surface is any longer
inaccessible, and with a multiplication of editions
of classic literature positively dismaying, the writ-
ings of litterateurs “about it and about” thrive in
progressive proportion. One is not busied in
studying the original text, or occupied in becoming
familiar with the classics; nor does one’s leisure
find one making “leisurely pilgrimages” to “muse
on the stately towers or venerable ruins, once the
honoured abodes of her heroes.” At most, the
tourist pays admission, and “does” the site of
some immortal’s birthplace or resting place, and
scans en route the latest criticism of his work; or

the newest gossip of personalia; or a commentary
on the topography of the scenes he has idealized.
No doubt this is merely the logical phase of modern
life in literature, and as such answers its own dis-
tinctive purpose; and, if it be profitless, it cannot
at any rate be called unpleasant. The publishers
are to be congratulated in so far as they have done
well what they set about to do; and the author is
evidently thoroughly master of his subject. The
result is a book which we need have no hesitation
in vouching for, to those whose tastes follow the
popular direction in such matters. The illustra-
tions are half-tones of satisfactory quality as
regards technique, and varying in picturesqueness
as far as their artistic value is concerned.
Dante and the English Poets from chaucer
to Tennyson. By Oscar Kuhns. i2mo.
Pages vii.—277. New York: Henry Holt &
Co. $1.25 net.
A reader unfamiliar with Professor Kuhns’
work would learn soon upon beginning this book
on the influence of Dante on the English poets that
he had to deal with a scholar who was not mad
even north-north-west. It is well to confess, as
the author does at the start, that the extravagance
and lack of critical impartiality on the part of some
investigators has brought the whole method of
parallels, the chasse aux paralleles, into disrepute.
In this book, indeed, the author in several instances
marshals the evidence more unhesitating critics
have used to show supposed literary relationship
between English poets and the Tuscan, only to
dismiss it as an example of the manner of investiga-
tion to be avoided. Nor is it the lesser forerunners
in the field with whom alone he is ready to take
issue. Brandes he finds too easily satisfied upon
Shakespeare’s indebtedness, and Lowell upon
Spencer’s. On the other hand, he holds that Pro-
fessor Lounsbury underestimates the influence of
Dante on Chaucer. Many similarities between
these two, found by Ten Brink, Rambeau and
others he attributes, however, to the general body
of mediaeval conventionalities—for which he in-
vents the phrase materia poetica—and concludes
that Chaucer, because of his gayer disposition and
less absorbed literary attitude, took little from a
superficial reading of Dante, missed the deeper
influence of spiritual ideals, and contented himself
with appropriating such parts of the Italian’s work
as were in harmony with his temperament and
poetical characteristics. In Milton’s frank search
for a model upon which to build “Paradise Lost”
and his omission of the “Divine Comedy” from

xx