The Reviews Reviewed. 



403 



ability, while the latter should have appropriate treat- 

 ment. The fourth article deals with the cause of the 

 diminution in the number of swallows. One theory is 

 that more of iluni remain in .Mgeria than formerly, 

 as the conditions arc more favourable than they were 

 years ago, while another theory is that the cold snaps 

 which we e.\perience in spring kill the birds after their 

 arrival in our latitudes. 



De Gids contains several good articles, of which that 

 on " Science or Sport ? " will command the attention 

 of the general reader more than the others. After 

 referring to the various South Pole Expeditions of 

 recent years, the writer points out that there is the 

 danger of such e.xpeditions degenerating into sporting 

 adventures. The explorers themselves may be in- 

 fluenced by the sporting sentiment, while the public 

 iccords far more consideration and admiration to 

 ;:hose who can tell of hairbreadth escapes than to 

 those who have done good work from the scientific 

 point of view, but have nothing sensational to record. 



THE ITALIAN REVIEWS. 



Italy, in the midst of the difficult European situation 

 created by her war with Turkey, is asking herself who 

 are her best and truest allies. Gian della Quercia, in 

 the Niinva .bikilogia, discus.ses the subject under the 

 title, '■ Friendship with England." " The deplorable 

 attitude," he writes, '" of the English Press at the 

 beginning of the war . . . the interpretation placed 

 by the British Government on the duties of neutrality 

 — all these circumstances contributed to the impression 

 that our traditional friendship with England was only 

 a pleasing myth, told years ago to Italy in her child- 

 hood, but to be laid aside now she is of age." The 

 author fortunately admits that the official attitude of 

 even the " Irish-radico-socialist Ministry," has been, 

 not only perfectly correct, but in harmony with the 

 Italian Government, and he wisely argues that Italy 

 had best bear no malice, and that now that the two 

 countries are nearer neighbours than before on the 

 Mediterranean, " it is more than ever of vital impor- 

 tance that the good understanding between them 

 should not be disturbed." 



The Duke of Gualtieri, on the other hand, writing in 

 the Rassegiia Sazionale, still clings to the Triple 

 Alliance, and to the need of its renewal next year, as 

 the true basis of Italian foreign policy. His article, 

 however, is directed, not against England, but against 

 France, whose interest-;, he <onsiders, are bound to 

 cla.sh with those of England in the Mediterranean, and 

 whose intermiltcnt professions of friendship he regards 

 a.s quite untrustworthy. In his opinion, friendship with 

 France is only urged by the Freemasons and the anti- 

 clerical elements in both nations, in the hope that 

 Italy may follow Fram e in her anti-religious campaign. 

 It is illogical, he arguc^, for Italians to clamour for the 

 restitution of Trent an<l Trieste, and acquiesce in the 

 French possession of Nice and Corsica. Finally, he 

 considers that the transference of Italian influence 

 from the TriplUe to the ;\.nglo-Franco-Russian entente 



would once more upset the equilibrium of Europe, and 

 might precipitate an international crisis. 



From another article in the Nuwa Aittologia we 

 gather that the proljlem of theatrical censorship is 

 being discussed in Italy as well as here. Ugo Imperatori 

 explains how, previous to Italian Unity, the censorship 

 was solely employed to cut out from plays everything 

 approaching to a political allusion. Thus such words 

 as liberty, parliament, and so on were banned, while 

 licentious phrases were permitted. In Rome the censor- 

 ship was. of course, stricter than elsewhere. To-day the 

 Prefects still have power to refuse to license any play 

 that ofifends against the penal code or the moral sense 

 of the nation, and the position is much improved, but 

 the writer suggests that, in reality, all that is needed 

 is the power which also exists at present for the autho- 

 rities to step in and forbid a play which causes scandal 

 or actual disorder. 



D'Annunzio's new volume of ten patriotic poems, 

 published under the title of " Merope," is hailed in an 

 article of extraordinary exaltation in the Rassegna 

 Contemporanea as the crowning achie%ement of the 

 poet's life. His art, dedicated to the glorification of the 

 invasion of Tripoli, is pronounced to be no longer the 

 expression of a personal sentiment, but the " spiritual 

 irradiation of millions of souls," while the poems them- 

 selves are declared to be above criticism and fitted to 

 be read with sentiments of almost religious adoration. 

 The Duke of Gualtieri continues his amazing misrepre- 

 sentation of recent political events in England, not 

 sparing even King George for his complaisance towards 

 '■ senile democracy," and gloomily foretells our " inci- 

 pient decadence." It is at least some consolation to 

 find in the same number a lucid and eulogistic summary 

 of the Insurance Act as being a statesmanlike elTorl 

 to recover lost ground in a branch of social legislation 

 in which other countries had outdistanced us. 



La Rijnrma Sociale devotes several pages to a review 

 of Sir Thomas Barclay's book on " The Turco-Italian 

 War and its Problems," and pays a tribute to its 

 learning and impartiality. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 



The North American Reviav for March publishes as 

 its frontispiece a remarkable portrait of the late Mr. 

 yusticc Harlan, of the Supreme Court. Mr. Edward 

 Porritt contributes an article on " The Political 

 Parties on the Eve of Home Rule." Mr. .Vrthur C. 

 Benson, in his reminiscences, deals with Dickens. He 

 finds always something vaguely unsatisfactory about 

 Dickens ; he has no true poetry, and we read him to 

 forget and not to remember. Mr. Brander Matthews 

 discourses upon Shakespeare as an actor. He agrees 

 with Mr. Lee that Shakespeare only played indifferent 

 parts. He said that the conclusion that the greatest of 

 dramatists was not also great as an actor may be 

 unwelcome, but there is no escape from it. Mr. Brian 

 Hooker discourses upon " Reputation and Popularity." 

 The other articles, with the exception of those noticed 

 elsewhere, relate entirely to American subjects. 



