7o6 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



September 1, 1913. 



mostly " poor Foosther — trew honest 

 fellow ! — Dickens — a noble hairt — both 

 long since dead." I recall the actual 

 words of one question put with a shrewd, 

 sarcastic tone : " What d'ye hear noo of 

 Ota Jew Premier?'' 



Finally, after about an hour's stay — 

 for I would not trespass — I gathered up 

 my tools, apparatus, etc., and took my 

 way thence, much marvelling at my own 

 assurance. The work, such as it is, has 

 found a refuge in Chelsea Town Hall. 

 It represents him in the notorious felt 

 hat and shawl. 



EDMUND GOSSE AND ANDREW LANG. 



The Bookman contains, a special 

 article on Mr. Edmund Gosse. Mr. 

 Thomas Seccombe notes that in some re- 

 spects he bears a curious resemblance to 

 Andrew Lang. 



Both of them, he writes, are far better 

 as chroniclers and contemporary bio- 

 graphers than as serious philosophic 

 critics or historians, both at their best 

 when the vein of humour was most 

 buoyant, light, gay, spontaneous, or 

 mocking. But no, they were not content 

 with this, and would never rest until 

 they had set up as c)'clopat'dists. . . . 

 ]\Ir. Gosse's best work is not to be found 

 amid the ponderosities of literary his- 

 tory or full-length biography, but 

 among the lighter literary vignettes 

 scattered among his Critical Essays. 

 Some of his contemporary portraits are 

 quite inimitable. 



But the fullest scope for all his powers 

 is seen in the different varieties of auto- 

 biography, and if he publishes "A 

 Diary " it will not only be the crown 

 of his work, but the one live commentary 

 for all time of the critical era of the 

 transit of Victoria. 



G.K.C.'S PHILOSOPHY. 



" There are some people," says Mr. 

 G. K. Chesterton, in the introduction to 

 the volume of essays called " Heretics," 

 " There are some people — and I am one 

 of them — who think that the most prac- 

 tical and important thing about a -man 

 is his view of the universe." Taking 

 these words as his text, Mr. William Up- 

 right discusses Mr. Chesterton's phil- 



osophy in the Holborn Review. The 

 feeling of wonder at all the phenomena 

 of the world lies at the root of every 

 philosophy worthy of the name, and in 

 this at least Mr. Chesterton is truly a 

 philosopher, for his most characteristic 

 note is his refusal to take anything for 

 granted. To him everything in the 

 world is wonderful ; all the common- 

 place facts so placidly accepted by most 

 are to him matters of enormous interest 

 and excitement. The magic of things 

 engrosses him ; emotion sways him 

 rather than reason. Mr. Upright 

 says : — 



To Chesterton tiutli is not attaiiiiible 

 by some lalwured logical procoss; it is both 

 speedily and siu"ely realised when the heart 

 .stands np and answers, " I have felt." Bor- 

 rowing a word from the realm of art, we may 

 say that Chesterton is an imi)re.'isioiiist 

 rather than a thinker. He is the Whistler 

 of literatnre. His test of truth is not rea- 

 son, hilt feeling; not intellect, but intuition. 

 In hie view, first impressions are the truest 

 impressions; second tlioughts are invariably 

 false. 



But, though herein lies the secret of 

 his originalit)', it is also responsible for 

 some wrong-headedness, for, as Mr. Up- 

 right points out, side by side with many 

 brilliant flashes of profound insight, we 

 have occasional displays of extraordi- 

 nary ineptitude and slip-shod inaccu- 

 racy. Mr. Upright is of the opinion, 

 however, that Chesterton's cardinal error 

 consists in exalting feeling and intuition 

 at the cost of other legitimate elements 

 in human nature. In his defence of the 

 emotional he denies the validity of the 

 practical and the intellectual. He be- 

 comes more one-sided than the most 

 lop-sided of his opponents. Everywhere 

 in his work crops up his grave distrust 

 of reason. He does not love the scien- 

 tist, for he cannot forgive him for rob- 

 bing life of its fairy mystery ; and he 

 deep!}' condemns modern civilisation, 

 in which he thinks modern humanity 

 has lost its way. The writer con- 

 cludes : — 



Chesterton never laughs at humanity : he 

 has too much love for it to make it the butt 

 of his ridicule. The innate chivalry of his 

 nature ever prompts him to offer battle on 

 behalf of the weak and oppressed. This fine 

 humanitarian spirit is the noblest thing in 

 Chesterton, and to me it compensates for all 

 his errors. "To him that loveth much, 

 much shall be forgiven." 



