The record of Mrs. King's first visit to Mazzini during his London exile is well worth quoting. the documentary history of the entire life vice which has now disappeared-hypocrisy. of modern united Italy. This history is made But, after all, truth is best." more vivid by the personal achievements, hopes, fears and sufferings of the Italian statesman, who, beginning with the days of the Risorgimento, took a leading part in shaping his country's destinies until the inauguration of her African expansion policy. In the working out of this policy, so disastrously checked for the moment at Adowa in 1896, Signor Crispi was always the dominant figure. It was he who dreamed of a new Italian empire on the foundations of ancient Rome, and the Italian ships and soldiers now fighting the Arabs in Tripoli are but carrying out part of the grandiose dream of Francesco Crispi. It is with the Mazzini of his later years, of 1864 to his death in 1872, that Mrs. Hamilton King has to do in her collection of letters. She was a generous and romantic girl of eighteen when she read Gladstone's translations of Farini's "History of the Roman State." This fired her zeal for Italian liberty. At that time, 1849, in the progress of events in Rome the name of Mazzini was very prominent. To her Mazzini at once became not only "an image of the ideal patriot, hero and saint, but the master mind of the century and the master and responsive note of her own mind." She resolved to dedicate herself to the aims and purposes of the Italian liberators. She wrote Mazzini an It was on January 30, 1864; Mazzini lived then, and during all the years I knew him, in a house called 18 Fulham Road. It was one of a row of small, three-storied houses, standing a little way back from the road, with, in front, a little iron gate and a small grass plot. . . . I do not remember if we had previously announced our visit; but we found him at home. He was in the small front sitting-room, so filled with books and papers there was hardly room to move, and with his little canaHe had been smoking, but had put away his cigar. ries and greenfinches fluttering about the room. At last we stood face to face. I had a photograph of him, but a small and poor one, and it was with an indescribable emotion that I saw before me the slender emaciated form, the noble face and brow, and the great dark, liquid velvet eyes, with their wonderful fire and depth, and heard the gentle, caressing voice. He was dressed, as always, in the deep mourning, the black velvet waistcoat buttoned up to the throat, which was his distinctive costume. I have no recollection of what was said. I could only utter a few words of devotion and thankfulness: and though Mazzini himself was a fluent and eager talker, I do not remember that he said much, nor anything that he said. It was my husband who principally sustained the conversation... As for me, I felt disappointed, not in Mazzini, but in myself. He never took his large wonderful eyes from my face; and in them there was the expression of the deepest melancholy. The conception of Mazzini, once quite widely accepted, as "a pestiferous conspiraidealistic letter full of impersonally romantic tor, fanatical and cruel," has long since been and philosophic sentiments. "Had my age thrown aside. Yet it is good to hear Mrs. permitted me," she wrote, "I would have King's first-hand testimony to the gentleness been among those who served in the cam- and generosity of his nature. He was, she paign of 1860. I have nursed the sick and tells us, the most domestic of men, and his dying. Let me offer relief and consolation to life was characterized by simplicity, innothe holy Italian war. . . . In the crusade of our day surely maidens and children are not note of his nature was his "utter generosity, cence, gayety and charm of nature. The keyout of place." Mazzini wrote in reply, saying, self-denial and self-sacrifice." Everything "I accept and welcome your enthusiasm as that it was possible to give away he gave. one of God's blessings." The correspondence "Besides his private charities, he financed continued. A visit to Mazzini in his dim the whole Republican movement in Italy, London lodgings was arranged, and later, and supplied the funds for every private and after her marriage, Mazzini stayed with public expedition . . . although this was only the Kings in their country home in Eng- possible through the contributions of his land. In addition to the letters of Mazzini given in these pages, Mrs. King includes several of her own, besides some of those written by other friends of the patriot. It seems almost sacrilegious, after fifty years, she comments in the volume, "to expose these letters warm from living hearts to the mockery of a skeptical and materialistic world, yet in those days the world was equally skeptical and materialistic, friends and followers." He was the gentlest of human creatures, and the kindest. The little birds that flew about his room, nestled on his shoulder, and fed from his hand, were one proof of this, shut out as he was from the comfort of human relations. His love and tenderness to children were also touching and wonderful. He could be bitterly indignant against wrong, oppression, and cruelty; but his indignation itself, though fiery, had never anything violent or cruel. He could not be other than gentle in every action, deep note of melancholy; and this was not merely a significant record of all that he saw and for the sorrows of his country and of humanity, heard that is given in this collection of letters. and for his own deceptions and disappointments; for those who knew him, there might be perceived a perpetual mourning for those lives which had been sacrificed in following him, and whose martyrdom was a perpetual weight upon his heart. In personal appearance he was of middle height, slender and of noble carriage. His eyes were the most remarkable feature of his face. They were extremely large, "luminous, of a velvet darkness, and full of fire and passion. In him extraordinary purity was transcendent. . . . A sort of living flame surrounded him, which could not help striking every one in his presence. I have never met any man or woman who so embodied the idea of perfect purity." Mazzini, Mrs. King admits, had not the gift of prophecy. Some of his predictions have been falsified by history, but "Mazzini the man, the saint, the leader, the hero, the martyr, must ever remain one of the most splendid, noble and pathetic figures in the story of mankind." Crispi's absorbing ambition was Italy's interests in the Mediterranean. On this subject, says his editor, he entertained “ambitious, uncompromising and ardent opinions." He realized that England had cut off his country from Egypt, and that Tunis and Morocco were as inevitably French as was Algeria. He saw, however, "that not only might a skillful and firm policy prevent Italy's position on her own sea from becoming worse, but even lead to some compensation for the injury she had already suffered." In a letter addressed to the German Ambassador at Rome, and dated July 24, 1890, Crispi declared that failing in the attempt to prevent French occupation of Tunis, "measures must be adopted to insure Tripoli to us [the Italians] as the only possible guarantee against encroachments of the naval and military power of France." In a letter dated July 31, of the same year, from the Italian chargé d'affaires in London, it is stated that Lord Salisbury, then British Premier, admitted that "the interests of Europe demand this occupation [of Tripoli by Italy!, that the One of the most ardent followers of Maz- Mediterranean might be prevented from bezini and Garibaldi during the war for Italian coming a French lake." The editor quotes in unity was the young Sicilian, Francesco this connection also a statement made by Crispi. He championed the cause of "Italia M. Ferry, then French Foreign Minister, Unita," and fought against French interfer- to the effect that if Italy wished to occupy He was a leading spirit among those Tripoli, he would offer no opposition. All of who brought about Italian occupation of which is reproduced here to show that, more Rome, a most prominent figure in the formu- than two decades ago, Europe had accepted lation and direction of Italian foreign policy the Italian absorption of Tripoli. up to the time of his death, and a prime mover in the entrance of Italy into the Triple Alliance, as well as one of the originators of the idea of an Italian Tripoli. ence. Crispi as Seen Through his Letters Crispi had personal dealings with all the great men of Europe, and for his own record alone he jotted down his estimate and impressions of such world figures as Gambetta, Authoritative documents concerning the Bismarck, Cavour, von Bülow, Gladstone war for Italian unity are scarce. The letters and Disraeli. An absorbingly interesting and of Crispi, written at the time, are illuminat- secret interview with Bismarck at Wildbad, ing. The editor of the two-volume collection on September 17, 1877, gave the Italian of Crispi's memoirs, Tommaso Palamenghi- statesman a very clear idea of what the great Crispi, in his introductory note avers: "a German empire maker thought about almost book from nearly every one of whose pages all the international complications of the Francesco Crispi speaks has no need of a last thirty years of Italian history. In the preface by another." It is indeed character- light of what has actually happened since istic of this collection of letters that the per- that conversation, Crispi's account is sigsonality of the writer shines out unmistak- nificant. ably. The two portly volumes are full of descriptions of and references to Garibaldi, Cavour and Mazzini, but all are saturated with the passionate, devoted personality of Crispi himself. Traveling through Europe as Italy's secret agent in European political affairs, during most of his career, he kept his After greetings and exchange of views on the political situation generally, Crispi said: We are informed that it was your wish to strengthen the bonds of friendship between our countries, and I am therefore come at my King's command to discuss several matters with you. I am unaware whether it will be necessary to readjust the treaty of commerce which was signed in Gotthard Tunnel will greatly increase traffic between our countries, and it will therefore be well to make such provisions as shall remove all obstacles to trade between our peoples, and also facilitate the transaction of private business. With this end in view our government hopes that Your Highness will agree to a treaty by virtue of which Germans in Italy and Italians in Germany shall be placed upon a perfectly equal footing with the subjects of those countries, as far as civil rights are concerned. In reply to a question as to whether Germany would sign a treaty of "eventual alliance" with Italy and would be willing to come to an understanding" as regards the solution of the Eastern question, the German Chancellor replied as follows: I heartily welcome the proposal for a treaty which shall place Italians in Germany and Germans in Italy on the same footing with the subjects of those countries, and by virtue of which all shall enjoy perfect equality in the exercise of civil rights. I cannot, however, establish this without first consulting my colleagues. A treaty of this sort would suit me because it would be a public manifestation of our cordial relations with Italy. restless and powerful and her kings must be warriors in order to sway the masses, the natural consequence is that they are forced to attack their neighbors. Such conditions have long prevailed, and you will find an example of them as far back as the reign of Louis XIV. As regards Austria, the conditions are totally different. I shrink from even assuming that she might one day be hostile to us, and I frankly admit that I must refuse to consider such a possibility. . . . We desire that Austria and Russia should be on friendly terms, and we are doing our best to keep them so. With regard to Austrian policy generally, particularly with regard to the Balkan question, Bismarck said: Austria is wise. There could be but one cause for a breach in the friendship that unites Austria and Germany, and that would be a disagreement between the two governments concerning the Polish policy. There are practically two nations in Poland-the aristocracy and the peasants (la noblesse et le paysan)-two nations in whom temperament, views and habits all differ widely. The one is restless and factious, the other quiet, industrious and sober. Austria favors the aristocracy. If a Polish rebellion should break out and Austria should lend it her support we should be obliged to assert ourselves. We cannot permit the reconstruction of a Catholic kingdom so near at hand. It would be a northern France. We have one France to look to already, and a second would become the natural ally of the first, and we should find ourselves entrapped between two enemies. The resurrection of Poland would injure us in other ways as well; it could not come about without the loss of a part of our territory. We cannot possibly relinquish either Posen or Danzig, because the German Empire would remain exposed on the Russian frontier, and we should lose an outlet on the Baltic. Continuing to discuss the general European situation, Bismarck said: We have been accused of wishing to acquire Holland and Denmark. What should we do with ber of non-German subjects to make us shrink these countries? We have a sufficiently large numfrom adding to them. We are on friendly terms with Holland, and our relations with Denmark are satisfactory. As long as I remain in office I shall be with Italy, but although I am your friend I will not break with Austria. Crispi asked Bismarck what was the latter's opinion on the question of disarmament. The Prince replied: The principle of disarmament can never succeed in practice. There are no words in the dictionary that accurately define the limits of disarmament and armament. Military institutions differ in every State, and even when you have succeeded in As to German relations with France and placing the armies on a peaceful footing you will Austria, Bismarck said: Only by keeping peace can the republic continue to exist in France, and should she adopt another policy than that of peace she would be risking destruction. I hold that only a return to monarchy would make war possible. In France all dynasties not be able to affirm that the conditions of offense and defense are equal with all the nations which have participated in disarmament. Let us leave this question to the Society of the Friends of Peace. Altogether these two collections of letters and reminiscences are of unusual interest and POETRY, NEW AND OLD "The singer who lived is always alive; we hearken and always hear."-JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. IN an obscure legend it is recorded of a race that "They had no poet and so they died." We have this month sufficient in the field of poesy to assure us that we shall never come to extinction through a dearth of poets. Mr. George Sylvester Viereck offers "The Candle and the Flame"; we have "The Lute of Life" by the late James Newton Matthews, "Sonnets and Ballads" by Guido Cavalcanti, the collected poems of William Sharp, "Womankind" by Wilfred Gibson, and the poems of Schiller, in translation by E. Arnold Foster. Genius "The Candle and the Flame" is accompanied by an explanatory pamphlet from Mr. Viereck's publishers, which gives in brief synopsis an account of the life and works of the author. A Youthful He was born in the city of Munich, in 1886. His father had been a member of the German Reichstag and his mother was a native of California. He attended the public schools of New York and was graduated in 1906 from the College of the City of New York. Now at the age of twenty-eight Mr. Viereck has a halfscore of books of various kinds to his credit. His career has been that of a poetical comet, his fiery locks shearings from the aureoles of François Villon and Oscar Wilde. It is true that Mr. Viereck has genius; he has also astonishing talent and virility, At twenty-eight, he is a prodigy of precocious and brilliant accomplishment both in prose and verse; but he has a tendency to juggle with Mr. Viereck's personality. Let Mr. Viereck speak for himself, through his "Credo": "I strive to express every segment in the great circle of human life, whether purple or golden or sombre or bright." Again, in the preface to "The Candle and the Flame": "I am in poetry what Strauss is in music, Rodin in sculpture, and Stuck in painting-a cerebral impressionist. My artistic aim is to extend the borderland of poetry into the realm of music on the one side and into that of intellect on the other." Yet, for all this, he bids farewell to the Muse in this volume. Art for art's sake seems a jest, literature only a "sickly mirage of life." Now he proposes to test the actual dynamics of living, bestowing as a parting gift his stock of cerebral impressionism. The poems included in "The Candle and the Flame," are more forceful though not more poetic, than those of a previous collection-"Nineveh." Erotic imagery often symbolizes moral truths. There is little for the prude or the Puritan to fear in Mr. Viereck's eroticism. It is stingless; it explains itself and it is explained by him as follows: Perhaps the passions of mankind That knows the secret of it all In the great darkness and the wind. 1 The Candle and the Flame. By George Sylvester Viereck. Moffatt, Yard & Co. 131 pp. $1.20. A wholesome doubt here and there shadows the assurance of Mr. Viereck's Muse. He writes: "I am sometimes seized with the fear of Baudelairethe idol heedlessly dragged to the junk heap may be the true god after all." Still, beyond all cavil, he has written much that is freshly and uniquely beautiful. There are echoes of the music that tortured Keats' soul from his body and now and again some dust from the grave of Heinrich Heine is blown across our faces. He is just to woman, but he does not think the austerities of life are in her keeping. In a land untraversed by ordinary mortals, he has met vampire souls and singing sirens and knelt at the altars of strange gods and walked up the highways and down the byways searching out his exotic songs. One conclusion seems apparent after a survey of all that Mr. Viereck has done and that is, that his prose is better art than his poetry-like Stevenson's prose, more poetical at times than his verse. While Mr. Viereck's work has all been brilliant, it has been odd and uneven. We hardly know what to expect from him. James Newton Matthews as a poet belonged to the James Whitcomb Riley School. As a man he belonged with the good and the great. Down in "Egypt," Southern Illinois, in the A Mid-Western little town of Mason, he lived and Singer worked and died and left behind him his poems and unfailing remembrance of his deeds and his virtues, Walter Hurt has written a foreword of appreciation for this volume together with some analysis of Dr. Matthews' poetical gift. The poems are distinctively American; they can hardly be compared for purposes of criticism with the classics, for they possess a quality that in all times and in all lands has defied criticism-a simple lovingness, it might be called for want of a better word. If you remember some old, sweet verses that your mother used to read when the sun was setting over the hills, out of a Repository of Song that had faded covers and had always belonged to the family, you know the kind of verse Dr. Matthews wrote. Joel Chandler Harris said of him: "He was native to the soil, yet his spirit was as universal as art's expression." His muse dwelt in his heart; his verse was the overflow of great tenderness of spirit. Many of his poems are simple in form and childlike in expression, yet to sense his actual mastery over the technique of poesy one has but to turn to his sonnets or the tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. The verse and the sonnet quoted below are excellent examples of Dr. Matthews' work. WHEN I SHALL MEET MY YOUTH AGAIN Sometime I know not how or whenThis weary road I journey on Will lead through lands that I have known, And I shall meet my youth again,— Thro some old wood my childhood knew The road at length will bring to view A cottage in a lonely glen, Where I shall meet my youth again. The Lute of Life. By James Newton Matthews. Horton & Co. 348 pp. $1.50. Why vex our souls with vain similitudes It is to be hoped that many of our readers are familiar with the poetical works of William Sharp, disguised in his lifetime as "Fiona Macleod." The "Fiona Macleod" series of his writWilliam Sharp's ings, covering a period of twelve years Poems of the author's life, have been gathered together and published heretofore. Mrs. William Sharp has prepared this companion series of the "Writings of William Sharp," signed with his own name and representing, with a few exceptions, the work that extended over the period of thirty years prior to the "Fiona Macleod" period. This series will comprise five volumes of poems, fiction, biography, essays and also some of the ephemeral work which sprang into existence from the demands of daily life. The first volume of this series is the collection of poems1 which are culled from five volumes published in his own name. Poetically they bear a distinct resemblance to the work of Matthew Arnold. There is the same loftiness of spirit, the same serene vision and high striving for spiritual worthiness. The Romantic Ballads which form an interesting portion of this volume, were written in the hope of the renaissance of the Romantic Spirit in literature; they bring the premonitions of the su 1 Poems. By William Sharp. Duffield & Co. 323 pp. pernatural world into their true relation with the activities and realities of exterior life. Sharp's vision turned inward upon his own soul with all the burning desire for self-knowledge that drove the pen of William Blake. Beside his Sonnet Sequence included in this volume, the sonnets of Rossetti seem a bit tawdry and born of a lesser inspiration. Of the shorter poems none is more sweet with Nature's "anodyne" than "The Veil of Silence": Three veils of Silence, Summer draws apace. The wave of color deepening the day, Out of the Man's heart, she weaves this veil of Sweet anodyne for all the feverish quest Mr. E. Arnold-Forster modestly offers a translation of the poems of Schiller as "a tolerably faithful rendering of the original poems," with attention bestowed upon the preservation of A New Schiller the original meters.2 The translator of Schiller encounters difficulties not Translation fully grasped by the average reader-the recalcitrancy of the German idiom to flow easily into musical English and the added burden of holding together as it were, the identical vibration of poetic impulse. The work in this volume is scholarly and artistic though somewhat lacking in poetic fire. For instance the lines of the popular poem, "The Diver," as given in a previous translation run, "Oh where is the knight or the squire so bold, As to In Mr. dive to the howling Charybdis below?" Arnold-Forster's version they are: "Is there a knight or a squire who dare Dive into yonder abyss?" The latter is more faithful to the German text, but a certain freedom in the translation of verse has always been considered a pardonable liberty. For the student of poetry, Ezra Pound' gives us in translation the "noble line" of Guido of the Cavalcanti, who was Dante's contemporary and of whom we hear in the "Decameron" One of Dante's that "He was of the best logicians in Contemporaries the world, a very fine natural philosopher," and from Filippo Villani who set him above Petrarch, that he was "most skilled in the liberal arts-worthy of laud and honor for his joy in the study of rhetoric, he brought over the fineness of this art into the rhyming compositions of the common tongue. For canzoni in vulgar tongue and in the advancement of this art he held second place to Dante, nor hath Petrarch taken it from him." Rossetti's translations are often more fortunate than Mr. Pound's rendering of Cavalcanti's text, but they are not so exact nor so expressive of the shadings of meaning intended by the poet. A 2 The Poems of Schiller. E. P. Arnold-Forster. Henry Holt & Co. $1.60. |