"ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS."

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18425, 4 July 1925, Page 11

"ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS."

[ SPECIAL ARTICLE.

(SPECIALLY WMTTEX «>» " TIIE IWSS '' ) (By " Cyrano.") A literarv announcement of universal ißt^.ti,;hatthef.»a«_BM»hMcn of Letters scries, begun in 1878 under tBC editorship of John Morlcy is be.ng -renewed, and under the editorship of Mr v> 3 C Squire. Of several similar scries this is the best. A better editor than Morley could not have been found. He • planned the series admirably, and gathered round him as contributors many of tie ablest critics of the day. Leslie Stephen.SidncyColvin, Mark Paltison, H D Traill, F. W. Myers. Professor Saintsbury, Richard Jebb, Dean Church, Edmund Gosse, Austin Dobson, Huxley, and Froude were among them. One of the great virtues of the books is their size, which compelled writers to be brief and'to eschew the relatively unimportant. "Harsh were the binding necessities of time and space," .wrote Morley of his editing, "and heart-breaking was it to present an editorial demand for sacrifice of slice upon slice of admirable work, where limits were inexorable." • Editor and contributors had "cruel moments," and sometimes "mingled ' their tears," but the results justified the ■ insistence and the agony. There were prtdue'cd an admirable series of short cheap volumes on the leading writers of Britain, in which sound criticism was .' mingled with biography. The "Men of Letters" was a work to which Morlcy - .looked back with satisfaction. "A useful contribution to knowledge, criticism, and reflection, and bringing all . .thesei three good things within reach of an extensive, busy, and preoccupied world." The series has done much to cultivate a, sound literary taste in Britain, the Dominions, and America. The selection of Mr J. C. Squire as ■ tho new editor may cause some surprise, but can objectors suggest a more suitable manf N Mr Squire is not a. Morley, but Morley was in a class by himself. Mr Squiro is a poet of parts, a fine " critic, and the founder-editor of a successful literary review that maintains tho highest standards. He is widely read,, his appreciation covers both ancients and moderns, and he is eminently sane. Breadth and sanity are absolutely necessary in such a task as editing this series. Cleverness' alone ' will not suffico, either for supervising the" volumes or for writing them. Imagine one of the Sitwells let loose in such work! ■ -Tho" second point of interest is the choice of authors for inclusion. In the rf fifty years since the series was founded, new. writers have won greatness and old writers have' been revalued. Trollope, v who wrote on Thackeray in the original series, is now tp be written on, and Mr Hugh Walpole is to undertake the book. The task happily coincides with a • marked revival of interest in Trollope. .His; biographer and appraiser is one 'Mb* lias worked successfully in the same field. Donne and Blake were omit- •; ted from/Morley's series, and the gaps ..." are to be'; filled. ,Mr Squire will write the'rvolume on Francis Thompson, Mr Harold Nicolson will deal with Swin:bttbie;, Mr Ellis Roberts with Conrad, y. Mr.J. B. Priestley with Meredith, and . ? Mr tEobert Lynd with Stevenson. Mr • ■ 'Chesterton, who as quite a young man ." f^ipducoa:one of.tho most brilliant vol- '■ umes ;in the series, tho "Browning," so £ar : on the new. list of conWbutbrß. .'Let a task will be •:. 'alietted him. Three Americans are '"-.i'dftwn, to be written about—Melville, Foe, and Whitman. The inclusion of tho author of "Moby Dick" may cause some "comment; but the claim of P,6'o is unchallengeable. Of all Amerij , can writers he has had the greatest influence upon literature, at home and abroad. Whitman was also a force ', that was felt far beyond his own coun1' try. ,But what of that original genius, . Mark Twaiiil We hope a place will be ..found some day for one who has de- '■> 'lighted two generations in the Englishspeaking world.