GREAT WRITERS THEN AND NOW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 918, 10 September 1910, Page 9

GREAT WRITERS THEN AND NOW.

. A London dispatch to the "Times'', states that tho initial_ steps have been, taken toward the formation in England of an Academy of,/ Literature, ■ which, like the French Acadomy, is to comprise forty members. The original members number.twenty-sovfcn, of- whom tlio best-known,: the. dispatch goes on to say, arc Alfred Austin, Austin Dobson, Edmund G.osse,' Thomas -Hardy, Henry James, Andrew Lang, Lord Morloy, Sir Arthur Pincro, and, George Macaulay Trovelyan. , The list, it willbo ob- . sorvod, is arranged a circumstance that has tho unfortunate result of placing in the most conspicu-, ous position the name of a writer of verso whom it is almost inconceivable that any representative body of literary men would include among tho prospecl tive "immortals," were it not for tho

accident of his official lauroateship; but with tliis oxcoption tho list of the nine 'host-known" among the twenty-seven elect represents, in every instance, a high order of -literary merit. Possibly Ucorgo Alacaulay Trovelvan is written by oi'ror for George Otto Trcvolyan; but either father or sou would stand well in tho company. It is added that. t«'o additional -members were selected by, the original twenty-seven at their iirst meeting, which was held yesterday, theso being Maurice Hewlett and A!' 0. .Benson, 'the name of Kipling is conspicuous by its absence; and other -names' whicli will occur at once as having claims to a place alongside the names mentioned are those of Shaw, Chesterton and Wells;

..Leaving.out.Alfred Austin for 'reasons already-indicated, and omitting Irevelyan on account of a reasonable doubt as to. which Trevelyan is meant, wo have a list of seven names—Dobson, Cosse, -Hardy, James, Lang, Morloy, and Pinero;' and the impression produced on the mind of tho average man of culture by tho array as a whole would not be ,greatly/altered if we. were to substitute, for any, of the less striking of .those names the-'name of any other of the writers.mentioned, .except in the instance of -'Kipling, and possibly of Bhaw.-//.With -or without these substitutions, we have a sot of seven writers representing, with a fair degree of accuracy, the height of literary eminence in.the England of to-day; and it is.a •natural/impulse—for. men no longer j'young, at all events—to comparo Vthis 1 ' array, with .what it might have.'been .half a; century ago. Then, as . how, there would have been a. great number of. highly meritorious and highly appreciated, writers from among-whom' a company, of, twenty-seven might have been .selected in ' a great. variety of ways; but. , tho: choice; ,of seven is marked, out with singular definiteness. feimyson . arid Browning, Dickens and/ Thackeray, , Garlyle' and lUiskin, and,- John Stuart ' Mill—these'. were the, 'men, who, in: 1860, /were' the shining,lights.of English letters. To tho 'last liamo, the -objection, might : be made that he was ..more a philosopher, economist, and.;publicist than a'representatiye of ■ "pure literature'.'; but -it ■ivbuld.be mere pedantry to exclude from che category pi: literature : a voice !that was: heard as-his. .was, and-that influonced as.'did his not only!the thought nut, the .sentiment : of two generations. ,/:'Bntiveori. the two/sets of names, there is" a. difference so profound- as to be alinost startling.: It is, not a iiiero differ■enqei.pf greater literary .ability— a uues.--tion. of; superior mastery .of literary art or; greater ■ native powers: of ; expression. There'is a :: certain,.Airgeness, a : certuiii breadth; and!"sweep, ; a uertaiu onciless ; with,the; great currents, of life, and thought, /that, is characteristic of, each 'brie - : of-: the seven great;mid-Victorians, and .-is. absent almost entirely from ilveir present-day,/sucoessma; -, Of all of- the seven-, latter-day; names) only -those pf ThoniaS;; Hardy and of /.John Mai-ley-represent; that; quality/of high .'.senu'uii-npss,/which-:beloiiga' to 'every one of thb earlier masters.!- In thecaso of/ Merley,'however, notable as.has:been his renard as'.a 'writer[,and! a/political worker; ,it is ;iiot,as: a/fiHmary. source either of.-ift-fluerice.; orijilluihination' that wo . 'liaii .think bfhiin,-but only 'as..an- unusually admirable,writer! : of the second order. As/for Hardy, jt would .be,.idlo to aV tempt;.to, appraise .the' 'merit- of-.such .subtle!and as his, and; assign its;relative'rank as puro. literature,::: in- -comparison'. ; with "Such wholly dissimilar-achievements as,tboso pf,,:Dickens/and'■ Thackeray;! .but what-, ever might, bo' supposed/to bii, the re : '; sidt of ..such an appraisal/the'fiict. would still.-s.t-aiid outlthat'Hardy's; work /is,' /relatively.:speaking, that .'of a specialist —aii!-..'artist with,; his / 'own/., peculiar method'addressed to one type of miiid or to one. njood- of the against the ;wide ; ; sweep,", the .abounding :.•humanity, . the -'all-embracing, appeal of -his' .great predecessors.; In!:tho' other fields .'—-in jieetry,/represented, .by Tenhyson and;. Browniiig,/;aiid;in the '-great' domains, in whieh/Carlyleia'ndltuskin'and Mill/held is .of cpurso,'today; hot :even the most'distant'approach: •to; the. expei-ieriCe,of- tho older time. ' ,:; Nor, can/wo. flatter/ourselyos, that the ::differonce:-is,'merely apparent, .and due :to.au r illusion of distance! It was while these men were, living; and in/the prime, ;of ./their' powers, -that: their greatness was; most ''daiply//i-'ccogri'ised-!aud. most, 1 .fully effectivn aipoii , the , minds 'and - :hearts/of men. //Indeed,,'with, the.single exception,of;Browhing, : wo believo , : it may-.-be;'said-, that -thei fame, of all these' midrVjcterian .writers' was -nearly'' 'at;its zenith;in the'yba'rl.B6o. We are/not counting others'-; of the-first .rank' who might-be included if.wewere to anticipate by, a little their coming'eminence'; ,' for George filiot .had produced "Adam : .Bede" -in.1859/ arid George':Meredith's I "Richard !Feverel',f appeared : in the: same year; / Nor. .are :we.. counting names which:represent; a vast/popularity, and vbglie'without;'hav;irig;';a deeper- significance/.'.«uch as •-' Bu'lwer; or, '.Gharles ;. Reade,; or Trollope., /'' In:' this' , great galaxy'of ; s'even : names/each one meant, to ,millions of .their,'contemporaries,/a ! largo. element' 'of! life,- a ■ factor: without ; whichthe, world would hpt,be the: same./: Of/which/ot; the seven;-''be'st-known"'| ;inbn. : in,,tho;iiew-b'orn/Academy- can'.the: ■ like /be;'; said.: ;'•■■ Who. - among them ■ is a' centre of /life-giving inspiration, a'source of intellectual and spiritual sustenance?;: Whatever 'the .reason; ,'we have /'. fallen': .upon a.different time—a time " when,-! with grea,t currents of helpful -energy ! and/public-spirited/zeal/(lowing! along-, side the mighty .-tides' of commerce! and industry -; ;and . science in, invention,' there: is yet a- lack' of;, something .refreshing/ and vivifying .and 'inspiriting, which wasYpourcd.forth'-mightily in days that,in/many ways were far darker. '■■';'