J. M. BARRIE ON STYLE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1645, 11 January 1913, Page 9

J. M. BARRIE ON STYLE.

: Obituary addresses on Andrew Lang and •'-."'■ , Arthur Woollgar.Verrall were.delivered,at ■ a recent meeting of the Academic-Co'minit- '.'*, tee- of the Royal Society 'of literature, . over which Mr. J. M.'Barrie presided. > »"■ .The chairman said that; the Academic Committee existed in order to attend, so '•: far as'it could, to the: standards of style in this country. "I remember long ago be- ■■•'■. ing in the company of a very .distinguished writer," added Mr. Barrie. ■ "Wo were in a club where they nro always talking '.•■ abodt style, and on that occasion everyone was very brilliant on.'the! subject.' At last rriy. • friend., said something; I must ■; : own that in comparison it soundedrather ■'... childish, and. I thought,how strange, and i yet perhaps not 'strange at all; that the ■ onhy man among, them who had a style •was-the only .one who did .not seem to ; know all. about it. : .(Laughter;) A I fancy >•" style is simply the way in which an artist. paints his picture, There' is no other difference'between'a 'Venus' by Titian and a 'Venus' by Tom. Smith. It sounds rather hard-on Tom." (Laughter.) Mr. Yerrall, who had found his grave in the hearts of young men, was a little candle, . as all men were"; but ho had cast his _beams widely with .fine scholarship. , "Mr. Lang,"'continued Mt. Barrie, "I . knew. better.- I first'met him in (St. Andrews, which I understand most ;Of yon think is called after him. (Laughter.) There are two ways in which Mr. Lang may be considered, besides the other ways —first, as one who had every good quality except that he was not a Scot, and • the other'that he was as Scotch as a peat. (Laughter:) I do not know which way Professor Ker is to deal with.but I should like to talk of the other.' (Laughter.) I "' am rather like the Scotchman who, when he was dying, "said,'T want neither priest nor doctor.: What I want to do is to argue.' (Laughter.) That was one of. the things Mr. Lang like to do. "Lang and Stevenson were the, two . Soirtoh musketeers. All through their Btj'le you 'can hear That Mr. Howells called the swashbuckler swashing on his • bnokler. I think Mr. Lring always puzzled the Sassenach a little. Perhaps that is one of the duties-bf the Scot. (Laugh-'! ter.) lie was so prodigal with his show- i v ers of, gold and so wayward. There was ] • n touch of the elf about him. 'Touch';! ' hardly seems to be tho right word, because you could novcr quite touch him* You can say the same about Stevenson. • There was a touch of the elf about him ■ ' too. I daresay if you were to search Shetland long enough yos would find there were others. It is perhaps a Scotch quality. It is perhaps their way of preserving a great secret." (Laughter.), Professor Ker. in his address on AnVlrow'Lang, reforreiT particularly to'the help Lang gave, so freely >o anyone .who ' wanted it, and to his absolutely regard- '. . Teas fashion of working at any question

ho took up. Whore his early critics went wrong was that they had a conventional idea of the big book, and not much understanding of tho aims and objects with which Lang was busy all tho time. It should be romemborod that his scientific work in nnthropology_ was not separate from anything elso in his writing, nifd how quick ho was to take noto of beautiful, fanciful things as he came upon them. Arthur Woollgar Verrall, said Professor Mackail, was o strength and an ornament to tho council, and his np ; ■ pointment as first Professor of English Literature at Cambridge was considered not only justifiable but singularly apt. He brought to tho study of the classics a fresh light at whoso touch they sprang into fresh lifo.

Mr. Edmund Gosso said that the Academio Committee, through the munificence of a learned lady, was able in every;. November to present a prize—the Edmund de Polignac Prize—to the author of a work of imaginative literature which was published during the 'twelve months preceding the last November. In. other words, one full, year—a year of reflection, of' reconsideration—must pass between publication and award.' The prizo might bo given to a man or to a w-iman, to verse or to prose, and this year it was given to a man and a poet. The committeo had unanimously decided to award the Polignac Prize to Mr. John MaseGeld for his poem, ''The Everlasting Mercy." (Cheers.)