The People of the Abyss. By Jack London. (Isbister and
Co. 6s.)—The "Kipling of the Klondyke," the artist who has pro- duoed "The Call of the Wild," the adventurer, in the better sense, who has been earning his living since ho was sixteen— before the mast, as a whaler, as a tramp, as a labourer in the mines—deserves attention whatever he does or says, even when, as in the present volume, he competes with the many writers of established reputation in the literature of English sociology who have descended into the shuns of London and endeavoured to make its darkness visible. Nor is there any doubt that Mr. Jack London went the right way about his expe- dition into the "abyss." He "arrived in London, told no one but the American Consul, went straight to an old-clothes shop, rigged himself out in a shabby second-hand suit, and promptly lost himself somewhere down by the docks,' and stayed lost for two months" He has related his personal experiences of this ghastly period, and given his deductions from these. The experi- ences are vivid, and, even with all that has been said and written within the past few months, were eminently deserving of print- ing. The same thing may be said of his general inferences, although after what has been aaid by manlike Mr. Charles Booth, Mr. Masterman, and Mr. Frederic Harrison, they do not suggest much in the way of novelty. At the same time, every "terrible indictment" of our social arrangements, more particularly in London, is worthy of study. And Mr. Jack London, who seems constitutionally incapable of refraining from contrast- ing life in Klondyke with life in the slums, goes far enough in all conscience. For ho comes to the general conclusion Society must be reorganised and a capable management put at the head. That the present management is incapable, there can be no dismission. It has drained the United Kingdom of its life- blood. It has enfeebled the stay-at-home folk till they are unable longer to struggle in the van of the competing nations. It has built up a West End and an East End as large oaths kingdom is large, in which one end is riotous and rotten, the other end sickly and underfed." There is, of course, some truth in this, but there is also a great deal of exaggeration. We are well able to engage in the struggle with competing nations, even though we are a small island with a bad climate, and, except for our coal, without great natural resources. That there is much to mend in our social condition we fully admit, but neither morally, socially, politically, nor commercially are we going back. Instead of being a decadent, we are an improving nation.
SHAKESPEARE'S PLOTS.
Shakespeare's Plats. By W. H. Fleming. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.)—The author of this study declares in his opening remarks on dramatic laws that dramatic perfection can only be found in five-act dramas which conform absolutely to the canons of Aristotle. "Every drama," he writes, "which is properly con- structed has five parts,—Introduction, Growth, Climax, Fall, Catastrophe,—each one of which is coterminous with an Act." He adds that the drama is written, not in the form of a triangle, but in that of an arch, because "the curve is the line of beauty." Now, while the "five parts" of the drama may be accepted with certain reservations, we cannot see the necessity of confining each part to a separate act at all times and seasons. In real life the facts which form the material of the Aristotelian katabasis and catastrophe are often contained in a few minutes' action. "There should be no surprises," writes Mr. Fleming. But in real life the condensation of the fall and catastrophe may be such that their incidents, however treated by the dramatist, could only be made to fill two acts by the introduction of "padding" or by an offensive extension. We are constantly assured that the drama dare not depart from Nature; but if it be the "representation" of action, it has to be admitted that everyday life supplies the dramatist with themes eminently suitable for dramatic treatment which simply cannot be spread over five acts without defying probability. A strict adherence to the five-act rule must in- evitably cripple the dramatist who makes fidelity to Nature his chief aim. Mr. Fleming's analysis of Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, and Othello is admirably full sad painstaking ; but it is, in our opinion, vitiated by his assump- tion that the greatest of dramatists was conscious of the exact purpose of every episode in each of his chief dramas. Mr. Floming's Shakespeare, in effect, exercises a conscious criticism on
A Register of the Members of St. Mary Magdalen College, Orford. Vol. IV., 1648-1712. By W. D. Maeray, MA. (H. Frowde. 7s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Macray's now volume takes in a period of great importance in the history of the College. Magda- len suffered in common with the other academical foundations during the time of the Commonwealth. And it had a visitation of its own from the shameless attempt of James II. on its integrity and independence. Mr. Dismay draws a striking con- trast between the two classes of "intruded Fellows." The Commonwealth, for the most part, put in men who had learning and ability ; the King regarded only the religious conformity of his nominees. The Earl of Sunderland's letter, "By his Majesty's Command," giving to the intruded President "the full and sole power of nominating and admitting all such persons as you alone shall judge qualified." is indeed "an extravagantly arbitrary letter," and we commend it to the attention of neo-Jacobites. (It has not, we think, been published before.) The volume is, as may be supposed, full of interesting matter, personal and historical. Mr. Macmy prints at length the able apology for his action that Robert Charnook, executed March 18th, 169i, for complicity in a plot against William III., left of his conduct. There are many curiosities of social life. Dr. Clerks, the President whose death gave occasion to King James's usurpation, leaves 41,000 to his son-in-law, Sir Richard Shnttleworth, to be kept in gold in a red trunk in the College mnniment-room. It was to be paid when he came of age—he muet have married young—and made apropos settlement for his wife. The wife had a picture set with diamonds "valued at but -6,60, and also a gilt box with 80 gyfiyes in it." The will was made, more inaioruni, a fortnight only before the testator's death. The dealings of the College with the Chapel of Brackley are very curious. They fluctuate between reparation and destruction. The lead is sold in 1669 for 474 17s. 5d. (after deducting .66 12s. 4d. for expensea), and put on again in 1690. In the latter year the entry runs "Pro reparstione capellae apud Braekley per compos., 191i. 108. Plumbario reficienti plumbum ibidem, 221i. 9s. 4d." Meanwhile part of the money had been spent, with other sums, in buying the advowson of Dacklington. The story of the negotiation (p. 80) is amusing, "The people were honest and quiet, and content with moderate duty and service from their minister, used to one sermon in a fortnight " ; the minister" at the other church dining with an honest gentleman." He seems to have been content with giving one sermon each Sunday. The name of this other church is not given. Was it Yelford ? Among the internal disorders of the College were the keeping of dogs and—what the Visitor quite rightly thought more serious—the buying and selling of places, AN ANGLER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
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