(COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE
New York Times.] H.W.M. A Selection from the Writings of H. W. Massing- ham. Edited with a Preface and Notes by H. J. Massingham. (Jonathan Cape. 12s. 6d. net.) THIS book can best be described as a study of the personality of the late Mr. Massingham and of his work as a journalist and man of letters, based upon reprints of a number of his ablest articles. It also contains studies of his achievements as a publicist by distinguished men in his own and allied profes- sions who were his intimate friends : Mr. Bernard Shaw, Mr. Brailsford, Mr. Hammond, Mr. Nevinson, Mr. Tomlinson, and Mr. Vaughan Nash. They write introductory essays to the various sections of the book, and the whole work is edited and annotated by Mr. Massingham's son, Mr. H. J. Massing- ham, who is well known to the world for his charming studies in Natural History and in Literature.
The result is a very interesting and very stimulating book. I hope I shall not be thought over-critical if I say that in spite of these virtues it is not a very well planned book. By that I mean that the scheme of the book necessarily renders it scrappy, if not, indeed, chaotic. As a book, the volume has too many cross-currents to produce a consecutive whole. It cannot be described as a piece of literature or a work of art. There is too much diversity of attempt to show Mr. Massing- ham's extraordinary activity of mind, brilliancy of style, and good-heartedness streaked with humour, and even alert cynic- ism. We concentrate our minds on one facet of this memorable man's work and character, and then we are switched off at a high speed to some other aspect of his career. But, though I feel bound to make these criticisms, I in no sense regret the appearance of the book. On the contrary, I think that Mr. Massingham's son and family did well in bringing out and putting on record as rapidly as possible proofs of how great was " H. W. M.'s " capacity as a journalist, and in showing what the country lost in losing his poignant criticism on public events, whether in the political, the literary, or the dramatic field.
In these days, when a public man dies, a choice of evils presents itself. His family and friends have to decide whether they should rush out at once and before that inconstant trifler, the general reader, has forgotten him, some specimens of the man's work, and so some proofs of what he accomplished, or whether they should wait for four or five years, or perhaps even ten, till some patient biographer has digested all the affairs of his life and selected from his works what is judged to be of permanent value. In the case of this dark dilemma, I cannot help thinking that the choice made by Mr. II. J. Massingham was the right choice, that is, to set to work at once and produce an immediate memorial, even if it was bound to be from many points of view out of proportion, and condemned to show signs of hastiness and instability of con- struction. At any rate we have got, and ought to be very grateful for, a bundle of Massingham's essays which prove up to the hilt the claims of those who consider that he was, especially in his last ten years, one of the greatest exponents of how the work of a publicist should be accomplished. Fur- ther, we have got in the present book one of the very best tests by which a man is to be judged, that is, the opinion of those who knew him intimately. Here number and diversity are of great importance. You cannot judge a man's character satisfactorily by the impression he made upon a single indi- vidual. The friendship_ may have been a psychological accident, or again, the friend may not have had sufficient judgment to make his favourable opinion a thing to be trusted. When, however, we see a man eulogistically reflected in half-a-dozen distinguished minds, we have got a very important body of evidence as to a man's right to canonization. The first section of the book is devoted to " Public men," and is introduced by an essay by Mr. Hammond. Mr. Mas- singham the younger was right in giving the place of honour to his father's extraordinary skill and penetration in literary portraiture. Again, he was right in putting as his first example Mr. Massingham's study of Lord Morley—" Morley the Humanist."
That article, published in the Fortnightly Review of November, 1923, can be described without exaggera- tion as a masterpiece. It has sympathy without a touch of flattery or exaggeration. Take for example this admirable paragraph :— " Was he original It is as hard to be original when your mind is saturated, as his was, with knowledge of all the best things that have been thought and said as it is to be energetic when your study of the blunders of mankind_ has affected you with a sad lucidity of soul about the people who committed them. Undeniably Morley had the gift of discipleship. It is well for the world that some natures, possessed both of fineness and of strength, aro drawn, as by a magnet, to the great and the lovable, for otherwise the history of religions, including the best religion of all, could never be written."
That is good ; but perhaps even better and more exact is the following summing-up of Lord Morley's career :-
" In a final estimate of values Morley's achievement must rank high. He excelled in journalism and letters, in oratory and state- craft. His personality was a study of charm and grace ; his life had real effectiveness. Yet who can fail to add a note of dis- qualification ? He was an artist, self-conscious as artists are wont to be, and the attitude he liked best to see himself in was one of Promethean firmness. But things with him were rarely as simple as this. Morley was not always firm. A scholar and a thinker, he was no good hand at presenting Truth in the garb of partisan subterfuge and deceit. Scruple in speech is a fine quality, especially when one has command, as Morley had, of a plangent and decisive diction, and enjoys using it. But hesitancy in action is another matter. Noble minds have been infected by it ; the true captain of men never. With one critical circumstance in his life, it. explains why Morley, the best of the Liberals, their only orator, and after Gladstone the one man fitted to impart dignity and moral and intellectual worth to their creed, and to preserve its priceless tradi- tion of morality in international life, failed of the Liberal succession."
One might go on quoting from this notable political causerie till- one had reprinted it, but I have too much to say about the rest of the book to do this. All I can allow myself is one more quotation—one which is not only delicate and subtle, but true. It deals with Morley's unworldliness, for Morley was at heart unworldly, though superficially, no doubt, he often appeared a little too much inclined to obtain easy and pleasant intellectual intercourse with " men of the world who knew the world like men."
" Morley joined another Christian attribute to that of pitifulness ; in spite of some superficial attitudes, and one or two minor examples of moral compliance, he was an essentially unworldly man. To the society where mean advantages are taken, and coaiso standards prevail, and the life of the soul is always in peril, John Morley never belonged • and his rejection of it, in his life and in the written and spoken word, makes the best insci iption on his tomb."
Mr. Bernard Shaw never, or, at any rate, very, very seldom, writes anything which is not worth reading. Certainly his essay on his friend Massingham is not one of his failures. It is a very true description of the man and also shows great insight into Massingham's psychological developments. For example, " I gathered that he was an Fast Anglian ; and I wondered that Norfolk had produced so supple and susceptible a mind and temperament until I discovered that his supple-- ness did not prevent his being extremely obstinate. He always held on to a position for weeks after it had become obNiously untenable."
I cannot leave this criticism of Massingham without saying something as to the admirable quality of his style. It was exactly suited to his profession and purpose. Though he began, perhaps, with a style • of super-vehemence, he at the end had made for himself an instrument not only of great power, but one which captivated his readers. He used words in a way which I can only describe as that of rapid percussion. He never stroked the keys of language. His reaction after he had struck was electric. He never missed the centre, and never " slid " from one note to another. The effect was staccato, if you will ; but it was never blurred, never faint, never tender grey ; but always something clear and decisive. To be specific, he never said, " On the whole, yes"—or "no." His was always an isolated, unfledged, sharp- edged decision. No doubt his opinions were apt to be deter- mined rather than just. The idea of saying " I think So and So was perhaps right " was abhorrent to him. It was always " So and So was absolutely right," or " absolutely wrong." His impulse was immediately to take the corlse.. quences of act or thought. His plan was always to get over the stream by a swift leap rather than to build a bridge or to find a shallow across which he could wade.
No better proof that I have not exaggerated the charm
of his style can be given than a quotation from his article on the Book of Common Prayer, which appeared in the Spectator a little over a ye.ar ago. _Take the passage in which he. protests against the new revisionists of the Prayer Book :- "They are not content with Cranmer's magnificent work of editorsnip, which, while it bears clear witness to the past, has shaped our Prayer-Book into an indelible landmark of religious liberty. They would like to cut out the large and noble contri- butions which Luther and the Reformers, German and English, Made to it, leaving an almost uninterrupted track, maybe through' the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI., to the mediaeval formularies, and their metaphysical explanations and comments. Here, then, the modern mind joins issue. It 'knows that, while nothing goes : -back, there is a long work of exploration to be done before we again attain one of those halting-places of the human spirit at whicathe ' Reformers arrived. In the meantime it seems an act of wisdom to keep the treasure they have handed down to us in the beautiful casket they designed. For to many the finest thing about the Prayer-Book is its tendency, as a whole, not to seek to express.the: inexpressible, not to lay down final positions, but rather-every avenue of thought having been explored, and every means of positive faith exhausted-still to leave free scope for new dis- closures of the Infinite Knowledge and Compassion. Thus know- • ledge of God's Truth is daily prayed for as the Christian's highest good, but not as if it were already within his grasp, and. Life Everlasting' as the crown of his life on earth, but not as his certain . inheritance and possession. It is this reticence, this humility of tone and attitude, which, more than anything else, keeps the National Church in touch with the times. It is useless to say that it amounts to the abandonment of the Catholic position. For a. Church which cannot explain itself to the intelligence of man, and take account of its growth, is not in the largest sense of the word a' Catholic Church at all."
J. ST. LOE STRACHEY.
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