S (continued 4)

“The poet’s vice as a critic is, of course, his intemperate exaggeration and his super-abundant use of the superlative. Yet there is a sound and noble enthusiasm in his appreciation of the great Elizabethans.” E: Fuller.

+ − Bookm. 29: 636. Ag. ’09. 60w.

+ − Ind. 67: 90. Jl. 8, ’09. 120w.

“His criticisms of the plays of Shakespeare are original and of marked analytic power.”

+ R. of Rs. 39: 768. Je. ’09. 40w.

Swingle, Calvin Franklin.^[8] Electric railway power stations. $2. Drake, F: J.

9–11047.

“A book written for operating engineers, and consisting largely of descriptions of modern boilers, mechanical stokers, economizers, pumps, steam engines, turbines, gas engines, generators, switchboards, etc. The design and construction of boilers and chimneys is taken up, and considerable space is devoted to the use of the indicator, the study of cards, and valve adjustments.”—Engin. D.

“It is a work that young men in subordinate positions in power-houses could use with profit in preparing themselves for more responsible duties.”

+ Engin. D. 5: 665. Je. ’09. 80w.

“It should prove interesting and helpful for those in whose hands the actual operation of machinery is placed, and it should help them to a more comprehensive view of the system of which they are a part.”

+ Engin. N. 62: sup. 8. Jl. 15, ’09. 250w.

Syers, Edgar, and Syers, Madge. Book of winter sports; with an introd. by the Earl of Lytton, and contributions from experts in various branches of sport. *$4.20. Longmans.

9–9031.

“The winter sports here described and illustrated—the illustrations have been carefully collected from various sources, old and new—might be particularised as ice and snow sports. This limitation is quite correct; football, hockey, &c., are practised outside the borders of the winter season. The ‘winter sports’ are bandy, which is a kind of hockey on the ice; curling, with details of its practice in various countries; skating and the cognate sport of ski-ing, followed on snow; and tobogganing. In the appendices we have records, laws of the various games, and notes on winter-sport resorts.”—Spec.

+ N. Y. Times. 13: 801. D. 26, ’08. 180w.

“The names of the joint editors are a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of their work.”

+ Spec. 101: 745. N. 7, ’08. 130w.

Symonds, Margaret (Mrs. W. W. Vaughan). Days spent on a doge’s farm. *$2.50. Century.

9–14222.

A reissue after fifteen years of a book “which makes of every reader a friend.” With the original text there has been included a new preface which is an appreciation and description of the remarkable woman who ruled the “Doge’s farm,” Evelina, Countess Pisani.

Dial. 46: 90. F. 1, ’09. 70w.

+ Lit. D. 38: 393. Mr. 6, ’09. 300w.

“It is an interesting account of Italian country life and gives a picture of an unusual woman.”

+ Nation. 88: 278. Mr. 18, ’09. 130w.

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 88. F. 13, ’09. 300w.

“It is a phase of Italian life seldom seen by Americans.” Charlotte Harwood.

+ Putnam’s. 6: 238. My. ’09. 120w.

R. of Rs. 39: 766. Je. ’09. 100w.

+ Spec. 101: 1108. D. 26, ’08. 240w.

Symons, Arthur.^[8] Plays, acting and music: a book of theory. **$2. Dutton.

9–13610.

A new edition revised to keep pace with the author’s more recent application of critical methods.

A. L. A. Bkl. 6: 62. O. ’09.

“He has omitted, added, and changed, until one who possesses the first edition will feel it necessary, in order to keep up with Mr. Symons, to own this later volume.” R: Burton,

+ Dial. 47: 70. Ag. 1, ’09. 350w.

“In the re-issue of ‘Plays, acting and music,’ Arthur Symons is himself only in flashes. As a literary taster, Mr. Symons is pleasant to read.”

+ − Ind. 67: 370. Ag. 12, ’09. 250w.

“Here is something more than the indifferentism of the hardened journalist. Symons retained his zest. Every contact with art was a great adventure. And he was at once so faithful to the thing in hand, and so mindful of that whole which we call art, that he is justified in calling a volume apparently composed of rather insubstantial scraps ‘a book of theory.’”

+ Nation. 89: 12. Jl. 1, ’09. 300w.

“Almost a new work rather than merely a ‘revised’ edition of it.”

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 379. Je. 12, ’09. 200w.

“The book as it now stands is additionally valuable as a record of the evolution of this thorough and inspired critic. Some of the essays, it is true, appear to have little permanent value, being concerned with the production of plays possessing at the best, a merely transient interest; but even the obiter dicta of Mr. Symons are well worth reading.”

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 406. Je. 26, ’09. 180w.

Symons, Arthur.^[11] Romantic movement in English poetry. *$2.50. Dutton.

9–24011.

“In scheme and structure this book is notably simple: little more, in fact, than a descriptive catalogue, an assemblage of independent studies or appreciations of the poets, authentic or reputed, of a certain period in our literature. We might call it a literary ‘Peerage.’ or a critical ‘Who’s who,’ but that the order adopted is chronological, not alphabetical.”—Ath.

“Lacking a unifying point of view, the value of the book lies in the felicity of some of its 429characterizations and its poetical and trenchant phrasing.”

+ − A. L. A. Bkl. 6: 127. D. ’09.

“In a word, this volume owes nothing of its singular interest and value to its form—everything to its substance, which is of rare excellence.”

+ Ath. 1909, 2: 518. O. 30. 1400w.

“For most readers its introduction will prove the most interesting part, because it is the only part which provides any critical perspective, or from which a continuous history of the Romantic movement can be gleaned.”

+ − Cath. World. 90: 251. N. ’09. 380w.

“The truth is that Mr. Symons has felt profoundly and correctly but has not reasoned enough. Hence he overstates his case. The danger of conventional scholarship is not that it concerns itself with history, but that it is not always properly aware of the humbleness of its task and that it too often mistakes the backwaters of bibliography for the springs of Helicon. It is, then, as a volume of essays upon the greater poets of the early nineteenth century that ‘The romantic movement in English poetry’ has positive value. And Mr. Symons is well equipped to interpret the works of these men at once subtly and vigorously. His personal preoccupations as a poet, too, enable him to set certain matters in a new and more excellent light.” Ludwig Lewisohn.

+ − Forum. 42: 487. N. ’09. 2000w.

“Notwithstanding these many good points, the book, as a whole, leaves much to be desired.”

− + Nation. 89: 354. O. 14, ’09. 870w.

“A book of criticism of real value and of great entertainment. If it were not for this taint of the superior person, marring all he writes, Mr. Symons might have been a great critic.” R: LeGallienne.

+ − N. Y. Times. 14: 717. N. 20, ’09. 2800w.

“I should be inclined to call this book the most brilliant that Mr. Symons has ever written. A hundred things might be quoted as illustrations of Mr. Symons’ really marvellous way of combining criticism and literature. Apparently he contradicts himself at times, but the contradiction is never more than apparent; a few lines of explanation would make it all clear.” J: F. Runciman.

+ Sat. R. 108: 379. S. 25, ’09. 1600w.

“The whole book is full of sane, illuminating criticism, and Mr. Symons’s range of appreciation is notably wider than the principles which he lays down in his introduction.”

+ Spec. 103: sup. 925. D. 4, ’09. 290w.

Syrett, Netta.^[12] Anne Page. †$1.50. Lane.

“Its central figure is a woman, beneficent and gracious, yet having behind her an unsuspected past—a past unregretted and deliberately chosen, since the man who shared it would on the whole have preferred to be her husband. Supreme unselfishness and reluctance to hinder the development of a genius were the motives, we are told, of this sacrifice.... We cannot overcome a Philistine aversion to the conception of an ideal life with such a secret at its core.... But the plot, the background, and the accessories of the story are all artistically planned, and have much charm.”—Ath.

“In construction and finish this novel seems to us the best piece of work which Miss Syrett has yet done; but it impresses us rather as a skillfully elaborated illustration of a purely academic thesis than a study from life.”

− + Ath. 1908, 1: 634. My. 23. 200w.

“Perhaps Netta Syrett would be surprised to learn that anybody could think her ‘Anne Page’ a demoralizing tale. Yet what else can be said of a story in which the heroine defies the conventions and comes to no bad end. Women may read it for warning as well as entertainment, and they will find both.”

− + N. Y. Times. 14: 751. N. 27, ’09. 400w.

Syrett, Netta.^[8] Castle of dreams. $1.25. McClurg.

The story of the development of a neglected girl shut away in an Irish castle, neglected by her father, an impecunious Irish peer, and taken in hand by an interesting scholar who comes to the neighborhood. “The pictures of ‘Bridgit’s’ life in Ireland, of her extreme cleverness when receiving her father’s rowdily smart English friends, and of the trick she plays them are all well drawn.” (Spec.)

“Miss Syrett shows herself, as usual, clever at handling an imaginative theme, but we are not sure that she has been wise in choosing Ireland as a background for her castle of dreams. Her Celtic peasants are painfully conventional, and speak a dialect which would hardly satisfy an expert critic in such matters. The humour, though sometimes telling, is scarcely spontaneous, and the British Philistines introduced are caricatures, not of the highest order.”

+ − Ath. 1909, 1: 433. Ap. 10. 120w.

Nation. 89: 512. N. 25, ’09. 390w.

“Her heroine is thoroughly delightful in her defense against the mercenary father and the intolerable suitor. Its portrayal is an extremely artistic piece of literary work.”

+ N. Y. Times. 14: 585. O. 2, ’09. 250w.

“The book is slight, but it is written with considerable grace, and the snatches of fairy-lore with which it is interspersed are full of a plaintive and elusive charm.”

+ Spec. 102: 543. Ap. 3, ’09. 120w.