Modern Catholic poetry, for example, cannot spare the name of Mrs. Hamilton King, one of the most interesting accessions to the Church from among the verse-writers of England. She was like Mrs. Browning both in feebleness of body and in a passionate concern with the national politics of Italy; but her poems largely antedate her relation with the Catholic Spirit. "The Disciples" is eager verse written out of a fondness for the aspirations of Mazzini, but it has mood-quality as well. "The Ballad of the Midnight Sun" is saga-like in its narrative skill and brusque colour of scene. Mrs. King's technique is always quite unconventional but seldom eccentric, and her devotional poems have flavour as well as piety. This cannot be said so truly of the verse of Augusta T. Drane, or of the poems of Armael and Violet O'Connor, though these do not lack fervour and some insight. Father E. Garesché, S. J., is an American religious poet of ability: if there is something too formal about his stanzas, they do possess on the other hand a suggestiveness that is the result of delicate spiritual feeling.
In fiction one does not like to overlook the present-day novels of Isabel Clark and Edward Downey. The work of Miss Clark is marred to some extent by sentimentalism and bad technique, but such stories as "By the Blue River" are not to be scorned. Mr. Downey is memorable chiefly for "The House of Tears," although much of his other work is good and enjoyable. "The Golden Rose," a novel by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, is altogether admirable; its author is also a notable writer of memoirs, "A Diplomat's Wife in Many Lands," for instance. No other American Catholic teller of short stories has the dramatic power or the psychological finesse of Mary Synon, whose tales of French Canadian life are particularly well done.
We did not include in our survey of fiction one novelist who belonged to the "old school" and another who is quite new and deserving of the friendliest attention. Mrs. Elizabeth Inchbald's once famous novel, "A Simple Story," is no longer much read, but it seems to have impressed, by a candid realism and a genuine vigour, the great story-tellers of its time and to have inspired "Jane Eyre." Mrs. Inchbald was an actress of charming personality and deep faith, whose own life was a romance. Our newest novelist is that very promising gentleman, Ernest Oldmeadow. Being a converted Non-conformist minister, he bids his stories deal with the Faith as a goal to be struggled for, but keeps them very human and lovable by means of honest humour. "Antonio," "The Hare," "Coggin," Mr. Oldmeadow's published works, reveal great ability in characterization and mastery of atmosphere. Coggin, who appears in the book bearing his name and in "The Hare," a sequel, is expected to show up once more in the third volume of a trilogy. His creator, endowed with a gift for romance and a shrewd interest in the Latin civilization of Portugal, bears a certain semblance to Mr. Compton Mackenzie. Fiction readers must take hopeful note of him and, meanwhile, be entertained.
It is after all only a step from the art of fiction to the art of narrating the truth, and Sir William Butler, traveler and raconteur, has a bright novelist's entire charm. Such books as "The Wild North Land," "The Great Lone Land," and "Far Out" remain among the most picturesque and compelling volumes of travel. Sir William was Irish and witty, but knew the worth of a sonorous and entrancing English style. His pictures of life in the Canadian Northwest are particularly fascinating. The "Autobiography," too, will continue to win delighted readers. A long and exceptionally active life led him into many places, but he remained to the end a man of hearty honour.
Sir William Butler was a public figure; there are other men who -- may the pun be forgiven! -- figure as publicists. In none of these was logic, clarity of statement, and sincere concern with social issues more evident than in Cecil Chesterton (1879-1916). He lacked the poetic genius, the verve of insight and expression, which have made his brother a man for the world to note; but he was, perhaps, a better journalist, a more rigid thinker, and he accepted the Catholic tradition in its entirety. None of his books may prove of lasting value -- "A History of the United States," "The Party System," "The Prussian Hath Said in His Heart" -- but they have done good and have shown forth a memorable man.
Cecil Chesterton was a democrat who often found himself at odds with another distinguished Catholic writer on social matters, William Samuel Lilly (1840-1920). Mr. Lilly was conservative in the sense that he was a close, almost too close, student of Aristotle, and believed firmly in the value of an aristocracy. His books, "A Century of Revolution," "Idola Fori," "The Great Enigma," and "Renaissance Types," are distinguished by sincerity of conviction, eloquence, and diligent scholarship. It is not out of place to rank with him a man who is not a Catholic but who has defended certain Catholic views with talent and industry, W.H. Mallock. "Is Life Worth Living?" was a challenge alike to sensists and positivists that gained the approval of a large public. "The New Republic," a famous satire, taught much the same lesson by insinuation. In other books, notably "Religion as a Credible Doctrine" and "Social Reform," he has shown an intimate acquaintance with the most diverse forms of modern thought. Mr. Mallock is likewise a successful novelist and poet.
No form of literature has a wider appeal to the discerning public of today than the whimsical, personal essay. We recall with great pleasure the work of Thomas Longueville, a convert journalist, most of whose books were published under the pseudonym, "The Prig." "The Life of a Prig" and "How to Make a Saint" are delightful satires that are never mordant and are very nearly as urbane as the best of Charles Lamb. Mr. Longueville was also the author of a "Life of Sir Kenelm Digby." Another name that one loves to remember is that of an American, Charles Bullard Fairbanks (1827-1859), who signed himself, "Aguecheek." His principal work, "Memorials of the Blessed," breathes the perfume of the past and is at the same time the monument of an exceptionally lovable personality.
One ought not to conclude a consideration of the work of the Catholic Spirit without giving some attention to the writers whose concern has lain primarily with scholarship. Philosophy and the social sciences have profited much from a clear restatement of Catholic principles. "The Metaphysics of the Schools," by the learned Jesuit, Father Harper, is a notable work. To this must be added such well-known books as Cronin's "Ethics," Maher's "Psychology," Coffey's "Ontology," Zahm's "Evolution and Dogma," and Ryan's "Distributive Justice." Nor is the work of such able Jesuits as Father Rickaby, Father Slater, and Father Thurston at all negligible. It has been thought best to make but a cursory mention here of Father George Tyrrell, S. J., whose brilliant career ended darkly.
From the point of view of history, recent years have done much to awaken interest in the story of Christendom. One notes in passing the remarkable genius of David Urquhart, about whom Gertrude Robinson has published an interesting volume. In the United States "A Political and Social History of Western Europe," by Carlton J. Hayes, has won merited attention for its impartial account of the development of our civilization. The research of Henry Adams brought him to the threshold of Catholicism, and "Chartres and St. Michel" is a genuinely original study of mediaeval life. Proceeding from the architect's interest in Gothic structure, Ralph Adams Cram, though an Anglican, has set forth admirably the significance of the Christian tradition in such books as "The Substance of Gothic Art" and "The Nemesis of Mediocrity."
In the domain of science, English Catholicism has done comparatively little of outstanding value. Sir Bertram C. A. Windle has set forth the Christian view on many subjects with clarity and authority. The earlier work of St. George Mivart is not forgotten by many students of the origin of species; and the able popularizing of James J. Walsh has earned merited renown. In addition there are many occasional treatises, like "Thoughts of a Catholic Anatomist," by Dr. Dwight, which we must pass by here.
Finally, there is the towering figure of Bishop John Lancaster Spalding (1840-1916), whose polished and incisive essays on the subject of education contain much of the best that has been written in this field. Bishop Spalding was an eager if quite realistic student of life, and his keen appraisal of human intelligence made of him almost a great reformer. There is in his work not a little of that lapidary quality which distinguishes Emerson, and it displays an ability to sustain a chain of reasoning which the Concord seer never possessed.
It is our earnest hope that the literature of Catholic scholarship will increase and develop influence. With the rise to greater power of Catholic institutions of learning, with the growth of a Catholic press, the authoritative voice of our thought cannot fail to make itself more distinctly heard.