STUDIES AND ESSAYS, Complete

By John Galsworthy

CONTENTS

CONCERNING LIFE, Part 1.

THE INN OF TRANQUILLITY

MAGPIE OVER THE HILL

SHEEP-SHEARING

EVOLUTION

RIDING IN MIST

THE PROCESSION

A CHRISTIAN

WIND IN THE ROCKS

MY DISTANT RELATIVE

THE BLACK GODMOTHER

CONCERNING LIFE, Part 2.

QUALITY

THE GRAND JURY—IN TWO PANELS AND A FRAME

GONE

THRESHING

THAT OLD-TIME PLACE

ROMANCE—THREE GLEAMS

MEMORIES

FELICITY

STUDIES AND ESSAYS

CONCERNING LETTERS

A NOVELIST'S ALLEGORY

SOME PLATITUDES CONCERNING DRAMA

MEDITATION ON FINALITY

WANTED-SCHOOLING

REFLECTIONS ON OUR DISLIKE OF THINGS AS THEY ARE

THE WINDLESTRAW

CENSORSHIP AND ART

ABOUT CENSORSHIP

VAGUE THOUGHTS ON ART

"Je vous dirai que l'exces est toujours un mal."
—ANATOLE FRANCE

CONCERNING LIFE

THE INN OF TRANQUILLITY

Under a burning blue sky, among the pine-trees and junipers, the cypresses and olives of that Odyssean coast, we came one afternoon on a pink house bearing the legend: "Osteria di Tranquillita,"; and, partly because of the name, and partly because we did not expect to find a house at all in those goat-haunted groves above the waves, we tarried for contemplation. To the familiar simplicity of that Italian building there were not lacking signs of a certain spiritual change, for out of the olive-grove which grew to its very doors a skittle-alley had been formed, and two baby cypress-trees were cut into the effigies of a cock and hen. The song of a gramophone, too, was breaking forth into the air, as it were the presiding voice of a high and cosmopolitan mind. And, lost in admiration, we became conscious of the odour of a full-flavoured cigar. Yes—in the skittle-alley a gentleman was standing who wore a bowler hat, a bright brown suit, pink tie, and very yellow boots. His head was round, his cheeks fat and well-coloured, his lips red and full under a black moustache, and he was regarding us through very thick and half-closed eyelids.

Perceiving him to be the proprietor of the high and cosmopolitan mind, we accosted him.

"Good-day!" he replied: "I spik English. Been in Amurrica yes."

"You have a lovely place here."

Sweeping a glance over the skittle-alley, he sent forth a long puff of smoke; then, turning to my companion (of the politer sex) with the air of one who has made himself perfect master of a foreign tongue, he smiled, and spoke.

"Too-quiet!"

"Precisely; the name of your inn, perhaps, suggests——"

"I change all that—soon I call it Anglo-American hotel."

"Ah! yes; you are very up-to-date already."

He closed one eye and smiled.

Having passed a few more compliments, we saluted and walked on; and, coming presently to the edge of the cliff, lay down on the thyme and the crumbled leaf-dust. All the small singing birds had long been shot and eaten; there came to us no sound but that of the waves