A Reply to Edward Baugh

229 of the poem he manages to suggest that "monotony" which is "continual slight novelty" (he borrows the idea from Aristotle),3 which he said the ideal work of art should possess, and which snake and dancer alike express in their motion. The snakes embody the same kind of inviolable self-involvement which La Melinite embodies as she turns before the mirrors. Like hers, their movement "reveals . . . the soul of [their] imagined being."^ And in the light of Symons' emphasis on the "silence", the wordlessness of the dance, the serpents' "treachery of silence" assumes a new dimension. If I read Dr. Munro correctly, he believes that Symons and Yeats did not meet until after "The Symphony of Snakes" was written, that is, after May, 1892. But their first meeting must have taken place quite some time before this, since the Rhymers' Club, of which they were both members, was started at the beginning of 1891, if not before. NOTES 1 STUDIES IN SEVENARTS (NY: Dutton, 1907), p. 391. 2 Ibid, 3 See FIGURES OF SEVERAL CENTURIES (Lond: Constable, 1916), p, 177; CITIES AND SEA-COASTS AND ISLANDS (Lond: Collins, 1918), p. 97; WANDERINGS (Lond: Dent, 1931), P. 263. 4 STUDIES IN SEVEN ARTS, p. 391. A REPLY TO EDWARD BAUGH By John Munro (University of Toronto) I am made respectful by Mr, Edward Baugh's drawing my attention to "The Andante of Snakes" and his perceptive analysis of the poem. To have ignored it was unfortunate , for, as Mr. Baugh states, reference to it would considerably have "enhanced" my comments on "The Symphony of Snakes." It is perfectly true that in "The Andante of Snakes" Symons extrapolates from his notes significant images and impressions, and shapes "the poem into a 'perfect' movement, a well-integrated and harmonious whole," whereas in "The Symphony of Snakes" he seems merely to have noted the possibility of the musical analogy but failed to exploit fully its potentialities. Though Mr. Baugh has done me service in drawing my attention to "The Andante of Snakes," his questioning the date of Symons' intimacy with Yeats undermines the main point of my argument, which was the suggestion that even before Symons and Yeats became close friends, the former was obscurely aware of the essential nature of the "romantic image." It is true that the two men knew each other in May, 1892 the date of "The Symphony of Snakes," but this is not to say they were particularly intimate. As Mr. Baugh rightly observes, they must have become acquainted at the Rhymers' Club, which started probably at the beginning of I89I, but at that time Yeats was not particularly attracted by Symons. Indeed, as he stated in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Symons at first "repelled" him, and he much preferred the company of 230 Lionel Johnson. Therefore one should properly date the beginning of their friendship from around 1893, for it was not until the following year that Yeats accompanied Symons on a trip to Paris, and it was not until 1895 that Yeats moved into rooms next to Symons1 at Fountain Court, where their really close association began. SAMUEL BUTLER'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION: A SUMMARY By Glenn 0. Carey S (State University College, Potsdam, New York) Samuel Butler beg.an forming his theory of evolution while he was managing a sheep run in New Zealand from 1859 to 1864. During 1862-1863 Butler wrote articles for THE PRESS at Christ Church, New Zealand, praising and defending Charles Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Darwin then read Butler's article, "Darwin on the Origin of Species. A Dialogue," and thought it was a clear and accurate view of his theory. In October, 1865; after returning to England, Butier wrote in a letter to Darwin, "I always delighted in your ORIGIN OF SPECIES as soon as I saw it out in New Zealand— not as knowing anything whatsoever of natural history, but it enters into so many deeply interesting questions, or rather it suggests so many, that it thoroughly fascinated me."' Darwin's answer began: "! thank you sincerely for your kind and frank letter, which has inte-es ted·me greatly. What a singular and varied career you have already run...