Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_ THE ROVING CRITIC _SOME BORZOI BOOKS_ FINDERS _by John V. A. Weaver_ POEMS _by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt_ INTO THE DARK _by Barbra Ring_ GOLDEN BIRD _by James Oppenheim_ LITERARY LIGHTS _by Gene Markey_ YOUR HIDDEN POWERS _by James Oppenheim_ FOX FOOTPRINTS _by Elizabeth J. Coatsworth_ THE STORY OF THE MIKADO _by W. S. Gilbert_ A LINE O’ GOWF OR TWO _by Bert Leston Taylor_ THE WORLD IN FALSEFACE _by George Jean Nathan_ THE ROVING CRITIC CARL VAN DOREN [Illustration: Decoration] NEW YORK ALFRED · A · KNOPF 1923 COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. _Published, March, 1923_ _Set up and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton, N. Y. Paper furnished by W. F. Etherington & Co., New York. Bound by H. Wolff Estate, New York._ MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO GUY, FRANK, MARK, PAUL _These essays, sketches, and reviews are reprinted, with the courteous permission of the various publishers, from_ The Atlantic Monthly, The Literary Review, The Nation, _and_ The Texas Review. CONTENTS I. TOWARD A CREED A FOURTH DIMENSION IN CRITICISM 15 THE REVENGE OF THE BARDS 21 CREATIVE READING 27 II. THREE OF OUR CONQUERORS THE POETICAL CULT OF LINCOLN 35 WHITMAN IN HIS CRISES 40 THE LION AND THE UNIFORM 45 III. TWO NOTES ON YOUTH THE RELEASE OF YOUTH 59 YOUTH IS ALWAYS RIGHT 63 IV. HOWELLS: MAY 1920 EULOGIUM 69 V. NOOKS AND FRINGES ON HATING THE PROVINCES 83 WHAT THE FATHERS READ 87 THE KIND MOTHER OF US ALL 92 MOCHA DICK 97 FOLK-LORE IN KENTUCKY 100 PAUL BUNYAN GOES WEST 105 THE WORST AMERICAN BOOK 108 AT THE SATURDAY CLUB 114 THE SILVER AGE OF OUR LITERATURE 121 JOHN BURROUGHS 125 BROAD HOUSE AND NARROW HOUSE 128 GOOD NAMES 133 PICTURES OF THE PAST 142 THE GREAT LABORATORY 146