JOHN GALSWORTHY, an English 'novelist of much distinction, and a
playwright who has proved that the possession of ideas is not
incompatible with popular success. Endowed with an exquisite sense of
pity, he has put that sentiment to many chivalrous uses, and since the
war he has written in the public service on behalf of various patriotic
and humanitarian objects.' Thus Mr. Galsworthy was described in the
_London Gazette_ as a recipient of the honor of knighthood in the list
of New Year (1918) Honors, his declination not having been received in
time to forestall the publication.
_Buttercup-Night_ is hardly a story at all. In company with Mr.
Galsworthy we live out the quiet but impressive experience of a single
evening, night, and morning, all the while breathing the atmosphere of a
rare June beauty that completely wins us to its aesthetic favor and
repose. The incident of the sick horse, so gently cared for by the
faithful keeper, secures our sympathy but does not draw us away from the
more insistent wooing of the charms of the buttercup-night and the
morning radiance of a suddenly awakened glow of blooming yellow. The
commonplace writer would use the scene for romantic effect; Galsworthy
enhances the beauty of the setting by a homely but sincere realism. The
significant merits of the style are its purity, its restraint, and its
complete adaptability to the hoveringly quiescent mood.