According to the Wellesley Index (1824–1900), Andrew Lang contributed the following articles to Macmillan’s:
- “Giordano Bruno.” Macmillan’s Magazine 23 (Feb. 1871): 303-09. Signed.
- “The Aryan Races of Peru.” Macmillan’s Magazine 27 (Mar. 1873): 424–27. Signed.
- “Poetry and Politics.” Macmillan’s Magazine 53 (Dec. 1885): 81–88. Signed. [This essay is answered by Ernest Myer’s “Poetry and Politics” in Macmillan’s 53 (February 1886): 257–263)
- “The Great Gladstone Myth.” Macmillan’s Magazine 53 (Feb. 1886): 241–45. The Wellesley Index notes that this was reprinted in In the Wrong Paradise, 1886.
- “A Century of Books.” Macmillan’s Magazine 53 (Mar. 1886): 377–81. [An interesting account of Sir John Lubbock’s efforts to get lists, by various people, of the best one hundred books, which were printed in the Pall Mall Gazette. Lang questions who the list is for and how the contributors were chosen. He does not see much value in lists of this kind. Lang is also quite candid about his own reading in this article, making some interesting personal statements: “I never read Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species,’ and I am not going to begin. I am not a pigeon fancier, and I do not care a pin whether I was created or evolved. The book is a masterpiece, but a masterpiece for others; ‘good absolute, not for me, though’ says the Piper. Then why should I read it, and waste my time, even if a hundred ‘Pall Mall’ counsels thunder anathemas at me. But it is just as absurd to tell people not to read Darwin, as Mr. Ruskin does, as not to read Grote, if people like Grote. . . . Who made Mr. Ruskin a judge or a nursery governess over us? A great many well-meaning young people hang on his lips, and perhaps do not read Thackeray, and miss those beautiful examples of noble life which Thackeray shows us, and miss all that charitable philosophy of the humourist, and all the magic of his style, because Mr. Ruskin happens to be one of the people who are so constituted as to think the author of ‘Esmond’ a cynic” (378–79). “The literature is good for us which we find to be good in our progress through books, and amongst men, not the literature which is highly recommend to us. We do not appreciate Horace and Virgil at school. We are not capable, yet, of knowing what style is, and what thought means. Later in our day we return to these great poets. . . . But, if we are to draw up a list of the best books for pleasure and delight–the true ends of reading–then individual taste comes in, and a proper list is impossible (380) . . . .Some other lists are interesting—Mr. William Morris’s, because it is so earnest; Mr. Swinburne’s, because it is so good—really good for real lovers of books, not for people who want to educate themselves. Mr. Stanley’s account of how he dropped books all across the Dark Continent, as in a paper-chase, is diverting; so is Lord Wolseley’s characteristic and very brief roll of works that travel with a general. But who does not hail with pleasure, after so much of the intellectual game, Mr. Matthew Arnold’s resolute refusal to play? ‘Lists, such as Sir John Lubbock’s, are interesting things to look at, but I feel no disposition to make one” (381).
- “Mr. Morris’s Odyssey [of Homer].” Macmillan’s Magazine 56 (June 1887): 130–35.
- “The bloody doctor: a bad day on Clearburn.” Macmillan’s Magazine 59 (Jan. 1889): 219–22. Signed. The Wellesley Index notes that this was reprinted in Angling Sketches, 1891.
- “The last fight of Joan of Arc.” Macmillan’s Magazine 70 (May 1894): 69–80. Signed.
- “The escape of Maria Clementina.” Macmillan’s Magazine 71 (Feb. 1895): 302–10. Signed.
- “A cousin of Pickle [Col. John Macdonnell].” Macmillan’s Magazine 78 (June 1898): 113–21. Signed.
- “A generation of vipers.” Macmillan’s Magazine 78 (July 1898): 196–204. Signed.
- “Who Shot Glenure?” Macmillan’s Magazine 79 (Dec. 1898): 136–144. Signed.
It is also worth noting that numerous Macmillan articles respond to Andrew Lang and his ideas, for example, “The Origin and Interpretation of Myths,” by W. A. Gill (June 1887, vol. 56, 121–29), an article that is followed directly by Lang’s review of William Morris’s Odyssey. Interested researchers should try a search in the British Periodicals database for “Lang” or “Mr. Lang” during the years listed above.
The Andrew Lang Site 