It will be remembered that Tancred Ennever was at work on "Historia
Amoris"[29] in 1895, which would seem to indicate that Saltus had
begun to collect material for it himself at that time. The title is a
literal description of the contents of the book: it is a history of
love. Such a work might have been made purely anecdotal or scientific,
but Saltus's purpose has been at once more serious and more graceful,
to show how the love currents flowed through the centuries, to show
what effect period life had on love and what effect love had on period
life. Beginning with Babylon and passing on through the "Song of
Songs" we meet Helen of Troy, Scheherazade (though but briefly),
Sappho (to whom an entire chapter is devoted), Cleopatra (whom Heine
called "_cette reine entretenue_"), Mary Magdalen, Heloise.... The
Courts of Love are described and deductions are drawn as to the effect
of the Renaissance on the Gay Science. "Historia Amoris" is concluded
by a Schopenhauerian essay on "The Law of Attraction." Cicisbeism is
not treated in extenso, as it should be, and I also missed the
fragrant name of Sophie Arnould. Readers of "Love and Lore," "The
Pomps of Satan," "Imperial Purple," and "The Lords of the Ghostland"
will find much of their material adjusted to the purposes of this
History of Love, which, nevertheless, no one interested in Saltus can
afford to miss.

In "The Lords of the Ghostland, a history of the ideal,"[30] Saltus
returns to the theme of "The Anatomy of Negation." The newer work is
both more cynical and more charming. It is, of course, a history and a
comparison of religions. With Reinach Saltus believes that
Christianity owes much to its ancestors. Brahma, Ormuzd, Amon-Ra,
Bel-Marduk, Jehovah, Zeus, Jupiter, and many lesser deities parade
before us in defile. Prejudice, intolerance, tolerance even are
lacking from this book, as they were from "Imperial Purple." "The
Lords of the Ghostland" is neither reverent nor irreverent, it is
unreverent. Mr. Saltus finds joy in writing about the gods, the joy of
a poet, and if his chiefest pleasure is to extol the gods of Greece
that is only what might be expected of this truly pagan spirit.
Students of comparative theology can learn much from these pages, but
they will learn it unwittingly, for the poet supersedes the teacher.
Saltus is never professorial. The scientific spirit is never to the
fore; no marshalling of dull facts for their own sakes. Nevertheless I
su