The Literary World. BOSTON, JANUARY 13, 1883. Entered at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., as second-class matter. What is twice read is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed. -DR. JOHNSON: The Idler. of the literature of his country. From him he printed by Francis Hart & Co. in the best style, Of Walt Whitman what shall we say save that ... .. I was taking luncheon at Lambeth Palace, neath them is a common nature. All men have, com THE SCOTTISH REVIEW. Aberdeen, December, 1882. HE Scottish Review has made its appear is hailed unqualified success. In appearance the new quarterly (which, by the way, I see is to be had in Boston from Williams & Co.) resembles the blue and buff Edinburgh and Quarterly, although not quite so bulky as either. In general "get up" it is a decided credit to printer and publisher. The type is bold and clear, which saves fatigue to weak eyes. The wish is everywhere expressed that Mr. Gardner's venture may make etc. is way and become what the first number prom-contribution the following summing up is given: ses a thoroughly represe tative organ. The contents are varied and interesting. The contribution which doubtless will attract most atten"Letters in tion on your side is that entitled America"; but the place of honor is given to a national article, “The Progress of Theology in Scotland." The "Theology" article was put into the hands of an able "orthodox" church man. ailing so much so that he could not join We are told something of Nathaniel Haw- us at table; being obliged to rest in his own thorne, Howells, Aldrich, Mrs. Beecher Stowe, room, because expected that afternoon at the Bret Harte, Artemus Ward, Mark Twain, Princess of Wales's garden-party. He sacrificed Wendell Holmes (to whom all honor in his himself too much to the demands of royalty; retirement), Prescott, Motley, Bancroft, Fiske, and to the cold he caught in going to Osborne Towards the close of this interesting to confirm the sons of the Prince of Wales, his death is distinctly traceable. Anthony Trollope is also thought to have worked himself to death; which, if it be true that he leaves £100,000, is quite inexcusable. A man of science, if he works himself to death, does so for the advancement of learning, which is a respectable form of suicide. But for the man who kills himself by writing novels, merely to heap thousands on thousands, it is difficult to find an apology. He Eight days before the Review was due ondary to character. The scarcity of dramatic had enough, and more than enough, for himself to the public, this reverend gentleman telegraphed to the editor that it would be quite impossible for him to be ready. What was to be done? Delay or failure was out of the question. An appeal was made to a "heterodox" member of the cloth, a man theologically poles asunder from the other. Result an article which has produced an intense amount of atten tion in ecclesiastical and other circles. It is one of those straws which show how the wind is blowing. Although the article on "Letters in America," by which is meant American literature, is rather scrappy and encyclopædic in character, as from the extensive field overrun it could scarcely fail to be, it contains much that will repay perusal. It is the work of a man who knows of what he writes; of one who has a just appreciation of, and deep sympathy with, transatlantic genius. He naturally gives the prominent place to your great men whose position is recognized everywhere. But he does not stop there. The reader has put before him much useful information respecting less known, possibly less clever, but none the less deserving minor writers, of whom, I am sure, all lovers of letters will be glad to know something. The key-note is struck, as all key-notes should be, at the beginning, thus: England's long standing reproach against America that she had no literature of her own - has lost its sting... America presses us closely in invention and in trade, and will do so also in letters. Already her best names are worthy to compare with ours, and although we have more writers, it is doubt ful whether our average of talent is higher. A further gain is in the influx of fresh vigorous thought. It is so much new blood to us, doing a service to the race which no contact with our immediate kin could possibly effect. England is now growing as eager for American books as ever America was for English. At the outset we remarked that the impetus toward a national literature came from those Transcendentalists who, forty years ago, proclaimed anew the doctrine of Individuality. Surveying the ground we have since traversed, the statement seems to have been amply verified. The prevailing tendency of the best writers is to assert the dignity of man- his supremacy over his surroundings-to treat behaviour as secliterature and the abundance of what may be described as psychological novels and romances, are sufficient indications of the subjective tendency of the nation. American writers are not not so much what their personages do as what only observers, but students. They aim to show they are. Thus Bret Harte delights to prove how much kindliness and heroism really dwells in his ruffian, and Mark Twain convinces us that Huckleberry Finn, son of a drunkard and dweller in empty barrels, has a soul of goodness of his own. These signs are altogether healthy. The sense of responsibility, the consciousness of possibilities, whether in the individual or in the and progress. He who feels that he ought not community, are the best of all spurs to activity so much to be acted upon from without as to be himself an actor, is not likely to remain long idle. The outlook for American literature is entirely hopeful. The veterans, who, of late, have been so swiftly following one another to their graves, have worthy successors. True, there is no Em erson, no Hawthorne among living writers, yet there are many worthy records. The time is at hand when the leading American publishers will find it worth their while to give facilities for the sale of their wares in England, without the intervention of native speculators. America has a literature of which she may well be proud, and now that English readers are growing greedy for her books, it would be to the benefit of authors and publishers to enable them to gratify their appetite. From the pen of the veteran poet and journal ist, Dr. Charles Mackay, one of the greatest JAY. -J. W. Bouton, New York, has nearly ready 4 Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Works of Velasquez and Murillo, classifying their paintings by subjects, relating the history of each Dismissing Washington Irving in a line or so far as known, naming present owners, and two, as English by parentage, ideas, and tastes, noting particulars of collections, sales, engravthe writer describes Emerson as the true founder ings, etc. The volume will be a demy 8vo, .. Horace and Dr. Holmes seem to be specially sensitive to the attacks of bores, and the grim revenges which have issued from their respective ink-wells are not without appreciation among the multitude of their admirers. When sium, the full flood of their sympathies on this the modern shall meet the ancient poet in Elyone topic will doubtless suffice to make them congenial spirits; but there may be other bonds of union which make it not altogether inappropriate to call Dr. Holmes the New England Horace, or Horace the "Autocrat" of Rome. To be sure, Horace did not write for maga zines or class reunions. Neither did he travel on railways, or talk with his neighbors through a telephone. But many of the things which he did do and say bore such relation to his environ-. ment that, if they could be interpreted or transmuted into the life of our day, they would inevi tably remind us of the "Autocrat." agreeable manner, the very soul of good nature Horace was short in stature, with an easy and to his friends, and the dispenser of wit and sun shine wherever he went. Gifted in conversation, fectly natural to find him with his poem at the Commencement dinner. He was the most likely man in Rome to be made the poet of an occasion. Indeed, it is a coincidence that both Horace and Dr. Holmes wrote lyrics that were sung at the great peace jubilees of their respective countries. Such was the Secular Hymn. In lyric poetry Horace sounded his sweetest notes, while the wise and seer-like sayings that abound in his poetical essays make him one of the most quotable of "Autocrats." Poet, philosopher, essayist, a man of wit and common sense might not such a portrait, even without the touches of the unlicensed interviewer, also be drawn from the writings of Dr. Holmes? Williamstown, Mass. World Biographics. S. V. C. Baring Gould. The Rev. Sabine Baring Gould, born January 28, 1834, is the eldest son of the late Edward Baring Gould, Esq., J.P. and D.L., of Lew Trenchard, Devon, by his wife, Sophia Charlotte, daughter of Admiral Bond. Mr. Baring Gould's great-grandfather was Charles Baring of Courtlands, Devon, brother of Sir Francis Baring, Bart., the grandfather of the present Earl of Northbrook, and father of Lord Ashburton. Mr. Charles Baring married Margaret, only daughter and heiress of William Drake Gould, Esq., of Lew Trenchard and Staveston, Devon; and his eldest son, William Baring, assumed by royal license the surname of Gould on succeeding to the family estates.* Mr. William Baring Gould of Lew Trenchard married Diana Amelia, daughter of Joseph Sabine Tewin, Esq., a sister of General Sir Edward Sabine, K.C.B., late President of the Royal Society. The Rev. Sabine Baring Gould succeeded his father to the representation of the family and to the estates in Devonshire in 1872. He is a magistrate for the county of Devon. He married Grace, daughter of Mr. Joseph Taylor, in 1868, and has several children. He is the author of the following works: 1856. The Path of the Just. Stories from Church History. 1865 Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. 1869. The Origin and Development of Religious Belief. 1870. In Exitu Israel. A novel of the French Revolution. 1871. Legends of Old Testament Characters from Mussul man and Jewish Sources. 1871-7. Lives of the Saints. Fifteen volumes. 1874. The Lost and Hostile Gospels. An essay on the Gospels of the first three centuries. 1875. Some Modern Difficulties. Nine lectures. Robert Hawker. 1377. The Mystery of Suffering Six lectures. 1979. Germany, Present and Past. Two volumes. 1879. Sermons to Children. 1880. Mehalla. A novel 1880. The Preacher's Pocket. Sermons. 1881. The Village Pulpit. Publish comprehensive, and exact dictionary of the au- iar. Anthony Trollope. Born in Albany, N.Y., June 3, 1811. Studied independently at Princeton Theological Seminary. LIFE. Bibliography. REMARKS ON THE Apostolic Gospels. Mr. Trollope was at his best in kindly ridicule of the approved superficialities of life. His satire was rarely profound and his scorn seldom Thackeray as he was unlike Dickens; and if he made deep gashes. He was almost as unlike often excelled both those novelists in the technicalities of plot-making, it was chiefly because he attempted nothing more than the piecing to 18-. LETTERS ON English and ContINENTAL gether from realities around him of such everyday incidents and easy-going movements served his purpose of affording healthy amusement by good-natured sallies at the types and groups of society with which he was most familIf he was unlike both Dickens and Thackeray, his art differed as completely from the romancing of Bulwer as it did from the character-painting of George Eliot. The Athenæum. Trollope's strength lay in his realism, in the fluently prosaic fashion (using the adjective in no depreciatory sense) with which he set down the conventional sayings and doings of conventional society, so that his novels will be helpful in time to come to those who wish to learn what people talked about towards the close of this century. . . As a writer of travels, his place is more than respectable. Less amusing than Mr. Sala, and less gifted with the accurately seeing eye than Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella Bird), he is nevertheless entertaining and instructive, so that the Australian Colonies, and South Africa, were his books on the West Indies, the United States, not only welcome when they appeared, but will bear (especially the first-named) to be read again. - Dr. Littledale, in the Academy. ... All novel-readers are well acquainted with the be found in profusion in his novels, and which finely touched scenes between women alone to were once the occasion of a question to him by one who was sitting next to him at dinner: "Mr. Trollope, how do you know what we our rooms?" The question conveys in a sucwomen say to each other when we get alone in cinct way a full sense of the extraordinary insight Mr. Trollope had into the working of the feminine as well as of the masculine mind. His men, whether they were heroic (they seldom were in the conventional sense), or commonplace, or mean, or scoundrelly, or a mixture of all, were always real living men. His women, whether they were sweet and tender, or harsh and malicious, or innocent, or designing, were real living women; and he could make his men talk to his women, or his men to his men, or his women to his women, with equal naturalness. For the with the ordinary affairs of life and the ordinary most part, as our readers well know, he dealt conversations and interests of life, lending to them that glamour and attraction which the most finished art can give. In this respect his novels may take their place in the very highest rank of novels with those of Miss Austen, Miss Ferrier, and Thackeray. - The Saturday Review. For a writer who dealt, and always professed to deal, chiefly with the surface of society, Mr. Trollope has been singularly sincere, never seeking to hide from us that there are deeper places A pamphlet maintaining the absolute divinity of Jesus, while denying the doctrine of the Trinity. 1845. WHAT IS THE STATE? A lecture delivered in Albany. 1847. LETTER TO A SWEDENBORGIAN. A defense of Swedenborgian doctrine, but an argument against the Swedenborgian ecclesiastical organization. 1850. MORALISM AND CHRISTIANITY. Three lectures delivered in New York: (1) "A Scientific Statement of the Christian Doctrine of the Lord; or, the Divine Man," bringing out the spiritual personality of man; (2) "The Relation of Socialism and Civilization to the Development of the Individual Life," an arraignment Life," an apology for a spiritual Christianity. of the Church for negligence; (3) “Morality and Perfect 1852. Lectures and MISCELLANIES. A second course of lectures, together with magazine and review articles. Largely a development of the lines of 1854. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST NOT AN ECCLEthought laid down in the preceding volume. HENRY JAMES was a man by himself, rather idiosyncrasies, nor pride himself upon them, nor of human nature into which he does not venture; nor his impression that the world and the motives seem conscious of them; but they were connate of the world also penetrate into those places, and inevitable. One of the kindest of men, he and have perhaps as much to say to the practical would have rejoiced in intimate relations with result in conduct, as the higher motives themselves. Still, he cannot be called a satirist. He his fellow-men; but the connecting link was ing in German in the Deutsches Familien Blatt. paints only a part of human life, but he paints wanting. He cared little for the objects, and that part precisely as he sees it, extenuating knew little of the subjects, that occupy the comknow that he does not profess to see all, and nothing and exaggerating nothing, but letting us mon mind. The only social intercourse possible does not try to divine by imaginative power for him was on a higher plane than most men what he cannot see. Probably no English writer can reach, and in atmosphere so rarefied that few of his day has amused Englishmen so much as can breathe it continuously. Yet a truly warm Mr. Trollope, or has given them that amusement heart cannot wholly disguise or hide itself, and from sources so completely free from either mor-The specimen pages of Mr. Cushing's bid weaknesses or mischievous and dangerous those who would, if they could, have enjoyed his Century of Authors give promise of a careful, taints. His name will live in our literature, and intimacy, had ample reason to trust his generous appreciation, cordial regard, and sincere friend- and prayer was his life. His convictions were a truth. In his philosophy, or rather theosophy, he belongs more fittingly than elsewhere among the mystics, only that those of the Middle Ages were in general far his inferiors both in comprehension of grasp and in subtilty of discrimination. He expressed and manifested strong sympathy with Swedenborg. We do not know whether he believed in his special divine mission. However that may have been, he was by no means a close follower of the Swedish seer, but used him, and transcended him, in the various veins of speculation which it is claimed that he opened, but which it may with equal justice be affirmed that he found already open in the New Testament. In these high themes of spiritual contemplation Mr. James felt himself on familiar ground. Here were for him the sole realities of life; in the nether world, only their images and shadows. A. P. PEABODY. I did not know Mr. James at all intimately, but from every interview I had with him I brought away the same impression, which I suppose he made upon every one, of extreme kindness united with strength of conviction. His philosophical views may not have been clear to others, but you felt all along that they were clear to himself. You almost despised yourself that you did not fully comprehend that which, in his mind, was so perfectly rounded. And his sentences in themselves were so clear that at the end of each sentence you were quite sure that at the end of the conversation you would know and comprehend everything. by Providence, we confess that the faith and Mr. James and Mr. Alcott. 66 MINOR NOTICES. Art and Nature in Italy. By Eugene Benson. [Roberts Brothers. $1.00.] praise. He will be missed by all, however, not could be. power Mountain peak to mountain peak lifted above the blond-colored soil. Looking East, afar off, beyond the ranged and broken hills, and many a castle tower and wall-encircled town on heights of red and yellow earth, you see the blue Adriatic sleeping in stillness, against the luminous sky. [Charles A. Dana, in the New York Sun. Revised by the author for the Literary World.] One of the most interesting minds ever known among Americans disappeared at Boston yesterday in the death of Henry James. This event was not unexpected. For several years he had been almost a stranger to the arena of public discussion, which he had loved so well; and for some time past he had been an invalid. Though only in his seventy-second year - having been born at Albany in June, 1811 - he had little longer in this stage of existence. His writings of useful activity left, and little desire to remain were not voluminous, but they were marked by extraordinary depth and subtlety of thought, and by a brilliant though chastened rhetoric. He was both a theologian and a philosopher. His theology was philosophical, and his philosophy was, above all, always replete with the idea and the worship of God. His principles were in the How vividly he brings before us the "St. main those of Swedenborg, expanded and vivi- George," by Bellini, by touches like this: fied by the spirit of American democracy, and broadened by the conception of a harmonious A beautiful young man with long fair, flowing social destiny to be realized by man upon this hair,-clad in black and gold; mounted on a earth. Mr. James's most original and striking powerful white horse. His young face is pale work was perhaps the series of essays entitled and worn with the stress of desperate battle. "Moralism and Christianity," published in this His broken lance lies on the ground, its steel city about thirty years ago. The fundamental head deep in the breast of the dragon, who lifts doctrine of these essays was that the Deity is himself in a last endeavor, on the slime of the equally the Father and the God of all men, and river's bank. The horse rears his broad chest has no special favor to bestow upon any class and carries lightly his rider, who bends forward or category of human beings, regarding all with and, with a gesture, seems to ward off once more equal love and pouring forth the benefactions of the expected attack of the mortally wounded His infinite mercy alike upon all. Though the most religious of thinkers, Mr. James was never a member of any special communion of believers, and among his most impressive productions [C A. Bartol, in the Boston Advertiser. Revised by the is a pamphlet published in 1847 vigorously comauthor for the Literary World.] bating the assumption that the New Church, the Many, beside the present writer, will grieve New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, could that the earthly form of this veteran scholar is to be confined within the limits of any ecclesiastibe no more seen; for he belongs to the small cal organization. In personal intercourse, Mr. and noble class of those who have been organs James was the most agreeable and lovable of of ideas, living for purely spiritual aims. He men. His conversation was fresh, vivid, charmwas a priest without the frock; and none could behold him without ranking him at once with all the fathers of the church, such piety was in the look and feature, so at once reverent and reverend, with the continual pale grandeur of aspiration and thought. He subsisted on study, Few men living write the English language so well as Mr. Henry James, Jr. But his father wrote it quite as well. And in the subtleties of his charming stories I sometimes think I find traits inherited from a father whose perceptions were so delicate and whose expression was so simple. EDWARD E. HALE. ing beyond that of almost any other person. His beast. This is good; not in cleverly formed sentences, but in the matter of vivid description. There is much to take syntactical exception to in Mr. Benson's work. He runs on smoothly enough for pages, and then stumbles, on the debris of a broken sentence, or an illy punctuated paragraph. But he conveys the impression that is desirable. He leaves a series of pictures on the mind. He finds the fire-points of genius in the pictures he describes, so one reads on, and forgives, and is uplifted and satisfied. It is a little book, this Art and Nature in Italy; one comes to the end too soon; it is a simple book, and in mysticism. its 187 pages its excellence outruns its preten- Yet by a few brief sketches he has touched the he analyzes the conception, refutes the assumpsions. hearts of many readers, while his professional tion that it resides in the brain, or the pineal papers have a charm and fascination that cannot gland, or in any single part of the physical sysbe bounded by any professional circles, and tem, and pronounces it wholly distinct from the stand alone among modern essays, with their body, which serves as its material organ and choice blending of tender pathos, quaint humor, manifestation. By a kindred course of reasonand genial warmth. They preserve for us the ing, a divine personality is proved, first by the quintessence of Scotch piety and earnestness, unity, progress and stability of the material unisublimated into finer thought and broader verse, and secondly by the intuitions and concharity, and touched with a flavor of healthy victions of the human spirit. In the last essay, It is fitting that this last series a contrast is drawn between the simple individmore frequently than the earlier uality of vegetable life and the lower animal volumes with those professional topics that lay creation, and the twofold personality of man, renearest the author's heart. And the reader vealed in his higher and his lower nature; and will have no regrets that he has here written from this contrast the mind is led up to the more directly for himself than for any one else. more perfect mode of existence in the divine There is a peculiar interest in these his maturest sphere. [Thomas Whittaker. 75c.] thoughts on the prospects and the dangers of his beloved art, his fears lest the careful practice of medicine should not keep pace with the progress of scientific study, and his warm tributes to the memories of Sydenham and Combe and Marshall and Andrew Browne. The American publishers have added to the original volume, for the sake of completeness, several sketches of a more general character, connected with the author's early life and early home. letters. Studies in Philosophy, Ancient and Modern. By W. L Courtney. [London: Rivingtons.] In Mr. Courtney's Studies in Philosophy we have a series of clear, keen, and often subtle criticisms upon several leading schools and types of thought. The first two essays are devoted to Ancient Idealism and Ancient Hedonism, as represented respectively by Parmenides and Epicurus. In the former the author finds an anticipation of German metaphysics, while the successors of the latter, in the various lines of physics, politics, and ethics, he sees in the modern English schools of Bentham and Spencer and Mill and Bain. It is the glory of Parmenides, says Mr. Courtney, that in the age of crude, phys. ical theories at Athens, and of mystical mathe matics in Italy, he made the first, greatest, most lasting discovery of metaphysics, that the truth of things lies, not in matter, or force, or atoms, or molecules, but in thinking intelligence. He notes the contradictions of the Epicurean philosophy in regard to friendship, virtue, religion, and draws an interesting picture of its founder as he stands revealed in his private The imperfection of idealism in its most consistent modern phase, the system of Berkeley, is next shown. From this, by a transitional chapter upon the various conceptions of causality, he passes to the new psychology of Two volumes of Sermons by American priests Lewes, the new ethics of Spencer, and the new of the Roman Catholic Church lie before us. philosophy of religion as developed by Prof. One is dogmatic in design and method, the other Caird and his wing of the Hegelians. The historic. The first, a series of Conferences on the range covered by these níne papers is wide, and Blessed Trinity, by the Rev. Dr. O'Connell, is the attitude of the author throughout is critical, the work of a professor in theology, and contains not constructive; that of the judge, not of the a discussion of the divine existence and perfecadvocate. His own position is at the Kantian tions, an exposition of the persons, offices, and standpoint, as opposed both to the English and relations of the Trinity, and two discourses on to the later German schools. And amid the con- the kindred mysteries of creation and of the real tradictory positions of Kant himself, Mr. Court-presence in the Eucharist. The second volume, ney prefers the Critique of Pure Reason to the two Critiques of Practical Reason and the Faculty of Judgment. The single chapter entitled "Back to Kant" is the clearest brief summary of that philosopher's teachings, and of the opposing influences out of which his system grew, that we remember to have seen. The whole series of Studies, in fact, are full of interest and sug gestiveness to the student of philosophy, and are well adapted for those who are beginning a course of reading of this kind. Spare Hours. By John Brown, M. D. Third Series. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $1.50.] This third and latest series of Spare Hours brings with it the sad reflection that it can never be followed by a fourth. The "beloved physician," as all Edinburgh called him, the friend of Rab and Pet Marjorie, as he was best known to the wider world, is dead; and these last papers, with the preface written only a month before his death, are the author's unwitting legacy to the many who have learned to know and love him through his written words. It is given to few writers to gain so wide a reading and so deep an interest by the work of their leisure hours alone. For Dr. John Brown was first and last and always a physician, reverencing his calling as a sacred trust, and giving his whole life and energy to its practice. Literature could claim only his "shreds and waste ends of time," and even in these his favorite subjects lay seldom far from the round of his daily duties. CURRENT LITERATURE. Appletons' Handbook of Winter Resorts is a tourist's guide to Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas; to Minnesota, Arkansas Hot Springs, Colorado and California, and to the West Indies, the Bermudas, and the Sandwich Islands. Why not the Azores as well? [Appletons. 50c.]— Mrs. C. F. Fernald's Footlight Frolics are thirteen dialogues for parlor acting, but not of the more refined sort. We should be sorry to see some of them played. [Lee & Shepard. 50c.] - Dr. Holmes's first appearance in his new career as literary gentleman pure and simple, is in a new edition of his Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, with a preface dated August, 1882, the point of which preface is a notice to an army of admiring correspondents not to expect him to answer their letters. [Houghton. $2.00.] we had Mr. Wilson's Song-Captives do not fulfill the promise of the author's first collection of verse, concerning whose "rugged strength something to say. Strength is characteristic of the later productions, but there has been no gain in expression, and natural inspiration seems to be even remoter than ever. There is a certain asThe Mystery Solved, by the Rev. M. J. Griffith, piration after the unattainable, a straining on inis an attempt to interpret the apocalypse of St. tellectual tip-toe, in most of the pieces under John by the history of the church. The second notice. They are put forth as "the spoils of of the seven seals, is taken to foreshadow the abroad, at periods when overwork in an arduous of the seven epochs, introduced by the breaking occasional excursions, on this continent and Arian heresy, the fourth foretells the rise of Ma- profession has compelled rest and change of homet, and the fifth represents the age of sects scene," and have the tone of the sight-seer, who or Protestantism. The star that is seen to fall honestly admires the ideals called up by new asfrom heaven in the ninth chapter of the apoca-sociations, and yet fails in wreaking his thought lypse is none other than Luther himself. [Cath- upon expression. "The Message," however, is a olic Publication Society.] palpable imitation of Mr. Aldrich. And from the Mr. S. E. Dawson has published A Study, mythological point of view, what shall we say of with critical and explanatory notes, of Alfred a Lorelei watching the silver arrows "from Dian's Tennyson's poem of "The Princess." The poem, quiver"? We cannot think that Mr. Wilson as the writer of this small but attractive vol- will add anything to his name by printing facume thinks, has been "singularly underrated;" similes of autograph letters from celebrated owing largely to the number of recondite allusions it contains. His purpose is to bring more clearly to view the meaning and merit of the poem; which he does by an expository statement of its plan and movement, accompanied by liberal quotations, and followed by notes explaining the "recondite allusions" above mentioned. The volume cannot but be welcome to all Tennysonians. [Montreal: Dawson Brothers.] writers as an introduction to his work, particularly when the compliments are nothing more than the ordinary acknowledgments of “ "presentation copies." [A. Williams & Co. $1.00.] Rev. S. Baring Gould's Silver Store of versified legends and anecdotes, selected from postmedieval writers and from the Talmud, has proved sufficiently popular to attain, after fourteen years, to the honor of a second edition. By his discussion of Personality: Human and The poetical value of these productions is not Divine, the Rev. Dr. Olssen has shown himself a great, yet the verse is smooth, and the book master of clear and concise statement. In three serves in a way to make known to the many short essays, covering little more than a hundred who care not to delve into the musty tomes of pages together, he treats with thought and thor- the middle ages, the odd, grotesque, humorous oughness a question of many bearings and deep and sometimes beautiful fancies with which interest. Beginning with human personality, those old demi-pagans were wont to amuse which he finds to be complex rather than simple, themselves. The Talmudic legends are more accessible, but Mr. Baring Gould has used them to good purpose. Perhaps the best thing in the volume is "The Building of S. Sophia," in which a story of great charm is most gracefully rendered. [E. & J. B. Young & Co. $1.50.] SHAKESPEARIANA. EDITED BY WM. J. ROLFE, CAMBRIDGEPORT, MASS. Editions of Shakespeare in from Three to Six Volumes. A correspondent in Napa City, Cal., asks for "the names of some complete editions of Shakespeare, in from 3 to 6 volumes, with price and publisher." We strongly advise him to wait for the "Riverside Edition," edited by Mr. Grant White, soon to be published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. of Boston, in three handsome volumes, which, we understand, are to be sold for six dollars. We are confident that it will be facile princeps among the editions of moderate compass and price, issued on either side of the Atlantic. It will have concise notes, and that they will be accurate and every way admirable "goes without saying." A cheaper 3-volume edition is the one just published by Routledge & Sons (London and New York), with Knight's text, and a selection of Gilbert's illustrations from Staunton's edition. It has no notes whatever, but a "Glossarial Index" of 20 pages is appended to the last volume. The type is good, but the paper and presswork are rather poor, though perhaps all that could be expected for the price ($3.75). Among the 3-volume editions of greater bulk and cost now in the market the best for the price, in our opinion, is the illustrated one, edited by the Cowden-Clarkes, and published by Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. (London and New York), the price of which has been reduced to $10.50. The notes are both "verbal" and "asthetic," excellent in quality and liberal in quantity. The poems, however, are not included, and the plays are slightly expurgated. Of editions with more than three but not exceeding six volumes we know of none that we are willing to recommend. Was Hamlet Mad? - This long-mooted question has lately brought out able essays here and in England, both of which answer it in the affirmative. The Subjection of Hamlet, by Mr. William Leighton, well known both as poet and critic (published by Lippincott, Philadelphia), takes a new view of the nature of the supposed insanity, which our limits will not permit us to explain, but which is defended by a minute and exceedingly interesting analysis of the character of Hamlet. It will command attention, even if it shall not prove convincing. We may add that Mr. Hudson, in a recent par- Mr. Snodgrass has since translated very excellor lecture in Cambridge, reiterated his opinion lently and faithfully Heine's contribution, Zur that Hamlet was mad, though not continuously Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in so. The testimony of professional experts is, Deutschland ("Religion and Philosophy in we believe, unanimous to that effect; but Fur- Germany: A Fragment "), Volume XVIII of ness, after having, as he says in the preface to The English and Foreign Philosophical Library. his edition of Hamlet, "faithfully read and re- At the end of this C. E. M. will find notices of ported all the arguments on that side," modestly the former work, taken from several British periexpresses his own opinion that "Hamlet is nei- odicals. The Contemporary Review character. ther mad nor pretends to be so;" and that we izes it as an "admirable performance of a very must say, with equal diffidence, is at present our difficult task. His book is one to welcome and keep as a treasure of almost priceless thought and criticism." The other notices are equally eulo. W. L. SHOEMAKER. Georgetown, D.C. own view. A Note from Mr. Appleton Morgan.-gistic. To the Editor of the Literary World. SIR: I am complimented by the solicitude for my welfare, expressed in your Review of Mr. Wyman's Bibliog raphy in the Literary World of October 21st. Permit me to assure you that-up to the present time I sleep well, untroubled by any spooks, bogies, witches or incantations whatever; and, so far as I know, unvisited either by the ghost of William Shakespeare, or of the cracked slab that disappeared some fifty years since from Stratford church "good friend for Jeasus' sake forbeare❞— and all. I am most sincerely sorry to hear that Mrs. Ashmead I may hereafter find leisure to reply (not in your columns) to your criticisms of February 25th. But, meantime, will you pardon my expressing a doubt as to whether the records of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries can be very seriously affected by the lunacy of a lady or ladies in the Nineteenth? I am sir, very obediently and respectfully yours, APPLETON MORGAN. NOTES AND QUERIES. [All communications for this department of the Literary World, to secure attention, must be accompanied by the full name and address of the author; and those which relate to literary topics of general interest will take precedence in receiving notice.] 518. Good Books of Reference. Will you A SUBSCRIBER. A Voice from Kew. In our issue for Nov. 4, 1882, we reviewed Mr. John Smith's Dictionary of the Popular Names of Plants, etc. The following response from the venerable author has been received: I am much obliged to the writer for calling my attention to the inadvertent errors I have made in speaking of certain American plants. I can only say that, if a second edition of the Dictionary should be called for, the mistakes will be carefully attended to, and the omissions noticed in your article will, with many others, be taken up. The reason for omitting many interesting subjects was conIt sequent on the arrangement of the book being novel. may be considered an experimental book; and, although we had sufficient matter to form a second volume, it was considered best to keep it within the size of an ordinary octavo volume. I am yours truly, J. SMITH, Ex-Curator Royal Gardens, Kew, England. "Le Roi s'Amuse." I felt that the revival at the Théâtre Français of "Le Roi s'Amuse," on the fiftieth anniversary of its original production, must be one of the most interesting literary events of our time, and so I found it to be. Victor Hugo was there, sitting with his arms folded across his breast, calm but happy, in a stage box. He expressed himself satisfied and even delighted with the acting. The poet's appearance was fuller of vitality and more Olympian than ever. Between the acts he left the theatre and walked about in the square, leaning on the arm of his illustrious poet friend and family connexion, Auguste Vacquerie, to whose kindness I was indebted for a seat in the fauteuils d'orchestre, which otherwise I should have found to be quite unat tainable, so unprecedented was the demand for places. It is said that a thousand francs was given for a seat. Never before was seen, even in a French theatre, an audience so brilliant and so illustrious. I did not, however, see any English face I knew save that of Mr. Swinburne, who at the end of the third act might have been seen talking to Hugo in his box. Among the This is a standing question, and has already had answer most appreciative and enthusiastic of those who in these columns. The smaller books of reference at our own assisted at the representation was the French right hand in most common use are Appletons' Encyclopa-poet who perhaps, in the nineteenth century, dia, Putnam's Library Atlas, Lyman Abbott's Dictionary stands next to Hugo for intellectual massiveof Religious Knowledge, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, ness, M. Leconte de Lisle. Wheeler's Dictionary of Noted Names of Fiction, Wheel- that every French poet, and indeed every man The other discussion of the question is in a er's Familiar Allusions, Roget's Thesaurus of English of eminence, was there.-Theodore Watts, in the paper by Dr. Brinsley Nicholson, read before Words, Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, Daventhe New Shakspere Society in London, June 9, port Adams's Dictionary of English Literature, Putnam's Cyclopædia of Biography, Brewer's Reader's Handbook, 1882, and to appear in the forthcoming volume Crabb's English Synonyms, Putnam's Best Reading, Ley of Transactions (pp. 341-369). In the discussion poldt's American Catalogue, Skeat's Etymological Dicthat followed, Mr. Furnivall, Dr. Peter Bayne, tionary, Adams's Manual of Historical Literature, the and Miss Phipson took ground against Dr. Nich-Hoyt-Ward Cyclopædia of Practical Quotations, Cruden's olson, while Mr. Harrison argued that Hamlet was "neither a madman nor an imbecile," but "a melancholiac" in his insanity. Dr. Nicholson then replied at some length to his opponents; after which all who agreed with him were asked to hold up their hands. Mr. Harrison was the only one to do so, all the rest in the room some fifteen in all-raising their hands when the contrary opinions were called for. Concordance, Cassell's French Dictionary, Allen's Ameri- Phrase Book. Athenæum. And I should say The Literary World of December 30th contains an admirable summary of the world's literature for 1882. It makes up the bulk of the number, consisting of fifteen pages, but the interest attaching to the review makes it worth the space. The London Athenæum is the only other but the Literary World's summary is in some journal that does this kind of work extensively, respects the best. Its matter is better digested and systematized, and it covers the literary field of the entire world, while the Athenæum confines itself to England and the Continent of Europe. The American. 519. The Wit, Wisdom, and Pathos from Heine, mentioned by C. E. M. (see No. 514), is a translation of miscellaneous prose from the works of that "brave soldier in the war of the liberation of humanity," by John SnodHawthorne. In Beverly, Mass., Jan. 1, Miss Elizagrass. London: Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill.beth Manning Hawthorne, 80 years; oldest sister of Na Necrology. |