New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1842-08-31

eA ssorr. BAIT COLLECTED by himself (Never before
nub,hed in ANerica-l In three volumes. Philade
phia: Carey & Hart. New-York Wiley Putaanl
CARLYLE, the Corypheus of modern critics, ha.
aborcd in one of his strong papers, published in the
Edinburgh Review not many months since, to con-
v;sce himself and the world that the Author Of
sVavsrley, in truth and verify, had no claim or
GOOD little to the credit given him by the uni
Tersal world of being great man. He writes
very profoundly, very pleasingly, and it may be,
very convincingly He made greatness seem
much greater than It had ever before appeared,
and Sir Walter much smaller than the eyes Of
ordinary men had been wont to see him. He in
,ered the telescope-and, sooth to say, the man
he pased atdwiudled to minm, not half as large
a. ri. critic and to the eyes of all who looked,
ike the samphre. gatherer on Dover Cliff,
80 he seemed no bigger than his head
There are some though, who did not read his
essay. and who therefore still labor under the de-
b,sion that there was something of genius and of
rreatnes. in the Wizard Of the North. Those
scores of Novels-holding the world in such spell
bound thral, speaking in all its varied tones the
language of Humanity, skc,ching with more than
the painters art portraits Of men and of land
,eapes, and great pictures of History and of
Imagination :-thosc Poems thrown forth with
careless haste, and yet glittering with all that is
brilliant in fancy and moving in most lively har-
monies ali those marvellous works which as
tonished and delighted the world, and which con-
rain the seed. of an immortal life, many men
believe could NO, have sprung from mere tact and
talent.
The three fine volumes os Critical Essays which
we haze before US would Of themselves have madc
n reputation for man of these DAYS: but being
kaown merely as the productions Of ;he leisure
hours Of Soorr, following his novels and lis
greater works, they arc rarely mentioned 10 con-
nec,ion with his fame. Thoy originally appeared,
nearly all of them in the Edinburgh and Quarterly
Reyiews--fsr each Of which, at different times,
Sir Walter was constant contributor. They are
unoa all possible Notwithstanding History
Biographies -Chroniclcs-
Cookery Books-Sporting treatises-Church at
fairs-and every thing else that came within his
crnnisorous reach. They all bear the stamp of the
great Authors understanding in anecdote,
giving The most graceful and interesting sketches
Of life and manners, full of Wit, clearly the work
of an antiquarian, and written with the peculiar
ease and elegance which alone would have rom
drred illustrious their author. We have room
for notice of these papers separately: but we
cannot forbear giving our readers glimpse Of
Scor1 rs reviewer Of his own works-wbile he
was first suspected of being the author Of Waiver
ley. In the Quarterly Review for January, 1917,
was long Review of the Tales Of My Land
lord '-censurng and praising with judcious skill:
it is included in thi, collection. The critic ex-
presses surprise that the author should so long
seek to conceal his identity-protests against his
carelessness and lack of taste-declares his chief
heroes very amiablc and insipid sort of young
men "-and yet says kindly that q fe's con 'cssh
his success more sincerely than acc do, and yet,
without more attention on his own part, we have
great doubt of its continuance. He hints that
there is but little originality in the Waverlcy
Novels in point of invention" and proceeds to
proce that the author has done little moro than
to collect and bring out with accuracy and effect
Incidents and manners which might otherwise
have slept in oblivion" He expresses the con-
se.ion that all the Waverley Novels and the
Tales under review are the production of one
mind, and criticses some of them quite severely,
bur on the whole, kindly. He presently makes
amends for his censNre, however, as in the follow
ing passage:
The volume which this author has studied is
the great Book of Nature. He has gone abroad
into the world in quest OF what the world will GER
tainly and abundunlly supply, but what man OF
great discrimination alone will find, and a man OF
the very highest genius will alone depict after ne
has discovered it. The characters are not more
human, net more perfectly men and
women as they live and move, than those OF this
mysterious author. 1t is from this Circumstance
that, as we have already observed, many OF his
personages are supposed to be sketched from real
life. He must have mixed much and variorsly IN
the society of his native country; his studies must
have familiarized HIM to systems of manners now
forgotten; and thus the persons OF hls drama,
though in truth the creatures of his own magma
ten, convey the impression of individuals who, we
are persuaded, must exist, or are evoked from their
graves in all their original freshness, entire IN their
ilneamen,s, and perfect in all the minute pecullari'
ties Of dress and demeanor."
At Just about the time this was written there
were rumors abroad that brother Of ScoTr,
then in America, had avowed himself the Author
of Waverlcy. 1t is to this that the following
closing and smoo,hly.turned passage at the end Of
the criticism refers:
We.intended here to conclude this long article,
when strong report reached US of certain trans.
Atlantic confessions, which, i! genuine, (,hough OF
this we know no,bing,l assign different author
to these volumes than the party suspected by our
Scottish correspondents. Yet critic may be eS-
cused seizing upon the nearest suspicious person,
on the principle happily expressed by Claverhouse
in letter to the Earl of Linlithsow. He had BEEN
II seems in search nf 4 gifted weaver who used 70