The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-02-13
OF NEW PUBLICATTONs.



CyOLOyEDIA OF AMERICAN LITERATURE En-
bracing Personal and Critical Notices Of Authors,
and Selections from their Writings, from the Ear
Nest Period 10 the Present Day; with r..
A. Duyckinck and George l.. puyckinck vols,
Svo., New York, 055.
The title Of this work justides expectation OF It's
embracing careful, candid and exhaustive exhibition
q literature and literary history OF the United
Sestss full and exact in bionogrsphicAi information,
ssA personal recniscenees connected WI literary
Me- complete IN that entire circle OF iAets which Illus
tute our intclscu advancement and Indicative Of
sanad and judicial temper the part OF its authors
n Encyclopedia American Literature judged only
b. III name and the extraordinary preliminary common
satsens which it has received would probably find its
y the principal public and private libraries OF this
ssxntry and Europe.
has been said perhaps with perfect sincerity that the
work Of exhibiting the past history American letters is
done, for the first time and for eli time uncs tAs
capacities Of the human mind not likely to admit
- Any Improvement upon what the Messrs. Duyckinck
have here accomplished. Perhaps it is bat the NEST
esnsunmate displays Of genius and executive ability
have never been held to be privileged among critics.
fhsr only Just advantage has been repening power
agAns injustice, and may venture to examine what
seems 70 be the common Judgment in this case; there
hrs. without presumption and with perfect
at We err in estimation Of the merits Of the pro-
aaotion before those merits truly ,precisted
BY others, win be a sufficient foil against our errors
he time has passed when reviewers ep.hets, CON-
nnendDg condenping book conclusive to its
qualities Certain recent and familiar instances praise
universal 1t was absp 3D. OF books which Is
aerstood can kesp upon his shelves without
lizard to his good reputation, have made readers suspi
soss Of the opinions Of the press'' Criticism pre-
sent therefore is authoritative only it is demonstra-
tive. Estimates neatly delivered read and IL from
have min nHu hut ~, ali
ssses the intelligent reader wishes have before him the
more significant facts upon which they based Ia
the dssuisory observations propose upon this Cyco
Deoh Of American Literature shall cndeavor to be
% explicit and particular and to deal only in facts
readily spprecibie by every person OF ordinary inteli
understanding that suspicion of preudice
want of candor win be impossible IN ths few hours
which devote to It, anu the limits
Ascessary hem in the writer Tor daily paper the work
must of course be treated specifically, and can
tsuch but here and there point merely indicating it
what might be done If the books Importance wcul
iastify more elaborate criticism.
Its general plan Is the that OF Chambers's well
k1sxn Cyclopedia OF English Literature and i. would
have been better & the model had been rigidy fol-
Rxed, though it might have been departed from by
judkeicus author, many instances, with signal adran-
tsee The simple rule o considering aers o. books
chronological order, is easily observed that the
cst adherence to it could scarcely deemed po-
sitive merit; yet tbs Messrs DIynknck disregard 1T
frequently as to suggest conviction OF objectionable
esrelessness. The composition known the Sore
Athers Song" which. they admit written early
1850, 10 placed after notice Of the works OF Bsra-
min Thomson VIII, born in $780, aud his prfn-
sPs poems about the year 1700 John Cotons lines
Thomas Hooker mentioned in sash way ~ to in
asse impression that they printed in Nor
toms 'eMenorlai' 1902 but they are preserved"
atatv In, vrf
It Church Dici pine Published twsntycus years be-
1re-that is in 104s. This sort Of disorder peryades
tAe volumes In Cyclopeiia of Ansri L,tersture"
Of prope- to notice the and results
~ education among The history Of
schools--she special boast and glory
Of American civilization-is 3 theme to ex-
sate enthusiasm, and its illustration was easy
rom the annals Of wachfal and progressive sssa-
tisn the subject. majority Of authors, vel
Of affairs, have been graduates not OF the
versites, but OF the schools Yet Of these in
SAtutions have not word, from the beginning the
enA Of the hessrs Duyckincks' abo-s Instead have
accounts Of few Of the principal coegesperhaps Of
eae-ffteenth twentieth OF those existing
She Emitted States. so incomplete exhibition is Of
value We refer TO the matter here however,
made Of the of that chaos of arrangement
which must vex every who attempts TO read
sun these volumes. Sucenct sketches Of such establish
shs education of the American people but those which
noticed at all introducedeach under the date OF
~ foundaaon-in the midst OF the personal memoirs
md al the OF eminence contested with them
have their stories told under the head Thus, in
~ earlier part Of the first volume have noted the be-
ginning OF Yale College in 1547 and In the pages inmei
ately following sketches OF sllian oms;ed and ota-r
professors who living.
ne selection of subjects Tor biographical critical
Nv,
psncipIe whatever unless may be found in the Ia
ety With which paragraphs about certain characters
osud be complied from monthly magazines, quarterly
reviews, biographical dictionaries, other easily
H1bIe works William Morel TO New England In
1o23 and remained one year William Wood, about the
time made short Tsit 10 Boston. 1t does not APP
par that either of them wrote line here in
1ended to settle here but both formally introduced
- American authors William Vaughan, who visited
Newfoundland but touched the soil Of what now
the United Stss IL also treated American author
IN two columns Of biography snd criticism. Captain
John Smith was in Virginia and along the coast previous
30 1915 and sir columns devoted TO his achievements
IN American literature Soon after, we have life Of the
Rev Samuel Ward, Of Ipswich, England, with part Of
one Of his preached and printed In Engand-
although this Tov. Samuel Ward In America,
never wrote syllable about Americas, or, far
informed knew Of the discovery existence Of this
osutinent. Another Ward, Of whom there il long
when between sixty and seventy
years ofsge, TO Massachusetts, Bay and after his
return home, where he Lived still many years. wrote
several volumes in Of which there illusions
his visit this side the Atlantic
On pages os2 and 263 Of The first volume have BIZ,
rsaphca and critical notices OF George Hudiesford
Englth verser Of very Lit lie merit, and John IaprA
ssotchman, Of the rank though neither Of them
came 70 America hsd anything whatever to do
with America American literature. Huddesscrd is
aecmed worthy Of from srty 70 seventy lines, and Ia
pxaA Of about atty. 1t wcuh be difficult 10 as
Sign any adequate reason for bringing these names
sAus conspicuously into Cydopedia Of American
Iitsrature but the very unssisisctry excuse whca Is
offered il, that Iindley Murray 100 closely initiated