The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-03

ago; and by judicious system Of foot notes, pos
terity will be able to recognize such as we're the
universal admiration of the populace. While we
grant to Mr.. White great credit for the evident
industry employed, and admire the system of
selecting not only such as are literary gems, but
all those which are the expressions OF the popular
heart and popular feeling, yet, at the same time,
he makes a boast in his preface which is not full
filed in the work. He says mo poem of con-
spicuous worth, evoked by the war, will be
found lacking in these pages" A challenge is
thus thrown down to all his readers to ransack
their memories and find whether some old
favorite occurring 10 them will not be found in
the work of Mr. White. II takes no great
thought to recall several, which, while not dis
Cussing their literary merits, were certainly of
the class which Mr.. White assures us he always
selected; exponents of popular feeling over an
important event and evidence of the beat
ings of The peoples hearts. One of these, ex-
tremely popular in the earlier days of the war,
told Of a veteran of 1912, who rendered his SER
vices to General Scott. Its opening line ran
IAN old and worn veteran to the War Department
came"
1t created great interest, was republished from
Maine to Oregon, and struck chord of the
popular sympathy. Mr.. Grant White will no
doubt remember it himself when we thus call it
to his mind. 1t is not in his work, although
eminently entitled to place there. The new
poem to which we refer is Colonel J. w. Forney's
spirited lines on the attack on our troops in Bal
timOre. II is not only the work of a well-known
public character, but it is also the only CONNIE
moratiye tribute TO the Massachusetts, martyrs
which IS famous. We know it is only natural
that omissions should be made, but Mr.. White is
wrong to challenge all his readers by such a
boast as that in his preface. The collection is a
careful one, rich in poetic beauties, and forms
an admirable reflex OF the popular opinion dur
ing the war days no past.
1t gives us extreme pleasure to speak of the
typographical execution of the work. 1t is the
most perfect specimen of excellence that we
have almost ever seen. Printed on tinted cream
laid paper, bound with perfect taste, neatly
giided, it furnishes a specimen of American
typographical beauty seldom excelled for exqui-
'ite judgment and taste,
81 BIACKwooD's EDINBURGH MAGAZINE FOR A{HlL'
The American reprint of this once living and
bitter periodical lies before us. Either the eX-
rene age of the Bidcb,oOod has affected its
Usually clear and pungent intellect, or else the
writer's at present its staff are greatly inferior
10 those who formerly filed its pages with
biting sarcasm and spirited wit. The result is
the same. If you seek light British magazine
literature, read the Edinburgh Quarterly, the
Westminster, or the London, for their style is
lively and sensational compared with that
which now prevails in Btdck,cood. A literary
narcotic, a magazine soporifc, is what it
should be termed. We have noticed the gra-
dual yielding to the law of gravitation, but the
April number really falls like lead upon the
readers spirits. Let us look at its contents.
Miss Maoribanks, whose attenuated existence
has been drawn out, without much linked sweet
ness, is given in another instalment, but not
the last. That will not probably come until the
June number. When it is remembered that the
whole novel in completed and neat form has
been issued by Harper week ago, the lively
of Bldckl1oOd can be estimated. This
is only another evidence of its dulness. "Sr
Brooke Fosbrooke," why so Lcalled is not re-
vealed to ordinary readers, is continued in the
XI part, and is little more complex and pro-
lix than heretofore. AS Harper has the whole
work in press, it is probable that we will be able
to read it entire some months before it ceases
space of "FosbrookeT and Miss Majoribanks will
be really filed with old and stale reading matter.
Memories of the Confederate War of Indepen-
dence" also continued in the VIII stage of life.
1t is mixture of falsity and Southern jargon,
highly acceptable to Major Won Borch, and pro-
badly to such intelligent Englishmen as have
faith in his Munchausen feats. Cornelius
0'Dowd, for the XIII time, gives us an exhibi-
ton of malice and lmpudence, being confouuded
for wit II will be thus seen that over half the
magazine -four out of seven articles) is devoted
TO serials of really no interest to American
readers.
There yet remains 'The Past and Present of
Shrewsbury School," an article of undoubted
interest to the faculty of the school and probably
its former pupils. The best contribution in the
number is "Demonology at Home and Abroad"
and If we could dlvest ourselves of the convic-
ton that we had read it before, it would be a
very interesting morsel. The number ends with
the usual heavy review of the Condition Of the
Government" which we have not yet had the
courage to more than glance through. What
possible need there is for the republication on this
side Of the water of such a work is best known
to the firm who give us this preparation which
nor poppy nor mandragora" can excel.
j. B. Lippincott g. Co send us "The History of a
Little Ragamufhn," by Greenwood, which Harper