, 1872-12-14

prosecute him when he scraped number d
articles together, written, several OF them, b.
other people, and publiahed them ss By ts1iarE
Twain?" The apologies Of this publisher az;
so Pecksnifian that they make the original
offence the worse. His treatment of Mr. n. IL
Stanley is the last now being exposed, but Afr.
aolteo braves it all out. Immediately after Mr.
Stanley reached London, Holten gathered up all
me letters Stanley had written, and. without any
consultation With the author, published them in
8 9ook under the title Of "The Finding
OF Livingstone; By Henry L. Stanley" thus
eeonveyng eoyg the Impression that this WAS lIr.
nIaanley o"n book What is Holten's defence
1T was done, he says, with the view OF presery-
Ing these Letters in collected form for readers
VINO may desire to compare the earliest with the
itest narrative, and Tor readers who can spare
q 1e" snnhngs for new book when they can
not; afford guinea" Not word about the
compensation to the author whose 1abors were
supplying this publishing pirate With his 1niser-
able profits. But is that all? Not q bit Of Il.
Mr.. Holten had more Of the vulturo work to ret
through. His scent detected car1ion. and Ia
hurried to it: 1lr. Stanley, for reasons of his
oWn, with which the public has nothing to do, has
not entertained the world with the details OF his
private history. He has said nothing about
his grandmothers enutf-bo1, or his sisters
precocity. He claims to be a natura1ized Ameri-
can citizen, and the rest il his own business.
But Mr. Holten exc1aims, Oh, dear, no That's
my business. I can make some dollars ont nf
it,, And 80 he goes off to Wales, and worries
and cross-examines some humble people there.
who only want to be let alone, and then adyer,
tlses the 7" Story Of Mr. Stanley'H EARLY Lifo.''
couching the announcement in terms which in
ply that the book brought out is with AIr. STAN
ley's own cognizance. The book is wrotchedly
done. It Processes to give details Of aIr. STAN
ley's parentage, and il does so in the most Of
fensiEe way imaginable: Statements which no
are published on the merest hearsay village
tittle-tattle. Let ua hope that this Piccadilly
pirate Will one day meet with his match.
TEE WALT WHITMAN DELus1oN.
a dozon, perhaps score, Of Intelligent per-
SONS in this country regard Walt Whitman as
any notice, whatsoever. I certainly am unable to
appreciate him, OF even to comprehend the ad-
miIation Of his friends, but give him the benefit
that is his. Here is piece OF criticism just writ
ton upon him by one Of the most thoughtful
Michael Rossetti. Mr. Rossetti says:
Afr. Whitman appears to me to be far the
greatest poet that America has produced, and
great among the poets Of any age OF country.
Thia, however, would not be an up
Rps bis Pjs porers or "nsa Ss 60 Career :n1sdS aSd
I shall, therefore, confne myself to few words
regarding his relation to the Humorous in poet
~. In this respect, there is little to be said,
save IN . negative sense. The only piece Of his
that can in any way be termed humorous. is the
one here extracted, and even this has more OF q
grim, grotesque suggestiyeness than Of humor,
properly so-ca1led. IN fact, the absence Of hu-
NOR from the writings OF Misunderstanding, as
he does. OF every possible aspect Of life, work,
scene and association, in America notice.
able point and may even be said to argue one
limitation in his enormously capacious and sym
pathetic mind, and in his faculty for expressing
the actualitiea Ito what, in other regards, he is
30 intensely responsive) Of modern life. Andit
may be added that Americans, generally, whether
writer's. or others, have peculiar readiness
IN Belzing, and in realizing in words, anything
amenable to the faculties OF humor, wit, or
(perhaps more especially whim and ridicu1e.
The reason for Whitman's deficiency may be,
that to him nothing is common or unclean.'
Accepting, Us he does, every fact Of life and OF
circumstance, oddity is not to him so odd as to
view, nor absurdity deserving OF caatigation or
introspection, but simply Of notice and appraise-
ment. He observes these among myriad Of
other phenomena, understands them for what
they are worth to him, and passes. He does not
turn on Ut may use such an expression) any
special mart Of his mind to take eognizance Of
With all other material, by his
perceptiye power as whole. They have their
place in the show, and he has his place as spec
tator OF it, and does not care to change that
place for the sake Of observing these particulars
more closely, or With q greater amount OF fel- |
or distaste. Whatever may be the !
true explanation Of the want Of humorous turn |
u Whitman, this deficiency is, think, one Of |
The reasons why his writings raise so much dis !
ike and opposition He says number Of |
things that people consider out-of- the-way, and.
finding that he either does not consider them
out-of-the-Tay at all, or has not humorous rel
lsh for them US such, readers detect q certain |
lack OF rappTochenent between the author and |
themselves, and resent it accordingly.