New-York tribune., 1872-12-04

columns. The NeU- 1OTktT ShoMS Iho iaonui""o
accuracy of Mr.. Greeley's literary Judgment
Almost all the selections are from first-ratc
sonrces. and are worthy of their respectable
origin. This critical skill Mr.. Greeley never
lost. If ne found "A young man writing well
in The TRIBUNE. he usually took occasion to
let that writer know bis good opinion of him
if he found q man, young or OLD, wiring
badly, he had very decisive way OF hlnting
either at reformation or resignation. lie knew
good work when he saw it; he was what some
Editors are not, careful reader OF his own
newspaper and if he discovered in it clumsi-
ness, negligence, bad TASTE or inaccuracy, the
offender might depend upon being brought to
account. So, his staff of writers knew what
to expect in those days when he was
almost always at the Office and this knowi-
edge restrained the ambitious. chastened the
Imaginative, melted the indolent, ana Warheu
the careless. Men who were quite his equals
and perhaps his superiors i'll mere scholarship,
recognized the accuracy of his Judgment, ana
were sure that if they pleased him they would
not displease that great TRIBUNE constituency
which he understood SO well.
As q writer of pure simple, and direct En-
glish, Mr.. Greeley is entitled to high rank.
I His knowledge of the laws of the language
4 was excellent, and in all the haste and heat
l of newspaper composition he rarely violated
i them. Generally, his leading articles were
models of their kind. They Were arranged, as
our readers know. with a sort of mathemati-
cal precision, and both in their facts and their
| augmentation thcy were apt to be troublesome
! TO his antagonists. If the subject were one
which excited the writer 50 that he became
thoroughly earnest his fine powers OF sar-
casm, of irony, and sometimes OF wholesome
/ yituperatiOn, were exhibited at their best.
There is an account Of his trial for libel
upon Mr.. Fenimore Cooper originally printed in
TIE TRIBUNE, and reprinted in Slr. Partons
"Iife.r which in its wit, humOr, and mcisiye
irony has hardly been surpassed by any English
4 writer In some respects Mr.. Greeley reminds
( us of Cobbett, but with all the vgOr and direct
b ness of that celebrated Journalist, he had none
K of the coarscness which continually disfSures
4 the pages Of "Peter Porcupne" or the work
Z of his profession he never had enough. When
he was at the hight of his health and strength,
E there seemed no limit to his powers OF appl-
L cation and endurance. For one who wrote so
3 rapidly, he was singularly accurate, and even
Z as n work of reference his History OF the
4 Rebellion" has great value now, and VIII be
+ still more valuable as time goes by. In GER
4 tain parts, his "Recollections of Busy Life
\ seems TO us one of the most charming of
K autobiographies, charming as books of that
n kind almost always are. 1t is full OF graceful
narrative. engaging condolences. and rcminis-
cences of men and things which interest every
IS body. OF Mr.. Greeley's Lectures, Speeches, and
4 Occasional Addresses il is hardly necessary for
D us to speak. They were listened TO by thou
b sands. and by thousands are still freshly re-
Il membered. The late political canvass deyel-
4 opcd Mr. Greeley's talents as public speaker,
Z and it is universally agreed that no more able
speeches were ever made upon like occasions.
We have thus indicated some points of Mr..
4 Greeley's literary character which at this mo-
{ ment it seems proper to recall. lie was not
h what is called, in common parlance, scholar.
4 He had but little time to devote to merely
Z elegant studies He was not dandled in the
L arms of Alma Mater; his early life was but
L rough one; he had nothing Of material for
L tune or of mental wealth of which he did not
K well understand how he had come by it; the
printing Office was his academy, and perhaps,
all things considered, he could not have had
B better one. But the robust intellectual ma
4 ture of the man was superior to all accidents
4 of fortune, and he gathered, almost without
4 pausing in other pursuits, fund of literary
knowledge which few save pr0fessed students
h possess. If he was sometimes careless OF the
4 graces of manner, he comprehended well
b enough those higher gTaces of which the mind
/ is capable If he was Oftenest practical and
\ unimaginative workman, he still loved the
4 elegance and beauty of literature. and in the
intervals Of his daily toll he found in books a
Il guide and a consolation.