New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-10
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MONOGRAPHS PERSONA. AND s soG Si p. Loan H0O'Hr''

MONOGRAPHS PERSONAL AND SOCIAL By Loan hoUsHfoS'
l2sao %. ga Holt Williams
Lord HoughtOn is chiefly known as an au-
thor 10 American readers by his interesting memoir OF
Keats and his poems Issued under his family name OF
Richard Mouckton Mines before his accession to the
,acrare He is writer OF pure and cultivated tastes,
of delicate fancies OF humane and genial sentiments
and OF a wide acquaintance with the choicest produc-
fions OF elegant literature, His sympathy with Amer
can authors and is marked feature OF his char
acer perhaps growing out of his liberal tendencies IN
general politics. HIS position in English society aud
letters has furnished him with abundant materials for
the preparation this volume IL consists of series
Of biographical "reminiscences OF some of the prominent
characters that have figured in the literary history OF
the last half century, written with no pretension
10 elaborate finish profound discussion, but
agreeaby recalling the fading memories Of che past TO
the busy generation upon the stage Among the Ia
nar which form the subjects Of the volume arc
Alexander Humboldt Cardinal Wseman, Walter savage
LAndor, Mary and Agnes Berry, Sydney smith, henry
Hene and others OF Lander, we have the ioHo"ins
pleasant bit Of personal reminscenee ~ iu'iy aSIoe
with MI Forster in regarding those latter years OF his
residence at Florence the brightest al any raVe tue
least clouded, of his lite 10 was at that time h 1881
that our ACQUAINTANCE began through an Introduction
from MIR. julius hare, my tutor at Cambridge was
sezed with fever OF the country ana MI Landor
took me into his Villa where spent several most happy
weeks in a daily enjoyment Of his rich mind and hlgh
been most useul 70 his mental temperament and his
physcal health was excellent L have no ailments he
said 10 me; but why should II have eaten welpre-
nared food have drunk light subaeid wines and three
glasses instead Of ten have liked modest better than
Immodest women, aud have never tried to make sh
hing in the world. He professed to care for no eomp
ment and to be noested by criticism yetit evidently
pleased him that his writings were loved by the men
whose opinions he most esteemed, and enjoyed by
small but competent audience beyond. At that time his
aomesticy, though not cheerful, not angry; his
children were still in bud aud flower; his few relations
with residents the city friendly without familiarity
and pilgrimage OF literary sghtseers sufficient for
the variety OF life without aey unseemly intrusion His
house sufficiently spacious for the climate and all
the more so from the absence in the rooms OF all
that he called carpentry which he especially dis
liked The English notion OF comfort was odious TO
him. There is something he said, smOthering in
the very wOrd-it takes the air from about one
Even mirrors and lusters he eschewed as only MT
tor inns if magnificent. On the other hand the dec
Braons OF abundant, and it was the habit OF
the place TO look upon him as the victim Of the nge-
Nous impOsture which fills many English galleries
with the fcons Of great pictorial names No doubt his
Overweening pOstveDess served him Ill here as else
where. and he would refer any one who doubted his
Raphael or his Correggo rather the hospital of ST.
Lnkei London than TO the Academy Of San Luca at
Bologna But tits to be remembered that Italy at that
time had not been thoroughly rausaeked now and
that Lander anticipated the public taste in the admra-
ton OF the painters OF the early Italian schools Thus,
amid some pretenders 20 hgn birth and dignity, his
walls presented a genuine and most goodly company Of
such masters MasacciO GhirandajO Gozzoh, FlhppO
Ilppi and native TO the place, Fra Angelica" Lander
was OF the wTetched beings who lead dOgless
nf but had learned TO appreciate from his own expe
ricnce the high moral and mental qualities OF the canine
race. His dearest companion, however, was always
his Dog- love which lasted till the very last His des
olatiOn the loss Of POmero, mi P0merO, the caro-
gliO with which he used in his old almost TO gam
Dol down Catherine-place in Bath, making It ring with
bark aud laughter is recorded in lines which will be IN
scribed on many garden-tombs OF departed favortes
do not remember which was the POmero at that par
ticUlar time but it daily pastime 10 take him be-
tween and with him in such language
as Ah! II Lord Grey (Or any other notoriety OF the
hour had thousandth part of your sense how different
would be things England He secuted the notion of
fear of dogs, saying When dog flies at YOU reason
with it, ana remember how well-behaved the Molossian
dogs when Ulysses sat down in the midst OF them
as an equal His social relations always betrayed
tlncture OF the cyncisn which scarcely softened
down by the mellOwing touch Of age. "Hs repug
nance 70 relations with mankind showed itself
in peculiar way with respect 70 the pleasures OF the
table in which he took unreserved enjoyment; his
highest luxury dining alone, and with little light,
and he would often resort Florence for that purpose
He said a spider gentleman-he eat his NY IN Sc
cret But this dislike to conviviaity did not all pre-
vent him from performing aereeaby the duties OF host,
and the Tepast seasoned with valuable talk.
He liked open discussion, but within decOrOus limits
q enjoy society, he said, that makes too free with
God or the ladies'" L1ndor's trenchant opinions on
literary subjects appeared grow ont Of secret
personal pques, and often modified by his sober
second thought" into Just conceptions. "Ot
popular writer's he was rarely audatory 'Roscoes
works are one featherbad o! Words Gbbon is old
dressedup fop keeping up the same sneerng grin from
one end Of his history to the other with incredible
nxity; Young in his snip-snap verse, is
20 destroy pOetcal thought he has
got hold of as child a butterfly; In
Halam you may light on small cake Of fine -four
but the rest ia chaG cha walter SCOTS verse not
70 be sung danced-it is 70 be jumped But IN let
ter Mr. Crdbb Robinson, be desgnates southey, Cole
ridge and Wordsworth three turrets, which
could fan without iniuring the Others Again. South
ey's translation Of the "Cid" is all written in words
sanctiled, not cOrroded, by Time'-was Of many
praises OF his friends various productions. He rarely
persisted in his harsher judgments. OF Byron, in an
early Conversation, he had drawn clever fictitious
portrait strong as poison, and original sim and he
never liked him till after his heroic death Tor may
coll 1t ID spite Of Goethe's solemn Judgment
Til, from all earthly eters free,
he the Heros lot;
But Pate decIeei that must not be
And murmuIed thou hast canned not
Shelley ne had refused TO know from some private
reasons which he Afterwards passionately regretted
and always and spoke Of him with infinite respect
OF Keats he felt that time only wanting to COM
pete poet who already surpassed all his cotempora
Tes IN this country the poets most subtle attributes
To Walter Scott he more than specially harsh call
ing hun great ae-house writer but in later days he
fell back the Novels with more than enjoyment and
wondered that Englishmen did not glory in them more
The Germans would, and should We If hatred Of
neighbor not the religion Of authors and warfare
The practice Of bOrderers' OF the Brothers Smith he
candidly avowed. ought especially hate BObus and