New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-05-02


ia going over IL very SLOWLY publishing portions rom
time to time in The Catholic World OF the PARADISE
he has also made complete first transaton; Out nc a'
sec,ed 70 pass the rest Of his life with Dante; ana no
doubt he will work the paradise" I'LL he can "orh
no longer For TO translate 1t adequately Is u''A
which he believes no can fully accomplish. 10 on'
however fast or far and the horizon line always Is pc
vond and 90 struggle possession OF this Deau
ful Paradise may, always its bue lar hoa'l
arches high above your endeayor. THIS same iuea VI
the impossbity which attends the translation OF inc
concluding portion OF the Divine Comedy Is eApressou
in some verses addressed to Dr. Parsons by an eminent
oxford scholar in London, which chance TO have IN
my possession:
Parsons thy patient toll and loving care
Have clothed our Dante in an English dress
Wherein his neaments are seen as ialr
A. i'm tbe Tuscan. 'Scaping from the press
or tolls prOsaic OFT nnd u goOd
How from his entrance In the dreadful wOol, -,
Thy muse goes with him down HehS essehiDK
,pG Memory. having all HIS verse by heart,
saws thou hast played great translators part
And dost thou grid thyself to track his feet
I'm Purgatorys Mount, until he come
Where Btatrice aud Redemption meetf -
iris we'll But even My numbers must DO DUMP
Before the mysteries OF Paradise ..,
For when to sing the raptures OF inc spheres
He scars IN incOmmunicaDie wise, -,
None other tongue than his can charm our ears
Across the that laves the Eternal Ihroue
His bark sails unapproaehaDle, alone!
There is a curious hteraness of statement when the
author OF these lines speaks OF having Gil the verse OF
Dante by heart. He is London lawyer, fu OF AFFAIRS
and vet he mas reputation OF knowing Dante better
than any other man in Europe. Indeed, he knows the
entire Divine Comedy by heart, and the mention OF
line taken at random from either cantce OF the great
enc Is n sufficient cue for him TO 20 on from there
without mistake or hesitation, TO the stars, among
which the music Of Inferno, Purgatorio, aud Paradise
alike ends
But must return from poetry to prose- and make
mention OF a volume OF Brief Essays ana BreVities
by that patient literary worker and man OF ideas George
H. Calvert which Lee & Shepard are about to publish
There is thought enough in this volume to make IL wei
come addition to literature but some OF Mr. Calyerts
hest ideas are badly expressed, His styles often heaVy
and cumbrous. Read, for instance, this sentences
ANY, even the slightest decrement OF modeSty lays
weight upon the spring OF Haywood whose essence 10
refined, WOmauly seu-conscIolshess'
What with his weight and his spring, aud HIS essence,
theIels rather pulling confusion oi metaphors buo
we could forgive dozen such excuses for the sake OF
the nobility OF tho authors conception OF w0manhoOu'
What woman but will feel herself summoned to enter
upon her oftest estate when she reads the following
passage:
Atits highest. lalyhood implies a spirituality MADE
manifest in poetic grace. From the Lazy tAeie eAuaGs
shpa,o tlohere Of nnruf ID strength which, to
those who come It, gives confidence ana repose'
Within her influence the dithdent grow seu possessed
the impudent are checked, the incOnSiderate auhOn
isbed even tho rude constrained to be mannery,
and the reGned are perfected sway is this, purely
spiritual Every leg'IlH3te; eycry oIhtnjfr of light
over brutality. The only real gains we ever dho ai
spiritual gansa further subsection OF the gross 70 INC
i1corporai OF body SOUL OF the animal to te hun,
The finest the characteristic acts OF la W.
aspirtual ASCENSION gong od Gi Uenerosity are
the gTaces that give shape TO inc 'lt.ucs Ga W @ ha
In the radiant realty OF lldyhooi INC diIoA" su 0
conventional arc uaught.
Few writer's have spoken better than Mr. Calvert OF
talent and genius Genius he says, is OF the soul, tai
ent OF the unter landing. Genius Is warm talent Is
passioBless Genius is interior talent exterior; hence
genius is productive, talent accumulatye Genius h-
vents talent accompishes. Genius Is emotional talent
Intellectual; genius is creative and talent lnstru-
mental Genius has insight, talent only ousi{ht Tai
ent il ever approaching and yet never reaches that
point whence genius starts The first half OF the volume
contains the brief essays which discuss wide range OF
subects-moral. social, literary spiritual, aud other
They are full Of enthusiasm, larSc-Beared and large
minded. generous, and sincere. The Brevites pArtake
the qualities. Ii Is, altogether, capital book 10
set one thinking.
Lee q Shepard are also about 10 publish among their
numerous juveniles, one by NJ. Carol, entitled How
N,riory Helped prize Story, selected by the Ladies'
Commission on sunday-school Books. l submitted the
sheets critic of Il and Informed that IL Is
almost jolly as growu-up novel; not soody, you
know, as most OF those books are" How much this
praise is worth, other critics Of Il must determine for
themselves.
The new novel by Edmund Yates, which W. f. Gill is
TO publish next month itself largely with live
men and women III American literary society. Some OF
our prominent journalists figure in it, under thin dis
guisesto buy viii DO for people could name Ike
purchasing looking glass. II ls to be hoped that his
Americans Will be more American than those OF Willie
Collins, or than Col. Morley in Bulwer's Parsians.'
whose one rule life appeared TO be never to use IA
correct expression for which lie could possibly subst-
tute slang one. L. c. NJ.