New-York tribune., 1875-12-11
BRITISH LITERARY NOTES.

PRooUCED-MATHRw ARNoID's WORKS.
srnoN rns REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRrnuSR'l
LONDON, Nov. 26.-Mr George J. Holyoake has
lately undergone surgical operation on both ms
eyes and has hopes of recovering the use oil thein
The committee who have charge OF the subscription
for him intend TO close il at the end OF the current
year i hope something may he coming fom
America to swell the amount which, though con-
adorable falls short of what could be usefoliy eni'
ployed. With part OF what has been received here
. lfe-annuity has been purchased. 1t is
hoped the remainder will amount to $o,ooo.
Whatever it is, it viii be invested to produce
8 per cent and the principal remain disposable
by will. The first volume Of MIR. Hoiyoakes
valuable History of Cooperation" Is selling very
we'll and the second is preparing as rapidly as his
health and inability to his eyes will permit The
necessty OF debating and OF beng read TO does not
express the whole difficulty. great mass OF ma
terials in manuscript had been gathered-each sub
beet or fact on separate slip; but as an incomplete
manuscript is not indexed arranged It ls some
times necessary for his reader to 20 over hundreds
Of sheets mentioning the title OF rst words OF each
before the right one turns up. This would not
happen with a man who had commenced great
work in blindness. Bus il is a curious and painful
illustration of the difficulties which beset man
who loses his cyesight in the middle OF literary
task Mr. Holyoake was Secretary of the British
Legion which was sent 10 Italy, and counting "eh'
Garibaldi among his friends sent him copy OF his
book in acknowledging which the old hero writes
Rome Nov. = 1S7o.-Dear Fr.esd: Thanks Tor nS ySoi
gracious letter. and for your valuable History "Mch
shall read with ercat interest Pray M reensr iSe No
fyne, and to his family. salute you from my heart
The History will remind Gen. Garibaldi OF what
he cannot have forgotien-,hat many of the Pioneer
Co5perators among the most useful OF ms
friends in England when he most needed friends.
more complete list than the one ! gave some
time ago of the books Mr.. Ruskn has in progress
n furnished 10y Mr.. Ruskin himself III tie current
number of "For,." The remark noticed in The
Daily Telegraph that his uterancos were few and far
between attracted bis attention, and draws from
him this statement Six books at this time pass
iny through the press in parts namely: "Fors,"
"Ariadnen "Lov,'S Meinie" "FfoSerpina" "Deu-
calionS and " Mornings IN Florence" Besides these
he has written and published in the last six years
four volumes Of university lectures. Inaugural Lee
lures. "Aratra Pentelici." "Val PAmo," and ." Ea-
ele's Nest "-"every word of them weighed with
care" Besides these again, eOnrse OF lectures on
Fl0rcntne Sculpture, given Last year, and not yet
printed "the substance of Il being in remodifcation
for Mornings in Florence" This last remark Is
only one more evidence that Mr.. Ruslin's publica
tions viii some dav prove the despair Of bibli-
ographcTs. Ii is already an extremely diff
cult matter to get together q complete
collection of his writings. Uniform they are not,
and never will be- for the original illustrated edi-
tons will always be more valuable aad more sought
for by bool-lovcrs than the later: even should Mr..
Ruskn's purpose hold and be finally give us all he
wants remembered as his in the form which he began
81 issue years agOOctayO volumes all bound III
blue calf with gilt edges if the buyer had no
right to choose for himself his own bindings. Whata
desIot the great aIt-writer is, And now finally,
not only "DcucaliOn the book which was to COM
prise all his past work on rocks and plGnts-bnt
new book, and of larger scope, is announced.
The immediate occasion of starting afrcsh on the
long since interrupted scheme of "a revised edition
Is the failure 10 get woodcut ready in time for this
last number of " Fors" to illustrate point Ia art
teaching-fOr, later, all things with
MIR. Ruskn turn to art and in place of politics,
or potical economy or social lessons, the
monthly talk has drfted into Talk about drawing
and an attempt 10 teach the British workingman
how to produce a straight line an inch long. But
Fors--who is both Chance and Fate-would not have
it: "the black plague of cloud, already more than
once spoken Of as connected probably with the dim
mutton of the Alps. has rendered it inpos-
sible for my assistants to finish their work III time
This calamity he accepts as an ordinance from the
Goddess he now worships-"my careful and pru-
dent mistress, AtrOp0s, the third Fors-that he
must pursue his art ork and his political work sep
srately.
81 must needs do her bidding; and az gather my
past work on rocks and plants together, 70 must,
day by day. gather what now know TO be right Of
my past work art together; and, not in sudden
thought, but in the resumption Of purpose the blue
calf volumes above mentioned which humbly and
sincerely entreat my mistress to pardon HE for iav-
ing abandoned under pressure Of extreme fatigue.
will publish in the same form as the geology and
botany what desire TO ratify, and fasten with
nails in a sure place, with instant applicability 70
school and university exercises, Of my former
writings art"
These in note he enumerates, namely. Modern
Painters Stones of Venice" Seven Lamps" and
elements of Drawing" declaring further that he
cuts these books 10 pieces because in the three first
all the religious notions narrow, and many fase;
and in the fourth, there is vital mistake about
outline doing great damage TO all the rest"
The number in which Mr.. Ruskin tells us all this
contains an announcement Of the FIRST actual ex
penditure of moneys Of mis- St. Georges Company
made by him. to w.t. about $780, for which sum tie
Company is the possessor of ten engrayings. of
which the curious may a catalogue.
new fac-simile of the First Folio Shakespeare
u623l is published by Messrs. Chatto aud Windus.
This they describe an exact reproduction of the
extremely rare original, in reduced fac-simile by
Photographic process; thus nsuring the Strictes ac
curacy in every deail.n 1t MAJ be hoped that the
reproduction Will prove more exact than this an
nouncement Of il. The original is not &" extremely
rare" Ii can hardly he ranked among rare books az
all: though among dear books il has for some time
held a high position. A book is not entitled to be
called extremely rare, copies OF which are at all
times for sae in London. IL is Ouy copies in good
conditions that are rare copies that are sound, per-
feet and witt an extra half inch of margin. Nor