The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-10-19
sOUE MEN BOOKS
"Tht Miahr and Nlr,h Of Lltcra,urc."

/
Nritton u book. Harper 4 H,othcrs havo pub.
lishcd It, and its tito may bo seen at the head Of
| this article. IL II a work which ono may rcad
| without any tlfCsomc exercise ~ Judgment or
| discrimination. The author tells YOU what you
must think Of II. Here In his introductory
Note"
Tho object 81 this volume "a to croatc ana
| fully equip new branch u study; 10 discl -
| Figures ~ Speech fr more thoroughly than
| ever h's bech done; to urIc upun flcadcrs,
| rre3rhcia, and all VINO WRIT or spcat En l.h.
| many very important practical adviccs; ~ com
ncnt Speci lily on Shakespeare. Milton. Demos
| theme, aud the bible to present wide review
! 81 American and English literature; and To
| MAKE thc whole subject ~ anna Ing and laugh
! ter-eScitng a. It ~ Instructive. Also, we have
vailed Ourselves Of our fafnilitr with Latin,
Grerh. and Hebrew; aud with four of the
mudern Languages, French, German, Italian and
| Spanish:
And here is a part 81 his "Introduction :"
This volume Will thus possess strict artistic and
scientific unitv. Besides-2ud of this assertion
the seNcrest scrutiny Is challenged, the ainrma-
ton being very venturcsOmc and improbable
the author ayows that tlis rlan ~ his h the
merit. even AZ this lite day of the most entire
originality; never before has hgurstivc language
been taken hs u point from which To examine "A
whole literature. This volume claims To be of
the greatest value In studying LANGUAGE and
literature. and OF special use to all public speak,
ers-ior instance, to clorgymen and to lawyers.
Throughout his book this author makes very
frequent mention OF tho bible, and references
to 1t, 10 the figures OF speech To DO found
therein, and 20 their important bearing on the
olcglcal and other questions. Hut in his prac-
tice he seems not to have been guided by tho
teachings OF one ~ these figures, and indeed
he appear entirely 10 have neglected 1t, namely:
" Let not him that grdeth on his harness boast
himself as he that putieth it or" No Philis-
tine giant or Homeric hero ever boosted moro
loudly or more pleonasticallv when engaling
in gentle and joyous bout with u deadly enc
my. than does MIR. Macbeth when he be ina to
SLASH around among" Front cuts, middle cuts,
end cuts and, according to his catalogue, one
hundred and twenty-five other figures. The
murderous Thane OF Cawdor, the first known
end cutter Of the same family name, was far
from being match for him. While still in his
Introduction he SAYS:
You cannot too soon form very high opln-
ION OF the many high qualities Of the one syl-
tabled words OF our tongue. The quickest way
to got into such an opinion Is for each reader TO
least a hundred such lines. Exqulsitely will
YOU be rewarded. We have collected few.
Your gathering OF a hundred Of them will, OF
itself. cnti;le you to be named person OF ex-
quisite taste, while YOU will have in your pos
session a pellucid fountain Of enjoyment the
most refined.
Then follow nineteen examples OF such lines.
Fourteen Of these examples are cited from such
writer's as Leigh Hunt, Byron, Haywood, wild.
Chaucer, Shakespeare. Milton. Noir Tennyson,
Campbell, and Sir Philip Sidney; i've of them
are from the authors own poetry, Of which two
samples are quoted below:
God weptl The tear lie shed, its name was Christ.
4: ts aS az e sea AHA ls seen PEAK o. And
60 God though wrat in duk yet crowned with Christ
nss Vii as snd ss s IF F y S BE- Shown
II you look at the index YOU will nnd in its
alphabetical place the following:
Author of this volume gives MS twenty-one
bits OF poesy;' with due reference to the sew
eral pages on which these choice bits may be
found. Tney are introduced by such phrases as
these:
o "In the suHioined, the author Of this volume
author lays before you this, from address to
the aged - Your author presumes to ntrude
on YOU an Instance and more than one :; " Your
author inncts on you an instance = Permit
us to cool our indignation bv lauhctinc mo-
inent. like Addison's man and horse into a
strain one Of our own" From the Italian of
GiamOaisia Volps permit your author - trans
late for YOU the following sonnet :" " Your author
iallicts on you both classes " [of epthets1:
" Your author ventures - - Or again. your al.
author supplies an Instance ~" Iet vour mn
thor inhict on you these lines. THAI close with
front rhyme = or condescoud To read from
your auth0r:n" We close with an allnsiOn Of
stance Of our own ." Permit us to fancy that a
pulpit orator, after vehement storm of appeal
AGAINST Vices. paused into n whisper and said -
Permit your author one little liberty more:
h he &c, II ltte in reason, is abundant in rh;me!'
Mr.. Macbeth estecms his work more immedi-
ately under consideration quite a. highly as he
docs his poesy. and he loses no opportunity to
oXgross his opinion:
Lot the Iea er Of this volume. who Il wise
enough To strive To- be a student a. it, This
chHpier u oy far the luu-t couiplc;o treatment
90 ne,onyWi the world mas ever seem " his is
the fullest Treatise on tiopes ,nat ever the Eng
lisa oG any literature has secu.' d" We h We now
enumerated sevchtecn kinds of r-pctitipn. No
such minute specification has been made ~ any
modern literature. But we hasten 10 wind up
tAi- ~utJe WIN specimen from our -tudia -
10 those four admir- ,bie modern languages 20
whirn we have gwen many wears att,p-
uuu.' ms Volume, whlcn we present 70
them. /, really the only book in The void In
winch the pnhoc sp.akor can find his war
Aristotle aud Demosthcncs. as in the course 81
our studies we have naturally come ON them
d'lns. Grant TO rs now one other indul-
Etuce-oi ANatllng ourselves OF orr Familiarity
with The nohI' and meloCi0us Spanish h,ora-
iHie. Laying before You an oSaui h.. fraus-
ted hy a. rom tho French of y !ctur liu.,0."
" our professional occupati IN brine- Ola Homer
tctDr' a. 20 continually that we arc led u think
ui riiIhe's almost every hOur of the day.
rms puaiN 81 s.llc We are constrained
10 uI-e UPON you from our long ANA
mnuie study Of Shakespeare. the nmltlple."
. % utiinrly We close with sweet strain from
the spanish on Peace, which we Translate f,r
YOU " At last TO our concluding figure have
t-eatr ent Of our subject Is by far the fullest
Discussion IL has ever received"
Is not this mirth provoking? Are you not
convinced that this book is at least WORTHY Of
the second half OF its title can you not already
clcasly perceive that the author has accon-
plish'd one OF his avowed purposes and made
his work las amusing and daughters xcitiug as
IL Is iustTuctNeY The book, as a m .tter of
fact. is so fascinatincly bad -. Bad? You
say II makes frequent references TO the Bible,
aud surely the authors poosy is Of a religious
kind. True, and that is one reason why the
work is likely to do mischief, especially to "A
cert in class Of young writers whose style Is
yet to be formed, and who are eagerly look
inc FOR some guidance. Some persons Of little
knowledge and great faith believe that a man
who quotes the sacred Scriptures and talks
against Popery and atheism can err in no re-
spect; that his style mus, be model his taste
fauliless, ms reasoning unaDswera bic, his judy
ment infallible. And yet there are such men
who are safe guides in nothing Now, the au-
thor OF this volume, which, according 10 his as
sertion' possesses strict artistic and scientific
unity leaves his prescribed limits time and
again to rush 40 Observation-Disclosures, and To show
that "the correct doctrine OF metaphor Sweeps
the doctrine of MISREPRESENTATION out Of the
scriptures repeating his arguments and asser-