The Portland daily press., 1876-01-08
Recent Publications.

| tnougnt tne Title or that work should have
been the autobiography of John Forster, with
"reminiscences of Charles Dickens; and this
because the author availed himself of the
knowledge brought to him by his personal init.
macy with the great novelist and showed no
mock modesty in naming himself. Others,
who bad made of Dickens a high and perfect
| character, were disappointed and enraged to
lind that he had many of the weaknesses of
other men, and had certain faults in disagree
| able excess. So it came about that the work
was not a popular one. 1t is quite possible,
however, that the contemporary judgment will
be reversed by the next generation. In UNDER
taking the biography of Jonathan Swift Mr.
Forster cannot lay himself open to this angry
criticism, born of warm personal esteem on the
part OF friends of the subject. Fortunately
for him, and perhaps for his readers, nearly
two centuries intervene between subject and
commentator; and with the exception of Thack-
cray no man in this last hundred years has en-
tertained anything like admiration for the char
| acter of the Dean of st. Patrick's. However
severe Mr.. Forster may be, his severity will not
provoke opposition The censure he is to meet
| with will be of quite another sort.
| For many years Mr. Forster has been indus
triously engaged in the collection of materials
for history of the life, PERSONAL literary, and
political, of the author of "Galliver." In the
| course of these researches the conviction has
come to him that what is movable of Swift is
in the inverse ratio of what has been said about
him; and that through the lazness, iDdiffer.
ence or prejudice of biographers the world has
come to accept the view of Jeffrey, that he was
an apostate il politics, an nfidel in religion, a
defamer of humanity, the slanderer of states
men who had served him. aud the DESTROYER of
the women who loved him This Judgment is
to Mr.. Foster, monstrous and incredible. He
hnds by inspection of original papers that
Switts life up; to the time the world was filled
with the fame of ''GullVer' has never been
| fairly considered, that no biographer has
brought to the task the minute examination re-
| quired, and that the testimony of writers &C.
| cepted as authorities is practically worthless.
| Into the possession of the present biographer
have come letters of Swift, hitherto unpub-
lished, and apparently unread by Mr.. Forster's
| predecessors, and an immense mass of other
| material indispensable to full and impartial
| judgment of the extraordinary man to whose
| history it relates.
There are to be three volumes of the work
| The first is now published and carries the life
OF Swift up to his forty fourth year. 1t is too
early to pronounce judgment upon the literary
and critical character of the work, but enough
| is given us to show that it will be profoundly
interesting, that it will be quite as much a
criticism OF Swift's bographers as a life of
Swift, and that it will provoke sharp and angry
discussion. Mr.. Forster puts himself at the
very first in opposition TO the traditional esti.
| mate of the character and career of his sub
| Ject. He has gone to the fountain-keads of
information, and he has set out to traverse all
that has been said or written of the man. In
word he calls for revision of judgment in
the case of History against Jonathan Swift
For task like this he is eminently qualified
by habits of mind and by study; and whatever
weight may be attached to his argument the
reader may rest assured that he will find it
fresh and entertaining.
The present volume contains the account of
Swift's least important years considered in his
relation TO literature and the world-most i'm
portant however to full comprehension and as
the groundwork of fair Judgment, aud so Civ
en- with much fulness Much of the matter
seems TO have no grave bearing on the theme
but we are assured that it's due relations win
appear in the succeeding volumes. The work
OF justice and reparation is however here begun
by an exposition of the traditional misrepre-
sentations in connection with Swift's study at
Trinity. The current story that he so neglect
ed his studies as to forfeit his claim
10 degree is amply disproved,
Upon his en- rance into the church also new light
is thrown. An entirely different color is given
too to his life under Sir William Temples roof.
The other vexed questions scarcely come with.
in the scope of this volume, which goes but lit
tie beyond the inception of the ''Tale of a Tub,
"Varina," STELLA and 'Vanessa' make
their appearances, though but little is yet seen
OF the last two As regards ''Varina'' it ap-
pears that Miss Waring could at one time have
married Swift, hut that she trifed with him
Tor three years, at the end of which period she
was willing and he was not, his passion having
died away. No judgment is yet passed on the
stella mystery, though Mr.. Forster avows
that he can relieve it from the worst construc-
tions put upon it. Material for Judgment is
given in the publication of the famous ''listle
language" letters to Miss johnson, with cor
rection of the maEy mistakes and restoration
of the many omissions made by copyists and
biographers.
The volume, of nearly 500 pages, is attrac-
lively gotten up on heavy paper, with clear
type and wide margins in suitable shape for the
library.
GOD AND THE BIBLE. A Review of Objections to
Literature and Dogma" By Matthew Arnold,
D. c. L. Boston: j. r. Osgood & Co. For sale
by Bailey & Noyes
1t were "consummation devoutly to be
wished If book-buyers would enter into a con-
spiracy not to bay this book, as presented to
the public in the edition of j. r. Osgood g
Co. If the whole edition could by left with the
publishers, if the literary public would signify
that they will not tolerate these repeated offen-
cesi against propriety and good taste, such Of
fences would become less frequent. We have
had something too much of that reductio ad ab-
Sardum in literature.
OF both these books, Literature and Dog
| ma," and "God and the Bible there is an
English edition. printed on good white paper.
in legible type, with liberal margins, present
| ing literally an inviting appearance. In the
American edition of Osgood & Co., these books
| are reduced, belittled, cheapened. The paper
is bad, the type is bad, and the pages are small.
The books have cheap look. 1t is true they
are cheaper in price, one dollar cheaper But
any one who appreciates work by Matthew
Arnold enough to pay $3.50 for a mean copy
would gladly pay something more for fairer
copy. Practically the purchaser has no choice.
Unless he happens to know of the better edi-
ton and for some reason the booksellers are
| not forward in giving information on that
| head-he finds himself obliged to buy the work
in its mean guise, or do without it. Or if he
does happen to know of the better edition, it is
almost inaccessible to him. The American
copy he finds at all the book stores, but If he
wants the other he must wait till it is sent for.
Of this latest work by Mathew Arnold it is
enough to say that it is from the hand that gave
the world that luminous work Literature and
Dogma" The readers of that work will be
hungry for this. The general purpose of both
works is thus given by the author HIMSELF
Literature and Dogma had altogether for its
object. and so too has the present work, to
show the truth and necessity of Christianity,
o,,I; H.