Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-12-22
what 4. Literature.

i am unable 10 give definition Of literature
| have not met with a satisfactory one. Mr.
Stopford Brooke, in little book which can
cordially reeomm end % beginners--it is called
Primer Of English LiterdtUre-has felt this
page, aBy literature we mean the written
thoughts and feelings of intelligent men and
women arranged in a way which will give
ire 10 the %SGd De sn ea, to
am prepared To propose a better, We may let
this pass. OF what books the class literature
consists may be better understood by setting
the class in opposition 70 special books than
by description. Catalogues of claSSicalli libra
ries use the term "beIles lettreS for this class
of book. When we have thus reduced the
comprehension OF the term " literature 10 its
narIoweSt limits. the mass OF reading solicit
ing our notice is Still enormouS-overwhelm
ing: First come the periodicals, and of period
icals first the dailies. The daily newspaper is
political or commercial. mainly; but even the
daily paper now. which pretends 10 any stand
ing. must have its column OF literature. The
weekly papers are literary in 4 large proper
ton 10 their bulk. Our old friend the Sdtur-
dag Rerielc Il literary as to a full half of its
contents, and, having worked of the frOth aud
1rivohty oi its froward youth, offers You for
SlNpence cooperative store of literary
weeklieS-the AcGdemg. the AtheRGUHl. the
Literary W0dd-all necessary 10 be looked AZ
as beng integral parts OF current opinion. We
come to the monthlies. Ii il characteristic of
the eager has of our modern AthenianS 10
hear some new thing that We cannot now
wait for quarterday. Those venerable old
wooden three-deckers. the Edinburgh RcCietr
and the Quarterly RerjeV still put out to sea
under the command, | believe, of the Ancient
Mariner. but the active warfare of opinion il
conducted by the three new iron monitors. the
EOrtnightg. the COntem pOrdTu, and the Nine
tenth Century. In these montheS the best
writer's of the day vie with each other in solicit
ing our faded appetites on every conceivable
subject. Indeed, the monthly periodical seems
destined To superSede books altogether. Books
are now largely made up of republiShed re-
view articles. Even when this is not the ease,
the substance oi the ideas expanded in the
octave volume will generally be fouul To have
been first put out in the maCazne article of
thirty pages. Hence the monihieS cannot be
disposed of by slightly looking into them: they
form at this moment the most characteristic
and pithy part of our literary produce. ID has
been calculated that the insect life upon our
globe, II piled in one mass, would exceed in
magnitude the heap which would be made
by bringing together all the beasts and birds.
For, though each insect be individually minute
their collective number is enormous. so sin
gle number of a periodical seems little com
pared with book; but then there are 80 many
OF them. and they are reproduced 50 fast, \
newspaper seems less than il is on account of
the spread of the sheet One number of the
Times, double number containing l6 pages,
or S6 columns, conlainS 4 quantity of printing
equal to Isl pages yO., or an averaged sized
sYO. volume. Even hard reader might find
II dlffcult within thirty days Ia OVertaSe the
periodical output of the month: and then on
The first he would have to begin all over again.
IFOrtniqHtlU RPrielr.