New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-01-15
LITERARY TOPICS.
NOTES ON NEW PUBLICATIONS

lofty BRUNrE-THE LIFE AND LETTERS Or
CHARLES SUMNER" REPRODUCED IN LONDON
iFRox THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE IhibuHhI
Iovpox Dec. 27-Tho first volume of Mr. John
Richard Green's History of the English People,
,be annearauce of which has been often announced
and almost ~ often contradicted has at last been
published by Messrs. Macmillan. 1t Is no longer q
short history The enlargements and alterations
and rearranGements are 80 considerable III 'ie Pi'S
ent work that it cannot be accurately dercnOeo az
a library edition reprint o. the ong1ai. IL al"
book has not been entirely rewritten II ha' at icS'
ieen n,ucb modified; remaining readable and pc-
turesoue As ever The Shet History" is still prccura-
BILE in it's old form form Of which the unaitractVe
ness is strong proof ow.genune were TIE merits OF
the book itself History of England WHICH,
printed III small type, thin paper, in single
cInmSilv shaped volume gets itself sold 70 The num-
her of more than so 600 copies in few years. must
have very rare qualities Of its own. The new Wofh
.,rq,ars IN very different style. This first Foluhe
takes on the conventional form Which the name
of library was conferred AT time when historl-
cal literature was invested with certain supersti-
tious solemnity. Till this generation arose no man
thought OF giving history 10 the world III shape
less important than the octave; which was 1ts"ii
q descent from the more stately quarto and SILL
ore stately folio OF the last aud preceding centnr
les H. rs in Maeaulay's case, tie popular demaho
for book required cheap issue, it was always Ill
the dearer form that the first publication was made.
The CHEAP people must wait TIL fier beiterS nae
been served. Mr.. Grccn-or his publishers. Tor do
not know who settled the matter-brought out the
relatively cheap book fist, and the dear BOOK mueh
later. Tho signal success OF Che expert
ment marks moro stage III me ieNSl-
inc process steadily going in the bock-pub-
/. l.
of industry. and in most departments of hfe. The
publisher once took pride in Publishing wel-pade
books: books well printed On good papef. There
are still publishers who. from time to time show
Sims of interest in the art-side of their craft. and
Messrs Macmillan are among them. But The ten
dency Is all ting other way Ut IS OF England am
speaking 10 chcapness, not goodness of book -nab-
ing. Year by year the proportion OF cheap ana
nasty" books encTudches the better class. use the
word nasty in as modern English sense III the sense
in which Kingsley used it in his famous treatiSc,
"Cheap Clothes and Nasty" II Is sense may
add in winch the word is daily employed by the
most cultivated and delicate Englisl,Inen and Eng
Gshwomen; nasty weather being phrase yoa
will hear constantly in this country. The avoidance
of the n,. Ot this and half dozen other equally
coarse words is illustration OF the better
usage OF the English tongue prevailing in the United
STATES, OF III SO,iit " t'ichi' II Nti' i'iSi' VIM
ou;ahslr c,,n BE- justified at ALL it must surely be
when it is applied to the dingy and dirty nookS
which so many English houses take pleasure Ia pro
ducing.
In its present form, Mr.. Green's history viii fiji
FIVE or more clcarly-printed and wcIi-l0Olsing vol
unes, of which the second is promised SGortly.
This first volume takes as fan as 1861, into
the War Of he Roses. change III the'spirit q HE
hook is denoted by the change in IT. divisions.
The first five chapters of the short History have
for tlilas: The English Kingdoms, GO7-10l3;
England urdcr Foreign Kings 1013-l2Jl -
"The Great Charter 12Ol-120j; The Three
Edwards 1265-13G0;" The Hundred Years
War, 133G-l4S1.7 For these, Mr.. GTcen now sub
stitutes: Early England, 4i9-1071 :" " Eueland
under Foreign Kings, 1071-12l4; The Charter,
I20i-12ol; :" The Parliament 19o7-liGl."
change NAV also be perceived III The direction CT
greater caution shall 1 say fuller Development
of the sceptca spirit with reference 10 the s0-cacd
facts of history! The word perhaps occurs more
frequently there are more qualifying clauses, and
the indicative mood is not seldom repiaced lay the
potential. When Mr.. Grcen gave 20 the public the
short History" be was man with q reputation to
make lie is now a man with a reputation to
lose and shows No sign of meaning TO lose il
means rather to increase and strengthen il. lie has
plenty Of time before him, Tor he is s.i!l a young
man. too young. and his fame too fresh, to have Vet
found place III the books of contemporary BIO
lraphy; even ia the latest Of them. The useful
annals and tables Of tho original work nO 10 be
found in this volume and the Preface Is replaced
b. Dedication 10 " Two Dear Friends, my Masters
in the Study Of English History-Edward Augustus
Freeman and William Stubbs." The maps are more
numerous and some of them much better done
Nj. Swinburne has lately been occupying himself
with drawing cOntrast-sOIncthng too mach in ne
buried manner Of johnson ~ dealing with Pope and
Drydeu-bctween George Eliot and Charlotte
Brontc. lie recognizes in George Eliot type Of
intelligence viyifed and coored by vein Of gcuius;
in Charlotte BronJC type Of genius directed and
moulded by the touch OF intelligence. I his j.. OF
course, TO ST Charlotte Bronte much higher than
George Eliot. and Mr. Swinbarne has written with
such fnlness on the matter as to leave 40
doubt that such was his purpose and such
his real opinion; or shall | say such his real
feeling, since in Mr. SwinjurDc's prose the emo.
f0na pretty generally gets the better of the critical
He will have Charlotte Bront3 to be woman of
the first order Of genius George Eliot Only woman
of the first order of intellect. If are to accept
this classification il becomes curious to note the
differing degrees Of welcome which the English pub
lie bcstOWs on genius and Oh intellect on, 20 COM
plete the antiJhesis in ITS common form. talent.
Charlotte BrontG popular M her day but her day
has completely gone byfor the present-that
her books no longer sell or have, at best a limited
and iifai sale. There was published some two or
three years since very good collected edition of her
writings well enough printed, at a moderate price.
Commercially speaking, it a failure. The
edition did not sell II may be bought now at the
secondhand shops at a l0w rate.
The popularity of George Eliot meantime has
not diminished, but increased; and this in spite of
"Danicl Deronda," that wax-work doll, which Mr.
Swnburne, in his highly scornful way, would hang
above the shop door its natural place &" Dan
lel Derondan tried s0rclv 30 dOnbt. the living na-