New-York tribune., 1879-01-20
LONDON LITERARY TOPICS.
rsS.vs n1ncpApuIEs AND OLD BOOKS.

CEASrD-DICKENS AND 1HACkEEAi'
IrRoM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TRibuNtI
IoxpoN. Jan. 1.-Two octave volumes OF Lit-
ora,v Stulies." bv the late Walter Bagchot edited
with a memoir by Mr.. H. II. Hutton, have oeoh
published by Mcssrs. Longmans n Co. so many
ro,lectons. similar in form to this, but not III
substance appear nowadays. that the buyer is per
plexed and the reader bewdercd. 1t is the easiest
of all forms of bOol<-maknC, no doubt, ana tnc
public j. prctty docile in such matters. But tleSc
studlcs of Mr. BagehOt must be kept distinct from
ordinary reprint of magazine essays. NhatcNo'
he left is worth preserving, ana MI Hu''oh 10 ""
editor not likely TO err on Tue si"0
giving too much. He was, 10 10 e"''
an intimate friend of Bagchot, but he is also man
IN whom the critical faculty is developed 10 ue-
gree rare with Englishmcn. His memoir Is inoUoi
in it's kind. 1t is remarkable that he, eSSehtaiS
scholar and critic, should set ont with lro'cS'
against having Bagehot judged only as writer VI
an economist. The brilliant ana sOlId eh's "n'n
the public knew in him were, SAYS his oloRrap"ri'
.,Imost the smallest part of him--"of the high
spiritcd. buoyant, subtle, speculative nature
in which the imaginative qualities were even
mcre remarkable than the Judgment ana
were indeed, at the root of all that was
strongest IN the judgment-Of the gay ana
dasbiup humor which was the life of every cohNer-
sation in which he joined-and of the vlslonH!
nature to which the commOnest things often seemed
the most marvellous and the marvellous thihgS
the most intrinscally probable That Bagehot
was man of business, banker, tlnancier IN largo
sense an original and vigorous thinker on ecohoul-
cal and political questions, has long been kho"n'
But IL is something new TO hear OF hm as an en-
tbusiastc hunter: dashing rider. through whose
earlier literary efforts a fresh wind blowing az
though he had been thinking in the saddle Inc
remark is worth whole column of comment OH
tie essays now published. They deal for the most
part with purely literary suhjectS-the hiSt Euiii-
burgh Reviewers, Shelley, Milton, Shakespeare
Dickens Macaulay, Wordsworth, Iennyson' bIo"h
ing and so on. But they are throughout manly anu
healthfu; they arc at once critical ana syHP"
thetic. and they have that closeneSs and viRor OF
handling. and that sense of reality winch belongs
TO the best English thought. Mr. Hutton promises
a third volume of ESSAYS on statesmen, winch oughl
10 be equally important and which should eX-
hihit Bagehot at his best. He had great
knowledge of puAlc men as well a. of public
affairs and Nh Hutton justly observes that his adj
mirable book on the English Constitution could
never have been written had he been TccluSe-had
he not acutely studied living statesmen and their
ways OF acting on each other, and of SurmonntIng
the enormous practical difficulties which stand IN
the way of government III accordance with conSu-
tutiOnal theories
The series of biographies entitled English Men
of Letters edited by Mr.. John Morley and pub
lished by Messrs. Macmillan d Co, Is making
steady progress. Four volumes have appeared
Johnson by Leslie stephen; Scott by r. ii. Hutton;
Shelley, by j. 4. Symonds; and Glbbon, by ). e..
Morrison. They vary in treatment. butlt may be sad
of them all that they critical studies. Mr. Nor
ley is an editor of sufficient force to insure certain
-ol,o, ,r,flp plH
unlike as are the various writers to whom different
subjects are committed. lie is himself Ill sense
broader and more exclusive than is common in these
days. an English man of letters; admirable alike in
the vigJr and in the variety of his intellectual en-
dOwments and accomplishments His colleagues are
mostly men OF distinction in literature. Mr.. Eroude
is at work on Bunyan Professor Huxley on Hume;
Mr. Goodwin Smith takes Wordsworth Mr. Mark
Pattison will deal with Milton Mr.. John Morley
himself contributing Swift and Gray-an Odd colio-
cation. Other announcements are Spcnser by
Dean Church; Burns, by Principal Sharp, and
Byron, by Professor Nichol. The publishers have
taken pains that these books should be clearly yet
compacty printed in volumes of convenient size and
good proportion. They have issued acertain number
of copies, with wholly uncut edges. plainly anc
neatly boarded up with paper labels on the back
au old and good style. Nh MorrlSonS S Gl6bOn, the
somo time since There is no doubt that books of
this class are in such demand with the public as
never before. Perhaps it would be more correct to
say, that never until of late years have such efforts
been made To popuarze literature and 10 supply
the imprrectv educated classes with such convent
cnt and IN many cases admirable summaries. The
road 10 learning Is no more royal than ever, but 1T
is better.avcd and lighted with clearer sign-posts,
and altogether much easier of travel than III other
days.
hear that the library of the late Mr.. Henry
Huth has been left absolutely to his widow. What
she will do with il is question OF public interest.
Among collections formed during this generation 1t
has few rivals. In mere magnitude IT Is something
10 wonder at. Mr.. IIuth hal been a buyer all his
life long. lie had ample means and much knowl-
edge They say it was his habit to look into three
OF four bO0kshOps every afternoon on his way from
the CITY to his house in the West End. Not long be-
fore his death it occurred to him to ascertain what
his books had cost hlm. He had kept every
hill. Added up. they came TO tie enormous
sum of q 7,OOO-ncarly 100000. Many library,
nevertheless surpasses Mr. Huth's in number What
his library is most remarkable for is the rarity and
condition of its treasures 1t is in respects an
almost lnatchlcs, collection of literary bric-a-brac
q phrase which am far from using diSrespectfully.
Mr. Huth had the reputation Of being willing TO pay
any price for a good thing. But have heard sto-
Iics which show that lie was-sOmetimes, at least
TOO shrcwd for the booksellers who lay III wait for
him. They used TO compete recklessly with each
other AZ auctions when some rare edition occuIred
that it was thought would Int Mr.. Iiuth's
fancy. The book would be run up to
five times its value, solely with view
10 it, rerurchasc by Mr.. Huth, and the profit to he
made out Of him. The next time he came INTO the
shop the prize was displayed to him, with the re-
marx There Mr., lluth ID the uncut copy of the
first edition Fiorcncel OF Homer for which yOu
have been waiting so long" "Oh, no." was the
answer IL have an uncut copy; 1t is copy on
Nclum want" So the too speculative bookseller