New-York tribune., 1879-03-10
LITERARY NOTES.

historical
now are too busy with present politics d" to pay mucn
,,oron To these echoes OF an almost forgotten past
sTbe first volume contains political essay Oh t1e
OF Thiers which Is said to be very strong III 's P""
bias.
Mr.. Hamerton, in his new "Life of Tur-
ner" ouotes Mr. George Inness whom he describes as
an intelligent and accomplished American ARTIST, as
having said OF the Slave shp" that IL is the most
Internal piece OF clap-trap ever invented Ihero Is
nothtne in IT, II has as much TO do with human anec-
tions and thought a GnOst II Is not even Hno
bououct Of color The color harsh, dsagreeaDe ano
discor,lapt" The Pail MAI Gazette, In noticing 'he
book quotes this remark. and quietly adds; lnls -
criticism with a vengeance" Mr.. Hamerton hmSen'
thinks it is interesting for its frankness Iulhers
main object painting the picture continues MI nam
erton was TO produce effect Of urid apend0r Wnlc
could only be attained 10y lavish use OF verhllhon am
yellow ochrc colors which must be crude When
in great quantities, aud which, Tor thdt very Ie"SoH'
were avoided by the Venetian masters.
That NJ. Clairville should have written 600
playsi is certainly remarkable. hut The leIe9rdph oi
London reminds its that copiousness OF TINS sort
has been surpassed. Twenty-Five years after the dean
of Shakespeare there died at Madrid Lope de vega VINO
began to write for the when seventeen years ou
and continued do until the number OF his dramas
reached the astonishing aggregate o. lsOO ana " Is a"
that every OF these 1SOO plays was ac'eu
during his lifetime Aud Of these plays no fewer than
500 occupy recognized place IN the Spanish PaInassns
while hs printed plays fill twentysiX quarto Volumes
and II all that had been published more thah
a hundred quartOs would have been required 10 contain
them VI. Clairyille produced only single volume ol
verse whereas "tne ineXhsustibe Lope poured fortn
verses bv the yard the mile. the league TO speak
one Of the poems consisted OF $500 verses rather
long" one OF his biOgrsphers has the candor 10 aunt
"for what was only meant as leet.' during inc nc
,,me ~ NJ CsirvIe IL was charged sometimes that he
was indebted for his plots to LOpe de Vega ana Cal
derou but tins doubtful At the same time IL seems
10 be well-established that some Of Iope de vegas
p,ems were initiated from Dante Perarch and Boccac-
The latest number of The Spectator (LOn-
dou) contains long review Of g Masque OF Poets'
the volume OF anonymous poetry in the NO Name
Series The reviewer says he derived sensible pleas
ure from finding yeraes which, though falling short OF
originality are vet free Of of Shelley Rcs-
setti and swinburnc which all but inevitable here
lie regards Mood OF Cleopatra as the most serious
and finished piece in the volume, ana quotes some
twenty-five lines OF it, 1t has been attributed TO Edgar
Fawcett The Marshes Of Glynn" is one OF the ie"
poems which show signs OF power It has an air OF
youth about IT," The author Of this is Sidney Lamer'
NV Heart Cannot still it," is one of the most favor
able specimens Of pretty writing in the book" mas
freshness and the proportion Of this little group OF
words are quite artistic and right" 1t is by James
Russell Lowell whom The spectator elsewhere I'D .nc
article calls the most eXQulstely elaborate composer
Of prose and the most finished critic Of tue time ln
American literary and artistic work, that when llh-
presses The Spectator the evidence that tue
Nation Is young. the is old Even III l0ulth ana
work 10 has " never fOunO signs OI Inc uh'
taught and living growth Of young race"
Mr.J. A. SvmOuds's work on the fine arts in
italy now IN preparation at Henry Holt CO.'S, vii be
an important publication They expect to have 1t ready
about the end OF this month II has been the purpose
of Mr. symouds define the relations OF the fine arts
10 the main movement of Renaissance culture IN ltay
and to explain their dependence on medieval Chris
tianity al their beginning their gradual emancipation
from ecclesiastical control and their final attainment Of
freedom AT The moment when the classical reviyal
reached it, height. lie points ont that 1t has been
granted to only two nations, the Greeks and the
Italians and to tho latter only at the time Of the Re
palssaucc 10 invest every phase and variety Of intel
ecual energy with the form OF art Between the thr-
teenth and seventeenth centuries nothing notable was
rroduccd IN Italy hat did not have the stamp ana char
accr OF fine AIT Ly taken the first step toward
the emancipation OF tue modern mind from It's
medieval bondage. Instead Ct riVeng the fetters OF
ccelesas teal authority it really weakened them and
restored to humanity the OF its own dignity ana
beauty While the Church imagined that art would help
her art was forced omit the ph and kernel OF
CHRISTIANITY conceived by deyout and uucOmprumlsg
purists Inc r. formation was naturally opposed TO II,
AVID thr hocs II minded and earnest painter found
II dhcut effect the proper union between plaStc
beauty and plous feeling Fra BartOlommeO, disciple
OF savouarJa painted Sebastian III the colseI OF san
Marco; hut the dominican confe5sors learning through
60 it, physical beauty a stumbling block and snare
10 tbeir souls, ordered II to be removed
Not the least interesting feature OF the BTln-
Is
which many of the books have been preserved. Nearly
or quite all the best biudrs in this country and in Eng
land are represented including Rivere Bedford Hay
day Pratt and ZichusdOri, OF England; and Matthews,
Bradstrcet ana Smith Of this county The prevailing
style is crushed Leydnt mOroccO-sOmeumes with per
fectly PLAIN sides and rounded edges, and sometimes
.aboraeIy fooled OF books bound with the greatest
care in this style there between five and SIX hun
dred. The rare copy Of the Bay Psalm Book" which
has been valued as high 81 OOO was bound by Bed
ford and is fooled both outside and inside The cost OF
binding alone $3.50 The book Is 16mo. The
GrinvO Rawson copy Of tie Eliot Bible which
in SIZE is about what would now be called
square small octave, Is III green L@yant morocco and
has case with hinges for two sides lined with white
plu.h velvet THIS binding is also Bcdfords work, and
cost $50. Twenty Old amdnace, OF lsmo SIZE, and
very thin, bound III Levant of several colors, and
ARE fooled the back aud inside. Many Mathers,
mere sermons ana addresses Of thirty or forty pages,
and lSmOs preserved IN the same way, and III some
cases many leaves have inserted before and at the
end of the reading matter 10 thicken the book Ten
consecutive numbers OF the Green Mountain Tracts
are appropriate bound in crushed Levant. green in
color. OF old binding tie finest specimen Is the john
Smiths II story OF Virginia., which bears on it, sides
IN fooled work the arms the Duchess Of Richmond
aud OF James l. This book il esteemed 10y many 10 he
the valuable III the collection II ls believed thai
only one other copy exists in America but the present
copy the additional value OF beng the Identical one
that was bound for me Duchess OF ltehn"hd 10 Wno
John smith dedicated his work. The Brluley Library
has been exhibition at CLINTON Han Tor t"O weeks
past The sale of the books Will begin this afternoon.
In the new memoir Of the Rev. Francis
Uodgson there many interesting incidents relating
Lord Byron which nave not been previously noted IN
this paper When the poet at Cambridge his fellow
students used to make fun of bis attempts to give him
self a bad character Sometimes when absorbed IN
thought and ndulgug IN reckless spccuGuons, he used
10 excalm in a most melodramauc manner 81 shall 80
mad :" but friend who had quaint, dry manner OF
speakirc and a stanmcr wItha used quietly 10 remark,
Much more ike s,lIness than madncss" When the
dog Boatswau died ho wrote to Hodsson: BOatswain
is 10 be buried in a vault waiting fOT myself have
also written an epitSph Ohe famous one probably,
which would send Il not for two reasons one is