The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-07-21
Literary Notes.

the Scientist is chosen to prepare the lie OF
Hume the metaphysican Mr.. Froude, the rath-
or hitter sneerer at the Christian religion, has
Bunyan given him-Bunyan who was Cnrls-
tan, if he was anything-whose one character
istic was his religious fancy and fervor; frof.
Goodwin Smith, the pessimist-the writer VINO
mourns over the outgrown Christianity OF the
age, and who would summon a congress OF the
great minds of the world (were 1t posslole) TO
construct new Religion writes the Lille OF
Cowper. Now Cowpers Christian faith was the
pivot on which his whole career turned, and 1t
is not possible rightly to weigh and discriminate
and determine his character and the effects of
his work as power among men, without due
regard to this supreme element Prof. Goodwin
Smith, however, has no bitterness of Judgment:
he is sorry that the dear mad Poet fell into the
hands of such fanatics as the Unwins and John
Newton, and thinks (what is probably exactly
the reverse) that his religion heightened, though
it did not originate his tendency to mania
With this exception, he does ample Justice to
Cowpers genius and accomplishments and de-
hghtful winning qualities as man. He it was,
Che shows who rescued the poetry of England
frem the stiff classicsm of Pope, and prepared
the way for Wordsworth, and the later poets, by
bringing back the English mind to the simpli-
city of Nature. Though he does not inform
Nature with soul, or defy it as does Words
worth, the rural pictures of The Task have often
more than the truth and the grace of his more
illustrious successor. 1t may be doubted if the
Poet of the Lakes has inwrought his thought and
its influence as thoroughly and inextricably into
the texture of the English literature and into
fha 1o,l, IS c.
the mad Poet of Olney," not only by his long
poems but by his many Christian hymns.
Prof. Goodwin Smith says hymns rarely have
any serious nature poetry The relations Of
man with Deity transcend and repel poetic
treatment: they are little more than the in
cense of the worshipping soul. Latin hymns
are the best not because they are better poetry
than the rest flor they are not) but because
their language is the more sonorous" Never
theless there are more strong, energetic leading
minds wrought upon in practical way, by Cow
per's hymns, than by all the lyrics Wordsworth,
Byron, and Shelby ever wrote
The criticism of the biographer upon the va
nous works of the Poet is very Just and admira-
bic, and he deals with the mental malady with
great tenderness, denying utterly, and proving
1t by dates, that religious difficulties had any
thing to do in bringing it on. He makes too
much we think, of conceived likeness to Rous-
seau, and finds fault with Cowper for the same
sort of sentimentality disfgured the writings
OF the latter. The author of The Task, on the
contrary, had stout robustness of intellect,
wholly alien to the Frenchman. By "senti-
mentality" he seems rather to mean his emo
tional nature. AS the prince of letter writers.
the biographer puts him where Southey does
IN the very first place. The facts of Cowper's
life are finely grouped, and his friendships with
the Unwins, Lady Austin and Lady Hesketh.
beautifully illustrated. No lover of him whom.
as Elizabeth Browning says, we always
. name softly as the household name
OF one whom God hath taken"
can read, other than with rapid interest, this
new and fresh biography of one of the purest
and sweetest of English Poets. (Messrs. Harper
Bros. 70 centS)
One of the standard books of most recent lit
erature which the firm of Messrs. Funk & Co..
u Dey Street. New York are putting into the
market at sensational prices (only Is cents
number is new French work-The Salon of
N"dd"1e Necker taken from documents among
the archives Of Coppet. Edited by her qreat-
grandson Othenin d Hanssonville. Translated
from the French By Mary Stuart Smith. If
there were no other reason for commentator
OF the history of one of the most varied, pictur
esque, and important of French epochs, than
that our accomplished Virginia translator. the
busy wife of Prof F. H Smith, of the Univer
slty, gives it to the American reader it would
be enough to stimulate our interest We are so
glad to find Mrs. Smith occupying herself in this
generous field of literary labor, that we hail
with eagerness every new rendering from her
pen 1t is only year since she gave us fine
translation of the stirring novel of a popular
German writer-( At a High PRICE, All honor
to the perfect wife, mother friend, and "bouse-
reckoner,' las Altrecht Durer used to designate
his Agnes,) who, without leaving any domestic
or social duty undene, can yet find time to en-
terrain and instruct wide parish of readers by
her literary industry and skill We wish our
dear old State could show us multitudes of such
" house-reckoners"l
Parts and II of this life at Coppet are now
before u.s. and judging from these, we may ex-
Pect history Of great interest, and of exact YER
lty' inasmuch as the papers from which it is
drawn are documentary. Madame Necker. as
the wife Of the Comptroller General of France
during period of its most financial trouble. and