New-York tribune., 1880-03-07
LONDON LITERAHY GOSSIP.

TIFIY-sIX EDIrGoNs-ruE LIE AND LETTERS
or join r. pELANE 10 APPEAR NrXr OCTOBER
-srACP0orI'5 ENGRAVED IIATE or " THE
ROLL CAIL.'
lrRoV ruE REGULAR CORUEsrCSDINr OF TIE rriHrNi.I
LONDON. Fob. 2I-Mr r. Wcmyss Reds "Pol'-
t;ciaus of To-day u vols, or. oyO GuiJth x
Fairau Is fresh attempt TO satisfy ;hc unsuitable
appetite Of u certain portion of the public for per
sonal sketches of distinguished men and women.
Nj Rcld ha. had very good opportunities for know
ing many of tine people about whom ne writes. lie
Is cditor of ILc iccig Vycp,h a provincial journal
of marked ability. and has long done part OF ms
editing from London. The House OF Commons IS
familiar 10 him. anl The lobby ot it must be moro
or las, woru with r.5 footsteps. But he has set
limit 10 his observations. IlH has not he tells ma,
sought 10 rival those graphic writer's who describe
the cotho, or the tricks of speech and ges IRE OF
living politicians. This remark about clothes may
bc fling at Mr.. Carlyle OF 10 may Dee fling at the
nd .cutuIous young man who once discussed IN
society journal Mr.. Charlie. Lcwia's white waist
coat. and was near being halcd to the bar OF the
House Of Commons FOR contempt The first person
on Mr. Ec.ds list of to-day's politicians is the
Queen Does hc mean 10 ccusure the graphic
writer who describes the Quecu's clothes IN the
Court Circular and The NouDg P0sip There
IS treason IN the thought. Mr.. Reid must
know that the Queen herself suPeryi,es the
Court Circular aud II Mr. B"d, like a loyal su jrct
as hc s has ever read any OF her Majesty coutribu-
tons 10 litcraturc-thc Journal of our Life ia the
IHQhlaud-" for cX mpc-hc would never have
thought of calling his sovereign a graphic writer.
| If hc haarkencd to Nh Emerson be would call no
body graphic Nh Emerson says the word should
not bc employed as IL is commonly employed. II"
would say, perhaps. vivid or picturesque. As re-
publican, | am willing 20 leave Mr. Reid and the
| Quccn 90 settle tins dispute between themselves.
A. journalist am not less willing to leave al the
graphic writer's about clothes wnthing lwithout
clothes, If hc Will have IL s. y under his lash. But
confess cannot sec why the speech and gesture of
! living politicians should hs deemed things TOO
sacred or too private for description. Pcrhaps Mr.
Reid will explain TIN; also when Ia does more per-
sonal skctchc, lie describes the physical pc
culiaritics OF hi, heroes; why draw the line M
! gcsturci
Many Of these sketches are thin. They wore
originally written, it seems, 20 supply The read 'r-
of the ne Nspap.r above mentioned, which Nj Reid
! himself calls provincial. with information. II such
| information hc dncult to obtain otherwise in
| L,.d- still more dilicult must il be in NcW-York
For persons who know little of public men IN Eng
| land and Europe. here are undoubtedly means Of
/ making au elementary acquaintance with some of
! the most famous. Nj. R,d has given us fresh
lrht or fresh views on some OF the men whom, obyI
| ously. hc knows personally. OF those whom he
know, only hy their public life, he has not much 10
say which has nc' been said often before. and the
tn.enuou, reader shoull Be- warned that Mr. Rod is
capable of violent partialiics and not less violent
,nt,plthics Ii both cases ho s. much too fond OF
! the sup,r.at!ye.
! Few f these sketches are in fact personal
sketches. III the proper sense Of the word. Some
are brief political dissertations. of which one man
is made :he central lurc some ar" essays on par
ticnar political topic some are estimates of char
actcr. The reader viii hnd some of them worth ms
attention but ne viii not bring away from many u
much clearer notion of the personality oi their sub
icct than he had before. The paper on Lord Derby
~ An account of Lord D'rby's dealings with the
! Eastern question. That on Sr William Hrcourt is
ill-tcmpcrcd and i-nanucrcd nor IS It accurate in
its statements. Oi Prince Bismarck Mr. Reid ~ SO
kind n to say that he is no charlatnn and the rest
of the paper "a made mp of misleading extracts from
! Dr Rnschs book and of mistaken inlerrncc9 from
them. Mr. Reid thinks IL is no caHmny upon Prince
bismarck to say that IN the Franc l-German war " he
would have liked all the French prisoners 90 have
| bccu butchcIcd IN cold blood "A sentence whch is
wanting both in charity and IN grammar. MIR. REID
doe. not suppose that in all Europe n statesman of
narrower syiupathics than II. .smmci can Ice found.
The Prince has "surly dislike" Tor England aud
Euylish statesmen. and above all the wicked man!
for free institutions. II he favors the Americans.
# Is chiefly because they are far 0i-l delicate
commitment for which we owe Mr.. Reid thanks.
| TIN. Russians Prince Bismarck treats rs " big
| b,hicsv the biggest baby Of all bciny 10 doubt,
| Prince Gorfschakof lie Is absolutely conscience
lcssu. his deliberate cruelty almost parallels that
of the worst Roman Empcr0r'. Those who regard
! tins monster as the greatcst figure in Europe are
foolish natterers," whom Mr. Reid treats with
contempt"
fall Mr.. Reid's work were a3 lad as this, 1t would
| not call for notice have quoted perhaps the most
foolish things in "a book which is not, n whole
very wise, and which certainly is not discriminating
| Mr. Reid does not care for nice shading. The essen
t,a features of character do not come ont clearly
ON his confuscd canvas. He writes about and about
| aman. and about tine things the man says and does
But the touches which paint him TO the life not
there. IL NAV be Mr.. Rcid's adherence of thC
"Qraphicr which has prevented him from making
his pictures portraits.
OF VI. Emile Z)la's " Mana" 10 less than tfty-siN
editions were published stimuli ltancOusy III Paris last
week They were all. however, issued by one house
(Dharpentieli aud this Is only another way of say
| ing that the first issue of the completed bO0i
amounted to somewhere from twenty to nifty thou
saud copies. The French publisher takes the great
est delight in splitting mp single edition in TIN
way He thinks it a good advertisement. Th
buyer who asks for a copy the morning OF publ
cation and il blandly presented n volume the till
Of which is inscribed thirtieth edition. possesses, h
thinks indisputablc evidence of the pOpulart ty 0
, his purchasc Il reads we'll in the advertisements
also II pleasos not les4 tho amateur OF first cdi
, lions. A first edition OF 80 600 copies would move
: become scarce; q first edition of 1000 soon may