New-York tribune., 1881-09-11
LONDON LITERARY TOPICS.
MIR. CONWAY'S WANDERING JEW

Mk. CONWAl'S " WANDERING JEW"
A REVIEWERS SURPRISE AT THE AUTHORS THEot-
OGY-MR. CONwAY's POWER OF BEING INTER-
EsTING-THE LATEST CATCH-PENNY DEvICE-A
PENNY EDITION OF SCo1T's NovILs EDITED AND
ABRIDGED BY MISS BRADDoN-TIE REVISED
TESTAMENT AGAN-MoRE THAN THIRTY-sX
THOUSAND CHANGES THE TRXT
lFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBuSE.l
LONDON Aug. 12.-"The Wandering Jew by
Moncurs ID. Conway (Chatto d Windu) is
described by Mr. j. p. Mahatiy. in The Academu as
curious book containing very interesting hstor-
ical information, combined with speculation of
more question: lie value. Mr. Mahaffy seems TO be
surprised at finding Mr. Conways views on thcolog-
icai subjects unorthodox ana at what he calls his
strange outbreaks against the beuevolence the
justice and the reasonabeness of Christian theol-
ogy. Mr.. Conway long since made his opinions on
those matters understood and Mr.. Maha tfy's sur
prise is uncaed for. 1t breaks out
moreover. on an odd occasion. Ho ap-
plauds Mr.. Conway for branding TO use
Mr.. Mahaffys phrase, the 800, 900 German bar
barians, or idiots or both, who signed formal petit
ton, headed by a not-dsmissed Court chaplain
against the liberties of the Jews IN Germany .Ata
tlme," adds he, "when the Germans are yaunting
themselves to be IN the of culture this shame
ful movement. which reaches into the so-calcd bet-
ter classes, should be constantly held up to It's mer
tied opprobrum." And so it should. Mr.. Conway's
offence consists in going step further and com
an organized society for converting Jews as if thew
were savages. German Jew -hater IN ght plausiblv
enough retort on English Liberals that "A race so
sunk In degradation as to need converting by agen-
cies like those employed upon the South Sea
Islanders can hardly be fit for mplete civil and
| political liberties. heartily agree with Mr. Con-
way that it Is not civilized for to act as if good
Jew Is inferior TO good Christian. But MIR
Mahafy. who joins in chastising illiberaity which
is German and political or social appears to approve
1T when it is English and theological. On this point
M r. Conway is more consistent than his critic
This notice contains some other criticisms of no
particular Importance but concludes genially that
Mr.. Conway's book is very interesting and ought to
be largely read. Read it doubtless will be- The
subject has fascination of its own, and Mr. Conway
is sure of audience when dscoursng upon legends
and the lore relating to them His want of ortho-
doxy may reduce the number of his readers of one
set, but greatly increases his general public. The
large work he published some years since De-
monology" was reviewed one or two quarters
with haste and asperity but it none the less went
speedily to second edition, and has had u notable
popularity. The truth was, Mr.. Conway had an
affection for his subject and attractive way
OF treating it which than made up, in
tue opinion of his readers, for tho want of
exact scholarship in the original iteratures from
which he drew largely; if such want
there were The same is true of the present book
lt ls Wrltten con dmOre, ana by q practiSed hand.
You cannot have everything at once. If q writer
has pOetcal way of seeing thngs fervid tenn
permanent, gift for discovering analogies and heat
enough to kindle the enthusiasm of his public it il
not reasonable to demand that he should unite with
these qualities pedantic attention to accuracy in
small things
MIR. Conways power of being continuously inter-
ested strikes me as admirable. | met him the other
day In Whitby, seaport and watering place of
Yorkshire. He had walked thither from Scarbor-
ough, taking Robin Hoods Bay in his stride.
and not long before he had been making the
tour of the eastern Cathedrals, Peterborough. Elv
and the rest. In Whitby he had spent only part of
day, but he knew already all the monastic stories
connected with the abbey the ruins of which crown
the east cliff; every bit of old gossip about St. Hill
da; every tradition or superstition, and th.y are
many, which cluster bout the place. and had beside
found time to visit few of the interesting sites
and points of view in which this ancient and most
picturesque and delightful old town abounds The
tales the Norsemen and Danes have left behind
them on this coast all familiar
to him. and all fitted in somewhere or other into his
schemes OF anthropological study. He told me
that he read much in county histories probably the
dreariest of all branches of Dryasdust literature
But 1t presently appeared that he hunted in these
lumber rooms for bits Of fable and ancient story and