The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-11-23
Literary Notes.

some lew Oh the chapters which go TO the
making up of Mr.. Richard Grant Whites new
volume-( England Without and Within By
Richard Grant White Messrs Houqtton, Mt
fin Dc Co., Boston, have already appeared in
The atlantic Monthly; and so interesting did
the series prove to be that these papers were
always the first turned to when the magazine
leaves were cut. We hardly know how to begin
to convey right idea of book of 600 pages,
covering all manner of subjects that England
can furnish text for in the narrow space at
our command. To give the bare list of con-
tent" would more than fill our allotted column
to offer taste of its most appetizing and genial
quality by making brilliant or witty extract
here and there, is not permitted the newspaper
reviewer. We can only run over some of the
headings of the pages as most inadequate way
OF exciting the interest and curiosity of the
reader, and thus incite him to get the volume
for himself for it is one OF abiding importance.
Next to personal experience of England ones
selt-and indeed it would be rare personal ex-
perience and observation that would result in
such an outcome as this of Mr.. White's-we
know nothing in any book about the old coun-
try, that presumes to give, and does give, so
complete and tangible an idea Ct it in every
conceivable phase as this one. Its twenty five
chapters cover any question an American could
asks 1t is written in the genial spirit that char
acterlses most that Mr.. White writes when he
writes OF England: 1T Is in his pleasant, easy,
unconventional style, and perfect English. 1t
is compact with the keenest observation of like.
nesses and differences, so that as we walk through
D,to. d II
Park, or sit down with him to take mutton
chop In the East End, or have chat with Lon
don Phllistines, or compare British " insularity'
with broad American aggressiveness, or thread
curious by-ways, or go to Stratford or Oxford
or Canterbury, or Windsor in his company, we
see as no one else has ever made US see so clearly
the dissimilarity of all that meets our eye from
what we have at home. We find that the rain
does not wet one in England as it does in Amer
lea: the sun does not warm one the twilight is
not dark the is not such mal-tr letter
as we had supposed: the cult,S of the Joint
has certain reverence mixed with it: his next
door neighbor does not know where Charles
Reade lives: "Pye Corner" known to all read
ers of De Foe, is not known to the intelligent
London citizen the designation, gentleman"
means different thing in Britain from our
usual conception of 1T: some of the nobility are
about equal in real refinement to Front de Bnuf
pounds not Yankee but English the farmers
say" Hoaw abaout caouws ?"-the "Consti-
tewtion" is the god of the good Briton and a
thousand other idioms and idiosyncracies we
were unprepared for. Mr.. White never forgets
MS philology, and has an open ear for every di
vergence from the usual mode. In this respect,
his book is well worthy of study, and there are
many pages that are full of minute interest for
those who pursue the doublings of word as
the hunter does the hare.
Although the reader is carried to various
parts of the tight little island, it is in London
proper, as the centre of all that is prominently
and Enthusiastically British, that is the point
of peculiar interest to Mr. White, and hence he
writes of it in every possible phase and prese
a more vivid vraisemblance than any Americi n,
or indeed any foreigner has been able to Go.
One needs but to compare Tanes book about
England and London, in particular, with Mr..
Whites, to see how infinitely truer and keener
Is the observation of the latter But who would
expect the Gaul to weigh Alright the Anglo
Saxon2 From first to last too, the book is ex-
ceedingly entertaining. There is no fault-find-
ing in it it is only the marking of differences
1t cannot offend our British cousins to see them.
selves so genially photographed. If all inter
national criticism had been of this character
there would have been far less jealousy and mis-
understanding between the two peoples. We
are told that the volume is in great demand in
England, so popular has it proved itself.
1t is high time that the Anglo mania of our
Northern cities-pGr ercclLence-of New York
and Boston, should receive some wholesome cas-
tigation and this it has gotten at the hands OIL
Mr.. Edgar Fawcett, in his recently published
novel Of society, entitled A Gentleman of Leis-
ure (MeSsrs. Ho1tghton, Niflin &c Co., Boston,
The small Classic volume has been out but a
short time, and yet it has already reached a
Segcnh EditiOn-a very positive testimony to
its popularity, and we hope also, to its power
as singing satire. 1t is written in an emf.
nently cool, tolerant spirit, with fine literary
finish and except in an instance or two, without
exaggeratioD The absurdity of the length to
which the ostracism of class distinction can e
in this democratic country Of ours, is very adj
mirably shown up, and the omnpotent inAu-
ence Of money, as WELL That there are multi