New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-19
LITERARY NOTES.

Gaboriau's tales of mystery and murder are said
to lie the favorite reading of Prince Bismarck
Professor Jebb's Bentley " and Mr. Edmund W.
Gosse's Gray Z" the coming volumes IN the
English Men of Letters" series.
Mr.. Quaritch, the London bookseller, has pup
lished an interesting catalogue of the BOOKS on
necroinancy to be found on his shelves.
A biography of President Garfield entitled From
Log Cabin to White House." will be published
shortly in London by Holder d Stoughton
The English edition macmillan & Co.. of Mr..
Blacks THAT Beautiful Wretch will include two
other stories, -Four 'McNico lls" and Pupil of
Aurelius."
No book escapes, faultless" from the piercing
eve of The Spectator itic He says the fault of
Mr. Richard Hcath's Edgar" Quinet' is that it is
too modest.
At the next session of the New Shakespeare So
ciety, DR.. Peter Bayne will read a paper
IS Shakespeare's Characters contrasted with those
of Scott and George Eliot"
Mr. P. g. Hamerton is turning his aesthetic abili-
ties to novel and audabe account in series of four
papers on I" The Elements of Beauty in Ships and
Boats" The first paper in The Portfolio treats of
hulls
Turgeneff's novels are better appreciated in
America than in England where Liza" now ont of
print, and Virgin Soil perhaps the only novels
OF his that have been easily accessible to English
readers.
The Comte d. Herisson's explorations of the runs
of Carthage have brought to light large number of
objects and inscriptions which it is believed will
add much to the worlds knowledge of the rival
of ancient Rome.
Mr.. Finlay Dun, who visited America in company
with Mr., Glare Read and Mr. Albert Pell. NJ p, has
written a book american Farming and Food"
The AtheaRum fears his work will mislead more per-
wi y nd 10 a
pleased that Mr. Dun should vaunt the attractions
Of Minnesota and Iowa to the neglect of Manitoba,
Lord Stanley, of Alderley, i'll his introduction to
The Narrative of the Portuguese Enba 'sy to Abys-
ana," by Father Alvarezt 520l27) Slows that Dr.
Johnsons description of the Happy Valley in "Ras-
selaS," which has been regarded purely magma
tive, may have been based upon passages in Father
Avarezs narrative. 1t is also mentioned that Dr.
Johnsons first literary work translation from
the French of Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia"
The French critic Professor Paul Stapfer's gener-
ously praised work Shakespeare ami Classical
Antiquity" has been translated into English by
Miss Emily j. Carey Professor Stapfer naturally
compares the classical drama of ,cne with that of
the English master. He sees many beauties in the
former, but believes his neo-classical tragedy was
an artificial genre while Shakespeare's is =" the
natural and regular bloss0ming of the ANTIQUE
drama"
Battle Maps and Charts of the American Revolu-
ton" by General Henry b. Darlington, The author
of Battles of the American Revolution" Each
map is accompanied by page of text, arranged
upon compact and original system so as to present
singulary clear view of the history and signii-
canoe of the engagement in question, the names of
the chief and subordinate commanders, the forces
nominal and available aud the LOSSES on each side
incidents of the battle, etc. and moreover to adapt
the book for schools paginal references are added
this being novel and important feature of the
publication not only to General Carriugton's own
larger work, but to a number of the school his
tones in most common use.
writer in The 81. JamesS Gazette talks in liberal
strain of spelling reform, and says: L am by no
means sure that uniformity of spelling under our
present conditions is, you say it is, an nestima-
BILE boon. 1 would approve pupil or candidate vino
wrote iIaad, rime soreren and l would not pluck
him if he chose to write compIecton The best
chance of improving our spelling appears to me to
lie in increased freedom of competition. / would
let people any spelling for which they could pro-
dnce either respectable authority, say within the
century, a rational motive AS a matter of fact
do not think we go Indefinitely in our pres
emit state The American divergence is already be-
coming inconvenient and the number of proposals
for systematic change, of which come from
persons who have made thorough q historical
study of the English language any of those who
protest against change on historical grounds proves,
at any rate that grave dissatisfaction exists The
Spaniards and the Dutch have reformed their SPELL
ing within pretty recent times though they suffered
more from superfiuity than from positive anomalies
and the Germans dong the same"
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