New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-26
NEW PUBLICATIONS.


with selection OF The Poetry of By ron" chosen
aud arranged by Matthew Arnold, with critical
preface Macmillan II Co.., in which the eo'tor
makes, If not an exhaustive, at least Judic'"us
estimate of Byrons place in English htera'ure.
Byron and Wordsworth. according TO MT. Arnold
are tho only English poets of the early part OF TINS
century who gain considerably by being exhhoiVcu
in selections rather than in tue mass OF their works
Byron has not n great artists profound ana patent
skill in combining an action or Ill oeVciops "
charactcr-a skill which we must watch anu ioiow
if we are to do Justice to it. But he has wonder
fnf power of vvidly conceiving single incident.
single situation; of throwing himself upon 1t, grasp
ing It as if it were real and he and felt it, and
of making ms see aud feel it too. And in tic
same way as these bursts of incident bursts of se-
tient also living and vigorous, often occur In the
midst of poems which must be admitted to he but
weakly conceived and loosely combined wholes.
Byron cannot but be a gamer by having attention
concentrated upon what is vivid, powerful effective
in his work. and withdrawn from what IS not So"
We have not space to follow Mr.. Arnold i'll his acute
discussion of the characteristics of Dyron's best
poetry but we cannot forbear quoting the follow
ing sentences from the close of his Preface:
These two, Wordsworth and Byron, stand, it
seems to me, first and rreemincnt, glorious pair,
among the English poets of this century. Keats
had probably, indeed, more consuunmate poetic
gift than either of them but he died having pro-
tuced too little and being yet 100 immature to
rival them. l for my part can never even think Oh
caualling with them any other of their contempt
raries-either Coleridge, poet and philosopher
wrecked in mist of opium or Shelley, beauti-
full and Intellectual angel, beating in tho void his
luminous wings in vain. Wordsworth and Byron
stand out by themselves When the year 1900 is
turned and our nation comes to recount the poetic
glories in the century which has then just ended,
the first names with her will DO these" MI.
Arnods selections grouped under the divisions,
Personal, Lyric and Elegiac; Descriptive and Mar
ratve Dramatic; and Satire. large proportion
of the extracts are brief-many of them consisting
of not more than two stanzas. The elegance OF the
Golden Treasury volumes never tired of
prasing The paper in the present book is perhaps
not quite so good it ought to be, but the beauty
of the type the of the press work. and the
good taste displayed in the general typographical
arrangement admirable as ever
"Rueby, Tennessee" macmillan & Coz contains
most of what MIR. Thomas Hughes has written and
SPOKEN, in his earnest vigorous way in aid OF the
Rugby settlement. The book contains some new
matter and much old, that was well worth reprint
ing. The letters to The Spectator written from
Rugby year ago, will give persons who think they
would like to JOIN the colony good idea of the
tural features of the regon and the report of the
. State Agricultural Commissioner Colonel Kille-
brew will leave reader deceived to the nature
of the soil. --latest Views" reprinted from Mac
miitans Magazine gives practical hints to woud-be
c0lonists who are advised not to go unless they
prepared to their living out Of the soil by their
own labor, in case they have not indie
pendent means. In the first part of the
book Mr.. Hughes describes "Our Will Wimbles"
OF to-day, who the class the Rugby col
ony was designed to benefit And he gives
interesting statement therein of his political and
economic views. In his opinion, labor is going to
be king" He wants the younger sons of the gentry
md he class of a euucatIOn
but little or no MEANS and no taste for trade, to
share the sovereignty of labor by resOrtiDg to agri
culture in the United States the English colonies.
And the time will soon come, he hopes when the
handicrafts viii be open to them at home. They
closed by the jealousy and dstrust of the
working classes and by family pride. Until"
says Mr.. Hughes a young mans mother and sister
and the girl he danced with last night learn to
him driving plough or working at bench forge
for wages without any of humiliation these
occupations cannot fairly be said to be- open to
him."
DR.. John CairIs's six lectures on UDbelief in the
Eighteenth Century" Harper & Brotbersl were
the Scotch cunningham Lectures" for 1890
They make thin volume that covers, however, a
wide field of religious controversy and philosophical
speculation. The author has compact, clear style.
and candid way of stating the conclusions of men
from whom he differs and he succeeds by his mas
terry of facts, and his crisp suggestive summaries
in making very serious subject thoroughly inter-
estipg for the general reader. He emphasizes the
distinction between the unbeef of the early CEN
'turies of the Christian era, and that of the egh-
teenth and the present century. Hostility to the
Christian faith when it was young meant fidelity
to another religious system, and the desire of pro-
tecting the old faith against tue new While dis
putting the authority of the faith, its opponents
believed in the supernatural and in divine revela-
ton. But the unbeef of the eighteenth century
based upon and the denial Of every
principle of revealed religion DIR. Cairns finds
that the assailants of Christianity have not him
dered large scale its progress, which has been
direct proportion 10 its clear rcassertion of it's
supernatural character"
1.-The Sailors Handy Book and Yachtsman's Man.
uai" by Z. L. Qualtrough, u. S. n Charles Scrib-
hers Sons, appears to be a work that American
seafarer yachsman afford TO do without. 1t
is stout. compact little volume with nearly GOO
pages between its blue leather covers Every con-
ceivable subject relating to navigation is explained
made use of "The Sailors Pocket Book" of Captain
Bedford, X. N, with the latters permission, and
produced a manual adapted especially to the wants
of American seamen and possessing fuller informa-
tion than its English model, especially with refer
to steam navigation and the management OF
steam yawls. A chapter the marine steam en-
einc, by George W. Baird u. s. N, will he found OF
great practical value. A careful index has not beer
omitted.