New-York tribune., 1881-03-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS
rNaLIsH 5 soNNErs.

TREASURY OF ESGLIsn soNSELs ,,Ts,,oss K1isra 1sCm
the gnslssi sqpFss Msrs syo. rp 47O. New-Yorz: r.
Worthington 1881. -, -.
Th;s beautiful and snmptuoas book will meet
with a warm welcome from all who nave ever
fallen victims to the peculiar aud supte chariu VI
the sonnet The admirer OF the sonnet is wont :"
he exacting In his Demands but MI. Main mas iuas
satis6cd ali reasonable requirements From Sir
Thomas Wyat to Oliver MADDOX Brown" dead ere
his prime nfrom 1910 to 1870. the editor has made
b;a choice Of the 46S sonnets which form the teNt
of this collection, while in tho notes are 20 oe
found many more hardly less valuable than thoSe
forming the bsdy of the work. IL would DC luie 70
sav that Mr.. Main will satisfy everyone IN MS Sc
lection The love for the sonnet as has been n'hteu
Ia caprcious, and possibly reader here anu Ipere
win miss tome one OF bis choice. Unless one were
10 make collection of all the sonnets that hau
aver been written, the same would propaoiy oe
true, But we repeat, Mr. Main has met every
reasonable demand. Indeed. his mistake II there 10
any is ON the side of fulness aud easineSs Oh seec
tion, rather than severity. Every poein' in his
Judgment, fulfis the requirements Oh sonn's
which obeys the two cardinal laws which demand
that the sonnet shall consist of fourteen rhymed
aecasvllabic yerses and to be development OF one
,dea mood feeling, or seutlment--and one only
Clearly this Is not too rigid definition. On the
other hand, considering the result OF Mr. Mains ap-
p,lcation of his theories we are nos lnchneo W
quarrel with him for being too lax.
The arrangement Is chronological, and the choice
includes only English poets not living. 1t Is pleas
ant 10 find that the sonnets are printed wlthouS
break relief after the faulty form adopted by MI
Pslgrave--in his Golden Treasury for example,
aud elssw here-and Others. When 1t Is added that
the book is excellently prinsed that 1t is admra-
bly, supplied with indiees, and that 1T IS pleasure
A. oil tn fha m
will be seen that sonnetovers are under real oD-
ligstion to the editor.
The authors most largely drawn from are OF
course, Shakespeare and Wordsworth, ffty.seven
being selected from the former, while Wordsworth
IA represented by sixty-oae. All OF Millions Engsh
sonnets arU given in the text, except the easily
spared two On the DetIaction which Followed
upon my Writing Certain TreatisesD and OF these
the second is given in the notes. The selecuon
from Keats's very uneven sonpets is made Win ex-
cellent judgment. Thirteen are given in the text.
with some four moro In the notes Admirers OF
Keats will perhaps ask why Mr. Main has not In
cluded the sonnet beginning:
Nymph of the downward smile and eidelOng glance
Ia printing shelley's Ode to the West Wind as
series Of FIVE sonnets most readers Will think that
Mr. Main has stretched even his own hbe raj dehni-
tion of sonnet, and his Justification of so doips
many beautiful sonnets here not easily accessible
elsewhere, that we may well refrain from finding
fault because we are given TOO much.
The special interest attaching to this particular
collection centres naturally IN the notes, which
toyer more than 200 pages Of fine print. Theedlt0r
has here stored the results of very extensive read
ing. He seems 10 know everything that has ever
been written in English touching the sonnet. and is
intimately acquainted with the whole range of
English poetry. The illustrative poems IN this
portion are not confined to sonnets, nor to the
works of poets no longer living. He quotes Mr..
Richard Watson GildeIs sonnet,
What is a sonnets IT'S tile pearly shell
by way of comment on Wordsw worth's famous
Scorn not the Sonuet" And the curious reader
will find many charming poem or delicate bit OF
criticism tucked away Ia some unexpected corner
The one objection to be made to the notes is that
Mr. Main does not always give his readers sufficient
credit for common sense. 1t unnecessary, surely,
10. warn us that Mr.. Mason made stupid blunder
In supposing that Milton alluded TO his eyesighG
when he mourned over the loss of the use of that
one talent which is death to hide" And had it not
been for the note rem Sir Henry Taylor, we should
cot have supposed that 1t entered tue bounds of
human misconception to misunderstood Words
worth's magnificent burst OF passion:
Great God III rather be
pagan, sucked on o creed Out-wOrD.
However there have heretofore been persons OF
slow apprehension, to pat it mildly. and there will
doubtless DO such again, though what they can
want of treasury of sonnets is not 50 plain. At all
events they will not miss-the quality which Mr..
Main needs to make his book nearly perfect-a
sense OF husaor.
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER; and Administra-
OF the sacraments and Other Rites and Cersmon-