New-York tribune., 1881-12-03
LITERATURE IN LONDON.
,o,o, NEW ROCKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

,., ho ve made SO little effort to compete
n,or American dictionaries, that oco'ou-
me, are coming 10 the rescue. lhere - eo 40"
t,ox no English dictionary which ior ee"oi"' "'o
fIss can be compared with either Weostei VI
1ynrcester Both of these published IN England
Ia hotb have considerable sale. II Webster
~ould be purified from its barbarisms OF spelNhg'
d i,s orthoepical errors and dehciencies made
GOOD or if Worcester were brought down to date III
the matter of etymooGles Englishnen m'ghV oe
satisfied with either As matters slahd. MeSSi''
Blackie of Edinburgh. think the field open LOT
new edition of Ogilvies so-called lmperia' nv
tionary-a bad name for what may he eood o"oN'
The first volume has lately appeared ana haS ''ilS
at least to recommend it, that Is new edition ID
the genuine sense of the word. 1t has been re-
edited and printed afresh not merely auSh'h'eh
by a supplement. When the war OF dicti"h'iio9
went on in Amortization augbt know II Is SUN
going on-the number of words IN each useu /" pe
great nont of contest In this particular OgilVie'
if his publishers computation may be uus'eu'
surpasses both Worcester and Webster Against
=. Worcester's 10000 and Webster's 1ls.O00. the
new Imperial Dictionary boasts 10000 words
Its numerical superiority is due, l 'ancy' 10 lne
inclusion of more technical and purely scientific
words than are admitted IN the pages OF ITS rivals.
Iatham's Johnson one of the most pretentlous ana
least Trustworthy of modern dictionaries is eSti-
mated to contain only $4,000 words OgilVie
connts up pretty fast also with compounds OF
which there are less than eighteen nnutr
"Chimney" and ten under Cheese" Inc Oooh h'
moreover, almost as much an encyclopedia as
dictionary; with fuller definitions and descriptions
than are needed tor purely lexicOgmphcal pur-
noses Its 5000 illustrations are another purely
modern feature; unorthodox but too popular 10 DC
displaced
Professor David Masson's Ode Quincy" is the
peyr volume in Messrs. Macmillan's English Men
of Letters" There is fitness in Mr. MaSSons deal
ing with De Quincev, IN at least one respect lhey
both lived IN Edinburgh There is one equally
marked uuftness. De Quincey was master OF
English and Mr.. Mason is-well. let us say
master of English that is sometimes peculiar. de
Quincy occasionally proved his mastery over
English by taking liberties with it. Mr. Mason
takes liberties enough but what they prove in his
case is not precisely the same thing as IN De
Ouncey's Mr. Masson's hippant eccentrlctIes
have perhaps been censured quite often enough
There was time when nne might have hoped he
would profit by the criticism. But the old tanlts
reanrear and Mr. Mason is doubtless of opinion
that what his critics call fippancy Is in fact AMI
nation or vivacity of style. He has done so much
good hard work, some of it very useful aud excel
lent. that one regrets the more he will not rid
himself of his most provoking peculialitles oil dlc
tion The beginning of chapter V. shows Mr..
Mason not at his worst, but in a too character
Istic mood of sheer friskness. little becoming TO
him as gambong usually is to creatures of un-
wieldy structure. Elsewhere such phrases as 40
the sage slight piece of service" deeply reasoned
bits of brain product, meagre outfit OF th. I'M
perative mood" and the like leave one in doubt
whether Mr. Massons faults of style are pure alec'
taton or purely initiative. But Dir. Mason has
stated his views style in a passage (pp. 100 o2h
which puts an eud to ali further expostuaton with
him on that subject. His book will be useful only
TO those who are able to overcome the irritation
which from page to page he takes or seems to take
q pleasure in exciting. 1t may be said OF him, as
Talleyrand said OF Napoleon that good taste is bis
personal enemy If Napoleon, added Talleyrand
could have rid himself of his enemy by cannon
shot it would long since have ceased to exist. MI
Mason has proved that for this purpose also the
pen is mightier than cannon shot or the sword
dare say it may blunt the edge of these com
plants if add that Mr.. Mason has a good word for
America as the country where De Qurcey's place
In literature was first recognized; and where early
recognition of that sort is common. One is glad TO
hear ALSO that Messrs. TicknOr q Fields, who
anticipated the Scotch publishers in collecting DE
Quincey's works, paid the author a satisfactory
proportion of the profits Of their venture
Mr.. Charles Elton has just put the finishing touch
70 a work which has occupied him for three years
N past on "The Origins of English History" The
VI
travellers of Alexanders time and comes down to
the conversion of the AnglO-Saxons to Chris
tianty dealing by the way with many topics
which lie out of the ordinary historians track
Mr. Elton is baTrister well known as an authority
in the more difficult branches of his profession
with reference to landed property, with Angulary
full knowledge Of the historical side of that lntrl
cate subject. He is, the book will show, some
thing more than lawyer; a student of history in
ne of
an,hropology; with views of his own as to the
distribution and succession of races in these islands
Mr.. Conway's "Thomas Carlyle" has had good
success with the book buying public and with the
book-reaaing critics. The first edition speedily
sold out and the book became difficult to get
viii hin a few DAYS of its appearance This was the
more remarkable, or perhaps not moro remarkable,
from the number of books, sO-caed about Carlyle
which had preceded Mr.. COnway's-mOst of them
very rank specimens of book making The Specta-
tor speaks of Mr.. Conways work as the Iecollec-
tions of one who loved Carlyle, who has power to
unveil some part of the lovabe nature that was in
the man -; adding: The gmpses of the home at
Chelsea given here are vivid and liielke than
almost anything else that has been published in
that kind though everything of the kind is a littl
Disappointing We hear. furthermore, that Mr.
Conway's work is interesting as supplying us with
an american" view of carlyle; whatever that
may mean.
twelfth edition of Dean Stanley's "Life of
Arnold" has just appeared with the imprint of Mr..
Murray and a page of new preface by its author
The Dean remarks not without certain compla-
cency that to the portrait he has drawn of DR..
Arnold two additions and two only, have been
made by other hands One is to be fonnd in Mr.
Thomas Hughes's q Tom Browns School Days at
Rugby" of which the Dean remarks: " IL is not too
60 at- t-at1 1aaa far ii
concerned-a vivid picture of Dr. Arnolds
career is conveyed in the occasional illusions and