New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-06
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
.-a ., ,nrr,NurS rNCI1su IITERATURE.

porhans il would not he difficult to find much
,,or, profound and comprehensive critical studies Oh
nearly all the great personages treated in this MS
tory than Mrs. Oliphant has tried TO give us; p"'
we should be puzzled indeed TO name any siihii'r
or ~ moro enhancing interest or OF more general
utility. Exposition rather than searching cruz
cism is the purpose of the book. Mrs. Ohphant mas
undertaken to set before the principal figures Oh
nm important literary period. TO describe the cOteroS
in which they were associated. the society III Which
they moved the schools OF thought an" oi '''S'o ~
which they gave impulse or from which ,"'9
derived it, the crossing and correspondence "a ~
respective roads, the influence oI eA'i"N.9u'
circumstances upon the development anu "ioO.''
of their powers; and With all this enough cii''V"
ANALYSIS 10 enable us to seize inc saiienV 0"'''" w.
;s,;cs of authors and determine their proper place
in literary history. Here was scllouS TASK,
demanding not only extensive reading, carelul
,esoarch and clear Judgment. but rare skill IN
arrangements analogous TO the novelists art oil
construction Mrs. ELEPHANTS success has been
brilliant Opinions of course Will diller as w 'n0
Justice of her verdict in particular cases. ouC 'n'io
will hardly be any dispute as to the e&traoruihulS
viyidness and the substantial accuracy Win VIM"
she has exhibited the course and spirit OIL Ensnsn
literature from the time of Cowper and burns 10 INC
dawn of our own day. There are three grea' ei"9
IN English literature which may be distinguished
o. Tho ace of Elizabeth the age of Anne, and we
hould no clad 70 saw for the sake of cuphony ana
aoigbtful eoujpolse the age of Victoria; but alas
thoueb q number of the great names winch iu"u'
tbe last epoch illustrious lasted into her day. u'
cop,pels us to admit that the last nood-uue VI III
teuectual wealth and genius came In the age "a
George. most unpoetical of patrons" IL is 10 VIC
descrption OF this third epoch, stretching lorWaIu
into our own century, and not only creating ne"
oode and new laws. but changing the very atmos-
4l,o ont am "a
purer moral and higher SOUL" that Mrs Ohpha"'
applies herself.
In its broad outlines her method may be called
o., biccnnbical for she tells the story of each OF
her nrncinal figures aud of the minor actors she ri
,eost draws the PORTRAITS. But Der book is Ike any
tlnr rather than a biographical dictionary Inc
art with which she discards unnecessary dotal
and sets illustrative traits in the strongest lgh IS
admirable. Her characters live. Her RAPID anu
vivacjous narrative brings them before US III ther
individuality; we know their habits, Their u'spo-
sition their friends, their surroundings their anus
cd omh;tions the bent of Their mind. as well as
the quality of their genius, the ties when unite
them with their contemporaries, and the differences
which set them apart There is a singular ielci'y
In the manner in hich Mrs Oliphant has succeeded
in fusinp the personality of the author with the
character of his productions; and this merit IS
eoually conspicuous in her treatment OF tle BieN'
single figures and of the groups OF smaller ones
Rut in fact few names in the Georgian era can uc
considered alone Nearly all Of them fall na'ur-
ally into more or less close cOmpanonshlps some
times of literary resemblance, sometimes OF actu'i
intercourse The Lake school Of poets is an obvious
illustration: and hardly less striking example
will be found in the chapters through which MIS-
olinb,,rt traces Moore. Byron, Shelley and Keats.
In the review of Byron and Shelley particularly,
the Two poets hold the scene, now by turns and
now together like the characters in play, and the
story gains enormously in clearness and force by
the dramatic arrangement The lives Of Byron ana
Shelley we're indeed closely interviewer durl
part of their cratic course but there are other
cases in which. while the strictly blographlcai
connection is not well defined, Mrs Ohphant mas
nroduced an equally telling effect by assoeietin9
little groups of poets and essayists noyeIsts ana
nondescript men of letters, who. without any tan
cibIe bond of union constituted little society by
themselves Perhaps she uses some lawless lorce
now and then 10 drive small people into the set TO
which they seem her appropriate; but oftener we
are struck by the shrewdness of her cassihcatlons
and the fine art with which she portrays the DIS
tlnctve features of the group without opscurihg
the individual traits of its componenIs Her chap-
ter on that Lower Circle of London which has
been dubbed the Cockney School " IS delightful
in its way though we doubt not there VIII DO
ouarrelInr over some of Its harsh opinions. This
lower region possessed many peculiariues OF the
old Grub Street existence. 1t was poor; lts Inc
was full of literary schemes and compilations oil al
kinds. Specimens Selections 'Eptomes OF HIS
tory, Annual Registers and many more-whlch,
along with such poor scraps as were then required
in the shape of magazine articles, answered. 'ne
nprnose of securing daily bread 10 a large body of
writers to whom literature had become a traue {;
while ever and anon poem, more CT less ambitions
Obi1ocnnhical WOulu burst 1Ortl
from tbe obscurity TO show how among these poor
literary hacks, labOring hard in their vocation,
there was some genius and much AMBITION ana
that desire to do something worth remembering OF
beinc remembered by, which gives a generous IN
spiration often to the merest scribbler" william
Goodwin was the most remarkable figure IN tAls
school. and Mrs Oliphant makes him the subject Oh
most brilliant and entertaining study drawing
around him one by one the authors with "hom no
was personally associated, and others VINO Delong
TO the same class, and place, and time, who fire.
ouented the same houses and affected the same
literary methods. So we soon have the whole COM
many ranged before us-Mary WOllstonecrait, Haz-
lit. Holcroft, Wolcot, Leigh Hunt, Mrs. Inchbald'
-anl others; while Lamb, who belonged TO a
higher. circle, fits across the stage, and the
shadows even of Shelley and Byron fall upon the
scene. The next succeeding chapter, entitled, Tor
the sake of antithesis, The Country" Is rather
arbitrary division, in which the prominent person
ages are Joanna Baillie Mrs. Barbauld. Cobbett,
Beckford the elder Disraeli, and Mrs Hemans; but
nobody will complain that the pictures lack
yivacity and clearness and for any fault IN the
grouping amends may be found in the following
chapter on the Upper Circle" of London, where
Holland House and Rogers lead us naturally TO
Byron and Moore. OF other successful attempts 10
group the characters and use them to illustrate one
another we may refer TO the chapter o" lie
and tbat on Maria Ed0eWOrth, Jane