New-York tribune., 1882-03-11
BOOKS IN LONDON.
prAcoNsFIELD's sPEECHEs-DANTE AND
TvANGFI INE-ARNOLD AND STE. BEUNE'

ifhoH ih LONDON, February 2l,,
The promised volumes of Lord Beacohsleia ~
,peeches selected, arranged, and edlteu oS ~
r Kebbel. have appeared with the imprn. OF
Nossrs Ioncnans. The AhcRGWm calls them
"nortlvr Ito be tall and narrow. and rather thlh'
r0 trimmed exceedingly close is TO be porty then
tbese two octave volumes arc portly otnerWISt ho
The first criticism one has to make on the Selectons
chat il is q selection. Lord BeacohSheiu oc-
serves more complete record thah 'nis'
II II be impossible and undesirable 10 re-
,,uhlisb every speech he ever made IL
was most desirable, and one would hope not ai'o-
pether impossible, to republish all tho more I'M
,,ortaot MI Kebuel does not pretend to have done
fbs He has printed in all about seventy speeches;
less than one and half per year for the perlod they
- Tho selection. moreover, is the work of an
,o,,ed rortis,n and is open to the remark that 1t
has been made not much to exhibit L0rd beacohS-
Geld in full as to exhibit the best OF him. 10 put
il IN another way, not all the DlsraeHs ana oea-
consfelis we have known are here but only some
of them; those who will best bear the keenness OF
Dostbu,nous scrutiny and hand him down topoSterty
r;tb somewhat fewer inconsistencies and ecccn-
,ricities than really belong TO him. There never
lived man who turned his back on himself so
often rs Lord Heaconsield. Mr.. kehbel has spent
some ingenuity on the problem how to present
nothing hut front view of this pcrpctualy revoiN-
inc fonrc. Lord Bcacousfeld would hardly have
thanked
mere straiehtforwa1dncSs he had an Oriental con-
temrt. He would not have troubled himself TO sup
mess his declaration of yesterday that thing was
black. because to-day he had pronounced 1t white.
That however may be passed over. II Mt. hcD-
bel formed a capricious conception of his editorial
duties. il is open to some future student OF TINS
strange personality TO form and carry out aluer-
ent one. And as to publishing "A selection oh'A, III
stead of collection, Mr.. Kebbel may perhaps plead
I. ,,,,,1t tnIt thA
could not for the other Nobody reads speeches
now. say the magnates of Paternoster koW. bu'
Mr. Kebbels notion of the functions ct an e'nlo' Is
IN some other resaccts very imperfect one. IL Is
very doubtful whether the topical arrangement he
has adopted is a good one for speeches. SlasSlhc"-
lion is the pet crotchet Of the day thanks 10 PIE
dominant scientific influence. But tAe SUI
dent or casual reader will seldom care 20
have complete exhibition of all that MI Dislaeh
said on a given subject. On none was he an au'hoi-
itv. There was no single political question OF the
first magnitude In his time which Mr. Disre ell took
the trouble to master The one department OF mont
ical life in which he was precminent-the conduct
of Marty and of q Parliamentary majority OF mi
nority-is not one about which speeches are made
The result of this accumulation OF haiaAgues on
particular topics is not TO enlarge ones lea OF the
author's political knowledge OF political sagaclty'
The method it affords of studying the seclet
of his real greatness is very detective
and unsatisfactory method One wOUld have liked
to follow. not Mr.. Disraes speculatons On va1ous
nolitical puzzles but the greatest puzzle of al-he
man himself chronological arrangement would
have been fas more helpful for such purpose
that
Notes are wanting moreover. Mr.. KebbePs intro
dnctions are studiousy nOtensve bat they are also
inadequate M Dlsraelis speeches are peculiarly
in need OF such aids for the reader from their want
do And m
dex. The best that be said CT these
volumes is that they do supply the means OF
reading with some convenience considerable |
number of the best speeches of Lord BeacOnseld.
leave untouched the greater Of Lord Beaconsields
oratorcal qualities though 1t is one on when lhere
is much to be said 1t may be discussed quite as
usefully after the present reprint has made ls due
impression on the public. Readable the speeches are
10 degree, ard read they will be don't doubt
They will possibly enhance Lord BeaconSiieldS
fame as a rhetorcian and asa debater of ingenuity
and res,nrce But TO apply to him the word orator
is 70 limit the meaning of the word orator and |
lower its value.
translation of Dantc's Inferno into Greek |
made by Turk and published in England Is surely |
a novelty in literature. His Excelleucy MusuruS |
Pacha is indeed Turk only by adoption, but 1t Is |
hard to sneak of man who for twenty years or |
moro has represented the Sublime Porte, and more |
Sublime Sultan, at the Court of st. James, as any
thing but an Ottoman pure and simple. Nor had |
he been publicly known as a Dantean, or even as
an Italian scholar, before the appearance OF tins
version believe the truth Is tina no many years |
ago Musurus found himself in need 'me perma- |
nent distraction and occupation, and SO betook |
himself TO Dante His rendering is a sort of tour de
force. The Greek is not modern but ancient |
Greek aud yet not Greek that any one Greek |
living in apy one country or at one period woud |
have written. He has taken. if not all knowledge |
the whole of a Language in its successive stages OF
development to be his province. andfor the purpose
of this translation, his property. Not finding even
that sufficient he has added some words of his own
invention. With all this he has thrown over the |
the metrical scheme of Greek versiicaion, ignoring
the existence of such thing as quantity ana
falling back upon the pronunciation ami accehtua-
tion used by the modern Greek; the accents indcat
ing on what syllable of each word the stress is laid
An odd tumble altogether might say. But
when an Am bassador and the Dean OF the Diploma
tic Corps degns to occupy his leisure with literature,
politeness demands that the result should be re-
spectfully reviewed. Reviewed 1t Is, accordingly, |
with decorum and with some successful efforts at
praise Who is likely TO read il except the review
ers we are not told. Mr. LongfellOw's cOuntrymen
may be interested in knowing that his Turkish EX-
cellency has adopted the ine-for-line scheme OF
translation which the American poet preferred;
which was also that OF Sir Frederick Pollock The
latter shares with Mr. Gladstone the distinction
of being equally at home in Greek and Italian, and
is the author Of the most elaborate and learned crit
icism which has appeared on MusuIuss perform
anee-that of The Saturday RerieU
Messrs. Cassell Il Co., who publish the so-called
edition de lure of Mr.. LongfellOws " Evangelne,"
are now advertising it copousy by help of letter
signed by Mr. LongfeOw. One must assume that