New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-24
LITERARY NOTES.

Anew preface having special reference to recent
events ID Egypt has been prepared by MI. kinSiaAe
for an an edition of Vol. OF his Crimean history
Mr. Gladstone has written pleasant note III
Italian to Professor 6iuhon, who sent nm VoIuno
on Dante. You have been good enough" saysthe
Premier, Ito call that supreme poet solemn master
for me- These are not empty words. Inc reaulhs
of Dante is not merely pleasure, todF eJO'0' VI
lessons ii is vigorous discipline Tor Vho hoai'.
tho intellect, the whole man. In the schooi OF
Dante have learned great part of that mental
nrcvision however insignificant it be- winch has
served me to make the journey of human life up to
the term of nearly seventy-three years. And
should ike to extend your excellent phrase and to
tay that he Who labors for Dante labors to serve
Italy, Christianity, the world"
The 800 volumes of printed books and the sixty
volumes of MSS, comprising the Franklin colieo-
ton OF Mr.. Henry Stevens, which has been pur-
chased by our Government, are now III the posses
zion of Mr.. Lowell The collection which Will
shortly be sent ~ Washington, contains frankilHs
first work on Liberty and Necessity" OF
which the author printed only one hundred copies,
gave three four away, and destroyed all the Ies
except one copy annotated by Lyon.
Among the MSS. is the duplicate copy of the last
petition of Congress so the King signed
by Washington and all the members OF the Cont
mental Congress.
The pretty little volume of E. w. Gasso's
poems which Henry Holt & Co. are
about to publish is dedicated to MI
X. w. Glider. Mr.. Gosses delicate and musical
yerselets have many American admirers
Henry Ibsen's remarkable drama, "a Dolls
House." has lately been translated into English and
published in London under the title of Nora"
Ibsen IS perhaps the greatest writer OF his time III
Norway, and 1t is pity that his works should not
be better known to the English reading public
Mr. Tennysop's earlier poems are to be published
in tw @ volumes of the parchment Library"
Macmillan g. Co. viii bring out immedi ately DR.
Ebers's new novel, "Only Word"
MIR. Fl. Horne's "Cosmo de Medici has en-
tered its fourth edition.
A volume entitled Some Passages in the Early
Life of Charles Dickens" will shortly be published
in England.
In rummaging through the shop of a second
hand bookseller in London a customer came
across some literary rubbish in rare binding.
"Where do you expect to get customers for these 7"
he asked cOntemptuOus.y. On, neg your
pardon" said the bookseller. 1--WE frequently
have orders from country gentlemen for SO
many yards of folio and so many yards of quaItO.
to fit up their libraries. and they pay as well az
anything" Ii this story were told concerning
American county gentlemen" now IoIty "outu
be the sneers of the English photographers!
The phrase The Three RS " is generally referred
TO Sir William Curtis who LORD Mayor of Lon
don in 1895. A writer in Notes aid Queries
says: 81 remember eyed member OF
the Corporation now deceased, asserting that
Sir William Curtis In the days when DR..
Bell and the Quaker Lancaster were pleading on
behalf of increased facilities for the education OF
the poor. gave as toast at city dinner the
three Re- My friend assured me that Sir William
Curtis, although a man of limited education, was
very shrewd. and not ignorant as TO suppose his
presumed photography was correct. He chose the
phrase in the above form purely for jocular rea-
son."
Mrs. Oliphant has already written over ffty
novels The late Charles Darwin was particularly
fond of her books he read them constantly. and
seldom closed one without the remark that "peo-
pie do not quite appreciate Mrs. ollphant yet"