New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-01

i6mo up. xiii, SIG. lGoideh iIe"s"! '''
NJ onnoorance of new volume in the Golden
Treasnrv Series is always an interesting literary
cvcnt The works composing the series nave
s,cnerally been so well chosen the editonai
caro- bestowed upon them has generally oeeh
90 malicious and the publishers have shown
snch fine taste in the manufacture, that no
intelligent collector quite likes to let one OF these
dainty books escape him. selection from Cow-
per's Letters follows appropriately the specimens
of the same poets verse prepared for this series
little while ago by Mrs. OliphaIt. We shall De sur
prsed if il do not become one of the most popular
volnmes Of the set The true lover of what is most
choice in literature will place it beside Matthew
hrnolds volume of selections from Wordsworth
Professor Colvin's selections from Landor' the
Songs ana Lyrical Poems " with which the UoIueh
Treasury opened. and perhaps the recent Speclio"S
of Cowper's poetry All these publications. mus
trate the truth that part often seems greater
than the whole. Certainly Landor ana "orus-
worth gain immensely by the service performed loI
,ha,n or for their readers, BY Messrs Colvin and
Arnold. both being authors who are best stnoieu
from extracts And as for Cowpcrs correspond
once. few who know it will deny that although 1t
includes n multitude of the most charming letters
IN the ENGLISH language an indscrimnate reading
of il is wearisome and depressing THIS Is not
ovinp TO any defect in its literary quality, but IL Is
because so much of it exhibits painful traces OF the
mental disorder which afflicted the poeS at intervals
throughout his whole life. Mr.. Benham remarks
that nearly all his correspondence with the Kew.
John Newton is tinged with a morbid religious
gloom Perhaps it is going too far TO say tha'
sneary all of it is gloomy; Mr.. Benham has been
able 20 find many letters to this friend which are
cheerful inspriting, and delightful; but COWper
undoubtedly did express. very often IN writing
10 Newton and at times in writing TO others, tie
nrofouud detection and the unwhOesOmc sense OF
religious obligations which sprang from diseased
mind. 1t is of the merits OF Mr. Behi'hhs
selections that he has excluded most of these evil
dences of insane tendency, and has allowed one OF
the simplest and most natural of etter-wrlterS 10
show himself only in his right mind.
. To understand the true place of COwpers letters
in English literature We must remember that th'y
were almost the first examples of a style which has
had many imtatOrs. 1t is true that the letters OF
GRAY (which Cowper had read and admired re-
seu,bled those of the author of The Task" III one
important particulars that is the union. rare III
those DAYS of absolute sincerity with literary grace
But the elegant scholar and the country rccluse had
not much else in common. The qualities OF letter
writing admired IN COwpers time were the III
genious artiice and theatrical sentlmentallSm Oh
Pope the wit and glitter of Lady Mary Nortley
Montagu, and such elaborate and fashionable trning
not published, however, until the present century.
Cowper began to put simple and refined thought
into the clear direct and mclodOus prose of his pTl-
yate CORRESPONDENCE. Just at the time when Gold
smith began TO write for the booksellers: and from
these two masters, who worked quite independently
OF each other on different lines and yet IN Ike
Shirt the new school may be said to date CoYpcr
has the distinction of enrichng prose composition,
as lac enriched poetry with exquisite pictures OF ma
ture and expressions of pure emotion. The woods
and lawns are no longer the conventional properties
OF the verse-naker, but real feeling for natural
beauty becomes henceforth of the marked char
aeterstics of English literature. We have only to
read some of Cowpers delightful descriptions of his
retreat at Olney at Weston Cnderwood'-tor eX-
ample the letter to the Rev. John Newton begin
ming on page los of the present edition, in which he
speaks of his love for the sounds of Nature-we have
only to read some of these unprecedented poems IN
prose and to think how differently almost any OF
his predecessors contemporaries would have I'M
agined such topics and would have felt bound to
treat them in order to realize the immense change
of which Cowper was a pioneer. AS for those let
ters which deal more particularly with the
affections they to introduce into literature
class of material which nobody before COwper knew
how to deal with except Burns. Never, we believe
has unaffected though ELUSIVE sentiment been ut
tered with more engaging sincerity and IN more
beautiful literary form tnan in the letters to Lady
Uesketh Even after the lapse of a century there is
something touching in the delight with which the
old poet welcomes a visit from his dearest COZ as
one of the brightest incidents of his life Mr. Ben
ham has done well TO draw freely from the lesketh
correspo Adence in which COwper appears 50 Ovable
so gentle and so happy
The volume, as have said, will be one OF the
most popular of the series account of the char
acter of the letters and the editors taste IN selec-
ton We wish we could also accept ii as an author
ity upon the text But there are some extraordinary
things about this edition which ought to be ex-
plained Mr. Benham remarks in his brief intro
ducton that edition to this day has all the let
ters complete" ne complains especially of Grim
Shave. who took it upon him to judge on religious
grounds what portions of the letters were edifying
and what not, and in consequence frequently cut
out paragraphs apparently only because they ale
amusing y and be adds that he has cOlated the let
ters with the original manuscripts whenever he
could and has restored much which had been sup
pressed After this preface IS with no little sur
Prise that we find Mr.. Benham himself printing
several of the letters in INITIATED form without
ANYTHING to show that they are Incomplete and III
some instances even taking greater liberties than
free.and-easy Grimshawe. The letter 70 Lady
Hesketh July 1. 1865, is given in full in Southcys
editiou: Mr. Bcnham Omits nearly half of it, consist
ing of reflections Of a somewhat gloomy cast, appar
entity taking it upon him." like Grimshawe, :" to
Judge on religious grounds what portions of the let
ters are cdifyIng and what not" and in this as in
all the similar cases to which we shall refer, the
mntilaton IS concealed. OF the letter to tho Rev.
John Newton. January 81, 1871, three paragraphs.
constituting nearly half, are omitted; the whole
j, in Soutley The wel.known rhymlng letter to
Newton July ~. 1851. beginning, My very dear
iriend-I am going to seud what. when you have
.ead IN scratch head. and VI SUPPOSE
there's nobody knows whether what have got, be
z 4. In. ,uhinh Mr.