New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-21

vented from doing so only by the number OF snen
paragraphs This TOO is the experience OF otner
men. as can bear cheerful testimony inis p omui
of the press is increasing continually anu i peoo
ing more and more benehcent 10 every one who
can look back half century, II must oc eNIucnu
that in quality well as in quantity the lhDIoN.
ment is Immense That there is room foT more WIZ
he admitted by none eagerly "a by editors thel-
selves who tireless in their endeavors 20 Ini95
their calling TO Tie rank thcy peICeifO ~ 'i-O
hold.
Mr. Henry James in his neat recollections OF
The Country of Aries" conveys some information
and makes divers pictures III leisurely ana nm
ished fashion clever little semi-politlcal sketch
by c. II. White is worth reading; so' too Is
pleasant, if slightly thin, paper of " "reminiscences
of Christs Hospital
The portraits of Dante which are to be found ID
The Century are more interesting than the arucie oS
Miss Rosset which precedes them In us soiio
what affected passages. its feminine stralhlus d"
STRENGTH il is n contrast to Mr. Stedmans clean
cnt pages on Keats. In these few paragraphs MI
Stedman shows, as he has OFTEN SHOWN o'i.,
what advantage the apprehension vi Wv
critic and the sympathy OF 'uo PU0'
may Gain from ASSOCIATION with the practical Jnug
man, Of Tho man of affairs. Those who have been
anpered by Mr.. Arnold's cruel and surely Pnihs-
+inep Indictment of the surgeons apprentice
will find a soIace in the American critics more
reasonable conclusions. 1t may be-" he says
that the evolution of a poet advances quite as
surely through experience of the average mans
folly and emotion as through class training IN
reticence, dignity and self-restraint;p ,-.,,
In the fl 81 glow of ambition Keats inscrl oed
"Endymion" to the memory OF Chatterton, ana
Gladly would have eQualled that slice bless soui III
fate SO were ne equal to him in renown. After,
ward in his first OF Pa9Sn f f6e freueV
of passing hour. 1t is not out OF nature tnHc
genius in these early crises should DE pltiiui!
sensitive or take stagestrides The training lhaI
would forestal this might, like Aylmers process,
too we'll remove q birth-mark We can spare. now
and them gray head on green shoulders Il thereby
we gam poet. Keats was sturdy gallant oOy
at school-as q man, free from vices patrl,
clan or plebeian, and gentleman IN motive ana
bearing. No unusual prccocity OF character goes
with the artistic temperament. 1t Is observed OF
born musicians. who III childhood nave mastered
instrument and counterpoint, and OF otheI
phenomenal geniuses. that they are not OLD beyond
their years. nor less simple and froicsome than
their playmates But the heyd2y in the blood mas
always been critical to poets as the slhistef %
junction" was to the youth of the Arabian tae
Shakespeare Milton, Burns Shelley, Byronwere not
specifically apostles of common sense In thelr ioVei
affairs but their own experience scarcely lowered
the tone or weakened the vigor of their poetry.
Keatss ideality was disturbed by the PASSION Whcn
came upon him suddenly and late; be chung 10 us
object with fiercer longing and anguish az ne ieit
both her and life itself slipping away from his holn
Everything is extreme in the emotion OF the poet
Mr. Arnold does justice TO his problty ana 1oloeai
ance to his trust in the canons OF art ana rigu SELF
measurement by an exactinG standard; he surely
must see on reflection that such mans slavery TO
passion would be a shOrt-liyed episode before
Keats could rise again to higher things his doom
confronted him. HIS spirit flew hither and thltheT,
by many paths across each as IN lurguehen :
prose poem, yawued the open grave, and BEHIND
him the witch Fate pressed ever more cIoseIy' ne
had PRAYED for ten years in which he might over
whe1m himsey in poesy. He was granted scant
five. and made transcendent use OF them. uad ne
lived who can doubt that he would nave become
mature in character as ne was 70 already br 0Syted
as regards FORM that one OF oheIey
most cOnsummate productions was inspired
by the works and death OF Keats aouot
not that Keats's sensuOus and matches verse
would have taken on, In time, more OF the euslve
spirituality for which we go TO Shelley. AS 1t was.
he and Wordsworth were the compliments OF each
other with their respective gifts, and made the way
clear for Tennyson and his successors Impressed
by the supreme art and fresh Imagination OF the
author of Hyperion" not few are dlsPOsed 10
award him place on the topmost dals where Du Two
English poets await his cOminglf not entitled there
TO an equal seat, at least with the right 10 stand
beside the thrones lneal inherltor the hrst-oorn
prince of the blood. His poetry has been studled
with delight in this western world for the last haf-
century. One page of il is worth the whole product
of the aesthetic" dIletants who most recently
have undertaken to direct MS, as II by privilege OF
discovery, TO the fountain head of modern song
The engraving the life-mask of Keatsls beautiful
alike in subject and execution From the fine Rem
brandt head. which opens the magazine TO the
smallest tail-piece the illustrations of the number
are. in truth. the most admirable of their kind.
There is a good deal of ambitious but unimpOTtant
poetry in the magazine. Mr. Austin Dob
sons trim little presentation jingles be-
ing quite as good as the more serious
efforts printed in the body of the number. The
Browning sonnet, it must be said, is grievously
hvsterical and, while well enough in the feminine
album. is not in print cred,table TO the poet.