New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-02-13
NOTES ON BOOKS.
sNEN OF THE TINE" AND OTHER MEN OF
THE TIsfE-AN AMERICAN CONUNDRUM.

'Ao" i"~ LoSpoN, january so.
"Men of the Tnne,' of which the eleventh
edition has Just been issued. by Messrs. hou'
ledge. il one of the most Indispensable """
most irritating of current publications MI ihomp
.ou Cooper who edits the book, observes that inc
-. - = - IN furnish memoirs of eminent living
-scn. of both sexes in all parts OF the civliized
,vo,,d adding that the aristocracy of ntehect had
hen eft until his work first appeared without any
ececial record. Mr.. Thompson Coopers notion OF
what constitutes q claim to admission into the
aristocracy of intellect is very peculiar notion
indeed. A list of men of the time who are not In
clnded in this present. edition (which Dir. Cooper
declares TO be to all intents and purposes new
hook has already been published in London. 1t
contains about $50 names, among them Professor
Bryce. Lord Randolph Churchill Mr.. Charles Rus
cell leader Of the English bar; Mr. Ibert author OF
the foolish bill which has set India aflame;
artists so we'll known as Mr.. Edwin Long, dr.
Fildes, Mr.. Whistler and Mr.. Burne Jones; men OF
science as eminent as DR.. W. b. Carpenter, Mr.. C.
J. Romanes aud Sir Joseph Lister. Even MIR. Brad
laugh and Mr.. Oscar Wilde are wanting.
This list of omissions is wholly, or almost wholly
English and makes no pretension TO completeness.
III we look abroad, IL might be enlarged ten Oh
twenty fold. Take France. Young france seems
10 be quite unknown to Mr.. Thompson Cooper ana
much of the literary and artistic France which Is no
longer young. Among artists Bonnat, admittedly
the irst portraitpainter of his day; Carous Duran
his rival Bouguereau. long an American iavorlte;
Rastien-Iepage who came decisively to the
front perhaps FIVE years ago; Henner, Lau-
rens. Van-Marck and Jacquet will be sought for
in vain in Mr.. Thompson Coopers aristocracy. The
leading etchers of the modern French school.
Flameng, Waltner Raon Though he lives in Eng
land) Lalanze are not named. The time is one
when actors and actresses have celebrity lin some
cases and social position never before reached, but
few of them are famous enough for Mr.. Cooper. Two
of the first three comedians of the day are not to be
found In this book: Coquelin, who, In addition to
being in his own roles an actor without rival, was
Gambetta's friend and Delaunay, just decorated
with the Legion of Honor, aad the first comedian
ever decorated as such (he got his bit of red
ribbon in his quality as professor at the
CONSERVATORY. Neither of the two Dupuis is
named, nor st. German, nor Worms, nor Reginer
nor Marais He knows not Madeleine Brohan, nor
Croizette for 30 ne time rival Of Sarah Bernhardt
nor Mile. Reichenberg nor Blanee Pierson, the
latest, nor Nile Bartet, one OF the
latest accessons to the Theatre Franeais. The in
comparable Anna Jude, the idol OF Paris; Chau-
mont long the the idol of London; Jeanne Gravier,
the first living opera boufe singer; Jeanne Holding,
once her rival, now the star of the Gymnase IN M.
Ohnets comedy, lie Maitre dc FORCES" y; Rosita
Maur the premiere danseuse of the grand opera and
of Europe-nOne of these are good enough for Mr..
Thompson COoper's pages. Nor is Nine krauss nor
vet NJ Lasalle whom Paris crowds the great Opera
House to hear: still less. l suppose, Mile. Vaa
Zandt, since she is an American, and Miss GriswoId
also an American, both celebrities in the French
canital IL NAV be noted that Miss Mary Anderson's
name also wanting.
Among recent French dramatlsts who are I'M
known to Mr.. Thompson Cooper are NJ. Edward
Paileron of the Academic FranGaise, author of the
play which has had the greatest success of modern
times at the Theatre Francais, lie Monde on Pon
s'ennnie" Mr.. Cooper has not heard of Gondinet,
nor of Meilhac nor of Haevy, all of them for many
wears past among the most admired of French dra-
matte writer's NJ. Georges Ohnet, whose three
novels and two plays have been the talk of Paris
since the appearance of the first, =" Serge Panine."
is not thought worthy of mention. Albert Delpit.
CIV de Maupressant and Jean Richepn are
names we'll known to every Frenchman who reads,
but not to Mr.. Thompson Cooper, nor has he ever
heard of the poet who is to have the next chair in
the Academy, NJ. Francois Coppee.
English journalists of every grade aud degree,
Though with some striking omissions, Mr.Mudford
for example, the ablest of them all are given places
as men of the time French journalists whose indi-
vidualty is commonly far more pronounced, who
are much more personages and much more before
the pubic than their English colleagues,
are chiefly conspicuous by their absence. Not
a word is vouchsafed of Maynard of the
FIGARO: Ranc and Henri Maret. of the Poltaire;
Meyer of the Gaalois; Hebrard, of the Temps;
Paul Meurice, Auguste Vacquerle and Edouard
Iockroy of the Rappe p. Leroy Beaulieu and
Gabriel Charmes. of the Journal des Debdts. Omit
ted also are men of the rank OF j. j. Weiss, whom
Gambetta thought worth attaching to the Republic
by State Counclllorshp; Albert Wolf, the first
or nearly the first French art-critc of the day; de
Mazade; and the younger Buloz, Editor of the
Repse des Dear NORGe whose father in his lifetime
was equally unlucky. The well-known representa-
tiyes of the London press in Paris are left unno-
tioed So great man as NJ. de Blowitz will be
sought for in vain in ~ Men Of the Time y; whether
under the appellation by which he chooses TO be
known at present or as Herr Oppert, which is his
real name and which he shares with very en-
inent Assyrologist Mr.. Crawford, for thirty years
the excellent Paris correspondent of The Ldiy ecs
fares no better; nor Mrs. Crawford, one of the
most versatile and interesting journalists OF the
period.
The first dramatic critic in Europe is M. Fran
cisque Sarcey, whose weekly feuTleton in the
Temps is decree of fate to actors and authors.
Next to him, perhaps, is NJ. Auguste Vitu. of the
FIGARO at whose bidding Alexandra Dumas himself
has lust struck ont of the most famous lines in
LA Dame aux Cam6lias." Both are wanting In
Mr.. Thompson Cooper's aristocracy of intellect;
are not to his mind persons whose names have
come prominently before the public" forbear to
point out some singular cases which admitted
Those whom mention whom Mr.. Thompson Cooper
has not thought worthy Of mention are not tenth
of those who might be named / put down few
of such names occur to me at the moment. To
make complete list IS his business not mine, but
the foregoing will perhaps help him to explore
at h. ha haaD Ia He is NJ nuch
q blind guide as o guide who does not know the
road along which he processes to lead you.
IL would be too much to ask Of Mr.. Thompson
<oo,,ar that he shouId he aware of Aunericana ex-