New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-12-14
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS.-Iv.


The Ingollsby Legends are i'll many ways speci"i'y
ADAPTED to illustration. One of them, " ST. Alloys "
Legend of Bois" has been utilized to serve the cur
rent fashion of luxurious and elaborate embellsh-
,nent by Ernest ~ JeSsop, whose work is plbsheo
nv Eyre e. Spottswoodc, London, and imported ny
T. & J. b. Young n Co. Tie form of the rupiica-
ton is small folio. The style of Illustration is
ecclesiastical dashed with the grotesque ana
favorel with archaism. Illuminated capitals ana
finals. borders vgnettes. inserted PORTRAITS ana
specially designed old text, decorate and eucIdate
the rhyme The cOlors used are red, black anu
sepIa There is a great deal of fantastic skill about
tbe very profuse illustrations. and as whole the
artist has caught the Ingoidsby flavor and does his
foo,ing excecntly though there Is sometimes
roughness and lack of finish which the refinement
of detail To which our own artists nave accustomed
ma renders unpleasing Part of this cru'lity Is no
doubt attributable to the methods used in printing
the designs. but. however caused, the blemlsh re-
mains Nevertheless the volume IS full OF merit
and originality. and worthy of Christmas season
which has witnessed an unprccedcntelly large issue
OF fine illustrated works.
Mr. pronder Matthews has edited and j. r. Os
good a. Co. have published handsomely printed
edition of sheri,lans comedies The Rivals and
"lhe School for Scandal" IL contains good etch-
ING from n portrait of Sheridan believed never to
have been engraved before There are illustrations
LIZ Abbey. Dainarl Blum, Remnant. etc. ana one
or two of them very good The text OF tire play
is rnre The work done hv Mr.. Brander Matthews
howevet-cumpfising the preface, biography OF the
dtnmatis inirmlurtiuns AMI notes. IL not So sats-
factory ne II was evidently intended tn he' No
denih II has hitherto been dineult to hdd mneI 10
The biographies Of sheridan eNtant, uhrss indeed
sans literary fesuiicrlohist should hnte under
t,bsn 90 toll the linlh the whole ihih ana moth
p,e hHt the tfnth" ahHht himi Ahd though such 80
entatp,isp could nat bat have laid bare great othl
of Vpfy dsefuiltRhln personal history, " Wunld az
isasl have enabled the world 10 nhinis'hhh w" man
Sheridan better than IL has ever vel hah olp''
tunity o. do nasmuoh as all his blogfaphois nave
passed 20 lightly over his iaohe that It Is scarcely
possible to conceive how one to whom so noble
character is generally ascTibed conld have done
The things which he unique, tonabiy did a. MI
Hrander Matthews las travelled III VIC o'u rus
with the old result and naturally Shen no AT
tennis TO estimate the CT artcter OF sheridan '"l
his own one sided picture he finds the task exceed
ingly diilicult, and he fails 10 accomplish IT,
Had he written little later he would nave hai
the advantage of reading the Croker papers
wherein much and new light is thrown upon Sheri-
dams character. If the statement made by George
the Fomth to Croker is true, the King gave the
dromat ST not less than twenty thousand pounds III
all Assuming this to he the case no dihculty need
be experienced in accounting for the source whence
Sheridan drew the money TO purchase ms interest IN
the Drury Lane Theatre In any case, nothing couId
he more absurd than to treat sydney Slhlths loke
about the fortune left to the SherdanS as possibly
serious explanation OF the tn'atlo PURCHASE. ''i'
Matthews is so little discriminating a. TO entertain
this wild hypothesis. however In denying To Shel-
dan any other quality than wit. the edtor mas il.dc
rational explanation OF hs oratoTca triuinpls III,
possible Ii is not true that sheridan possessed
only wit lie possessed argumeniatE TIVE Payer o IN
taste, lucidity and fertility OF expression ana IN
short all the varied capacities which are required
10 make the really great orator Ana Whllc we
have no report of his greatest speech, we can trust
contemporary judgment i'll regard 10 II; ana that
tells us that il surpassed all that had been heard Ill
,fa a.. ii LnT
a speech was not meIc rhetoric. 1t was douDticSs
highly Ornamented but 1t had very Solo DOdy.
and the critical audience that without controversy
put the Begun speech above anything burke, il',
Fox or any else of note had uttered, never
would have formed this estimate of a PEI ioimance
unless it mad been not only eloquent but states
manllke. , .. 4. n
Mr.. Matthews has contributed nothing to our
knowledge of the dramatist. He has written a
rather sovonly and slipshod biographical sketch
and some notes which arc for the most part IN
necessary Those. however. who desire well,
printed liton of the comedies here wen may rest
assured that the publishers have done Their part
lrrcproachably.
The tendency toward OVERRIDING the ILLUSTRATION
of books which is becoming more marked con-
tinually is shown in the publication Of an Illus
trated edition of Wordsworth's Ode on limitations
of Immortality ID. Lothrop X Co, Boston,. The
little hook IL beautifully printed on line paper, ana
II has an abundance of illustrations-if only they
were of the right kind. But they are not Ihcy are
for the most part hopclcssly inappropriate ana t'S
show that the nrtsls c,npl"yeI nlios'hrI iioh'n
that comprehension of the poets meaning whlch ~
absolutely necessary to successful illustrations ~
may indeed be- said further that NordsWofths 1dc
does not lend itself 10 illustration readily ana thut
n would demand 70 very rare ANA peculiar glt 10
illustrate il ftiy Hut In these days publishers seem
10 think that anything can he illustrated ana
almost hy anybody, nnd the result - Huch uilSa'S-
factory books rs the one We are noticing.
l.. I,aJ NoIlc g,e Il.trM