New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-05
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
WINTERS IRVING.


Aromat;c criticism that, written for a daily news
uaper IN the rush of the midnight hour. under the
pressure of confusion and physical fatigue 1t VIII
vet hear reprinting in volume and. read again IN
our calm leisure will be found to have lost none Oh
Ats interest by eeasing to be news, and to appeal
to rs with stronger charm than ever. This Is the
test which stamps the sterling value OF the papers
ON Henry Irving collected by Mr.. Winter in this
beautiful little book. They were written for HE
TRIBUNE in the discharge of the nightly duty 10
which the author has so long devoted his energies;
and with little condensation and revision put no
essential change, they now furnish an adIniraoie
study of great actor record OF memoraoie 'our'
and delightful piece of literary art. They review
Mr. Irving's performance in ten of his most famous
characters; they touch briefly but justly upon the
rare Qualities of Ellen Terry and they present some
general remarks upon Mr.. Irvings purposes, the
peculiarities of his method, and the secret OF his
strength, as well as upon the fundamental prln-
ciples of the dramatic art and the condition OF the
contemporary stage The tone OF all the chapters Is
serious and Deliberate there is not fippant para
graph in them; but neither Is there dull one.
The volume is highly instructive; and at the same
fine it is one of the most fascinating OF companions
for an evening of slippered ease, or quiet AFTER
noon by the study window.
y Mr.. Winter has a musical and easily balanced
tations, and mastery of language which fills the
reviewer with delight and with envy 1t is plain
that he has been :dligent reader of the grandest
models of English speech; the spacious vocabulary
of Shakespeare in particular he has so absorbed as
almost to make it his own; and from this equip
ment comes his happy faculty Of conveying a tram
of thought in short. forcible phrase. and condens
ing VIVID description or comprehensive verdict
into two or three vigorous epithets each of which
hits the mark like well-dellvered blow. Inere
are two papers in this collection which show his
skill in the management of language with especial
completeness. One is the Introductory criticism,
which sets forth the salient characteristics OF Mr..
Iryng's art as it was first disclosed to American
audience; and the other is the thoughtful and
scholarly discussion of Irvings Hamlet weaker
critic dealing with these themes. would have been
under an almost irresistible temptation TO vague
and ambitious fine writing. Nothing, however,
could be simpler, clearer or more precise than the
choice ful-freighted aud striking sentences in
which Mr.. Winter states his simple, clear and pre-
else thought. The reader is quite sure OF tho exact
meaning which is to he eonveyed,-party, no
doubt, because. unlike many dramatic essaysts the
writer is quito of his meaning himself. MT.
Winter is often described brilliant writer, and
such in one sense of the word he is. He is not
phrase-maker He has no weakness for ilorid and
useless
it is the appropriate vehicle of shining thought
and because his originality and felicity in the choice
of words are brilliantly illustrative of matured
ideas. When he turns to tho lighter aspects of
poetical subject his language reflects the soft glow
Of rich and delicate fancy, and moves with an OK
auisite grace His description of Miss Terrys LetHG
Hardy in The Bellies Stratagem," his analysis OF
q Much Ado About Nothing" and his chapter on
the Poetry of Stage Effect" are charming ex-
amples of this most winning phase of his art.
But the value of Mr. Winters work is far more in
the force and dignity of his criticism than III the
aptness and beauty of his expression. HIS knowl-
edge of the history and literature of the stage is
extensive his personal experiences are ample. his
ideals are placed high and are distinctly Defined
his temperament is judicial and independent 1t is
his habit to go to the bottom of things-when they
have any-and to consider essential worth, motive
tendency, rather than superficial show or the
accident of popularity. These are valuable items
in the equipment of critic, but Mr.. Winter has
something moro precious still. The soul of good
criticism Is sympathy. Without that the best
trained critic is only pedant who sees the outside
of performance, counts it, and measures IT, and
catalogues it, but never discerns its informing
spirit, and hence invariably fails to describe IT.
The majority of critics in literature and in all the
arts belong to the plodding unimpressonablo herd,
fervor They are never thrilled with the spiritual
significance of poetic effort; they have no more
capacity for sympathetic vibration than a bale OF
cotton; they can write column, correct in every
particular except that it misses the vital principle
of the TOPIC to which it is devoted; and they
exercise little influence because the public knows
as IL by instinct that in the power OF appreciation
they are far behind the auditors. readers and
spectators whom they address. With Mr.. Winter
the discerning eye and tie ripe instructed judg
ment are matched by an exquisite sensbllity; his
response to whatever is true and pure and lofty IN
art is immediate and enthusiastic; and from the
beginning of his career no high merit and honest
purpose has ever honored the American stage,
without finding from him its earliest and most
acute recognition This is the secret Of his success
in dealing with so difficult subject as Henry
Irving to training, scholarship, taste. wisdom, and
the art of expression he adds the rarest gift of all
sympathetic insight.
Study modern Theology in the Light OF Its History
BY ALExANDEK " @; ALLEN, Professor in the Epis-
eopal Theological School in Cambridge lOino, PIP.
xviii ,43S. Houghton, Mllin Co.
Tn this volume we have a course of six lectures
delivered in PHILADELPHIA on the foundation of the
late John Bohlcn who left funds for the endow-
ment of an annual series Of discourses under the
auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Mr..
Allen traces the descent Of contemporary Christian
Thought from the spcculatIons of the primitive
Greek theologians, in whom he finds philosophical
insight which the Latins never attained, and a
spirit to which Latin Christianity has always been
intensely hostile. The underlying thought OF the
Greek fathers was tho belief in the divine I'M
manence in the universe and in the heart of man.
It was an idea following naturally from the Stole
philosophy which had obtained so strong hold
upon the Eastern mind and it was distinguishing
principle in the famous Christian school OF Alex
andria whose great master, Clement, Is the subject
Of Mr.. Aliens cordial culogy. From the conception
of tho divine immancnce flowed theories OF reveia-
;r.a I'm atinu the relation bCtWeen God