New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-09-09
MIR. MATTHEW ARNOLD.
HIS DIsCOURsEs IN AMERICA, AND iiiN
NEW EDITION OF HIS POEMS.

al
,,ola int suice by dnt OF large type anu ii'ei"-
-, 90 ,nol,e a volume (Macmilian) lney arc
Ill tnovp 10 you aud / will venture W soy
more than that they bear re-readihg eAooou"s
we'll Mr. Arnold has told us that We Hi"o'
orr.elves questions about the trlehdS VI o''i 'O"'n
whether they support this return upon 1s4st
o,pot we sholld make the return VIC siou'" ~
with onr illusions, we should kho" 'no - .Ia
Discourses only two years old are DOT, Z" % ~
friends of our youth, but these none tiio e7s
,o he read again, and apprehend that the A'uoi,
80. c,itic esneeialy the critic of Chicago anu
cher remoter cities of the West. may ma reas1"
90 soften the ferocity of his protest agains' 's,o
do..roo relating TO Numbers and the Remnant %
90 his discourse on Emerson Mr.. Arnold cs.''""'O
nj Fmerson brought down on MN hlu. . 49,.
anger. remember reading how he n"u p;a 80
Emerson patronized him, ana deheu M :.
mace among great men. these inuis""' -
saems TO me- do no real service 10 flneioou
others he mist abide the Judgment oi pos'0i''' 60
of that world of letters outside OF ME- y" 0ouN'.'
- y. Mr. Browning has told us, is often COM
,etent IN anticipate the Judgment OF posterty mi'
Arnold is perfectly frank. 81 set Myself Il" S"9S'
= r,.olntev TO come at real estimate of EMERSON
ia ,xit,, leaning even to strictneSs rather tnan "
sarlrercey The result corresponds 10 the On
deavor The Limitations upon Emersons soNiu
ore de6ned with precision, but when MI. armour
comes to pronounce his verdict ne aw2fns si0"U
American place which q quarter Oh a centaiS "so
few Americans indeed would have been WILING "
copcede to him. He brackets Emerson WI"
Franklin; they two are the most orlgihai anu VIC
most valuable" Let me quote once ihoio 'ii' 'oH
GLIDING sentences: .a hin, ton
you cannot prize him too much nor heed nm ,cS
Atlantic He has lessons for both the branches Oh
onr race figure him to my mind as N . PT nr
earth still as still standing az Rd Ieie as he lived but of
Heightened stature and SHINING feature. VIII Sno
hand stretched out toward the East, 10 GIL th r
81 iahorinS Fnraud the other toward the ever
arn West to his own dearly loved America
GREAT intelligent sensual, ayarlcious Aineii' a.;
TO ms he shows for guidance MS lucu IIee1 1ii '
ebeepfnlness and hope 10 you his dignity, delcaey
serenity, elevation.
SO that on the whole we may ma ourselves
,1a IN agree with Mr. Arnold in thinking that
what he has said of Emerson will not finally he
accounted scant praise. HIS attitude 10 EMERSON
like his attitude TO America is one OF continuous
sv,nnathy and equally continuous dignity. In tie
short Preface to the volume OF DlScourses you may
read
o. c,ad of every opportunity of thanking my
American audiences for the uniailing attention ana
lmdness with which they listened to speaker VINO
did not latter them wEo "ouiH Ia, more
esteem and admiration than bis WORDS were SUM-
Times at first nasty hearing, supposed 10 convey
That touches on point on which other hhgilsh-
men than MI Arnold udNo al thiOo
saw. fear notion has got possession, don't say
of the English mind. but of some Englishmen that
we Americans do as people, expect to be BATTERED.
We promptly resent. all of us, such suggestion;
supqestion which Mr.. Arnold is far from making
We saw we are always saying, that we understand
ourselves and our institutions better than ior-
eiqner. better than an Englishman, can; and we
have confidence in our own Judgment Oh our own
affairs. No doubt, hut perhaps we do not make
allowance enough for the appearances which
delude these Engishmen into contrary Dehet.
They saw that no EnglishmaB who takes critical
yie,T of America is we'll received there; that
criticism is resented. that the critic IS sure to be
attacked They point to such an unfortunate book
"a that of Sir Lepel Griin which is at once gnor-
ant and maleyolent In vain say that Sir Lepel
Griffin failed to see things they are. and that he
became the dupe of the American humorist L
sncceed scarcely better with my English friends
when assure them that, far from being angry
with Sir Lepel Griffin, we only laughed at him.
They point to that amazing parsonage. Mr.. Capper.
who published a series of fables about America In
London paper They remind me that Mr.. Freeman
the historian. became an object of much hostility
from Americans because of his free. though often
friendly comments and our concerns
Then they turn round and cry out, "Wby was
Lord Coleridge so popular in AmericaY Did be do
to point where 2atteiy became something very
ike satrei Aud did you not like it. and like Lord
Coleridge because of 1t 70 And they come 10 Mr..
Arnold and ask me whether think my oountrymen
really sat content under such discourse as that
on Numbers which was an impeachment OF the
doctrine here Thought to be universal in An erica,
that the majority are always at least in the long
run, right. "Your newspapers" exclaims my Eng
lishman add they not. or did not some OF them,
heap ridicue and even abuse on Mr.. Arnold And
do Won suppose they would nave treated him S
they did had he battered them, even illp
Well. there can be no great difficulty in finding an
answer 10 these queries. The good Americans-l do
not saw the best ony-welcomed Mr.. Arnold,
listened to his doctrine of the minority remnant
and Joined with respect TO II an opinion which i'll
NO way chilled their admiring cordiahty TO its
author No doubt he was, Mt times reviled for his
outspoksnness 1t was inevitable the license OF
portion of the press being what it is The rest
bore in mind this. that whatever criticism Mr.
Arnold bestowed us in America was far less free
less penetrating less provocative, than that which
for twenty thirty years he has addressed to hii
own countrymen. OF course such position a:
that which he has taken up is far from being ap
pesl for favor But to them and TO be has agreed
with Emerson himself in ste4dfastly procaIminl
the faith in conduct which is the saving faith to
both peoples.
new edition OF Mr.. Matthew Arnold's Poems il
three volumes ahas been published by Messrs
Macmillan and may be recommended to MI
Arnoids American readers more complete ant
better printed than any other. The Aheaeu
makes il the occasion for one OF those reviews non
TOO frequent TO which the critical reputation o
that paper is due. There are many persons of in
telhgence who viii read it with surprise. That
only saying that Mr. Arnold has never been what
called u popular poet he was never much read b!
the Philistnes in literature. What will tn
Philistines make of such sentence about MI
Arnold's poems as this "One reads them for til
fitch time and for the fiftieth time feels in
olicd their anthnr for the chief of Twin