New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ENGLISH WRITERS.

PERSONAL TRAITS OF BRlrlSSH, h Az Portraits -Four
fGhn InwIpp II. MASON. Win ioiS
yo,nmes Charles Scribners SONS a+o
~, .-,owsd purpose Of these volumes Is "
sa.,cibe and illustrate the personal chai 90
49, .exen authors who have been chosen do
EARLY conservative of their PERIOD VIZ" "a
~ literature has been CLEANED with 'is oD'' .hn
<he various traits and anecdotes arc 3 ~,
words of the original narratoIs so 'u"V -, the
a. almost entirely compilation, anu ~ '. al
aaact IA broken and disiointed ana OWNS " II
..ors;ty of views represented the diihculVy VI g.
WIS., o,aib,e conclusions regarding any par'lc-
a,t,,or il made very great. The authors oeal'
It'll arc Vol. II Byron, Shelley, Moore hosoi''
w.at. southey. Landor Vol p Wordsworth
Co,.r;dco Lamb. Hazltt, Leigh Hunt froo'oi'
TvoI 2, scott. Hogg, Campbell, Chalmers. "HSon'
N. Onipcev. Jeffrey; Vol. ~ HOOD Mao ,.
sydney Smith Jerrold, Dickens hronte,
The editor has FURNISHED preiaceS W t"o Di's
Zeal combinations, and there arc por.'"'''' w.
arc not works of art Tie plan adopted P'ssos''9
the advantage of giving the statements ana "p''
of nersonal friends of the authors; "nu WV
disadvantage of throwing together "Hno'O 49,
means of discriminating between them 's' iaA 20 .
general public is concernedl' h"i' 49,
estimates which often are as wluo aSuu"0i 49,.
poles The natural Inference oi .no ."t,onts
ropIa he that all these contradictory sta'o'p0H''
80. anu,,Iv authoritative, and whoever peruses
.ha ,oirmes IN believing must become h"pelessy
confused. since the evidence does not harmoi'"0
.,e, ,non such personal details as the Color oi an
,ntbor,s ,ves or his height or his puiR' ol MS
ocnsraI appearance, not to speak al MS haoi'''
diet and so forth. The popular taste ior soiaPpy
hooks however, appears to be 50 esta"'le"o" '",
this series may well be a success. Ana j po"pi0
only want such accounts OF Their iaV"i''o ""VI
az will enable them to talk about them In d
6esultorvana superficial way perhaps nothing cou.o
he better than such compilation thoue" no'"''
who has only read such fragmentary accounts e.
he soid 10 know any of the men mentioned one
distinctly mischievDus effect OF this A'uu =, wv.
making is that it encourages ihteiieo'u"'
aI,,rIotor,sm and ndolencc. by furnishing make
sbf,s for real knowledge aud by ,naking the rnoho
content with such makeshifts. The tendehcy vi
tho ace toward specialization in all departments Oh
learning has already proceeded so far that eortS
all-round education may be said TO nave "eon
abandoned. The time when epcyclop@u'c An'"r
edge was possible has passed bnt WINE reaiS
earnest workers content to confne tner s'uu'o'
IN aome modest speciality, the majority, VINO are
neither earnest nor workers, excuse themselves
from undertaking any serious literary enterprise ny
citing the magnitude Of the beld 10 thls GLASS; 10
addressed the multitude of patent METHODS oi easy
eIncatiop which have swarned from the press OF
knowledge from such sources cannot but be shallow
and inaccurate in its information. ard vague ana
nebuous as to its literary judgments.
Thero is an aeectatIOn of frankDess III tire plan OF
this work which is apt to mislead The editor says
in effect: al put before YOU all the evidence 1or
and against these authors. SO That sou may 10TH
your own Judgment" But In fact the aVerag"
reader cannot form his own judgment intelii-
gently because he canuot tell what degree
of credence the various witnesses are en-
titled to- Many of those here quoted really oe-
serve very little credit, but no indication Is
afforded which can guido tue reader as 10 tneH
credibility, and therefore when he finds CONFLICT
of testimony he does not know what to do or how
TO decide There Is mass of amusing gossip In the
volumes, and they undeniably readable. which
rerhaps is all that was desired. They can be
recommended to those who want nothing more
than this and WHO for the most part would not
take the trouble to read anything more SOHO. but
as a means of iiDpartlpg accurate lnforhation' OF
dihusing knowledge concerning the authors trealeu
Of the volumes cannot be accorded high place,
and as pointed out above they may in some respects
do harm instead OF go0d.
Even when the best equipped and most faithful
bioprapber has exhausted ms powers of analysis
and description in setting forth the life of his hero
the world does not probably really grasp the true
significance. the inrnost meaning, Of that life. How
much less then can comprehension follow series
of biographical odds aud ends the chaotic confusion
of which renders hopeless any attempt to trace out
connected lire of purpose action OF intellectual
growth in the victims of this sort of go-asyou-
please hotch-potch Something eight still be said
upon the tendency of such works to foster the crude
curiosity which in these days follows every notable
person with intrusive avidIty, and insists on I'M
covering tie most sacred rrivaces. But that is
defect of the age, and we can hardly expect that
bcokmakers who depend upon suiting the public
taste will imperil their material success by en-
deavoring to cultivate the judgment of their
patrons.