Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-12-10
New Publications.

Messrs. Tickuor & Co.. Boston, publish
BEAUTIFUL holiday edition Of Childe Haroids
Pilgrimage, upon which nine OF our most ac-
compiished dradghtsmen aud seven OF our
most skilful weod-engravers have expen.
ded the resources of their art. kicnaio
Henry Stoddard 10 review of this book pup-
lished in the New York Mail and Express
says: Companions are odious, - We All
know. and We shall not indulge in them by
comparing this illustrated edition OF iavor-
lite poet with any other illustrated edition OF
auv other favorite poet. What we will say,
however. is that given our choice between
this poem and any other poem, or poems, tnat
have been, or are likely to be, published DUR
ing the present season. We should give the
others the 90 by. and selectthis, not merely As
the most of our special taste, but as one OF the
noblest and greatest poems in the whole range
of English poetry. II is not the fashion to 40
mire Byron now. and it is the fashion 10 pre-
tend to admire Wordsworth. One NAV ad-
mire both without instituting comparisons
between them, and for Wordsworth's
sake thev never should be instituted, for the
author Of Peter Bell was poet of one order,
and the author Of Childe Harold was poet
of another and a much higher order, as every
reader of Byron feels. in spite OF all that Mr..
Swinburne and Mr.. Arnold, and the rest or
the Wadsworthians may say to the contrary.
He is the greatest elemental force in English
song since Marlowe, and not to know this Is
TO have read all the poets that come between
the two in vain. There is q wild, fiery, pas
sionate life in his work even when it is most
careless which no other English poet except
Shakespeare, ever attained, and it is refresh
ing TO turn from the fnikin, elaborate, rocco,
make-beieve verse of the present period, to
his manly and magnificent poetry. He is at
his greatest, we think. in the third and fourth
cantos of Chide Harold, who, as an ideal Gre
alton, was fifty described by Shelley as the
Pilgrim of Eternity How nobly he wrote
let couple of staozas show:
Romel my country city of the soul!
The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,
Lone mother of dead empires and control
In their shut breasts their petty misery.
What are our woes and suferance! Come and see
The cypress. hear the OWL and plod your way
Der steps Of broken thrones and temples, yel
Whose agonies evils of day ut-i-
A world IL at our feet as fragile as our clay
The Niobe OF ma ions, there she stands
Childless and crowness, in her voiceless woe;
An empty urn within her withered hands,
Whose holy dust was scattered long ago;
The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now;
The very sepuchres lie tenantless
Oftheir heroic dweers dost thou flow
Old Tiber. through marble wilderness! ,
Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her dis.
tress.
The Illustrations in this beautiful edition of
Childe Harold are not in the fantastic art
manner of the PERIOD but are conceived and
executed in the good, old-fashioned, manly
style that characterized the best days of draw
ing and engraving. They are for the most
part beautiful, and when they do not reach
that ideal excellence they are in all cases
picturesque and intelligent. There are
no crotchets in them, for the artists who
made them were content to illustrate the text
in the direct method in which it was written.
From the nature of the poem they ara large
ly landscapes, the special features of each
verse being happily caught with artistic
gradations of light and shade. Taken as a
whole, the effect they have upon the mind is
one of simple, serene loveliness. And they
have quality which we miss in much of the
black and white wotk of to-dav-they will
bear looking at more than once. They
should be studied as Childe Harold should
be read, over and over again.
Lee and Shepard. publish a small volume
entitled Give Minute Recitations," selected
and adapted by Walter X Fobes, Teacher
and Elocutionist. Scholars who have recita-
tons and declarations to prepare will find
just such selections in this work as they re-
QulTe. u. r. FIERCE mas III LOT SAFE.
Lee and Shepard have just published "The
Dawning." A novel which promises to be-
come popular and have a large sale. 1t is inter-
estng from the first page and the interest in
creases to the last page. J. F. Pierce has it,
A. S. Barnes & CO., New York have now
ready "a Primary History of the United
States for Intermediate Classes" What is
said is in a simple. easv style. giving the
story of the essential facts of history, omit
ting all unimportant topics. The child is led
to see the origin and causes of events. For
example, he knows at once the reasons why
the French and Indian wars, and the war of
the revolution, became necessary and is led
to be real student of causes and effects be-
fore he knows it. Everything in this book
depends upon and centres around the story
This is as it ought to be. 1t appears to us an