The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1885-02-01

constitutes Its chief merit, and the novelty OF
much of its material should win for 1t a multi
tudo of readers.
EGgar ALLAN Poe.
Tho series OF American Men OF Letters"
HouGhton. Minlin h Coz has already boon pow
erfully commended to tho lovers OF biography
by Prot. Lounsburv's memoiI of James Feni-
more Cooper. beyond comparison tho most
judicial and satisfactory that has yet seen tho
light. Tho collection Is equally indebted to
Mr.. GEORGE i. WoopDRnnY for an estimate OF
Edgar Allan Poe SO sympathetic yet discrimi-
nnting-and iow writors on the personal as dis
tingulshed from the professional side of their
careers have stood in moro urgent need Of
the charity that tempers justice-thnt 1t
will probably DO accepted on all sides rs
final. These two books will be coupled In the
memories OF many readers. not only because
they far outshine their companion volumes,
but because from one point OF view there Is
n striking coincidence in the fortunes OF thoir
subjects Beyond all other native authors Poo
and Cooper have long been. and are still. the
cXcmplars OF American literature to the nom
English speaking world. BY destiny the
converse Of the normal course OF things. their
works. translated into foreign languages. have
gained and kept vogue wider and more last
ing than they have had In their own tongue,
and we may risk tho assertion that Mt this day
more copies OF their compositions are sold
uron the Continent of Europe. or. at NIL events.
in France. than OF all tho books OF all other
transatlantic writer's united.
Poe wished to be known and was known to
his contcm porarics, in n fourfold capacity, not
only as q novelist and poet but az n critic md
speculative thinker. His achievements in the
two directions last named have boon forgotten.
md not upiustly so though much more may
DO snid-and is said In this volume-for the
quality OF his critici SIN than for his nbility to
nose n pioneer in nbstruso speculation and
MS a builder OF philosophers. The keenness
and precision Of his aesthetic intutioRs has
boon demonstrated by the confirmation Of his
iudcme mt in the case OF many regulations then
nnscent and unheralded; vet he cannot DO said
to have formulated any authoritative princi-
pics OF literary adjudication or to havo @, ected
any abiding standards Of taste His learning
WAS that OF n tyro his science n sciolist's: and
his efforts Mt constructive thinking. his ciddy
eyolutions in a limbo OF Observation-Disclosures phys
les and meta phy.ics his Icarian flights in to tho
other of cosmogony and ontology would be
ludicrous were not derision checked by tho
Jovian serenity that is totally unconscious OF
its own inanity In his own day his follow
countrymen seom to have thought of him by
preference MS a Draconian critic while II 9 him
self believed like Coloridge-nor is this by any
means his only point OF likeness 10 Colcridge-
that his true forto Law in tho highest regions OF
science and philosophy among tho srent sys-
trainers by Il.n side of DescarteS and
Ioibnitz and Kepler and Iaplace That such
misconceptions could he current nmon:. his
American contemporaries, or seriously cher
ished by himself, only shows how iucapable
this country thon was Of recogni,ing genius.
AMI how blind genius Is to its own defects and
limitations.
H. on tho other hand, we turn TO his novels
We must ut once ac;no Wedge that Poss claim
to honor OF n specific but brilliant kind fe-
mains unshaken by hosts OF imitators or the
novelette, the short story regarded rs a dis
tinct type OF art with aims processes effects
and destinations of its own. Poo. among all
modern artists. ia tho uncomfortable muster.
Hero and there his riyals may like those chem
ists who with infinite labor and at cpreeous
monds ,hayo produ ced ono tale that may deserve
to rank with hi. consummate compositiops:
hut neycr since the Psrsian fancy woye tho
spolls that enthrall VA in tho miscalled Ara
biau" NiIhts has auy man enriched tho worlds
imaginative literature with a cluster OF gems
40 eyouisito so linpid and 80 lustrous. AS
noet too Poe hns kant a nlace which II not LOFTY
ia Mt all events uniouo and Iastiunlv preEmpied
for bo combines qualities whose union wa
orst Sipbt spems NOR, inconpruous n nd incred
ihIc than n combination of ColeridDo and swim
burno n fusion that ia to saw. of metnphysics
with hnrnonicsp Yet no ono will denv TINT In
the dozen lyrics which present the sum of poo's
ia so'i W. E, nos ~ nv. -" oeno