The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1886-10-05
Books That Live.

literary review will show praises of writer's
who have long since dropped into oblivion,
while many who have been scathingly
condemned still have place on our book
shelves. Denham's ''Cooper's Hill" was
described as poem which, for the mai
esty of the style, is, and ever will be, the
exact standard of good writing"
Pamela" says a critic, next to the
Bible, ought to be preserved" Home. be-
cause be wrote Douglas" was dubbed
1.-The Scottish Shakespeare" and the critics
of the time seem to have considered him
superior to the great bard How many
writers included in Johnson's Lives of
the Poets" do we read to-day? On the
other hand, taking a few instances at ran
dom, the critics could see no genius in
Kytton; Tennyson's first volume of poems
was ridiculed by one of the reviews; and
Lord Beaconstields early attempts were
regarded as indications of literary
lunacy." The fate of Keats is almost too
hackneyed to quote. Referring to him,
Byron wrote:
lis strange the mind, that fiery particle.
Should let itself be snuffed out by an article.
Byron's mind was evidently not ''snuffed
out by the slashing review his first vol
ume of poems received.
Many of our old books are, as Mr. Henry
Morley says. more quoted than read"
Buffers Analogy Paley's Evidences"
Hookers Ecclesiastical Polity," Hobbes's
''Leviathan." Lackes Essays on Civil
Government" these are books which, al
though well known, are by no means
widely understood. Charles Lamb, who
thanked God that he had catholic taste
for reading, classed among the ''books
which are not books" the works of Hume,
Gibbon, Robinson, Beattie, Soame Jenyns,
and the histories of Josephus-a list to
which many additions might be made.
OF those old authors whom we do read
few are represented by more than one
book Take Defoe, for example. What
schoolboy has not read Robinson Cru
Soc? The general reader" however, can
scarcely be said to have more than a
superficial knowledge of The Journal of
the Plague Year." or of Colonel jack;
and very few are acquainted with the
many political and historical works which
Defoe wrote. Fielding is generally known
by Tom Jones'; Swift, by 'Gulliver's
Travels: Smollett, by his History of
England; johnson, by his Dictionary;
Lamb, by his Essays; and SO on.
Judging by an account of an interview
with Mr. Routledge, which Tie Pal ldR
Gazette published, most of our favoritis
hold their own OF the poets, Longfellow
according to the editions which Mr..
Routledge publishes most generally
read: 5000 volumes Of his poems are sold
yearly. Scott comes next, with 3,170
copies; Shakespeare, with 2,7O0 copies;
Byron, with $3.50. Rogers Whose name
was great in our grandfathers days. is the
lowest on the list, with only 80 copies. Of
novelists, Dickens is most generally read
and widely appreciated. In England
alone, we believe, nearly 100000 copies
of his works have been sold since his
death This number does not include I'M
authorized editions. A short time ago the
street boys were selling an illustrated
Nicholas Nickleby'' for a penny, and
many other cheap editions of 'the mas
ter's'' novels have also been published.
Fifty years ago." says Mr.. Routledge,
IAN edition of 500 was considered large,
and one of 1000 enormous" These fig
ures seem small indeed when compared
with, say, the large editions of the "Pick-
wick Papers"
A writer's chance of being widely read
OeD6uOS SIGdlll O4 LIS C441 IL SGSLuS
to us a piece of literary affectation for any
author to write in ford or obscure langu
age. No man who writes for posterity, as
the Times says, can afford to neglect the
art of composition. DR.. Johnson's verbo-
sity was standing joke amongst many of
his contemporaries. Of him Macaulay
said that he wrote in style in which no
one ever made love, quarrelled, drove bar
gains, or even thought. When he wrote
to his friends he wrote good English; but
when he wrote for publication he "did his
sentences into Johnsonese." "He has had
his reward" says writer. His Rambler
lies unread on our bookshelves; his talk,
as recorded by Boswell, will be perused
by thousands of delighted students"
Carlyle's extraordinary style undoubtedly
initiates against his being more extern
sively read. The feelings of the ordinary
reader after having read "Sartor Resar-
tus" are similar to those experienced by
Jerrold on a memorable occasion. Son
the author of Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lee
lures recovering from a severe illness,
BroYning's 'Sordello' was put into his
hands Line after line, page after page,
he read; but no consecutive idea could he
get from the mystic production. Mrs. Jer
rold was out, and he had no one to whom
to appeal The thought struck him that
he had lost his reason during his illness,
and that he was so imbecile that he did
not know it A perspiration burst from
his brow, and he sat silent and thoughtful
As soon as his wife returned he thrust the
mysterious volume into her hands, crying
out Read this, my dear After several
attempts to make any sense out of the
first page or so, she gave back the book,
saying, Bother the gibberish! don't
understand a word of it, Thank Heavenr
n,.;n1 In,-,nld sthnn / am not an idintpn