New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-01-12
KEW PUBLICATIONS.

BRYANT AND HIS FRIENDS: Some "Reminiscences of OF
the KneS Sn %Ss ro Mi.4rs o ward Hubert
M man living is probably SO well lifted as the
author of this volume to sketch the group OF knicK'
erbockcr writer's who were not so very long ago
muca more than names, who in their prime seehcu
TO their contemporaries almost equal IN Talent Se'
who have already been classified ana divlded INTO
cateporios of which not all are judged worthy Vi
Immortality General Wilson knew them all, OF
nearly all, personally, Bryant, Pauldlng' irving
Dana Cooper, Halleck, Drake Willis, Poe iayior'
and the remoter school, Woodwork, NerPianch'
HilIhouse Francis. Payne, Stone, Ciinch' CiarA'
Brooks, Morris, Leggett, lnman, Hofmann' oS"olu'
Street. Tuckerinan Duvck1k, Jones' Cozzehs an"
wnite. Some of them lived 50 long as to connect
the end of the last century with the fourth quarter
of the present one Their observation covereu n
period of yeritable revolution i'll American lie ana
literature The Knickerbocker writers hourisheu
when New York was an overgrown village; WHOM
il was still possible to know everybody OF cohse-
ouence in the town; when what would now DC
thought very mild literary efforts produced consul
cradle sensation; when the tendency towaru
mutuol admiration was strong, and but little
resisted.
The literary style of thai day was formed upon
the Addisonian model. 1t was stately, dignihcd,
slow and diffusc. Ideas were so wrapped up IN
verbiage that they apt to seem more important
than they were The prevailing notions OF hninor
were so different from those OF to-day thas our
predecessors solemn fun seems 10 us 100 pohue'ou
for laughter. Yet there was grace and VIII ant,
shirt in the Knickerbockcr writings, ana soihe VI
them remain models of good taste ana rehuou
thought General Wilson has known so many Vi
the odtime celebrities that no DOUBT 1t IS hatura
for him to put them all together, though 10 'nc
Younger generation it seems almost pity not 10
lima hgfw
vell-founded regulations and the ephemeral swarm
of writers whose claims posterity already regaroS
with scarcely disguised lmpatience.
These "reminiscences are necessarily fragmentary'
but they are specially interesting in that they lol
the most part record personal experiences VI 'ho
writer He relates how he visited Irving, or Daha'
or Cooper. or Paulding. He describes their dwell
ipas their way of living their domestic predllec-
tons Without any offensive intrusion ne MS
corner of the curtain of privacy just enough 10 give
n momentary glimpse of the indvdualities Many
of these sketches are very interesting ana tne
worst fault of all of them is their brevity. Mt,
Wilson. the reader feels. has made the mistake OF
irving TO include too many people in his book Had
he restricted the number by one-hait, or, Detlei
still, had he made two volumes instead Oh one INC
value and interest alike would have been much
greater As it is, the sketches are too meagre 10
satisfy tho awakened interest The account OF ME-
Bryant is the fullest and best mat Oh " ashihs'o'
Irving tells too little, and the same may be SAID Oh
Cooper The author has much higher opinion OF
Nathaniel Parker Willis than many of that poet
contemporaries held, and perhaps the later
Judgment may be the scunder
The book is written with care In its preparation
in the selection of quotations for chapter headings
in the fac-simes which add value to the
Geographic sketches. in all the details one recos,
nizes fidelity to the usaGes OF that older schooi
whose living representatives are now so few. for
these reminders of a past which we must regard
tenderly and which, for all the sei-assertion OF tne
present. has for modern writer's many pr'ntaole
lessons the author deserves thanks. Ihe reilcs ol
the Knckerbockers are rot so abundant that we
can afford to lose any Of them and this itte book
is therefore, as well as for its own merit welcome
publi,atio 1t is enriched with several good stee1
portraits, those of Bryant aud HaIeck Delhg
especially satisfactory.