New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-03-14

of Claude Lorraine :, series of sketches count
CaQliostro. n novel. The Saga of Iiakon Jarl'
poem" Nine years later his brain was full OF
something very different from all those SUBJECTS:
18th. Bought to-day, at Bnr1nan9, iCeanI
CYRUS Here il stands.-ten solid Volumes o, rom OH
one thousand to fifteen hundred pages cacn NV NV
n keen delight in looking ~ It, how IL oiings The
hinge chlmnevs aud the meagre ire; the PARKS VIC
paved court-yards; the brocades, inc piuihe'' '"'
DANES, the cavaliers, the ancient IoVesi in his
18th We sooum still with Craone III n,o
Roronpb What painful scenes! always OH INC
cold. gray side of life. All, what sadpess! e,,.;.
10th have my bra so inll oil tho aye ", onI
XIV and the dramatic romance | proooae anu
have long proposed to write. that / cannot orln4
nv MN to any more elevated theme. +. ,evldenty
does not think very well of tho plan Dut pctt'i
write il out and hnrn II. than have 1t remain anu
burn me. In fact good many scenes are are'uy
written.
How surely his own serene good sense always
saved him FROM such impending mistakes! Long
fellow never failed to select in the end the work
which best suited him.
He WAS sparina of criticism upon other writers.
In the maturer years of his life he adopted rule OF
not giving an opinion upon MSS. Submitted to HIM
"A rule which borcs made necessary even IN
his diary the judgments upon his literary cOntehi-
poraries are remarkably few, although he seems to
have read everything. This is the more to he
regretted because his charactcrzationS are usually
very subtle very tersc and very comprehensive.
Iii, appreciation of Emerson grew slowly ana
probably never amounted TO genuine relish. In
the lecture on Great Men US45l he fouhd many
things to shock the sensitive ear ana heart. Inc
volumc of Poems however llSlGl, ELECTS the
following odmirIng comment:
Ii gave MS the kecnes! pleasure; though many OF
the pieces present themselves SPhlnX-hkc. anu
struggling 10 get free then hnderpars,' 0fer Il
very hold front and challenge your answer.
throughout tine volume through the golden mst
and SubimatlOu of fancy gleiin Dtlght VEINS VI
unrest poetry. like rivers running through
meadows Truly. rare volume: with many
exquisite pOcms IN it, among which Snou si hn
ont MonadnUc." ihrenOdN' " The HnmOIe-Dee,
as containing mut Il oil the quntcSSrnco oil poetry
And a still finer tribute is penncd in lS49:
Another of Emersous wonderful lectures. The
subject inspiration the lecture tSell an nus
trltiOn of the theme. Emerson Is IKE = pcnuIaui
portIco. i'm lovely scene OF nature. we St'nd en-
tectaut waiting for the lIgh-Priest To come forth
and 10. there comes a gentle wnn from the portal
swelling and SubsIding; and the blossoms ana the
vine leaves shake and far away down the green
fields the grasses bend and wave; ana we ask;
{" When will the HIgh-PIicst come forth ami reveal
10 us the Truth p and the disciples say, " lie mas
already gone forth. and is yondcr IN the meadows
" And the truth lie was to Ievealf 1t IS nature
nothing more.
Lowell. Hawthorne Prescott are names con-
santly recurring in the poets pages, but what little
comment is made upon their writings is slight and
casual MS Is obviously Hol Juloh-h i"'N Va - ~
pathy. but rather tine result OF sympathy so close
and personal that it seemed hardly natural to eX-
press it, Only OF The Marble Faun" LOngfelow
writes that il is wonderful book, but with the
old dali pain in # that through all Hawthorne
writings" OF Tennysons Princess he says:
Fields came ont IN the afternoon, and brought
me an English copy Of Tennysons new poem " ne
Princess" +. read It IN the evening. strange
! cuouchI n university of women! gentle satire,
in the easiest and most flowing blank verse, Win
two delicious unrhJ med songs ana many eTIIis ~,
passages. | went TO bed alter II, with dellghilnI
mus ringing in my ears, yet hall dlSappDintcd III
The poem, though not knowing why. There Is a
discordant note somcwher
OF later volume by the laureate he writes
lSC9
What dusky splcndors OF song there are in King
NfreI's new volume! II is always n delight 10
Get anything from him. HIS " Holy Gran ana
LoweirS "Cathedral' are enough Tor houaaVi
and make this one notable with snch goou
works you can 20 forward 10 meet the New lear
with conscience void OF reprOach.
How perfectly LongfcIlow's lovely temperament
is reelected in the facts that he found his friend
Thackerays Vanity Fair a disagreeable book,
that ne rccocd a little from the coarse company oil
| Barnaby Rudgc" and, still more noteworthy
| incident that when Lowell read to him his Fable
for Critics" he pronounced it, in the diary, full
of fun and with very true portraits, as seen from
that s,d," lie spoke only with kindness OF Poo
unless indeed it was unknd to say on the appear
| ance of "a superb poem by LoweIl,-To the
Past -: " If he goes in this way. Poe will soon
/ begin to pound him. When William Gilmore
! Simms the Southern novelist. published an abusive
article on IonRtelow's poems, the poet only wrote
consider this the most original and inventive OF
/ all his fctions7 He Is habItually so serene and
/ kindly that when a flash of sharp criticism now
and then escapes him we feel obliged to the editor
| for striking ont tho name OF the victim. 1t would
have seemed like an mpiety to the dead to drag
/ from his diary a word which cOuId wound
We are inclined t. say that after all, the highest
| charm of these volumes is in their record of Long
| follows friendships. Into what noble company
/ they bring US! How INSPIRING are the influences
which flow from the brief chronicles of that
| Combridge circle whose lustrc has never been
opuroacled IN American society. and is not likely
| TO be sDon repeated! We had there conjunction
which may never occur again.-a concentration OF
| literary and scholastic activity III town wei
ADAPTED to quiet pursuits; the culm nation OF The
most brilliant epoch of literary history in Tho
! simultaneous appearance of company of illns
trious poets historians essayists phi osophers ant
men OF science many of whom CHANGED to be alst
gifted with especial personal attractNenesS; ah'
the rpening of Il season OF general mental upheava
and aspiration in that day of high ideals winch nSh
cred in the new. free heroic America. In the splen
did intellectual lite of that place and time The
brightest figure is Longlcllows. To the whole
circle he was always the dearest friend. The mem
oranda of the meetings by his study fire; the merry
Shippers where jest kept company with poetca
discussion the stros by the river and the sea
the gatherings in Boston where Felton's uniall
| ing humor, lowols flashing wit, Holmes with hi
! delightful QuIps and rhymes, AgassH with HI
simple bOnhomie and beaming face. Sumner will
his flow of foreign Teminiscenco and his patriots
fervor. made banquets which seem to rs now al
most like the feasts of the ;mmorIalsthc skeleton
story of all these hacyOn days and nights ascnatcs
Ms with its suggestions while it tantaizos MS by It
brovity Nor is the roll of celebrities by an!
means confined to those of own coutry; for the
list Of Longfcllows ysitorslf not of the guests o
Il nl1l.l.c nlIlAn.t D..r