New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-02-08
NOTES ON BOOKS.
SIR JOuN LUBYOCKS LIsr-MR. RUsKIN-
OrEhNA

tvpcu THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF TIFF TRIR,SEI
'""' LoNDoS, Jan. 49,
Sir John Lubbock, banker, politician and savai''
has been amusing himself with the familiar e1er-
c;se of CONFUSING a list of books for other people 10
read. The other people in this case are the menu
bers of the Working Mems College, and the list III
clndes one hundred writer's of all ages ard maay
Tongues. Its eccentricities are also many. Inc
workincman is wisely advised to read the rem
s6esD of Pascal, but nothing is SAID Oh tue i'N'
cial Letters" He IS to be allowed one ora'ion "
D.mo.thenes but none of Cicero, who hgureS only
GA the anthor of the treatises De ohcns'
"De Amictia" and "De Senectute' Tue
list of Eastern Poetry does not ihcluoe
Tho D." golden Eastern lay,' Ftzgeralds version OF
which Tennyson has just been telling MS is dlvlhey
DONE Of Voltaire, Charles XII. or Louis NV NAV
he read Besides Pascal. Voltaire and Montagne
there is absolutely nothing of French literature
save Moliere and one romance OF MarlyauX, tDonSh
Descartes az philosopher finds place where AVIS
totle does not The French of this century are
simply ignored neither Victor Hugo nor Balzac
is Thought worthy of the British workingmans at
tention.
America, as a younger country, is treated pS HI
John Lubbock worse than France: he allows oht
two American writers, Longfellow and Emerson
Of Franklin he seems never to have heard, or one
wonld have thought Franklin just the man 10 DC
commended to the British artisan living IN TINS
most utilitarian of ages. 10 return
TO ENGLAND, Southey has the honor OF sir Johh
IubboclIs recommendation; Lander has not hor
Coleridre Burke's "Select Works" Whatever
thew NAV be- are thought deserving OF notice.
Macaulay is tolerated as an esSaylst not as u hiS
touan. Novests-hke Burke-are to be taken III
selections only, and the list of Dovelists, which
omits Fielding winds up with Bulwer Lyt'oh'
Ceryantes is shut out altogether. "Ihe Araolah
Nights are admitted not, it is to be presumed IN
Canta,n Burlon's version. Altogether. Sir John
Lubbock as an adviser in literature. Will hardly
supersede CARLYLE or Emerson, or Connie OF
the supdry Others who have written ON the choice
of books,
There is no more futile occupation than thls DOCK
list making 1t lis the expression In part, OF lhdi'lu
ral tastes /; in part mere record OF stereolypeu
opinions Certain authors must be included per-
hans a score: for the rest the ground Is more OF
less debatable No man living has authority to
exc,nde the greatest names, thOugh,aS we shall see,
there il Of least one man living who has the cour-
age TO try Sir John Lubbock, au able and versatile
person. is destitute of any great call to speak ior
literature; he would be the 1rSt, no DOUBT. 10
disclaim it, But in these days man OF position
has only to speak subject, whether his own OF
not to insure a certain degree of attention.
newspaper in search of SENSATION is
pretty sure to seize on his discourse as pretext
Nall has done With characteristic assurance that
naper thought proper as ii tells u.s. to invite all
the hest ruides in England to place their clews TO
the bewildering labyrnth of books at the service
Of the public"
Public men in England are easily drawn, and
seem to care little what may be the character Oh
the drawer FIRST among the best guides " Is
the Prince of Wales. There is story thar a
fupcionary attached to the personal service OF the
Prince was asked once upon time what the
Prince read Nothing" was the answer You
do not mean literally nothing Z" 81 mean
thai His Royal Iighness never opens book
nor anewspaper." The functi0nary proceeded to eX-
plain that the Princes reading was done for him
nv competent persons and the result served up to
him in condensed form Care was taken that he
shouid not be ignorant of matters which IT was de-
srable he should know. If this he reproach 10
the Prince it was equally reproach TO victor
Hugo of whom the same story has been told; truly,
of his late years. However. the Prince makes
modest answer by his secretary, Mr. Francis
Knolys Ito be pronounced Knowles, that he
thinks Sir John LubbOck's list could hardly be I'M
proved upon, unless the works" OF Dryden could
be added There is a lady in London, one among
the best-known of society queens, whose reputation
as reader is said to have been dOrigiDay upon
diligent study of Dryden. and assiduous quota
ton from him. The Prince has certainly heard
this StOry-thcTe Is Dotllug ne uocS nOt hodi anu
his mention of Dryden may have been suggested
by 1t.
Mr.. Gladstone was applied to not only because he
is the first Of living statesmen but as an OmnIy
orous reader lie answers Oh post card that he
has no time to frame list. but knows that Lord
Acton has one reauy made, which perhaps he might
make known. Lord Acton has yet TO be heard
from The really interesting answer comes from
Mr. Ruskin, designated, rather rashly, as the
first of living English men OF letters,
title to which at least three writers
have at least an equal claim. lie has
sent back the printed list of Sir John Lubbock.
putting his pen lightly through the needless and
'blottesquely through the rubbish and poison,
which our banker-pOlitician has advocated. The
erasures amount TO just one-half of the Whole num-
Der and some of them are curious examples OF MI
Ruskin's prejudces. Among the writers whom he
pnIs lightly (" in this new expurgatory Index, are
Pascal, Lucretius, SophOces. that very Sophoces
who. according 10 Me- Arnold, saw life clearly
mud saw it whoe,r) E1rip.des Gibbon, Vol ARE,
Hume Longrelow aud Swift. Those whom he
blots with heavy pen inclnde Grote IA great
smudge of ink on him. all the philosophers except
Bacon, the two travellers Cook and Darwin Oar
win is blackesU, Southey, Hume as essayist,
Macaulay, Emerson Goethe Thackeray and George
Eliot.
By way of compensation, Mr.. Ruskia makes
addition or two to the original catalogue. OfPlato
he would nave the British workingman read nc I
merely the Ph@do and Republic, but "all.' He
brackets Pindar with Hesiod. Bacon is to be stud
led chiefly in The New Atlantis" Carlyle, to Sir
John Lubbock's mind. is mainly valuable for " Past
and Present" y aud The French Revolution
Mr.. Rlskln says everything" and still more EN-
phatlcaliy writes. against Scott, out of whom the
savant would leave only selections, "cvery
word.' So many of SCOTS words are surplusage
and 60 soveny is his style $50 Scotch also and often
un-English,, that Mr.. Ruskn's recommendation Is
but too likely to mislead tie unpractised reader.
Scott is admirable for other qualities than those
ID. u. n.ll. 4iLA.-a nl.a.la