New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-10-03

congregational Union. which meets next week at
Norwich, refused to invite Mr. Beecher to speak
oe'ore that body on the ground that his religious
views we're not orthodox. The Re-, Edward White
chairman, declared himself ready to reslpr rather
than to receive Mr.. 3eecher on the platform. This
Us the most marked re,nf the Plymouth Church
pastor fas received in England
The Library Association has wound mp its work
ana adjourned. One feature Of the congress has
Deen the part taken by the directors of free pnbic
libraries many of whom contributed able papers
AS yet the free library system is still in its in fan
cy, the whole number )f tree libraries in the nited
kingdom being only Ii. and the pay of librarians is
generally too small to attract frst-rate men. Even
edinburgh, which calls itself the Athens of the
North," was content to bc wtnolt a public library
until MT. Andrew Carnegie's oher .of S250,0O0
stimulated action. meeting was held there yes
terday, the Lord Provost presiding, viii h favored
acceptance of the offer. but popular vote must
decide whether the city shall tax itself under the
Free Libraries act. The Library Association re-
solved to apply to Para nent for power of further
perinissve taxation by MUNICIPALITIES which is
now limited to penny in the pound.
DR.. Garnett, assistant librarian Of the British
Museum read an interesting paper on library work
at the Museum. The number of books there has
the printed catalogue is likely to be completed in
| sixteen years.
The October Reviews are chiefly remarkable for
their dulness. Mr.. Harris does not yet bring The
ForfnighHy up to Mr.. itscott's mark much less to
Mr.. MOreys. Mr.. Know es to have ell
trusted The Nineteenth Century to a substitute who
has failed TO the nsual supply OF celebrities
is contributors. The Contemporary has an article
on Bunyan and Puritanism by Professor GOd-
win Smith, but find better exponent of he
Royal Academy controversy than Mr.. Quilter, who
was long since christened garry" by Mr. Whis-
tier.
Professor Godwin Smiths article, England Re-
visited" in MacmiNan's MaJa.,ae brings down on
him The Ddily Ncrs which describes his coulsels as
the warnings CT selfsatise'i pedantrv and accuses
him OF bad taste. bad logic, bad breeding obtuse-
ness indecency and meaEness Mr. Gladstone has
been criticised by Pro essor Smith: Nbut Mr.
Gladstone" remarks this elegant essayist of The
NeUs. is too much absorbed in great labors to deal
out retr butive justice to every fly"
MIR. Henry James's Princess Casamassima is
now comp eted as a serial and has just been pub
iished by Mossrs. Macmillan in the orthodox. but
to the author generally Improbable. three volumes.
The Ath<macum. reviewing Mr.. Edgar Fawcetts
Romance and Revery." describes him undoubt
edly one of the most promising of the younger
school of American poets. 1t thinks the most
important poem in the present collection, The
Magic Flower, is an excellent piece of narration
containing passages of genuine imagination. while
the other poems are chiefly noticeable for grace of
feeling and are wanting in sincere passion. "Mr.
Fawcett seems to have concentrated his energies"
concludes this critic on his Magic Flower. an
achievement with which he may well rest
tent" G.w.s.