New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
rur nvc1 an rnIA nE RIOGRAPHY.


sApprFTONps CYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERICAN Bug
gAPHy Edited by JAMES GRANT WlLsoN ano
JOHN t1sKE. Vol w. Lodge-Pckcns. Royal
octave, pp. K, 76e. ID. Appleton d co.
The fourth volume of this useful work sustains
the exccliut average of the preceding volumes and
.or.a,ns . ,arro number of articles of exceptional
Importance This volume is especially rich IN
authors and statesmen. Longfellow, Motley, LOWELL
Theodore Parker and Payne represent the fornner'
and Marshall Madison and Monroe representing 'no
latter with General Mcclellan as perhaps INC must
conspicuous exponent of the soldier class ITO
lessor Charles Eliot Norton's sketch OF Longfellow
Is written under the spell OF lifelong intimacy D'
Professor Norton does not sink the critic IN the
friend The article is just and discriminating at tho
came time that II CLOVIS with tho warmth OF auiDia
tIon and affection which personal contact Win .no
poet seems to have inspired IN all Perhaps tfs ieu
the writer TO pass over lightly the one ieature %
ION sfeliows ufo and work which seemed almost IN
consistent with the gentle and sympathetic character
of the man--his holding practically aoot nom .ho
anti-slavery movement, course when not even
the publication Of his few Poems on slavery
seemed entirely to excuse. IL is 'rue
that Longfellow was, as he says, "by nature as
inclined to ccnsure' and his protest as far as 1t went
,w,s clear and unmistakabe, but there were other
nrts s kindly and as little fond Of controversy as nc
who did battle against slavery and the aonher Oh
Iongfcow finds this perhaps the only oisappoln'-
ing thing in his remarkable career Dr. ohVer "eh-
dell Holmes writes with warm appreciation Oh 'ohn
Lothrop motley. he was especially ntteu as ms
piographer to do Just reference is mace thoush
perhaps more briefly and obscurely than might nave
seemed justnable. to the circumstances OF his reure
rnent first from his post at Vienna then at London
DR. Holmes imparts even to this compact sketch tho
rscy flavor of his style. The sketch OF James nus:
sell Lowell IS from the hand Of Charles Dudley warner
and like all of Mr.. Warmers writing Is pleasing ana
graceful 1t may DO questioned, however, whether
tho statement that the issue Of the Bigow Papers
twas an event OF tho first importance in the history
NJ the worlds literature is not somewhat exagger-
ated 1t would be difficult to overstate the peculiar
merits of this satire its effectiveness but 1t was
written for a purpose and special time It's form
makes It impossible that st should be appreciated out
side of England and America 1t seems improbable,
TO say the least that the BigOw Papers VIII be
read as long or as much Mr. Lowelrs own " Com
hemoration Ode' for example, which was wrtten for
all time. Mr. Warner gives him full credit for his
splendid share In tho fight against slavery but says
nothing Of his recent course in politics.
D. d. rockingham contributes discriminating sketch
bf Theodore Parker, and General James Grant wilson
writes upon John Howard Payne. Perhaps the CHIEF
In Importance of the sketches Of statesmen is that OF
Chief Justice Marshall by Justice Bradley, of tho
most learned members of the present Supreme Court
bench. The reader will not ind however, the great
work Of Marshalls e-his matchless series Of decis
Ions upon questions Of constitutional law-dealt with
In the manner the announcement OF inc
might lead him to expect Justice Bradley says that
TO specify and characterize the great opinions that
be delivered would be to write treatise Ameri-
tan constitutional law" and contents himself with q
general tribute TO their value Professor John Fiske
furnishes accounts Of James Madison, Francis
Marion and James Otis and family The
article General George b. Mcclellan,
By Professor Henry Coppee. smacks of special
pleading though he docs go far as to admit that
the General unnecessarily slow" IN the siege OF
Yorktown and that his caution" often neutraized
other good qualities. To represent tho powers at
Washington" Withholding all praise for what he and
bis army had achieved" while "scoldlng him for his
aeIay1 IS as inaccurate and unjust to declare that
though he set aside by the Government his hold
npon the people of the country never relaxed
Other important articles those upon S. T. p Morse
and William Penn by Marcus Benjamin, George Pea
body by General Wilson, Dom Pedro H., Charles
D'Conor, by Professor T. o'Conor Sloane, Sir John A.
Macdonald, by George Stewart etc. The volume con-
ains ten large portraits in stecl besides smaller
portraits and cuts which greatly increase Its attract