The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-25


"Juliette'7
And rose leaves OF December
The frosts of June shall fret
n me day that you remember.
q The day that forget.
4.
Since Mr.. Bartlett refuses to give as any.
ching from Swinburne. let US see what utter.
, ances Of Browning and Lowell have in his
latest judgment become household words. OF
are worthy Of becoming So To begin with
Browning. the reader Of earlier editions OF this
book will recall that he was credited with max
tng but few contributions to the fund of our
rent sayings. On the other hand. In the vol
ume before us some nine pages are allotted to
him. The difference corresponds with the
advance In the popular appreciation Of this
poet. which marked the latter years
|, OF his life and has continued since
I his death. Although Tennyson Is still. no
doubt. the most widely conned and quoted OF
al the English verse makers Of the Victorian
b age-H any one can challenge his supremacy
In this particular. It is Longfellow-it Is never
Sfheless undeniable that his audience is some-
fwhat smaller than it was. But Browning's
audience is growing. and It's limits even yet
kare not foreseen. Ten years hence. should
Eenother hand take UP the task Of selection
(which Mr.. Bartlett now relinauishes. 1t Is
kprobable that even more space will be assigned
Efo Browning than has been here awarded
Among the thoughts and feicitous express
eions Of this poet which come trippingly upon
sfhe tongue possibly the most familiar OF all
sare the two lines from " The Lost LEADER"
Just for . handful OF silver he left u.s.
Just tors ribbAnd to stick In his coat
I, Perhaps next to 1t would be ranked tho
memorable line from Colombe's birthday.
se'When IL man strong until he feels alone 2"
thraa fror IN
Word More:
God DO thanke Cd tho meanest Of HIS creatures
Boasts two soul sides-one 70 face the world with,
One TO show . woman whea no loves her.
There Is also another thought which Brown
ing was fond OF dwelling on. and which appears
in several guises. Here Is one in verse. "'Tis
not what man does which exalts him. but what
man would do" The same idea is developed
more at length In prose In A Souls Tragedy:
Ever Judge Of men BY their professions. For
though the bright moment OF promising Is
but a moment and cannot be- prolonged. yet, II
sincere In its moments extravagant goodness,
why trust him. and know the man by 1t, say
not BY his performance. which Is half the
worlds work. interfere as the world needs
must with It's accidents and circumstances:
the profession was purely q mans own. I
judge people by what they might be-not are
nor will be-" Let US find room for one more OF
Mr.. Bartlett
Arc there not dear Michal
Two points In tho adventures Of the divert
Ono when begsar he prepares to plunge:
One when prince he rises with his pearl.
While neither the nrst nor the second series
OF Blglow Papers has now q 1.-THE Of the read
ers which 1t commanded at the date Of its pub
lication. there has been during the last fifteen
years signal increase in the attention paid
to Lowelrs serious poetry. Tho fact is recog-
nized BY the allotment Of eight pages to him
in this volume. Among the quotations from
his verse Mr.. Bartlett has, of course. included
the not-to-be-forgotten lines from The Vision
AfSir Launfal":
Not only around our infancy
Doth heaven With all its splendors lie;
r. Daily With souls that cringe and plot
We ainais climb and know II not
and this from the same poem:
IT'S heaven alone that 10 given away,
It's only God may DO had for the asking
Then this. which of all Lowell's utterancss,
6perhaps the most frequently repeated:
And what 10 70 day In Junsi
Then. II ever, come perfect days;
Shsn heaven tries the earth It DO in tune
And over II softly hsr warm lsys
There are however. many other lines repro.
u uood In the volume under our eyes that are
quite as worthy Of remembrance Here Is
tone. for example. from Irene: "Earth's
gtnoblost thing-a woman perfected" and We
, would add these three lines from the fourth
.soonnet:
bsnoois, and the noolsness that lies
In other men. slesping but never dead,
WIN nss in majesty to meet thine own.
. n Is not, however. Lowells verse alone which
:; mas enriched the common stock Of apothegma
Hero for instance 10 deep saying encountered
In Among My Books: Solitude Ia as need
full to the imagination as society Is wholesome
for the character" We may note in passing
that In Rousseau and the sentimentalists
Lowell tries TO seize most elusive discrimina-
eion. % follows: talent Is that which is in a
s.man's power: genius that In whose power Q
.>mAn is."
The translations. which occupy 100 pages OF |
mis- volume begin with some examples OF pro- |
verbal wisdom drawn from the sanskrit fables |
Sf Pilpay. q Brahmin gymnosophist. who ID be- |
l.lieved TO have lived several centurlse before |
Christ. In one OF his sayings We have proto-
J type Of the Golden Rule. I'VE ought to do our |
yneighbor all the good we can. II you do good. |
{, good will be done to you; but II YOU do evil. |
the same will be measured back to you again."
Pilpsy also seems to have been the first to an
nouncs that a cat has nine lives: that guilty |
consoienoes always make people towards. and
that what IL bred In the bone will never come
out Of the flesh. 1t was no. too who FIRST |
affirmed In one OF his fables that Possession
Is the strongest tenure of the law" From Pill
pay Mr.. Bartlett turns to Hesod. to whom We
owe the saying that Sleep Is the brother
of DEATH" and that disclosure OF the value
of suggestfveness In his well- exclama-
4. al hos Ina. No. ~ k.fS