The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-10-04
OUR LITERARY BUDGET.
What tho nsIoslyphics Of 4 Papyrus Roll
ReYealed.
| PUBLICATION By BRITISH HUSEUI
Manuscripts Of Classical Auth ors Found I'm
the Tombs Of Egypt light Thrown on the
Life OF the Ancients-O Other Matters.

EGYPT roll OF papyrus. the hierogly phics OF
which having been decphered were found I,
give an account of q strike which took place
among the workmen on q temple in the day
OF the Ptolemies which in many respect
bears strong resemblance to the labo
troubles of to-day. As further proof tha
there Is nothing new under the sun the Brit
ISL Musuem has just published volume con
tanning the text of q number of manuscript.
OF classical authors which have been un.
III Egypt. One of these il a collection
OF poems written by Herodes. a matt We of Cos
in the astern Egean, who lived $50 years
before the Christian era and after reading
the verses the conclusion will be arrived at
that there was great deal of human nature
IN ancient Greece. and that the people did
not dlaer very much from those of the Nine
| teenth century. 1t IL related of Char es amb
,hat once As ne sat watching ColerIdge de-
nvering one OF his metaphysical monologues
TO tired listener tie suffering humorist
sara; Never mind Coleridge; its only his
tun.' 1t would be very difficult task to ex-
tract amusement from the writings OF philoso-
| pliers like Plato and Socrates, or dramatists
IKE Sophocles and Euripides yet there must
have been some fun in those old Greeks
Arlstophanes wrote comedies, and Theo com
|
| censorious people have been heard to say T. at
the Jokes sometimes heard to-day at the min
strel shows in farce comedies undoubtedly
| served TO cause laugh In the DAYS of Scion
| and Lycurgus Tho discovered poems of
Herodes are of humorous character, and
are CHE v in the form of dialogues One of
| them. which is entitled The Matchmaker -
SHOWS how q young woman whose husband
was away on long journey was visited by an
old woman who endeavored to persuade her
to secure a sort OF Dakota divorce and marry
very nice young man whom she had
met that summer at the Hgean
seashore. Then we have a mother leading
her unwilling boy to the schoolmaster. and
explaining to that functionary how in spite
OF all that sne could do. he would persist in
gong of swimming. tying melodous cans to
dogs tails and throwing Greek frs-balls into
the tub occupied by the philosopher Diogenes
In another poem there is q dialogue between
two fashionable Athenian ladies living on
Mars Hill, which bears strong resemblance
to the feminine gossip heard in parlors
and drawng-rooms to-day. The servantgi
question was evidently as burning an issue
two thousand years ago as il now is. for the
two Grecian danes began TO compare notes.
and to tell how the housemsid would persist
in going of to the Olympian games, and how
drunk just on the eve of a grand
dinner to he given to the famous
painter Appees. Then. forgetting their
troubles, they take to discussing the fashions
and the bargains to DO had on the Athenian
Eighth street. and how they intend to trim
their fall dresses and bonnets. In the next
poem we find them in q shoe store. turning
over and trying on the goods and endeavor-
ing, Just like their modern sisters, to get q
number four foot into number two shoe.
How they succeed can only be conjectured
aconyocation of worms having eaten up the
rest Of the manuscript. As pictures of ancient
life, and Of an age which has generally been
considered ono of ideal culture and phil
osophy these poems afford a closer insight
into everyday Greek life than even the
recently discovered treatise of Aristotle on
the Athenian Constitution.-Ph Philadelphia
Record.
Mr.. 0,sse's Criticism.
Mr.. Edmund Gosse made this criticism of
Mr. Lowell in The st. James Gazette, pub
lished on the day of the poets death:
when we ask ourselves what we have lost |
in Mr.. Lowell-or rather. in happier and truer
phrase what we have gained permanently in |
spite of our present loss-we seem to answer |
No one special book, whether of prose or verse |
but an influence working sturdily and per-
sistenly in the direction OF oil that is most |
pure most elevated, and most enthusiastic in
the literary life. Few men have devoted their
career to books with 30 little loss Of |
manhood and citizenship as he His tastes
were distinguished; but they were whole
some and reasonable He loved literature
with passion: but he loved it wisely As
! poet. as an essayist, as q humorist.
AZ lecturer. as critic, he was always III
favor OF what was sane. He was preserved
rom lttleness and exaggeration by that saw
ng grace of humor. He could even let him.
self go on an intellectual impulse. and swing
back into perfect reasonableness on q ouip or
Can nh Ia a1 and 20 |
Tery rare degree. the broad view of the scholar
yentlemen-w in less accomplished hands
s thn-with the exactitude of the specialist
which in pedantio treatment is sterile and
narrow. He despised the bitterness of the
mere literary expert; and perhaps it will be
1een made when he hastily mistook the man
If science for dryasdust and per-
uaded himself to smite him. Among Mr.
4owells essays none is moro unlucky than
hat ON Chaucer when it attempts to crush
he genuine learning of Professor Skeat, none
more charming when it eliminates tho warm
,enius of tie poet by the light OF a nature al
most as sweet and as serene as his. In some
aspects the most academic man of-letters
whom America has produced. and recognized
n that capacity by the universities of Europe,
dr Lowell represented the older forms of
earning and was little apt to look with
on the modern passion for an ex-
RENE subdivision Of knowledge. He loved
ruth for its own sake. but he desired that it |
hould have undergone preservation in
Fame's great antiseptic-style." before it
fas presented to him."
-.
Literary Notes.
1t is stated that Sir Charles Gavan Duffy is
ngaged on a long-cherished project-the
PREPARATION of q series of notable Irish publ
after the style of Cassells
'ational Library volumes. The veteran
tatesman. though in rather weak health. is
till as great an enthusiast in the matter of
rish popular literature as when. nigh fifty
ears ago, in con, unction with Thomas Davis
nd John Blake Dillon. he started the Dublin
Iation.
Miss Scidmore, the author of "Jinrikisha
Jays" commenced her literary career as
Washington correspondent for the st. Louis
lobe Democrat aud other Western papers
nderthe pen-name off Ruhamah." that being
he portion of her given name received from her
randmother. Miss Soidmore was o native of
Wisconsin. from which place she came to
Washington some years ago. She is q con-
-ibutor to various leading periodicals. and
as written two books. She has been an ex-
.nsive traveller, and went to Alaska on the
Itest addition to the United States.
-
Ernest Renan, whose Life of Jesus" has
aused such q sensation. was once O student !
divinity. He found however, that he was !
OF suited for holy orders One day he made
% his mind to leave the seminary where he {