New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-11
LITERARY NOTES.

LITERARY NOTES..
A valuable edition Of j. n. Green's "short History
| OF the English People has been announced by Mac
MILAN II Is 10 be fully illustrated; and the subjects
chosen-in addition to portraits-eompf1se the art'
industries costumes. coins, and domestic and ecclesia'
teal architecture Of the various periods dealt with by
! the historian The edition win also be enriched by
number OF coored maps The Interest OF this history
~ attested by the fact that since It's first publication
| IN 1874 over 10000 copies have been sold.
| A sorrowful reader fails 10 find any meanin
| Lowells lines,
| AS to bee the new campanula's
| Illuminate secuson hung In air."
and asks for light. II he will read over the passage In
"The Cathedral" he will have no difficulty In inter-
pretng the lines. To "explan' poetry, Is as destuc-
| tive of its charms as b parse 1t.
Michael Verne the sou of Jules Verne, Is said to be
an nheror OF bis fathers talent and Is described as
writing stories in his father's vein.
George saintsbury has written critical introduction
for his forthcoming translation Of Edmond scherers
| Essays English Lterature'
| Goldsmith "hns been strangely underrated,' says
| "The Anti Jacobtn,p "but his time win come. The
verse of the Deserted Village and OF the Traveller
is not quite like that OF any other master in that great
metre Ii Is not the rhythm Of Pope, Dryden. nor
| Crabbe, nor Cowpcr 10 sounds unique, and haunts
| ear.
THE slow canal, the yellow blossomed vale,
The willow tufted bank the gliding SAIL
There is couplet of which the curious felicity In
balanced words harmonious novels, and aliteratve
consonants can hardly be beaten. Or take stronger
| passage
Those blazing suns, that dart a downward ray
Ard Hereby she'd intolerable day;
IlOSC matted woods,
Int silent bats In drowsy clusters cling rvrod
Where the dark scorpion gathers death around.
| Is not that full OF and romantic power !!
where birds forget sing reminds Of that line in
Keaiss La belle Dame Meci' so otter praised for
| It's tragic, romantic beauty:
The sedgc Is wthered from the lake.
And no birds sing.'
Perhaps. there is an accent Of conventional dction
In the forget II so 1T shows more. what is so
often ignored that the conventional dction not
always unreal and formal We're one to write an essay
upon the romantic clements in eighteenth century
| poetry, he might begin with Thomson's wonderful
! lines:
AS when a fisher OF the Hebrid Isles
Placed far amid the melancholy MAN,
And Goldsmith's is not merely gentle, simple,
| musical II abounds In rich and artistic beauty
Mrs Walford's next novel has an enticlng title
| {" A Pinch Of Experience" May the book be worthy
OF the author Of Mr. Smith and "The Baby's Grand
| mother"
Mr.. Thomas Hardy has told Mr.. Brander Mathews
that most of the stories told In his book, Group Of
Noble Danes" ore true They derived from family
| traditions.
complete critical edition Of Sir Thomas Mallory IS
MOrte D'Arthur5 has Just been brought out by Or.
| II. o. sommcr Phi D., and Englishmen are bowling
| hnmlated heads at the thought that the task was
left TO German scholar. The work is In three hand
| some volumes. The first contains the text: the
second matter explanatory Of the text and the third
series OF Studies the sources from which Mallory
| drew his romance. After IN immense deal Of labor
and research Dr. Sommer has been able TO find chapter
and rersc for the greater portion of the MOrte
| D'Arthur."
II one may believe the statements In regard to tho
fashion In which NJ lola manufactures his unclean
books cannot but acknowledge that there little
genius apparent In the process. lie handles pen,'
II Is asserted, n laborer might q spade. and is
slow and painful toller The expression on his face
when he Is doing literary work is one Of torment
Hans Breitmann has lifted melodious strains once
| more a new Poem by him Is on the press. 1t is
| called Magenta
| Hugh Thomson. than whom to-day, there is no
eleverer Illustrator clever books and whose drawings
fO- the "Vlcar OF Wakefield" will not be forgotten
has been preparing another wellmown volume for the
holidays. This time 1t is Mrs. Gaskells Crawford
10 which he IS adding ornament and Interpretation, in
the shape Of a Kindred sketches. 1t is book which
has doubtless drawn upon his best powers. 1t will
be brought out in large paper edition as well as In the
12mo edition uniform with Mr.. Thomson's edition
Of the "Vicar"
In his argument to tho taking Of risk by the
publisher, "The London Globe" does not agree with
Mr.. Haven Putnam 1t maintains 81 that In book
worthy Of the the author risks more capital
than the publisher II he Is OF any mark ut all
hour he has given TO composition to correction and
the energy ne has thrown into his task represent
capital quite much the money Of the commercial
man."
Coventry Patmore. the author Of The Angel In the
House. second at q duel-strange to say.
His principal Mr.. Scott Of The London Magazine
a traveller and author and uncle Of the wife Of Dr.
John Brown Of Edinburgh. Scott was killed.
JASMINE.
c. N S. in The Overland Monthly