New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-08
LITERARY NOTES.

.ColoueI Carter OF Gainesville has had notable
success-it has gone into its third edition Mr.. Hop
Nnson Smith should be encouraged to DO semethms
moro in this vein.
The question "what is gcniusi" has lately been
answered by one of the most distinguished OF scieh'c
men. Professor Huxley regards it not as ha'ur"i'
normal, harmonious growth but as sport "Genius
10 my mlnd,' he says "means innate capacity Vi eus
kind above the average mental level. From bologl
cal point Of view should say that genius among men
stands In the same position as sport among anis
and plants, and is product of that Variability wmon
Is the postulae Of selection, both natural anu
On the general ground that strong, and therefore
markedly abnormal, variety pso acto not hKey 10
be so well in harmony with existing condiuohs as 'e
normal standard (Which has been brought TO what u
largely by the operation of those cohdiuohs' sho"u
say that large proportion of 'genusspor'e are sS
TO come to grief physically and socially ana tlaV u"
intensity of feeling which Is one OF the conul.oHs VI
genius is especially liable to run into INSANITY
Miss sanborn in her clever book on her New Engiand
farm gives this pleasant glimpse OF Whtuer 10 DIS
Danvers homo: 81 found he had three dogs. Roger
Williams q fine Newfoundland, stood on the piazza
with the questioning, patrOnizing air OF oisnineo
host. bright faced scotch terrier Charles Dickens
pocred at us from the window, as II giad OF h''e
excitemcnt whilo Carl the gracefui greyhouhu' was
Indoently coiled up shawl ana TOOK niue nouoe
of u.s. whittier has also pet cow favorlte ana
pected caress The kindly hearted old poet, SO full
~ tenderness for all created things. told me that years
rhen puts were scarce he would put beech nuts ana
ncorns here and there he walked over his farm 70
cheer the squirrels by an unexpected hnd'"
The English publishers and booksellers are not
friends at present. The former are predxng TO ther
Implications such little notices this; "The pub
fishers intend this book TO be sold at the aoVerSou
price, and supply it to the trade at terms when 90 no
Thn haonkS
The August number of "scribner" is "hcton
humber the larger proportion of its pages being gwen
over b the storytellers. We cannot say that these
writers eaving Mr.. Stevenson out Of question: nave
been on this occasion successful their stories are all
more or less forced and artificial and all are depressing
JAS for Mr. Stevensop's Wrecler" it woud carry more
than one unsatisfactory number of magazine IL Is
fun of brilliant vitality and humor.
Mr.. wigmores second ard concluding scrbher aruoi.
On parliamentary days in Japan leaves US WIN eooo
working knowledge of the progress OF inc "osOorn
spirit and Western institutions In that region Oh u't
East Japan now what is In some soN leleh VI
democracy may it not extngush altogether what were
virtues and beauties in the old regime
Tho lato Rolf Behrewood Grown). the author Of
aRohbery upder Arms left two Ms. novels, sidney
Side saxon and "Nevermore." They will shortly be
published by Macmillan
IT'S matter for marvel that Scotchman-John M
Robertson in his Modern IIumanists"-should thu:
speak of his great countryman, Carlyle: AhtagomsI
oppugnancy, negaton, clearness OF cenvlcoon Only
that other people wrong-that is perhaps the mos
persistent note In his character. lie really
had no prevailing bent to literature regarded as con
tnuous DEVELOPMENT Of thought, in that he had
a great hereditary flow of vivid speech In support o.
HE few ideas. Holding neither by Deism MOI
Pantheism lie can only be described fanatic either
for Authorization or for a name. Call MS Greco
sGodsm and you limit the confusion OF words by
separately labelling his confusion of thought.
in sartor Rcsartus he puzzles by affecting 70 oe
sbstruso when his thought is perfectly simple"
Tho weary mass Of MS. left by Victor Hugo-thcrt
ere over 1000 pages of thas been edited and the las
volume aOcean.n is now with the printers. These
later volumes do not seem to have aroused any en-
thusiasm anywhere. His correspondence, dating bacH
to 1920, has now to be edited.
correspondent Of The Tribune asks pertinent qacs
zion ia regard to the letters from Goethe to Frau vor
Stein which recent dispatch from Berlin stated vert
To be offered for sale by the poets grandson IN
points out that last of Goethes descendants is oead
and declares that the greater part of the
with Frau Stein is in the possession on the "rli
Duchess Of Saxe-Weimar and that the most importan
Of them. written from Italy in 1886 and 1877. wer
used by Goethe the groundwork for the ltaleisch
Relsebilder.n The dispatch did indeed err in naming
Goetes grandson for it is Frau Won STEMS grandson
who sell letters in question AS a matte
of fact only an ncOnslderable portion OF GOetes cor
respondenCe with that clever woman has ever peel
M published, or has been acquired at Weimar The col
lection offered for sale numbers. according 70
statement in The Standard no fewer than La
letters which written between the years 40 an
1896 and consequently the half century down
the year preceding Frau Won STEMS death. They con
appears that the possession Of this important literary
treasure will lie between the Royal Library IN Bern
and the Goethe collection at Weimar.