New-York tribune., 1891-09-16

~
Mr. John Foster Kinks Supplement to Allbones
Dictionary Of Authors" will be brought out by LIP
pincott this month. This necessary and much-de-
sired work is 10 be published in two volumes.
OF Thomas Browne otherwise "Roh Boldrewood,'
che outhor OF Robbery Under Arms and other pict-
nresoue Australian novels. Mr. David Christie Mur
raw says that he wrote in obscnrity for years un'
I'll he at last secured London publisher. Ihen hc
sprang to fame with suddcnness which would nave
turned the heads Of some II seemed TO anect
aim very little If at all. lie was-or is, If the re-
port Of his death be indeed a mistake-a charmngiy
cordial simple and sincere man, the sort OF man WHO
NJ once cnlsts esteem and liking.
The composing stick used by Benjamin Franklin
when at work in London printing Office IS 10"
owned nv an BngIishman On one side OF the set
,,ug-rule now in the stick, is engraving OF the
original printing press, with the words, Pr1ntng'
the Art Preservatve Of Arts" whilst IN the lefhand
corner arc the initials "W. g." and on the Hght
sShallus fecit."
The second volume Of Mr.. Morse stephens's HIS
tory OF the French Revolution is nearly reaoy ior
publication.
@The Scarlet Tauager and other Bpeds' IS tne
tstle Of J. T. Trowbrdgc'S forthcoming Voume'
Ice q Shepard who viii bring out this BOOK, also
have In press a new book by Ingerson LOCKWOOD,
rrnups The piduam title Of this new book Is " Ex-
traotdinary Experiences Of Little Captain DoppeiRop
a, the Shores of BubDleland.'
Tn a charming paper in "hacmiIlan' on the
suncrstion OF aThe Great Work." find the follow
ing paragraphs. Probably the majority OF literary
men will keenly appreciate them:
A writer in "The Daily News for reasons OF ms
own entered a protest the other day against what ne
caIsa the Magnum Opus theory. mans friends
nd
urgirg him 10 write Great Work IL was t III t"t ~
THAT SSt. the ScR SaR n mat he 0 ' written
Great Work which nobody heard Of Or tRat or he
and must produce things which would yield nm nm dd ni
should persist in exhortaton is no doubt In the or
know better Certainly censors, whose adnsonitions
GET uttered in print should know better BeIeSe deee
not save in very exceptional cases, require 70 have
the sides Of his intent priched by the caSmai & friend Th
way. George Eliot may wait for the the w
Of eng S m Ada@ 70 hede r BHt in ninety
cases out of hundred ii Is true that admonluOn or
him TO do. II man Is not lalzaO, i IS in vain
that you will urge him to write C0meole humane
n ~ on be sS viii GI so oS Writing IN rubbish for ten Years in
the teeth of parental remonstrsnce and public
neglect sustained by inward consciousness OF power
In the sure and certain hope that some day he Will
produce the Great Work and be famous. 80 .
must be said paTentSeticaiy there is absolutely
way Of escape. Delight your generation with occa-
so1ai verse or graceful essays fun of scholarship
and urbane wit. and you are sterny 6dden or per
baps urged by way OF hattering expo'tnlatlon to
leave such trhing and do something WORTHY OF yGur
sbe Essay 99 epic and yoF Ss are Tbn ENDED
volume novelist is reminded that bigness is not
greatness Masters of the short story are exhorted
pleads modesty that to earn his living he must defer
10 the popular taste and 1t is hinted that he Is sell
ing his brthright for mess of pottage. Another
in the proud CONSCIOUSNESS OF genluS scorns TO pros
tute his Muse, and he IS sOJmdy rated for not think
ing first of his ianiy and his social obligations. fOn
lead life of literary leisure like Edward Fitzgerald
letters TO yOur friends which ought TO have been
given to writing books for the publishers. You throw
Gcoree sands and in the end the Olympian critic
screnely pronOunces that nothing but your private
The author deprecates the notion that the average
writer could, by simply taking thought. add several
thousand cubts to his stature and write Paradise
Lost" Take he says, just by of example the
who has sometimes been regarded, who regarded
himself victim sacrificed to Journalistic task
work. the whose life suggested the remarks In
The Daily News with which l started TheopMle
Gauter. What the Odds IL Gautier had been
free from the oblgston to turn ont weekly dramatic
fedlleton that he would have given the world any
better poetry than EmauX ct Camees7 Are not the
chances rather that, without the pressure of daily
needs. should have had to go without many OF
the very delightful volumes now have from his
pen, and have got nothing whatever in their place
Any way, the story goes and It is odd story when
you to think OF it, that the young Theo in early
manhood had to be shut up in his bedroom by his
mother to write '&Illc. de Mauplnp"
How far advanced. we wonder, is Lowell's long
promised Life of Nathaniel HAWTHORNE II would