New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-06-02
NOTES ON BOOKS.
Mr.. RCDYARD KIPLING'S BALLADS-SIR Do
BCIS'S FOUR PRIVATE LIBRARIES-A
RELIC OF PIGOTT-MR QUARITCHS
IDEA OF PERFECTION.

! is extolled in terms which would do credit to the
inventive ingenuity of the proprietor of much
doomed soap The soap, no doubt, las its merits,
and these Ballads have their merits But though
| the superlative degree is the only one the soap
poet ever condesccnds TO employ, the use of it by
the critic is fraught with peril To say that
three of Mr. Kipling's ballads are altogether
SUPERIOR to anything Of the kind that English
literature has previously produced is to pro-
woke q protest from the reader FROM critical
point of view the sentence Is perhaps saved, or
the rashness of it mitigated by the adroit inser-
tion of the words of the kind" 1t is possible
to say that nothing of the kind has ever been
previously produced; unless by Mr.. Kiplng him
self But the delivcrance is one which the aver
are reader will take, and probably is meant to
take. as placing Mr. Rudyard kipling on a
pinnacle above all other ballad writcrs-above the
author Of the Ballad of Chevy Chace; above
Dravton. though he wrote Agincourt; above Scott;
above everybody. No criticism can do a man
so much harm rs this excessive laIdatlon
The writer of the eulogy from which L am
ouoting seems TO think the combination OF rough
language basphemy, and coarseness with deep
! pathos q novelty; something which MT Rudyard
KnIinq has introduced into literature. 1t is
fraouent enouqh even in that English literature
bevond which his view does not extend But
tbere are in American literature examples of its
rso in ono ease so famous, in both so admirable,
tbot evon IN Athenaeum" reviewcr-crltic he is
not.-might be supposed TO know them Is Mr..
| Pret Uarte TO be laid on the SHE'LL or to he made
= burnt Altering that the cloud of incense may
rise the thicker before this upstart deity OF
literature sadly in need of one? Or Colonel
Jobn Uav's Pike County Baads-are they only
GOOD for fuel to the same holy end? True there
| Rudyard
! nI1s - volume with the easy lit of his fluent
verso Pit quantity is not the measure OF quanty,
! nor aI,vavs Of fame That combination winch
soor,s so rare to this sea-girt idolater-the COM
L;notion Of rough language and pathos--ls 10 ne
,oupd in Colonel Hays ballads in company with
freshness and vigor and with an imaginative
force which entite him 10 larger place IMAM ne
has chosen to take. So is it in the Bgio" faptrs
which are not perhaps ballads, but do nevertheless
,ossoss This union of qualities which
soous "a the narrow English eye so rare-pos"
sess them TO a wonderful degree They are not abb
solutelv Unknown in England, nor Is the author
M them unknown. Mr. Stedmans how oio
Brown Took IIarpers Ferry is less familiar mere.
Int in that too are the qualities which make
the others immortal; and make that also iiu-
mortal were it only part OF the history oil the
IArci-Sroverv War. Let Mr. Rudyard Kipline
! laV
If il likes. Ike ridiculous, but Mr. Kipling has, IN
truth too genuine a merit TO be pulled into
! vulgarity.
| lie bappens 70 hate America and Americans, and
has pourcd out the riches of his yituperation on
both There is 20 sign that the supply Is eN-
| hous,c1 But that is no reason why we snou"
withhold from him the tribute due to qualities
which, if not unique as his clumsy adofer liz.
agines are at least unusual 1t is pity he shouio
seek TO make bad blood between the English ana
the Americans. but | do not think it Is the
| American who has most reason TO regret IT,
The elegant treatise of Mr.. Henri Pene du Bots
on Four Private Libraries OF New-iork, ele-
gantly printed by De Vinne elegantly published
bv Duprat X Co., Of NewNork, has attracted the
attention of an English writer in a London jour-
nal known as The Daily News" To name the
journal and to give the nationality OF the DooS
reviewed is equivalent To saying that the review
is hostile II reads If IL were the hrso
excursion of the writer into the domain OF what
he chooses TO call Bibliomania. He does not like
Mr. du Bois's style. lie does not like booN-coI-
Letting lie thinks, or seems to think, for lie Is
not very clear, that Americans ought 70 buy only
American books Bibiomana in America Is IN
his view. an imported. not native disease. lie
/. himself SO extremely English 10 suppose
that the first editions of the Romantic writers IN
France from 1880 to $40 were absorbed by
circulating Libraries" He dscourses on binding.
believes that mosaic is embossed; believes that
Grolier and Maioh were binders-ths last SUPER
stiton firmly ingrained i'll the minds Of those VINO
have no love for books. Ii would be so easy
not 10 write about books or bindings If one does
not care enough about them TO acquire rudi-
mentary knowledge Of either.
The remark might be addressed with equal
fitness 10 certain reviewer in GER
tain American weekly. The American revlew-
err is naturally more ama6le than the
English. yet not much better versed IN tie
literature or learning of what he calls bbllophil-
ism 4 critic gives his measure at once wheh TIC
speaks of writer's being housed in first editions
or rcckous Giacomelli and-Once more, alas -
Grolier among binders; or thinks red morocco
ait by Cape a recommendation to "Molieres.'
Mr. du Bois's volume deserves better treatment
than this. 1t cannot however, be dealt with adj
coua,cly except az some length. II contains much
10 which one would not like TO assent much, aso'
which brcatheS the true spirit OF the book-lover'
4 sufficient criticism would discriminate between
the two He will not, | hope, convert any greao
number of the faithful TO bis views OF what he calS
-persistently but never very clearly" the art Ok
the decade lie might have suppressed the repro
duction of the mosaic binding by Trautz, WHICH
serves as frontispiccc lit is not good specimen
OF that great master His theory OF what con.
stitutes a binding will, | think, melt away Oh
itself when Mr. du Bots has further consderei
the matter. His hostility to what he cans .l'e
geographical principle in binding must also dis-
appear Never will he succeed in mconciIlhg uc
connosseur to French book In an English pihu'
ing; nor, hope, mplant in the American Dreas'
a shirt Of liberation toward any of Mr.. Cooden
Sanderson's work.
This list Of points for reconsideration mlgn, 10
much heightened. 1t is mole agreeable To SLY uia'
. | l..,ka