New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME AMUSING ESSAYS.


This is uncommony bright and Interesting coilcc-
ton Of short essays. They indeed too brle but
only because they suggestive and SO ini OF
Information that the reader would like In almost every
to hear moe the subject. MI Aua's Is d
conscientious essayst lie does not take up SUBJECT
merely peg wherein to hang dlscuisiVc iehecuos
evolved from his inner consciousness but III every
Instance bestows honest labor and research upon what
ever matter he has In hand, and the result Is tat lie
has brought together a curious accumniauoh Vi
reconcile or little known facts The titles OF MS es
says give some idea Of their tendencies mus VIC
have THE Poets Pipe" Stage Furniture rune
raj Verse;" The Poetry OF London" Botany on the
Boards" "The Literature OF salad" Horace In Eng
land" The Poetry OF Patriotism" Heroes oil OPERA
The Stage Rustic" Albums" Authors NJ laoe'
"Afer- Dinner Pays" Queens Of Song" Ehzabetlah
Echoes THE Lady Novelist "Curosities OF Verse"
and Stage Stumbes."
There is scarcely one OF these papers which might
no, have been expanded to twice or three times the
length and this to the advantage OF the reader LOT
II Is sometimes really aggravating to md an essay
abruptly ending Just when the possibilities OF the sub
iect have been exhibited In an enucing way. But
II tic writer may be thought to glance too hastily from
subject to subject 1t is rarely that he has not some
thing TO suggest which awakcas thought puts an old
matter I'm n new light. Take for example the anus
ing paper headed ra la In - which Is In the line OF
an attempt trace the origins OF some Of those con
ventional lyric refrains which seem TO haze little or
no meaning. Few persons are p?oOaDy a"aic that
the liberal employment Of these and similar rcfralns
I'm the songs OF Gilbert and Suivan's comic operas
Is due 10 research among the Elsabenan song writer's
or that several of the modern rerains are closely mi
tated from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Ncs
Thus in the Pirates OF PenLance' the refrain "fal
Ia Ia fal In, Ia Ia" in the duet between the lovers
and the same refrain in of the songs In Patience
are echoes from the Elzabethan age. such refrdlhs
indeed have down in nearly an un6roken
succession but welded to verse becoming moro
and more stiltcd and artificial. Until Gilbert
and sullivan revived them and associated them with
ouaint or humorous words and delightful music. they
had during some fifty years, been supplanted by
Iyricism Of the people which was either purely SEN
timental OIL frankly vulgar. The Ehzabethan lyrics
had a naturalness about them which did not survive
the artificial poetry OF the eighteenth century.
Precisely what these odd refralns may have meant
the Hey nOnny no.. of Middleton. the "lley. and
4 no, ard a hey nonno!' Of Shakespeare Mr.. Adams
does not pretend to understand and it might be as
impossible to find rational meaning for them as for
the imbecle " Boom deray" refrain which has lately
been epidemic. Probably Mr.. Adams is very near the
truth the conjecture that all these lefrans had their
origin In the habit-now outgrown-of freely expressing
emotion, which natural 10 our ancestors but mas
ceased to be so to us. "We do not, nowadays, spoh
taneoIsly burst forth into IRA Ia Ia! and on-we
are too conventional and respectable for that but this
seems to have been the habit of our excellent for>
fathers who, whether pensive otherwise were not
so anxious all now are TO be perfectly integbh IN
every utterance. 1t was enough for them mat IN
this inarticulatc manner they gave some sort OF
expression TO their emotions, grave or gay. They
were fond of the refrain. and they used it freely
it impaired to their melodies dying fall OF the
sort that gave special pleasure, 1t will be
remembered to the Duke in Twelfth Night Vnried.
indeed were the open sounds with which the ELI
abethans wont 10 conclude The various divisions
Of their songs. The Fa al la ending seems 10 have
been especially agreeable to them; YOU cannot look
through one OF the old sougbooks without coming
upon it again and again. 1t is used gen
orally not in joyous sense, like IRA la Ia but III
sentimental fashion, to portray the desolate feelings
OF unhappy lovers"
In Mr.. Adamss discussion OF "The Literature OF
ealad" occurs quotation from Mortimer Collins's
travesy Swnburne. which is not only apropos, but
10 good In itself that we are tempted to quote IT,
GTako endve-lke love- 1t is bitter:
Crisp leaf Of the lettuce shall glitter.
And cress from the rivuet's bed:
Anchovies foam-born, like the LADY
Whose beauty has maddened ths bard
And olives, from groves That are shady:
And eggs-bol 'em hard''
II cannot he said that the essaylst throws much
Hstt upon the salad question. for In citing number
of opinions by experts he really tends to confuse
such as are IN search Of information. innsmuch as
be salad experts disagree quite much and often
as do experts Of other kinds. The paper on Authors
at Table, brings together some very good jokes,
most OF which are not hackneyed. but the
author seems TO CONCLUDE that TIE cav 1or
good tabe-tak among men OF letters Is past, since
"everyb,dy nowadays writes: and the man who drops
n happy thought or expression is apt to find 1t next
day Incorporated In brother penman's article That
tends 10 create dlstrust not to mention stronger
feeling; and there is this further indnce
ment to keep silence: Everybody publishes his remi-
niscences and who shall that your choice anec-
dote will not be treasured up by your next door
Oisan m fha N
q new and mangled form before You can claim u ana
secure IL for your own"
Mr. Adams has collected many amusing blunders
of motors and actresses In his paper on "Stagc SUM
bles that one wishes he had pursued the subject at
much greater length. There Is Of course, abundant
material In hstrionlc memoirs, and 1t might be
happy thought for writer blessed with leisure
70 work il up more fully " II is recorded" SAYS the
essayist "of a recent representative Of Miss Sterling
In The Clandestine Marriage that, in the scene
where she seeks to force entrance into her sister
Fanny's room, she spoke Of tho maid as having
Stocked the KEY and put the door in her pocket
But very similar story is told Of Mrs Davenport who.
when representing another character Mrs. Heidelberg
in the same play, made that person say that she
had the keys Of her pocket In the cupboard" One
OF the most amusing OF these stage blunders Is atfrb-
uted TO Quin who addressed to Peg Wellington the
following question" What You when your
dear mother married ia mistake which only
intensified when he added ask what age were you
when your mother born ?" Peg wo1ington
equal to the occasion. and replied gravely az
not your question, but can tell you how old
/ was when my mother died" Here Is another good
story. certain "supe" went on for Lord Burlegh
In "The Critic. The stage direction says: Enter
Lord Burlegh, bows to Dangle shakes his head, and
EXIT Unfortunately, this of genius. after enter
Ing and bowling shook not his own head. but bangles"
But we must leave Mr.. Adams and his entertaining
little essays. He has certainly made Volume emf
nently adapted for casual reading, and one which
nobody is at all likely to take up without finishing
whatever paper he lights upon.