New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-18

Lord STAFFORD" the Sir Edmund Nerncy and
the civilian Cavendish Earl Of New
castle" OF Van Dyke add the last touch
OF reality to Mr.. Green's animated text.
lingo Jones was also celebrity or the
seventeenth century and several Of his sketches
are reproduced in fac-simile They are OF more
than casual point. Jones employed as
designer by both James and Charles l. The
scenery and costumes for the Mosques then in
favor were due 10 his art which in this prov
ince Of Jacobean fancy was far more decorative
! and playful than the sedate banqueting hall
! of Whitehall Palace his finest architectural
work. would lead us to suppose. He met the
satirsts of the court half way, reinforcing their
caustc passages with facility Of caricature
which must have counted heavily In the scales
poised at that time on such sensitive centre
Of public feeling The drawing of a costume for
"Kniperdoling" the Anabaptist reminds us how
deity he co-oferated with his patrons 1t is in
/ iconography of this curious description, not al
ways pregnant with contcmporanccus pas
son hut illustrative. nevertheless in the same
unexpected and quaint fashion, that the present
volume is richest Here and there Is a picture
like Jones's "Kniperdoling" or like the Cava-
/ lier playing reproduced from fac-smiles
Of Earl Nelson's examples and alive with
royalist sarcasms. Everywhere there are cuts
like the medal reproduced on page 1,215, pro-
duction made by Thomas Simon to commemorate
/ the victory Of Dunbar and based on sug-
gestion of Cromwell himself: like the three
: pound gold-piece of Charles |, coined at OK
ford in 1913: like Hoar's picture of West
minister as 1t appeared in the time of Charles.
1t is not easy to cease specific comment on these
illustrations They show on the whole. an inn
provement upon the earliest volume Of the
SERIES possibly because there have been more
and better authorities upon which to draw. We
have found fewer mechanical defects also. Eng
lish history has never been we'll illustrated In
popular form in this new edition of a
standard work
Sir Philip Sidney's writings are compounded OF
qualities which he drew in part from the re-
sources of his own nature and in part from the
general literary habit of his time This deduc-
ton is confirmed with particular force by his
Arcadia" of which beautiful new edition In
octave has been published by Charles Scrbner's
Sons The enthusiasm and the intuitive pcrccp-
ton OF what is poetic which underes the super
fully Of rhetoric In his Defense Of Poesie were
born in him. The sincerity and the lyric impetus
declared in some Of his verse could not have been
acquired. They were his essential attributes.
In the pastoral romance which he wrote for the
Countess OF Pembroke he Is before all things
and In the very essence Of his art. an Eliza
bethan an exponent Of n mode of expression
and even Of design which was practised by
dozens Of old English poets and prose writer's
Inrinscally the book Is a literary curiosity
with certain elements Of vitality which can
never de-spontaneous elements Of poetic fancy
Its relative interest Is greater. almost. than its
significance az a labyrinth In which you may
discover thread OF poetic inspiration leading
Of ps&,'c 4 CHI how
much there was in Elzabethan fiction that
owed an overwhelming debt TO Latin literature.
Sidney's romance derives from the Spanish nc-
ton Of which Montemayors Diana" familiar
to him. was one of the favorie examples In
England on the threshold Of the seventeenth
century 1t borrows something Of It's tone, too,
from. the delightful heroisms OF Ariosto. But
there something else in the air In Sdneys
day which influenced him subtly and strongly
while II seemed to offend his taste and was GER
tainly never consciously cultivated by him. We
refer to the picturesque vein Of literature i'm
ported from Spain (whence the pastoral romance
had also been brought. and worked with great
skill by Nash and Decker. The picturesque novel
as 1t Is illustrated In the pablo de Segovia" Of
Quevedo, the "Guzman de Alfarache' Of Mateo
Aeman and the anonymous "LaZaro de
Tonnes Is largely a novel Of manners. Pre-
adventure, and 1t is here that 1t strikes a note
re-echoed In Sidney's Arcadia" What he has
In common with the "Orlando Furioso' with
Montemayor's novel are the cOnceits of descrip-
ton scenic and mechanical episodes and roman
tic temper The quality he shares with the
picturesque novel Is quality Of rather more
vcrc, sincere movement than was characteristic
Of the pastoral novelists. This Is so in spite Of
the fact that the chord Of passion which he
struck generally minor one. From any
Of those thrilling uphcavss OF passion into the
serene starlight Of Shakespeares verse which
impress us Ike a mountain crag. lifted into
space by great throe Of nature. Sidney
was separated by the whole length and breadth
Of an intellectual and spiritual world. He. the
man Of action. could never attain 10 the force
which Shakespeare the man Of meditation.
achieved in his plays Shakespeare dwclt among
the heights. Sidney's Arcadia" is redolcnt Of
the meadows. Yet on his pastoral plane all that
was chivalrous and knlghty In MIN I.ngs
stoutly.
Without the swaRger and au1acty Of the
typical picard. his fighter has something Of the
latter's genuine vlgor OF life which makes the
picard interesting. and. above all things. man.
whatever his knavlshness might say to the con-
trary. Thus Sidney gave to his advcnturcr
the indefinable accent OF life which the rcalists
alone were capable Of reproducing. and he en-
bellished him with all the attributes of elegance
and gentle character which sprang naturally
from his imagination and character. lie gildcd
stern prose with the poetic graces Of Elizabethan
lyrcism. In this last respect the arcadia" IS {
crowded with quaint surprises. The Editor OF
the present edition Of the Arcadia" has |
labored to make the novel readable by COM
preston and by a moderate manipulation OF the /
spelling His excsions are justihablc-Sidney Is |
peculiarly adapted to such treatment-and his /
translations into modern English commenda- /
bic in edition addressed not exclusively to
Uholars The book 1t stands is well
made, and presents in inviting form a work !