New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ANCIENT AND MODERN TALES OF COURAGE.

ANCIENT AND MODERN TALES OF Co' hA"E'
HEROIC HAPPENINGS Told in VErse ann s'oI Hy
By Elbrdge s. r3oRS' v w,1n sinrren and
others PIP. II. 227. q. p Putnam's sons
The heroic short poem has been done to perfecuoh
nv Mscaulay. one may therefore dismiss much '','
is written IN this volume without "0ru io'
Mscau,av,s 1netrical conrivance applied TO themes
:, hts, Nac.uov knew nothing When IT comes to
canton destruction Of lifc It matters little whether
tbe hero who dies is Curus or an llorauuS' OF Il
1ouis Grandpre. 1t matters little whether Ms o."
sacr1fcc means the salvation OF his country UT ~.
abstraction What he does is to be )udgcd III i'9'n
and nv itself The world is unquestlonaDly pe'ere"
nv these acts OF heroism, but then the "o'iu i ',
veorisd and 1t Is an annoyance to Tom' DICK ana
Harry 10 be told what exceptional human peis
has done. some of MIR. Brooks's stories are "'ei"
-sre,,tion Of history But RawnsoD TO the con
trary Notwithstanding his version OF the war o''"e'
the Egyptians and the Khetas Is pure hoi9'"''
e,,6h mn affair the contest between KING III I"
chariot singlehandcd and $500 chariots OF an enc
my's army could never have happened. Inc po''
1oentaur simply did a wonderfully good thing Tor MIN
sot As n man OF letters he gained the practical
support OF the King Ramcses II. which doubtless
meant as much TO him 1t did 10 poet III ui'
medieval period OF kicks. cuffs ana supper WIN
the servants OF some vulgar lord In The medla'V'
and modern period OF Europe TIL" worid mus
never be allowed forget the pit ont OF when II
nv the literary men who have done better Tor 'heir
potrons than the patrons deserved. Pentaur aAo
1amescs excellent examples OF the way literature
and royalty have got along together from mat u'y
10 this. Literature has 10 don cap aud bells ana
make a melancholy spectacle OF Itself 10 get on VII"
INV sort OF domination from ignorance.
There is In ia CT, only where the author oil
this volume has any prejudice in favor OF his own
story The poem Of Mrs. Hcmans about the boy
who stood on the burning deck whence all but MI"
had fed IS. he views 1t. totally untrue S
Ather did not leave the boy 10 perish alone Inc
tradition In the Corscan family OF Casamahca Is Una"
the SON. instead Of being deserted by his father ana
the rest Of the ships crew, found mis- father neter
mined to stay by the ship. and In spite OF all en-
treaties and circumstances shared his fate. In MIS-
Hemans's version Of the tale, the mansled' mc'ess
body of the elder asabanca can give no response "hci
the loyal son asks for permission to move from III
rv1table death to safety. But the legend IN the
Casabianca family is that nothing OF Inc SOFT nap
pened The boy tndcavorcd to persuade his father
"a ,.,ve tho shin and when the wounded captain
showed his resolution 10 go down with the vessel
which he had commanded, chung to him as only
dutiful could
The antique and the modern are minsled-one
might say "sandwched'-in this volume. One OF
the best and most realistic bits Of description Is that
which pertains to the adventure OF little Irish lad
who saves the lives Of other children at the risk of
his own The incident might happen at almost any
watering place but the trouble Is that 1t would
happen in most without any Duke Donohue 10
the rescue. The author has managed by coating
his themes t. present pictures of the old Spanish
rule in America. of the crusadins period OF old
Egyptian times OF Roman naval life, of an Imperial
Roman festival, Of colonial times in Maine and the
Middle Atlantic States, Of medieval castle warfare.
and Of the era OF Columbian discovery. The stories
are cleverly told, but with trife too much OF mat
self.conscious eloquence which led Miss Porter AMI
General Wallace to say "turn We now when they
did not turn, and their renders were so sverse to
turning that the very effort has always caused a
stomacbic revolution The first paragraph in this
book is In fact almost intoerabe from the point OF
view Of common