New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-14
LITERATURE.
MR.. BALFOUR'S VIEWS on THE CoNDl'
TON OF LITERATURE IN DIFFERENT
STAGES OF THE VICTORIAN EPOCH.

MIR. Balfour has once more shown that he can
be fresh on stale topic. Literature. OF course
ought not to be called stale topic IL Is only
stale in the sense that everything best IN TINS
world is stale; that is to say II is famar 10 ali
Of us because it is part of all our lives, ana long
since many if not all, the most judlcous anu o'isi
nal things have been said about IT by the e'c"'es'
of its masters 1t is two hundred years an" uo'e
since one Of the most original OF frehc" w'neiS
began his discussion. not upon literature ohiy ou'
unon many phascs of life with the remark that
everything had already been said and that he
came too late. The truth is. the new mind. the
young intelligence, the man who sees OLD things
with now eyes, is never too late. Mr. BaMour IS
one OF those men; not prominently man OF
letters. not by profession practitioner OF htera-
ture; but all intelligence. He presided yester-
dav at the lo3d anniversary dinner of the Royal
Itinerary Fund: one of those numerous. If not In
Vulnerable. benevolent associations which exist in
this country for the relief of distress each with
its own speciality. each choosing out some particu
lar object of charity, and appealing to those for
whom that particular object has particular in-
terest The art Of touching the sympathics OF
the public seems 10 be an art Of specialization,
and nowhere is 1t so well understood, or put In
practice with such versatility, as in England.
The personal note is always interesting on
kubiect of this kind Mr.. Balfour gives us
that and he gives also kind of confession
of faith in the name Of his generation. don
know whether in America you think OF Mr
Balfour as young man. or as hoary "i'n vie
iniouities which, since 1886. have accumulated
on the head Of Minister who does not DC
leve in dissolving the Union. But he Is young
"a youth is here reckoncd In puohc me- Tie
IA hut forty-four, and when he hrst hau ,h''0
seat in the Cabinet which POLITICAL critics ue-
clared to be due to the partiallty OF ms u"''''
no was but thrty-seven or thirV-eish. Se"'0
Of age He has since governed lreianu LOT 'oa.
wears with a success which almost every oV'S
In, n, Gladstone acknowledges; and has leu
Az" uors. If Commons; and now leads the OPP
,,.s;,;on in the House of Commons; ana sun
- ,,;,I NOT have completed his forty-fifth year
an .be osth of this coming July. 1t Is there
g.. On the Younger generation now upon '"o
49,. that he belongs. He is the coh'el'p'
cory not of Mr. Gladstone and OF Loro sun
hurv but of Lord Randolph Churchii anu ~
Inrd Rosebery And he speaks oil hii'e'
having come too late into the woriu " Io
in the full enthusiasm for those Ehs,.'. ~, mos
A. tho last half, or last two-thrds' oi '"o 10
~. osrturv whose best work was prouuceo '
foro 1860 or ls7O;-the great victorian epn
Coo. And in his declaration touchihs 49,.
e,.nce Of some of the great wri'c'' .o.;yo
nar;od the personal note and the rep'. ,,.hicb
note are blended 1t is only his 'lioue's =" his
makes him limit the following s'"'o"'
own personal experience. ,r ,vho found
parsonal,v. l have known many VIM s,,.Io
~ .,,-,,;ncs of-whom shall sayY-CalSle'
III 1'o Rroyninr. and George Eho'' e>eiS
- .hoy could imagine or desire, ei'her III VIZ
- artistic excellence, or ethical lhsu ,o,'
~ literary delight. / have not myseh o''. 49,
III. :. surrender myself so aosoiu'eiy ~ VIZ
Inn and the greatness of these great anu .i.'.
,r,;,ors> 7 have sometimes thoughV ''i'V .''0
-, which I speak may perhaps nave ocen ~
Ss',,, ;nc,ned 10 exalt itself in comparison VIZ"
that despised century, the eisnteen"h J.. ..o.,t
IT.. ;s a remark which is both useful IN i'sel'
.;v,o,u The tendency which led reauets IL,
49, aa,l;rr mart of the Victorian epoch " 'eao
onIv or mainly, the literature OF tne pei'ou,
not died out 1t exists, and perhaps nas ih0i.
The book which people read Is 'he oo0n m'1 ~.
va ~ a hook which was published to-day Inc
-. ,vos luxurious to the reader even wheh o''e
nav hcn-s were good books; injurious II nc reau
-, ,rbat was new 1t narrowed his minu' otul
saor. Injurious is it when the new BOOKS are no,
GOOD: or certainly not great; wheh tnc eioo'
neriod such as it was, has passed, ana "hen' saV.
one or two veterans who belong to the great perioo
and not to this lesser period, literature Is put t'
exnression of second and third and fourth I'd"
minds. Mr.. Balfour says:
INV own conviction is that at this moment. mo-
onlv ia there no dislike Of novelty not only II
there no prejudice in favor of ancient MODELS ou
any new thing of any merit Whatever - nAo,.
70 be accepted and welcomed at least at It's true
value"
He does not mention; and will not mention, any
comes t. might be invidious. But do we not
al, remember how eagerly any new writer OF the
Lost nromise has been welcomed? Poet Of
novelist or whatever he be, or try to be- no sooner
does an unknown light appear above the horizon
than he ID hailed as new dawn, ana the tai'
about him, or her, is carried on In superlatlVes
ga tho newspapers make haste to announce that
now anostle. if not new Messiah, is arisen In
deed
sunnose. II we were entirely frank, we might
admit that journalism is, in some measure re-
snonsible for this worship of what Is novel merely
hecanse il is novel. No doubt news, whether Il
has any relation to literature or not, Is OF Inc
essenee OF journalism. Newspaper-readers mgh
oossib]y become impatient IL the newspapers re-
viewed nothing but old books. Ihere are ue"
hools +bav are poured out by the dozen, or severa
DOZENS daily, and some accouht Oh 'ne' nus :. -
given The reader expects it and VIII nave IL
1vha.hor ,bcv are good or bad does not, from
This mint of view, matter. They are new; they
are mart Of the news of the day. and must b.
dealt with as such. Plato and Shakespeare an'
Pascal are not new: they are old and, since they
are also immortal, may be left to take care O.
themselves, which they do very well without hell
from the newspapers. Perhaps the most whici
can be expected of the journalist. or the most n
IA allowed TO attempt, is to refresh himself
not his readers by some brief discussion OF I'M
old masters in literature when new edi'lon
them appears 1t is not much, but 1T Is something
Mr. Balfours enumeration OF the giants Oh u'
Victorian epoch is curiously Incomplete wilfull,
60 nerhaps. since he named them only to sa!
that. great as they are, they are not to him tn
greatest of all. He omits 1hackeray. and Arnold
and Newman should like 70 believe. and a.
prefer to believe that he omits them, or at ieas