New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-01
LITERARY NOTES.

Charles Kingsley once said that he considered Don
Ouixo,e" one of the saddest books ever written.
Looking at 1t In the light of a parable. and at the
hero as the type OF high endeavor, OF simple nom
estv OF enthusiasm and ideaty roaming through
wilderness OF baseness. deceit and wordliness 'he
reader will rot find 1t hard TO with Kingsley
one critic has asserted that true appreciation OF
the knights is a certain test Of mans character
DR. Holmes is quoted as saying Of Hawthorne the
other day: "He went his solitary way through lie'
like a whale through the crowds OF lesser hshes III
the sea. You might stand In your boat ana huri
your harpoon him as he passed-it was MT Ut
miss II you succeeded in bringing him TO ne was
genial enough company for awhile. in his distracted
sOympan way If you missed you would harul!
have another chance for year.
The last number of THE Ider" has an interview
with the Rev Dr. Joseph Parker. of London, where
In that gentleman makes this statement: kiplng
IS relation Of my wife's though he does not know
st." The poet of THE Pail Mall Gazette oDserV-
ing this assertion. thus dances round II;
The secrets of the sea his the mysteries or ld
lie knows minutely every way in which MANKIND
He has by heart the llghtships twixt the Goodwns
The language Of the elephant the ethics of the ape
lie knows the slang of Slver-st' the horrors Vi
And how the man-seal the waves that buffet
lie knows Samoan Stevenson, he knows the Yankee
Ehe value value of Theosophy of cheek and Mr. Game
tIe knows each fine graduation 'twixt the General
The terms employed by Atkins when they sling him
He knows an Ekka ponys points the leper's drear
rhe seamy side of smla the haring Mile End Road
9Ie knows the Devils tone to souls too pitifui 10
aIe knows the taste of every regmental mess In
CHAM
BILE knows enough to annotae the Bible verse by
And how to draw the shekels from the British pub
But. varied though his knowledge is it has Its
Alas he doesn't know he's DR.. Parker's wifes rela
''A ton n. 0O'''' '''''" -,
IT Is the thoroughly incompetent and sometimes
llliterate. writers who are most firmly convinced
that publishing goes by favor Some OF these
aspirants" says an editorial writer in Lippincotts
Magazine" do not know how to spell or punctuate
or construct a sentence. Not few are girls and
boys barely out of school. Others have nothing
more to show for their experience OF life than point
less duness and the deadly commonplace Others
again. write well enough for an average paper at a
dollar or two per column but by means well
enough TO command the more liberal rates ana
reach the higher standards Of a reputable monthly
And most OF these-especially the youngest and
least furnshed-are satisfied that they are unappre-
ciated geniuses. who would spring into fame at
pnce but for the envies the nefarious comoina-
lions of editors and older authors, who wickedly
bock the way
Not everybody, perhaps. will feel the fascination
of George du Maurier's style, and his way at once
80 acute and so sympathetic of looking at life, at
man and at woman; but to those who do feel II
STrilby' is irresistible. The new instament is even
more delightful than the last AS for realism. there
IS surely no more perfect picture Of type than that
of Svengali dirty genius. dirty in body and soul
sDu Mauriers treatment Of base things, by the way
conveys a vivid lesson 20 the Zolaists VINO urge
that nastness means strength
The late Edward Fitzgerald once rewrote for the
entertainment of a child friend the story Of Dick
ens's Little Nell. The MS is still in existence
and II may be printed some day.
Mr. Richard Harding Davis's papers on England
are soon to be published by the Harpers in vol
ume entitled "Our English Cousins" we do not
think that Mr. Davis is his best in his short story
In the February Harper
That DISTINGUISHED traveller and author. Mrs Isa-
bella Bird Bishop has just started upon another
Journey although she is now sixty years Old she
As at present crossing this country on her way 10
Vancouver whence she Is TO sail for Japan
Whether she goes further will depend upon heT
health She owns a pretty cottage in Scotland. and
there she spent last summer and autumn In thor
pughly mastering the technique Of photography In
preparation for her Journey. She will now be able
10 Illustrate her own books
1t is said Of Mr.. Gladstones private library that
1T is particularly rich in the classical and heolog
deal departments that there is probably not single
Theological work missing winch mas seen Tie hSH'
ieince the owner matricuated at Oxford IN lo-e
Most OF these books presented to him by their
ahuthors.
Mr. Walter Crane the English artist, did not. II Is
understood approve of this country. 1t is also
understood that this country Is not to any great
extent weeping that fact Mr.. Crane. 1.-THE
Boston Commonwealth says complains Of the
GOODNESS toward him which settled down over Bos-
ton after he had made his remarkable speech here
denouncing the hanging Of the Chicago bomb
fhrowers He ascribes It to commercial Individual
ism' which, he says, stalks everywhere. naked and
lnashamed.' But 1t has been understood that Mr..
Cranes visit Boston was inspired by what. to
turn his own phrase into clearer expression. we
may call individual commercialism, and If he sold
his pictures and gathered In orders for decorative
book-work, he ought not to feel hurt at the COM
mercialism or individualism which resented his
taings at our way of administering justice"
English literature Is no longer "booksh." says
Frederick Harrison, in THE Forum 1t Is practical,
social propagandist 1T is full OF life but II Is
dispersive analytic errac form of vitality 1t has
a most fastidious in form-but II often filings
the critical spirit aside in its passion for dons in
its ardor TO convince and 10 inspire. 1t Is indus
trious full of learning and research-but it regards
Its learning instrument OF influence, not as
an end of thought. 1t work up poem an
essay as carefully as Mieris or Breughe polished
cabinet picture-and II can tear "A passion 10 tat
4ers or tumble its note books into volume all In
q heap. IL has Standard no model no best
writer'-and yet 1t has curious faculty for
viving every known form and initiating airy style.
1t is intensely historical but accurately historical
that 1t is afraid to throw the least color of mag
ination around its history. 1t has consummate
poetic feeling and copious poetic gifts-bu 1t has
now single poet Of the first rank. 1t sas in
finite romantic resources and army Of skilful
novests-and yet II has no single writer living TO
be named beside the great romancers of the nine
teenth century"
This significant passage is from Professor Hux
teys recently published paper Professor Tyndall:
III pull through this II will be all your care. all
your doing" These words Il give them from men,
ory) uttered the night before his death. meant
Cor hut at Of no