New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-05-27
EDWARD FITZGERALD.
THE LETTERS OF A RECLUSE.

Volumes Pp xiv. $40: $50. Macmillan Il Co
The correspondence selected and edited in these
volumes by William Adds Wright shows with
what ease and grace and fuency and unruffied
good nature the translator Of Omar Khayyam
addressed the absent. while there are traces in
the biographical portion OF the book OF less
happy skill in personal converse. Not that he
lacked in reality the kindness which Is so APP
narent in his writing; Mr. Wright bears ties ,imony
that the unaffected and quiet humor Of his letters
was characteristic OF his talk also But he was
shy and his shyness often seemed TO others a
mark OF austerity and perhaps OF naughty dis
nosition lie waA for example. intimate with the
Crabbes for three generations. beginning with the
noet Yet the grandson OF the latter, looking at
FITZGERALD with the eyes OF youth, thought him
"a proud and very punctilious man" He rarely
gave the impression Of being happy or light
hearted though his conversation was most
amusing sometimes" At the age of thrty-six he
seemed much the same as In the latest years OF
his life. always like a grave, middle-aged man"
Through such expressions as these may be read
the peculiarties Of an eccentric recluse, who
knew little OF the world, and cared less than a
little for its ways 1t was. perhaps Characters
tic OF him that though he was intimate with Cara
lyle and with Mrs. Carlyle for many years. yet he
did not learn of the atters death until long after
II had occurred. A little phrase In Mr.. Crabbe's
description of the man in those early days al
ready alluded to marks his peculiarities He lived
then. bachelor in a small matched cottage just
outside the boundary OF his fathers park HIS
housekeeper an old woman TO whom he was
never known TO give command. Occasionally
he would give a dinner. at which the guests
were usually the Rev. George Crabbe. son of the
poet: Bernard Barton. the Quaker poet. who later
became F1tzGeralds father-in-law, and I.
Churchyard, neighboring solicitor, who was also
an artist and something OF a connosseuf. AT these
little affairs remarks Mr.. Crabbe everything
was most hospitable. but not comfortable" But
nobody would CLEAN such an idea of the man from
his letters. The right word seems TO come al
ways to his pen unbidden. 1t must have been
very comfortable indeed to be one OF his CORE
spondents and to get such letter as he was sure
TO write He entertained his friends at a dis
lance most skilfully. and he frequently pressed
them TO visit him. But with certain marked ex-
ceptions they neglected to do so. They leave one
wondering at times II the neglect was accidental.
FITZGERALD appears to have been not without
little pride in those very entertainments which
Mr. Crabbe mentions ION Saturday" he wrote
In ls43 II give supper to b. Barton and Church
yard l wish you could be with us. We are
the chief wits Of Woodbridge. And one man has
said that he envies our converse tions'
He was not Indifferent 10 fame. on the con-
trary he anxiously avoided 1t. His name went
with his consent the title page Of but one OF
his works, the six Dramas from Calderon." Late
in life this achievement brought him the Calder
on medal from the Spanish Government. He was
more astonished than gratified. 1t was not HIM
self he said, who should have received the honor.
but his friend Professor +. B. COwell, 10 whom
he owed his knowledge of Spanish Il forget II
told you In my last. he wrote In 1882 to Professor
c. E. Norton, of Harvard, "of my surprising
with the Spanish Ambassador who
sent me the Calderon medal doubt not at Mr.
Lowels instance. Cowell came over TO me on
Monday he, 10 whom a medal Is far more due
than TO me- always reading and teaching Calder
on at Cambridge now as he did to me thirty years
ago. In spite Of all his Sanskrit duties. l wish
could send him TO you across the Atlantic, as
easily as Arbuthnot once bid Pope toss Johnny
Gay to him over the Thames" When his trans
lation Of the Rubaiyat began to make him ia
nous, he was made decidedly uncomfortable by
a French savant, Garcin de Tassy. who proposed
to write an article for the journal Asiatique'
with nattering mention not only Of Professor
Cowell, but OF FitzGerald himself. FitzGerald
had brought this unexpected peril upon his de-
voted head by sending a copy OF some parts of
the Rubaiyat in the original to De Tassy. He
hastily and heartily. He did not
wish Professor Cowe! TO be made responsible
for his errors. Above all. he disclaimed for HIM
self the title Of a Persian scholar NJ. de Tassy
carefully observed the Injunction and so Fitz-
Gerald was saved the pain Of slight addition
TO his repute as a scholar and poet. 1t Is no
wonder that one who had known him most Of his
life described him 10 Mr.. Wright "as ali eccen-
trio man OF genius who took more pains TO avoid
fame than others do to seek It," Apparently he
would gladly have seen the book grow in popu-
larity without any association with his name.
The process was in fact slow one which identi-
fed him with his work This is illustrated by
the long wanderings Of letter written by Mr..
Ruskin to The Translator Of the Rubayat Of
Omar" He placed It in the hands of Mrs. Burnc
Jones who after ten years handed II TO Profess
sor Charles E. Norton. The latter gave 1t TO Car
lyle and thus 1t came al last to the hands for
which 1t was meant. II the letter came across
the Atlantic and was carried back. 1t wandered
further than Ulysses. and was fully as long on the
way incidentally It comes out In the story that
CARLYLE had never heard of Omar Of the
translation though he and FitzGerald were
intimate as two men could be. 1t was only by
slow degrees that 1t dawned on him after much
with Professor Norton who the
hidden translator pust be.
1t was characteristic. Also OF shy man that
FITZGERALD should have taken on himself the
blame when anything like a disagreement oc-
cured between him and one of his friends. He
never gave up friendship Years of separation
md silence and neglect evoked mild COM
Dlaint but never a harsh word, unless blunt
criticism might be called harsh He lived and
lied In the opinion that the poems published I'm
SAG contained the best work done by Tennyson.
lie maintained that the poet laureate misdlrected
1is genius in later life. But he was verv careful
- eav that his criticism was not due TO the fact