New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS
HUGH THoMsoN's EDITION OF pride
AND PREJUDICE"

With Preface by George Saintsoury' anu Ninety
Illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Crown Svo.
Macmillan Co
In selecting for Illustration Miss Austens 1as-
c:nating novel. Hugh Thomson has chosen well
within the line Of his special talent ii Is no
trife to attempt to portray in curves or DAINTY
grace her sprghtly English maidens, TO keep
pace with the Satire play Of her pen as II SHOWS
us what was pompous. stupid and affected IN 'he
pr,ton of her time. No modern illustrator could
have performed the task more acceptaoiy 'hah
Mr. thompson whose pencil is in sympathetic
relations with his novelists PERIOD and whose
sense of humor is quick to grasp the possibilities
-, sucb characters as Mrs Bennett and Mr.. Col
Inns His best in this book is very good indeed
and the least kindly criticism we have to make
&c that he is occasionally not quite at his best
U-henever he approaches Mrs Bennett he is IN
,mitable Only an artist of her own race we
believe could so deftly draw that British matron
IN all her shaowness and vulgarity lie is
equally successful with Mr.. Collins in whose
fatuous pretension and cOnceit his fancy aoso-
lutely revels.
Ever charming is this book OF Jane Austen
o,r,bood Written when she was barely twenty
one. it shows knowledge of human nature ana
breadth of Judgment that strangely belle us
vouthful spontaneity and freshness OF sty.e'
That its heroine is one Of the most dehgh'iui
girls in English literature is an opinion IN whch
all true lovers Of that literature nave long asleeu'
Mr. George Saintsbury. We are gao 10 see IL o"e
of the worshippers He says in MS peasant
preface to this admirable edition: IN the hoVeis
of the last hundred years there are vast num-
bers Of young ladies with whom IL might pe
Measure to fall in love; there at least five
with whom. as it seems TO me, no man OF taste
and shirt can help doing so. Their names are.
a. 'f,vah
Vernon. Argemone Lavngton. Beatrix Esmond
ora Barbara Grant. | should have been most In
love with Beatrix and Argemone; should
tb,nk for mere occasional companionship. have
preferred Diana and Barbara. But to i've win
and TO marry I do not know that any one OF the
four can come into competition with elizabeth.
MUNCHAUSEN.
THE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF B S,ranS
NI-NCHAI-SEN. illustrated by Nlnarn Strdis
and J. B. Clark with an Introduction by Ihoinas
Seccombe. Imported by Charles Scrioner S SONS
The public should be grateful to Tnomas sec
combe for a new edition OF this BOOK Tor theie
are indications that these lively tales nave oee''
somewhat neglected of late years one may.
however, legitimately dispute the statement Oh
the new editor that Baron Munchausen invented
the boasting tale. subsequently adopted D!
Artemus Ward and Mark Twain. Surely. Mr.
Frankish heroes: What man had done and what
ba Gould do with marvellous additions formed
the theme Of many knighty monoogue from
tho time of Charlemagne down 10 that OF the last
,n,natarms in Europe. Baron MunchauSen
was a lineal descendant Of this old race OF
knights His real name Is given In iui py MI
Seccombe as Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Won
Nurchausen a cadet OF the house or Boden-
werder. who served with some distinction IN the
Russian army, retiring captain OF curassiers
about 1850 He was very hospitable. ana MS
house on the ancestral estate of Bodenweruer
was the resort Of troops Of merry friends.
The real Munchausen seems to have drawn the
long bow merely for amusement, with perhaps
the tributary purpose Of frightening out Oh MS
company those serious persons who could not
take a Joke. But there is another side 10 the
hook for which Munchausen unintentionaliy
furnished the material Mr.. Seccomoe Is sure
that he has settled the question OF authorship
If he Is right the book was written by Ruooiph
Ercn Raspe. a student Of G0ttingen and Leip-
clio an expert in his native German In the uni
verslty Latin of his time and In almost the
whole circle of sciences cultivated about the
middle If the eighteenth century. lie wrote
Latin ESSAYS composed a ohivalric poem. Her
min and Gunilda" and translated portions or
Ossian and Of "Percys Reliques, thus intro
ducing English ballad literature TO the knowl-
edge Of German literary men. He was an In
defatigabe writer, but alas. he was also an
,ncorrigible swinder He stole antiques from the
cabinet of the Landgrave OF Hesse-Cassei' anu
sold them. In England. after he had become eA-
pert enough to write English almost ike ma
tive and had worked up the Munchauseh 'a'es'
he was employed a mining expert Dy
Sco,tish magnate. sailed the ground with tin
from Cornwall and died fugitive from justice
in County Donegal Ireland. SUCH says MT
Seccombe was the career OF Rudoiph Erlch
Rasne scholar swindler and undoubted creator
of Baron Munchausen.
Now anv one who reads the Adventures" at
tentiyely will find not merely the gooo-hatureo
exaggeratOr, such as the real Baron Mui0"du
sen undoubtedly was. but also the deliberate Hai
such as Rasne himself must have been, to have
nersstcd in his double career as long as ne dio'
II Is the element of Raspe that casts shadow
on one of the most entertaining books known 10
r,odern times cynical face appears at time
over the genial baron's chair. and the reader
foo,s a start of annoyance. But the heros ex-
r,,,ts must always furnish entertaining reading
Even those familiar with the book are aston
,sbsd occasionally TO find that some particular
Ito has suddenly assumed new aspect since
,hev saw IL before The satire is not MALICIOUS
nou though the illusions TO the African traV-
eler Bruce in the old prefaces, were wicKeuiy
malicious. and besides were undeserVeu. ne
present edition is ceverly illustrated py "i''i""'
Strang ana j. b. Clark
In three little lilac bound volumes enutied rIenon
Folly in Maxims," Brentano has published "ha' may
fa,riv he called the decadents wade mecum. INC
lovers OF arectation will find In them quo'a'ioh,
from various French writers on art letters anu
,huosonbv Most OF the selections are short phrases
and enprams though long passages are quoted from
q few favorites particularly Verlane Gautier' 'ne
brothersrde Goncourt. Alfred Stevens PAU bourse'
are prominent Paul Verlaine is regarded Dy 'he
compler NJ Henri Pene Du Bols, as the great poet
OF the present time.
p.Uh.., Tuck A. Sons publish edition OF Long