New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-15
4 GENTLE HERMIT.
NEW COLLECTION or FlTZ GERALD'S LET
TIERS.
FANNY KEMRi.E. ls7l-lSS3 Fitted BY WAL
lam Aids Wrighi. Octave. m. vii. Isl New
York ana london MACMILLAN a 20 $50.

collection Of his letters written 10 fanny heinDle
represents therefore the melowest years Of his
long and peaceful life. When he began TO write
TO the lady who charmed him In herself and
brought him also closer TO the historic line Of
KembIes for which he had always possessed an
admiration bordering on reverence. he was al
readv over sixty. and had finished the literary
tasks which have made him famous Tasks.
The word is hardly fair. Fitz Gerald did no tasks
from first TO last. and the years Of serene Idle
mss which produced the letters to Fanny
Kemble seem but the continuation Of a life
which never knew the strain OF labor Behind
them lie the books which row stand for i'itz
Gerald fin most literary surveys OF his life: there
lie the TRANSACTIONS from the Greek. from the
Snanish from The Persian. most Of all from the
Persian. which make the genial hermit litera-
ture I'm spite of himself. But In 50 far he
could say anything about it, Fi'z Gerald would
not belong to literature. That was for his
friends for Tennyson. for Thackeray. for Sped
ding for Carlyle They might make books and
he would rejoice in reading them. But as these
new letters read they seem To paint man
VINO would not. who could not concern himself
with the practical obligations Of literature. In
lis earlier correspondence. In that which filed
the first of the three volumes of Remains,
edited by Mr. Wright in 1883, there are more
indications Of the writer's having had actual
book making adventures of his own. But if
YOU hear of them at all in the letters to Fanny
Kenble it is with the mans modesty grown
more modest with his reticence grown more
reticent with his taste for books and writers
indulging itself in things apart from his own
activity as an author. and expanding genially
In pure delight of friendship and fine thoughts.
Paraphraslng a line Of Rossettis, it might be
said Of Ftz Gerald that friendship like his is
genius. He had genius. in the exact sense Of the
word, and IL plays warmly humanity, delightfully."-
about everything he did everything he wrote
But in the midst Of all his wit and constant
flashes Of intellectual power the figure that
stands unmistakable and immovable Is that OF
noble gentleman-One If the sunnest. truest.
most delicate souls that ever lived. He adored
the immortal Don. And he had some thing. nay.
a great deal. Of the Don in his own nature. He
had the honor the high bred. unstained habit,
the invincible genuineness which makes the hero
of Cervantes not half mad, as some would have
it, but altogether wrapt in the whiteness of
soul not to be understood OF common minds. OF
course this sounds panegyrical and in applying
it to Fitz Gerald one feels keenly the absence Of
the romantic element which means 50 much to
the Spanish gentleman Fitz Gerald in love
ventures have never the slightest hint Of fam
boyant color about them. But on the other hand,
they have all the naivote which belongs to the
most bizarre experiences Of the gentle knight
4 fragment bearing upon his interest in French
songs will serve to illustrate this simplicity Of
his When / was in Paris In $780, he says,
lust before that revolution. | stopped one even
ing on the bouevards by the Madeleine to listen
to Man who was singing to his Barre-organ
Several passing 'Blouses had stopped also. not
only to listen, but to join in the Songs. having
bought little Librettr Of the words from the
Musician. / bought one too for ! suppose, the
smallest French coin, and assisted In the Song
which the Man called out beforehand (as they do
Hymns at Church,. and Of which nc!ose you
the poor little Copy. lie Bon Pdsteur sll vous
plait'-I suppose the Circumstances: the beau
temps the pleasant Boulevards. the then so
amiable People, all contributed to the effect this
Song had upon me; anyhow, II has constantly re-
visited my memory for these fory-three years,
and was thinking. the other day. touched me
more than any OF Beranger's most beautiful
Things. This, however may be only one of Old
Fitz's crotchets. as Tennyson and others would
call them"
To Engshmen such episode as this might
will crotchety. 1t is in direct opposition
the custom OF BrltlSh traNelers. OF any age,
from the days Of King Canute to our own But
dear old Fitz" would never have troubled him
self about the preceGents set by the imperious
Canute or by any Of his fncky successors. The
first question we imagine him asking himself,
If anything gave him pause, would be: is this
full Of human delight" If 1t was be would have
revealed in it though the Quecn herself protested
This made him seem eccentric to some people.
10 her II l.
ing Records speaks OF her friend as an &C.
centric man OF genius vino took more pains to
avoid fame than most would take to gain II.
But there was nothing OF the Amiel about this
seclusive soul He dill not withdraw to a hermit
age t. think over his wees and the woes OF the
world, and soak himself in metaphysics until
there was nothing LEFT Of the original strong
wholesome brain Of him, There was an interest
ing difference between him and his beloved Omar,
the poet who may have been ,r1asmo grihed by
Fitz Gerald ana yet remained himself IN the
fibre Of the philosophy set forth in the "Rubai-
yat." Fitz Gerald thought about his poets phi
losophy. but he did this out Of respect for the
Persian. For himself he wanted little phloso-
ply; the coming Of the crocus the passing of the
marig Ids meant more to him in the daily at
mosphere Of life than all the spcculations that
ever troubled the minds o. mer. And thus his
letters, which are unrvailed IN their personal
significance. in their reflection OF an indi vidual
temperament. present In exactly the most vivid
and most Interesting way the every day facts
of a serene existence. Those facts meant much
to Frtz Gerald. lie says himself that the sea-
folk Of The neighboring village were nearer t.
him than three four,hs Of society" and ne loved
most Of all 10 spend his days in his little lugger.
cruising up and down The coast. talking in the
simple way necessitated by his company but
never feeling this necessity: never feeling
that ne out Of his element lie hung
the portrait OF mis- captain with the p1r-
traits Of Thackeray and Tennyson. calling tee
tr.o the Il rec greatest men have known" and
he even went 81 far to think that both
Tennyson and Thackeray re inferior to him In
respect Of Thinking II Themselves"