New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-29
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A GROUP OF ESSAYISTS.

Second Series. Pp' viii-' 'N' D0''' mead *
WORKS BY MIR. MAB1E. Five Volumes Dodd.
CORRECTED IMPRESSIONS; Essays on VICTORIAN S;ian
Writers BY George Saintsbury. Dodd, Mead
Co.
THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT. From the Clyde
n Sandy Hook BY Robert Louis Stevenson.
Stone Kimbali
LITTLE ENGLISH GALLERY: BY Louise
Imogen Quincy. Harper & Brothers
IN THE DOZY HOURS. And Other Papers. BY
Agnes Repplier. Houghton, Miffiin q Co.
E..av writing Is not what 1t used to be. The
reason Is perhaps that by the insstence OF read
ers essayists have been kept too much alert 10 tne
conviction that they must be artists. MI Mapie
has not escaped this feeling but he has not yielded
TO II so absolutely some Others The older
theory OF the essay was that the theme must be
carefully chosen and that the style snouid De
adapted to the subject the modern view is that a
certain impression must be produced. ana tha'
words can be selected and arranged In way 10
produce that impression. This is essentially the
artistic view opposed to that OF the man OF iet-
ters Mr. Mabe occupies position between 'hes'
two theories. In his volume. Under the trees anu
Elsewhere" and In both series OF MY STUDY FIRE
the impresslonis predominates. In Essays III
Literary Interpretation and Short S'noes III
Literature" the articles have more practicai as
meet As an impressonist Mr.. Mabie. like others
can produce only those effects that are WITHIN MS
range as an artist. He Is essentially man VI
books and his Of discussing DOCKS Is MOS
real He is also lover OF nature. but he exempt
nes this not by minute details that give intense
reality to the pictures Of the great nature lovers
nm, nv larger lines that leave dreamy and shad-
owy effect the reader. III ne meant ie''
wood In his sketches Of the Forest OF Aroeh Vi
a real island in the one to when ne gave cne' ac'e
istics suggested by the story Of Prospero. no one
ran ever tell by reading what he has written IL
"a an enchanted region that he describes Yet
there are suggestions now and then "hich POM
10 actual places The poetic ana romantic AT
usually consists in making imaginary tmhgs wear
the coors Of nfe 1t may be that Mr.. Mao'e ma
here bv choice covered true bit OF the earths
.ursace with the glamour of fancy He is not neces-
sary unfai,hful TO his love OF nature in doing TINS
Shelley had fashion Of spirituaizing external
Things by comparing them with things or the mhu'
The latter see med comprehensive TO him thah
the former. And nature doubtless always wears
q certain appearance Of unreality TO MT Mao'e
Others can remember particular landscapes 'ha' IT,
cur 10 memory tnged with enchantrnent some
strange touch of light and shade has served 10
transfer to faryland a picture the ac'ua''y Vi
which nevertheless. recollection attests
Mr. Nabics literary opinions are orthodox rather
Than novel What he to like best Is to get
his friends known unknown INTO the moou WHY"
he himself enjoys He accompiishes TINS ID d "'eu
fat,ve way. winding slowly about his theme ana
stirring the reader gradually 10 evoke MS o""
thoughts The process is very gentle. IL may pe
that some time Mr.. Mabie's works VIII take 'ne'i
place in a group which DR.. Holmes considereu soou
bedtime reading. 1t is an honored group one "ou''
Ray reckoning Burton and Browne as It's ieaueis.
1ts qualities are not soporifc. but sedatNe. IL
80 ,ho Aov Of thought steadies the attention
which has been distracted by the thousand Worries
of the day. No author can be dscreai'eu VINO oo"es
at length to find place on the nanny shen ""e'e
volumes OF this sort lie. Mr.. Mabies moods are
not numerous, and they are OF the KIND which al
nost every human being shares. bright IRE. or
a cool autumnal day before fires are hghted' or
The rows OF books around him, or the mrs. SUI ea
NJ spring-all these reduce him to meditauon ehei
In his armchair or astray In the heids. ne 10 "p''
~ course to recur to similar lines OF thought al
.a,0erent times Some striking remarks OF others
a.. re,teratcd by him more than once-for instance
the aphorsm which he found in Alfred de Muss.'
that II takes a great deal OF life TO make h'''e
art and Flauberts definition OF style. NO matte.
now far he goes aield, he is almost sure 10 get
hack to his books by some device even II on'S ,o'
n, e0ectIonate glance In the Forest or Arden h's
mind suddenly awoke to the fact that ne nau "o
onened book for months. and he ieit a t"'"ee VI
remorse at the thought But 1t occurred u mn,
that "in Arden one lives habitually In the woria
which books are always striving to portray mus
r.. neatly turns his book-lore into the pleasant d.
,egorv Of life In region that must be not 1ar from
the land of the lotos-eaters. possibly somewhere u"
tween that country and the magic apple orcha,u'
Of Alcinous Prosperos island ana Nr~a H
phrates Valley the mountain-walled garden "a
p.sseas the island where Menelaus still reigns'
whore Arthur slumbers. all belong TO the same
geography and not hard to rediscoVe' WHEN
youth and love and fancy lead the way
In matters Of criticism. where one diners from
Mr. Mabie one finds it hard. nevertheless 10 p'ch
quarrel with him. 1t is not easy to dispute Win
ivan who has a good word for so many and censure
for almost none. He takes his WORDSWORTH ana
t.arlyle all Just they are, while others "ouin
gladly prune away much that those writer's le1t 10
as Not that he puts this unbounded faith In those
cla in
,yr,,es az ~ he felt It 10 be So He has higher
admiration for the talk of literary people than some
Others profess who have written on the SUBJECT b"
he may have been more fortunate than they III inc
times when he his talking literary folk TO
those who have experience in the matter the
controversy remains without decision But II Shakes
peare talked better than his sonnets or Byron bet
ter than his "Childe Harold. or Tennyson better
than any OF his lyrics or Emerson better than MS
ESSAYS. then they talked very well indeed. There
IN n little malice toward posterity in this self-con-
eratulatory pat on ones own shoulder at having
heard some wonderful voice now silent for ever Let
us consider that the takers everywhere all the
time. but that genius is rare and Is not 10 De ue-
epised even II prove tonguc-ted II 1t Is eloquent
with voice well pen, much the better. But
most readers will agree with Mr.. Mables literary
verdicts. The author has TO taste for heresy On
the contrary. he Is inclined 10 systematic his views
OF literature and to bring into harmony his opinions
Of recent present writers with his general out
line Of literary history.
Mr. saintsbury's book contains. TO use his own
words "a kind OF foreshortenej review OF the i'm
pressons. and the corrections of them. which the
great Victorian writers had produced under
gone in my during the last thirty years
Accordingly we have essays Thackeray, Tenny
son. Carlyle. Swinburne. Macauay, Browning.
Dickens Arnold Morris. Ruskin and one or two
Others. Mr.. Saintsbury is always interesting. and
sometimes irritating; interesting because he Al
ways says exactly what he thinks: irritating. be-
cause he says ii in such cocksure The
paper Carlyle Is perhaps the most satisfactory
In the book: 1t Is both broad and deep. and gen
ninety sympathetic We cannot help suspec;ing