New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-29
LITERARY NOTES.

Tho new edition OF Whites SeiDorhe, recently
brought out with numerous Illustrations has shown
concusiyely enough what can be done Tor the EN-
bc,,.hment of an author not at all remarkable for
dramatic episodes, for scenes Of the sort which the
Illustrator is ofenest supposed TO enjoy The INDUS
try and good taste employed In this demonstration
ought now to be applied to the illustration OF Tno-
reau The Walden recuse has never. to our knowl-
.doe heen Illustrated to any extent. and the pub
fishers might well prepare this summer reissue OF
one or more OF his books for the holiday season OK
1896 We do not ask that all his worHs De 20 re-
printed That would be too great Doom But
.WaIden" would be delightful in fastd'ously IL
Illustrated volume and the essays written on tne
Merrrnack would make another charming book we
can think Of q third. fourth. and indeed we 90 not
know lust where 1t would be desirable for the y.
illustrator TO stop That must be left 10 the pup
Usher and his confidence in the public
For our own part think the public woulh coms
generously TO the support OF an illustrated Thoreau
IN even az many as eight ten volumes. This, De
cause he is mine OF inspiration for the ARTIST DE-
cause that mine has remained quite uneHpored'
and because II artists arc suited to any TASK
Of Illustration Under heaven they are suited to tho
Instrumentation and enrichment OF Thoreau. There
orc zcores Of landscape painters who could DO JUS
Ice to the naturalsts beautiful descriptions OF sy
van rivers and empowered haunts OF oird ana "ooa'
land flower There are American artists in plenty
who could reproduce not merely his scenes along te
coast Of New-England and amid his CONCORD "oons
and meadows but the groups or famous nsures
which recur again ard again In MS paSes' A''o-
gether there is no American author not ha"'no'n'
himself whose substance is at once so Original ~
f OF charm and distinction. and so In line WIN ths
svunatb,es and faculties Of native ILLUSTRATORS
An illustrated Thoreau would be an American see
NJ hooks 10 the core. Let us hope the pupiisherS
will do something toward its preparation ana sVs
II TO the public without delay.
Some interesting journals and memoirs are 500" :"
"rournaI of Joachim Hane," German offcer III inc
English service who sent by Crop'"eH On
secret mission TO France in 1853 Hanes ND - !"
one of the college Libraries at oxford.
Arotber forthcoming volume will contain trans
lation Of the memoirs OF Bertrand Barere. tha' no
torlous member OF tho Committee OF PUBIC Saie'y
who was called by Macaulay the greatest mar
dohauchee coward ard brute that ever lived mo
memoirs are said 20 show that Macauias "'
wrone Another. book of memoirs Is ransiauon
from the only surviving copy OF the privately PRINT
cd volume of General Lejeune. His remn'scences
cover the period l7S0-lslf.
Smokeless powder. the bicycle, university extern
sion any number o; ncw-fangled and portentous
things are fast becoming the material OF fiction.
but Herr Nordau who is ricn in surprises, oners
one more novelty TO his readers when casts even
the kaleidoscope into the shade "A certain pro-
fessor IN one OF his novels receives packet rom
,,eoor, go,den hair The habit of minute OBJ
starvation ,nseparable from the naturalist. led him
IN discover on examining the charming offering.
that each single hair still retained KS root ouio
The lock had not been cut from the nead' dug
was composed OF combngs which she had saved
I'D with prudent calculation
This It may be safely averred. is beyond the moT
painstaking realst TO be found In the same hemis-
phere with Herr Nordau. He puts long distance
between himself and all competitors For ac'u'
atty he must be given the palm over the most
degenerate author he has ever scored Tor senseess
absorption In material details. For II this discov-
cry Of the professor in the novel Is not sehseess
we would like to know how 1t might better Do
characterized. The wiles OF the sorceress nave
been put to nought ingeniousy by many noveiists.
but It is doubtful II any one Of them. having the
dignity OF his work in consideration. could ever adj
init this end -he-century expedent OF Herr Nor
dau The inuuisitive professor. pottering over ME
lady loves hair with microscope and natufa-
lists" enthusiasm. makes one OF the most grotesqus
figures that this time Of hysterica fiction mas
produced He goes TO the roots OF the matter with
a vengeance
There Is a Society OF the Phistines IN Eass
Aurora. this State and its members appear to Do
enamoured of Mr.. Stephen Crane. Al any rate
they gave him dinner a little while ago. and not
content with that substantial testimony TO MS
greatness they had printed with the menu all mo
letters OF regret and admiration which came from
those invited and unable 10 attend what 'hs
actual diners said must have been panegyrical In
deed when the absent believers could say the Things
they did Ouoth one of the distant personases:
ITO Stephen Crane we OF the modern era owe
much" No doubt. And. by-the-way. we oil inc
modern era Is good. Only II does not appear 10 w
that the modern owes anything al all 70 sir.
Crane and his likes, anything save haf-oaked
ESSAYS in work which It were idle to cali either
prose or verse anything WEAKNESS unspeaK-
able Mr. John ]. Rooney thinks otherwise lhey
all think so. II say advisedly says MT Rooney
that what Goethe did for Wemar. Shakespeare
for Stratford. Whitman for Camden and Emerson
for Concord the Philistine is doing for East Aurora
From the sleepy. moss-grown village. 1t SHINES
forth in the bright borealis rays rejected from Inv
Furnished armor of its ferce-fghting Black hlhers'
and the civilized world looks on and wonders "hat
nextr' While Mr.. Rooney may be indugins IN
playful hyperbole. a matter OF fact. ne expresses
no more, from his first phrase to his last. than
what seems to be the sober thought of all the
'Phlistines' They began with a promising as
sumption tina, great deal OF our current literary
twad6e due to prec!ousness to an excess OF
culture" and that the common-sense which IS
the one thing usually TO be granted to Philistins
might be employed to good purpose In chastising
pretence. The gradual disappearance OF this estl'
mable theory and the substitution OF bumptious-
ness surprising that OF the original objects OK
Philistine wrath have been touched upon moro
than in this place They need not be traversed
again at length But the Crane dinner redirects
attention the head and front Of Phil.stne Offend
ing the OF 1t ALL the rrepressible medocrlty
which insists upjn sffrontng public intelligence
though the heavens cry out for shame. We had
thought the "Philistnes" would help 10 quench
the Minor Poet. Instead they give him a dinner
and sing his praises to the moon
The Mil Poet, be II known. is become q Major
Phenomenon. We speak OF him impersonslly. in
essence. 1t is not yet certain that Mr. stephen
Crane. for example is OF the same consequence
outside Of East Aurora that he is within its hos
pitable walls. Little Pedlington is not the world.
though one NAV not be able 10 throw STONE any