New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-12-20

@na Dav' By Various Writers. Edited BY IL, a. -.
ram, rso,ee 7 to the Battle Of Waterloo
octave DID, viii 636. c. p. Putnams Sohs'
80. rrom observes in the fifth volume of his
admirable bird's-eye history OF England tha'
49,. o,o,,a.r,f, cantury in that country cannot
no summed I'D in a formula. TINS Is ""e
enough the time having witnessed some most
comnlex developments in the life and manners
~ Great Britain 1t is useful to be remihdeo Vi
this fact since q frequent disposition Is no''ceu
among modern writer's to assemble all eien'
zenith century history under one charac'er']a''o,,
NJ rather calculated. cynical, fippant ana anu
feeling. Yet when the broad truth oil MI
Trails contention has been recognized !" ie7u'
10 DE qualified. One note is undouo'e"is S'u0"
by the eighteenth century. one OF prepaia''o"
and transition. and this is keeniy ie' III sp''e
y, the singular inertia which for 50 long ''''ie
ho,a On many Of the social and economic move
nents OF England in check. The age could pro-
duce statesmen of capital Importance ike the
first Earl Of Chatham and his son, but IL Is ss
n,f,cant that the peculiar mission of the younger
Pitt. whose labors covered a momen'ous periou
IN the history of the nation, was to set 'he fia"
overian house in order. after iohg peiiou Vi
confusion and unrest lie never had c'e"i
field. with abundant resources upon WHO" ~
draw He had 10 deal with tangles al nome anu
abroad and 70 accomplish his ends with material
itself in need of reform
There are few things more picturesque, in
spite Of the mediocrty OF many OF 'he
figures involved than the long struggle Oh
Ceoree III for what may fairly be called "a
publication of cabinet methods. Ii was not 81
rucb actual turpitude hat he was hghting as
AN arid nolticaI principle Had he tr!uinphed IN
the famous election Of 1874 with statesman
less enlightened than the younger Pitt IL Is not
improbable that his ardent wish for cabinet re-
form would have caused him to leave the minis
ters even less authority than they deserved
But Pitt was playing wise game ana es MI
Hassall points out, while the royal power seemed
10 triumph it was nevertheless the opening Vi
q new era in popular government TOT WHICH r''
stood Thus the reign of George Ill may De saiu
to signalze the emergence of the Nauoh iro"
an ora of staynation ard even retrogression
upon one of slow but steady progress Inc pres
cnt volume extends to the year 1910 and the
Rattle OF Waterloo. thus bringing the reader
10 the verge of England's most fruitful years
Mr. Trails compendious work is dedcated 10
social England. and the development OF the arts
and manners of the Nation is treated as fuily as
it's foreign and domestic politics. Here again
Won NAV find a number OF imposing hsu'eS'
Johnson in literature Reynolds IN ART Jehher III
science Arkwright and Watt in INVENTION ana
men such as Blackwell and Arthur Young VINO
contributed enormously to the advancement OF
agriculture. Yet it may be doubted IL taken al
,oea,hor the genius of England expressing
itself conclusively much as it was feeling i's
way toward a perfect manifestation in the nine
teenth century. Great achievements IN one
field or another were peculiarly sporadic None
snrany from anv broad stream of development
This. which might be natural enough IN the arts
"a moro striking when ii is observed in connec-
tion with the agricultural growth of the country
One would think that this growth, being identi-
God with the very bone and snew OF England
would have been widespread, unbroken ana
prosperous But Blackwell. with his eXtraoroi-
nary experiments in the breeding or sheeP
strikes us as an isolated phenomenon man
whose exploits were approached ny rev OIL HIS
contemporaries. and besides, 1t was IN the i'h-
provement and cultivation Of small holdings 'ha'
English farming needed impetus Es'apiisn-
ments like Bakewels could not do much 10
h.,tar the condition Of farmers generally. and
.yorv reader OF Arthur Young knows how he
used TO despair of getting the landlords or MS
Nation to so administer their estates that the
number If Enclosures would be increased and the
enrichment Of the whole soil be systematcaily
accelerated. Ii Is customary 10 laih dpou' ''o
continuity Of English land development, the we'll
groomed landscape impressing many mooerh
ohservers with the comfortable idea that the
chief one OF the British Islands has been kind OF
oarden snot since the beginning of things. Mr.
Prothero's chapters in the book before us snow
that all through the eighteenth century the
peasant class suffered from scattered and I'M
perfect development of agricultural possibilities
at
all the experts engaged upon the production OF
this historical mosaic there are few who base
their work upon wider knowledge or color it
with more enthusiasm than Mr.. Prothero re-
yeals. His is not a subject that could be called
exactly inspiring, yet he keeps close to the
human side Of his material and indicates with
rotable skill the filtration of sound ideas down
from the larger propretors TO the lesser farmers
and the agricultural population in general
The literary questions involved in the period
discussed within this book suffer at the outset
in their representation from being left to the
doubtful merces Of Mr. Saintsbury. He has
rarely been more infelicitous than In his esti-
mates Of Pope and Johnson as set forth upon this
occasion He sees In the former only the wasp
ish' creature Of conventional criticism. He
misses altogether Popes inspiration. what Mr..
Trail calls 1.-The aerial fantasy and gossamer
grace of his Inventions, ana Inc intoxicating er-
fervescence of his verse" But the writer of that
happy characterization himself takes up the lit
erary thread at an important point. and though
Il Is to be regretted that he could not have
wreaked himself also upon Sheridan and John
SON. Goldsmith. Gray and the novelists. espe-
cially Fielding. he offers compensation in brill
liant excursus on Gibbon. and an equally pene-
trating sketch of Burke. Where he il perhaps
most serviceable is In his criticism Of the "Lyri-
cal Ballads and the poetic movement which is
possibly the most appropriate Of all introductions
into the spirit Of the nineteenth century. The
old cry OF Fletcher of Saltoun comes to mind as
the transition Of the eighteenth century into the
nineteenth IL accomplished in England. The