The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-03
NEW hooks.
Rrisf aevisvvs or Iiapsrtsnt end Interestinu
New Publications.

C0fntdte Hrdnqdfse, ana one or tho most YER
satile and prolific Of contemporary writers, last
year published "Brichanteau." Paris hailed the
book with delight, and 1t Is safe to say that, in
its English form, as Observation-Disclosures"
Hittlo, Brown & Col It will find many friends. |
S6bastien Brichanteau, who, in his own do
lightful way. tells his life story, stands az the
true type Of tho old-timo Cdbotin, tho strolling
player, who, missing his chance to enter the
haven Of tho House OF Moliere. has spent his
life in wandering from one provincial theatre
to a~nother-always h~opeful-always poor-and
always ready to share his Inst few francs or TO
lend n helping hand to q comrade out Of luck.
Brichantoau stands, as he proudly says. "for
the art that means something" He Is the last
Of the romanticists. Corneille, Moliere, Victor
Hugo are the gods OF his idolatry. and, next to q
literary role, ho dearly loves the leading part in
q good old melodrama. As Andres In lies
Pirates dc La Savane " his mighty voice has
been heard in all its thunderous strength; no
has rescued tho captive maiden, foiled the hated
villain, and, p~lunging into q foaming cataract,
has swum to shore amid q shower Of bullets.
"Ahi that In not nero clap-trap; no, but drama,
honest drama" But all that has had its
day, and a new school has arisen that
knows him not, and that no himself cannot alto
Ecther understand. Ho has been q failure--has
grown poorer and poorer, and in his old ago has
DeCOIuo u bUarter IN tue plCyClo races ~ inc NelO-
drome; and yet, though he has his littlenesses
and though there are times in his life when he
has posed as but q sorry hero. he has no ungen-
erous envy of those of his comrades who have
prospered. He has at least been true to his art
as he understood It; has lived and loved and had
his tinsel triumphs; and, with all his vanity and
affectation, the smile that he calls forth il never
a contemptuous or a derlsive ono. We can laugh
heartily at his exploit with an injured husband Of
ferooious tiger-slaying tastes, and his encounter
with q venomous provincial critic; but In the
telling Of the story Of his one great triumph.
when, at tho last moment, he saved the man.
agement by taking the leading part and playing
1t as, surely. it was never played before-and,
indeed. throughout the book, there Is the under
current of u true pathos that has in 1t no faint
Of sentimentalism. Brichanteau. the sole sur
vivor of a vanished race. Is one OF the van
pushed in art whose defeat, though inevitable,
has not been altogether deserved, and with q
stately exaggerated gesture in the old grand
manner he makes his bow to fate. and, holding
himself erect and asking no mans favor, says:
And now dddio! Tho blue visions have van.
ished. Tho stage gave me Illusions in my youth;
in my old age tho Velodrome will give me bread"
In the supplemental volume of his History
of Our Own Timed "Harpers. Mr.. Justin Nc
Carthy covers tho period extending from tho
sweeping victory Of Mr.. Gladstone and the Lib
| eral party in 1880 to the diamond jubilee. He
tells his story in tho easy, pleasant style that
made tho earlier volumes 30 readable, and,
whether he is dealing with political friends or
foes, he is notably free from the sway bipartisan
or party feeling. In fact, his u~nfailing good
nature and his desire to say q pleasant word for
| everybody sometimes carries him to rather alb
surd lengths. England's Poet Laureate has
| certainly suffered enough. and no one would
wish to see him overwhelmed with further ridi-
| Guile, even in expiation OF the doggerel OF Jane
sons Ride" but Mr.. Mccarthy is positively
funny when he administers soothing syrup Of
this kind:
The new Poet Laureate. Nj. Alfred Austin. who
had succeeded Alfred Tennyson in ONCE and in name,
at all events, came out with Q poem in honor OF DR..
Jameson; but It Is only fair to say that he did not
profess to have any personal knowledge OF what no
was rhyming about 1t may lie that he was not the
nrt Poet Laureate who giorined some military
achievement about tho rights and wrongs Of which
he did not pretend to have any knowledge whatever.
But again let It be said. in Justice to Mr.. Alfred Aus
tin. that while greater Laureates than he had only to
glorify successful undertaking., he OF HIS own mo-
ton smote the chords OF tho lyrc In honor OF an en-
terprise which had been an utter failure, 4 mere mis-.
calculation-not only q defeat. but q discontinue.
Under the circumstances. that picture of the
poor poet shifting the chords OF the Tyre Is q
very cruel one. and he might well prefer good
sound abuse to the friendly offices of an apollo
gist who. in speaking Of his appointment, fur
Their says:
OF course there was any amount of adverse crit.
cism. Mr.. Austin was the man most to be pitied
throughout tho whole time Of controversy. Every
one had seemed disposed to give him credit for some
poetic merits before, but, from the moment when he
was formerly announced as Poet Laureate Il would
appear as II. In shakespearean phrase, "the sens
ached at him. He did not deserve tho position. but
neither did he deserve all the disparagement which hi
appointment brought on him. Not all Poets Laureate
have been great poets. The pity was that the chat
should not have been left vacant. at all events, unit
the coming of more favorable times.
Lord Salisbury Is. before all else, a genial cyni'
and a humorist, and some day, when his me
moirs are published. tho world may know tn
ID. true significance of that appointment. Perhaps
Mr.. Mccarthy, who is something of q humoris
himself. knows all about It. But he docs no
tell. His estimate Of D'Israeli is a shrewd ant
sound one, and his sketch OF the brilliant ris
and sudden collapse of Lord Randolph Churchill
and his story of the Parnell trial and Its seque
are among the best things in the book.
After some three years delay caused by II
health, and the necessity Of passing his winter
abroad and out of reach of the Bodlcian Librar
and the British Museum. Mr.. George Birbecl
Hill has now added to his edition OF Boswell
Life of johnson ~ and 1.-THE Letters OF Samue
Johnson two volumes of "Johnsonlan Misce
lanies" tHarpcrs). in which he has edited, wit
voluminous notes and concordances. all thos
minor writings included under the general It'll
Of Johnsoniana." Beginning with the Pray
ers and Meditation" he has collnted Strahan'
edition of 1888 with tho original manuscrir
preserved In tho library of Pembroke Colleg'
Oxford, and has added some passages which ha
been struck out but not obliterated, and ono c
two papers that have remained in the possessio
of private collectors. and now appear in prlr
!. for the first time. These, together with JOIN
sons account OF his life from his birth to h
eleventh year. edited by Surgeon Richar
!, Wright and published In 1915. the PioZzi ane
y doves, and Murphy's Essay mako up the fri
volume. Volume III. contains a number of 10
tiers. anecdotes, apothegms, a good index. an
under the title of "Dicta Philosophi." a col
cordnnce of Johnson's sayings not included
= Mr.. Hill among those given at tho end of IL
' sixth volume of his edition OF the Life
y ! y -.,,nI ,nn .V,, ans H. "a