New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-28


that this is after all, question OF opinion' Out
where Lanier forfeits the usual privileges OF an
opponent in argun ent is in carrying all his
noints an the back of mechanical theory. This
volume sets out to demonstrate scientifically an
avontIon that has none of the moorngs or
science The result is obscurty, and we close
tho hook with a sense Of fruitessness, with a re-
lection of Laners main contention that Is not
modified by any of his decately expressed Judg-
ments on one book or another. He Is eloquent
and persuasive the merits OF George f'Io'
but he makes out no case for the mover as sor'e-
thing identified with the development OF person.
atty The two have had. as they always Will
have, points Of contact; but one never mas peeh
| and never can be an index to the other lhe
| Odyssey and Had are superb novels Win epi-
| sodes of tremendous poignancy, yet they oa.e
| from a time which knew nothing Of personal
| ,tv" as Ianier saw it. He forgot, indeed that
| what he called personality. as though 1t were
something springing from specific ages ana con,
| ditions. was really the life of the human soui
| in all ages and that the motive force Oh 'ie
| novel has been in existence as long as me mo-
::::e force of the trays drama, the Tyr Poe"
or any other form y human expression
| We are reminded, by the reprint OF George
| Neredith.s Essay on Comedy" an essay orgi-
nalv delivered as a lecture in 1877. to correct the
| last sentence There are some forms Oh huiiidi
| EXPRESSION which need special era speci''
phase Of social development for their oeVeiop
ment and comedy is one OF them ms % 'o
| cause of the fact that while the mover Is III eS
| sence q representation Of life-whether Oh 'ie
| material life that can be copied, OF 'he iuch''
ro,oortic life that can be invented and need
not. as a matter of necessity, carry mora'
| lesson-the true comedy is essentially d cii"
cism an elucdaton, an Interpretation. mus
| there is something especially felicitous III Mere
| dith's full title for this early study OF MS. VII
the Idea Of Comedy and OF the uses Oh 'ii0
comic Shirt, he calls it, and of the first
| things he has to say of the comic poet Is 'i''
80 society Of cultivated men and women is re-
| ouired wherein ideas are current ana the per
ceptions quick, that he may be supplied with
| r,attor and an audience" He pursues this idea
| through some of the most transparent anu III
clsive pages he has ever written.
| Tn this thin book we have the Meredith from
| whom we are so often separated for whole hours
| az O. time In his novels He wrote 1t not merely
| IN q happy hour for his literary style but Win
| ,ba keen delight In his subject which Is one OF
| the surest safeguards against obscurity. Inc
| whole range of comedy is traversed IN MS as
| course from Menander and Aristophanes TO the
Restoration and his criticism has not falied MIN
| in a single instarce His own best work is IN the
spirit of comedy and he turns to CongreVe ana
| Moliere as to his fellows. Our ASSOCIATION ol
! those two masters at the moment is pro'oheu
partially by one beautiful passage IN which thelr
wit is contrasted. That of Congreve' ne says
| sis a Toledo blade sharp and wonderfuily supple
,or steel. cast for duelling restless in the scab-
bard, being so pretty when out Of 1t. To shine
q ,1,ust have an adversary. Molieres wit Is like
q running brook, with innumerable fresh lghts
| on Il at every turn of the wood through which
| its business is to find way. 1t does not run III
search Of Instructions 20 be noisy over them'
| but when dead leaves and viler substances are
| heapod along the course It's natural sohs II
be,qbtened Without effort, and with no daz-
zlng flashes Of achievement, 1t Is full OF neal
inc the wit of good breeding the wit Of wis
| dom" 1t is this wit which is the soul Oh 'he
unrest comedy. and IT will be readily perceived
| that it demands something almost as unusual
as that which 1t gives society sensitive to the
finest Intellectual appeal. HE must be subtle
! to penetrate says Mr.. Meredith Of the comic
| met and "a corresponding acuteness must eX-
| ,st to welcome him. The necessity for the two
| conditions will explain how 1t is that we count
him during centuries in the singular number
! We will not follow the classification offered In
| this essay Of the various exemplars to be traced
| in the nations Of civilization. 1t is enough 10
point out that the lover Of Meredith Will ma
here one OF the keenest and wisest and wittlest
productions of his author, a fugitive essay which
vet possesses a major quality through its ex-
ouisite treatment of an exquisite theme.
The criticism in the three papers which com
pose Mr. Hudson's volume Studies in 1nterpre-
tation" is not evenly satisfying or instructive
but where it is good it is very good that the
lar SEES may be forgiven. Thus the point of de-
parture in the survey Of Matthew Arnold $
poetry seems TO us mistaken and misleading
Mr.. Hudson having become so interested in the
philosophic drift Of his poet that he forgets his
first claim upon attention. namely. his Tyr
ical inspiration But tho essay on Keats is ad-
mirable from the first word to the last. Mr..
Hudson points out most reveangy the detach-
ment Of Keats from the intellectual movement
of his time his absorption in the pursuit Of
| beauty and his contentment with the pure
..noetry Of earth" Very Justly he remarks that
Keats was really the most romantic of all the
| rornanticists though Byron, Shelley, CoeTdSe
and Wordsworth might seem at superficial
glance to be more obviously of the romantic
! temper With them romance was colored by
observation of life they saw it. The romance
of Keats is romance touched by experiences
which could only be perceived by the inner
eve. by the rapt imagination. Shelley reachee
the same goal at times. Keats never aimed az
any other Mr.. Hudson cites aptly a fragment
from the poets correspondence, In which he re-
fers TO negative capability-that is, when man
IS capable Of being in uncertainties, mysteries.
doubts without any irritable reaching after fac;
. and reason" Further on he says that. with a
great poet the sense of beauty overoomes every
other consideration. rather obliterates all
consideration" In these lines Keats gives u.s.
as Mr. Hudson observes. the final secret Of his
relations with life and a study of that
secret the present essay should stand high II
reveals the clearest insight and so suggestive
are the pages that it is matter of regret 10