New-York tribune., 1897-11-04
"LITERATTRE." "
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL PERIODICAL.

Next Saturday the first number of the American
edition Of LITERATURE" the international
periodical will be placed in circulation here by
the Harpers. 1t is a long time since venture
Of the sort has aroused much attention on
both sides Of the Atlantic: in fact "Cosmopolis
is the only periodical which In recent years has
been received with equal interest. The reason In
this is that the new paper appears not only
under the auspices Of THE London Times" but
comes with a proclamation on the part OF the pub
fishers OF that journal that 1t will be in every
way calculated TO appeal to the most fastidous
scholar. They do mean by this that "Litora-
ture' Is to be pedantic nor even that II Is to be
erudte. To Judge from the first number. Of which
an advance copy is before us. the style Of Mr.. II
D. Traill the editor. and OF his coloboTators is
TO be uniformly flexible and reada bic. 1t cannot
be said that the number in question Is dull
Although announcement is made that books
are to be reviewed with deliberaton, so that not
a scamped paragraph will appear. II has not pre-
vented a certain quality of freshness from enter
ing into the initial pages. There reviews
OF the new Tennyson memoir. the recently pub
lished Wilberforce papers. the Annals OF the
House Of Blackwood." and OF various other
works that have appeared within the last few
weeks. In the department concerned with works
OF fiction some of the very latest publications
have been reviewed, some Of them, by the way
being by American authors. Mr.. Jamess new
novel, What Maisie Knew; DR. Weir Mitchelrs
Hugh Wynne" and Miss Wkinss Jerome"
are conspicuous. 1t may be added that these three
books are reviewed with fairness that ought
not to be. but is somewhat unusual. The time
has gone by when American authors were persist
entity decried IN English prints but there fingers
In more than one quarter the old prejudice. and II
is pleasant 10 see foreshadowed In this number
Of LITERATURE that scholarly impartiality which
should long ago have become matter Of course
In the newspapers OF London.
In one respect Literature makes Its debut with
ieso distr han bad ex-
pccted Excepting for Rudyard Kiplng's mag
nihcent poem. white Horses. which was
reproduced in this paper last Sunday. there
II nothing between the covers which has
the value and charm OF a distinctly brill
fant piece Of literary work The intro
ductory editorial on Author and Critic" does
not rise above the commonplace. and the brief
essay by Augustine Birrell. entitled "A Colo
Guy on Criticism" contains nothing more pointed
than the observation that the much-condemned
savagcry Of the critic in the public prints Is usually
as mild as milk compared with the private utter
ances of the same critic discoursing on the same
subject. In the reviews miss more the
touch Of hands not only capable but original.
These criticisms differ In whit from those
which appear every day In the literary journals
and the literary columns Of the better daily papers
both here and abroad. II may be asked. then, why
Literature" should be regarded with so much
interest ard curiosity. Simply because the jour
II receives and goes far into detail say that
only those books will be reviewed which really
merit attention. Furthermore. 1t will never a. has