New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-02
FOR THE WEEK ENDING JAN. 3, 1888.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT

Mr. Arthur Cation. in a book just published,
observes: Now that Matthew Arnold is gone,
we are all of us, ever much more at the
mercy of stupidity and Of imposturc and OF
yulgarity Who is there left that can raise
common-scnse above the commonplace This
puts the case strongly, but not. we venture to
say. too strongly. There is no one living who
has the power to take up Matthew Arnold's
admcnitory work where he laid ii down. Two
explanations may be offered. In the first place
men of genius are rare This Is time OF
talent, not Of splendid inspiration and equally
splendid abilities. Secondly, the ethical idea Is
out OF date. No one has the courage TO mix
literary with moral teaching, after Matthew
Arnold's fashion In fact, the man who at
tempted to discuss Byron or Shelley as he dis
cussed them would Immediately be shouted
down by an army Of stanch supporters OF the
art for arts sake cant. In other words, the
modern tendency toward realism has done moth
ing to teach authors to grapple with real things
They will die fighting in the last ditch for the
privilege of depicting unsavory things in all their
hideousness, but ask them to pierce to the
spiritual issues involved and they will protest
that art has nothing to do with such matters.
To the lynx-eyed critic who in fifty years or
thereabouts is to tell the world what the tera-
turc Of the present day is worth. we humbly
offer suggestion for n chapter. If he will study
our popular novclSts and tell us just how they
were influenced for good or for bad by their
adventures in the playhouse and the lecture
hall, his readers will be amused. 1t Is difficult
to study those influences now. They are too
new But when the novelist begins to write
with one eye on the possibilities Of making
play ont of his story his work must surely show
the effect, and after a round Of lectures or
reading" he Is not unlikely to write with a
changed accent, so to say.
As the career Of the KelmScOtt Press draws
to close it is not unnatural for the admirers
OF William Morris TO dwell upon the value TO
the world of the work done at the most as
thctic printing Office ever founded. 1t is sug
gcstve to note however, that most if not all of
the culogisis take refuge in beautiful gcner
alitics The truth is that the Kclrnscott Press
has been a brilliant failure and its best lesson
is one Of warning. The test to be applied to
its fruits is as conclusive as ii Is simple. Can
the Kemscott Press books be read with com
fort and pleasure? candid reply must be in
the negative. Black letter may have been
source OF delight at time when readers could
get nothing better, but Its decorative beauty
cannot deceive us into finding it convenient
Beauty in printing is worthless without con-
venience Morris not only used type that re-
called all the defects OF back-letter but he 30
lavishcd the peculiar conventions Of his decora-
tive taste upon his pages. he turned his books
out in such awkward and inconvenient shape
that the chorus of admiration with which they
curiosiles of our time. What Morris tried to
do was characteristic and interesting. He did
IT supcrlatiyey well But as a printer Of books
he was nothing more nor less than u mOnl-
mental failure.