New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-25

Dictionary or Natlonai DiosiaP"''
been derived from unpublished material mostly
in private hands.
The British Museum spends about S4oo"o
year in purchasing books. most OF the money
being required for the modern WORKS Oh o'nV'
countries The most important purchases Oh the
Museum Library IN recent years nave oee'i al
old Spanish literature. The capacity OF the IL
brary has been nearly doubled by the cioVer use
Of sliding presses. which are hung IN front %
the axed presses and can easily be moved pack
ward and forward.
4. Carlyle writes to The Atheneum giving
the correct version OF a story which. 1t appears
has been previously printed, only IN a iiucn-
perverted form. IT deals with Thomas CaIIyle
and is highly characteristic OF him.
In the autumn Of 1874 Carlyle and his niece.
Miss NJ. L. Aiken, were WISHING al uc hGS
of MI Patrick Swan, then Provost OF hIhC"ius'
and at a date long anterior pupli q al g,.
on one sunday evening Mr. swan ana ms BucS.S
were assembled after dinner IN the ara " ms
room and some one proposed that Carlyle shouiu
read aloud FOR the entertainment OF 'hc 80
pany-a rather large one. lie readlIy Co"S'.'' 49,
and seeing the Bible lying on the tape ne
opened 1t at the beginning Of job, his iaNoiI.e
book No sooner had he seized the BibIe' nov
ever than in marched the servants one alteI
another and Carlyle perceived that he was, DO
81 We're trapped into conducting fainlly WVI-
shin, How TO get out of the dilemma? There
seemed nothing for 1t but TO read and to Keep
on reading and to walt what time ana Chanre
might bring He began with the first chapler
OF Job and read chapter after chapter, maKins
remarks and again on Striking pas9dbrS.
After this sentence Job VI %, rs there any
taste in the white Of an egg be exclalmtG;
Good bless me- I never knew that was In JOB
or II had quite forgotten that was in Job!
little while after this his niece came iorWara
10 the table and. touching his arm. whispered
''IJncle DO you not think you nave read enouSh
for one night" He gave her a pleasant smile
but continued reading and expounding. Nltcr
two or three more chapters had been CVer'tktf'
his niece again came forward and SAID Quietiy'
''Uncle. you really ought to stop; YOU see the
servants are all in the room ana iHey W , nase
pered 10 him. he suddenly rose. shat the DOCK
with emphasis. saying. loud enough ,or all 10
hear. well. II I'm not TO be allowed 10 READ
more I suppose l must stop" and walked out
OF the room with an air Of offended dignity! On
going TO his room soon afterward MS niece
FOUND him laughing and rejoicing at ms h h
lass thou's not offended? I could not see now
else to get out OF It..
Some Of Carlyles bitterness IS sadly apparent
N q letter lately published for the first time.
.1sterature is like money" he wrote: "the ap
petite increases by qualification: the mines or
literature. too. are unwholesome and dreary as
the mines Of Potosi vet from either there is no
return. and though little confident Of finding
contentment, happiness is too proud term. l
must work. I believe in those damp caverns. till
once the whole mind is recast, or the lamp OF
life has ceased 10 burn within It."
new book Of poems by Mr.. Madison Cawein
IS announced by Mr.. r. II. Russell. 1t is to be
called Shapes and Shadows"
Mr. Joseph Conrad. whose book The Niger
OF the Narcssus' has made so great a stir in
England. has written q new novel. which is TO
run as e serial through THE English Illus
trated Magazine" This story bears the title or
1.-THE Rescue"
NJ. Albert Lavignac's book on Music and
Musicians" has been translated by William
Marchant and edited by II. E. Krehbiel, and Is
- to be published this spring by Henry Holt & CO.
What is reported to be the smallest printed
book in the world is TO be seen in an Oxford-st
bookshop in London. 1t measures only eleven
six,eenths by seven-sixteenths Of an inch, runs
to over a hundred pages and Is beautifully
bound. 1t is q reprint OF letter by Calico TO
Nine Cristina d! Lorenza-
Who reads Jean Ingelow's poetry In these
days? Very few people we imagine, outside the
ranks Of the rustic elocutionists. who cling 10
1.-The High Tide" and continue to adjure
BETTY" and "L.ghtfoot' in the conventional
squeak The latest number OF THE Saturday
Review" says truthfully enough Of Miss Inge
lows verse that her emotional execution, too
gushing to be intense. Tennyson decately
and shrewdly indicates IN his criticism. never
left her. ut the source of her violent sue
cess; It is the cause OF her present neglect Moth
ing goes out OF fashion more rapidly and COM
pletely than the forms OF 'gush' Really pog-
faa1tp a1t-a
duce Its instant effect but It may hope to be
perennial when 1t does begin TO move the human
heart. Perhaps no poetry Of the Victorian age
has thrilled the boys and killed the girls quite
60 irresistiby as that which is found in the
First Series OF Miss Ingelow."
Yet 1t would he unkipd and uncritical to sweep
Miss 1ngelow away with scorn. She is not for
to-day-that we must sorrowfully confess. But
though her merit ephemeral. ii gen
uine while she lasted. Her verses were various
sane. interesting. She had a voice OF her own:
there was recognizable 1ngelese dialect She
knew nature well. and shredded 1t ceverly into
her pot-au-feu She wrote in verse. and was
yet extremely readabe-in itself a merit Her
popularity was a solemn thing to her; she was
careful not to abuse It: she far from
descending 10 the level Of her readers to retain
them that she deliberately flung them from her
by attempting more and more TO write IN the
grand style. 10 rise TO subimer things. When
you can capture the crowds in tens and thou
sands by easy rhyming It is not ignoble to pub
lish. in direct emulation Of Milton. an epic on
the world before the Flood. In short Miss In
gelow a good woman. who wished with all
her heart 10 be good writer in the best class
and who succeeded in her little day and
generation. To say more than this is to pre-
tend the thing which is not.
Miss Ada Cambridge. who has written several
clever minor novels. IS about 10 publish q story
called Mater Famil!as"