New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-14

! The organization of an Authors Club is talked
! OF IN Boston, and about forty people whose
/ names may be seen on the title pages of books
| or magazines are prepared to become members.
! Both men and women are eligible and it is sup
posed that Mrs. Julia Ward Howe Will be the
/ first president The editor Of The Allan
| tic Is mentioned as a member
! Mr. D. I. Moody's eldest son will write the
eyangelist's biography. This was the wish of
| the father
The human weakness TO wish TO he known as
/ the friend Of great men had. '@The Saturday Re-
view reminds u.s. the greatest biography in the
J language as its result. Had not Bozzy been
! a tOady, Dr.. Johnson would be at the present
day, only name to literary students and the
thousands who love him would not know that
such man ever existed. But Boswell, after all.
mad certain gift OF circumSpeCUiOn. He knew
/ other great people besides Johnson. and prob
ably he received letters from them; but he did
not whenever one Of them died. rush off TO
PupHsn the letters and print his 'recoilecuOns-
Nowadays all that is changed As soon big
/ man dies. every one who at any time received a
postcard from him, even II the communication
be nothing more than Dear sir, I regret exceed
ingly to be unable to Oblige you with a lock OF
my hair Immediately spins at the least a maya
zine article. and at most a very thick duh book
The case of poor Robert Louis Stevenson is still
sufficiently fresh to serve as an instance"
NJ. Lavedan the newly elected member of the
French Academy received in reply to his first
speech wise and not altogether uncaIed for
warning from the Marquis De Costa Beaure-
gard. Let US have" he said. more human
life and less of la vie Parisienne."
Hookham Frere. in the combined characters
of bridegroom and poet. was amusing person.
A passage in the just published volume contain
ing his letters says Of him on the day of his
marriage TO Lady Enroll:
The bridegroom was in very good humour
/ and good spirits, took his snuff and cast his
Joke like Sir Condy. His head is full of Verses
which he thinks to publish, and his plan is to
live at Roydon entirely and come to London no
more That afternoon, Mr., Murray, sitting in
I ff1a 6a1I-
cetved visit from Mr.. FTere. Being as much
exposed to authors as the Duke Of Wellington.
Murray never allowed them to read or recite in
his parlor, but His EXceHency was a priVi-
legged person. and the verses which he repeated
were SO interesting that the dinner hour ap-
preached before either was aware The pub
Usher begged the author to share his dinner and
continue the discussion but Frere excused him
self was married this morning, and Lady
Enrol is waiting for me to take her down into
the country.
It Is recorded Of Gladstone that once taking
little copy of the ''Purgatorio" from his waist.
coat pocket he thrust it in the face Of DIR. Dol
linger and exclaimed: There is more real lit
erature, real mental power, in this little book
than in all your German masters put together"
And Then the late Sir William Gregory was
urging the superiority of the German language
and literature over the Italian if only an
educational instrument Gladstone exclaimed.
Il will contend with you from morn to dewy
eve that Italian does more for the mind
1T It ought not to be necessary for the little
HhllStlne To say these Things: In the writ
ings of genius the words charged with dim
significance beyond their usually accepted mean
ings, and a reverberatiOn beyond their sound.
We do not read the great writer simply to get
his Views-We read him because he makes US
think. No literature that is not filled with subtle
suggestiveness favored. as II were with unut-
! tered feeling, can live Great literature ever
| casts a mysterious purple shadow Judged by
this standard David Harum is ready TO be
buried deep in the mould where now rest the
works of the Rev. f. ?. Roe. The only reason a
person of brains should read David Harum' is
to intelligently gauge the average capacity Of
! American readers. There is, by the way, a
| curious echo of Mr.. Max Beerbohm in this
BulWer-Lytton committed as many crimes
against taste in the decoration Of his mansion at
KnebwOrth he did in some of his noveIs-as
Mr.. Thackeray has pointed out to US. It is a
beautiful house, but the novelist did mis- best to