New-York tribune., 1901-02-10

one or more specimens to the miscellaneous
treasures of our literature. Thus it is not sur
prisins to find in Mr. Smeaton's anthology not
only Dryden. Pope and Swift. but men IKE
Landor. with whom the atmosphere OF SATIRE
is not Immediately associated in the memory
The satire that ought logically to be surese
of surviving is naturally the satire which deals
with general IDEAS susceptible of being appreci-
ated and used long after the occasion that gave
them birth has passed Jonson's Don Surly is
a type that we have always with US, and Samuel
Butler described to perfection a literary cox
comb of our time when he wrote IN ms
| "Characters' that "the Small Poet IS one thS.t
would fain make himself that which nature
| never meant him: like a fanatic that inspires
| himself with his own whimsies-" There is not
line in the portrait which is not accurate When
he writes he commonly steers the sense of his
lines by the rhyme that is at the end of them. as
| butchers do calves by the tail" Could anything
more aptly hit off the minor poet in every eraF
I.andor. in the Imaginary Conversation De-
/ tween Bossuet and the Duchess de Fontanges
| which Mr. Smeaton quotes. has a passage OK
| extraordinarily durable eIoquence. We feel that
| IL will be forever Apostle. though the names OK
i the participants in the talk are forgotten The
| stately churehman bears graciousiy with the
| persifage OF the woman before him. parryins
! her jests in her own easy fashion But suddenly
the fire in that majestic soul bursts forth. and
| Iandor makes him speak as BOssuet alone could
speak. SO that the eomplacency of the Duchess
! shrivels up before him. and the reader catches
the thrill that silences her:
You think it possible that I. aged as am
may preach sermon on your funeral we say
| that days few; and, saying II, we say
| too much. Marie Angelique, we have but one;
the past are not ours, and who can promise US
the future? This in which we live is ours only
| while live in IL; the next moment may strike
| il off from us: the next sentence would utter
may be broken and fall between US. The beauty
that has made a thousand hearts 10 peat az one
instant at the succeeding has been without
pulse and color. without adInlrer, friend, COM
panion follower. She by whose eyes the march
of victory shall have been directed. whose name
shall have animated armies at the extremitieS
of the earth. drops into one OF its erevices ana
rningIes with its dust. DuchesSe de FOntanSeS!
think on this, Lady, so live TO think on 1t un-
disturbed!
The Duchess. all in futter. protests her
alarm: she begs him not to talk so gravely. The
words may touch any reader at any time Yet
the satire that is purely personal has on occa-
sion much OF a chance of survival as anyt thing
that scars above personalities Witness Dryden's
"Macfiecknoe." in which Shadwell was fayed
and Incidentally made immortal:
Shadwen alone my perfect image bears.
Mature in duIness from his tender years:
ShadweI alone. of all my sons. is he.
Who stands confirmed In full stupidity.
The some faint meaning make preteuce,
. But Shadwel never deviates into sense.
Pope. in the epistle TO Arbuthnot, has some
jewels of applicable throughout the
ages. but he is captivating as when he
sets his jewels in lines of sCathinS personality.
such as those in which Lord Hervey is attacked;
| Sporus that mere white curd of ass's milk?
| Satire or sense. alas, can Sporus feel?
| Who breaks butterfly upon wheelF
johnson. in The Vanity Of Human Wishes :
reflects at large, and suggestively. OF course.
since johnson could not do otherwise
! Let Observation. with extensive view.
Survey mankind from China 10 Peru.
The invitation prepares us for valuable re-
marks on divers topics. But the poem hasn't
an atom OF the force which belongs 10 that
famous letter TO Lord Chesterfield, in which
general ideas are subOrdinated 10 the express
sons of the disdainful doctors resentment OF an
individuals scurvy behavior. lis not a patron,
my lord. one who looks with unconcern a
man struggling for life in the water. and. when
he has reached ground. eDcumbers him with
heip?" 1t would be interesting to cite il all,
familiar as it is But the most striking example
| OF personal satire in the whole book remains
TO be touched upon. The Vision OF Judgment
\ OF Lord Byron 1t is a performance of such
briIIancy that il would be hard to say in what
1 9th IL