The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-11-03

m3gaZine--tneSe wilson turne out night
after night as he sat up into the small
hours by the light of his wax candle so
as to turn over fresh copy to the devils
who would be clamoring at his door in
the early morning.
But what he most enjoyed writing if
we have rightly estimated the character
of the man, was not that perhaps for
which he was most noted in his own day.,
brilliant and caustic contemporary criti-
cism, but poetical "reminiscences, in We
ritahle prose poems, Of his own boy
hood life when he fished the streams of
the parish of Mearns or walked over the
heather under the early morning sun to
meet the huntsmen at some farm yard
rendezvous and join them in the chase
Such poetical. reminiscent piece of
literature is Christopher in His Sporting
Jacket. Here the whole figure of the man
is shown to US in a narrative sparkling
I with his racy humor, soaring in the
quaint periods of his oli-fashioned elo-
qGence and melting now and again into
tenderness and reverie at every touch of
a deeper association than was afforded
by the gayer and more exciting scenes
which he narrates so wildly No poet
in English history has ever been more
He was a true nature lover and comes
perhaps more closely to Wordsworth in
this respect than does any other writer
in that romantic age. His is a freer and
warmer spirit than Wordsworth's, nor
does he lack that deep, philosophical con-
ception of the molding influences of nat
urai environment on the impressonable
souls of the young which distinguished
1ich no
may. indeed, be taken as the type of
ideal Wordsworthian boyhood. Here we
have him ere those "coarser pleasures"
referred TO ia Tintern Abbey have fairly
run their course, but not before the soul
of the awakening man with all it's Gin
timations of Immortality has begun to
trouble itself with the deeper significance
of its own senses and perceptions. Upon
the hunting enthusiasm of christopher
obtruded those rare movements of
spiritual excitement, glimpses of which
we get in those passages where 1.-The
Young Kit was lost upon the moors,
where alone in the night he took his first
wild swan, above all in the loble passage
constituting complete episode by itself.
in which is given a record of the boy
hood friendship with 'Emilus Godfrey.
Professor Saintsbury has undertaken a
most colossal task in THE History of
Criticism" now being brought out in both
England ar' Amer ca the first volume
having already appeared Perhaps we
should not say that he has undertaken
this task, for doubtless his work has al
ready been completed, moreover he be-
gan his labor of writing on this great
critical work almost thirty years ago,
II is unfortunate that such an authority
as Professor Saintsbury should not be
able to present his message to the world
in a style more easily read. Those who
are naturally inclined towards matters
scholarly will doubtless persist in read
ing this work as fast as the volumes APP
pear, and such persistence will be amply
rewarded for no one viii doubt that this
is the greatest complete history of criti-
cism which has ever been published. The
first volume covers Greek, Latin and Me-
dieval criticism The second continues up
to the end of eighteenth ClassiciSm. and
the third will cover the general subject
of Modern criticism. The learned pro-
fessor takes occasion in his first pre-
face to call attention TO his classical fit
ness for his self-imposed task. He in
forms US that he learned Latin and Greek
for twelve or fifteen years, taught them
for eight more and read them for nearly
another five and twenty, sufficient ex-
cuse, as he explains, for his making his
own TRANSACTIONS instead of using "cribs."
The tearing down the other day of the
old fashioned residence of a Brooklyn
man who recently died revealed curious
fact. Among his friends and acquaint
ancesl this man was regarded az a gem
tleman of considerable culture and as a
great lover of books. He was very
wealthy and had, so his friends thought,
gathered together very fine library.
Conspicuous among his books were, many
complete editions. respondent in leather
and morocco bindings, ranged in long
rows behind glass covers along the walls
Of the library. Imagine the surprise
which followed the dismantling of the
place when whole rows and cases of these
complete editions were found to be made
up of wooden dummies so skillfully paint
ed and labelled that the deception could
not be detected behind the glass. OF
course. the owner had always been very
careful of his books and kept these dunn
mics tightly locked in their cases.
Will n. Harlem has not succeeded in
producing convincing story in THE
Woman Who Trusted though he has
written a book which carries the reader
along easily and which gives him a GER
tain melodramatic pleasure in reading.
There is something out of the ordinary.
about the book. 1t concerns itself chiefly
with New York publishers and the strug-
gle for successful authorship in the me-
tropols 1t is just this large part of the
story. however, that fails to convince
these who are at all familiar with New
York publishing or writing interests.
Mr. Harden is more at home in his Geor-
gia sketches than he is in his presenta-
ticn of the semi-literary artistic Bohemia
of New York which he has attempted
20 weave into an otherwise fairly at
Atractive love story
An Englishman is responsible fer the
following sentiment:
ITO write book is an easy task, it re-
uuires only pen and ink and some pa
tient paper. To print a book is slightly
moro difficult because genius often OK
presses itself in illegible manuscript. To
read a book is still more difficult, as one
must struggle against sleep But the