New-York tribune., 1902-04-23
GULL OF FAIR WORDS. "
FAMOUS MEN JUDGED BY THEIR Pkhh"'

FAMOUS MEN JUDGED BY THEIR fhhn''
1-u.r GREAT MEN HAVE SAID AbOoI
GREAT MEN. A Dictionary OF. OF Qeo'aIEP tsS 8 p
Dutton & Co.
A. anorrnous amount OF reading and reseaIOh
&c brought in this book 10 the convenient SCI
vice of readers. Mr. Vale has done MS WI
NTH a wide range Of sympathy ana WIN
rather unusual sense of proportion IL Is no a'ui q"
enough that Englishmen should loom iai se
In his scheme Of the worlds great Hieh' ~
-bere is not much complaint to be mace Oh .i'
.core His list extends from Homer and 70
roas,er to Ruskin and Browning he mas Sc
,ecte5 from literature of all sorts-cheny Eng
a., 1,+a-a.ure-allusions to them, and STRIKING
-.,ranbs of comment and criticism; and there
ave frequent and no less welcome poetical quota
lions. The subjects arranged in alphaoet
order with a descriptive line and the dates lot
each one. 49,,
The ouotattons given are Of all sorts. critical
srlusiye eulogistic For Milton, for instance
q whom eight pages are devoted. we find -FOUR
of noetical allusions beginning with Dr4ueh
lines. Under Mr.. Milton's Picture;
Three noets in three distant ages born
Greece italy and England did adorn-
~ frst in loft.ness of thought surpass d;
The mex. in ma ajesty: in both the last
The force of Nature could no iartheI F 80 o
And coming down to Palgraves verses
No later song
Has soar'd as wide winged. to the diadem q
thrones -,
That in their inrnost heaven the MUSES. high
Set for the sons of immortality
and Swinburne's.-
High the chant of Paradise and Hell
Rose when the soul of Milton gave IL wings
The nrose quotations begin with Cowper and
John Wilson-with the latters phrase: Mii'oii
WAS great poet but bad divine ano fllisera
ble rolitician--and coming down 10 Augustine
Rirra11 II We turn TO Raphael. We get verses
from Dryden. Pope. Addison, DR. Wa'ts' Ls l
ron and Browning: learn that Lessing SAID
Raphael would have been great painter even
90 he had come into the world without hands-
robn Smart Mill was not given to art criti-
csero hu- he EXPRESSED himself vigorously IN
the subject when he asked;
Who would not prefer one Virgin and Chlld
of Raphael to all the pictures which fHupelis. @
with his fat, frouzy Dutch Nenuses' e't
painted?
There is an amusing series of extracts on
Macaulay There is Lord Melbourne's fannliar
observation L wish / were only as sure ABOUT
snv one thing as Macaulay is about everything.
and we have John Wilson's less well known
welcome of Macaulay poet:
fun of fire. The Young Poets are soffe"hdt
weakly: he is strong. The Young foels aIe
rather ignorant: his knowledge is great The
Young Poets humble books: he deVouTs tne,II ~,
The Young Poets daily with their subject; ne
strikes its heart. The Young Poets are sun
their own heroes; he sees but the chlel ne ceie
brates The Young Poets weave dreams with
shadows transitory clouds wlthoul SUI
stance: he builds realities lasting as rocks Inc
Young Poets steal from all and sunory. ana
deny their thefts: he roos in the face or day
Whom? Homer.
AS an antidote, there is Emerscns judgment
on Macaulay the historian:
The brilliant Macaulay. who expresses the
tone Of the English governing classes OF inc
day explicitly teaches that 9ooo means soou
to eat good wear, material. COMMODITY tnat
the glory of modern philosophy is its direction
on fruit. to yield economical Inventions ana
that its merit is TO avoid ideals and aVola
morals
Music Goes not receive much celebration In
English literature and the illusions to the
great composers are among the most unsatis-
factory in the book. Handel is the best treated
of all beginning with Swift-s Directions for
Making Birthday Song in which he refers to
the famous operatic in which Handel par
ticipated with Bononcin in London:
Some say that Sgnior Bononcini
Compar'd to Handel's mere ninny:
Others aver him Handel
Is scarcely fl hold candle.
Strange. that such difference should be
'TwiXt TweededuIn and Tweedledee.
Americans not neglected. and Claiming
Emerson. Franklin. Holmes. Irving. Lincoln.
Iongfellow, Lowell Paine. Thoreau Washing
ton and Edwards are all allotted places In this
thesaurus The book is a dictionary Of quota
ton and alusion such perhaps be found
nowhere else Mr. VALE has done his work in
way make ii Of the greatest service to read
ers and writer's in time Of need.