New-York tribune., 1902-02-07
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SONGS OF NATURE-A SKETCH OF CAR
DINAL woLsEY-BooKs ABOUT
CHILDREN-CAMPFIRE
MUSINGS


The anthology edited by Mr.. John Burroughs
and published under the title of Songs Of
Nature" CMcClure. Phillips & Coz. includes
necessarily many old favorites. but it has at the
same time something of that freshness which
in these days Of compilation meet none too
often. The editor states in his preface that he
has been guided entirely by his taste If
this is not invariably the taste of the reader
al least the latter must admit there is little
that is merely whimsical capricious about II.
In fact. Mr.. Burroughs has some very definite
notions to just what a nature poem should
be, and this makes his preface. what most
prefaces to poetical anthoiogies not, worth
reading He expresses surprise at the amount
OF so-called nature poetry that has been added
to English literature during the last fifty years.
and adds: I find only little of it of perma-
nent worth" The ensuing passage We may
quote intact;
The painted padded and perfumed Nature of
50 many Of the younger poets l cannot stand at
all l have not knowingly admitted any poem
that was not true TO my own observations of
Nature-or that diverged at all from the facts
Of the case. Thus, poem that shows the
swallow perched upon the barn in October I
could not accept, because the swallow leaves US
in August: or a poem that makes the chestnut
bloom with the haC-an instance / came across
in my reading-would be ruled out on like
grounds: when ] find poppieS blooming in
the corn in American poem. as I several
times have done / pass il by the other side.
In bird poem l want the real bird as basis
not merely description of il, but its true place
in the season and in the landscape, and no lib
critics taken with the facts of its life history.
] must see hear feel the live bird in the
verses, as one does in Wordsworth's Cuckoo"
Emerson's "Titmouse," or Trowbridge's
'Pewee-" Lowell is not quite true the facts
when IN one of his poems he makes the male
or1ole assist at nest building The male may
seem to superintend the work. but he does not
actually lend a hand
The last criticism suggests the danger into
which anthologist may fall through excess
Of knowledge-it borders, indeed. on fat ped
sntry-but il is not bad thing TO have the
pitfalls of loose writing pointed now and
then. and Mr. Burroughs soon corrects himself
by the statement that the one thing that
makes a poem anyway is emotion" His selec-
tions show that in the main, his heart is in the
right place. We grateful for many Of his
inclusions. grateful, because, for example. he
has not only given complete poems. like Keatss
lode to a Nightingale" Matthew Arnolds
"Philomela," but has been guided by a right
instinct TO the choice of fragments like the one
which he borrows from the latter's "Thyrsis':
So, some tempestuous morn in early June.
When the years primal burst of bloom is Ger,
Before the roses and the longest day
When garden walks and all the grassy floor
With blossoms red and white of fallen May
And chestnut flowers strewn-
So have I heard the cuclHOO's parting cry,
From the wet field, through the veXt garden
trees.
Come with the voIleying rain and tossing !
breeze:
The bloom is gone and irith the bloom 90 /!
The character of Cardinal Wolsey appears to
most students TO have been compounded more of
secular than of religious ingredients Ethelred |
L. Taunton, author of Thomas Wolsey: Legate |
and Reformer' John Lane slight sketch to |
which the publisher has given.unusualIy attrac- |
tive form. deplores what he considers the i'll |
balance of most portraits of the famous &C.
clesiastic and statesman, and endeavors to mod |
ify the prevailing impression. AS priest of |
Wolsey's faith he writes with certain bias |
While Wolsey had power" he says 'the teach |
ing Of the German reformers made no way in |
England AS soon he fell, and longer
could guide the Church Of England. then the
1oodgates were opened and the land became a
prey to that most baneful form of dissenson,
religious controversy" Believers in the impor-
tance Of the Reformation to the welfare of
England Will naturally retort that the opening
Of the foodgates d boon but they must
grant Father Taunton's good faith in the
premises. Less comprehensive in a book that,
after all, tries to be impartial, is the disposi-
tion which the author shows to deal with GER
tain points in his hero's career along rather
dubious lines, ''Wolsey fell in," he says with
the prevailing practice of pluralties. sanctioned
and encourag aged as it was by those who profted
by the money the dspensations cost" The
is explicit enough. What follows is
surprisingly naive. But this much may at
least be said for him. Had he been spared to
complete his great foundations at Oxford and
Ipswich. they might in the event have proved
Of profit to Religion, at least much as those
great works of Julius II. st. Peters and the
Vatican. that were destined to be paid for at
so fatal a cost TO the Christian world" No
doubt. But the question really at issue is
whether Wolsey did right or wrong when he
fell in with the prevailing practice of pluraIi-
ties" Equally dsconcertng, when we are look
Ing for plain speaking, is this brief passage: !
Wolsey has been accused Of ambition. Whether
he was really So leave to the professional !
others may consider that he only had
a healthy. plain, common sense view of his own
capabilities" Since Father Taunton expressly
states that he is a churchman we may be for
given the remark that if he is not himself a
professional moralist.' from whom a plain an
swer to the question might be expected we do
not know who is. Why not have said, frankly |
that Wolsey has not simply been accused of
ambition. but was indubitably an ambitious
man? In short this volume lacks as a study in
portraiture. the freedom and the fulness. the
breadth of feeling and the clearness of outline
which are necessary TO give it authority. On
he other hand it presents. for those who can
make the proper deductions an interesting
sketch Of one side of the great Cardinals ac-
1vity. and occasionally, where no expression
II opinion is necessary, Father Taunton makes
rery good use Of his resources. Witness this
fragment Of his account Of Wolsey's last days:
But the picture one loves to dwell upon is
O