New-York tribune., 1902-02-04
LITERARY NOTES.

from the fifth book Of Sappho. The manuscript
is Of the sixth or seventh century A. D, and II
has already been known that poems Of Sappho
now lost were preserved at that date. The late
copyist evidently did not understand what he
was writing. but his mistakes are for the most
part easily corrected. There are fragments Of
two poems, which show in their form new COM
binations Of hitherto known metric elements
In the first poem a pupil Of sappho's is taking
fearful farewell; the teacher comforts her.
and reminds her Of the joys they have had to-
gether, especially in the worship of the gods.
In the other she appears TO be comforting
friend who longs for Atthis. young maiden
already known through Sappho's verses. who
has married Lydian.
In the current number Of 'Harpers Magazine"
Mr.. Abbey's drawings for Goldsmith's De
serted Village are accompanied by an inter
esting brief paper from the pen OF Mr.. Austin
Dobson. He deals inevitably with the question
rs TO whether the poet had a particular place
in his mind not when he wrote his famous
lines Was the deserted village" Lissoy in the
county Of Westmeath; was it Kennaquhair,
IN Dream County. Poet-land? The Rev. r. H.
Newell. B. D, and Fellow of St. Johns College,
Cambridge. maintained that Goldsmith had the
Irish village in his mind. Part of Mr.. Dobson's
contribution 10 the argument is as follows:
At Lissoy it was not unnatural that so
plimentary a tradition should find its adherents
Indeed one of the poets admirers, a Mr.. Hogan,
who christened his house Auburn" went so far
10 rebuild or repair the old alehouse at Lis
soy. and TO equip it with the sign of the Three
Jolly Pigeons Furthermore, he restored or
supplied the properties Of the alehouse in the
poem. Whether 1t actually had its
- est ;f sqrtTiyd I'd. d @og6Ie debt t. to dJ pay
We know not; but it certainly had
The whitewashd wall: the. nicely sanded floor:
q rlO behind
as we'll as
The pictures PLACID for ornament and use;
The twelve good rules; the royal game Of goose.
Nor. says Goldsmith's Iaborious first biographer,
Prior, were wanting
The broken teacups. wisely kept for show.
which glistened over the chimney, but for some
occult reason We're firmly embedded in the NOR
tara circumstance which did not prevent their
being stolen, together with the sign. by relic
hunters. But perhaps the most interesting thing
about Mr.. Hogan's renovated hosiery is the
fact that, TO the unsympathetic eye or criticism.
II is just those very objects by which he sought
10 establish the identity of the inn at Auburn
and the inn at Lissoy which are most assailabe
by a heartless incredulity. Oddly enough, some
twelve years before when he was living miser-
ably in Green Arbour Court, Goldsmith had sub
mitted TO his brother Henry a sample of heroi-
comic poem describing a Grub Street writer in
bed in "a paltry alehouse." In this the sanded
floor" the twelve rules" and the broken tea
cups all played their parts as accessories, and
even the double-dealing chest had its prototype
in the poets nlghtcap. winch was cap Dy
night, q stocking all the day" A year two
later he expanded these lines in the Citizen of
the World and the scene becomes the Red
Lion in Drury Lane. From this second version
he adapted. or extended again, the description
of the inn parlor in the Deserted Village" 1t
follows therefore either that he borrowed for
London the details of house in Ireland that
he used for Ireland the details of house in
London If. on the other hand, it be contended
that those details common to both places.
then the Identification in these particulars of
Auburn with Lissoy falls hopelessly TO the
ground
Yvette Guilbert has written story called La
vedette." It is about an artists life. and is
said to be moving-even bit sentimental-and
interesting. Nobody need expect any inGscre-
tions or gossip. She is said to picture the world
she knows. with the same feeling for truth and
detail that her performances show.
We record with pleasure the appearance OF
Who's Who CThe Macmillan Company for
1902. in its usual handy form. The volume runs
this year to nearly fifteen hundred pages but
II is still far from being too bulky. There never
was better work of reference than this one, we'll
edited. and especially we'll printed.
All the friends of Princeton University in par
ticular and the supporters Of intercollegiate
. sport in general will find much information of
4 profit and interest in a volume recently COM
piled and edited by Frank Presbrey, Princeton,
70; James Hugh Mcffat. 90, and Henry van
Dyke. '73. and entitled Athletics at Princeton:
A History" published under the auspices of the
Princeton Alumni) It contains Princeton's rec
ords IN all branches of sport with her hereditary
academic rivals, and is complete summary Of
the athletic past of the New-Jersey college The
results of ali the games Of Importance played
by any Of her teams are brought together and
tsbulated by years, and the materials employed
are so dealt with that the result is a handy
book Of reference In these days, when interest
in the annual meetings of the big colleges on
track. field or water is so widespread, this vol
ume will be of especial interest to those who
like 10 compare the results of previous games
as partial aid in accurately forecasting future
ones. The editors of the volume have spared
no pains TO make it complete. and have iu-
minated it with copious illustrations, photo
graphs OF famous athletic heroes who have worn
the orange and black. Every Princeton man
will want a copy of this book, and every
alumnus of an American college who still fol-
lows the athletic fortunes Of his alma mater
will find il frequently convenient.
Concerning the recent publication Of what is
alleged to be the ''Matinees'' of Frederick the
Great in their completeness. for the first time,
the German papers are not unnaturally in a
state Of indignation. Sir J. William Whittall
published the document, which came to him in
a curious way. as described al length in these
columns the other day. The "Berliner Tage-
blatt" takes il for granted that its spuriousness
is certain. and proceeds TO seek for a motive
for its publication thus:
AS TO the considerations that induced Sir ].
W Whittan TO publish it, perhaps future time