New-York tribune., 1903-02-27

fee of one guinea. twopence being paid when
ever volumes exchanged. Over one hundred
thousand books already il use in this sup
Elementary service. The two systems are oper-
ating most satisfactorily here, and the Book
levers Library under American-Canadian
spices has obtained immediate recognition a
model institution, with the quaintest and most
beautiful bookrooms in the metropolis
The strange romance of Thomas Carlyle and
Jane Welch Carlyle left unfinished by Mr.
Froude. the literary executor. The correspond
ence published by the historian created sym
pathy both for the husband and for the wife. and.
while partisans were free to condemn or acquit
either of the actors in painful domestic drama.
the evidence incomplete that Scotch
verdict of not proven seemed to be the wisest
and most judicious conclusion. The case is to
he reopened speedily by the publication of the
letters of Mrs Carlyle. which were suppressed
by Mr.. Froude in the full exercise of the dis
cretionary powers which had been conferred
upon him by the philosopher These letters viii
fill two volumes from Mr.. John Lanes press.
The letters have been collected and edited by
Mr.. Alexander Carlyle. the nephew of the sage
of Chelsea, and Sir James Crichton- Browne has
written a brilliant introduction Those who
have seen the manuscript or proofsheets en-
phatic in declaring that there will be reversal
OF judgment on the part of sympathizers with
the wife when the letters are published, and
that full justice will be done to the philosophers
memory. Jane WEIGH Carlyle was woman OF
genius and martyr to sensibility, as he was to
dyspepsia, and probably many who have read
the volumes edited by Mr.. Froude are content
TO balance the incompatibilities and to conclude
that there were two equally difficult people to
get with under the roof of the modest
Chelsea house. The suppressed letters, without
nIab Wi be int Charac
teris :, and Will supply ;.-e missing chapters Of
OF the most famous of literary romances.
Captain Percy Scott. who is one of the heroes
of the british navy in consequence of the INDY
work done in the nick of time in dispatching
the naval guns to Ladysmith has pronounced
a sailors offhand judgment upon bundle of
sea stories. He has said that "Thews OF
England is of the most interesting books
of the which he has ever read The lands
mans view, when Mr.. Patrick Vaux's little VOL
unle of sea tales was published by Mr.. Helne-
mann. was that the conditions Of modern war
fac were purely hypothetical. and that there
could be no approach to realism in marine nc
tion until the untried mechanism OF the meets
had been :-equately tested in a decisive cam
paign between high class navies. There is an
abundance of salt in these gritty little stories
of torpedo boat service. blockade running and
combined oneratious against a hostile feet, and
CAPTAIN Percy Scott, who is one OF the most
progressive men in the fighting services seems
to find in them crude but effective reallsm'
although every incident is purely imaginative
and conjectural and no expert ventures TO IoI--
cast what prolonged contest for sea power pe-
tween the scientific fleets of Great Brltah anu
France would be like. The dullest ana llloS"
scenticaI landsman will agree that whatever
,,,1, no the uncertainties ID mysteries of naval
,,-a~fare in the future these strenuous stories
Of sza life are more interesting than the reai-
istic tales of foggng and bullying among 'he
carpet knights and idlers Of the Guaros bit-
eade with which the newspapers are now iiileu
So n II.