New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-06

In theme, great In conception, and great In
form. An assurance Of style. q dignity with
out parade, plain poignancy Of thought and
expression are essential for lasting work, and
all these gifts are Mr.. Howard's-" Thus
critic in "The Athenaum," writing about
~Savonarola: A City's Tragedy by Mr.. New
man Howard Is II possible, then, that genu-
ine poet has arisen7 We sincerely hope so,
and await the arrival of the book in this coun-
try with intense curiosity. The illustrations of
Mr.. Towards work given by his enthusiastic
reviewer include an address to Florence by
Strozzi, one of the characters Of the play, from
which we take this fragment:
So shalt thou be. F1orence:-dead, thy Free
dom.
Perished thy crafts: and II there yet endure
one voice. one seeing eye, one plastic brain.
The offspring of our honorable years,
Doomed TO outlive the cataclysmal age.
Hardly his soul shall fashion. hardly sing
Save but mid pillared loneliness to mourn,
Grooming In stone the swan-song of our Fatei
Dawn. Day and Dusk and Night one Vastly
Dawn that saith Wake me not: Day tired Of
Dusk. glad because OF sleep; and Nlght-ah
night
Mr.. Edmund GosSe Is favored of the gods IN
the first place, he has been appointed Librarian
of the House OF Lords at a salary Of H.0O0
year. One cannot but sigh over the queer way
in which mundane affairs are sometimes man
aged Matthew Arnold, who was so immeas-
urabiy the superior Of Mr.. Gosse both In poetry
and in prose, stroye in vain TO secure the post
OF Librarian to the House Of Commons But
al things seem TO come Mr.. Gosse's way. Re-
Gently he was invited to Paris to deliver q
lecture there on the influence OF French liter,-
ture upon English poetry. and afterward the
Society OF Men Of Letters gave him dinner,
everybody saying all manner Of nmiable things
-. T. AZ. a. -.
Mr.. Gosse TO those who came TO listen 70 bis
lecture: Il cannot help nourlshlng a confident
belief that in the future, as well as In the past
the magnificent Hteratures OF France and OF
England will continue TO interact that each
viii at the right psychological moments fash
color and radiance which VIII find reflection on
the polished surface OF the other This Is
prettily expressed and II must have pleased
the audience; but IL is far more pleasing than
convincing. The Indebtedness OF English liter
ature to French In the historic past cannot do
away with the fact that. as time has gone on,
the differences between the literary genius OF
The one country and that Of the other have only
been the more clearly emphasized, that in essen
tials they have steadily shown less and less dis
position to interact But we suppose that II
will now be quite impossible for any one to
contradict Mr.. Gosse- He IL was 1t viii be
remembered, who In tilt with Sir Edward
Clarke, on the subject Of literature and criti-
cism, inspired Punch to write this cheerful
sQuib:
DE GossE-TTBUs NON DIsPUTANDUM
"I am a blessed Bendevere:
"Tis mine TO speak and yours TO hear~y
You've but to learn and I've to teach.
You must be silent while 1 preach:
And when I've fnlshed-not till then
You may assent with "Amenr"
OF this the application mark,
Pro tenn I'm parson, you are Clarke