New-York tribune., 1905-11-26
as,e Nem:2lark Graharaaes
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER &c, 1905.

06p {afI
.5od What that character Is III oe'Aii
- =. ,.o-ned from the reviews WHICH appeaA
,a-u dsy I'm the literary coluinhs vi
,,,o hut one broad element In the stuA .,on 60 60
u. norticuIarfy noted here This Is u. - .l
1..+ian of tbe book that is q oooh III Ine
,ser,+in,o+a sense of the word for the oooA I
10 ras11v a kind Of decorative sllh 49,, c., 81
+b.+ for wears filed the shops at
.os. n tbe exclusion Of rational punlca.lons
tlos' ~ -. ~ ogo -. change began to attract
80 - coo have frequently had occasloh |"
-t Ho'e' rt-,s of tmurovement But never heIe
- has the noIicy which we have Always au
ocatad been 80 generally adopteu ao
roson+ time OF course, there are O~ Sti O~
hooks of the old style to De nao' puI ~! -
IN the smallest proportion to tne oooh' VII W."
whether for good or for i'll, might Jus. as W.
no uublished In July as In DecelhDef'
80 or the works which we have recenuy le
o!ie "a .arha life of Charles Lamb" MIS-
p,-oo,yfeId and Her Circle the new ed1uon OIL
AZ. uazlett,s writings, or historical stuules
lilo those which we traverse to-day. 1hese ap
naar duriue the Christmas season, put enes d..
aired of more than the holiday audience, ann
IN +bis they are characteristic Of the preVainhs
movement In the world of publishing.
Professor Lounsburys papers IN haipe,
mn ouestions of our speech have uoulie sahoo-
hnyy prn
making for a flexible well as correct use
of +bo lanpuape In the Christmas number ne
4reats of 1.-THE Linguistic Authority OF Greas
Iy-ifars~ and anaIyzes the bases OF that aur
.bori+v with a sweet reaSonabeneSs tnat we
fad very cheering We like especially froies-
sor Iounsbury's rescue Of the sup1ecI Iroih uio
atmosphere Of dogmadsm by Which II s 'o
often surrounded He has no notion Oh resafo-
ing the great writers as necessarily masters %
scholarship When one OF them steps iofln
tn enIighten US upon question Oh Eahsuas1
he says, "for the proper CONSIDERATION Oh "nid
an historical investigation is essential he has
gone out of the province where ne is a recos~
nized authority and placed himself IN sItua-
tion I'm which in nine cases out OF ten, h1s
words viii not carry, and ought not to carry,
SO much weight as do those OF the oullest spe-
cialst who has made a study OF the origin anu
history of the form or construction under ols-
russion" But he has the fullest commence In
K;Ich writer as exemplar OF sound usage
because he recognizes that ne is saVeo Ho4h
an infinity of errors by that fine sense of ex-
nression which belongs to him by the right or
genius" and furthermore has developed tne
7e1fcate taste the keen sensitiyeness to what Is
RIGHT or wrong in usage that holds the place IN
literature which conscience does in morals,
by lifelong familiarity with the best DOCKS
This solution Of the matter is the one which, we
cather Professor LounSbury would recommend
to every reader and writer. We may not be,
like the great writer born, so to speak, In the
purple" but we can frequent his courts, and
in the process learn more about usage than
could be learned from a thousand textbooks
Mr.. C. K ShorteT's effort, in the book On
Charlotte Bronte which were appraising the
other day, to demonstrate that her acqualnt-
ance with M Heger, at Brussels, supplied the
turning point Of her career, has moved the
critic of '1The London Times to some remarks
susceptible of a general application. He VIII
have none of the argument that despite her
genius, she could not one may believe, have
arrived had she not met M H6ger," rightly
protesting that "the yirile powers-for that IS
what they really were-of Charlotte Bronta
would ultimately, scarcely doubts, have
forced for themselves a way through any diff |
cultics, even those of solitude and obscurity."
This is true for the excellent reason that if
there is thing more than another which lit !
erary history goes to prove it is that genius is
full Of surprises, and not least in the strange |
ways of deliverance it discovers for itself" |
The trouble is that so few of the people who |
presume to interpret the surprises of genius |
realize the value of humility. The best course |
in their presence, as Mr.. Shorters commentator !
observes, Seems to be to accept and rejoice |
and not be too confident in definition" But
hich