New-York tribune., 1905-11-10

tI10nldS Y.
ing steadfastIy but not too dogmatcally, al .ne
establishment of certain literary principles. ne
has the quality which is only too seldom disclosed
by our literary critics-connlon sence. Thus III
the paper which gives the title to his volume
he supplies than one touehstone lor 'le
testing of literature, but he is careful to aVolo
the pigeonhoIing tendency which is apt 10 pe
awakened in the least pedantic "ri.ei
when they are engaged in a task such as tha'
which Professor Trent has undertaken lie uoe'
not lay down laws; he simply endeavors TO give
the student some broad suggestions Thoush nc
provokes disagreement here and there ne leaNes
the impression. in the main, that his heart is III
the right place; that his judgments are hased on
| loving intimacy with the masters. and that at
the time his sympathies wide enough
for him to recognize what is good in that which
is not great.
We like the sklful manner in which he en-
forces the distinction between major and minor
things. for while. as we have said. he can appre-
ciate the latter, and urges the reader to yield
them the respect that is their due, he never
loses his head, never allows sympathy to degen-
crate into complaisance. For example, in the
paper The Love of Poetry" which is. per-
haps the most engaging chapter in the volume
his catholicity does not cause him to swerve
from the conviction that the Muse must be
lovely well wise and good conviction
subject of style. Speaking of Emerson and
Poe, he says. Il. is the great merit of the latter
that he rarely or never appeared in public with
out his singing robes about him, and 1t
is the great misfortune of the former
that he too often knocked about in rhyming
Jacket" To hidebound admirers of imperfect
ly equipped authors, commend the following
passage chara cteriStc in its sanity of Professor
Trents entire volume:
good for me- when hear well meaning people coun-
sci other people to overlook poets technical de-
fact that their favorte prophet or preacher. Is
Many Brownfng5es @ T Emersohans lSM hans " Whfanites
even shakesperians, make ne wonder whether pc nez
With Or % WITHOUT % 5 55aPPg % tables il has as te
Poor benghted southerner mat I was l grew up in
comparative ignorance of the latter day cults OF
me was that the gardens of the Hesperides need
6 @ loved 19 py f to be ad bgr q 9pfn
where could wander at will and pluck the golden
when when fondy s' deemed M % that poetry meant JOY
| not messages 2nd ideas and problems-I can truly
exclaim with Wordsworth;
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven
And yet poor heathen there was no Emerson
Whitman or Walter Pater or Ibsen or George Bsr-
me had only the poets 1 have named. and some
novelists like Thaekeray; who was dead and George
Reade, who were livng-and | added Moore and and
Wrfrs for my couananee with Whom
If were not past forty, it would be my duty to
| blush.
Valuable in many ways, and of interest to
the general student of American history well
as to the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers,
is the study of The England and Holland of
the Pilgrims (Houghton, Miff1in & Coz, begun
by the late Henry Martyr Dexter. D. D.. LII D.,
and completed by his son, Morton Dexter. The
volume comprises not only careful exposition
of conditions. social, political economical and
religious, at the time of the Exodus but gives
many intimate details of the lives and expert
ences of the Pilgrims, both previous to their
leaving England and during their sojourn in the
Netherlands. The work is the result of many
years of painstaking research in England, Hol-
land and America, and throws much light
on the origin and growth of the Pilgrim church
as well the personal character and careers
of it's members. The period most closely covered
is from 1901 to the sailing of the Mayfiower,
but the authors trace back the roots of the
movement well into the sixteenth century. An
enightenng cha pter is devoted to Scrooby, the
birthplace of the Pilgrim church, and to the
causes which led it's members to seek abroad
| the freedom to worship according to their own
lights which they could not secure at home.
How unsatisfactory, the whole, the change
was appears from the plaint of Bradford that
he found few in comparison would come to
them and fewer that would bide it out and
tnew with them such newcomers finding
themselves unable. unwilling to
inconveniences which they, Gthe Pilgrims under
preferred & chose ye prisons Of England rather
than this libertie in Holland with these Affections