New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-18

SIN Stu soar and sing above these cliffs of lesbos
Are fallen and withered.
They say that once when Phaon was boy.
one On, twilight when the H1gean was uptorn ko,,
Prayed in their harbours~at the tempests height,
APPEARED p5 AIRED upon the beach an old poor woman
eaPG her but sfod cursed her only Pna t0r
To Lydia. At dawn when he returned.
tls look was altered and he spoke strange things:
HOW, when his boat reached mainland. the poor
Upon G1Pon the sands-a goddess Since which night
oihey say he hath grown up Indifferent
And saHs s ss sn ngnE IT'S Fl BTey te
Wouldst thou not love to make song OF 1t?
Rendered by rich and skillfuy used voices,
these lines may carry across the footlights some
poetic suggestion. but from the printed page no
breath OF poetry exhales
Mr.. Justin Hunty Mccarthy has written an
other novel around the personality of Francois
NilOn. It is not a sequel to IF l Were King,
but Independent story. The Harpers are
publishing it under the title of Needles and
Pins
1t Is said that the Irish language is losing
ground in the Green Isle. in spite of the efforts
Of the Gaelic League. To prevent further decay
it is proposed that a Gaelic travelling theatre
should be established. There are available
many plays written in the Irish tongue.
THE Queens QUAR-" and Richard Yea-and-
Nay are the two novels by Mr.. Hewlett which
the Macmillans have selected to experiment
with as "sxpennies" There seems to be a
growing tendency in Great Britain toward the
Cheapening of fiction. Here is an interesting bit
of news from The Dundee Advertisers
Messrs r Nelson Sons announce Ca neW " series series
Of books to be known as Nelson Library OF SoPE
right Novels 10 contain the best WORKS OF t!e
best roveliss of the present day, beautifully print
pieces and decorated title pages and tastefuiy
bound in durable cloth covers-the price to be
two years the firm has made careful preparations
opened S at Edhburgh Specially designed and or
ganized for the production In enormous quantltles
of the same size and style. The whole of the work
has thus been and the result btf 10
class work at the lowest possible price
Baroness Edith Won Cramm was, in her young
maiden days, BrunsWicker and saw much OF
the misery attending Napoleons invasion Of
Prussia. Nine. de Bode. for example, tells us
how the people of Alsace ran before the invading
army and how. in the press to get over the
Rhine mothers with their children in their arms
threw themselves into the river and drowned
themselves rather than fall into the hands of the
enemy Baroness Edth's lover shot in cold
blood Her OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES published under
the title of Letters of Betrothed"-was ad-
dressed to a girl friend 1t has been edited for
publication 10y the writer's grandchid
Mr. W f. Morris-who, by the way. has never
written another book good as his first novel
''Matrimony'-is bringing out new novel to he
called The Square Peg
Mr. Louis Becke whose stories have hitherto
been almost exclusively about life In the South
Seas has for several years been living In the
North of France and has drawn from that re-
gion the material for his latest book. which the
Iippincotts have in press. 1t is called Sketches
from Normandy"
The lectures on Gocthe's Faust" which were
delivered in Cambridge by Thomas Davidson IN
the winter Of 1896, ire TO be brought out in book
form under the title OF The Philosophy Of
Goethe's Faust" CHM & Co. the publishers
Houghton MTn {; Co. usher in with THE
Popular Ballad" by Professor Francis h. Gum
mere. a series on The Types of English Litera-
ture" which. under the general oditorship of
Professor William a. Nelson, promises to prove
of great interest and value. Professor f. w
Chandler will contribute to it a hook on plea
RESCUE literature. Professor J. b. Fletcher will
deal with the pastoral MI Ferris Cireenslet VIII
discuss the essay. and 80 on through long list
In a predatory note 10 the present volume FRO
fessor Nelson explains that each one IN the
series will describe not only the characteristics
OF a formal type, but it's origins ana ''e ior''Eh
influences that have affected It. and an estimate
will be made OF THE literary value and historical
Importance OF all the chief specimens that have
been produced in England and America Bio
graphical details will be sparngy introduced
Professor Guminerc's volume auSurs well for the
ENTERPRISE About half Of II is given To a def
milton OF the subject and discussion Of origins
Considerable space is then taken up with a clas-
siAcation OF the ballads. In his last chapter the
author treats Of their worth. From this We take
the following passage:
primitive men transcribed their tragic experience
by proccss which psychology may call either
gvnlrastic preparation aesthetic impulse. which
Aristotle called initiated action, and which. Ike
most human performances. really SprauE from no
ous purpose but from the interplay of social
instincts and the conditions Of earliest social life.
Through all the changes due 10 long tradition,
through changes Of stuff form, appeal. this print
tive way Of life speaks. though with very faint and
PARKWAY tones In the ballads. one must make
no prepcsterous claim for such SurvtvalS as We
find in them. The majority Of them must he
cIassed inferior poems The best. even, cannot |
compete with great poems Of art but there is a
greatness of their I'm their attitude towards |
In aIr tTauSCrlpt II.