New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-09-05
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
Current Talk of Things Present and
to Come.

The Frederick A Stokes Company Is Issuing
record book for the Of collectors. 1t Is
called MY Treasures" and the arrangement OF
the pages affords spaces for the recording OF
such facts as the date of acquisition the age OF
the article, its maker, style and other points Of
distinction. Special pages are provided for DIFF
ferent subjects.
The layrnan who is mildly interested in science
and finds the average book on the subject little
too heavy should find comfort In the book which
Sir Edwin Ray Lancaster is publishing under
the title of Science from an Easy Chair" 1t
ernbodies series of plain talks subjects
suggested by everyday topics"
Long ago we ventured to point out that the
late William Ernest Henley, then tremendously
assertive figure in the literary Journalism of
London, whose numerous followers regarded him
as kind OF Pope. was not great writer either
IN prose or verse. Since his death there has
been reaction against his school of vociferous
plain speaking, and it has been interesting TO
observe the cautious judgment provoked among
his countrymen by the recent publication of his
collected works. An exhaustive criticism In
The Saturday Review" contains the following
sayings. well illustrative of the attitude Of most
writing Englishrnen toward Henley to-day:
conveyed these
volumes An agile and adaptable talent was more
or less apparent everywhere, but, taken in bulk.
these pages are without the instantly recognize
able aroma which invariably distinguishes a
genuine force in literature, however small I'M
assuming. This edition in short is final
proof that Henley. whatever he may have been
Tor his contemporaries whatever his influence
as a person. of those who find in lit
erary expression their true vehcle and shrine.
his remains have interest far their subject
matter eXempl1feS the moods and phases of
generation not long past. They have also pass
ing interest OF clever or pretty achievement Ma
more.
His well known quatrains "Out Of the night
Inst covers me, admire bic piece of epigrauI,
fall short of poetry by their very drectness.
Their excellence, in fact, is purely a prose excel
fence, the rhyme and metre notwfths landing. Only
u1e greatest poets can invest with magic piece
OF ethical statement Compare the quatrains
with Wordsworth's The World is too much with
Us. and their prosaic quality is once evident.
the passion of instructive poet and the utter
ance, however terSe and strong OF the talented
writer. We commend these lfues-perhaps the
most familiar of Heniey's verses-to the close
consideration Of all who admire them poetry.
for they make fair test of his merit in this
never assigned Importance. His verse within its
limits we can respect, In spite OF that lack of
unity to which we have pointed. In critic
unity or standpoint is everything A critic must
nave value as symbol or else he has value
at all What Henley critic stood for no.
ing has much in common with the critical eff
forts OF Professor Saintsbury. Shrewd things
occur: there is a good deal Of sIashing to left
ana right, and a vast amount OF literary aIlusion
Humor Is not wanting-humor of a sort But
the totaI ERECT is fnconsequence