The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-10-05
DEFECTS OF CRITICISM---ASHE'S HISTORY
GRINDING TAXES--OPlNIONS
BY DR.. 7. B. Kingsbury.

there shall be truth manifested in the
PRODUCTIONS of current writer's. Else
lnere VIII be not Improvement in
prevailing criticism and no desirable
change tor the better. I have been led
10 read novels by the super-serViceabla
tradition Of publications. [ trusted
somewhat and found them not COM
parable to the description given and
Tar above the merit and rank assigned
them. This made me more alert as 1
grew IN years and less receptive Of the
praise Of many writer's. l find some
OF them not comparable to the de-
scription given and far below the rank
them l used to read-sonae
eight or ten years ago-a London
literary weekly called Literature, .
and it was published by the great Lon
don Times. It was decidedly the most
valuable and enjoyable of all of it's
then literary contemporaries. 1t only
lasted for a few years when it's able,
discriminating, acute editor died, and
very much to my regret. In one of it's
earlier numbers it had a capital article
On The Age of Superlatives," and it
was extremely entertaining and in
forming. 1t was really SO much in ac-
cord with my own conclusions previ-
Ously stated editOrially that 7 vn~y
naturally was glad to see a first-rate
English literary journal discussing SO
LUMINOSITY and unSparing1y the real
abuses Of criticism and applying the
much needed cautery 50 vigorously and
wisely found it SO forceful and
penetrating in its handling of critical
outrages upon sense and taste and
judgment that [ preserved it and take
leave to copy a passage for there are
readers who will relish it. The edi-
tOrial said:
For, indeed, the immense reading
public, SO called, of today-that gross
indiScriminate feeder upon all printed
matter which has anything of an appe-
tiZing appearance-never stops to dis
tinguiSh betWee either the quality or
the sourc of gossip about books and
their authors. Every puff paragraph Is
a 'criticism,' and the ignorant or inter-
ested raptures of the casual scribe who
penned it become the authoritative
pronouncement of a critic. = * Crit
cism' of the kind to which he Ca con-
%tributOr) refers has become q mere
Orgie of Su~pperlatiVeS. A young rhymer
cannot produce a volume of credltabIe
verse without being acclaimed as a
great poet; a new novelist writes a
stirring of adventure, and he
is paraded before us as the legitimate
successor-possibly the future rival
of Scott; an experlmentallZlng Essay
list turns out a series Of pretty papers on
the carving of cherry stones and he
is to have begun where
IL III oII " "oi' ~ Jo1h y
Gently started in business. dashes off a
slim booklet Of impressionist studies,
and we are invited to hail another
Ruskin; a r~hapsodist rhapsodizes
about his own or somebody else'S emo
tions, and an awe-stricken public is
informed that he has added a new
music to English prose"
Among American daily newspapers,
weeklies and monthlies that gave
eight or ten years & particular at
tention to literary criticism and dis
cussions, I read the New York Tri-
bune, Evening Post and Mail and Elk
press (dailies). the N. Y. "Bookman,"
Book Buyer n Atlantic Monthly
and the magazines devoted strictly to
literature. and also read more or less
of critical articles in~New York Cur
rent Literature. / read some of the
opinions and deliverances of such ia
nous English representatives as the
London saturday Review" the
''Athenaeum," and London "Litera-
ture.' Before this I had read regular
lv "Blackwood," the great London
0uarterlies and other publications
now and then. Of American crit
icisms in magazines I preferred
the Boston atlantic Monthly" as the
safest guide whenever New England
was I'D for examination or compari-
son. The English criticisms [ found
quite sure generally to be able, inter
esting, but now and then were 1nflu.
enced more or less by preJudlces of
culture as we'll as by a peculiar bent
of taste. but generally they were en-
lightened, broad and satisfactory. This
Will do for this discussion of the sub
iect in hand. I am probably touching
upon a question that will never con-
cern me again, for / am writing now
in nv eighty-secOnd year.
have but recently finished my
reading Of Capt. Samuel A. Ashes
History of North Carolina l VIII
not here undertake a critical paper
upon it, but will content myself with
expressing a high admiration Of its
ability. usefulness, interest and
thoroughness. 1t is indeed a great
credit to the author, and | trust he
LII L. cnarod Ia continue it until