New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-06
LETTERS AND A PROFESSION.

ESSAYS AND NISCELLANIES. Ey
Joseph 5. AuerbaCh. l2mo Two VOL
umes. I'D. xvi, G12 g. %-5. Harper
Bros.
Have we outgrown the Essay ana
what for lack Of better term We may
call the Literature OF Pure Culture
Notwithstanding welcome signs OF
reviviue interest. there remains
prevalent impression that we have. Nd
dison's Spectator, We are assured
or its twentieth century successor
would have no readers IN our day, ana
the "Autocrat u the Breakfast I'''e
vould reign i'm solitary state, his sun
iccts fed. Everything now must nave
a Purpose a Problem, or a Punch. Inc
Ieisurely. the contemplative. the cn'u-
waited. is quite out Of date. 1t Is no,
sufficiently hot j. the mouth.
II may be so: though we have on'
Doubts rs 10 whether. in that case the
major fault Is objective or subjective
in the readers who Will not read, or IN
tho writer's who cannot write. Given
an cssayist really worth reading VINO
has something to say and who knows
bov. 10 say IT.. will he lack readers
We doubt il. The intellectual l:fe is
NOT au literary beer and sNttles. The
volume Of essays may not lead the
list Of the weeks six hcst-sellers. II
has seldom done so. But il will con-
tinue 10 he in constant demand long
after the bost-sellcrs have run empt'
ms, and been forgotten.
we shall expect such to he the ior'-
une Of these attractive volumes OF
Mr. Auerhach's. for such they we'll de-
serve. In one respect they are so un-
usual as TO he almost singular, 10 W.T.
that while they are given chiefly 10
What we have called pure culture they
are the production of practising law
,or s.renuouslv engaged in the duhcS
80 his profession. The toll Of the ia"
ofEce and the strife Of the courts are
mot commonly regarded as conducive
- the highest types Of contemplatNe
and imaginative literary composition
Vet here is Mr.. Auerbach, in the nli"SI
If c>actinc professional and business
.,roe writing a masterpiece Of autho"-
itativo apprcciation on THE Bible ana
Modern Life" another on Literature
and the Practical World" and a thru
ON English style" He discusses one
phase Of Journalism'-an important
rhaeo too-with finer discrimination
than is often found in laymen's crit
cjyms Of that profession; and he gives
MS sustained critical study or Mat
thew Arnold of which it is sufficient 10
say that even its distinguished sub
i,ct rcincarnated, could scarcely take
.vccption to its matter or its manner.
s. for a club" which fills nearly
half of the second volume, we have not
since Holmes laid down his pen met
with more delightful discussion
through the fairest borders Of that
truor bohemia which is not a place OF
unkempt license, but one whose
honors, not garnered for thrift OF
uut Tor beauty and truth mems souls
have made.
II is true, he expressly disClaims the
notion that it is Bohemia at all, the
latter being ION the border land if not
within the province Of Fame or Devil
,aredom," while the haven and refuge
Of which he is speaking is divided only
by an imaginary line from the fields OF
pure content" Nevertheless, if it S
not Bohemia, Bohemia ought TO be it.
There are many other essays in these
Volumes. some Of them on current po-
Iitical and sociological topics; even
contentious in character They are al
instinct with authoritative information
and scholarship, and with a generous