SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forme.]
The Masters of English Literature. By Stephen Gwynn. (Macmillan and Co. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Gwynn is always interesting. Well-worn as are the themes which he discusses, he commonly finds something new to say about them, or, at the least, to give to what he says a new and striking setting. It would not be easy to find a volume of equal, or nearly equal, compass into which so much thought, such an amount of just and penetrating criticism, has been put. Here, for instance, is something about "Robinson Crusoe" which, we venture to say, not many among its millions of readers have thought of. It " suffers in esteem from being mainly read in childhood. But those who re-read it with intelligence will perceive that here, as in all famous books, a great body of philosophical thought lies behind what seems to be a mere story to amuse The book is a kind of epic of human endeavour." No better thing has ever been said of it by the many generations of critics who have dealt with it. If we took any one of the poets as an example of Mr. Gwynn's method, we should choose Milton. It is good throughout; the criticism on the verse is especially admirable. His examples are skilfully chosen. Here is a sample :—
" • In Ausonian land
Men called him Mulciber ; and how he fell From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements : from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day ; and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Aegean isle.'
Note how the lapse of those hours is suggested—a summer's day with its slow progress; note also the exquisite vowel music of the last lines and the effect of the beautiful word zenith.' Say instead,—
'Fell from high heaven like a falling star,'
and you have a good line ; but compare it with Milton's." The chapter on Burns is good, though we doubt the answer suggested to the difficult problem, why such a man, morally so worthless, is yet "the chief glory of his country, a spiritual influence strong for good."—Because, says Mr. Gwynn, "his mind, so swift and trenchant, able to communicate itself like lightning or like sunshine, was inspired chiefly by a broad benevolence." We should like to see more proofs of it.
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