CURRENT LITERATURE.
Curiosities of Criticism. By Henry J. Jennings. (Chatto and Windus.)—Mr. Jennings allows that critics are necessary, an alio% - ance which might be made for mosquitoes, and thnt, on the whole, the good they do counterbalances the evil. But he is not inclined to spare them. And, indeed, he finds it easy to make out a formidable case against them. Even famous critics have committed themiselvis to very foolish dicta, and still more foolish prophecies. And tie difficulties of judging with haste of books that deal with a grea variety of subject, is one that cannot fail to lead critics who are cautions as well as competent into occasional mistakes. On the whole, however, those that follow the thankless task of reviewing will find themselves not unfairly or unkindly treated. Mr. Jennings has a leaning against them—all authors have, as a single word of censure outweighs a page of praise—but it is not more than a lean- ing. We notice that in relating the famous case of "Johnston v. the Athenaeum," when a jury gave a verdict for £1,250, he does not give the sequel of the trial. The verdict was received with an unanimous expression of disapproval from every person qualified to judge, and was, in the end, materially modified. Why does Mr. Jennings repro- duce the old delusion that critics are unsuccessful authors, or men who have never been authors at all ? Instances without end might be given to the contrary. Let one suffice,—the editor of the Fort- nightly Review, a writer who occupies the highest rank both in criticism and in literature.
Previous page
