30 AUGUST 1890, Page 24

CURRENT LITERATURE.

Thomas de Quinceg : his Life and Writings, with Unpublished Correspondence. By Alexander H. Japp, LL.D. ("H. A. Page "). (John Hogg.)—This biography, "thoroughly revised and re- arranged," is, in the author's judgment, almost a new book. It is worthy of the pains which have been expended upon it, and will be welcome to all students of In Quincey. The volume has been published opportunely, and purchasers of Mr. Masson's annotated edition of De Quincey's works will find the Life and Correspondence indispensable to the full enjoyment of his writings. The chapter of "New Reminiscences" contains some interesting notes by the late James T. Fields, of Boston, by Dr. Peter Bayne, and by an anonymous correspondent. There are also letters from the late Dr. Carruthers, and other men who knew De Quincey, now pub- lished for the first time, and Miss de Quincey has recalled her impressions of two peculiar traits in her father's character hitherto. unnoted. One of these traits, strange to say, was a taste for novels filled with wild and impossible adventures. "He eared nothing for delineations of character, and I do not think ha cared much for pictures of modern life, or even for fun or humour—at all events of the later type in novels. Dark lanterns and Spanish cloaks, and three knights riding through a wood, and a mysterious villain with dagger or stiletto, were the sine-qud-nons in the novels of his youth, and he seemed to favour this kind of work to the end." The second peculiarity was a predilection for attending funerals and not in mourning attire. Dr. Japp's Life in its new form is an attractive and admirably written account of a man whose personality was as remarkable as his writings. De Quincey once said that every age buries its own literature ; but we may safely prophesy that the saying will not prove to be a true one in his case.