Endymion.

ENDYMION .

NO book for some time has made so much sensation as " Endymion " in the literary world . Its advent was anxiousl y expected , its appearance eagerly hailed , its issue hastily bought up . We say nothing here of fabulous numbers or legendary payments , nor do we recur to the fact that a publisher has stated in the Times that had the work been published at two shillings and sixpence a volume , some five hundred thousand might have easil y been disposed of . In America it has been issuedin defiance of all sympathy of

, copyright , in a cheap form , at seven cents a copy , and has been sold by thousands . It is now being translated into the French , Russian , German , and Italian languages . Of course various criticisms have appeared in respect of "Endymion , " all more or less coloured , we venture' to think , by personal prepossessions , or party considerations . To some it is the embodiment of all that is gay and

glittering , pleasant and pointed , wise and witty , serene ancl sentimental ; in literary excellence , its point ancl attic salt are undeniable , its word paintingare unequalled , its whole effect unsurpassable . To others it has " not much in it ; " it is "too diffusive ancl too discursive , " "it fails to seize the true teaching of humanitarian progress , " or " to develope the real problem of worldly struggles "—it is " personal , " "unreal , '' " political , " and "forced , " and

" very far inferior to ' Lothair . '" Words like these and many move may be read in countless papers and reviews , and as they seem to us to err , according to the German canon of fair criticism , we venture to treat the subject tolerantly ancl critically , calmly if shortly , in these unbiassed pages . With the " perversities of politicians" or the " quandaries of statesmen" we haveas " Freemasons" nothing whatever

, , , , and most properly , to do ; but we have a right to look at a book like "Endymion " critically and carefully , without preconceived opinions , without any hidden bias , and to express our opinion openly and freely in a magazine where truth and impartiality ought always to be present , to preside over the lucubrations of contributors , to criticise the expositions of the best and clearest of " Didaskaloi . "

We think that but scant justice has been rendered to " Endymion . " It may or may not be the sequel of those wondrous works which , beginning with "Vivian Grey , " were continued in " Ooningsby , " "Sybil , " and " Tancred , " were reproduced in " Lothair , " and are now , some say , crowned in " Endymion . " On that point we ourselves do not seem to feel so sure as some knowing and confident critics . The pen which has produced so many quaint contrasts and amusing

conceits , the mind which has drawn pictures of fellow mortals not equalled in some respects by delicacy of touch , clearness of conception , and vividness of reality , seem neither weakened nor wearied . In some respects " Endymion" is superior to " Lothair , " and what some hold to be a fault in " Endymion" are not faults and blemishes to us , because we have read ancl were satisfied with " Lothair . " Probabl y few

ever expected to read again the telling sentences of that gifted writer , especiall y in the form which " Lothair " took of contemporary " miniaturism , " and pre-raphaelite effects , and therefore to-day a chorus goes up—and of a good many , too , who , we strongly suspecl , have not read " Endymion "" much inferior to " Lothair . " Well , but is it . We venture to think not , and we will go on to say why . "Endymion" does not pretend to deal with the "airy nothings , " the