THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 296341A

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1927 L

Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1900 by W. J. PEDDICORD,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

FRESS OF MARSH PRINTING CO.

FORTLAND, OREGON.

то

Dedication.

those of my countrymen whose inordinate admiration of Mr. Kipling's genius, has won for them a special interest in his splendid tribute to an American: "Calm-eyed he scoffs at sword and crown,

Or panic-blinded, stabs or slays,

Blatant, he bids the world bow down,

Or cringing, begs a crumb of praise";

or a share in his most extraordinary compliment to their When an American wishes to be correct, This he does

countrymen:

he sets himself to imitate the Englishman. vilely, and earns, not only the contempt of his brethren, but the amused scorn of the Briton”—this little volume is affectionately dedicated, with no little esteem for their Stoic-like imperviousness and their supreme indifference to the criticism by strangers of our country, its institutions, and people.

The Author.

THIS

arly, orderly, systematic criticism, after the manner and learning of "the schools," of the several productions herein reviewed. If that is the character of the book you seek, pass this by; it will disappoint you. Its principal objects are, however, to expose the sham pretentions to excellence of the metrical writings of the very distinguished author reviewed; to plead with our youthful countrymen contemplating the field of letters as a profession to aid in maintaining a high standard of clean literature, their priceless heritage of a Puritan ancestry; and lastly, though not the least meritorious object, to discourage extravagant adverse criticism of American institutions, customs and manners by supercilious foreign tyros.

The books on American subjects by British authors that have found readiest sale in England, according to Anthony Trollope, himself an English author, have been "those that caused a laugh" on the other side of the Atlantic. Now, we do not blame our brethren for laughing over the manner

in which we have been ridiculed. We simply censure, in justice to ourselves, our very unjust critics.

We have endeavored, also, in this little volume, as not wholly irrelevant to the principal objects herein set forth, to show, in a kindly spirit, we trust, the origin of British conceit, as well as that prejudice, which, until recent events of a momentous nature growing out of our embroglio with a foreign power happily dispelled much of it forever, we hope, so long existed between kindred peoples.

We have accounted for Mr. Kipling's apparent force and originality in a way perhaps somewhat disappointing to his numerous admirers. We have shown, we think, that the low taste of even eminent poets of former generations is no justification for the grossness he has put into a variety of metrical forms. We have also attempted to show that the unexampled popularity he has enjoyed is almost immeasurably beyond his desert, a popularity we have accounted for on other grounds than personal greatness. Of him as a story-teller we have had nothing to say.

We venture the assertion and challenge a substantiated contradiction, that, had Rudyard Kipling been a native American and depended on his talent as a poet for his unexampled distinction, he would never have gained even recognition at the hands