V 



RECENT PHASES OF LITEEAEY CEITICISM 



fl "iHE criticism of criticism is one of the marked 

 -*- literary characteristics of the last ten or fifteen 

 years, both in this country and in Europe. It is 

 seen in France in Brunetifere's essays and in Hen- 

 nequin's " Scientific Criticism ; " in England in the 

 recent work of Wm. B. Wordsfold on the " Princi- 

 ples of Criticism " and in Mr. John M. Eobertson's 

 two volumes of " Essays toward a Critical Method ; " 

 in this country in Mr. Howells's " Criticism and 

 Fiction," in Prof. Johnson's " Elements of Criti- 

 cism " and in the still more recent work of Professor 

 Sears on " Methods and Principles of Criticism," 

 besides the numerous discussions of the subject in 

 the magazines and literary journals. 



A Western college professor lately discussed some 

 phases of the subject under the head of " Demo- 

 cratic Criticism ; " whereupon other college profes- 

 sors raised the voice of protest, one of them asking 

 ironically, Why not have a democratic botany and 

 zoblogy and geology and astronomy ? I think it 

 may be said in reply that, so far as democracy is 

 based upon natural law and means free inquiry, a fair 



