The fierce struggles of the contending parties did not blind them to the fact that each had much to learn from the other. Oriental magnificence and culture had charms even for the warriors whose mailed hands were sworn to destroy the civilization under which they were developed. The positive and immediate gain to Western knowledge was doubtless less than was formerly believed, but the ulterior gain is incalculable. If the West is not indebted to the East for the art of printing and the compass, it is indebted for a substantial enrichment of thought, for a great enlargement of mental horizon. The interchange of thought which was set in motion by the crusades is still to work out its richest results; and in contemporaneous history there is no more impressive feature than the confluence of these two ancient civilizations.
AINGER’S EDITION OF CHARLES LAMB.
(By Arrangement with Messrs. Macmillan & Co., London.)
CHARLES LAMB’S POEMS, PLAYS, AND MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS.
With 50 Pages of Introduction and Notes by ALFRED AINGER, Editor of “The Essays of Elia.” 12mo, cloth, gilt top. 432 pages. $1.50.
“In this volume Lamb’s poems have been chronologically arranged, and the reader can trace the various events of the poet’s life in his works.”—N. Y. Examiner.