No More Learning

,
When Hard Times) appeared as a
serial in Household Words in 1854, Dick-
was about midway in his literary
In the same year this novel'ap-
peared in an octavo volume with a dedi-
cation to Thomas Carlyle. Its purpose,
according to Dickens himself, was
satirize «those who see figures and
averages and nothing else — the repre-
sentatives of the wickedest and most
enormous vice of this time, the men
who through long years to come will do
more to damage the really useful facts
of Political Economy than I could do (if
I tried) in my whole life. The satire,
however, like much that Dickens at-
tempted in the same vein, was not very
bitter.
The characters in Hard Times) are
not numerous; and the plot itself is less
intricate than others by the same author.
The chief figures are Mr. Thomas Grad-
grind, “a man of realities, with his un-
bounded faith in statistics; Louisa, his
eldest daughter; and Josiah Bounderby,
as practical as Mr. Gradgrind, but less
kind-hearted. Louisa, though many years
younger than Mr. Bounderby, is per-
suaded by her father to marry him. She
is also influenced in making this mar-
riage by her desire to smooth the path
of her brother Tom, a clerk in Mr.
Bounderby's office. Though not happy,
she resists the blandishments of James
Harthouse, a professed friend of her
husband's. To escape him she has to go
home to her father; and this leads to a
permanent estrangement between hus-
band and wife. In the mean time Tom
Gradgrind has stolen money from Boun-
to
scene
a
Hannah, by Dinah Mulock (Craik),
1871. This story, the
of
which is laid in England, with a short
episode in France, finds its motive in
the vexed question of marriage with a
deceased wife's sister. The Rev. Ber-
nard Rivers, at the death of his young
wife Rosa, invites her sister, Hannah
Thelluson, to take charge of his home
and baby daughter. Hannah, a sweet
and gentle woman of thirty, with
passionate love for children, resigns her
position as governess, and accepts the
offer, that she may bring up her little
niece. The Rivers family, as well as all
the parish, strongly disapprove the new
arrangement; but Hannah, recognizing
the fact that, in the eyes of the law, she
is Bernard's sister, sees no harm in it.
Soon, however, she finds herself in love
with Bernard, who returns her affection.
After passing through much misery and
unhappiness, as well as scandalous no-
toriety, the lovers separate, and Hannah
takes little Rosie to France, whither
they are soon followed by Mr. Rivers.
Here they decide to ma even though
they must henceforth live in exile. The


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
267
we
story flows on with the limpid clearness
of Miss Muloch's habitual method. If
not exciting, it is refined, vivid, and al-
ways interesting. As a powerful pur-
pose-novel, it aroused much propagandist
spirit in England.
Hannah Thurston, by Bayard Taylor,
The scene is said to be central
New York. The preface especially in-
forms us that an author does not neces-
sarily represent himself: "I am neither
Mr. Woodberry, Mr. Waldo, nor Seth
Wattles. ) Yet many of the hero's dreams
and experiences are those of Bayard
Taylor; and those who know, say that
no one familiar with Pennsylvania could
fail to recognize the life of Chester
County where Taylor was born.
Maxwell Woodberry returns from years
of travel to make a home in the village
where he lived as a child. There he
meets Hannah Thurston, a lovely Qua-
ker girl, and admires her, but is repelled
by her advocacy of woman's rights.
Love finally triumphs, and they are hap-
pily married, each yielding some part
of his or her prejudice. All the fads
and crotchets of a country village find
a place in the chronicle: total absti-
nence, vegetarianism, spiritualism, and
abolition. In Mr. Dyce we have the
villain who advocates free love, acts
the part of medium, and belongs to a
colony of Perfectionists. There are the
Whitlows, who wish their children to
follow their own inclinations, regard-
less of others; Silas Wattles, the tailor;
good Mr. Waldo, the minister, and his
wife who loved all the world; honest Bute,
the farmer; and the coquettish little
seamstress, Carry Dilworthy, who makes
him such a sweet wife. Woodberry's
“poverty party” has had many imita-
tions in later days; and we have also
sewing societies, temperance conventions,
and other of the usual phases of Ameri-
can country life. Begun in America, the
book was finished in 1863, in St. Peters-
burg, where Taylor had been sent as
secretary of legation. It was his first
novel; and is a strangely peaceful book
to be written during the early days of
the Civil War, and in Russia. It had
a large sale, was translated into Russian
and German, and published simultan-
eously in London and New York.
Harry Lorrequer, a novel by Charles
Lever. The story is made up of
a series of ludicrous adventures, very
loosely connected. Of some of these
Lever was himself the hero; others he
gathered from his personal friends.
Harry Lorrequer has scarcely landed in
Cork, after campaigning with Wellington
on the Continent, before he is entangled
in the most tragic-comic perplexities.
His first adventure consists in telling an
inoffensive stranger an elaborate false-
hood, and then shooting him in a duel,
without disclosing any reason why he
should fight at all. The scandalous im-
morality of the affair is forgotten in
the grotesque drollery of it. In fact,
the most characteristic note of the tale is
the irresponsibility of every one.
Drink-
ing, duelling, getting into love and debt,
are represented as an Irish gentleman's
conception of the whole duty of man.
Harry is presently sent in disgrace to
the dull town of Kilrush. But his ban-
ishment is enlivened by every kind of
adventure. The scene shifts to Dublin,
and have more hoaxes, practical
jokes, and blunders. The hero starts
(in a yellow postchaise » after the Kil-
kenny Royal Mail, traveling a hundred
and fifty miles or so, the coach being all
the time quietly in the court-yard of the
Dublin post-office. We find him next in
Germany, where he unconsciously hoaxes
the Bavarian king and all his court.
Lever knew the little German towns
well, and his descriptions of their ludi-
crous aspects are true. Harry then pro-
ceeds to Paris, finds himself in a gam-
bling saloon, and of course, breaks the
bank. Most of the great men of France
are among the gamblers; and Talley.
rand, Marshal Soult, Balzac, and others,
must have been surprised to learn of
the part they took in the Donnybrook
scrimmage with which the affair winds
up. Finally, Harry weds the girl he
has always adored, although his adora-
tion has not hindered him from falling
in love with scores of other ladies, and
proposing marriage to some of them.
This
Hard Cash, by Charles Reade.
book, originally published in 1863,
Very Hard Cash) is an alleged ex-
posure of the abuses of private insane
asylums in England and of the statutes
under which they were sheltered. The
«Hard Cash) is the sum of £14,000,
the earnings of years, of which Richard
Hardie, a bankrupt banker, defrauds
David Dodd, a sea-captain. Dodd has
a cataleptic shock and goes insane on
as
(


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268
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
realizing his loss. Hardie's son Alfred tive, but could write songs for it and
loves Julia, Dodd's daughter. He de- furnish music for them as well. The
tects his father's villainy, accuses him ironically nicknamed hero, by his invet-
of it, and to insure his silence is con- erate blundering, furnishes cause for ire
signed by his father to a private insane and mirth alternately to all with whom
asylum. There he meets Dodd; a fire he comes in contact. He goes out to
breaks out, and both escape. Dodd en- service, first with Squire Egan, then with
lists and serves as a common seaman, his enemy, Squire O'Grady.
He brings
appearing to be capable but half-witted, a duel by exchanging a writ for a
until a second cataleptic shock restores blister; incenses a young lady by substi-
his reason, when he returns home. Al- tuting a case of razors for the fan sent
fred reaches his friends, and vindicates as a gift by her admirer; complicates an
his sanity in a court of law. The re- election by meddling with the mail and
ceipt for the £14,000 is found, and the driving one of O'Grady's political allies
money recovered from the elder Hardie. to the house of his rival Egan; cools
The book properly divides itself into champagne by emptying it into a tub
two parts. One embraces the maritime of ice; gets himself matrimonially mixed
adventures of Dodd with pirates, storms, up with two women at once, meantime
shipwreck, and highwaymen, while bring-loving a third; and — always with the
ing his money home; and his subsequent best intentions - encounters mishaps and
service as a half-witted foremast-hand tribulations without end. Furthermore
until his restoration to reason.
The
the author relates how Egan lost and re-
other covers Alfred's thrilling experi- gained his seat in the House; how Tom
ences as a sane man among the insane. Durfy wed the widow Flanagan; how
The author's analysis of all kinds of in- ran the course of true love with Edward
sanity is very thorough: with Alfred are O'Connor and Fanny Dawson; how old
contrasted Captain Dodd and many asy- Mrs. O'Grady challenged and thrashed
lum patients, introduced incidentally; the fop Furlong; how everybody feasted
also Maxley, a worthy man driven insane and drank, told stories and sang songs,
by the bank failure, and who kills Al- played practical jokes that were some-
fred's sister in a maniacal rage; Dr. times dangerous, and fought duels that
Wycherley, the asylum manager, who usually were not; and finally how Andy,
has epileptic fits himself; Thomas Hardie, the “omadhaun," turned out to be Lord
Alfred's uncle, who is weak-minded; and Scatterbrain, and after nearly drowning
others. Dr. Sampson, the sturdy Scotch himself and a party of friends in Lake
physician, who despises all regular prac- Killarney, got loose from his matrimonial
titioners, and comes to Alfred's rescue entanglements and wedded his pretty
at the crisis of the book, is one of cousin Oonah. The rollicking fun of the
Reade's strongest and most original book is relished by this as it was by the
characters. The love scenes are tender last generation.
and touching. (Hard Cash) is in some
sense a sequel to Love me Little, Love
me Long,' which relates the early history ford. The duplicity of a woman who
and marriage of Captain and Mrs. Dodd. brings disgrace on a proud old family
This book caused much lively public cor- forms the mainspring of an exciting
respondence between the author and narrative, certain episodes of which are
various asylum managers, who felt them- even startling. Baron von Greifenstein
selves aggrieved, but failed, according to supposes himself to be legally married
Reade, to shake the facts and arguments to Clara Kurtz. After twenty-five years,
put forward in this book.
his half-brother Von Rieseneck, a dis-
graced and fugitive ex-officer, confesses
Handy Andy, a novel by Samuel Lover. that the woman is his wife, though he
«Andy Rooney was a fellow who had long believed her dead. The real-
had the most singularly ingenious knack ization that his dearly loved son Greif
of doing everything the wrong way. ” is nameless fills the baron with rage
Thus begins a broadly humorous tale of against Clara, who is hated not less by
life among the Irish gentry and peas- her lawful husband for her desertion of
antry in the first half of the nineteenth him. The two men, feeling themselves
century, by an accomplished author who disgraced and degraded, write explana-
not only could illustrate his own narra- tory letters to their respective sons, kill
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
269
the woman and then themselves. The
Begum's Daughter, The, by Edwin Las-
news reaches Greif at his university, but setter Bynner, is a tale of Dutch
his father's letter does not appear.
His New York when Sir Edmund Andros
friend (in reality his half-brother) Rex, was royal governor of New England.
son of Rieseneck, learns all; but keeps The chief figures are Jacob Leisler
the secret to himself, and goes with and his family; the Van Cortlandts; and
Greif to his home. Greif wishes to re- Dr. Staats, with his wife and daughter.
lease his cousin, Hilda von Sigmunds- This daughter, Catalina, child of a Dutch
kron, from her betrothal vows to him; physician and an East-Indian mother (the
but she refuses to give him up, and Begum), combines the characteristics of
finally he assumes the name of Sig- both parents. She is the best friend of
mundskron and marries her.
After a
Hester Leisler, who is betrothed — against
happy year the baron's letter turns up her father's will — to Steenie Van Cort-
in an old coat, and Greif discovers the landt. When Leisler succeeds in over-
whole truth. He is plunged into the throwing the royal governor, he forbids
depths of despair; but Hilda tears up Hester's intercourse with Steenie, whose
the letter, thus destroying all evidence father is of the governor's party. Hester
of the ugly secret, and by her love is defiant; but her sister Mary is forced
and devotion she finally brings him to by her father to marry Milborne, one of
a more cheerful state of mind. Mean- his supporters, though her heart is with
time Rex discovers that he has fallen in Abram Gouverneur, a young Huguenot.
love unwittingly with Hilda. In conse- Leisler tries to marry Hester to Barent
quence he tries to shoot himself, but is Rhynders, a junker from Albany, whose
prevented from doing so by Greif and people are of use to him, but she refuses;
Hilda, who have a deep affection for and before her father can press the point,
him, and who finally persuade him that matters of graver importance claim his
life is still full of opportunity, and, in entire attention,– he is sentenced to death
time, of happiness. The events of the as a traitor. After his execution, Hester
story occur in Swabia; and the time is still refuses to marry the patient Steenie,
from 1888 onward. The incidental pict- until she has cleared her father's repu-
ures of German university life, student
tation; and she finally dismisses him and
duels, etc. , will be found interesting. becomes betrothed to Barent Rhynders,
after her widowed sister Mary has wed-
Horseshoe Robinson, by John P. Ken- ded her first love, Gouverneur. Steenie
nedy, is a tale of the Loyalist as- lays his heart at the feet of the capricious
cendency, during the American Revolu- Catalina, who refuses him because she
tion. The chief characters are: Marion; thinks him in love with Hester. She pres-
Tarleton; Cornwallis; Horseshoe Robin- ently accepts him, however; and when
son himself, so called because he was ori- he reminds her of their former meeting,
ginally a blacksmith; Mary Musgrove and saying “But you told me – » she inter-
her lover John Ramsay; Henry and Mil- rupts, blushing, “A wicked lie! ) This
dred Lyndsay, ardent patriots; Mildred's
scene closes one of the quaintest stories
lover, Arthur Butler, whom she secretly in the large number of tales that depict
marries; Habershaw and his band of colonial New York. The student finds in
ruffians and brutal Indians. The scene it nothing with which to quarrel; and the
is laid in Virginia and North Carolina; lover of fiction enjoys it all.
and we read of battles and hair-breadth
captures, treachery and murder. Tyrrel,
Courtenay Baylor, published in 1887,
by Mildred's father; he does Butler much is a Virginia mountain story of the pres-
harm, but is finally hanged as a traitor, ent time. It is described by the author
while Mildred and her husband live hap- as a homely narrative," and deals with
pily after the war is ended. Horseshoe the characters of the unlettered, ignorant
Robinson is a character»: huge in size, mountaineers living in a valley of the
of Herculean strength and endless craft beautiful Appalachian range.
The hero,
and cunning. His adventures by food John Shore, is an idealist in homespun,
and field are well worth reading. The who is regarded by his fellows as “queer,
story was written in 1835. Though not if not crack-brained. Fired by genuine
his first novel, it is perhaps the most patriotism, most of all by love for his
famous work of the author.
native State of Virginia, he puts himself
9
the British spy, is Butler's rivai
, favored Behind the Blue Ridge, by Frances


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270
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
at the head of the men of his commu-
Paul Ferrol, by Mrs. Caroline (Wig-
nity who enlist when the War breaks out. ley) .
This story was pub-
After the war he drifts back to the val- lished about 1856, and was followed by
ley, getting only a half-hearted welcome “Why Paul Ferrol Killed his Wife. ) Paul
from his son, who has married a shrew- Ferrol's wife was a woman of violent
ish widow. Again after a time he goes temper, who parted him from Elinor, his
forth to wander about the world, return- first love. She is murdered; suspicion
ing to be looked at askance by his old rests upon Franks, a laborer on the es-
neighbors; for he is a dreamer, a type tate; but Ferrol gets him off, and sends
they do not understand. He lives on suf- him to Canada with his wife. Soon
ferance with his son, to whom he has after, Ferrol marries his first love. They
deeded the family homestead. Although have one daughter, Janet, and avoid all
he displays great heroism in a railroad society; although Ferrol does much to
accident, he still retains the reputation of help others, working like a hero when
being aimless and shiftless; but like his cholera breaks out. During trade riots
fellow-dreamer, Rip Van Winkle, he is he kills one of the mob, is tried for mur-
always beloved by children. Finally driven der and found guilty; but is pardoned,
forth from his home by his cruel daughter- goes abroad for his wife's health, and
in-law, he commits suicide. The tale is meets with a serious accident, which
grimly sad, but full of human sympathy | leads him to return. Janet has lovers —
and of poetical interpretation of nature, the French surgeon's son, whom her
and admirable for its portrayal of primi- father approves, and Hugh Bartlett,
tive Southern types.
whom she loves, but who does not please
Ferrol. Martha Franks returns from
Onght. We to Visit Her? by Annie Canada; ornaments belonging to the first
Edwards, is a tale of bohemia, and Mrs. Ferrol are discovered in her pos-
of the strictest of English provincial so- session, and the old charge of murder is
ciety stricken into wild alarm by fear renewed. She is found guilty; upon
of an incursion from the inhabitants of which Paul Ferrol confesses that he is
that abandoned land. Francis Theobald, the murderer. He had deposited an ac-
a lazy, good-natured, lovable scamp, mar- count of the deed, with the instrument
ries a pretty ballet-girl of sixteen. They of it, in the coffin of his victim, where
live happily, wandering around the Con- they are found. He is sentenced to be
tinent, where Theobald's gambling and hung; but is assisted to escape to Boston,
his wife's economies eke out their slen- America, by Janet's lover, Hugh. El-
der income, until Theobald falls heir to inor, Ferrol's second wife, dies on hear-
a country house and a place in county ing of his crime; and he does not long
society. The county is perfectly ready survive his exile. Janet, his devoted
to accept Theobald, because, however daughter, is left alone in a strange land,
disreputable, he belongs to a good old but probably not for long.
family; but declines to know his pretty,
charming,
wife, who has saved him from utter Besant . The main
ruin, and who has everything to recom- events of this lively and amusing story
mend her but ancestry. Neglected by occur at London in 1875. The Butterfly
her husband, who is not man enough to is Gilead P. Beck's talisman. With a
stand by her, poor Jane Theobald is burdensome revenue from oil-wells he
forced to fight her battles as best she arrives in London, where he meets Dun-
may, comes near being driven into re- querque, who has saved his life in Cali-
sentful wickedness by the heartless and fornia, and Colquhoun, the hero of a love
idle tongue of scandal, and is saved only entanglement with Victoria, now wife
by her innate rectitude. The meanness of Cassilis. Colquhoun succeeds to the
and spitefulness of respectable county guardianship of Phillis Fleming, brought
society, whose petty vices spring from up by Abraham Dyson after highly ec-
idleness, ennui, and conventional stand- centric methods. Dyson leaves money for
ards of righteousness, make a striking educating other girls in a similar way;
contrast to the simple goodness and hon- but defeats his own end by not teaching
esty of the little bohemian, Jane. The Phillis how to read, so that she innocently
story is well written, well constructed, destroys an important paper and ren-
and extremely entertaining.
ders the will inoperative. While living
sweet-natured; high-minded Gºlden Butterfly, The, by Walter
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
271
with Agatha, Colquhoun's cousin, Phillis
becomes intimate with Dunquerque in
an unconventional, idyllic fashion. Vic-
toria is led to think Colquhoun wants
to marry Phillis, and in a jealous fit di-
vulges the secret of a Scotch marriage
between him and herself. The disclosure
throws Cassilis into partial paralysis; he
fails to sell certain stocks at the right
moment, and loses all, as do Phillis, Col.
quhoun, and Beck, whose fortunes he had
invested. The Butterfly mysteriously fails
apart; but is repaired and presented to
Phillis, who is married to Dunquerque;
having now discovered, in Dyson's words,
that the coping-stone of every woman's
education is love. »
released. Dawson's testimony convicts
the real murderer, and of course exoner-
ates Glanville.
Political honors are now thrust upon
Pelham, who disdains them; while his
happy marriage with the lovely Ellen
Glanville is the natural sequence to the
tale.
Innocents Abroad, The, by Samuel L.
Clemens (“Mark Twain »). In a vein
of highly original humor this world-
read book records a pleasure excursion
on the Quaker City to Europe, the Holy
Land, and Egypt, in the sixties. De-
scriptions of real events and the peo-
ples and lands visited are enlivened by
more or less fictitious dialogue and ad-
ventures. These, while absurdly amus-
ing, always suggest the truth, stripped
of hypocrisy and cant, as to how the
reader “would be likely to see Europe
and the East if he looked at them sin-
cerely with his own eyes and without
reverence for the past. ” The side-wheel
steamer Quaker City carried the now
famous excursionists across from New
York — touching at the Azores, described
in a few rapid but wonderfully vivid
strokes - and from important port to port
on the other side; and waited for them
during several of their inland journeys.
Returning, they touched at Gibraltar,
Madeira, and the Bermudas. As to the
advertised «select » quality of the voy-
agers, a characteristic paragraph states:
« Henry Ward Beecher to have
accompanied the expedition, but urgent
duties obliged him to give up the idea.
There were other passengers who might
have been spared better, and would have
been spared more willingly. Lieutenant-
General Sherman was to have been one
of the party also, but the Indian war
compelled his presence on the plains. A
popular actress had entered her name on
the ship's books, but something inter-
fered, and she couldn't go. The “Drum.
soy of the Potomac » deserted; and
lo, we had never a celebrity left! ) Mr.
Clemens himself, however, has since be-
come an equally great celebrity.
the Mississippi, by Mark
Twain, (1883,) is in part an autobio-
graphic account of the author's early
life, during which he learned and prac-
ticed a pilot's profession on the river,
wholly unconscious of the literary chan-
nels in which his later course would
be steered. It is prefaced by a graphic
Pelham, by E. Bulwer-Lytton, appeared
anonymously; and it had reached its
second edition in 1829. It belongs to the
writer's initiatory period, being the first
novel that gave promise of his ability.
Henry Pelham, having taken his uni-
versity degrees and enjoyed a run to
Paris, returns to his native England, and
takes an active part in the political
events of his time. In accordance with
the sub-title of the book, "The Advent-
ures of a Gentleman,' the hero endeav-
ors to realize Etherege's ideal of “a
complete gentleman; who, according to
Sir Fopling, ought to dress well, dance
well, fence well, have a genius for love-
letters, and an agreeable voice for a
chamber. »
Pelham becomes especially useful to
his party; but on account of jealousies
and intrigues his merits are not properly
acknowledged.
Meantime he has yielded to the charms
of the wealthy and accomplished sister
of his old schoolmate and life-long
friend, Sir Reginald Glanville. Glanville
is suspected of the murder of Sir John
Tirrell, whom he had threatened because
the latter had been guilty of atrocious
conduct toward a lady who was under
Glanville's protection. A terrible net-
work of circumstantial evidence causes
Pelham to feel certain of his friend's
guilt. Glanville tells the whole story to
Pelham, and protests his innocence. By
the aid of Job Johnson, a London flash
man whom Pelham recognizes as a tool
fitted to accomplish the results he de-
sires, a boozing ken of the most desper-
ate ruffians in the city is visited; and
Dawson, the confederate of Tom Thorn-
ton who had committed the murder, is
was
mer
By Life
on


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
a
covers
description of the mighty Mississippi, Meanwhile Tom, in his changed con-
its history, its discovery by La Salle and dition, also undergoes many trials on
others, and its continuous and wonder- account of his uncouthness of manner
ful change of bed, so that “nearly the and ignorance of court etiquette; which,
whole one thousand three hundred miles added to his apparent forgetfulness of
which La Salle floated down in his ca- the whereabouts of the Great Seal,"
noes is good solid ground now. ” He convince those around him that he has
relates his boyish ambition to be become demented. Gradually he grows
steamboat-man, and how he attained it. accustomed to his position, and acquires
His descriptions of his training and ex- sufficient knowledge of polite behavior
periences before he became full- to reassure the nobles regarding his
fledged pilot are as characteristic and
mental balance; while he becomes less
unique in handling as is the subject and less anxious about the disappear-
itself, which
a long-vanished ance of the real prince, which at first
phase of Western life. The second half caused him much regret.
of the book recounts a trip made by the On the morning of the coronation Ed-
author through the scenes of his youth ward eludes his protector, and hastening
for the purposes of the work and the to Westminster Abbey, forbids the cer-
acquirement of literary materials: he emony. The hiding-place of the “Great
enumerates the changes in men, man- Seal) is made the final test of his
ners, and places, which the intervening claims; and, assisted by Tom Canty's
twenty years have brought about, and timely suggestions, he reveals it. He is
intersperses the whole with many lively then crowned in spite of his rags, and
digressions and stories, comments upon soon after rewards Tom Canty for his
foreign tourists (Captain Hall, Mrs. Trol- loyalty, and Sir Miles Hendon for his
lope, Captain Marryat, . Dickens, and faithful services. All his short reign is
others); Southern vendettas; a thumb- tempered with the mercy and pity which
nail story, probably the nucleus of in his misfortunes he so often desired
(Pudd'nhead Wilson); Murel's Gang. "; and so seldom received.
the «fraudulent penitent); and others. The book was published in 1881.
The book is especially valuable as the
author's personal record of an epoch in bbot, The, by Sir Walter Scott.
Ah
A
the country's growth which has
sequel to (The Monastery,' but deal-
passed into history.
ing with more stirring and elevated situa-
tions and scenes. The time of the action
Prince and the Pauper, The, by Mark is 1567-68, when Shakespeare was a boy of
Twain. The plot of this interesting three, and Elizabeth was newly established
story hinges on the remarkable resem- on the throne of England. While the action
blance of a poor street boy to the young goes on partly at Avenel Castle, and Hal-
English prince afterward Edward VI. bert Glendinning of «The Monastery,' as
Tom Canty, the pauper, looking through well as his brother Edward (now an abbot)
the iron gates of the royal court-yard, is figure prominently in the story, the reader
ordered away by the guard. The young finds that he has exchanged the humble
prince, overhearing the command, in- events of the little border vale by Mel-
vites him in; and for amusement, rose for thrilling and romantic adventures
changes clothes with him. While dressed at Lochleven Castle on its island in the
in rags he sees on Tom's hand a bruise lake, north of Edinburgh, where Mary
inflicted by the guard, and burning Queen of Scots is imprisoned; and in
with indignation, he rushes alone from place of the braw and bonny Scotch of
the palace to chastise the man: he is Tibb and Dame Elspeth, we have the
mistaken for Tom and driven away. hearty English of Adam Woodcock the
He falls in with Tom's family, and is falconer, -as masterly a portrait in Scott's
so badly treated that he runs away with gallery as Garth, Hal o' the Wynd, or
Sir Miles Hendon, a disinherited knight, Dandie Dinmont. The chief interest cen-
who takes pity on him, thinking his fre- tres around the unfortunate queen; and
quent assertions of royal birth a sign of the framework of the tale is historically
madness. They wander about the coun- true. The masterpiece of description in
try, having one adventure after an- (The Abbot) is the signing of the abdi-
other, and finally return to London just cation by Mary at the stern insistence of
before Tom Canty's coronation.
the commissioners Lindsay and Ruthven,
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
273
— а
.
scene made famous by more than the castle, they are seized, despoiled, and
one great painting and by more than one cast into separate dungeons by order of
historian.
Hagenbach. The Black Priest of St.
Paul's, a mysterious but powerful per-
Antiquary, The, by Sir Walter Scott. sonage, now appears on the scene; and
(The Antiquary) is not one of Scott's Charles, Margaret of Anjou, Henry of
most popular novels, but it nevertheless Richmond, and other great historic per-
ranks high. If it is weak in its supernat- sonages, are met with - all living and
ural machinery, it is strong in its dialogue realizable personages, not mere names.
and humor. The plot centres about the The story is filled with wild advent-
fortunes and misfortunes of the Wardour ure, and the reader follows the varying
and Glenallan families. The chief charac- fortunes of its chief characters with eager
ter is Mr. Jonathan Oldbuck, the Anti- interest. It presents vivid pictures of
quary, whose odd sayings and garrulous the still-lingering life— lawless and pict-
knowledge are inimitably reported. Sir uresque — of the Middle Ages.
Arthur Wardour, the Antiquary's pompous
friend, and his beautiful daughter Isabella, Adam Blair, by John Gibson Lockhart,
Scott's son-in-law, who wrote the
suffer reverses of fortune brought about
famous Life of Sir Walter, is a Scotch
mainly by the machinations of Herman
Dousterswivel, a pretended adept in the
story of rural life in the past century. It
black arts. Taking advantage of Sir Ar-
gives intimate descriptions of native man-
thur's superstition and antiquarian vanity,
ners, and has tragic power in the por-
he dupes that credulous gentleman into
trayal of the human heart. This novel,
making loans, until the hero of the tale
the best of the three written by Lock-
(Mr. William Lovel) comes to his rescue.
hart, was published in 1822, the full title
He has already lost his heart to Miss being “Some Passages in the Life of Mr.
Adam Blair, Minister of the Gospel at
Wardour. but has not put his fate to
Cross-Meikle. )
the test. His friend and host, the An-
tiquary, has a nephew, the fiery Captain Country Living and Country, Think:
ing, by Gail Hamilton (Mary Abi-
Wardour. Their rivalry, the machinations gail Dodge, born in Hamilton, Massachu-
and exposure of Dousterswivel, a good setts), contains a dozen or more essays on
old-fashioned wicked mother-in-law, and all sorts of subjects, from flower-beds to
other properties, make up a plot with marriage. They are written in an easy
abundance of incidents and a whole series conversational style, full of fun and pun-
of cross-purposes to complicate it. The gent humor, though earnest and even fiery
best-remembered character in the book at times. The author, always witty and
is the daft Edie Ochiltree.
whimsical, talks laughingly of the sor-
rows of gardening, the trials of moving,
An
nne of Geierstein, by Sir Walter Scott. or whatever other occupation is enga-
This romance finds its material in the ging her for the moment, but with such
wild times of the late fifteenth century, brilliancy and originality that the topic
when the factions of York and Lancaster takes on a new aspect. A keen vision
were convulsing England, and France was for sham and pretense of any sort, how-
constantly at odds with the powerful fief ever venerable, distinguishes her, and she
of Burgundy. When the story opens, the
is not afraid to fire a shot at any en-
exiled Earl of Oxford and his son, under throned humbug. Her brightness con-
the name of Philipson, are hiding their ceals great earnestness of purpose, and
identity under the guise of merchants it is impossible not to admire the sound
traveling in Switzerland. Arthur, the and wholesome quality of her discourse.
son, is rescued from death by Anne, the
young countess of Geierstein, who takes Annals of the Parish, by John Galt,
him for home
,
Arnold Biedermann, where his father joins published in 1821. In the spirit, if not in
him. On their departure they are accom- the letter, this work is the direct ancestor
panied by the four Biedermanns, who are of the tales of Maclaren and Barrie. Al.
sent as a deputation to remonstrate with though it cannot properly be called a
Charles the Bold, concerning the oppres-
novel, it is rich in dramatic material. It
sion of Count de Hagenbach, his stew- purports to be written by Mr. Balwhid-
ard. When the supposed merchants reach der, a Scottish clergyman, who recounts
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274
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
as
the events in the parish of Dalmailing for which he makes ample apology. But
where he ministered. He carries the nar- the book on the whole is free from puri-
rative on from year to year, sometimes tanical self-arraignment. The constant
recording an occurrence of national im- moralizing never becomes tiresome, as in
portance, sometimes a homely happening, some of the author's later work. If I can
as that William Byres's cow had twin put one touch of rosy sunset into the life
calves in the third year of my ministery. " of any man or woman of my cure, I shall
There was no other thing of note this feel that I have worked with God,» mut-
year, «saving only that I planted in the
ters the young vicar on overhearing a
garden the big pear-tree, which had two lad exclaim that he should like to be a
great branches that we call the Adam and painter, because then he could help God
Eve. Concerning a new-comer in the paint the sky; and this hope, the first the
parish he writes: But the most remark- clergyman dares form, is equally carried
able thing about her coming into the out in the case of rich and poor. With
parish was the change that took place regard to both these divisions of society
in the Christian names among us.
Old there is much wholesome plain-speaking,
Mr. Hooky, her father, had, from the as where it seems to the vicar as if the
time he read his Virgil, maintained a rich had not quite fair play:
sort of intromission with the nine Muses.
if they were sent into the world chiefly
by which he was led to baptize her Sa- for the sake of the cultivation of the vir-
brina, after a name mentioned by John tues of the poor, and without much chance
Milton in one of his works. Miss Sa- for the cultivation of their own. From
brina began by calling our Jennies Jes- this acute but pleasant preamble to his
sies, and our Nannies Nancies. . . . She heart-warming "God be with you” at the
had also a taste in the mantua-making end, this mellow character, capable of
line, which she had learnt in Glasgow ; innocent diplomacy and of sudden firm-
and I could date from the very Sabbath ness upon occasion, only loses his temper
of her first appearance in the Kirk, a once, and that is when the intolerable
change growing in the garb of the Mrs. Oldcastle makes a sneering refer-
younger lassies, who from that day began ence to the cloth. ”
to lay aside the silken plaidie over the
head, the which had been the pride and
uld Licht Idylls, by James M. Bar-
bravery of their grandmothers. ”
rie, is a series of twelve sketches of
The (Annals) are written in a good
life in Glen Quharity and Thrums. In
homely style, full of Scotch words and
all of them the same characters appear,
Scotch turns of expression. The book
not a few being reintroduced in the
holds a permanent place among classics
author's later books,- notably Tammas
of that country.
Haggart, Gavin Ogilvy, and the Rev.
Gavin Dishart, “the little minister, who
figures in the novel of that name. The
Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood, by
George Macdonald, records a young
titles of the sketches suggest the nature
of their contents: The School-House;
vicar's effort to be a brother as well as
a priest to his parishioners; and tells in-
Thrums; The Auld Licht Kirk; Lads
cidentally how he became more than a
and Lasses; The Auld Lichts in Arms;
brother to Ethelwyn Oldcastle, whose
The Old Dominie; Cree Queery and
aristocratic, overbearing mother, and mad-
Mysy Drolly; The Courting of T'now-
cap niece Judy, have leading roles in the
head's Bell (reprinted in this LIBRARY);
Davit Lunan's Political Reminiscences;
story. At first Judy's pertness repels the
reader; but like the bad boy who was not
A Very Old Family; Little Rathie's
so very bad either, she wins increasing
“Bural”; and A Literary Club. Humor
respect, and is able, without forfeiting it,
and pathos mingle, and the characters
to defy her grandmother, the unlovely
are vividly real. The charm of the
Mrs. Oldcastle, whose doting indulgence
sketches - the author's earliest important
has come so near ruining her disposition.
work — lies in their delineation of rural
Any one wishing to grasp the true inward-
Scottish character. Mr. Barrie's peculiar
characteristics are well illustrated in the
ness, as well as the external features, of
the life of an English clergyman trying
Idylls.
to get on to some footing with his flock,
All
Il Sorts and Conditions of Men,
has it all here in his own words, with by Sir Walter Besant. The famous
some sensational elements intermingled, People's Palace of East London had its
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
275
origin in this story; and because of it
mainly the author, Walter Besant, was
knighted. The story concerns chiefly
two characters, – the very wealthy or-
phan Angela Messenger, and Harry
Goslett, ward of Lord Joscelyn. Miss
Messenger, after graduating with honors
at Newnham, resolves to examine into
the condition of the people of Stepney
Green, Whitechapel region, where she
owns great possessions (including the
famed Messenger Brewery). To indicate
to the working women of East London a
way of escape from the meanness, misery,
and poverty of their lives, she sets up
among them a co-operative dressmaking
establishment, she herself living with her
work-girls. Her goodness and wealth
bring happiness to many, whose quaint
stories of poverty and struggle form a
considerable portion of the novel. The
book ends with the opening of the Peo-
ple's Palace, and with the heroine's mar-
riage to Harry Goslett, whose dramatic
story is clearly interwoven with the main
plot.
Gertrude of Wyoming, by Thomas
Campbell, was written at Sydenham,
in 1809, when the author was thirty-two,
eleven years after the publication of “The
Pleasures of Hope. It had every adver-
tisement which rank, fashion, reputation,
and the poet's own standing, could lend
it. He chose the Spenserian stanza for
his form of verse, and for his theme the
devastation by the Indians, in 1778, of the
quiet valley of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania,
on the Susquehanna. The poem, which is
in three parts, opens with a description of
Delightful Wyoming,” which Campbell,
who had never seen it, paints as a terres-
trial paradise. One day, to the house of
Gertrude's father comes the Oneida war-
rior Outalissi, bringing a boy whom he
has saved alive from the slaughter of a
British force. The orphan, Albert Walde-
grave, the son of a dear family friend,
lives with them three years, until his rela-
tives send for him. Gertrude grows up
into a lovely woman, roaming among the
forest aisles and leafy bowers, and repos-
ing with her volume of Shakespeare in
sequestered nooks. Albert returns, splen-
did to behold. They enjoy three months
of wedded bliss, and both are killed in the
incursion of Brant and his warriors. The
whole style and manner is pseudo-classic
and old-fashioned; the treatment is vague,
unreal, and indefinite: but a certain sweet-
ness and pathos, combined with the sub-
ject, has kept the poem alive.
Bride from the Bush, A, by Ernest
William Hornung, is a simple tale,
directly told. There is little descriptive
work in it, the characters are few and dis-
tinct, and the story is developed naturally.
Sir James and Lady Bligh, at home in
England, are startled by the news from
their elder son, Alfred, that he is bringing
home a bride from the bush,» to his
father's house. The bride arrives, and
drives to distraction her husband's con-
ventional family, by her outrages upon
conventional propriety. Gladys tries hard
to improve; but after an outbreak more
flagrant than usual, she runs away home
to Australia, because she has overheard a
conversation which implies that her hus-
band's prospects will be brighter without
her, and that he has ceased to love her.
Alfred, broken-hearted at her disappear-
ance, and apprehensive for a time that
she has drowned herself, breaks down
completely; and as soon as he is partially
recovered, he goes out to Australia to find
her. On the way to her father's (run,"
he takes shelter from a sand-storm in the
hut of the boundary rider,” finds a
picture of himself on the pillow, and sur-
mises the truth, of which he is assured
a few moments later, when Gladys, the
« boundary rider,) comes galloping in.
Explanations follow; and the reunited
couple decide to remain in Australia, and
never to return home »
except for an
occasional visit. The book is full of a
spirit of adventure, and a keen sense of
humor, which give value to a somewhat
slight performance.
Gaverocks, The, by S. Baring-Gould,
published in 1889, is one of the tales
of English rural life and studies of dis-
torted development of character, mingled
with a touch of the supernatural, in which
the author excels. Hender Gaverock is
an eccentric old Cornish squire, who has
two sons, Garens and Constantine, whose
natural spirits have been almost wholly
crushed by his harsh and brutal rule.
Garens philosophically submits, but Con-
stantine rebels; and the book is chiefly
occupied with the misdeeds, and their
consequences, of the younger son, whose
revolt against his father's tyranny rapidly
degenerates into a career of vice and
crime. He marries secretly, deserts his
wife, allows himself to be thought drowned,
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
>
finally murdered as he is about to flee the Sand, the Still Hunter, a mysterious
country. Exciting events come thick and
person who has the freedom of the hill
fast, and the various complications of the fastness of the gipsies. ” He has proved
plot gradually unravel themselves. The himself the faithful friend of Patrick
chief characters are boldly and forcibly Heron. He turns out to be John Faa,
drawn, and the scenes on both land and King of the Gipsies. The charm of the
water are vividly portrayed; notably the story is the bewitching May Mischief.
storm in which Constantine and his fa-
ther are wrecked, the «Goose Fair,” and Lin
McLean, by Owen Wister. (1897).
This volume contains six sketches
Garens's samphire gathering. The inter-
est is sustained to the end, and the book
and a short poem; and in each of them
as a whole is a powerful one, though it
the charming cowboy,” as the Vassar
can hardly be called pleasant or agreeable.
girls call him, is the central figure. The
scene is laid in Wyoming “in the happy
days when it was a Territory with a
Raiders, The, by Samuel R. Crock-
future, instead of a State with a past. ”
ett, (1894,) the best story by this
author, is an old-time romance, dealing
Lin McLean is a brave boy and a manly
with the struggles with the outlaws and
man, who does right from inherent good-
smugglers in Galloway early in the
ness, not because he is afraid of the
eighteenth century. It is a thrilling tale
law; and he is successful, whether he is
of border warfare and wild gipsy life,
trying to rope a steer or win a sweet-
and it embodies many old traditions of
heart. He has his troubles, too, but rises
that time and place. The hero, Patrick
above them all, his imperturbable good-
Heron, is laird of the Isle of Rathan, -
nature being a ready ally. The chapters
«an auld name, though noo-a-days wi'
are sketches, primarily, for those who are
but little to the tail o't. » He is in love
tired of the pavements and brick walls
with May Maxwell, called May Mischief
of cities; the air breathes of summer,
and the little cabin on Box Elder is like
- a sister of the Maxwells of Craigdar-
rock, who are by far the strongest of
the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land.
all the smuggling families.
The most noteworthy of these
Hector Faa, the chief of the Raiders,
sketches is A Journey in Search of
Christmas); others are: How Lin Mc-
sees May Mischief, and he too loves her
in his wild way.
The Raiders are, for
Lean Went East); (The Winning of the
the most part, the remnants of broken
Biscuit-Shooter); Lin McLean's Honey-
clans, who have been outlawed
moon); (Separ's Vigilante); and “Destiny
from the border countries, and are made
at Dry bone. )
up of tribes of Marshalls, Macatericks,
Elsi
Isie Venner, by Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Millers, and Faas. Most conspicuous was first published serially, in 1859-
among them are the last-named, calling 60, under the name of The Professor's
themselves (Lords and Earls of Little Story. ) The romance is a study in hered-
Egypt. By reason of his position and ity, introducing a peculiar series of phe-
power, Hector Faa dares to send word
nomena closely allied to such dualism
to the Maxwells that their sister must of nature as may best be described by
be his bride.
the word "ophianthropy. ) Delineations
« The curse that Richard Maxwell sent of the characters, social functions, and
back is remembered yet in the Hill religious peculiarities of a New England
Country, and his descendants mention it village, form a setting for the story.
with a kind of pride. It was considered Elsie Venner is a young girl whose
as fine a thing as the old man ever did physical and psychical peculiarities oc-
since he dropped profane swearing and casion much grief and perplexity to
took to anathemas from the psalms,- her father, a widower of gentle nature
which did just as well. ”
and exceptional culture. The victim of
The outlaws then proceed to attack some pre-natal casualty, Elsie shows
the Maxwells and carry off May Mis- from infancy unmistakable traces of a
chief. Patrick Heron joins the Maxwells serpent-nature intermingling with her
in the long search for their sister. After higher self. This nature dies within her
many bloody battles and hair-breadth only when she yields to an absorbing
escapes, he is finally successful in rescu- love. Like all the work of Dr. Holmes,
ing her from the Murder Hole. This the story is brilliantly written and full
he accomplishes by the aid of Silver of epigrammatic sayings; it is acute
even
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
277
mata.
though harsh in dissection of New Eng- after that, the presence of a beautiful
land life, and distinguished by psycho- woman caused him to faint away. A
logical insight and the richest humor. love story is interwoven with the story
of his cure.
Au
utocrat of the Breakfast Table, The,
by Oliver Wendell Holmes, - a series Crime of Henry Vane, The: A Study
WITH A Moral, by J. S. of Dale
of essays appearing first in the Atlantic
(F. J. Stimson). Henry Vane is a man
Monthly,– consists of imaginary conver-
whose youthful enthusiasm has been par-
sations around a boarding-house table,
alyzed by successive misfortunes. He is
and contains also many of his most
a cynic before he is out of his teens.
famous poems: The Deacon's Master-
Disappointed and disillusioned, he never
piece, or the Wonderful One-Hoss Shay);
regains his natural poise. The moral of
(The Chambered Nautilus); (The Old
his life is, that he who swims continu-
Man Dreams); (Contentment); Æstiva-
ously against the current will in time be
tion); the bacchanalian ode with the tee-
overcome, and he who daily antagonizes
total committee's matchless alterations;
the world will find his only peace in
and others. The characters are intro-
death. The events of the story might
duced to the reader as the Autocrat, the
occur in any American city, and in any
Schoolmistress, the Old Gentleman Oppo-
site, the Young Man Called John, The good social setting. It is vividly told,
interesting, and good in craftsmanship;
Landlady, the Landlady's Daughter, the
while the author's pictures of the crudi-
Poor Relation, and the Divinity Student;
but Holmes is far too good an artist to
ties of American society and the unre-
make them talk always the “patter” of
straint of American girls are well if
their situations or functions, like auto-
pitilessly drawn.
Many subjects -- art, science, the-
ology, philosophy, travel, etc.