No More Learning

The author begins thus: “Few and
A skeleton of the plot would convey no
precious are the words which the lips of
wisdom utter;" and he proceeds to com-
impression of the strength and charm of
pile a work filling 415 pages.
the story. It seems to have been, in the
The poems or meditations were pub-
author's mind, a recognition of the hero-
lished between 1838 and 1867; and are
ism of commonplace natures in common-
in two series, dealing with over sixty
place surroundings, of the nobility of noble
character wherever found. But Adam
subjects. The book contains many wise
sayings, but it is mostly padded common-
Bede. intelligent, excellent, satisfactory
place. For many years it was in great
though he is, is quite subordinated in
demand, but lately it has been subjected
interest to the figure of poor Hetty, made
to ridicule.
tragic through suffering and injustice.
Her beauty, her vanity, her very silli-
ness, endear her.
Dinah Morris, the wo-
Pilot and His Wife, The, by Jonas Lie.
This story is of Norwegian sim-
man preacher, is a study from life, serene
plicity. The scene is laid partly in Nor-
and lovely. Mr. Irwine, the easy-going
way, partly in South America where the old parson, is a typical English clergyman
hero goes on his voyages. Salve Kris-
of the early nineteenth century; Bartle
tiansen loves Elizabeth Rakley, whom
Massey, the schoolmaster, is one of those
he has known from her childhood, which
humble folk, full of character, foibles,
was spent in a lighthouse on a lonely
absurdities, and homely wisdom, whom
island, with her grandfather. Salve is George Eliot draws with loving touches;
a sailor, later on a pilot. He hears that
while Mrs. Poyser, with her epigrammatic
Elizabeth is engaged to a naval officer
shrewdness, her untiring energy, her fine
named Beck, and in a rage goes on a
pride of respectability, her acerbity of
long voyage.
Later he finds the report
speech, and her charity of heart, belongs
false; she confesses her love for him, and
to the company of the Immortals.
they are married.
He is of a jealous,
suspicious nature, and fierce in temper
. Trilby, by George Du Maurier, is a
She is often unhappy, but at last she
story of English and Continental
sees that it is useless to submit passively;
art life and literary life of a generation
that there can be no happiness without ago, narrated by one who participated
mutual trust: so she reclaims and shows
in the scenes and recalls them in mem-
him the letter in which she refused to
ory. The action is chiefly in Paris.
marry Beck because my heart is anoth- Trilby is a handsome girl whose father
er's. ) Convinced at last of her loyalty,
a bohemian Irish gentleman and
Kristiansen after a struggle conquers his
her mother a Scotch barmaid. Trilby
is laundress and artist's model in the
jealousy, and life is happy at last.
Latin Quarter. She is great friends
Ad dam Bede, the earliest of George Eliot's with three artists who are chums: Taffy,
novels, was published in 1859, as “by a big Yorkshire Englishman; the Laird,
the author of (Scenes of Clerical Life. ) » a Scotchman; and Little Billee, an Eng-
The story was at once pronounced by the lish fellow who has genius as a painter,
critics to be not more remarkable for its and whose drawing of Trilby's beautiful
grace, its unaffected Saxon style, and its foot is a chef d'auvre. He loves her,
charm of naturalness, than for its percep- and she returns the feeling, but Little
tion of those universal springs of action Billee's very respectable family oppose
was


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486
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
the match, and Trilby, after saying yes, Burchell, who turns out to be Sir Will-
decides it to be her duty to refuse, iam Thornhill, the uncle of the young
which drives her lover into a brain Squire. Sir William asks for Sophia's
fever. Amongst the bohemians who fre- band, and sets right the family misfor-
quent the studio is Svengali, an Austrian tunes. Numerous pathetic and humorous
Jew, who is of repulsive character but incidents arise out of the story. Among
a gifted musician, He is attracted by the latter is that of the family picture,
Trilby, and discovers that she has the which, when finished, was too large for
making of a splendid singer. He half the house. Mrs. Primrose was painted
repels, half fascinates her; and by the as Venus, the Vicar in bands and gown,
use of hypnotic power forces her to go presenting to her his books on the Whis-
away with him.
She wins fame as a tonian controversy; Olivia was an Ama-
concert artist, always singing in a sort zon sitting upon bank of flowers,
of hypnotic trance under his influence. dressed in a green joseph, richly laced
The three artists, visiting Paris after a with gold, and a whip in her hand;
five years' absence, attend one of these Sophia, a shepherdess; Moses, dressed
performances, and are astounded to rec- out with a hat and white feather); while
ognize Trilby. Svengali, now rich and the Squire insisted on being put in as
prosperous, dies suddenly at a concert one of the family in the character of
while Trilby is singing; and she, missing Alexander the Great, at Olivia's feet. ”
his hypnotic influence, loses her power Austin Dobson says that the Vicar of
to sing, goes into a decline, and dies, Wakefield) (remains and will continue
surrounded by her old friends. Little to be one of the first of our English
Billee, heart-broken, also dies, though classics.
not before he has won reputation as an
artist.
The final pages form a sort of Speed The Plongh, by Thomas Mor-
postscript twenty years after, telling of
.
first
the fate of the subsidiary characters. duced in 1796, we owe one of our best-
The main interest is over with Trilby's known characters, the redoubtable Mrs.
death.
Grundy. Here as elsewhere she is in-
visible; and it is what she may say,
Wakefield, The, Oliver not what she does say, that Dame
Goldsmith's famous story, was pub- Ashfield fears. Farmer Ashfield has
lished in 1766. Washington Irving said brought up from infancy a young man
of it: «The irresistible charm this novel named Henry, whose parentage is un-
possesses, evinces how much may be known. Sir Philip Blandford, Ashfield's
done without the aid of extravagant in- landlord, is about to return after many
cident to excite the imagination and in- years' absence, to marry his daughter
terest the feelings. Few productions of Emma to Bob Handy, who can do
the kind afford greater amusement in everything but earn his bread. »
Sir
the perusal, and still fewer inculcate Abel, Bob's father, is to pay all Bland-
more impressive lessons of morality. ” ford's debts. In a plowing-match, Henry
The character of the Vicar, Dr. Prim- wins the prize, and Emma bestows the
rose, gives the chief interest to the tale. medal. It is a case of love at first sight.
His weaknesses and literary vanity are Sir Philip hates Henry, and orders Ash-
attractive; and he rises to heights almost field to turn him from his doors, but
sublime when misfortune overtakes his he refuses. Sir Philip is about to force
family. The other actors in the simple Ashfield to discharge a debt, when a
drama Mrs. Primrose, with her
named Morrington gives Henry
boasted domestic qualities and her anx- the note of Sir Philip for more than
iety to appear genteel; the two daugh- the amount. Henry destroys it, when
ters, Olivia and Sophia; and the two Sir Philip declares that Morrington,
sons, George, bred at Oxford, and whom he has never seen, has by en-
Moses, who «received a sort of miscel- couraging Sir Philip's vices when young,
laneous education at home,» — all of possessed himself of enough notes to
whom the Vicar says were equally gener- more than exhaust Sir Philip's fortune.
ous, credulous, simple, and inoffensive. » Sir Philip confides his secret to Bob.
Squire Thornhill resides near the family, He was to marry a young girl, when
and elopes with Olivia, to the great dis- he found her about elope with his
tress of the Vicar. He suspects Mr. brother Charles. He killed Charles, and
Vicar of
are
man


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
487
common
seaman,
hid the knife and a bloody cloth in often brutalities, which accompany a sea-
a part of the castle which he has never man's life. Mr. Dana sets forth from
visited since. Sir Abel, in experiment- his own personal experience the thoughts,
ing with a substitute for gun-powder, feelings, enjoyments, and sufferings, as
sets the castle on fire. Henry saves well as the real life and character, of the
Emma from the flames; and breaking
In reading it one
into the secret room, brings forth the finds more than the ordinary record of
knife and cloth. Morrington appears, a sea voyage; for there runs through the
and proves to be Sir Philip's brother simple and lucid narrative an element
and Henry's father. To atone for the of beauty and power which gives it the
wrong done his brother, he had gath- charm of romance. The book was im-
ered all the notes which his brother mediately successful, passed through
had given to usurers, and now gives many editions, was adopted by the Brit-
them to him. Bob marries Susan, Ash- ish Board of Admiralty for distribution
field's daughter, whom he was about to to the navy, and was translated into
desert for Emma; and the latter is mar- many Continental languages. In 1869
ried to Henry
the author added a supplementary chap-
ter giving an account of a second visit
Two Years Before the Mast, by Rich- to California, and the subsequent his-
ard Henry Dana. This personal tory of many of the persons and vessels
narrative of a sailor's life is probably mentioned in the original work. Will-
the most truthful and accurate work of iam Cullen Bryant, who procured the
its character ever written. Although first publication of the book, recom-
originally published in 1840, the produc- mended it to the publishers as “equal
tion of a youth just out of college, it to Robinson Crusoe )); and the event has
still holds its charm and its popularity ustified his forecast, with the additional
in the face of all rivals and successors. merit that the story is absolutely real
The author, upon graduating from Har- and truthful.
vard College in the year 1837, at the
age of twenty-two, was forced to sus-
Till Eulenspiegel. The origin of this
pend his studies on account of an affec- book of the adventures of Till Eulen-
tion of his eyes. Having a strong pas- spiegel is doubtful. It is supposed that
sion for the sea, he shipped before the these stories were collected and first pub-
mast » upon the brig Pilgrim for a voy- lished in Low Dutch, in the year 1483.
age around Cape Horn on a trading trip The hero of them, whose first name was
for hides to California. After rounding Till or Thyl, was a traveling buffoon,
the Horn the Pilgrim touched at Juan who, besides presenting farces and the
Fernandez; the next land sighted being like, was a practical joker. The name of
California, then inhabited only by In- Eulenspiegel probably comes from a pict-
dians and a few Spaniards. She visited ure or coat of arms which he left after
Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, perpetrating a joke, which consisted of
and finally San Diego, the depot of the an owl (Eule) and a mirror (Spiegel),
business. Here Dana remained sev- and which is to-day shown, on what is
eral months ashore, handling and curing said to be his gravestone, in Lüneburg.
hides. He did not return home in the The motive of many of the jokes is the
Pilgrim, but upon the arrival of the ship literal interpretation by Till of what he
Alert, consigned by the same owners, is told to do; something after the style
he procured an exchange to her. The of Handy Andy, except that Till's mis.
voyage home in this vessel is graphic- interpretations are not the result of sim-
ally described. While aboard of her plicity. Many of them are very filthy,
Dana touched at San Francisco, where, while others would to-day be considered
except the Presidio, there then existed
crimes and not jokes. It is difficult to
one wooden shanty only. This was af- understand how this book could have had
terwards rebuilt as a one-story adobe a popularity which has caused it to be
house; and long remained as the oldest translated into many languages. It is
building in the now great city.
to-day only appreciated as a curious pict-
The book contains a straightforward ure of the tastes and customs of its time.
and manly account of the life of a fore- It differs from like books of southern
mast hand at that date; and it gives in Europe in that none of the stories are
detail the adventures, hardships, and too founded on amorous intrigues.


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488
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
not
to
Valentine Vox, The Ventriloquist, servant Kory-Kory, petted by a score of
by Henry Cockton. This novel has beauteous dusky damsels, and especially
enjoyed popularity since the time of its adored by the incomparable Fayaway.
publication. Its hero, Valentine Vox, a But discontent lurked in his bosom;
young English gentleman living at home and at length, to the sorrow and even
with his mother, a rich widow, is struck against the will of his hosts,- poor Fay-
with admiration of the ventriloquism of away was quite inconsolable, - he con-
an itinerant juggler and magician who trived to make his escape on a Sydney
visits his native place. To his delight, whaler which was short of men.
he finds that he himself possesses the (Omoo) (The Rover) continues our au-
ventriloquial power; and by a diligent thor's adventures, changing the scene to
course of training he perfects himself in Tahiti, whither the steamer Julia pro-
it. On a trip to London Valentine ceeded. While in Papeetee harbor Mel-
visits the House of Commons, the opera, ville and a new friend, Dr. Long
Gravesend, the British Museum, Guild- Ghost,” joined some malcontents among
hall, a masquerade at Vauxhall, the the crew, who had a grievance against
«200, the Ascot races, etc. ; and wher- the captain, and were put ashore. Wil-
ever he goes he indulges his propensity son, the high-handed English consul, or-
for practical joking to the fullest extent dered them into the calaboza,” where,
One adventure follows another with with not too much to eat, they stayed
breathless rapidity. With the whole is several weeks under the benevolent cus-
inwoven a love story, not of a very pro- tody of Captain Bob, an old native.
found nature. There is no plot; and the They were finally helped away to Imeeo,
incidents are a harum-scarum collection a neighboring island, by two planters
of disjointed happenings, while the book who wished to engage them as farm
has little literary merit. But the rois- hands. Digging in the ground with
tering and uproarious fun that fills the primitive hoes proved
their
thick volume makes it a welcome com- tastes, however; and they soon departed
panion to most young people «from six- for Taloo, where they were hospitably
teen to sixty. ”
treated by «Deacon Jeremiah Po-Po, a
native convert. They attended church,
and Omoo, by Herman Melville. participated in a feast, visited a royal
The first-named work, (Typee,' a fa- palace under care of a pretty little maid
mous book, the forerunner of all South- of honor, caught a glimpse of Queen
Sea romances, the most charming of all, Pomaree, and otherwise enjoyed them-
and the source of many new words in selves, until, a Vineyard whaler appear-
our vocabulary, like taboo, is a narrative ing, Melville bade farewell to Dr. Long
of the author's enforced sojourn, in the Ghost,” and sailed away. In these two
summer of 1842, among the cannibal books the author has succeeded in his
Typees on one of the Marquesas Islands. stated purpose of conveying some idea
It appeared simultaneously in New York of novel scenes that frequently occur
and London, and won everywhere the among whaling crews in the South Pa-
highest praise. With Toby, another cific, and in giving a familiar account
young sailor, Melville deserted from the of the condition of the converted Poly-
steamship Dolly, in Nukaheva Bay, in- nesians.
tending to seek asylum with the friendly
Happars; but they missed their way and ves and Daughters, by Mrs. Gas-
arrived in Typee Valley. They were
kell. (1865. ) This is a delightful
well received there, however, were given story of country life in England. It
abundant food (eaten under some appre- follows Molly Gibson through all the
hensions that they were being fattened), various experiences of her girlhood, be-
and except that their attempts to depart ginning with her life as a child alone
were frowned on, they had no cause to with her father, the doctor, in the vil-
complain. After about a month Toby lage; describing her visits and friend-
became separated from his comrade, ships in the neighborhood, and finally,
and was taken off the island in a pass- after her father has married again, her
ing ship. For four months Melville new life with the second Mrs. Gibson
lived an indolent, luxurious life in a sort and her daughter Cynthia. The charac-
of terrestrial paradise, with nothing to ters are unusually interesting and well
do, plenty to eat, waited on by a body drawn, with humor and sympathetic
Typee
Wives


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
489
derstanding. There is the old Squire of
the town, with his two sons: Osborne,
the pride of his heart, who has married
secretly beneath his social standing in
life; and Roger, a fine, sturdy fellow,
who bears the burdens of the family,
and upon whom every one relies. There
is the great family at the Towers, the
members of which patronize the villagers,
and furnish them with food for specula-
tion and gossip; and then, besides the
doctor and his family, there is Miss
Browning, Miss Phoebe, and the other
funny old ladies of the town. Mrs. Gib-
son's character is wonderfully depicted.
She is one of those delicate, yielding
women, with an iron will carefully con-
cealed; and she is diplomatic enough to
feign a sweetness of disposition she does
possess. She has little heart or
sense of duty; and her child Cynthia,
though fascinating and brilliant, is the
sort of girl one would expect from care-
less bringing up and continued neglect.
Molly's untiring patience towards Mrs.
Gibson, and her generous devotion to
Cynthia, even at the expense of her own
happiness, endear her to every one; and
though Mrs. Gaskell died before the
completion of the story, we are told that
she intended Roger to marry Molly. As
Molly has long loved him, we may sup-
pose that her troubles at length end
happily.
not
good looks, high principle, and universal
success; and one cannot help wishing
this impossible paragon to come down
off his high horse, and be natural, even
at the expense of being naughty. The
novelist overreached himself in this fic-
tion, which added nothing to the fame
of the creator of Pamela' and Clar-
issa. Richardson had sympathy for and
insight into the heart feminine, but for
the most part failed egregiously with
men,- though Lovelace in (Clarissa
Harlowe) is an exception. Like all his.
novels, “Sir Charles Grandison) is written
in epistolary form.
Undine, by De La Motte Fouqué.
(1814. ) This is a fanciful German
tale, well known for its beauty of con-
ception and expression. Sir Huldbrand
of Ringstetten is obliged to explore
an enchanted forest to win fair Bertal-
da's glove. At the end of a day full of
mysterious adventures in the forest, he
rides out upon a lonely promontory of
land, where an old fisherman and his
wife give him shelter. Years before
they had lost their own child by the
lake, and afterwards a beautiful little
girl had come to them: it was the water-
spirit Undine. She is now eighteen
years old; and when she sees the hand-
some knight she falls in love with him,
and causes the elements to detain him
many days at their cottage. The storms
send a priest to land, and he marries.
Undine and Sir Huldbrand. Undine
had been a lovely but irresponsible
creature to the day of her wedding, but
after her marriage she becomes pos-
sessed of a soul through their mutual
love. The waters having subsided, Sir
Huldbrand carries his bride back to the
city, where Bertalda and Undine become
warm friends. The water-spirit Kühle-
born warns Undine against Bertalda;
but when it is discovered that Bertalda
is the fisherman's daughter, Undine pities
her, and takes her home to the castle at
Ringstetten. There Bertalda wins Huld-
brand's heart from Undine, and she is.
very unhappy. Undine tries to save her
husband and Bertalda, but the water-
spirits become enraged against him; and
when they are all in a boat sailing to
Vienna, Undine vanishes under the water.
On the night that Huldbrand marries
Bertalda, Undine arises from the fount-
ain in the court, sweeps into his room,
and fulfills the laws of her destiny by a
Sir Charles Grandison, Samuel Rich-
ardson's third and last novel, was
published in 1754, when the author was
sixty-five years of age. In it he essayed
to draw the portrait of what he con-
ceived to be an ideal gentleman of the
period, — the eighteenth century. The
result was that he presented the world,
not at all with the admirable figure he
had intended, but with an insufferable
prig surrounded by a bevy of worship-
ing ladies. The novel, both in charac-
ter-drawing and story-interest, is much
below his earlier work. (Sir Charles
Grandison) shows his genius in its de-
cline, after the brilliant earlier successes.
The plot is neither intricate nor inter-
esting. It centres in the very proper
wooing of Harriet Byron by the hero;
who wins her, as the reader has
doubt he will, and who in the course
of his wooing exhibits towards her and
her sex an unexampled chivalry which
strikes one as unnatural. Grandison has
everything in his favor, - money, birth,
no


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490
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
nuns
or
fond embrace that takes his life; and he
dies in her arms. A little spring ripples
beside the grave of the knight; and in
the village the people believ
it is poor
Undine, who loved too faithfully and
suffered so much. Undine) is consid:
ered the author's masterpiece.
History of the United Netherlands, by
John Lothrop Motley. This work was
published in four volumes in London in
1860, in New York in 1868. It covers
the period from the death of William
the Silent to the year 1609; and like
(The Rise of the Dutch Republic, to
which it is immediately sequent, it has
become one of the classics of English
historical narrative. There are later
works on the same epoch that have
changed received opinion on some minor
points of character and event, but Mr.
Motley, in his volumes of Dutch his-
tory, has no rival in his power of reviv-
ing the age and its heroes for the
reader, in his scholarly analysis of re-
mote causes, and in his clear and con-
vincing style.
Under the Yoke (Pod Igoto'), by
Ivan Vazoff, is the best-known
piece of literature Bulgaria has produced.
It was written during the author's un-
merited exile in Russia; and the sensa-
tion it created brought about his recall
to Bulgaria. As a record of one of the
series of revolutions that completed the
nation's release, in 1878, from the Turk-
ish yoke, it will always be dea to his
countrymen. As a tale of love and war
in equal parts, embroidered upon the
sombre background of the central Bal-
kan, passes the limits of local in-
terest, appealing to all lovers of lib-
erty. Humorous passages and delicate
touches abound. Vazoff is not only a
natural story-teller, but a poet of a high
order. Like Chaucer and Ronsard, he
found his native tongue in a state of
transition and fermentation, that, on the
whole, rendered the opportunities greater
than the drawbacks. He was first in
a rich field; and in this novel the em-
barrassment of material is evident from
the beginning. In an early chapter the
celebration of a domestic event has
brought together the descendants and
connections of the conservative, morose,
and unpopular Diamandieff. He has
an irrepressible married daughter, whose
sallies keep her husband in sub, ction
and her guests in fits of laughter. Then
there is Diamancho Grigoroff, the story-
teller, with his look of intense cun-
ning, whose rambling narratives and
flagrant exaggerations command the ut-
most attention. Monastic restrictions are
more honored in the breach than in the
observance, for
of the Greek
Church are not wanting to the feast.
There are young men dressed in the
fashions of Paris and belonging to the
jeunesse dorée of Bulgaria. Lalka, the
host's pretty daughter, pale with grief
at the arrest of a young physician of
revolutionary tendencies, and Rada, a
beautiful orphan in black, to whom no
one pays the slightest attention as she
moves about with the after-dinner coffee,
but who is the heroine of the story,
complete the charm of a scene in which
the characters are pointed out some-
what after the orderly methods of the
prologue.
Taciturnity is not a national
trait, and the characters have plenty to
say, but say it with more or less reserve
according to their proclivities; one
two of them, ripe for a revolt against
Turkish authority, hardly daring to com-
mit themselves. The outrages attributed
to the Turks, although grewsome read-
ing, furnish a perfect parallel to those
still inflicted upon Armenians. The
book would therefore be useful to a
student of the Armenian question.
Victorian Poets, The, by Edmund Clar-
ence Stedman. (1876. ) A book of
literary and biographical criticism, and,
at the same time, a historical survey of
the course of British poetry for forty
years (1835–75), showing the authors
and works best worth attention, and the
development through them of the prin-
ciples and various ideals of poetic art as
now understood and followed. It forms
a guide-book to 150 authors, their lives,
their productions, their ideas and sym-
pathies, and their poetic methods. The
author had contemplated a survey of
American poetry, with a critical consid-
eration of its problems, difficulties, fail.
ures, and successes; and to prepare him-
self for this, and make sure to himself
correct ideas of the aim and province of
the art of poetry, that he might more
certainly use wisdom and justice in
studying the American field, he under-
took first the thorough critical examina-
tion of the English field, of which the
present volume
the result. The
book, therefore, may be viewed as the
was


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
491
>
earlier half of a large work, of which
(The Poets of America, published in
1885, is the later half; and this concep-
tion by Mr. Stedman of the unity in
historical development of English and
American culture attests, as the entire
execution of his task everywhere does,
the clearness and breadth of his insight,
and the value of his guidance to the
student of poetry. The distinction, in
fact, of Mr. Stedman, shown in all his
work, and marking a stage in the larger
progress of American culture, is his rank
a scholar and thinker in literature,
broadly conscious of all high ideals, and
thereby superior to the provincial nar-
rowness of uninstructed Americanism.
He thus has no theory of poetry, no
school, to uphold; but favors a generous
eclecticism or universalism in art, and
extends sympathetic appreciation to what-
ever is excellent of its kind.
as the chase of the privateer by a British
frigate, the drilling of Irish rebels by
moonlight, and the prevention by the
coast-guard of the landing of ammuni-
tion. The questions of the relation of
landlord and tenant, of church, education,
industries, and government, are discussed
with great lucidity, and the national char-
acteristics of the Irish are shown: their
love of that which has existed for cen-
turies, their opposition to improvements,
and their instability and lack of cohesion.
That incomprehensible machine, the gov-
ernment, is shown in a part of the story
of which Dublin is the scene; and there
is a description of a riot which is sup-
pressed by the dragoons.
The book carries that interest which is
always felt in a well-told historical story,
and the descriptions of Irish scenery are
vivid.
as
Two Chiefs of Dunboy, The, by James
(1889. ) This is
the only novel written by Froude, whose
book on (The English in Ireland in the
Eighteenth Century) had already estab-
lished him as an authority on Irish mat-
ters.
The scene of the story opens on the
banks of the Loire, near Nantes, France;
where one Blake, a ship-owner and Irish
exile, fits out a vessel as a pirate to prey
upon British shipping, and persuades
Morty Sullivan, one of the chiefs of Dun-
boy and an Irish exile, to take the com-
mand. The chief action of the plot takes
place at or near the village of Castleton
in Bantry Bay, Ireland; where Colonel
Goring, the other chief of Dunboy, an
Englishman, has established a Protestant
settlement for the purpose of working the
copper mines, establishing a fishery, and
protecting the coast from smugglers. The
time is the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury. Goring is a magistrate, and is
feared and hated by the Irish peasantry.
He is fearless in the discharge of what
he believes to be his duty, in which he
receives but slight support from the gov-
ernment. He is eventually killed treach-
erously by Morty Sullivan and some ac-
complices. Sullivan, who has visited
Ireland for the purpose of estimating the
chances of success in case the French
should land troops, is killed in an attempt
to escape from the government forces.
The story gives opportunity for the rela-
tion of many thrilling adventures, such
Utopia, by Sir Thomas More. This
book, which was written in Latin
in 1615, is the source from which have
been taken many of the socialistic ideas
which are to-day interesting modern
thinkers. At the time it was written,
the author, fearing to acknowledge these
ideas as his own, attributed them to a
mythical person, Raphael Hythloday,
lately returned from America, whither
he had gone with Amerigo Vespucci.
In describing a country which he had
visited, called Utopia (meaning in Greek
(no place »), he calls attention to abuses
then prevalent in England; among
them the punishment of death for theft,
high rent of land, the number of idle
retainers, the decay of husbandry, the
costliness of the necessities of life, and
the licentiousness and greed of the rich,
who, by monopolies, control the markets.
In (Utopia) the government is rep-
resentative. The life is communism. No
man is allowed to be idle; but labor is
abridged, and the hours of toil are as
brief as is consistent with the general
welfare. AN are well educated, and
take interest in the study of good lit-
erature. Such a lessening of labor is
gained by a community of all things,
that none are in need, and there is no
desire to
more than each man
Gold and silver are only used
for vessels of baser use, and for the fet-
ters of bondmen. Happiness is regarded
as the highest good; but that of the
body politic above that of the individ-
ual. Law-breakers are made bondmen.
amass
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492
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
more
There are few laws; for it is not just
that men should be bound by laws more
numerous than can be read, or
complex than may be readily under-
stood. War is abhorred; it being most
just when employed to take vacant land
from people who keep others from pos-
session of it. There are many religions
but no images. They thank God for all
their blessings, and especially for placing
them in that state and religion which
seemeth best; but they pray, if there be
any better state or religion, God will
reveal it unto them.
Many reforms which More suggested
are no longer considered Utopian; among
them, entire freedom in matters of re-
ligion, in support of which he lost his
life.
an interview with Archie, in which she
brings him to a sense of his wrong in
making love to a girl out of his sta-
tion, and he has a stormy meeting with
his sweetheart - at which point the
novel breaks off, all the elements for a
tragedy having been introduced. The
plot as planned by Stevenson involved
the betrayal of the young Kirstie by
Innes, although she is faithful in heart
to Archie, who kills his rival and is
condemned to death by his own father,
the judge. Kirstie's brothers, known as
the “Four Black Brothers, seek to take
vengeance on Archie as the betrayer of
their sister; but on learning the true
state of the case, they rescue him from
prison, and the lovers flee together to
America. Here was splendid material
for dramatic handling, and Stevenson
would have made the most of it. The
novel is written in the finest vein of
romance; and the drawing of such char-
acters as the judge — whose historic pro-
totype is Lord Braxfield — and Kirstie
the elder, is unsurpassed in his fiction.
The Scotch coloring is perfect.
))
Weir
ir of Hermiston, an unfinished ro-
mance by Robert Louis Stevenson,
the last novel he wrote, was published
in 1896. A fragment, it gave promise of
being his best work. An appended edi-
torial note by Sidney Colvin tells how
the plot was to be carried out. Nine
chapters only had been written, the last
on the very day of Stevenson's death.
The whole action passes in Edinburgh
and the lowlands of Scotland; the time
is the early nineteenth century. Weir
is a Lord Justice Clerk, a stern, silent,
masterful man, noteworthy for his im-
placable dealings with criminals; his
wife is a soft, timid, pious creature,
whose death is told in the first chapter.
Their son Archie is of a bookish turn,
high-spirited, sensitive, idealistic, grow-
ing up with little attention from his
father. But gradually Weir comes to
care for his son, who is so revolted by
the father's relish of his function in
hanging a malefactor, that he cries out
against the execution while it is taking
place. This incenses the judge, who
sends him to his moorland country es-
tate of Hermiston to learn to be a laird.
There he falls in with Kirstie Elliot and
wins her love, and is tended by her
aunt Kirstie, a dependent of the Her-
miston house, who cares for Archie (as
she did for his mother) with almost
maternal affection. A visit from Frank
Innes-an Edinburgh schoolmate of Ar-
chie's, and a shallow, vain, but hand-
A Simple Story, by Mrs. Inch bald.
A Simple Story) was written, as.
the preface to the first edition tells us,
under the impulse of necessity in 1791.
It is divided into two parts, and relates
the love affairs of a mother and her
daughter. In the first part, Miss Milner
is left by her father under the guardian-
ship of Mr. Dorriforth, a Catholic priest.
To his displeasure, she leads a life of
great gayety, surrrounded by numerous
suitors, among whom is prominent one
Sir Frederick Lawnley. At the instiga-
tion of another priest, Sandford, who is
irritated by Miss Milner's lack of stable
virtue, Dorriforth removes with his ward
to the country. There he urges her to
declare her true feelings toward Lawn-
ley. In the presence of Sanford she de-
nies all interest in the young man; but
the next day, on hearing that Dorri-
forth had, in a moment of anger, struck
Lawnley for presuming to pursue her,
and had thus exposed himself to the
necessity of a duel, she decides that
her profession of indifference was false.
Still she refuses absolutely to continue
her acquaintance with Lawnley. To
Miss Woodley, her friend, she furnishes
a key to her contradictions by declaring
that she really loves Dorriforth. Miss
Woodley, shocked at such a passion for
fellow- makes trouble; for he
maligns Archie to the country folk,
and seeks to win the younger Kirstie
away from him. Kirstie the elder has
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
493
more
а
VOWS.
car-
a priest, insists on her departure to visit
some friends.
During this visit, Dor-
riforth becomes Lord Elmwood, and
obtains dispensation from his priestly
On hearing, through Miss Wood-
ley, of the true state of his ward's feel-
ings, he declares himself her lover; but
her frivolity and disregard of his
wishes make him break the engage-
ment. Her sorrow at his departure for
Italy, however, is so great that Sand-
ford, convinced of their mutual love,
marries them, and dismisses the
riage which was to take him away.
During the interval between the first
and second parts of the story, Lady
Elmwood, led astray by Sir Frederick,
has been banished with her daughter
from her husband's presence, and his
nephew Rushbrook is adopted as his
heir. At the death of his wife, Elm-
wood consents that his daughter Matilda
and the faithful Woodley may live in
his country house, provided that he
never see his daughter or hear her name.
Rushbrook falls in love with Matilda,
and almost incurs his uncle's extreme
displeasure by his hesitation to
fess the object of his love. At last
Matilda meets her father quite by acci-
dent on the stairs, and is banished to
a farm near by. Here she is consoled
by frequent visits from Sandford, who
intercedes with her father for her as far
as he dares. At length Lord Margrave,
a neighboring peer, attracted by her
beauty, carries her to his house by
force. News is brought to Lord Elm-
wood, who pursues,
rescues, and
stores his daughter to her rightful posi-
tion. Out of gratitude for his compassion
when she was unfortunate, she accepts
Rushbrook's love with the happiest re-
sults.
The characters are inconsistent and
unreal, swayed entirely by passion and
sensibility, of which the story is full;
they are cruel or kind, they weep, faint,
curse, without any apparent motive. At
the end, the author declares that the
object of the tale is to show the value
of “a proper education. ”
it to be
than translation. )
Vathek, ninth Caliph of the race of the
Abassides, is the son of Motassem, and
the grandson of Haroun al Raschid.
Though a Prince Charming, he is yet a
capricious ruler, indulging his desires in
the most extravagant manner and fall-
ing into illness when his will is crossed.
His troubles begin when he meets a
Giaour, who obtains a strange influence
over him; and after leading him into
shocking enormities, induces him to ab-
jure Mohammedanism and call upon the
Prince of the powers of the air. In this
course Vathek is encouraged by the
queen-mother, Carathis, whose incanta-
tions produce the most appalling results.
He sets out to meet the Giaour, to
obtain from him the treasures of the
pre-Adamite Sultans, with other much-
desired gifts. But on his way he meets
and falls in love with the beautiful
young Nouronihar, and spends many
days in wooing her. At last, with the
maiden, he proceeds upon the journey,
and enters the awful Hall of Eblis, filled
with ineffable glories. Here he receives
indeed all that is promised him, but
deprived of any wish to possess it or
capacity to enjoy it; and learns that his
self-seeking and heartless service of his
own appetites has drawn upon him the
punishment of eternal torment and re-
morse; a doom which includes the loss
of “the most precious of the gifts of
heaven,– Hope. ”
con-
re-
Lif
ife of Laurence Oliphant, and of
Alice Oliphant his Wife, The, by
Margaret O. W. Oliphant (1891), one of
the most fascinating and satisfactory
biographies in the English language, has
made luminous and intelligible a char-
acter that might be readily misunder-
stood or misinterpreted. Laurence Oli-
phant, a thorough product of his cen-
tury, combined its most diverse forces:
its scientific spirit and its mysticism, its
brilliant and thoughtful wordliness, and
its passionate idealism. In him the mys-
tical at last predominated, and wrapped
him as in a cloud from the comprehen-
sion of his fellows. His biographer has
traced this spiritual development side by
side with the events of his outward life,
- a life of unusual picturesqueness and
depth of color. His travels in Russia, in
America and Canada, in China, in the
Crimea, and in the Holy Land, form
striking background to that other
Vathek, The History of the Caliph,
by William Beckford. (1786. ) This
imaginative and gorgeous story first ap-
peared in French. « Vathek bears such
marks of originality,” says Lord Byron,
«that those who have visited the East
will have some difficulty in believing
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494
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
journey towards lands very far off,"
from which he never rested. His spir-
itual pilgrimage and its unearthly goal
gave reason and coherence to his life.
Many of his letters are collected in this
biography, throwing additional light
upon a nature made for the intimacies
of affection, for the revelations of friend-
ship.
more
Nemesis of Faith, The, by James An-
thony Froude. A small book pub-
lished in 1849, but purporting to review
the experience at Oxford in 1843 of a
student of that time, in whose mind
doubts arose which led him to give up
the ministry of religion in the Church
of England. It in fact reflects Mr.
Froude's own experience, so far as re-
lates to the departure of the hero of
the story from orthodoxy of belief, and
his relinquishment of the clerical pro-
fession. The thread of story in the
book is only just enough to enable Mr.
Froude to make an imaginary charac-
ter speak for him; first in a series of
letters, and then in an essay entitled
(Confessions of a Sceptic. The free-
thinking is that of a mind wishful to
live by the ideal truths of the Bible
and the spirit of Christ; but unable to
believe the book any more divine than
Plato or the Koran, or Christ any other
than a human teacher and example.
Both Romanist and English Church
teachings keenly criticized, with
special reference to John Henry New-
man; who was at first a singularly elo-
quent preacher in the university pulpit,
and later convert to Romanism.
«That voice so keen, so preternaturally
sweet, whose every whisper used to
thrill through crowded churches, when
every breath was held to hear; that
calm, gray eye; those features, so stern
and yet so gentle,” — these words pict-
ure Newman as he preached at St.
Mary's, the principal university pulpit.
Mr. Froude makes his story show how
its hero, having been taught a faith
which he could not abide in, lost all
faith, and was carried into a situation
in which moral restraint gave way; and
a most melancholy tragedy was the end.
But as
matter of fact, Mr. Froude
became a Humanist or Broad Church
literary man, married a Roman Catholic
lady, had a brilliant career, and lived
to see Oxford become largely Broad
Church.
Science of Thought, The, by F. Max
Müller. (1887. ) This is work
which may be read as the intellectual
or philosophical autobiography of the
great scholar, wise thinker, and delight-
ful writer, whose name it bears. The
author says that he has written it for
himself and a few near friends; that
some of the views which he presents
date from the days when he heard
lectures at Leipzig and Berlin, and dis-
cussed Veda and Vedanta with Schopen-
bauer, and Eckhart and Tauler with
Bunsen; and that he has worked up the
accumulated materials of
than
thirty years. The views put forth, he
says, are the result of a long life de-
voted to solitary reflection and to the
study of the foremosi thinkers of all
nations. They consist in theories formed
by the combined sciences of language
and thought; or, he says, in the one
theory that reason, intellect, understand-
ing, mind, are only different aspects of
language. The book sets forth the les-
sons of a science of thought founded
upon the science of language. It deais
with thought as only one of the three
sides of human nature, the other two
being the ethical and the æsthetical.
In completing the work, the author sets
down a list of the honors which had
been conferred upon him, and another
of his principal publications; assuming
apparently, in 1887, that he might not
bring out another book. He intimated,
nevertheless, a desire to make another,
on «The Science of Mythology
Florence : Its History – The MEDICI
THE HUMANISTS -- LETTERS — Arts,
by Charles Yriarte. (New edition 1897. )
This is a sympathetic and admirable
monograph on Florence in her palmy
days, when all the cities of Italy did
homage to her, and she was the focus,
the school, and the laboratory of human
genius. ” Its object the author states to
be, to give a general idea of the part
which Florence has played in the intel-
lectual history of modern times; its novel
feature being the chapter on Illustrious
Florentines. The work professes to pre-
sent, not Florence in her entirety, but
merely her essence.
Yet no one
rise from a perusal of its well-written
and comprehensive pages without feeling
new admiration for the City of Flowers;
while on the memory of those who have
strayed within her borders the history
are
a
a
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
495
course
umes.
will lay an almost magical touch. The
introduction contains general considera-
tions and a sketch of the plan of the
work; then follow chapters on History,
(The Medici, (The Renaissance,) (Il-
lustrious Florentines, Etruscan Art,'
(Christian Art,) (Architecture, (Sculpt-
ure, Painting. This work and the
author's (Venice) may be regarded as
companion books.
People of the United States, A His-
TORY OF THE, by John Bach McMas-
ter. An important work in six volumes:
Vol. i. , 1883; Vol. ii. , 1885; Vol. iii. , 1892;
Vol. iv. , 1895. It is, as the title declares,
a history of the people. It describes the
dress, amusements, customs, and literary
canons, of every period of United States
history, from the close of the Revolution
to the Civil War. Politics and institu-
tions are considered only as they affected
the daily life of the people. The great
developments in industrial affairs, the
changes in manners and morals, the rise
and progress of mechanical inventions,
the gradual growth of a more humane
spirit, especially in the treatment of
criminals and of the insane, are all
treated at length. It is a social history:
it aims to give a picture of the life of
the American people as it would seem
to an intelligent traveler at the time,
and to trace the growth of the influences
which built up out of the narrow fringe
of coast settlements the great nation of
the Civil War.
The book is always entertaining, and
is a perfect mine of interesting facts
collected in no other history; but the
author shows much love of
tithesis, and no doubt will reconsider
some of his conclusions.
The
he Winning of the West, by Theo-
dore Roosevelt. Four volumes, each
complete in itself, and together consti-
tuting a study of early American devel-
opments; to be placed by the side of
Parkman's France and England in
North America. It treats what may be
called the sequel to the Revolution; a
period of American advance, the interest
and significance of which are very little
understood. Washington himself prophe-
sied, and almost planned, the future
of the great region beyond the Ohio.
When, at the close of the war, there
was no money to pay the army on its
disbandment, he advised his soldiers to
have an eye to the lands beyond the
Ohio, which would belong not to any
one State but to the Union; and to look
to grants of land for their pay. Out
of this came the New England scheme
for settlement on the other side of the
Ohio. The promoters of this scheme
secured the passage of the Ordinance of
1787, which made the Ohio the dividing
line between lands in which slaves
might be held to labor, and those in
which there should be no slavery, and
which broadly planned for the education
of all children on a basis of equality
and free schools. To an extent without
parallel these actions of a moment fixed
future destiny. How the
of
events from 1769 brought about those
actions, and the progress forward for
twenty years from that moment, is the
subject of Mr. Roosevelt's carefully
planned and admirably executed vol-
The mass of original material to
which Mr. Roosevelt has had access,
casts a flood of new light upon the field
over which he has gone, with the result.
that much of the early history has had
to be entirely rewritten. It is in many
ways a fascinating narrative, and in
every way a most instructive history.
Wide, Wide World, The, by “Eliza-
beth Wetherell» (Susan Warner:
1851). It is a study of girl life, which
reached a sale of over 300,000 copies.
The life of the heroine, Ellen Mont-
gomery, is followed from early childhood
to her marriage, with a fullness of par-
ticulars which leaves nothing to the
reader's imagination. Her parents go-
ing to Europe, she is placed in the
care of Miss Fortune Emerson, a sharp-
tempered relative of her father's. Amid
the sordid surroundings of her
home, her childish nature would have
been entirely dwarfed and blighted had
it not been for the good offices of Alice
Humphreys, a sweet and lovable girl,
who with wise and tender patience de-
velops the germs of Ellen's really excel-
lent character.
At length both Mrs. Montgomery and
Alice Humphreys die; and after some
years, Ellen comes to take up a daugh-
ter's duties in the home of her kind
friend. The scenes and episodes are
those of a homely every-day existence,
which is described with a close fidelity
to detail. Ellen's spiritual life is mi-
nutely unfolded, and the book was long
regarded as one of those which
too
an-
new
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496
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
“good for the young. ” The criticism alana, an ineffective, dreamy, silence-
of later generation, however, pro- loving soul; and her child, Tempe, an
nounces it mawkish in sentiment and elf of a girl who marries John Drake, a
unreal in conduct. It stands among the neighbor, almost before she is out of
fading fancies of an earlier and less short dresses. He dies soon after, the
exacting literary taste.
young widow going back to Temple
House. By a shipwreck another unusual
Lady of the Aroostook, The, a novel character, Sebastian Ford, is added to
of the present day, by W. D. How-
the Temple House circle. The Spanish
ells, was published in 1879. In its hero-
blood in his veins tinges his least act
ine, Lydia Blood, is drawn the portrait
with romance. He proves his devotion
of a lady of nature's own making. She
to his rescuer, Argus Gates, by defend-
is a New England school-teacher, young,
ing the honor of the woman he loves,
beautiful, and fragile. For the benefit
Virginia Brande, the daughter of a
of the sea voyage she leaves her grand-
wealthy neighbor. The book closes upon
parents on a remote New England farm,
the happiness of Virginia and Argus, a
to visit an aunt and an uncle in Ven-
kind of subdued happiness in accordance
ice. Two of her fellow-passengers on
with the autumnal atmosphere of the
the Aroostook are a Mr. Dunham and
story.