No More Learning

Valjean arranges the Oswald, the Swiss soldier, «returning
marriage, conceals her ignoble birth, from the wars, finds his native village
and provides for her future. But Mar- of Goldenthal sunk into the depths of
ius misjudges him, and believes him misery and degradation; its inhabitants
guilty of unworthy conduct; and for Co- lazy, shiftless, hampered with debt, fre-
sette's sake, the old man leaves her. quenters of public houses, lost to all
But he cannot live without her; and sense of moral responsibility. He de-
when Marius learns his mistake, discov- votes himself to the amelioration of
ers that he owes his life to Valjean, and their condition; in which, by the help of
hurries to him with Cosette, the patient the lovely Elizabeth, the miller's daugh-
a
The Goldmakers' Villages by Johann


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452
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ure
ter and then his wife, he is successful: schemers and professional beauties, sol-
so developing the various sources of com- diers and merchants, princes and beg.
fort and improvement; so exemplifying by gars. Even St. Simeon Stylites on his
practical illustration the multiplied meth- | pillar is painted in all his repulsive
ods by which a patriot of philanthropy hideousness of saintly squalor. A pretty
may serve the best interests of his fellow- interlude to the development of the story
citizens and country, that in the end he is afforded by several charming interpre-
is rewarded by seeing the home of his tations of the old legend of Narcissus
youth on a par with the best organized, and the Echo.
best conducted, and best credited vil-
Jages of the community, and the “Gold-
ife and Letters of Lord Macaulay,
Life
The, edited and arranged by his
enthalers, from being a synonym to
their neighbors for all that is worthless,
nephew, Sir George Otto Trevelyan
(1876), is recognized as a biography of
at length known and honored as the
whose excellence English literature may
«Goldmakers, for the
thrift which
boast. From the great historian's cor-
changes everything it touches into pre-
respondence, private memoranda, and
cious metal. Although the precise local-
original drafts of his essays and speeches,
ity of the “Goldmakers' Village cannot
and from the recollections of friends and
be found, yet it is to be feared that
relatives, the author has produced a
many an obscure locality can be dis-
model book. Macaulay's untiring pa-
covered where, in many points, the pict-
tience of preparation, the tireless labor
can be matched, and where the
benevolent enterprise of another Oswald
expended in collecting materials, his
is equally necessary.
amazing assiduity in arranging them,
his unequaled memory, and his broad
“
popular sympathies, are sympathetically
Last Athenian, The (Sidste Athe-
described, and reveal to us the most
naren'), by Viktor Rydberg (1880),
distinguished, progressive, industrious,
translated from the Swedish by W. W.
able, versatile party leader of the first
Thomas in 1883. The scene of the novel
is laid in Athens in the fourth century
half of this century. The genuine hon-
esty and worth of his character, and
of our own era; and deals with the inner
dissensions of the Christian church, the
his brilliant scholarship, are as evident
as his limitation in the fields of the
struggles and broils of the Homoiousians
and Athanasians, and the social and
highest imagination. Throughout the
book Trevelyan suppresses himself con-
political conditions involved in or affected
by these differences. The corruption of
scientiously, with the result that this
work ranks among the most faithful and
the upper classes, the lingering power of
absorbing biographies in English.
the old religion of Greece, the strange
melée of old and new philosophies and Phases of Thought and Criticism, by
erratic social codes, are presented by the Brother Azarias, of the Brothers of
introduction of many types and individ- the Christian Schools (Patrick Francis
uals. But a confusing multiplicity of Mullany). A book of search for the
interests and characters interferes with a ideal in thought, with special reference
clear view. The stage is too crowded. to the cultivation of religious sentiment
The parts of the plot are woven together on the basis of the Catholic faith. The
about the love-story of Hermione, daugh- writer states the principles for which
ter of the philosopher Chrysanteus, and he contends, and what may be called
a young Athenian of the degenerate the logic of spiritual discernment, and
type, who from a promising youth then makes an application of them in
passes into the idle and heartless dissi- very carefully executed studies of the
pation of the typical Athenian aristocrat. (Imitation of À Kempis, «The Divina
Influenced by divided motives, he makes Commedia) of Dante, and the In Me-
an attempt to regain his moral standing, moriam) of Tennyson. These three
and does regain Hermione's confidence; studies show the author at, his best, as
but on his wedding night, he is killed an ardent traveler on the road that
by the lover of a young Jewish girl leads to the Life and the Light. ) The
whom he has betrayed and deserted. last of the three is the most elaborate;
The famous historic figures of the epoch and in it the zealous expounder of spir-
are all introduced into Rydberg's pict- itual method “watches a great modern
ure,
emperors and bishops, political poet wrestling with the problem of


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
453
men
bridging the chasm which yawns be- Open Letter to the Moon,' A Bitter
tween agnosticism and Christianity. ” Complaint of an Ungentle Reader, are
some of the fantastic and alluring titles.
My
The essayist owns the artistic soul, and
Hugh Miller (1854), is one of the
finds A Pleasing Encounter with a Pick-
most delightful of autobiographies as far
pocket) pleasing, not because the pick-
as it goes. (It stops with Miller's as-
pocket was marched off by a policeman,
sumption of the editorship of the Edin-
as would be satisfactory to the ordinary
burgh Witness in 1840 - after which he
victim of his cleverness, but because he
was teacher rather than pupil. ) The
author desired it to be regarded as “a
displays such ability in eluding that fate
that the despoiled one applauds him as
sort of educational treatise, thrown into
a fellow-artist. "The Great Playground
the narrative form, and addressed more
especially to workingmen); but
is a charming paper on out-of-doors; full
of the gipsy love of freedom, which is
and women of all classes find it good
almost greater with the author than her
reading For seventeen years covered
love of books, of dogs, or of old things.
by this volume, he worked at the trade
of stone-mason,— though he had been
(An Inquirendo into the Wit and Other
Good Parts of his Late Majesty King
carefully educated by his two uncles,
Charles the Second) attempts for the
and possessed an extensive knowledge
Merry Monarch what Froude attempted
of English language, history, and liter-
for Henry VIII. The piece is in the
ature,- spending his spare time in geo-
form of a dialogue between a holder of
logical research and in reading. His
the generally accepted view of the Sec-
remarkable powers of observation he
ond Charles's character, and a devoted
must have developed early: he speaks of
admirer of that sovereign, who wears a
remembering in later life things that
sprig of green in his hat on the anniver-
only a sharp eye would have noted, as
far back as the end of his third year.
sary of the Restoration, and feeds the
swans in St. James's Park, because his
Having disposed of his parents' bio-
Majesty once loved to do so.
This apol-
graphy in the first chapter, the work
ogist considers Charles II. as the last
narrates his earliest recollections of his
own life, his school days, his youthful
sovereign with a mind; and for that
merit, he can find it in his heart to for.
adventures, the awakening of his taste
by one of his uncles for the study of
give much to that cynical and humorous
gentleman.
nature, his first attempts at authorship,
visits to the Highlands, choice of
trade, moving to Edinburgh, religious Nelson, The Life of, by Captain A. T.
Mahan. This monumental biography
views, illness, receiving an accountant-
ship in a branch bank at Cromarty,
is a sort of supplement to the author's
(Influence of Sea-Power. ) He considers
marriage, the death of his infant daugh-
Lord Nelson as “the one man who in
ter, etc. It abounds in stories, interesting
himself summed up and embodied the
experiences, keen observation of natural
objects, and anecdotes of prominent
greatness of the possibilities which Sea
Power comprehends, – the man for whom
men,- all in an admirable style.
genius and opportunity worked together,
Patrins, by Louise Imogen Guiney, is to make the personification of the navy
a collection of twenty short essays
of Great Britain the dominant factor in
on things of the day, with one disquisi- the periods hitherto treated. ” Earl Nel-
tion on King Charles II. The little son arose, and in him all the promises of
papers are called Patrins, from the the past found their finished realization,
Romany word signifying the handfuls of their perfect fulfillment. ” Making use
scattered leaves by which the gipsies of the materials of the many who have
mark the way they have passed; Miss written biographies of this fascinating
Guiney's road through the thought-coun- personality, and even richer materials
try being marked by these printed that came into his possession, it was
leaves. The essays are distinctly lit- Captain Mahan's object “to disengage
erary in form and feeling; the style is the figure of the hero from the glory that
grace itself; the matter airy yet subtle, cloaks it. ” His method is to make Nel.
whimsical and quite out of the common. son «describe himself, tell the story of
On the Delights of an Incognito,) (On his own inner life as well as of his
Dying as a Dramatic Situation, An external actions. » He therefore extracts


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454
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
And among
re-
from the voluminous correspondence ex-
tant passages that enable him to detect
the leading features of temperament,
traits of thought and motives of action,
and thence to conceive within himself,
by gradual familiarity even more than
by formal effort, the character therein
revealed. ” In the same way as he thus
reproduces his individuality, so he treats
of his military actions; showing not
merely what he did, but also the princi-
ples that dominated him throughout his
life. The author's logical faculty stood
him in good stead in thus concentrating
documentary evidence to bear on mooted
points, and he most skillfully unravels
tangled threads. At the same time his
vivid and richly embroidered style, com-
bined with just the right degree of dig-
nity, makes his presentation of mingled
biography and history as interesting as
a romance and as satisfying as history.
The two stately volumes are adorned
with numerous portraits and engravings,
and with maps and plans explanatory of
the battles and engagements described.
Am
merican Conflict, The, by Horace
Greeley. This history is not
stricted to the period of armed conflict
between the North and South in the
sixties; but purports to give, in two
large volumes, an account of the drift
of public opinion in the United States
regarding human slavery from 1776 to
the close of the year 1865.
The most
valuable feature of this history is the
incorporation into it of letters, speeches,
political platforms, and other documents,
which show authentically and beyond
controversy the opinions and dogmas
accepted by political parties and their
chiefs, and approved by public opinion
North and South; as the author justly
remarks, nothing could so clearly show
the influences of slavery in molding the
opinions of the people and in shaping
the destinies of the country. Thus the
work is a great magazine of materials
for the political history of the United
States with regard to slavery; and what-
ever judgment may be passed on its
author's philosophy of the great conflict,
the trustworthiness of his volumes, sim-
ply as a record of facts and authentic
declarations of sectional and partisan
opinion, is unquestionable.
The Oxford Reformers of 1498: JOHN
ERASMUS,
THOMAS
MORE: A history of their Fellow-Work,
by Frederic Seebohm. (1867, 1887. ) A
work not designed to offer biographies
of the persons named, but to carefully
study their joint work at Oxford. John
Colet, a son of Sir Henry Colet,
wealthy merchant who had been more
than once Lord Mayor of London, and
was in favor at the court of Henry
VII. , had come home from study in
Italy to Oxford in 1496; and, although he
was not a Doctor, nor even a deacon
preparing for full clerical dignity, he
startled the conservatism of the church
and the university by announcing a
course of public free lectures on the
epistles of Paul. It was a strikingly
new-departure proceeding, not only in
the boldness of a layman giving lectures
on religion, but in new views to be
brought out. What was called the New
Learning, starting from study of Greek,
or the world's best literature, was tak-
ing root at Oxford. Two men of note,
Grocyn and Linacre, who had learned
Greek, were working hard to awaken at
Oxford interest in the study of Greek.
the young students Colet
found one, not yet of age, who showed
the finest type of English genius. He
was called “Young Master More. ” The
fine quality of his intelligence was even
surpassed by the sweetness of his spirit
and the charm of his character. He
was destined to be known as Sir Thomas
More, one of the great historic examples
of what Swift, and after him Matthew
Arnold, called sweetness and light. ”
Colet was thirteen years older than
More, but the two held close converse
in matters of learning and humanity.
They were Humanists, as the men of
interest in all things human were called.
Colet and More had been together at
Oxford a year when a third Humanist
appeared upon the scene in 1497, the
year in which John Cabot discovered
North America. This was Erasmus, who
was already a scholar, after the manner
of the time, in Latin. He came to Ox-
ford to become a scholar in Greek. He
was scarcely turned thirty,- just Colet's
age,- and had not yet begun to make a
great name. The story of the three men
runs on to 1519, into the early dawn of
the Lutheran Reformation. Colet be-
a Doctor and the Dean of St.
Paul's Cathedral in London (1499), and
on his father's death (1510), uses his
inherited fortune to found St. Paul's
School, in which 153 boys of any nation
comes
AND


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
455
assumes.
were
or country should be instructed in the must modify a religion; of the general
world's best literature, Greek as well as lines of progress; of the extra-national
Latin; and not monkish church Latin, extension of a conquering religion; and
but ancient classical Latin. Colet de- of the universal religions, which he limits
clared that the corrupt Latin which the to three: Brahmanism, which has grown
later blind world brought in, and which into Buddhism; Judaism, which has grown
may be called Blotterature rather than into Christianity; and the old Arabian
Literature, should be «utterly banished faith, whose product is Islam. And the
and excluded. ) Erasmus wrote a work outlook is that as the great civilized and
(On the Liberal Education of Boys. ) | civilizing nations of the world, in whose
Colet wrote a Latin grammar for his hands are science and philosophy, lit-
boys, by which he hoped they might be erature and art, political and social
helped to “grow to perfect literature. ) progress, hold also to the tenets of
It was in line with the new learning, Christianity, they will carry that faith
that Erasmus edited, and secured the with them and plant it wherever they
printing of, the New Testament in Greek, go, but in a higher form than it now
hoping it would lead, as it later did, to
an English version. He said of «the In following the subject proper, Pro-
sacred Scriptures: I wish these
fessor Toy begins with the period repre-
translated into all languages, so that sented by the name of Ezra, examines
they might be read and understood. I the prophetic writings, and follows the
long that the husbandman should sing literary development of the time as rep-
portions of them to himself as he fol- resented in the ceremonial and uncanoni-
lows the plow, that the weaver should cal books. The progress and variations
hum them to the tune of his shuttle, of the doctrine of God and of sub-
that the traveler should beguile with ordinate supernatural intelligences, both
their stories the tedium of his journey. ) good and evil; the Jewish and Christian
It was in the same humanist spirit that ideas of the nature of man, his attitude
More wrote his Utopia,' published in towards God, his hopes of perfection,
1516, and embodying the visions of hope the nature of sin and righteousness; the
and progress floating before the eyes of inclusions of the ethical code of both
the three «Oxford Reformers. ) More Jew and Christian; the two conceptions
was about entering into the service of of the kingdom of God; the beliefs re-
Henry VIII. ; and he wrote the intro- specting immortality, resurrection, and
duction or prefatory book of the (Uto- the new dispensation; and finally, an
pia, for the express purpose of speaking examination of the relation of Jesus to
out boldly on the social condition of the Christianity,—these occupy the remain-
country and on the policy of the King. der of the volume.
Mr. Toy concludes that both the Cath-
Judaism and Christianity, by Craw- olic and Protestant branches of Christ-
ford Howell Toy, professor in Har- ianity have followed the currents of
vard University. (1890. ) The sub-title modern thought; that there is not a
of this valuable book modestly describes phase of science, philosophy, or litera-
it as a sketch of the progress of thought ture, but has left its impress on the
from Old Testament to New Testament. body of beliefs that control Christendom,
The history opens with an introduction yet that the person of Jesus has main-
of less than fifty pages, as clear as it is tained its place as the centre of religious
condensed, on the general laws of the life. The tone of the book is undog-
advance from national to universal re- matic; and its fine scholarship, clearness
ligions. The rise of Christianity out of of statement, and delightful narrative
Judaism Professor Toy treats as a logi- style, make it agreeable and instructive
cal and natural instance of progress. reading for the laic.
He points out the social basis of re-
ligion, and analyzes and describes the emoirs of General W. T. Sherman,
growth of society, with its laws of ad-
written by himself. (4th ed. 1891. )
vance, retrogression, and decay; the in- In this autobiography General Sher-
ternal development of ideas, and the man tells the story of his life up to the
relation between religion and ethics. He time of his being placed on the retired
then treats of the influence of great list in 1884: a final chapter by another
men; of the external conditions that hand completes the story, and describes
Mem


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456
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
his last illness, death, and funeral.
Be-
ginning with a genealogical account of
his family, the work describes his boy-
hood, his appointment to and course at
West Point, his assignment to a second
the justified assurance that he can
travel this broad country of ours, and
be each night a welcome guest in palace
or cabin. ”
lientenancy finor the Third Artillerie stam Wandering Jewira Tebe boys Moncluire
sea »
Florida, experiences in
California in 1846–50, his marriage in
Washington to a daughter of Secretary
of the Interior Ewing, in 1850, his res-
ignation from the army in 1853, and
engaging in business, law, and teaching;
then comes the account in his own
words of the part he played in the Civil
War, which all the world knows. The
tour in Europe and the East is dis-
missed in three short paragraphs. The
whole is told simply, frankly, and in a
matter-of-fact way, in English that is
plain, direct, and forcible, if not always
elegant. The famous «march to the
he describes in a business-like
style, that, when supported by accom-
plished facts, is beyond eloquence.
Sherman himself regarded it as of much
less importance than the march from
Savannah northward. The chapter on
Military Lessons of the War) is inter-
esting, especially to military men. Some
of his conclusions in it are that volun-
teer officers should be appointed directly
or indirectly by the President (subject
to confirmation by the Senate), and not
elected by the soldiers, since «an army
is not a popular organization, but an
instrument in the hands of the Execu-
tive for enforcing the law”; that the
country can, in case of war in the fu-
ture, rely to supplement the regular
army officers on the great number of its
young men of education and force of
character. At the close of our Civil
War, some of our best corps and divi-
sion generals, as well as staff-officers,
were from civil life, though «I cannot
recall any of the most successful who
did not express a regret that he had
not received in early life instruction in
the elementary principles of the art of
war)); that the volunteers were better
than the conscripts, and far better than
the bought substitutes; that the greatest
mistake of the War was the mode of
recruitment and promotion; that a com-
mander can command properly only at
the front, where it is absolutely neces-
sary for him to be seen, and for his
influence to be felt; that the presence
of newspaper correspondents with armies
is mischievous. He closes his book in
D. Conway, traces through all its
forms and changes, to its sources as
far as can be perceived, the marvelous
legend which won such general belief
during the Middle Ages. The first ap-
pearance of the story written out as
narrative occurs in the works of Mat.
thew Paris, published 1259, wherein is
described the visit to England, thirty
years before, of an Armenian bishop.
The prelate was asked whether he
knew aught of the Wandering Jew.
He replied that he had had him to
dinner in Armenia shortly before; that
he was a Roman, named Cartaphilus,
door-keeper for Pilate.
This ruffianly
bigot struck Jesus as he came from the
hall of judgment, saying, “Go on faster;
why dost thou linger? »
Jesus answered, “I will go; but thou
shalt remain waiting till I come. ”
Therefore Cartaphilus has lived op
ever since; never smiling, but often
weeping and longing for death, which
will not come.
In the sixteenth cen-
tury there are accounts of the appear-
ance of the Wandering Jew in German
towns. His name is now Ahasuerus;
his original occupation that of a shoe-
maker. In the seventeenth century
he is heard of again and again,- in
France, Spain, the Low Countries, Italy
and Germany. Many solemn and learned
treatises were written in Latin on the
subject of this man and his miracu-
lous punishment. The various stories
of him quoted are so graphically re-
lated that it is a surprise to follow Mr.
Conway into his next chapter, in which
he sets down the myth of the Wan-
dering Jew with that of King Arthur,
who sleeps at Avalon, and Barbarossa
of Germany, who slumbers under the
Raven's Hill, both ready to awake at
the appointed hour. Every country has
myths of sleepers or of wanderers who
never grow old. The Jews had more
than one: Cain, who was a fugitive
and a vagabond on earth, with a mark
fixed on him that none might slay
him; Esau, whose death is unchronicled;
Elias and Enoch who never died, in
the ordinary way. Barbarossa, Arthur,
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
457
grin, — the Seven Sleepers, the Flying Russia through the marriage of the
Dutchman,- all these are variants of one Polish Princess Yadviga with Yagyello,
theme. Judas has had the same fate Grand Prince of Lithuania. The war
in legend So has Pilate; so has Mal- between Poland and Sweden in 1665,
chus, the servant of Caiaphas. Mr. Con- brought on by the action of the Teutonic
way presents the theory that all these Knights, is described in this novel. Like
tales have their root in the primitive its predecessor, it treats of battles, of
myths of savage peoples, perhaps in sieges, of warriors, of the suffering and
sun-myths; but he does not pursue this glory of war. A knowledge of Polish
rather futile speculation, devoting him- history is almost essential to the under-
self rather to the story in its special standing of its intricate and long-drawn-
form of the Wandering Jew, and tra- out plot. In Pan Michael the story of
cing its development, and its expression Poland's struggle is continued and
in folk-lore, poetry, and fiction. The ended, its general lines being the same
book is a fascinating study of the curi- as those of the first two novels.
ous and unusual, scholarly in substance In the historical fiction of this century
but popular in treatment.
nothing approaches the trilogy of Sien-
kiewicz for magnificent breadth of can-
War
ar and Peace, by Count Lyof Tol-
vas, for Titanic action, for an epical
stoy, perhaps the greatest of his
quality well-nigh Homeric. The author's
novels, deals with the stirring conflict
characters are men of blood and iron,
between Napoleon and France, and Kou-
touzoff and Russia, beginning some years
heroes of a great dead age, warriors
that might have risen from huge stone
before Austerlitz. As might be expected
tombs in old cathedrals to greet the sun
of one of the most mystical of modern
again with eagle eyes. These novels as
writers, war is treated not alone as a
history can be best appreciated by Sien-
dramatic spectacle, but as a symbol of
kiewicz's own countrymen, since they
great social forces striving for expres-
appeal to glorious memories, since they
sion. The novel is a combination of
treat of the ancestors of the men to
mysticism and realism. Tolstoy has
portrayed the terror of battle, the emo-
whom they are primarily addressed.
tions of armies in conflict, with surpass-
But the novels belong to the world;
ing skill and power.
The book as a
they are pre-eminent in the creation of
characters, of humorous fighters, of wo-
whole leaves an indelible but confused
to be loved like the heroines of
impression upon the mind of the reader,
Shakespeare, and of such men as Za-
as if he had himself passed through the
din and smoke of a battle, of which he
globa, a creation to rank with Falstaff.
retains great dim memories. But above
known of Anthony Hope's romances,
part that accident plays in all
relates the picturesque adventures of
paigns.
Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentle-
With
ith Fire and Sword, The Deluge, man, during a three months' sojourn in
and Pan Michael, a trilogy of the Kingdom of Ruritania.
magnificent historical novels, by Henryk He arrives upon the eve of the coro-
Sienkiewicz, treats of that period of nation of King Rudolf, whom he meets
Polish history which extends from 1648 at Zenda Castle. In a drinking bout the
to the election of Sobieski to the throne king is drugged, and cannot be aroused
of Poland as Yan III. It thus embraces to reach the capital Strelsau in time for
the most stirring and picturesque era of the coronation. This treachery is the
the national life. The first of the tril- work of the king's brother, Duke Mi-
ogy deals with the deadly conflict be- chael, who wishes to usurp the king-
tween the two Slav States, Russia and dom. To foil his designs, Colonel Sapt
Poland. It is an epic of war, of battle, and Fritz von Farlenheim successfully
murder, and sudden death, of tyranny assist Rassendyll to personate the king.
and patriotism, of glory and shame. In He is crowned, plays his part without
“The Deluge, two great events of Polish serious blunders, and then sets about
history form the dramatic ground-work accomplishing the king's release, -a task
of the novel: these are the settlement of rendered dangerous and difficult by the
the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, and the cunning and prowess of Michael and his
union of Poland with Lithuania and followers. Rassendyll loves and is loved
men
all is the impression of fatality, and the Prisoner of Zenda, The, the best
cam-


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458
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
by the Princess Flavia. She is also be-
loved by the king and his brother. Only
the release of the monarch-accomplished
haps the most commonplace, and the
most thoroughly human, of Thackeray's
men.
in a series of dashing dramatic epicgales Potiphar Papers, by George William
Rassendyll from wedding
Flavia. The story is told with wonder-
ful vim and spirit, and with a freshness
and healthfulness of feeling remarkable
in an era of morbid fiction. The novel
has been dramatized in a successful play
of the same name.
pendennis, by
Curtis. satire
York society was published in 1856, and
is still read, though it has partly lost its
point owing to changed conditions. The
papers are something in the manner of
Addison's satires on the pretensions and
insincerities of society; but at times the
bitterness becomes more scathing, and
reminds one of Thackeray in its merei-
less analysis of folly and ignorance.
The writer divides the society of which
he speaks into three classes: the newly
rich, who have acquired wealth but not
culture; the descendants of the old fami-
lies, who make the glory of their an-
cestors serve instead of any manliness
or worth of their own; and the dancing
youths into whose antecedents or char-
acters nobody inquires, so long as they
enliven the ball-rooms, and constitute
eligible partners for the young ladies.
A description is given of Mrs. Potiphar's
ball, where dresses are ruined by care-
less waiters, and drunken young fellows
destroy valuable property, and hosts and
guests are thoroughly miserable while
pretending to enjoy the occasion. In
the account of the Potiphars in Paris
see how wealthy Americans, when
lacking innate breeding and refinement,
make themselves ridiculous in the eyes
of foreigners. The gilded youth of the
day, as well as the shallow and flippant
women, are held up to derision, while
our sympathies are aroused by the poor,
toiling, unaspiring fathers, who are not
strong enough to make a stand for their
rights. In reading these papers we can
only be glad that the persons described
by the author are no longer typical of
American society. One of the enduring
characters is the Rev. Cream Cheese,
who sympathetically advises with Mrs.
Potiphar as to the color of the cover of
her prayer-book.
Poets of America, The, by Edmund
Clarence Stedman (1885), a work of
the same general scope and design as
the Victorian Poets,' and a kind of
sequel to it, is written in the belief
that “the literature — even the poetic lit-
erature - of no country during the last
half-century is of greater interest to the
philosophical student, with respect to its
bearing on the future, than that of the
W. M. Thackeray
(1850), is more simple in plot and
construction than his other novels. It
is a masterly study of the character and
development of one Arthur Pendennis, a
hero lifelike and convincing because of
his very unheroic qualities and faulty
human nature.
He begins his career as
a spoiled, somewhat brilliant boy, adored
by a foolish mother, and waited upon
by his adopted sister Laura. From this
atmosphere of adulation and solicitude,
Pendennis goes to the university; but
not before he has fallen in love with an
actress ten years older than himself.
He owes his escape from his toils to the
intervention of a worldly-minded uncle,
Major Pendennis, a capitally drawn type
of the old man-about-town. At the uni-
versity he blossoms into a young gentle-
man of fashion, with the humiliating
result of being «plucked in his degree
examination, and having his debts paid
off by Laura. His manliness reawakens,
and he goes back to have it out with
the university, returning this time a
victor. Then follows a London career as
a writer and man of the world. The boy
just misses being the man by a certain
childish love of the pomp and show of
life. Yet he is never dishonorable, only
weak. The test of his honor is his con-
duct towards Fanny Bolton, a pretty
girl of the lower class, who loves
him innocently and whole-heartedly. Pen
loves her and leaves her as innocent as
he found her, but unhappy. His punish-
comes in the shape of Blanche
Amory, a flirt with a fortune. The double
bait proves too much for the boy's van-
ity. Only after she has jilted him are
his eyes opened to the true value of the
gauds he is staking so
much upon.
The wholesome lesson being learned, he
marries Laura and enters upon a life of
new manliness.
His character throughout is drawn
with admirable consistency. He is per-
we
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
459
on
e
United States. American poetry, more whole. Robert Elsmere) had a phe-
than that of England during the period nomenal success, partly owing to the
considered, has idealized, often inspired, nature of its subject, and partly to its
the national sentiment,- the historic genuine literary merit. Aside from its
movements of the land whose writers intrinsic value, the sensation it produced
have composed it. ” After introductory entitles it to rank as one of the most
chapters on Early and Recent Con- remarkable books of its generation. It
ditions, and the (Growth of the is a complete example of the modern
American School,' the author considers problem-novel.
critically the work of Bryant, Whittier,
Emerson, Longfellow, Poe, Holmes, Six Days of Creation; or
THE
Lowell, Whitman, and Taylor, - conclud- SCRIPTURAL COSMOLOGY. (1855. ) By
ing with a chapter on the poetical out- Tayler Lewis. A work of mainly philo-
look. These essays are sympathetic and logical but also metaphysical argument,
scholarly, showing fine insight not only designed to prove that the day of the
into the nature and character of Ameri- Biblical account of creation was not a
can verse, but into the environment also limited short period of time - not a com-
of which it was a product.
mon day at all. Executed with ample
learning, with close and vigorous reason-
Roberta Elsmere by Mrs. Humphry ing, with frequent touches of novel in-
Ward 1888), is a brilliant
terpretation of terms, and not less with
of the embodiment in a work of fiction deep religious earnestness, and eloquence
of intellectual problems of contemporary inspired by the sublimity of the subject,
interest. It recounts the struggles of a the book excited great interest and much
young clergyman who cannot accept all discussion. In reply to objections to
the miracles and dogmas of Christianity, conclusions which he advocated, Profes-
yet is in deep sympathy with its spirit. sor Lewis brought out a second book in
The scene is laid partly in a country 1856, on (The Bible and Science; or,
village in Surrey, partly in London. The World Problem. To this he added
The chief character is Robert Elsmere, in 1860, (The Divine Human in the
a young, sensitive clergyman, fresh from Scriptures. The scientific view urged
the Old-World environment of Oxford. by Professor Lewis is now commonly
He marries Catherine Leyburn, a woman accepted, while the question of what the
of mediæval faith, who loves him in- Biblical texts exactly meant is less con-
tensely, but is incapable of sympathizing sidered, because of the general opinion
with him in the struggle through which of scholars that the creation story was
he is to pass. Robert, in his country derived from Babylonian scriptures, and
rectory, begins a mental journey, the is not given as exact history.
goal of which he dares not face. He
realizes after a time that he can
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Life and Let-
longer accept the conventional concep- ters of, by Annie Fields, appeared
tion of Christianity, and must, therefore, in 1897. It is the best life of the author.
leave the church, to preach what seems Written in a most entertaining style,
to him a more liberal gospel, better with just enough of personal reminis-
fitted to the needs of the century. His cence and anecdote to quicken interest,
wife is heart-broken by his apostasy; it is a discreet and satisfying biography.
but she accompanies him when he goes The reader comes into closer acquaint-
to London to work among the poor of ance with Mrs. Stowe in the perusal of
the East Side, and to found a new her letters, of the which Mrs. Fields has
brotherhood of Christians.
made wise and varied selection. Living
Other persons and scenes relieve the through, and herself so potential a fac-
tension of the plot: Rose, Catherine's tor in, the days of the anti-slavery
beautiful, willful sister; Langham, the movement, Mrs. Stowe naturally was in
withered Oxford don, cursed with indif-
or less intimate correspondence
ference and paralysis of the emotional with the reformers, agitators, statesmen,
nature; Newcombe the wan, worn High- clergymen, and littérateurs of her own
Church priest; the cynical Squire Wen- stormy era. The selections made from
dover; the gay society folk of London,- this correspondence form most interest-
these all playing their several parts in iug reading, and add greatly to the
the drama make up a well-rounded value of the biography.
no
more


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460
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
one.
Susan Fielding, by Mrs. Annie Ed- of a friendship which the author formed
wards (1876), is a pleasant story of with a gentle barbarian, Kána-aná, and
English society, written with pervasive the pathetic fate which met him in his
humor and a nice analysis of character. yearnings after civilization.
The scene is laid near London and on "Cruising among the Caribees,' a vol.
the coast of France, in the late sixties. ume by the same author, is full of
The heroine is a little country girl, that subtle attraction and over-bubbling
simple-hearted and loving, who is taken good spirits which characterize the
up by the squire's granddaughter, the (Idylls); for in these sketches also Mr.
great lady of the village. Portia French Stoddard fairly “personally conducts »
is an imperious beauty, shrewd, restless, his readers in and about the islands --
and worldly through and through; yet as yet far enough removed from prosaic
with great refinement and charm. Her civilization to be still romantic.
character is more interesting than that
of the good little girl for whom the A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles
, and
(),
love-affairs are more thrilling, as they from all his other novels in style and
are much more complicated, than Su- manner of treatment. Forster, in his
san's. Susan has two lovers; and out of Life of Dickens,' writes that there is
due regard for the needs of the novelist, no instance in his novels excepting this,
of course becomes engaged to the wrong of a deliberate and planned departure
But Portia has no less than four from the method of treatment which had
devoted suitors; and it is a matter of been pre-eminently the source of his
conjecture, up to the very last chapter, popularity as a novelist. ” To rely less
on which of the four she has bestowed upon character than upon incident, and
that somewhat mythical article, her to resolve that his actors should be ex-
heart. The best character in the book pressed by the story more than they
is Portia's aunt Jemima, a plain, capa- should express themselves by dialogue,
ble, unselfish, loving old maid, who has was for him a hazardous, and can hardly
spent her life laboring in other people's be called an entirely successful, experi-
households, for everybody's welfare but ment. With singular dramatic vivacity,
her own. From the flood of empty and much constructive art, and with descrip-
ill-written novels that pours from the tive passages of a high order every-
press, this pleasant story deserves to be where, there was probably never a book
rescued and remembered for its refine- by a great humorist, and an artist so
ment, humor, and wholesomeness.
prolific in conception, with little
humor and so few remarkable figures.
South-Sea Idylls, by Charles Warren Its merit lies elsewhere. The two cities
Stoddard, was published in 1873. are London and Paris. The time is just
In humorous vein the author sketches before and during the French Revolu-
a variety of personal experiences which tion. A peculiar chain of events knits
befell him in southern
The and interweaves the lives of a few
(Idylls) range from racy delineations of simple, private people with the out-
native types to entertaining descriptions break of a terrible public event. Dr.
of the curious customs of the peoples Manette has been a prisoner in the Bas-
among whom he has traveled, with tille for eighteen years, languishing
here and there truly poetic pictures of there, as did so many others, on
natural scenery.
It is difficult to say vague unfounded charge. His release
which of the score of sketches is the when the story opens, his restoration to
best, for each excels in its own way his daughter Lucie, the trial and acquit-
a specimen of the author's happy tal of one Charles Darnay, nephew of a
versatility; but A Canoe-Cruise in the French marquis, on a charge of treason,
Coral Sea) will fairly represent the the marriage of Lucie Manette to Dar-
delicate charm, spontaneous humor, and nay,- these incidents form the introduc-
vivid interest which pervade the entire tion to the drama of blood which is
series. Scarcely less entertaining are to follow. Two friends of the Manette
(My South-Sea Show,' and (A Prodigal family complete the circle of important
in Tahiti.
characters: Mr. Lorry, a solicitor of a very
The longest of the sketches, Chum- ancient London firm, and Sydney Car-
ming with a Savage,' tells the story ton, the most complete gentleman to be
SO
seas.
some
as


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
461
a
found in Dickens. Carton has wasted Porthos, and Aramis. By his pluck and
his talents, leading a wild, bohemian spirit, he wins all three for friends;
existence in London. The one garden and the four of them from that time
spot in his life is his love for Lucie share their fortunes, good and bad, and
Manette. To this love he clings as become the heroes of many stirring
drowning man to a spar.
For this love events. The novel throughout is highly
he lays down his life. At the breaking dramatic and of absorbing interest.
out of the French Revolution, Darnay
hastens to Paris to aid an old family Twenty Years After, by Alexandre
servant who is in danger of losing his
Dumas, is a story of the Fronde,)).
life. His wife and his father-in-law fol-
the uprising of the people of Paris
low him. Gradually the entire circle of
against Cardinal Mazarin, prime minis-
friends, including Mr. Lorry and Sidney
ter of France and reputed husband of
Anne of Austria, the regent, mother of
Carton, find themselves in the horrible
environment of the Paris of the Terror.
the boy king Louis XIV. D'Artagnan,
who has never left the Guards, and Por-
Darnay himself is imprisoned and con-
thos, who has returned to that company
demned to death, by the agency of a
with the hope of being made a baron,
wine-seller, Defarge, and his wife, a
find themselves pitted against Athos and
female impersonation of blood and war.
To save the husband of the woman he
Aramis, who have emerged, one from
loves, Carton by strategy takes his place
his country-seat, the other from his con-
vent, to take a hand in the Fronde.
in prison. The novel closes with the
magnificent scene where Carton goes to
After much skirmishing, which gives us
a brilliant account of the warfare of the
his death on the scaffold, redeeming a
worthless life by one supreme act of
Fronde, Athos and Aramis go to Eng-
land on
devotion. Only the little sewing-girl in
a commission from Henrietta
the death-cart with him knows his
Maria, exiled in France, to her husband
secret. As he mounts the guillotine
Charles I. ; and presently Porthos and
there rises before him the vision of a
D'Artagnan are sent by Mazarin with
redeemed and renewed Paris, of a great
dispatches to Cromwell, in company with
and glorious nation. There rise before
a young Englishman named Mordaunt,
him
memories and many dead
who is the son of an infamous beauty of
many
the Court. Athos and Aramis are capt-
hopes of his own past life, but in his
This
heart there is the serenity of triumph:
ured by the Parliamentary army.
_"It is a far, far better thing that I
is but the beginning of a long series of
do than I have ever done; it is a far,
dramatic adventures. The exciting story
far better rest that I go to than I have
draws to a close with the ending of the
Fronde.
ever known. ”
Vicomte de Bragelonne, The; or, Ten
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre YEARS AFTER. This, the last novel
of the Three Musketeers) series, is the
the first novel of Dumas's famous tril- longest and in many ways the most
ogy, of which the others are (Twenty powerful of the three. Some parts of
Years After) and (The Vicomte de Brage- it have been published as separate
lonne. ) The three stories together cover novels. Those chapters devoted to the
a space of time from 1625 to 1665, ånd king's love for Mademoiselle de la Val-
deal with the life of a Gascon advent- lière have been issued under the title of
urer named D'Artagnan, from his ar- (Louise de la Vallière); while the ones
rival in Paris on a raw-boned yellow dealing with the substitution of Louis
pony with three crowns in his pocket, to XIV. 's twin brother for himself have ap-
his death as Comte D'Artagnan, Com- peared as “The Man in the Iron Mask. )
mander of the Musketeers and Marshal The romance in full presents a marvel-
of France.
ously vivid picture of the court of Louis
On his first day in Paris, the young XIV. , from a time shortly before his
D'Artagnan, who desires to enter the marriage to Maria Theresa to the down-
famous corps of Louis XIII. 's Musket- fall of Fouquet. The Vicomte de Brage-
eers, contrives to entangle himself in lonne is the son of the famous Athos, of
three duels, with three of the most the Three Musketeers); the best type
dreaded members of body, who are of young nobleman, high-minded, loyal,
known by the pseudonyms of Athos, and steadfast, who cherishes from his


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462
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
boyhood an unwavering love for Made- imagination combine to preserve the
moiselle de la Vallière, which ends only fleeting fancies of childhood; some of
in his death on a foreign battlefield after them merely fantastic; others with a
she deserts him for the king. The four lesson of life hidden under a semblance
old comrades, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, of adventure - - as in "The Pot of Gold,'
and D'Artagnan, all reappear: Athos where Chief is always seeking, always
the perfect gentleman, big Porthos so unsuccessful, because just at the moment
simple and kind-hearted, Aramis a bishop of capture of the coveted treasure, his
and schemer, and D'Artagnan a soldier attention is distracted by the vision of
still, quick-tempered and outspoken as his adoring and forsaken Rhoda; or in
ever, but withal so full of loyalty and the last charming sketch entitled "The
kindliness that his very enemies love Prince's Visit,' where weak Job loses
him. The chief plot of the book relates the sight of a grand procession while he
the struggle of Colbert to supplant is succoring the lame boy,-a sacrifice
Fouquet as Superintendent of Finances; rewarded by the vision of a pageant
and the struggle of Aramis, who has such as poor mortals may but whisper
become General of the Jesuits, to keep of. ” The offspring of dreams, the
Fouquet in power.
Dream Children, pass before the mind's
Aramis discovers the existence in the eye, a charming company of unrealities,
Bastille of the twin brother of Louis with ordinary attributes, but invested
XIV. , exactly like him in person, who with supernatural excellence. Who can
has been concealed from his birth for tell when the realities begin and the
reasons of State. Aramis conceives the dreams end? Who can separate, in the
glorious idea of carrying off Louis XIV. , cyclorama of existence, the painted can-
and setting up a king who will owe his vas from the real objects in the fore-
throne to him, and in return make him ground ? It is into this borderland of
cardinal, prime minister, and master, as doubt the author takes us, with the
Richelieu had been. This plot he and children who hear the birds and beasts
Porthos (who does not understand the talk: where inanimate objects borrow at-
true situation in the least) carry out tributes of humanity; where fact mas-
with the utmost success, deceiving even querades as fancy and fancy as fact;
the king's own mother; but the affair is where the young and old meet together
frustrated by the fidelity of Fouquet, in a childish unconsciousness of awaken-
who, on learning the substitution, rushes ings.
to free the real king. Aramis and Por-
The Land of Poco Tiempo, by Charles
thos fly across France to Belle-Isle in
F. Lummis, (1893,) is a delightful
Brittany, where they are besieged by
record of the author's travels in New
the king's ships, and Porthos meets a
Mexico; a land, as he describes it, of
tragic death.
Aramis escapes to Spain,
(sun, silence, and adobe.
the
and, being too powerful a Jesuit to be
Great American Mystery — the National
touched, lives to an honored old age.
Rip Van Winkle. ” The different chap-
Louis XIV. meantime imprisons his
ters treat of New Mexican customs, of
brother in the famous iron mask; and
the inhabitants, of the folk-songs, of the
arrests Fouquet, who had been a bad
religious rites. Perhaps the most fas-
minister, but at the same time such a
cinating portion of the work is that
gentleman that D'Artagnan says to him:
devoted to the <cities that were for-
“Ah, Monsieur, it is you who should
gotten”; those great stone ruins, rearing
be king of France. ” Athos dies heart-
ghost-like from illimitable plains, with
broken, after learning of the death of
as little reason for being there as the
his son; and last of all, D'Artagnan falls
in the thick of battle in the musketeer's
Pyramids in the sands of the desert.
The book is written in a pleasant con-
uniform he had worn for forty years.
versational style, and with much pict-
Even those who have least sentiment
uresqueness of description.
over the personages of fiction can hardly
part with these familiar and charming England Withont and Within, by
friends
Grant White. Most of the
chapters of this book appeared in the
Atlantic Monthly, but
intended
Dream children, by Horace E. Scud-
der, is a collection of “Once-Upon- from the first as a presentation in book
a-Time » stories, in which memory and form of the subject indicated by its
The
were


## p. 463 (#499) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
463
are
an
title. The author has put England, its of April 30th, 1889, at St. Paul's Church
people and their ways, before his readers in New York, which carried off the chief
just as he saw them: their skies; their honor of the celebration of the one hun-
methods of daily life; their men and dredth anniversary of the first inaugura-
women, to the latter of whom he pays tion of Washington as President of the
a charming tribute; their nobility and United States. There
seventeen
gentry; parks and palaces; national vir- papers altogether, and they constitute a
tues and vices. He has told only what conspicuous illustration of the best type
any one might have seen, though with- of churchman: a bishop of New York,
out the power of explicit description who is in every secular respect an emi-
and photographic language. It is, says nent citizen, and author of wise
he, «the commonplaces of life that counsel in matters of political and social
show what a people, what a country
interest.
is; what all the influences, political,
moral, and telluric, that have bee What
hat Social Classes Owe to Each
there for centuries, have produced”; and
Other, by William Graham Sum-
it is of these commonplaces he treats.
ner, is a study of socialistic questions in
He saw England in an informal, un-
primer form. The author does not take
business-like, untourist-like
way,
not
the position of an advocate for any one
stopping every moment to take notes,
class, but considers with impartiality the
but relying on his memory to preserve
claims of all classes. He emphasizes
everything of importance. There is a
not so much the duties of classes as the
noticeable lack of descriptions of lit-
duties of the individual members of
erary people in England, -a lapse in-
those classes, growing out of the rela-
tion of man to man.
tentional, not accidental; he believing
He also empha-
that it is an «altogether erroneous
sizes the necessity of a man's bearing
notion that similarity in occupation, or
his own burden, and not depending too
admiration on one side, must produce
much upon the aid of his fellows. The
liking in personal intercourse »; but this
work is valuable more for its suggestive-
disappointment— if it be a disappoint-
ness than for its dogmatic quality,
ment to the reader - is more than atoned
for by the review of journeyings to Ox-Subjection of Women, The. By John
Stuart Mill. An able essay designed
ford and Cambridge, Warwick, Stratford-
to explain the grounds of the early and
upon-Avon, Kenilworth, where, as his
strong twofold conviction of Mr. Mill:
acquaintance of a railway compartment
(1), that the principle of woman's legal
says, every American
goes”; rural
subordination to man is wrong in itself,
England; pilgrimage to Canterbury, etc.
and is now one of the chief hindrances
However severe his criticism of national
to human improvement; and (2) that it
faults and individual blunderings, how-
ought to be replaced by a principle of
caustic the
directed
perfect equality, placing no disability
against the foibles of the British Phil-
istines, one is conscious of the author's
upon woman, and giving no exclusive
power or privilege to man.
After re-
underlying admiration for the home of
viewing the conditions which the laws
his kindred; and the sincerity of his
of all countries annex to the marriage
dictum — «England is not perfect, for it
contract, Mr. Mill carefully discusses the
is upon the earth, and it is peopled by
right of woman to be equal with man
human beings; but I do not envy the
in the family, and her further right to
man who, being able to earn enough to
equal admission with him to all the
get bread and cheese and beer, a whole
functions and occupations hitherto re-
coat and a tight roof over his head, can- served to men. He concludes with a
not be happy there. )
strong chapter on the justice, mercy,
and general beneficence, of social
Scholar
, and the State, The, and other
order from which the slavery of woman
Orations and Addresses; by Henry shall have entirely disappeared.
Codman Potter. (1897. ) A volume of
thoughtful papers, of which the first
: Essays of Hamilton Wright Mabie.
giving its title, was
comprised under
as the Phi Beta Kappa Oration at Har- this general title. They are all con-
vard in 1890, and the sec on Char- cerned with man and nature, the soul
acter in Statesmanship,' was the address and literature, art and culture. Their
ever
sarcasms
a


## p. 464 (#500) ############################################

464
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
man.
on
several titles are: Essays in Literary the human spirit than in all the histori-
Interpretation,' Essays on Nature and cal works that have been written; for the
Culture,' (Short Studies in Literature,' real history of man on this earth is not
Books and Culture,' My Study Fire) the record of the deeds he has done
(2 vols. ), and "L'nder the Trees and with his hands, the journeys he has
Elsewhere. They all express the views made with his feet; . . but the rec-
of a book-man on man and his surround- ord of his thoughts, feelings, inspirations,
ings; but of a book-man who has studied aspirations, and experience. This, on the
man no less than books, and has stud- conditions of a broad mental and moral
ied books rather as a means than an development of the individual, draws
end -as giving insight into the soul of the essential line of distinction between
Great books are for him not feats the man of culture and the Philistine:
of intellect, but the result of the contact To secure the most complete develop-
of mind and heart with the great and ment one must live in one's time and
terrible facts of life: they originate not yet live above it, and one must live in
in the individual mind but in the soil of one's home and yet live in the world.
common human hopes, loves, fears, as- The life which is bounded in knowledge,
pirations, sufferings. Shakespeare did interest, and activity by the invisible but
not invent Hamlet, he found him in hu- real and limiting walls of a small com-
man histories already acted out to the munity is often definite in aim, effective
tragic end; Goethe did not create Faust, in action, and upright in intention; but
he summoned him out of the dim me- it cannot be rich, varied, generous, and
diæval world and confronted him with stimulating The life, the other
the problems of life as it is now. There hand, which is entirely detached from
are in these Essays) innumerable epi- local associations and tasks is often in-
grammatic passages easily detachable teresting, liberalizing, and catholic in
from the context; a few of these will spirit; but it cannot be original or pro-
serve to illustrate the author's points of ductive. A sound life – balanced, poised,
view. Writing of Personality in Liter- and intelligently directed — must stand
ary Work,' he says that there is no such strongly in both local and universal re-
thing as a universal literature in the lations; it must have the vitality and
sense which involves complete escape warmth of the first, and the breadth and
from the water-marks of place and time: range of the second.
no man can study or interpret life save
from the point of view where he finds
Lºv
oves of the Triangles, The, by
himself; no truth gets into human keep- George Canning. In 1797 George
ing by any other path than the individ- Canning, then Under-Secretary of State
ual soul, nor into human speech by any for Foreign Affairs, planned in conjunc-
other medium than the individual mind. ton with George Ellis, John Hookham
In another essay occurs this fine remark Frere, and others, the Anti-Jacobin, a
on wit: Wit reveals itself in sudden political paper edited in the interests of
flashes, not in continuous glow and il- the Tory party.
lumination; it is distilled in sentences; Satire and parody were the vehicles
it is preserved in figures, illustrations, by which editors and contributors tried
epigrams, epithets, phrases. Then fol- to effect their end; and among the va-
lows a comparison of wits and humor- rious articles and poems, none were wit-
ists: the wits entertain and dazzle us, tier than those written by Canning,
the humorists al lif
to us.
Aris- then barely twenty-seven. One object of
tophanes, Cervantes, Molière, and Shakes- these contributions was to cast ridicule
peare - the typical humorists—are among on the undue sentimentality of various
the greatest contributors to the capital literary men of the day, in their alleged
of human achievement; they give us not false sympathy with the revolutionary
glimpses but views of life. In the essay, spirit in France
(The Art of Arts) - i. e. , the art of liv- (The Loves of the Triangles) was
ing — is this remark on the Old Testa- presented as the work of a quasi-con-
ment writings: Whatever view one may tributor, Mr. Higgins, who says that
take of the authority of those books, it he is persuaded that there is no sci-
is certain that in the noble literature ence, however abstruse, nay, no trade
which goes under that title there is a nor manufacture, which may not be
deeper, clearer, and fuller disclosure of taught by a didactic poem.
And


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
465
though the more rigid and unbending | charity or fellow-feeling: not only is man
stiffness of a mathematical subject does enjoined to show kindliness to fellow-
not admit of the same appeals to the men, but to all animals as well. The
warmer passions which naturally arise people practice what their scriptures
out of the sexual system of Linnæus, teach; and the effect indirectly on the
he hopes that his poem will ornament condition of the brutes is almost as
and enlighten the arid truths of Euclid marked as its more direct effect on the
and algebra, and will strew the Asses' character of mankind.
Bridge with flowers.