No More Learning

Sun-
Evelyn Cameron, a beautiful English girl. locks grows up like a son in the home of
Fate, however, reserves him for the faith- the Manx Governor, and wins the love
ful Alice, the love of his youth.
of his daughter Greeba. The youth is
Ernest Maltravers) is written in the sent to Iceland to school, and is commis-
Byronic strain, and is a fair example of sioned by Orry to find Jason and give
the English romantic and sentimental him his father's money -- a mission he is
novel of the thirties,
unable to fulfill. In trying to wreck, and
then to save, an incoming vessel (which,
Christie Johnstone, by Charles Reade,
unknown to Orry, is bearing the aven-
was published in 1855, three years
after Peg Woffington' had given the
ging Jason from Iceland to Man), Orry
is fatally hurt; but is saved from drown-
author his reputation. It is one of the
ing by Jason, who learns from the dying
best and most charming of modern sto-
man's delirium that he has rescued the
ries. It depicts a young viscount, rich
father and missed the brother whom he
and blasé, who loves his cousin Lady
has sworn to kill. Throughout the story,
Barbara, but is rejected because of his
his blind attempts at doing new wrongs
lack of energy and his aimlessness in
life. He grows pale and listless; a doc-
to revenge the old are overruled by
Providence for good; and at the last, no
tor is called in, and prescribes yacht-
longer against his will but by the de-
ing and taking daily interest in the
velopment of his own nature, he fulfills
lower classes. » The story, by turns
pathetic and humorous, abounds in vivid
his destiny of blessing those he has sworn
to undo.
and dramatic scenes of Scotch life by
the sea; and Christie, with her superb
physique, her broad dialect
, her shrewd Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush, and
sense, and her noble heart, is a heroine
The Days of Auld Lang Syne, by
worth while.
Ian Maclaren (the Rev. Dr. John Wat-
Reade's wit and humor
permeate the book, and his vigorous eth-
son), are companion volumes delineating
Scottish character and life among the
ics make it a moral tonic.
lowly. Both consist of short sketches with
Colonel's Daughter, The,- an early no attempt at plot, but interest attaches
novel of Captain Charles King's, to the well-drawn characters. Domsie,
and one of his best, — was published in the schoolmaster, bent on having Drum-
1883. The author disclaims all charms tochty fitly represented by (a lad o'
of rhetoric and literary finish in the con- pairts » in the University: Drumsheugh,


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284
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
nesses
with a tender love-sorrow, and a fine pas- unique inhabitants of the Tennessee
sion for concealing from his left hand mountains, human nature enough to fill
the generous deeds of his right; the a dozen strong books. While the general
Rev. Dr. Davidson, long the beloved min- characteristics are the same, her stories
ister at Drumtochty; Burnbrae, with apt are all unlike. His Vanished Star) deals
comments upon men and events; Marget with mountain schemers and «moon-
Howe, whose mother heart still beats warm shiners,” and matches town knavery with
even after her Geordie's death; «Posty,” rustic cunning The plot rests upon the
the mail carrier; and Dr. Weelum Mac- effort of one Kenneth Kenniston, who
lure, going through field and food at the owns a tract in the mountain country,
call of duty,- these with many others are to build a summer hotel. He is inde-
drawn with a quaint intermingling of fatigable in his attempts; but as a hotel
pathos and humor. The church life of would kill the business of the “moon-
rural Scotland affords a rich field for the shiners,” his tricks are met by equally
powers of the author.
unscrupulous tricks on their part. The
entire story is given to the contest of
Hoosier School-Master, The, by Ed.
ward Eggleston, first appeared seri-
wits between the whisky distillers, -
ally in Hearth and Home in 1870. It
who are "jes' so durned ignorant they
don't know sin from salvation, nor law
narrates the experiences of Ralph Hart-
sook, an Indiana youth who in ante-
from lying,”—and the schemer from
bellum days taught a back-country dis-
civilization with legal right on his side,
trict school in his native State.
who is powerless to remove the squat-
There is no attempt at complicated
ters from the land which is legally his.
Two beautiful mountain girls play into
plot, the interest centring in the provin-
the hand of fate; but they serve to tem-
cial manners and speech of the rustic
characters, who find in the young school-
per the belligerent air. Miss Murfree's
master almost the only force making
glowing descriptions of mountain fast-
are rich in color, distinct, and
for progress and culture - crude though
it is. Though inexperienced, Ralph is
individual, and afford a striking back-
manly and plucky, proving himself pos-
ground for her psychological studies.
sessed of qualities which command the
respect of the difficult patrons of the Hog
ogan, M. P. , by Mrs. May Laffan Hart-
primitive country school.
ley. In tracing the political course
With a keen sense of humor, and
of a young barrister of Dublin, we have
a veritable panorama of Irish life in the
fidelity to detail, the author describes
the unsuccessful efforts of the hitherto
early seventies. The career of Hogan
incorrigible pupils to
himself is very disappointing. At the
driv out the
teacher; the spelling-school, and how the
opening of the story he is a promising
master was spelled down; the exhorta-
young lawyer. Later, through the in-
tions of the Hardshell » preacher; the
fluence of a stock-jobber and an old lord
whose interests he is to further, Hogan
triumphant rebuttal of a charge of theft
secures the election to Parliament from
lodged against Ralph; the sturdy help
one of the southern counties. Having
which he continually gives to the dis-
become dazzled with speculation, he in-
tressed; and the final success of his love
vests all his little wealth in stocks; and
for Hannah, a down-trodden girl of fine
when the broker absconds with the funds
spirit, who begins really to live under
of the corporation, is financially ruined.
the new light of affection.
With its companion volume, (The
Hogan loves Nellie Davoren, one of the
few admirable characters in the book;
Hoosier School-Boy, the novel occupies
but while in London he falls victim to
a unique field; describing the manners,
the wiles of a superannuated belle, mar-
customs, thoughts, and feelings of a type
ries her for her property, and finally
full of interesting and romantic suggest-
iveness, humorous, and grotesque.
secures the position of secretary to a
governor in the South Sea Islands and
His
is Vanished Star, by Charles Egbert goes to reside in Honolulu.
Craddock (Miss Mary Noailles Mur- While we trace with regret the tortu-
free). Miss Murfree is one of the few ous and downward path of the barrister,
American writers who have possessed we are treated to
some very realistic
themselves of a distinct field in litera- descriptions of all classes of people and
ture. She has found in the uncouth and conditions of life, from the nuns of St.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
285
are
Swithin's convent to Saltasche the bro- There she meets and loves Jim Dev.
ker swindler, and from the Lord Mayor ereux, a handsome, manly young farmer
of Dublin to the wretched tenant of of the better class. Her beauty wins
the peat country.
also the of a richer man, Mr. Sat-
The scenes are crowded with characters terthwaite, who, as the purchaser of the
as numerous as those in Mrs. Rafferty's estate of Rosslyne, supplies the English
ultra-fashionable drawing-rooms, and as element of the tale. But convinced that
diversified as the motley crowd on Kings- Helena's happiness lies in Devereux's
town Pier. There are the wild and reck- hands, the Englishman generously puts
less college fellows, the giddy devotees himself aside; and when Jim and Helena
of fashion, the dissolute military colonel turn their faces toward the New World,
squandering his wife's money, the distin- it is he who bids them «God-speed ”
guished clerical magnates, match-making from the steamer's deck.
mammas, and gossiping spinsters. The Among the minor characters which
political state of affairs is freely dis- illustrate Irish social conditions
cussed. We are admitted to electioneer- the noisy, vulgar Perrys, and clever
ing assemblies, and listen to the stump Madam Reilly, whose conversations with
orators; in the crowded ball-room we Mr. Satterthwaite enable the author to
overhear the side talk of dignified func- discuss at length the social and political
tionaries and their conservative opinions problems of the country.
The story
on the question of Home Rule, Tenant gives a vivid picture of Ireland as she
Right, and minor agitated measures; and is, - poverty-stricken Ireland with her
following Hogan in his campaign, we untamed Celtic heart, beautiful even in
listen to the rant of a Yankeeized Hiber- her ruin, and pervaded by a wild ro-
nian loudly proclaiming for an Irish re- mantic charm.
public. Altogether we have to thank
Mrs. Hartley, who was a native of Dub- Beyond the Pale, by B. M. Croker
.
lin, for a most skillfully delineated por- The scene of this story is laid in
trait of her countrymen as we find it in Munster, Ireland. The heroine is Gerald-
(Hogan, M. P. ,' the first of her novels. ine O'Bierne, better known as Galloping
Jerry, the last representative of an old
Hono
ſonorable Miss Ferrard, The, an and ruined race. At her father's death,
Irish romance by May Laffan Hart- the great estate of Carrig is seized by
ley, London, 1877.
the mortgage-holders; and her mother, a
Helena Ferrard, or “Hel, the only penniless and silly beauty, marries Matt
remaining daughter of an utterly im- Scully, a neighboring horse-dealer, — a
poverished and fallen house, grows to match so far beneath her that the indig-
girlhood with the woods and fields for
nant county cuts her altogether. Scuily
sole teachers, and for companions her despises his stepdaughter till he discovers
three stalwart, reckless brothers, the that she can ride with judgment and
most arrant poachers for miles around. dauntless courage; whereupon he takes
With the one servant, Cawth, a virulent her from school, and sets her to break-
old hag, who is yet faithful to the fam-ing his horses. Her mother being dead,
ily in its degradation, Lord Darragh- she is bullied and abused by him and
more and his children «flit) from town his niece Tilly, a vulgar slattern: pur-
to town, from hovel to hovel, as their sued by Casey Walsh, jockey and black-
creditors or their whims urge; subsisting | leg; cut by the county, and adored by the
for the most part on the results of the peasantry. The Irish pride of race is
sons' questionable industry.
the main element of interest. The story
To «Helat sixteen comes
a brief
is bright, original, and very well told;
civilizing interval under the care of two while two or three character-studies of
maiden aunts in Bath. But the beautiful Irish peasants are portraitures that de-
half-savage creature, unused to restraint serve to live with Miss Edgeworth's.
of any kind, chafes and suffocates in the
rose-scented atmosphere of the home of ecilia de Noel, by Lanoe Falconer
these two old gentlewomen. Carrying a (Morwenna Pauline Hawker). The
few ameliorating traces of social train- scene is England, in recent times; the
ing with her, she runs away, back to heroine is Cecilia de Noel, an imperson-
the heather fields of Darraghtown, where ation of love and sympathy, whose power
her wild clan has gathered.
of goodness is put to the highest proof
Cecili


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286
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
come
on
by her ability to quiet a restless spirit in love with her, and persuades her to
that haunts the house of her friends Sir an elopement. After a brief dream of
George and Lady Atherley. The ghost happiness, she awakes to the knowledge
is used as a kind of touchstone of char- that she has married a cold-hearted, self-
acter. The book as a whole is a curious indulgent spendthrift; he makes her life
psychological study. At the time of its miserable until she dies at twenty-four,
publication it attracted great attention. leaving a boy of six, Archie, and a new-
born daughter, Diana. Meantime John
Dr. Latimer, by Clara Louise Burnham.
This is called “A Story of Casco
Tempest, the head of the family, whose
Bay”; and it contains many charming
whole heart had been given to Diana,
marries without love to perpetuate the
pictures of that beautiful Maine coast
and its fascinating islands. Dr. Latimer,
line, and to prevent the estate's going to
his hated and worthless brother. A son
a man of fine character and position,
is born, but he believes his silly and un-
beloved by all who know him, becomes
interested in three orphan girls, Joseph- loving wife to have been faithless to him,
ine, Helen, and Vernon Ivison, who
and after her death treats the younger
to Boston to support themselves
John with justice but without affection.
Nevertheless, in his will he makes this
by teaching and music. He falls in love
lad sole heir. Colonel Tempest disputes
with Josephine, the eldest, who returns
the will, but fails to impugn John's title.
his affection; and he invites the three
girls to his island home for the summer.
His rage and disappointment goad him or
to make a bet of £10,000 with a plausible
He has hesitated to avow his love for
scamp named Sloane, that he, Edward
Josephine on account of the difference
Tempest, will never inherit the estates;
of age between them, and also on account
the implication being that the obstacle
of a former unhappy marriage made in
to his inheritance is to be removed.
early youth with a woman who had first
disgraced and then deserted him, and
Many attempts are made on John's life;
whom he has long supposed dead. Her
and the Colonel, not knowing whose hand
thus strikes in the dark, becomes at last
sudden reappearance destroys his newly
almost frenzied with fear and suspense.
found happiness; he leaves the island,
John, as boy and man, has treated both
bidding Josephine a final farewell. Re-
Colonel Tempest and his profligate boy
called by the news that his wife has
drowned herself and that he is at last
Archibald with generous kindness; and at
last the Colonel is driven to borrow the
free, he marries Josephine. Helen and
£10,000 from John to buy off his invisible
Vernon are mated to the men of their
enemies. He succeeds in reaching two of
choice: the former to Mr. Brush, a Ger-
them, but cannot obtain the clue to the
man teacher; the latter to Olin Randolph,
rest. John falls in love with his cousin
a society youth of much charm and char-
Diana, a beautiful girl who has not only
acter, whose aunts, Miss Charlotte and
all the brains but all the conscience in her
Miss Agnes Norman, are characters of
family. Just as he is about to win her
interest, as is also Persis Applebee, the
doctor's old-fashioned housekeeper. The
hand, he discovers by the mierest chance
that the old vague suspicion is true, that
story was published in 1893. The island
he is not a Tempest, and has no right
so accurately described is Bailey's Island,
to place, name, or fortune. Tempted to
where Mrs. Burnham makes her summer
conceal what, without his confession, can
home.
never be known to any other human
iana Tempest, by Mary Cholmond- being, his better self constrains him to
eley. (1893. ) The clever author of tell the truth to the true Tempests, give
(Sir Charles Danvers? here attempts a up Diana, and begin life again. This he
more elaborate novel. It is a story of does: but before any step can be taken,
good society, wherein the motives potent Archie is killed in mistake for John by
in bad society - greed, envy, malice, and one of the confederates who had agreed
all uncharitableness — have (room and to make away with him in the interest of
verge enough. ” The head of the Tem- the Colonel; while that gentleman him-
pests, a family ancient as the Flood, is self is so excited by the news of his inher-
engaged to a brilliant beauty of seven- itance that he dies of cerebral exhaustion,
teen, Diana Courtenay.
His younger
having in his delirium, revealed to Diana
brother, a handsome, fascinating, perfid- and John his wicked plot. Diana marries
ious, selfish army officer, falls violently John; and as she is now the only heir,
Diana


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
287
the secret of his parentage is never told. her a shelter and a home, half as com-
Thus analyzed, the story appears sensa- panion and half as guest. At the châ-
tional, which it is not. The children in teau Sainville she meets the head of
the book are drawn with a loving hand, the family, Madame Marceau's brother,
the characterization is as good as in Sir Armand de Sainville, a man many years
Charles Danvers,' the dialogue is clever, her senior; and the story henceforth be-
the general treatment brilliant, and in comes the story of the action of these
its charming refinement the story has a three lives upon each other. The most
place apart.
admirable of the minor characters is the
gentle old baroness, Aunt Radegonde,
John Littlejohn of J. , by George Mor-
the type and epitome of the old French
gan, (1897,) is a spirited succession of
gentlewoman; who adores Nathalie, but
Revolutionary incidents, beginning with
has no money to help her with, and
the bitter winter at Valley Forge, and
who cannot persuade the proud girl to
ending with the battle of Monmouth,
share her little store. The charm of the
where Lee's intolerable attitude forces
book lies in its admirable characteriza-
an oath from the commander-in-chief.
tions, its bright and natural dialogue,
It presents George Washington in the
and above all in its atmosphere of ex-
days of his trial, when the country was
quisite refinement, the breeding of an
doubtfully waiting for him to prove ad-
old race with traditions and instincts of
equate to its needs, when his suffering
perfect courtesy.
army was clamoring for food and clothes,
and the Conway Cabal was secretly, tryHºpe Leslie, by Miss Catherine My
allhe Sedgwick, (,) a of early.
is the calmly dominant figure of our his- colonial days in Massachusetts. Hope,
tories.
an orphan, is brought up by her uncle
John Littlejohn, a young patriot serv- Mr. Fletcher, and loves her cousin Ever-
ing in the American army, is mistaken ett; but in a moment of misunderstand-
for his uncle, a bitter old Tory; arrested ing he engages himself to Miss Downing,
on charge of treason; and narrowly es- Governor Winthrop's niece. At length
capes being shot.
His efforts to clear Miss Downing, discovering that he loves
his name, the exciting adventures he his cousin, releases him to marry the
meets in outwitting his uncle, and the impetuous Hope. Colonial dignitaries
beautiful but unprincipled Alicia Gaw, and noble women figure equally in the
the bringing a prize of British gold book, which makes a faithful attempt to
and British supplies to Washington, are present a picture of the life of the mid-
narrated by one Asa Lankford, a dumb dle of the seventeenth century in and
soldier who takes an active part in the near Boston. The story is very diffuse,
events. It is a book of clever plotting, is told with the long stride of the high-
of Dumas-like chances. The interest heeled and stiff-petticoated Muse of Fic-
lies less in the slight but pleasant love tion as she appeared in the middle of
story, than in the local color and vivid our century, and is more sentimental
presentment of an interesting period. than modern taste quite approves. But
a picture of manners it is faithful;
Nathalie, by Julia Kavanagh. (1851. )
This delicate and charming love
and its spirit is wholesome and health-
ful. In its day it enjoyed a very great
story, like the author's (Adele ) and
(Sybil's Second Love,' might well take
popularity.
the place of certain fashy novels of the Hour and the Man, The, the most im.
in the regard of contemporary portant work of fiction among the
readers. Nothing can be simpler than multitude of Harriet Martineau's writ-
the plot. Nathalie, a poor and charming | ings, is a historical novel based on the
young Provençal teacher, is dismissed
of Toussaint L'Ouverture. It
from the boarding-school where she is opens with the uprising of the slaves in
earning her bread, because a dissipated St. Domingo in August 1791; at which
aristocrat chooses to persecute her with time Toussaint, a negro slave on the
his unwelcome attentions. His mother, Breda estate, remained faithful to the
Madame Marceau, — more just than her whites, and entered the service of the al-
worldly-minded employer, if not
lies of the French king as against the
kind, and really grateful for what she re- Convention. The struggle between loy-
gards as the escape of her son,-offers alty to the royalist cause and duty to
as
career
more


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288
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
his race, when he learns of the decree
of the Convention proclaiming the lib-
erty of the negroes, ends by his taking
the leadership of the blacks; and from
this point the story follows the course
of history through dramatic successes to
the pathetic ending of this remarkable
life. The novel is a vivid page of his-
tory.
Joshua Davidson, Christian and Com.
munist, The TRUE HISTORY OF, by
E. Lynn Linton. (Final edition (6th),
1874. ) The name of the hero of this
story is meant to be read “Jesus Da-
vid's Son”; the word "Jesus” being the
old Hebrew word "Joshua, changed by
Greek usage.
The idea of the writer
was to picture a man of to-day, a man
of the people, repeating under altered
circumstances the life of Jesus, and set-
ting the world a Christ-example. The
work was planned on the theory that
"pure Christianity, as taught by Christ
himself, leads us inevitably to com-
munism”; and with this view the hero
of the story, who begins as a Cornish
carpenter, is carried to Paris, to lose
his life in the Communard insurrection.
He is represented as “a man working
on the Christ plan, and that alone; deal-
ing with humanity by pity and love
and tolerance,” living the life of the
crucified Communist of Galilee. ) The
question raised by the author is, “Which
is true: modern society, earnest for the
dogma of Christianity, and rabid against
its acted doctrines, or the brotherhood
and communism taught by the Jewish
carpenter of Nazareth ? » Not only are
the views thus indicated extreme, but the
execution of the conception, in a hasty
sketch, altogether fails to adequately
reproduce the understood character and
life of Christ.
Downfall, The ('La Débâcle”), (1892. ) a
powerful novel of the Franco-Prus-
sian war, by Émile Zola. It portrays with
strength and boldness, on a remarkable
breadth of canvas, the incidents of that
great campaign. Intermingled with the
passions of war are the passions of love;
the whole forms a pageant rarely sur-
passed in fiction. The principal charac-
ters are Jean Macquart, a corporal in the
French army, who had fought at Solferino;
Maurice Levasseur, a young lawyer en-
listed as a private in Macquart's command;
Delaherche, chief cloth manufacturer of
Sedan; Henriette Weiss, sister of Maurice,
and wife of an accountant; Honoré Fou-
chard, quartermaster-sergeant; and Sil-
vine, Honoré's betrothed, who has been
betrayed by one Goliah, on whom she
later takes terrible vengeance. The story
is concerned chiefly with the friendship
of Macquart and Levasseur, and the love
of Macquart and Henriette, who is left a
widow during the siege of Sedan. This
terrible siege forms the dramatic centre
of the story. The book ends tragically
with the death of Maurice Levasseur by
the hand of Macquart, who had bayo-
neted him not knowing that it was his
friend. With this shadow between them,
Jean and Henriette feel that they must
part. "Jean, bearing his heavy burden
of affliction with humble resignation, went
his way, his face set resolutely toward
the future, toward the glorious and ardu-
ous task that lay before him and his
countrymen. - to create a new France. ”
Assommoir, L, by Émile Zola, entitled
(Gervaise) in the English transla-
tion, was published in 1877, and forms
one of the series dealing with the fortunes
of the Rougon-Macquart family. The
chief figure, Gervaise, a daughter of this
family driven from home when fourteen,
and already a mother, goes with her lover
to Paris. There he deserts her and her
two children. She afterwards marries a
tinsmith, Coupeau. The beginning of
their wedded life is prosperous; but as
the years go on, vice and poverty disin-
tegrate what might have been a family
into mere units of misery, wretchedness,
and corruption. Zola traces their down-
fall in the pitiless and intimate fashion
characteristic of him, and not difficult
with characters created to be analyzed.
The book is a series of repulsive pict-
ures unrelieved by one gleam of a nobler
humanity, but only “realistic as scraps:
the life as a possible whole is as purely
imaginative as if it were lovely instead
of loathsome.
She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver
Goldsmith. This admirable comedy
was first produced in 1773, and is said
to have been founded on an incident in
the author's own life. Young Marlow,
who is of a very diffident disposition, on
his way to see Kate Hardcastle whom
his father designs for him as a wife, is
directed to Squire Hardcastle's house, as
an inn, by Tony Lumpkin, the squire's
stepson. With Marlow is Hastings, a
suitor to Constance Neville, whom Mrs.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
289
(c
an
Hardcastle designs for her son Tony. In Part ii. , Buckthorne, ex-poor-devil.
They meet Kate and Constance, but author and actor, become a comfortable
Marlow's timidity prevents him from country squire, narrates the ups and
looking them in the face. Meeting Kate downs of his varied career.
later, in her housewife's dress, he takes Part iii.
is a succession of adventures
her for a barmaid and loses his timidity, with Italian banditti, recounted by a
representing himself as “the agreeable group of travelers gathered in an inn
Mr. Rattle, the ladies' favorite; and at Tarracina. Among them is a pretty
laughs at Miss Hardcastle as a mere Venetian bride who shudders to hear of
awkward, squinting thing. ” The excesses the wild horde infesting the Apennines,
of Marlow's servants force Hardcastle to always ready to attack and rob defense-
remonstrate; a quarrel ensues in which less parties, and carry them off in the
Marlow asks for his bill. Hardcastle hope of extorting ransom. Another and
tells him he is much disappointed in his more incredulous listener is a young
old friend's son, and leaves him. Mar- Englishman, whom the bride dislikes for
low calls the “barmaid," and learns his insensibility. The next day he is
what a «dullissimo macaroni» he has taught a practical lesson in the existence
made of himself. She allows him to be- of brigands; and by rescuing the fair
lieve she is a poor relation, and as such Venetian from their hands, reverses her
he woos and wins her.
opinion of him.
Tony agrees to help Hastings to elope In Part iv. , Irving collects the roman-
with Constance. He receives a letter, tic legends concerning Captain Kidd and
saying Hastings is ready with a coach; his fellow buccaneers, and the treasure
but not being able to read it, gives it they are supposed to have secreted in
to his mother, who discovers the plot. the neighborhood of Hellgate. There
Tony, however, learning that he has are other legends too, involving the com-
been of age for three months, refuses to pact with the Devil, which tradition has
marry her, and she is thus allowed to made inevitable condition of the
keep her dowry and her lover. In drill- securing of illegal gains. All these varied
ing his servants receive Marlow, scenes of England, Italy, and America,
Hardcastle tells them they must not Irving presents in happy incidental
laugh at his stories. «Then, ecod, your touches which never clog the action with
worship must not tell the story of the description, yet leave a vivid picture
ould grouse in the gun-room: we have with the reader.
laughed at that these twenty years. ”
And mother grouse in the sun-room” has Marble Faun, The, by Nathaniel Haw-
proverbial for an old story.
thorne () last
complete romance by the author, and
Tales of a Traveller, by Washington was thought by him to be his best. It
Irving, (1824. ) is a delightful medley was composed carefully and maturely,
of humorous and tragic elements. The Hawthorne not having written anything
genial humorist himself declares them to for seven years; and appeared simulta-
be (moral tales, with the moral «dis- neously in Boston and London under
guised as much as possible by sweets different titles. The original name pro-
and spices. ” Sometimes sportive, abound- posed was (The Transformation of the
ing in mockery which although keen Faun,' shortened by the English pub-
is never bitter, they are again weirdly lisher into “Transformation,' and changed
grotesque or horrible, like the work of in America by Hawthorne to (The Mar-
Poe or Hoffmann. Always they have the ble Faun. ) The scene is laid in Rome;
individual flavor and easy grace charac- the chief characters, four in number, are
teristic of Irving. The volume is divided introduced together in the first chapter:
into four parts.
Kenyon, an American sculptor; Hilda
In the first, a nervous gentleman and and Miriam, art students; and Count
his friends, guests of a jovial fox-hunting Donatello, Italian friend. Hilda,
baronet in his (ancient rook-haunted blonde and gentle, with New England
mansion,” become reminiscent of family training and almost Puritanic feeling,
ghost-stories and vie with each other in is beloved by Kenyon. Miriam, dark and
wild romances, the actors in which can- passionate, is admired by Donatello.
not rest, but frighten would-be sleepers An accidental resemblance of Donatello
from their former haunts.
to the famous Faun of Praxiteles is
XXX—19
to
an


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290
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
used by the author to picture a corre-
sponding human character, - beautiful,
but heedless and morally unconscious,
until brought into contact with sin and
suffering. This transformation” is oc-
casioned by the persecution of Miriam
by a mysterious person, accidentally en-
countered in the Catacombs, who there.
after attaches himself to her, haunts her,
and dogs her footsteps. He finally in-
trudes himself upon her during a moon-
light excursion to the Capitoline Hill;
when Donatello, enraged beyond endur-
ance and encouraged by a glance from
Miriam, grasps him and flings him from
the Tarpeian rock to his death. From
that instant Miriam and Donatello be-
come linked together by their guilty
secret; and the happy, heedless, faun-
like Donatello becomes the remorseful,
conscience-stricken man. Hilda, mean-
while, is involved in the catastrophe.
She has seen the deed committed, and is
overwhelmed; she can neither keep nor
betray her terrible secret, and breaking
down under the weight of its oppression,
the Puritan maiden seeks the bosom
of the Roman Church and pours out
her secret at the confessional. In the
end Donatello gives himself up to just-
ice, Hilda and Kenyon are married, and
the unhappy Miriam disappears. The
underlying interest of the book rests in
the searching analysis of the effect of
the murder upon the characters of those
involved in the deed. Donatello is
awakened from a blissfully immature
unconsciousness of the world into
stern realization of crime, and its con-
sequences, remorse and suffering; while
Hilda is crushed with a sense of the
wickedness which has been thrust upon
her innocent vision. Incidentally the
book is filled with the spirit of Rome
and with Roman sights and impressions,
which have made it the inseparable
manual of every sojourner in the “Eter-
nal City”; to each and all of whom is
pointed out “Hilda's tower, where she
kept the legendary lamp burning before
the shrine, and fed the doves, until the
day when another's crime drove her
from her maiden refuge.
Twice-Tola Tales, by Natnaniel Haw-
thorne. (First series, 1837; second
series, 1847. ) The (Twice-Told Tales)
took their title from the fact of their
previous publication in various annuals
and magazines. The book was favor-
ably noticed, although the quality of the
author's genius was not then widely ap-
preciated. The tales are national in
character, and the themes are chosen
from among the many quaint and inter-
esting traditions of New England. Told
with a felicity and repose of manner
that has not been surpassed in our litera-
ture, they reveal a power of imagination,
a knowledge of the obscurer motives of
human nature, and a spiritual insight,
which marked a distinct epoch in Amer-
ican literature. The second series of
(Twice-Told Tales) begins with the
four (Legends of the Province House,' -
tales which, especially characteristic of
the author's genius, at once added to the
romantic glamour which surrounds the
Boston of Revolutionary days. Through-
out, the “Tales) are characterized by
Hawthorne's beauty of style, – smooth,
musical, poetical.
He looks upon all
things with the spirit of love and with
lively sympathies; for to him external
form is but the representation of internal
being, all things having life, an end, an
aim. The sketch entitled (A Rill from
the Town Pump) is perhaps the most
famous in the collection, which contains
here and there themes and suggestions
that Hawthorne later elaborated in his
longer stories; notably the picture of a
beautiful woman wearing an embroi-
dered “A” upon her breast, who aftor-
wards reappears in (The Scarlet Letter. "
(The Great Carbuncle) was especially
admired by Longfellow, who commends
its poetic beauty. The Tales) have
often a sombre tone, a fateful sense of
gloom, weird and sometimes almost un-
canny: but they possess an irresistible
fascination. Among those best known
are (The Gray Champion, (The Gentle
Boy,' and the Wedding Knell. "
a
A'
urelian, a historical novel by William
Ware, an American author born in
1797, was first published in 1838 under the
title Probus. It was a sequel to Let-
ters of Lucius M. Piso, published the year
before; and like that novel, it is writ-
ten in the form of letters. The full title
reads (Aurelian; or, Rome in the third
century. In Letters of Lucius M. Piso,
from Rome, to Fausta, the daughter of
Gracchus at Palmyra. ? The novel pre-
sents a singularly faithful picture of the
Rome of the second half of the third
century, and of the intellectual and spir-
itual life of the time as expressed in both


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
291
Christians and pagans. The Emperor Au-
relian figures prominently in the story,
which closes with the scene of his assas-
sination. The style of Aurelian' is dig-
nified and graceful, with enough of the
classical spirit to meet the requirements
of the narrative.
Accomplished Gentleman, An, by Jul-
ian Russell Sturgis, was published
in 1879. It is a good example of the well-
written, readable novel. The scene is laid
in modern Venice, where a colony of Eng-
lish and Italians gives material for the
characters. The gentleman of accom-
plishments is Mr. Hugo Deane, a kind
of fashionable Casaubon, engaged upon a
monumental work, the history of Venice.
In the interests of this work he sacrifices
his first wife, and is willing to sacrifice the
happiness of his daughter Cynthia, be-
loved by Philip Lamond. All ends well,
however. The book may be ranked among
the comedies of fiction.
Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trol-
lope, is the second of the eight vol-
umes comprised in his (Chronicles of
Barsetshire. ) The noteworthy success of
(The Warden) led him to continue his
studies of social life in the clerical circle
centring at the episcopal palace of Bar-
chester. He gives us a pleasant love
story evolved from an environment of
clerical squabblings, schemes of prefer-
ment, and heart-burnings over church
government and forms of service. The
notable characters are Bishop Proudie,
his arrogant and sharp-tongued wife Mrs.
Proudie, and Eleanor Bold, a typical,
spirited, loving English girl. Trollope
excels in showing the actuating motives,
good and bad, of ordinary men and
In a book as thoroughly (Eng-
lish as roast beef,” he tells a story of
every-day life, and gives us the inter-
est of intimate acquaintance with every
character. A capital sense of the Estab-
lishment” pervades the book like an at-
mosphere.
Undiscovered Country, The, by W. D.
Howells, is a favorite with many of
the author's lovers. The central figure,
Dr. Boynton, an enthusiastic spiritualist,
is an admirable study of a self-deceiver,
an honest charlatan. He is a country
doctor, who has become a monomaniac
on the subject of spiritualistic manifesta-
tions, and has brought up his daughter,
a delicate, high-strung, nervous girl, as a
medium. His attempts to take Boston
by storm end in disaster. He is branded
as a cheat, his daughter is believed to
be his confederate, and and Egeria
seek refuge in a community of Shakers,
whose quaint and kindly ways are por-
trayed with a loving pen. The peaceful
monotony of the daily life, its plain
plenty, its orderliness, its thrift, its con-
stant and unoppressive industry, the
moral uprightness of the broad-brimmed
straight-skirted community, the
strangeness of the spiritual culture which
forbids the sowing of any seeds of senti-
ment, the excellence of character which
is so perversely one-sided and ineffective
- all these conditions and effects are so
vividly reported that the reader seems
to behold with his bodily eyes the long
barns bursting with harvests, the bare
clean
of the houses, and the
homely pleasantness of every-day activ-
ity. In this islanded tranquillity Egeria
blossoms into beautiful womanhood, and
her supernatural powers vanish forever.
A happy life opens before her; but the
eyes of the poor visionary, her father,
cannot turn away from the Undiscovered
Country. Unbalanced trickster that he
is, little Dr. Boynton is yet a lovable
and pathetic figure, honestly a martyr to
his cause.
The story is told with an
unfailing humor and sympathy, which
make the Shaker settlement seem almost
a place of pilgrimage.
rooms
women.
Garth, by Julian Hawthorne, appeared
first as a serial in Harper's Maga-
zine. (1875. ) Garth Urmson, the hero,
is a member of a New Hampshire fam-
ily, upon which rests a hereditary curse.
In the seventeenth century the founder
of the family in America had violated a
sacred Indian grave. From that time
forth, the shadow of the crime rests
upon
his descendants. Garth, the last
of the race, seems to carry the weight
of all their cares and sorrows; but at th
same time he feels the dignity which
was theirs by right of many noble qual-
ities. He is a dreamer, but a lofty
dreamer. He cannot, however, escape
misfortune. His love affairs with two
women, Madge Danvers and Elinor Len-
terden, are unhappy, in so far as they
are controlled by the hereditary curse.
The novel possesses a peculiar haziness
of atmosphere. It is perhaps an imita-
tion of the elder Hawthorne's House of
the Seven Gables. )


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
292
an
Sforza, by William Waldorf Astor. however, is prevented by Doltaire, an
(1889. ) The scene of this novel is instrument of La Pompadour, who has
laid in Italy, at the opening of the 16th brought Moray into these straits for pur-
century. Several historic and semi-his- poses of his own: by keeping him alive,
toric characters figure in the story. The that is, Doltaire hopes to obtain papers
author has adhered truthfully to historic in Moray's possession that are of great
facts, and has set forth the intriguing importance to La Pompadour. More-
Italian civilization, with accuracy over, he suspects Moray of affection for
and attention to detail which bespeak Alixe Duvarney, whom he himself loves,
careful study of the times pictured; and and would torture his rival with the
his descriptions of costume, architecture, knowledge of his own success.
and natural scenery, are very effective. The monotony of the imprisonment is
The story deals with the history of the varied by interviews with Gabord the
wars between Ludovic Sforza and Louis jailer, “who never exceeds his orders
XII. of France. Ludovic has murdered in harshness); and by occasional visits
his nephew, the rightful Duke of Milan, from the brilliant Doltaire, or from Vau-
and reigns in his stead, keeping the ban the barber, who is the connecting
widow Isabelle and her son captive. link with Alise and her world.
Harassed by a French invasion, and by Of two attempts to escape, the first
the knowledge that he is about to be is frustrated by Doltaire; the second, a
assailed by the Venetians, Ludovic sends year later, meets with better success. Ga-
his nephew Hermes on a secret mission bord has been induced to bring Alixe
for aid to the doge of Venice. Hermes to her lover, and a marriage ceremony
succeeds, but barely escapes the Inqui- is performed by an English clergyman
sition. Bernadino, Ludovic's governor, who has been smuggled into the quar-
who is in love with Isabelle, betrays ters. That night Moray and five other
Ludovic, who is beaten and captured by prisoners make their escape, and in a
the French. Isabelle scorns Bernadino, few days succeed in reaching the Eng-
and he is assassinated in the French lish lines.
camp. Narvaez, a famous young Span- Moray's information as to the condi-
ish fencing-master, figures conspicuously tion of the city, and the pass by which
in the book, and performs many daring the Heights of Abraham may be reached,
exploits, finally turning out to be a is invaluable.
in love with Hermes. This After the battle and the capture of the
forms the very slight love motive of the city, Moray begins the search for Alise.
book. Almodoro, Ludovic's soothsayer, Accidentally he learns of the death of
who prophesies his fate, and whose en- Doltaire. He finds Alixe at last in the
couraging words are freighted with a mountains above the city, where she had
double meaning, is a prominent person- taken refuge from the persecutions of
age, and sways the duke's fortunes by Doltaire. Here she tends her wounded
his supernatural revelations and his wily father, and has for her companion Ma-
scheming The Chevalier Bayard is thilde, the poor, demented sweetheart
introduced with one of his famous feats of Vauban. The characters are all well
of arms. The excellence of the book drawn.
lies rather in detached scenes than in
the continuous narrative.
Champions of Christendom,
The, by Richard Johnson. This is a
The Seats of The Mighty, by Gilbert romance of chivalry, which was one of
Parker, (1896,) is a historical ro- the best known and most popular books
mance, of which the scene is laid in of its time. The oldest known edition
Quebec at the critical period of the war is dated 1597. In it are recounted the
between the French and English. It exploits of St. George of England, St.
is a rapid succession of exciting advent- Denis of France, St. James of Spain, St.
ures wherein figures prominent in nis- Anthony of Italy, St. Andrew of Scot-
tory play their part with the creations land, St. Patrick of Ireland, and St.
of the author.
David of Wales. St. George kills the
Captain Robert Moray, of Lord Am- dragon, and after seven years' imprison-
herst's regiment, is a hostage on parole ment escapes, marries Sabra, and takes
in Quebec. On a false charge of be- her to England. He draws the sword
ing a spy he is imprisoned. His death, of the necromancer Ormandine from the
woman
Seven


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
293
or
enchanted rock, rescues David, who had
been unable to draw the sword, and
kills Ormandine. St. Denis, after an
enchantment of seven years in the shape
of a hart, rescues Eglantine from the
trunk of the mulberry-tree. St. James,
by knightly prowess, wins the love of
Celestine. St. Anthony kills the giant
Blanderon and rescues Rosalinde; but
her six sisters remain enchanted, in the
forms of swans. St. Andrew forces the
father of Rosalinde to become a Christ-
ian; and God, in recompense, restores
the daughters to their former shapes.
St. Patrick rescues the six sisters from
the hands of satyrs. The Seven Cham-
pions collect immense armies from their
native countries to attack the Saracens;
but St. George is called to England to de-
fend Sabra, who has killed the Earl of
Coventry in defense of her honor. He
defeats the champion of Coventry and
returns to Egypt with Sabra, where she
is crowned queen. Going to Persia, he
finds the other champions, under the spell
of the necromancer Osmond, devoting
themselves to the love of evil spirits,
who are in the form of beautiful wo
He breaks the spell, and the armies of
the champions defeat those of the Sar-
The second part relates the
achievements of St. George's three sons,
and the rest of the noble adventures of
the Seven Champions; also the manner
and place of their honorable deaths, and
how they came to be called the Seven
Saints of Christendom.
simultaneously reformed the political
condition, the religious creed, and the
moral practice of his countrymen. In
the place of many independent tribes,
he left a nation; for a superstitious be-
lief in gods many and lords many, he
established a reasonable belief in one al-
mighty yet beneficent Being, and taught
man to live under an abiding sense of
this Being's superintending care. He
vigorously attacked, and modified
suppressed, many gross and revolting
customs which had prevailed in Arabia
down to his time. For an abandoned
profligacy was substituted a regulated
polygamy, and the practice of destroy-
ing female infants was effectually abol-
ished. ” In the view of this historian,
Christianity and Mahometanism are the
only two really catholic religions. The
likeness in their origin and progress he
finds remarkable. And here again he
discriminates between race taints and
religious consequences. He considers
that the doctrines of Mahomet, though
at first a gospel of deliverance to the
peoples who heard them, contain matter
irreconcilable with the highest civiliza-
tion. Mahomet justified three
which the progressive world has agreed
to abandon; - despotism, slavery, polyg-
amy;- and his code was one of exclus-
ion. He condemned the unbeliever, as
such, to subjugation destruction.
After the Hegira he himself abated
much of his own ideal. Believing pro-
foundly in his mission at first, he came
in the end to seek his own advance-
ment, and degraded what should have
remained a great religious movement.
As both Goethe and Emerson have per-
ceived, SO this later biographer sees,
that “what in Mahomet's character is
earthly, increases and develops itself;
the divine retires and is obscured: his
doctrine becomes a means rather than
an end. ) The book is valuable for its
fairness of mind, though its statement
of the position of Christianity is less
judicial and liberal than its estimate of
Mahometanism.
vomen.
errors
acens.
or
Christ
hristianity and Islam; the Bible
and the Koran. Four lectures, by
Rev. W. R. W. Stephens, Prebendary of
Chichester. This book presents the esti-
mate of Mahomet's mission and its re-
sults, which seems fair to a conservative
English Churchman. It is his desire to
do justice to the teachings of the Koran,
and to make a full admission of the
inherent defects and vices of the races
over whom the influence of this code
of faith and conduct has certainly been
salutary, and even spiritualizing. That
is, he attributes to blood the evil tend-
encies and characteristics too often at-
tributed to religion. Mr. Stephens urges
the view that to his followers Mahomet
was a great benefactor. “He was born
in a country where political organization
and rational faith and pure morals were
unknown.