A human soul has a wonder-
ural vocation was for opera-dancing; ful supremacy over the matter which
and says that she ought to have been it informs.
ural vocation was for opera-dancing; ful supremacy over the matter which
and says that she ought to have been it informs.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
Eventually, at his own request,
call to arms. The Schleswig-Holstein they are re-married.
difficulty, the Austro-Prussian war, and There
other interesting
finally the war with France, tear the characters necessary to the working out
family apart. The wife endures the of a plot somewhat complicated in minor
fear of her husband's death, the actual details, but the burden of the story is
suffering of sympathy with his wound, concerning ill-assorted marriages and en-
the horrors of plague, famine, and the suing complications,— hardness of heart
sickening sights of a besieged city; and pride, malice, and all uncharitableness.
at last, when Von Tilling has retired
from active service, and is with her in
Paris for the winter
, the blind hatred of Green Carnation, The, by Robert M.
Hitchins, is a satire on the ex-
the French towards their conquerors treme æsthetic movement in England,
overtakes their new dream of happiness. as illustrated in the lives of pale, ex-
The Austrian is seized and shot as a quisite youths of rank, with gilt hair,
Prussian spy. Not only has the author Burne-Jones features, and eyes of blue.
presented a convincing picture of the Of this type is the hero, Lord Reginald
untold suffering, the far-reaching loss Hastings, «impure and subtle,» «too
and retrogression involved in war, but modern to be reticent,) a boy blasé at
she shows the pitiful inadequacy of the twenty-five, living a life of exquisite sen-
causes of war. Many a German woman suousness, fearing nothing so much as
recognizes in Martha Tilling's tragical the philistinism of virtue, loving nothing
journal the unwritten record of her own so much as original vice. His dearest
pain and despair.
friend is Esmé Amarinth, who is most
brilliantly epigrammatic when intoxi-
cated, and who dreads nothing so much
(1888. ) Richard Cable is the keeper as being found dead sober at improper
of a light-ship on the coast of Essex, times.
England. He is a widower, and father A mutual friend, Mrs. Windsor, belong-
of a family of seven children, all girls. ing to the green carnation ) set, strives
During a storm Josephine Cornellis, a to bring about a marriage between her
young lady of the neighborhood, whose wealthy and beautiful cousin, Lady
home is not particularly happy, is blown Locke, and Lord Reggie. For this pur-
out to the light-ship in a small boat, and pose she asks them with Esmé Amarinth
rescued by Cable.
to spend a week at her country-house.
Richard, being a moralist, gives advice Lady Locke is, however, of too whole-
to Josephine, who loses her heart to some a nature to marry a man whose
him. Events so shape themselves that badge is the arsenic flower of an ex-
she places herself under his guidance, quisite life. ” She refuses him, and at
and the two are married; but almost the same time gives her opinion of him
immediately Richard finds himself in a and of his artificial cult.
false position, owing to the fact that he «Lord Reggie's face
scarlet.
is not accustomed to the usages of so- (You talk very much like ordinary peo-
ciety, and Josephine too feels mortified ple,' he said, a little rude in his hurt
by her husband's mistakes.
A separa-
self-love. I am ordinary,' she said. "I
tion takes place, Richard sailing round am so glad of it. I think that after this
the coast to Cornwall, and taking his week I shall try to be even more ordi-
mother, the children, and all his belong- nary than I am. ) » So does the silly
Richard Cable, by S. Baring-Gould.
was
## p. 424 (#460) ############################################
424
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
sneers.
m
artificiality of a certain clique receive its when Clitandre transfers his love to her,
castigation.
accepts it in spite of her sister's jealous
Chrysale prefers Clitandre as
Robbery Under Arms, by “Rolf Bol-
drewood. ) (1888. ) This story of life
son-in-law, but is too hen-pecked to
resist his wife's will until spurred by
and adventure in the bush and in the
gold-fields of Australia gives a most
the scorn of his brother Ariste. The
vivid picture of bush life; and purports
plot is too complicated to be reproduced,
to be the history of the Marston family
and the strength of the play lies in its
of reprobates, told in a straightforward,
character-drawing. The wit with which
Molière heaps scorn
unaffected style by Dick Marston while
upon ill-founded
he is awaiting execution in jail at Syd- pretension to learning, and his powerful
ney. It shows how the boys, led on by
exposition of vanity and self-love, have
their father, became first cattle robbers,
kept the play popular in France for over
two hundred years.
then bank robbers, and regular bush-
whackers. There are encounters of trav-
elers with the police, holding up of Mand
anon Lescaut, by L'Abbé Provost.
stage-coaches, storming of houses, and
This masterpiece was first pub-
lished in Amsterdam in 1753, when its
many other thrilling adventures. The
author was in exile. When but seven-
reader is given an excellent picture of
the gold-diggings and every feature of
teen years old, the Chevalier Des Grieux,
colonial bush life and scenery.
who is studying for holy orders, meets
Manon Lescaut at an inn. She tells him
There is no regular plot. Most of the
robber gang are killed in one way or
she is being carried to a convent against
another; but the book ends happily, for
her will. They elope; but Des Grieux's
the hero is reprieved, and marries the
happiness is of short duration. A rich
girl who has been true to him in spite
neighbor informs his parents of his
whereabouts, and his father takes him
of all his misdeeds, and who has contin-
home. Convinced of Manon's complicity
ually urged him to lead a better life.
The adventures of the Marston family
in this, he resumes his studies. At the
end of eighteen months, Manon, then
under the leadership of Captain Star-
light rival those of Jack Sheppard or
sixteen years old, seeks him out, and
Dick Turpin, with the advantage to the
they again elope.
reader that they bring on the scene a
When all their money is spent, he re-
new country, with a new people, new
sorts to gambling, and she to the life of
conditions of life, and new customs.
a courtesan. At this time, a wealthy
prince offers to marry her; but pulling
Le earned Women ("Les Femmes Sa- Des Grieux into the room, and giving
vantes)), a comedy by Jean Baptiste the prince a mirror, she says: “This is
Poquelin, universally known as Molière, the man I love. Look in the glass, and
was first acted in 1672, when the author, tell me if you think it likely that I
although then in the last stages of con- shall give him up for you. ”
sumption, played a leading part. One Soon after, they are both imprisoned.
of the brilliant social satires, in which Des Grieux escapes, killing a man in so
the great realist dared point out the doing, and then assists Manon to escape.
faults and follies of contemporary SO- Dazzled by the offers of the son of her
ciety, it ridicules the pedantry and af- former lover, she leaves Des Grieux
fectation of learning then fashionable again. He finds his way to her, and is
among court ladies. Chrysale, an honest about to decamp with her and the riches
bourgeois, loving quiet and comfort, is which her last lover has showered upon
kept in continual turmoil by his wife her, when they are again arrested. By
Philaminte - who affects a love of learn- his father's influence he is released, but
ing and refuses to keep even a kitchen Manon is sent to America, and he goes
maid who speaks incorrectly - and by with her on the same ship, which lands
her disciple, his foolish old sister Belise, them in Louisiana. They are supposed
who fancies every man she sees secretly by the Governor to be man and wife,
in love with her. Chrysale and Phila- and are treated as such. Des Grieux is
minte have two daughters, — Armande, a about to marry Manon, and tells the
pedant like her mother, who scorns mar- Governor the truth of their relations; but
riage and rebuffs her lover Clitandre; Synnelet, the Governor's nephew, falls
and Henriette, honest and simple, who in love with Manon, and the Governor
## p. 425 (#461) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
425
forbids the banns. Des Grieus and of some of the chapters, First Impres-
Synnelet fight, and the latter is wounded. sions of the Coast,) (Athens and Attica,
The lovers try to make their way to the (Excursions in Attica,' From Athens to
English settlements, but Man dies, Thebes, Chæronea,' Delphi, Olym-
and Des Grieux buries her in the woods pia and its Games,) Arcadia,' (Corinth,'
and lies down on her grave to die. He Mycenæ, (Greek Music and Painting,
is found, accused of her murder, but ac- etc. , show something of the scope of the
quitted, and returns to France to find volume. From his study of the ancient
his father dead.
Greek literature, Professor Mahaffy had
It is difficult to give any idea of the reached the conclusion that it greatly
charm with which the author has en- idealized the old Greeks. In his (Sociai
veloped these characters, and the censors Life in Greece) he described them as
of the book allege that in this very he thought they actually were; and this
charm lies its insidiousness. It is a description very nearly agrees, he says,
classic, and has served as model for with
he found in modern Greece.
many other books; some writers claim- He judges that the modern Greeks-
ing that the authors of Paul and Vir- like the ancients as he sees them - are
ginia, Atala,' and (Carmen,' have but not a passionate race, and have great
clothed Des Grieux and Manon in other reasonableness, needing but the oppor-
garments.
tunity to outstrip many of their contem-
poraries in politics and science. The
Return of the Native, The, by Thomas
volume reveals the acute observer whose
Hardy, was published in 1878, being
his sixth novel. The scene is laid in
reasoning is based on special knowledge.
Southern England, in the author's “Wes-
sex country,» the district of which he Malay Archipelago, The, by Alfred
Russell Wallace, (1869,) is divided
has made an ideal map for the latest into five sections, each of which treats
edition of his works. The hero of the
of a naturalist's travels and observations
book, the Native," is Clym Yeobright, in one of the groups of the Malay Archi-
formerly a jeweler in Paris, but now pelago. The sections are named: "The
returned to the village of his birth, on Indo-Malay Islands, (The Timor Group,'
Egdon Heath. The giving up of his
trade is due to his desire to lead a (The Papuan Group. The author
broader, more unselfish life. He plans traveled more than fourteen thousand
to open a school in the village, and to miles within the Archipelago, making
educate and uplift the rustics about him. sixty or seventy separate journeys, and
His Quixotic schemes of helpfulness are collecting over 125,000 specimens of
upset, however, by his falling in love natural history, covering about eight
with Eustacia Vye, a beautiful, passion- thousand species.
ate, discontented woman, «the raw ma- The records of these journeys, which
terial of a divinity. ” His marriage with are arranged with reference to material
her is the beginning of a troubled life, collected, instead of to chronology, are
severed far enough from his ideals. Her delightful. Besides the valuable scien-
self-sought death by drowning leaves him tific notes, there are most interesting ac-
free to begin again his cherished career counts of the islanders and the dwellers
of usefulness. As an open-air preacher on the neighboring mainland, their man-
he seeks an outlet for his philanthropic ners and customs. The style is felici-
spirit. The story of Yeobright and Eus- tous, making a scientific treatise as fas-
tacia is not the exclusive interest of the
cinating to read as a story.
book. Many rustic characters, drawn as
only Hardy can draw them, lend to it a Prince Henry of Portugal, Surnamed
delightful rural flavor which relieves the
THE NAVIGATOR, The Life of, and
gloom of its tragic incidents.
its Results; Comprising the Discovery,
within One Century, of Half the World.
Rambles and Studies in Greece, by From Authentic Contemporary Docu-
ments. By Richard Henry Major.
was seen, felt, and thought in two jour- (1868. ) The remarkable story of a half-
neys to Greece, by a man trained in English son of the greatest king that
classic knowledge and feeling. By many ever sat on the throne of Portugal
critics has een preferred to
by his mother, Queen Philippa ; a grand-
thor's (Social Life in Greece. ) The titles son of “old John of Gaunt, time-honored
au-
## p. 426 (#462) ############################################
426
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
men.
a
con-
Lancaster»; nephew of Henry IV. of had yielded only “twelve years of costly
England; and great-grandson of Edward failure and disheartening ridicule,”
III. His father, King João or John, when, in 1434, the first great success
who formed a close English connection was achieved by Gil Eannes, that of
by marrying Philippa of Lancaster, sailing beyond Cape Boyador. Prince
was the first king of the house of Henry made his seat at Sagres, one of
Aviz, under which Portugal, for two the most desolate spots in the world, a
hundred years, rose to its highest pros- school of navigation, a resort for ex-
perity and power.
The career of Portu- plorers and navigators. His contempo-
gal in exploration and discovery, due rary Azurara says of him: “Stout of
to the genius and devotion of Prince heart and keen of intellect, he was ex-
Henry, Mr. Major characterizes as (a traordinarily ambitious of achieving
phenomenon without example in the
great deeds.
His self-discipline was un-
world's history, resulting from the surpassed: all his days were spent in
thought and perseverance of one man. hard work, and often he passed the
We see, he says, “the small population night without sleep; so that by dint of
of a narrow strip of the Spanish pen- unflagging industry he conquered what
insula [Portugal], limited both in means seemed to be impossibilities to other
and men, become, in an incredibly short His household formed a training-
space
of time, a mighty maritime school for the young nobility of the
nation, not only conquering the islands country. Foreigners of renown found
and western coasts of Africa, and round- a welcome in his house, and none left it
ing its southern cape, but creating em- without proof of his generosity. ” To
pires and founding capitol cities at a more perfectly devote himself to his
distance of two thousand leagues from great task, he never married, but took
their own homesteads »); and such re- for his bride «Knowledge of the Earth. ”
sults «were the effects of the patience, Mr. Major says of what he accomplished,
wisdom, intellectual labor, and example although death suspended his immediate
of one
man, backed by the pluck of labors, Nov. 13th, 1460: –
race of sailors, who, when we
«Within the small compass of a single
sider the means at their disposal, have century from the rounding of Cape Bo-
been unsurpassed as adventurers in any yador, more than one-half of the world
country or in any age. ” It was these
was opened up to man's knowledge,
brave men, many years before Colum- and brought within his reach, by an
bus, who “first penetrated the Sea of unbroken chain of discovery which
Darkness, as the Arabs called the At- originated in the genius and efforts of
lantic beyond the Canaries »; and they man, whose name is all but un-
did this in the employment and
known. The coasts of Africa visited;
der the inspiration of Prince Henry, the Cape of Good Hope rounded; the
whose «courageous conception and un- sea way to India, China, and the Mo-
Ainching zeal during forty long years luccas, laid open; the globe circumnavi-
of limited success prepared the way gated, and Australia discovered: such
for complete success after his death. were the stupendous results of a great
Born March 4, 1394, Prince Henry had thought and of indomitable perseverance,
become one of the first soldiers of his in spite of twelve years of costly failure
age when, in 1420, he refused offers of and disheartening ridicule. ” How Prince
military command, and undertook to Henry has not been known; how also
direct, at Sagres (the extreme point of his work led to an independent discovery
land of Europe looking south west into of America, and gave Brazil to Portu-
the Atlantic Sea of Darkness), plans of gal; how also it led to the discovery of
exploration of the unknown seas of the Australia, — Mr. Major fully explains.
world lying to the west and south. His The story of the honors belonging to
idea was to overcome the difficulties of him is of fascinating interest. Mr.
the worst part of that immense world Major sums up the matter in these
of storms, that lying west of Africa, and words: -
thereby get round Africa to the south “It must be borne in mind that the
and sail to India, and China, and the ardor not only of his own sailors, but of
isles beyond India. Every year he sent surrounding nations, owed its impulse
out two or three caravels; but his great to this pertinacity of purpose in him.
thought and indomitable perseverance True it is that the great majority of
one
un-
## p. 427 (#463) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
427
a
these vast results were effected after his
Mirror for Magistrates, The. This
death; yet is it true that if, from the once popular work, the first part of
pinnacle of our present knowledge, we which was published in 1555, and the
mark on the world of waters those last in 1620, was the result of the labors
bright tracks which have led to the dis- of at least sixteen persons, the youngest
covery of mighty continents, we shall of whom was not born when the oldest
find them all lead back to that same died. It probably owed its inception to
inhospitable point of Sagres, and to the George Ferrers, who was Master of the
motive which gave it a royal inhabitant. ” | King's Revels at the close of the reign
of Henry the Eighth; and he associated
Maste
asterman Ready; or, The WRECK OF with himself William Baldwin. Richard
THE Pacific, by Captain Marryat. Niccols is responsible for the book in its
This book was written with a double final state, and in the interim, it was
motive: to amuse the author's children, contributed to by Thomas Newton, John
and to correct arious errors which he Higgins, Th mas Blennerhasset, Thomas
found in a work of a similar nature, Chaloner, Thomas Sackville, Master
(The Swiss Family Robinson. '
Cavyll, Thomas Phaer, John Skelton,
Mr. Seagrave and his family, return- John Dolman, Francis Segar, Francis
ing to their Australian home after a Wingley, Thomas Churchyard, and Mi-
visit to England, are shipwrecked on an chael Drayton. It is a true Chronicle
uninhabited island with their black ser- Historie of the untimely falles of such
vant Juno, and Masterman Ready, an unfortunate princes and men of note, as
old sailor. As they see no signs of have happened since the first entrance
immediate relief, they build house of Brute into this Iland, until this our
and make themselves comfortable. They latter age. ” It was patterned after Lyd-
cultivate and explore the island, finding gate's Fall of Princes,' a version of
many animals of which they make use, Boccaccio's poems on the calamities of
and build a strong stockade around the illustrious men, which had been very
house in order to be fortified in case of popular in England. The stories are
attack. It is not long before they are told in rhyme, each author taking upon
glad to avail themselves of its protection himself the character of the “miserable
against a band of cannibals from a person) represented, and speaking in
neighboring island. They beat off the the first person. The first one told by
savages again and again, but are kept Ferrers is that of Robert Tresilian,
in close state of siege until their Chief Justice of England, and of other
water gives out. Ready, attempting to which suffered with him, therby to
procure some from an unprotected part warne all of his autority and profession
of the inclosure, is severely wounded by to take heede of wrong judgments, and
a savage who has managed to steal misconstruing of laws, which rightfully
upon him unawares. Another and more
brought them to miserable ende. )
determined attack is made, which seems This book is of little value to-day ex-
certain of success, when the booming of cept to collectors; but it was the inten-
cannon is heard and round shot come tion of its authors to make of it a great
plowing through the ranks of the ter- national epic, the work of many hands.
rified savages, who now think of noth-
ing but safety. The shots come from a
English Language, History of the
schooner commanded by Captain Os- T. R. Lounsbury, 1879. This brief
born, the former master of the Pacific, manual is a model of what a manual
who has come to rescue the Seagraves. should be. It states in a broad and
Ready dies of his wounds and is buried clear manner the important facts in the
on the island, and the survivors are car- growth of the language, as considered
ried in safety to Australia. The story apart from literature, and explains its
is told in an interesting and entertain- history with delightful, easy-going com-
ing manner, and is enlivened throughout
It dwells
upon
the all-
by the many amusing experiences of important truth that language is the
Tommy Seagrave, the scapegrace of the natural, inevitable expression of a
family. The descriptions of the ingen- tion's life, and not a brightly dyed
ious contrivances of the castaways are
shuttlecock for the battledores of gram
accurately given and form an interest-
to knock hither and yon. And
ing feature of the book. (1842. )
it shows that the growth of any tongue
a
а
mon-sense.
na-
## p. 428 (#464) ############################################
428
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
to
can be explained only by the voice of
Philosophy as well as that of History,
since this growth incarnates one broad
phase of evolution. “No speech can do
more,” says Prof. Lounsbury, “than ex-
press the ideas of those who employ it
at the time. It cannot live
upon
its
past meanings, or upon the past concep-
tions of great men which have been re-
corded in it, any more than the race
which uses it
can live
upon
its
past
glory, or its past achievements. Proud
therefore as we may now well be of our
tongue, we may rest assured that if it
ever attains to universal sovereignty, it
will do so only because the ideas of the
men who speak it are fit to become the
ruling ideas of the world, and the men
themselves are strong enough to carry
them over the world; and that, in the
last analysis, depends, like everything
else, upon the development of the in-
dividual, - depends not upon the terri-
tory we buy or steal, not upon the gold
we mine or the grain we grow, but upon
the men we produce. If we fail there,
no national greatness, however splendid
to outward view, can be anything but
temporary and illusory; and when once
national greatness disappears, no past
achievements in literature, however
glorious, will perpetuate our language as
a living speech, though they may help
for a time to retard its decay. ” This
extract will serve to show Professor
Lounsbury's point of view, and the
healthfulness of his treatment of
ever-delightful subject.
you speak in earnest, how magical, how
rare, how lonely in our literature is the
beauty of your sentences ! » And
Dumas: «Than yours there has been
no greater nor more kindly and benefi-
cent force in modern letters. ” Each
letter gives the serene compliments of
the author to the author on what was
really best in his work. Each letter is
gay and unassuming, but under the
nonchalance is the fine essence of criti-
cism. An odor as of delicate wine per-
vades the volume, the fragrance of an
oblation to the great Dead, by a lover
of their work.
Mæviad: The, and The Baviad, by
. It was through
these two satires that the author, who
later was the first editor of the Quar-
terly Review, first became known. (The
Baviad,” which first appeared in 1792, is
an attack on a band of English writers
living in Florence, Italy, among them
being Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Greathead, Mr.
Murray, Mr. Parsons, and others, who
had formed themselves into a kind of
mutual admiration society. It is an imi-
tation of the first satire of Perseus,
and in it the author not only attacks
the Della Cruscans » but all who sympa-
thize with them: “Boswell, of a song
and supper vain,” “Colman's Aippant
trash,» «Morton's catch-word,” and “Hol-
croft's Shug-lane cant,” receive his at-
tention; while the satire ends with the
line, “the hoarse croak of Kemble's
foggy throat. ) The Mæviad, which
appeared in 1795, is an imitation of the
tenth satire of Horace, and was called
forth, the author says, “by the
appearance of some of the scattered
enemy. ” He also avails himself of the
opportunity briefly to notice the pres-
ent wretched state of dramatic poetry. ”
It was generally considered that the au-
thor was engaged in a task of breaking
butterflies wheels, but he says,
There was a time (when «The Baviad
first appeared) that these butterflies
were eagles and their obscure and de-
sultory flights the object of universal
envy and admiration. ”
Records of a Girlhood, by Frances
Anne Kemble. (1879. ) This work
gives the history of the life of a great
actress, member of a family of genius,
from her birth up to the time of her
marriage (1809-34). Her incorrigible
childhood, her school-days in France,
»
an
re-
on
Letters to Dead Authors, by Andrew
Lang (1886), are little essays in
criticism, addressed in a spirit of gentle
humor to the dear, dead women and
men of whom they treat. The ninth, to
Master Isaak Walton, begins: “Father
Isaak — When I would be quiet and go
angling, it is my custom to carry in my
wallet thy pretty book, "The Compleat
Angler. ) Here, methinks, if I find not
trout I shall find content. The letter
to Theocritus is heavy with the scent
of roses and dew-drenched violets. The
author's pagan sympathies lead him to
inquire -- "In the House of Hades, The-
ocritus, doth there dwell aught that is
fair ? and can the low light on the fields
of Asphodel make thee forget thy
Sicily? Does the poet remember
Nycheia with her April eyes ? » To
Thackeray he says:
(And whenever
## p. 429 (#465) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
429
as
over
her first visit to the theatre, her early evident pleasure of her American friends,
efforts at authorship, her distaste for the sets down many observations and plans
stage, her first appearance on it, her for the abolition of slavery, she
successes there, the books she has been studies it on her husband's plantation
reading, her first visit to America, her in Georgia, and makes, in short, a vivid
comments on American life, which, to picture of American social life in the
her, is so primitive as to seem barbar- first half of the century. She gives
ous, -all this is duly set forth. Among specific studies of Philadelphia, Niagara
those of whom she relates memorable Falls, Rockaway Beach, Newport, Bos-
recollections or anecdotes are Lord Mel- ton, Lenox, Baltimore, and Charleston.
bourne, Rossini, Weber, Fanny Elssler, Though she has faith in American in-
Sir Walter Scott, Talma, Miss Mitford, stitutions, she is not without intelligent
Theodore Hook, Arthur Hallam, John misgivings: «The predominance of spirit
Sterling, Malibran, Queen Victoria,
matter indicates itself strikingly
George Stephenson, Lord John Russell, across the Atlantic, where, in the low-
Edmund Kean, Chancellor Kent, Ed- est strata of society, the native Amer-
ward Everett, Charles Sumner, and a ican rowdy, with a face as pure in
hundred other personages
of equal outline as an ancient Greek coin, and
fame. She knew everybody who was hands and feet as fine as those of a
worth knowing, was petted and spoiled Norman noble, strikes one dumb with
by the highest society, and reigned as the aspect of a countenance whose vile,
an uncrowned queen in whatever circle ignoble hardness can triumph over such
she delighted by her presence. She de- refinement of line and delicacy of pro-
clares it to be her belief that her nat- portion.
A human soul has a wonder-
ural vocation was for opera-dancing; ful supremacy over the matter which
and says that she ought to have been it informs. The American is a whole
handsome, and should have been so, nation, with well-made, regular noses;
had she not been disfigured by an attack from which circumstance (and a few
of small-pox at the age of sixteen, others), I believe in their future su-
whose effects never wholly disappeared. periority over all other nations. But
The book is brightly written, is full the lowness their faces are capable of
of well-bred gossip, and always enter- (flogs Europe. ) » Her strictures on the
taining. Mrs. Kemble's recollections of English aristocracy, and middle and
the long vanished America of the thir- lower classes, are equally severe. In
ties are
as piquant as those of Mrs. the last third of the book are described
Trollope, and perhaps not more good- her return to the stage and her ap-
natured. But she offers a wholesome if pearance as a public reader in England,
bitter medicine to a too swelling na- in 1847. In 1841 she was on the Con-
tional self-conceit.
tinent, and in 1846 in Italy. Most of
this history is told in the form of letters
Records of Later Life, by Frances written at the time, wherein her literary
(1882. ) This vol- opinions and speculations on life and
ume resumes its author's history at the philosophy are freely expressed. Her
point where (Records of a Girlhood anecdotes of Dr. Channing, Grisi, Lord
leaves it — namely, at her marriage and Lady Lansdowne, Sydney Smith,
with Mr. Pierce Butler in 1834; and Lady Holland, Rogers, Wordsworth,
ends with her return to America in Mrs. Somerville, Follen, Taglioni, Liszt,
1848, and her success in earning by pub- Mendelssohn, Fanny Elssler, Mrs. Grote,
lic readings a home at Lenox, Massachu- Jenny Lind, Moore, Macaulay, Dickens,
setts. With the exception of two visits to Dr. Arnold, Bunsen, Thackeray, etc. ,
Europe, the first two-thirds of the book are always entertaining and often most
are given to her life in America; the illuminating
last third, to her stay in Europe (1845-
48). The record begins by describing Philistines. The, by Arlo Bates, a
, ,
some of the points at which her Eng- story of fashionable Boston society,
lish ideas disagree with American ones. takes its title from Matthew Arnold's
It is full of amusing comments on our
for the rich and self-satisfied
life,- its crudeness, unhealthiness, lack classes of the community to whom
of leisure, and extravagance, and the m ney, and the good of life expressible
discomforts of travel. She speaks with in money, are all. Arthur Fenton, a
name
## p. 430 (#466) ############################################
430
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ence.
mean
was
painter of great promise, gives up ori-
ginal work to paint the portraits of rich
men, and marries the niece of Boston's
greatest art patron, a high-minded but
somewhat narrow girl, with whom he is
totally out of sympathy. The story
traces his gradual deterioration; and his
outlook on life becomes more and more
worldly. In short, the motive of the
book is the illustration of that dry-rot
of character which is certain to seize on
its victim when wealth, or ease, or any
external good, is made the end of exist-
It shows the remorselessness of
nature in insisting on her penalties
when her laws of development are dis-
regarded. Yet the story never degener-
ates into an argument, nor is it loaded
with a moral. Several of the person-
ages
have epigrammatic tendencies,
which make their society entertaining.
«People who
well are always
worse than those who don't mean any-
thing. » «He one of those men
who have the power of making their
disapproval felt, from the simple fact
that they feel it so strongly themselves. )
“Modern business is simply the art of
transposing one's debts. » «A broad
man is one who can appreciate his own
wife. ” A woman may believe that she
herself has accomplished the impossible,
but she knows no one of her sisters
has. ” «Conventionality is the consensus
of the taste of mankind. » << The object
of life is to endure life, as the object of
time is to kill time. ” Society matrons,
maids, and men, are delineated with the
sure touch of one who knows them; and
receptions, Browning Clubs, art
mittees, business schemes, and politics,
form a lively background for the story.
Mºdern Instance, A, by William D.
Howells. (1881. ) The scene of the
story is first laid in a country town in
Maine, where Bartley Hubbard, a vain,
selfish, unprincipled young man, is ed-
iting the local paper. He marries Marcia
Gaylord, a handsome, passionate, inex-
perienced young country girl, and takes
her to Boston, where he continues his
journalistic career. As time goes on,
the incompatibility of the young couple
becomes manifest; Marcia's extreme
jealousy, and Bartley's selfishness and
dissipation, causing much unhappiness
and contention. The climax is finally
reached, when, after a passionate scene,
Bartley leaves his wife and child, and
is not heard from again for the space
of two years. His next appearance is
in an Indiana law-court, where he is
endeavoring to procure a divorce from
Marcia; but his attempt is frustrated
through the intervention of her father,
Judge Gaylord, who goes to the West-
ern town and succeeds in obtaining a
decree in his daughter's favor. At the
end of the story Bartley is shot and
killed in a Western brawl, and Marcia
is left with her child, dragging out
her existence in her native town. Ben
Halleck, who is in love with Marcia,
figures prominently throughout the book,
and the reader is left with the impres-
sion that their marriage eventually takes
place. If the novel can hardly be called
agreeable, it proves Mr. Howells has
penetrated very deeply into certain un-
attractive but characteristic phases of
contemporary American life; and the
story is told with brilliancy and vigor.
Morgesons, The, Elizabeth Barstow
Stoddard's first novel. (1862. ) The
plot is concerned with the fortunes of
the Morgeson family, long resident in a
sea-coast town in New England. Two
members of it, Cassandra, by whom
the story is told, and her sister Veron-
ica, are girls of strange, unconventional
nature, wholly undisciplined, who live
out their restless lives against the back-
ground of a narrow New England house-
hold, composed of a gentle, fading mother,
a father wholly absorbed in business
and affairs, and a dominant female serv-
ant, Temperance. When Cassandra re-
turns home from boarding school, she
finds Veronica grown into a pale, reti-
cent girl, with unearthly little ways.
Veronica's own love-story begins when
she meets Ben Somers, a friend of her
sister. Both girls are born to tragedy,
through their passionate, irreconcilable
temperament; and the story follows their
lives with a strange, detached impartial-
ity, which holds the interest of the reader
more closely than any visible advocacy
of the cause of either heroine could do.
(The Morgesons) is rich in delineation
of unusual aspects of character, in a
grim New England humor, in those pict-
ures of the sea that are never absent
from Mrs. Stoddard's novels. Suffusing
the book is a bleak atmosphere of what
might be called passionate mentality,
bracing, but calling for a sober power
of resistance in the reader.
com-
## p. 431 (#467) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
431
com-
Red Badge of Courage, The, by Ste- brought up by a worthy English duchess,
phen Crane, was published in 1895. who has instilled into her mind the
It attracted a great deal of attention noblest traditions of aristocracy, and has
both in England and America, by reason developed a character unworldly, high-
of the nature of the subject, and of the spirited, and idealistic. The plot turns
author's extreme youth. It is a study of on her tragic conflict with a false and
a man's feeling in battle, written by one base social order. Like Ouida's other
who was never in a battle, but who novels of high life, it unites realism
seeks to give color to his story by lurid with romance, or with a kind of sump-
language. Henry Fleming, an unsophis- tuous exaggeration of the qualities and
ticated country boy, enthusiastic to serve attributes of aristocracy, which, to the
his country, enlists at the beginning of average reader, is full of fascinaivn.
the Civil War. Young, raw, intense, he
longs to show his patriotism, to prove Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, is the
a . the
name by which a certain huge and
he is fretting for an opportunity, his particularly ferocious whale was known.
regiment apparently being nowhere near This whale has been attacked many
a scene of action. His mental states are times, and has fought valiantly. Captain
described as he waits and chafes; the Ahab, of the whaler Pequod, has lost a
calculations as to what it would all be leg in a conflict with this monster, and
like when it did come, the swagger to has vowed to kill him. The story tells
keep up the spirits, the resentments of how the captain kept his vow; and it
the possible superiority of his
serves not only for the relation of some
panions, the hot frenzy to be in the exciting adventures in the pursuit of
thick of it with the intolerable delays whales, but as a complete text-book of
over, and sore doubts of courage. Sud- the whaling industry. Every species of
denly, pell-mell, the boy is thrown into whale is described, with its habits, tem-
battle, gets frightened to death in the perament, and commercial value. Every
thick of it, and runs; after the fun is item in the process of whale capture and
over, crawls back to his regiment fairly preparation for the market is minutely
vicious with unbearable shame. The described. Besides all this, the charac-
heroic visions fade; but the boy makes ters of the owners, officers, and crew of
one step towards manhood through his the whaling ship are drawn with truth
wholesome lesson. In his next battle and vigor; and there is a good sketch of
courage links itself to him like a brother- a New Bedford sailors' boarding-house.
in-arms. He tests and is tested, goes The scene is laid first at New Bedford
into the thick of the fight like a howling and Nantucket, and afterwards on those
demon, goes indeed to hell, and comes portions of the ocean frequented by
back again, steadied and quiet.
The
whaling vessels, and the time is the year
book closes his and manly
1775. Probably no more thrilling de-
serenity.
scription of a whale hunt has been writ-
“He had rid himself of the red sick- ten than that of the three days' conflict
ness of battle. The sultry nightmare with Moby-Dick, with which the story
was in the past. He had been an ani- closes, and in which the whale is killed,
mal, blistered and sweating in the heat though not until he has demolished the
and pain of war. He now turned with boats and sunk the ship. Moby-Dick
a lover's thirst to images of tranquil is of increasing value in literature from
skies. )
the fact that it is a most comprehensive
hand-book of the whaling industry at a
Louise de la Ramée time when individual courage and skill
(“Quida"). (1880. ) This novel de- were prime factors, when the whale had
picts the corruption (springing from idle- to be approached in small boats to within
ness and luxury) of modern European almost touching distance, and before
society, especially of the women of rank, bomb-lances, steam, and other modern
who are compared to moths «fretting a improvements had reduced whaling to
garment. ” The first chapter presents the dead-level of a mere «business. »
such a woman, Lady Dolly, a fashionable (It was published in 1851. ) It contains
butterfly with an ignoble nature. Her also the best rendering into words of the
daughter by a first marriage, Vera, joins true seaman's feeling about the ocean as
her at Trouville. The girl has been his home which has ever been written.
on
new
Moths, by
## p. 432 (#468) ############################################
432
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
were
Magnalia Christi
Americana, by Jahan, 1628-58; and of Aurangzeb, 1658–
Cotton Mather. This Ecclesias- 1707. There is an additional chapter of
tical History of New England, from the foremost historical and literary value
1620 to 1628,' treats more extensively by Sir W. W. Hunter, on « The Ruin of
of the early history of the country Aurangzeb; or, The History of a Reac-
than its title seems to indicate, unless tion, and a sketch of the conquests of
it is borne in mind that at this time India from
that by
Alexander the
the Church and State were so closely Great, 327 B. C. , to that of Baber, who
connected that the history of one must was in reality the second founder of the
necessarily be that of the other. It Mogul empire at Delhi. The purpose
was first published in London, in 1702, of Mr. Holden, suggested by his pos-
and is a standard work with American session of a series of very interesting
historians. It is divided into seven portraits, which he reproduces, was that
books: the first treating of the early of giving a sketch of personages only,
discoveries of America and the voyage not a history, and to some extent of the
to New England; the second is Lives ideas and literature which represent
of the Governors ); the third, Lives of them. Both Baber and Akbar
many Reverend, Learned, and Holy men of intellectual distinction and of
Divines); the fourth, (Of Harvard Uni- noble character. The empire under Ak-
versity); the fifth, (The Faith and the bar will bear close comparison, Mr.
Order in the Church of New England'; Holden justly says, with the States of
the sixth, Discoveries and Demonstra- Europe at the same epoch. Baber wrote
tions of the Divine Providence in Re. Memoirs, which show high ideals of
markable Mercies and Judgments on culture held by the chief men of his
Many Particular Persons); the seventh, time. Akbar brought about an inter-
(Disturbances Given to the Churches of mixture of races and religions which
New England. In the sixth book, the caused great freedom and liberality in
author gives accounts of the wonders culture of every kind. Every famous
of the invisible world, of worthy people book known to him was in Akbar's li-
succored when in dire distress, of the brary, and as early as 1578 he had set
sad ending of many wicked ones, and the example of a parliament of religions
of the cases of witchcraft at Salem and in which Sufis, Sunnis, and Shiahs, of
other places. Of the last he says: “I
his own
faith, with Brahmans, Bud-
will content myself with the transcrib- dhists, Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews,
ing of a most unexceptionable account amicably reasoned together as men and
thereof, written by Mr. John Hales. ” brethren; while he for himself gathered
The situation and character of the from all of them a simple faith, theistic
author afforded him the most favorable and humane, in place of the Islamism
opportunities to secure the documents
of his race.
necessary for his undertaking, and the
large portion of it devoted to biography.
Anne
nnals of Rural Bengal (1868, 5th
gives the reader a very faithful view of ed. 1872), and its sequel Orissa (2
the leading characters of the times. vols. , 1872), by Sir William Wilson
Hunter. In these volumes one of the
Mogul Emperors of Hindustan, The, most admirable civilians that England
A. D. 1398 — A. D. 1707. By Ed- ever sent to India displays his finest
ward S. Holden. (1895. ) A volume of qualities: not alone his immense schol-
biographical sketches; -of Tamerlane, or arship and his literary charm, but his
Timur, whose conquest of India in 1398 practical ability, his broad humanity and
founded at Delhi the Mogul empire of interest in the «dim common popula-
Baber, sixth in descent from Timur, tions sunk in labor and pain, and his
who was emperor from 1526 to 1529; of sympathy with religious aspiration. The
his unimportant son and successor Hu- first volume is a series of essays on the
mayun, 1530-56; of Akbar the Great, life of the peasant cultivator in Bengal
1556-1605, contemporary of Queen after the English ascendency: his trou-
Elizabeth and of Shakespeare; of Jahan- bles over the land, the currency, the
gir, 1605–27, “a contribution towards courts, the village and general govern-
a natural history of tyrants »; of Nur- ments, the religious customs, and the
Mahal (the Light of the Palace) Em- other institutions, all bearing directly on
press of Hindustan, 1611-27; of Shah his prosperity. A valuable chapter is on
a
## p. 433 (#469) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
433
the rebellion of the Santal tribes and its artist. «The air of the work, the atmo-
causes. It is interesting to know that sphere through which we see the pictures
he ranks Warren Hastings very high as pass and succeed each other, is chill and
a sagacious and disinterested statesman, clear, like some silver dawn of summer
and says that no other name is so cher- breaking on secular olive-gardens, cold
ished by the masses in India as their distant hills, and cities built of ancient
benefactor. (Orissa) is a detailed ac- marbles. ”
count of all elements of life and of his-
tory in a selected Indian province; a
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert,
study in small of what the government
appeared in 1856, when the author
has to do, not on great theatrical occas-
was thirty-five. It was his first novel, and
is regarded as the book which founded
ions but as the beneficial routine of its
the realistic school in modern French
daily work. Incidentally, it contains the
fiction, — the school of Zola and Maupas-
best account anywhere to be found of
sant.
the pilgrimages of Juggernaut (Jaga-
The novel is a powerful, unpleas-
nath); and an excellent summary of the
ant study of the steps by which a mar-
ried woman descends to sin, bankruptcy,
origins of Indian history and religions.
and suicide. It is fatalistic in its teach-
Marius, the Epicurean,
ing, Flaubert's theory of life being that
philo-
evil inheres in the constitution of things.
sophical romance by Walter Pater,
and his first important work, was pub-
Madame Bovary, a doctor's wife, has
been linked to him without really loving
lished in 1885. The book has but a
shadowy plot. It is, as the sub-title de-
him; he is honest, uninteresting, and
adores her. Reared in a convent, her ro-
clares, a record of the hero's (sensations
manticism leads her to dream of a lover.
and ideas, a history of a spiritual jour-
She finds one, then another; spends
ney. Marius is a young Roman noble,
of the time of Marcus Aurelius. Like
money after the
manner of a light
woman; and when she has involved her
the philosophic emperor himself, he is
the embodiment of the finer forces of
husband in financial ruin, kills herself
and leaves him to face a sea of troubles.
his day; his temperament being at once
The time is the first half of this cen-
a repository of the true Roman great-
ness of the past, and a prophecy of the
tury; the action takes place in provin-
Christian disposition of the New Rome.
cial French towns. The merit of the
novel lies in its truth in depicting the
He seeks satisfaction for the needs of
his soul in philosophy, the finer sort of
stages of this moral declension, the won-
epicureanism, that teaches him to enjoy
derful accuracy of detail, the subtle an-
what this world has to offer, but to
alysis of the passionate human heart.
enjoy with a certain aloofness of spirit,
Technically, in point of style, it_ranks
a kind of divine indifference.
with the few great productions of French
In his
earliest manhood he goes to Rome, meets
fiction. It is sternly moral in the sense
there the philosophic emperor, mingles
that it shows with unflinching touch the
in the highly colored life of the time,
logic of the inevitable misery that fol.
studies, observes, reflects. His closest
lows the breaking of moral law. Ma-
friend is Cornelius of the imperial guard,
dame Bovary) is the masterpiece of a
a Christian who loves Marius as one in
great artist whose creed is pessimism.
spirit a brother Christian. Through as- Pastor Fido, II, by Giovanni Battista
sociation with Cornelius, and by the law
This pastoral drama,
of his own character, Marius is drawn which was first produced in 1585, is the
into sympathy with the new religion; masterpiece of the author, and its influ-
yet, as becomes one who shares the ence can be seen in all subsequent liter-,
indifference of the gods, he makes no ature of this class. It is a most highly
open profession: but at a critical moment finished work, after the style of Tasso's
he lays down his life for his friend. (Aminta, but lacks its simplicity and
Marius, the Epicurean,' is a remark- charm. It is said to be rather a picture
able story of spiritual development, as of the author's time than of pastoral
well as of the strange, luxurious, decay-
life, and that to this it owed its great
ing Rome of the second century of the popularity; it having run through forty
Christian era. Pater has drawn this
pan- editions during the author's life, and
oramic background with the accuracy of having been translated into almost all
the scholar and the sympathy of the modern languages. The scene is laid in
(
>
XXX-28
## p. 434 (#470) ############################################
434
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
1
an
was
Arcadia, where a young maiden is sacri- | Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott, the
ficed annually to the goddess Diana.
first of
The people can be freed from this trib- romances to which it gives the title, was
ute only when two mortals, descendants published in 1814. The author withheld
of the gods, are united by love, and the his name at first, from doubt as to the
great virtue of a faithful shepherd shall success of the venture. The continuance
atone for the sins of unfaithful of the concealment with subsequent is-
woman. To fulfill this condition, Ama- sues followed perhaps naturally; Scott
rilli, who is descended from the god himself could give no better reason af-
Pan, is betrothed to Silvio, the son of terwards than that such was his hu-
Montano, the priest of Diana, and a mor. » Although the authorship of the
descendant of Hercules. Silvio's only series was generally credited to him, it
passion is for hunting; and he flees from never formally acknowledged until
Amarilli, who is beloved by Mirtillo, the avowal was extorted by his business
the supposed son of Carino, who for a complications in 1826. (Waverley) is a
long time has lived away from Arcadia. tale of the rebellion of the Chevalier
Amarilli reciprocates the love of Mir- Prince Charles Edward, in Scotland in
tillo, but fears to acknowledge it, as 1745. Edward Waverley, an English
falseness to her vow to Silvio would captain of dragoons, obtains a leave of
entail death. Corisca, also in love with absence from his regiment for the pur-
Mirtillo, learns of it, and by a trick poses of rest and travel. His uncle, Sir
brings them together and denounces Everard, whose heir he is, gives him
them. Amarilli is condemned to death; letters to a Scotch friend, Baron Brad-
and Mirtillo, availing himself of a cus- wardine of Tully-Veolan, Perthshire, who
tom allowed, is to be sacrificed in her is a quaint mixture of scholar and sol-
place, when Carino arrives, and Mirtillo dier, and a strong Jacobite. He has a
is found to be the son of Montano. In beautiful and blooming daughter Rose.
his infancy he was carried away in his During Waverley's visit, a
party of
cradle by a flood, and had been adopted Highlanders drive off the Baron's cattle;
by Carino. As his name is also Silvio, and Waverley offers to assist in their re-
it is decided that Amarilli in marrying demption from Fergus Mac Ivor, «Vich
him will not break the vow which she Ian Vohr,” the chief of the clan. Wa-
had made to Silvio, and by this mar- verley accompanies Fergus's messenger
riage the decree of the oracle will be first to the island cave of Donald Bean
fulfilled.
Lean, the actual robber, and thence to
Fergus's home, where he meets the chief
Poe, Edgar Allan, by George E. Wood- himself and his brilliant and accom-
berry. (1897. ) In preparing this
.
plished sister Flora. Waverley falls in
latest biography of Poe, the author care- love and offers himself to Flora, who dis-
fully reviewed all previous biographies courages his addresses.
Joining a hunt-
and essays bearing upon his subject, re- ing party, he is wounded by a stag and
jecting all statements not fully authenti- detained beyond his intended time.
cated. He also had recourse to recently Meanwhile the rising of the Chevalier
furnished documents from the U. S. War takes place; and Donald Bean, assuming
Department, and also to personal letters Waverley to be a sympathizer and desir-
from friends and relatives of Poe.
call to arms. The Schleswig-Holstein they are re-married.
difficulty, the Austro-Prussian war, and There
other interesting
finally the war with France, tear the characters necessary to the working out
family apart. The wife endures the of a plot somewhat complicated in minor
fear of her husband's death, the actual details, but the burden of the story is
suffering of sympathy with his wound, concerning ill-assorted marriages and en-
the horrors of plague, famine, and the suing complications,— hardness of heart
sickening sights of a besieged city; and pride, malice, and all uncharitableness.
at last, when Von Tilling has retired
from active service, and is with her in
Paris for the winter
, the blind hatred of Green Carnation, The, by Robert M.
Hitchins, is a satire on the ex-
the French towards their conquerors treme æsthetic movement in England,
overtakes their new dream of happiness. as illustrated in the lives of pale, ex-
The Austrian is seized and shot as a quisite youths of rank, with gilt hair,
Prussian spy. Not only has the author Burne-Jones features, and eyes of blue.
presented a convincing picture of the Of this type is the hero, Lord Reginald
untold suffering, the far-reaching loss Hastings, «impure and subtle,» «too
and retrogression involved in war, but modern to be reticent,) a boy blasé at
she shows the pitiful inadequacy of the twenty-five, living a life of exquisite sen-
causes of war. Many a German woman suousness, fearing nothing so much as
recognizes in Martha Tilling's tragical the philistinism of virtue, loving nothing
journal the unwritten record of her own so much as original vice. His dearest
pain and despair.
friend is Esmé Amarinth, who is most
brilliantly epigrammatic when intoxi-
cated, and who dreads nothing so much
(1888. ) Richard Cable is the keeper as being found dead sober at improper
of a light-ship on the coast of Essex, times.
England. He is a widower, and father A mutual friend, Mrs. Windsor, belong-
of a family of seven children, all girls. ing to the green carnation ) set, strives
During a storm Josephine Cornellis, a to bring about a marriage between her
young lady of the neighborhood, whose wealthy and beautiful cousin, Lady
home is not particularly happy, is blown Locke, and Lord Reggie. For this pur-
out to the light-ship in a small boat, and pose she asks them with Esmé Amarinth
rescued by Cable.
to spend a week at her country-house.
Richard, being a moralist, gives advice Lady Locke is, however, of too whole-
to Josephine, who loses her heart to some a nature to marry a man whose
him. Events so shape themselves that badge is the arsenic flower of an ex-
she places herself under his guidance, quisite life. ” She refuses him, and at
and the two are married; but almost the same time gives her opinion of him
immediately Richard finds himself in a and of his artificial cult.
false position, owing to the fact that he «Lord Reggie's face
scarlet.
is not accustomed to the usages of so- (You talk very much like ordinary peo-
ciety, and Josephine too feels mortified ple,' he said, a little rude in his hurt
by her husband's mistakes.
A separa-
self-love. I am ordinary,' she said. "I
tion takes place, Richard sailing round am so glad of it. I think that after this
the coast to Cornwall, and taking his week I shall try to be even more ordi-
mother, the children, and all his belong- nary than I am. ) » So does the silly
Richard Cable, by S. Baring-Gould.
was
## p. 424 (#460) ############################################
424
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
sneers.
m
artificiality of a certain clique receive its when Clitandre transfers his love to her,
castigation.
accepts it in spite of her sister's jealous
Chrysale prefers Clitandre as
Robbery Under Arms, by “Rolf Bol-
drewood. ) (1888. ) This story of life
son-in-law, but is too hen-pecked to
resist his wife's will until spurred by
and adventure in the bush and in the
gold-fields of Australia gives a most
the scorn of his brother Ariste. The
vivid picture of bush life; and purports
plot is too complicated to be reproduced,
to be the history of the Marston family
and the strength of the play lies in its
of reprobates, told in a straightforward,
character-drawing. The wit with which
Molière heaps scorn
unaffected style by Dick Marston while
upon ill-founded
he is awaiting execution in jail at Syd- pretension to learning, and his powerful
ney. It shows how the boys, led on by
exposition of vanity and self-love, have
their father, became first cattle robbers,
kept the play popular in France for over
two hundred years.
then bank robbers, and regular bush-
whackers. There are encounters of trav-
elers with the police, holding up of Mand
anon Lescaut, by L'Abbé Provost.
stage-coaches, storming of houses, and
This masterpiece was first pub-
lished in Amsterdam in 1753, when its
many other thrilling adventures. The
author was in exile. When but seven-
reader is given an excellent picture of
the gold-diggings and every feature of
teen years old, the Chevalier Des Grieux,
colonial bush life and scenery.
who is studying for holy orders, meets
Manon Lescaut at an inn. She tells him
There is no regular plot. Most of the
robber gang are killed in one way or
she is being carried to a convent against
another; but the book ends happily, for
her will. They elope; but Des Grieux's
the hero is reprieved, and marries the
happiness is of short duration. A rich
girl who has been true to him in spite
neighbor informs his parents of his
whereabouts, and his father takes him
of all his misdeeds, and who has contin-
home. Convinced of Manon's complicity
ually urged him to lead a better life.
The adventures of the Marston family
in this, he resumes his studies. At the
end of eighteen months, Manon, then
under the leadership of Captain Star-
light rival those of Jack Sheppard or
sixteen years old, seeks him out, and
Dick Turpin, with the advantage to the
they again elope.
reader that they bring on the scene a
When all their money is spent, he re-
new country, with a new people, new
sorts to gambling, and she to the life of
conditions of life, and new customs.
a courtesan. At this time, a wealthy
prince offers to marry her; but pulling
Le earned Women ("Les Femmes Sa- Des Grieux into the room, and giving
vantes)), a comedy by Jean Baptiste the prince a mirror, she says: “This is
Poquelin, universally known as Molière, the man I love. Look in the glass, and
was first acted in 1672, when the author, tell me if you think it likely that I
although then in the last stages of con- shall give him up for you. ”
sumption, played a leading part. One Soon after, they are both imprisoned.
of the brilliant social satires, in which Des Grieux escapes, killing a man in so
the great realist dared point out the doing, and then assists Manon to escape.
faults and follies of contemporary SO- Dazzled by the offers of the son of her
ciety, it ridicules the pedantry and af- former lover, she leaves Des Grieux
fectation of learning then fashionable again. He finds his way to her, and is
among court ladies. Chrysale, an honest about to decamp with her and the riches
bourgeois, loving quiet and comfort, is which her last lover has showered upon
kept in continual turmoil by his wife her, when they are again arrested. By
Philaminte - who affects a love of learn- his father's influence he is released, but
ing and refuses to keep even a kitchen Manon is sent to America, and he goes
maid who speaks incorrectly - and by with her on the same ship, which lands
her disciple, his foolish old sister Belise, them in Louisiana. They are supposed
who fancies every man she sees secretly by the Governor to be man and wife,
in love with her. Chrysale and Phila- and are treated as such. Des Grieux is
minte have two daughters, — Armande, a about to marry Manon, and tells the
pedant like her mother, who scorns mar- Governor the truth of their relations; but
riage and rebuffs her lover Clitandre; Synnelet, the Governor's nephew, falls
and Henriette, honest and simple, who in love with Manon, and the Governor
## p. 425 (#461) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
425
forbids the banns. Des Grieus and of some of the chapters, First Impres-
Synnelet fight, and the latter is wounded. sions of the Coast,) (Athens and Attica,
The lovers try to make their way to the (Excursions in Attica,' From Athens to
English settlements, but Man dies, Thebes, Chæronea,' Delphi, Olym-
and Des Grieux buries her in the woods pia and its Games,) Arcadia,' (Corinth,'
and lies down on her grave to die. He Mycenæ, (Greek Music and Painting,
is found, accused of her murder, but ac- etc. , show something of the scope of the
quitted, and returns to France to find volume. From his study of the ancient
his father dead.
Greek literature, Professor Mahaffy had
It is difficult to give any idea of the reached the conclusion that it greatly
charm with which the author has en- idealized the old Greeks. In his (Sociai
veloped these characters, and the censors Life in Greece) he described them as
of the book allege that in this very he thought they actually were; and this
charm lies its insidiousness. It is a description very nearly agrees, he says,
classic, and has served as model for with
he found in modern Greece.
many other books; some writers claim- He judges that the modern Greeks-
ing that the authors of Paul and Vir- like the ancients as he sees them - are
ginia, Atala,' and (Carmen,' have but not a passionate race, and have great
clothed Des Grieux and Manon in other reasonableness, needing but the oppor-
garments.
tunity to outstrip many of their contem-
poraries in politics and science. The
Return of the Native, The, by Thomas
volume reveals the acute observer whose
Hardy, was published in 1878, being
his sixth novel. The scene is laid in
reasoning is based on special knowledge.
Southern England, in the author's “Wes-
sex country,» the district of which he Malay Archipelago, The, by Alfred
Russell Wallace, (1869,) is divided
has made an ideal map for the latest into five sections, each of which treats
edition of his works. The hero of the
of a naturalist's travels and observations
book, the Native," is Clym Yeobright, in one of the groups of the Malay Archi-
formerly a jeweler in Paris, but now pelago. The sections are named: "The
returned to the village of his birth, on Indo-Malay Islands, (The Timor Group,'
Egdon Heath. The giving up of his
trade is due to his desire to lead a (The Papuan Group. The author
broader, more unselfish life. He plans traveled more than fourteen thousand
to open a school in the village, and to miles within the Archipelago, making
educate and uplift the rustics about him. sixty or seventy separate journeys, and
His Quixotic schemes of helpfulness are collecting over 125,000 specimens of
upset, however, by his falling in love natural history, covering about eight
with Eustacia Vye, a beautiful, passion- thousand species.
ate, discontented woman, «the raw ma- The records of these journeys, which
terial of a divinity. ” His marriage with are arranged with reference to material
her is the beginning of a troubled life, collected, instead of to chronology, are
severed far enough from his ideals. Her delightful. Besides the valuable scien-
self-sought death by drowning leaves him tific notes, there are most interesting ac-
free to begin again his cherished career counts of the islanders and the dwellers
of usefulness. As an open-air preacher on the neighboring mainland, their man-
he seeks an outlet for his philanthropic ners and customs. The style is felici-
spirit. The story of Yeobright and Eus- tous, making a scientific treatise as fas-
tacia is not the exclusive interest of the
cinating to read as a story.
book. Many rustic characters, drawn as
only Hardy can draw them, lend to it a Prince Henry of Portugal, Surnamed
delightful rural flavor which relieves the
THE NAVIGATOR, The Life of, and
gloom of its tragic incidents.
its Results; Comprising the Discovery,
within One Century, of Half the World.
Rambles and Studies in Greece, by From Authentic Contemporary Docu-
ments. By Richard Henry Major.
was seen, felt, and thought in two jour- (1868. ) The remarkable story of a half-
neys to Greece, by a man trained in English son of the greatest king that
classic knowledge and feeling. By many ever sat on the throne of Portugal
critics has een preferred to
by his mother, Queen Philippa ; a grand-
thor's (Social Life in Greece. ) The titles son of “old John of Gaunt, time-honored
au-
## p. 426 (#462) ############################################
426
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
men.
a
con-
Lancaster»; nephew of Henry IV. of had yielded only “twelve years of costly
England; and great-grandson of Edward failure and disheartening ridicule,”
III. His father, King João or John, when, in 1434, the first great success
who formed a close English connection was achieved by Gil Eannes, that of
by marrying Philippa of Lancaster, sailing beyond Cape Boyador. Prince
was the first king of the house of Henry made his seat at Sagres, one of
Aviz, under which Portugal, for two the most desolate spots in the world, a
hundred years, rose to its highest pros- school of navigation, a resort for ex-
perity and power.
The career of Portu- plorers and navigators. His contempo-
gal in exploration and discovery, due rary Azurara says of him: “Stout of
to the genius and devotion of Prince heart and keen of intellect, he was ex-
Henry, Mr. Major characterizes as (a traordinarily ambitious of achieving
phenomenon without example in the
great deeds.
His self-discipline was un-
world's history, resulting from the surpassed: all his days were spent in
thought and perseverance of one man. hard work, and often he passed the
We see, he says, “the small population night without sleep; so that by dint of
of a narrow strip of the Spanish pen- unflagging industry he conquered what
insula [Portugal], limited both in means seemed to be impossibilities to other
and men, become, in an incredibly short His household formed a training-
space
of time, a mighty maritime school for the young nobility of the
nation, not only conquering the islands country. Foreigners of renown found
and western coasts of Africa, and round- a welcome in his house, and none left it
ing its southern cape, but creating em- without proof of his generosity. ” To
pires and founding capitol cities at a more perfectly devote himself to his
distance of two thousand leagues from great task, he never married, but took
their own homesteads »); and such re- for his bride «Knowledge of the Earth. ”
sults «were the effects of the patience, Mr. Major says of what he accomplished,
wisdom, intellectual labor, and example although death suspended his immediate
of one
man, backed by the pluck of labors, Nov. 13th, 1460: –
race of sailors, who, when we
«Within the small compass of a single
sider the means at their disposal, have century from the rounding of Cape Bo-
been unsurpassed as adventurers in any yador, more than one-half of the world
country or in any age. ” It was these
was opened up to man's knowledge,
brave men, many years before Colum- and brought within his reach, by an
bus, who “first penetrated the Sea of unbroken chain of discovery which
Darkness, as the Arabs called the At- originated in the genius and efforts of
lantic beyond the Canaries »; and they man, whose name is all but un-
did this in the employment and
known. The coasts of Africa visited;
der the inspiration of Prince Henry, the Cape of Good Hope rounded; the
whose «courageous conception and un- sea way to India, China, and the Mo-
Ainching zeal during forty long years luccas, laid open; the globe circumnavi-
of limited success prepared the way gated, and Australia discovered: such
for complete success after his death. were the stupendous results of a great
Born March 4, 1394, Prince Henry had thought and of indomitable perseverance,
become one of the first soldiers of his in spite of twelve years of costly failure
age when, in 1420, he refused offers of and disheartening ridicule. ” How Prince
military command, and undertook to Henry has not been known; how also
direct, at Sagres (the extreme point of his work led to an independent discovery
land of Europe looking south west into of America, and gave Brazil to Portu-
the Atlantic Sea of Darkness), plans of gal; how also it led to the discovery of
exploration of the unknown seas of the Australia, — Mr. Major fully explains.
world lying to the west and south. His The story of the honors belonging to
idea was to overcome the difficulties of him is of fascinating interest. Mr.
the worst part of that immense world Major sums up the matter in these
of storms, that lying west of Africa, and words: -
thereby get round Africa to the south “It must be borne in mind that the
and sail to India, and China, and the ardor not only of his own sailors, but of
isles beyond India. Every year he sent surrounding nations, owed its impulse
out two or three caravels; but his great to this pertinacity of purpose in him.
thought and indomitable perseverance True it is that the great majority of
one
un-
## p. 427 (#463) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
427
a
these vast results were effected after his
Mirror for Magistrates, The. This
death; yet is it true that if, from the once popular work, the first part of
pinnacle of our present knowledge, we which was published in 1555, and the
mark on the world of waters those last in 1620, was the result of the labors
bright tracks which have led to the dis- of at least sixteen persons, the youngest
covery of mighty continents, we shall of whom was not born when the oldest
find them all lead back to that same died. It probably owed its inception to
inhospitable point of Sagres, and to the George Ferrers, who was Master of the
motive which gave it a royal inhabitant. ” | King's Revels at the close of the reign
of Henry the Eighth; and he associated
Maste
asterman Ready; or, The WRECK OF with himself William Baldwin. Richard
THE Pacific, by Captain Marryat. Niccols is responsible for the book in its
This book was written with a double final state, and in the interim, it was
motive: to amuse the author's children, contributed to by Thomas Newton, John
and to correct arious errors which he Higgins, Th mas Blennerhasset, Thomas
found in a work of a similar nature, Chaloner, Thomas Sackville, Master
(The Swiss Family Robinson. '
Cavyll, Thomas Phaer, John Skelton,
Mr. Seagrave and his family, return- John Dolman, Francis Segar, Francis
ing to their Australian home after a Wingley, Thomas Churchyard, and Mi-
visit to England, are shipwrecked on an chael Drayton. It is a true Chronicle
uninhabited island with their black ser- Historie of the untimely falles of such
vant Juno, and Masterman Ready, an unfortunate princes and men of note, as
old sailor. As they see no signs of have happened since the first entrance
immediate relief, they build house of Brute into this Iland, until this our
and make themselves comfortable. They latter age. ” It was patterned after Lyd-
cultivate and explore the island, finding gate's Fall of Princes,' a version of
many animals of which they make use, Boccaccio's poems on the calamities of
and build a strong stockade around the illustrious men, which had been very
house in order to be fortified in case of popular in England. The stories are
attack. It is not long before they are told in rhyme, each author taking upon
glad to avail themselves of its protection himself the character of the “miserable
against a band of cannibals from a person) represented, and speaking in
neighboring island. They beat off the the first person. The first one told by
savages again and again, but are kept Ferrers is that of Robert Tresilian,
in close state of siege until their Chief Justice of England, and of other
water gives out. Ready, attempting to which suffered with him, therby to
procure some from an unprotected part warne all of his autority and profession
of the inclosure, is severely wounded by to take heede of wrong judgments, and
a savage who has managed to steal misconstruing of laws, which rightfully
upon him unawares. Another and more
brought them to miserable ende. )
determined attack is made, which seems This book is of little value to-day ex-
certain of success, when the booming of cept to collectors; but it was the inten-
cannon is heard and round shot come tion of its authors to make of it a great
plowing through the ranks of the ter- national epic, the work of many hands.
rified savages, who now think of noth-
ing but safety. The shots come from a
English Language, History of the
schooner commanded by Captain Os- T. R. Lounsbury, 1879. This brief
born, the former master of the Pacific, manual is a model of what a manual
who has come to rescue the Seagraves. should be. It states in a broad and
Ready dies of his wounds and is buried clear manner the important facts in the
on the island, and the survivors are car- growth of the language, as considered
ried in safety to Australia. The story apart from literature, and explains its
is told in an interesting and entertain- history with delightful, easy-going com-
ing manner, and is enlivened throughout
It dwells
upon
the all-
by the many amusing experiences of important truth that language is the
Tommy Seagrave, the scapegrace of the natural, inevitable expression of a
family. The descriptions of the ingen- tion's life, and not a brightly dyed
ious contrivances of the castaways are
shuttlecock for the battledores of gram
accurately given and form an interest-
to knock hither and yon. And
ing feature of the book. (1842. )
it shows that the growth of any tongue
a
а
mon-sense.
na-
## p. 428 (#464) ############################################
428
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
to
can be explained only by the voice of
Philosophy as well as that of History,
since this growth incarnates one broad
phase of evolution. “No speech can do
more,” says Prof. Lounsbury, “than ex-
press the ideas of those who employ it
at the time. It cannot live
upon
its
past meanings, or upon the past concep-
tions of great men which have been re-
corded in it, any more than the race
which uses it
can live
upon
its
past
glory, or its past achievements. Proud
therefore as we may now well be of our
tongue, we may rest assured that if it
ever attains to universal sovereignty, it
will do so only because the ideas of the
men who speak it are fit to become the
ruling ideas of the world, and the men
themselves are strong enough to carry
them over the world; and that, in the
last analysis, depends, like everything
else, upon the development of the in-
dividual, - depends not upon the terri-
tory we buy or steal, not upon the gold
we mine or the grain we grow, but upon
the men we produce. If we fail there,
no national greatness, however splendid
to outward view, can be anything but
temporary and illusory; and when once
national greatness disappears, no past
achievements in literature, however
glorious, will perpetuate our language as
a living speech, though they may help
for a time to retard its decay. ” This
extract will serve to show Professor
Lounsbury's point of view, and the
healthfulness of his treatment of
ever-delightful subject.
you speak in earnest, how magical, how
rare, how lonely in our literature is the
beauty of your sentences ! » And
Dumas: «Than yours there has been
no greater nor more kindly and benefi-
cent force in modern letters. ” Each
letter gives the serene compliments of
the author to the author on what was
really best in his work. Each letter is
gay and unassuming, but under the
nonchalance is the fine essence of criti-
cism. An odor as of delicate wine per-
vades the volume, the fragrance of an
oblation to the great Dead, by a lover
of their work.
Mæviad: The, and The Baviad, by
. It was through
these two satires that the author, who
later was the first editor of the Quar-
terly Review, first became known. (The
Baviad,” which first appeared in 1792, is
an attack on a band of English writers
living in Florence, Italy, among them
being Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Greathead, Mr.
Murray, Mr. Parsons, and others, who
had formed themselves into a kind of
mutual admiration society. It is an imi-
tation of the first satire of Perseus,
and in it the author not only attacks
the Della Cruscans » but all who sympa-
thize with them: “Boswell, of a song
and supper vain,” “Colman's Aippant
trash,» «Morton's catch-word,” and “Hol-
croft's Shug-lane cant,” receive his at-
tention; while the satire ends with the
line, “the hoarse croak of Kemble's
foggy throat. ) The Mæviad, which
appeared in 1795, is an imitation of the
tenth satire of Horace, and was called
forth, the author says, “by the
appearance of some of the scattered
enemy. ” He also avails himself of the
opportunity briefly to notice the pres-
ent wretched state of dramatic poetry. ”
It was generally considered that the au-
thor was engaged in a task of breaking
butterflies wheels, but he says,
There was a time (when «The Baviad
first appeared) that these butterflies
were eagles and their obscure and de-
sultory flights the object of universal
envy and admiration. ”
Records of a Girlhood, by Frances
Anne Kemble. (1879. ) This work
gives the history of the life of a great
actress, member of a family of genius,
from her birth up to the time of her
marriage (1809-34). Her incorrigible
childhood, her school-days in France,
»
an
re-
on
Letters to Dead Authors, by Andrew
Lang (1886), are little essays in
criticism, addressed in a spirit of gentle
humor to the dear, dead women and
men of whom they treat. The ninth, to
Master Isaak Walton, begins: “Father
Isaak — When I would be quiet and go
angling, it is my custom to carry in my
wallet thy pretty book, "The Compleat
Angler. ) Here, methinks, if I find not
trout I shall find content. The letter
to Theocritus is heavy with the scent
of roses and dew-drenched violets. The
author's pagan sympathies lead him to
inquire -- "In the House of Hades, The-
ocritus, doth there dwell aught that is
fair ? and can the low light on the fields
of Asphodel make thee forget thy
Sicily? Does the poet remember
Nycheia with her April eyes ? » To
Thackeray he says:
(And whenever
## p. 429 (#465) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
429
as
over
her first visit to the theatre, her early evident pleasure of her American friends,
efforts at authorship, her distaste for the sets down many observations and plans
stage, her first appearance on it, her for the abolition of slavery, she
successes there, the books she has been studies it on her husband's plantation
reading, her first visit to America, her in Georgia, and makes, in short, a vivid
comments on American life, which, to picture of American social life in the
her, is so primitive as to seem barbar- first half of the century. She gives
ous, -all this is duly set forth. Among specific studies of Philadelphia, Niagara
those of whom she relates memorable Falls, Rockaway Beach, Newport, Bos-
recollections or anecdotes are Lord Mel- ton, Lenox, Baltimore, and Charleston.
bourne, Rossini, Weber, Fanny Elssler, Though she has faith in American in-
Sir Walter Scott, Talma, Miss Mitford, stitutions, she is not without intelligent
Theodore Hook, Arthur Hallam, John misgivings: «The predominance of spirit
Sterling, Malibran, Queen Victoria,
matter indicates itself strikingly
George Stephenson, Lord John Russell, across the Atlantic, where, in the low-
Edmund Kean, Chancellor Kent, Ed- est strata of society, the native Amer-
ward Everett, Charles Sumner, and a ican rowdy, with a face as pure in
hundred other personages
of equal outline as an ancient Greek coin, and
fame. She knew everybody who was hands and feet as fine as those of a
worth knowing, was petted and spoiled Norman noble, strikes one dumb with
by the highest society, and reigned as the aspect of a countenance whose vile,
an uncrowned queen in whatever circle ignoble hardness can triumph over such
she delighted by her presence. She de- refinement of line and delicacy of pro-
clares it to be her belief that her nat- portion.
A human soul has a wonder-
ural vocation was for opera-dancing; ful supremacy over the matter which
and says that she ought to have been it informs. The American is a whole
handsome, and should have been so, nation, with well-made, regular noses;
had she not been disfigured by an attack from which circumstance (and a few
of small-pox at the age of sixteen, others), I believe in their future su-
whose effects never wholly disappeared. periority over all other nations. But
The book is brightly written, is full the lowness their faces are capable of
of well-bred gossip, and always enter- (flogs Europe. ) » Her strictures on the
taining. Mrs. Kemble's recollections of English aristocracy, and middle and
the long vanished America of the thir- lower classes, are equally severe. In
ties are
as piquant as those of Mrs. the last third of the book are described
Trollope, and perhaps not more good- her return to the stage and her ap-
natured. But she offers a wholesome if pearance as a public reader in England,
bitter medicine to a too swelling na- in 1847. In 1841 she was on the Con-
tional self-conceit.
tinent, and in 1846 in Italy. Most of
this history is told in the form of letters
Records of Later Life, by Frances written at the time, wherein her literary
(1882. ) This vol- opinions and speculations on life and
ume resumes its author's history at the philosophy are freely expressed. Her
point where (Records of a Girlhood anecdotes of Dr. Channing, Grisi, Lord
leaves it — namely, at her marriage and Lady Lansdowne, Sydney Smith,
with Mr. Pierce Butler in 1834; and Lady Holland, Rogers, Wordsworth,
ends with her return to America in Mrs. Somerville, Follen, Taglioni, Liszt,
1848, and her success in earning by pub- Mendelssohn, Fanny Elssler, Mrs. Grote,
lic readings a home at Lenox, Massachu- Jenny Lind, Moore, Macaulay, Dickens,
setts. With the exception of two visits to Dr. Arnold, Bunsen, Thackeray, etc. ,
Europe, the first two-thirds of the book are always entertaining and often most
are given to her life in America; the illuminating
last third, to her stay in Europe (1845-
48). The record begins by describing Philistines. The, by Arlo Bates, a
, ,
some of the points at which her Eng- story of fashionable Boston society,
lish ideas disagree with American ones. takes its title from Matthew Arnold's
It is full of amusing comments on our
for the rich and self-satisfied
life,- its crudeness, unhealthiness, lack classes of the community to whom
of leisure, and extravagance, and the m ney, and the good of life expressible
discomforts of travel. She speaks with in money, are all. Arthur Fenton, a
name
## p. 430 (#466) ############################################
430
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ence.
mean
was
painter of great promise, gives up ori-
ginal work to paint the portraits of rich
men, and marries the niece of Boston's
greatest art patron, a high-minded but
somewhat narrow girl, with whom he is
totally out of sympathy. The story
traces his gradual deterioration; and his
outlook on life becomes more and more
worldly. In short, the motive of the
book is the illustration of that dry-rot
of character which is certain to seize on
its victim when wealth, or ease, or any
external good, is made the end of exist-
It shows the remorselessness of
nature in insisting on her penalties
when her laws of development are dis-
regarded. Yet the story never degener-
ates into an argument, nor is it loaded
with a moral. Several of the person-
ages
have epigrammatic tendencies,
which make their society entertaining.
«People who
well are always
worse than those who don't mean any-
thing. » «He one of those men
who have the power of making their
disapproval felt, from the simple fact
that they feel it so strongly themselves. )
“Modern business is simply the art of
transposing one's debts. » «A broad
man is one who can appreciate his own
wife. ” A woman may believe that she
herself has accomplished the impossible,
but she knows no one of her sisters
has. ” «Conventionality is the consensus
of the taste of mankind. » << The object
of life is to endure life, as the object of
time is to kill time. ” Society matrons,
maids, and men, are delineated with the
sure touch of one who knows them; and
receptions, Browning Clubs, art
mittees, business schemes, and politics,
form a lively background for the story.
Mºdern Instance, A, by William D.
Howells. (1881. ) The scene of the
story is first laid in a country town in
Maine, where Bartley Hubbard, a vain,
selfish, unprincipled young man, is ed-
iting the local paper. He marries Marcia
Gaylord, a handsome, passionate, inex-
perienced young country girl, and takes
her to Boston, where he continues his
journalistic career. As time goes on,
the incompatibility of the young couple
becomes manifest; Marcia's extreme
jealousy, and Bartley's selfishness and
dissipation, causing much unhappiness
and contention. The climax is finally
reached, when, after a passionate scene,
Bartley leaves his wife and child, and
is not heard from again for the space
of two years. His next appearance is
in an Indiana law-court, where he is
endeavoring to procure a divorce from
Marcia; but his attempt is frustrated
through the intervention of her father,
Judge Gaylord, who goes to the West-
ern town and succeeds in obtaining a
decree in his daughter's favor. At the
end of the story Bartley is shot and
killed in a Western brawl, and Marcia
is left with her child, dragging out
her existence in her native town. Ben
Halleck, who is in love with Marcia,
figures prominently throughout the book,
and the reader is left with the impres-
sion that their marriage eventually takes
place. If the novel can hardly be called
agreeable, it proves Mr. Howells has
penetrated very deeply into certain un-
attractive but characteristic phases of
contemporary American life; and the
story is told with brilliancy and vigor.
Morgesons, The, Elizabeth Barstow
Stoddard's first novel. (1862. ) The
plot is concerned with the fortunes of
the Morgeson family, long resident in a
sea-coast town in New England. Two
members of it, Cassandra, by whom
the story is told, and her sister Veron-
ica, are girls of strange, unconventional
nature, wholly undisciplined, who live
out their restless lives against the back-
ground of a narrow New England house-
hold, composed of a gentle, fading mother,
a father wholly absorbed in business
and affairs, and a dominant female serv-
ant, Temperance. When Cassandra re-
turns home from boarding school, she
finds Veronica grown into a pale, reti-
cent girl, with unearthly little ways.
Veronica's own love-story begins when
she meets Ben Somers, a friend of her
sister. Both girls are born to tragedy,
through their passionate, irreconcilable
temperament; and the story follows their
lives with a strange, detached impartial-
ity, which holds the interest of the reader
more closely than any visible advocacy
of the cause of either heroine could do.
(The Morgesons) is rich in delineation
of unusual aspects of character, in a
grim New England humor, in those pict-
ures of the sea that are never absent
from Mrs. Stoddard's novels. Suffusing
the book is a bleak atmosphere of what
might be called passionate mentality,
bracing, but calling for a sober power
of resistance in the reader.
com-
## p. 431 (#467) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
431
com-
Red Badge of Courage, The, by Ste- brought up by a worthy English duchess,
phen Crane, was published in 1895. who has instilled into her mind the
It attracted a great deal of attention noblest traditions of aristocracy, and has
both in England and America, by reason developed a character unworldly, high-
of the nature of the subject, and of the spirited, and idealistic. The plot turns
author's extreme youth. It is a study of on her tragic conflict with a false and
a man's feeling in battle, written by one base social order. Like Ouida's other
who was never in a battle, but who novels of high life, it unites realism
seeks to give color to his story by lurid with romance, or with a kind of sump-
language. Henry Fleming, an unsophis- tuous exaggeration of the qualities and
ticated country boy, enthusiastic to serve attributes of aristocracy, which, to the
his country, enlists at the beginning of average reader, is full of fascinaivn.
the Civil War. Young, raw, intense, he
longs to show his patriotism, to prove Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, is the
a . the
name by which a certain huge and
he is fretting for an opportunity, his particularly ferocious whale was known.
regiment apparently being nowhere near This whale has been attacked many
a scene of action. His mental states are times, and has fought valiantly. Captain
described as he waits and chafes; the Ahab, of the whaler Pequod, has lost a
calculations as to what it would all be leg in a conflict with this monster, and
like when it did come, the swagger to has vowed to kill him. The story tells
keep up the spirits, the resentments of how the captain kept his vow; and it
the possible superiority of his
serves not only for the relation of some
panions, the hot frenzy to be in the exciting adventures in the pursuit of
thick of it with the intolerable delays whales, but as a complete text-book of
over, and sore doubts of courage. Sud- the whaling industry. Every species of
denly, pell-mell, the boy is thrown into whale is described, with its habits, tem-
battle, gets frightened to death in the perament, and commercial value. Every
thick of it, and runs; after the fun is item in the process of whale capture and
over, crawls back to his regiment fairly preparation for the market is minutely
vicious with unbearable shame. The described. Besides all this, the charac-
heroic visions fade; but the boy makes ters of the owners, officers, and crew of
one step towards manhood through his the whaling ship are drawn with truth
wholesome lesson. In his next battle and vigor; and there is a good sketch of
courage links itself to him like a brother- a New Bedford sailors' boarding-house.
in-arms. He tests and is tested, goes The scene is laid first at New Bedford
into the thick of the fight like a howling and Nantucket, and afterwards on those
demon, goes indeed to hell, and comes portions of the ocean frequented by
back again, steadied and quiet.
The
whaling vessels, and the time is the year
book closes his and manly
1775. Probably no more thrilling de-
serenity.
scription of a whale hunt has been writ-
“He had rid himself of the red sick- ten than that of the three days' conflict
ness of battle. The sultry nightmare with Moby-Dick, with which the story
was in the past. He had been an ani- closes, and in which the whale is killed,
mal, blistered and sweating in the heat though not until he has demolished the
and pain of war. He now turned with boats and sunk the ship. Moby-Dick
a lover's thirst to images of tranquil is of increasing value in literature from
skies. )
the fact that it is a most comprehensive
hand-book of the whaling industry at a
Louise de la Ramée time when individual courage and skill
(“Quida"). (1880. ) This novel de- were prime factors, when the whale had
picts the corruption (springing from idle- to be approached in small boats to within
ness and luxury) of modern European almost touching distance, and before
society, especially of the women of rank, bomb-lances, steam, and other modern
who are compared to moths «fretting a improvements had reduced whaling to
garment. ” The first chapter presents the dead-level of a mere «business. »
such a woman, Lady Dolly, a fashionable (It was published in 1851. ) It contains
butterfly with an ignoble nature. Her also the best rendering into words of the
daughter by a first marriage, Vera, joins true seaman's feeling about the ocean as
her at Trouville. The girl has been his home which has ever been written.
on
new
Moths, by
## p. 432 (#468) ############################################
432
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
were
Magnalia Christi
Americana, by Jahan, 1628-58; and of Aurangzeb, 1658–
Cotton Mather. This Ecclesias- 1707. There is an additional chapter of
tical History of New England, from the foremost historical and literary value
1620 to 1628,' treats more extensively by Sir W. W. Hunter, on « The Ruin of
of the early history of the country Aurangzeb; or, The History of a Reac-
than its title seems to indicate, unless tion, and a sketch of the conquests of
it is borne in mind that at this time India from
that by
Alexander the
the Church and State were so closely Great, 327 B. C. , to that of Baber, who
connected that the history of one must was in reality the second founder of the
necessarily be that of the other. It Mogul empire at Delhi. The purpose
was first published in London, in 1702, of Mr. Holden, suggested by his pos-
and is a standard work with American session of a series of very interesting
historians. It is divided into seven portraits, which he reproduces, was that
books: the first treating of the early of giving a sketch of personages only,
discoveries of America and the voyage not a history, and to some extent of the
to New England; the second is Lives ideas and literature which represent
of the Governors ); the third, Lives of them. Both Baber and Akbar
many Reverend, Learned, and Holy men of intellectual distinction and of
Divines); the fourth, (Of Harvard Uni- noble character. The empire under Ak-
versity); the fifth, (The Faith and the bar will bear close comparison, Mr.
Order in the Church of New England'; Holden justly says, with the States of
the sixth, Discoveries and Demonstra- Europe at the same epoch. Baber wrote
tions of the Divine Providence in Re. Memoirs, which show high ideals of
markable Mercies and Judgments on culture held by the chief men of his
Many Particular Persons); the seventh, time. Akbar brought about an inter-
(Disturbances Given to the Churches of mixture of races and religions which
New England. In the sixth book, the caused great freedom and liberality in
author gives accounts of the wonders culture of every kind. Every famous
of the invisible world, of worthy people book known to him was in Akbar's li-
succored when in dire distress, of the brary, and as early as 1578 he had set
sad ending of many wicked ones, and the example of a parliament of religions
of the cases of witchcraft at Salem and in which Sufis, Sunnis, and Shiahs, of
other places. Of the last he says: “I
his own
faith, with Brahmans, Bud-
will content myself with the transcrib- dhists, Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews,
ing of a most unexceptionable account amicably reasoned together as men and
thereof, written by Mr. John Hales. ” brethren; while he for himself gathered
The situation and character of the from all of them a simple faith, theistic
author afforded him the most favorable and humane, in place of the Islamism
opportunities to secure the documents
of his race.
necessary for his undertaking, and the
large portion of it devoted to biography.
Anne
nnals of Rural Bengal (1868, 5th
gives the reader a very faithful view of ed. 1872), and its sequel Orissa (2
the leading characters of the times. vols. , 1872), by Sir William Wilson
Hunter. In these volumes one of the
Mogul Emperors of Hindustan, The, most admirable civilians that England
A. D. 1398 — A. D. 1707. By Ed- ever sent to India displays his finest
ward S. Holden. (1895. ) A volume of qualities: not alone his immense schol-
biographical sketches; -of Tamerlane, or arship and his literary charm, but his
Timur, whose conquest of India in 1398 practical ability, his broad humanity and
founded at Delhi the Mogul empire of interest in the «dim common popula-
Baber, sixth in descent from Timur, tions sunk in labor and pain, and his
who was emperor from 1526 to 1529; of sympathy with religious aspiration. The
his unimportant son and successor Hu- first volume is a series of essays on the
mayun, 1530-56; of Akbar the Great, life of the peasant cultivator in Bengal
1556-1605, contemporary of Queen after the English ascendency: his trou-
Elizabeth and of Shakespeare; of Jahan- bles over the land, the currency, the
gir, 1605–27, “a contribution towards courts, the village and general govern-
a natural history of tyrants »; of Nur- ments, the religious customs, and the
Mahal (the Light of the Palace) Em- other institutions, all bearing directly on
press of Hindustan, 1611-27; of Shah his prosperity. A valuable chapter is on
a
## p. 433 (#469) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
433
the rebellion of the Santal tribes and its artist. «The air of the work, the atmo-
causes. It is interesting to know that sphere through which we see the pictures
he ranks Warren Hastings very high as pass and succeed each other, is chill and
a sagacious and disinterested statesman, clear, like some silver dawn of summer
and says that no other name is so cher- breaking on secular olive-gardens, cold
ished by the masses in India as their distant hills, and cities built of ancient
benefactor. (Orissa) is a detailed ac- marbles. ”
count of all elements of life and of his-
tory in a selected Indian province; a
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert,
study in small of what the government
appeared in 1856, when the author
has to do, not on great theatrical occas-
was thirty-five. It was his first novel, and
is regarded as the book which founded
ions but as the beneficial routine of its
the realistic school in modern French
daily work. Incidentally, it contains the
fiction, — the school of Zola and Maupas-
best account anywhere to be found of
sant.
the pilgrimages of Juggernaut (Jaga-
The novel is a powerful, unpleas-
nath); and an excellent summary of the
ant study of the steps by which a mar-
ried woman descends to sin, bankruptcy,
origins of Indian history and religions.
and suicide. It is fatalistic in its teach-
Marius, the Epicurean,
ing, Flaubert's theory of life being that
philo-
evil inheres in the constitution of things.
sophical romance by Walter Pater,
and his first important work, was pub-
Madame Bovary, a doctor's wife, has
been linked to him without really loving
lished in 1885. The book has but a
shadowy plot. It is, as the sub-title de-
him; he is honest, uninteresting, and
adores her. Reared in a convent, her ro-
clares, a record of the hero's (sensations
manticism leads her to dream of a lover.
and ideas, a history of a spiritual jour-
She finds one, then another; spends
ney. Marius is a young Roman noble,
of the time of Marcus Aurelius. Like
money after the
manner of a light
woman; and when she has involved her
the philosophic emperor himself, he is
the embodiment of the finer forces of
husband in financial ruin, kills herself
and leaves him to face a sea of troubles.
his day; his temperament being at once
The time is the first half of this cen-
a repository of the true Roman great-
ness of the past, and a prophecy of the
tury; the action takes place in provin-
Christian disposition of the New Rome.
cial French towns. The merit of the
novel lies in its truth in depicting the
He seeks satisfaction for the needs of
his soul in philosophy, the finer sort of
stages of this moral declension, the won-
epicureanism, that teaches him to enjoy
derful accuracy of detail, the subtle an-
what this world has to offer, but to
alysis of the passionate human heart.
enjoy with a certain aloofness of spirit,
Technically, in point of style, it_ranks
a kind of divine indifference.
with the few great productions of French
In his
earliest manhood he goes to Rome, meets
fiction. It is sternly moral in the sense
there the philosophic emperor, mingles
that it shows with unflinching touch the
in the highly colored life of the time,
logic of the inevitable misery that fol.
studies, observes, reflects. His closest
lows the breaking of moral law. Ma-
friend is Cornelius of the imperial guard,
dame Bovary) is the masterpiece of a
a Christian who loves Marius as one in
great artist whose creed is pessimism.
spirit a brother Christian. Through as- Pastor Fido, II, by Giovanni Battista
sociation with Cornelius, and by the law
This pastoral drama,
of his own character, Marius is drawn which was first produced in 1585, is the
into sympathy with the new religion; masterpiece of the author, and its influ-
yet, as becomes one who shares the ence can be seen in all subsequent liter-,
indifference of the gods, he makes no ature of this class. It is a most highly
open profession: but at a critical moment finished work, after the style of Tasso's
he lays down his life for his friend. (Aminta, but lacks its simplicity and
Marius, the Epicurean,' is a remark- charm. It is said to be rather a picture
able story of spiritual development, as of the author's time than of pastoral
well as of the strange, luxurious, decay-
life, and that to this it owed its great
ing Rome of the second century of the popularity; it having run through forty
Christian era. Pater has drawn this
pan- editions during the author's life, and
oramic background with the accuracy of having been translated into almost all
the scholar and the sympathy of the modern languages. The scene is laid in
(
>
XXX-28
## p. 434 (#470) ############################################
434
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
1
an
was
Arcadia, where a young maiden is sacri- | Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott, the
ficed annually to the goddess Diana.
first of
The people can be freed from this trib- romances to which it gives the title, was
ute only when two mortals, descendants published in 1814. The author withheld
of the gods, are united by love, and the his name at first, from doubt as to the
great virtue of a faithful shepherd shall success of the venture. The continuance
atone for the sins of unfaithful of the concealment with subsequent is-
woman. To fulfill this condition, Ama- sues followed perhaps naturally; Scott
rilli, who is descended from the god himself could give no better reason af-
Pan, is betrothed to Silvio, the son of terwards than that such was his hu-
Montano, the priest of Diana, and a mor. » Although the authorship of the
descendant of Hercules. Silvio's only series was generally credited to him, it
passion is for hunting; and he flees from never formally acknowledged until
Amarilli, who is beloved by Mirtillo, the avowal was extorted by his business
the supposed son of Carino, who for a complications in 1826. (Waverley) is a
long time has lived away from Arcadia. tale of the rebellion of the Chevalier
Amarilli reciprocates the love of Mir- Prince Charles Edward, in Scotland in
tillo, but fears to acknowledge it, as 1745. Edward Waverley, an English
falseness to her vow to Silvio would captain of dragoons, obtains a leave of
entail death. Corisca, also in love with absence from his regiment for the pur-
Mirtillo, learns of it, and by a trick poses of rest and travel. His uncle, Sir
brings them together and denounces Everard, whose heir he is, gives him
them. Amarilli is condemned to death; letters to a Scotch friend, Baron Brad-
and Mirtillo, availing himself of a cus- wardine of Tully-Veolan, Perthshire, who
tom allowed, is to be sacrificed in her is a quaint mixture of scholar and sol-
place, when Carino arrives, and Mirtillo dier, and a strong Jacobite. He has a
is found to be the son of Montano. In beautiful and blooming daughter Rose.
his infancy he was carried away in his During Waverley's visit, a
party of
cradle by a flood, and had been adopted Highlanders drive off the Baron's cattle;
by Carino. As his name is also Silvio, and Waverley offers to assist in their re-
it is decided that Amarilli in marrying demption from Fergus Mac Ivor, «Vich
him will not break the vow which she Ian Vohr,” the chief of the clan. Wa-
had made to Silvio, and by this mar- verley accompanies Fergus's messenger
riage the decree of the oracle will be first to the island cave of Donald Bean
fulfilled.
Lean, the actual robber, and thence to
Fergus's home, where he meets the chief
Poe, Edgar Allan, by George E. Wood- himself and his brilliant and accom-
berry. (1897. ) In preparing this
.
plished sister Flora. Waverley falls in
latest biography of Poe, the author care- love and offers himself to Flora, who dis-
fully reviewed all previous biographies courages his addresses.
Joining a hunt-
and essays bearing upon his subject, re- ing party, he is wounded by a stag and
jecting all statements not fully authenti- detained beyond his intended time.
cated. He also had recourse to recently Meanwhile the rising of the Chevalier
furnished documents from the U. S. War takes place; and Donald Bean, assuming
Department, and also to personal letters Waverley to be a sympathizer and desir-
from friends and relatives of Poe.
