Magda- him in Romany brings out a joyful
lina tells him this woman reminds her colony of gipsies in song and loving
of a portrait in an abandoned part of greeting.
lina tells him this woman reminds her colony of gipsies in song and loving
of a portrait in an abandoned part of greeting.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
464 (#500) ############################################
464
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
man.
on
several titles are: Essays in Literary the human spirit than in all the histori-
Interpretation,' Essays on Nature and cal works that have been written; for the
Culture,' (Short Studies in Literature,' real history of man on this earth is not
Books and Culture,' My Study Fire) the record of the deeds he has done
(2 vols. ), and "L'nder the Trees and with his hands, the journeys he has
Elsewhere. They all express the views made with his feet; . . but the rec-
of a book-man on man and his surround- ord of his thoughts, feelings, inspirations,
ings; but of a book-man who has studied aspirations, and experience. This, on the
man no less than books, and has stud- conditions of a broad mental and moral
ied books rather as a means than an development of the individual, draws
end -as giving insight into the soul of the essential line of distinction between
Great books are for him not feats the man of culture and the Philistine:
of intellect, but the result of the contact To secure the most complete develop-
of mind and heart with the great and ment one must live in one's time and
terrible facts of life: they originate not yet live above it, and one must live in
in the individual mind but in the soil of one's home and yet live in the world.
common human hopes, loves, fears, as- The life which is bounded in knowledge,
pirations, sufferings. Shakespeare did interest, and activity by the invisible but
not invent Hamlet, he found him in hu- real and limiting walls of a small com-
man histories already acted out to the munity is often definite in aim, effective
tragic end; Goethe did not create Faust, in action, and upright in intention; but
he summoned him out of the dim me- it cannot be rich, varied, generous, and
diæval world and confronted him with stimulating The life, the other
the problems of life as it is now. There hand, which is entirely detached from
are in these Essays) innumerable epi- local associations and tasks is often in-
grammatic passages easily detachable teresting, liberalizing, and catholic in
from the context; a few of these will spirit; but it cannot be original or pro-
serve to illustrate the author's points of ductive. A sound life – balanced, poised,
view. Writing of Personality in Liter- and intelligently directed — must stand
ary Work,' he says that there is no such strongly in both local and universal re-
thing as a universal literature in the lations; it must have the vitality and
sense which involves complete escape warmth of the first, and the breadth and
from the water-marks of place and time: range of the second.
no man can study or interpret life save
from the point of view where he finds
Lºv
oves of the Triangles, The, by
himself; no truth gets into human keep- George Canning. In 1797 George
ing by any other path than the individ- Canning, then Under-Secretary of State
ual soul, nor into human speech by any for Foreign Affairs, planned in conjunc-
other medium than the individual mind. ton with George Ellis, John Hookham
In another essay occurs this fine remark Frere, and others, the Anti-Jacobin, a
on wit: Wit reveals itself in sudden political paper edited in the interests of
flashes, not in continuous glow and il- the Tory party.
lumination; it is distilled in sentences; Satire and parody were the vehicles
it is preserved in figures, illustrations, by which editors and contributors tried
epigrams, epithets, phrases. Then fol- to effect their end; and among the va-
lows a comparison of wits and humor- rious articles and poems, none were wit-
ists: the wits entertain and dazzle us, tier than those written by Canning,
the humorists al lif
to us.
Aris- then barely twenty-seven. One object of
tophanes, Cervantes, Molière, and Shakes- these contributions was to cast ridicule
peare - the typical humorists—are among on the undue sentimentality of various
the greatest contributors to the capital literary men of the day, in their alleged
of human achievement; they give us not false sympathy with the revolutionary
glimpses but views of life. In the essay, spirit in France
(The Art of Arts) - i. e. , the art of liv- (The Loves of the Triangles) was
ing — is this remark on the Old Testa- presented as the work of a quasi-con-
ment writings: Whatever view one may tributor, Mr. Higgins, who says that
take of the authority of those books, it he is persuaded that there is no sci-
is certain that in the noble literature ence, however abstruse, nay, no trade
which goes under that title there is a nor manufacture, which may not be
deeper, clearer, and fuller disclosure of taught by a didactic poem.
And
## p. 465 (#501) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
465
though the more rigid and unbending | charity or fellow-feeling: not only is man
stiffness of a mathematical subject does enjoined to show kindliness to fellow-
not admit of the same appeals to the men, but to all animals as well. The
warmer passions which naturally arise people practice what their scriptures
out of the sexual system of Linnæus, teach; and the effect indirectly on the
he hopes that his poem will ornament condition of the brutes is almost as
and enlighten the arid truths of Euclid marked as its more direct effect on the
and algebra, and will strew the Asses' character of mankind.
Bridge with flowers.
This is of course a satire on the Bo- Timb
imbuctoo the Mysterious, by Felix
Dubois. Translated from the French
tanic Garden of Dr. Darwin, to whom
by Diana White. The story of a long
indeed the parody, (The Loves of the
journey inland in French Africa: from
Triangles,' is dedicated. Only about
Dakar, the port of Senegal, by rail above
three hundred verses in rhymed iam-
170 miles to St. Louis, the capital of
bics were published of this poem, form-
Senegal; thence by river steamer on the
ing one canto; yet argument, notes,
Senegal eight days to Kayes, the capital
as well as the body of the poem itself,
of French Sudan; then by rail part of the
are the perfection of parody, and in
the midst of it all are several lines
way, and by caravan ine remainder, to
the Niger at Bammaku; and, last of
assailing Jacobins.
all, on the vast sea-like breadth of the
A portion of the invocation may serve
Niger to Timbuctoo. The story of French
as a specimen of the style: –
occupation; of improvements recently
" But chief, thou nurse of the didactic Muse,
made; of the great river and the country
Divine Nonsensia, all thy sense infuse:
The charms of secants and of tangents tell,
through which it flows; and of the re-
How loves and graces in an angle dwell;
markable city, once a great seat of Mus-
How slow progressive points protract the line, sulman culture, and in French hands
As pendent spiders spin the filmy twine.
How lengthened lines, impetuous sweeping
not unlikely to become a centre of Euro-
round,
pean civilization and science in the
Spread the wide plane and mark its circling heart of Africa,- is one to reward the
bound;
reader, and one also to form a valuable
How planes, their substance with their motion
grown,
chapter in the history of European con-
Form the huge cube, the cylinder, the cone. ” version of the Dark Continent into a
land of light and of progress. A special
The Soul of the Far East, by Perci- interest in the book is the discovery in
val Lowell. The Far East whose
Soul is the subject-matter of this sym-
Jenne and Timbuctoo of ancient Egyp-
tian architecture, leading to the belief
pathetic study is principally Japan, but
that the ancient empire of Sangird was
China and Korea are considered also.
Among the traits of character and the
founded by emigrants from the Nile.
peculiarities of usages distinguishing all Tron and its Remains, by Dr. Hein-
author classes rich ) A
the far less pronounced individualism of offered to the reader as (A Narrative of
those races, as compared with Westerns: Researches and Discoveries made on the
Peoples, he says, grow steadily more in- Site of Ilium and in the Trojan Plain. )
dividual as we go westward. In the Far It is a graphic story of most remarkable
East the social unit is not the individual discoveries iš the spot which tradition,
but the family: among the Easterns a from the earliest historic age of Greece,
normally constituted son knows not what has marked as the site of Homer's Ilium.
it is to possess a spontaneity of his own. Through ruins piled to the height of
A Chinese son cannot properly be said fifty feet Schliemann dug down to the
to own anything. This state of things fire-scattered relics of Troy, and brought
is curiously reflected in the language of to light thousands of objects illustrating
Japan, which has no personal pronouns: the race, language, and religion of her
cannot say in Japanese, I, Thou, inhabitants, their wealth and civilization,
He. The Japanese are born artists: to their instruments and appliances for
call a Japanese cook an artist is to state peaceful life and for war. The discov-
a simple fact, for Japanese food is beau- eries at the same time throw a new
tiful, though it may not be agreeable to light upon the origins of the famous
the taste. Half of the teachings of the Greeks of history, and open somewhat
Buddhist religion are inculcations of the not before known history of the
one
XXX-30
## p. 466 (#502) ############################################
466
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
primitive Greeks of Asia. The wealth characters, and the main course of
of detail in the narrative, with the events, together with their causes and
map, plans, views, and illustrative cuts, consequences. The three principal stages
representing 500 objects discovered on separately noted are that of the antiqui-
the site, give the work an extraordi- ties; that of the marvelously rich "dra-
narily readable character.
matic” period, crowded with the great
figures of the best age of Rome; and
Pheidias, Essays on the Art of, by
that of the dissolution of ancient SO-
Charles Waldstein. (1885. ) A vol-
ciety and the changes wrought by the
ume of great importance, consisting of
nine essays, of which the first and second
influence of Christianity. It is this third
stage which Dr. Merivale considers of
are introductory; one on the province,
most vital interest, and his treatment of
aim, and methods of the study of classi-
cal archæology, and the other on the
which gives to his work an exceptional
value.
spirit of the art of Pheidias, in its rela-
tion to his age, life, and character. These
In his earlier and larger work, A
History of the Romans under the Em-
two essays aim to bring into view the
nature and causes of Greek genius for
pire) (8 vols. , 1865), Dr. Merivale ex-
art, and the character of the art of the
actly filled, with a work of the highest
authority and value, the gap between
greatest of Greek sculptors, who ranks
in the art of Greece as Æschylus does
Mommsen and Gibbon, 60 B. C. -180 A. D.
in its drama. The five essays which
follow deal with the sculptures of the Pagan and Christian Rome, by Ru-
Parthenon in the order of time of their
dolfo Lanciani. (1893. ) A most
richly illustrated account of the changes
production, and of the growth of the
at Rome, by which it was gradually
artist's own development. Of the two
remaining essays, the first deals with the
transformed from a pagan to a Christ-
ian city. Discoveries
gold and ivory statues; the Athene of
recently made
the Parthenon, over forty feet in height,
show that Christian teaching reached
and the incarnation in ivory and gold
the higher classes at a very early date,
of overpowering majesty, and spiritual
and even penetrated to the palace of
the Cæsars.
beauty; and the Zeus at Olympia, a
Long before the time at
seated or throned figure, forty-two feet
which Rome is supposed to have fa-
in height, a marvel of construction and
vored Christianity, there had been built
decoration, and beyond all comparison
churches side by side with the temples
of the old faith. Tombs also bear the
impressive, to give the idea of the King
of the gods.
same testimony to gains made by Christ-
ianity in important quarters. Great
The last essay considers the influence
of the work of Pheidias upon the Attic
names in the annals of the empire are
sculpture of the period immediately suc-
found to be those of members of the
Christian body. The change in fact
ceeding the age of Pericles. The sculpt-
ure of Pheidias was that of idealism,
which was brought to maturity under
divine and religious sculpture, serving to
Constantine was not a sudden and un-
portray forms worthy of indwelling di-
expected event. It was not a revolu-
vinity Dr. Waldstein's discussion not
tion. It had been a foregone conclusion
only brings out the fact that Pheidias
for several generations, the natural re-
was the greatest creator of ideals or
sult of progress during nearly three
centuries.
creative thinker of the Greek race, - the
had come to be understood
Greek Shakespeare, one might say, - but
before the official recognition of it by
it touches as well upon Greek art gen-
Constantine. A great deal that was a
continuance of things pagan in appear-
erally; and with a view to this wider
ance had in fact received Christian recog-
study some important papers are added
nition and been turned to Christian use.
in an appendix.
Institutions and customs which still ex-
Rome
me, A General History of, from ist originated under the old faith, and
the foundation of the City to the were brought into the service of the
fall of Augustulus, 753 B. C. -476 A. D. ,
Far more than has been sup-
by Charles Merivale. (1875. ) A work posed, the change was due to tolerance
specially designed for the general reader between pagans and Christians. By
seeking to be informed of the most comparing pagan shrines and temples
noted incidents, the most remarkable with Christian churches, imperial tombs
new
## p. 467 (#503) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
467
to
a
with papal tombs, and pagan ceme- of the buildings of St. Barlaam. To
teries with Christian, Lanciani at once reach them the traveler was forced to
discloses the wealth of art created in climb some rickety ladders over a tre-
Rome, and
proves
that pagan
and mendously steep declivity, because he
Christian were allied in its creation. disliked the other mode of reaching the
top,— being drawn up 230 feet in a net
Visits to the Monasteries of che attached
mended, weather-worn
Levant, by Hon. Robert Curzon, rope. Subsequently he visited Hagios
was published in 1851. Beginning in Stephanos, Agio Triada, Hagia Roserea,
1833, the author's travels covered a pe- and finally the great monastery of Me-
riod of four years, in which time he teora.
visited many curious old monasteries, Part iv. gives the trip from Constanti-
and secured a number of rare and val- nople to Mt. Athos; up the Sea of
uable manuscripts. He gives his im- Marmora, through the Archipelago to
pressions of the countries through which Lemnos; thence to Mt. Athos and the
he wandered, and devotes some space to monastery of St. Laura, full of rare old
the manners and customs of the people paintings. The other monastic houses
in each, brightening his narrative by of the neighborhood, from Vatopede to
occasional anecdotes and noteworthy Caracalla, were also visited; and Mr.
facts gleaned by the way.
Curzon returned to Constantinople, hav-
The volume is divided into four parts. ing purchased a number of valuable
Part i. deals with Egypt, where Mr. manuscripts, including an Evangelista-
Curzon visited the famous Coptic mon- rium in gold letters, on white vellum, of
asteries near the Natron Lakes. These, which sort there is but one other known
he tells us, were founded by St. Maca- to exist.
rius of Alexandria, one of the earliest of
Christian ascetics. The members of Superstition and Force, by H. C.
the Coptic orders still dwell in the old
Lea. (1866. ) A volume of elaborate,
houses, situated amid fertile gardens on
learned, and very interesting essays on
certain subjects of special importance
the crowns of almost inaccessible preci-
in the history of the Middle Ages.
pices. The ruined monastery of Thebes,
the White Monastery, and the Island of
They are: “The Wager of Battle,) (The
Wager of Law,' 'The Ordeal,' and
Philæ, the burial-place of Osiris, were
(Torture. ) The writer treats of them
also visited.
as Methods of Administering Injust-
Part ii. describes the visit to Jeru-
ice); and his account is not only much
salem and the Monastery of St. Saba.
the best anywhere existing, but it makes
This house was named for the founder
of the «Laura," the monastic rule which
a very readable book.
Charles Kingsley uses han furshofexcellent Voingen and Travhile faro SirboJephen
tia. )
the opening Hypa- Mandeville. famous book of
The Laura” still exists where travels was published in French some
the rocky clefts and desert wastes of time between 1357 and 1371.
It was
Asia and Africa offer suitable retreats originally written in English, then trans-
for the ascetic monks.
lated into Latin, then retranslated into
Mr. Curzon devotes some time to the English, that every man of his nation
Jews of Jerusalem, - enough to show might read it. It is said that the author
their prevailing characteristics; and he claimed to be an English knight, living
also notes the interesting fact of his abroad because of a murder committed
rediscovery of the "Apple of Sodom, by him; but little or nothing is known
long supposed to be a creation of fictitious of him. It is thought that it may have
character. It is, he says, a juicy-looking, been written under a feigned name, by
plum-like fruit, which proves to be a Jehan de Burgoigne, a physician of
gall-nut filled with dry, choking dust. Liege. A few interpolated words in an
Part iii. opens with the writer's im- English edition gained for Mandeville
pressions of Corfu and his visit to the credit of being the father of Eng-
Albania, whence he leaves for Meteora, lish prose"); but it is evident from
a grassy plain surrounded by tall peaks mistakes in translation that the English
of rock, where, in apertures like pigeon- version, said to have been made by
holes, the monks have had their dwell- Mandeville, was made by some one who
ings. On top of the rocks are left some did not know the author's meaning.
## p. 468 (#504) ############################################
468
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
The author claims to have traveled for 150,000 francs, which he caused to be
thirty years in Palestine, Egypt, China, invested, principal and interest to be
and other countries; but it is thought divided among such of his heirs as
that if he traveled at all, it was not far- should present themselves at a certain
ther than Palestine, as the other matter rendezvous in Paris, after the lapse of a
is evidently taken from the works of century and a half. Then comes an in-
other travelers. There are some marvel- tensely dramatic description of the es-
ous tales, and it is from this fact that pionage to which the heirs have been
the book is chiefly interesting. He subjected, and the successful machina-
speaks of giants «sixty feet long, a tions of the Jesuits in order to obtain
griffin capable of flying away with a this money. While they succeed by the
yoke of oxen in its talons. There are most reckless acts of persecution and
men with animal's heads, others with no violence in preventing six of the seven
heads, but with eyes and mouth in the heirs from presenting themselves to
breast, others with such large upper lips claim the vastly increased inheritance,
that they cover their whole face from they produce the seventh heir, Gabriel
the sun when they sleep. There are Rennepont - a virtuous young Jesuit
trees bearing wool; and there is a fruit priest, who has already made over his
like a gourd, which when ripe contains worldly goods to his order — to claim
(a beste with flesch and blude and bane, the inheritance. A codicil to the will,
and it is lyke to a lytill lambe with- found in a mysterious manner, postpones
outen wolle. ” He visited the Garden of the day for delivering over the funds,
Transmigrated Souls, drank from the and temporarily defeats these designs.
Fountain of Youth, and located Para- But now, by adopting utterly conscience-
dise; though he says, “Off Paradys can less means, the heads of the Society of
I not speke properly, for I hafe not bene Jesus lead on the six heirs to their
thare; bot als mykill as I hafe herd of deaths before the arrival of the day
wyse men of thase cuntreez, I will tell which has been finally set for the parti-
yow. This book, because of the quaint- tion of the millions. In the end, how-
ness of the English version, and of the ever, by an unforeseen catastrophe, the
subject-matter, will always be read with purposes of the Order are foiled. Ro-
delight; but the claim that Mandeville din, a remarkable character, a little,
is the father of English prose is wholly cadaverous priest of marvelous energy
untenable.
and shrewdness, engineers the cause of
the Jesuits; and by his diplomacy not
Wandering Jew, The, by Eugene alone lures the heirs to their ruin, but
Sue. (1845. ) This curious rambling himself reaches the coveted post of Gen-
episodic romance is written from eral of the Order, though judgment
extreme Protestant point of view, and finally overtakes him also. The story is
introduces the character of Ahasuerus, very diffuse, and the episodes have only
who, according to legend, was a shoe- the slightest relation to each other. It
maker in Jerusalem. The Savior, bear- is melodramatic in the extreme, and the
ing his cross past the house of the arti- style is often bombastic, while the per-
san, asks to be allowed to rest an instant sonages have little resemblance to hu-
on the stone bench at his door.
« Go
man beings in human conditions. But
on! ” replies Ahasuerus. « Thou shalt go when all abatement is made, (The Wan-
on till the end of time, answers the dering Jew) remains one of the famous
Savior - and the Wandering Jew books of the world, for its vigor, its illus-
may never find home, or rest, or even ion, its endless interest of plot and
pause. The scene of this romance is counterplot, and its atmosphere of ro-
laid chiefly in Paris, in 1832. One
hundred and fifty years prior to this
date, Count Rennepont, a descendant of Seraphy by Leopold Sacher-Masoch.
the sister of the Wandering Jew, who is This delightful story by the great
also condemned to wander, professed German novelist, who has been called
conversion to the Catholic faith in order the Galician Turgeneff, was translated
to save his property from confiscation. into English in 1893. As a frame for a
His ruse was discovered, however, and charming tale, the author gives a vivid
the whole estate given to the Jesuits. description of Hungarian life and cus-
But Rennepont succeeded in secreting toms.
We are
introduced to Seraph
an
>>
so
mance.
## p. 469 (#505) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
469
ran
now
Temkin, as he is about to shoot at a
Zincali, The, by George Borrow. This
card held in his mother's hand. She account of the gipsies of Spain ap-
tells him she has educated him with one peared in England in 1842, and quickly
object in view, the revenge of a wrong through three editions. Borrow
done her by a man whose name she evinced in early life a roving disposition
gives — Emilian Theodorowitsch. and linguistic ability. In 1835, at the age
Seraph journeys to the Castle Honoriec, of thirty-two, he undertook to act as the
and gives his name and his mother's to agent of the British and Foreign Bible
Emilian. To his surprise, Emilian says Society in Spain, and accomplished his
he has never heard of Madame Temkin, perilous mission with the devotion of
but insists on Seraph accepting his hos- an apostle and the audacity of a stage
pitality. He remains, and learns from brigand. He was all things to all men,
everybody of the tenderness, generosity, especially to gipsies; and in "The Bible
and nobility of his host. Emilian tells in Spain,' his first book, he relates his
Seraph the story of his life. He had amusing and interesting adventures.
married a woman accustomed to com- (The Zincali) grew out of this journey,
mand and be obeyed. An estrangement and deals with the gipsies alone. The
sprang up between them, and when a charm of the book, which is full of an-
son was born, a handsome nurse came ecdote, lies in its graphic fidelity. The
into the house. His wife became jealous, Spanish gipsy, as described by Mr.
but persisted in keeping the nurse. One Borrow, differs in many respects from
night the nurse began to coquet with the gipsy of romance. His hardihood
Emilian. He upbraided her, whereupon and wretched mode of life ; his virtues,
she fell at his feet and began to weep. his faults; his devotion to family and
He raised her up, and his wife, entering, kindred; and his inveterate dishonesty,
found the nurse in his arms. Taking are faithfully portrayed. The very same
the child, she escaped, and he had never gipsy woman, who, being waylaid and
been able to find a trace of her. An- robbed, is heroic and unconquerable in
other charm of the castle for Seraph is defense of her own virtue, and, stripped
Magdalina, Emilian's adopted daughter, of her property,
makes
her weary
with whom Seraph is in love. Running journey 200 miles on foot with her poor
after her one day, she fees into the children, is absolutely vile in leading
chapel. He finds her hiding in the con-
others into infamy to recoup her
fessional, and kneeling down at the finances. A chapter on gipsies in va-
wicket, he tells her of his love. He is rious lands depicts the universal gipsy,
interrupted by his mother in disguise, the product of the mysterious East. Mr.
who upbraids him for his delay; and Borrow gives many illustrations of his
when he asks her what relationship ex- popularity with the gipsies; one at Nov-
isted between her and Emilian, she gorod, where one sentence spoken by
answers «none, and escapes.
Magda- him in Romany brings out a joyful
lina tells him this woman reminds her colony of gipsies in song and loving
of a portrait in an abandoned part of greeting. His love of adventure, of un-
the castle. She leads him there, and conventional human life, and of phil-
he is struck with the familiarity of the ology, went hand in hand and reinforced
He rushes to a clock, pulls a each other.
string, and hears an old familiar tune;
and in the next room finds his mother's ivilization, An Introduction to the
portrait. He thinks of but one way in History of, in England and France,
which his mother could have been Spain, and Scotland, by Henry Thomas
wronged, in spite of Emilian's very sug- Buckle, appeared, the first volume in
gestive story; and going down stairs he 1857, the second in 1861. The book, in
insults Emilian and challenges him to a the light of the author's original plan,
duel, in which Seraph is shot. When he is a Titanic fragment. In itself con-
recovers from his swoon, he finds him- sidered, it is complete, perfect; since the
self again at the castle with Magdalina principle underlying the proposed vast
watching over him. He sends for Emil- scheme is clearly set forth, and illus-
ian, and tells him of the portrait; and trated in the general introduction.
the father clasps his long-lost son in This principle of Magnificent Propor-
his arms. The reconciliation of the hus- tions, as understood and treated by
band and wife ends the story.
Buckle, is that there are laws governing
scenes.
Civi
## p. 470 (#506) ############################################
470
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
the
the progress of nations, and of national story himself, in the form of a journal
civilization, as fixed and inevitable as His relatives wish him to marry a beau-
the laws of the physical universe. He tiful young cousin, Aniela, who loves
endeavored to find bases for the leter- him with a whole-souled affection. Be.
mination of these laws, as the first step ing sure of her love, he is disposed to
in the science of history. The most im- delay his marriage, that he may have
portant of his propositions are that cli- time to analyze his emotions in regard
mate, soil, and food influence the char- to her. While absent in Rome, he
acter of nations; that in Europe mental drifts into an unworthy passion for a
laws are gradually predominating over married woman, a Mrs. Davis; yet, so
physical laws; that human progress is peculiar is his temperament, the thought
due rather to intellectual activity than of Aniela is rarely absent from him. In
to the development of the moral sense; the sultry air of passion, he longs for
that individual effort counts for little in the freshness and fragrance of her
the great onward movements of the race; purity. But even the knowledge that
that religion, wit, literature, are she is soon to be out of his reach does
products and not the causes of civiliza- not steady his nobler purposes. The
tion. In his first volume, after setting fortunes of her family being now at a
forth these propositions Buckle gives to low ebb, Aniela is forced into marriage
them concrete application in the con- with a rich Austrian, Kromitzki, a com-
sideration of English and French his- monplace man incapable of appreciating
tory. In the second volume, he again her fine nature. So soon as she is thus
applies them to the cases of Spain and out of reach, Leon, whose moral nature
Scotland. Although the
progress of goes by contraries, becomes passionately
science has uncovered facts that prove in love with her, and tries with subtle
the weakness of an occasional principle art to make her untrue to her husband;
in the History of Civilization, the work but dear as Leon is to her, Aniela re-
remains one of the greatest popular con- mains faithful to her marriage vows.
tributions of modern times to the new Unlike Leon, she is not (without
aspect of history, as a human document, dogma. ” She clings to her simple belief
to be read by the light of scientific dis- in what is right throughout the long
covery. Its publishing success was sec- struggle. Her delicate organism cannot
ond only to Macaulay's (England. No stand the strain of her spiritual suffer-
book of its time was more influential in ings. The death of her husband is soon
turning the direction of men's thoughts followed by her own death. In her last
to the phenomena of social and political hours she tells Leon, as a little child
science. Its value in deed lay largely might tell him, that she loves him
in its immense field of suggestion. It
“ very, very much. ” The last entry in
opened the way for centuries of scholar-
his journal implies that he will follow
ship in a new field.
her, that they may be one in oblivion,
or in another life to come. The journal
Without Dogma, a novel of modern of Leon Ploskowski reveals the wonder-
Polish high life, by Henryk Sien- ful insight of Sienkiewicz into a certain
kiewicz, was published in an English type of modern character.
The psycho-
translation in 1893. Unlike his histori- logical value of the book is pre-eminent,
cal novels, this book has few characters. presenting as it does a personality
It is the history of a spiritual struggle, essentially the product of nineteenth-
of the battle of a man for his own century conditions, - a personality upon
soul. »
Leon Ploskowski, the hero, which hyper-cultivation has acted as a
young, wealthy, and well-born, is of so subtle poison.
overwrought a temperament that he is
depressed by the, very act of living:
Sin of Joost Avelingh, The, by “Maar-
«Here is a nature so sensitive that it ten Maartens. ). (1890. ) This writer's
photographs every impression, an artistic real name is J. M. W. Van der Poorten
temperament, a highly endowed organ- Schwartz. Although he is a Dutchman,
ism; yet it produces nothing. The se- his stories are all written in English,
cret of this unproductiveness lies per- and afterwards translated into Dutch
haps in a certain tendency to philoso-
for home use. The scene of this is Hol-
phize away every strong emotion that land. Joost is an orphan, shy, morbid,
should lead to action. ) Leon tells his and misunderstood. His uncle, with
## p. 471 (#507) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
471
on
((
whom he lives, forces him to study medi- | New Fiction, The, by Professor H. D.
cine, which he hates, and forbids him to Traill, (1897,) is a collection of a
marry Agatha van Hessel. As Joost is dozen essays on literary matters, ranging
driving him to the notary to change his from Newspaper English) to the trials
will, he dies of apoplexy. Joost inherits of publishers, and including criticisms
his money and marries Agatha. Ten authors from Lucian to Stephen
years later, Arthur van Aeveld, the next Crane. The title essay considers Ste-
heir, meets the servant who sat behind phen Crane and Arthur Morrison as the
the carriage on the night of the Baron's two apostles of modern «realism, as
death, and persuades him to swear that this sees fit to deal with low life; and
Joost murdered his uncle. At the last accuses them of betraying their own
moment, he confesses his perjury. Joost aim, and being guilty of a wild romanti-
is acquitted, and made a member of the cism, in depicting their slums in impossi-
States General. He declares that though bly lurid colors, and life in them as an
not actually a murderer, he is guilty, in unvarying brutality and horror, irrecon-
that he hated his uncle, did nothing to cilable with human nature. (The Po-
help him in his extremity, and drove litical Novel begins with Disraeli, and
straight on in spite of the old man's ends with Mrs. Humphry Ward, of
appeal to him to stop. With his wife's whose work a very discriminating esti-
concurrence, he gives up his money and mate suggests that a lack of humor
political position, becomes clerk to a accounts for the fact that where her
notary, and is happy on a small salary. great capacity and fine art have done so
much, they have not done more. (The
Yesterday, To-day, and Forever. A Novel of Manners,' which began with
poem in twelve books. By Edward the crude performances of Miss Bur-
Henry Bickersteth. (1866. ) A work in ney, and came to its flower in Miss
blank verse, 10,750 lines in length, de- Austen's delicately perfect work, has a
voted to imaginative journeyings after paper to itself. Other essays treat (Mat.
death in Hades, Paradise, and Hell, thew Arnold, Richardson's Novels,'
with a review of creation, the Fall, Pascal's Provincial Letters,' the witty
the empire of darkness, redemption, the (Plays of Lucian,' and (The Future of
war against Satan, the victory over Humor,' in which the author wonders
Satan, the millennial Sabbath, the Last whether the world is growing so serious-
Judgment, and heaven's many mansions. minded that humor will die out, as some
The author, who was made bishop of fine growth disappears from an inhos-
Exeter in 1885, has been in his genera- pitable soil. Professor Traill's work
tion, as his father was in the previous shows perfect fairness, a nice discrimina-
generation, a chief representative in tion, a sympathetic consciousness of an
the Church of England of profoundly author's purpose, and a neat craftsman-
Evangelical, anti-Romanist, and anti- ship. His attitude is always that of de-
liberal, pietism and teaching,-a very tachment, and the pleasure he gives his
emotional and earnest pietism and in- reader seems to be entirely impersonal.
tensely orthodox Low Church teaching. A book so sound and balanced is inter-
The Christian Psalmody, compiled by esting and helpful.
the father in 1832, which went through
seven most
A.
-
Barrie (1889), is a continuation of
school in the Church. The Hymnal
the Auld Licht) series. Its scenes are
Companion, prepared by the son (final confined mainly to the interior of the
revised and enlarged edition, 1876), is little Scotch cot in "Thrums » where
in use in thousands of churches in Eng- lived Hendry and Jess McQumpha, and
land and the colonies. It was to im- their daughter Leeby. In Mr. Barrie's
pressively invoke divine and
eternal
later work, Margaret Ogilvy,' an affec-
auspices for the doctrines and pietism of tionate and artistic picture of his mother,
the Evangelical party, and to feed Ev- we discern that in Jess and Leeby his
angelical faith and enthusiasm, that the mother and sister sat for the portraits.
younger Bickersteth, with Dante and Jess is a quaint figure. A chronic inva-
Milton in view, essayed his ambitious lid, yet throbbing with interest in every-
task, and executed it with very fair suc- body and everything, she sits at the
cess, at least as to teaching and emotion. window of her cottage, and keeps up
popular hymn book of the Evangeliest Window in Thrums, a, by James M.
## p. 472 (#508) ############################################
472
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
with Leeby a running fire of terse and strong savor of Ibsen and of the Karma
often cutting comment upon village hap-cult, a subtle portrayal of character and
penings, and thus holds herself in touch much fine interpretation of nature. The
with the life and gossip which she knows author was already favorably known
only through the window. Barrie's sym- through his longer novel Eline Vere. )
pathetic ability to see how inseparable
are humor and pathos makes his char-
The Revenge of Joseph Noirel, by
acters living and human. Tammas Hag- Victor Cherbuliez. A lively and
gart, the humorist, at much pains to skillful character sketch by this master
understand and dispense the philosophy of literary portraiture; who here, as in
of his own humor; the little christening Jean Teterol's Idea,' takes for his theme
robe which does the honors for the the moral unrest caused by social class
whole village, and which is so tenderly distinctions, but carries the development
revered by Jess because it was made for of his theme to a tragic extreme. The
her own babe, “twenty years dead, but scene is laid at Mon Plaisir, near Ge-
still living for her; the family pride in neva, the villa-home of the well-to-do
Jamie, the son who has gone to London, bourgeois manufacturer, M. Merion,
in whom we may see “Gavin Ogilvy » whose wife has social ambitions of which
(Barrie's own pseudonym); and finally, the daughter Mademoiselle Marguerite is
Jamie's home-coming to find Hendry, made the innocent victim. Given in a
Jess, and Leeby gone to the long home, mariage de convenance to M. le Conte
are absolutely real. And if the reader d'Orins, she finds the unhappiness of a
laughs at the whimsicalities of the vil- union without love intensified into horror
lage folk, it is because he loves them. and dread by the suspicion that her hus-
band has been guilty of a hidden crime.
Footsteps of Fate, Noodlot, by Meanwhile the hero of the story, Joseph
Louis Marie Anne Couperus. Trans- Noirel, is the trusted overseer in the
lation from the Dutch by Clara Bell. works of M. Merion; having been grad-
This story, by one of the latest and ually promoted to this position of re-
youngest novelists of Holland, is power- sponsibility and esteem from that of the
fully told, and is of absorbing if some- starving child of disgraced parents,
what strange and morbid interest. It whom the village crier had rescued and
opens in a villa of suburban London, introduced as an apprentice in the fac-
where a wealthy and idle young Hol- tory. On Mademoiselle Marguerite's
lander is surprised in his bachelor apart- returning from her years of training in
ments by a visit at midnight of a man the convent for the aristocratic life to
in tramp's attire, who seeks shelter and which her mother had destined her,
food in the name of early friendship and Joseph is captivated by her beauty; and
companionship. «Bertie,” the name of after being thrown together by the ac-
the returned prodigal, is taken in by cident of a storm, he becomes the hope-
his large-hearted friend Frank, washed, less victim of a devouring but unre-
clothed, and fed into respectability, and quited love for her. The marriage with
introduced into the club and made his the count having taken place, Joseph be-
intimate companion and peer in society. comes aware of the crime of which the
Wearying at last of an endless round of husband is guilty, and informs Margue-
pleasure, marred at times for Frank by rite, who flees for refuge to Mon Plaisir.
certain survivals of low habits in his The count meanwhile creates the sus-
friend, they, at Bertie's suggestion, go picion that it is a guilty attachment on
off for a tour in Norway, where Frank the part of Marguerite for Joseph which
meets the young lady who will hence- has brought her there, and her parents
forth absorb his affections. Bertie see- indignantly reject her plea for their pro
ing this, and dismayed at the prospect of tection. A word from her would reveal
being again thrown upon the world, all her husband's crime and would cost his
the more unfitted for struggle after his life. Meanwhile Joseph has already re-
unstinted enjoyment of his friend's solved to end his hopeless misery by
wealth, is prompted by his fate) to taking his own life. Marguerite main-
plot for the prevention of the marriage tains her silence, obeys her husband,
of the loving couple; and the story is and leaves her father's house. She asks
occupied with the progress and results Joseph to become the instrument of her
of his evil scheme. There is in it a death before taking his own life, and
## p. 473 (#509) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
473
prodigality is amazing. ” He also says
that the author has given (a poetical
vision of the sea, which is more like
an apocalypse than the vision of a
healthy mind. ”
a
under circumstances that would imply
guilt, while yet she remains innocent, and
the savior of her husband's life and honor.
The narration of this climax of the
story's action is in the highest plane of
dramatic writing, and is a remarkable
exhibition of the author's power of re-
serve, and of his ability to suggest the
bidden reality beneath expressed unreality.
Toilers of the Sea (Les Travailleurs
de la Mer. ) (1866. ) A novel by
Victor Hugo, which possesses double in-
terest: first, in the story; secondly, in
its bold descriptions of the colossal and
secret powers of the elements. In time
it followed after the still more famous
(Les Misérables. The scene is laid in
Germany; and the book is dedicated
to the Isle of Guernsey, severe yet
gentle, my present asylum, my proba-
ble tomb. ) The heroine, Deruchette, is
the niece of Lethierry, who has invented
a steamboat, La Durande, which plies
between Guernsey and St. Malo, and
which is the wonder of the Channel
Islands. His partner, Rantaine, disap-
pears with a large sum of money, and
is succeeded as captain of La Durande
by Clubin. The latter has friends
among the smugglers, and with their
assistance finds Rantaine, who has es-
caped in the guise of a Quaker. Clubin
obtains this booty and determines to
keep it. He plans to wreck La Du-
rande the 'rocks known
as «Les
Hanois," and then to swim ashore and
escape. From this point, the story is
full of the excitement and terror of
the life of the sailor. The descriptions
of the sea, the wind, and the myster-
ies of the ocean-bed, are wonderful.
Among the most striking scenes is the
encounter of Gilliatt, the real hero of
the book, with an octopus which lurks
in a rocky cavern beneath the
Penetrating into the shadows of this
submarine crypt, whose arches are cov-
ered with seaweed and trailing moss,
Gilliatt soon finds himself in the em-
brace of the gigantic and slimy monster,
whose gleaming eyes are fixed upon
him. Of this story George Henry Lewes
said that it had «a certain daring in-
flation about it which cannot be met
elsewhere; and if the splendor is bar-
baric it is undeniably splendid. Page
after page and chapter after chapter
may be mere fireworks which blaze
and pass away; but as fireworks, the
Virgin Soil, by Ivan Turgeneff. Tur-
geneff gives in Virgin Soil?
graphic picture of the various moral and
social influences at work in the modern
Nihilistic movement in Russia. The mo-
tive of the story is deep and subtle, and
is developed with masterly skill and re-
finement. The hero Neshdanoff, a young
university student of noble but illegiti-
mate descent and in poor worldly cir-
cumstances, has his sympathies roused
for the depressed peasantry of Russia,
and with romantic ardor enters into the
secret conspiracy for their relief. In the
house of a government official where he
is engaged as tutor, he meets Marianne,
a relation of the family, who is also
secretly an enthusiast in the Nihilistic
cause, and, irresistibly drawn to her, he
elopes with her, and seeks employment
with a machinist and manufacturer, Solo-
mine. The effort to descend to the
level of the peasants, to enter into their
life and to rouse them to a united move-
ment for liberty, is met with a stolid
apathy and lack of intelligence on their
part, that dampens his ardor and makes
his effort seem to him like the merest sen-
timentalism, that can never yield any real
result. This loss of faith in himself and
in his own sincerity impels him to break
his promise of marriage with Marianne,
and, commending her to marry Solo-
mine, the machinist and manufacturer, to
take his own life in despair of finding a
sphere in the world for his genius, -
a mixture of inherited aristocracy and
purely romantic democracy. In Solomine
is depicted the real reformer, the man
without “ideals and elegant phrases,
who, in his honest dealings with those
under him and his recognition of the
true dignity of labor and of neighborly
service, is exerting the redeeming force
that can gradually introduce a new man-
hood into the laboring classes, and so
enable them to appreciate and aspire to
the practical and the heroic elements
of a true freedom. In the marriage of
Solomine and Marianne is seen the union
of reform, as distinguished from the in-
effectual idealism of an aristocracy that
lacks the practical knowledge and the
social mediation of a middle class.
on
sea.
## p. 474 (#510) ############################################
474
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Æne
Æneid, The, the golden branch on the which, like a trumpet-call, roused Savo-
ilex-tree of Latin literature, was the narola to seek the things that are above.
work of Publius Virgilius Maro, who was And this line Dante heard on the lips
born October 15th, 70 B. C. , and died Sep- of the Church Triumphant, at the open-
tember 22d, 19 B. C.
ing of the Paradise of God. ”
The poem is interwoven with pre-
neid, The, an epic by Heinrich von
Christian civilization, with mediæval and
Veldeche, a minnesinger of the
modern thought, as is no other poem of
the ancient world. It is the Bible of the
twelfth century and one of the earliest
German poets. It is distinguished for
later classical literature, as the Iliad is
the elegance of its form and the har-
of the earlier, linked by its very nature
mony of its versification. In this poem,
to the visionary Middle Ages. For in
love (die Minne) is for the first time in-
the Æneid, conflict has become spiritual.
troduced as a theme. The story follows
ized; and the warrior Æneas bears al-
the same line as Virgil's until the hero
ways about him the remoteness of the
comes to Latium. There it pauses to de-
priest, or of one mindful ever of the place
of souls. It is the detachment of the
pict the love of Lavinia for Æneas, and
this is its most original and successful por-
hero from the passion of love, from the
tion. Æneas marries Lavinia, becomes
passion of war, which made him appeal
so powerfully to the mediæval mind, pre-
king, and builds Alba. Gawain Douglas
translated the Æneid into the Scottish
occupied with the Unseen. Only the
dialect in 1513. This vigorous adaptation
creator of Æneas could be Dante's guide
probably suggested to the Earl of Surrey
among the shades. Of him Tennyson
the idea of turning the second and fourth
writes:-
books into blank verse, the earliest exam-
"Light among the vanished ages; star that gild-
ple of blank verse in the language. Dou-
est yet this phantom shore ;
Golden branch among the shadows, kings and
glas takes some strange liberties with his
realms that set to rise no more. ”
author. He changes the sibyl into a nun,
and makes her admonish Æneas to be
The Æneid is in twelve books: the
first six in imitation of the Odyssey; the
sure to say his prayers and tell his beads.
The English translations are numerous;
last six, of the Iliad. The Trojan hero
is led to Italy, where he is to be the
Dryden's, Conington's, and notably Sir
Charles Bowen's, being perhaps the best.
father of a race and of an empire su-
That of William Morris is much admired
preme among nations. On his way thither
also, and in America the versions of C. P.
he tarries at Carthage, whose queen,
Cranch and of Prof. Geo, H. Palmer are
Dido, loves him as with the first love
of a virgin. To her he tells the story of
examples of good scholarship and good
taste. The epic has been often travestied.
Troy. For love of him she slays herself
The first travesty, entitled Eneide de
when the gods lead him from her shores.
Arrived in Italy he seeks the underworld,
Virgilio Travestida,' appeared at Rome in
1633. It was very popular among the friv.
under the protection of the Sibyl of Cu-
olous; but scholars, to whom everything
mæ. He emerges thence to overcome
his enemies. The Æneid was not per-
written by the Mantuan was sacred, were
scandalized. The Eneide Travestie) of
fected at the time of Virgil's death, and
Scarron is a French classic.
his friends Varius and Tucca edited it
at the request of the emperor Augustus,
Angel in the House, The, Coventry
It has since become the heritage of the Patmore's most noted poem, was pub-
world.
lished in four parts between 1854 and
“On this line the poet's own voice fal- 1862. (The Betrothal' appeared in 1854,
tered as he read. At this Augustus and (The Espousals) in 1856, Faithful For-
Octavia melted into passionate weeping. ever) in 1860, and "The Victories of
Here is the verse which Augustine quotes Love) in 1863. The entire poem is idyl-
as typical, in its majestic rhythm, of all lic in form. It is a glorification of do-
the pathos and the glory of pagan art mestic life, of love sheltered in the home,
from which the Christian was bound to and guarded by the gentle and tender
fee. This is the couplet which Fénelon wife.
464
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
man.
on
several titles are: Essays in Literary the human spirit than in all the histori-
Interpretation,' Essays on Nature and cal works that have been written; for the
Culture,' (Short Studies in Literature,' real history of man on this earth is not
Books and Culture,' My Study Fire) the record of the deeds he has done
(2 vols. ), and "L'nder the Trees and with his hands, the journeys he has
Elsewhere. They all express the views made with his feet; . . but the rec-
of a book-man on man and his surround- ord of his thoughts, feelings, inspirations,
ings; but of a book-man who has studied aspirations, and experience. This, on the
man no less than books, and has stud- conditions of a broad mental and moral
ied books rather as a means than an development of the individual, draws
end -as giving insight into the soul of the essential line of distinction between
Great books are for him not feats the man of culture and the Philistine:
of intellect, but the result of the contact To secure the most complete develop-
of mind and heart with the great and ment one must live in one's time and
terrible facts of life: they originate not yet live above it, and one must live in
in the individual mind but in the soil of one's home and yet live in the world.
common human hopes, loves, fears, as- The life which is bounded in knowledge,
pirations, sufferings. Shakespeare did interest, and activity by the invisible but
not invent Hamlet, he found him in hu- real and limiting walls of a small com-
man histories already acted out to the munity is often definite in aim, effective
tragic end; Goethe did not create Faust, in action, and upright in intention; but
he summoned him out of the dim me- it cannot be rich, varied, generous, and
diæval world and confronted him with stimulating The life, the other
the problems of life as it is now. There hand, which is entirely detached from
are in these Essays) innumerable epi- local associations and tasks is often in-
grammatic passages easily detachable teresting, liberalizing, and catholic in
from the context; a few of these will spirit; but it cannot be original or pro-
serve to illustrate the author's points of ductive. A sound life – balanced, poised,
view. Writing of Personality in Liter- and intelligently directed — must stand
ary Work,' he says that there is no such strongly in both local and universal re-
thing as a universal literature in the lations; it must have the vitality and
sense which involves complete escape warmth of the first, and the breadth and
from the water-marks of place and time: range of the second.
no man can study or interpret life save
from the point of view where he finds
Lºv
oves of the Triangles, The, by
himself; no truth gets into human keep- George Canning. In 1797 George
ing by any other path than the individ- Canning, then Under-Secretary of State
ual soul, nor into human speech by any for Foreign Affairs, planned in conjunc-
other medium than the individual mind. ton with George Ellis, John Hookham
In another essay occurs this fine remark Frere, and others, the Anti-Jacobin, a
on wit: Wit reveals itself in sudden political paper edited in the interests of
flashes, not in continuous glow and il- the Tory party.
lumination; it is distilled in sentences; Satire and parody were the vehicles
it is preserved in figures, illustrations, by which editors and contributors tried
epigrams, epithets, phrases. Then fol- to effect their end; and among the va-
lows a comparison of wits and humor- rious articles and poems, none were wit-
ists: the wits entertain and dazzle us, tier than those written by Canning,
the humorists al lif
to us.
Aris- then barely twenty-seven. One object of
tophanes, Cervantes, Molière, and Shakes- these contributions was to cast ridicule
peare - the typical humorists—are among on the undue sentimentality of various
the greatest contributors to the capital literary men of the day, in their alleged
of human achievement; they give us not false sympathy with the revolutionary
glimpses but views of life. In the essay, spirit in France
(The Art of Arts) - i. e. , the art of liv- (The Loves of the Triangles) was
ing — is this remark on the Old Testa- presented as the work of a quasi-con-
ment writings: Whatever view one may tributor, Mr. Higgins, who says that
take of the authority of those books, it he is persuaded that there is no sci-
is certain that in the noble literature ence, however abstruse, nay, no trade
which goes under that title there is a nor manufacture, which may not be
deeper, clearer, and fuller disclosure of taught by a didactic poem.
And
## p. 465 (#501) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
465
though the more rigid and unbending | charity or fellow-feeling: not only is man
stiffness of a mathematical subject does enjoined to show kindliness to fellow-
not admit of the same appeals to the men, but to all animals as well. The
warmer passions which naturally arise people practice what their scriptures
out of the sexual system of Linnæus, teach; and the effect indirectly on the
he hopes that his poem will ornament condition of the brutes is almost as
and enlighten the arid truths of Euclid marked as its more direct effect on the
and algebra, and will strew the Asses' character of mankind.
Bridge with flowers.
This is of course a satire on the Bo- Timb
imbuctoo the Mysterious, by Felix
Dubois. Translated from the French
tanic Garden of Dr. Darwin, to whom
by Diana White. The story of a long
indeed the parody, (The Loves of the
journey inland in French Africa: from
Triangles,' is dedicated. Only about
Dakar, the port of Senegal, by rail above
three hundred verses in rhymed iam-
170 miles to St. Louis, the capital of
bics were published of this poem, form-
Senegal; thence by river steamer on the
ing one canto; yet argument, notes,
Senegal eight days to Kayes, the capital
as well as the body of the poem itself,
of French Sudan; then by rail part of the
are the perfection of parody, and in
the midst of it all are several lines
way, and by caravan ine remainder, to
the Niger at Bammaku; and, last of
assailing Jacobins.
all, on the vast sea-like breadth of the
A portion of the invocation may serve
Niger to Timbuctoo. The story of French
as a specimen of the style: –
occupation; of improvements recently
" But chief, thou nurse of the didactic Muse,
made; of the great river and the country
Divine Nonsensia, all thy sense infuse:
The charms of secants and of tangents tell,
through which it flows; and of the re-
How loves and graces in an angle dwell;
markable city, once a great seat of Mus-
How slow progressive points protract the line, sulman culture, and in French hands
As pendent spiders spin the filmy twine.
How lengthened lines, impetuous sweeping
not unlikely to become a centre of Euro-
round,
pean civilization and science in the
Spread the wide plane and mark its circling heart of Africa,- is one to reward the
bound;
reader, and one also to form a valuable
How planes, their substance with their motion
grown,
chapter in the history of European con-
Form the huge cube, the cylinder, the cone. ” version of the Dark Continent into a
land of light and of progress. A special
The Soul of the Far East, by Perci- interest in the book is the discovery in
val Lowell. The Far East whose
Soul is the subject-matter of this sym-
Jenne and Timbuctoo of ancient Egyp-
tian architecture, leading to the belief
pathetic study is principally Japan, but
that the ancient empire of Sangird was
China and Korea are considered also.
Among the traits of character and the
founded by emigrants from the Nile.
peculiarities of usages distinguishing all Tron and its Remains, by Dr. Hein-
author classes rich ) A
the far less pronounced individualism of offered to the reader as (A Narrative of
those races, as compared with Westerns: Researches and Discoveries made on the
Peoples, he says, grow steadily more in- Site of Ilium and in the Trojan Plain. )
dividual as we go westward. In the Far It is a graphic story of most remarkable
East the social unit is not the individual discoveries iš the spot which tradition,
but the family: among the Easterns a from the earliest historic age of Greece,
normally constituted son knows not what has marked as the site of Homer's Ilium.
it is to possess a spontaneity of his own. Through ruins piled to the height of
A Chinese son cannot properly be said fifty feet Schliemann dug down to the
to own anything. This state of things fire-scattered relics of Troy, and brought
is curiously reflected in the language of to light thousands of objects illustrating
Japan, which has no personal pronouns: the race, language, and religion of her
cannot say in Japanese, I, Thou, inhabitants, their wealth and civilization,
He. The Japanese are born artists: to their instruments and appliances for
call a Japanese cook an artist is to state peaceful life and for war. The discov-
a simple fact, for Japanese food is beau- eries at the same time throw a new
tiful, though it may not be agreeable to light upon the origins of the famous
the taste. Half of the teachings of the Greeks of history, and open somewhat
Buddhist religion are inculcations of the not before known history of the
one
XXX-30
## p. 466 (#502) ############################################
466
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
primitive Greeks of Asia. The wealth characters, and the main course of
of detail in the narrative, with the events, together with their causes and
map, plans, views, and illustrative cuts, consequences. The three principal stages
representing 500 objects discovered on separately noted are that of the antiqui-
the site, give the work an extraordi- ties; that of the marvelously rich "dra-
narily readable character.
matic” period, crowded with the great
figures of the best age of Rome; and
Pheidias, Essays on the Art of, by
that of the dissolution of ancient SO-
Charles Waldstein. (1885. ) A vol-
ciety and the changes wrought by the
ume of great importance, consisting of
nine essays, of which the first and second
influence of Christianity. It is this third
stage which Dr. Merivale considers of
are introductory; one on the province,
most vital interest, and his treatment of
aim, and methods of the study of classi-
cal archæology, and the other on the
which gives to his work an exceptional
value.
spirit of the art of Pheidias, in its rela-
tion to his age, life, and character. These
In his earlier and larger work, A
History of the Romans under the Em-
two essays aim to bring into view the
nature and causes of Greek genius for
pire) (8 vols. , 1865), Dr. Merivale ex-
art, and the character of the art of the
actly filled, with a work of the highest
authority and value, the gap between
greatest of Greek sculptors, who ranks
in the art of Greece as Æschylus does
Mommsen and Gibbon, 60 B. C. -180 A. D.
in its drama. The five essays which
follow deal with the sculptures of the Pagan and Christian Rome, by Ru-
Parthenon in the order of time of their
dolfo Lanciani. (1893. ) A most
richly illustrated account of the changes
production, and of the growth of the
at Rome, by which it was gradually
artist's own development. Of the two
remaining essays, the first deals with the
transformed from a pagan to a Christ-
ian city. Discoveries
gold and ivory statues; the Athene of
recently made
the Parthenon, over forty feet in height,
show that Christian teaching reached
and the incarnation in ivory and gold
the higher classes at a very early date,
of overpowering majesty, and spiritual
and even penetrated to the palace of
the Cæsars.
beauty; and the Zeus at Olympia, a
Long before the time at
seated or throned figure, forty-two feet
which Rome is supposed to have fa-
in height, a marvel of construction and
vored Christianity, there had been built
decoration, and beyond all comparison
churches side by side with the temples
of the old faith. Tombs also bear the
impressive, to give the idea of the King
of the gods.
same testimony to gains made by Christ-
ianity in important quarters. Great
The last essay considers the influence
of the work of Pheidias upon the Attic
names in the annals of the empire are
sculpture of the period immediately suc-
found to be those of members of the
Christian body. The change in fact
ceeding the age of Pericles. The sculpt-
ure of Pheidias was that of idealism,
which was brought to maturity under
divine and religious sculpture, serving to
Constantine was not a sudden and un-
portray forms worthy of indwelling di-
expected event. It was not a revolu-
vinity Dr. Waldstein's discussion not
tion. It had been a foregone conclusion
only brings out the fact that Pheidias
for several generations, the natural re-
was the greatest creator of ideals or
sult of progress during nearly three
centuries.
creative thinker of the Greek race, - the
had come to be understood
Greek Shakespeare, one might say, - but
before the official recognition of it by
it touches as well upon Greek art gen-
Constantine. A great deal that was a
continuance of things pagan in appear-
erally; and with a view to this wider
ance had in fact received Christian recog-
study some important papers are added
nition and been turned to Christian use.
in an appendix.
Institutions and customs which still ex-
Rome
me, A General History of, from ist originated under the old faith, and
the foundation of the City to the were brought into the service of the
fall of Augustulus, 753 B. C. -476 A. D. ,
Far more than has been sup-
by Charles Merivale. (1875. ) A work posed, the change was due to tolerance
specially designed for the general reader between pagans and Christians. By
seeking to be informed of the most comparing pagan shrines and temples
noted incidents, the most remarkable with Christian churches, imperial tombs
new
## p. 467 (#503) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
467
to
a
with papal tombs, and pagan ceme- of the buildings of St. Barlaam. To
teries with Christian, Lanciani at once reach them the traveler was forced to
discloses the wealth of art created in climb some rickety ladders over a tre-
Rome, and
proves
that pagan
and mendously steep declivity, because he
Christian were allied in its creation. disliked the other mode of reaching the
top,— being drawn up 230 feet in a net
Visits to the Monasteries of che attached
mended, weather-worn
Levant, by Hon. Robert Curzon, rope. Subsequently he visited Hagios
was published in 1851. Beginning in Stephanos, Agio Triada, Hagia Roserea,
1833, the author's travels covered a pe- and finally the great monastery of Me-
riod of four years, in which time he teora.
visited many curious old monasteries, Part iv. gives the trip from Constanti-
and secured a number of rare and val- nople to Mt. Athos; up the Sea of
uable manuscripts. He gives his im- Marmora, through the Archipelago to
pressions of the countries through which Lemnos; thence to Mt. Athos and the
he wandered, and devotes some space to monastery of St. Laura, full of rare old
the manners and customs of the people paintings. The other monastic houses
in each, brightening his narrative by of the neighborhood, from Vatopede to
occasional anecdotes and noteworthy Caracalla, were also visited; and Mr.
facts gleaned by the way.
Curzon returned to Constantinople, hav-
The volume is divided into four parts. ing purchased a number of valuable
Part i. deals with Egypt, where Mr. manuscripts, including an Evangelista-
Curzon visited the famous Coptic mon- rium in gold letters, on white vellum, of
asteries near the Natron Lakes. These, which sort there is but one other known
he tells us, were founded by St. Maca- to exist.
rius of Alexandria, one of the earliest of
Christian ascetics. The members of Superstition and Force, by H. C.
the Coptic orders still dwell in the old
Lea. (1866. ) A volume of elaborate,
houses, situated amid fertile gardens on
learned, and very interesting essays on
certain subjects of special importance
the crowns of almost inaccessible preci-
in the history of the Middle Ages.
pices. The ruined monastery of Thebes,
the White Monastery, and the Island of
They are: “The Wager of Battle,) (The
Wager of Law,' 'The Ordeal,' and
Philæ, the burial-place of Osiris, were
(Torture. ) The writer treats of them
also visited.
as Methods of Administering Injust-
Part ii. describes the visit to Jeru-
ice); and his account is not only much
salem and the Monastery of St. Saba.
the best anywhere existing, but it makes
This house was named for the founder
of the «Laura," the monastic rule which
a very readable book.
Charles Kingsley uses han furshofexcellent Voingen and Travhile faro SirboJephen
tia. )
the opening Hypa- Mandeville. famous book of
The Laura” still exists where travels was published in French some
the rocky clefts and desert wastes of time between 1357 and 1371.
It was
Asia and Africa offer suitable retreats originally written in English, then trans-
for the ascetic monks.
lated into Latin, then retranslated into
Mr. Curzon devotes some time to the English, that every man of his nation
Jews of Jerusalem, - enough to show might read it. It is said that the author
their prevailing characteristics; and he claimed to be an English knight, living
also notes the interesting fact of his abroad because of a murder committed
rediscovery of the "Apple of Sodom, by him; but little or nothing is known
long supposed to be a creation of fictitious of him. It is thought that it may have
character. It is, he says, a juicy-looking, been written under a feigned name, by
plum-like fruit, which proves to be a Jehan de Burgoigne, a physician of
gall-nut filled with dry, choking dust. Liege. A few interpolated words in an
Part iii. opens with the writer's im- English edition gained for Mandeville
pressions of Corfu and his visit to the credit of being the father of Eng-
Albania, whence he leaves for Meteora, lish prose"); but it is evident from
a grassy plain surrounded by tall peaks mistakes in translation that the English
of rock, where, in apertures like pigeon- version, said to have been made by
holes, the monks have had their dwell- Mandeville, was made by some one who
ings. On top of the rocks are left some did not know the author's meaning.
## p. 468 (#504) ############################################
468
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
The author claims to have traveled for 150,000 francs, which he caused to be
thirty years in Palestine, Egypt, China, invested, principal and interest to be
and other countries; but it is thought divided among such of his heirs as
that if he traveled at all, it was not far- should present themselves at a certain
ther than Palestine, as the other matter rendezvous in Paris, after the lapse of a
is evidently taken from the works of century and a half. Then comes an in-
other travelers. There are some marvel- tensely dramatic description of the es-
ous tales, and it is from this fact that pionage to which the heirs have been
the book is chiefly interesting. He subjected, and the successful machina-
speaks of giants «sixty feet long, a tions of the Jesuits in order to obtain
griffin capable of flying away with a this money. While they succeed by the
yoke of oxen in its talons. There are most reckless acts of persecution and
men with animal's heads, others with no violence in preventing six of the seven
heads, but with eyes and mouth in the heirs from presenting themselves to
breast, others with such large upper lips claim the vastly increased inheritance,
that they cover their whole face from they produce the seventh heir, Gabriel
the sun when they sleep. There are Rennepont - a virtuous young Jesuit
trees bearing wool; and there is a fruit priest, who has already made over his
like a gourd, which when ripe contains worldly goods to his order — to claim
(a beste with flesch and blude and bane, the inheritance. A codicil to the will,
and it is lyke to a lytill lambe with- found in a mysterious manner, postpones
outen wolle. ” He visited the Garden of the day for delivering over the funds,
Transmigrated Souls, drank from the and temporarily defeats these designs.
Fountain of Youth, and located Para- But now, by adopting utterly conscience-
dise; though he says, “Off Paradys can less means, the heads of the Society of
I not speke properly, for I hafe not bene Jesus lead on the six heirs to their
thare; bot als mykill as I hafe herd of deaths before the arrival of the day
wyse men of thase cuntreez, I will tell which has been finally set for the parti-
yow. This book, because of the quaint- tion of the millions. In the end, how-
ness of the English version, and of the ever, by an unforeseen catastrophe, the
subject-matter, will always be read with purposes of the Order are foiled. Ro-
delight; but the claim that Mandeville din, a remarkable character, a little,
is the father of English prose is wholly cadaverous priest of marvelous energy
untenable.
and shrewdness, engineers the cause of
the Jesuits; and by his diplomacy not
Wandering Jew, The, by Eugene alone lures the heirs to their ruin, but
Sue. (1845. ) This curious rambling himself reaches the coveted post of Gen-
episodic romance is written from eral of the Order, though judgment
extreme Protestant point of view, and finally overtakes him also. The story is
introduces the character of Ahasuerus, very diffuse, and the episodes have only
who, according to legend, was a shoe- the slightest relation to each other. It
maker in Jerusalem. The Savior, bear- is melodramatic in the extreme, and the
ing his cross past the house of the arti- style is often bombastic, while the per-
san, asks to be allowed to rest an instant sonages have little resemblance to hu-
on the stone bench at his door.
« Go
man beings in human conditions. But
on! ” replies Ahasuerus. « Thou shalt go when all abatement is made, (The Wan-
on till the end of time, answers the dering Jew) remains one of the famous
Savior - and the Wandering Jew books of the world, for its vigor, its illus-
may never find home, or rest, or even ion, its endless interest of plot and
pause. The scene of this romance is counterplot, and its atmosphere of ro-
laid chiefly in Paris, in 1832. One
hundred and fifty years prior to this
date, Count Rennepont, a descendant of Seraphy by Leopold Sacher-Masoch.
the sister of the Wandering Jew, who is This delightful story by the great
also condemned to wander, professed German novelist, who has been called
conversion to the Catholic faith in order the Galician Turgeneff, was translated
to save his property from confiscation. into English in 1893. As a frame for a
His ruse was discovered, however, and charming tale, the author gives a vivid
the whole estate given to the Jesuits. description of Hungarian life and cus-
But Rennepont succeeded in secreting toms.
We are
introduced to Seraph
an
>>
so
mance.
## p. 469 (#505) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
469
ran
now
Temkin, as he is about to shoot at a
Zincali, The, by George Borrow. This
card held in his mother's hand. She account of the gipsies of Spain ap-
tells him she has educated him with one peared in England in 1842, and quickly
object in view, the revenge of a wrong through three editions. Borrow
done her by a man whose name she evinced in early life a roving disposition
gives — Emilian Theodorowitsch. and linguistic ability. In 1835, at the age
Seraph journeys to the Castle Honoriec, of thirty-two, he undertook to act as the
and gives his name and his mother's to agent of the British and Foreign Bible
Emilian. To his surprise, Emilian says Society in Spain, and accomplished his
he has never heard of Madame Temkin, perilous mission with the devotion of
but insists on Seraph accepting his hos- an apostle and the audacity of a stage
pitality. He remains, and learns from brigand. He was all things to all men,
everybody of the tenderness, generosity, especially to gipsies; and in "The Bible
and nobility of his host. Emilian tells in Spain,' his first book, he relates his
Seraph the story of his life. He had amusing and interesting adventures.
married a woman accustomed to com- (The Zincali) grew out of this journey,
mand and be obeyed. An estrangement and deals with the gipsies alone. The
sprang up between them, and when a charm of the book, which is full of an-
son was born, a handsome nurse came ecdote, lies in its graphic fidelity. The
into the house. His wife became jealous, Spanish gipsy, as described by Mr.
but persisted in keeping the nurse. One Borrow, differs in many respects from
night the nurse began to coquet with the gipsy of romance. His hardihood
Emilian. He upbraided her, whereupon and wretched mode of life ; his virtues,
she fell at his feet and began to weep. his faults; his devotion to family and
He raised her up, and his wife, entering, kindred; and his inveterate dishonesty,
found the nurse in his arms. Taking are faithfully portrayed. The very same
the child, she escaped, and he had never gipsy woman, who, being waylaid and
been able to find a trace of her. An- robbed, is heroic and unconquerable in
other charm of the castle for Seraph is defense of her own virtue, and, stripped
Magdalina, Emilian's adopted daughter, of her property,
makes
her weary
with whom Seraph is in love. Running journey 200 miles on foot with her poor
after her one day, she fees into the children, is absolutely vile in leading
chapel. He finds her hiding in the con-
others into infamy to recoup her
fessional, and kneeling down at the finances. A chapter on gipsies in va-
wicket, he tells her of his love. He is rious lands depicts the universal gipsy,
interrupted by his mother in disguise, the product of the mysterious East. Mr.
who upbraids him for his delay; and Borrow gives many illustrations of his
when he asks her what relationship ex- popularity with the gipsies; one at Nov-
isted between her and Emilian, she gorod, where one sentence spoken by
answers «none, and escapes.
Magda- him in Romany brings out a joyful
lina tells him this woman reminds her colony of gipsies in song and loving
of a portrait in an abandoned part of greeting. His love of adventure, of un-
the castle. She leads him there, and conventional human life, and of phil-
he is struck with the familiarity of the ology, went hand in hand and reinforced
He rushes to a clock, pulls a each other.
string, and hears an old familiar tune;
and in the next room finds his mother's ivilization, An Introduction to the
portrait. He thinks of but one way in History of, in England and France,
which his mother could have been Spain, and Scotland, by Henry Thomas
wronged, in spite of Emilian's very sug- Buckle, appeared, the first volume in
gestive story; and going down stairs he 1857, the second in 1861. The book, in
insults Emilian and challenges him to a the light of the author's original plan,
duel, in which Seraph is shot. When he is a Titanic fragment. In itself con-
recovers from his swoon, he finds him- sidered, it is complete, perfect; since the
self again at the castle with Magdalina principle underlying the proposed vast
watching over him. He sends for Emil- scheme is clearly set forth, and illus-
ian, and tells him of the portrait; and trated in the general introduction.
the father clasps his long-lost son in This principle of Magnificent Propor-
his arms. The reconciliation of the hus- tions, as understood and treated by
band and wife ends the story.
Buckle, is that there are laws governing
scenes.
Civi
## p. 470 (#506) ############################################
470
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
the
the progress of nations, and of national story himself, in the form of a journal
civilization, as fixed and inevitable as His relatives wish him to marry a beau-
the laws of the physical universe. He tiful young cousin, Aniela, who loves
endeavored to find bases for the leter- him with a whole-souled affection. Be.
mination of these laws, as the first step ing sure of her love, he is disposed to
in the science of history. The most im- delay his marriage, that he may have
portant of his propositions are that cli- time to analyze his emotions in regard
mate, soil, and food influence the char- to her. While absent in Rome, he
acter of nations; that in Europe mental drifts into an unworthy passion for a
laws are gradually predominating over married woman, a Mrs. Davis; yet, so
physical laws; that human progress is peculiar is his temperament, the thought
due rather to intellectual activity than of Aniela is rarely absent from him. In
to the development of the moral sense; the sultry air of passion, he longs for
that individual effort counts for little in the freshness and fragrance of her
the great onward movements of the race; purity. But even the knowledge that
that religion, wit, literature, are she is soon to be out of his reach does
products and not the causes of civiliza- not steady his nobler purposes. The
tion. In his first volume, after setting fortunes of her family being now at a
forth these propositions Buckle gives to low ebb, Aniela is forced into marriage
them concrete application in the con- with a rich Austrian, Kromitzki, a com-
sideration of English and French his- monplace man incapable of appreciating
tory. In the second volume, he again her fine nature. So soon as she is thus
applies them to the cases of Spain and out of reach, Leon, whose moral nature
Scotland. Although the
progress of goes by contraries, becomes passionately
science has uncovered facts that prove in love with her, and tries with subtle
the weakness of an occasional principle art to make her untrue to her husband;
in the History of Civilization, the work but dear as Leon is to her, Aniela re-
remains one of the greatest popular con- mains faithful to her marriage vows.
tributions of modern times to the new Unlike Leon, she is not (without
aspect of history, as a human document, dogma. ” She clings to her simple belief
to be read by the light of scientific dis- in what is right throughout the long
covery. Its publishing success was sec- struggle. Her delicate organism cannot
ond only to Macaulay's (England. No stand the strain of her spiritual suffer-
book of its time was more influential in ings. The death of her husband is soon
turning the direction of men's thoughts followed by her own death. In her last
to the phenomena of social and political hours she tells Leon, as a little child
science. Its value in deed lay largely might tell him, that she loves him
in its immense field of suggestion. It
“ very, very much. ” The last entry in
opened the way for centuries of scholar-
his journal implies that he will follow
ship in a new field.
her, that they may be one in oblivion,
or in another life to come. The journal
Without Dogma, a novel of modern of Leon Ploskowski reveals the wonder-
Polish high life, by Henryk Sien- ful insight of Sienkiewicz into a certain
kiewicz, was published in an English type of modern character.
The psycho-
translation in 1893. Unlike his histori- logical value of the book is pre-eminent,
cal novels, this book has few characters. presenting as it does a personality
It is the history of a spiritual struggle, essentially the product of nineteenth-
of the battle of a man for his own century conditions, - a personality upon
soul. »
Leon Ploskowski, the hero, which hyper-cultivation has acted as a
young, wealthy, and well-born, is of so subtle poison.
overwrought a temperament that he is
depressed by the, very act of living:
Sin of Joost Avelingh, The, by “Maar-
«Here is a nature so sensitive that it ten Maartens. ). (1890. ) This writer's
photographs every impression, an artistic real name is J. M. W. Van der Poorten
temperament, a highly endowed organ- Schwartz. Although he is a Dutchman,
ism; yet it produces nothing. The se- his stories are all written in English,
cret of this unproductiveness lies per- and afterwards translated into Dutch
haps in a certain tendency to philoso-
for home use. The scene of this is Hol-
phize away every strong emotion that land. Joost is an orphan, shy, morbid,
should lead to action. ) Leon tells his and misunderstood. His uncle, with
## p. 471 (#507) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
471
on
((
whom he lives, forces him to study medi- | New Fiction, The, by Professor H. D.
cine, which he hates, and forbids him to Traill, (1897,) is a collection of a
marry Agatha van Hessel. As Joost is dozen essays on literary matters, ranging
driving him to the notary to change his from Newspaper English) to the trials
will, he dies of apoplexy. Joost inherits of publishers, and including criticisms
his money and marries Agatha. Ten authors from Lucian to Stephen
years later, Arthur van Aeveld, the next Crane. The title essay considers Ste-
heir, meets the servant who sat behind phen Crane and Arthur Morrison as the
the carriage on the night of the Baron's two apostles of modern «realism, as
death, and persuades him to swear that this sees fit to deal with low life; and
Joost murdered his uncle. At the last accuses them of betraying their own
moment, he confesses his perjury. Joost aim, and being guilty of a wild romanti-
is acquitted, and made a member of the cism, in depicting their slums in impossi-
States General. He declares that though bly lurid colors, and life in them as an
not actually a murderer, he is guilty, in unvarying brutality and horror, irrecon-
that he hated his uncle, did nothing to cilable with human nature. (The Po-
help him in his extremity, and drove litical Novel begins with Disraeli, and
straight on in spite of the old man's ends with Mrs. Humphry Ward, of
appeal to him to stop. With his wife's whose work a very discriminating esti-
concurrence, he gives up his money and mate suggests that a lack of humor
political position, becomes clerk to a accounts for the fact that where her
notary, and is happy on a small salary. great capacity and fine art have done so
much, they have not done more. (The
Yesterday, To-day, and Forever. A Novel of Manners,' which began with
poem in twelve books. By Edward the crude performances of Miss Bur-
Henry Bickersteth. (1866. ) A work in ney, and came to its flower in Miss
blank verse, 10,750 lines in length, de- Austen's delicately perfect work, has a
voted to imaginative journeyings after paper to itself. Other essays treat (Mat.
death in Hades, Paradise, and Hell, thew Arnold, Richardson's Novels,'
with a review of creation, the Fall, Pascal's Provincial Letters,' the witty
the empire of darkness, redemption, the (Plays of Lucian,' and (The Future of
war against Satan, the victory over Humor,' in which the author wonders
Satan, the millennial Sabbath, the Last whether the world is growing so serious-
Judgment, and heaven's many mansions. minded that humor will die out, as some
The author, who was made bishop of fine growth disappears from an inhos-
Exeter in 1885, has been in his genera- pitable soil. Professor Traill's work
tion, as his father was in the previous shows perfect fairness, a nice discrimina-
generation, a chief representative in tion, a sympathetic consciousness of an
the Church of England of profoundly author's purpose, and a neat craftsman-
Evangelical, anti-Romanist, and anti- ship. His attitude is always that of de-
liberal, pietism and teaching,-a very tachment, and the pleasure he gives his
emotional and earnest pietism and in- reader seems to be entirely impersonal.
tensely orthodox Low Church teaching. A book so sound and balanced is inter-
The Christian Psalmody, compiled by esting and helpful.
the father in 1832, which went through
seven most
A.
-
Barrie (1889), is a continuation of
school in the Church. The Hymnal
the Auld Licht) series. Its scenes are
Companion, prepared by the son (final confined mainly to the interior of the
revised and enlarged edition, 1876), is little Scotch cot in "Thrums » where
in use in thousands of churches in Eng- lived Hendry and Jess McQumpha, and
land and the colonies. It was to im- their daughter Leeby. In Mr. Barrie's
pressively invoke divine and
eternal
later work, Margaret Ogilvy,' an affec-
auspices for the doctrines and pietism of tionate and artistic picture of his mother,
the Evangelical party, and to feed Ev- we discern that in Jess and Leeby his
angelical faith and enthusiasm, that the mother and sister sat for the portraits.
younger Bickersteth, with Dante and Jess is a quaint figure. A chronic inva-
Milton in view, essayed his ambitious lid, yet throbbing with interest in every-
task, and executed it with very fair suc- body and everything, she sits at the
cess, at least as to teaching and emotion. window of her cottage, and keeps up
popular hymn book of the Evangeliest Window in Thrums, a, by James M.
## p. 472 (#508) ############################################
472
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
with Leeby a running fire of terse and strong savor of Ibsen and of the Karma
often cutting comment upon village hap-cult, a subtle portrayal of character and
penings, and thus holds herself in touch much fine interpretation of nature. The
with the life and gossip which she knows author was already favorably known
only through the window. Barrie's sym- through his longer novel Eline Vere. )
pathetic ability to see how inseparable
are humor and pathos makes his char-
The Revenge of Joseph Noirel, by
acters living and human. Tammas Hag- Victor Cherbuliez. A lively and
gart, the humorist, at much pains to skillful character sketch by this master
understand and dispense the philosophy of literary portraiture; who here, as in
of his own humor; the little christening Jean Teterol's Idea,' takes for his theme
robe which does the honors for the the moral unrest caused by social class
whole village, and which is so tenderly distinctions, but carries the development
revered by Jess because it was made for of his theme to a tragic extreme. The
her own babe, “twenty years dead, but scene is laid at Mon Plaisir, near Ge-
still living for her; the family pride in neva, the villa-home of the well-to-do
Jamie, the son who has gone to London, bourgeois manufacturer, M. Merion,
in whom we may see “Gavin Ogilvy » whose wife has social ambitions of which
(Barrie's own pseudonym); and finally, the daughter Mademoiselle Marguerite is
Jamie's home-coming to find Hendry, made the innocent victim. Given in a
Jess, and Leeby gone to the long home, mariage de convenance to M. le Conte
are absolutely real. And if the reader d'Orins, she finds the unhappiness of a
laughs at the whimsicalities of the vil- union without love intensified into horror
lage folk, it is because he loves them. and dread by the suspicion that her hus-
band has been guilty of a hidden crime.
Footsteps of Fate, Noodlot, by Meanwhile the hero of the story, Joseph
Louis Marie Anne Couperus. Trans- Noirel, is the trusted overseer in the
lation from the Dutch by Clara Bell. works of M. Merion; having been grad-
This story, by one of the latest and ually promoted to this position of re-
youngest novelists of Holland, is power- sponsibility and esteem from that of the
fully told, and is of absorbing if some- starving child of disgraced parents,
what strange and morbid interest. It whom the village crier had rescued and
opens in a villa of suburban London, introduced as an apprentice in the fac-
where a wealthy and idle young Hol- tory. On Mademoiselle Marguerite's
lander is surprised in his bachelor apart- returning from her years of training in
ments by a visit at midnight of a man the convent for the aristocratic life to
in tramp's attire, who seeks shelter and which her mother had destined her,
food in the name of early friendship and Joseph is captivated by her beauty; and
companionship. «Bertie,” the name of after being thrown together by the ac-
the returned prodigal, is taken in by cident of a storm, he becomes the hope-
his large-hearted friend Frank, washed, less victim of a devouring but unre-
clothed, and fed into respectability, and quited love for her. The marriage with
introduced into the club and made his the count having taken place, Joseph be-
intimate companion and peer in society. comes aware of the crime of which the
Wearying at last of an endless round of husband is guilty, and informs Margue-
pleasure, marred at times for Frank by rite, who flees for refuge to Mon Plaisir.
certain survivals of low habits in his The count meanwhile creates the sus-
friend, they, at Bertie's suggestion, go picion that it is a guilty attachment on
off for a tour in Norway, where Frank the part of Marguerite for Joseph which
meets the young lady who will hence- has brought her there, and her parents
forth absorb his affections. Bertie see- indignantly reject her plea for their pro
ing this, and dismayed at the prospect of tection. A word from her would reveal
being again thrown upon the world, all her husband's crime and would cost his
the more unfitted for struggle after his life. Meanwhile Joseph has already re-
unstinted enjoyment of his friend's solved to end his hopeless misery by
wealth, is prompted by his fate) to taking his own life. Marguerite main-
plot for the prevention of the marriage tains her silence, obeys her husband,
of the loving couple; and the story is and leaves her father's house. She asks
occupied with the progress and results Joseph to become the instrument of her
of his evil scheme. There is in it a death before taking his own life, and
## p. 473 (#509) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
473
prodigality is amazing. ” He also says
that the author has given (a poetical
vision of the sea, which is more like
an apocalypse than the vision of a
healthy mind. ”
a
under circumstances that would imply
guilt, while yet she remains innocent, and
the savior of her husband's life and honor.
The narration of this climax of the
story's action is in the highest plane of
dramatic writing, and is a remarkable
exhibition of the author's power of re-
serve, and of his ability to suggest the
bidden reality beneath expressed unreality.
Toilers of the Sea (Les Travailleurs
de la Mer. ) (1866. ) A novel by
Victor Hugo, which possesses double in-
terest: first, in the story; secondly, in
its bold descriptions of the colossal and
secret powers of the elements. In time
it followed after the still more famous
(Les Misérables. The scene is laid in
Germany; and the book is dedicated
to the Isle of Guernsey, severe yet
gentle, my present asylum, my proba-
ble tomb. ) The heroine, Deruchette, is
the niece of Lethierry, who has invented
a steamboat, La Durande, which plies
between Guernsey and St. Malo, and
which is the wonder of the Channel
Islands. His partner, Rantaine, disap-
pears with a large sum of money, and
is succeeded as captain of La Durande
by Clubin. The latter has friends
among the smugglers, and with their
assistance finds Rantaine, who has es-
caped in the guise of a Quaker. Clubin
obtains this booty and determines to
keep it. He plans to wreck La Du-
rande the 'rocks known
as «Les
Hanois," and then to swim ashore and
escape. From this point, the story is
full of the excitement and terror of
the life of the sailor. The descriptions
of the sea, the wind, and the myster-
ies of the ocean-bed, are wonderful.
Among the most striking scenes is the
encounter of Gilliatt, the real hero of
the book, with an octopus which lurks
in a rocky cavern beneath the
Penetrating into the shadows of this
submarine crypt, whose arches are cov-
ered with seaweed and trailing moss,
Gilliatt soon finds himself in the em-
brace of the gigantic and slimy monster,
whose gleaming eyes are fixed upon
him. Of this story George Henry Lewes
said that it had «a certain daring in-
flation about it which cannot be met
elsewhere; and if the splendor is bar-
baric it is undeniably splendid. Page
after page and chapter after chapter
may be mere fireworks which blaze
and pass away; but as fireworks, the
Virgin Soil, by Ivan Turgeneff. Tur-
geneff gives in Virgin Soil?
graphic picture of the various moral and
social influences at work in the modern
Nihilistic movement in Russia. The mo-
tive of the story is deep and subtle, and
is developed with masterly skill and re-
finement. The hero Neshdanoff, a young
university student of noble but illegiti-
mate descent and in poor worldly cir-
cumstances, has his sympathies roused
for the depressed peasantry of Russia,
and with romantic ardor enters into the
secret conspiracy for their relief. In the
house of a government official where he
is engaged as tutor, he meets Marianne,
a relation of the family, who is also
secretly an enthusiast in the Nihilistic
cause, and, irresistibly drawn to her, he
elopes with her, and seeks employment
with a machinist and manufacturer, Solo-
mine. The effort to descend to the
level of the peasants, to enter into their
life and to rouse them to a united move-
ment for liberty, is met with a stolid
apathy and lack of intelligence on their
part, that dampens his ardor and makes
his effort seem to him like the merest sen-
timentalism, that can never yield any real
result. This loss of faith in himself and
in his own sincerity impels him to break
his promise of marriage with Marianne,
and, commending her to marry Solo-
mine, the machinist and manufacturer, to
take his own life in despair of finding a
sphere in the world for his genius, -
a mixture of inherited aristocracy and
purely romantic democracy. In Solomine
is depicted the real reformer, the man
without “ideals and elegant phrases,
who, in his honest dealings with those
under him and his recognition of the
true dignity of labor and of neighborly
service, is exerting the redeeming force
that can gradually introduce a new man-
hood into the laboring classes, and so
enable them to appreciate and aspire to
the practical and the heroic elements
of a true freedom. In the marriage of
Solomine and Marianne is seen the union
of reform, as distinguished from the in-
effectual idealism of an aristocracy that
lacks the practical knowledge and the
social mediation of a middle class.
on
sea.
## p. 474 (#510) ############################################
474
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Æne
Æneid, The, the golden branch on the which, like a trumpet-call, roused Savo-
ilex-tree of Latin literature, was the narola to seek the things that are above.
work of Publius Virgilius Maro, who was And this line Dante heard on the lips
born October 15th, 70 B. C. , and died Sep- of the Church Triumphant, at the open-
tember 22d, 19 B. C.
ing of the Paradise of God. ”
The poem is interwoven with pre-
neid, The, an epic by Heinrich von
Christian civilization, with mediæval and
Veldeche, a minnesinger of the
modern thought, as is no other poem of
the ancient world. It is the Bible of the
twelfth century and one of the earliest
German poets. It is distinguished for
later classical literature, as the Iliad is
the elegance of its form and the har-
of the earlier, linked by its very nature
mony of its versification. In this poem,
to the visionary Middle Ages. For in
love (die Minne) is for the first time in-
the Æneid, conflict has become spiritual.
troduced as a theme. The story follows
ized; and the warrior Æneas bears al-
the same line as Virgil's until the hero
ways about him the remoteness of the
comes to Latium. There it pauses to de-
priest, or of one mindful ever of the place
of souls. It is the detachment of the
pict the love of Lavinia for Æneas, and
this is its most original and successful por-
hero from the passion of love, from the
tion. Æneas marries Lavinia, becomes
passion of war, which made him appeal
so powerfully to the mediæval mind, pre-
king, and builds Alba. Gawain Douglas
translated the Æneid into the Scottish
occupied with the Unseen. Only the
dialect in 1513. This vigorous adaptation
creator of Æneas could be Dante's guide
probably suggested to the Earl of Surrey
among the shades. Of him Tennyson
the idea of turning the second and fourth
writes:-
books into blank verse, the earliest exam-
"Light among the vanished ages; star that gild-
ple of blank verse in the language. Dou-
est yet this phantom shore ;
Golden branch among the shadows, kings and
glas takes some strange liberties with his
realms that set to rise no more. ”
author. He changes the sibyl into a nun,
and makes her admonish Æneas to be
The Æneid is in twelve books: the
first six in imitation of the Odyssey; the
sure to say his prayers and tell his beads.
The English translations are numerous;
last six, of the Iliad. The Trojan hero
is led to Italy, where he is to be the
Dryden's, Conington's, and notably Sir
Charles Bowen's, being perhaps the best.
father of a race and of an empire su-
That of William Morris is much admired
preme among nations. On his way thither
also, and in America the versions of C. P.
he tarries at Carthage, whose queen,
Cranch and of Prof. Geo, H. Palmer are
Dido, loves him as with the first love
of a virgin. To her he tells the story of
examples of good scholarship and good
taste. The epic has been often travestied.
Troy. For love of him she slays herself
The first travesty, entitled Eneide de
when the gods lead him from her shores.
Arrived in Italy he seeks the underworld,
Virgilio Travestida,' appeared at Rome in
1633. It was very popular among the friv.
under the protection of the Sibyl of Cu-
olous; but scholars, to whom everything
mæ. He emerges thence to overcome
his enemies. The Æneid was not per-
written by the Mantuan was sacred, were
scandalized. The Eneide Travestie) of
fected at the time of Virgil's death, and
Scarron is a French classic.
his friends Varius and Tucca edited it
at the request of the emperor Augustus,
Angel in the House, The, Coventry
It has since become the heritage of the Patmore's most noted poem, was pub-
world.
lished in four parts between 1854 and
“On this line the poet's own voice fal- 1862. (The Betrothal' appeared in 1854,
tered as he read. At this Augustus and (The Espousals) in 1856, Faithful For-
Octavia melted into passionate weeping. ever) in 1860, and "The Victories of
Here is the verse which Augustine quotes Love) in 1863. The entire poem is idyl-
as typical, in its majestic rhythm, of all lic in form. It is a glorification of do-
the pathos and the glory of pagan art mestic life, of love sheltered in the home,
from which the Christian was bound to and guarded by the gentle and tender
fee. This is the couplet which Fénelon wife.
