No More Learning

Whit-
ney. Mrs. Whitney explains the
real folks she means in the saying of
one of her characters: « Real folks, the
true livers, the genuine neahburs- nigh-
dwellers; they who abide alongside in
spirit. ” It is a domestic story dealing
with two generations. The sisters Frank
and Laura Oldways, left orphans, are
adopted into different households: Laura,
into that of her wealthy aunt, where
she is surrounded by the enervating in-
Auences of wealth and social ambitions;
Frank, into a simple country home,
where her lovable character develops in
its
proper
environment. They marry,
become mothers, and reaching middle
age come, at the wish of their rich
bachelor uncle Titus Oldways, to live
near him in Boston. The episodes in
the two households, the Ripwinkleys and
Ledwiths, so widely divergent in char-
acter, complete the story; which, while
never rising above the ordinary and
familiar, yet, like the pictures of the
old Dutch interiors, charms with its at-
mosphere of repose. It is a work for
mothers and daughters alike. It exhib-
its the worth of the domestic virtues
and the vanity of all worldly things;
but it never becomes preachy. Its New
England atmosphere is genuine, and the
sayings of the characters are often racy
of the soil; while the author's sense of
humor carries her safely over some ob-
stacles of emotion which might easily
become sentimentality.
La ady of Quality, A, by Mrs. Frances
Hodgson Burnett. (1896. ) The scene
of this story is laid in England, during
the reign of Queen Anne. Clorinda,
the unwelcome daughter of a dissolute,
poverty-stricken baronet, Sir Geoffrey
Wildairs, loses her mother at birth, and
with her little sister grows up neg-
lected and alone, fleeing from the sound
of her father's footsteps. At the age of
six she wins his heart by belaboring
m with blows and kicks; and from
that day, dressed as a boy, she is the
suc-
cesses.
Education, by Herbert Spencer. (1860. )
It is the highest praise that can
be bestowed upon this treatise, that it
a book of obvious if not
of commonplace philosophy, whereas,
when it was published, it was recog-
nized as revolutionary in the extreme.
So rapidly has its wisdom become incar-
nated in methods if not in systems.
The book opens with an examination
of what knowledge is of most worth:
it shows that in the mental world as in
the bodily, the ornamental comes before
the useful; that we do not seek to de-
velop our own individual capacities to
their utmost, but to learn what will
enable us to make the most show, or
accomplish the greatest material
But if the important thing in
life is to know how to live, in the wid-
sense, then education should be
made to afford us that knowledge; and
the knowledge is hence of most value
which informs and develops the whole
man. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry,
Biology, the Science of Society,- all
these are important; but an education
which teaches youth how to become
fit for parentage is indispensable. Too
many fathers and mothers are totally
unfit to develop either the bodies, the
souls, or the minds of their children,
From the duty of preparation on the
part of the parent, it is a short step
to the duty of preparation on the part
of the citizen. And still another divis-
ion of human life, that which includes the
est


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538
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
art.
now
relaxations and pleasures of existence, strong. The treatment is epic rather
should be made a matter of intelligent than dramatic; and the splendid yet
study; for this comprehends the whole comfortless civilization of the Middle
field of the fine arts, the whole æs- Ages, so picturesque and so squalid,
thetic organization of society. The es- so ecstatic and so base, is vividly de-
sayist now considers in detail, Intellect. lineated.
ual Education, Moral Education, and
Physical Education. He shows not only
Ersilia, by Emily Frances Poynter,
an unreasoned and unreasonable exist-
is a story of love, friendship, and
The scene is mainly in Paris and
ing state of things, but he discloses
the true philosophy underlying the ques-
in a watering-place in the Pyrenees,
Eaux Bonnes, where the story opens with
tion, and points out the true methods
the arrival of an Englishman in a hotel
of reasonableness and rightness. Each
at evening, just as a party of three are
chapter is enriched with a wealth of
seen returning from a mountain walk.
illustration drawn from history, litera-
The Englishman is the artist, Arthur
ture, or life; and the argument, although
Fleming; the three are: bis pupil, Hum-
closely reasoned, is very entertaining
phrey Rudolph, a youth of mixed Eng-
from first to last. Few books of the
lish and French parentage; the maiden
age have had a more direct and per-
aunt, Mademoiselle Mathilde de Brissac;
manent effect upon the general thought
than this; for parents and teachers who
and his fair and youthful cousin Ersilia,
know Herbert Spencer only as a name,
the supposed widow of the Russian
Prince Zaraikine. Fleming falls in love
follow the suggestions which are
with Ersilia, who was already loved by
a part of the common intellectual air,
Humphrey; and Humphrey experiences
the double wretchedness of a struggle
Rienzi
ienzi, The Last of the Roman
between his love and the friendship
Tribunes, by Sir Edward Bulwer-
that attaches him to both his master
Lytton (1848), is one of the author's
and his fair cousin. The marriage of
most famous historical romances. It is
Ersilia and Fleming being arranged for,
founded on the career of Cola di Rienzi,
a M. de Rossel brings news which for-
who, in the fourteenth century, inspired
ever intercepts this union, and Hum-
by visions of restoring the ancient great-
phrey is induced to write the fatal
ness of Rome, made himself for seven
letter. Fleming and Rossel meet in a
months master of that imperial city,
duel, the Prince Zaraikine, supposed to
and after nearly seven years of exile
and excommunication, during part of
be dead, reappears, and many interesting
complications arise which are told in a
which he was a prisoner, repeated the
triumph, finally dying at
style by the accom-
the people's
very charming
hands in
plished writer.
1354.
Bulwer was im-
pressed with the heroism and force of Jocelyn, by Alphonse de Lamartine. A
character of his hero, that at first he romantic and sentimental poem pub-
meditated writing his biography, instead lished in Paris in 1836, intervening be-
of a romance founded on his life. The tween the author's Eastern Travels)
story adheres very closely to the histori- and his Fall of an Angel, and sue-
cal facts. To secure accuracy and vivid- ceeded ten years after by his great prose
ness of setting, the novelist went to work, the History of the Girondins. )
Rome to live while writing it. Rienzi's Jocelyn) was widely read in England,
contradictory character, and above all, and was the outcome of the extreme ro-
his consummate ability, and the ambi- manticism that held sway at the time in
tious and unprincipled yet heroic na- Europe. Suspected of containing a con-
ture of his rival, Walter de Montreal, cealed attack the celibacy of the
are skillfully drawn. Among the lesser priesthood, the author defends his poem
personages, Irene, Rienzi's gentle sister, as being purely a poetic creation, consti-
and Nina, his regal wife, with her love tuting a fragment of a great Epic of
of the poetry of wealth and power; Humanity, which he had aspired to write.
Irene's lover, Adrian di Castello, the The poem expresses the conservative re-
enlightened noble; Cecco del Vecchio, ligious feeling of the country as opposed
the sturdy smith; and the ill-fated to the military and democratic spirit.
Angelo Villani, are prominent. Many There are in it echoes of Châteaubriand,
of the situations and scenes very St. Pierre, and Wordsworth; and despite
SO
on
are


## p. 539 (#575) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
539
uge.
With the execution of this wish
the story closes. There are passages of
tender emotion and deep piety in the
poem that recall (St. Augustine) and
the Imitation); and a pure and lofty
moral atmosphere pervades the whole
narrative.
uintus Claudius, by Ernst Eckstein.
its wordiness and long-drawn-out de-
scriptions, which have called forth the
comment of a reviewer that the author
will not allow even the sun to rise and
set in peace,” the piece often reaches a
very high mark of poetic fervor and
beauty. Jocelyn is a priest who leaves
behind him certain records describing
his suffering and temptations, which are
afterwards discovered by his neighbor, a
botanist, — the supposed writer of the
poem, - who after the pastor's decease
visits his dwelling. The story begins
with a picture of Jocelyn at sixteen, a
village youth of humble but respectable
parentage. Morning and evening scenes
of village life are graphically depicted,
and the episodes of youthful love among
the lads and maidens, in which Jocelyn,
destined as he is for the priesthood,
feels that he has no rightful share. To
provide for a suitable dowry in marriage
for his sister, he has vowed himself to
the Church. War breaking out, and the
lives of the clergy being threatened,
Jocelyn finds refuge among the solitudes
of the Alps. There he meets
an old
man accompanied by a boy who as ref-
ugees are passing near his cave, pursued
by soldiers. In the attack which fol.
lows, the old man is killed, and Jocelyn
takes the boy into his cave. They en-
joy delightful companionship as
brothers under the pure and sublime in-
fluences of the Alpine home. At length
an accident reveals to Jocelyn that his
orphan protégé and friend is a maiden,
who had disguised herself in fight in
male attire, and since had maintained
the deception out of reverence for the
priestly vows of her protector.
The
friendship of the two companions be-
coming now an avowed love, Jocelyn
seeks his bishop for advice as to his
duty, and is directed to renounce his
passion as unlawful, and to be separated
from Laurence, the object of his love.
Laurence goes to Paris, where years
afterwards Jocelyn finds her married,
but unworthily, and leading a gay but
miserable life. He returns to his mount-
ain home to find solace in his severe
round of duty. Called later to minister
to a dying traveler on the pass to Italy,
he discovers her to be his Laurence,
who in breathing her last tells of her
never-dying love for him, and be-
queathes to him all her fortune, and the
prayer that her body may be buried near
the scene of their mountain-home ref-
a
Clara Bell. ) This story, which appeared
originally in 1881, is (A Romance of Im-
perial Rome) during the first century.
The work was first suggested to the
author's mind as he stood amid the
shadows of the Colosseum; and the ear-
lier scenes are largely laid in the palaces
and temples that lie in ruins near by
this spot.
The central motive of the
book is the gradual conversion to Christ-
ianity of Quintus Claudius, son of
Titus Claudius, priest of Jupiter Capito-
linus; his avowal of the same, and the
consequences that flow from it to him-
self, his family, and his promised wife,
Cornelia. The time of the story is 95
A. D. at the close of the gloomy reign
of Domitian; and the book ends with
that Emperor's assassination and the
installation of Nerva and Trajan. Cor-
nelia, though not a Christian herself,
claims to be one, that she may share
her lover's fate; and they are exposed
together in the arena, where Quintus
kills a lion and obtains a temporary
reprieve. The death of Domitian re-
leases and saves them. Much of the
book is taken up with the love of the
Empress Domitia for Claudius. Re-
pulsed by him, she plots against him, or
in his favor, as her mood changes. The
various other characters in the compli-
cated plan of the book are involved in
ceaseless plotting and counter-plotting,
either for love or ambition, including
the political conspiracy which finally
destroys the tyrant and saves Quintus
and Cornelia. The chief interest in the
story lies in the conflict it reveals be-
tween the corruption and decay of the
Old Roman society and religion, and
the fresh vigor of the new faith, as it
appears in the ranks of the humble and
despised. The local coloring is excel-
lent; and the ample footnotes explain
minutely a thousand details which are
ingeniously woven into the text. The
author has fulfilled a difficult task with
taste and discretion, and has given a
vivid glimpse of Rome at the opening


## p. 540 (#576) ############################################

540
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
of the Christian Era. The book has en-
joyed a wide popularity.
I" the Year of Jubilee by George
Gissing. (1895. ) Mr. Gissing's real-
ism is relentless; and his tale of
middle-class philistinism would be un-
bearable were it not also the story of
the growth of a soul through suffering.
Nancy Lord, the heroine, daughter of
a piano-dealer in a small way, has in
her the elements of strength which
under other circumstances would have
made her silent and rigid father great.
Her youth is full of mistakes, the tests
of life are all too severe for her, and
she seems to have met total defeat be-
fore her«fighting soul sets itself to
win. Perhaps it is not a very great
victory to turn a foolish and compulsory
marriage into a calm and comfortable
modus vivendi. But it is great to her.
Besides the vivid and headlong Nancy,
and her faithful friend and servant
Mary Woodruffe, there is hardly a per-
sonage in the book whose acquaintance
the reader would voluntarily make.
Even the hero, a gentleman by birth and
tradition, seems rather a plated article
than the real thing, though he shows
signs of grace as the story ends. All
the women sordid, mean, half-
educated under
process which is
mentally superficial and morally non-
existent. The men are petty, or vulgar,
or both.
Apparently both and
women, typical as they are, and care-
fully studied, are meant to show the
mischief that may be done by impos-
ing on the commonest mentality a sys-
tem of instruction fit only for brains
with inherited tendencies towards cult-
Yet the book is not a problem
work. It is a picture of the cheaper
commercial London and the race it de-
velops; and it is so interesting a human
document that the expostulating reader
is forced to go on to the end.
Middle
iddle Greyness, by A. J. Dawson.
(1897. ) Henry Manton Darley, «un-
able to tone down to middle greyness
the mad hunger of his passionate na-
ture,” has broken his wife's heart and
dragged himself down to ruin by a
«black streak of dissipation in his
blood. A rich cousin, James Cummings,
having a daughter but no sons, offers to
bring up Darley's two boys, Robert and
William, and start them in life, guaran-
teeing a splendid career to the most
able,– provided that Darley shall efface
himself forever, on pain of forfeiting the
compact. Darley, under the name of
Crawford, buries himself in the Austral-
ian bush for seventeen years. A chance
newspaper reference to Robert, bis eld-
est, as the leading man at Oxford, in-
spires a yearning to see and judge of
his sons; and he makes a hasty trip
incognito to England for the purpose,
returning, however, unenlightened as to
their characters. The sons graduate in
due course: Robert brilliant and ener-
getic, but erratic and showing symptoms
of the black streak); while William
has the artistic temperament, dreamy and
unpractical. Their cousin Charlotte,
nicknamed «Trottie, regards them as
her brothers, but gradually develops a
closer feeling for William. Robert enters
Parliament with much éclat, but soon
the black streak) reappears, fostered
by Robert's evil genius, Rollo Croft, a
dissolute artist. Darley returns again to
England to watch over Robert, and be-
comes his secretary, assuming the name
of Crossland. He endeavors to break the
Croft connection, but is dismissed for
his pains; and Robert breaks down in-
toxicated at a Parliamentary crisis, loses
his seat, and is disinherited by Cum-
mings. William meanwhile has also
been disowned for refusing to enter his
uncle's business, and earns a precarious
living by doing newspaper work.
He
meets Darley accidentally, and keeps him
for a few days, when the latter again re-
turns to Australia, leaving with William
his address as “Crawford. ) Robert dis-
covers his father's whereabouts, seeks
him out, is thrown from his horse when
intoxicated, and dies recognizing him as
“Crossland — secretary - father. ” Will-
iam also visits Crawford, and is encour-
aged by him to return and write the
book that is in him; which he does. The
book suceeeds, his position in literature
is assured, he is taken into favor by
Cummings, and marries «Trottie. He
telegraphs his success to Crawford, whom
he never knows to be his father, and
who sums up the life-stories: - (Robert
is dead with the black streak all through
him, and Will is white and strong; and
I-I am nothing. The book presents
vivid pictures and strong contrasts, from
the wild scenery and bush life in Aus-
tralia to the social and political luxury
and refinement of England. The key-
note of the action is the struggle of
are
a
men
ure.


## p. 541 (#577) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
541
Darley to secure for his sons the mid- fellow troubadours through the valley
dle greyness," as between his own dis- of Vaucluse, he comes by accident upon
astrous black streak) and the strong the secluded garden and villa where
living white » derived from their pure King René had kept his daughter in
mother.
confinement under the care of the faith-
ful Bertrand and Martha. The count,
Steven Lawrence, Yeoman, by Mrs.
Edwards. (1867. ) Katha-
entering while Iolanthe is sleeping un-
der the spell of the Moorish physician,
rine Fane, rich, beautiful, good, engaged
and ignorant that she is the king's
to Lord Petres; and Dora Fane, poor,
frivolous, and heartless, -are cousins.
daughter, is ravished by her beauty,
and lifts the amulet from her breast, at
Dora sends Katharine's picture to Steven
which she awakes. He first reveals to
Lawrence, in Mexico, as her own. He
falls in love with it, returns to England,
her the secret of her blindness, and de-
clares his love. Surprised by the arrival
discovers his mistake, but is beguiled
of the king, he renounces his engage-
by Dora into marrying her. They are
ment with his daughter, and thereby his
not happy. Dora persuades him to take
inheritance of a kingdom, that he may
her to Paris, where she leads a life of
The
frivolity. Katharine, who loves Steven,
marry this beautiful stranger.
though she will not admit it, is his
Moor appears, declaring the time and
the conditions fulfilled for Iolanthe's res-
friend, now as ever. She goes to his
toration. Iolanthe comes forth seeing,
aid, and fancying him a prey to evil
companions, sends him to England. He
and is owned by the king as his daugh-
ter, and the count as his bride. The
returns unexpectedly, finds his wife at
a ball in a costume he had forbidden her
whole transaction is between noonday
wearing, and casts her off; she elopes,
and sunset, and takes place in the rose
Katharine follows and brings her back.
garden of Iolanthe's villa. The deep
Steven declines to receive her; Katha-
psychological motive of the play lies in
the fact of the soul's vision independent
rine takes her to London, where she
dies, frivolous to the last. A few days
of the physical sight, and of the inflow-
before the time set for her marriage to
ing of the soul's vision into the sense
Lord Petres, Katharine hears that Ste-
rather than the reverse, as the principle
ven has been thrown from his horse and
of seeing. Ebn Jahia, the Moor, teaches
thus:--
is dying. She hastens to his beside,
breaks her engagement- and he recovers.
« You deem, belike, our sense of vision rests
Within the eye; yet it is but a means.
He prepares to sell out and go back to
From the soul's depths the power of vision
Mexico; but Katharine stoops to conquer,
flows.
begs him not to leave her, and wins the Iolanthe must be conscious of her state,
happiness of her life. It is an entertain- Her inward eye must first be opened ere
The light can pour upon the outward sense.
ing story, of the common modern Eng-
A want must be developed in her soul:
A feeling that anticipates the light. ”
King Rene's Daughter: A Danish The coming of the count, and the love
lyrical drama, by Henrik Hertz. inspired in Iolanthe by the sound of his
(Translation by Theodore Martin: 1849. )
voice and the touch of his hand, creates
The seven scenes of this drama are lo- the necessary discontent: -
cated in Provence, in the valley of Vau-
“Deep in the soul a yearning must arise
cluse, in the middle of the fifteenth For a contentment which it strives to win. ”
century. The chief characters are King The interview between Iolanthe and the
René of Provence, and his daughter
count and his companion is partly in in-
Iolanthe, rendered blind by an accident
terchanged songs after the Minnesingers'
in early infancy, but raised in ignorance
manner. The construction of the drama
of this deficiency to her sixteenth year, is highly artistic, and the work is of
when by the skill of her Moorish phy- rare and unique beauty. The play was
sician she is to be restored to sight.
performed with success at the Strand
Plighted in marriage by her father to
Theatre, London, in 1849.
Count Tristan of Vaudemont, for state
reasons, without love, the two destined Tenants of Malory, The, bypti Sheri-
have count dan Le Fanu. (1867. ) This story
on arriving at manhood repudiates the opens in the little Welsh town of Car-
forced contract. Wandering with his dyllian. The hero is Cleve Verney,
lish type.


## p. 542 (#578) ############################################

542
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
who falls in love with Margaret Fan- long-lost daughter of that aristocratic
shawe, the daughter of Sir Booth family. Brave Commander Rodney Blu-
Fanshawe, who, in ignorance of his ett's proud relations do not therefore ob-
landlord's identity, is hiding from his ject to his marriage with the heroine.
creditors at Malory, part of the estate The old veteran's description of naval
of Lord Verney, - Arthur's uncle, - who engagements, and his quaint views of
has brought Sir Booth to ruin. The two «the quality » (the story is a first-person
families hate each other. Arthur Verney narrative throughout), makes it intensely
marries Margaret Fanshawe secretly in dramatic. The death and disinterment of
France, to which country Sir Booth Black Evan's » five sons, smothered in a
has departed. His uncle Lord Verney sand-storm; the villainy of giant Parson
wishes him to marry a lady of rank; Chowne, and his savage death from
and he, being ambitious and knowing hydrophobia; and the honest love of the
that his prospects will be at an end if narrator for Lady Isabel Carey, are
his marriage is known, procrastinates. prominent factors in the development of
A son is born to him, but this only adds
the plot.
It is to the latter that old
to his embarrassment. He hears that Davy, describing the unpleasantness of
Lord Verney himself has decided to hanging,” remarks, “I had helped, my-
marry the lady intended for him; and self, to run nine good men up at the
he contemplates bigamy, in order to yard-arm. And a fine thing for their
forestall his uncle. He is saved from souls, no doubt, to stop them from more
this crime by Lord Verney's sudden mischief, and let them go up while the
illness, and the return of the former Lord might think that other men had in-
Lord Verney, who was supposed to have jured them . . ”
In another
died in Turkey. Mrs. Arthur Verney place he is made to admit, “If my equal
eventually pines away and dies neglected insults me, I knock him down; if my
in Italy; while the hopes of the Verney officer does it, I knock under . .
family are dashed to the ground by the These illustrations show something of
fact that Tom Sedley, a genial open- the drollery of much of Blackmore's writ-
hearted young fellow, turns out to be ing:
the legitimate son of the former Lord
Verney, and succeeds to the title and
Story of a Bad Boy, The, by Thomas
estates, much to the advantage of all Bailey Aldrich, (1870,) is a fresh,
concerned. A large part of the book is humorous story, that has long been pop-
devoted to the intrigue of a firm of ular with children of all ages. Its open-
Jews, who, with a solicitor named Lar- ing sentences tend to explain the dubious
kin, endeavor to make money out of title: « This is the story of a bad boy.
Lord Verney in connection with the Well, not such a very bad, but a pretty
supposed death of the brother.
bad boy ; and I ought to know, for I am,
The story has the open moral that or was, that boy myself.
I call
ambition dulls the moral sensibilities of my story the story of a bad boy, partly
man, and that deception leads into diffi- to distinguish myself from those faultless
culties.
young gentlemen who generally figure in
narratives of this kind, and partly be-
In
Maid of Sker, The, by Richard D. cause I was not a cherub.
Blackmore, carries one through the short, I was a real human boy, such as
last twenty years of the eighteenth cent- you may meet anywhere in New Eng-
ury in England and Wales. « Fisher- land; and no more like the impossible
man Davy” Llewellyn, 'longshore sailor, boy in a story-book than a sound orange
and later, one of Lord Nelson's very is like one that has been sucked dry. ”
bravest own,” — while fishing along the The story is autobiographical in so far
shores of Bristol Channel and Swansea as suited the author's purpose. River-
Bay, finds in a drifting boat, which is mouth, where the so-called bad boy of
carried by the seas into Pool Tavan, a the story was born and brought up, after
wee two-year-old child asleep, — the Maid spending a few of his earliest years in
of Sker. ( Born to grace,
New Orleans, stands for Portsmouth,
beautiful too, is this “waif of the sea,” New Hampshire; just as his name, Tom
first known as “Bardie,” then Andalusia; Bailey, stands as a part, not even dis-
and last proved, by the true Bampfylde guised, of the author's own. Tom Bai-
peculiarity of thumbs, to be Bertha, the ley's temperament and appetites were
-
» and very


## p. 543 (#579) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
543
were
wholesome; his boyish pranks
never vicious or mean, though he frankly
didn't want to be an angel,” and didn't
think the missionary tracts presented to
him by the Rev. Wibird Hawkins were
half so nice as Robinson Crusoe, and
didn't send his little pocket-money to
the natives of the Feejee Islands, but
spent it royally in peppermint drops and
taffy-candy. ) The author, disgusted with
the goody-goody little hypocrite of an
earlier moral tale, created this boy of
flesh and blood, to displace the moribund
hero of Sandford and Merton”; though,
as Mr.
Aldrich has since remarked, “the
title may have frightened off a few care-
ful friends who would have found noth-
ing serious to condemn in the book itself. ”
The story has been translated into French,
German, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, and
Dutch. An illustrated edition appeared
escapes, and, finding himself on a roof,
lets his dog down a chimney to sound
it. The dog lands in the fireplace of
his sweetheart's house, and she embraces
the dog. Obadiah pulls and hauls up
his sweetheart and her father and
mother. Just as they reach the top of
the chimney, the rope breaks and Oba-
diah falls, but is saved by falling into a
street lamp. After many other ludicrous
adventures he is married to his lady-
love.
in 1895.
Ad
dventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck,
The, by Rudolphe Töpffer. This
series of 184 comic drawings, illustrating
the wonderful exploits of Obadiah Old-
buck in search of a sweetheart, with
text explaining each sketch, first ap-
peared in French in 1839, under the
title of M. Vieuxbois, and is the first of
a series of like sketches illustrating other
stories. The work won for its author
high praise, and was originally drawn
for the amusement of his young pupils.
Obadiah, in despair at not having re-
ceived an answer from his sweetheart,
determines on suicide; but the sword
luckily passes under his arm.
For forty-
eight nours he believes himself dead,
but returns to life exhausted by hunger.
He tries to hang himself, but the rope
is too long. He fights with a rival, and
after vanquishing him is accepted by his
sweetheart. He is arrested for hilarity,
and the match is off. He drinks hem-
lock, but is restored to life. He be-
comes a monk, but escapes; and finding
a favorable letter from his sweetheart,
elopes with her. He is recaptured by
the monks, and throws himself from a
window; but his life is saved by the
index of a sun-dial. He escapes, and is
to be married, but is late and finds
neither parents nor bride; throws himself
into a canal, but is fished out for his
wedding clothes. He is buried, and dug
up by birds of prey, and frightens his
hei who have him arrested, and he
sentenced to a year's imprisonment. He
My Arctic Journal, by, Josephine
Diebitsch-
In My Arctic
Journal, Mrs. Peary describes her ex-
periences as a member of an exploring
expedition sent out by the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences. Besides
her husband (the commander), Lieuten-
ant Robert E. Peary, U. S. N. , there
were five other men in the party. These
were Dr. F. A. Cook, Messrs. Langdon
Gibson, Eivind Astrup, John T. Ver-
hoef, and Michael Matthew Henson, Mr.
Peary's colored attendant. The steam
whaler Kite, in which they sailed, left
New York June 6, 1891, and returning,
reached Philadelphia September 24, 1892.
In her journal, which covers the whole
of this period, Mrs. Peary not only re-
cords the ordinary events of each day,
but gives many valuable accounts of the
scenery
of Greenland and of the habit
of the Eskimos whom they met. She
gathered eider-down; shot wild ducks;
cooked the meals for the party; cut out
new garments, and showed the native
women how to sew them; took care of
her husband's broken leg, and nursed
others when ill; and patiently bore what-
ever discomfort came to her. The expe-
dition accomplished several of the objects
which it had in view,- proving, for me
ample, that Greenland is an island, dis-
covering the ice-free land masses to the
north of Greenland, and delineating the
northward extension of the great Green-
land ice-cape. After twelve months on
the shores of McCormick Bay, the party
set out on the return in company with
the relief expedition led by Professor
Heilprin, in good health and spirits.
Mrs. Peary was as cheerful as the oth-
ers, and the one cloud on the homeward
journey was the mysterious disappear-
ance of Verhoef.
Mrs. Peary's Journal' is written in
pleasant style, and in two ways has a
definite value. First, it shows that the


## p. 544 (#580) ############################################

544
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
new.
terrors of an Arctic winter, even in the others, in strong new light. There is
neighborhood of latitude 78°, have been everywhere evidence of the most pains-
greatly magnified; and second, it adds taking research, and broad knowledge
much important information to our stock of the genius and characters of the Rev.
of ethnological knowledge.
olution; while many passages exhibit a
To her published journal Mrs. Peary fine appreciation of the remarkable sub-
has added a chapter giving her impres- ject of the study, which is wholly ad-
sions of Greenland when she revisited it mirable. The presentation of the material
in the summer of 1893.
regarding Mademoiselle Phlipon's rela-
.
tions with M. Roland, and their 'subse-
Pictures of Travel, by Heinrich Heine.
(1826. ) The appearance of the first
quent marriage, and the story of her
book of these sketches of travel marked
efforts at title-hunting, are particularly
an epoch in the development of German
The pictures throughout are vig-
literature. It was read with avidity by
orous and fascinating, and the work is
the public, and so strong was its influ-
by many regarded as the most satisfy.
ence that it gave the first serious check
ing presentation of the subject which
to a prevailing tendency in the world of
has yet appeared.
letters, – the romantic tendency. The
M' Novel; OR, VARIETIES IN English
power of the Romantic School was broken Life, by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lyt-
by the vivid realism of Heine's (Hartz- ton. This novel presents an intimate
Journey) The keen observation of the and faithful picture of the English life
great lyrist and satirist, his brilliant of Bulwer's day. The scenes are laid
searching criticisms of men and institu- partly in the village of Hazeldean,
tions, his stinging sarcasms poured out where a number of the characters are
on existirg conditions, were entirely op- first introduced, and partly in London.
posed to the spirit of Romanticism; and Among the types of Englishmen and for-
the work marked if it did not initiate eigners presented are Squire Hazeldean;
the reaction from that school.
Parson Dale, a simple Church of Eng-
Its author attained at once, upon its land clergyman; Audley Egerton, a poli-
appearance, to almost as wide-spread a tician of fame; Baron Levy, a money-
recognition as he was to reach lender; Harley, Lord L'Estrange, who is
among his countrymen. And indeed
perhaps the hero of the book; Leonard
these prose pictures from the Hartz re- Fairfield, a poet; and Dr. Riccabocca, a
gion are peculiarly illustrative of the political exile, who is really an Italian
many-sided nature and genius of Heine, Duke. As a picture of English life in
who was at once a master of polemic the first half of the century, My Novel
prose and a lyrist of unsurpassed mel- is remarkable for its realism. It is per-
ody, a robust humorist, and a merciless haps the strongest of Bulwer's novels in
satirist. The brilliancy and the bitter- its breadth of view, and in its delinea-
ness, the sweetness and the mockery, of tion of many varieties of character.
his strange nature, are all brought into
play in this, his first prose work of sig- The History of Jonathan Wild the
nificance.
Great, by Henry Fielding. A satir-
Descriptions of nature, vivid pictures
ical portraiture, written by the author
of the social and political aspects of the
at the time of his retirement from play-
country, bitter polemics against certain
writing, 1742, owing to the prohibition of
of the Romanticists, especially Platen,
his plays by the Lord Chamberlain be-
sudden flashes of a wit always keen but
cause of satirical allusions to persons of
not always delicate, are woven together
quality. At this time the writer, who
was of noble descent and had been
in a style unfailingly brilliant. Inter-
raised in affluence, was reduced to the
spersed with the prose are a few fugitive
lyrics; among them some of the most
hardships of poverty and the persecutions
exquisite of the songs of Heine.
of many literary and social enemies; to
actual suffering was added that of the
Madame Roland is a biographical extreme illness of his wife. His resent-
study by Ida M. Tarbell. (1869. . ) ment at the disordered social conditions
Having had access to much theretofore of the time, when merit was allowed to
unpublished material, the author has suffer and be laughed at, while dullness
presented the characters of M. and Ma- and vulgarity were worshiped in the
dame Roland, Buzot, Louis XVI. , and highest circles, found vent in the three
ever


## p. 545 (#581) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
545
men.
Woodstock, by Sir Walter Scott.
volumes of Miscellanies) published in friendships of the world, as proving the
1743, the last of which contained the reality of his ideals.
While wholly
(History of Jonathan Wild the Great. ) satisfactory as a work of sentiment, the
Thus the work has its place between book throws little light upon the hidden
Joseph Andrews, published in 1742, springs of passionate attachment be-
and the group of (Tom Jones) (1749,) tween women and women, or men and
and Amelia' (1751).
The subtle psychology of friend-
Jonathan Wild” portrays the life of a ship lacks still the investigation of
dissolute rake, and of his low-lived com- science.
panions, male and female, in unrestrained
and often revolting frankness. The hero,
the embodiment of the greatness ) that
(1826. ) (Woodstock) is an English
is measured by success in crime and historical novel of the time of Cromwell;
wickedness, is of descent more ancient the events occurring in the year 1652,
than the Conqueror, his ancestor having immediately after the battle of Worces-
come in with Hengist himself. Brought ter. The scene is laid chiefly in the
to London a youth, he is thrown in Royal Park and Manor of Woodstock, -
with a French Count La Ruse, of whom ( Fair Rosamond's bower. » In addition
he learns the gambler's art so skillfully to King Charles II. , disguised as Louis
that the count himself soon falls victim Kerneguy, a Scotch page, the leading
to it.
Conspiring with Bagshot and a personages are Sir Henry Lee, the royal
gang of scoundrels and villains, he perse- ranger of the Park; his son Albert, a
cutes the innocent Heartfree and his royalist colonel; his daughter Alice; and
family even to having them committed Colonel Markham Everard, who is high
to prison. During the imprisonment in favor with Cromwell. The Lees and
Mrs. Heartfree tells the long tale of her Everards have been intimate friends be-
adventures at sea, whither she had been fore the war separated them politically;
ailured by Wild after having her hus- and Markham and Alice are lovers.
band lodged in prison. Wild is married Other principal actors are Roger Wild-
to Letitia Snap, a match with himself in rake, a dissipated but brave and loyal
deceit and vileness. They
all
Cavalier; Joceline Joliffe the under-
brought up at last in prison, and most keeper, and his pretty sweetheart Phoebe
of the characters come to the gallows. Mayflower; and Joseph (miscalled
The visit of the ordinary of the prison << Trusty » Tomkins, a Cromwellite sol-
to Wild, and their interview on the night
dier and spy.
The story opens with
before Wild's execution, is a sharp sat- service of a warrant by Tomkins upon
ire on the consolations of religion Sir Henry Lee, ordering him to surren-
afforded in that day. Between the chap- der the Park Lodge to a Parliamentary
ters there are discourses on “greatness » Commission, charged with sequestrating
as exhibited its successive stages in the property.
Colonel Everard sends
the progress of Wild's villainy.
Wildrake to Cromwell, and procures the
revocation of the order. Dr. Roche-
Friendship the Master-Passion; or, cliffe, a scheming royalist, is in hiding
NATURE
HISTORY in the secret passages with which the
FRIENDSHIP, AND ITS PLACE AS A FORCE Lodge is honeycombed, and terrifies
IN THE WORLD, by H. Clay Trumbull, the commissioners with nocturnal noises
deals, as the title declares, with the na- and other annoyances, which they be-
ture and scope of friendship, and with lieve to be the work of the Devil; and
friendship as it has its place in history. they gladly withdraw. Colonel Albert
The author treats his subject as if thor- Lee arrives with Charles disguised as
oughly under its fascination, less there- his page; and Alice's loyal devotion to
fore from its scholarly or psychological the King, coupled with the gift of a ring
than from its emotional aspect. His from him, arouses Everard's jealousy.
own ideal of it is high, noble, utterly He challenges his Majesty; the duel is
unselfish. His emphasis is continually prevented by Alice, but in such a man-
on its renunciations and its sacrifices, ner as further to inflame Everard and
rather than on its fruitions. He writes confirm his suspicions. To save Alice's
as one in love with love, yet without honor and happiness, the King avows
a tinge of sentimentality. In the his- his identity, throwing himself upon the
torical section he reviews the famous honor of Everard, who accepts the trust.
XXX—35
are
>>
as
AND
OF


## p. 546 (#582) ############################################

546
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Tomkins is soon after killed by Joliffe Once the owner was in love, and, look-
for undue familiarity with Phæbe; but ing through his spectacles at the girl he
has already made reports which bring adored, he beheld — himself. But what-
Cromwell to the spot with a detachment ever the suggestive and genial old book-
of soldiers. The King and Albert ex- keeper is thinking or relating, his heart
change clothes, and the former escapes, is full of his Prue; from beginning to
leaving Albert to simulate him. Crom- end it is always « Prue and I. ”
well besieges and storms the Lodge and
captures Albert, but the delay has saved Wrecker, The, by Robert Louis Ste-
King Charles. Cromwell is furious at
venson, was written in collabora-
the successful deception, but finally re-
tion with his stepson, Lloyd Osborne,
when the author was a little over forty,
lents, and releases Albert,
who goes
abroad, where he subsequently dies in
and published in 1891–92.
It is one
of the best of Stevenson's adventure
battle. Everard and Alice are married.
The book ends with a sort of epilogue,
stories, and full of exciting incident.
in which Sir Henry, old in years and
quick action, and vivid characterization.
honors, presents himself at the triumphal
The scene is modern, and shifts from
land to sea. Preliminary chapters de-
progress of Charles at the Restoration,
eight years later; he is recognized and
pict student life in Paris; but the main
affectionately greeted by the King, and
story begins in San Francisco, with the
purchase of the wrecked ship Flying
passes away in the shock of his loyal
joy, murmuring Nunc dimittis. »
Scud by Loudon Dodd and Jim Pink-
erton, and with their voyage in quest
of its supposed treasure. No treasure,
Prue and I, by George William Curtis.
These charming papers were pub-
but a ghastly tragedy, is revealed as
the tale goes on.
lished in 1856; and have been popular
The Flying Scud has
been sunk and her name changed, in
ever since, as the subject is of perennial
interest, while the treatment is in the
order to hide a wholesale murder, while
her crew have assumed the names of
author's happiest vein. They are a series
the doomed men for the same reason.
of sketches or meditations showing the
The unraveling of the dark mystery
enjoyment to be derived from even the
is most ingeniously conducted, and the
most commonplace existence. The spires
and pinnacles of the sunset sky belong
sea life and the pirate spirit are indi-
cated with gusto and vigor. So cun-
to every man; and in the fair realm of
Fantasie all may wander at will. The
ningly is the plot constructed that not
until the very end is the key fur-
papers are supposed to be written by an
nished. The characters of several of the
old bookkeeper, who strolls down the
street at dinner-time, and without envy
seamy mariners, and especially that of
watches the diners-out. His fancy en-
Pinkerton, a typical western American
with no end of energy and brass, are
ables him to dine without embarrass-
ment at the most select tables, and to
capitally drawn.
enjoy the charming conversation of the Mr. Isaacs, Marion Crawford's first,
beautiful Aurelia. He owns many cas-
and in
tles in Spain, where he can summon a novel, is a study of the development of
goodly company, Jephthah's daughter and a man's higher nature through a woman.
the Chevalier Bayard, fair Rosamond Mr. Isaacs, an exquisite instrument for
and Dean Swift,- the whole train of another soul to play upon, is a high-bred
dear and familiar spirits. He goes for Persian whose real name is Abdul Hafiz-
a voyage on the Flying Dutchman, and ben-Isâk. He is of a dreamy, spiritual
finds on board all who have spent their nature, of a disposition lacking but one
lives on useless quests, – Ponce de Leon, of the patents to nobility — reverence for
and the old Alchemist. He gives us the
As a professed Mussulman he
pleasant dreams and memories roused is married to three wives, whom he
by the sea in those who love it, and regards with kindly contemptuous toler-
tells the simple, pathetic history of Our
The first person to suggest to
Cousin the Curate. ) He also lets his him that women may have souls is Paul
deputy bookkeeper Titbottom tell the Griggs, the man who tells the story.
story of the strange spectacles, which
He
the beautiful Persian in
show a man as he is in his nature,- a Simla, India, becomes in a day his
wisp of straw, a dollar bill, a calm lake. friend and confidant by virtue of some
women.
ance.
meets


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
547
an
mysterious spiritual attraction. The les-
son inculcated by Griggs is soon to be
learned by Isaacs. He meets and loves
a beautiful, noble English woman, a Miss
Westonhaugh. Each
day draws him
nearer to her; each day reveals to him
the infinite as expressed in her fair
soul. She returns the love of the mys-
tical, beautiful Persian. The last test
of the spirituality of his passion is her
death. From her death-bed he goes
forth with his face to the stai's. Think
of me,” he says, “not as mourning the
departed day, but as watching longingly
for the first faint dawn of the day
eternal. Above all, think of me not as
alone, but as wedded for all ages to
her who has gone before me. "
feel, she divined; and her literary judg-
ments are thoroughly appreciative. This
imaginative force in a naturally reserved
temperament gives extraordinary
value to the pictures which she has
drawn of the society of her time, admir-
ably faithful to all its aspects and em-
ployments in the country, the domestic
circle, at the play, at the court, in the
undertaking of momentous social and
political reforms. The literary charm
and vivacity of the letters, where she
lets the pen "gallop away with the
bridle on its neck, make them classic
in a literature rich in famous letters.
ness
Letters of Madame de Sevigne, The,
first published about thirty years
after her death at La Haye in 1676,
compose the most famous correspondence
of the seventeenth century.
Contained
in fourteen stout volumes, their copious-
alone implies an atmosphere of
leisure. Most of the letters were written
to her only daughter, after that young
lady married and went to her husband's
estates in southern France. Here are
the lively records of her daily interests
and occupations at the Hôtel Carnavalet
in Paris, at Livry, or at her country
seat, Les Rochers,' in Brittany. She
is now a financier, cramping her income
to meet the reckless obligations of her
son; now a fervent devotee, working
altar-cloths with her own hands, and
ardently in sympathy with the school of
Port Royal and the Jansenists; now a
noted beauty at court or a brilliant wit
among the “precious ones » at the Hôtel
de Rambouillet; at all times a fine lady,
resourceful, gracious, captivating. Her
affection for her daughter vents itself in
a thousand reiterations of her desire to
have her again at Paris; while passages
of delightful gossip, always amusing,
often pathetic, crowd the pages. Among
her other correspondents, Madame de
Sévigné reckoned the Duc de Roche-
foucauld and the famous literary twins,
Madame de La Fayette and Madame de
Scudéry, all of them her intimate friends.
Essentially intellectual, familiar with
Quintilian, Tacitus, and St. Augustine,
she greatly admired Corneille, while she
merely tolerated Racine, whose pathos
left her unmoved. Yet so vivid was
imagination that where she could not
Saint-Simon, The Memoirs of the
Duke of, long suppressed by govern-
ment, did not appear until 1829, three-
quarters of a century after the author's
death, although immediately after the
French Revolution they began to be
published in a fragmentary way.
The
reason for this delay is that they con-
tain so many details not flattering to the
Bourbon family, whose pride sustained a
severe blow upon the publication of the
memoirs.
The present English version, which be-
gan publication in 1857, is an abridg-
ment rather than a close translation, by
Boyle St. John; for the original memoirs
would fill about twenty-five volumes, so
great was their author's fidelity to detail.
The memoirs present a panoramic view,
highly finished as to the minutest detail,
of the court of Louis XIV. of France
during the last twenty years of his reign.
and also of the Regency.
Neither a great soldier nor an eminent
statesman, St. -Simon was yet fitted to
be a court gossip of no mean ability, and
certainly of marvelous pertinacity. His
intimacy with those picturesque charac-
ters which people his age, and his own
part in the intrigues which were
stantly afoot, enable him to detail much
varied and curious information; for he
records every circumstance of court life,
whether serious or trivial, down to 1723,
when his own days as a courtier ended.
Although a strong believer in kingly
power, St. -Simon does not hesitate to
characterize Louis XIV. as a weak and
ineffectual monarch; and Madame de
Maintenon, with the other important ac-
tors in the dramatic scenes of the age, he
sets forth in clear and powerful light.
Versatile, strongly antagonistic towards
the new social order, keenly observant
con-


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548
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
once
on
SO.
a
of smallest movements, and profoundly ship, personal observations made
analytic of hidden causes, the author pre- several visits to the spot, and excellence
sents a most remarkable series of politi- of style, unite to make the book in-
cal memoirs.
structive and interesting. The charac-
terization is distinct and forcible, the
A Short History of the English battle scenes are vivid. That the best
People, by John Richard Green
results came of the rivalry of Carthage
(1874), is perhaps the most popular his-
with Rome, the author perceives. He
tory of England ever written. At the
regards Hannibal as the foremost gen-
same time it is notable for the breadth
eral of all time”; and asserts that a
and thoroughness of its scholarship.