No More Learning

The object he has always is Cato's last desperate struggle against
set before himself has been to impart a Cæsar, and his determination to die
general culture suitable for the needs of rather than survive his country's free-
practical life.
He despises the people dom. All the (unities » are strictly
who teach justice, virtue, and all such observed: there is no change of place,
things at three minæ a head. »
By | the action occurs on the same day, and
verse.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
119
all the incidents centre around Cato and
conduce to his death. (Cato) owed its
extraordinary success to the deadly hatred
that raged between the Whigs and To-
ries at the time : the Whigs cheered
when an actor mentioned the word “lib-
erty”; and the Tories, resenting the
implied innuendo, cheered louder than
they. To the Whigs Marlborough was
a Cato, to the Tories he was a Cæsar.
Bolingbroke, immediately after the per-
formance, gave Booth, the Cato of the
tragedy, fifty guineas for having so well
defended liberty against the assaults
of a would-be dictator» (Marlborough).
Every poet of the time wrote verses in
honor of "Cato,' the best being Pope's
prologue; and it translated into
French, German, and Italian. The
German adaptation of Gottsched was al-
most as great a success as the original.
In fact, the play itself and the command-
ing position of its author in the literary
world had a most unfortunate effect on
dramatic art, and perhaps retarded its
dience of Antigone to the higher law of
love. Apart from its beauty and grand-
eur as a picture of the woman-hero, the
(Antigone) has a political value. It con.
tains noble maxims on the duties of a citi-
zen, and on the obligation imposed on the
head of a State to be always ready to sac-
rifice his private feelings to the public
good. While the poet attacks anarchy
and frowns on any attempt to disobey
the laws or the magistracy, he sees as
clearly the danger of mistaken tyrannical
zeal. There have been several imitations
of this great drama. In Alfieri's, all the
minor personages who add so much to
the excellence of Sophocles's play dis-
appear, and only Creon, Hæmon, and An-
tigone are left on the stage; it has many
beauties, and the dialogue is forceful and
impassioned. Rotrou imitates the “The-
baid) of Seneca and (The Phænicians)
of Euripides in the second part of his
Antigone, and Sophocles in the first.
was
somancipation from the slavery of the Clones acted in comedy by- Aristopha.
-called «
Shakespeare was thrown into the shade
more than ever.
(Cato of Utica,' by Metastasio. The
author follows closely the historic ac-
counts of Cato's relations with Cæsar,
and the details he invents have more
probability than those of Addison. He
shows a decided superiority to Addison
in making Cæsar the principal figure
next to Cato, and placing them
stantly in contrast with each other. But
the Italian's love scenes are as insipid
as the Englishman's.
un-
con-
1
Antigone, a tragedy, by Sophocles.
Thebes has been besieged by Poly-
nices, the dethroned and banished brother
of Eteocles, who rules in his stead. The
two brothers kill each other in single
combat, and Creon, their kinsman, be-
comes king. The play opens on the
morning of the retreat of the Argives,
who supported Polynices. Creon has de-
creed that the funeral rites shall not be
performed over a prince who has made
war upon his country, and that all who
contravene this decree shall be punished
with death. Antigone declares to her sis-
ter Ismene that she herself will fulfill
the sacred ceremonies over her brother's
corpse in spite of the royal proclamation.
The tragedy turns on the inexorable exe-
cution of the law by Creon, and the obe-
C. Though one
of the most interesting and poetic of the
author's plays, the people refused to hear
it a second time. But its literary popu-
larity counterbalanced its failure on the
stage; most unfortunately for Socrates,
whose enemies, twenty-five years after-
ward, found in it abundant material for
their accusations. Strepsiades, an
scrupulous old rascal, almost ruined by
his spendthrift son Pheidippides, requests
the philosopher to teach him how to
cheat his creditors. The Clouds, personi-
fying the high-flown ideas in vogue, enter
and speak in a pompous style. which is
all lost on Strepsiades. He asks mock-
ingly, «Are these divinities ? » (No,»
answers Socrates, «they are the clouds
of heaven: still they are goddesses for
idle people,- it is to them we owe our
thoughts, words, cant, insincerity, and all
our skill in twaddle and palaver. ” Then
he explains the causes of thunder, etc. ,
substituting natural phenomena for the
personal intervention of the gods; to the
great scandal of Strepsiades, who has
not come to listen to such blasphemy,
but to learn how to get rid of his debts.
The Clouds tell him that Socrates is his
Have you any memoranda about
you ? ) asks the latter. «Of my debts,
not one; but of what is due me, any
number. » Socrates tries to teach his
new disciple grammar, rhythms, etc. ; but
Strepsiades laughs at him. Here two
man.


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I 20
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
new characters are introduced, the Just beneath the sea, in the company of his
and the Unjust. The former represents
son Achilles.
old times and manners; the latter the
new principles taught by the Sophists. A"
ndromache ('Andromaque'), a tra-
When the Just taught the young, they
gedy by Racine, suggested to him
did not gad about in the forum or lounge
by some lines in the Æneid of Virgil.
in the bath-rooms. They were respectful
The p'ay owes very little to the Andro-
to their elders, modest and manly. It
mache) of Euripides except the title. In
was the Just who formed the warriors
Euripides, everything is simple and true;
of Marathon. ) The Unjust scoffs at such
in Racine, everything is noble, profound,
training. If the young may not have
and impassioned. The Andromache of
their fing, their lives are not worth liv-
the French poet is a modern Andro-
mache, not the real Andromache of an-
ing. “You tell me,” he adds, «that this
is profligacy. Well, are not our tragic tiquity; but the drama is one of his
poets, orators, demagogues, and most of
greatest works, and wrought a revolution
their auditors profligate ? » The Just has
in French dramatic art by proving that
to admit this. Strepsiades, discovering ceptible movements of the passion of love
the delicate shades and almost imper-
that the lessons of Socrates are too much
could be an inexhaustible source of in-
for him, sends his clever son to take his
terest on the stage.
The drama was
place. Pheidippides becomes an accom-
plished Sophist, mystifies the creditors,
parodied by Subligny in his (Folle Que-
and beats his father, all the time prov-
relle. Racine suspected that the parody
ing to him that he is acting logically.
was written by Molière, and the affair
was the occasion of a serious breach be-
The old man, at length undeceived, sum-
tween them.
mons his slaves and neighbors, and sets
fire to the house and school of Socrates.
A"
ulularia (from Aulula, a pot), a
comedy by Plautus. Although an old
AT
ndromache, a tragedy, by Euripides.
miser is the principal character in the
The heroine (Hector's widow) is part play, the real hero, or heroine, is the pot.
of the spoil of Pyrrhus, the son of Achil-
The favor of his Lar, or household god,
les, in the sack of Troy. She has of
enables Euclion to dig up a pot of gold,
course undergone the usual fate of fem-
buried beneath the hearth by his grand-
inine captives, and has borne her master
father. No sooner has he become rich
a son named Molossus. Hermione, the
than avarice takes hold of him. With
daughter of Menelaus and lawful wife of
trembling hands he buries the pot deeper
Pyrrhus, is furiously jealous of this Tro-
still: he has found it, others may; the
jan slave; and with the aid of her father,
very thought makes his hair stand on
resolves to kill Andromache and the child
end. The dramatic situations of the play
during the absence of her husband. For-
turn on this dread of Euclion's that some
tunately the aged Peleus, the grandfather one will rob him of his new-found treas-
of Pyrrhus, arrives just in time to pre-
ure. The fifth act is supposed to have
vent the murder. Orestes, a cousin of
been written by Antonius Urceus Codrus,
Hermione, to whom she had formerly
a professor in the University of Bologna,
been betrothed, stops at her house on
some time during the fifteenth century.
his way to Dodona. Hermione, fearing
Molière's (L'Avare) is an imitation of the
the resentment of her spouse, flies with
(Aulularia. It has been imitated also,
him. Then they lay an ambuscade for
at least in the principal character, by Le
Pyrrhus at Delphi, and slay him. Peleus
Mercier in his Comédie Latine. )
is heart-broken when he learns the tid-
ings of his grandson's fate; but he is Mourning Bride, The, by William
visited by his wife, the sea-goddess The- Congreve. This, the only serious
tis, who bids him have done with sorrow, play written by Congreve, was produced
and send Andromache and her child to in 1697, and was most successful. Lu-
Molossia. There she is to wed Helenus, gubrious is a cheerful term by which to
the son of Priam, and for the rest of her characterize it. Almeria, the daughter
life enjoy unclouded happiness. Thetis of Manuel, King of Granada, while in
orders the burial of Pyrrhus in Delphi. captivity marries Alphonso, the son of
Peleus himself will be released from hu- Anselmo, King of Valencia. In a bat-
man griefs, and live with his divine tle with Manuel, Anselmo is captured,
spouse forever in the palace of Nereus Alphonso drowned, and Almeria returned
.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
I 21
once -
to her father. He insists upon her mar- constant under many vicissitudes, despite
riage with Garcia, the son of Gonza- the influence of her mother, whose recom-
lez, his favorite. Manuel captures Zara, mendation to Polly to be somewhat nice
an African princess, and with her two in her deviations from virtue ) will suffi-
Moors, Osmyn and Heli. Almeria finds ciently indicate her character. Having
that Osmyn is Alphonso; and Zara, over- one wife does not deter Macheath from
hearing them, is led by her jealousy to engaging to marry others, but his laxity
induce the King to allow her mutes to causes him much trouble. Being betrayed,
strangle him, and to give orders that he is lodged in Newgate gaol. His es-
none but her mutes shall have access to cape, recapture, trial, condemnation to
him. Gonzalez, to secure a mute's dress, death, and reprieve, form the leading epi-
kills one, and finds on him a letter from sodes in his dashing career. After his
Zara to Alphonso, telling him she has reprieve he makes tardy acknowledgment
repented and will help him to escape. of Polly as his wife, and promises to re-
Manuel orders Alphonso to be executed main constant to her for the future. Polly
at once; and to prove Zara's treachery, is one of the most interesting of dramatic
places himself in chains in Alphonso's characters, at least three actresses having
place to await her coming. Gonzalez, attained matrimonial peerages through
to make sure of Alphonso's death, steals artistic interpretation of the part. Gay's
down and kills him. Meeting Garcia, language often conforms to the coarse
he learns that Alphonso has escaped, and taste and low standards of his time; and
that he has killed the King instead of the opera, still occasionally sung, now
Alphonso. The King's head is cut off appears in expurgated form. Its best-
and hid, so that his death may not be known piece is Macheath's famous song
known. Zara, thinking that it is the when two of his inamoratas beset him at
body of Alphonso, poisons herself; and
Alphonso, storming the palace, reaches
« How happy could I be with either
Almeria in time to prevent her from
Were t'other dear charmer away! ”
taking the remainder of the poison.
Two quotations from this play have
become almost household words: the
Great Galeoto, The, by José Eche-
garay.
This was the most success-
first, «Music hath charms to soothe a ful of the author's plays, running through
savage breast; » and the second, Heaven
more than twenty editions. It was first
has no rage like love to hatred turned; acted in March 1881, and so greatly
nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned. ” admired that a popular subscription was
once started to buy some work of
Beggar's Opera, The, by John Gay, was art to remind the writer of his triumph.
first played in 1728, exciting «a In its printed form it is dedicated to
tempest of laughter. ” Dean Swift, upon everybody," -- another
for the
whose suggestion this “Newgate pasto- subject of the play. Dante tells us in
ral) was written, declared that « (The his story of Paolo and Francesca that
Beggar's Opera) hath knocked down Gul- «Galeoto) was the book they read; that
liver. ” The object of the play was to day they read no more! » Galeoto was
satirize the predatory habits of “polite » the messenger between Launcelot and
society in thief-infested London, and in- Queen Guinevere; and in all loves the
cidentally to hold up to ridicule Italian third may be truthfully nicknamed “Gale-
opera. The chief characters are thieves oto. ” Ernest, a talented youth, is the
and bandits. Captain Macheath, the hero, secretary and adopted son of Julian and
is the leader of a gang of highwaymen. his wife Teodora, many years younger
A handsome, bold-faced ruffian, “game » than himself. Ernest looks up to her as
to the last, he is loved by the ladies and a mother; but gossip arises, he overhears
feared by all but his friends — with whom Nebreda calumniate Teodora, challenges
he shares his booty. Peachum is the him to fight, and leaves Julian's house.
«respectable » patron of the gang, and Julian, a noble character, refuses to heed
the receiver of stolen goods. Though the charges against his wife and adopted
eloquently indignant when his honor
son, but is at last made suspicious.
is impeached, he betrays his confeder- Teodora visits Ernest, and implores him
ates from self-interest. Macheath is mar-
not to fight, as it will give color to the
ried to Polly Peachum, a pretty girl, who rumors. Julian meantime is wounded by
really loves her husband. She remains Nebreda, and taken to Ernest's room,
at
>
name


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122
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
res-
where he finds his wife. Ernest rushes
Athalie, a tragedy. by Racine. The
out, kills Nebreda, and returns to find drama is founded on one of the
Julian dying, in the belief that his wife
most tragic events in sacred history, de-
is guilty. The plays ends with Ernest's scribed in 2 Kings xi. , and in 2 Chron-
cry: “This woman is mine. The world icles xxii and xxiii. Athaliah is alarmed
has so desired it, and its decision I ac- by a dream in which she is stabbed by
cept. It has driven her to my arms. a child clad in priestly vestments. Going
You cast her forth. We obey you.
But
to the Temple, she recognizes this child
should any ask you who was the famous in Joash, the only one of the seed royal
intermediary in this business, say: Our- saved from destruction at her hands.
selves, all unawares, and with us the From that moment she bends all her
stupid chatter of busybodies. ) »
efforts to get possession of him or have
him killed. The interests and passions
Atalanta in Calydon, by Algernon of all the characters in the play are now
Charles Swinburne, is a tragedy deal-
the boy, whose
ing with a Greek theme, and employing toration to the throne of his fathers is
the Greek chorus and semichorus in its finally effected through the devotion of his
amplification. To this chorus are given followers. The drama is lofty and im-
several songs, which exemplify the high- pressive in character, and well adapted to
est charms of Swinburne's verse, - his the subject with which it deals.
inexhaustible wealth of imagery, and his
flawless musical sense. The story is as Caricature and Other Comic Art, in
follows: Althæa, the daughter of Thestius ALL TIMES AND MANY LANDS, by
and Eurythemis, and wife to Eneus, James Parton. This elaborate work, first
dreams that she has brought forth a burn- published in 1877, is full of information
ing brand. At the birth of her son Mel- to the student of caricature, giving over
eager come the three Fates to spin his 300 illustrations of the progress of the
thread of life, prophesying three things: art from its origin to modern times. Be-
that he should be powerful among men; ginning with the caricature of India,
that he should be most fortunate; and that Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as preserved
his life should end when the brand, then in ceramics, frescoes, mosaics, and other
burning in the fire, should be consumed. mural decoration, Mr. Parton points out
His mother plucks the burning brand that the caricature of the Middle Ages
from the hearth and keeps it; the child is chiefly to be found in the grotesque
grows apace and becomes in due time a ornamentations of Gothic architecture;
great warrior. But Artemis, whose altars in the ornamentation of castles, the gar-
Eneus, King of Calydon, has neglected, goyles and other decorative exterior stone-
grows wroth with him, and sends a wild work of cathedrals, and the wonderful
boar to devastate his land, a beast which wood-carvings of choir and stalls. Since
the mightiest hunters cannot slay. Fi- that time, printing has preserved for us
nally all the warriors of Greece gather to abundant examples. The great mass of
rid Eneus of this plague. Among them pictorial caricature is political; the earliest
comes the Arcadian Atalanta, a virgin prints satirizing the Reformation, then
priestess of Artemis, who for his love of the issues of the English Revolution, the
her lets Meleager slay the boar; and French Revolution, our own Civil War,
he presents her the horns and hide. But the policies and blunders of the Second
his uncles, Toxeus and Plexippus, desire Empire, and many other lesser causes
to keep the spoil in Calydon, and attempt and questions. Social caricature is rep-
to wrest it from Atalanta. In defending resented by its great apostle, Hogarth,
her, Meleager slays the two men. When and by Gillray, Cruikshank, and many
Althæa hears that Meleager has slain her lesser men in France, Spain, and Italy,
brothers for love of Atalanta, she throws England, and America; and in all times
the half-burned brand upon the fire, where and all countries, women and matrimony,
it burns out, and with it his life. The dress and servants, chiefly occupy the
feast becomes a funeral. Althæa dies of artist's pencil. When this volume was
sorrow, but Meleager has preceded her; published, the delightful Du Maurier
his last look being for the beautiful Ata- had not reached a prominent place on
lanta, whose kiss he craves at parting, Punch, and the American comic papers,
ere the night sets in, the night in which Life, Puck, and the rest, were not born;
«shall no man gather fruit. )
but English caricature of the present


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
123
century is treated at great length. The painter when he landed at Yokohama.
book opens with a picture of two (Pigmy He erects a series of brilliant toriis or
Pugilists) from a wall in Pompeii, and gateways (literally bird-perches of the
closes with a sentimental street Arab of gods), the reader getting the most ex-
Woolf exactly like those which for twenty quisite glimpses of life and art in the
years after he continued to draw. The (land of inversion," where art is a com-
volume is not only amusing, but most mon possession. " Like the shrines to
instructive as a compendium of social which they lead, the letters are enriched
history.
with elaborate carving and delicate de-
Art in Ancient Egypt, A History of, signs. But unlike the actual toriis, they
from the French of Georges Perrot
do not of necessity point out any place,
and Charles Chipiez; translated and edited pleased rather with some tone of medi-
by Walter Armstrong. 2 vols. , 1883. —
tation slipping in between the beauty
Art in Chaldea and Assyria. 2 vols. , 1884.
coming and the beauty gone. ”
Or they
- Art in Phænicia and its Dependencies.
serve as a frame to a “torrent rushing
2 vols. , 1885. - Art in Sardinia, Judæa,
down in a groove of granite » between
two rows of dark cryptomeria,” or a
and Asia Minor. 2 vols. , 1890. — Art in
Persia. I vol. , 1892. — Art in Phrygia, garden or a sunset: "a rosy bloom, pink
Lydia, Caria, and Lycia. I vol. , 1892. —
as the clouds themselves, filled the entire
Art in Primitive Greece. 3 vols. , 1894.
air, near and far, toward the light.
) The
This entire series not only constitutes
idealist easily passes to the effect of the
a monumental contribution to the history the book is toward a purer art; but it
moral atmosphere.
The whole drift of
of art in its earlier and more remote
contains much lively matter, accounts
fields, but serves most admirably the
purpose of a realistic recovery of the
of the butterfly dance in the temple of
almost lost histories of the eastern ori-
the Green Lotus, and of fishing with
ginators of human culture.
Perrot as
trained cormorants. A thread runs through
author of all the narratives, and Chipiez
the letters, tracing the character and pro-
as the maker of all the drawings and de-
gress of the usurping Tokugawa family,
from the cradle of their fisherman an-
signs, have together put upon the printed
and pictured page a conscientious and
cestors to the graves of the great shogun
minutely accurate history, fully abreast of
and his grandson in the Holy Mountain
of Nikko. In Nikko the interest culmi-
the most recent research, - French, Eng-
lish, German, and American,- and sup-
nates: there was written the chapter on
plying revelations of the life, the worship,
Tao, serene as the peculiar philosophy it
the beliefs, the industries, and the social
diffuses, and perhaps the best part of the
customs of the whole eastern group of
book, which sets forth the most seri-
ous convictions on universal as well as
lands, from Egypt and Babylonia to
Greece.
Yet the letters were writ-
Although the necessarily high Japanese art.
cost of the magnificent volumes (about
ten without thought of publication or
$7 each) may be a bar to wide circula-
final gathering into this unique volume,
tion of the work, the extent to which it
with its various addenda and the “grass
is available in libraries permits access to
characters » of its dedicatory remarks
its treasures of story and illustration by peeping out irregularly, like the “lichens
the great mass of studious readers.
and mosses and small things of the for-
est ” that “grow up to the very edges of
Artis
rtist's Letters from Japan, An, by the carvings and lacquers. ”
John La Farge. « The pale purple
even melts around my flight » ran the
Art
rt of Japan, The ("L'Art Japonais),
author's telegram at the moment of turn- by Louis Gonse. This standard work,
ing his face toward those islands where, published in 1886, treats successively of
as he afterwards wrote from Nikko, “every- painting, architecture, sculpture, decora-
thing exists for the painter's delight. ” tive work in metal, lacquer, weaving,
And the telegram struck the keynote embroidery, porcelain, pottery, and en-
of the journey; for it is atmosphere, graving. It points out the unity and har-
even more than varied information, that mony of all artistic production in a country
renders these letters remarkable. The where no distinction is made between the
wonderful whiteness, the “silvery milki- minor and the fine arts, where even hand-
ness,” of the atmosphere was the first writing - done with the most delicat of
«absorbingly new thing » that struck the implements, the brush — is an art within
»
))


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124
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
-
an art, and where perfect equipment im- Nicholas Udall rose in the Church,
plies a universality of aptitudes. But reaching the dignity of canon of Wind-
painting is the key to the entire art, and sor, he is chiefly remembered as the au-
the book dwells upon all that is indige-
thor of this comedy.
nous or not due to Chinese influence. It Roisterer is an old word for swaggerer
traces the development of the parallel or boaster; and the hero of this little
schools of painting: the Tosa, dependent five-act comedy is a good-natured fellow,
on the fortunes of the imperial family, fond of boasting of his achievements,
and the Kano, following Chinese tradition especially what he has accomplished or
and supported by the shogunate. The might accomplish in love.
The play
shrines of Nikko are regarded as the cul- concerns itself with his rather imperti-
minating point of architecture and paint-
nent suit to Dame Christian Custance,
ing: there is nothing in the modern Tokio (a widow with a thousand pound, who
to compare with them. Many pages are is already the betrothed of Gavin Good-
devoted to Hokusai; long disdained by
luck. But as Gavin, a thrifty merchant,
his countrymen, but now become so im- is away at sea, Raiph Roister Doister
portant that a painting with his signature sees no reason why he should not try
is the white blackbird of European and
his luck. His confidant is Matthew Mer-
Japanese curiosity. Kiosai, who was fifty- | rygreek, a needy humorist, who under-
two at the time of writing, is commended takes to be a go-between and gain the
for his resistance to European influence. widow's good-will for Ralph. He tries
Among the abundant illustrations, sev- to get some influence over the servants
eral examples of colored prints are given, of Custance; and there is a witty scene
as well as reproductions of bronzes and with the three maids,- Madge Mumble-
lacquer. Still more interesting is the re- crust, Tibet Talkapace, and Annot All-
production - a bronze nine feet in height, face. The servants of Ralph - Harpax
now in Paris - of the colossal Buddha and Dobinet Doughty — have a consider-
of Nara, the largest statue ever cast in able part in the play, and the latter com-
bronze. Throughout the book all materi- plains rather bitterly that he has to run
als and processes are clearly explained. about so much in the interests of his
The method of casting is the same as in master's flirtations.
Europe, the perfection of the workman- Dame Custance, though surprised at
ship constituting the only difference. The the presumption of Ralph and his
best ivory is of a milky transparency,–
friend, at length consents to read a let-
the reader is warned against netzkes that ter which he has sent her, or rather to
have been treated with tea to make them have it read to her by Matthew Merry-
look old. Cherry-wood lends itself to the greek. The latter, by mischievously al-
most minute requirements of the engraver. tering the punctuation, makes the letter
A Japanese connoisseur could judge the seem the reverse of what had been in-
æsthetic value of a piece of lacquer by the tended. Ralph is ready to kill the
quality of the materials alone. The eti- scrivener who had indited the letter for
quette, significance, and wonderful tem- him, until the poor man, by reading it
per of the Japanese blade are discussed, aloud himself, proves his integrity.
and the deterioration of art since the While Dame Custance has no intention
revolution of 1868 lamented. In the first of accepting Ralph, his suit makes
chapter several compliments are paid to trouble between her and Gavin Good-
the researches and practical good sense luck, whose friend Sim Suresby, reports
of the Americans and nglish.
that the widow is listening to other
suitors. There is much amusing re-
Ralph Roister Doister, by Nicholas partee, several funny scenes, and in the
Udall, was the first English comedy, end all ends well.
although not printed until 1556, and prob-
ably written about 1541. At this time
Gam
ammer Gurton's Needle, by John
Nicholas Udall, its author, was head-
Still, supposed to have been the
master of Eton school; and the comedy first play acted at an English university,
was written for the schoolboys, whose is also one of the two or three earliest
custom it was to act a Latin play at the comedies in our language. In 1575, nine
Christmas season. An English play years after it was staged at Christ's Col-
was an innovation, but Ralph Roister lege, Cambridge, it made its appearance
Doister) was very successful; and though in print. The plot is very simple.
An


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
125
W
old woman, Gammer Gurton, while mend-
ing the breeches of her servant Hodge,
loses her needle. The loss of an article
so valuable in those days not only wor-
ries her, but throws the whole household
into confusion. Tib, her maid, and Cock,
her servant boy, join in the search.
Presently Diccon the Bedlam appears,
a kind of wandering buffoon, who per-
suades Gammer Gurton that her gossip,
or friend, Dame Chat, has taken the
needle. Out of this false accusation arise
all kinds of complications, and the whole
village shares in the excitement. Dame
Chat, and her maid Doll, Master Baily
and his servant Scapethrift, and Dr.
Rat the curate, are brought into the
discussion. In the end, as Diccon is be-
laboring Hodge with his hand, the lat-
ter is made painfully aware of the fact
that the needle has been left by Gam-
mer Gurton sticking in the back of his
breeches. Broad jokes, extravagant lan-
guage, and situations depending for their
fun on the discomfiture of one or an-
other of the actors, gave this play great
popularity in its day. Readers of the
present time who penetrate behind its
quaint and uncouth language will find
in it an interesting picture of sixteenth-
century village life.
When John Still, after taking many
university honors, rose by the usual
process of church preferment to be
Bishop of Bath and Wells, he may have
regretted this literary production of his
youth. For although he was only twenty-
three when this little comedy was acted
in 1566, had he pictured himself as a
future bishop he would probably have
omitted from it some of its broader wit-
ticisms.
the writer to find the man. He endeav-
ors to explain the work by the character
of the author, his early training, his health,
his idiosyncrasies, and above all, by his
environment. The Causeries) were first
published as feuilletons 'in the papers.
They may be divided into two distinct
classes: those written before, and those
written after, the Restoration. In the
former there is more fondness for polem-
ics than pure literary purpose; but they
represent the most brilliant period in
Sainte-Beuve's literary career. After the
Restoration, his method changes: there
are no polemics; however little sympathy
the critic may have with the works of
such writers as De Maistre, Lamartine,
or Béranger, he analyzes their lives solely
for the purpose of finding the source of
their ideas. The most curious portion of
the Causeries) is that in which he dis.
cusses his contemporaries. He seems in
his latter period to be desirous of refut-
ing his earlier positions. Where he had
been indulgent to excess, he is now ex
tremely severe. Châteaubriand, Lamar-
tine, and Béranger, who were once his
idols, are relegated to a very inferior
place in literature. Perhaps there is noth-
ing more characteristic of Sainte-Beuve
than the sweetness and delicacy with
which he slays an obnoxious brother
craftsman. In the tender regretfulness
which he displays in assassinating Gau-
tier or Hugo, he follows the direction of
Izaak Walton with regard to the gentle
treatment of the worm. Many lists of the
most valuable of the Causeries) have
been made; but as they all differ, it is
safe to say that none of Sainte-Beuve's
criticisms is without a high value.
a
Causeries du Lundi, by Sainte-Beuve.
Every prominent name in French
literature, from Villehardouin and Join-
ville to Baudelaire and Halévy, is ex-
haustively discussed in the (Causeries) of
Sainte-Beuve, in his own day the great-
est critic of the nineteenth century. The
author sometimes discusses foreign litera-
ture; his articles on Dante, Goethe, Gib-
bon, and Franklin being excellent. What
is most original in Sainte-Beuve is lis
point of view. Before his time, critics
considered only the work of an author.
Sainte-Beuve widened the scope of criti-
cism by inventing what has been called
«biographical criticism. ) In the most
skillful and delicate manner, he dissects
Diversions of Purley, The, by John
Horne (Tooke). The author, a po-
litical writer and grammarian, was
supporter of Wilkes, whom he aided in
founding a Society for supporting the
Bill of Rights, 1769. Starting a subscrip-
tion for the widows and orphans of the
Americans (murdered by the king's troops
at Lexington and Concord,” he was tried
and found guilty of libel and sentenced
a year's imprisonment. While in
prison he began to write (The Diver-
sions of Purley,' — so called from the
country-seat of William Tooke, who
made the author his heir, and whose
name Horne added to his own.
The work is a treatise on etymology:
the author contending that in all lan-
to
(


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126
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
source
guages there are but two sorts of words
necessary for the communication of F. Max Müller. 5 vols. A collection
thought, viz. , nouns and verbs; that all of special studies incidental to the au-
the other so-called parts of speech are thor's editing of a library of the Sacred
but abbreviations of these, and are the Books of the East. The several volumes
wheels of the vehicle language. ”
cover various fields, as follows: (1) the
He asserts also that there are no inde- Science of Religion; (2) Mythology, Tra-
finable words, but that every word, in all ditions, and Customs; (3) Literature, Bi-
languages, has a meaning of its own. To ography, and Antiquities; (4) chiefly the
prove this, he traces many conjunctions, Science of Language; (5) Miscellaneous
prepositions, adverbs, etc. , back to their and later topics. Although they are coc-
as comparisons or contractions; casional » work, their wealth of material
accounting for their present form by the and thoroughness of treatment, and the
assertion that “abbreviation and corrup- importance of the views presented, give
tion are always busiest with the words them not only interest but permanent
most frequently in use; letters, like sol- value. On many of the points treated,
diers, being very apt to desert and drop discussion is still open, and some of the
off in a long march. ”
views advanced by Professor Müller may
Throughout the work, the author con- come into doubt; but his contributions
stantly refers to his imprisonment and to a great study will not soon lose their
trial, introducing sentences for dissection value.
which express his political opinions, and
words to be treated etymologically which Colloquies of Erasmus, The.
, This
describe the moral or physical defects of work, a collection of dialogues in
his enemies.
Latin, was first published in 1521, and
over 24,000 copies were sold in a short
Bayle's Dictionary, Historical and time. No book of the sixteenth and sev-
Critical, by Pierre Bayle. (1697. enteenth centuries has had so many edi-
Second edition in 1702. ) A work of the tions, and it has been frequently reprinted
boldest «new-departure ) character, by and retranslated down to the present
one of the master spirits of new knowl- day,—though it is now perhaps more
edge and free thought two hundred years quoted than read. The Colloquies, gen-
since. Its author had filled various uni- erally ridicule some new folly of the
versity positions from 1675 to 1693, and age, or discuss some point of theology;
had been ejected at the latter date from or inflict some innocent little vengeance
the chair of philosophy and history at on an opponent, who is made to play the
Rotterdam on account of his bold dealing part of a buffoon in the drama, while
with Maimbourg's History of Calvinism. ) the sentiments of Erasmus are put in the
From 1684 for several years he had pub- mouth of a personage with a fine Greek
lished with great success a kind of journal name and with any amount of wisdom
of literary criticism, entitled Nouvelles and sarcasm. Few works have exercised
de la République des Lettres. It was the a greater and more fruitful influence
first thoroughly successful attempt to pop- on their age than these little dialogues.
ularize literature. Bayle was essentially They developed and reduced to form
a modern journalist, whose extensive and the principles of free thought that owed
curious information, fluent style, and lit- their birth to the contentions of religious
erary breadth, made him, and still make parties; for those who read nothing
him, very interesting reading. He was a else of the author's were sure to read
skeptic on many subjects, not so much the "Colloquies. Their very modera-
from any skeptical system as from his tion, however, gave offense in all quar-
large knowledge and his broadly modern ters: to the followers of Luther as well
spirit. His Dictionary is a masterpiece as to those of the ancient Church. They
of fresh criticism, of inquiry conducted manifest the utmost contempt for ex-
with great literary skill, and of eman- cess of every sort, and their moderation
cipation of the human mind from the and prudent self-restraint were alien
bonds of authority. Its influence on the to the spirit of the time. Erasmus shows
thought of the eighteenth century was himself much more concerned about the
profound, and the student of culture may fate of Greek letters than he does about
still profitably consult its stores of infor- religious changes. He has been styled
mation.
(The Voltaire of the Renaissance); and


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
127
certainly his caustic vivacity, and his Writers, both Divine and Human; as
delicate, artistic irony and mockery, en- also out of the Great Volume of Men's
title him to the distinction. The Latin Manners; tending to the furtherance of
of the Colloquies) is not always strictly Knowledge and Virtue. By John Rob-
Ciceronian, but it is something better,- inson. (1624. ) A volume of sixty-two
it has all the naturalness of a spoken lan- essays, on the plan of Bacon's, but at
guage; and this it is that made them greater length, and in ethical, religious,
so popular in their day- to the great re- and human interest more like Emer-
gret of Erasmus, who complains of the son's Essays) in our own time: the
«freak of fortune that leads the public work of an English clergyman and
to believe «a book full of nonsense, bad scholar, in exile at Leyden in Holland,
Latin, and solecisms,” to be his best work. under whose ministry and through whose
counsel the Pilgrim Fathers developed
Choice of Books, The, and other Lit-
religious liberalism and executed the
erary Pieces, by Frederic Harrison.
earliest planting of New England. He
(1886. ) The title essay of this volume
was the Joshua of the religious exodus
is a discourse on Reading, its benefits
from England.
and its perils. In the first section, How
Montaigne's use of the word had sug-
to Read,' an eloquent plea is made for
gested to Bacon the use of the term
the right of rejection; for the avoidance
"essays » to designate certain brief
of books that one comes across, and
notes, set down rather significantly than
even of the habit of one-sided reading.
curiously. ” The earliest "Bacon's Es.
The essayist pleads that the choice of
books (is really a choice of education,
says, published in 1597, was
a little
book of ten short essays, in barely twelve
of a moral and intellectual ideal, of the
whole duty of man. ”
pages (of a recent standard edition).
He warns read-
The second enlarged edition, in 1612,
ers that pleasure in the reading of great
books is a faculty to be acquired, not
was only thirty-eight essays in sixty-four
a natural gift, - at least not to those
pages. The final edition, 1625, had fifty-
who are spoiled by our current education
two essays in two hundred pages. As
and habits of life. And he offers as a
pastor Robinson died in March 1624, he
touchstone of taste and energy of mind,
cannot have seen any but the second edi-
tion. To note his relation to Bacon's
the names of certain immortal books,
work, he called his book New Essays. )
which if one have no stomach for, he
should fall on his knees and pray for a
He doubtless thereby indicated also his
consciousness that his views were of new
cleaner and quieter spirit. The second
departure. He was in fact an initiator
division is given to the Poets of the
of new liberty and liberality in religion,
Old World, the third to the Poets of
the Modern World, and the last to the
new breadth and charity and freedom in
church matters, and new democracy in
(Misuse of Books. The essay is full of
instruction and of warning, most agree-
political and social order, on grounds of
ably offered; and the penitent reader con-
reason and humanity.
In the preface to his New Essays,'
cludes with the writer, that the art of
printing has not been a gift wholly un-
pastor Robinson says that he has had
first and most regard to the Holy Script-
mixed with evil, and may easily be made
ures; next, to the memorable sayings
a clog on the progress of the human
of wise and learned men; and lastly, “to
mind. An extract is given in the Li-
the great Volume of Men's Manners
BRARY, under Mr. Harrison's name; and
which I have diligently observed, and
the other side of the shield is shown
in Mr. Arthur J. Balfour's answer, also
from them gathered no small part there-
of. » He adds that “this kind of medi-
given under his name. Fourteen other
tation and study hath been unto me full
essays, partly critical, partly historical,
partly æsthetic, fill the volume; the ablest
sweet and delightful, and that wherein I
and one of the most delightful among
have often refreshed my soul and spirit
them being perhaps the famous paper,
amidst many sad and sorrowful thoughts
unto which God hath called me. ) The
(A Few Words about the Eighteenth Cen-
tury.
study of human nature, the sweetness
of spirit, and the scholarly eye to the
New Essays: Observations, Divine world's best literature, mark
and Moral, collected out of the mind, a prophet of culture in church and
Holy Scriptures, Ancient and Modern commonwealth.
a
rare


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128
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Hours
ours in a Library, by Leslie Stephen. of existing knowledge, in a field the most
(Vol. i. , 1878. Vols. ii. , iii. , 1892. ) difficult ever attempted by research, Fara-
These agreeable volumes are made up day showed a genius, and achieved a suc-
almost entirely of papers on writers and cess, marking him as a thinker not less
books of the eighteenth and nineteenth than an observer of the first order. In
centuries: Defoe's Novels, Richardson's strength and sureness of imagination,
Novels, Balzac's Novels, Fielding's and penetrating the secrets of force in nature,
Disraeli's Novels, Pope as a Moralist, and putting the finger of exact demonstra-
Hawthorne, De Quincey, George Eliot, tion upon them, he was a Shakespeare of
Charlotte Bronté, Dr. Johnson, Landor, research, the story of whose work has a
- these, and three times as many equally permanent interest. He made electricity,
illustrious names, show the range of Mr. in one of its manifestations, explain mag-
Stephen's reflections. He has no theory netism. He showed to demonstration
of the growth of literature to support, that chemical action is purely electrical,
like Taine, for example; and so he en- and that to electricity the atoms of mat-
joys what the Yankee calls a "good ter owe those properties which constitute
time," as he moves with careless but as- them elements in nature. In language
sured step whither he will through the of lofty prophetic conception he more than
field of letters. He is very sensible and suggested that the physical secret of liv-
clear-headed; he knows why one should ing things, the animal and the plant, is
dislike or admire any given book; and he electrical. He particularly dwelt on the
gives his reason in simple, direct, and amount of electricity forming the charge
easy speech, as if he were seated in his carried by the oxygen of the air, which
library arm-chair after a comfortable din- is the active agent in combustion and the
ner, an amiable Rhadamanthus, discours- supporter of life in both animals and
ing with a true urbanity upon the merits plants, and only stopped short of defi.
of his friends. He is unflaggingly agree- nitely pronouncing vitality electrical. He
able, often extremely clever, not seldom urged very strongly as a belief, to which
witty, and always well-bred and sensible. no test of experiment could be applied,
He admires Pope, and sets him among that gravitation is by electrical agency,
the great poets, affirming that he is the and that in fact the last word of discovery
incarnation of the literary spirit, with and demonstration in physics will show
his wit, his satirical keenness, his intel- that electricity is the universal agency in
lectual curiosity, and his brilliant art of nature. And among his far-reaching
putting things. In the paper on Haw- applications of thought guided by new
thorne, the essayist makes the subtle knowledge, was his rejection of the idea
suggestion that it was better that that of action at a distance,” in the manner of
delicate genius should have been reared «attraction. If a body is moved, it is
in America, because the more affluent not by a mysterious pull, but by a push.
and romantic environment of Europe The moving force carries it. These ideas
might have dominated his gift.
The es-
outran the power of science to immedi-
say on De Quincey has been called the ately understand and accept. But Max-
best estimate of that extraordinary per- well, Hertz, and Helmholtz have led the
sonality ever made.
But the papers on
way after Faraday, to the extent that his
Macaulay and on George Eliot are hardly electrical explanation of light is now fully
less admirable, a judgment which might accepted. Fifteen years after his death,
fairly include most of the papers.
the greatest of his successors in physics,
Helmholtz of Berlin, said in a « Faraday
Electricity, Experimental Researches Lecture ) in London, that the later ad-
in, by Michael Faraday. (3 vols. , vances in electrical science had more than
1839-1855. ) A monumental work in the confirmed Faraday's conclusions, and that
literature of science; not merely record- English science had made a mistake in
ing the results of experiment in what not accepting them as its point of depart-
Tyndall called “a career of discovery un- ure for new research. To the same effect
paralleled in the history of pure experi- President Armstrong of the Chemical
mental science,” but enriching the record Society, to which Helmholtz spoke, has
with thoughts, and clothing it in many recently declared his conviction that Fara-
passages in a style worthy of exceptional day's explanation of chemical action as
recognition. In devising and executing electrically caused should have been ac-
experiments for passing beyond the limits cepted long since.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
I 29
In delicacy of character as well as
rugged strength, in warmth and purity of
emotion, in grace, earnestness, and refine-
ment of manner, in the magnetism of his
presence, and in masterly clearness in
explanation, especially to his Christmas
audiences of children (annual courses of
six lectures), Faraday was as remarkable
as he was in intellectual power and in
discoveries. He was connected with the
Royal Institution for fifty-five years, first
as Sir Humphrey Davy's assistant, 1812-
29, and then as his successor, 1829-67.
Evolutional Ethics and Animal Psy:
chology, by E. P. Evans. (1897. )
An exceedingly readable book on the or-
igin of ideas of right and wrong through
evolutionary development of mind, and
the approach made by the lower animals
to possession of such ideas through a de-
gree of mental development like that of
The author seeks to trace the ear-
liest ethical ideas in human society, the
working of such ideas in tribal society,
and the influence of religious beliefs in
modifying ethical laws of conduct. He
discusses also man's ethical relation to
the animals below him, and devotes the
last chapter of his first part to a consider-
ation of the doctrine of metempsychosis,
or change of the animal form of souls in
successive states of existence.
The sec-
ond part of the work treats of mental de.
velopment in the lower animals compared
with that in man; considers how far they
can form ideas, and their disadvantage
with us in lacking the power of speech;
and urges the rights of animals as subor-
dinate only to the rights of our fellow-
variations may be estimated, and throws
much light on the kindred languages of
Germany. The Gothic version contains a
number of words borrowed from Finnish,
Burgundian, Slavic, Dacian, and other
barbarous languages; but those taken
from the Greek far exceed all others.