No More Learning

Norris so success-
others. A few weeks after, Mrs. O'Dell ful a novelist. He sees life from the
in telling of her good luck says: “Good- point of view of the man of the world,
ness help you lad, sez I, and what at all but without cynicism or superciliousness.
will you be doin' wid only a dark wife His personages are lifelike, his dialogue
to keep house for you? And sez he to is always good and often brilliant, his
me, Bedad ma'am, I'll tell you that aisy, story comes from the natural evolution
if you'll tell me what I'm to do widout of his characters, his insight into human
for me soul to the saints, if I know, nature is keen, he is often witty and al-
be any manner of manes. ) »
ways humorous. In no
an imi-
tator, Mr. Norris's style and manner
Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs.
remind one of Thackeray, chiefly per-
Aleshine, The, by Frank R. Stock-
haps in the ease with which each artist
ton. This chronicle sets forth the curious
handles his material.
experiences of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Ale-
shine; two middle-aged widows, from a
little New England village, who, having Heart of Midlothian, The, by Sir
Walter Scott. "The Heart of Mid-
«means," decide to see the world and
lothian,' by many called the finest of the
pay a visit to the son of one of them,
Waverley novels, was published anony-
who has gone into business in Japan.
mously in 1818. It takes its name
On the steamer crossing the Pacific they
from the Tolbooth or old jail of Edin-
meet a young Mr. Craig, who tells the
story. The two ladies and Mr. Craig are
burgh (pulled down in 1815), where
Scott imagined Effie Deans, his heroine,
cast away in most preposterous circum-
to have been imprisoned. The charge
stances, on a lonely isle in mid-ocean.
against her is child murder, from which
Many of the scenes, like the escape from
she is unable to clear herself. Her half-
drowning of the two widows, are of the
sister Jeanie, though loving her devot-
very essence of true humor, of a gro-
edly, on the witness stand cannot tell
tesque form; and the story-teller's inven-
But
tion never once flags. The tale presents,
the lie which might save Effie.
when sentence of death is pronounced
intentionally of course, neither evolution
nor climax, but only a succession of the
on the unhappy girl, Jeanie shows the
oddest incidents. It is a good example
depth of her affection by going on foot
of Stockton's unique method of story-tell-
to London to get a pardon from the
King, through the influence of John,
ing – the matter extremely absurd and
Duke of Argyle. The latter obtains an
the manner extremely grave, the narra-
interview for her with Queen Caroline
tive becoming more and more matter-of-
and Lady Suffolk, and though at first the
fact and minutely realistic, as the events
case seems hopeless enough, she procures
themselves grow more and more incred-
the pardon. Before Jeanie has reached
ible.
home, Effie (whose pardon carried with
He
eaps of Money, by W. E. Norris, it banishment from Scotland) has eloped
1877, was the earliest of that clever with George Staunton, her lover. The
author's stories, and won instant favor sisters who had last met when Effie was
from competent critics. The heroine, sitting on the bench of the condemned,
Linda Howard, an earl's granddaughter, do not meet again for many years, when
spends her young life wandering about Effie reappears as Lady Staunton, a
the Continent with her somewhat dis- woman of fashion. Her husband has
reputable father, who ekes out a slender succeeded to a title, and no one but her


## p. 153 (#189) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
153
ness
success.
sister knows her as the former Effie labyrinth of events; but the interest lies
Deans. By a strange combination of cir- in the development of character under
cumstances, Jeanie, now married to a conditions supplied by an untried en-
Presbyterian minister, learns that Effie's vironment. The scope of the book is
son is alive. He had been given by wide and the detail extremely minute.
Meg Murdockson, who attended Effie in
her illness, to an unscrupulous woman. His Father's Son, published in 1896,
Sir George Staunton, on learning these
by James Brander Matthews, is a
facts, anxious to discover his son, traces
novel dealing with the latter-day aspects
him to a certain troop of vagabonds, of
of Wall Street speculation, the social
which Black Donald is chief. In an af-
influences directly or indirectly traceable
fray growing out of the effort to arrest
to the spirit of respectable gambling. A
Black Donald, Sir George is shot by a
stern father of Puritan stock, uncom-
young lad called “the Whistler,) who
promisingly orthodox, even harshly just
to himself and others, in all other mat-
later proved to be the lost son. Lady
ters but those associated with deals in
Staunton, overcome by the tragedy, after
futures and in the stock market gener-
vain efforts to drown her grief in so-
ciety retires to a convent in France.
ally, has a son who inherits from his
Although she takes no vows, she remains
mother a disposition facile, impression-
there until her death. Her influence at
able, morbidly sensitive to moral ques-
court accomplishes much for the child-
tions, and devoid of the iron strength of
ren of her sister Jeanie. The husband
will that has produced his father's busi-
of the latter, Reuben Butler, has been
The son, gradually dis-
given a good parish by the Duke of Ar-
covering his father's inability to see or
gyle, whom Jeanie Deans's heroism had
confess any moral lapse or dishonesty
in business methods that trade upon un-
made a friend for life.
(The Heart of Midlothian) is notable
certainty and just cleverly evade legal
for having fewer characters than any
responsibility, gradually disintegrates
others of Scott's novels. It has also a
throughout morally and goes to ruin.
smaller variety of incidents, and less de-
The stress and stir of a great city mir-
scription of scenery. One of the most
rors itself here, as in Mr. Matthews's
other efforts in fiction,– (The Story of a
remarkable scenes in all fiction is the
meeting of the two sisters in prison un-
Story and Other Stories ); Vignettes of
Manhattan); and (Tom Paulding,' an
der the eyes of the jailer Ratcliffe.
The plot was suggested to Scott by
excellent boys' tale, full of interest for
the story of Helen Walker, who unable
younger readers.
to tell a lie to save a sister's life, really | His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke.
walked barefoot to London, and secured This thrilling tale, which was pub-
a pardon by the help of John, Duke of lished in 1876, sets forth the working
Argyle.
and results of the English system of
transportation. It is the story of a con-
Dr. Sevier, by George W. Cable (1882), vict in Australia. It opens in England.
is one of the author's group of stories In 1827 Lady Devine confesses to her
of life in New Orleans. The time of the husband that he is not the father of her
action is just before the war, when the son, now 22 years old, who is the child
city was at the height of its prosperity.
of Lord Bellasis. Her husband agrees
Dr. Sevier, the brusque, laconic, skillful, to keep her secret if her son Richard
kind-hearted physician, is less the central quits the house forever. Richard is sup-
figure than his young beneficiary, John posed to sail for India in a ship which
Richling, the son of a rich planter, who is burned, with all on board; but in
having estranged his family by marrying reality, on leaving the house he stum-
a Northern girl, has come to the me- bles over the dead body of Bellasis, is
tropolis of the South to earn his living. discovered beside it, accused of the mur-
The struggle of the Richlings, unequipped der, and transported to Australia, where
for the battle of life, against poverty
he suffers tortures as a convict, escapes,
and sickness, forms the plot of the story, and is recaptured several times. During
which is glowing with local color and one of these escapes he saves the life of
filled with personages peculiar to the Lieutenant Frere and Sylvia Vickers,
place and time. T is no plot in the set on shore by mutineers to die. Once
sense of a complicated play of forces, or in safety, Frere takes all the credit to


## p. 154 (#190) ############################################

154
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
now
himself; and Rufus Dawes, as Richard
is
called, is again imprisoned.
Sylvia, recovering from fever, forgets
everything, and marries Frere, believing
him her savior. Rex, a fellow-convict,
discovers Dawes's identity, escapes to
England, impersonates him, and enjoys
his wealth, Sir Richard having died
before he could disinherit him. Lady
Devine discovers the imposture, and tells
him that Richard was son of Bellasis
and heir to nothing. He confesses that
he too was the son of Bellasis, and com-
mitted the murder for which Richard
suffers. Sylvia learns to know her hus-
band's cruel nature, and sails for Eng-
land. Richard escapes, secretes himself
on board the same ship; a storm arises;
he tries to save her, but they perish to-
gether.
after graduating from the medical school,
becomes a struggling doctor. McGregor,
visiting his nephews, is shocked by what
he hears of Thirlmore's church, and is
charmed with Trent's little daughter
Jean, who reminds him of his idolized
sister of the same name. He alters his
will, in which he had bequeathed his
wealth to the prosperous minister, and
transfers his property to Trent to be
held in trust for Jean. At his death,
Trent's family acquire the comforts so
long denied them. Thirlmore's church
breaking up soon afterwards on account
of financial difficulties, he retires with
his wife to the Vermont farm, there to
pass the remainder of his days. The
chief motive of the book seems to be
a study in heredity, and a certain re-
pulsion exercised upon each other by
relatives through the very characteris-
ties which they derive from their com-
mon ancestry.
His
is Majesty Myself, by W. M. Baker.
This clever and striking story was
originally published in the No Name)
series in 1879. It attracted unusual at-
tention, partly because it was supposed
to portray the character of a preacher
who was at the time making a sensa-
tion by his somewhat extravagant meth-
ods of preaching. Donald McGregor,
arriving in New York a poor Scotch
immigrant, prospers by industrious at-
tention to business, and sends home for
his two sisters, Elspeth and Jean. Jean,
his favorite, marries Stephen Trent, a
planter, who takes her to his South-
ern home. Elspeth soon after marries
Mr. Thirlmore, a Vermont farmer, who
shortly dies, leaving her a widow with
one son; and McGregor, selling his city
business, settles down on the farm with
her. Mrs. Trent also has a son about
the same age as her sister's, who is
left an orphan at the age of sixteen,
and is taken by his uncle to his North-
ern home.
The two cousins develop
opposite characteristics: Trent is emo-
tional and sensitive, while Thirlmore is
dull, undemonstrative, self-seeking, and
obstinate. The cousins prepare for and
enter college together, at Old Orange.
After their graduation they meet and
marry two sisters, Peace and Revel Van-
dyke. Thirlmore, whose sole aim is self-
advancement, enters the ministry; and
being called to the city, builds up a
large parish, attracting audiences, appar-
ently by his utter lack of reference to
the Bible in sermons, nd by
discourses on popular matters. Trent,
Hon.
on, Peter Sterling, The, by Paul Lei-
cester Ford (1896), is a distinctly
American novel. As a political story, it
shows a grasp on municipal politics; and
as a novel, insight into the human heart.
It introduces its hero as a Harvard stu-
dent in the early seventies. His father
has been a mill overseer, and Peter does
not belong to the fashionable New York
set, to which he is admitted through a
favor which he has done by chance for
Watts d'Alloi, its leader and the hand-
somest man in his class. In spite of
striking differences in character and cir-
cumstances, the two become firm friends.
Soon after his graduation, Peter falls in
love; but when he is refused, persuades
himself to be the cheerful best man at
the lady's wedding. He begins to prac-
tice law in New York, gains clients
slowly, becomes favorite with his
neighbors, and enters politics, becoming
in time a (boss. ) But Peter is a boss »
with clean hands and a pure heart, and
the aim of the author is to show what
might be accomplished in politics by
men of this high stamp. Nor in his
new employment does Peter neglect his
profession. On the contrary, he rises to
great dignity and a large income. The
character of Peter Sterling is finely
drawn, and many of the minor actors in
the story are true to life: Miss De Voe,
Ray Rivington, Dorothy Ogden, Bohl-
man the brewer, Dummer his attorney,
and the various politicians in whom
a


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
155
to
on
many persons will recognize real por- | Lºv
ove and Quiet Life, by Walter Ray-
.
mond. The scene of this pleasing
story is laid in the little village of Sut-
Roman
oman Singer, A, by Francis Ma- ton, Somersetshire, in the early part of
rion Crawford. (1884. ) Nino Car- this century. James Burt, a retired cler-
degna, the Roman singer, is the adopted gyman of gentle breeding, leads a life
son of Cornelio Grandi, who tells the of solitude and study, his only compan-
story. Cornelio is the last of the Conti ion being his daughter Marion. A young
Grandi, and has been forced to sell clergyman named Percival is called to
his estate at Serveti and pursue a pro- the parish in the village, and his mod-
fessor's life at Rome. Nino has the ern ideas arouse suspicion in the minds
audacity to fall in love at first sight of the simple villagers, who believe him
with Hedwig, daughter of Count von be a papal emissary in disguise.
Lira. Won by the beautiful tenor voice, During this period of unpopularity he
Hedwig fully returns his love. They is championed by the Burts, and falls in
arouse the suspicions of the father, a love with Marion, who does not recipro-
(cold, hard, narrow man, who secretly cate his affection, but gives her heart to
carries his daughter to an obscure castle a young man named Hensley, who has
in the Abruzzi.
recently come, a stranger, to the village.
Nino searches Paris and London in Hensley's agreeable manners and knowl-
vain for a trace of Hedwig. Meanwhile edge of the world at first appeal to Mr.
his father gets a hint of the probable Burt, as well as to his daughter; but be-
whereabouts of the Liras, and imme- fore long he learns through Percival that
diately starts a search for them. Hensley has led a life of dissipation and
Careful inquiries extract the desired in- is addicted to gambling. He breaks the
formation. He takes up his abode near news to Marion, who confesses her love
the castle, and at last, by enormous for Hensley. Her father then tells her
bribes to a servant, secures an inter- the sad history, which she has never be-
view with Hedwig. From her he learns fore known, of her own mother, who
of her great unhappiness; of her father's ran away from her home with one of
purpose to keep her a prisoner until her husband's trusted friends. Marion,
she consents to marry Benoni, a rich shocked at this disclosure, agrees to give
Jew; and of her own determination up her lover, and prepares to devote her
never to yield.
life to her father. Soon after this Mr.
When Nino arrives he seeks the count, Burt dies, and Marion's thoughts again
and asks for his daughter's hand. He revert to her lover Hensley; but she
is refused, and thereupon determines to finds that he has betrayed a young vil-
take her away without her father's con- lage girl, whom she takes under her pro-
sent, if it is her own wish. Hedwig tection, and relinquishing all thoughts of
succeeds in escaping to Nino by an un- marriage, devotes herself to the care of
used stair and door. On mules that are the woman and her child. Mr. Percival
in readiness they climb the Abruzzi to still loves Marion, and would gladly
points that horses cannot reach. After marry her; but she prefers to live on
being married at a little village in the with the memories of her first and only
mountains, they return to Rome, where love.
there are interesting scenes with the In this story the author has shown
old count, who refuses to be reconciled, himself a faithful student of the West
and with Benoni, who turns out to be Country folk, and he has presented a
insane.
truthful picture of a phase of English
The story ends with the prospective life which he realized to be rapidly pass-
return of Grandi to his old estate at ing away. He has gone straight to na-
Serveti. The charm of this book is ture and to human life for his material,
in its good, healthy romance,
its hon- has searched for the old and quaint, and
est, straightforward love-making with- has presented nothing that he has not
out mawkish sentimentalism. With its found. The work is refreshing, and
strong Italian atmosphere, and its in- characterized by keen penetration, hu-
genious situations following one another mor, and delicacy of touch, and is en-
in quick succession, it carries us quite dowed with rare tenderness. It was first
out of ourselves. The characters are published in 1873. He has since written
strongly and consistently drawn.
the novel (Misterton's Mistake. )


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156
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
Cranford, by Mrs. Gaskell
. Cranford and is sent to a city school to complete
is a village in England (identified her education. Among her suitors is
as Knutsford); and the story of the quaint Murray Bradshaw, a lawyer possessed of
old ladies there-- who scorned the «vul- the secret that under an old will she is
garity of wealth and practiced elegant | likely to come into a large fortune. He
economy)— is told by Mary Smith, a plots to win her, but is balked by Profes-
sympathetic and discerning young person sor Gridley; and she gives her love to
from the neighboring town of Drumble. Clement Lindsay, who joins the army
During her first visits in the village stately and rises to the rank of Colonel. During
Miss Deborah Jenkyns is alive; but the war she goes with him to the front;
afterwards she dies, leaving her gentle and “In the offices of mercy which she
sister Miss Matty to battle with life and performed (in the hospital)
its problems alone. Miss Matty lives the dross of her nature seemed to be
comfortably, and is able to entertain
burned away.
The conflict of mingled
her friends in a genteel way, until the lives in her blood had ceased. ) Dr.
bank fails, and then she is obliged to Holmes's characteristic wit is shown in
keep a little shop and sell tea. In the end many of the shrewd sayings of the kindly
her long-lost brother Peter comes home old Professor and other characters, and
from India with money enough to enable his delightful enthusiasm makes the book
her to live as becomes a rector's daughter. more interesting than most more formally
The other characters are great-hearted constructed novels.
Captain Brown, who is killed by the
train while saving a child's life; Mr. Hol- Myths
Myths of the New World, The. A
brook, Miss Matty's old lover; the Honor-
Treatise the Symbolism and
able Mrs. Jamieson and her sister-in-law Mythology of the Red Race of America.
Lady Glenmire, who afterwards marries By Daniel G. Brinton. (1868. Revised
Mr. Hoggins the doctor; Miss Betty Barker Edition, 1876. ) A work designed more
and her cow, famous for its suit of gray as a study of natural religion than as a
flannel; Miss Pole and Mrs. Forrester. contribution to science. It is offered to
Some of the chapters in Cranford) tell the general reader rather than to the
of old love affairs and old letters, and inquirer into the antiquities of the Red
others of the society and various inci- Race of America. It discusses the Red
dents of village life. It holds its place man's ideas of God; of the origin of
as one of the best stories of its kind. man; of the nature of the soul and its
Mrs. Gaskell was born in 1810; and destiny; of sacred numbers; and of sym-
(Cranford) was first published in 1853. bols of the bird and the serpent: also
the Red Indian myths of creation, of
Gua
uardian Angel, The, by Oliver Wen- the Deluge, of the last day, of water,
dell Holmes. The author says in fire, and the thunder-storm. The Indian
his preface: «I have attempted to show usage of priesthood is explained, and
the successive evolution of some inherited the Indian contribution to universal re-
qualities in the character of Myrtle Haz- i ligion pointed out. The book is, as it
The story opens in 1859 in the was designed to be, a thoughtful study
New England village of Oxbow. Myrtle, of an interesting problem.
a beautiful orphan of fifteen, born in trop-
ical climes, descended from a line of an-
Birds of America, The, the monu-
cestors of widely varying natures, lives mental work of John James Audu-
with an austere and uncongenial aunt, bon, the great American naturalist, was
who fails utterly to control her turbulent, published first in England between the
glowing impulses. Disguised as a boy years 1827 and 1830. It contained col-
she runs away, is rescued from drowning ored illustrations of 1,065 species of birds.
by Clement Lindsay, a handsome young The text of this remarkable book is de-
sculptor, and brought home by Professor scriptive of the habits and manners of
Gridley. An illness follows which leaves the birds observed by Audubon himself
her for a time hysterical, highly impres- in his long wanderings over the North-
sionable, prone to seeing visions, and American continent. Aside from its sci-
taking strong fancies. Thanks to the entific value, it is most interesting be-
watchful care of Professor Gridley (whom cause written throughout with the same
she afterward calls her “Guardian An- enthusiasm which prompted the original
gel ») she emerges safe from this state, investigations of the author.
ard. »


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
157
very wide.
Bird, The ('L'Oiseau”), by Jules Miche- he becomes a cab-horse, a cart-horse, then
let.
In the year 1855 the eminent a cab-horse again, and finally, when he
historian took up the study of natural sci- is utterly broken down by overwork and
ence, as a relief from the too great strain hard treatment, he is bought by a farmer
of continued observation of the course who recognizes his good blood, and nurses
of human events; and in three volumes, him patiently into health again. He is
of which L'Oiseau) is one, he treated then sold to a family of ladies, whose
of non-human nature in a manner sympa- coachman is an old friend, and in whose
thetic and stimulating, but thoroughly stable he passes the rest of his days hap-
imbued with his peculiar ethical and sci- pily. The story is told with simplicity
entific theories. These works partook of and restraint, and without a word of
the exceeding popularity which had met preaching is the best of sermons. Its
his studies in human history; and natur- vogue has been great, and its influence
ally, for they had all the charm of style,
the grace and color and poetic feeling,
which belonged to Michelet, together with
the interest of an entirely novel attitude Agriculture ('Agricultura'), by Teren-
tius Varro. The best work on this
toward the subject presented.
subject that has come down from the an-
(L'Oiseau) is less a treatise on orni- cients. It is divided into three books, pre-
thology than a biography of the bird, ceded by a long preface addressed to Fun-
and as a translator says, “an exposition dania, the author's wife. The first book
of the attractiveness of natural history. ” contains sixty-nine chapters, and treats
It tells the story of bird-life in a de- of agriculture in general: the nature of
lightful, somewhat discursive fashion, as
soils; the places most suitable for a farm;
the story of a being like ourselves. A the attention that ought to be given to
hint of Pantheism, a suggestion of metem- sheepfolds, stables, and cattle-sheds; the
psychosis, a faint foreshadowing of Dar-right kind of casks for wine, oil, etc. ; the
win, infuse the story of the birds as told
necessary domestic animals, including
by Michelet. Through it breathes a ten- the watch-dogs. The author then turns his
der love for nature, a love which strove attention to the cultivation of the vine,
rather to establish a sympathy between of the olive, and of gardens. He desig-
man and his environment than to inform
nates the work of each season, and tells
him concerning it. The author says that when and how seed should be sown, and
he shall try "to reveal the bird as soul,
crops gathered in and preserved. In the
to show that it is a person. The bird, eleven chapters of the second book, Varro
then, a single bird, — that is all my book; speaks of the care and training of beasts,
but the bird in all the variations of its and their profitableness. The third book,
destiny, as it accommodates itself to the consisting of seventeen chapters, is de-
thousand vocations of winged life.
voted to the villaticæ pastiones,- that
What are these? They are your brothers, is, to the care of the poultry-yard, and
embryo souls, — souls especially set apart to hunting, fishing, the keeping of bees,
for certain functions of existence, candi- and the propagation and care of fish.
dates for the more widely harmonic life The book, once a great favorite, now
to which the human soul has attained. ” belongs among the curiosities of litera-
This conception colors the whole treat- ture.
ment of the subject. A translation, with
illustrations by Giacomelli, was published AS
griculture ("L'Agriculture'), a French
in London and New York, 1869, three translation by Clément Mullet of the
years after it first appeared in Paris. Book of Ibn-al-Avvam, written in Arabic,
in the twelfth century. Besides preserv-
Black Beauty, His Grooms and Com. ing a multitude of quotations from lost
panions, by Anna Sewall. This Latin and Greek authors, it gives very
story, written in the form of a horse's auto- | interesting details of the life and domes-
biography, is really a tract on the proper tic economy of the Arabs in Spain. It
treatment of horses. Black Beauty, a enters fully into the administration of
high-bred gentle creature, accustomed to rural property, the interior life of the
kind treatment in a gentleman's stables, household, the treatment of workmen,
has his knees broken by a drunken groom, and the position of the wife. The author
and is so much disfigured that he is sold discusses everything connected with agri-
to the keeper of a livery stable. In turn culture; but is especially instructive on


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158
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
seasons.
aromatic plants, and the different meth- earth there are neither masters nor pu-
ods of distilling perfumes from them. pils, neither justice nor protection. The
We have also an account of the supersti- author begins with general views on
tions that prevailed among the Moors of agriculture and rural economy, and con-
the period in the rural districts.
cludes with a sort of agricultural calendar,
in which he points out the labors to be
Agriculture (L' Agriculture,? ), a didac-
performed according to the order of the
tic poem by Rosset. It is remark-
The work is much consulted
able as being the first georgic poem in
by scholars, who find in it many valuable
the French language. The subjects dwelt
details on important points of Roman civ-
on are fields, vineyards, woods, meadows,
ilization. The style has all the purity
plants, kitchen-gardens, ponds, and Eng-
of the Augustan age.
lish gardens. While it contains some very,
fine descriptive passages, the work on
the whole is cold and monotonous.
Old Story of My Farming (“Ut Mine
Stromtid”), by Fritz Reuter, ap-
peared in Olle Kamellen (1860–64). The
Agriculture and Prices, A History of,
(Stromtid - the best-known novel of
in England from the year after the
the noted Platt-Deutsch humorist -- is
Oxford Parliament (1259) to the com-
mencement of the Continental War (1793).
considered by competent critics to equal
the best productions of our great Eng-
By James E. Thorold Rogers (8 vols. ,
lish humorists, Sterne and Dickens, and
1866-98). A work of immense research
and monumental significance, undertak-
is thoroughly fresh, sound, and hearty
in tone. Its characters are masterpieces
ing to recover aspects of the history of
the people of England which contempo-
of delineation, and have become famil-
iar to readers of many tongues. The
rary records of prices of every kind give
delicious creation of the inspector eme-
the means of knowing. Until this great
work met the want there was a great
ritus, Uncle Zacharias Bräsig, is one of
lack of satisfactory information on prices
the triumphs of modern humor; and it
in mediæval England. It is possible
is not only in the Low German speech
now, through the immense breadth of
that quotations are made from «de lütte
record spread on the printed page by
Mann mit den rötlich Gesicht und de
staatsche rode näs» (the little man with
Professor Rogers, and through his ad-
the reddish face and the stately red
mirable summary of fruits of research,
nose). One of the best portions of the
to study almost every particular of the
lives of the occupants of the soil of Eng-
book is his speech before the Rahnstadt
Reform Club, on the subject, «Whence
land; particulars as to the land, as to
farms and farming, and as to every fact
arises the great poverty in our city ? »
of the daily life of the landlord, the farmer,
Almost equally popular characters are
and the laborer. There is thus recovered
Hawermann, (un sin lutt Dirning ” (his
for history no small portion of the bygone oddity of the Platt-Deutsch lends itself
little maid), and Triddelfitz. The quaint
life of the English people; and with this,
much light is thrown on principles of polit-
peculiarly well to the quality of Reu-
ical and social economy which must be
ter's humor, and the material of his
taken account of, not only by the philan-
story shows by its vivid reality that it
was drawn from the personal experience
thropist, but in all wise governmental
and observation of the author. The
administration.
(Stromtid) was the last and best of Reu-
Agriculture: De Re Rustica,' by Colu- ter's novels founded on life in the Low
mella. It consists of twelve books, German countries.
of which the tenth is in verse and de-
voted to gardens. The work is preceded Lit
ittle Barefoot. From the German of
by an introduction, in which the author Berthold Auerbach. This Black For-
deplores the contempt into which agri- est peasant story relates with rustic sim-
culture has fallen. He sees on all sides plicity how two children, Amrie and her
schools open to teach rhetoric, dancing, brother Danie, are left orphans with
and music. Even mountebanks, cooks, their home broken up; and how, not
and barbers are fashionable, and infa- understanding what death means, they
mous houses in which gambling and all wander back night after night to the
sorts of vices that ruin youth are patron- deserted woodcutter's hut where they
ized; while for the art of fertilizing the lived with their parents, and lifting the


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
159
((
are
a
are
same
latch, call again and again: «Father,
Mother. » They separated, and
brought up as parish orphans, Amrie
living with brown Mariann, an old wo-
man who is called a witch, but who is
kind to her. The dreamy, imaginative
child passes her lonely days on the com-
mon as goose-girl; and to save her earn-
ings for her little brother Danie, goes
without shoes, thus winning the name of
« Little Barefoot. ” An old friend of her
mother, who has married the richest
farmer in the adjoining district, offers to
adopt her; but on Amrie's refusing to
forsake her brother, she hangs a garnet
necklace round the child's neck, and tells
her if she is ever in need of a friend to
come to Farmer Landfried's wife. Am-
rie is promoted to be maid in the family
of the rich peasant Rudel, whose daugh-
ter Rose treats her with scorn; but one
day Rudel's young daughter-in-law takes
pity on the pretty Barefoot, and dresses
her with her own hands for a village
wedding. Here Amrie dances with a
stranger, a handsome youth, who has
ridden to the Feast on a fine white
horse, and who chooses no partner but
her. She has one day of perfect happi-
ness, and is still dreaming of her un-
known partner when she sees him riding
up to Farmer Rudel's door, having been
sent by his parents, the wealthy Land-
frieds, to seek a bride. They wish him
to marry Rudel's Rose; but the youth,
on beholding again his pretty partner,
has eyes only for her, and finding that
Rose treats her cruelly, he comes to the
rescue and carries her off on his white
horse. When they approach his father's
farm to which he is expected to bring a
less humble bride, John's heart fails him;
but the brave Little Barefoot » goes be-
fore him, charms his old father with her
artless sweetness and tact, and showing
his mother the necklace she once gave
her, appeals to the kindness of her dead
mother's friend. So the old people's
hearts are melted, and they give her a
grand wedding: Danie is made head
dairyman on the great farm; and when
Amrie's first child comes, she is christ-
ened Barbara, but is always called by
her father (Little Barefoot. ”
von Wildenort has been placed by her
father, Count Eberhard, a recluse, at
German court. Her beauty and intel-
lectual vivacity attract the King, some-
what wearied by his Queen's lofty and
pious sentiments and her distaste for
court festivities. Early in the story the
Queen gives birth to the Crown Prince,
for whom a wet-nurse is found in the
person of Walpurga, an upright, shrewd
peasant woman, who, for the sake of
her child's future benefit, reluctantly ac-
cepts the position. She is full of quaint
sayings, and her pious nature finds favor
with the Queen. Her naive descriptions
of court life
very entertaining.
From the
mountain district as
Irma, Walpurga acquires some influence
with her, and she quickly detects the
unspoken love of the King for her; but
Irma disregards her friendly warnings.
The Queen is apparently unaware of
their increasing infatuation. Irma, be-
coming restless and unsettled, visits her
father, who solemnly warns her against
the temptations of court life. She is
drawn back irresistibly to court, and the
King reveals his passion for her by kiss-
ing the statue of which she is the model.
Irma, in a sort of ecstasy, submits for
a moment to his caresses. For a time
she lives as though in the clouds. The
Queen's friendship for her increases, and
her Majesty resolutely banishes her oc-
casional suspicions of evil.
Walpurga returns home laden with
gifts and money, and she and her hus-
band, Hansei, buy a farm on the mount-
ain. Irma's father meanwhile receives
anonymous letters, wrongfully represent-
ing her as the King's mistress. The
shock of the accusation mortally pros-
trates him, and Irma is summoned in
haste to his death-bed. Unable to
speak, he traces one word on her fore-
head and expires. She falls unconscious.
Letters of condolence arrive from their
Majesties; the King's inclosure one of
passionate longing; the Queen's so full
of affection and confidence that remorse
seizes Irma. She writes her guilt to
the Queen, and resolves to drown her-
self. In her wanderings she comes un-
espectedly on Walpurga and her family,
on the way to take possession of their
new home. She implores protection from
herself; and in the care of Walpurga and
the grandmother, she lives for a year
« on the heights,) writing a journal of
philosophical and religious rhapsody.
!
On the Heights (Auf der Höhe”) by
Berthold Auerbach, (1865,) is con-
sidered the author's finest work. The
charm of the story is not conveyed in
a synopsis of the plot. Countess Irma


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160
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Tormented by remorse, she grows
makes her debut in Rome and captivates
weaker in body, while her soul becomes both their hearts. The scene of the last
purified of its earthly passion. Gun- chapters is placed in Venice; and here it
ther, her father's friend, absolves her is that Annunziata, a broken-down singer
from his curse; and, her spirit freed, she on a low-class stage, dies in poverty,
passes away in the presence of the King leaving her blessing for her early lover
and Queen, now happily reconciled. and his bride. A visit to the Blue Grotto
closes the brilliant narrative.
Improvisatore, The, by Hans Christian
Andersen. This romance is probably Emile, by Jean Jacques Rousseau, the
,
the best known to English readers of all most famous of pedagogic romances,
the works of Danish literature, and its was composed in 1762. Its immediate
translation by Mary Howitt has become effect was to call down on his head the
itself a classic. The work possesses the denunciations of the Archbishop of Paris,
threefold interest of an autobiography who found him animated by a spirit of
of the author, a graphic description of insubordination and revolt,” and to exile
Italy, and a romance of extremely emo- him for some years from France. Its
tional and passionate type. To those lasting effect was to lay the foundation
English and American tourists who knew of modern pedagogy. Due to the sug-
Rome in the time when the beggar Beppo gestion of a mother who asked advice
still saluted them with his bon giorno as to the training of a child, it was the
on the Piazza de Spagna steps, the story | expansion of his opinions and counsels; the
will serve almost as a narrative of their framework of a story sustaining an elab-
impressions of the ruins, the galleries orate system of elementary education.
and churches of Italy. It is to be Émile, its diminutive hero, is reared apart
classed with its great Italian contempo- from other children under a tutor, by a
rary I Promessi Sposi) of Manzoni, and long series of experiments conducted by
the (Corinne) of Madame de Staël, the the child himself, often with painful con-
national type of genius of the several sequences. Little by little, his childish
authors presenting in these three works understanding comes to comprehend at
a very interesting contrast. All three first-hand the principles of physics, me-
are intensely romantic, -'Corinne,) with chanics, gardening, property, and morals.
the classic reserve of the Latin race; (I At last the loosely woven plot leads to the
Promessi Sposi, with the frank natural- marriage of Émile with Sophie, a girl who
ness of the Italian; the Improvisatore, has been educated in a similar fashion.
with the suppressed warmth of the Teu- Arbitrary, but always ingenious and stim-
ton.
ulating, the experiments introduced are
The story of the Improvisatore) is veritable steps of knowledge. As object-
related by one Antonio, a poor chorister lessons, the altercation with the gardener
boy in Rome, whose voice and quickness and the visit to the mountebank are un-
in improvisation are at once his fortune surpassed in the simplicity with which
in bringing him into the favor and pat- the complex ideas of property and mag-
ronage of the aristocracy of Rome, Na- netism are presented to a developing
ples, and Venice, and the cause of many intelligence. From the hints contained in
heart-breaking alliances and disengage- Émile, Basedow, Pestalozzi, and Froebel
ments with the charming women of vari- drew their inspiration and laid the broad
ous types who come under the spell of foundations of modern elementary educa-
his genius and personal attractions. The tion. Unsystematic, sometimes imprac-
events of the story bring to the reader ticable, full of suggestion, it invests the
a vivid sense of participation in the suc- revolutionary ideas of its author with
cessive scenes of the Roman church fes- his customary literary charm.
tivals: the Pifferari at Christmas, the
Ara Cæli Bambino, and the boy orators Eneyclopédie, The: An Encyclopædia
at Epiphany, the Corso races and the
,
Senza Moccolo of the Carnival, the Mis- character, its significance, and its results,
erere of the Holy Week, and the illumi- was the most startling and striking pro-
nations at Easter. The chief romantic duction of its time,-- an outburst of
interest lies in the rival loves of Antonio ideas, of intellectual audacity, of free-
and of his patrician friend Bernado for a dom, and a great passion for knowledge,
famous Spanish singer, Annunziata, who and of the sympathy of humanity, labor,


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
161
note
and progress. No encyclopædia ever tion of the problems of human aspiration
made compares with it in respect of its and desire. Not only were the sciences
political influence and its commanding pushed to the utmost by Diderot, but he
place in the civil and literary history of made industry, labor, human toil in the
its own century. It grew out of a plan shop, an interest unceasingly cherished.
for a French translation of an early It was an explosion heralding the Revo-
"Chambers's Cyclopædia. Diderot, to
'
lution a quarter of a century later.
whom the glory of the colossal enterprise
belongs, took occasion from this plan to French Society, The History of, dur-
and
a thorough work, summarizing human ory (The History of French Society
knowledge, putting the sciences into the during the Directory,' 1879; and “The
place which tradition had given to re- History of French Society during the
ligion, and aiming at the service of Revolution, 1880), by Edmond and Jules
humanity instead of the service of the de Goncourt, are curious as well as in-
church. The Titans of intelligence and teresting compilations of historical ma-
of literature, says M. Martin's graphic terial. They show the authors' constant
sketch, had developed an excess of energy preoccupation with visual impressions.
and boldness. Voltaire, bringing Locke's The Goncourts were not philosophers,
ideas into France, had changed Christian and they throw no new light upon the
deism into Epicureanism, and prepared causes of events; but they were tireless
the way for Condillac's pushing the philos- in research, and they tell us all the
ophy of sensation to an extreme beyond curious incidental little facts ignored by
Locke; and for Helvetius to press the greater historians. Theirs is probably
moral consequences of the system, justi- the least gloomy study of the Revolution
fying all the vices and all the crimes. ever written.
Under the guillotine they
Buffon, magnificent in knowledge, and in the cake-vender. Believing that
a noble style, had made Nature take the the revolution originated in aristocratic
place of God, and the love of humanity salons, they picture the social life which
do duty as religion. In sequel to such preceded it, and tell us how the lords
moral skepticism or naturalist pantheism and ladies dressed their hair, and what
came Diderot, with audacious repugnance they wore, and how they talked. They
to any limitations upon liberty, and im- show that in spite of fear and blood-
petuous passion for knowledge, for human shed, people feasted, danced, and went
progress. With D'Alembert drawing to- to the theatre as usual. In their study
gether a society of men of science and of of the Directory they show the country
letters, he launched a Prospectus in No- plunged in torpor after its period of ex-
vember 1750, for an Encyclopédie or Dic-
The people are weary of struggle,
tionary of Arts and Sciences, and in of success, of failure, of all things, un-
1751 began with 2 volumes, to finish in til awakened to new energy by a youth
1765 with 17 volumes; then to add il of twenty-eight. Napoleon reconstructs
volumes of plates (1762–72), and 5 vol- society; and in the reaction which fol-
umes of supplements (1776–77); and thus lows, cynicism changes to an eager rush
make, with 2 volumes of Index (1780), 35 for wealth, pleasure, and position. The
volumes (1751-80), with 23,135 pages and Goncourts touch lightly upon the great
3,132 plates. Not only information was political events, and emphasize the gar-
given in these volumes, but opinions of dens and ball-rooms of Paris, - all the
the most radical character, hostile to the places where well-dressed people gather.
church, subversive of religion, intensely They are not interested in masses of
antagonistic towards everything in the society, but delight in portrait-painting.
old order of things. The clergy and the Their histories abound in pictures and
court had fought the work, had even picturesque effects. But in spite of their
broken into it with alterations secretly careful word-searching, they are always
made at the printers', and left no stone more sensitive than intelligent. ) The
unturned to prevent its circulation. Yet result of their labor is finally an
Europe was filled with it, and shaken with meration of noteworthy details, which
the effects of it. It was an immense they have been unable to synthesize.
burst of everything which journalism to- They are not successful in presenting as
day means; a fierce prophecy of changes a logical whole the period of which they
which are still hanging; a wild proclama- treat.
cess.
((
))
enu-
XXXII


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162
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Cons
onsulate and the Empire of France French Revolution, Contemporary
under Napoleon, History of the, American Opinion of, by Charles
(1799-1815), by Louis Adolphe Thiers. Downer Hazen (1897). An extra volume
The History of the Consulate and Em- in the Johns Hopkins University Studies
pire) fills twenty octavo volumes, and was in Historical and Political Science,-a
published in installments between 1845 volume of three hundred pages, rich in
and 1862. Written from an imperialistic interest to the student of American his-
point of view, it met with unusual success tory. The first part of the work is de-
in France. It was crowned by the Acad- voted to the opinion of the French
emy, and Thiers was given the title of Revolution formed by Americans who
(national historian. ) The French found were in France at the time. These were
in it their own enthusiastic admiration Thomas Jefferson, Gouverneur Morris,
for success, and their own prejudices. and James Monroe. Jefferson and Mor-
Thiers has little regard for the morality ris were eye-witnesses, who held them-
of actions: “You have failed, therefore selves aloof from the conflict about them,
you are wrong," seems to be his maxim. and reported upon it as judicial and
He rejoices in the establishment of ab-clear-sighted spectators. These two tell
solutism and the suppression of liberty; a continuous story from 1784 to 1794,
nor does he see, beyond the glory of a with a change from Jefferson to Morris
victorious campaign, the excesses of war- in 1789. Then comes Monroe, from Au-
fare.
gust 1794 to October 1795.
Literature, philosophy, and art do not The second part of the work gathers
attract him; in the twenty volumes, he from a variety of sources the opinions of
devotes but a scant half-dozen pages to the Revolution which Americans at home
such subjects. He imagines that the Con- formed, the Republicans on one side and
sulate realized the ideal of a perfect gov- the Federalists on the other. These
ernment, and that the misfortunes of the opinions had much to do with American
Empire would have been avoided had Na- politics for considerable time, and al-
poleon continued the tradition of the ear- together they form an interesting chapter
lier time. It is evident, however, that the in our national life.
later policy was but the development of
the earlier. Though admiring every act Citoyenne Jacqueline, by Sarah Tyt-
of unrestrained ambition on the part of his ler. The scene opens in the early
hero, Thiers deplores its consequences. months of the French Revolution, 1792,
At first the Continental system is Napo- in Faye-aux-Jonquilles, a village near
leon's gigantic plan to conquer England Paris; the home of Jacqueline de Faye,
on the sea; later Thiers recognizes that only child of “Monsieur” and “Madame,»
Napoleon's own ports were the chief vic- nobles of the old régime. Jacqueline has
tims of the designed conquest. His inac- inherited the traditional ideas of her
curacy as a historian is shown in his
aristocratic ancestry, and is trained in the
treatment of English affairs. He consulted fantastic etiquette of her age; but dis-
no authentic document in the English plays disquieting symptoms of independ-
language; and in his chapter on the Con- ence, a character sure to lead its pos-
tinental System, he says that England's sessor into strange paths. She is in love
violation of international law by “pa- with her cousin, the Chevalier de Faye,
per » blockades in 1806 furnished Napo- to whom she is betrothed; but owing
leon with just pretext for issuing the Ber- to the changes brought about by the
lin and Milan Decrees, — the exact oppo. Revolution, he transfers his attentions to
site of the facts in the case. Thiers is another cousin, a wealthy and vivacious
proud of his knowledge of military tac- widow, Petronille de Croī. In her anger
tics, and likes to explain how defeat might and despair, Jacqueline takes a step that
have been avoided; but even his descrip- separates her from her order: she marries
tions of battles are inexact, as Charras in a handsome young peasant proprietor.
his History of the Campaign of 1815) The wild days of '93 arrive, and she and
points out. His style is easy; its prolix- her family are deeply involved in the
ity, however, frequently deprives it of turmoils of the time. After they have
clearness and force, by requiring a whole suffered together, and he has sheltered
volume to describe a military action her mother, she comes to love her ple-
which might have been more vividly pre- beian husband. The story moves swiftly
sented in a few pages.
through scenes of conspiracy and blood.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
163
shed, to close among the green fields of
Jonquilles. It presents a vivid picture
of the days of the Terror; a realistic
portrayal of the inhumanities and self-
sacrifices of that lurid period. The
meetings of Citoyenne Jacqueline with
Charlotte Corday, and with Lydia, daugh-
ter of Laurence Sterne, are interesting
episodes of her Paris life.
name.
Notre-Dame of Paris, by Victor
Hugo, relates a romance growing
up in and around the cathedral of that
More than this, the mighty
building, dating back at least to the
eleventh century, and enriched with
thirteenth-century glass, seems to fill
the author's vision and dominate his
mind from beginning to end; just as it
dominates, from its immemorial island,
the overflowing city for which he wrote.
Among his different conceptions of
Notre-Dame — folding over and fitting
into each other — he brings out most
clearly of all the truth that the cathe-
dral of the Middle Ages was the book
of the people; and that since the dawn
of printing, books have taken the
place of those marvelously involved
and inexhaustible carvings, where the
smoldering passions of the multitude,
their humor and irreligion as well as
their religion and poetic emotion, found
continual expression.