No More Learning

But as the Peter Quilliam, who loves pretty Kate
day advances, out of the fog break the Cregeen, daughter of an innkeeper. The
long lines of the King's cavalry, “wave two lads grow up together as
after wave, rich in scarlet and blue and friends. Peter and Kate
gold, and the scythe-men and pikemen hearts, but her father objects to him be.
of Monmouth are cut to pieces. The cause of his birth and poverty. Pete
duke himself, preferring life with dis- goes off to make his fortune, leaving
grace to honor and death, is seen gal- Kate in Philip's charge. Philip, during
loping in terror from the field. But his absence, wins her love and betrays
even as the leader flies, one of his peas- her. Meanwhile tidings come of Pete's
ant soldiers, whose arm had been par- death. Philip cares for Kate, but feels
tially severed by a ball, sits behind a that she is in the way of his ambition
clump of alder bushes freeing himself to become Deemster. He tells her that
from the useless limb with a broad- they must part; and on the return of
bladed knife, and giving forth the Pete, who was falsely reported dead, she
Lord's Prayer the while, without a pause marries the latter out of pique, hoping
or a quiver in his tone. ”
until the last that Philip will interfere
Sworn
are
Sweet-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
529
name
as
and marry her himself. She has a child
She has a child | White Aprons, ja
romance of Ba-
by her husband, but is tortured by the
con's Rebellion, by Mrs. Maud
thought that it may be Philip's. The Wilder Goodwin, is a story of the strug-
shame of her loveless marriage nearly | gle in Virginia between popular rights
drives her crazy; and on Philip's return and aristocratic privilege a hundred
from abroad she runs away on the very years before the Revolution. The hero,
day that he becomes Deemster, to live Bryan Fairfax, is sent by Bacon to
with him secretly, under an assumed bring to his camp several ladies, adher-
The blow well-nigh crushes Pete ents of his opponent, Governor Berke-
when he returns to the empty house. ley. Among them is Penelope Payne,
He does not suspect that she has joined with whom the young soldier speedily
Philip; whom he tells that, solicitous for falls in love. Bacon sends Penelope to
her health, he has sent her to England. Jamestown to inform Berkeley that if he
To guard her good name he even re- attacks before noon, the women will be
ceives mock letters from her, written placed in front of Bacon's uncompleted
by himself. Philip represents to Pete works. Penelope taunts Bacon with
that she is dead. The husband never cowardice, and tells him that he and his
learns the truth, but leaves the island followers shall be known White
forever, placing the boy in Philip's keep- Aprons. The tide of war turns, Bacon
ing Their guilty union so preys upon dies, and Fairfax is taken prisoner by
the conscience of both Philip and Kate, Berkeley, who becomes an unbearable
however, that the woman at last leaves tyrant. When Fairfax is put on trial
him, and Philip offers what restitution for his life, Penelope, to the surprise of
he can.
He makes a public declaration all, comes forward to testify in his favor,
of his sin, resigns his high office, and and openly confesses her love for him.
takes in his own the hand of the Berkeley in a frenzy of rage condemns
woman he has loved and wronged, that Fairfax to death, but consents to his re-
they may begin life openly together. prieve for three months. Penelope
With this dramatic scene of the confes- straightway sets out for England to seek
sion the story closes.
a pardon from the King. She goes to
the house of her uncle, the historic
Leighton Court, by Henry Kingsley. Samuel Pepys, and there she meets
(1866). This book is an interesting Dryden, Buckingham, and various other
story of English social life at the time wits and beaux. The beauty of her
of the Indian mutiny. Robert, the portrait, painted by Kneller, obtains
younger brother of Sir Harry Poynitz, her an audience with the King; who,
masquerading as a master-of-houp
after a trial of her constancy, grants her
der the name of Hammersley, is en- the pardon, with which she makes all
gaged by Sir Charles Seckerton to take speed home, arriving at the critical mo-
care of his pack. He falls in love with ment when Fairfax is on the scaffold.
Laura Seckerton, and at last tells her The story ends as it begins with the
of his attachment, when she urges him burden of an old song: “Love will find
to leave the country. The next morn-
rn- out the way. ” Though slight in texture,
ing Hammersley's horse is discovered the work is very daintily executed, and
drowned on the sea-shore, and his mas- the spirit of colonial Virginia is well
ter is supposed to have shared the same suggested.
fate. Laura, believing him dead, ac-
cepts the hand of Lord Hatterleigh. Friendships of Women, The, by W. R.
The plot now concerns itself with gam- Alger (1868), is a curious and sug-
bling debts. family quarrels, and in- gestive work the emotional and
trigues social and financial, tale-bearings, affectionate side of woman-nature. The
challenges, and sudden deaths. It moves different chapters consider the friend-
rapidly, however, to a proper ending. ships of mothers and sons, of daughters
The author calls the story «a simple tale and fathers, of sisters and brothers, of
of country life. The character of Hat- wives and husbands, of mothers and
terleigh, with his sterling worth hidden daughters, of women and women. Pla-
under a rather dull and effeminate ex- tonic love is also considered at length.
terior, is very cleverly drawn, as is also The author is less the creator than the
Sir Harry Poynitz, with his life of ap- editor of hi subject. The chief value
parent villainy and final justification. of the work is indeed the vast number
XXX—34
un-
on


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530
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
women
as
as-
men
Gervis, a brilliant diplomat, marries an
Italian woman, by whom he has two
children, Claud and Geneviève. His
second wife is a Russian, Princess
Omanoff, who has already been twice
married, and has her own cynical views
as to the blessings of matrimony. Mr.
Gervis and the Princess maintain sepa-
rate establishments, but are on friendly
terms. When the story opens, Mr. Ger-
vis, with his son Claud, after a long
residence abroad, has just returned to
England to take possession of a family
estate, lately inherited. From this point
the true story begins. Its complications
arise from the love-affairs of Claud and
his beautiful sister, from certain outlived
episodes in the life of the Princess, and
from the serious effects that spring from
the frivolous cause of the Beachborough
Club's reading-room gossip. Nothing is
out of the common, yet the elements of
disaster and of tragedy are seen to be
potential in the every-day lives of the
every-day characters. The book abounds
in types of character done to the life.
Even the callow clubhouse smokers
have an individuality of their own; and
French dandies, men of letters, gam-
blers, scoundrels, Russian adventurers,
and back-biting ladies of quality, row-
dies, and philosophic speculators on the
cosmos in general, are each and all as
real as the crowd in the street.
note
of historical examples brought together
in illustration of the kind of relationship
in question. It is a summing up of
concrete instances of friendship.
The book had great vogue in its day.
Its readableness and interest have not
been diminished by time.
Wom
Toman in the Nineteenth Century,
by Margaret Fuller Ossoli. (1844. )
A book of special interest from the
remarkable character and intellectual
ability of its author, and from the rep-
resentative position which it holds as an
early prophecy of the now broadly de-
veloped recognition of
pirants for culture, and as applicants
equally with for positions and
privileges in the various fields of hu-
man activity. After actively participat-
ing in the celebrated Brook Farm ex-
periment of idealist socialism, where
she thoroughly wrought out for herself
new-departure convictions in religion,
and having served a literary appren-
ticeship of
a translator from
the German, and as editor for two years
of The Dial, a quarterly organ of New
England Transcendentalism, she brought
out in 1844 her (Summer on the Lakes,
and the next year the Woman in the
Nineteenth Century,' — a considerably
enlarged reproduction of an essay by
her in The Dial of October 1843, where
she had used the title, The Great
Lawsuit; or, Man as Men, Woman as
Women. ) By adding a good deal
the article during a seven weeks' stay
at Fishkill on the Hudson (to November
17, 1844), she made what was in effect
a large pamphlet rather than a book
adequately dealing with her subject, or
at all representing her remarkable pow-
ers as they were shown in her (Papers
Literature and Art. ) To do her
justice, the book, which was her proph-
ecy of a
movement which the
tury is fulfilling, should be taken as
a text, and her later thoughts brought
together under it, to have as nearly
as possible a full indication of what,
under more favorable circumstances, her
genius would have given to the world.
Matrimony, by, W. E. Norris
, (1881. )
is the
story of the fortunes of a county family
named Gervis, the scene being laid
partly in Beachborough, an English
county-town, and partly among an aris-
tocratic half-bohemian set in Paris. Mr.
as
on
cen-
Lady
ady Beauty; OR, CHARMING TO HER
LATEST DAY, by Alan Muir. «It
always is darker,” whispered an old gen-
tleman at my side, when Lady Beauty
leaves the room - always. ” This eulo-
gistic remark is made at a dinner-table,
when the ladies have departed; and the
explanation of it is found in the story
which the old gentleman afterwards
tells, – the story of Lady Beauty's life;
a life so charming, so pure and sweet,
that at fifty-three Lady Beauty's never-
fading loveliness is thus described by
a rejected but faithful lover. Lady
Beauty, or Sophia Campbell, is the one
unworldly member of a worldly family
dwelling in the little English town of
Kettlewell. The teachings of her
mother, Lady Barbara, and the example
of her two older sisters are of no avail.
For seven years she remains faithful to
her absent lover, Percival Brent, and at
the end of that time her loyalty is re-
warded by a happy marriage, -
riage as strongly in contrast with the
-a mar-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
531
AN
alliances formed by her sisters as her complications which spring from the con-
amiability and gentleness are opposed to tact of a nature ruled by crass selfish-
their ambition and cynicism.
ness and vulgar ambition, with nobler
The story is written, so the author and more sensitive spirits. The charac-
says, to encourage women to be charm- ter study is always good, and the novel
ing to their latest day; and the charm entertaining
he describes and urges is that of low-
toned voices, of fitting raiment, of gen- Mutable Many, The, by Robert Barr,
published in 1896. This is one of
tle manners, of lofty aims, of unobtrus-
the many accounts of the struggle be-
ive piety, and the charity which forgets
tween labor and capital. The scene is
and forgives, — all personified in the ideal
London, at the present day. The men
woman, Lady Beauty. Few more de-
in Monkton and Hope's factory strike.
lightful tales of society stand on the
Sartwell, their manager, refuses to com-
library shelf.
promise with them, but discusses the sit-
Mamma
ammon; OR, THE HARDSHIPS OF uation with Marsten, one of their num-
HEIRESS, by Mrs. Catharine Grace ber, who clings to his own order, at the
Gore. (1842. ) Mrs. Gore was the writer same time that he avows his love for
of some seventy novels descriptive of Sartwell's daughter Edna. Sartwell for-
the English aristocracy, books dear to bids him to speak to her. The strike
the hearts of a former generation, but
is crushed, Marsten is dismissed, and
forgotten to-day. Mammon) was pub- becomes secretary to the Labor Union.
lished in 1855, and deals with the for- He sees Edna several times, she becomes
tunes of one John Woolston and his interested in him, and her father sends
family. He marries to displease his her away to school. Marsten visits her
father, is for a time very poor, then in- in the guise of a gardener, offers her his
herits a fortune, and becomes a
<< mill- love, and is refused. Barney Hope, son
ionary,” as Mrs. Gore invariably calls it. of her father's employer, a dilettante art-
Her daughter Janetta is the heiress to ist of lavishly generous impulses, also
whom the book owes its title. Her offers himself to her and is refused.
hardships are those of the princess who Later, he founds a new school of art, be-
feels the crumpled roseleaf under her comes famous, and marries Lady Mary
many mattresses; and the sympathetic Fanshawe. Marsten brings about another
tear is slow to fall over her artificial strike, which is on the eve of success,
Yet, like all Mrs. Gore's books,
and Sartwell about to resign his post.
this had a great vogue, and was well Edna, seeing her father's despair, visits
received even by the critics. Her fig-
Marsten at the Union and proposes to
ures move more or less like automata; marry him if he will end the strike and
and her dialogue keeps the same pace
allow her father to triumph. He declines
whether the interlocutors are comfort-
to sell his honor even at such a price.
ably dining, or are finding their moral The members of the Union, seeing her,
world slipping out from under their feet. accuse Marsten of treachery, depose him
But that her books faithfully reflect the from office, and so maltreat him that he
dull, material, and unideaed life of fash- is taken to the hospital. His successor
ionable London in the second quarter of in office is no match for Sartwell, who
the century, there is no doubt, and it is wins the day. Edna goes to Marsten,
this fidelity that makes them of conse-
and owns at last that she loves him.
quence to the student of manners
Widower, by W. M.
even of morals.
Thackeray. (1860. ) One of the
Katherine S. Macquoid great master's later books, written after
(1871), is a story of English middle- his first visit to America, this simple
class contemporary life. Patty Westropp, story touches, perhaps, a narrower range
the pretty and ambitious daughter of a of emotion than
of his
gardener, inherits a fortune, changes her famous novels; but within its own limits,
name, attends fashionable French it shows the same power of characteriza-
school, and presently emerges from her tion, the same insight into motive, the
chrysalis state a fine lady. Her beauty same intolerance of sham and pharisaism,
and her money enable her to marry an the same tenderness towards the simple
English gentleman of good family; and and the weak, that mark Thackeray's
the chief interest of the story lies in the more elaborate work. Frederic Lovel
woes.
or
Lºvel, the
Patty, by
some
more
a


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532
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
has married Cecilia Baker, who dies cently elevated to the peerage and soon
eight years later, leaving two children, to be preferred to the ministry. Braj-
the little prig Cecilia, and Popham. don has had, by a wife now long since
Their governess, Elizabeth Prior, wins lost and dead, a child which was stolen
the affection of the doctor, the butler, from bim in its infancy. His secret life-
and the bachelor friend who visits Mr. work has been to find and rehabili.
Lovel and tells the story. Lady Baker's tate that child, and so preserve the
son Clarence, a drunken reprobate, re- family 'name of Brandon. As a result of
veals the fact that Miss Prior was once the robbery, two of Paul's associates are
a ballet-dancer (forced to this toil in captured. He succeeds in liberating
order to support her family). Lady them by means of a daring attack, but
Baker orders her out of the house; is himself wounded and taken prisoner.
Lovell comes home in the midst of the Judge Brandon presides at the trial. At
uproar, and chivalrously offers her his the moment when he is to pronounce the
heart and hand, which she accepts, and death sentence, a scrap of paper is
he ceases to be Lovel the Widower.
passed him revealing the fact that the
Lady Baker, his tyrannical mother-in- condemned is his own son. Appalled at
law, has become immortal.
the disgrace which will tarnish his brill-
iant reputation, he pronounces the death
Paul
ul Clifford, by Bulwer-Lytton. Lord sentence, but a few minutes afterward
Lytton's object in Paul Clifford ? is found dead in his carriage.
The pa-
was to appeal for an amelioration of the per on his person reveals the story, and
British penal legislation, by illustrating Clifford is transported for life. He ef-
to what criminal extremes the ungraded fects his escape, however, and together
severity of the laws was driving men with Lucy, flees to America, where his
who by nature were upright and honest. latter days are passed in probity and un-
To quote from Clifford's well-known de-
ceasing philanthropic labors.
fense when before the judges: “Your
laws are of but two classes: the one Mºdern Régime, The, by H. A. Taine.
criminals
(1891. ) This is the third and con-
them. I have suffered by the one -- cluding part of Taine's (Origins of Con-
I am about to perish by the other. temporary France, of which his An-
Your legislation made cient Régime) and French Revolution
what I am! and it now destroys me, as were the first and second. While based
it has destroyed thousands, for being on the fullest and minutest research,
what it made me. ” The scene of the and giving a striking picture of the new
story is laid in London and the adjoin-| régime following the Revolution, it is
ing country, at a period shortly preced- less impartial than the previous parts of
ing the French Revolution.
Paul, a the work. The indictment of Napoleon
child of unknown parentage, is brought is as bitter as the picture of his almost
up by an old innkeeper among compan- superhuman power is brilliant; and what-
ions of very doubtful character. Arrested ever the Revolution produced is referred
for a theft of which he is innocent, he to mingled crime and madness. Taken
is sentenced to confinement among all together, the three works show Taine
sorts of hardened criminals.
He es-
at his best of originality, boldness, and
capes, and quickly becomes the chief
power as a writer.
of a band of highwaymen. In the midst
of a
Birtha wlessness, he takes Mºrals of Lucius Annæus Seneca,
residence at Bath under the name of The, is title given to
Captain Clifford and falls desperately in twelve essays on ethical subjects attrib-
love with a young heiress. Lucy Brandon, uted to the great Roman Stoic. They
who returns his affection; but realizing are the most interesting and valuable of
the gulf which lies between them, he his numerous works. Representing the
resolutely takes leave of her after con- thought of his whole life, the most fa-
fessing vaguely who and what he is.
are the essays on 'Consolation,'
Shortly after this he robs, partly through addressed to his mother, when he was
revenge, Lord Mauleverer, a suitor for in exile at Corsica; on Providence, «a
the hand of Lucy, and intimate friend golden book," as it is called by Lipsius,
of her uncle and guardian, Sir William the German critic; and on (The Happy
Brandon, a lawyer of great note, re- Life. ) The Stoic doctrines of calmness,
me
career
mous


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
533
was
one
forbearance, and strict virtue and just- 40,000 citizens that he found on his re-
ice, receive here their loftiest statement. turn from Europe, a traveled gentleman;
The popularity of these Morals) with and the Boston of three times as large
both pagan and Christian readers led a population, where still his owr house
to their preservation in almost a perfect afforded the most delightful hospitality
condition. To the student of Christian- and social life, among many famous for
ity in its relations with paganism, no good talk and good manners,— this old
other classic writer yields in interest to town is made to seem worthy of its son.
this «divine pagan,” as Lactantius, the The papers recording Mr. Ticknor's
early church father and poet, calls him. visits abroad are crowded with the names
The most striking parallels to the for- of men and women whom the world
mularies of the Christian writers, nota- honors, and who were delighted to know
bly St. Paul, are to be found in his the agreeable American: Byron, Rogers,
later works, especially those on (The Wordsworth, Hunt, Lady Holland, Lady
Happy Life) and on (The Conferring Ashburnham, Lord Lansdowne, Macau-
of Benefits.
lay, Sydney Smith, Jeffrey, Lockhart,
Châteaubriand, Talleyrand, Madame de
Life
ife, Letters, and Journals of George Staël, Goethe, Herder, Thorwaldsen,
Ticknor. (2 vols. , 1876. ) The story Manzoni, Sismondi, and in later years,
of the life of a private gentleman is every man of note in Europe. Of all of
here delightfully told through his jour- these, most interesting friendly glimpses
nals and letters to and from friends; his are given in letters and journals. Mr.
daughter, with excellent taste, having Ticknor's characterizations of these per-
joined the history which these docu- sons are admirable, always judicious and
ments reveal, by the slightest thread of faithful, and often humorous. With his
narrative. The birth of George Tick- strong liking for foreign men and things,
nor in Boston in 1791, his education in he
of the best Americans,
private school and college, his deliberate seeing the faults of his country, but lov-
choice of the life of a man of letters as ing her in spite of them. Happily he
his vocation, his four years of study and lived to see a reunited Union, and to
travel abroad, from the age of twenty- cherish the loftiest hopes for its future.
three to that of twenty-seven, his work The young American who looks for fine
at Harvard as professor of French and standards of intellectual, moral, and
Spanish, his labor upon his History social achievements will find his
of Spanish Literature, his delightful count in a study of the life of this mod-
nome life, a second journey in Europe est, accomplished, genial, hard-working,
in his ripe middle age, and still a third, distinguished private gentleman.
full of profit and delight, when he was
sixty-five, his profound interest in the Daniel Webster, cobyn Henry
Cabot
war for
Lodge. This forms Vol. viii. of
and finally the peaceful closing of his days the American Statesmen) series. Mr.
at the age of seventy-nine, - these are Lodge disclaims all credit for original
the material of the book. But the reader research among MS. records in prepar-
sees picture after picture of a delightful ing this life of Webster; and is content
existence, and is brought into intimate to follow in the footsteps of George
relations with the most cultivated and Ticknor Curtis, to whose elaborate,
agreeable people of the century. George careful, and scholarly biography of the
Ticknor had the happiness to be well great statesman he frankly acknowledges
born; that is, his father and mother were his indebtedness for all the material
well educated, full of ideas and aspira- facts of Webster's life and labors. But
tions, and so easy in circumstances that on these facts he has exercised an inde-
the best advantages awaited the boy.
pendent judgment; and this biographical
With his inheritance of charming man-
material he has worked over in his own
ners, a bright intelligence, a kind heart, way, producing an essentially original
and leisure for study, he was certain to study of the life of Webster. In con-
establish friendships among the best. sidering the crises of Webster's life as
The simple, delightful society of the lawyer, orator, senator, statesman, he in
Boston of 18,000 inhabitants, where his a few brief chapters brings the man be-
boyhood was passed; the not less agree- fore us with striking vividnes
able but more sophisticated Boston of tray Webster as a lawyer, his part in
ac-
To por-


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534
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
seen at
answer
the Dartmouth College Case is recounted; subject in its industrial and ethical ap-
for there his legal talents are
plications, and concludes that the «inde-
their best. The chapter on this case is pendence of foreigners ” which a high
a model of clear and concise statement. tariff is supposed to secure, must be the
Webster as an orator is the subject of result simply and solely of native supe.
another chapter, dealing with his speeches riority, either in energy, or industry, or
in the Massachusetts Convention of 1820, inventiveness, or in natural advantages.
and his Plymouth oration, and their The papers on Criminal Politics,' 'Idle-
effects upon the auditors. His part in ness and Immorality,) (The Duty of Ed-
the tariff debates of 1828 in Congress, ucated Men in a Democracy,) "Who Will
his reply to Hayne, and his struggle Pay the Bills of Socialism ? ) and (The
with Jackson, occupy two chapters, in Real Problem of Democracy, are lay
which Webster's extraordinary powers of sermons of so vigorous an application
reasoning and of oratory are analyzed. that the most easy-going political sinner
Mr. Lodge seems to juage without par- who reads them will not be able to es-
tisanship Webster's Seventh of March cape the pangs of conscience. The final
speech, and the dissensions between him
paper on (The Expenditure of Rich
and his party. He recognizes in Web- Men) is a disquisition on the difficulty
ster, above all, «the preeminent cham- of real sumptuosity in America.
pion and exponent of nationality. ”
Language and the Study of Lan.
guage, by William Dwight Whitney,
Problems of Modern Democracy, by
Edwin Lawrence Godkin.
1867. This work is not only indispens-
(1896. )
able to students of comparative phi-
This collection of eleven political and
lology, but delightful and instructive
economic essays, on subjects connected
with the evolution of the republic, be-
It controverts some of the
reading
positions of Max Müller's Lectures on
longs among the most thoughtful and
the Science of Language,' notably in its
most interesting books of its class — with
to the fundamental question.
Lecky's, Pearson's, Stephen's, Fiske's,
How did language originate ? The
and Lowell's. From the first one, (Aris-
tocratic Opinions of Democracy,' pub-
growth of language is first considered,
with the causes which affect the kind
lished during the last year of the Civil
and the rate of linguistic change; then
War, to the last, «The Expenditure of
Rich Men,' thirty-one years elapse; yet
the separation of languages into dialects;
the comment of time simply emphasizes
then the group of dialects and the family
of more distantly related languages which
the rightness of Mr. Godkin's thinking.
include English; then a review of the
He states the aristocratic objections to
other great families; the relative value
democracy with absolute fairness, con-
and authority of linguistic and of physi-
cedes the weight of many of them, is
cal evidence of race, and the bearing of
even ready to admit that to some degree
language on the ultimate question of the
democracy in America is still on trial.
But he maintains that the right-hand
unity or variety of the human species:
the whole closing with an inquiry into
fallings-off and left-hand defections with
the origin of language, its relation to
which its opponents tax our political
thought, and its value as an element in
theories, are really due to quite other
human progress. Professor Whitney's
causes, - causes inseparable from the con-
theory is that acts and qualities were
ditions of our existence. Thus thought-
the first things named, and that the
fully he considers ethics, manners, liter-
roots of language from which all words
ature, art, and philosophy, public spirit
have sprung – were originally planted
and private virtue; and his conclusion is
by man in striving to imitate natural
that the world's best saints of the last
sounds (the onomatopoetic theory), and
hundred years have come out of the
to utter sounds expressive of excited
Nazareth of democracy,- issuing from
feeling (the interjectional theory); not
the middle and lower classes in Europe,
by means of an innate (creative faculty »
from the plain people in America.
for phonetically expressing his thoughts,
(Popular Government is a review and
which is Max Müller's view.
refutation of much of the doctrine of
Sir Henry Maine, in his volume on that | Earth and Man: The, by Arnold Guyot.
(Some
(1849. ) This fascinating book was
Aspects of the Tariff) deals with the the first word upon its subject, -com.


## p. 535 (#571) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
535
сол
parative physical geography and its rela-
tion to mankind, - which had ever been
addressed to a popular American audi-
ence. The substance of these pages was
first given in the form of lectures before
the Lowell Institute of Boston. Professor
Guyot contends that geography means
not a mere description of the earth's sur-
face, but an interpretation of the phenom-
ena which it describes; an endeavor to
seize the incessant mutual action of the
different portions of physical nature upon
each other, of inorganic nature upon or-
ganized beings — upon man in particular
- and upon the successive development of
human societies. In a word, says the au-
thor, it must explain the perpetual play
of forces that constitutes what might
be called the life of the globe, its physi-
ology. Understood otherwise, geography
loses its vital principle, and becomes a
mere collection of partial, unmeaning
facts. He then goes on to explain how
the contours of mountains, their position,
their direction, their height, the length
and direction of rivers, the configuration
of coasts, the slope of plateaus, the
neighborhood of islands, and in a word,
all physical conditions, have modified
profoundly the life of man. He explains
in detail the relief of the continents, the
characteristics of the oceans, the gradual
formation of the continents, the effects
of winds, rains, and marine currents on
vegetable and animal life, the causes of
likenesses and of differences, and finally,
the people and the life of the future.
Foretold by their physical condition, the
long waiting of the southern continents
for their evolution has been inevitable;
but the scientist foresees for them a full
development when the industrious and
skillful men of the northern continents
shall join with the men of the tropics to
establish a movement of universal pro-
gress and improvement. Full of knowl-
edge and a lofty spirituality, written
always with clearness and often with
eloquence, (The Earth and Man) is a
book whose charm is perennial.
and the criticisms often just, yet some.
times grossly prejudiced. The volumes
were small in size, but Johnson had
intended to make his sketches much
smaller. They had been ordered by
forty of the best booksellers in London
to be used as prefaces for a uniform
edition of the English poets. Johnson
was peculiarly qualified for the work,
deriving his material largely from per-
sonal recollections. The publishers, it is
said, made $25,000 or $30,000, while the
writer got only $2,000. The MS. of the
work he gave to Boswell, who gives us
certain variorum readings. Johnson
himself thought the life of Cowley the
best, and Macaulay agrees with him.
The account of Pope he wrote
amore; said that it would be a thousand
years before another man appeared who
had Pope's power of versification. In
the sketch of Milton the old Tory spoke
with scorn and indignation of that pa-
triot poet's Roundhead politics, calling
him (an acrimonious, surly Republican »
and brutally insolent,” and poured con-
tempt on his (Lycidas. Such things as
this, with his injustice to Gray, called
down on his head a storm of wrath
from the Whigs; which, however, failed
to ruffle in the least the composure of
the erudite old behemoth. It is amaz-
ing to read the names of the English
poets) in this collection. Who now ever
hears of Rochester, Roscommon, Pom-
fret, Dorset, Stepney, Philips, Walsh,
Smith, King, Sprat, Halifax, Garth,
Hughes, Sheffield, Blackmore, Fenton,
Granville, Tickell, Hammond, Somer-
ville, Broome, Mallet, Duke, Denham,
Lyttleton ?
Lady of Fort St. John, The, by Mary
.
and highly imaginative little story is a
romance based on the history of Acadia
in 1645, and describing how Marie de
la Tour, in the absence of her lord,
defends Fort St. John against the be-
sieging forces of D'Aulnay de Charni.
say.
La Tour, as a Protestant, is out
of favor with the king of France;
D'Aulnay, with full permission from
Louis XIII. , is driving him from his
hereditary estates. Marie sustains the
siege with great courage, until
comes from her husband that their cause
is definitely lost; then she capitulates.
The end is tragic. There are several
well-drawn subordinate characters. The
Lives of the Poets, by Samuel John-
The first four volumes of this
once very popular work were published
in 1779, the last six in 1781. Macaulay
pronounced them the best of Samuel
Johnson's works. ' The style is largely
free from the ponderous lumbering sen-
tences of most of his other works, the
narratives entertaining and instructive,
son.
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536
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
befriended by Harvey Gerald and his
daughter Lucy, falls in love with Lucy,
and finally marries her. Sir Massingberd
in his youth secretly married a gipsy,
whom he drove mad with his cruelty.
She curses him: May he perish, inch by
inch, within reach of aid that shall not
come. » Sir Massingberd disappears, and
all search for him is vain; many months
later his bones are found in an old tree,
known as the Wolsey Oak. It was sup-
posed that he climbed the tree to look
about for poachers, that the rotton wood
gave way, and he slipped into the hollow
trunk, whence he could not escape. Had
he not closed up the public path which
skirted the tree, his cries for help must
have been heard. With his disappear-
ance and death all goes well with the
households on which the blight of his
evil spirit had fallen, and the story ends
happily.
story takes good rank among the hosts
of historic romances which the renas-
cence of the novel of adventure has
given to the time.
Mrs. Candle's Curtain Lectures, by
Douglas Jerrold, appeared first as
a series of papers in Punch; and were
published in book form in 1846. They
gained at once an enormous popularity,
being translated into nearly all Euro-
pean languages. The secret of this pop-
ularity is not difficult to discover. The
book is a dramatic embodiment of a
world-old matrimonial joke — the lay
sermons delivered at night-time by a
self-martyrized wife. Mrs. Caudle had
little in this world to call her own but
her husband's ears. They were her en-
tire property! When Mrs. Caudle died
after thirty years of spouseship, the be-
reaved Job Caudle resolved every night
to commit to paper one curtain lecture
of his late wife. When he himself died,
a small packet of papers was found, in-
scribed as follows:-
"Curtain Lectures delivered in the
course of thirty years by Mrs. Marga-
ret Caudle, and suffered by Job, her
husband.
A single paragraph will suffice to show
how Job suffered:-
“Well, Mr. Caudle, I hope you're in a
little better temper than you were this
morning! There — you needn't begin to
whistle. People don't come to bed to
whistle. But it's like you. I can't speak
that you don't try to insult me. Once I
used to say you were the best creature
living; now you get quite a fiend. Do
let you rest: No, I won't let you rest.
It's the only time I have to talk to you,
and you shall hear me. I'm put upon
all day long; it's very hard if I can't
speak a word at night: besides, it isn't
often I open my mouth, goodness knows! ”
Lost
ost Sir Massing berd, by James Payn.
(1864. ) This novel, generally con-
sidered the best of this indefatigable
novelist's stories, was one of the earliest.
It is a modern tale of English country
life, told with freedom, humor, and a cer-
tain good-natured cynicism. A bare sy-
nopsis, conveying no idea of the interest
of the book, would run as follows: Sir
Massingberd Heath neither feared God
nor regarded man. His property was en-
tailed, the next heir being his nephew
Marmaduke, whom he tries to murder in
order to sell the estates. Marmaduke is
Led
ed Horse Claim, The, by Mary Hal-
lock Foote.
The
scene of this
charming romance is laid in a Western
mining-town. On opposite sides of the
Led Horse gulch are the two rival min-
ing-camps, the Shoshone and the Led
Horse. Cecil Conrath, lately come to
join her brother, superintendent of the
Shoshone camp, while wandering alone
one morning, finds herself, to her dis-
may, on Led Horse ground, and face to
face with Hilgard, superintendent of
the rival camp. He is a handsome and
fascinating man, and the two young peo-
ple rapidly fall in love with each other,
though they meet but seldom, on account
of the animosity existing between the
two mines. From sounds that reach
him through the rock, Hilgard discovers
that Conrath has secretly pushed his
workings beyond the boundary line, and
that the ore of which the Shoshone
bins are full is taken from the Led
Horse claim. The case is put into the
hands of lawyers; but before anything
can be done, Conrath makes an attempt
to jump the Led Horse mine. Hilgard
has been warned; and with his sub-
ordinate, West, awaits the attacking
party at the passage of the drift. Shots
are exchanged, and Conrath is killed,
whether by Hilgard or West is
known. Though Hilgard has done but
his duty in defending his claim, Cecil
cannot marry the possible murderer of
her brother. He returns to New York,
where he would have died of typhoid
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
537
champion and plaything of his dissolute
friends. Her child-life is pathetic in its
lawlessness, and prophesies a future of
wretchedness if not of degradation. But
at fifteen she suddenly blossoms into a
beautiful, fascinating, and — strange to
say — refined young lady. Her advent.
ures, from the time of this metempsy-
chosis, defy the potency of heredity and
environment, and hold the reader in
amazed attention till the curtain falls
upon an unexpected conclusion. This
story achieved so great a popular suc-
cess that it has been followed by a
sequel called His Grace of Osmonde,'
wherein the same characters reappear,
but the story is told from the point of
view of the hero instead of that of the
heroine. A Lady of Quality,' in spite
of the severe strictures of many critics,
has been dramatized by the author and
performed with much success.
seems
now
fever, had not Cecil and her aunt op-
portunely appeared at the same hotel, to
nurse him back to life. In spite of the
disapproval of her family, the lovers are
finally married. This book was pub-
lished in 1883, and was read with great
interest, as being one of the first de-
scriptions of mining life in the West, as
it remains one of the best.
Real Folks, by Mrs. A. D. T. Whit-
ney. Mrs. Whitney explains the
real folks she means in the saying of
one of her characters: « Real folks, the
true livers, the genuine neahburs- nigh-
dwellers; they who abide alongside in
spirit. ” It is a domestic story dealing
with two generations. The sisters Frank
and Laura Oldways, left orphans, are
adopted into different households: Laura,
into that of her wealthy aunt, where
she is surrounded by the enervating in-
Auences of wealth and social ambitions;
Frank, into a simple country home,
where her lovable character develops in
its
proper
environment. They marry,
become mothers, and reaching middle
age come, at the wish of their rich
bachelor uncle Titus Oldways, to live
near him in Boston. The episodes in
the two households, the Ripwinkleys and
Ledwiths, so widely divergent in char-
acter, complete the story; which, while
never rising above the ordinary and
familiar, yet, like the pictures of the
old Dutch interiors, charms with its at-
mosphere of repose. It is a work for
mothers and daughters alike. It exhib-
its the worth of the domestic virtues
and the vanity of all worldly things;
but it never becomes preachy. Its New
England atmosphere is genuine, and the
sayings of the characters are often racy
of the soil; while the author's sense of
humor carries her safely over some ob-
stacles of emotion which might easily
become sentimentality.
La ady of Quality, A, by Mrs. Frances
Hodgson Burnett. (1896. ) The scene
of this story is laid in England, during
the reign of Queen Anne. Clorinda,
the unwelcome daughter of a dissolute,
poverty-stricken baronet, Sir Geoffrey
Wildairs, loses her mother at birth, and
with her little sister grows up neg-
lected and alone, fleeing from the sound
of her father's footsteps. At the age of
six she wins his heart by belaboring
m with blows and kicks; and from
that day, dressed as a boy, she is the
suc-
cesses.
Education, by Herbert Spencer. (1860. )
It is the highest praise that can
be bestowed upon this treatise, that it
a book of obvious if not
of commonplace philosophy, whereas,
when it was published, it was recog-
nized as revolutionary in the extreme.
So rapidly has its wisdom become incar-
nated in methods if not in systems.
The book opens with an examination
of what knowledge is of most worth:
it shows that in the mental world as in
the bodily, the ornamental comes before
the useful; that we do not seek to de-
velop our own individual capacities to
their utmost, but to learn what will
enable us to make the most show, or
accomplish the greatest material
But if the important thing in
life is to know how to live, in the wid-
sense, then education should be
made to afford us that knowledge; and
the knowledge is hence of most value
which informs and develops the whole
man. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry,
Biology, the Science of Society,- all
these are important; but an education
which teaches youth how to become
fit for parentage is indispensable. Too
many fathers and mothers are totally
unfit to develop either the bodies, the
souls, or the minds of their children,
From the duty of preparation on the
part of the parent, it is a short step
to the duty of preparation on the part
of the citizen. And still another divis-
ion of human life, that which includes the
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538
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
art.
now
relaxations and pleasures of existence, strong. The treatment is epic rather
should be made a matter of intelligent than dramatic; and the splendid yet
study; for this comprehends the whole comfortless civilization of the Middle
field of the fine arts, the whole æs- Ages, so picturesque and so squalid,
thetic organization of society. The es- so ecstatic and so base, is vividly de-
sayist now considers in detail, Intellect. lineated.
ual Education, Moral Education, and
Physical Education. He shows not only
Ersilia, by Emily Frances Poynter,
an unreasoned and unreasonable exist-
is a story of love, friendship, and
The scene is mainly in Paris and
ing state of things, but he discloses
the true philosophy underlying the ques-
in a watering-place in the Pyrenees,
Eaux Bonnes, where the story opens with
tion, and points out the true methods
the arrival of an Englishman in a hotel
of reasonableness and rightness. Each
at evening, just as a party of three are
chapter is enriched with a wealth of
seen returning from a mountain walk.
illustration drawn from history, litera-
The Englishman is the artist, Arthur
ture, or life; and the argument, although
Fleming; the three are: bis pupil, Hum-
closely reasoned, is very entertaining
phrey Rudolph, a youth of mixed Eng-
from first to last. Few books of the
lish and French parentage; the maiden
age have had a more direct and per-
aunt, Mademoiselle Mathilde de Brissac;
manent effect upon the general thought
than this; for parents and teachers who
and his fair and youthful cousin Ersilia,
know Herbert Spencer only as a name,
the supposed widow of the Russian
Prince Zaraikine. Fleming falls in love
follow the suggestions which are
with Ersilia, who was already loved by
a part of the common intellectual air,
Humphrey; and Humphrey experiences
the double wretchedness of a struggle
Rienzi
ienzi, The Last of the Roman
between his love and the friendship
Tribunes, by Sir Edward Bulwer-
that attaches him to both his master
Lytton (1848), is one of the author's
and his fair cousin. The marriage of
most famous historical romances. It is
Ersilia and Fleming being arranged for,
founded on the career of Cola di Rienzi,
a M. de Rossel brings news which for-
who, in the fourteenth century, inspired
ever intercepts this union, and Hum-
by visions of restoring the ancient great-
phrey is induced to write the fatal
ness of Rome, made himself for seven
letter. Fleming and Rossel meet in a
months master of that imperial city,
duel, the Prince Zaraikine, supposed to
and after nearly seven years of exile
and excommunication, during part of
be dead, reappears, and many interesting
complications arise which are told in a
which he was a prisoner, repeated the
triumph, finally dying at
style by the accom-
the people's
very charming
hands in
plished writer.
1354.
Bulwer was im-
pressed with the heroism and force of Jocelyn, by Alphonse de Lamartine. A
character of his hero, that at first he romantic and sentimental poem pub-
meditated writing his biography, instead lished in Paris in 1836, intervening be-
of a romance founded on his life. The tween the author's Eastern Travels)
story adheres very closely to the histori- and his Fall of an Angel, and sue-
cal facts. To secure accuracy and vivid- ceeded ten years after by his great prose
ness of setting, the novelist went to work, the History of the Girondins. )
Rome to live while writing it. Rienzi's Jocelyn) was widely read in England,
contradictory character, and above all, and was the outcome of the extreme ro-
his consummate ability, and the ambi- manticism that held sway at the time in
tious and unprincipled yet heroic na- Europe. Suspected of containing a con-
ture of his rival, Walter de Montreal, cealed attack the celibacy of the
are skillfully drawn. Among the lesser priesthood, the author defends his poem
personages, Irene, Rienzi's gentle sister, as being purely a poetic creation, consti-
and Nina, his regal wife, with her love tuting a fragment of a great Epic of
of the poetry of wealth and power; Humanity, which he had aspired to write.
Irene's lover, Adrian di Castello, the The poem expresses the conservative re-
enlightened noble; Cecco del Vecchio, ligious feeling of the country as opposed
the sturdy smith; and the ill-fated to the military and democratic spirit.
Angelo Villani, are prominent. Many There are in it echoes of Châteaubriand,
of the situations and scenes very St. Pierre, and Wordsworth; and despite
SO
on
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
539
uge.
With the execution of this wish
the story closes. There are passages of
tender emotion and deep piety in the
poem that recall (St. Augustine) and
the Imitation); and a pure and lofty
moral atmosphere pervades the whole
narrative.
uintus Claudius, by Ernst Eckstein.
its wordiness and long-drawn-out de-
scriptions, which have called forth the
comment of a reviewer that the author
will not allow even the sun to rise and
set in peace,” the piece often reaches a
very high mark of poetic fervor and
beauty. Jocelyn is a priest who leaves
behind him certain records describing
his suffering and temptations, which are
afterwards discovered by his neighbor, a
botanist, — the supposed writer of the
poem, - who after the pastor's decease
visits his dwelling. The story begins
with a picture of Jocelyn at sixteen, a
village youth of humble but respectable
parentage. Morning and evening scenes
of village life are graphically depicted,
and the episodes of youthful love among
the lads and maidens, in which Jocelyn,
destined as he is for the priesthood,
feels that he has no rightful share. To
provide for a suitable dowry in marriage
for his sister, he has vowed himself to
the Church. War breaking out, and the
lives of the clergy being threatened,
Jocelyn finds refuge among the solitudes
of the Alps. There he meets
an old
man accompanied by a boy who as ref-
ugees are passing near his cave, pursued
by soldiers. In the attack which fol.
lows, the old man is killed, and Jocelyn
takes the boy into his cave. They en-
joy delightful companionship as
brothers under the pure and sublime in-
fluences of the Alpine home. At length
an accident reveals to Jocelyn that his
orphan protégé and friend is a maiden,
who had disguised herself in fight in
male attire, and since had maintained
the deception out of reverence for the
priestly vows of her protector.
The
friendship of the two companions be-
coming now an avowed love, Jocelyn
seeks his bishop for advice as to his
duty, and is directed to renounce his
passion as unlawful, and to be separated
from Laurence, the object of his love.
Laurence goes to Paris, where years
afterwards Jocelyn finds her married,
but unworthily, and leading a gay but
miserable life.