No More Learning

The novel is a combination of
treat of the ancestors of the men to
mysticism and realism. Tolstoy has
portrayed the terror of battle, the emo-
whom they are primarily addressed.
tions of armies in conflict, with surpass-
But the novels belong to the world;
ing skill and power.
The book as a
they are pre-eminent in the creation of
characters, of humorous fighters, of wo-
whole leaves an indelible but confused
to be loved like the heroines of
impression upon the mind of the reader,
Shakespeare, and of such men as Za-
as if he had himself passed through the
din and smoke of a battle, of which he
globa, a creation to rank with Falstaff.
retains great dim memories. But above
known of Anthony Hope's romances,
part that accident plays in all
relates the picturesque adventures of
paigns.
Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentle-
With
ith Fire and Sword, The Deluge, man, during a three months' sojourn in
and Pan Michael, a trilogy of the Kingdom of Ruritania.
magnificent historical novels, by Henryk He arrives upon the eve of the coro-
Sienkiewicz, treats of that period of nation of King Rudolf, whom he meets
Polish history which extends from 1648 at Zenda Castle. In a drinking bout the
to the election of Sobieski to the throne king is drugged, and cannot be aroused
of Poland as Yan III. It thus embraces to reach the capital Strelsau in time for
the most stirring and picturesque era of the coronation. This treachery is the
the national life. The first of the tril- work of the king's brother, Duke Mi-
ogy deals with the deadly conflict be- chael, who wishes to usurp the king-
tween the two Slav States, Russia and dom. To foil his designs, Colonel Sapt
Poland. It is an epic of war, of battle, and Fritz von Farlenheim successfully
murder, and sudden death, of tyranny assist Rassendyll to personate the king.
and patriotism, of glory and shame. In He is crowned, plays his part without
“The Deluge, two great events of Polish serious blunders, and then sets about
history form the dramatic ground-work accomplishing the king's release, -a task
of the novel: these are the settlement of rendered dangerous and difficult by the
the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, and the cunning and prowess of Michael and his
union of Poland with Lithuania and followers. Rassendyll loves and is loved
men
all is the impression of fatality, and the Prisoner of Zenda, The, the best
cam-


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458
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
by the Princess Flavia. She is also be-
loved by the king and his brother. Only
the release of the monarch-accomplished
haps the most commonplace, and the
most thoroughly human, of Thackeray's
men.
in a series of dashing dramatic epicgales Potiphar Papers, by George William
Rassendyll from wedding
Flavia. The story is told with wonder-
ful vim and spirit, and with a freshness
and healthfulness of feeling remarkable
in an era of morbid fiction. The novel
has been dramatized in a successful play
of the same name.
pendennis, by
Curtis. satire
York society was published in 1856, and
is still read, though it has partly lost its
point owing to changed conditions. The
papers are something in the manner of
Addison's satires on the pretensions and
insincerities of society; but at times the
bitterness becomes more scathing, and
reminds one of Thackeray in its merei-
less analysis of folly and ignorance.
The writer divides the society of which
he speaks into three classes: the newly
rich, who have acquired wealth but not
culture; the descendants of the old fami-
lies, who make the glory of their an-
cestors serve instead of any manliness
or worth of their own; and the dancing
youths into whose antecedents or char-
acters nobody inquires, so long as they
enliven the ball-rooms, and constitute
eligible partners for the young ladies.
A description is given of Mrs. Potiphar's
ball, where dresses are ruined by care-
less waiters, and drunken young fellows
destroy valuable property, and hosts and
guests are thoroughly miserable while
pretending to enjoy the occasion. In
the account of the Potiphars in Paris
see how wealthy Americans, when
lacking innate breeding and refinement,
make themselves ridiculous in the eyes
of foreigners. The gilded youth of the
day, as well as the shallow and flippant
women, are held up to derision, while
our sympathies are aroused by the poor,
toiling, unaspiring fathers, who are not
strong enough to make a stand for their
rights. In reading these papers we can
only be glad that the persons described
by the author are no longer typical of
American society. One of the enduring
characters is the Rev. Cream Cheese,
who sympathetically advises with Mrs.
Potiphar as to the color of the cover of
her prayer-book.
Poets of America, The, by Edmund
Clarence Stedman (1885), a work of
the same general scope and design as
the Victorian Poets,' and a kind of
sequel to it, is written in the belief
that “the literature — even the poetic lit-
erature - of no country during the last
half-century is of greater interest to the
philosophical student, with respect to its
bearing on the future, than that of the
W. M. Thackeray
(1850), is more simple in plot and
construction than his other novels. It
is a masterly study of the character and
development of one Arthur Pendennis, a
hero lifelike and convincing because of
his very unheroic qualities and faulty
human nature. He begins his career as
a spoiled, somewhat brilliant boy, adored
by a foolish mother, and waited upon
by his adopted sister Laura. From this
atmosphere of adulation and solicitude,
Pendennis goes to the university; but
not before he has fallen in love with an
actress ten years older than himself.
He owes his escape from his toils to the
intervention of a worldly-minded uncle,
Major Pendennis, a capitally drawn type
of the old man-about-town. At the uni-
versity he blossoms into a young gentle-
man of fashion, with the humiliating
result of being «plucked in his degree
examination, and having his debts paid
off by Laura. His manliness reawakens,
and he goes back to have it out with
the university, returning this time a
victor. Then follows a London career as
a writer and man of the world. The boy
just misses being the man by a certain
childish love of the pomp and show of
life. Yet he is never dishonorable, only
weak. The test of his honor is his con-
duct towards Fanny Bolton, a pretty
girl of the lower class, who loves
him innocently and whole-heartedly. Pen
loves her and leaves her as innocent as
he found her, but unhappy. His punish-
comes in the shape of Blanche
Amory, a flirt with a fortune. The double
bait proves too much for the boy's van-
ity. Only after she has jilted him are
his eyes opened to the true value of the
gauds he is staking so
much upon.
The wholesome lesson being learned, he
marries Laura and enters upon a life of
new manliness.
His character throughout is drawn
with admirable consistency. He is per-
we
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
459
on
e
United States. American poetry, more whole. Robert Elsmere) had a phe-
than that of England during the period nomenal success, partly owing to the
considered, has idealized, often inspired, nature of its subject, and partly to its
the national sentiment,- the historic genuine literary merit. Aside from its
movements of the land whose writers intrinsic value, the sensation it produced
have composed it. ” After introductory entitles it to rank as one of the most
chapters on Early and Recent Con- remarkable books of its generation. It
ditions, and the (Growth of the is a complete example of the modern
American School,' the author considers problem-novel.
critically the work of Bryant, Whittier,
Emerson, Longfellow, Poe, Holmes, Six Days of Creation; or
THE
Lowell, Whitman, and Taylor, - conclud- SCRIPTURAL COSMOLOGY. (1855. ) By
ing with a chapter on the poetical out- Tayler Lewis. A work of mainly philo-
look. These essays are sympathetic and logical but also metaphysical argument,
scholarly, showing fine insight not only designed to prove that the day of the
into the nature and character of Ameri- Biblical account of creation was not a
can verse, but into the environment also limited short period of time - not a com-
of which it was a product.
mon day at all. Executed with ample
learning, with close and vigorous reason-
Roberta Elsmere by Mrs. Humphry ing, with frequent touches of novel in-
Ward 1888), is a brilliant
terpretation of terms, and not less with
of the embodiment in a work of fiction deep religious earnestness, and eloquence
of intellectual problems of contemporary inspired by the sublimity of the subject,
interest. It recounts the struggles of a the book excited great interest and much
young clergyman who cannot accept all discussion. In reply to objections to
the miracles and dogmas of Christianity, conclusions which he advocated, Profes-
yet is in deep sympathy with its spirit. sor Lewis brought out a second book in
The scene is laid partly in a country 1856, on (The Bible and Science; or,
village in Surrey, partly in London. The World Problem. To this he added
The chief character is Robert Elsmere, in 1860, (The Divine Human in the
a young, sensitive clergyman, fresh from Scriptures. The scientific view urged
the Old-World environment of Oxford. by Professor Lewis is now commonly
He marries Catherine Leyburn, a woman accepted, while the question of what the
of mediæval faith, who loves him in- Biblical texts exactly meant is less con-
tensely, but is incapable of sympathizing sidered, because of the general opinion
with him in the struggle through which of scholars that the creation story was
he is to pass. Robert, in his country derived from Babylonian scriptures, and
rectory, begins a mental journey, the is not given as exact history.
goal of which he dares not face. He
realizes after a time that he can
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Life and Let-
longer accept the conventional concep- ters of, by Annie Fields, appeared
tion of Christianity, and must, therefore, in 1897. It is the best life of the author.
leave the church, to preach what seems Written in a most entertaining style,
to him a more liberal gospel, better with just enough of personal reminis-
fitted to the needs of the century. His cence and anecdote to quicken interest,
wife is heart-broken by his apostasy; it is a discreet and satisfying biography.
but she accompanies him when he goes The reader comes into closer acquaint-
to London to work among the poor of ance with Mrs. Stowe in the perusal of
the East Side, and to found a new her letters, of the which Mrs. Fields has
brotherhood of Christians.
made wise and varied selection. Living
Other persons and scenes relieve the through, and herself so potential a fac-
tension of the plot: Rose, Catherine's tor in, the days of the anti-slavery
beautiful, willful sister; Langham, the movement, Mrs. Stowe naturally was in
withered Oxford don, cursed with indif-
or less intimate correspondence
ference and paralysis of the emotional with the reformers, agitators, statesmen,
nature; Newcombe the wan, worn High- clergymen, and littérateurs of her own
Church priest; the cynical Squire Wen- stormy era. The selections made from
dover; the gay society folk of London,- this correspondence form most interest-
these all playing their several parts in iug reading, and add greatly to the
the drama make up a well-rounded value of the biography.
no
more


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460
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
one.
Susan Fielding, by Mrs. Annie Ed- of a friendship which the author formed
wards (1876), is a pleasant story of with a gentle barbarian, Kána-aná, and
English society, written with pervasive the pathetic fate which met him in his
humor and a nice analysis of character. yearnings after civilization.
The scene is laid near London and on "Cruising among the Caribees,' a vol.
the coast of France, in the late sixties. ume by the same author, is full of
The heroine is a little country girl, that subtle attraction and over-bubbling
simple-hearted and loving, who is taken good spirits which characterize the
up by the squire's granddaughter, the (Idylls); for in these sketches also Mr.
great lady of the village. Portia French Stoddard fairly “personally conducts »
is an imperious beauty, shrewd, restless, his readers in and about the islands --
and worldly through and through; yet as yet far enough removed from prosaic
with great refinement and charm. Her civilization to be still romantic.
character is more interesting than that
of the good little girl for whom the A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles
, and
(),
love-affairs are more thrilling, as they from all his other novels in style and
are much more complicated, than Su- manner of treatment. Forster, in his
san's. Susan has two lovers; and out of Life of Dickens,' writes that there is
due regard for the needs of the novelist, no instance in his novels excepting this,
of course becomes engaged to the wrong of a deliberate and planned departure
But Portia has no less than four from the method of treatment which had
devoted suitors; and it is a matter of been pre-eminently the source of his
conjecture, up to the very last chapter, popularity as a novelist. ” To rely less
on which of the four she has bestowed upon character than upon incident, and
that somewhat mythical article, her to resolve that his actors should be ex-
heart. The best character in the book pressed by the story more than they
is Portia's aunt Jemima, a plain, capa- should express themselves by dialogue,
ble, unselfish, loving old maid, who has was for him a hazardous, and can hardly
spent her life laboring in other people's be called an entirely successful, experi-
households, for everybody's welfare but ment. With singular dramatic vivacity,
her own. From the flood of empty and much constructive art, and with descrip-
ill-written novels that pours from the tive passages of a high order every-
press, this pleasant story deserves to be where, there was probably never a book
rescued and remembered for its refine- by a great humorist, and an artist so
ment, humor, and wholesomeness.
prolific in conception, with little
humor and so few remarkable figures.
South-Sea Idylls, by Charles Warren Its merit lies elsewhere. The two cities
Stoddard, was published in 1873. are London and Paris. The time is just
In humorous vein the author sketches before and during the French Revolu-
a variety of personal experiences which tion. A peculiar chain of events knits
befell him in southern
The and interweaves the lives of a few
(Idylls) range from racy delineations of simple, private people with the out-
native types to entertaining descriptions break of a terrible public event. Dr.
of the curious customs of the peoples Manette has been a prisoner in the Bas-
among whom he has traveled, with tille for eighteen years, languishing
here and there truly poetic pictures of there, as did so many others, on
natural scenery.
It is difficult to say vague unfounded charge. His release
which of the score of sketches is the when the story opens, his restoration to
best, for each excels in its own way his daughter Lucie, the trial and acquit-
a specimen of the author's happy tal of one Charles Darnay, nephew of a
versatility; but A Canoe-Cruise in the French marquis, on a charge of treason,
Coral Sea) will fairly represent the the marriage of Lucie Manette to Dar-
delicate charm, spontaneous humor, and nay,- these incidents form the introduc-
vivid interest which pervade the entire tion to the drama of blood which is
series. Scarcely less entertaining are to follow. Two friends of the Manette
(My South-Sea Show,' and (A Prodigal family complete the circle of important
in Tahiti.
characters: Mr. Lorry, a solicitor of a very
The longest of the sketches, Chum- ancient London firm, and Sydney Car-
ming with a Savage,' tells the story ton, the most complete gentleman to be
SO
seas.
some
as


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
461
a
found in Dickens. Carton has wasted Porthos, and Aramis. By his pluck and
his talents, leading a wild, bohemian spirit, he wins all three for friends;
existence in London. The one garden and the four of them from that time
spot in his life is his love for Lucie share their fortunes, good and bad, and
Manette. To this love he clings as become the heroes of many stirring
drowning man to a spar.
For this love events. The novel throughout is highly
he lays down his life. At the breaking dramatic and of absorbing interest.
out of the French Revolution, Darnay
hastens to Paris to aid an old family Twenty Years After, by Alexandre
servant who is in danger of losing his
Dumas, is a story of the Fronde,)).
life. His wife and his father-in-law fol-
the uprising of the people of Paris
low him. Gradually the entire circle of
against Cardinal Mazarin, prime minis-
friends, including Mr. Lorry and Sidney
ter of France and reputed husband of
Anne of Austria, the regent, mother of
Carton, find themselves in the horrible
environment of the Paris of the Terror.
the boy king Louis XIV. D'Artagnan,
who has never left the Guards, and Por-
Darnay himself is imprisoned and con-
thos, who has returned to that company
demned to death, by the agency of a
with the hope of being made a baron,
wine-seller, Defarge, and his wife, a
find themselves pitted against Athos and
female impersonation of blood and war.
To save the husband of the woman he
Aramis, who have emerged, one from
loves, Carton by strategy takes his place
his country-seat, the other from his con-
vent, to take a hand in the Fronde.
in prison. The novel closes with the
magnificent scene where Carton goes to
After much skirmishing, which gives us
a brilliant account of the warfare of the
his death on the scaffold, redeeming a
worthless life by one supreme act of
Fronde, Athos and Aramis go to Eng-
land on
devotion. Only the little sewing-girl in
a commission from Henrietta
the death-cart with him knows his
Maria, exiled in France, to her husband
secret. As he mounts the guillotine
Charles I. ; and presently Porthos and
there rises before him the vision of a
D'Artagnan are sent by Mazarin with
redeemed and renewed Paris, of a great
dispatches to Cromwell, in company with
and glorious nation. There rise before
a young Englishman named Mordaunt,
him
memories and many dead
who is the son of an infamous beauty of
many
the Court. Athos and Aramis are capt-
hopes of his own past life, but in his
This
heart there is the serenity of triumph:
ured by the Parliamentary army.
_"It is a far, far better thing that I
is but the beginning of a long series of
do than I have ever done; it is a far,
dramatic adventures. The exciting story
far better rest that I go to than I have
draws to a close with the ending of the
Fronde.
ever known. ”
Vicomte de Bragelonne, The; or, Ten
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre YEARS AFTER. This, the last novel
of the Three Musketeers) series, is the
the first novel of Dumas's famous tril- longest and in many ways the most
ogy, of which the others are (Twenty powerful of the three. Some parts of
Years After) and (The Vicomte de Brage- it have been published as separate
lonne. ) The three stories together cover novels. Those chapters devoted to the
a space of time from 1625 to 1665, ånd king's love for Mademoiselle de la Val-
deal with the life of a Gascon advent- lière have been issued under the title of
urer named D'Artagnan, from his ar- (Louise de la Vallière); while the ones
rival in Paris on a raw-boned yellow dealing with the substitution of Louis
pony with three crowns in his pocket, to XIV. 's twin brother for himself have ap-
his death as Comte D'Artagnan, Com- peared as “The Man in the Iron Mask. )
mander of the Musketeers and Marshal The romance in full presents a marvel-
of France.
ously vivid picture of the court of Louis
On his first day in Paris, the young XIV. , from a time shortly before his
D'Artagnan, who desires to enter the marriage to Maria Theresa to the down-
famous corps of Louis XIII. 's Musket- fall of Fouquet. The Vicomte de Brage-
eers, contrives to entangle himself in lonne is the son of the famous Athos, of
three duels, with three of the most the Three Musketeers); the best type
dreaded members of body, who are of young nobleman, high-minded, loyal,
known by the pseudonyms of Athos, and steadfast, who cherishes from his


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462
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
boyhood an unwavering love for Made- imagination combine to preserve the
moiselle de la Vallière, which ends only fleeting fancies of childhood; some of
in his death on a foreign battlefield after them merely fantastic; others with a
she deserts him for the king. The four lesson of life hidden under a semblance
old comrades, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, of adventure - - as in "The Pot of Gold,'
and D'Artagnan, all reappear: Athos where Chief is always seeking, always
the perfect gentleman, big Porthos so unsuccessful, because just at the moment
simple and kind-hearted, Aramis a bishop of capture of the coveted treasure, his
and schemer, and D'Artagnan a soldier attention is distracted by the vision of
still, quick-tempered and outspoken as his adoring and forsaken Rhoda; or in
ever, but withal so full of loyalty and the last charming sketch entitled "The
kindliness that his very enemies love Prince's Visit,' where weak Job loses
him. The chief plot of the book relates the sight of a grand procession while he
the struggle of Colbert to supplant is succoring the lame boy,-a sacrifice
Fouquet as Superintendent of Finances; rewarded by the vision of a pageant
and the struggle of Aramis, who has such as poor mortals may but whisper
become General of the Jesuits, to keep of. ” The offspring of dreams, the
Fouquet in power.
Dream Children, pass before the mind's
Aramis discovers the existence in the eye, a charming company of unrealities,
Bastille of the twin brother of Louis with ordinary attributes, but invested
XIV. , exactly like him in person, who with supernatural excellence. Who can
has been concealed from his birth for tell when the realities begin and the
reasons of State. Aramis conceives the dreams end? Who can separate, in the
glorious idea of carrying off Louis XIV. , cyclorama of existence, the painted can-
and setting up a king who will owe his vas from the real objects in the fore-
throne to him, and in return make him ground ? It is into this borderland of
cardinal, prime minister, and master, as doubt the author takes us, with the
Richelieu had been. This plot he and children who hear the birds and beasts
Porthos (who does not understand the talk: where inanimate objects borrow at-
true situation in the least) carry out tributes of humanity; where fact mas-
with the utmost success, deceiving even querades as fancy and fancy as fact;
the king's own mother; but the affair is where the young and old meet together
frustrated by the fidelity of Fouquet, in a childish unconsciousness of awaken-
who, on learning the substitution, rushes ings.
to free the real king. Aramis and Por-
The Land of Poco Tiempo, by Charles
thos fly across France to Belle-Isle in
F. Lummis, (1893,) is a delightful
Brittany, where they are besieged by
record of the author's travels in New
the king's ships, and Porthos meets a
Mexico; a land, as he describes it, of
tragic death.
Aramis escapes to Spain,
(sun, silence, and adobe.
the
and, being too powerful a Jesuit to be
Great American Mystery — the National
touched, lives to an honored old age.
Rip Van Winkle. ” The different chap-
Louis XIV. meantime imprisons his
ters treat of New Mexican customs, of
brother in the famous iron mask; and
the inhabitants, of the folk-songs, of the
arrests Fouquet, who had been a bad
religious rites. Perhaps the most fas-
minister, but at the same time such a
cinating portion of the work is that
gentleman that D'Artagnan says to him:
devoted to the <cities that were for-
“Ah, Monsieur, it is you who should
gotten”; those great stone ruins, rearing
be king of France. ” Athos dies heart-
ghost-like from illimitable plains, with
broken, after learning of the death of
as little reason for being there as the
his son; and last of all, D'Artagnan falls
in the thick of battle in the musketeer's
Pyramids in the sands of the desert.
The book is written in a pleasant con-
uniform he had worn for forty years.
versational style, and with much pict-
Even those who have least sentiment
uresqueness of description.
over the personages of fiction can hardly
part with these familiar and charming England Withont and Within, by
friends
Grant White. Most of the
chapters of this book appeared in the
Atlantic Monthly, but
intended
Dream children, by Horace E. Scud-
der, is a collection of “Once-Upon- from the first as a presentation in book
a-Time » stories, in which memory and form of the subject indicated by its
The
were


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
463
are
an
title. The author has put England, its of April 30th, 1889, at St. Paul's Church
people and their ways, before his readers in New York, which carried off the chief
just as he saw them: their skies; their honor of the celebration of the one hun-
methods of daily life; their men and dredth anniversary of the first inaugura-
women, to the latter of whom he pays tion of Washington as President of the
a charming tribute; their nobility and United States. There
seventeen
gentry; parks and palaces; national vir- papers altogether, and they constitute a
tues and vices. He has told only what conspicuous illustration of the best type
any one might have seen, though with- of churchman: a bishop of New York,
out the power of explicit description who is in every secular respect an emi-
and photographic language. It is, says nent citizen, and author of wise
he, «the commonplaces of life that counsel in matters of political and social
show what a people, what a country
interest.
is; what all the influences, political,
moral, and telluric, that have bee What
hat Social Classes Owe to Each
there for centuries, have produced”; and
Other, by William Graham Sum-
it is of these commonplaces he treats.
ner, is a study of socialistic questions in
He saw England in an informal, un-
primer form. The author does not take
business-like, untourist-like
way,
not
the position of an advocate for any one
stopping every moment to take notes,
class, but considers with impartiality the
but relying on his memory to preserve
claims of all classes. He emphasizes
everything of importance. There is a
not so much the duties of classes as the
noticeable lack of descriptions of lit-
duties of the individual members of
erary people in England, -a lapse in-
those classes, growing out of the rela-
tion of man to man.
tentional, not accidental; he believing
He also empha-
that it is an «altogether erroneous
sizes the necessity of a man's bearing
notion that similarity in occupation, or
his own burden, and not depending too
admiration on one side, must produce
much upon the aid of his fellows. The
liking in personal intercourse »; but this
work is valuable more for its suggestive-
disappointment— if it be a disappoint-
ness than for its dogmatic quality,
ment to the reader - is more than atoned
for by the review of journeyings to Ox-Subjection of Women, The. By John
Stuart Mill.
An able essay designed
ford and Cambridge, Warwick, Stratford-
to explain the grounds of the early and
upon-Avon, Kenilworth, where, as his
strong twofold conviction of Mr. Mill:
acquaintance of a railway compartment
(1), that the principle of woman's legal
says, every American
goes”; rural
subordination to man is wrong in itself,
England; pilgrimage to Canterbury, etc.
and is now one of the chief hindrances
However severe his criticism of national
to human improvement; and (2) that it
faults and individual blunderings, how-
ought to be replaced by a principle of
caustic the
directed
perfect equality, placing no disability
against the foibles of the British Phil-
istines, one is conscious of the author's
upon woman, and giving no exclusive
power or privilege to man.
After re-
underlying admiration for the home of
viewing the conditions which the laws
his kindred; and the sincerity of his
of all countries annex to the marriage
dictum — «England is not perfect, for it
contract, Mr. Mill carefully discusses the
is upon the earth, and it is peopled by
right of woman to be equal with man
human beings; but I do not envy the
in the family, and her further right to
man who, being able to earn enough to
equal admission with him to all the
get bread and cheese and beer, a whole
functions and occupations hitherto re-
coat and a tight roof over his head, can- served to men. He concludes with a
not be happy there. )
strong chapter on the justice, mercy,
and general beneficence, of social
Scholar
, and the State, The, and other
order from which the slavery of woman
Orations and Addresses; by Henry shall have entirely disappeared.
Codman Potter. (1897. ) A volume of
thoughtful papers, of which the first
: Essays of Hamilton Wright Mabie.
giving its title, was
comprised under
as the Phi Beta Kappa Oration at Har- this general title. They are all con-
vard in 1890, and the sec on Char- cerned with man and nature, the soul
acter in Statesmanship,' was the address and literature, art and culture. Their
ever
sarcasms
a


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464
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
man.
on
several titles are: Essays in Literary the human spirit than in all the histori-
Interpretation,' Essays on Nature and cal works that have been written; for the
Culture,' (Short Studies in Literature,' real history of man on this earth is not
Books and Culture,' My Study Fire) the record of the deeds he has done
(2 vols. ), and "L'nder the Trees and with his hands, the journeys he has
Elsewhere. They all express the views made with his feet; . . but the rec-
of a book-man on man and his surround- ord of his thoughts, feelings, inspirations,
ings; but of a book-man who has studied aspirations, and experience. This, on the
man no less than books, and has stud- conditions of a broad mental and moral
ied books rather as a means than an development of the individual, draws
end -as giving insight into the soul of the essential line of distinction between
Great books are for him not feats the man of culture and the Philistine:
of intellect, but the result of the contact To secure the most complete develop-
of mind and heart with the great and ment one must live in one's time and
terrible facts of life: they originate not yet live above it, and one must live in
in the individual mind but in the soil of one's home and yet live in the world.
common human hopes, loves, fears, as- The life which is bounded in knowledge,
pirations, sufferings. Shakespeare did interest, and activity by the invisible but
not invent Hamlet, he found him in hu- real and limiting walls of a small com-
man histories already acted out to the munity is often definite in aim, effective
tragic end; Goethe did not create Faust, in action, and upright in intention; but
he summoned him out of the dim me- it cannot be rich, varied, generous, and
diæval world and confronted him with stimulating The life, the other
the problems of life as it is now. There hand, which is entirely detached from
are in these Essays) innumerable epi- local associations and tasks is often in-
grammatic passages easily detachable teresting, liberalizing, and catholic in
from the context; a few of these will spirit; but it cannot be original or pro-
serve to illustrate the author's points of ductive. A sound life – balanced, poised,
view. Writing of Personality in Liter- and intelligently directed — must stand
ary Work,' he says that there is no such strongly in both local and universal re-
thing as a universal literature in the lations; it must have the vitality and
sense which involves complete escape warmth of the first, and the breadth and
from the water-marks of place and time: range of the second.
no man can study or interpret life save
from the point of view where he finds
Lºv
oves of the Triangles, The, by
himself; no truth gets into human keep- George Canning. In 1797 George
ing by any other path than the individ- Canning, then Under-Secretary of State
ual soul, nor into human speech by any for Foreign Affairs, planned in conjunc-
other medium than the individual mind. ton with George Ellis, John Hookham
In another essay occurs this fine remark Frere, and others, the Anti-Jacobin, a
on wit: Wit reveals itself in sudden political paper edited in the interests of
flashes, not in continuous glow and il- the Tory party.
lumination; it is distilled in sentences; Satire and parody were the vehicles
it is preserved in figures, illustrations, by which editors and contributors tried
epigrams, epithets, phrases. Then fol- to effect their end; and among the va-
lows a comparison of wits and humor- rious articles and poems, none were wit-
ists: the wits entertain and dazzle us, tier than those written by Canning,
the humorists al lif
to us.
Aris- then barely twenty-seven. One object of
tophanes, Cervantes, Molière, and Shakes- these contributions was to cast ridicule
peare - the typical humorists—are among on the undue sentimentality of various
the greatest contributors to the capital literary men of the day, in their alleged
of human achievement; they give us not false sympathy with the revolutionary
glimpses but views of life. In the essay, spirit in France
(The Art of Arts) - i. e. , the art of liv- (The Loves of the Triangles) was
ing — is this remark on the Old Testa- presented as the work of a quasi-con-
ment writings: Whatever view one may tributor, Mr. Higgins, who says that
take of the authority of those books, it he is persuaded that there is no sci-
is certain that in the noble literature ence, however abstruse, nay, no trade
which goes under that title there is a nor manufacture, which may not be
deeper, clearer, and fuller disclosure of taught by a didactic poem.
And


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
465
though the more rigid and unbending | charity or fellow-feeling: not only is man
stiffness of a mathematical subject does enjoined to show kindliness to fellow-
not admit of the same appeals to the men, but to all animals as well. The
warmer passions which naturally arise people practice what their scriptures
out of the sexual system of Linnæus, teach; and the effect indirectly on the
he hopes that his poem will ornament condition of the brutes is almost as
and enlighten the arid truths of Euclid marked as its more direct effect on the
and algebra, and will strew the Asses' character of mankind.
Bridge with flowers.
This is of course a satire on the Bo- Timb
imbuctoo the Mysterious, by Felix
Dubois. Translated from the French
tanic Garden of Dr. Darwin, to whom
by Diana White. The story of a long
indeed the parody, (The Loves of the
journey inland in French Africa: from
Triangles,' is dedicated. Only about
Dakar, the port of Senegal, by rail above
three hundred verses in rhymed iam-
170 miles to St. Louis, the capital of
bics were published of this poem, form-
Senegal; thence by river steamer on the
ing one canto; yet argument, notes,
Senegal eight days to Kayes, the capital
as well as the body of the poem itself,
of French Sudan; then by rail part of the
are the perfection of parody, and in
the midst of it all are several lines
way, and by caravan ine remainder, to
the Niger at Bammaku; and, last of
assailing Jacobins.
all, on the vast sea-like breadth of the
A portion of the invocation may serve
Niger to Timbuctoo. The story of French
as a specimen of the style: –
occupation; of improvements recently
" But chief, thou nurse of the didactic Muse,
made; of the great river and the country
Divine Nonsensia, all thy sense infuse:
The charms of secants and of tangents tell,
through which it flows; and of the re-
How loves and graces in an angle dwell;
markable city, once a great seat of Mus-
How slow progressive points protract the line, sulman culture, and in French hands
As pendent spiders spin the filmy twine.
How lengthened lines, impetuous sweeping
not unlikely to become a centre of Euro-
round,
pean civilization and science in the
Spread the wide plane and mark its circling heart of Africa,- is one to reward the
bound;
reader, and one also to form a valuable
How planes, their substance with their motion
grown,
chapter in the history of European con-
Form the huge cube, the cylinder, the cone. ” version of the Dark Continent into a
land of light and of progress. A special
The Soul of the Far East, by Perci- interest in the book is the discovery in
val Lowell. The Far East whose
Soul is the subject-matter of this sym-
Jenne and Timbuctoo of ancient Egyp-
tian architecture, leading to the belief
pathetic study is principally Japan, but
that the ancient empire of Sangird was
China and Korea are considered also.
Among the traits of character and the
founded by emigrants from the Nile.
peculiarities of usages distinguishing all Tron and its Remains, by Dr. Hein-
author classes rich ) A
the far less pronounced individualism of offered to the reader as (A Narrative of
those races, as compared with Westerns: Researches and Discoveries made on the
Peoples, he says, grow steadily more in- Site of Ilium and in the Trojan Plain. )
dividual as we go westward. In the Far It is a graphic story of most remarkable
East the social unit is not the individual discoveries iš the spot which tradition,
but the family: among the Easterns a from the earliest historic age of Greece,
normally constituted son knows not what has marked as the site of Homer's Ilium.
it is to possess a spontaneity of his own. Through ruins piled to the height of
A Chinese son cannot properly be said fifty feet Schliemann dug down to the
to own anything. This state of things fire-scattered relics of Troy, and brought
is curiously reflected in the language of to light thousands of objects illustrating
Japan, which has no personal pronouns: the race, language, and religion of her
cannot say in Japanese, I, Thou, inhabitants, their wealth and civilization,
He. The Japanese are born artists: to their instruments and appliances for
call a Japanese cook an artist is to state peaceful life and for war. The discov-
a simple fact, for Japanese food is beau- eries at the same time throw a new
tiful, though it may not be agreeable to light upon the origins of the famous
the taste. Half of the teachings of the Greeks of history, and open somewhat
Buddhist religion are inculcations of the not before known history of the
one
XXX-30


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466
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
primitive Greeks of Asia. The wealth characters, and the main course of
of detail in the narrative, with the events, together with their causes and
map, plans, views, and illustrative cuts, consequences. The three principal stages
representing 500 objects discovered on separately noted are that of the antiqui-
the site, give the work an extraordi- ties; that of the marvelously rich "dra-
narily readable character.
matic” period, crowded with the great
figures of the best age of Rome; and
Pheidias, Essays on the Art of, by
that of the dissolution of ancient SO-
Charles Waldstein. (1885. ) A vol-
ciety and the changes wrought by the
ume of great importance, consisting of
nine essays, of which the first and second
influence of Christianity. It is this third
stage which Dr. Merivale considers of
are introductory; one on the province,
most vital interest, and his treatment of
aim, and methods of the study of classi-
cal archæology, and the other on the
which gives to his work an exceptional
value.
spirit of the art of Pheidias, in its rela-
tion to his age, life, and character. These
In his earlier and larger work, A
History of the Romans under the Em-
two essays aim to bring into view the
nature and causes of Greek genius for
pire) (8 vols. , 1865), Dr. Merivale ex-
art, and the character of the art of the
actly filled, with a work of the highest
authority and value, the gap between
greatest of Greek sculptors, who ranks
in the art of Greece as Æschylus does
Mommsen and Gibbon, 60 B. C. -180 A. D.
in its drama. The five essays which
follow deal with the sculptures of the Pagan and Christian Rome, by Ru-
Parthenon in the order of time of their
dolfo Lanciani. (1893. ) A most
richly illustrated account of the changes
production, and of the growth of the
at Rome, by which it was gradually
artist's own development. Of the two
remaining essays, the first deals with the
transformed from a pagan to a Christ-
ian city. Discoveries
gold and ivory statues; the Athene of
recently made
the Parthenon, over forty feet in height,
show that Christian teaching reached
and the incarnation in ivory and gold
the higher classes at a very early date,
of overpowering majesty, and spiritual
and even penetrated to the palace of
the Cæsars.
beauty; and the Zeus at Olympia, a
Long before the time at
seated or throned figure, forty-two feet
which Rome is supposed to have fa-
in height, a marvel of construction and
vored Christianity, there had been built
decoration, and beyond all comparison
churches side by side with the temples
of the old faith. Tombs also bear the
impressive, to give the idea of the King
of the gods.
same testimony to gains made by Christ-
ianity in important quarters. Great
The last essay considers the influence
of the work of Pheidias upon the Attic
names in the annals of the empire are
sculpture of the period immediately suc-
found to be those of members of the
Christian body. The change in fact
ceeding the age of Pericles. The sculpt-
ure of Pheidias was that of idealism,
which was brought to maturity under
divine and religious sculpture, serving to
Constantine was not a sudden and un-
portray forms worthy of indwelling di-
expected event. It was not a revolu-
vinity Dr. Waldstein's discussion not
tion. It had been a foregone conclusion
only brings out the fact that Pheidias
for several generations, the natural re-
was the greatest creator of ideals or
sult of progress during nearly three
centuries.
creative thinker of the Greek race, - the
had come to be understood
Greek Shakespeare, one might say, - but
before the official recognition of it by
it touches as well upon Greek art gen-
Constantine. A great deal that was a
continuance of things pagan in appear-
erally; and with a view to this wider
ance had in fact received Christian recog-
study some important papers are added
nition and been turned to Christian use.
in an appendix.
Institutions and customs which still ex-
Rome
me, A General History of, from ist originated under the old faith, and
the foundation of the City to the were brought into the service of the
fall of Augustulus, 753 B. C. -476 A. D. ,
Far more than has been sup-
by Charles Merivale. (1875. ) A work posed, the change was due to tolerance
specially designed for the general reader between pagans and Christians. By
seeking to be informed of the most comparing pagan shrines and temples
noted incidents, the most remarkable with Christian churches, imperial tombs
new


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
467
to
a
with papal tombs, and pagan ceme- of the buildings of St. Barlaam. To
teries with Christian, Lanciani at once reach them the traveler was forced to
discloses the wealth of art created in climb some rickety ladders over a tre-
Rome, and
proves
that pagan
and mendously steep declivity, because he
Christian were allied in its creation. disliked the other mode of reaching the
top,— being drawn up 230 feet in a net
Visits to the Monasteries of che attached
mended, weather-worn
Levant, by Hon. Robert Curzon, rope. Subsequently he visited Hagios
was published in 1851. Beginning in Stephanos, Agio Triada, Hagia Roserea,
1833, the author's travels covered a pe- and finally the great monastery of Me-
riod of four years, in which time he teora.
visited many curious old monasteries, Part iv. gives the trip from Constanti-
and secured a number of rare and val- nople to Mt. Athos; up the Sea of
uable manuscripts. He gives his im- Marmora, through the Archipelago to
pressions of the countries through which Lemnos; thence to Mt. Athos and the
he wandered, and devotes some space to monastery of St. Laura, full of rare old
the manners and customs of the people paintings. The other monastic houses
in each, brightening his narrative by of the neighborhood, from Vatopede to
occasional anecdotes and noteworthy Caracalla, were also visited; and Mr.
facts gleaned by the way.
Curzon returned to Constantinople, hav-
The volume is divided into four parts. ing purchased a number of valuable
Part i. deals with Egypt, where Mr. manuscripts, including an Evangelista-
Curzon visited the famous Coptic mon- rium in gold letters, on white vellum, of
asteries near the Natron Lakes. These, which sort there is but one other known
he tells us, were founded by St. Maca- to exist.
rius of Alexandria, one of the earliest of
Christian ascetics. The members of Superstition and Force, by H. C.
the Coptic orders still dwell in the old
Lea. (1866. ) A volume of elaborate,
houses, situated amid fertile gardens on
learned, and very interesting essays on
certain subjects of special importance
the crowns of almost inaccessible preci-
in the history of the Middle Ages.
pices. The ruined monastery of Thebes,
the White Monastery, and the Island of
They are: “The Wager of Battle,) (The
Wager of Law,' 'The Ordeal,' and
Philæ, the burial-place of Osiris, were
(Torture. ) The writer treats of them
also visited.
as Methods of Administering Injust-
Part ii. describes the visit to Jeru-
ice); and his account is not only much
salem and the Monastery of St. Saba.
the best anywhere existing, but it makes
This house was named for the founder
of the «Laura," the monastic rule which
a very readable book.
Charles Kingsley uses han furshofexcellent Voingen and Travhile faro SirboJephen
tia. )
the opening Hypa- Mandeville. famous book of
The Laura” still exists where travels was published in French some
the rocky clefts and desert wastes of time between 1357 and 1371.
It was
Asia and Africa offer suitable retreats originally written in English, then trans-
for the ascetic monks.
lated into Latin, then retranslated into
Mr. Curzon devotes some time to the English, that every man of his nation
Jews of Jerusalem, - enough to show might read it. It is said that the author
their prevailing characteristics; and he claimed to be an English knight, living
also notes the interesting fact of his abroad because of a murder committed
rediscovery of the "Apple of Sodom, by him; but little or nothing is known
long supposed to be a creation of fictitious of him. It is thought that it may have
character. It is, he says, a juicy-looking, been written under a feigned name, by
plum-like fruit, which proves to be a Jehan de Burgoigne, a physician of
gall-nut filled with dry, choking dust. Liege. A few interpolated words in an
Part iii. opens with the writer's im- English edition gained for Mandeville
pressions of Corfu and his visit to the credit of being the father of Eng-
Albania, whence he leaves for Meteora, lish prose"); but it is evident from
a grassy plain surrounded by tall peaks mistakes in translation that the English
of rock, where, in apertures like pigeon- version, said to have been made by
holes, the monks have had their dwell- Mandeville, was made by some one who
ings. On top of the rocks are left some did not know the author's meaning.


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468
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
The author claims to have traveled for 150,000 francs, which he caused to be
thirty years in Palestine, Egypt, China, invested, principal and interest to be
and other countries; but it is thought divided among such of his heirs as
that if he traveled at all, it was not far- should present themselves at a certain
ther than Palestine, as the other matter rendezvous in Paris, after the lapse of a
is evidently taken from the works of century and a half. Then comes an in-
other travelers. There are some marvel- tensely dramatic description of the es-
ous tales, and it is from this fact that pionage to which the heirs have been
the book is chiefly interesting. He subjected, and the successful machina-
speaks of giants «sixty feet long, a tions of the Jesuits in order to obtain
griffin capable of flying away with a this money. While they succeed by the
yoke of oxen in its talons. There are most reckless acts of persecution and
men with animal's heads, others with no violence in preventing six of the seven
heads, but with eyes and mouth in the heirs from presenting themselves to
breast, others with such large upper lips claim the vastly increased inheritance,
that they cover their whole face from they produce the seventh heir, Gabriel
the sun when they sleep. There are Rennepont - a virtuous young Jesuit
trees bearing wool; and there is a fruit priest, who has already made over his
like a gourd, which when ripe contains worldly goods to his order — to claim
(a beste with flesch and blude and bane, the inheritance. A codicil to the will,
and it is lyke to a lytill lambe with- found in a mysterious manner, postpones
outen wolle. ” He visited the Garden of the day for delivering over the funds,
Transmigrated Souls, drank from the and temporarily defeats these designs.
Fountain of Youth, and located Para- But now, by adopting utterly conscience-
dise; though he says, “Off Paradys can less means, the heads of the Society of
I not speke properly, for I hafe not bene Jesus lead on the six heirs to their
thare; bot als mykill as I hafe herd of deaths before the arrival of the day
wyse men of thase cuntreez, I will tell which has been finally set for the parti-
yow. This book, because of the quaint- tion of the millions. In the end, how-
ness of the English version, and of the ever, by an unforeseen catastrophe, the
subject-matter, will always be read with purposes of the Order are foiled. Ro-
delight; but the claim that Mandeville din, a remarkable character, a little,
is the father of English prose is wholly cadaverous priest of marvelous energy
untenable.
and shrewdness, engineers the cause of
the Jesuits; and by his diplomacy not
Wandering Jew, The, by Eugene alone lures the heirs to their ruin, but
Sue. (1845. ) This curious rambling himself reaches the coveted post of Gen-
episodic romance is written from eral of the Order, though judgment
extreme Protestant point of view, and finally overtakes him also. The story is
introduces the character of Ahasuerus, very diffuse, and the episodes have only
who, according to legend, was a shoe- the slightest relation to each other. It
maker in Jerusalem. The Savior, bear- is melodramatic in the extreme, and the
ing his cross past the house of the arti- style is often bombastic, while the per-
san, asks to be allowed to rest an instant sonages have little resemblance to hu-
on the stone bench at his door.
« Go
man beings in human conditions. But
on! ” replies Ahasuerus. « Thou shalt go when all abatement is made, (The Wan-
on till the end of time, answers the dering Jew) remains one of the famous
Savior - and the Wandering Jew books of the world, for its vigor, its illus-
may never find home, or rest, or even ion, its endless interest of plot and
pause. The scene of this romance is counterplot, and its atmosphere of ro-
laid chiefly in Paris, in 1832. One
hundred and fifty years prior to this
date, Count Rennepont, a descendant of Seraphy by Leopold Sacher-Masoch.
the sister of the Wandering Jew, who is This delightful story by the great
also condemned to wander, professed German novelist, who has been called
conversion to the Catholic faith in order the Galician Turgeneff, was translated
to save his property from confiscation. into English in 1893. As a frame for a
His ruse was discovered, however, and charming tale, the author gives a vivid
the whole estate given to the Jesuits. description of Hungarian life and cus-
But Rennepont succeeded in secreting toms.
We are
introduced to Seraph
an
>>
so
mance.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
469
ran
now
Temkin, as he is about to shoot at a
Zincali, The, by George Borrow. This
card held in his mother's hand. She account of the gipsies of Spain ap-
tells him she has educated him with one peared in England in 1842, and quickly
object in view, the revenge of a wrong through three editions. Borrow
done her by a man whose name she evinced in early life a roving disposition
gives — Emilian Theodorowitsch. and linguistic ability. In 1835, at the age
Seraph journeys to the Castle Honoriec, of thirty-two, he undertook to act as the
and gives his name and his mother's to agent of the British and Foreign Bible
Emilian. To his surprise, Emilian says Society in Spain, and accomplished his
he has never heard of Madame Temkin, perilous mission with the devotion of
but insists on Seraph accepting his hos- an apostle and the audacity of a stage
pitality. He remains, and learns from brigand. He was all things to all men,
everybody of the tenderness, generosity, especially to gipsies; and in "The Bible
and nobility of his host. Emilian tells in Spain,' his first book, he relates his
Seraph the story of his life. He had amusing and interesting adventures.
married a woman accustomed to com- (The Zincali) grew out of this journey,
mand and be obeyed. An estrangement and deals with the gipsies alone. The
sprang up between them, and when a charm of the book, which is full of an-
son was born, a handsome nurse came ecdote, lies in its graphic fidelity. The
into the house. His wife became jealous, Spanish gipsy, as described by Mr.
but persisted in keeping the nurse. One Borrow, differs in many respects from
night the nurse began to coquet with the gipsy of romance.