No More Learning

Four lectures, by
Rev. W. R. W. Stephens, Prebendary of
Chichester. This book presents the esti-
mate of Mahomet's mission and its re-
sults, which seems fair to a conservative
English Churchman. It is his desire to
do justice to the teachings of the Koran,
and to make a full admission of the
inherent defects and vices of the races
over whom the influence of this code
of faith and conduct has certainly been
salutary, and even spiritualizing. That
is, he attributes to blood the evil tend-
encies and characteristics too often at-
tributed to religion. Mr. Stephens urges
the view that to his followers Mahomet
was a great benefactor. “He was born
in a country where political organization
and rational faith and pure morals were
unknown. He introduced all three. By
a single stroke of masterly genius he
A ntiquities of the Jews, The, by Fla-
vius Josephus. This work was con-
cluded in the thirteenth year of the reign
of Domitian. It was addressed especially
to the Greeks and the Gentiles; and for
this purpose the author had condescended
to acquire the Greek language, and to
adopt the «smooth periods of the pagan


## p. 294 (#330) ############################################

294
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
can
writers, held generally in contempt by a those whom he seeks to convince - the
people who believed their language sacred exponents of a loose kind of deism. »
and their law the repository of all wis. He then argues that he who denies the
dom. The well-known events of Jose- Divine authorship of the Scriptures, on
phus's life go to account for the singular account of difficulties found in them, may,
largeness of view, liberal culture, and for the same reason, deny the world to
tolerant judgment which everywhere have been created by God: for inexpli-
characterize his historic writings, and give cable difficulties are found in the course
them a liveliness of style not often found of nature; therefore no sound deist should
in lengthy national annals.
be surprised to find similar difficulties in
The Antiquities, so far as they relate the Christian religion. Further, if both
to events covered by the Bible, are hardly proceed from the same author, the won-
more than a free version of and running der would rather be, that there should
commentary on the books of the Old not be found on both the mark of the
Testament, including the Apocrypha. same hand of authorship. If man
After that the Persian, Macedonian, and follow the works of God but a little way,
Roman invasions, and the Herodian reigns, and if his world also greatly transcends
are told with varying degrees of thorough- the efforts of unassisted reason, why
ness down to Nero's twelfth year, when should not His word likewise be beyond
the uprising occurred which gave rise to man's perfect comprehension ? In no
the Jewish War in which Josephus bore sense a philosophy of religion, but an
so conspicuous a part, and which he re-
attempt rather to remove common ob-
lates in the book so named. To Chris- jections thereto, the work is necessarily
tians the most interesting passage in his narrow in scope: but within its self-imposed
writings, notwithstanding its disputed limitations the discussion is exhaustive,
authenticity, is that containing his de- dealing with such problems as a future
scription of Jesus, Chapter iii. , Book xviii. life; God's moral government; man's pro-
“Now there was about this time Jesus, bation; the doctrine of necessity; and
a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a
most largely, the question of revelation.
man;. for he was a doer of wonderful To the Analogy) there are generally sub-
works, a teacher of such men as receive joined two dissertations: one on Personal
the truth with pleasure. He drew over Identity, and one on The Nature of Virtue.
to him both many of the Jews, and many
of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. A
dam, the drama, is a work of the
And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
twelfth century by an unknown au-
principal men among us, had condemned
thor. It is written in French, with the
him to the cross, those that loved him at exception of the responses and canticles,
the first did not forsake him: for he ap-
which are in Latin; and it derives its chief
peared to them alive again the third day; importance from the fact that it is the
as the divine prophets had foretold these
oldest drama in the language. It gives
and ten thousand other wonderful things
the history of the fall of Adam and the
concerning him. And the tribe of Christ. murder of Abel, followed by a procession
ians, so named from him, are not extinct of all the prophets who foretold the com-
at this day. ”
ing of the Messiah. The piece was played
This passage is twice quoted by Euse- on the public square in front of the church.
bius, and is found in all the MSS.
The platform upon which it was repre-
sented must have been backed against
the portal; for in the stage directions, the
Analogy of Religion, The, by Bishop
Joseph Butler, first appeared in 1736,
actor who takes the part of God is told
and has ever since been held in high
to return at once to the church, when-
esteem by orthodox Christians. The full
ever he leaves the stage. Some of the
title is (The Analogy of Religion, Nat-
are managed with considerable
ural and Revealed, to the Constitution
skill; and there is a good deal of clever
and Course of Nature. The argument,
character-drawing and vigorous dialogue.
which is orderly and concise, is briefly
The scene where the serpent tempts Eve
this: The author lays down three prem-
is especially noteworthy for its simplicity
ises, - the existence of God; the known
and animation.
course of nature; and the necessary limit-
A"
ations of our knowledge. These premises
braham, Studies on the Times of,
by Rev. H. G. Tomkins, with four-
enable him to take common ground with teen plates of ancient monuments and
scenes


## p. 295 (#331) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
295
cenus,
as
inscriptions. 1878. A valuable account by St. John of Damascus,- or Damas-
of the new light thrown by discoveries
he is sometimes called, -a
in Babylonia upon the far eastern world Syrian monk born about the end of the
of Abraham's time (about 2250 B. C. )- seventh century. The name of Barlaam
when the city of Ur was a great seat of and Josaphat appear in both the Greek
trade, and of worship of Sin the Moon- and Roman lists of saints. According
god, as the Father-god to whom the sun to the narrative of Damascenus, Josaphat
was a son and the evening star a daugh- was the son of a king of India brought up
ter; and of all the customs and ideas in magnificent seclusion, to the end that
familiar to Abraham before he went he might know nothing of human misery.
west » to Palestine. This is a book of Despite his father's care, the knowledge
special value for Bible study.
of sickness, poverty, and death cannot
be hidden from him: he is oppressed by
Acts of the Apostles, The (Actes des
the mystery of existence. A Christian
Apôtres'), a series of satirical pam-
hermit, Barlaam, finds his way to him
phlets directed against the French Rev-
at the risk of life, and succeeds in con-
olutionists, by Peltier, who was assisted
by several royalist writers. It is full of
verting him to Christianity. The prince
uses his influence to promote the new
witty attacks on the leaders of the Rev.
olution, and especially on the framers
faith among his people. When he has
of the constitution of '89, who are repre-
raised his kingdom to high prosperity,
he leaves it to spend the remainder of
sented as rope-dancers performing their
feats on
a very thin wire. It attacks
his days as a holy hermit.
Professor Max Müller traces a very
all new ideas, ridicules reforms of every
close connection between the legend of
kind, and boldly defends the principles
Barlaam and Josaphat, and the Indian
of the aristocracy. The work forms nine
legends of the Buddha as related in the
volumes.
Sanskrit of the Lalita Vistara. This con-
A postolic Fathers, The : Revised Texts, nection was first noticed, according to
with English Translations. By J. B. Professor Müller, by M. Laboulaye in the
Lightfoot. A collection of about twelve Journal des Débats (July 1859). A year
of the earliest Christian writings, directly later, Dr. Felix Liebrecht made an elab-
following those of the Apostles, made with orate treatment of the subject.
great care and learning by the ablest of The episodes and apologues of the ro-
recent English Biblical scholars. The mance furnished poetic material to Boc-
writings gathered into the volume repre- caccio, to Gower, to the compiler of the
sent those teachers of Christian doctrine (Gesta Romanorum,' and to Shakespeare;
who stand in the history nearest to the who is indebted to this source, through
New Testament writers, and the account Wynkyn de Worde's English translation,
of them given by Dr. Lightfoot is not for the casket incident in the Merchant
only the best for students, but it is of of Venice. ) The entire story is found in
great interest to the general reader. the (Speculum Historiale) of Vincent of
Beauvais, and in a briefer form in the
Apocryphal Gospels, and Other Docu-
(Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine.
ments relating to the History of
It has been translated into several Eu-
Christ. Translated from the originals
in Greek, Syriac, Latin, etc. , by B. H.
ropean tongues, «including Bohemian,
Polish, and Icelandic. A version in the
Cowper. A trustworthy, scholarly, and
last, executed by a Norwegian king, dates
complete collection of the writings, not
included in the New Testament, which
from 1204; in the East there were ver-
sions in Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and
sprang up in various quarters as attempts
Hebrew, at least; whilst a translation into
to recover the story of Christ. They form
a singular body of curious stories, mostly
the Tagala language of the Philippines
legendary fictions without historical value,
was printed at Manila in 1712. )
but very interesting and significant as
showing how legends could arise, what Arcadia, a pastoral romance, by Sir
Philip Sidney, was begun in 1580,
form they could take, and what ideas they
while he was in retirement at the seat
embodied.
of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Pem-
Barlaam and Josaphat, one of the broke; and published in 1590, four years
most popular of early mediæval ro- after his death. Composed with no thought
mances, is supposed to have been written of publication, but as an offering to a


## p. 296 (#332) ############################################

296
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a full account of the event or the man
for which the place is memorable.
The verse
consists of monotonous
Alexandrine couplets, seldom relieved
by any striking passages. Drayton ob-
viously takes great enjoyment in full-
sounding names of places and people,
and in references to classic authors.
There is, however, no inspiration in the
work. Even the patriotic admiration
for England, characteristic of the time,
does
not
amount to a passion with
him. Still, the whole poem is a patri-
otic attempt to glorify England in every
aspect.
>
beloved sister the Countess of Pembroke;
the Arcadia' bears the character of a work
intended for no harsher judgment than
that of love and intimacy. It seems to
have been written in a dreamy leisure,
filling the idle spaces of long summer
days, sheet after sheet passing from the
poet's hand without revision, sometimes
without completion. It is a pastoral of
the artificial order: Arcadia is in Greece;
its inhabitants are half-gods in mediæval
dress, knights and shepherds, princes and
helots; fair maidens who worship Christ
and Apollo and other people of the same
order, who never lived save in the fair
and bright imagination of a poet-soldier.
That the Arcadia) is formless and with-
out plot constitutes much of its charm.
In fairy-land there are no direct roads;
and no destinations, since it is all en-
chanted country.
There the shepherd-
boy pipes “as though he should never be
old,” in meadows (enamelled with all
sorts of eye-pleasing flowers”; there the
humble valleys » are comforted with
the «refreshing of silver rivers”); there,
there are pretty lambs” and “well-tuned
birds.
Such was the popularity of the Arca-
dia,' that, previous to the middle of the
seventeenth century, upwards of ten edi.
tions were published; a French translation
appeared in 1624. Its value is perpetual
not only as the work of a most noble and
gallant gentleman, but as the embodi-
ment of the sweetness and beauty of a
spirit forever ageless.
Polyolbion, by Michael Drayton. The
Polyolbion appeared first in 1613,
early in the reign of James I. It is a
poetical gazetteer of England, appar-
ently based on Camden's Britannia. It
contains about 100,000
verses, divided
into thirty books of uneven lengths.
Its enormous length has always kept it
from popularity, even among the read-
of the seventeenth century, who
had time and willingness to read long
books The account is based on a jour-
ney of the Muse, which takes her up
and down the various rivers of England;
and throughout, all the countries, mount-
ains, rivers, cities, towns, and fields are
described in full, as well as the birds
and beasts that inhabit them. At ap-
propriate points, such battle-fields,
landing-places of great men, homes of
poets, and graves of heroes, the Muse
pauses long enough to give the reader
1
a
a
Le eviathan, by Thomas Hobbes. In this
treatise, published in English in
1651, and in Latin in 1668, the author's
principles in psychology, ethics, and poli-
tics are developed with remarkable logi-
cal power. There is constantly within
us the image of things outside us; and
the representation of the qualities of
these entities is what we name “con-
cept, «imagination,” or “knowledge. ”
Sensation engenders all our thoughts,
and intelligence is only the faculty of
noting sensations. Our general ideas are
but conventional signs. Sensation, which
is the matter of the understanding, be-
comes also the motive force of the will.
It gives birth to pleasure and pain,
and consequently to appetite and aver-
sion. Appetite, applied to a particular
object, is called desire; to
a present
object, love. Beauty and ugliness are
names for the apparent and probable
signs of good and evil. Beauty, good-
ness, and pleasure, the same as ugliness,
evil, and pain, are but different names,
different modes of the same thing. En-
joyment being the sole object of the
appetites, and suffering that of the aver-
sions, every man is a limit, an obsta-
cle for every other man, and hence his
enemy. The state of nature, therefore,
can only be a state of war and an-
archy. Then Hobbes develops his the-
ory of absolutism, which forms the most
celebrated of his speculations. He con-
ceives anarchy not as an accident, a
transitory disorder, but as the normal
state of humanity. But men soon see
that it is their interest to issue from
a condition destructive of all security.
Hence the social contract, by which
each pledges himself to each and all
to sacrifice all of his natural right that is
necessary for peace. Thus society is
ers
as


## p. 297 (#333) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
297
man.
a work of pure convention, dictated by trivances for his comfort: how he builds
selfishness and fear. But society cannot him a habitation, procures food to sus-
be constituted except by an absolute tain life, and makes a raft by which
sovereign. This sovereign must neces- means he gets to the shipwrecked ves-
sarily have all power, legislative and ex- sel, and succeeds in getting many arti-
ecutive, judicial and spiritual; for any cles that are of use to him. An exciting
separation of powers would restore the incident in the story is when, after
state of nature, the state of war. Fi- eighteen years of solitude, he comes
nally, monarchy is the logical form of across the imprint of a human foot in
this sovereignty, which is absolute both the sand, and in consequence of this
in its objects and its attributes; for discovery is thrown into a state of ter-
monarchy is the farthest removed from ror and consternation. He lives for a
the primitive anarchy, and is the best long time in great suspense, as he finds
defense against the struggles and rival- evidence that the island is visited by
ries of the state of nature. Religion cannibals; but it is not until six years
is the offspring of the imagination and later that he encounters them. On this
of fear. Its phantoms may be the crea-
occasion one of their victims escapes,
tion of the individual imagination, and and Crusoe saves his life and keeps him
then it is called superstition, or of the for a servant and companion. He names
collective imagination, and then it is him Friday, and teaches him civilized
true religion and a means of peace and ways. He proves honest, devoted, and
government. Hobbes gave his work reliable, and shares Crusoe's life and
the odd title of Leviathan,' because he duties until, a few years later, they are
saw in political society an artificial body, rescued and taken from the island on
a sort of imaginary animal larger than an English ship. Crusoe eventually re-
The Leviathan is the artificial turns to England, where he marries and
man organized for the protection of the settles down to enjoy the wealth that
natural man. Hobbes's ethical theory he has accumulated during his strange
had an immense influence on the pro- adventures. The first volume ended at
gress of English speculation for over a this point, and met with such remark-
hundred years, but this influence arose able success that the author, four months
chiefly from the criticism and opposi- later, brought out a second volume en-
tion which it called forth. The prin- titled, “The Farther Adventures of Rob-
ciples of the Leviathan) were in the inson Crusoe); and this in turn
main adopted by Spinoza, and some of followed, one year later, by a third re-
his ideas have found favor with the lating his (Serious Reflections) during
philosophical radicals the present cen- his wanderings. The simplicity of style,
tury. His acute psychological analyses and the realistic atmosphere which per-
have been the subject of appreciative vades the narrative, have caused the
comment by James Mill and the As- popularity of this book to remain unim-
sociationist school. Hobbes's style is
paired.
remarkable for its clearness and vigor.
Baron Trenck, Life of, published 1787,
Rºbinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. is the autobiography of Baron Fried-
(1719. ) This world-famous tale of rich von Trenck, whose life was a succes-
atventure is supposed to have been sug-
sion of adventures scarcely less marvelous
gested by the real experience of Alex- than the romantic and highly colored ac-
ander Selkirk, who was shipwrecked and count he gives of them. He entered the
lived for years on a desert island. Rob-
Prussian service while still a mere boy,
inson Crusoe, a young Englishman, goes
and stood high in Frederic the Great's
to sea in his youth, is captured by the favor, until, through his love affair with
corsairs, is shipwrecked and washed the King's sister, he incurred the royal
ashore on an uninhabited island, for- displeasure, which caused his first impris-
merly supposed to have been in the onment, the beginning of no end of
Pacific, but recently satisfactorily identi-
misfortunes: loss of property, numerous
fied with Tabago in the Caribbean Sea. imprisonments and attempts at escape,
The narrative consists of a careful de- dangerous wounds, and perils of all kinds.
scription of his adventures and experi- These are all most graphically described
ences during the twenty-eight years of
in a manner that reminds one of Mun-
his exile. It tells of his ingenious con- chausen's marvelous tales. The anecdotes
was
a


## p. 298 (#334) ############################################

298
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
was
sove
Nero, by
at
interspersed give, whether true or false, The novelist, however, softens the his.
a vivid picture of the turbulent condition torian's verdict by bestowing in the last
of court life at the time of Frederic the scene a semblance of manhood and cour-
Great and Maria Theresa, under whom age upon the fallen Emperor. Nero is
Baron Trenck later served. His restless at bay, with the faithful Acte, Epaphro-
adventurous temperament led him to Paris, ditus, and Phaon by his side. To the
when the Revolution was in full swing; soldiers who come to arrest him he says:
he was there accused of being a secret
Announce to the Senate my supreme
emissary of foreign powers, and was be- contempt. I hold the knaves, who while
headed by Robespierre's order in July
I
vereign slavishly licked my
1794.
sandals, unworthy to crimson my brow
His cousin, Baron Franz von Trenck, with the flush of anger during the last
an equal hero and swashbuckler, has also moments of my life. Phaon, I thank
written an autobiography, which how- you. And you too, Epaphroditus. Guard
ever has not attainud the celebrity of my corpse.
Ask the new Cæsar not to
Baron Friedrich's wonderful mixture of forget that all human affairs are subject
fact and imagination.
to change, and that it does not beseem
the ruler of Rome to insult his con-
Ernst Eckstein. (1888. ) quered enemy in death. ”
Translated by Clara Bell and Mary
J. Safford. This historical romance calls Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent
up the Rome of ancient days, when the
, ,
imperial city was its greatest in Professor of Archæology in the University
power, magnificence, and brutality. The of Rome, and Director of Excavations for
principal characters in the story are the the National Government and the Munici-
well-known Emperor; his wife Octavia, pality of Rome: 1888. In his character of
the chaste and beautiful; the gentle, in- official investigator, Professor Lanciani has
fatuated Acte; the base and scheming grouped, in this volume, various illustra-
Agrippina, mother of Nero; Poppæa, the tions of the life of ancient Rome as shown
shameless, cruel, intriguing mistress; in its recovered antiquities, – columns,
Nicodemus, the fanatic; and the grasp- capitals, inscriptions, lamps, vases; busts
ing pagan, Tigellinus.
or ornaments in terra-cotta, marble, ala-
These characters are woven
into a
baster, or bronze; gems, intaglios, cameos,
complicated but fascinating plot, in bas-reliefs, pictures in mosaic, objects of
which vice and virtue, honor and crime, art in gold, silver, and bronze; coins, relics
Christianity and heathenism, are in per- in bone, glass, enamel, lead, ivory, iron,
petual conflict.
copper, and stucco: most of these newly
The author, while allowing himself the found treasures being genuine master-
usual license of the novelist for scope pieces. From these possessions he reads
and imagination, is generally faithful to the story of the wealth, taste, habits of
the history of the period. And while he life, ambitions, and ideals, of a vanished
has drawn many graphic pictures de- people. The book does not attempt to be
scriptive of that terrible age,- such as systematic or exhaustive, but it is better.
the popularly conceived brutal character It is full of a fine historic imagination, with
of the Emperor, the burning of Rome, great charm of language, and perennial
and the illumination by human torches richness of incident and anecdote which
of Nero's gardens,— his real purpose has make it not only delightful reading, but
been more to indicate the stages that the source of a wide new knowledge.
lead up to these fatal tragedies, than With the true spirit of the story-teller,
to portray the tragedies themselves. Professor Lanciani possesses an unusual
As the story opens the Emperor is in- knowledge of out-of-the-way literature
troduced as the royal youth, gentle in which enriches his power of comparison
nature, magnanimous in spirit, and giv- and illustration. "Pagan and Christian
ing every promise of a triumphant, noble Rome,' 1892, made up in part of magazine
reign. But as the plot unfolds, unfore- articles, and intentionally discursive, at-
seen traits come to the front, fostered tempts to measure in some degree the
by circumstances domestic and civic, till debt of Christian art, science, and ceremo-
almost every mark of the divine seems nial, to their Pagan predecessors. Ruins
obliterated from the man who would set and Excavations of Ancient Rome, a Com-
himself up as a god.
panion Book for Students and Travelers,


## p. 299 (#335) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
299
)
1897, is, on the other hand, a systematic less naive, less grotesque. ” Many quaint
treatise on modern discovery, supplied negro songs are given, and stories told
with maps, diagrams, tables, lists, and a in dialect. The diary displays great
bibliography The descriptions begin moderation
and good
taste,- merits
with the primitive palisades, and come never absent from Colonel Higginson's
down to the present time, treating pre- work; and had it no other merit, it
historic, republican, imperial, mediæval, would be delightful reading, from its
and modern Rome; and the book, though vivid description of Southern scenes and
more formal, is hardly less entertaining
its atmosphere of Southern life.
than its predecessors.
Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads,
An
nnals of a Fortress: By E. Viollet-
by Rudyard Kipling. This volume
le-Duc: translated by Benjamin is about evenly divided between poems
Bucknall, 1876. A work of highly prac- written in English and those written in
tical fiction, telling the story through suc-
cockney dialect.
The first half is seri-
cessive ages of an ideal fortress, supposed ous; and most of its themes are found in
to have been situated at a point on a Hindoo legends and wild sea-tales. The
branch of the Saône River which is now
last half deals with the joys and woes of
of special importance in view of the
Tommy Atkins, and the various expe-
present eastern frontier of France.
The
riences of the British private, from the
story follows the successive ages of mili- «arf-made recruity) to the old pensioner
tary history from early times down to the
on a shilling a day.
No such vivid por-
present, and shows what changes were traiture of the common soldier, with his
made in the fortress to meet the changes dullness, his obedience, and his matter-
in successive times in the art of war. of-course heroism, has ever been drawn
The eminence of the author, both as an
by any other artist. The book contains,
architect and military engineer, enabled
among other favorites, Danny Deever,'
him to design plans for an ideal fortress,
(Fuzzy Wuzzy,' and The Road to Man-
and to give these in pictorial illustra-
dalay), besides the grim story of Tom-
tions. The work is as entertaining to linson, too ineffective either in virtue or
the reader as it is instructive to the stu-
sin to find place in heaven or hell.
dent of architecture, and the student of
war for whom it is especially designed.
Ballads, English and Scottish Popular,
by Francis J. Child. Ten Parts, or
Ari
rmy Life in a Black Regiment, by Five Volumes, Imperial Quarto. (1897. )
Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The A complete collection of all known Eng-
First South Carolina Volunteers was the lish and Scottish popular ballads; every
first slave regiment mustered into the sery- one entire and according to the best pro-
ice of the United States during the late curable text, including also every acces-
Civil War. It was viewed in the begin- sible independent version; and with an
ning more in the light of an experiment introduction to each, illustrated by par-
than as an actual factor in the war, and allels from every European language.
Colonel Higginson, who left a company In its recovery and permanent preserva-
of his own raising to take command, tells tion of songs which date far back of mod-
the story of this experiment in the form ern civilization,-songs which show the
of a diary, the first entry being dated thought and feeling of the child-life of
Camp Saxton, Beaufort, South Carolina, humanity, and the seed from which the
November 24th, 1862; the last, February | old epics sprang, the collection is of
29th, 1864. While the regiment did not the highest value to the student of prim-
engage in any great battles, it made many itive history. It is a storehouse of lan-
minor expeditions, was on picket duty, guage, of poetry, of fiction, and of folk-
engaged in constructing forts, etc. , all lore, so many times the richest ever
these duties being described in detail. made, so complete, learned, and accurate,
The diary is valuable, in the first place, as to occupy a final position.
It is a
for the account of camp life, its priva- monument of research, scholarship, and
tions and pleasures, work and recreation; laborious service to literature, -and of
secondly, for the description of the colored the essential unity of all races and peo-
man as a soldier, and the amusing ac- ples in their popular poetry, - to have
counts of his peculiarities before freedom raised which was the work of a noble
had made him “more like white men, life.


## p. 300 (#336) ############################################

300
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Balla
are
mono-
llades and Verses Vain, by Andrew tragedy are enumerated by the Count,
Lang. Mr. Lang's light and grace- Pompilia, Caponsacchi, the Pope, and
ful touch is well illustrated in this little others, each from his or her peculiar
volume, containing some of his prettiest point of view; and two opposing aspects
lyrics. He is fond of the old French of the case as seen from outside are of-
verse forms, and the sentiments which fered by “Half Rome ” and “The Other
belong to them. The gay verses
Half. ) Browning in conclusion touches
wholly gay; the serious ones are pervaded upon the intended lesson, and explains
with a pensive sadness — that of old mem- why he has chosen to present it in this
ories and legends. Mr. Lang's sober muse
artistic form. The lesson has been
is devoted to Scotland, and after that to already learned from the Pope's sad
old France and older Greece; but whether
thought:--
grave or gay, his exquisite workmanship
" — Our human speech is naught,
never fails him.
Our human testimony false, our fame
And human estimation words and wind. ”
The Ring and the Book, by Robert The Pope's soliloquy is a remarkable
Browning This dramatic
piece of work, and the chapters which
logue, the longest and best sustained of contain the statements of Pompilia and
Browning's poems, was published in four Caponsacchi are filled with tragic beauty
volumes in 1868–69, and is his great- and emotion. The thought, the im-
est constructive achievement. This poem agery, and the wisdom embodied in this
of twenty-one thousand lines contains story, make it a triumph of poetic and
ten versions of the same occurrence, be- philosophic creation.
sides the poet's prelude. It presents
from these diverse points of view the
A"
urora Leigh, a poem by Mrs. Eliza-
history of a tragedy which took place in beth Barrett Browning, which ap-
Rome one hundred and seventy years peared in 1857. She called it the most
before. Browning, one day in Florence, mature » of her works, the one in which
bought for eightpence an old book which «the highest convictions upon life and art
contained the records of a murder that are entered. ” It is in reality a novel in
of the olden time in Rome, with the blank verse. The principal characters are
pleadings and counter-pleadings, and the Aurora Leigh, who is supposed to write the
statements of the defendants and the story; Romney Leigh, her cousin ; Marian
witnesses; this Browning used as the raw Earle, the offspring of tramps; and a fash-
material for (The Ring and the Book,' ionable young widow, Lady Waldemar.
which appeared four years later. The The book discusses various theories for the
story follows the fate of the unfortu- regeneration of society. The chief theme
nate heroine, Pompilia, who has been is the final reconcilement of Aurora's
sold by her supposed mother to the ideals with Romney's practical plans for
elderly Count Guido, whose cruelty and the improvement of the masses. Bits of
violence cause her eventually to fly from scenery, hints of philosophy, and many of
him. This she does under the protection Mrs. Browning's own emotions and re-
of a young priest named Giuseppe Ca- flections regarding art, are interspersed
ponsacchi, whom she prevails upon to through the narrative. Aurora Leigh, the
convey her safely to her old home. She child of a cultivated and wealthy English-
is pursued by the Count, who overtakes man, is at his death sent from Tuscany
her and procures the arrest of the two to England, and put into the care of a
fugitives, accusing her and Caponsacchi | prim maiden aunt. She devotes herself
of having eloped. They are tried; and to study; refuses the hand of her rich
the court banishes Caponsacchi for three cousin Romney, who has become a
years, while Pompilia is relegated to a cialist; and goes to London to gain a live-
convent. Having at a later period been lihood by literary work. Romney Leigh
removed from there to her former home, wishes to afford society a moral lesson by
she is suddenly attacked by the Count a marriage with Marian Earle, a woman
and several hired assassins, who brutally of the slums, who becomes involved in a
murder her and her two parents; then tragedy which renders the marriage im-
follows the Count's trial and condemna- possible, when Romney retires to Leigh
tion for the murders, and (even in Italy) Hall. Through an accident he becomes
his final execution. The events of the blind, and these misfortunes reveal to
SO-


## p. 301 (#337) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
301
and the early dramatists, with all the
various types of versifiers who were
famous in that period. Mr. Courthope's
broad and generous spirit, his keenness
of analysis, his wide learning, and his
clearness of vision, make his work, so far
as it is completed, an ideal history of
poetry.
Guy of Warwick. This old metrical
so
romance
are
Aurora her love for him; and the poem
closes with a mutual exchange of vows
and aspirations. It is filled with pass-
ages of great beauty, and ethical utter-
ances of a lofty nature.
Poetry, History of English, by William
John Courthope. The work which
in their day both Pope and Gray con-
templated writing on the history of Eng-
lish poetry, and which Warton began but
never finished, has been taken up anew
but with a far different scope by the
professor of poetry at Oxford. His plan
embraces a history of the art of English
poetry - epic, dramatic, lyrical, and di-
dactic — from the time of Chaucer to
that of Scott, as well as an appreciation
of the motives by which each individual
poet seems to have been consciously in-
spired. ” He also inquires into «those
general causes which have unconsciously
directed imagination in England into the
various channels of metrical composi-
tion. ” Mr. Courthope believes that in
spite of the different sources from which
the English national consciousness is
derived, there is an essential unity and
consistency, so that both the technic of
poetical production and the national
genius -- the common thought, imagina-
tion, and sentiment — may be traced in
its evolution. He shows with great full-
the “progressive stages in the
formation of the mediæval stream of
thought, which feeds the literatures of
England, France, and Italy,” and tries
to connect it with the great system of
Græco-Roman cultures so prominent be-
fore the death of Boethius. He also
explores the course of the national lan-
guage, to show the changes produced by
Saxon and Norman influences on the art
of metrical expression before Chaucer.
To Chaucer himself are devoted less than
fifty octavo pages, and this chapter does
not appear in the first volume until it is
more than half finished.
The history
closes with a careful account of the rise
of the drama. Dry as the subject in its
earlier stages threatens to be, Mr. Court-
hope's brilliant style and his wealth of
illustration make it absorbingly interest-
ing to the student. The second volume,
after surveying the influence of European
thought in the sixteenth century, and
the effects of the Renaissance and Ref-
ormation, goes into a careful study of
the works of Wyatt and Surrey, the
court poets and the Euphuists, Spencer
ness
that Anglo-
Danish cycle from which the Norman
trouvères drew
much material.
(King Horn) is perhaps the most fa-
mous poem of this cycle, but (Guy of
Warwick) was one of the most popular
of those which appeared in the thir-
teenth century.
The earliest existing
manuscripts of this
in
French; though it is supposed to have
been written by Walter of Exeter, a
Cornish Franciscan. It consists of about
12,000 verses, iambic measure, arranged
in rhymed couplets. Although the value
of this poem is less as literature than as
a picture of ancient English manners,
the story has considerable interest as
an example of the kind of fiction that
pleased our ancestors. The hero, Guy,
is represented as the son of a gentle-
man of Warwick, living in the reign of
King Edgar. The youth becomes great,
after the fashion of mediæval heroes,
entirely through his own unaided ef-
forts. He is spurred on by his love for
Felicia, daughter of Earl Rohand, for at
first she scorns his suit because he has
not distinguished himself; but when he
sets out in search of adventures, they
come thick and fast. He wins in a
fight with Philbertus, kills a monstrous
makes peace between the
Duke of Lovain and the Emperor, slays
a dragon and a boar, with the help of
Herraud rescues Earl Terry's lady from
sixteen villains, travels with Terry and
saves his father's life, and finally returns
home to claim his bride.
Not long
after, he leaves Felicia to go on a pil-
grimage. On his return, finding Eng-
land invaded by the Danes, he kills in
single combat the Danish giant, Col-
brond. After his victory, entirely weary
of the world, he retires to a cave and
lives a hermit's life; all this time he is
supported by alms, and sees
of Felicia except for one brief interview
just before he dies. Though Guy is
probably a fictitious character, definite
dates are given for his life, and he is
>
dun cow,
no
more


## p. 302 (#338) ############################################

302
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
said to have died about 929. For those
who can follow the quaintness of its
middle English style, this poem is very
attractive. The story has been told in
excellent modern prose rendering
also.
an
nurse
ley's son, and another object of Heath-
cliff's hate, is also one of the household.
With the death of Heathcliff, and the
union of Hareton and Catherine, the
story ends.
Heathcliff is buried by
the side of his beloved Catherine. The
greater part of the narrative is related
by Nellie, the housekeeper at Thrush-
cross Grange, the old
in the
Earnshaw family. Among the minor
characters is Joseph, a servant in the
same family, whose eccentric character
is drawn with marvelous skill. The
entire book remains a monument of
unmodified power,- of strength without
sweetness. Only at the close of the
book, the tempest ceases, revealing for a
moment the quiet spaces of the even-
ing sky. The one to whom the strange
troubled story had been related, seeks
the graves of Heathcliff and Catherine:
“I lingered round them under a be-
nign sky; watched the moths futtering
among the heath and harebells; listened
to the soft wind breathing through the
grass; and wondered how any one could
ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the
sleepers in that quiet earth. ”
Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë's first novel,
was published in December 1847, a
year and a half before her death, when
she was twenty-seven years old. Her tal-
ents were of the moonlight order. The
book is but a pale reflection of the brill-
iant Bronté genius.
The heroine, Agnes Grey, the daughter
of a clergyman in the North of England,
becomes, through reverses of fortune, a
governess. Her experiences are those of
Anne Brontë herself, the unpleasant side
of such a position being set forth.
The
book, however, ends happily in the mar-
riage of Agnes to a clergyman. Al-
though well written, it lacks the elements
of strength and warmth. It lives by the
name of the author rather than by its
intrinsic merit.
Wuth
uthering Heights, the one novel
written by Emily Brontë, and the
work which exhibited the remarkable
quality of her genius, was published in
December 1847, only a year before her
death, when she was twenty-eight years
old. The scene of the tale is laid in
the rugged moorland country in the
north of England, with which she was
familiar from childhood; the persons are
drawn from types only to be found
perhaps in that
country, - outlandish
characters in whom gentility and sav-
agery are united. The hero of Wuther-
ing Heights) is Heathcliff, a
man of
stormy, untrained nature, brought as a
child to Wuthering Heights, the home
of the Earnshaw family, by Mr. Earn-
shaw, who had picked him up as
stray in the streets of Liverpool. He
is reared with Earnshaw's two child-
ren, Hindley and Catherine; for the
latter he conceives an intense affection,
the one gleam of light in his dark na-
ture. Catherine returns his love; but
Hindley hates him. Hindley is sent
away to college, but returns his
father's death, bringing with him
wife, who afterwards dies at the birth
of a son, Hareton. Catherine meanwhile
has made the acquaintance of Edgar
and Isabel Linton, gentleman's children,
living at Thrushcross Grange, not far
from Wuthering Heights. In course of
time, Catherine marries Edgar, though
she loves Heathcliff. Isabel falls in love
with Heathcliff, who marries her in the
hope of revenging himself thereby on
the Linton family. His cruel treat-
ment drives her from him. She gives
birth to a son, Linton; Catherine to a
daughter, Catherine. The elder Cath-
erine's death is precipitated by Heath-
cliff's stormy avowal of his continuing
passion for her. Long after her death
he plans to marry his son Linton to
Catherine's daughter, because he hates
them both, children as they are of mar-
riages that should never have been.
In this he is successful; but Linton
dies, leaving Catherine a very young
widow in the house of her dreadful
father-in-law. Hareton Earnshaw, Hind-
а
on
a
Gºd's
od's Fool, by Maarten Maartens, a
story of Dutch middle-class life,
has for its central figure Elias Lossell,
«God's Fool," a man accidentally de-
prived in childhood of his eyesight, and
in part, of his reason. Of great physical
beauty, gentle in disposition, religious
in spirit, he lives a kind of sacred, shut-
apart life, while surrounded by the
stormy passions, the greedy hates and
loves, the envyings and jealousies, of


## p. 303 (#339) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
303
success.
teach him much. Chief of these is an-
other Von Zehren, the prison director,
an ideal character. His daughter Paula
exercises the influence which opposes
that of Constance in Hartwig's life, and
leads him to new effort and
Georg himself is one of those who by
nature tend to become (anvil ») rather
than hammer. » The story, though less
famous than Problematic Characters )
or "Through Night to Light, is a great
favorite with German readers.
those in full possession of their faculties.
His father, a rich merchant, has made
two marriages. Elias, the child of the
first, inherited vast wealth from his
mother. Hendryk and Hubert Lossell,
sons of the second marriage, find on
their father's death that Elias is the
richest of the family, and the head of
the firm in which his money is vested.
Taking advantage of Elias's helpless-
ness, his half-brothers get his property
into their hands, although apparently
with his consent; but their greed brings
upon them their own destruction.
most pleasing character of the book is
the fool himself. His pure, noble, child-
like nature perfumes the heavy worldly
atmosphere that surrounds him; and he
comes in as a kind of gracious inter-
lude between the dramatic but sordid
incidents of the plot. The story is well
conceived, if slightly improbable; and
like Maartens's other books, is told with
vigor and grace.
The The Maxwell
a
Ham
ammer and Anvil (Hammer und
Amboss'), by Friedrich Spielha-
gen (1869), is a novel grounded on a
conception of the continual struggle be-
tween castes, arising largely from the
character of the social institutions of
Germany,-- the nobility, the military or-
ganization, and the industrial conditions.
The leading idea is expressed by one of
the characters, the humane director of a
house of correction, who says: “Every-
where is the sorry choice whether we
will be the hammer or the anvil » in life.
And the same character is made to ex-
press Spielhagen's solution of the diffi-
culty when he says: “It shall not be
(hammer or anvil) but hammer and
anvil'; for everything and every human
being is both at once, and every mo-
ment. »
It is not, however, easy to trace the
development of this idea as the motive
of the book; for the ovelist's power lies
rather in his charm as a narrator than
in constructive strength or analytical
ability. In this, as in most of his sto-
ries, he obtains sympathy for the person-
alities he creates, and enchains attention
by his gift of story-telling. Georg Hart-
wig, the hero of the novel, is brought
into contact with a fallen nobleman, a
smuggler, «Von Zehren the wild," with
his beautiful and heartless daughter
Constance, and with a contrasted group
of honorable and generous persons who
The Silence of Dean Maitland, by
Grey)
(Miss Mary G.
Tuttiett). Cyril Maitland, young
clergyman of the Church of England,
accidentally kills the father of a village
girl whom he has led astray. The
man's body is found, and circumstan-
tial evidence points to Henry Everard,
Cyril's lifelong friend and the lover of
his twin sister. Cyril is silent; allows
his friend to be sentenced to penal labor
for twenty years.
His sensitive soul
suffers torture, but he cannot bear to
lose the approval of man, which is very
life to him. His little sister gives un-
consciously the keynote of his character:
“I think, papa, that Cyril is not so de-
voted to loving as to being loved. ”
Endowed with a magnetic personality
that fascinates all, with a rare voice, and
with wonderful eloquence, Cyril Maitland
who becomes almost an ascetic in his
penances and self-torture, gains great
honor in the church, becomes dean, and
is about to be appointed bishop. Life
has proved hard to him. His wife, and
all his children save one daughter and
a blind son, have died, and the thought
of his hidden sin has never left him.
On the day before that in which he is
to preach the sermon that will put him
in possession of the highest place in
the church, he receives a letter from
Everard, who is out of prison after
eighteen years of suffering, telling Cyril
that he knows all, but forgives freely.
This breaks the dean's heart. The next
day he rises before the great audience
of the cathedral and confesses all, — lays
his secret soul bare before them. In
the awful pause that follows the bene-
diction, they approach Cyril, who has
fallen into a chair, and find him dead.
The book falls just short of being
great: it reminds one of The Scarlet
L :,' though it lacks the touch of the
master hand.


## p. 304 (#340) ############################################

304
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
FROM
Miss Ravenel's
a
Conversion
Travels and Adventures of Baron
SECESSION To LOYALTY, by J. W. Munchausen, The, by R. E. Raspe,
De Forest. Dr. Ravenel, a Southern published in England (1785), was founded
Secessionist, comes North at the begin- upon the outrageous stories of a real
ning of the War, with his Rebel daugh- man, one Baron Karl Friedrich Hierony-
ter Lillie; her Secessionism being more mus von Münchhausen, born at Boden-
a result of local pride and social preju- werder, Hanover, Germany, 1720; died
dice than of any deep-seated principle
there, 1797
He had served in the Rus-
due to thought and experience. Her sian army against the Turks. Later his
conversion is due to her environment, sole occupation seemed to be the rela-
social antagonism which she suffers on tion of his extraordinary adventures to
her father's account on their return to his circle of friends. Raspe purported
New Orleans, and the influence of her to have preserved these tales, as they
lovers, John Carter and Edward Col- came hot from the lips of the inimitable
burne, each in turn her husband, -the Baron. They are monuments to the art
War making her a widow after a short of lying as an entertainment. On one
period of matronly duties. With the occasion, the hero, being out of am-
inexperience of youth, carried away by munition, loaded his gun with cherry-
the appearance rather than the reality stones. With these he shot at a deer.
of perfection, she makes
wrong Coming across the same deer some time
choice in her life companion; but afterwards, he sees a cherry-tree growing
death steps in before her mistake is out of his head. The Baron's other ad-
fully comprehended. The character of ventures are on a par with this; and his
John Carter, who dies a Brigadier- name has become a synonym for mag-
General, is strongly drawn: his excesses nificent, bland extravagance of state-
of sensuality, his infidelities to his wife, ment.
his betrayal of the trust assigned him by
his government for personal aggrandize- Andes and the Amazon, The, or Across
ment, all cloaked by the personal mag-
THE
netism which blinds those near him, and by James Orton. In 1868, under the aus-
makes him a popular commander and pices of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr.
his death national loss.
In con-
Orton, who for many years was professor
trast to this is the equally strong pict- of natural history in Vassar College, led
of Edward Colburne, a dutiful an exploring expedition to the equatorial
son, brave soldier, a faithful lover Andes and the river Amazon; the expe.
and friend; meeting his enemies in riences of the party being vivaciously set
open warfare with the same courage forth in this popular book. Before this
that he displays on the less famous exploration, as Mr. Orton explains, even
battle-ground of inner conflict, where central Africa had been more fully es-
he struggles against his disappointment plored than that region of equatorial
in love, his loss of deserved promotion America which lies in the midst of the
and distressing conditions after the western Andes, and upon the slopes of
war, lightened only by the tardy love those mountain monarchs which look
of the woman to whom he has toward the Atlantic. A Spanish knight,
mained faithful. The love episodes
Orellana, during Pizarro's search for the
are the least interesting of the narra- fabled city of El Dorado in 1541, had
tive. There are graphic descriptions descended this King of Waters (as the
of battles, those of Fort Winthrop and aborigines called it); and with the eyes
Cane River being the most noteworthy; of romance, thought he discovered on its
cynical annotations of the red-tapeism banks the women-warriors for whom he
and blunders of the War Department; then newly named the stream the «Ama-
and humorous sketches of the social zon,”-a name still used by the Span-
life in New Orleans during the North- iards and the Portuguese in the plural
ern occupation, with race clashings of form, Amazonas. Except for one Spanish
aristocracy, Creoles, invaders, and freed esploration up the river in 1637, the re-
negroes, besides many amusing anec- sults of which were published in a quaint
dotes and details of army life,- all in and curious volume, and one French ex-
De Forest's sharp black and white. The ploration from coast to coast eastward in
novel takes high rank among Ameri- 1745, and the indefatigable missionary pil-
can stories
grimages of Catholic priests and friars,
a
ure
a
re-


## p. 305 (#341) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
305
be a
the great valley remained but vaguely journeyings in what was designed to
known. National jealousies had kept the new and permanent work. The
river closed from foreign navigation, un- papers were carefully revised, amplified,
til, by a larger policy, it was made free and illustrated, and a work made with
to the flags of all nations in 1867. "The the title "Our New West, 1869, in which
Andes and the Amazon) is not intended the author attempted to convey some true
to be a scientific record of newly discov- idea of the condition and promise of the
ered data. Whatever biological or archæo- western half of the continent. Thor-
logical contributions it offers are sufficiently oughly well executed, Mr. Bowles's narra-
intelligible and accurate, and there is scat- tive of natural resources and of industrial
tered through the three hundred and fifty developments remains full of interest.
pages of the book a large amount of gen- His vigorous style, keen insight, unfailing
eral information, such as a trained ob- sense of humor, and judicial mind, made
server would instinctively gather, and an him an almost unrivaled observer and
intelligent audience delight to share. reporter.
Asto
Across America and Asia: Notes of
storia: OR, ANECDOTES OF AN ENTER-
PRISE BEYOND THE ROCKY MOUNT-
a Five-Years' Journey around the
World, and of residence in Arizona, Japan,
AINS, by Washington Irving. (1836. Re-
and China,' by Raphael Pumpelly (some-
vised ed. 1849. ) An early work, of a
time mining engineer in the service of the
somewhat rambling and disjointed nature,
Chinese and Japanese governments), was
comprising stories of expeditions by land
first published in 1869. It is more than an
and sea, but presenting the history of a
ordinary record of travel, since the author
grand scheme, devised and conducted by
during his residence in Peking gave spe-
a master mind, the national character and
cial study to the political and economic
importance of which fully justified the in-
terest which Irving was led to take in it.