In his way of looking ent forms of the attempt to accommodate
at it, it is not a mere dry nomenclature, infinite living claims upon us to our human
but an integral picture, not only of the weakness, he says: "It seems to me that
physical phenomena but of all the social it has been the one purpose of all the
and political peculiarities that diversify divine revelation or education of which
the surface of our globe.
at it, it is not a mere dry nomenclature, infinite living claims upon us to our human
but an integral picture, not only of the weakness, he says: "It seems to me that
physical phenomena but of all the social it has been the one purpose of all the
and political peculiarities that diversify divine revelation or education of which
the surface of our globe.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
After and the climax of the play was her read-
a time he is moved to prayer, whereupon iness to accept a divine behest by giving
the evil spell is removed. The Albatross up her life. The other and the finer
sinks into the sea, and the Mariner's play represented a time twenty years
heart is once again a part of the uni-
later. It told how she was snatched from
versal spirit of love. After hearing this under the knife of sacrifice by divine
story, the wedding guest «turns from intervention, and carried away to the
the bridegroom's door, and
land of the Tauri, (where is now the
"A sadder and a wiser man
Crimea,) to live in honor as a priestess
of Artemis, a feature of whose Taurian
The weird ballad is capable of many in-
worship was the sacrificial immolation
terpretations; for the Ancient Mariner
of any luckless strangers cast on shore
is nameless, there is no name for the
by shipwreck. Twenty years had passed,
ship, and her destination is vague. In its
and the Greek passion of Iphigenia to
small compass it contains a tragedy of
return to her own land, to at least hear
remorse, and of redemption through re-
of her people, was at its height, when
pentance. The imagery is wonderful,
two strangers from a wreck were taken,
and the poem is pervaded by a noble
and it was her duty to preside at their
mystery. Wordsworth, Coleridge affirms,
sacrifice. They were Orestes and Py-
wrote the last two lines of the first
lades, the former her own brother. The
climax of the play is in her recogni-
stanza of Part iv.
tion of Orestes, and in the means em-
Gºld
olden Treasury, The, of Songs and ployed by her for her own and their
Lyrics, by Francis Turner Pal- escape. A singularly fine soliloquy of
grave. A volume attempting to bring Iphigenia, upon hearing of the capture
together all the best lyrics in the lan- of two strangers, is followed by a dia-
guage, by singers not living. In his se- logue between her and Orestes, unsur-
lection Mr. Palgrave was aided by the passed, if not unequaled, by anything
taste and judgment of Tennyson as to in Greek dramatic poetry. Her proposal
the period between 1520 and 1850. The to spare one to be the bearer of a letter
book has four divisions, informally desig- to her Greek home, brings on a contest
nated as the books of Shakespeare, Mil- of self-devotion between Orestes and
ton, Gray, and Wordsworth, though hardly Pylades of wonderful dramatic power.
less space is given to Herrick or Shel- The whole play shows Euripides at his
ley. The preface and notes are of great best in ingenuity of construction and
value.
depth of feeling; and all the odes of the
2801
He rose the morrow morn. ”
sted to
is acu
Sanda
STT:
1 in the
store pas
Titro
JACE
Eltest
werk
Marine
Coler
ine la
e Es
ina. is
pit si
Slikts
HOME
2",
rc- &;
## p. 70 (#106) #############################################
70
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
are
play are marked by extreme lyrical who finds an asylum on Attic soil, and
beauty. A notable one among them is vanishes mysteriously in the sacred grove
the final one, on the establishment of the of the Eumenides, to become henceforth
worship of Apollo at Delphi.
the protecting hero of the land. The in-
A celebrated parallel to the Iphi- cidents are made up of the violence of
genia) of Euripides was conceived and Creon, the abduction of the daughters of
executed by Goethe. It is not properly | Edipus, their touching deliverance, the
an imitation.
Although using scenery imprecations of the old man against his
and characters nominally Greek, it is a unfilial son Polynices, and his sublime
thoroughly modern play, on lines of dramatic apotheosis. But the beauty of
thought and sentiment quite other than the tragedy consists especially in the
Greek, and with a diction very unlike ideal representation of the noblest sen-
Greek. Of this modern kind it is a timents: the majesty of the aged hero,
drama of the highest merit, a splendid now reduced to beg for bread; the gen-
example of modern psychological dra- tle piety of Antigone; the artlessness of
matic composition.
the rustic chorus, at first appalled by
the mere name of the stranger, but soon,
Doll's House, The, one of the best-
at the request of Theseus, to give him
known plays of Henrik Ibsen, was
a most gracious and hospitable recep-
published in 1879. It is the drama of the
Woman, the product of man's fostering
tion; finally, the luminous background
where Athens appears to the patriotic
care through centuries, — his doll, from
whom nature has kindly removed the un-
eyes of her poet in all her dazzling
used faculties which produce clear think-
splendor. Edipus, the victim of his sons'
ingratitude, has sometimes been com-
ing and business-like action. Nora, the
particular doll in question, adorns a little
pared to Shakespeare's King Lear. But
while the two characters almost
home with her pretty dresses, her pretty
equal in tragic grandeur, there is always
manner, her sweet, childish ignorance.
a reserve, a self-restraint, in the storm-
She must bring up her babies, love her
iest scenes of the Greek dramatist which
husband, and have well-cooked dinners.
is absent from the English play.
For the sake of this husband, she ventures
once beyond the limit of the nest. He
is ill, and she forges her rich father's name OEdipus the King, by Sophocles. Ar-
istotle, whose rules for the con-
to obtain money to send him abroad.
duct of the tragic poem
The disclosure of her guilt, the guilt of a
are mainly
based on the “Edipus,' regarded it as
baby, a doll who did not know better,
the masterpiece of the Greek theatre.
brings her face to face with the realities
of the world and of life. The puppet be-
It is certainly, if not the finest, the most
dramatic of the author's works.
comes vitalized, changed into a suffering
opening scene has an imposing grandeur.
woman who realizes that there is some-
The Theban people are prostrate before
thing wrong » in the state of women as
their altars, calling on their gods and on
wives. She leaves her husband's house,
their king to save them from the terri-
(a moth flying towards a star. ” She will
ble plague that is desolating their city.
not return until she is different, or mar-
Creon returns from Delphi with the an-
riage is different, or — she knows not
swer of the oracle: - The plague will
what. "The Doll's House) is the most
continue its ravages as long as the mur-
striking embodiment in the range of mod-
derer of Laius, their former ruler, re-
ern drama, of the second awakening of
mains unpunished. (Edipus utters the
Eve.
most terrible imprecations against the
OEdipus, at Colonus, bySophocles. assassin, declaring he will not rest until
This was the author's last tra- he has penetrated the darkness that en-
gedy, and was not presented until some shrouds the crime. He thus becomes
years after his death. It has very little the unconscious instrument of his own
action, but nowhere has Sophocles risen destruction; for he himself is the invol-
to higher poetic grandeur. His drama untary slayer of his own father, the un-
is a magnificent hymn in honor of Ath- witting husband of his own
ens and of his birthplace Colonus, in The spectator is hurried on from inci-
which the purest moral ideas are dent to incident, from situation to situa-
pressed in the sublimest language. The tion, until at last the sombre mystery
poet depicts the glorious end of Edipus, through which the hapless king has been
The
mother.
ex-
## p. 71 (#107) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
71
ex-
as
endows him with much of his own sense
of humor and Horatian philosophy; and
even though the adventures are not al.
ways thrilling, the account of them, and
the accompanying reflections, are
tremely entertaining. Pleasure, Wealth,
Content, Ambition, Riches, are among
the abstractions of which the author or
his hero discourses; and many of the
passages are undoubtedly intended by
Combe as autobiographic.
In the course of his travels Dr. Syntax
meets various persons whom the author
makes food for his mild satire,- the mer-
chant, the critic, the bookseller, the coun.
try squire, the Oxford don, and other
well-marked types. The descriptions of
rural scenery and of the cities visited by
Dr. Syntax are often clever, and even to-
day are agreeable to read. The very great
popularity of the first tour of Dr. Syntax
(in search of the picturesque encouraged
author and publisher to follow it with a
second and a third series.
blindly groping is lit up by one reveal-
ing flash, and Edipus rushes into the
palace, exclaiming, “O light of day, I
behold thee for the last time! ) There
is no character in ancient tragedy that
excites so much human interest
Edipus,- an interest made up of anguish
and compassion; for unlike the heroes
of Æschylus, he is neither Titanic nor
gigantic. He is an ideal man, but not
so ideal as to be entirely exempt from
weakness and error; and when he suf-
fers, he gives vent to his agony in very
human cries and tears. The other per-
sons in the drama — the skeptical and
thoughtless locasta; the choleric sooth-
sayer Tiresias; Creon, who appears to
more advantage here than in the (An-
tigone) and (Edipus at Colonus); even
the slave of Laius - are all portrayed
with the most consummate art and dis-
tinction of style. The choral hymns and
dialogues have an ineffable tenderness
and sublimity. The (Edipus) has been
imitated by Seneca in Latin, Dryden
and Lee glish, Nicolini in Ita
Corneille, Voltaire, and several others in
French; but none of these imitations has
even a faint reflection of the genius of
the original.
Dr. Syntax, The Three Tours of, by
William Combe. This famous book,
or rather series of three books, was first
devised by its author at the suggestion of
the publisher, Mr. Ackermann, who desired
some amusing text to accompany a series
of caricatures which he had engaged from
the celebrated Rowlandson.
William Combe, then past sixty-five
years of age, had already produced a
large number of volumes, of which all
had appeared anonymously. The first
part of Dr. Syntax,' which was pub-
lished in 1809, describes the adventures
of a certain Dr. Syntax, clergyman and
teacher, who, on his horse Grizzle, delib-
erately sets out in search of adventures
which he might make material for a
book. His plan, as he gives it to his
wife Dolly, is as follows:-
« You well know what my pen can do,
And I'll employ my pencil too ; -
I'll ride and write and sketch and print,
And thus create a real mint ;
I'll prose it here and verse it there,
And picturesque it everywhere. ”
In this long series of eight-foot iambic
couplets with the real Hudibras swing,
Combe tells the story of the travels of
the clerical Don Quixote. The author
Eye Spy, by William Hamilton Gibson,
1897, is a revelation intended pri-
marily for young people, of the beauty
and charm of nature. (You are forced
to tell or to write about the things you
have most at heart,” says Mr. Gibson;
and his sympathetic and easy style shows
the spontaneity of one who loves his sub-
ject. He had the unusual advantage of
being artist as well as author; and his
careful drawings combine scientific ac-
curacy with the beauty visible to a poet.
He seems to catch his subject unaware,
and to show it to us in its most charac-
teristic moment both with pen and brush.
He is a scientist; and observes, records,
and classifies, with endless patience. But
the facts he thus obtains are all infused
with an appreciation of the romance and
interest of even the humblest, forms of
life. No bug or plant is too humble to
be invested with his human sympathy.
Therefore in writing for children he falls
easily into personification: and adds a
dramatic quality by referring to Pro-
fessor Wriggler, the dandelion burglar,
or Mr. and Mrs. Tumblebug. Mr. Gib-
sees the world in detail, and is
especially interested in what lies close at
hand. In none of the twenty-eight short
essays which form the volume, does he
wander far afield. We think ourselves
familiar with ordinary birds and plants
and the lazy blue insects down in the
grass,” but Mr. Gibson reveals and then
son
## p. 72 (#108) #############################################
72
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
dispels our ignorance. “I was not con- him master. The book is written in dia-
scious that I was studying,” he says of logue form, and is filled with conversa-
his early work. Neither are his readers, tions touching the theme in question,
until they discover how much they have which are carried on by an angler, a
learned.
hunter, a falconer, a milkmaid, and oth-
ers. In this way observations are made
Girl in the Carpathians, A, by Menie
Muriel Dowie (now Mrs. Henry
regarding the various kinds of fish, their
habits, whereabouts, and the best meth-
Norman). Mrs. Norman's volume has
ods of securing them, with endless details
been called “the very carpet-baggery of
and minute descriptions of the ways and
art. ” She herself says that her book is
means necessary to the success of this
a series of impressions, drawing any in-
sport. The book is distinguished by a
terest or value it may possess from two
sources: First, the accuracy of report-
pastoral simplicity, is admirable in style,
and is filled with fine descriptions of rural
ing those impressions, which springs from
rough-shod honesty of intention; sec-
scenery. It is moreover interspersed with
ond, the color of the individual medium
many charming lyrics, old songs and bal-
through which these have been seen -
lads, among them the (Song of the Milk-
maid. ) It is attributed to Christopher
this second interesting only to those who
Marlowe, and begins: -
happen to like that color. ” It is distinctly
« Come live with me, and be my love,
not a book of travel, as the author cov-
And we will all the pleasures prove,
ered at the outside only eighty miles. That valleys, groves, or hills, or field,
Arrayed in a tweed suit, skirt, coat,
Or woods and steepy mountains yield. ”
and knickerbockers, and possessing three The (Angler) is not alone devoted to
shirts, she sets out for the Carpathians, sport, but is filled with precepts which
spending a few weeks in one primitive recommend the practice of religion and
town and then going to another; and in the exercise of patience, humility, con-
a free, careless, independent manner com- tentment, and other virtues. Before the
ing into close contact with Ruthenian
publication of this book, rules and direc-
peasant and native Jew, and learning to tions for angling had been handed down
know the real people as tourists never from age to age chiefly by tradition, have
do. Dirt and unpalatable food do not dis- ing only in a few instances been set down
turb her to the extent of spoiling her en- in writing. Whether considered as a trea-
joyment or her humorous appreciation of tise on the art of angling, or as a de-
what goes on around her. She chats in-
lightful pastoral filled with charming
telligently about the salient characteristics descriptions of rural scenery, “The Com-
of the people, - how they live, eat, drink, plete Angler) ranks among English clas-
work, play, and dispense with washing sics. In 1676, when Walton was eighty-
themselves; about their dwellings, their two and was preparing a fifth edition
inquisitiveness, their picturesque dress, for the press, Charles Cotton, also
the delights of Polish cookery, the skinny famous angler, and an adopted son of
little donkeys and her rides upon them, Walton's, wrote a second part for the
and the glorious scenery. Miss Dowie book, which is a valuable supplement. It
was a young English girl who disregarded is written in imitation of the style and
such conventions as she saw no reason to discourses of the original, upon “angling
respect; and this book tells the story – for trout or grayling in a clear stream. ”
quite in her own way — of her roamings Walton, though an expert angler, knew
and her thoughts during the summer. It but little of fly-fishing, and so welcomed
is a story which has captivated many Cotton's supplement, which has since that
readers by its thoroughly charming man- time been received as a part of his book.
Walton is called the “Father of all An-
glers »); indeed, there has been hardly a
Complete Angler, The; or, Contem-
plative Man's Recreation: being
writer upon the subject since his time
A Discourse on Rivers, Fish-Ponds, Fish,
who has not made use of his rules and
and Fishing; by Izaak Walton and Charles
practice.
Cotton. The Complete Angler,) which
Fishing Tourist, The : Angler's Guide
was first published in England in 1653, AND REFERENCE Book, by Charles
was designed primarily by its author to Hallock, was published in 1873, present-
teach the art of angling, of which long ing “in a concise form all the informa-
experience with hook and line had made tion necessary to enable gentlemen to
a
ner.
## p. 73 (#109) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
73
1
Q"
care
visit successfully every accessible salmon uabbin: THE STORY OF A SMALL
and trout region in America. The author TOWN - WITH OUTLOOKS UPON PU-
devotes Part i. of his work to the con- RITAN LIFE, by Francis H. Underwood.
sideration of salmon and trout as game It is the biography of a New England
fish, and to the methods of catching them. town, and is dedicated to those, wher-
In Part ii. the various localities in which ever they are, who have inherited the
they are found are described at length. blood and shared the progress of the
The book has about it a delightful flavor descendants of Pilgrims and Puritans. ”
of sportsmanship.
No detail of village and farm life has
been left out as too homely; and famil-
Amateur Poacher, The, by Richard Jef- iar scenes, outdoors and in, are de-
feries, was published in 1889. Like scribed in "Quabbin) with that
the other works by this author, The which writers often reserve for the novel
Gamekeeper at Home, (Wild Life in a
aspects of some foreign land. This
Southern Country,' etc. , it displays a gen- quality lends the book its interest. The
ius for the observation of nature, yet its social characteristics of a New England
scope is narrow and simple. «The follow- town are graphically noted: the minis-
ing pages,” says the author, "are arranged ter's revered chief place; "general-train-
somewhat in the order of time, beginning ing day); the temperance movement,
with the first gun and attempts at shoot- started at a time when drunkenness from
ing. Then come the fields, the first hills the rum served at ministerial «installa-
and woods explored, often without a gun
tions was not infrequent, and ending
or any thought of destruction; and next in the total-abstinence societies, and in
the poachers and other odd characters ob- rigid no-license laws for the town.
served at their work. ”
With the railroad came improvements,"
The book opens with a tempting sen- including comforts that were unknown
tence: - «They burned the old gun that luxuries before; and to-day, with morn-
used to stand in the dark corner up in the ing newspapers,
the telegraph, and
garret, close to the stuffed fox that always three daily mails, Quabbin belongs to
grinned so fiercely. ” The narrative goes the great world. ”
on in the same familiar, brisk, hunting-
morning style, carrying the reader far Natural History, by Georges Louis
afield, into damp woods, and over sweet,
le Clerc de Buffon. The Jardin
rich pastures. In conclusion the author
des Plantes in Paris will ever be asso-
writes: "Let us go out of these indoor, ciated with the name of Count Buffon.
narrow, modern days, whose twelve hours In what was then called the King's Gar-
somehow have become shortened, into the den, the greatest naturalist of the eigh-
sunlight and pure wind. A something teenth century, as superintendent under
that the ancients called divine can be appointment by Louis XV. , accomplished
found and felt there still. The book is two colossal undertakings of his
cheerful and wholesome, possessing the
life, – the re-creation of the garden it-
charm of nature itself.
self, and the production of L'Histoire
Naturelle. ) The latter work, published
Gºlde
olden Chersonese, The, by Isabella between 1749 and 1804, in forty-four vol-
Bird Bishop, (1883,) is a record of umes, ranges over the entire field of
travel and adventure in the Malay pen- natural history, from minerals to man.
insula. The author, a veteran traveler, Although borrowing largely from the
has journeyed so widely as to have studies of Aristotle, Descartes, Leibnitz,
gained that sweep of view which lends and others, Buffon introduced an entirely
charm and accuracy to comparison. An new conception in the treatment of his
excellent observer, she groups her effects, subject. He cast aside the conjecture
giving great variety to her descriptions and mysticism that had been so long a
of tropical scenery,– which so often ap- barrier in the path of pure science, and
pears monotonous,- and adding a touch resorted to observation, reason, and ex-
of humor which makes her frank notes periment. To him belongs the honor
interesting. If the style is sometimes of being the first to treat nature histori-
redundant, the narrative is brimful of cally, to make a critical study of each
incident and adventure bravely encoun- separate object, and to classify these
tered by an indefatigable spirit, and pro- objects into species. But at this point
ceeds with a natural and cheery grace. Buffon's researches came to a stop. He
1
the
## p. 74 (#110) #############################################
74
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
1
was too much of an analyst and not The (Geography) is the production of a
enough of a philosopher to catch the judicious and consummate scholar and
grander idea of later scientists,— the re- clear and correct writer; and besides be-
lation of species to each other and the ing an inexhaustible mine for historians,
unity of all nature. Some of the best philologists, and literary men, is very
results of his work are contained in the pleasant reading. Yet it appears to have
enumeration of quadruped animals known been forgotten soon after its publication.
in his time, and the classification of Neither Pliny nor Pausanias refers to it,
quadrupeds, birds, fishes, insects, plants, and Plutarch mentions only the histor-
of the American continent, all unknown ical part. Strabo suspected the existence
in the Old World. One of his most val- of a continent between western Europe
uable contributions to science is his and Asia. «It is very possible,” says he,
history of man as a species. Man had «that, by following the parallel of Athens
been studied as an individual, but to across the Atlantic, we may find in the
Buffon belongs the credit of having dis- temperate zone one or several worlds in-
covered the unity of mankind. The habited by races different from ours. ”
author of this great collection of data,
which served as a foundation for the Friends in Council, by Arthur Helps,
comparative sciences of the nineteenth
comprises two series of readings and
century, has been called “the painter
discourses, which were collected and the
of nature, because of the magnificence
first volume published in England, in
of his style,-a style so attractive as to
1847; the second in 1859. They are cast
set the fashion in his day for the love
in the form of a friendly dialogue, inter-
of nature, and to inspire all classes with
spersed with essays and dissertations, by
the “friends in council. ” They cover a
a passion for natural history.
wid range of topics, from Worry) to
(War,' and from "Criticism) to Pleas-
Geography, A, by Strabo. The author
of
antness. ) In style they are charming, the
describes, having traveled extensively in
few angularities of diction being easily
Asia Minor, Europe, and Africa. He
forgiven by reason of the fascination of
was forty-three or forty-four years old
the wise utterances and the shrewd ob-
when he returned to his birthplace,
servations which pervade the whole. In
Amasea in Cappadocia, where he spent
thought they are carefully worked out
and free from monotony. The author
several years in arranging his materials.
evinces a fine moral feeling and a dis-
The work appeared some time about
the beginning of the Christian era. It is
criminating taste.
divided into seventeen books, of which Essays, Theological and Literary, by
whole;
real encyclopædia, full of interesting de- two volumes of this work contain nine
tails and brief but luminous sketches of theological and nine literary papers.
the history, religion, manners, and polit- | Among the first are «The Moral Signifi-
ical institutions of ancient nations. The cance of Atheism, The Atheistic Es-
first two books form a sort of intro- planation of Religion,' Science and
duction, in which he treats of the char- Theism,' 'What is Revelation ? ) (M. Re.
acter of the science and refutes the nan's Christ, etc. , etc. Mr. Hutton is
errors of Eratosthenes. Then he devotes a theist, owing his belief in theism to his
eight books to Europe, six to Asia, and study of the religious philosophy of F.
the last to Africa. Strabo is very mod- D. Maurice. After he has spoken of
ern in the standpoint from which he skepticism and dogmatism as but differ-
views geography.
In his way of looking ent forms of the attempt to accommodate
at it, it is not a mere dry nomenclature, infinite living claims upon us to our human
but an integral picture, not only of the weakness, he says: "It seems to me that
physical phenomena but of all the social it has been the one purpose of all the
and political peculiarities that diversify divine revelation or education of which
the surface of our globe. His work even we have any record, to waken us up out
contains discussions of literary criticism of this perpetually recurring tendency to
of considerable importance; and he has fall back into ourselves,) - i. e. , to self-
very clear notions of the value of an- forgetfulness, and self-surrender to
cient fables and folk-lore as evidence of Higher than ourselves. Among the names
the ideas and wisdom of primitive times. and subjects considered in the literary
.
!
1
## p. 75 (#111) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
75
Percival, Thoreau, Swinburne, Chaucer,
Emerson, Pope, and the early English
authors, or rather upon some of their
critics and editors. Characterizations like
these abound: (I have sometimes won-
dered that the peep-shows, which Nature
provides in such endless variety for her
children, and to which we are admitted
on the one condition of having eyes,
should be so generally neglected. » «He
(Winter) is a better poet than Autumn
when he has a mind; but like a truly
great one, as he is, he brings you lown
to your bare manhood, and bids you un-
derstand him out of that, with no ad-
ventitious helps of association, or he will
none of you. ” “All the batteries of noise
are spiked! » «The earth is clothed with
innocence with a garment; every
wound of the landscape is healed.
What was unsightly before has been
covered gently with a soft splendor; as
if, Cowley would have said, Nature had
cleverly let fall her handkerchief to hide
it. ” The essay upon Chaucer was always
a favorite with that admirable critic,
Prof. F. J. Child; and to him Lowell
dedicated the volume which was pub-
lished in 1874.
»
as
essays are Wordsworth, Shelley, Brown-
ing, the poetry of the Old Testament,
Clough, Arnold, Tennyson, and Haw-
thorne. As a whole these are marked
by depth of insight, breadth of view,
and nicety of judgment. They show
high scholarship, and an innate gift for
criticism highly trained; and they are
very interesting reading
Li
iberty, On, by John Stuart Mill.
(1858. ) A small work on individual
freedom under social and political law.
It had been planned and written as a
short essay in 1854, and during the next
three years it was enlarged into a vol-
ume, as the joint work of the author
and his wife; but according to Mr. Mill's
protestation, more her book than his.
His own description of it is, that it is
a philosophic text-book of this twofold
principle:-(1) The importance, to man
and society, of the existence of a large
variety in types of character, the many
different kinds of persons actually found
where human nature develops all its pos-
sibilities; and (2) the further importance
of giving full freedom of opinion and of
development to individuals of every class
and type.
Mr. Mill thought he saw the
possibility of democracy becoming a
system of suppression of freedom, com-
pulsion upon individuals to act and to
think all in one way; a tyranny in fact
of the populace, not less degrading to
human nature and damaging to human
progress than any of which mankind has
broken the yoke. A reply to Mill's
views was made by Sir J. F. Stephen
in his Liberty, Fraternity, and Equal-
ity' (1874. ) Stephen attempted to so re-
analyze and re-state the democratic ideas
as to show that Mill's fears were need-
less.
M: Study Windows, by James Russell
Lowell, contains a series of bio-
graphical, critical, and poetical essays,
in whose kaleidoscopic variety of theme
continual brilliancy illuminates an almost
perfect symmetry of literary form. The
charming initial essay, My Garden Ac-
quaintance,' treats of the familiar visits
of the birds at Elmwood. This is fol-
lowed by a similar essay entitled A
Good Word for Winter. ) "On a Certain
Condescension in · Foreigners) is the
third; and a review of the Life of
Josiah Quincy) follows. Then come crit-
ical essays upon the lives and works of
Carlyle, Abraham Lincoln, James Gates
English Humorists of the Eighteenth
peace Thackeray, is a collection of lect-
ures, delivered in England in 1851, in
America during 1852-53, and published in
1853. Studying these pages, the reader
finds himself living in the society of the
poets, essayists, and novelists of the pre-
ceding century, as a friend conversant
with their faults and signal merits. As
twelve authors are packed into six lect-
ures, a characteristic disproportion is
manifest. Swift is belittled in forty
pages; a like space suffices to hit off in a
rapid touch-and-go manner the qualities
of Prior, Gay, and Pope. A page and a
half disposes of Smollett to make room for
Hogarth and Fielding: Addison, Steele,
Sterne, Congreve, and Goldsmith, receive
about equal attention. These papers are
the record of impressions made upon a
mind exceptionally sensitive to literary
values, and reacting invariably with ori-
ginal force and suggestiveness. Written
for popular presentation, they are con-
versational in tone, and lighted up with
swift flashes of poignant wit and humor
Some of their characterizations are very
striking: as that of Gay, helplessly de-
pendent upon the good offices of the Duke
.
## p. 76 (#112) #############################################
76
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
and Duchess of Queensberry, to a pam- the volume, on mental discipline in edu-
pered lapdog, fat and indolent; and that cation, and also an essay on the scientific
of Steele, whose happy-go-lucky ups and study of human nature. Other essays on
downs and general lovableness consti- studies in science are: Tyndall on physics,
tuted a temperament after Thackeray's Huxley on zoology, Dr. James Paget on
own heart. His admiration for Fielding, physiology, Herbert Spencer on political
his acknowledged master in the art of education, Faraday on education of the
fiction, is very interesting. The English judgment, Henfrey on botany, Dr. Bar-
Humorists) will long remain the most in- nard on early mental training, Whewell on
viting sketch in literature of the period science in educational history, and Hodg.
and the writers considered.
son on economic science. The wealth of
suggestion, stimulus to study, and guid-
Ethical and Social Subjects, Studies ance of interest in these chapters, give the
New and old in, by Frances Power
volume a permanent value both to the
Cobbe. (1865. ) The various essays here
educator and to studious readers gener-
collected are developments of the views
ally. It is a book, moreover, the counsels
of morals presented in the author's earlier
of which have been accepted; and its
works, while she was greatly influenced,
prophecies, of advantage to follow from
among other forces, by the mind of Theo-
giving science an equal place with litera-
dore Parker, whose works she edited. A
ture as a means of culture, have been
strong and original thinker, fearless, pos-
abundantly fulfilled.
sessing a clear and simple style, Miss
Cobbe makes all her work interesting.
With the essay upon (Christian Ethics
A spects of Fiction, AND OTHER VENT-
URES IN CRITICISM (1896), by Brander
and the Ethics of Christ) - which have
Matthews, is a collection of crisp articles
to her view little in common — the series
relating largely to novelists and novel-
begins. In her paper on "Self-Develop- writing. A clever practitioner in the art
ment and Self-Abnegation,' she main-
of short-story writing, the author speaks
tains that self-development is the saner, here as of and to the brothers of his own
nobler duty of man. Her titles, (The
craft, with an eye especially for good
Sacred Books of the Zoroastrians,' (The
technique, that artistic sense of propor-
Philosophy of the Poor-Laws,) (The Mor-
tion and presentation so dear to his own
als of Literature,) Decemnovenarianism)
half-Gallicized taste. "The Giſt of Story-
(the spirit of the nineteenth century); Telling,' (Cervantes, Zola, Kipling &
(Hades,' and The Hierarchy of Art,'
Co. ,' are brilliant analyses, fresh, ori-
indicate the range of her interests. The
ginal, pregnant, and spiced with a just
(Rights of Man and the Claims of Brutes,)
measure of sparkling wit; by means of
affords a vigorous and humane protest
his close study of the history of fiction,
against vivisection. It should be remem-
he often brings the traits and practices
bered that an early essay of Miss Cobbe
of older authors to illuminate by a felici-
on "Intuitive Morals) has been pro-
tous application those of contemporary
nounced by the most philosophic critics
novelists, discovering permanent canons
the ablest brief discussion of the subject
of art in fresh, elusive guises. A lighter
in English. Her breadth of view, ripe
vein of humor and observation renders
culture, profoundly religious though un-
sectarian spirit, and excellence of style, Antiquity of Jests) an interesting and
the paper in Pen and Ink) upon the
make her writings important and help- amusing bypath of research. (Studies
ful.
of the Stage) is the fruit of many years'
Culture Demanded by Modern Life. intimacy with the history of the stage and
A Series of Addresses and Argu- stage conventions, aided, enriched, and
ments on the Claims of Scientific Educa- deepened by an experience with such
tion. Edited by E. L. Youmans. (1867. ) present methods of stagecraft behind the
A book of importance as a landmark footlights as falls to the lot of a practical
indicating the expansion of education to playwright. Mr. Matthews writes of (The
embrace science with literature, as both Old Comedies' and 'The American Stage)
knowledge of highest value and a means in a happy tone of reminiscence and sym-
of mental discipline not second to any pathetic observation. (The French Dram-
other. Dr. Youmans, to whose service atists of the Nineteenth Century,' the best
in this direction American culture owes work accessible on the subject in English,
a deep debt, supplied an Introduction to is a scholarly contribution to the history
## p. 77 (#113) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
77
was
never
an
1
of the French stage from the Romantic exclaims despairingly, shortly before her
movement to the present day. A lifelong death, — when, although far advanced in
familiarity with French people and lit- consumption, she is planning a chef-
erature gives the judgments of Professor d'æuvre. She
unselfcon-
Matthews especial convincingness. scious, and her book reveals her long-
His Americanisms and Briticisms) con- ings, her petty vanities, and her childish
tains a series of telling strokes at the crudities, as well as her versatile and
provincialism that still characterizes some brilliant talents.
aspects of our literature.
Cuo
uore, by Edmondo de Amicis. A series
of delightfully written sketches, de-
Journal, The (“Le Journal'), of Marie
scribing the school life of a boy of twelve,
Bashkirtseff, which appeared in Paris
in the year 1882, in the third grade of
in 1885, and was abridged and translated
the public schools of Turin. They are
into English in 1889, was called by
said to be the genuine impressions of a
Gladstone «a book without a parallel. ”
boy, written each day of the eight months
Like Rousseau's Confessions, it claims
of actual school life; the father, in edit-
to be an absolutely candid expression of
individual experience. But the Journal)
ing them, not altering the thought, and
preserving as far as possible the words
was written avowedly to win posthumous
of the son. "Interspersed are the monthly
fame; and the reader wonders if the
gifted Russian girl who wrote it had not
stories told by the schoolmaster, and let-
ters from the father, mother, and sister,
too thoroughly artistic a temperament
to the boy. The stories of the lives of
for matter-of-fact statement. The child
the national heroes are given, as well as
she portrays is always interpreted by
a maturer mind.
Marie is genuinely
essays on The School, The Poor, Grati-
tude, Hope, etc. ; all inculcating the love
unhappy, and oppressed with modern
of country, of one's fellow-beings, of
unrest; but she studies her troubles as if
honor, honesty, and generosity. The title,
they belonged to some one else, and is
"Cuore) (heart), well expresses the con-
interested rather than absorbed by them.
tents of the book - actions caused by the
After a preface summarizing her birth
in Russia of noble family, and her early
best impulses of a noble heart. Although
it is dedicated to children, older persons
years with an adoring mother, grand-
mother, and aunt, she begins the Jour-
cannot read the book without pleasure
and profit.
nal' at the age of twelve, when she is
passionately in love with Count H-
Gallery of Celebrated Women (Ga-
whom she knows only by sight. A few
lerie des Femmes Célèbres), by
years later a handsome Italian engages C. A. Sainte-Beuve. This compilation
her vanity rather than her heart. But, of essays is drawn from the Causeries
as she herself vaguely felt, her struggle du Lundi? (Monday Chats) by M. Sainte-
for self-expression unfits her formar- Beuve, in his own day the greatest liter-
riage. From the age of three years she ary critic of the century. The range of
cherished inordinate ambition, and felt subjects treated extends from Madame de
herself destined to become great either Sévigné and Madame de Lafayette, of the
as singer, or writer, or artist, or queen classic age of French literature, through
of society. Admiration was essential to the violent periods of the Revolution and
her, and she records compliments to her the Empire as illustrated by Madame
beauty or her erudition with equal pleas- Roland and Madame de Rémusat, well
Her life was a curious mixture of into the time of the Second Empire in
the interests of an attractive society girl the person of Madame Guizot, wife of the
with those of a serious student. The historian. Thanks to the peculiar meth-
twenty-four years that the diary covers ods of criticism introduced by the Roman-
were crowded with ambitions and par- tic movement, which, awakening a taste
tial successes. Her chronic discontent for what was ancient and exotic, neces-
was due to the disproportion between sitated a careful historical knowledge of
her aspirations and her achievements. time, place, and environment, M. Sainte-
In spite of the encouragement which her Beuve was enabled both accurately and
brilliant work received in the Julian minutely to depict the literary efforts, and
studio, she suspected herself of medi- consequent claims to future consideration,
ocrity. “The canvas is there, everything of each of the various types of woman
is ready, I alone am wanting," she which he has treated in this book. The
ure.
## p. 78 (#114) #############################################
78
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
pioneer critics of the new school — as
Mesdames de Staël, de Barante, and even
the capable Villemain — had contented
themselves with seeing in literature sim-
ply the expression of society; but Sainte-
Beuve pushed farther on, regarding it
also as the expression of the personality
of its authors as determined by the influ-
ences of heredity, of physical constitution,
of education, and especially of social and
intellectual environment. This introduces
one not only into an understanding of the
motives of the public acts and writings
of the authors he treats, but also into the
quiet domesticity of their homes. It has
fallen to the lot of but few men equi-
tably and dispassionately to judge of fem-
inine effort and achievement in letters,
but the general favor accorded to Sainte-
Beuve proves sufficiently that he is pre-
eminent among those few. True, by some
he has here been reproached for lack of
enthusiasm; but this, it would seem, is but
another way of congratulating him on hav-
ing broken the old cut-and-dried method
of supplementing analysis with a series of
exclamation points. Analysis, then, and
explanation and comment, rather than
dogmatic praise or blame, are what may
be found in the Gallery. '
>
(Confessions) leaves little to be desired;
in this respect surpassing many of Rous-
seau's earlier works. It abounds in fine
descriptions of nature, in pleasing ac-
counts of rural life, and in interesting
anecdotes of the peasantry. The influence
of the Confessions, unlike that of Rous-
seau's earlier works, was not political nor
moral, but literary. He may be called
from this work the father of French Ro-
mantisme. Among those who acknowl-
edged his influence were Bernardin de St.
Pierre, Châteaubriand, George Sand, and
the various authors who themselves in-
dulged in confessions of their own, - like
De Musset, Vigny, Hugo, Lamartine, and
Madame de Staël, as well as many in
Germany, England, and other countries.
Confessions of an English Opium:
Eater, by Thomas De Quincey.
These Confessions, first published in the
London Magazine during 1821, start with
the plain narrative of how his approach
to starvation when a runaway schoolboy,
wandering about in Wales and afterwards
in London, brought on the chronic ailment
whose relief De Quincey found in opium-
eating; and how he at times indulged in
the drug for its pleasurable effects, but
struggled against this fascinating enthrall-
ment with a religious zeal
and
untwisted, almost to its final links, the
accursed chain. ” Then follow nightmare
experiences, with a certain Malay who
reappeared to trouble him from time to
time, in the opium dreams; and also with
young woman, Ann, whom he had
known in his London life. But the story's
chief fascination lies in its gorgeous and
ecstatic visions or experiences of some
transcendental sort, while under the influ-
ence of the drug; the record of Titanic
struggles to get free from it, and the pa-
thetic details of sufferings that counter-
balanced its delights.
The Confessions of an English Opium-
Eater) is one of the most brilliant books
in literature. As an English critic has
said, “It is not opium in De Quincey, but
De Quincey in opium, that wrote the "Sus-
piria) and the Confessions. ) » All the
essays are filled with the most unexpected
inventions, the most gorgeous imagery,
and, strange to say, with a certain in-
sistent good sense. As a rhetorician De
Quincey stands unrivaled.
Confes
onfessions of Saint Augustine, The.
This fai work, ritten in 397, is
divided into thirteen books. The first ten
a
Confe
onfessions, by Jean Jacques Rousseau.
The Confessions) of Rousseau were
written during the six most agitated years
of his life, from 1765 to 1770; and his state
of health at this time, both mental and
bodily, may account for some of the pe-
culiarities of this famous work. The first
six books were not published until 1781,
and the second six not until 1788. Ac-
cording to more than one critic, the "Con-
fessions, however charming as literature,
are to be taken as documentary evidence
with great reserve. They form practi-
cally a complete life of Rousseau from
his earliest years, in which he discloses
not only all his own weaknesses, but the
faults of those who had been his iends
and intimates. In the matter of his many
love affairs he is unnecessarily frank, and
his giving not only details but names has
been severely condemned. The case is all
the worse, if, as has been supposed, these
love affairs are largely imaginary. As the
first half of the Confessions) is, in the
main, a romance with picturesque embel-
lishments, the second half has little more
foundation in fact, with its undue melan-
choly and its stories of imaginary spies
and enemies. In the matter of style, the
## p. 79 (#115) #############################################
3
.
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
79
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contain an account of his life down to
his mother's death, and give a thrilling
picture of the career of a profligate and an
idolater who was to become a Father of
the Church. We have in them the story
of his childhood, and the evil bent of his
nature even then; of his youth and its
uncontrollable passions and vices; of his
first fall at the age of sixteen, his subse-
quent struggle and relapses, and the un-
tiring efforts of his mother, Saint Monica,
to save him. Side by side with the pict-
ures he paints of his childhood (the little
frivolities of which he regards as crimes),
and of his wayward youth and manhood,
we have his variations of belief and his
attempts to find an anchor for his faith
among the Manichæans and Neo-Platon-
ists, and in other systems that at first
fascinated and then repelled him, until
the supreme moment of his life arrived,-
bis conversion at the age of thirty-two.
There are many noble but painful pict-
ures of these inward wrestlings, in the
eighth and ninth books. The narrative
is intermingled with prayers (for the
Confessions are addressed to God), with
meditations and instructions, several of
which have entered into the liturgies of
every section of the Christian Church.
The last three books treat of questions
that have little connection with the life of
the author: of the opening chapters of
Genesis, of prime matter, and the myster-
ies of the First Trinity. They are, in
fact, an allegorical explanation of the Mo-
saic account of the Creation. According
to St. Augustine, the establishment of his
Church, and the sanctification of man,
is the aim and end God has proposed to
himself in the creation.
Oor
bed 13
400 per
sebut
arter
T:
is
rdian
Heras,
are very valuable. They give (Apostolic
Fathers) (A. D. 95-180); (Fathers of the
Third Century) (180-325); Post-Nicene
Greek Fathers) (325-750); (Post-Nicene
Latin Fathers) (325-590). To supplement
the Ante-Nicene Library, Dr. Philip
Schaff edited a “Select Library of Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers,' 14 vols. , be-
ginning with Augustine and ending with
Chrysostom. This covers some of the
most important, and is of great value.
A second series of 14 vols. , beginning
with the historians Eusebius and Socrates,
and ending with Ephraem Syrus, is in
course of publication.
Hippocrates, The Genuine Works of.
(English Translation, 1849. Best
complete edition, with French Transla-
tion of Littré, 10 vols. , 1839-61. ) The
most celebrated physician of antiquity,
known as the Father of Medicine, was
born 460 B. C. , of the family of Priest-
physicians, claiming descent from Æscu-
lapius. He has the great distinction of
having been the first to put aside the
traditions of early ignorance and super-
stition, and to base the practice of med-
icine on the study of nature. He main-
tained, against the universal religious
view, that diseases must be treated as
subject to natural laws; and his obser-
vations on the natural history of disease,
as presented in the living subject, show
him to have been a master of clinical
research. His accounts of phenomena
show great power of graphic description.
In treating disease he gave chief atten-
tion to diet and regimen, expecting
nature to do the larger part. His ideas
of the very great influence of climate,
both on the body and the mind, were a
profound anticipation of modern knowl-
edge.
He reflected in medicine the en-
lightenment of the great age in Greece
of the philosophers and dramatists.
Galen, Complete Works of, 158–200
A. D. (Best modern edition by C.
G. Kühn, 20 vols. , 1821-33. ) Galen's posi-
tion and influence in medicine date from
exceptionally brilliant practice, largely at
Rome, in the years 170–200 A. D.
For
the time in which he lived he was a
great scientific physician. He practiced
dissection (not of the human body, but
of lower animals), and not only made
observations with patient skill, but gave
clear and accurate expositions. He
brought into a well-studied system all
the medical knowledge of the time, with
Ebre
signhot
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Fathers, The Christian: A COLLECTION
OF THE WORKS OF, PRIOR TO 325
A. D. , by Drs. A. Roberts and J. Don-
aldson. (24 vols. , 1867–72.
a time he is moved to prayer, whereupon iness to accept a divine behest by giving
the evil spell is removed. The Albatross up her life. The other and the finer
sinks into the sea, and the Mariner's play represented a time twenty years
heart is once again a part of the uni-
later. It told how she was snatched from
versal spirit of love. After hearing this under the knife of sacrifice by divine
story, the wedding guest «turns from intervention, and carried away to the
the bridegroom's door, and
land of the Tauri, (where is now the
"A sadder and a wiser man
Crimea,) to live in honor as a priestess
of Artemis, a feature of whose Taurian
The weird ballad is capable of many in-
worship was the sacrificial immolation
terpretations; for the Ancient Mariner
of any luckless strangers cast on shore
is nameless, there is no name for the
by shipwreck. Twenty years had passed,
ship, and her destination is vague. In its
and the Greek passion of Iphigenia to
small compass it contains a tragedy of
return to her own land, to at least hear
remorse, and of redemption through re-
of her people, was at its height, when
pentance. The imagery is wonderful,
two strangers from a wreck were taken,
and the poem is pervaded by a noble
and it was her duty to preside at their
mystery. Wordsworth, Coleridge affirms,
sacrifice. They were Orestes and Py-
wrote the last two lines of the first
lades, the former her own brother. The
climax of the play is in her recogni-
stanza of Part iv.
tion of Orestes, and in the means em-
Gºld
olden Treasury, The, of Songs and ployed by her for her own and their
Lyrics, by Francis Turner Pal- escape. A singularly fine soliloquy of
grave. A volume attempting to bring Iphigenia, upon hearing of the capture
together all the best lyrics in the lan- of two strangers, is followed by a dia-
guage, by singers not living. In his se- logue between her and Orestes, unsur-
lection Mr. Palgrave was aided by the passed, if not unequaled, by anything
taste and judgment of Tennyson as to in Greek dramatic poetry. Her proposal
the period between 1520 and 1850. The to spare one to be the bearer of a letter
book has four divisions, informally desig- to her Greek home, brings on a contest
nated as the books of Shakespeare, Mil- of self-devotion between Orestes and
ton, Gray, and Wordsworth, though hardly Pylades of wonderful dramatic power.
less space is given to Herrick or Shel- The whole play shows Euripides at his
ley. The preface and notes are of great best in ingenuity of construction and
value.
depth of feeling; and all the odes of the
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## p. 70 (#106) #############################################
70
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
are
play are marked by extreme lyrical who finds an asylum on Attic soil, and
beauty. A notable one among them is vanishes mysteriously in the sacred grove
the final one, on the establishment of the of the Eumenides, to become henceforth
worship of Apollo at Delphi.
the protecting hero of the land. The in-
A celebrated parallel to the Iphi- cidents are made up of the violence of
genia) of Euripides was conceived and Creon, the abduction of the daughters of
executed by Goethe. It is not properly | Edipus, their touching deliverance, the
an imitation.
Although using scenery imprecations of the old man against his
and characters nominally Greek, it is a unfilial son Polynices, and his sublime
thoroughly modern play, on lines of dramatic apotheosis. But the beauty of
thought and sentiment quite other than the tragedy consists especially in the
Greek, and with a diction very unlike ideal representation of the noblest sen-
Greek. Of this modern kind it is a timents: the majesty of the aged hero,
drama of the highest merit, a splendid now reduced to beg for bread; the gen-
example of modern psychological dra- tle piety of Antigone; the artlessness of
matic composition.
the rustic chorus, at first appalled by
the mere name of the stranger, but soon,
Doll's House, The, one of the best-
at the request of Theseus, to give him
known plays of Henrik Ibsen, was
a most gracious and hospitable recep-
published in 1879. It is the drama of the
Woman, the product of man's fostering
tion; finally, the luminous background
where Athens appears to the patriotic
care through centuries, — his doll, from
whom nature has kindly removed the un-
eyes of her poet in all her dazzling
used faculties which produce clear think-
splendor. Edipus, the victim of his sons'
ingratitude, has sometimes been com-
ing and business-like action. Nora, the
particular doll in question, adorns a little
pared to Shakespeare's King Lear. But
while the two characters almost
home with her pretty dresses, her pretty
equal in tragic grandeur, there is always
manner, her sweet, childish ignorance.
a reserve, a self-restraint, in the storm-
She must bring up her babies, love her
iest scenes of the Greek dramatist which
husband, and have well-cooked dinners.
is absent from the English play.
For the sake of this husband, she ventures
once beyond the limit of the nest. He
is ill, and she forges her rich father's name OEdipus the King, by Sophocles. Ar-
istotle, whose rules for the con-
to obtain money to send him abroad.
duct of the tragic poem
The disclosure of her guilt, the guilt of a
are mainly
based on the “Edipus,' regarded it as
baby, a doll who did not know better,
the masterpiece of the Greek theatre.
brings her face to face with the realities
of the world and of life. The puppet be-
It is certainly, if not the finest, the most
dramatic of the author's works.
comes vitalized, changed into a suffering
opening scene has an imposing grandeur.
woman who realizes that there is some-
The Theban people are prostrate before
thing wrong » in the state of women as
their altars, calling on their gods and on
wives. She leaves her husband's house,
their king to save them from the terri-
(a moth flying towards a star. ” She will
ble plague that is desolating their city.
not return until she is different, or mar-
Creon returns from Delphi with the an-
riage is different, or — she knows not
swer of the oracle: - The plague will
what. "The Doll's House) is the most
continue its ravages as long as the mur-
striking embodiment in the range of mod-
derer of Laius, their former ruler, re-
ern drama, of the second awakening of
mains unpunished. (Edipus utters the
Eve.
most terrible imprecations against the
OEdipus, at Colonus, bySophocles. assassin, declaring he will not rest until
This was the author's last tra- he has penetrated the darkness that en-
gedy, and was not presented until some shrouds the crime. He thus becomes
years after his death. It has very little the unconscious instrument of his own
action, but nowhere has Sophocles risen destruction; for he himself is the invol-
to higher poetic grandeur. His drama untary slayer of his own father, the un-
is a magnificent hymn in honor of Ath- witting husband of his own
ens and of his birthplace Colonus, in The spectator is hurried on from inci-
which the purest moral ideas are dent to incident, from situation to situa-
pressed in the sublimest language. The tion, until at last the sombre mystery
poet depicts the glorious end of Edipus, through which the hapless king has been
The
mother.
ex-
## p. 71 (#107) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
71
ex-
as
endows him with much of his own sense
of humor and Horatian philosophy; and
even though the adventures are not al.
ways thrilling, the account of them, and
the accompanying reflections, are
tremely entertaining. Pleasure, Wealth,
Content, Ambition, Riches, are among
the abstractions of which the author or
his hero discourses; and many of the
passages are undoubtedly intended by
Combe as autobiographic.
In the course of his travels Dr. Syntax
meets various persons whom the author
makes food for his mild satire,- the mer-
chant, the critic, the bookseller, the coun.
try squire, the Oxford don, and other
well-marked types. The descriptions of
rural scenery and of the cities visited by
Dr. Syntax are often clever, and even to-
day are agreeable to read. The very great
popularity of the first tour of Dr. Syntax
(in search of the picturesque encouraged
author and publisher to follow it with a
second and a third series.
blindly groping is lit up by one reveal-
ing flash, and Edipus rushes into the
palace, exclaiming, “O light of day, I
behold thee for the last time! ) There
is no character in ancient tragedy that
excites so much human interest
Edipus,- an interest made up of anguish
and compassion; for unlike the heroes
of Æschylus, he is neither Titanic nor
gigantic. He is an ideal man, but not
so ideal as to be entirely exempt from
weakness and error; and when he suf-
fers, he gives vent to his agony in very
human cries and tears. The other per-
sons in the drama — the skeptical and
thoughtless locasta; the choleric sooth-
sayer Tiresias; Creon, who appears to
more advantage here than in the (An-
tigone) and (Edipus at Colonus); even
the slave of Laius - are all portrayed
with the most consummate art and dis-
tinction of style. The choral hymns and
dialogues have an ineffable tenderness
and sublimity. The (Edipus) has been
imitated by Seneca in Latin, Dryden
and Lee glish, Nicolini in Ita
Corneille, Voltaire, and several others in
French; but none of these imitations has
even a faint reflection of the genius of
the original.
Dr. Syntax, The Three Tours of, by
William Combe. This famous book,
or rather series of three books, was first
devised by its author at the suggestion of
the publisher, Mr. Ackermann, who desired
some amusing text to accompany a series
of caricatures which he had engaged from
the celebrated Rowlandson.
William Combe, then past sixty-five
years of age, had already produced a
large number of volumes, of which all
had appeared anonymously. The first
part of Dr. Syntax,' which was pub-
lished in 1809, describes the adventures
of a certain Dr. Syntax, clergyman and
teacher, who, on his horse Grizzle, delib-
erately sets out in search of adventures
which he might make material for a
book. His plan, as he gives it to his
wife Dolly, is as follows:-
« You well know what my pen can do,
And I'll employ my pencil too ; -
I'll ride and write and sketch and print,
And thus create a real mint ;
I'll prose it here and verse it there,
And picturesque it everywhere. ”
In this long series of eight-foot iambic
couplets with the real Hudibras swing,
Combe tells the story of the travels of
the clerical Don Quixote. The author
Eye Spy, by William Hamilton Gibson,
1897, is a revelation intended pri-
marily for young people, of the beauty
and charm of nature. (You are forced
to tell or to write about the things you
have most at heart,” says Mr. Gibson;
and his sympathetic and easy style shows
the spontaneity of one who loves his sub-
ject. He had the unusual advantage of
being artist as well as author; and his
careful drawings combine scientific ac-
curacy with the beauty visible to a poet.
He seems to catch his subject unaware,
and to show it to us in its most charac-
teristic moment both with pen and brush.
He is a scientist; and observes, records,
and classifies, with endless patience. But
the facts he thus obtains are all infused
with an appreciation of the romance and
interest of even the humblest, forms of
life. No bug or plant is too humble to
be invested with his human sympathy.
Therefore in writing for children he falls
easily into personification: and adds a
dramatic quality by referring to Pro-
fessor Wriggler, the dandelion burglar,
or Mr. and Mrs. Tumblebug. Mr. Gib-
sees the world in detail, and is
especially interested in what lies close at
hand. In none of the twenty-eight short
essays which form the volume, does he
wander far afield. We think ourselves
familiar with ordinary birds and plants
and the lazy blue insects down in the
grass,” but Mr. Gibson reveals and then
son
## p. 72 (#108) #############################################
72
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
dispels our ignorance. “I was not con- him master. The book is written in dia-
scious that I was studying,” he says of logue form, and is filled with conversa-
his early work. Neither are his readers, tions touching the theme in question,
until they discover how much they have which are carried on by an angler, a
learned.
hunter, a falconer, a milkmaid, and oth-
ers. In this way observations are made
Girl in the Carpathians, A, by Menie
Muriel Dowie (now Mrs. Henry
regarding the various kinds of fish, their
habits, whereabouts, and the best meth-
Norman). Mrs. Norman's volume has
ods of securing them, with endless details
been called “the very carpet-baggery of
and minute descriptions of the ways and
art. ” She herself says that her book is
means necessary to the success of this
a series of impressions, drawing any in-
sport. The book is distinguished by a
terest or value it may possess from two
sources: First, the accuracy of report-
pastoral simplicity, is admirable in style,
and is filled with fine descriptions of rural
ing those impressions, which springs from
rough-shod honesty of intention; sec-
scenery. It is moreover interspersed with
ond, the color of the individual medium
many charming lyrics, old songs and bal-
through which these have been seen -
lads, among them the (Song of the Milk-
maid. ) It is attributed to Christopher
this second interesting only to those who
Marlowe, and begins: -
happen to like that color. ” It is distinctly
« Come live with me, and be my love,
not a book of travel, as the author cov-
And we will all the pleasures prove,
ered at the outside only eighty miles. That valleys, groves, or hills, or field,
Arrayed in a tweed suit, skirt, coat,
Or woods and steepy mountains yield. ”
and knickerbockers, and possessing three The (Angler) is not alone devoted to
shirts, she sets out for the Carpathians, sport, but is filled with precepts which
spending a few weeks in one primitive recommend the practice of religion and
town and then going to another; and in the exercise of patience, humility, con-
a free, careless, independent manner com- tentment, and other virtues. Before the
ing into close contact with Ruthenian
publication of this book, rules and direc-
peasant and native Jew, and learning to tions for angling had been handed down
know the real people as tourists never from age to age chiefly by tradition, have
do. Dirt and unpalatable food do not dis- ing only in a few instances been set down
turb her to the extent of spoiling her en- in writing. Whether considered as a trea-
joyment or her humorous appreciation of tise on the art of angling, or as a de-
what goes on around her. She chats in-
lightful pastoral filled with charming
telligently about the salient characteristics descriptions of rural scenery, “The Com-
of the people, - how they live, eat, drink, plete Angler) ranks among English clas-
work, play, and dispense with washing sics. In 1676, when Walton was eighty-
themselves; about their dwellings, their two and was preparing a fifth edition
inquisitiveness, their picturesque dress, for the press, Charles Cotton, also
the delights of Polish cookery, the skinny famous angler, and an adopted son of
little donkeys and her rides upon them, Walton's, wrote a second part for the
and the glorious scenery. Miss Dowie book, which is a valuable supplement. It
was a young English girl who disregarded is written in imitation of the style and
such conventions as she saw no reason to discourses of the original, upon “angling
respect; and this book tells the story – for trout or grayling in a clear stream. ”
quite in her own way — of her roamings Walton, though an expert angler, knew
and her thoughts during the summer. It but little of fly-fishing, and so welcomed
is a story which has captivated many Cotton's supplement, which has since that
readers by its thoroughly charming man- time been received as a part of his book.
Walton is called the “Father of all An-
glers »); indeed, there has been hardly a
Complete Angler, The; or, Contem-
plative Man's Recreation: being
writer upon the subject since his time
A Discourse on Rivers, Fish-Ponds, Fish,
who has not made use of his rules and
and Fishing; by Izaak Walton and Charles
practice.
Cotton. The Complete Angler,) which
Fishing Tourist, The : Angler's Guide
was first published in England in 1653, AND REFERENCE Book, by Charles
was designed primarily by its author to Hallock, was published in 1873, present-
teach the art of angling, of which long ing “in a concise form all the informa-
experience with hook and line had made tion necessary to enable gentlemen to
a
ner.
## p. 73 (#109) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
73
1
Q"
care
visit successfully every accessible salmon uabbin: THE STORY OF A SMALL
and trout region in America. The author TOWN - WITH OUTLOOKS UPON PU-
devotes Part i. of his work to the con- RITAN LIFE, by Francis H. Underwood.
sideration of salmon and trout as game It is the biography of a New England
fish, and to the methods of catching them. town, and is dedicated to those, wher-
In Part ii. the various localities in which ever they are, who have inherited the
they are found are described at length. blood and shared the progress of the
The book has about it a delightful flavor descendants of Pilgrims and Puritans. ”
of sportsmanship.
No detail of village and farm life has
been left out as too homely; and famil-
Amateur Poacher, The, by Richard Jef- iar scenes, outdoors and in, are de-
feries, was published in 1889. Like scribed in "Quabbin) with that
the other works by this author, The which writers often reserve for the novel
Gamekeeper at Home, (Wild Life in a
aspects of some foreign land. This
Southern Country,' etc. , it displays a gen- quality lends the book its interest. The
ius for the observation of nature, yet its social characteristics of a New England
scope is narrow and simple. «The follow- town are graphically noted: the minis-
ing pages,” says the author, "are arranged ter's revered chief place; "general-train-
somewhat in the order of time, beginning ing day); the temperance movement,
with the first gun and attempts at shoot- started at a time when drunkenness from
ing. Then come the fields, the first hills the rum served at ministerial «installa-
and woods explored, often without a gun
tions was not infrequent, and ending
or any thought of destruction; and next in the total-abstinence societies, and in
the poachers and other odd characters ob- rigid no-license laws for the town.
served at their work. ”
With the railroad came improvements,"
The book opens with a tempting sen- including comforts that were unknown
tence: - «They burned the old gun that luxuries before; and to-day, with morn-
used to stand in the dark corner up in the ing newspapers,
the telegraph, and
garret, close to the stuffed fox that always three daily mails, Quabbin belongs to
grinned so fiercely. ” The narrative goes the great world. ”
on in the same familiar, brisk, hunting-
morning style, carrying the reader far Natural History, by Georges Louis
afield, into damp woods, and over sweet,
le Clerc de Buffon. The Jardin
rich pastures. In conclusion the author
des Plantes in Paris will ever be asso-
writes: "Let us go out of these indoor, ciated with the name of Count Buffon.
narrow, modern days, whose twelve hours In what was then called the King's Gar-
somehow have become shortened, into the den, the greatest naturalist of the eigh-
sunlight and pure wind. A something teenth century, as superintendent under
that the ancients called divine can be appointment by Louis XV. , accomplished
found and felt there still. The book is two colossal undertakings of his
cheerful and wholesome, possessing the
life, – the re-creation of the garden it-
charm of nature itself.
self, and the production of L'Histoire
Naturelle. ) The latter work, published
Gºlde
olden Chersonese, The, by Isabella between 1749 and 1804, in forty-four vol-
Bird Bishop, (1883,) is a record of umes, ranges over the entire field of
travel and adventure in the Malay pen- natural history, from minerals to man.
insula. The author, a veteran traveler, Although borrowing largely from the
has journeyed so widely as to have studies of Aristotle, Descartes, Leibnitz,
gained that sweep of view which lends and others, Buffon introduced an entirely
charm and accuracy to comparison. An new conception in the treatment of his
excellent observer, she groups her effects, subject. He cast aside the conjecture
giving great variety to her descriptions and mysticism that had been so long a
of tropical scenery,– which so often ap- barrier in the path of pure science, and
pears monotonous,- and adding a touch resorted to observation, reason, and ex-
of humor which makes her frank notes periment. To him belongs the honor
interesting. If the style is sometimes of being the first to treat nature histori-
redundant, the narrative is brimful of cally, to make a critical study of each
incident and adventure bravely encoun- separate object, and to classify these
tered by an indefatigable spirit, and pro- objects into species. But at this point
ceeds with a natural and cheery grace. Buffon's researches came to a stop. He
1
the
## p. 74 (#110) #############################################
74
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
1
was too much of an analyst and not The (Geography) is the production of a
enough of a philosopher to catch the judicious and consummate scholar and
grander idea of later scientists,— the re- clear and correct writer; and besides be-
lation of species to each other and the ing an inexhaustible mine for historians,
unity of all nature. Some of the best philologists, and literary men, is very
results of his work are contained in the pleasant reading. Yet it appears to have
enumeration of quadruped animals known been forgotten soon after its publication.
in his time, and the classification of Neither Pliny nor Pausanias refers to it,
quadrupeds, birds, fishes, insects, plants, and Plutarch mentions only the histor-
of the American continent, all unknown ical part. Strabo suspected the existence
in the Old World. One of his most val- of a continent between western Europe
uable contributions to science is his and Asia. «It is very possible,” says he,
history of man as a species. Man had «that, by following the parallel of Athens
been studied as an individual, but to across the Atlantic, we may find in the
Buffon belongs the credit of having dis- temperate zone one or several worlds in-
covered the unity of mankind. The habited by races different from ours. ”
author of this great collection of data,
which served as a foundation for the Friends in Council, by Arthur Helps,
comparative sciences of the nineteenth
comprises two series of readings and
century, has been called “the painter
discourses, which were collected and the
of nature, because of the magnificence
first volume published in England, in
of his style,-a style so attractive as to
1847; the second in 1859. They are cast
set the fashion in his day for the love
in the form of a friendly dialogue, inter-
of nature, and to inspire all classes with
spersed with essays and dissertations, by
the “friends in council. ” They cover a
a passion for natural history.
wid range of topics, from Worry) to
(War,' and from "Criticism) to Pleas-
Geography, A, by Strabo. The author
of
antness. ) In style they are charming, the
describes, having traveled extensively in
few angularities of diction being easily
Asia Minor, Europe, and Africa. He
forgiven by reason of the fascination of
was forty-three or forty-four years old
the wise utterances and the shrewd ob-
when he returned to his birthplace,
servations which pervade the whole. In
Amasea in Cappadocia, where he spent
thought they are carefully worked out
and free from monotony. The author
several years in arranging his materials.
evinces a fine moral feeling and a dis-
The work appeared some time about
the beginning of the Christian era. It is
criminating taste.
divided into seventeen books, of which Essays, Theological and Literary, by
whole;
real encyclopædia, full of interesting de- two volumes of this work contain nine
tails and brief but luminous sketches of theological and nine literary papers.
the history, religion, manners, and polit- | Among the first are «The Moral Signifi-
ical institutions of ancient nations. The cance of Atheism, The Atheistic Es-
first two books form a sort of intro- planation of Religion,' Science and
duction, in which he treats of the char- Theism,' 'What is Revelation ? ) (M. Re.
acter of the science and refutes the nan's Christ, etc. , etc. Mr. Hutton is
errors of Eratosthenes. Then he devotes a theist, owing his belief in theism to his
eight books to Europe, six to Asia, and study of the religious philosophy of F.
the last to Africa. Strabo is very mod- D. Maurice. After he has spoken of
ern in the standpoint from which he skepticism and dogmatism as but differ-
views geography.
In his way of looking ent forms of the attempt to accommodate
at it, it is not a mere dry nomenclature, infinite living claims upon us to our human
but an integral picture, not only of the weakness, he says: "It seems to me that
physical phenomena but of all the social it has been the one purpose of all the
and political peculiarities that diversify divine revelation or education of which
the surface of our globe. His work even we have any record, to waken us up out
contains discussions of literary criticism of this perpetually recurring tendency to
of considerable importance; and he has fall back into ourselves,) - i. e. , to self-
very clear notions of the value of an- forgetfulness, and self-surrender to
cient fables and folk-lore as evidence of Higher than ourselves. Among the names
the ideas and wisdom of primitive times. and subjects considered in the literary
.
!
1
## p. 75 (#111) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
75
Percival, Thoreau, Swinburne, Chaucer,
Emerson, Pope, and the early English
authors, or rather upon some of their
critics and editors. Characterizations like
these abound: (I have sometimes won-
dered that the peep-shows, which Nature
provides in such endless variety for her
children, and to which we are admitted
on the one condition of having eyes,
should be so generally neglected. » «He
(Winter) is a better poet than Autumn
when he has a mind; but like a truly
great one, as he is, he brings you lown
to your bare manhood, and bids you un-
derstand him out of that, with no ad-
ventitious helps of association, or he will
none of you. ” “All the batteries of noise
are spiked! » «The earth is clothed with
innocence with a garment; every
wound of the landscape is healed.
What was unsightly before has been
covered gently with a soft splendor; as
if, Cowley would have said, Nature had
cleverly let fall her handkerchief to hide
it. ” The essay upon Chaucer was always
a favorite with that admirable critic,
Prof. F. J. Child; and to him Lowell
dedicated the volume which was pub-
lished in 1874.
»
as
essays are Wordsworth, Shelley, Brown-
ing, the poetry of the Old Testament,
Clough, Arnold, Tennyson, and Haw-
thorne. As a whole these are marked
by depth of insight, breadth of view,
and nicety of judgment. They show
high scholarship, and an innate gift for
criticism highly trained; and they are
very interesting reading
Li
iberty, On, by John Stuart Mill.
(1858. ) A small work on individual
freedom under social and political law.
It had been planned and written as a
short essay in 1854, and during the next
three years it was enlarged into a vol-
ume, as the joint work of the author
and his wife; but according to Mr. Mill's
protestation, more her book than his.
His own description of it is, that it is
a philosophic text-book of this twofold
principle:-(1) The importance, to man
and society, of the existence of a large
variety in types of character, the many
different kinds of persons actually found
where human nature develops all its pos-
sibilities; and (2) the further importance
of giving full freedom of opinion and of
development to individuals of every class
and type.
Mr. Mill thought he saw the
possibility of democracy becoming a
system of suppression of freedom, com-
pulsion upon individuals to act and to
think all in one way; a tyranny in fact
of the populace, not less degrading to
human nature and damaging to human
progress than any of which mankind has
broken the yoke. A reply to Mill's
views was made by Sir J. F. Stephen
in his Liberty, Fraternity, and Equal-
ity' (1874. ) Stephen attempted to so re-
analyze and re-state the democratic ideas
as to show that Mill's fears were need-
less.
M: Study Windows, by James Russell
Lowell, contains a series of bio-
graphical, critical, and poetical essays,
in whose kaleidoscopic variety of theme
continual brilliancy illuminates an almost
perfect symmetry of literary form. The
charming initial essay, My Garden Ac-
quaintance,' treats of the familiar visits
of the birds at Elmwood. This is fol-
lowed by a similar essay entitled A
Good Word for Winter. ) "On a Certain
Condescension in · Foreigners) is the
third; and a review of the Life of
Josiah Quincy) follows. Then come crit-
ical essays upon the lives and works of
Carlyle, Abraham Lincoln, James Gates
English Humorists of the Eighteenth
peace Thackeray, is a collection of lect-
ures, delivered in England in 1851, in
America during 1852-53, and published in
1853. Studying these pages, the reader
finds himself living in the society of the
poets, essayists, and novelists of the pre-
ceding century, as a friend conversant
with their faults and signal merits. As
twelve authors are packed into six lect-
ures, a characteristic disproportion is
manifest. Swift is belittled in forty
pages; a like space suffices to hit off in a
rapid touch-and-go manner the qualities
of Prior, Gay, and Pope. A page and a
half disposes of Smollett to make room for
Hogarth and Fielding: Addison, Steele,
Sterne, Congreve, and Goldsmith, receive
about equal attention. These papers are
the record of impressions made upon a
mind exceptionally sensitive to literary
values, and reacting invariably with ori-
ginal force and suggestiveness. Written
for popular presentation, they are con-
versational in tone, and lighted up with
swift flashes of poignant wit and humor
Some of their characterizations are very
striking: as that of Gay, helplessly de-
pendent upon the good offices of the Duke
.
## p. 76 (#112) #############################################
76
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
and Duchess of Queensberry, to a pam- the volume, on mental discipline in edu-
pered lapdog, fat and indolent; and that cation, and also an essay on the scientific
of Steele, whose happy-go-lucky ups and study of human nature. Other essays on
downs and general lovableness consti- studies in science are: Tyndall on physics,
tuted a temperament after Thackeray's Huxley on zoology, Dr. James Paget on
own heart. His admiration for Fielding, physiology, Herbert Spencer on political
his acknowledged master in the art of education, Faraday on education of the
fiction, is very interesting. The English judgment, Henfrey on botany, Dr. Bar-
Humorists) will long remain the most in- nard on early mental training, Whewell on
viting sketch in literature of the period science in educational history, and Hodg.
and the writers considered.
son on economic science. The wealth of
suggestion, stimulus to study, and guid-
Ethical and Social Subjects, Studies ance of interest in these chapters, give the
New and old in, by Frances Power
volume a permanent value both to the
Cobbe. (1865. ) The various essays here
educator and to studious readers gener-
collected are developments of the views
ally. It is a book, moreover, the counsels
of morals presented in the author's earlier
of which have been accepted; and its
works, while she was greatly influenced,
prophecies, of advantage to follow from
among other forces, by the mind of Theo-
giving science an equal place with litera-
dore Parker, whose works she edited. A
ture as a means of culture, have been
strong and original thinker, fearless, pos-
abundantly fulfilled.
sessing a clear and simple style, Miss
Cobbe makes all her work interesting.
With the essay upon (Christian Ethics
A spects of Fiction, AND OTHER VENT-
URES IN CRITICISM (1896), by Brander
and the Ethics of Christ) - which have
Matthews, is a collection of crisp articles
to her view little in common — the series
relating largely to novelists and novel-
begins. In her paper on "Self-Develop- writing. A clever practitioner in the art
ment and Self-Abnegation,' she main-
of short-story writing, the author speaks
tains that self-development is the saner, here as of and to the brothers of his own
nobler duty of man. Her titles, (The
craft, with an eye especially for good
Sacred Books of the Zoroastrians,' (The
technique, that artistic sense of propor-
Philosophy of the Poor-Laws,) (The Mor-
tion and presentation so dear to his own
als of Literature,) Decemnovenarianism)
half-Gallicized taste. "The Giſt of Story-
(the spirit of the nineteenth century); Telling,' (Cervantes, Zola, Kipling &
(Hades,' and The Hierarchy of Art,'
Co. ,' are brilliant analyses, fresh, ori-
indicate the range of her interests. The
ginal, pregnant, and spiced with a just
(Rights of Man and the Claims of Brutes,)
measure of sparkling wit; by means of
affords a vigorous and humane protest
his close study of the history of fiction,
against vivisection. It should be remem-
he often brings the traits and practices
bered that an early essay of Miss Cobbe
of older authors to illuminate by a felici-
on "Intuitive Morals) has been pro-
tous application those of contemporary
nounced by the most philosophic critics
novelists, discovering permanent canons
the ablest brief discussion of the subject
of art in fresh, elusive guises. A lighter
in English. Her breadth of view, ripe
vein of humor and observation renders
culture, profoundly religious though un-
sectarian spirit, and excellence of style, Antiquity of Jests) an interesting and
the paper in Pen and Ink) upon the
make her writings important and help- amusing bypath of research. (Studies
ful.
of the Stage) is the fruit of many years'
Culture Demanded by Modern Life. intimacy with the history of the stage and
A Series of Addresses and Argu- stage conventions, aided, enriched, and
ments on the Claims of Scientific Educa- deepened by an experience with such
tion. Edited by E. L. Youmans. (1867. ) present methods of stagecraft behind the
A book of importance as a landmark footlights as falls to the lot of a practical
indicating the expansion of education to playwright. Mr. Matthews writes of (The
embrace science with literature, as both Old Comedies' and 'The American Stage)
knowledge of highest value and a means in a happy tone of reminiscence and sym-
of mental discipline not second to any pathetic observation. (The French Dram-
other. Dr. Youmans, to whose service atists of the Nineteenth Century,' the best
in this direction American culture owes work accessible on the subject in English,
a deep debt, supplied an Introduction to is a scholarly contribution to the history
## p. 77 (#113) #############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
77
was
never
an
1
of the French stage from the Romantic exclaims despairingly, shortly before her
movement to the present day. A lifelong death, — when, although far advanced in
familiarity with French people and lit- consumption, she is planning a chef-
erature gives the judgments of Professor d'æuvre. She
unselfcon-
Matthews especial convincingness. scious, and her book reveals her long-
His Americanisms and Briticisms) con- ings, her petty vanities, and her childish
tains a series of telling strokes at the crudities, as well as her versatile and
provincialism that still characterizes some brilliant talents.
aspects of our literature.
Cuo
uore, by Edmondo de Amicis. A series
of delightfully written sketches, de-
Journal, The (“Le Journal'), of Marie
scribing the school life of a boy of twelve,
Bashkirtseff, which appeared in Paris
in the year 1882, in the third grade of
in 1885, and was abridged and translated
the public schools of Turin. They are
into English in 1889, was called by
said to be the genuine impressions of a
Gladstone «a book without a parallel. ”
boy, written each day of the eight months
Like Rousseau's Confessions, it claims
of actual school life; the father, in edit-
to be an absolutely candid expression of
individual experience. But the Journal)
ing them, not altering the thought, and
preserving as far as possible the words
was written avowedly to win posthumous
of the son. "Interspersed are the monthly
fame; and the reader wonders if the
gifted Russian girl who wrote it had not
stories told by the schoolmaster, and let-
ters from the father, mother, and sister,
too thoroughly artistic a temperament
to the boy. The stories of the lives of
for matter-of-fact statement. The child
the national heroes are given, as well as
she portrays is always interpreted by
a maturer mind.
Marie is genuinely
essays on The School, The Poor, Grati-
tude, Hope, etc. ; all inculcating the love
unhappy, and oppressed with modern
of country, of one's fellow-beings, of
unrest; but she studies her troubles as if
honor, honesty, and generosity. The title,
they belonged to some one else, and is
"Cuore) (heart), well expresses the con-
interested rather than absorbed by them.
tents of the book - actions caused by the
After a preface summarizing her birth
in Russia of noble family, and her early
best impulses of a noble heart. Although
it is dedicated to children, older persons
years with an adoring mother, grand-
mother, and aunt, she begins the Jour-
cannot read the book without pleasure
and profit.
nal' at the age of twelve, when she is
passionately in love with Count H-
Gallery of Celebrated Women (Ga-
whom she knows only by sight. A few
lerie des Femmes Célèbres), by
years later a handsome Italian engages C. A. Sainte-Beuve. This compilation
her vanity rather than her heart. But, of essays is drawn from the Causeries
as she herself vaguely felt, her struggle du Lundi? (Monday Chats) by M. Sainte-
for self-expression unfits her formar- Beuve, in his own day the greatest liter-
riage. From the age of three years she ary critic of the century. The range of
cherished inordinate ambition, and felt subjects treated extends from Madame de
herself destined to become great either Sévigné and Madame de Lafayette, of the
as singer, or writer, or artist, or queen classic age of French literature, through
of society. Admiration was essential to the violent periods of the Revolution and
her, and she records compliments to her the Empire as illustrated by Madame
beauty or her erudition with equal pleas- Roland and Madame de Rémusat, well
Her life was a curious mixture of into the time of the Second Empire in
the interests of an attractive society girl the person of Madame Guizot, wife of the
with those of a serious student. The historian. Thanks to the peculiar meth-
twenty-four years that the diary covers ods of criticism introduced by the Roman-
were crowded with ambitions and par- tic movement, which, awakening a taste
tial successes. Her chronic discontent for what was ancient and exotic, neces-
was due to the disproportion between sitated a careful historical knowledge of
her aspirations and her achievements. time, place, and environment, M. Sainte-
In spite of the encouragement which her Beuve was enabled both accurately and
brilliant work received in the Julian minutely to depict the literary efforts, and
studio, she suspected herself of medi- consequent claims to future consideration,
ocrity. “The canvas is there, everything of each of the various types of woman
is ready, I alone am wanting," she which he has treated in this book. The
ure.
## p. 78 (#114) #############################################
78
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
pioneer critics of the new school — as
Mesdames de Staël, de Barante, and even
the capable Villemain — had contented
themselves with seeing in literature sim-
ply the expression of society; but Sainte-
Beuve pushed farther on, regarding it
also as the expression of the personality
of its authors as determined by the influ-
ences of heredity, of physical constitution,
of education, and especially of social and
intellectual environment. This introduces
one not only into an understanding of the
motives of the public acts and writings
of the authors he treats, but also into the
quiet domesticity of their homes. It has
fallen to the lot of but few men equi-
tably and dispassionately to judge of fem-
inine effort and achievement in letters,
but the general favor accorded to Sainte-
Beuve proves sufficiently that he is pre-
eminent among those few. True, by some
he has here been reproached for lack of
enthusiasm; but this, it would seem, is but
another way of congratulating him on hav-
ing broken the old cut-and-dried method
of supplementing analysis with a series of
exclamation points. Analysis, then, and
explanation and comment, rather than
dogmatic praise or blame, are what may
be found in the Gallery. '
>
(Confessions) leaves little to be desired;
in this respect surpassing many of Rous-
seau's earlier works. It abounds in fine
descriptions of nature, in pleasing ac-
counts of rural life, and in interesting
anecdotes of the peasantry. The influence
of the Confessions, unlike that of Rous-
seau's earlier works, was not political nor
moral, but literary. He may be called
from this work the father of French Ro-
mantisme. Among those who acknowl-
edged his influence were Bernardin de St.
Pierre, Châteaubriand, George Sand, and
the various authors who themselves in-
dulged in confessions of their own, - like
De Musset, Vigny, Hugo, Lamartine, and
Madame de Staël, as well as many in
Germany, England, and other countries.
Confessions of an English Opium:
Eater, by Thomas De Quincey.
These Confessions, first published in the
London Magazine during 1821, start with
the plain narrative of how his approach
to starvation when a runaway schoolboy,
wandering about in Wales and afterwards
in London, brought on the chronic ailment
whose relief De Quincey found in opium-
eating; and how he at times indulged in
the drug for its pleasurable effects, but
struggled against this fascinating enthrall-
ment with a religious zeal
and
untwisted, almost to its final links, the
accursed chain. ” Then follow nightmare
experiences, with a certain Malay who
reappeared to trouble him from time to
time, in the opium dreams; and also with
young woman, Ann, whom he had
known in his London life. But the story's
chief fascination lies in its gorgeous and
ecstatic visions or experiences of some
transcendental sort, while under the influ-
ence of the drug; the record of Titanic
struggles to get free from it, and the pa-
thetic details of sufferings that counter-
balanced its delights.
The Confessions of an English Opium-
Eater) is one of the most brilliant books
in literature. As an English critic has
said, “It is not opium in De Quincey, but
De Quincey in opium, that wrote the "Sus-
piria) and the Confessions. ) » All the
essays are filled with the most unexpected
inventions, the most gorgeous imagery,
and, strange to say, with a certain in-
sistent good sense. As a rhetorician De
Quincey stands unrivaled.
Confes
onfessions of Saint Augustine, The.
This fai work, ritten in 397, is
divided into thirteen books. The first ten
a
Confe
onfessions, by Jean Jacques Rousseau.
The Confessions) of Rousseau were
written during the six most agitated years
of his life, from 1765 to 1770; and his state
of health at this time, both mental and
bodily, may account for some of the pe-
culiarities of this famous work. The first
six books were not published until 1781,
and the second six not until 1788. Ac-
cording to more than one critic, the "Con-
fessions, however charming as literature,
are to be taken as documentary evidence
with great reserve. They form practi-
cally a complete life of Rousseau from
his earliest years, in which he discloses
not only all his own weaknesses, but the
faults of those who had been his iends
and intimates. In the matter of his many
love affairs he is unnecessarily frank, and
his giving not only details but names has
been severely condemned. The case is all
the worse, if, as has been supposed, these
love affairs are largely imaginary. As the
first half of the Confessions) is, in the
main, a romance with picturesque embel-
lishments, the second half has little more
foundation in fact, with its undue melan-
choly and its stories of imaginary spies
and enemies. In the matter of style, the
## p. 79 (#115) #############################################
3
.
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
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contain an account of his life down to
his mother's death, and give a thrilling
picture of the career of a profligate and an
idolater who was to become a Father of
the Church. We have in them the story
of his childhood, and the evil bent of his
nature even then; of his youth and its
uncontrollable passions and vices; of his
first fall at the age of sixteen, his subse-
quent struggle and relapses, and the un-
tiring efforts of his mother, Saint Monica,
to save him. Side by side with the pict-
ures he paints of his childhood (the little
frivolities of which he regards as crimes),
and of his wayward youth and manhood,
we have his variations of belief and his
attempts to find an anchor for his faith
among the Manichæans and Neo-Platon-
ists, and in other systems that at first
fascinated and then repelled him, until
the supreme moment of his life arrived,-
bis conversion at the age of thirty-two.
There are many noble but painful pict-
ures of these inward wrestlings, in the
eighth and ninth books. The narrative
is intermingled with prayers (for the
Confessions are addressed to God), with
meditations and instructions, several of
which have entered into the liturgies of
every section of the Christian Church.
The last three books treat of questions
that have little connection with the life of
the author: of the opening chapters of
Genesis, of prime matter, and the myster-
ies of the First Trinity. They are, in
fact, an allegorical explanation of the Mo-
saic account of the Creation. According
to St. Augustine, the establishment of his
Church, and the sanctification of man,
is the aim and end God has proposed to
himself in the creation.
Oor
bed 13
400 per
sebut
arter
T:
is
rdian
Heras,
are very valuable. They give (Apostolic
Fathers) (A. D. 95-180); (Fathers of the
Third Century) (180-325); Post-Nicene
Greek Fathers) (325-750); (Post-Nicene
Latin Fathers) (325-590). To supplement
the Ante-Nicene Library, Dr. Philip
Schaff edited a “Select Library of Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers,' 14 vols. , be-
ginning with Augustine and ending with
Chrysostom. This covers some of the
most important, and is of great value.
A second series of 14 vols. , beginning
with the historians Eusebius and Socrates,
and ending with Ephraem Syrus, is in
course of publication.
Hippocrates, The Genuine Works of.
(English Translation, 1849. Best
complete edition, with French Transla-
tion of Littré, 10 vols. , 1839-61. ) The
most celebrated physician of antiquity,
known as the Father of Medicine, was
born 460 B. C. , of the family of Priest-
physicians, claiming descent from Æscu-
lapius. He has the great distinction of
having been the first to put aside the
traditions of early ignorance and super-
stition, and to base the practice of med-
icine on the study of nature. He main-
tained, against the universal religious
view, that diseases must be treated as
subject to natural laws; and his obser-
vations on the natural history of disease,
as presented in the living subject, show
him to have been a master of clinical
research. His accounts of phenomena
show great power of graphic description.
In treating disease he gave chief atten-
tion to diet and regimen, expecting
nature to do the larger part. His ideas
of the very great influence of climate,
both on the body and the mind, were a
profound anticipation of modern knowl-
edge.
He reflected in medicine the en-
lightenment of the great age in Greece
of the philosophers and dramatists.
Galen, Complete Works of, 158–200
A. D. (Best modern edition by C.
G. Kühn, 20 vols. , 1821-33. ) Galen's posi-
tion and influence in medicine date from
exceptionally brilliant practice, largely at
Rome, in the years 170–200 A. D.
For
the time in which he lived he was a
great scientific physician. He practiced
dissection (not of the human body, but
of lower animals), and not only made
observations with patient skill, but gave
clear and accurate expositions. He
brought into a well-studied system all
the medical knowledge of the time, with
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Fathers, The Christian: A COLLECTION
OF THE WORKS OF, PRIOR TO 325
A. D. , by Drs. A. Roberts and J. Don-
aldson. (24 vols. , 1867–72.
