The
elements
in her nature that make
her a lady are emphasized by her ex-
periences with men.
her a lady are emphasized by her ex-
periences with men.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
A motley collec-
tion of persons are brought together in
it, united by their common interest in
socialism. The scenes are laid for the
most part in the east side of London.
The majority of the characters are of
the working-classes. Two, the Princess
Casamassima and Lady Aurora,
women of rank and wealth. Both classes
are represented in the hero, Hyacinth
Robinson, the child of a certain immoral
Lord Frederick, and his mistress, an
ignorant Frenchwoman. Hyacinth, in
whom the aristocratic nature predomi-
nates, is reared by a poor dressmaker,
among forlorn east-side people. His
sympathy for their condition makes him
an easy prey of certain workingmen with
strong socialistic tendencies. In a mo-
ment of blind enthusiasm he gives his
word that he will perform, when called
upon, an act which may cost him his
life. About this time he meets the
beautiful Princess Casamassima, sepa-
rated from her husband, living in Lon-
don that she may study the lower classes.
The novel has a rambling and di-
versified plot, concerned with other peo-
ple besides the Princess and Hyacinth,
clearly defined and cleverly drawn char-
acters. A certain satirical element in the
treatment of the theme imparts an at-
mosphere of comedy to the book, despite
its tragic ending.
Palmerin de Oliva is a romance of
chivalry, feeble imitation of
(Amadis of Gaul, which
first
are
story. A continuation by the same au-
thor, called "The Second Book of Pal-
merin,' which treats of the adventures
of his sons, Primaleon and Polendos, ap-
peared later.
Palmerin of England. This is a ro-
mance of chivalry, after the style
of Amadis of Gaul,' and in this class
of literature regarded as second only to
it in point of merit. This is the book,
which, with Amadis,' Cervantes saves
from the holocaust in Don Quixote, as
he says, for two reasons: first, because
it is a right good book in itself; and the
other, because the report is that a wise
King of Portugal composed it. All the
adventures of the castle of Miraguarda
are excellent, and managed with great
skill; the discourses are clear, observing
with much propriety the judgment and
decorum of the speaker. ” It was long
supposed to be the work of Francisco
Moraes, a Portuguese, who published it
in 1567 as a translation from the French.
In 1807 Southey published an English
translation, attributing the original to
Moraes, and credited him with mod-
esty in not claiming the authorship. It
ce been found to have been the
work of Leon Hurtado, and to have
a
was
## p. 436 (#472) ############################################
436
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
or
was
1.
been published originally in Spanish, in 1 Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo
Toledo, in 1547. In it are recounted Di Vinci. This famous treatise was
the exploits of the son of Don Duarde, probably written before the year 1498.
Edward, King of England, and It has survived in two editions, of which
Flerida, a daughter of Palmerin de the first is in an abridged form, and
Oliva; consisting of jousts in tourna. contains only three hundred and sixty-
ments, battles with giants and Saracens, five chapters; while the other is a de-
and adventures in the Castle of Mira- tailed one, and is comprised in nine
guarda. This story is in some respects hundred and twelve chapters. The early
a continuation of Palmerin de Oliva. and abridged edition issued in
France in 1651, about one hundred and
Peter Schlemihl, by Adelbert von Cha- thirty years after Leonardo's death, and
This tale, written in 1814, an English edition appeared the same
has attained world-wide fame. The year; since when, it has been published
theme is the old popular superstition in most of the languages of Europe.
that the Devil can take a man's shadow Knowledge of the more exhaustive ver-
without being able to control the man sion of the treatise is owing to Manzi's
himself. The setting, however, is mod- discovery in 1817 of a transcript of the
ern, and the extravagant plot is de- original in the Vatican library. Accord-
veloped with straightforward simplicity. ing to this manuscript, the (Trattato
Peter Schlemihl, being in reduced cir. della Pittura) is divided into eight
cumstances, encounters a mysterious gray books, which are designated : -
man, to whom he surrenders his shadow The Nature of Painting, Poetry,
in return for Fortunatus's purse.
His Music, and Sculpture.
boundless wealth, however, brings him 2. Precepts for a Painter.
little satisfaction, as people regard his 3. Of Positions and Movements of
shadowless estate with aversion and hor- the Human Frame.
ror. He is constrained to shun even the 4.
Of Drapery.
moonlight, and passes most of his time 5. Light and Shade and Perspective.
in forced seclusion. Finally his unpopu- 6. Of Trees and Foliage.
larity drives him from the town, and he 7.
Of Clouds.
takes up his residence in a remote spot.
8. Of the Horizon.
Here, by means of the greatest caution, This «Treatise) may be termed an en-
his secret remains for a time unguessed; cyclopædia of art: it is clear and con-
and on account of his wealth and liber-
cise, and is to this day of great value to
ality he is regarded as a nobleman. He those studying art, although there is a
finds his greatest satisfaction in the so- lack of coherence between its sections.
ciety of the innocent and affectionate Rubens wrote a commentary
on this
Mina, a forester's daughter; and is about (Treatise); Annibale Caracci used to
to marry her when his misfortune is be-
say that if during his youth he had read
trayed by a faithless servant, and Mina's the golden book of Leonardo's precepts,
father bids him begone. The gray man
he would have been spared twenty years
then reappears, and offers to restore the of useless labor; while Algarotti declared
shadow at the price of Peter's soul. The that he should not desire any better ele-
broken-hearted man has the strength of mentary work on the art of painting.
will to refuse, and relinquishes all hopes Among the subjects treated in the
of earthly happiness rather than en- abridged edition of the Treatise) are:
danger his eternal welfare. He throws (What the young student in painting
the purse into a fathomless cavern, and ought in the first place to learn); How
wanders about in poverty till by chance to discern a young man's disposition for
he gains possession of the Seven-League painting;' (That a painter should take
Boots. He is thus enabled to travel pleasure in the opinions of everybody';
over all the surface of the earth, except, The brilliancy of the landscape;
for some mysterious reason, Australia (Painters are not to imitate one
and the neighboring islands. He makes other. There are many pungent epi-
his headquarters at ancient Thebes, and grams and clever philosophical sayings
enters upon the career of a scientific scattered throughout the (Treatise,
explorer, taking refuge in the world of which are frequently quoted. No other
nature, since the world of men is for- old master left behind so many valuable
ever closed to him.
manuscripts as did Leonardo; but owing
an-
## p. 437 (#473) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
437
were
to the difficulty of deciphering his hand-
writing, very little is yet known of many
of the most important ones.
Painter's Palace of Pleasure. This
famous collection of tales was first
published in 1566; and its great popu-
larity is proved by the fact that six
editions
issued within twenty
years after its first appearance. (The
Palace of Pleasure ) was the first Eng-
lish story-book that had for its object
purely the amusement of readers, and it
aroused to life imaginations which had
been starved on theological discussions.
The stories are translated, some from
Livy's Latin or Plutarch's Greek, others
from French translations of the original
tongues; still others from the Italian
collections of Boccaccio, Bandello, and
Marguerite of Valois. They are admir-
ably selected to represent the higher
class of stories current at the time of
the Italian Renaissance. They are sim-
ply told, without much of the morbid-
ness of the Italian originals, and with
all their beauty. There is no attempt
at the conciseness which is now
sidered essential in a short story, but
rather a tendency to dwell on details,-
to make the sweetness long drawn out.
The style has delicate prettiness
which does not take away from it
sincerity and clearness.
Despite the great charm of the tales
in themselves, the chief interest in
them lies in the fact that the collec-
tion was used as a storehouse of plots
by the Elizabethan dramatists. Shakes-
peare took
from it the stories of
(Timon of Athens, Romeo and Jul-
iet, (The Rape of Lucrece,' and Gi-
letta of Narbonne) (from which he
gained the main plot of All's Well That
Ends Well»). Webster found here the
plot of "The Duchess of Malfi); and
Marston, Shirley, and Peele, all took
plots from these tales. Painter is re-
sponsible for
the Italian
scenes and names that fill the early
plays, and for many of the fantastic
situations. For these two reasons, then,
Painter's book is interesting: for itself,
as the first English story-book, and for
its influence on others, as the source
of many plots.
Social Life of the Chinese: With
SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGIONS,
GOVERNMENTAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND Busi-
NESS CUSTOMS AND OPINIONS, by Justus
Doolittle. (2 vols. , illustrated. 1865. )
The author of this valuable work was
for fourteen years a member of the Foo-
chow mission of the American Board,
during which time he had abundant op-
portunity of studying the Chinese. The
work is somewhat loosely written, most
of it being in the form in which it was
originally published as a series of letters
in the China Mail of Hong Kong; but it
is one of the best of the few authorities
on «the inner life of the most ancient
and populous, but least understood and
appreciated, of nations. Though it has
special reference to Foochow and its
vicinity, the description of many of the
social and superstitious customs is ap-
plicable to other parts of the empire,
though sometimes customs vary greatly
in the different Chinese provinces. It
treats of agriculture and domestic mat-
ters, betrothal and marriage, married
life and children, treatment of disease,
death, mourning and burial, ancestral tab-
lets and ancestral halls, priests, popu-
lar gods and goddesses, mandarins and
their subordinates, competitive literary
examinations, established annual customs
and
festivals, superstitions, charitable
practices, social customs, charms and
omens, fortune-telling, opium-smoking,
Altogether it is a treasury of infor-
mation about Chinese life, and may be
considered trustworthy in its statements.
con-
a
etc.
Yone, Santo: A CHILD OF JAPAN, by
H. House. (1888. )
pathetic little story of life in Tokio ap-
peared first in the Atlantic Monthly, and
met with much favor. Its author was
an American journalist and critic long
resident in Japan.
Yone Santo is a
lovely Japanese girl, with a thirst for
knowledge, and a genius for self-sacri-
fice rare in any country. The victim of
cruel tyranny in her own home, she
wins the compassionate interest of Dr.
Charwell, who helps her to get an edu-
cation, and tries to shield her from the
misdirected zeal of certain women mis-
sionaries. Brought up to accept without
question the authority of her older rela-
tives, the gentle Yone had been married
to a coarse, ignorant old boat-builder;
and afterwards she meets the handsome
young Bostonian, Arthur Milton, who
wins her love for his own careless pleas-
Her childlike confidence in the
good doctor saves her from trusting her-
self to Milton's treacherous schemes, and
many of
ure.
## p. 438 (#474) ############################################
438
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
she lives out her short though not un-
happy life under the protection of her
Western friends. Her lover, penitent and
remorseful, returns to receive her dying
blessing; and at last this long-suffering,
white-souled little pagan saint found rest.
The story excited resentment for its
bitter arraignment of missionaries:
Wild Irish Girl, The, by Lady Mor-
gan. (1801. ) Sydney Owenson,
afterwards Lady Morgan, was born at
Dublin in 1783. She was still a young
woman when she had earned her rank
as the first patriotic Irish romancer of
modern times. She was quoted with
respect by Byron. ) (The Wild Irish
Girl, one of her earliest tales, instantly
became a favorite. In England it went
through seven editions in less than two
years, and in 1807 it had reached its
fourth American edition.
The story recounts the adventures of
the son of an English nobleman, ban-
ished for a season to his father's estate
in Ireland, in order that he may give
up his frivolous dissipations and begin a
more studious life. Here he meets the
Prince of Inismore, one of the old Irish
nobility, and his daughter Lady Glor-
vina, the wild Irish girl. Her wildness
seems mild to the reader of to-day. She
was clad in a robe of vestal white en-
folded beneath the bosom with a jeweled
girdle. From the shoulder fell a mantle
of scarlet Silk, while the fine-turned
head was enveloped in a veil of point
lace. ) The Englishman has a fall, and
spends some days of convalescence as
the Prince's guest, concealing nis iden-
tity and the fact that he is the heredi-
tary object of hereditary detestation. ”
Glorvina, who plays delightfully upon
the harp, exerts an irresistible fascina-
tion. He has nearly declared himself
her lover when he learns that he has a
rival in a mysterious stranger. Events
prove that the stranger is none other
than the hero's father, to whom Glor-
vina feels herself bound in gratitude if
not in love. The magnanimous parent,
however, gives up his claim in favor of
his repentant and grateful son.
The story is in the form of letters,
and suffers from the consequent limita-
tions; but the sketches of Irish life are
curious and picturesque.
Boots
oots and Saddles; or, LIFE IN DA-
GENERAL Custer, by
Elizabeth B. Custer. (1885. ) The author
says that her object in writing this book,
which records her experiences in garri-
son and camp with her husband, was to
give civilians a glimpse of the real ex-
istence of soldiers in the field. Her
married life was not serene: she was left
in 1864 in a lonely Virginia farmhouse
to finish her honeymoon alone, her hus-
band being summoned to the front; and
at scarcely any time during the next
twelve years was she free from fear of
immediate or threatened peril. General
Custer was ordered to Dakota in the
spring of 1873. Mrs. Custer's book gives
a lively and detailed account of their
life there from 1873 to 1876, the time of
the general's death. All those little de-
tails — the household habits and changes,
the packings and movings, the servants'
remarks, the costumes, the weather, the
frolics, and the feasts -- that are so much
to women, and the absence of which
makes the picture so dim, here appear.
The regimental balls, the pack of
hounds, her husband's habits and looks
and norsemanship, the coyotes, the
sleigh-rides, the carrying of the mail,
the burning of the officers' quarters, the
curious characters and excursionists, the
perplexities and pleasures of army do-
mestic life, the Indians, the gossip, the
ins and outs of army etiquette, the de-
serters, the practical jokes, are duly
described. Her sketch of thirty-six hours
spent in a cabin during a Dakota bliz-
zard, with no fire, the general sick in
bed and requiring her attention, the
wind shrieking outside and at times
bursting in the door, the air out-doors
almost so. id with snow that penetrated
the smallest cracks and collected on the
counterpane, and (to help matters) a
party of bewildered soldiers, some of
them partially frozen, claiming her hos-
pitality and care, -is very graphic.
There is an interesting chapter on
General Custer's literary habits, and an
appendix containing extracts from his
letters. Captain King has described
army life in the West from the mascu-
line side; such a book as this paints it
from the feminine.
Purchas his Pilgrimes. This remark-
able and rare book was published
in 1619. It is a compilation by Samuel
Purchas, a London divine, of the letters
and histories of travel of more than
thirteen hundred tra lers It onsis
of a description of travel in Europe,
KOTA
WITH
## p. 439 (#475) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
439
a kind
a
Asia, Africa, and America; and the later chance shot. His death seems
editions of 1625 and 1626 contain maps, of vicarious atonement for the greed and
which are more diverting than instruct- pride of his race. There are many side
ive. In this work the author allows the issues in the story, which as a whole
travelers to speak for themselves; but in forms a most striking and picturesque
(Purchas his Pilgrimage, published in series of metropolitan scenes. New York
1613, he himself gives the “Relation has seldom been used with more skill as
of the World and the Religions observed a dramatic background. But the novel
in all ages and places discovered, from is something more than a clever drawing
the Creation unto this Present. )
of places and people. Deep ethical and
More accurate and extensive knowl- social questions are involved in it. It is
edge has to-day supplanted these books, a drama of human life in the fullest sense.
and they are rarely consulted except by The style is clear, forcible, and alto-
those curious to know the ideas in re- gether delightful. The book as a whole
gard to the rest of the world, which is absolutely free from the signs of ap-
then obtained in England. The world, prenticeship.
however, is the author's debtor for his
four-years' labors; and it is sad to think
Jane Eyre, the novel which established
that the publication of these books was Charlotte Bronté's reputation as
the cause of his death, if not in a debt- writer of fiction, is in a large degree the
or's prison, at least in want.
record of her own development. In the
character of Jane Eyre, the young au-
Hazard of New Fortunes, A, by W. D. thoress first found an outlet for the
Howells, is perhaps the most realis- storm and stress of her own nature.
tic and the most modern of all his The book is therefore autobiographical
novels, in its grasp upon the conditions in the truest sense.
of metropolitan life, especially as these The story is neither for the very
are illustrated in the extremes of poverty young nor for the inexperienced, though
and wealth. The scope of the story is in contrast to the modern problem novel
unusually large, embracing as it does it is innocuous enough. The heroine,
representatives from almost every promi- Jane Eyre, is an orphan. As a child
nent class of society: the artist, the bo- she is misunderstood and disliked by her
hemian, the business man, the capitalist, protectors. She is sent early to Lowood
the society woman, the socialist, the School, an institution charitable in the
labor agitator, the man of letters. The coldest sense of the term. Its original
plot is, however, centred in one family, was Cowan Bridge, the school attended
as typical of a certain kind of Ameri- by four of the Bronté sisters; from
canism as the Lapham family is of which Maria and Elizabeth were
another. The head of this family is moved in a dying condition. The de-
Dryfoos, a Pennsylvania German who has scription of Jane Eyre's school days
come to New York to spend his newly forms one of the most vivid, and in a
acquired fortune. He is the capitalist sense dramatic, portions of the novel.
of a journal, Every Other Week, edited After leaving Lowood, she becomes gov-
by Basil March, the hero of “Their
to the ward of a certain Mr.
Wedding Journey,' and conducted by Rochester, eccentric man of the
Fulkerson, a pushing Westerner. Dry- | world, whose eccentricity is largely the
foos has two daughters, vulgar by nature fruit of misfortune. He is tied to an
and breeding, who are struggling to get insane wife, her insanity being the re-
«into society. " His son, Conrad, is of sult of vicious living. She is confined at
a different stamp. He has no sympathy Thornwood, the house of Rochester; but
with the gross pride of his father in the the heroine does not know of her exist.
wealth gained by speculation. His sym-
Rochester falls in love with Jane
pathies are with the laboring classes, - Eyre, attracted by her nobility of nature,
with the down-trodden and unfortunate her strength, and her unconventionality;
of the city. This sympathy is put to and finally asks her to marry him. His
the last proof during the strike of the force and his love for her win her con-
street-car drivers and conductors. In sent. They are separated at the altar,
endeavoring to stand by Lindau, an old however, by the revelation of the exist-
German socialist who is openly siding ence of Rochester's first wife. The two
with the strikers, Conrad is killed by a are reunited at last only by a tragedy.
re-
erness
an
ence.
## p. 440 (#476) ############################################
440
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ex-
Charlotte Bronté invested the character
of Rochester with a fascination that
made him the hero in fiction of half the
women in England. Jane Eyre herself
is no ordinary heroine. Her creator
had the boldness to reject the pink-and-
white Amelia type of woman, that had
reigned in the novel since Richardson,
and to substitute one whose mind, not
her face, was her fortune. Rochester
himself is destitute of gallantry, of all
those qualities belonging to the ideal
lover in fiction. This new departure
made the book famous at once. Its lit-
erary originality was not less striking
than the choice of types.
Madam Merle, she meets Gilbert Os.
mond, a man without rank or fortune,
but of unerring taste, and of an
quisite manner of life. His possessions
are limited to a few faultless works of
art and a little daughter, Pansy, just out
of a convent. The lady in Isabel is at-
tracted by Osmond's detailed perfections.
Against the wishes of her friends she
marries him. With marriage comes dis-
illusionment. Isabel finds that she is
smothered in the airless life of barren
dilettantism; she finds that her gentle-
manly husband is soulless and venomous.
He wishes to force his daughter, Pansy,
into a loveless marriage, and sends her
to a convent until she shall show worldly
wisdom through mere pressure of ennui.
During her exile Isabel discovers that
Pansy is not the child of Osmond's first
wife, but of Madame Merle, his former
mistress. Being summoned at this time
to England, to the death-bed of Ralph
Touchett, she regards her departure from
her husband's house as final. The book
closes with the intimation that she will
take Pansy under her protection, and
will not marry Caspar Goodwood.
(The Portrait of a Lady) is admirable
as a psychological study of the high-bred
American girl in a European environ-
ment. It is one of the most satisfactory
of the author's novels.
Portrait of a Lady, The, a novel by
Henry James, was published in
1882. The heroine, whose portrait is
drawn with remarkable elaboration and
finish, is
an
American girl, Isabel
Archer, beautiful, intellectual, of a clear-
cut character, and her own mistress.
The elements in her nature that make
her a lady are emphasized by her ex-
periences with men. When the story
opens she is a guest in the home of an
aunt, Mrs. Touchett, whose husband, an
American banker, has been settled for
many years in England. They have
one son, Ralph, a semi-invalid.
A neighbor, Lord Warburton, wishes
to marry her, but she refuses him be-
cause she does not love him, and because
she wishes to have more experience of
the world as a single woman. In the
same fortnight she rejects another
suitor, Caspar Goodwood, a young, ear-
nest New-Englander, who has followed
her to England. She misses in him the
romantic element, and will not accept his
virtues in exchange. By the death of
her uncle she finds herself a great heir-
ess; half of Ralph's patrimony being
willed, at his own request, to her. In
the weeks of her uncle's illness, she
forms a friendship with Madam Merle, a
guest of Mrs. Touchett's, a thorough
woman of the world, who finds that she
has uses of her own for Isabel. A far
different friend is a countrywoman, Hen-
rietta Stackpole, a correspondent for a
home paper. She is sincere, democratic,
loval to her national traditions and
desirous that Isabel should be so. She
wishes therefore to bring about a mar-
riage between Goodwood and Isabel.
After her uncle's death, Isabel goes to
Italy. There, through the offices of
The Mill on the Floss, by George
Eliot (1860), one of the masterpieces
of fiction, is like Middlemarch) a tra-
gedy, though a tragedy destitute of the
usual heroic setting and grandiloquent
circumstances. The author found her
tragic material in the commonplace lives
of English working-people; and traced
the workings of fate in the obscure de-
velopment of a young girl, with passions
no less strong than those of a woman
in some ancient Greek tragedy, suffering
in a magnificent environment, under the
gaze of the world. Maggie Tulliver, the
daughter of the miller of Dorlcote Mill,
is from childhood misunderstood and
dominated by the coarse-grained well-
meaning people about her. Her brother
Tom, a hearty young animal, with self-
ish masculine instincts accepts her de-
votion as he would that of a dog. He
teases her because she is a girl. He hates
her when she eludes him by going into
her fairy-land of imagination, whither he
cannot follow her. She loves him de-
votedly; but to her love always brings
## p. 441 (#477) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
441
are
suffering. She is ill regulated, and is Paradyse of Daynty Devises, The. This
therefore not a favorite with her aunts, quaint old book is set forth as “con-
Mrs. Glegg and Mrs. Pullet, who can see teyning sundry pithy preceptes, learned
no trace of the resp able Dodson blood counsels, and excellent inventions, right
in her. Maggie's childhood is a series pleasant and profitable for all estates.
of conflicts with respectability. In her It is a collection of sixteenth-century
girlhood the passionate little heart is poetry, by M. Edwardes, W. Hunnis, the
somewhat subdued to her surroundings. Earl of Oxford, R. Hill, Saint Barnarde,
Family troubles are brewing. They cul- Lord Vaux, Jasper Haywood, D. Sand,
minate in the death of Mr. Tulliver, and F. Kindlemarsh, M. Yloop, Thomas
in the sale of Dorlcote Mill. Maggie Churchyard, and various
anonymous
ceases to be a child, becomes a woman. writers. There were editions published
The needs of her nature find satisfaction in 1576, 77, '78, 80, '85, '96, 1600, and
in the companionship of Philip Wakem, 1606. A reprint was made in 1810, by
the crippled son of the lawyer who Sir Egerton Brydges, and again in 1865,
helped to ruin Mr. Tulliver. It is the by J. P. Collier. The last was made
old story of Verona, of the lovers whose from Heber's unique copy of the 1578
families at feud, translated into edition. This collection is especially
homely English life. Maggie must re- interesting, because it contains poems
nounce Philip. Tom hates him and his not in any other impression.
A poem
race with all the strength of his hard- headed (No Pleasure Without Some
and-fast uncompromising nature. Mag- Payn) is assigned to Sir Walter Ra-
gie, starving for beauty, for the joy of leigh, and one by George Whetston
love and life, seeks to satisfy her spirit- occurs in this volume which is nowhere
ual cravings in that classic of renuncia- else to be found. It was very popu-
tion, the Imitation of Christ. ) She lar, and the name has been used for
feeds her rich nature with the thoughts similar but less valuable miscellanies.
of the dead. The next temptation in
her way is Stephen Guest, betrothed to
Paston Letters. This is a most inter-
her cousin Lucy. Stephen represents esting and valuable collection of
to Maggie, although she does not know letters, written in the reigns of Henry
it, the æsthetic element that is lacking VI. , Edward IV. , Richard III. , and
in her barren life. The two are thrown Henry VII. They were handed down
together. Their mutual passion masters in the Paston family, till the male line
them. Maggie almost consents to go became extinct in 1732, and eventually
away with Stephen, finds herself indeed came into the hands of Sir John Ferris,
on the journey; but at the last minute who first published them. He brought
turns back, though she knows that she out two quarto volumes in 1787, two in
has endangered her good name. The 1789, and left material for a fifth, which
worst interpretation is put upon her con- appeared in 1823. He gave the letters
duct. From that time on she faces the in two forms, one an exact copy, retain-
contumely of the little village com- ing the old and variable spelling, the
munity. Death, and death only, can other with the spelling modernized, and
reconcile her to the world and to Tom, obsolete obscure words explained.
who has stood as the embodiment of He also prefixed to the separate letters
the world's harshest judgment. They are valuable historical notices, and subjoined
drowned in the great flood of the Floss: facsimiles of the seals and signatures.
«Brother and sister had gone down These quartos were, however, very ex-
together in an embrace never to be pensive; so in 1840, Ramsay brought
parted; living through again in one su- out a popular edition with some correc-
preme moment the days when they had tions and condensations: more recently
clasped their little hands in love and other editions have appeared.
roamed the daisied fields together. The The letters themselves present very
tragic atmosphere of the novel is re- clearly the manner of life and thought
lieved by passages of quaint, primitive of the middle classes during the Wars
humor, by marvelous descriptions of of the Roses. They incidentally throw
well-to-do rural types. The Dodson light on historical personages and events;
family is hardly surpassed in fiction. but their chief concern is with the every-
The art of George Eliot has its consum- day affairs of the Paston family of Nor-
mate expression in this homely book. folk. They show how exclusively the
or
## p. 442 (#478) ############################################
442
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
were
1
1
an
in 533.
no-
wars involved the nobility and their re- In the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire,
tainers, and how the commoners carried the Pandects, under the name Basilica,
on their affairs undisturbed by bloody statute authority even down to
battles and subsequent beheadings. We 1453, when Constantinople was captured
learn from the letters of the dress, food, by the Turks.
and social customs of the day, and some In practice, however, it was super-
things appear strange to us, -as the seded in the tenth century by Ezabib-
great formality of address, and the hum- los, which was to a slight degree an
ble deference shown to parents by their epitome of the Basilica. The Ezabiblos
children, and to husbands by their wives; survived even the invasion of the Turks
but we are chiefly impressed by the in some parts of the Empire, and was
fundamental fact that human nature was adopted as the statute law of the king-
then very much what it is now.
dom of Greece in 1835.
Pandects, The, of Justinian. This di-
Scottish Chiefs, The, by Jane Porter.
gest was attempt to form a This spirited historical romance was
complete system of law from the first published in 1809, and has enjoyed
commentaries of the great jurists on the unceasing popularity. It gives many
Roman law. The work was done by a pictures of the true knightly chivalry
committee of seventeen famous lawyers; dear to boyish hearts, and is historic-
it was begun in 530 A. D. and completed ally correct in all important points.
The magnitude of the task The narative opens in 1296 with the
becomes apparent when we hear that murder of Wallace's wife by the Eng-
there are 9,123 extracts in the Pandects lish soldiery, and shows how, fired by
(the word “Pandects » is from the Greek this outrage, he tried to rouse his coun-
Pandecton, which means all-receiving). try against the tyrant Edward. He
The extracts were made from 2,000 treat- gathers about him commons and
ises; one-third of them come from Ul- bles, and gains especial favor with
pian, one-sixth from Paulus, and the venerable Lord Mar. Lady Mar is im-
rest from thirty-six other writers.
pressed by his beauty; and when he
The Pandects, with the Codex Justin-
her dishonorable passion, she
ianus, became the law for the Roman proves his worst enemy, and incites
Empire. When the Lombards invaded the nobles to treason. He also wins
Italy in 568, they overturned almost all the heart of the lovely Helen Mar,
the few remaining Roman institutions, who respects his devotion to his dead
the law-courts among them. In Ra- wife, and does not aspire to be more
venna, however, the Roman law
than his sister. Wallace effects the
still taught; and the Lombards allowed capture of the castles of Dumbarton,
their Roman subjects to be judged ac- Berwick and Stirling, and fights the
cording to the Roman law. The Codex, bloody battles of Stanmore and Fal-
which begins with an invocation to the kirk. But as soon as he becomes promi-
Trinity, and contains a great deal of nent, petty jealousies spring up among
legislation on ecclesiastical matters, was the nobles; and when in spite of his
always held in esteem by the clergy; inferior birth he is appointed regent,
but the Pandects were ignored, as being their rage knows no bounds. He has
the work of pagan jurists.
continually to guard against treachery
In the last part of the eleventh cen- within as well as foes without, but his
tury there was a great revival of the intrepid spirit never fails. He goes in
study of Roman law. There has always the disguise of a harper to the court
been a tradition that this revival was of Edward, and rouses young Bruce to
caused by the discovery at Amalfi of a escape and embrace his country's cause.
copy of the Pandects; but the Pandects Bruce and Wallace go to France to
had never been really forgotten. The rescue the abducted Helen Mar, and
revival of the Roman law was a kind of while there meet Baliol, whom Edward
advance guard of the Renaissance move- had once adjudged king of Scotland.
ment. Irnerius of Bologna, the greatest On returning to his own country Wal-
teacher of his time, revived the study lace finds the English in possession of
of the Pandects, which, together with much of the territory he had wrested
the Codex, became the basis of all from them, and by a series of vigorous
mediæval legislation.
movements regains the mastery. But
scorns
was
## p. 443 (#479) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
443
were
re-
internal feuds and jealousies are too mystery and of a unique settlement on
strong for him, and on Edward's sec- a South Sea island, written in the pro-
ond invasion Wallace is abandoned by saic style of an official document, amply
his supporters. He fees and long substantiates the old adage, « Truth is
eludes his pursuers, but is finally be- stranger than fiction. » The most vivid
trayed, taken to London, and brutally imagination would fail to conceive the
hanged and quartered. But the fire plot of a tale more varied and more
that he had kindled did not altogether exciting in its details.
die out, and Edward was obliged to In 1789 H. M. S. Bounty, Lieutenant
treat Scotland with respect even after Bligh commanding, while sailing in the
he had murdered her hero.
South Seas was captured by mutineers,
and the commander with eighteen of the
Little
ittle Rivers, by Rev. Henry Van
crew were set adrift in the cutter. The
Dyke, D. D. , breathes the very spirit
ship sailed to Tahiti. There dissensions
of wholesome pleasure. The book is
called a record of profitable idleness,
arose among the mutineers. Half of
and describes the author's wanderings
them, accompanied by a score of native
with rod and line, exploring the Adiron-
men and women, sailed away, and all
trace of them was lost for many years.
dack woods, canoeing along the silver
Lieutenant Bligh reached England, re-
streams of Canada to the music of the
old French ballads sung by the guides,
turned to Tahiti, captured the mutineers
who were on that island, and after
tramping the heathery moors of historic
Scotland, following the fir-covered banks
many disasters and shipwreck conveyed
of the Austrian Traun, and trying casts
them to England. A sensational trial
ensued. Two of the mutineers
in the clear green lakes of the Tyrol.
Dr. Van Dyke has heard of people who,
pardoned. The others suffered the ex-
like Wordsworth, feel a passion for the
treme penalty of the law. Then a
action in public sentiment set in, and it
sea or the mountains; but for his part
he would choose a river. Like David's
was generally conceded, even in official
circles, that the insolent and overbearing
hart he pants for the water-brooks, and
conduct of the commander warranted the
asks for nothing better than a quiet
stream with shady banks, where trout
course of the mutineers.
are not too coy.
He loves nature with
Some twenty years later, a British
the love of a poet and a close observer;
vessel happened accidentally to stop
the love of a man whose busy working-
at Pitcairn's Island. The officers were
amazed to meet young men who spoke
life is spent among bricks and mortar,
but who has a country heart.
excellent English, and to find a prosper-
When he
was a little boy, he slipped away with-
ous and happy Christian community,
out leave one day, with a heavy old They learned that the Bounty sailed
largely descendants of the mutineers.
borrowed rod, and spent a long delight-
ful afternoon in landing three tiny trout.
directly from Tahiti to Pitcairn's Island,
where the mutineers made a settlement.
Soon afterwards he was made happy by
Four years later,
a rod of his own, and began to ply the
account of
streams with a zest that has never since
quarrel over woman, the natives
failed. The good sport, the free, irre-
murdered all but four of them. Then
sponsible, out-door life, and the beauty
two of them contracted such beastly
habits of intoxication that one died in
of wild nature, are the subject-matter of
the volume. Bird songs and falling
delirium tremens and the other was put
waters are the music, and happy sum-
to death as a measure of public safety.
One of the survivors, John Adams,
mer sunshine lights its pages. There is,
says the author, very little useful infor-
remembering his early Christian train-
mation to be found here, and no criti-
ing, established the principles of the
cism of the universe, but only a chroni-
Christian religion so firmly in this pecul-
cle of plain pleasures, and friendly
iar community that the almost unknown
observation of men and things. It is
island in the South Seas became
from cover to cover an out-of-doors book,
conspicuous example of an earthly para-
dise.
one for the fireside on a winter night.
This community, maintaining its es-
Mutineers of the Bounty, The, by sential characteristics, still occupies Pit-
This latest pub- cairn and Norfolk Islands. Its members
lished account of a long unsolved ocean carry on a constant correspondence with
on
a
a
a
## p. 444 (#480) ############################################
444
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
was
relatives and friends in England. Many Still, if the objectionable portions of the
photographs of the islanders, reproduced Lettres Persanes) were removed, there
in this book, represent a people prepos- would yet remain enough matter to fur-
sessing in appearance and apparently nish a volume at least as wise as Ba-
comfortable and prosperous.
con's Essays, and far more witty.
L
The Life and Pontificate of Leo the
ettres Persanes, Les (Persian Let-
The
Tenth, by William Roscoe. (2 vols. ,
ters), by Montesquieu, were at first
1868. ) This work is a natural sequel to
published anonymously in 1721. The
its author's (Life of Lorenzo de' Medici,
book is a piquant satire French
which made his reputation. It
society during the eighteenth century,
translated into French (1808), German
its manners, customs, oddities, and ab-
(1818), and Italian (1816-17). Though
surdities being exposed through the
the Italian version, Count Bossi's, was
medium of a wandering Persian, who
placed on the Index Expurgatorius,
happens to find himself in Paris. Usbek
2,800 copies were sold in Italy. The
writes to his friends in the East and in
work
Venice.
was severely criticized by the
The exchange of letters with
Edinburgh Review for an affectation of
his correspondent in the latter city has
for its object to contrast two centres of
profundity of philosophy and sentiment,
and for being prejudiced against Luther.
European life with each other and with
On the whole, however, it is one of the
Ispahan, the centre of social life in Per-
best works on one of the most fascinat-
sia. But Montesquieu is not only a
ing and instructive periods of human
keen and delicate observer of the fash-
history, containing not merely the bi-
ionable world, — some of his dissections
ography of Leo but to a large extent
of the beaux and belles of his time re-
the history of his time; describing not
mind one of Thackeray,– but he touches
only Cæsar Borgia and Machiavelli,
with firmness, though with tact and dis-
but WolseyBayard, and Maximilian.
cretion, on a crowd of questions which
his age was already proposing for solu-
It was the first adequate biography of
Leo X. ; and its attempt to prove him
tion: the relations of populations to gov-
widely influential in the promotion of
ernments, laws, and religion; the eco-
literature and the restoration of the fine
nomic constitution of commerce; the
arts, as well as in the general improve-
proportion between crimes and their
ment of the human intellect that took
punishment; the codification of all the
laws of the various provinces of France;
place in his time, is certainly successful.
liberty, equality, and religious toleration. Reference, Works of. The chief en-
These questions were particularly men- cyclopædias falling under this head,
acing at the time the author wrote, and which are still of interest to readers,
the skill with which he stated them begin with a work projected by Ephraim
through the mouths of his Persians had Chambers, under the title, "Cyclopædia :
something to do with their ultimate set- or, an Universal Dictionary of Art and
tlement. The portraits of different types
Sciences, containing an Explication of
in the Lettres,' sketched with apparent the Terms and an Account of the Things
carelessness, would not be out of place signified thereby in the several Arts,
in the gallery of La Bruyère; they are Liberal and Mechanical, and the several
less austere, but they reveal more force Sciences, Human and Divine. ) It came
and boldness. The work is, unfortu- out in London, 2 vols. folio, 1728, with a
nately, disfigured by many scenes that dedication to the King. It imitated an
are grossly immoral; and this fact had as earlier London work, by John Harris,
much to do with its extraordinary suc- the first secretary of the Royal Society,
cess as its pictures of ideal social virtues. of which the title was Lexicon Tech-
Its mysterious and incomplete descrip- nicum; or, An Universal English Dic-
tions of Oriental voluptuousness delighted tionary of Arts and Sciences,' I vol.
the profligates of the Regency. To the folio, 1220 pages, 1704. This was the
philosophes and skeptics of the time, first alphabetical encyclopædia written
also, the Lettres) showed that Montes- in English. It attempted an account of
quieu was one of themselves; and they the arts and sciences, but omitted antiq-
were happy to have an opportunity of uities, biography, poetry, and theology;
laughing at the Christian ligion, while and dealt only with the terms of ethics,
pretending to laugh at the Mohammedan. grammar, logic, metaphysics, and rhet-
## p. 445 (#481) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
445
(
or
was
>
a
oric. It was reprinted in 1708, and a 1875-89, 24 vols. and Index vol. , with
second volume of 1419 pages was added many plates and very many wood-cuts.
in 1710. It was long very popular, and At one time — namely, in the beginning
prepared the way for other works. That of the present century - the Britan-
of Chambers added ethics, grammar, nica) commended itself to George III.
logic, metaphysics, poetry, politics, rhet- as a publication calculated to counter-
oric, and theology. It was a work judi- act the tendency of that pestiferous
ciously, honestly, and carefully done, and work, the French Encyclopædia. In
long held popular favor. It sold no less our day it is engaged neither in attack
than five editions, 1739-52. A Supple- nor defense of the articles of the politi-
ment came out in 1753, 2 vols. folio, 3307 cal or the religious creeds. In the strife
pages.
Abraham Rees made a revised of opinions “the encyclopædia is not
and greatly enlarged edition, 1778–88, 2 called upon to take any direct part. It
vols.
tion of persons are brought together in
it, united by their common interest in
socialism. The scenes are laid for the
most part in the east side of London.
The majority of the characters are of
the working-classes. Two, the Princess
Casamassima and Lady Aurora,
women of rank and wealth. Both classes
are represented in the hero, Hyacinth
Robinson, the child of a certain immoral
Lord Frederick, and his mistress, an
ignorant Frenchwoman. Hyacinth, in
whom the aristocratic nature predomi-
nates, is reared by a poor dressmaker,
among forlorn east-side people. His
sympathy for their condition makes him
an easy prey of certain workingmen with
strong socialistic tendencies. In a mo-
ment of blind enthusiasm he gives his
word that he will perform, when called
upon, an act which may cost him his
life. About this time he meets the
beautiful Princess Casamassima, sepa-
rated from her husband, living in Lon-
don that she may study the lower classes.
The novel has a rambling and di-
versified plot, concerned with other peo-
ple besides the Princess and Hyacinth,
clearly defined and cleverly drawn char-
acters. A certain satirical element in the
treatment of the theme imparts an at-
mosphere of comedy to the book, despite
its tragic ending.
Palmerin de Oliva is a romance of
chivalry, feeble imitation of
(Amadis of Gaul, which
first
are
story. A continuation by the same au-
thor, called "The Second Book of Pal-
merin,' which treats of the adventures
of his sons, Primaleon and Polendos, ap-
peared later.
Palmerin of England. This is a ro-
mance of chivalry, after the style
of Amadis of Gaul,' and in this class
of literature regarded as second only to
it in point of merit. This is the book,
which, with Amadis,' Cervantes saves
from the holocaust in Don Quixote, as
he says, for two reasons: first, because
it is a right good book in itself; and the
other, because the report is that a wise
King of Portugal composed it. All the
adventures of the castle of Miraguarda
are excellent, and managed with great
skill; the discourses are clear, observing
with much propriety the judgment and
decorum of the speaker. ” It was long
supposed to be the work of Francisco
Moraes, a Portuguese, who published it
in 1567 as a translation from the French.
In 1807 Southey published an English
translation, attributing the original to
Moraes, and credited him with mod-
esty in not claiming the authorship. It
ce been found to have been the
work of Leon Hurtado, and to have
a
was
## p. 436 (#472) ############################################
436
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
or
was
1.
been published originally in Spanish, in 1 Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo
Toledo, in 1547. In it are recounted Di Vinci. This famous treatise was
the exploits of the son of Don Duarde, probably written before the year 1498.
Edward, King of England, and It has survived in two editions, of which
Flerida, a daughter of Palmerin de the first is in an abridged form, and
Oliva; consisting of jousts in tourna. contains only three hundred and sixty-
ments, battles with giants and Saracens, five chapters; while the other is a de-
and adventures in the Castle of Mira- tailed one, and is comprised in nine
guarda. This story is in some respects hundred and twelve chapters. The early
a continuation of Palmerin de Oliva. and abridged edition issued in
France in 1651, about one hundred and
Peter Schlemihl, by Adelbert von Cha- thirty years after Leonardo's death, and
This tale, written in 1814, an English edition appeared the same
has attained world-wide fame. The year; since when, it has been published
theme is the old popular superstition in most of the languages of Europe.
that the Devil can take a man's shadow Knowledge of the more exhaustive ver-
without being able to control the man sion of the treatise is owing to Manzi's
himself. The setting, however, is mod- discovery in 1817 of a transcript of the
ern, and the extravagant plot is de- original in the Vatican library. Accord-
veloped with straightforward simplicity. ing to this manuscript, the (Trattato
Peter Schlemihl, being in reduced cir. della Pittura) is divided into eight
cumstances, encounters a mysterious gray books, which are designated : -
man, to whom he surrenders his shadow The Nature of Painting, Poetry,
in return for Fortunatus's purse.
His Music, and Sculpture.
boundless wealth, however, brings him 2. Precepts for a Painter.
little satisfaction, as people regard his 3. Of Positions and Movements of
shadowless estate with aversion and hor- the Human Frame.
ror. He is constrained to shun even the 4.
Of Drapery.
moonlight, and passes most of his time 5. Light and Shade and Perspective.
in forced seclusion. Finally his unpopu- 6. Of Trees and Foliage.
larity drives him from the town, and he 7.
Of Clouds.
takes up his residence in a remote spot.
8. Of the Horizon.
Here, by means of the greatest caution, This «Treatise) may be termed an en-
his secret remains for a time unguessed; cyclopædia of art: it is clear and con-
and on account of his wealth and liber-
cise, and is to this day of great value to
ality he is regarded as a nobleman. He those studying art, although there is a
finds his greatest satisfaction in the so- lack of coherence between its sections.
ciety of the innocent and affectionate Rubens wrote a commentary
on this
Mina, a forester's daughter; and is about (Treatise); Annibale Caracci used to
to marry her when his misfortune is be-
say that if during his youth he had read
trayed by a faithless servant, and Mina's the golden book of Leonardo's precepts,
father bids him begone. The gray man
he would have been spared twenty years
then reappears, and offers to restore the of useless labor; while Algarotti declared
shadow at the price of Peter's soul. The that he should not desire any better ele-
broken-hearted man has the strength of mentary work on the art of painting.
will to refuse, and relinquishes all hopes Among the subjects treated in the
of earthly happiness rather than en- abridged edition of the Treatise) are:
danger his eternal welfare. He throws (What the young student in painting
the purse into a fathomless cavern, and ought in the first place to learn); How
wanders about in poverty till by chance to discern a young man's disposition for
he gains possession of the Seven-League painting;' (That a painter should take
Boots. He is thus enabled to travel pleasure in the opinions of everybody';
over all the surface of the earth, except, The brilliancy of the landscape;
for some mysterious reason, Australia (Painters are not to imitate one
and the neighboring islands. He makes other. There are many pungent epi-
his headquarters at ancient Thebes, and grams and clever philosophical sayings
enters upon the career of a scientific scattered throughout the (Treatise,
explorer, taking refuge in the world of which are frequently quoted. No other
nature, since the world of men is for- old master left behind so many valuable
ever closed to him.
manuscripts as did Leonardo; but owing
an-
## p. 437 (#473) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
437
were
to the difficulty of deciphering his hand-
writing, very little is yet known of many
of the most important ones.
Painter's Palace of Pleasure. This
famous collection of tales was first
published in 1566; and its great popu-
larity is proved by the fact that six
editions
issued within twenty
years after its first appearance. (The
Palace of Pleasure ) was the first Eng-
lish story-book that had for its object
purely the amusement of readers, and it
aroused to life imaginations which had
been starved on theological discussions.
The stories are translated, some from
Livy's Latin or Plutarch's Greek, others
from French translations of the original
tongues; still others from the Italian
collections of Boccaccio, Bandello, and
Marguerite of Valois. They are admir-
ably selected to represent the higher
class of stories current at the time of
the Italian Renaissance. They are sim-
ply told, without much of the morbid-
ness of the Italian originals, and with
all their beauty. There is no attempt
at the conciseness which is now
sidered essential in a short story, but
rather a tendency to dwell on details,-
to make the sweetness long drawn out.
The style has delicate prettiness
which does not take away from it
sincerity and clearness.
Despite the great charm of the tales
in themselves, the chief interest in
them lies in the fact that the collec-
tion was used as a storehouse of plots
by the Elizabethan dramatists. Shakes-
peare took
from it the stories of
(Timon of Athens, Romeo and Jul-
iet, (The Rape of Lucrece,' and Gi-
letta of Narbonne) (from which he
gained the main plot of All's Well That
Ends Well»). Webster found here the
plot of "The Duchess of Malfi); and
Marston, Shirley, and Peele, all took
plots from these tales. Painter is re-
sponsible for
the Italian
scenes and names that fill the early
plays, and for many of the fantastic
situations. For these two reasons, then,
Painter's book is interesting: for itself,
as the first English story-book, and for
its influence on others, as the source
of many plots.
Social Life of the Chinese: With
SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGIONS,
GOVERNMENTAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND Busi-
NESS CUSTOMS AND OPINIONS, by Justus
Doolittle. (2 vols. , illustrated. 1865. )
The author of this valuable work was
for fourteen years a member of the Foo-
chow mission of the American Board,
during which time he had abundant op-
portunity of studying the Chinese. The
work is somewhat loosely written, most
of it being in the form in which it was
originally published as a series of letters
in the China Mail of Hong Kong; but it
is one of the best of the few authorities
on «the inner life of the most ancient
and populous, but least understood and
appreciated, of nations. Though it has
special reference to Foochow and its
vicinity, the description of many of the
social and superstitious customs is ap-
plicable to other parts of the empire,
though sometimes customs vary greatly
in the different Chinese provinces. It
treats of agriculture and domestic mat-
ters, betrothal and marriage, married
life and children, treatment of disease,
death, mourning and burial, ancestral tab-
lets and ancestral halls, priests, popu-
lar gods and goddesses, mandarins and
their subordinates, competitive literary
examinations, established annual customs
and
festivals, superstitions, charitable
practices, social customs, charms and
omens, fortune-telling, opium-smoking,
Altogether it is a treasury of infor-
mation about Chinese life, and may be
considered trustworthy in its statements.
con-
a
etc.
Yone, Santo: A CHILD OF JAPAN, by
H. House. (1888. )
pathetic little story of life in Tokio ap-
peared first in the Atlantic Monthly, and
met with much favor. Its author was
an American journalist and critic long
resident in Japan.
Yone Santo is a
lovely Japanese girl, with a thirst for
knowledge, and a genius for self-sacri-
fice rare in any country. The victim of
cruel tyranny in her own home, she
wins the compassionate interest of Dr.
Charwell, who helps her to get an edu-
cation, and tries to shield her from the
misdirected zeal of certain women mis-
sionaries. Brought up to accept without
question the authority of her older rela-
tives, the gentle Yone had been married
to a coarse, ignorant old boat-builder;
and afterwards she meets the handsome
young Bostonian, Arthur Milton, who
wins her love for his own careless pleas-
Her childlike confidence in the
good doctor saves her from trusting her-
self to Milton's treacherous schemes, and
many of
ure.
## p. 438 (#474) ############################################
438
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
she lives out her short though not un-
happy life under the protection of her
Western friends. Her lover, penitent and
remorseful, returns to receive her dying
blessing; and at last this long-suffering,
white-souled little pagan saint found rest.
The story excited resentment for its
bitter arraignment of missionaries:
Wild Irish Girl, The, by Lady Mor-
gan. (1801. ) Sydney Owenson,
afterwards Lady Morgan, was born at
Dublin in 1783. She was still a young
woman when she had earned her rank
as the first patriotic Irish romancer of
modern times. She was quoted with
respect by Byron. ) (The Wild Irish
Girl, one of her earliest tales, instantly
became a favorite. In England it went
through seven editions in less than two
years, and in 1807 it had reached its
fourth American edition.
The story recounts the adventures of
the son of an English nobleman, ban-
ished for a season to his father's estate
in Ireland, in order that he may give
up his frivolous dissipations and begin a
more studious life. Here he meets the
Prince of Inismore, one of the old Irish
nobility, and his daughter Lady Glor-
vina, the wild Irish girl. Her wildness
seems mild to the reader of to-day. She
was clad in a robe of vestal white en-
folded beneath the bosom with a jeweled
girdle. From the shoulder fell a mantle
of scarlet Silk, while the fine-turned
head was enveloped in a veil of point
lace. ) The Englishman has a fall, and
spends some days of convalescence as
the Prince's guest, concealing nis iden-
tity and the fact that he is the heredi-
tary object of hereditary detestation. ”
Glorvina, who plays delightfully upon
the harp, exerts an irresistible fascina-
tion. He has nearly declared himself
her lover when he learns that he has a
rival in a mysterious stranger. Events
prove that the stranger is none other
than the hero's father, to whom Glor-
vina feels herself bound in gratitude if
not in love. The magnanimous parent,
however, gives up his claim in favor of
his repentant and grateful son.
The story is in the form of letters,
and suffers from the consequent limita-
tions; but the sketches of Irish life are
curious and picturesque.
Boots
oots and Saddles; or, LIFE IN DA-
GENERAL Custer, by
Elizabeth B. Custer. (1885. ) The author
says that her object in writing this book,
which records her experiences in garri-
son and camp with her husband, was to
give civilians a glimpse of the real ex-
istence of soldiers in the field. Her
married life was not serene: she was left
in 1864 in a lonely Virginia farmhouse
to finish her honeymoon alone, her hus-
band being summoned to the front; and
at scarcely any time during the next
twelve years was she free from fear of
immediate or threatened peril. General
Custer was ordered to Dakota in the
spring of 1873. Mrs. Custer's book gives
a lively and detailed account of their
life there from 1873 to 1876, the time of
the general's death. All those little de-
tails — the household habits and changes,
the packings and movings, the servants'
remarks, the costumes, the weather, the
frolics, and the feasts -- that are so much
to women, and the absence of which
makes the picture so dim, here appear.
The regimental balls, the pack of
hounds, her husband's habits and looks
and norsemanship, the coyotes, the
sleigh-rides, the carrying of the mail,
the burning of the officers' quarters, the
curious characters and excursionists, the
perplexities and pleasures of army do-
mestic life, the Indians, the gossip, the
ins and outs of army etiquette, the de-
serters, the practical jokes, are duly
described. Her sketch of thirty-six hours
spent in a cabin during a Dakota bliz-
zard, with no fire, the general sick in
bed and requiring her attention, the
wind shrieking outside and at times
bursting in the door, the air out-doors
almost so. id with snow that penetrated
the smallest cracks and collected on the
counterpane, and (to help matters) a
party of bewildered soldiers, some of
them partially frozen, claiming her hos-
pitality and care, -is very graphic.
There is an interesting chapter on
General Custer's literary habits, and an
appendix containing extracts from his
letters. Captain King has described
army life in the West from the mascu-
line side; such a book as this paints it
from the feminine.
Purchas his Pilgrimes. This remark-
able and rare book was published
in 1619. It is a compilation by Samuel
Purchas, a London divine, of the letters
and histories of travel of more than
thirteen hundred tra lers It onsis
of a description of travel in Europe,
KOTA
WITH
## p. 439 (#475) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
439
a kind
a
Asia, Africa, and America; and the later chance shot. His death seems
editions of 1625 and 1626 contain maps, of vicarious atonement for the greed and
which are more diverting than instruct- pride of his race. There are many side
ive. In this work the author allows the issues in the story, which as a whole
travelers to speak for themselves; but in forms a most striking and picturesque
(Purchas his Pilgrimage, published in series of metropolitan scenes. New York
1613, he himself gives the “Relation has seldom been used with more skill as
of the World and the Religions observed a dramatic background. But the novel
in all ages and places discovered, from is something more than a clever drawing
the Creation unto this Present. )
of places and people. Deep ethical and
More accurate and extensive knowl- social questions are involved in it. It is
edge has to-day supplanted these books, a drama of human life in the fullest sense.
and they are rarely consulted except by The style is clear, forcible, and alto-
those curious to know the ideas in re- gether delightful. The book as a whole
gard to the rest of the world, which is absolutely free from the signs of ap-
then obtained in England. The world, prenticeship.
however, is the author's debtor for his
four-years' labors; and it is sad to think
Jane Eyre, the novel which established
that the publication of these books was Charlotte Bronté's reputation as
the cause of his death, if not in a debt- writer of fiction, is in a large degree the
or's prison, at least in want.
record of her own development. In the
character of Jane Eyre, the young au-
Hazard of New Fortunes, A, by W. D. thoress first found an outlet for the
Howells, is perhaps the most realis- storm and stress of her own nature.
tic and the most modern of all his The book is therefore autobiographical
novels, in its grasp upon the conditions in the truest sense.
of metropolitan life, especially as these The story is neither for the very
are illustrated in the extremes of poverty young nor for the inexperienced, though
and wealth. The scope of the story is in contrast to the modern problem novel
unusually large, embracing as it does it is innocuous enough. The heroine,
representatives from almost every promi- Jane Eyre, is an orphan. As a child
nent class of society: the artist, the bo- she is misunderstood and disliked by her
hemian, the business man, the capitalist, protectors. She is sent early to Lowood
the society woman, the socialist, the School, an institution charitable in the
labor agitator, the man of letters. The coldest sense of the term. Its original
plot is, however, centred in one family, was Cowan Bridge, the school attended
as typical of a certain kind of Ameri- by four of the Bronté sisters; from
canism as the Lapham family is of which Maria and Elizabeth were
another. The head of this family is moved in a dying condition. The de-
Dryfoos, a Pennsylvania German who has scription of Jane Eyre's school days
come to New York to spend his newly forms one of the most vivid, and in a
acquired fortune. He is the capitalist sense dramatic, portions of the novel.
of a journal, Every Other Week, edited After leaving Lowood, she becomes gov-
by Basil March, the hero of “Their
to the ward of a certain Mr.
Wedding Journey,' and conducted by Rochester, eccentric man of the
Fulkerson, a pushing Westerner. Dry- | world, whose eccentricity is largely the
foos has two daughters, vulgar by nature fruit of misfortune. He is tied to an
and breeding, who are struggling to get insane wife, her insanity being the re-
«into society. " His son, Conrad, is of sult of vicious living. She is confined at
a different stamp. He has no sympathy Thornwood, the house of Rochester; but
with the gross pride of his father in the the heroine does not know of her exist.
wealth gained by speculation. His sym-
Rochester falls in love with Jane
pathies are with the laboring classes, - Eyre, attracted by her nobility of nature,
with the down-trodden and unfortunate her strength, and her unconventionality;
of the city. This sympathy is put to and finally asks her to marry him. His
the last proof during the strike of the force and his love for her win her con-
street-car drivers and conductors. In sent. They are separated at the altar,
endeavoring to stand by Lindau, an old however, by the revelation of the exist-
German socialist who is openly siding ence of Rochester's first wife. The two
with the strikers, Conrad is killed by a are reunited at last only by a tragedy.
re-
erness
an
ence.
## p. 440 (#476) ############################################
440
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ex-
Charlotte Bronté invested the character
of Rochester with a fascination that
made him the hero in fiction of half the
women in England. Jane Eyre herself
is no ordinary heroine. Her creator
had the boldness to reject the pink-and-
white Amelia type of woman, that had
reigned in the novel since Richardson,
and to substitute one whose mind, not
her face, was her fortune. Rochester
himself is destitute of gallantry, of all
those qualities belonging to the ideal
lover in fiction. This new departure
made the book famous at once. Its lit-
erary originality was not less striking
than the choice of types.
Madam Merle, she meets Gilbert Os.
mond, a man without rank or fortune,
but of unerring taste, and of an
quisite manner of life. His possessions
are limited to a few faultless works of
art and a little daughter, Pansy, just out
of a convent. The lady in Isabel is at-
tracted by Osmond's detailed perfections.
Against the wishes of her friends she
marries him. With marriage comes dis-
illusionment. Isabel finds that she is
smothered in the airless life of barren
dilettantism; she finds that her gentle-
manly husband is soulless and venomous.
He wishes to force his daughter, Pansy,
into a loveless marriage, and sends her
to a convent until she shall show worldly
wisdom through mere pressure of ennui.
During her exile Isabel discovers that
Pansy is not the child of Osmond's first
wife, but of Madame Merle, his former
mistress. Being summoned at this time
to England, to the death-bed of Ralph
Touchett, she regards her departure from
her husband's house as final. The book
closes with the intimation that she will
take Pansy under her protection, and
will not marry Caspar Goodwood.
(The Portrait of a Lady) is admirable
as a psychological study of the high-bred
American girl in a European environ-
ment. It is one of the most satisfactory
of the author's novels.
Portrait of a Lady, The, a novel by
Henry James, was published in
1882. The heroine, whose portrait is
drawn with remarkable elaboration and
finish, is
an
American girl, Isabel
Archer, beautiful, intellectual, of a clear-
cut character, and her own mistress.
The elements in her nature that make
her a lady are emphasized by her ex-
periences with men. When the story
opens she is a guest in the home of an
aunt, Mrs. Touchett, whose husband, an
American banker, has been settled for
many years in England. They have
one son, Ralph, a semi-invalid.
A neighbor, Lord Warburton, wishes
to marry her, but she refuses him be-
cause she does not love him, and because
she wishes to have more experience of
the world as a single woman. In the
same fortnight she rejects another
suitor, Caspar Goodwood, a young, ear-
nest New-Englander, who has followed
her to England. She misses in him the
romantic element, and will not accept his
virtues in exchange. By the death of
her uncle she finds herself a great heir-
ess; half of Ralph's patrimony being
willed, at his own request, to her. In
the weeks of her uncle's illness, she
forms a friendship with Madam Merle, a
guest of Mrs. Touchett's, a thorough
woman of the world, who finds that she
has uses of her own for Isabel. A far
different friend is a countrywoman, Hen-
rietta Stackpole, a correspondent for a
home paper. She is sincere, democratic,
loval to her national traditions and
desirous that Isabel should be so. She
wishes therefore to bring about a mar-
riage between Goodwood and Isabel.
After her uncle's death, Isabel goes to
Italy. There, through the offices of
The Mill on the Floss, by George
Eliot (1860), one of the masterpieces
of fiction, is like Middlemarch) a tra-
gedy, though a tragedy destitute of the
usual heroic setting and grandiloquent
circumstances. The author found her
tragic material in the commonplace lives
of English working-people; and traced
the workings of fate in the obscure de-
velopment of a young girl, with passions
no less strong than those of a woman
in some ancient Greek tragedy, suffering
in a magnificent environment, under the
gaze of the world. Maggie Tulliver, the
daughter of the miller of Dorlcote Mill,
is from childhood misunderstood and
dominated by the coarse-grained well-
meaning people about her. Her brother
Tom, a hearty young animal, with self-
ish masculine instincts accepts her de-
votion as he would that of a dog. He
teases her because she is a girl. He hates
her when she eludes him by going into
her fairy-land of imagination, whither he
cannot follow her. She loves him de-
votedly; but to her love always brings
## p. 441 (#477) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
441
are
suffering. She is ill regulated, and is Paradyse of Daynty Devises, The. This
therefore not a favorite with her aunts, quaint old book is set forth as “con-
Mrs. Glegg and Mrs. Pullet, who can see teyning sundry pithy preceptes, learned
no trace of the resp able Dodson blood counsels, and excellent inventions, right
in her. Maggie's childhood is a series pleasant and profitable for all estates.
of conflicts with respectability. In her It is a collection of sixteenth-century
girlhood the passionate little heart is poetry, by M. Edwardes, W. Hunnis, the
somewhat subdued to her surroundings. Earl of Oxford, R. Hill, Saint Barnarde,
Family troubles are brewing. They cul- Lord Vaux, Jasper Haywood, D. Sand,
minate in the death of Mr. Tulliver, and F. Kindlemarsh, M. Yloop, Thomas
in the sale of Dorlcote Mill. Maggie Churchyard, and various
anonymous
ceases to be a child, becomes a woman. writers. There were editions published
The needs of her nature find satisfaction in 1576, 77, '78, 80, '85, '96, 1600, and
in the companionship of Philip Wakem, 1606. A reprint was made in 1810, by
the crippled son of the lawyer who Sir Egerton Brydges, and again in 1865,
helped to ruin Mr. Tulliver. It is the by J. P. Collier. The last was made
old story of Verona, of the lovers whose from Heber's unique copy of the 1578
families at feud, translated into edition. This collection is especially
homely English life. Maggie must re- interesting, because it contains poems
nounce Philip. Tom hates him and his not in any other impression.
A poem
race with all the strength of his hard- headed (No Pleasure Without Some
and-fast uncompromising nature. Mag- Payn) is assigned to Sir Walter Ra-
gie, starving for beauty, for the joy of leigh, and one by George Whetston
love and life, seeks to satisfy her spirit- occurs in this volume which is nowhere
ual cravings in that classic of renuncia- else to be found. It was very popu-
tion, the Imitation of Christ. ) She lar, and the name has been used for
feeds her rich nature with the thoughts similar but less valuable miscellanies.
of the dead. The next temptation in
her way is Stephen Guest, betrothed to
Paston Letters. This is a most inter-
her cousin Lucy. Stephen represents esting and valuable collection of
to Maggie, although she does not know letters, written in the reigns of Henry
it, the æsthetic element that is lacking VI. , Edward IV. , Richard III. , and
in her barren life. The two are thrown Henry VII. They were handed down
together. Their mutual passion masters in the Paston family, till the male line
them. Maggie almost consents to go became extinct in 1732, and eventually
away with Stephen, finds herself indeed came into the hands of Sir John Ferris,
on the journey; but at the last minute who first published them. He brought
turns back, though she knows that she out two quarto volumes in 1787, two in
has endangered her good name. The 1789, and left material for a fifth, which
worst interpretation is put upon her con- appeared in 1823. He gave the letters
duct. From that time on she faces the in two forms, one an exact copy, retain-
contumely of the little village com- ing the old and variable spelling, the
munity. Death, and death only, can other with the spelling modernized, and
reconcile her to the world and to Tom, obsolete obscure words explained.
who has stood as the embodiment of He also prefixed to the separate letters
the world's harshest judgment. They are valuable historical notices, and subjoined
drowned in the great flood of the Floss: facsimiles of the seals and signatures.
«Brother and sister had gone down These quartos were, however, very ex-
together in an embrace never to be pensive; so in 1840, Ramsay brought
parted; living through again in one su- out a popular edition with some correc-
preme moment the days when they had tions and condensations: more recently
clasped their little hands in love and other editions have appeared.
roamed the daisied fields together. The The letters themselves present very
tragic atmosphere of the novel is re- clearly the manner of life and thought
lieved by passages of quaint, primitive of the middle classes during the Wars
humor, by marvelous descriptions of of the Roses. They incidentally throw
well-to-do rural types. The Dodson light on historical personages and events;
family is hardly surpassed in fiction. but their chief concern is with the every-
The art of George Eliot has its consum- day affairs of the Paston family of Nor-
mate expression in this homely book. folk. They show how exclusively the
or
## p. 442 (#478) ############################################
442
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
were
1
1
an
in 533.
no-
wars involved the nobility and their re- In the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire,
tainers, and how the commoners carried the Pandects, under the name Basilica,
on their affairs undisturbed by bloody statute authority even down to
battles and subsequent beheadings. We 1453, when Constantinople was captured
learn from the letters of the dress, food, by the Turks.
and social customs of the day, and some In practice, however, it was super-
things appear strange to us, -as the seded in the tenth century by Ezabib-
great formality of address, and the hum- los, which was to a slight degree an
ble deference shown to parents by their epitome of the Basilica. The Ezabiblos
children, and to husbands by their wives; survived even the invasion of the Turks
but we are chiefly impressed by the in some parts of the Empire, and was
fundamental fact that human nature was adopted as the statute law of the king-
then very much what it is now.
dom of Greece in 1835.
Pandects, The, of Justinian. This di-
Scottish Chiefs, The, by Jane Porter.
gest was attempt to form a This spirited historical romance was
complete system of law from the first published in 1809, and has enjoyed
commentaries of the great jurists on the unceasing popularity. It gives many
Roman law. The work was done by a pictures of the true knightly chivalry
committee of seventeen famous lawyers; dear to boyish hearts, and is historic-
it was begun in 530 A. D. and completed ally correct in all important points.
The magnitude of the task The narative opens in 1296 with the
becomes apparent when we hear that murder of Wallace's wife by the Eng-
there are 9,123 extracts in the Pandects lish soldiery, and shows how, fired by
(the word “Pandects » is from the Greek this outrage, he tried to rouse his coun-
Pandecton, which means all-receiving). try against the tyrant Edward. He
The extracts were made from 2,000 treat- gathers about him commons and
ises; one-third of them come from Ul- bles, and gains especial favor with
pian, one-sixth from Paulus, and the venerable Lord Mar. Lady Mar is im-
rest from thirty-six other writers.
pressed by his beauty; and when he
The Pandects, with the Codex Justin-
her dishonorable passion, she
ianus, became the law for the Roman proves his worst enemy, and incites
Empire. When the Lombards invaded the nobles to treason. He also wins
Italy in 568, they overturned almost all the heart of the lovely Helen Mar,
the few remaining Roman institutions, who respects his devotion to his dead
the law-courts among them. In Ra- wife, and does not aspire to be more
venna, however, the Roman law
than his sister. Wallace effects the
still taught; and the Lombards allowed capture of the castles of Dumbarton,
their Roman subjects to be judged ac- Berwick and Stirling, and fights the
cording to the Roman law. The Codex, bloody battles of Stanmore and Fal-
which begins with an invocation to the kirk. But as soon as he becomes promi-
Trinity, and contains a great deal of nent, petty jealousies spring up among
legislation on ecclesiastical matters, was the nobles; and when in spite of his
always held in esteem by the clergy; inferior birth he is appointed regent,
but the Pandects were ignored, as being their rage knows no bounds. He has
the work of pagan jurists.
continually to guard against treachery
In the last part of the eleventh cen- within as well as foes without, but his
tury there was a great revival of the intrepid spirit never fails. He goes in
study of Roman law. There has always the disguise of a harper to the court
been a tradition that this revival was of Edward, and rouses young Bruce to
caused by the discovery at Amalfi of a escape and embrace his country's cause.
copy of the Pandects; but the Pandects Bruce and Wallace go to France to
had never been really forgotten. The rescue the abducted Helen Mar, and
revival of the Roman law was a kind of while there meet Baliol, whom Edward
advance guard of the Renaissance move- had once adjudged king of Scotland.
ment. Irnerius of Bologna, the greatest On returning to his own country Wal-
teacher of his time, revived the study lace finds the English in possession of
of the Pandects, which, together with much of the territory he had wrested
the Codex, became the basis of all from them, and by a series of vigorous
mediæval legislation.
movements regains the mastery. But
scorns
was
## p. 443 (#479) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
443
were
re-
internal feuds and jealousies are too mystery and of a unique settlement on
strong for him, and on Edward's sec- a South Sea island, written in the pro-
ond invasion Wallace is abandoned by saic style of an official document, amply
his supporters. He fees and long substantiates the old adage, « Truth is
eludes his pursuers, but is finally be- stranger than fiction. » The most vivid
trayed, taken to London, and brutally imagination would fail to conceive the
hanged and quartered. But the fire plot of a tale more varied and more
that he had kindled did not altogether exciting in its details.
die out, and Edward was obliged to In 1789 H. M. S. Bounty, Lieutenant
treat Scotland with respect even after Bligh commanding, while sailing in the
he had murdered her hero.
South Seas was captured by mutineers,
and the commander with eighteen of the
Little
ittle Rivers, by Rev. Henry Van
crew were set adrift in the cutter. The
Dyke, D. D. , breathes the very spirit
ship sailed to Tahiti. There dissensions
of wholesome pleasure. The book is
called a record of profitable idleness,
arose among the mutineers. Half of
and describes the author's wanderings
them, accompanied by a score of native
with rod and line, exploring the Adiron-
men and women, sailed away, and all
trace of them was lost for many years.
dack woods, canoeing along the silver
Lieutenant Bligh reached England, re-
streams of Canada to the music of the
old French ballads sung by the guides,
turned to Tahiti, captured the mutineers
who were on that island, and after
tramping the heathery moors of historic
Scotland, following the fir-covered banks
many disasters and shipwreck conveyed
of the Austrian Traun, and trying casts
them to England. A sensational trial
ensued. Two of the mutineers
in the clear green lakes of the Tyrol.
Dr. Van Dyke has heard of people who,
pardoned. The others suffered the ex-
like Wordsworth, feel a passion for the
treme penalty of the law. Then a
action in public sentiment set in, and it
sea or the mountains; but for his part
he would choose a river. Like David's
was generally conceded, even in official
circles, that the insolent and overbearing
hart he pants for the water-brooks, and
conduct of the commander warranted the
asks for nothing better than a quiet
stream with shady banks, where trout
course of the mutineers.
are not too coy.
He loves nature with
Some twenty years later, a British
the love of a poet and a close observer;
vessel happened accidentally to stop
the love of a man whose busy working-
at Pitcairn's Island. The officers were
amazed to meet young men who spoke
life is spent among bricks and mortar,
but who has a country heart.
excellent English, and to find a prosper-
When he
was a little boy, he slipped away with-
ous and happy Christian community,
out leave one day, with a heavy old They learned that the Bounty sailed
largely descendants of the mutineers.
borrowed rod, and spent a long delight-
ful afternoon in landing three tiny trout.
directly from Tahiti to Pitcairn's Island,
where the mutineers made a settlement.
Soon afterwards he was made happy by
Four years later,
a rod of his own, and began to ply the
account of
streams with a zest that has never since
quarrel over woman, the natives
failed. The good sport, the free, irre-
murdered all but four of them. Then
sponsible, out-door life, and the beauty
two of them contracted such beastly
habits of intoxication that one died in
of wild nature, are the subject-matter of
the volume. Bird songs and falling
delirium tremens and the other was put
waters are the music, and happy sum-
to death as a measure of public safety.
One of the survivors, John Adams,
mer sunshine lights its pages. There is,
says the author, very little useful infor-
remembering his early Christian train-
mation to be found here, and no criti-
ing, established the principles of the
cism of the universe, but only a chroni-
Christian religion so firmly in this pecul-
cle of plain pleasures, and friendly
iar community that the almost unknown
observation of men and things. It is
island in the South Seas became
from cover to cover an out-of-doors book,
conspicuous example of an earthly para-
dise.
one for the fireside on a winter night.
This community, maintaining its es-
Mutineers of the Bounty, The, by sential characteristics, still occupies Pit-
This latest pub- cairn and Norfolk Islands. Its members
lished account of a long unsolved ocean carry on a constant correspondence with
on
a
a
a
## p. 444 (#480) ############################################
444
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
was
relatives and friends in England. Many Still, if the objectionable portions of the
photographs of the islanders, reproduced Lettres Persanes) were removed, there
in this book, represent a people prepos- would yet remain enough matter to fur-
sessing in appearance and apparently nish a volume at least as wise as Ba-
comfortable and prosperous.
con's Essays, and far more witty.
L
The Life and Pontificate of Leo the
ettres Persanes, Les (Persian Let-
The
Tenth, by William Roscoe. (2 vols. ,
ters), by Montesquieu, were at first
1868. ) This work is a natural sequel to
published anonymously in 1721. The
its author's (Life of Lorenzo de' Medici,
book is a piquant satire French
which made his reputation. It
society during the eighteenth century,
translated into French (1808), German
its manners, customs, oddities, and ab-
(1818), and Italian (1816-17). Though
surdities being exposed through the
the Italian version, Count Bossi's, was
medium of a wandering Persian, who
placed on the Index Expurgatorius,
happens to find himself in Paris. Usbek
2,800 copies were sold in Italy. The
writes to his friends in the East and in
work
Venice.
was severely criticized by the
The exchange of letters with
Edinburgh Review for an affectation of
his correspondent in the latter city has
for its object to contrast two centres of
profundity of philosophy and sentiment,
and for being prejudiced against Luther.
European life with each other and with
On the whole, however, it is one of the
Ispahan, the centre of social life in Per-
best works on one of the most fascinat-
sia. But Montesquieu is not only a
ing and instructive periods of human
keen and delicate observer of the fash-
history, containing not merely the bi-
ionable world, — some of his dissections
ography of Leo but to a large extent
of the beaux and belles of his time re-
the history of his time; describing not
mind one of Thackeray,– but he touches
only Cæsar Borgia and Machiavelli,
with firmness, though with tact and dis-
but WolseyBayard, and Maximilian.
cretion, on a crowd of questions which
his age was already proposing for solu-
It was the first adequate biography of
Leo X. ; and its attempt to prove him
tion: the relations of populations to gov-
widely influential in the promotion of
ernments, laws, and religion; the eco-
literature and the restoration of the fine
nomic constitution of commerce; the
arts, as well as in the general improve-
proportion between crimes and their
ment of the human intellect that took
punishment; the codification of all the
laws of the various provinces of France;
place in his time, is certainly successful.
liberty, equality, and religious toleration. Reference, Works of. The chief en-
These questions were particularly men- cyclopædias falling under this head,
acing at the time the author wrote, and which are still of interest to readers,
the skill with which he stated them begin with a work projected by Ephraim
through the mouths of his Persians had Chambers, under the title, "Cyclopædia :
something to do with their ultimate set- or, an Universal Dictionary of Art and
tlement. The portraits of different types
Sciences, containing an Explication of
in the Lettres,' sketched with apparent the Terms and an Account of the Things
carelessness, would not be out of place signified thereby in the several Arts,
in the gallery of La Bruyère; they are Liberal and Mechanical, and the several
less austere, but they reveal more force Sciences, Human and Divine. ) It came
and boldness. The work is, unfortu- out in London, 2 vols. folio, 1728, with a
nately, disfigured by many scenes that dedication to the King. It imitated an
are grossly immoral; and this fact had as earlier London work, by John Harris,
much to do with its extraordinary suc- the first secretary of the Royal Society,
cess as its pictures of ideal social virtues. of which the title was Lexicon Tech-
Its mysterious and incomplete descrip- nicum; or, An Universal English Dic-
tions of Oriental voluptuousness delighted tionary of Arts and Sciences,' I vol.
the profligates of the Regency. To the folio, 1220 pages, 1704. This was the
philosophes and skeptics of the time, first alphabetical encyclopædia written
also, the Lettres) showed that Montes- in English. It attempted an account of
quieu was one of themselves; and they the arts and sciences, but omitted antiq-
were happy to have an opportunity of uities, biography, poetry, and theology;
laughing at the Christian ligion, while and dealt only with the terms of ethics,
pretending to laugh at the Mohammedan. grammar, logic, metaphysics, and rhet-
## p. 445 (#481) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
445
(
or
was
>
a
oric. It was reprinted in 1708, and a 1875-89, 24 vols. and Index vol. , with
second volume of 1419 pages was added many plates and very many wood-cuts.
in 1710. It was long very popular, and At one time — namely, in the beginning
prepared the way for other works. That of the present century - the Britan-
of Chambers added ethics, grammar, nica) commended itself to George III.
logic, metaphysics, poetry, politics, rhet- as a publication calculated to counter-
oric, and theology. It was a work judi- act the tendency of that pestiferous
ciously, honestly, and carefully done, and work, the French Encyclopædia. In
long held popular favor. It sold no less our day it is engaged neither in attack
than five editions, 1739-52. A Supple- nor defense of the articles of the politi-
ment came out in 1753, 2 vols. folio, 3307 cal or the religious creeds. In the strife
pages.
Abraham Rees made a revised of opinions “the encyclopædia is not
and greatly enlarged edition, 1778–88, 2 called upon to take any direct part. It
vols.
