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as
were
at anchor, where they are passing the of her through portraits in the society
dreary weeks until the pioneers of the newspapers.
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
507
as
were
at anchor, where they are passing the of her through portraits in the society
dreary weeks until the pioneers of the newspapers.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
As
early as 1734 he gave some indication
of what he had in view by his (Consid-
erations) upon Roman greatness and
Roman decline. The Esprit des Lois)
appeared in 1748, to become in critical
estimation the most important literary
production of the eighteenth century,
before the Encyclopédie. ' Its purpose
was research of the origin of laws, the
principles on which laws rest, and how
they grow out of these principles. It
was designed to awaken desire for free-
dom, condemnation of despotism, and
hope of political progress; and this effect
it had, modifying the thought of the
century very materially, and raising up
a school of statesmen and political econ-
omists at once intelligent and upright in
the interest of the governed.
The Woodman is a translation by Mrs.
John Simpson of Le Forestier,' a
rustic sketch by M. Quesnay de Beaure-
paire, known as a writer under the pseu-
donym of Jules de Glouvet. ) M. de
Beaurepaire, it will be remembered, is a
statesman of wide reputation. It was
due to his fearless and disinterested ac-
tion while procureur général of France,
that the dangerous Boulanger conspiracy
of 1888 was so successfully handled.
(The Woodman) is a story of one of
those rude, untaught peasants who, as
“franctireurs » in the war of 1870, gave
so many startling proofs of heroism and
matchless devotion to their country.
Jean Renaud, known as “The Poacher,"
grows up in a state of semi-savagery.
While yet a child he incurs the displeas-
ure of Marcel, the forest-warden, who
unjustly causes his imprisonment. Upon
this incident turns the whole plot of
the story. Although filled with intense
hatred for Marcel, Jean is so touched by
the friendship of his daughter Henriette
for a homeless waif that he has taken
under his protection, that he saves the
life of the warden at the risk of being
burned to death himself. Henriette is
deeply touched by this act of generosity;
Marcel is callous and unmoved. Then
comes the invasion of La Beauce by the
Prussians after the disastrous battle at
Châteaudun. Jean resolutely defends his
cherished forests against the foe, while
Marcel ingloriously surrenders himself
and the arms for the defense of the
town. The enraged Prussians, however,
declare that Marcel shall be shot to
avenge the death of several of their offi-
cers, if the real culprit is not produced;
and Jean, unwilling that even an enemy
should die through fault of his, hastens
to give himself up. They place him be-
fore the stone wall in the lane: Herri.
running 1. p.
Jean,” sha
а
ette
comes
((
## p. 502 (#538) ############################################
502
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
recounts the adventures of Phra through
recurring existences extending from the
earliest Phænician period to the times
of Queen Elizabeth. Through all these
lives Phra retains his individuality,
though adapted to varying times and
places. The story opens with an expedi-
tion of Phra as a Phænician merchant
to the ten islands,” or “Cassiterides. »
He reappears in the early British days,
the slave consort of his Druid wife, and
changes into a centurion in the house
of a noble Roman lady. At his next
appearance Phra is again a Briton,
and serves under King Harold at Hast-
ings; he is successively a Saxon thane,
and an English knight under King Ed-
ward III. , before his final incarnation
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
when he writes of his various advent-
From act to act of his existence
Phra is followed by Crecy, a damsel
who renews her life as he does, and con-
stantly seeks his love. She dies to save
one of his numerous lives on a French
battle-field where Phra is serving under
Edward III.
ures.
cries, «farewell, great heart, my only
friend; you may depart in peace. I shall
never marry, - never, I assure you! ”
The sharp report of the needle-guns
follows, and the rural idyl is over.
Fate of Mansfield Humphreys, The, by
Richard Grant White. A few chap-
ters of this work appeared in the Atlantic
Monthly Magazine, and the first three
were published in Edinburgh with the
title, Mr. Washington Adams in Eng-
land. There is the thread of a love-
story involving Mansfield Humphreys,
a young and successful American, and
Margaret Duffield, a beautiful English
girl with small expectations and large
accumulations of titled relatives. It ter-
minates in an international marriage, a
residence in Boston, unfortunate business.
speculations, and the triumphant with-
drawal of Margaret — who achieves great-
ness of income by the timely removal of
an eccentric relative — with her husband
in train, to reside in her beloved England,
according to Mr. White, even the
most cultured drop their final «g's. ” The
story is one, if not with a moral, at least
with a purpose, and certainly with a
grievance. The lingual difficulties of
our trans-oceanic cousins are exploited at
length, as well as our own shortcomings
in the matter of speech. The popular
impression in England of the character-
istic American traits is accentuated in a
humorous scene, where Humphreys, mas-
querading as “Washington Adams, a
“gee-hawking » American with chin
whiskers,» «linen duster,» <watch-chain
which would have held a yacht to its
moorings, and other equally attractive
personal accessories, - appears at the gar-
den party of Lord Toppingham's, and by
his absurdities of speech and action pre-
sents an exaggerated caricature of a resi-
dent of “the States, which is placidly
accepted by the English guests as the
realization of their preconceived ideas.
The book aroused so much diverse com-
ment, public and private, that an explana-
tion of its occasion and original purpose
was given in a lengthy apology of some
seventy pages, concerning which the au-
thor says: “Some apologies aggravate
offense; always those which show the un-
just their injustice, for they will be unjust
still. This apology is one of that kind. ”
The
'he Strange Adventures of Phra the
Phænician, by Edwin Lester Ar-
nold (1890), is a fantastic story that
The Surgeon's Stories, by Zakarias
Topelius. Topelius was a Finn; and
his wonderful series of historical tales,
although written originally in Swedish,
exploit the fortunes of a Finnish fam-
ily for six generations, from 1631 to the
latter part of the last century. The
stories are ostensibly related by Andreas
Bäck, a quack doctor, whose career is
humorously set forth in the introduction,
and whose characteristics are portrayed
in the prelude to each cycle of tales.
He was born on the same day as Na-
poleon. According to his own account he
had saved the Swedish feet, and the lives
of Gustavus III. and Arnfelt (or he would
have done so had they listened to him),
he had been granted an audience with
Bonaparte, and had pulled a tooth for
Suvorof; and he liked to relate his ex-
periences with just a tinge of boastful-
ness, but when he was once started on
his narrations he quite forgot himself,
and was carried away by the exciting
events of the past. It was his pleasure
to gather around him in his dusty attic
a little band of listeners ;
; — we see them
all, the postmaster and the old grand-
mother and the schoolmaster and the
rest.
«His memory,” says his chroni-
cler, (was inexhaustible; and as the old
proverb says that even the wild stream
## p. 503 (#539) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
503
does not let its waves flow by all at Zury (an abbreviation for Usury) Prow-
once, so had the surgeon also a continu- der arrives, while still a child, in the
ally new stock of stories, partly from his wild forests of Illinois, there to grow up
own time, and still more from periods with the country. One by one, his little
that had long since passed. He had not sister, his father, and mother give up
a wide historical knowledge; his tales and die; but still the boy continues to
were desultory character-sketches rather live on, and in the end carves riches
than coherent description: . . what
out of poverty. To do this he has suf-
he had was fidelity, warm feeling, and fered extreme privations, and reduced
above all, a power of vivid delineation. » the science of economy to such a degree
The connection between the fifteen sto- that he has earned the distinction of
ries that make up the six volumes is being the meanest man in the county.
maintained by a wopper ring with runic At the juncture when Zury owns half
inscriptions, which is first seen on the the town, and holds mortgages on the
finger of Gustavus Adolphus, and is pop- other half; when he is the whole munici-
ularly supposed to protect him so long pal government and most of the board
as he wears it, from iron and lead, fire of public education, a young woman
and water. This ring he had received from Boston, Miss Ann Sparrow, appears
from a Finnish maiden; and it is his son upon the scene to take charge of the
by this Finnish maiden who founds the (deestrict » school. Henceforth the in-
family of Bertelskjöld, in whose posses- terest in the two is paramount, and
sion the amulet descends with many through the now humorous, now pathetic
adventures through generation after struggles of the girl, at first for recog-
generation. The titles of the six cycles nition, then for success, we see of what
hint at the chronological development: delightfully superficial nature Zury's
Times of Gustavus Adolphus; Times of meanness was after all; and once more
Battle and Rest (1656-97); Times of find an illustration of the wonders that
Charles XII. ; Times of Frederick I. ; a little of the sweetness and light which
Times of Linnæus; Times of Alchemy. accompany education may accomplish,
These stories, with their vivid descrip- even in the wilderness.
tions, their wonderful pictures of battle
,
. (1872. )
Daudet's exqui-
works of historical fiction. In English site portrayal of mock adventures of the
translation they hold their own in com- boastful Tartarin is a delightfully enter-
parison even with Sir Walter Scott's taining specimen of the finest quality of
(Tales of a Grandfather. )
French humorous writing. Tartarin of
Tarascon, to whom the adulation of his
Zury; The Meanest Man in Spring fellow-townsmen is as necessary as the
County: A Novel of Western Life, breath of life, is animated by the spirit
by Joseph Kirkland. Zury) is a tale of of a big-game hunter and a love of ad-
the life and society, of the struggles, re- venture. On Sundays, accompanied by
verses, and disappointments, of those who, his fellow-sportsmen of Tarascon, he goes
at the period immediately preceding our just outside the town, and in lieu of
Civil War, journeyed in prairie schooners other game, long since fied, tosses his
to the settlement of the great West. cap into the air and riddles it with shot.
The story is almost entirely in the At this noble pastime Tartarin is with-
form of dialogue — the peculiar patois of out a peer. His study walls are thickly
the backwoods — and of such a construc- hung with such trophies of his skill. He
tion that it must be followed word for has long been the absolute king of Ta-
word for the successful unraveling of the rascon sportsmen. To assure this posi-
plot. There are no tiresome descriptions, tion among his townsmen, who are be-
and but little narrative, where one so ginning to doubt his prowess, he starts
usually finds a résumé of what has passed for Algiers on a real lion hunt.
and a brief prospectus of what he may With innumerable trunks filled with
expect; so that the careless reader who arms, ammunition, medicine, and con-
glances at the beginning, takes a peep densed aliments, arrayed in the historic
or two at the middle, and then carefully garb of a Turk, Tartarin arrives at Al-
studies the last two chapters, will cer- giers. An object of much curiosity and
tainly find himself quite nonplussed. speculation, he at once sets out for lions,
of romance, take rank among the cables Tartarin. of Tarascon, by Alphonse
a
## p. 504 (#540) ############################################
504
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
but returns daily, disheartened by his freedom, and has succeeded in impart-
fruitless quest. He is himself bagged by ing to his work their antique air and
a pretty woman, Baya, in Moorish dress. flavor.
One day he meets Barbasson, a native
of Tarascon, captain of the Zouave, ply: Swiss Family Robinson, The, or Ad-
ventures in a Desert Island, by
ing from Marseilles to Algiers. Barbas-
son tells him of the anxiety and eager-
J. R. Wyss. This book was originally
written in German, was translated into
ness for news of him at Tarascon.
French, and afterwards into English. It
At this, Tartarin deserts Baya, and
is
an entertaining tale written for
starts south for lions. After many ad-
young people, after the style of "Robin-
ventures in the desert, he finally kills
son Crusoe,) from which the author is
the only lion he has seen,- a poor, blind,
supposed to have derived many of his
tame old lion, for which he has to settle
ideas. It deals with the experiences of
to the amount of all his paraphernalia and
a shipwrecked family, a Swiss clergy-
money. The lion's skin is forwarded to
man, his wife and four sons, who, de-
Tarascon, and Tartarin tramps to Al-
serted by the captain and the crew of
giers, accepts passage from Barbasson,
the vessel on which they are passengers,
and at last reaches home, where he is
greeted with frenzied applause. His po-
finally reach land in safety. They ex-
hibit wonderful ingenuity in the use
sition has been made secure by the
arrival of the lion's skin, and he again
they make of everything which comes
to hand, and manage to subsist on what
assumes his place in Tarascon. Even-
articles of food they find on the island,
ings, at his club, amid a breathless
combined with the edibles which they
throng, Tartarin begins: «Once upon an
are able to rescue from the ship. They
evening, you are to imagine that, out in
have various experiences with wild
the depths of the Sahara — »
beasts and reptiles, but emerge from all
encounters in safety. They build a very
Telemachus (or Télémaque), Advent.
remarkable habitation in a large tree,
ures of, by Fénelon, is a French
which is reached by means of a hidden
prose epic in twenty-four books, which
staircase in the trunk; and in this re-
appeared in 1699. Having been ship-
treat they are secure from the attacks of
wrecked upon the island of the god-
ferocious animals. They continue
dess Calypso, Telemachus relates to her
thrive and prosper for several years, un-
his varied and stirring adventures while
til finally a ship touches at the island,
seeking his father Ulysses, who, going
and they are once again enabled to com-
to the Trojan war, has been absent
municate with the mainland. By this
from home for twenty years. In his
search the youth has been guarded
time, however, they are so well pleased
with their primitive life that they refuse
and guided by the goddess Minerva,
to leave the island home.
The story
disguised as the sage Mentor. This
was left in an unfinished condition by
recital occupies the first six books, the
the author, but several sequels to it
remaining eighteen containing the hero's
have been written, all of which vary in
further remarkable experiences, until at
their accounts of the doings of this in-
last he returns to Ithaca, where he
teresting family. The book has long
finds Ulysses already arrived. On the
enjoyed a well-deserved popularity, and
way thither occur his escape from the
in spite of various anachronisms is en-
island of Calypso, whose love for Te-
lemachus prompts her to detain him on
joyable and entertaining reading.
her fair domain, and his visit to the
Story of Bessie Costrell, The, by Mrs.
infernal regions, in search of his father, Humphry Ward. (1895. ) In this
whom he believes to be dead. This
story Mrs.
Ward has depicted life
romance of education, designed at among the working classes under most
once to charm the imagination and to painful and trying conditions. Bessie
inculcate truths of morals, politics, and Costrell is the niece of John Bolderfield,
religion, has always been regarded as an old man who, by dint of scrimping
a French classic. It is still much used and saving for many years, has ac-
in English-speaking schools, as a model cumulated by hard labor enough money
of French composition. The author has to support himself for the remainder of
borrowed from, and imitated, the Greek his life. This wealth, the acquirement
and Latin heroics with undisguised of which had been the one ambition of
to
## p. 505 (#541) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
505
care
his life, has been kept hoarded in an with the sudden complications intro-
old trunk; and this he confides to the duced into her life by a rumor that she
of his niece, before leaving his is playing a false part and is not free.
native town for a period of some months. The story is well told, and full of
Bessie is much delighted to be given grace and color. The character of Mar-
charge of the money, and at first only garet is distinctly portrayed; while the
regards it with honest feelings of pride; dry speeches of Miss Longstaff, the
but eventually the temptation becomes quaintness of little Gladys, and the kind-
too strong for her, and her natural ex- ness of Mr. Bell, Margaret's elderly ad-
travagance asserting itself, she opens mirer, afford interesting passages.
the chest and spends part of the money
in a reckless way, drinking and treating Story of a Country Town, The, by
E. W. Howe, is a tale of the mo-
her friends. At length her free use of
notonous unlovely life of a small, hard-
money begins to arouse suspicion; and
working, unimaginative Western village.
she takes alarm and goes to the chest to
The story is told in the first person by
count the balance, when she is caught
in the act by her husband's profligate
a boy who has never known any other
life, and whose farthest goal of experi-
son, who assaults her and robs her of
ence is the neighboring town. It is a
the remainder, Matters have reached
masterpiece of modern «realism,” the
this crisis when John returns home, and
life and events of the place being de-
to his horror and consternation, finds his
scribed with a marvelous fidelity. Yet
money gone. He is at first prostrated
the test of veracity fails in the unre-
by the terrible discovery; but on recov-
lieved gloom of the story, which is be-
ering consciousness, he accuses Bessie of
reft of all sunshine and joyousness, and
the theft, which she strenuously denies.
even of all sense of relation to happier
John then sends for the constable, who
things. The town of Twin Mounds
succeeds in proving her guilt. Bessie's
husband, Isaac Costrell, a stern, hard
seems as isolated and strange as if it
were in another world. Even nature is
man, who is a leader in the church, is
utterly cheerless, and human life appar-
overcome with horror on learning of his
ently without hope. The narrative itself
wife's dishonesty, agrees that she will
is loose and rambling, centring about
have to go to prison, and tells her that
the domestic troubles of Joe Erring and
he will have nothing more to do with
his wife, and culminating in dreary
her. The wretched woman, overwhelmed
with terror and grief,
tragedy. The book has a grim fascina-
drowns herself
tion; and at least one extraordinary
in a well; and the narrative ends leav-
ing the husband filled with remorse, and
character, Lyth Biggs, whose cynical
philosophizing leaves the reader fairly
John broken-hearted and penniless. The
benumbed by the chill of its candor.
story is told in a realistic manner; and
although many of the situations are un- The
"he Stickit Minister, by S. R. Crock-
pleasant, it bears the mark of a master ett. (1893. ) The short stories, by
hand.
S. R. Crockett, contained in the collec-
tion called "The Stickit Minister, and
Story of Margaret Kent, The, by Some Common Men,' were first printed
Ellen Olney Kirk. This book was in a newspaper.
published in 1886, under the signature These stories of “that gray Galloway
of Henry Hayes. The scene of the Land, as the author calls it, are told
story is laid in New York, where Mar- in a very simple, pathetic way. The
garet Kent, an
able and fascinating
(stickit minister is a young divinity
woman, is supporting herself and her student, who learns that he must die in
little daughter by means of her pen. a few years from consumption. He and
At a very early age she has married a his younger brother have inherited but
man who has proved to be weak and a small property; so, in order that his
a spendthrift; and who, after dissipat- brother may study to become a doctor,
ing both their fortunes, had left her, he leaves college and goes home to cul-
six years before the story opens, to go
tivate the farm. It is generally supposed
to South America. From the time when that he has failed to pass his examina-
Margaret establishes herself in the city, tion, whence the name “stickit (stuck
the story concerns itself with the suitors fast] minister»; and even his brother
who suppose her to be a widow, and treats him with coldness and ingratitude.
## p. 506 (#542) ############################################
506
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
en-
-as
are
The second story, Accepted of the his faithful serving-maid, Sonia, who
Beasts,) tells of a pure-hearted, noble has become a handsome and capable
young clergyman, who is turned out of girl, and has acquired under his tuition
his church because of certain unfounded considerable education. This story gives
accusations brought against him by the a distinct picture of home life in Rus-
machination of an evil-minded woman. sia, where Madame Gréville resided for
Next morning a farmer discovers him many years, and where she was
singing «He was despised and rejected abled to master all phases of Russian
of men) to a herd of cattle, which character.
press about him to listen. A few hours There is much in the book that is
later he is found lying dead.
bright and noteworthy, and the charac-
(A Heathen Lintie) is the story of a ter of Sonia is developed with much
middle-aged Scotch woman, who has
who has delicacy and originality.
secretly written and has had published a
volume of poems.
She watches anxi The Splendid Spur, by A. T. Quil- .
ler-Couch.
of
ously for the paper which is to contain
(1890. ) The scene
a review of them. At last it comes; but
these thrilling adventures is England,
she dies before she is able to read
in the days of King Charles. Jack
enough of it to discover that what she
Marvel overhears Tingcomb, Sir Deakin
believes is praise is in reality cruel,
Killigrew's steward, plotting with the
scathing criticism.
villainous Settle to destroy his master's
Some of the stories (A Mid-
son, Anthony, and seize the estate. He
summer Idyl,' (Three Bridegrooms and
warns him, but too late; sees him die,
One Bride,' and 'A Knight-Errant of
receives from him the King's letter to
the Streets,
less pathetic and
General Hopton, is himself pursued,
escapes,
more humorous.
rescues Sir Deakin and his
daughter Delia. Sir Deakin dies from
exposure, and Delia sets out with Mar-
Sonia, by Henri Gréville. (1878. ) This
vel to deliver the King's letter.
Ad-
is a powerful and impressive, and
ventures follow thick and fast: they are
at the same time charming and refined,
story of Russian life.
Sonia is a poor
captured, and escape again and again,
little slave girl, who is knocked about
finally reaching Cornwall, Delia's home.
She falls into Settle's clutches; and
and abused by the brutal aristocrats,
Marvel is wounded and nursed by Joan,
bearing the name of Goréline, whom she
a wild Cornish girl, who conveys the
The cruel treatment continues
King's letter to Hopton. Marvel re-
until a young tutor, named Boris Gré-
bof, comes to the château to give les-
covers Delia; they are hard pressed by
sons to Eugène and Lydie, the son and
the foe, but Joan, in Marvel's clothes,
leads them astray,
receives fatal
daughter of the household. He pities
Sonia and is kind to her; and she in
wound, and dies for Marvel's sake.
Tingcomb, the wicked steward, falls
return feels for him the deepest affec-
tion. Boris falls in love with Lydie,
headlong from a precipice, the stolen
who is a very pretty girl, and wins
property is regained, and Delia decides
to seek a safer shelter in France. Mar-
from her a promise of marriage; but
as Madame Goréline discovers
vel remains to fight for King Charles.
the attachment, she is filled with rage
Delia, seeing that he loves her not less,
and at once dismisses the tutor.
but honor more, exclaims, « Thou hast
He
found it, sweetheart, thou hast found the
takes Sonia, who has also been driven
from the house, to his home, where
Splendid Spur. ”
she remains in the employ of his kindly Standish of Standish; by Jane G.
aged mother for several years.
. (is “a
continues to cherish his affection for story of the Pilgrims”); and with this
Lydie all this time, and she allows him charming and authentic narrative the
to consider himself engaged to her; al- author begins her series of tales relating
though she, being weak and fickle, is to the Plymouth Colony. The book is
constantly on the lookout for a chance full of romantic and dramatic episodes,
to make a more brilliant match. Event- all of which are founded on fact, and are
ually she casts Boris off; and he, dis- therefore doubly interesting. In the
covering the falseness of her nature, is opening chapters the Pilgrims are first
consoled, and in course of time marries pictured on board the Mayflower, lying
serves.
a
as soon
## p.
507 (#543) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
507
as
were
at anchor, where they are passing the of her through portraits in the society
dreary weeks until the pioneers of the newspapers. He has an ideal of her
colony can decide on a suitable place for a woman unspoiled by wealth and
a settlement. At last the location is position. He half confides to her his
chosen; and the few log cabins which admiration of her. Later when he learns
serve as abiding places for the Pilgrims that she and her sister, with their father,
prove foundation stones for the flourish- are coming to Olancho to visit their
ing town of Plymouth. Throughout the brother and to see the mines, he is wild
story Miles Standish, who can rightfully with delight. But he is doomed to dis-
be called the hero of this tale, figures appointment in the character of Alice.
prominently. His manliness and courage Appreciative and sensitive as she seems,
in overcoming obstacles and adversity, she has herself too well under control,
his tenderness, and kindness to the is always afraid of going too far, is
sick and suffering, and his deep love never quite sure of Robert Clay's de-
and devotion for sweet Rose Standish, sirability as a husband. Her coldness
form a striking picture. Her death, chills and alienates Clay. Hope, on the
which occurs soon after their landing, other hand, gives expression to her gen-
causes him the deepest sorrow, but he uine enthusiasm. She is delighted with
eventually feels it his duty to marry the strangeness of the life, is as inter-
again; and John Alden's interview with ested in the mines as if she herself
Priscilla Molines in his behalf is pictur-
a director. In the dangers and
esquely described.
His subsequent mar- excitements of the revolution, which
riage to his cousin Barbara Standish, breaks out during her visit, she dis-
which occurs after a stormy courtship, plays courage, nerve, and womanliness.
ends this interesting narrative. Through- The nobility in Clay's nature draws
out the story the privations and suffer- her to him. He loves her and claims
ings of the Pilgrims, which they bear her for his wife. Alice is left to marry
with such courage and fortitude, are a conventional society man of her own
pictured in the most graphic manner. type. (Soldiers of Fortune) is well
Governor Carver and his gentle and written and readable. Full of excite-
delicate wife; John Harland, their faith- ment as it is, the dramatic incidents
ful friend and helper; and Mary Chilton, in it are yet subordinated to the delin-
who has historic interest as being the eation of character.
first woman to step on shore, are also
charmingly portrayed.
The Newcomes, by. W. M. Thackeray
(1854), one of the few immortal
Soldiers of Fortune, by Richard Hard- novels, has many claims to greatness.
ing Davis, was published in 1897, It not only presents a most lifelike and
and is a spirited novel of adventure. convincing picture of English society in
The scene is laid in Olancho, the cap- the firsć half of the century, but it excels
ital of a little seething South-Ameri- in the drawing of individual types.
can republic, on the eve of one of its Colonel Newcome, perhaps the most per-
innumerable revolutions. The hero is fect type of a gentleman to be found in
Robert Clay, a self-made man, an engi- the whole range of fiction, sheds undying
neer, general manager, and resident lustre upon the novel. Ethel Newcome
director of the Valencia Mining Com- is one of the rare women of fiction who
pany in Olancho. Although the novel really live as much in the reader's con-
is full of adventure, it is primarily a sciousness as in the conception of the
study of two types of women, two sis- author. Clive Newcome is also possessed
ters, the daughters of Mr. Langham, of abundant life. His strong and faulty
president of the company.
The elder humanity is the proof of his genuineness.
is a New York society girl of a most All the world knows his story, begin-
finished type, - self-possessed,
— calmly ning with the bravery of boyhood just
critical, with emotions well in check, released from the dim cloisters of Grey
noble, but not noble to the point of Friars. His father, Colonel Newcome,
bad form. Her sister Hope, not yet has come from India to rejoice in him
out, is enthusiastic, generous, sweet. as in a precious possession, and to re-
Robert Clay meets the elder, Alice Lang- new his old associations in London for
ham, at a dinner just before he sails the sake of his son. Clive's career, on
for South America. He has long known which so many hopes are built, is marred
## p. 508 (#544) ############################################
508
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
scene
mere
а
ern
with failures. He loves his cousin Ethel book which aims at presenting to us not
Newcome, but she is hedged from him so much petty details as the large and
by the ambitions of her family. He enduring features of the life of the
himself makes a wretched marriage. Greeks,- enough, certainly, about their
His dreams of success as an artist fade food, their dress, and their houses, but
away. The Colonel loses his fortune, especially “how they reasoned, and felt,
and in his old age becomes a pensioner and loved; why they laughed and why
of Grey Friars. The quiet pathos of his they wept; how they taught and what
death-bed
is unique, even in they learned. The picture, of course, is
Thackeray. With the word “Adsum » mostly Athenian, since only Athenian
upon his lips, the word with which he colors exist for the painting. The result
used to answer the roll-call as a boy at is not only of literary and antiquarian,
school, he passes into peace. Clive and but also of practical value, as showing
Ethel, each free to begin the world how high a civilization was attained by
again, meet at his death-bed. The novel a people that had to contend with a
closes upon their chastened happiness. worthless theology, with slavery, and
No words of praise or criticism, no de- with ignorance of the art of printing.
tailed description, can convey the sense Professor Mahaffy writes in no
of the light and sweetness of "The archæological spirit, but with his eye
Newcomes. '
As novel of English always on the present and the future,
upper and middle class life, it remains as where he refers to the present French
without a rival.
republic, the theory of might being
right, and the case of the Irish. The
Social Life in old Virginia Before
topics treated are: The Greeks of the
the War, by Thomas Nelson Page.
Homeric Age); (The Greeks of the Lyric
This little volume, which in a
way
Age); (The Greeks of the Attic Age);
recalls Washington Irving's (Sketch
(Attic Culture); (Trades and Profes-
Book, is a sympathetic sketch of South-
sions); Entertainments and Conversa-
ante-bellum plantation life, por-
tion’; (The Social Position of Boys in
traying a state of society incredible to
Attic Life); Religious Feeling); and
those who had no experience of it,
Business Habits. )
and probably to-day all but incredible
to those who once knew it best. Be-
History of Spanish Literature, The,
ginning with the great house,” its by George Ticknor. (1849. ) This
grounds, gardens, and outbuildings, the
work was the fruit of twenty years of
personality and life of the mistress, of study and labor. It is divided into three
the master, and of their daughters parts: Part i. , beginning with «The Cid)
and sons, first pass before us. Then and the chronicles, and ending with the
come portraits of those august func-
death of Charles V. ; Part ii. , treating of
tionaries: the carriage driver, the but- the golden age of the drama, the lyric,
ler, and «mammy” the nurse;
and the novel; and Part iii. , making a
the gardeners, the boys about the study of the conditions of the literary
house, the young ladies' own maids,
decadence. The translations used were
and the very furniture, are not forgot-
original; and the book remains an author-
ten. The description embraces both
ity and a classic. Hallam declared that
great house and cabins. The mysteries «It supersedes all others, and will never
of «spending a month two,) of be superseded. ” Translated into many
« spending the day” (i. e. dining), and tongues, its profound learning, its mod-
of Sunday hospitalities, are dissolved; esty, and its forcible style, make it as
the varying seasons,
the fox hunt,
agreeable as it is valuable.
Christmas festivities, the ladies' « “pat-
terns and the gentlemen's politics, –
Spanish Vistas, by George Parsons
Lathrop.
all sides of that complex existence ap-
« C'nless he be extraordi-
narily shrewd,” says the author, “a for-
pear. And the conclusion of the whole
eigner can hardly help arriving in Spain
matter is, that while the social life of
on some kind of a feast-day. ” Perhaps
the Old South had its faults, its
it is that all days in that land of ro-
graces were never equaled. ”
mance seem like red-letter days to one
Social
cial Life in Greece from Homer to who has
from the workaday
Menander, by John Pentland Ma. world and the unshaded vistas of reality.
haffy, is a delightful and instructive Spain, to the general observer, is a field
(
even
or
)
come
## p. 509 (#545) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
509
was
hand. ”
«
scarcely more known than Italy was a scholarly though not always impartial
few decades ago; but each year is in- monograph
creasing the number of its tourists,
and each year the interesting peculiari-Madonna's Child, by Alfred Austin.
This romantic poem, which its au-
ties of the people are becoming modi.
fied, at length to entirely disappear; so
thor, the poet-laureate, calls the “first-
born of his serious Muse,) first
the chapters which preserve the actual
published in 1872. The scene is laid at
appearance of the Spain of to-day have
the additional value of a probable future
Spiaggiascura, on the Riviera; and Olym-
reference. There is no attempt to re-
pia, the heroine, “a daughter of the sun-
view political events in the work, only
light and the shrine,) is sacristan of a
little seaside chapel: -
to present a striking and faithful photo-
graph of the essential characteristics of " Sacred to prayer, but quite unknown to
fame,
the country, and catalogue particular
Maria Stella Maris is its hame.
and local features. If one were forced Breaks not a morning but its snow-white altar
to select among a number of delightful With fragrant mountain flowers is newly
pictures, perhaps the chapter on An-
dight;
dalusia and the Alhambra) would be
Comes not a noon but lowly murmured psalter
Again is heard with unpretentious rite. ”
chosen; but to that on (The Lost City)
To this chapel comes a stranger, Godfrid,
the eye turns again and again with ever
renewed interest. The last pages are
and surprises Olympia,
devoted to (Hints to Travelers, and are
" Atiptoe, straining at a snow-white thorn
Whose bloom enticed but still escaped her
useful in supplying certain information
not to be found in the usual guide-book,
He
and condensing this in a very conven-
« deftly broke
ient form.
A loftier bow in lovelier bloom arrayed,”
Of great value to the work are the and gave it to her; and then accompanied
illustrations of Mr. C. S. Reinhart, made her to the chapel, kneeling with her before
after sketches from life. They assist the the Madonna. Later, she finds to her
author with their graphic touches of hu- horror that he is an unbeliever. To her
mor and the fidelity and spirit of the supplications to -
reproduced scenes, -an assistance which
« Bend pride's stiff knee; no longer grace
is gracefully acknowledged in the charm-
withstand,”
ing preface.
his answer is, “I cannot. » With her he
makes a pilgrimage to Milan. She leaves
The Puritan in Holland, England,
him with a priest who has been her ad-
and America, by Douglas Camp-
viser; but the old priest's efforts are in
bell. (1892. ) This. historical survey of vain, and he tells her:
Puritanism in its ethical, social, and
political aspects is strikingly original,
« Through his parched bosom, prayer no longer
flows.
since it seeks to demonstrate, with much By Heaven may yet the miracle be wrought;
strength and clearness, that the debt of But human ways are weak, and words are
the American nation for its most radical
naught. ”
customs and institutions is not to the She decides that they must part, but he
English at all, but to the Dutch. It en- asks: -
deavors to prove that the very essence " Is there no common Eden of the heart,
of Puritanism came originally from Hol- Where each fond bosom is a welcome guest ?
land, leavened the English nation, and
No comprehensive Paradise to hold
All loving souls in one celestial fold ? »
through the English nation, the embry-
onic American nation. Some of the
She answers: —
most common of American institutions, « Leave me, nay, leave me ere it be too late:
. (common lands and common schools,
Better part here, than part at Heaven's gate. ”
the written ballot, municipalities, reli- « Pure but not spared, she passes from our gaze,
gious tolerance, a federal union of States, Victim, not vanquisher, of Love. And he?
the play of national and local govern-
Once more an exile over land and main:
Ah! Life is sad, and scarcely worth the pain ! »
ment, the supremacy of the judiciary,) —
all these came directly from Holland. Yesterdays with Authors, by James
Mr. Campbell's work is most valuable T. Fields. With the exception of
as an introduction to the study of Amer- Miss Mitford's letters and some para-
ican history, or in itself considered as a graphs of other matters, the contents of
## p. 510 (#546) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
510
this book first appeared in the Atlantic made to fight as gladiators; among
Monthly, during the year 1871, in a them Lentulus, who in dying accuses
series of papers called (Our Whispering Sextus Fannius of having violated a ves-
Gallery. The Yesterdays) are spent tal virgin. Sextus escapes, however,
with Pope, Thackeray, Hawthorne, Dick- and rejoins his forces.
ens, Wordsworth, and Miss Mitford. The prospects of the rebels' complete
With all but the first of these Mr. Fields success are flattering, until Crixus, one
had a personal acquaintance; with Haw- of their leaders, becomes jealous and
thorne, Thackeray, and Dickens, a warm leads off half the army, which is caught
friendship which lasted until their deaths. in a trap by the prætor Crassus, and
The relation between publisher and annihilated. This disaster might have
author is of a delicate nature, having been avoided had not Prusias yielded
in it elements of mutual interest and to the wily charms of Nævia, the young
enforced intimacy; when to this is added wife of the prefect, until too late to
the tie of kindred minds and personal
support Crixus.
The insurgent army
predilection, the record of it is note- falls back on Capua; but is defeated
worthy. The title is particularly appli- in a terrible battle, in which Spartacus
cable to the subject-matter. The re- is killed and Prusias is captured. He
membrance of the day before is so is brought to trial before Lucius Mani-
potent in the present; yesterday and lius, who in gratitude desires to save
to-day are so allied in sentiment, that him, but when Navia's infidelity is
in reading these charming recollections, made known to him through Sextus, he
conversations, letters, anecdotes of work falls dead; whereupon she kills herself,
and play, one feels that the veil has and Prusias is condemned by the prætor
been withdrawn, and those to whom we to crucifixion. Sextus's crime is also
owe so much entertainment and instruc- disclosed, and he is imprisoned; but is
tion are still with us, not merely por- released when Aristocleia, sister to Ba-
traits in a picture gallery revivified by tiatus, confesses that he is innocent, as
the touch of the artist. The author's she herself has been her brother's tool
recollections of Dickens are exceptionally in order to blackmail Sextus.
interesting. To him is accorded a major Prusias demands and receives per-
portion of the book, as in life was mission to address the people from the
accorded a greater share of time and scaffold. He declares that his sole ob-
affection.
ject was to free the slaves from brutal
and oppressive tyranny; and predicts
Prusias, by Ernst Eckstein. The pe- that gradually more humane laws and
riod of this story is the third Mith- treatment will prevail, and that One will
ridatic war, 73 B. C. ; and the scene come of whom he is only the weak
is in and about Capua, whither Prusias, and erring forerunner,- that He, by
a secret agent of Mithridates, with his renouncing all, will conquer all.
He
nephew Cleon, has come ostensibly as then discloses his true name and sta-
tutor to Caius Fannius, but really to tion,– Darius Prusias, brother of Mith-
stir up a revolt against Rome.
ridates, and with him co-King of Pontus.
The way has been prepared and treas- In proof thereof he shows the royal
accumulated at Brundusium by signet ring, from which he suddenly
Phormio. Prusias, in his journey, is so takes a powerful poison and expires.
fortunate as to save the life of Lucius Awed by his majestic death, the offi-
Manilius, prefect of Capua; and uses cials substitute for the disgraceful burial
this opportunity of official favor to of a criminal, a royal funeral pyre.
further his schemes. Caius, Oscan in This tragic story, somewhat pedantic
feeling, becomes his confederate; but in its treatment, was published in 1883.
Quintilia and Sextus, the latter's mother An excellent English version by Clara
and brother, distrust him.
Bell appeared in 1884.
Spartacus and the gladiators and slaves
of Lentulus Betiatus organized.
Three English Statesmen, by Goldwin
Afer, Prusias's attendant, overhears that
course of lectures de-
his master is suspected. The revolt is livered during his professorship of his-
precipitated suddenly, and grows with tory at Oxford University, on Pym,
alarming strides. The Romans
Cromwell, and Pitt. The clear and
overwhelmed, and those captured are brilliant style of the book, vigorous
ure
are
are
## p. 511 (#547) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
511
In his essay
Own
was
and simple, at once enchains the atten-
tion and wins from the reader an ab-
sorbed interest in the author's theories
of politics and politicians. He has the
rare faculty of condensing whole chap-
ters of history into a few words, and of
presenting in one vivid picture the com-
plicated state of nations.
on Pym, he is able in a few pages to
detail the problems and grievances that
had beset the English people, and in-
deed the Continental nations, ever since
the first outbreaks against the absolute
power of the Church.
He recognizes
that the Reformation in England was
by no means accomplished when Henry
VIII. chose for his
ends to
defy the pope; that this upheaval was
precisely the old struggle of the people
against tyranny whether of the Church
or State.
When, after eleven years of
royal government without a Parliament,
Charles I. was forced to call one, Pym
became its leader. It he who
brought to book the great Duke of
Buckingham, he who dared to impeach
Strafford and Laud. The lampooners
spoke a true word in jest when they
called him “King Pym. ” Pym died
early in the great fight; and the soldier.
Cromwell, came the front the
leader of republican England. Mr.
Smith admires Cromwell a genius
and a high-minded man; yet he depre-
cates Carlyle's essay upon him as crass,
undiscriminating worship. The soberer
writer sees Cromwell's faults and de-
plores them. He does not excuse the
execution of the King, or the massacres
in Ireland; but he holds that Cromwell,
to maintain his control over the thou-
sands of reckless fanatics who had made
him their leader, was forced to deeds of
iron. As Protector, he was one of the
strongest and wisest rulers England ever
had. The last and longest paper is that
on Pitt, the great statesman of the
eighteenth century, who was prime min-
ister at twenty-four, and the champion
of free trade, a reformed currency, re-
ligious toleration, colonial emancipation,
abolition of the slave-trade and of slav-
ery. Pitt's espousal of the cause of the
colonies in Parliament especially com-
mends this study of him to American
readers.
)
economic research, of great breadth; but
specially designed to show the wisdom
and justice of free trade among nations.
In the very wide range of subjects dealt
with are found social history, the politics.
of commerce, rules of taxation, and edu-
cational theories now generally accepted;
but the chief burden of the book is free-
dom of trade among all nations. Its
note is international, never considering
how one nation may promote its own
wealth at the expense of other nations.
The work is full of facts, shows wealth
of varied reading, and remarkable sa-
gacity in the use of very imperfect data.
The style of the work is diffuse, and the
arrangement of materials irregular and
loose; more in the manner of a great
study than of a perfectly finished work.
To a very large extent it drew from the
work already done in France by the
economists of the “Encyclopédie » school;
first among whom stood Turgot, whose
(Sur la Formation et la Distribution des
Richesses) supplied Smith with passages
of his first book very closely following
the divisions and arguments of Turgot.
Smith had visited France at the close of
the Seven Years' War, had spent a year
in Paris, and had seen much of the
economists there. He had returned home
in October 1766, and settled in retire-
ment at Kirkcaldy, where he gave ten
years to the production of his book.
Five English editions of the work ap-
peared during its author's life, and it
was translated into many modern lan-
guages. It is at once a great English
classic and a landmark in economical
science. The earlier life of the author
had been that of a professor at the Uni-
versity of Glasgow, where he was given
the chair of logic in 1751, and that of
moral philosophy the next year. In 1759
he published A Theory of the Moral
Sentiments, of which there were six edi-
tions during his life. It was his custom
to give some attention to political econ-
omy in his Glasgow lectures; and he
then drew those inferences on behalf of
freedom of trade which he afterwards
expanded into his (Wealth of Nations. )
In 1763 Smith resigned his chair to take
charge of the education of the son of the
Duke of Buccleugh; and it was on a pen-
sion of £300 a year, given him by the
duke, that he retired to Kirkcaldy. It is
said that Pitt thought well of Smith's
free-trade views, and might in happier
times have adopted a free-trade policy:
to
as
as
Wealth of Nations, An Exquiry into
THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE,
by Adam Smith. (1776. ) A treatise of
## p. 512 (#548) ############################################
512
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
Studies of the Gods in Greece, by
ness.
but it was reserved for the school of given to the need which woman in trial
Cobden to induce England to act has for kindly women. Of course, he
them.
finds in the religion at present existing
in Greece survivals of the ancient myths
An ncient Greece, by C. C. Felton. In
these two octavo volumes are con-
and religious rites, or rather new nam-
tained four courses of lectures, of which
ings for the old gods; as when, at the
the first is a review of the history of
site of Old Paphos, the papissa (priest's
the Greek language and Grecian poetry;
wife), on being asked for guidance to
the second course is devoted to life in
the sanctuary of Aphrodite, corrected her
Greece, and gives an account of the
questioner and told him the sanctuary
origin and history of the Hellenes, an
was not of Aphrodite, but of the Golden
Mother of God.
early as 1734 he gave some indication
of what he had in view by his (Consid-
erations) upon Roman greatness and
Roman decline. The Esprit des Lois)
appeared in 1748, to become in critical
estimation the most important literary
production of the eighteenth century,
before the Encyclopédie. ' Its purpose
was research of the origin of laws, the
principles on which laws rest, and how
they grow out of these principles. It
was designed to awaken desire for free-
dom, condemnation of despotism, and
hope of political progress; and this effect
it had, modifying the thought of the
century very materially, and raising up
a school of statesmen and political econ-
omists at once intelligent and upright in
the interest of the governed.
The Woodman is a translation by Mrs.
John Simpson of Le Forestier,' a
rustic sketch by M. Quesnay de Beaure-
paire, known as a writer under the pseu-
donym of Jules de Glouvet. ) M. de
Beaurepaire, it will be remembered, is a
statesman of wide reputation. It was
due to his fearless and disinterested ac-
tion while procureur général of France,
that the dangerous Boulanger conspiracy
of 1888 was so successfully handled.
(The Woodman) is a story of one of
those rude, untaught peasants who, as
“franctireurs » in the war of 1870, gave
so many startling proofs of heroism and
matchless devotion to their country.
Jean Renaud, known as “The Poacher,"
grows up in a state of semi-savagery.
While yet a child he incurs the displeas-
ure of Marcel, the forest-warden, who
unjustly causes his imprisonment. Upon
this incident turns the whole plot of
the story. Although filled with intense
hatred for Marcel, Jean is so touched by
the friendship of his daughter Henriette
for a homeless waif that he has taken
under his protection, that he saves the
life of the warden at the risk of being
burned to death himself. Henriette is
deeply touched by this act of generosity;
Marcel is callous and unmoved. Then
comes the invasion of La Beauce by the
Prussians after the disastrous battle at
Châteaudun. Jean resolutely defends his
cherished forests against the foe, while
Marcel ingloriously surrenders himself
and the arms for the defense of the
town. The enraged Prussians, however,
declare that Marcel shall be shot to
avenge the death of several of their offi-
cers, if the real culprit is not produced;
and Jean, unwilling that even an enemy
should die through fault of his, hastens
to give himself up. They place him be-
fore the stone wall in the lane: Herri.
running 1. p.
Jean,” sha
а
ette
comes
((
## p. 502 (#538) ############################################
502
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
recounts the adventures of Phra through
recurring existences extending from the
earliest Phænician period to the times
of Queen Elizabeth. Through all these
lives Phra retains his individuality,
though adapted to varying times and
places. The story opens with an expedi-
tion of Phra as a Phænician merchant
to the ten islands,” or “Cassiterides. »
He reappears in the early British days,
the slave consort of his Druid wife, and
changes into a centurion in the house
of a noble Roman lady. At his next
appearance Phra is again a Briton,
and serves under King Harold at Hast-
ings; he is successively a Saxon thane,
and an English knight under King Ed-
ward III. , before his final incarnation
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
when he writes of his various advent-
From act to act of his existence
Phra is followed by Crecy, a damsel
who renews her life as he does, and con-
stantly seeks his love. She dies to save
one of his numerous lives on a French
battle-field where Phra is serving under
Edward III.
ures.
cries, «farewell, great heart, my only
friend; you may depart in peace. I shall
never marry, - never, I assure you! ”
The sharp report of the needle-guns
follows, and the rural idyl is over.
Fate of Mansfield Humphreys, The, by
Richard Grant White. A few chap-
ters of this work appeared in the Atlantic
Monthly Magazine, and the first three
were published in Edinburgh with the
title, Mr. Washington Adams in Eng-
land. There is the thread of a love-
story involving Mansfield Humphreys,
a young and successful American, and
Margaret Duffield, a beautiful English
girl with small expectations and large
accumulations of titled relatives. It ter-
minates in an international marriage, a
residence in Boston, unfortunate business.
speculations, and the triumphant with-
drawal of Margaret — who achieves great-
ness of income by the timely removal of
an eccentric relative — with her husband
in train, to reside in her beloved England,
according to Mr. White, even the
most cultured drop their final «g's. ” The
story is one, if not with a moral, at least
with a purpose, and certainly with a
grievance. The lingual difficulties of
our trans-oceanic cousins are exploited at
length, as well as our own shortcomings
in the matter of speech. The popular
impression in England of the character-
istic American traits is accentuated in a
humorous scene, where Humphreys, mas-
querading as “Washington Adams, a
“gee-hawking » American with chin
whiskers,» «linen duster,» <watch-chain
which would have held a yacht to its
moorings, and other equally attractive
personal accessories, - appears at the gar-
den party of Lord Toppingham's, and by
his absurdities of speech and action pre-
sents an exaggerated caricature of a resi-
dent of “the States, which is placidly
accepted by the English guests as the
realization of their preconceived ideas.
The book aroused so much diverse com-
ment, public and private, that an explana-
tion of its occasion and original purpose
was given in a lengthy apology of some
seventy pages, concerning which the au-
thor says: “Some apologies aggravate
offense; always those which show the un-
just their injustice, for they will be unjust
still. This apology is one of that kind. ”
The
'he Strange Adventures of Phra the
Phænician, by Edwin Lester Ar-
nold (1890), is a fantastic story that
The Surgeon's Stories, by Zakarias
Topelius. Topelius was a Finn; and
his wonderful series of historical tales,
although written originally in Swedish,
exploit the fortunes of a Finnish fam-
ily for six generations, from 1631 to the
latter part of the last century. The
stories are ostensibly related by Andreas
Bäck, a quack doctor, whose career is
humorously set forth in the introduction,
and whose characteristics are portrayed
in the prelude to each cycle of tales.
He was born on the same day as Na-
poleon. According to his own account he
had saved the Swedish feet, and the lives
of Gustavus III. and Arnfelt (or he would
have done so had they listened to him),
he had been granted an audience with
Bonaparte, and had pulled a tooth for
Suvorof; and he liked to relate his ex-
periences with just a tinge of boastful-
ness, but when he was once started on
his narrations he quite forgot himself,
and was carried away by the exciting
events of the past. It was his pleasure
to gather around him in his dusty attic
a little band of listeners ;
; — we see them
all, the postmaster and the old grand-
mother and the schoolmaster and the
rest.
«His memory,” says his chroni-
cler, (was inexhaustible; and as the old
proverb says that even the wild stream
## p. 503 (#539) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
503
does not let its waves flow by all at Zury (an abbreviation for Usury) Prow-
once, so had the surgeon also a continu- der arrives, while still a child, in the
ally new stock of stories, partly from his wild forests of Illinois, there to grow up
own time, and still more from periods with the country. One by one, his little
that had long since passed. He had not sister, his father, and mother give up
a wide historical knowledge; his tales and die; but still the boy continues to
were desultory character-sketches rather live on, and in the end carves riches
than coherent description: . . what
out of poverty. To do this he has suf-
he had was fidelity, warm feeling, and fered extreme privations, and reduced
above all, a power of vivid delineation. » the science of economy to such a degree
The connection between the fifteen sto- that he has earned the distinction of
ries that make up the six volumes is being the meanest man in the county.
maintained by a wopper ring with runic At the juncture when Zury owns half
inscriptions, which is first seen on the the town, and holds mortgages on the
finger of Gustavus Adolphus, and is pop- other half; when he is the whole munici-
ularly supposed to protect him so long pal government and most of the board
as he wears it, from iron and lead, fire of public education, a young woman
and water. This ring he had received from Boston, Miss Ann Sparrow, appears
from a Finnish maiden; and it is his son upon the scene to take charge of the
by this Finnish maiden who founds the (deestrict » school. Henceforth the in-
family of Bertelskjöld, in whose posses- terest in the two is paramount, and
sion the amulet descends with many through the now humorous, now pathetic
adventures through generation after struggles of the girl, at first for recog-
generation. The titles of the six cycles nition, then for success, we see of what
hint at the chronological development: delightfully superficial nature Zury's
Times of Gustavus Adolphus; Times of meanness was after all; and once more
Battle and Rest (1656-97); Times of find an illustration of the wonders that
Charles XII. ; Times of Frederick I. ; a little of the sweetness and light which
Times of Linnæus; Times of Alchemy. accompany education may accomplish,
These stories, with their vivid descrip- even in the wilderness.
tions, their wonderful pictures of battle
,
. (1872. )
Daudet's exqui-
works of historical fiction. In English site portrayal of mock adventures of the
translation they hold their own in com- boastful Tartarin is a delightfully enter-
parison even with Sir Walter Scott's taining specimen of the finest quality of
(Tales of a Grandfather. )
French humorous writing. Tartarin of
Tarascon, to whom the adulation of his
Zury; The Meanest Man in Spring fellow-townsmen is as necessary as the
County: A Novel of Western Life, breath of life, is animated by the spirit
by Joseph Kirkland. Zury) is a tale of of a big-game hunter and a love of ad-
the life and society, of the struggles, re- venture. On Sundays, accompanied by
verses, and disappointments, of those who, his fellow-sportsmen of Tarascon, he goes
at the period immediately preceding our just outside the town, and in lieu of
Civil War, journeyed in prairie schooners other game, long since fied, tosses his
to the settlement of the great West. cap into the air and riddles it with shot.
The story is almost entirely in the At this noble pastime Tartarin is with-
form of dialogue — the peculiar patois of out a peer. His study walls are thickly
the backwoods — and of such a construc- hung with such trophies of his skill. He
tion that it must be followed word for has long been the absolute king of Ta-
word for the successful unraveling of the rascon sportsmen. To assure this posi-
plot. There are no tiresome descriptions, tion among his townsmen, who are be-
and but little narrative, where one so ginning to doubt his prowess, he starts
usually finds a résumé of what has passed for Algiers on a real lion hunt.
and a brief prospectus of what he may With innumerable trunks filled with
expect; so that the careless reader who arms, ammunition, medicine, and con-
glances at the beginning, takes a peep densed aliments, arrayed in the historic
or two at the middle, and then carefully garb of a Turk, Tartarin arrives at Al-
studies the last two chapters, will cer- giers. An object of much curiosity and
tainly find himself quite nonplussed. speculation, he at once sets out for lions,
of romance, take rank among the cables Tartarin. of Tarascon, by Alphonse
a
## p. 504 (#540) ############################################
504
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
but returns daily, disheartened by his freedom, and has succeeded in impart-
fruitless quest. He is himself bagged by ing to his work their antique air and
a pretty woman, Baya, in Moorish dress. flavor.
One day he meets Barbasson, a native
of Tarascon, captain of the Zouave, ply: Swiss Family Robinson, The, or Ad-
ventures in a Desert Island, by
ing from Marseilles to Algiers. Barbas-
son tells him of the anxiety and eager-
J. R. Wyss. This book was originally
written in German, was translated into
ness for news of him at Tarascon.
French, and afterwards into English. It
At this, Tartarin deserts Baya, and
is
an entertaining tale written for
starts south for lions. After many ad-
young people, after the style of "Robin-
ventures in the desert, he finally kills
son Crusoe,) from which the author is
the only lion he has seen,- a poor, blind,
supposed to have derived many of his
tame old lion, for which he has to settle
ideas. It deals with the experiences of
to the amount of all his paraphernalia and
a shipwrecked family, a Swiss clergy-
money. The lion's skin is forwarded to
man, his wife and four sons, who, de-
Tarascon, and Tartarin tramps to Al-
serted by the captain and the crew of
giers, accepts passage from Barbasson,
the vessel on which they are passengers,
and at last reaches home, where he is
greeted with frenzied applause. His po-
finally reach land in safety. They ex-
hibit wonderful ingenuity in the use
sition has been made secure by the
arrival of the lion's skin, and he again
they make of everything which comes
to hand, and manage to subsist on what
assumes his place in Tarascon. Even-
articles of food they find on the island,
ings, at his club, amid a breathless
combined with the edibles which they
throng, Tartarin begins: «Once upon an
are able to rescue from the ship. They
evening, you are to imagine that, out in
have various experiences with wild
the depths of the Sahara — »
beasts and reptiles, but emerge from all
encounters in safety. They build a very
Telemachus (or Télémaque), Advent.
remarkable habitation in a large tree,
ures of, by Fénelon, is a French
which is reached by means of a hidden
prose epic in twenty-four books, which
staircase in the trunk; and in this re-
appeared in 1699. Having been ship-
treat they are secure from the attacks of
wrecked upon the island of the god-
ferocious animals. They continue
dess Calypso, Telemachus relates to her
thrive and prosper for several years, un-
his varied and stirring adventures while
til finally a ship touches at the island,
seeking his father Ulysses, who, going
and they are once again enabled to com-
to the Trojan war, has been absent
municate with the mainland. By this
from home for twenty years. In his
search the youth has been guarded
time, however, they are so well pleased
with their primitive life that they refuse
and guided by the goddess Minerva,
to leave the island home.
The story
disguised as the sage Mentor. This
was left in an unfinished condition by
recital occupies the first six books, the
the author, but several sequels to it
remaining eighteen containing the hero's
have been written, all of which vary in
further remarkable experiences, until at
their accounts of the doings of this in-
last he returns to Ithaca, where he
teresting family. The book has long
finds Ulysses already arrived. On the
enjoyed a well-deserved popularity, and
way thither occur his escape from the
in spite of various anachronisms is en-
island of Calypso, whose love for Te-
lemachus prompts her to detain him on
joyable and entertaining reading.
her fair domain, and his visit to the
Story of Bessie Costrell, The, by Mrs.
infernal regions, in search of his father, Humphry Ward. (1895. ) In this
whom he believes to be dead. This
story Mrs.
Ward has depicted life
romance of education, designed at among the working classes under most
once to charm the imagination and to painful and trying conditions. Bessie
inculcate truths of morals, politics, and Costrell is the niece of John Bolderfield,
religion, has always been regarded as an old man who, by dint of scrimping
a French classic. It is still much used and saving for many years, has ac-
in English-speaking schools, as a model cumulated by hard labor enough money
of French composition. The author has to support himself for the remainder of
borrowed from, and imitated, the Greek his life. This wealth, the acquirement
and Latin heroics with undisguised of which had been the one ambition of
to
## p. 505 (#541) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
505
care
his life, has been kept hoarded in an with the sudden complications intro-
old trunk; and this he confides to the duced into her life by a rumor that she
of his niece, before leaving his is playing a false part and is not free.
native town for a period of some months. The story is well told, and full of
Bessie is much delighted to be given grace and color. The character of Mar-
charge of the money, and at first only garet is distinctly portrayed; while the
regards it with honest feelings of pride; dry speeches of Miss Longstaff, the
but eventually the temptation becomes quaintness of little Gladys, and the kind-
too strong for her, and her natural ex- ness of Mr. Bell, Margaret's elderly ad-
travagance asserting itself, she opens mirer, afford interesting passages.
the chest and spends part of the money
in a reckless way, drinking and treating Story of a Country Town, The, by
E. W. Howe, is a tale of the mo-
her friends. At length her free use of
notonous unlovely life of a small, hard-
money begins to arouse suspicion; and
working, unimaginative Western village.
she takes alarm and goes to the chest to
The story is told in the first person by
count the balance, when she is caught
in the act by her husband's profligate
a boy who has never known any other
life, and whose farthest goal of experi-
son, who assaults her and robs her of
ence is the neighboring town. It is a
the remainder, Matters have reached
masterpiece of modern «realism,” the
this crisis when John returns home, and
life and events of the place being de-
to his horror and consternation, finds his
scribed with a marvelous fidelity. Yet
money gone. He is at first prostrated
the test of veracity fails in the unre-
by the terrible discovery; but on recov-
lieved gloom of the story, which is be-
ering consciousness, he accuses Bessie of
reft of all sunshine and joyousness, and
the theft, which she strenuously denies.
even of all sense of relation to happier
John then sends for the constable, who
things. The town of Twin Mounds
succeeds in proving her guilt. Bessie's
husband, Isaac Costrell, a stern, hard
seems as isolated and strange as if it
were in another world. Even nature is
man, who is a leader in the church, is
utterly cheerless, and human life appar-
overcome with horror on learning of his
ently without hope. The narrative itself
wife's dishonesty, agrees that she will
is loose and rambling, centring about
have to go to prison, and tells her that
the domestic troubles of Joe Erring and
he will have nothing more to do with
his wife, and culminating in dreary
her. The wretched woman, overwhelmed
with terror and grief,
tragedy. The book has a grim fascina-
drowns herself
tion; and at least one extraordinary
in a well; and the narrative ends leav-
ing the husband filled with remorse, and
character, Lyth Biggs, whose cynical
philosophizing leaves the reader fairly
John broken-hearted and penniless. The
benumbed by the chill of its candor.
story is told in a realistic manner; and
although many of the situations are un- The
"he Stickit Minister, by S. R. Crock-
pleasant, it bears the mark of a master ett. (1893. ) The short stories, by
hand.
S. R. Crockett, contained in the collec-
tion called "The Stickit Minister, and
Story of Margaret Kent, The, by Some Common Men,' were first printed
Ellen Olney Kirk. This book was in a newspaper.
published in 1886, under the signature These stories of “that gray Galloway
of Henry Hayes. The scene of the Land, as the author calls it, are told
story is laid in New York, where Mar- in a very simple, pathetic way. The
garet Kent, an
able and fascinating
(stickit minister is a young divinity
woman, is supporting herself and her student, who learns that he must die in
little daughter by means of her pen. a few years from consumption. He and
At a very early age she has married a his younger brother have inherited but
man who has proved to be weak and a small property; so, in order that his
a spendthrift; and who, after dissipat- brother may study to become a doctor,
ing both their fortunes, had left her, he leaves college and goes home to cul-
six years before the story opens, to go
tivate the farm. It is generally supposed
to South America. From the time when that he has failed to pass his examina-
Margaret establishes herself in the city, tion, whence the name “stickit (stuck
the story concerns itself with the suitors fast] minister»; and even his brother
who suppose her to be a widow, and treats him with coldness and ingratitude.
## p. 506 (#542) ############################################
506
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
en-
-as
are
The second story, Accepted of the his faithful serving-maid, Sonia, who
Beasts,) tells of a pure-hearted, noble has become a handsome and capable
young clergyman, who is turned out of girl, and has acquired under his tuition
his church because of certain unfounded considerable education. This story gives
accusations brought against him by the a distinct picture of home life in Rus-
machination of an evil-minded woman. sia, where Madame Gréville resided for
Next morning a farmer discovers him many years, and where she was
singing «He was despised and rejected abled to master all phases of Russian
of men) to a herd of cattle, which character.
press about him to listen. A few hours There is much in the book that is
later he is found lying dead.
bright and noteworthy, and the charac-
(A Heathen Lintie) is the story of a ter of Sonia is developed with much
middle-aged Scotch woman, who has
who has delicacy and originality.
secretly written and has had published a
volume of poems.
She watches anxi The Splendid Spur, by A. T. Quil- .
ler-Couch.
of
ously for the paper which is to contain
(1890. ) The scene
a review of them. At last it comes; but
these thrilling adventures is England,
she dies before she is able to read
in the days of King Charles. Jack
enough of it to discover that what she
Marvel overhears Tingcomb, Sir Deakin
believes is praise is in reality cruel,
Killigrew's steward, plotting with the
scathing criticism.
villainous Settle to destroy his master's
Some of the stories (A Mid-
son, Anthony, and seize the estate. He
summer Idyl,' (Three Bridegrooms and
warns him, but too late; sees him die,
One Bride,' and 'A Knight-Errant of
receives from him the King's letter to
the Streets,
less pathetic and
General Hopton, is himself pursued,
escapes,
more humorous.
rescues Sir Deakin and his
daughter Delia. Sir Deakin dies from
exposure, and Delia sets out with Mar-
Sonia, by Henri Gréville. (1878. ) This
vel to deliver the King's letter.
Ad-
is a powerful and impressive, and
ventures follow thick and fast: they are
at the same time charming and refined,
story of Russian life.
Sonia is a poor
captured, and escape again and again,
little slave girl, who is knocked about
finally reaching Cornwall, Delia's home.
She falls into Settle's clutches; and
and abused by the brutal aristocrats,
Marvel is wounded and nursed by Joan,
bearing the name of Goréline, whom she
a wild Cornish girl, who conveys the
The cruel treatment continues
King's letter to Hopton. Marvel re-
until a young tutor, named Boris Gré-
bof, comes to the château to give les-
covers Delia; they are hard pressed by
sons to Eugène and Lydie, the son and
the foe, but Joan, in Marvel's clothes,
leads them astray,
receives fatal
daughter of the household. He pities
Sonia and is kind to her; and she in
wound, and dies for Marvel's sake.
Tingcomb, the wicked steward, falls
return feels for him the deepest affec-
tion. Boris falls in love with Lydie,
headlong from a precipice, the stolen
who is a very pretty girl, and wins
property is regained, and Delia decides
to seek a safer shelter in France. Mar-
from her a promise of marriage; but
as Madame Goréline discovers
vel remains to fight for King Charles.
the attachment, she is filled with rage
Delia, seeing that he loves her not less,
and at once dismisses the tutor.
but honor more, exclaims, « Thou hast
He
found it, sweetheart, thou hast found the
takes Sonia, who has also been driven
from the house, to his home, where
Splendid Spur. ”
she remains in the employ of his kindly Standish of Standish; by Jane G.
aged mother for several years.
. (is “a
continues to cherish his affection for story of the Pilgrims”); and with this
Lydie all this time, and she allows him charming and authentic narrative the
to consider himself engaged to her; al- author begins her series of tales relating
though she, being weak and fickle, is to the Plymouth Colony. The book is
constantly on the lookout for a chance full of romantic and dramatic episodes,
to make a more brilliant match. Event- all of which are founded on fact, and are
ually she casts Boris off; and he, dis- therefore doubly interesting. In the
covering the falseness of her nature, is opening chapters the Pilgrims are first
consoled, and in course of time marries pictured on board the Mayflower, lying
serves.
a
as soon
## p.
507 (#543) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
507
as
were
at anchor, where they are passing the of her through portraits in the society
dreary weeks until the pioneers of the newspapers. He has an ideal of her
colony can decide on a suitable place for a woman unspoiled by wealth and
a settlement. At last the location is position. He half confides to her his
chosen; and the few log cabins which admiration of her. Later when he learns
serve as abiding places for the Pilgrims that she and her sister, with their father,
prove foundation stones for the flourish- are coming to Olancho to visit their
ing town of Plymouth. Throughout the brother and to see the mines, he is wild
story Miles Standish, who can rightfully with delight. But he is doomed to dis-
be called the hero of this tale, figures appointment in the character of Alice.
prominently. His manliness and courage Appreciative and sensitive as she seems,
in overcoming obstacles and adversity, she has herself too well under control,
his tenderness, and kindness to the is always afraid of going too far, is
sick and suffering, and his deep love never quite sure of Robert Clay's de-
and devotion for sweet Rose Standish, sirability as a husband. Her coldness
form a striking picture. Her death, chills and alienates Clay. Hope, on the
which occurs soon after their landing, other hand, gives expression to her gen-
causes him the deepest sorrow, but he uine enthusiasm. She is delighted with
eventually feels it his duty to marry the strangeness of the life, is as inter-
again; and John Alden's interview with ested in the mines as if she herself
Priscilla Molines in his behalf is pictur-
a director. In the dangers and
esquely described.
His subsequent mar- excitements of the revolution, which
riage to his cousin Barbara Standish, breaks out during her visit, she dis-
which occurs after a stormy courtship, plays courage, nerve, and womanliness.
ends this interesting narrative. Through- The nobility in Clay's nature draws
out the story the privations and suffer- her to him. He loves her and claims
ings of the Pilgrims, which they bear her for his wife. Alice is left to marry
with such courage and fortitude, are a conventional society man of her own
pictured in the most graphic manner. type. (Soldiers of Fortune) is well
Governor Carver and his gentle and written and readable. Full of excite-
delicate wife; John Harland, their faith- ment as it is, the dramatic incidents
ful friend and helper; and Mary Chilton, in it are yet subordinated to the delin-
who has historic interest as being the eation of character.
first woman to step on shore, are also
charmingly portrayed.
The Newcomes, by. W. M. Thackeray
(1854), one of the few immortal
Soldiers of Fortune, by Richard Hard- novels, has many claims to greatness.
ing Davis, was published in 1897, It not only presents a most lifelike and
and is a spirited novel of adventure. convincing picture of English society in
The scene is laid in Olancho, the cap- the firsć half of the century, but it excels
ital of a little seething South-Ameri- in the drawing of individual types.
can republic, on the eve of one of its Colonel Newcome, perhaps the most per-
innumerable revolutions. The hero is fect type of a gentleman to be found in
Robert Clay, a self-made man, an engi- the whole range of fiction, sheds undying
neer, general manager, and resident lustre upon the novel. Ethel Newcome
director of the Valencia Mining Com- is one of the rare women of fiction who
pany in Olancho. Although the novel really live as much in the reader's con-
is full of adventure, it is primarily a sciousness as in the conception of the
study of two types of women, two sis- author. Clive Newcome is also possessed
ters, the daughters of Mr. Langham, of abundant life. His strong and faulty
president of the company.
The elder humanity is the proof of his genuineness.
is a New York society girl of a most All the world knows his story, begin-
finished type, - self-possessed,
— calmly ning with the bravery of boyhood just
critical, with emotions well in check, released from the dim cloisters of Grey
noble, but not noble to the point of Friars. His father, Colonel Newcome,
bad form. Her sister Hope, not yet has come from India to rejoice in him
out, is enthusiastic, generous, sweet. as in a precious possession, and to re-
Robert Clay meets the elder, Alice Lang- new his old associations in London for
ham, at a dinner just before he sails the sake of his son. Clive's career, on
for South America. He has long known which so many hopes are built, is marred
## p. 508 (#544) ############################################
508
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
scene
mere
а
ern
with failures. He loves his cousin Ethel book which aims at presenting to us not
Newcome, but she is hedged from him so much petty details as the large and
by the ambitions of her family. He enduring features of the life of the
himself makes a wretched marriage. Greeks,- enough, certainly, about their
His dreams of success as an artist fade food, their dress, and their houses, but
away. The Colonel loses his fortune, especially “how they reasoned, and felt,
and in his old age becomes a pensioner and loved; why they laughed and why
of Grey Friars. The quiet pathos of his they wept; how they taught and what
death-bed
is unique, even in they learned. The picture, of course, is
Thackeray. With the word “Adsum » mostly Athenian, since only Athenian
upon his lips, the word with which he colors exist for the painting. The result
used to answer the roll-call as a boy at is not only of literary and antiquarian,
school, he passes into peace. Clive and but also of practical value, as showing
Ethel, each free to begin the world how high a civilization was attained by
again, meet at his death-bed. The novel a people that had to contend with a
closes upon their chastened happiness. worthless theology, with slavery, and
No words of praise or criticism, no de- with ignorance of the art of printing.
tailed description, can convey the sense Professor Mahaffy writes in no
of the light and sweetness of "The archæological spirit, but with his eye
Newcomes. '
As novel of English always on the present and the future,
upper and middle class life, it remains as where he refers to the present French
without a rival.
republic, the theory of might being
right, and the case of the Irish. The
Social Life in old Virginia Before
topics treated are: The Greeks of the
the War, by Thomas Nelson Page.
Homeric Age); (The Greeks of the Lyric
This little volume, which in a
way
Age); (The Greeks of the Attic Age);
recalls Washington Irving's (Sketch
(Attic Culture); (Trades and Profes-
Book, is a sympathetic sketch of South-
sions); Entertainments and Conversa-
ante-bellum plantation life, por-
tion’; (The Social Position of Boys in
traying a state of society incredible to
Attic Life); Religious Feeling); and
those who had no experience of it,
Business Habits. )
and probably to-day all but incredible
to those who once knew it best. Be-
History of Spanish Literature, The,
ginning with the great house,” its by George Ticknor. (1849. ) This
grounds, gardens, and outbuildings, the
work was the fruit of twenty years of
personality and life of the mistress, of study and labor. It is divided into three
the master, and of their daughters parts: Part i. , beginning with «The Cid)
and sons, first pass before us. Then and the chronicles, and ending with the
come portraits of those august func-
death of Charles V. ; Part ii. , treating of
tionaries: the carriage driver, the but- the golden age of the drama, the lyric,
ler, and «mammy” the nurse;
and the novel; and Part iii. , making a
the gardeners, the boys about the study of the conditions of the literary
house, the young ladies' own maids,
decadence. The translations used were
and the very furniture, are not forgot-
original; and the book remains an author-
ten. The description embraces both
ity and a classic. Hallam declared that
great house and cabins. The mysteries «It supersedes all others, and will never
of «spending a month two,) of be superseded. ” Translated into many
« spending the day” (i. e. dining), and tongues, its profound learning, its mod-
of Sunday hospitalities, are dissolved; esty, and its forcible style, make it as
the varying seasons,
the fox hunt,
agreeable as it is valuable.
Christmas festivities, the ladies' « “pat-
terns and the gentlemen's politics, –
Spanish Vistas, by George Parsons
Lathrop.
all sides of that complex existence ap-
« C'nless he be extraordi-
narily shrewd,” says the author, “a for-
pear. And the conclusion of the whole
eigner can hardly help arriving in Spain
matter is, that while the social life of
on some kind of a feast-day. ” Perhaps
the Old South had its faults, its
it is that all days in that land of ro-
graces were never equaled. ”
mance seem like red-letter days to one
Social
cial Life in Greece from Homer to who has
from the workaday
Menander, by John Pentland Ma. world and the unshaded vistas of reality.
haffy, is a delightful and instructive Spain, to the general observer, is a field
(
even
or
)
come
## p. 509 (#545) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
509
was
hand. ”
«
scarcely more known than Italy was a scholarly though not always impartial
few decades ago; but each year is in- monograph
creasing the number of its tourists,
and each year the interesting peculiari-Madonna's Child, by Alfred Austin.
This romantic poem, which its au-
ties of the people are becoming modi.
fied, at length to entirely disappear; so
thor, the poet-laureate, calls the “first-
born of his serious Muse,) first
the chapters which preserve the actual
published in 1872. The scene is laid at
appearance of the Spain of to-day have
the additional value of a probable future
Spiaggiascura, on the Riviera; and Olym-
reference. There is no attempt to re-
pia, the heroine, “a daughter of the sun-
view political events in the work, only
light and the shrine,) is sacristan of a
little seaside chapel: -
to present a striking and faithful photo-
graph of the essential characteristics of " Sacred to prayer, but quite unknown to
fame,
the country, and catalogue particular
Maria Stella Maris is its hame.
and local features. If one were forced Breaks not a morning but its snow-white altar
to select among a number of delightful With fragrant mountain flowers is newly
pictures, perhaps the chapter on An-
dight;
dalusia and the Alhambra) would be
Comes not a noon but lowly murmured psalter
Again is heard with unpretentious rite. ”
chosen; but to that on (The Lost City)
To this chapel comes a stranger, Godfrid,
the eye turns again and again with ever
renewed interest. The last pages are
and surprises Olympia,
devoted to (Hints to Travelers, and are
" Atiptoe, straining at a snow-white thorn
Whose bloom enticed but still escaped her
useful in supplying certain information
not to be found in the usual guide-book,
He
and condensing this in a very conven-
« deftly broke
ient form.
A loftier bow in lovelier bloom arrayed,”
Of great value to the work are the and gave it to her; and then accompanied
illustrations of Mr. C. S. Reinhart, made her to the chapel, kneeling with her before
after sketches from life. They assist the the Madonna. Later, she finds to her
author with their graphic touches of hu- horror that he is an unbeliever. To her
mor and the fidelity and spirit of the supplications to -
reproduced scenes, -an assistance which
« Bend pride's stiff knee; no longer grace
is gracefully acknowledged in the charm-
withstand,”
ing preface.
his answer is, “I cannot. » With her he
makes a pilgrimage to Milan. She leaves
The Puritan in Holland, England,
him with a priest who has been her ad-
and America, by Douglas Camp-
viser; but the old priest's efforts are in
bell. (1892. ) This. historical survey of vain, and he tells her:
Puritanism in its ethical, social, and
political aspects is strikingly original,
« Through his parched bosom, prayer no longer
flows.
since it seeks to demonstrate, with much By Heaven may yet the miracle be wrought;
strength and clearness, that the debt of But human ways are weak, and words are
the American nation for its most radical
naught. ”
customs and institutions is not to the She decides that they must part, but he
English at all, but to the Dutch. It en- asks: -
deavors to prove that the very essence " Is there no common Eden of the heart,
of Puritanism came originally from Hol- Where each fond bosom is a welcome guest ?
land, leavened the English nation, and
No comprehensive Paradise to hold
All loving souls in one celestial fold ? »
through the English nation, the embry-
onic American nation. Some of the
She answers: —
most common of American institutions, « Leave me, nay, leave me ere it be too late:
. (common lands and common schools,
Better part here, than part at Heaven's gate. ”
the written ballot, municipalities, reli- « Pure but not spared, she passes from our gaze,
gious tolerance, a federal union of States, Victim, not vanquisher, of Love. And he?
the play of national and local govern-
Once more an exile over land and main:
Ah! Life is sad, and scarcely worth the pain ! »
ment, the supremacy of the judiciary,) —
all these came directly from Holland. Yesterdays with Authors, by James
Mr. Campbell's work is most valuable T. Fields. With the exception of
as an introduction to the study of Amer- Miss Mitford's letters and some para-
ican history, or in itself considered as a graphs of other matters, the contents of
## p. 510 (#546) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
510
this book first appeared in the Atlantic made to fight as gladiators; among
Monthly, during the year 1871, in a them Lentulus, who in dying accuses
series of papers called (Our Whispering Sextus Fannius of having violated a ves-
Gallery. The Yesterdays) are spent tal virgin. Sextus escapes, however,
with Pope, Thackeray, Hawthorne, Dick- and rejoins his forces.
ens, Wordsworth, and Miss Mitford. The prospects of the rebels' complete
With all but the first of these Mr. Fields success are flattering, until Crixus, one
had a personal acquaintance; with Haw- of their leaders, becomes jealous and
thorne, Thackeray, and Dickens, a warm leads off half the army, which is caught
friendship which lasted until their deaths. in a trap by the prætor Crassus, and
The relation between publisher and annihilated. This disaster might have
author is of a delicate nature, having been avoided had not Prusias yielded
in it elements of mutual interest and to the wily charms of Nævia, the young
enforced intimacy; when to this is added wife of the prefect, until too late to
the tie of kindred minds and personal
support Crixus.
The insurgent army
predilection, the record of it is note- falls back on Capua; but is defeated
worthy. The title is particularly appli- in a terrible battle, in which Spartacus
cable to the subject-matter. The re- is killed and Prusias is captured. He
membrance of the day before is so is brought to trial before Lucius Mani-
potent in the present; yesterday and lius, who in gratitude desires to save
to-day are so allied in sentiment, that him, but when Navia's infidelity is
in reading these charming recollections, made known to him through Sextus, he
conversations, letters, anecdotes of work falls dead; whereupon she kills herself,
and play, one feels that the veil has and Prusias is condemned by the prætor
been withdrawn, and those to whom we to crucifixion. Sextus's crime is also
owe so much entertainment and instruc- disclosed, and he is imprisoned; but is
tion are still with us, not merely por- released when Aristocleia, sister to Ba-
traits in a picture gallery revivified by tiatus, confesses that he is innocent, as
the touch of the artist. The author's she herself has been her brother's tool
recollections of Dickens are exceptionally in order to blackmail Sextus.
interesting. To him is accorded a major Prusias demands and receives per-
portion of the book, as in life was mission to address the people from the
accorded a greater share of time and scaffold. He declares that his sole ob-
affection.
ject was to free the slaves from brutal
and oppressive tyranny; and predicts
Prusias, by Ernst Eckstein. The pe- that gradually more humane laws and
riod of this story is the third Mith- treatment will prevail, and that One will
ridatic war, 73 B. C. ; and the scene come of whom he is only the weak
is in and about Capua, whither Prusias, and erring forerunner,- that He, by
a secret agent of Mithridates, with his renouncing all, will conquer all.
He
nephew Cleon, has come ostensibly as then discloses his true name and sta-
tutor to Caius Fannius, but really to tion,– Darius Prusias, brother of Mith-
stir up a revolt against Rome.
ridates, and with him co-King of Pontus.
The way has been prepared and treas- In proof thereof he shows the royal
accumulated at Brundusium by signet ring, from which he suddenly
Phormio. Prusias, in his journey, is so takes a powerful poison and expires.
fortunate as to save the life of Lucius Awed by his majestic death, the offi-
Manilius, prefect of Capua; and uses cials substitute for the disgraceful burial
this opportunity of official favor to of a criminal, a royal funeral pyre.
further his schemes. Caius, Oscan in This tragic story, somewhat pedantic
feeling, becomes his confederate; but in its treatment, was published in 1883.
Quintilia and Sextus, the latter's mother An excellent English version by Clara
and brother, distrust him.
Bell appeared in 1884.
Spartacus and the gladiators and slaves
of Lentulus Betiatus organized.
Three English Statesmen, by Goldwin
Afer, Prusias's attendant, overhears that
course of lectures de-
his master is suspected. The revolt is livered during his professorship of his-
precipitated suddenly, and grows with tory at Oxford University, on Pym,
alarming strides. The Romans
Cromwell, and Pitt. The clear and
overwhelmed, and those captured are brilliant style of the book, vigorous
ure
are
are
## p. 511 (#547) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
511
In his essay
Own
was
and simple, at once enchains the atten-
tion and wins from the reader an ab-
sorbed interest in the author's theories
of politics and politicians. He has the
rare faculty of condensing whole chap-
ters of history into a few words, and of
presenting in one vivid picture the com-
plicated state of nations.
on Pym, he is able in a few pages to
detail the problems and grievances that
had beset the English people, and in-
deed the Continental nations, ever since
the first outbreaks against the absolute
power of the Church.
He recognizes
that the Reformation in England was
by no means accomplished when Henry
VIII. chose for his
ends to
defy the pope; that this upheaval was
precisely the old struggle of the people
against tyranny whether of the Church
or State.
When, after eleven years of
royal government without a Parliament,
Charles I. was forced to call one, Pym
became its leader. It he who
brought to book the great Duke of
Buckingham, he who dared to impeach
Strafford and Laud. The lampooners
spoke a true word in jest when they
called him “King Pym. ” Pym died
early in the great fight; and the soldier.
Cromwell, came the front the
leader of republican England. Mr.
Smith admires Cromwell a genius
and a high-minded man; yet he depre-
cates Carlyle's essay upon him as crass,
undiscriminating worship. The soberer
writer sees Cromwell's faults and de-
plores them. He does not excuse the
execution of the King, or the massacres
in Ireland; but he holds that Cromwell,
to maintain his control over the thou-
sands of reckless fanatics who had made
him their leader, was forced to deeds of
iron. As Protector, he was one of the
strongest and wisest rulers England ever
had. The last and longest paper is that
on Pitt, the great statesman of the
eighteenth century, who was prime min-
ister at twenty-four, and the champion
of free trade, a reformed currency, re-
ligious toleration, colonial emancipation,
abolition of the slave-trade and of slav-
ery. Pitt's espousal of the cause of the
colonies in Parliament especially com-
mends this study of him to American
readers.
)
economic research, of great breadth; but
specially designed to show the wisdom
and justice of free trade among nations.
In the very wide range of subjects dealt
with are found social history, the politics.
of commerce, rules of taxation, and edu-
cational theories now generally accepted;
but the chief burden of the book is free-
dom of trade among all nations. Its
note is international, never considering
how one nation may promote its own
wealth at the expense of other nations.
The work is full of facts, shows wealth
of varied reading, and remarkable sa-
gacity in the use of very imperfect data.
The style of the work is diffuse, and the
arrangement of materials irregular and
loose; more in the manner of a great
study than of a perfectly finished work.
To a very large extent it drew from the
work already done in France by the
economists of the “Encyclopédie » school;
first among whom stood Turgot, whose
(Sur la Formation et la Distribution des
Richesses) supplied Smith with passages
of his first book very closely following
the divisions and arguments of Turgot.
Smith had visited France at the close of
the Seven Years' War, had spent a year
in Paris, and had seen much of the
economists there. He had returned home
in October 1766, and settled in retire-
ment at Kirkcaldy, where he gave ten
years to the production of his book.
Five English editions of the work ap-
peared during its author's life, and it
was translated into many modern lan-
guages. It is at once a great English
classic and a landmark in economical
science. The earlier life of the author
had been that of a professor at the Uni-
versity of Glasgow, where he was given
the chair of logic in 1751, and that of
moral philosophy the next year. In 1759
he published A Theory of the Moral
Sentiments, of which there were six edi-
tions during his life. It was his custom
to give some attention to political econ-
omy in his Glasgow lectures; and he
then drew those inferences on behalf of
freedom of trade which he afterwards
expanded into his (Wealth of Nations. )
In 1763 Smith resigned his chair to take
charge of the education of the son of the
Duke of Buccleugh; and it was on a pen-
sion of £300 a year, given him by the
duke, that he retired to Kirkcaldy. It is
said that Pitt thought well of Smith's
free-trade views, and might in happier
times have adopted a free-trade policy:
to
as
as
Wealth of Nations, An Exquiry into
THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE,
by Adam Smith. (1776. ) A treatise of
## p. 512 (#548) ############################################
512
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
Studies of the Gods in Greece, by
ness.
but it was reserved for the school of given to the need which woman in trial
Cobden to induce England to act has for kindly women. Of course, he
them.
finds in the religion at present existing
in Greece survivals of the ancient myths
An ncient Greece, by C. C. Felton. In
these two octavo volumes are con-
and religious rites, or rather new nam-
tained four courses of lectures, of which
ings for the old gods; as when, at the
the first is a review of the history of
site of Old Paphos, the papissa (priest's
the Greek language and Grecian poetry;
wife), on being asked for guidance to
the second course is devoted to life in
the sanctuary of Aphrodite, corrected her
Greece, and gives an account of the
questioner and told him the sanctuary
origin and history of the Hellenes, an
was not of Aphrodite, but of the Golden
Mother of God.
