No More Learning

Luke and em-
braces Christianity. She refuses to abjure
her religion, is put to death by torture, is
canonized, and still works miracles. Her
body is rescued by Agellius and given
Christian burial. Her death proves the
resurrection of the church at Sicca where
she died: the heathen said that her his-
tory affected them with constraining force.
Agellius becomes a bishop, and is likewise
martyred and sainted.
of Town
and University. By Thomas Dinham
Atkinson. With Introduction by John
Willis Clark. (1897. ) A very complete,
interesting, and richly illustrated account
of the English town and university, which
has been in some respects even
than Oxford a seat of literature, as well
as education, in England. To Ameri-
can readers especially, the work is of
importance because of the extent to which
Cambridge University graduates were
leaders in the planting of New England.
The story of the old town opens many
a picture of early English life and that
of the great group of famous colleges
which constitute the university; and sup-
plies chapters in the history of English
culture peculiarly rich in interest, from
the fact that Cambridge has so largely
stood for broad and progressive views,
while Oxford has until recently repre-
sented narrow conservatism.
more


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366
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Georgics, The, by Virgil
. This great this sublime picture, the fresh, idyllic
work, admittedly the masterpiece delineation of country life and the hap-
of didactic poetry, and considered by piness of rustic swains, if they only
many superior to the Æneid in style, knew, sua sic bona norint! then, at the
was begun, probably at the request of end of the third book, the splendid
Mæcenas, in 717, and completed in 724 games and the magnificent temple of
A. U. C. It is divided into four books. white marble he proposes to raise to
The first treats of agriculture; the sec- Augustus; the description of the pest
ond of trees; the third of the raising of that devastated the pasture-lands of Nori-
cattle; and the fourth of bees. Virgil cum, unrivaled for elegance and pathos ;
has utilized the writings of all the au- and the touching story of the love of
thorities on agriculture and kindred sub- Orpheus and Eurydice with which the
jects in the Greek and Roman world. poem concludes.
Thus, besides the Economica) of Xen-
ophon, the works of the Carthaginian CⓇ
æsar: A sketch, by James Anthony
Mago, translated by order of the Senate,
Froude. (1880. ) A life of the great
and those of Cato and Varro, he con-
soldier, consul, and dictator of Rome,-
sulted the Phenomena) of Aratos for
a general and statesman of unequaled
the signs of the weather, those of Eras-
abilities, and an orator second only to
Cicero. Mr. Froude calls his book a
tothenes for the celestial zones, the writ-
ings of Democritus for the revolution of
sketch only, because materials for a
the moon; and so admirably are all his
complete history do not exist. Cæsar's
materials used with his own poetic in-
career of distinction began in 74 B. C. ,
spiration, that precept and sentiment,
later than Cicero's, and ended March
imagination and reality, are merged in
15th, 44 B. C. , nearly two years before
one complete and harmonious unity. No
the death of Cicero. The fascinations
matter how exact or technical the nature
of style in Mr. Froude's brilliant picture
of the teaching, it is never dry. An
of Cæsar are not equally accompanied
image introduced with apparent careless-
with sober historical judgment. As in
ness vivifies the coldest formula: he tells
his other works, he exaggerates in draw-
the plowman he must break up the clods
ing the figure of his hero. He is to be
of his field and harrow it again and
listened to, not for a verdict but a plea.
again, and then at once shows him
Cæs
golden-haired Ceres, who looks down on
*æsars, The Lives of the First Twelve,
by Caius Suetonius, 130-135 A. D.
him from the Olympian heights with pro- A book of biographies of the Roman
pitious eyes. Besides mythology, which
emperors from Julius Cæsar to Domitian;
the poet uses with great reserve, he finds
and largely a book of anecdotes, mere
in geography resources that quicken the
personal facts, and, to no small extent,
reader's interest. Tmolus, India, the
scandal, much of which may have been
countries of the Sabæans and Chalybes, fiction. It throws hardly any light on
enable him to point out that every land, the society of the time, the character
by a secret eternal law, has its own par- and tendencies of the period; but gives
ticular products; and to predict to the
the twelve personal stories with a care
husbandman that, if he follow good
in regard to facts and a brevity which
counsels, a harvest as bounteous as that
makes every page interesting. The first
which arouses the pride of Mysia or six are much fuller than the last six.
Gargarus shall reward his toil. The epi- In none of them is there any attempt
sodes and descriptions scattered through
at historical judgment of the characters
the poem
are of surpassing beauty. whose picture is drawn. We get the
Among them may be mentioned: the
superficial view only, and to no small
death of Cæsar, with the prodigies that extent the view current in the gossip of
accompanied it, at the end of the first
the time. A fair English translation is
book; in the second, the praise of Italy, given in the Bohn Classical Library.
its climate and its flocks and herds; the
pride and greatness of Clitumnus, with Brutus; or, Dialogue concerning 11.
her numerous cities, her fine lakes, as lustrious Orators, by Cicero. The
broad and as terrible in their fury as work takes its title from Brutus, who was
seaswith her robust population and one of the persons engaged in the discus-
great men who gave to Rome the em- sion. The author begins by expressing
pire of the world; and, as a pendant to his sorrow for the death of Hortensius,


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
367
Cice
and the high esteem in which he held feudal Japan which is now passed away,
him as a speaker. Still he feels rather and illustrates the common ideas of the
inclined to congratulate him on dying people concerning pre-existence and re-
when he did, since he has thus escaped birth. ” Mr. Hearn's knowledge of, and
the calamities that ravage the republic. sympathy with, his subject seem inex-
Then he explains the occasion and the haustible.
object of this dialogue, which is a com-
plete history of Latin eloquence. He
Ecclesiastical Polity, The Laws of,
relates the origin of the art of oratory by Richard Hooker. (1593-97. ) A
among the Romans, its progress, and its learned and broadly rational treatise on
aspect at different epochs; enters into the principles of church government, the
an elaborate criticism of the orators that special aim of which was
to prove.
have successively appeared; and gives, against the Puritanism of the time, that
in an informal sort of way, rules for religious doctrines and institutions do not
those who seek to excel in the oratorical find their sole sanction in Scripture, but
art, and lays down the conditions without may be planned and supported by the
which success is impossible. The work is use of other sources of light and truth;
at once historical and didactic, and em. and that in fact the Scriptures do not
braces every variety of style: being at supply any definite form of church order,
one time simple and almost familiar, at the laws of which are obligatory. The
another almost sublime; but always pure, course of church matters under Queen
sweet, and elegant.
Elizabeth had so completely disregarded
the views and demands of the Puritans
icero, Marcus Tullius, The Life of.
By William Forsyth. (2 vols. , 1863. )
as to give occasion for a work represent-
ing other and wider views; and Hooker's
A chapter of personal history, and of
genius exactly fitted him to supply a
the story of classical culture, in the first
philosophical and logical basis to the
half of the last century before Christ, of
Elizabethan church system. Of the eight
great interest and value. It deals not
books now found in the work, only four
only with the orator and statesman, and
were published at first; then a fifth,
the public affairs in which he played so
longer by sixty pages than the whole of
great a part, but with Cicero as a man,
the first four, in 1597; and three after
a father, husband, friend, and gentle-
his death (November 2d, 1600), – the sixth
man, and with the culture of the time, of
which Cicero was so conspicuous a rep-
and eighth in 1648, and the seventh in
resentative. The picture serves particu-
1617. The admirable style of the work
has given it a high place in English lit-
larly to show along what lines moral and
erature; while its breadth of view, wealth
religious development had taken place
of thought, and abundant learning, have
before the time of Christ. Cicero's pub-
caused it to increase in favor with the
lic career covered the years 80-43 B. C. ,
advance of time.
and within these years fell the career
of Cæsar.
G"
reatest Thing in the World, The,
Gleanings in Buddha Fields, by Laf- by Henry Drummond, takes both
cadio Hearn, (1897,) the sub-title be- theme and title from 1 Cor. xiii. , wherein
ing (Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far (R. V. ) Love is declared to be the great-
East. ) Of its eleven chapters, two are
est of the three Christian graces.
travel sketches, describing trips to Kyoto The author treats Love as the supreme
and Osaka, with additions of much ver- good; and following St. Paul, contrasts
satile information. Japanese art and folk- it favorably with eloquence, prophecy,
song are treated with affectionate care, sacrifice, and martyrdom. Then follows.
while a discussion of certain phases of the analysis: «It is like light. Paul
Shintoism and Buddhism unfolds them passes this thing, Love, through the
from within, the chapter on Nirvana show- magnificent prism of his inspired intel-
ing deep reflection, and marvelous beauty lect, and it comes out on the other side
of phrase. The story of «The Rebirth of broken up into its elements. ”
Katsugoro) is of unusual value and inter- « The Spectrum of Love has nine in-
est as belonging to the native literature gredients: -
of Japan. A translation of a series of Patience – Love suffereth long. '
documents dating back to the early part Kindness - And is kind. "
of the nineteenth century, it reflects the Generosity -- 'Love envieth not. '


## p. 368 (#404) ############################################

368
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Humility – Love vaunteth not itself, a catastrophe which the author indicates
is not puffed up. '
but does not picture.
Courtesy – Doth not behave itself un-
ur Village, by Mary Russell Mitford,
Our
seemly.
Unselfishness — Seeketh not her own. '
was one of the first books written
which show the poetry of everyday life
Good Temper — 'Is not easily pro-
in the country; and Miss Mitford may
voked. )
fairly be called the founder of the school
Guilelessness — "Thinketh no evil. ”
of village literature. There is no cori-
Sincerity — Rejoiceth not in iniquity,
nected story, but the book contains a
but rejoiceth in the truth. )))
series of charming sketches of country
The author then declares that Love
scenes and country people. The chron-
comes by induction - by contact with
icler wanders through the lanes and
God; that it is an effect, — «we love be-
meadows with her white greyhound May.
cause He first loved us. )
flower, gossips about the trees, the flow-
The closing chapter dwells upon the
ers, and the sunsets, and describes the
lasting character of Love (1 Cor. xiii:
8), and asserts its absolute supremacy -
beauty of English scenery. The chap-
terson The First Primrose, Violeting,
“What religion is, what God is, who
The Copse, The Wood, The Dell, and
Christ is, and where Christ is, is Love. "
The Cowslip Ball, seem to breathe the
very atmosphere of spring; while others
Fair God, The, by Lew Wallace, 1873,
tell interesting stories about the people
passed through twenty editions in ten
and village life. In her walks, the saun-
years. It is a historical romance of the
terer is accompanied by Lizzy, the car.
conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, its
penter's daughter, a fascinating baby of
scene laid upon Aztec soil, in the early
three, who trudges by her side, and is a
part of the sixteenth century. The title
very entertaining companion. Descrip-
is derived from Quetzalcoatl, “the fair
tions of the country are dwelt on more
god, the Aztec deity of the air. De-
frequently than descriptions of the peo-
scriptions of the religion and national
ple, but there is a capital sketch of
customs are pleasantly interwoven with
Hannah Bint, — who showed great judg.
the plot. The Emperor Montezuma is
ment in setting up as a dairy-woman
drawn as a noble but vacillating prince,
when only twelve years old, — besides
whom the efforts of nobles and people
various short discourses on schoolboys,
alike fail to arouse to a determined op-
farmers, and the trades-people of the
position to the invading Cortez. At first
town. The scenes are laid in (shady
thinking that the Spaniards are gods, he
yet sunny Berkshire, where the scenery,
insists upon welcoming them as guests,
without rising into grandeur or breaking
ignoring the protests of his subjects, and
into wildness, is so peaceful, so cheerful,
even permitting himself to be craftily shut
so varied, and so thoroughly English. ”
up, a voluntary prisoner, in the quarters
The first series of sketches in Our Vil-
of the Spaniards. Guatamozin, nephew
lage) appeared in 1824.
and son-in-law to Montezuma, mighty in
arms as wise in counsel, organizes the Margaret Ogilvy, by J. Barrie.
,
M. .
This is Barrie's loving tribute (pub-
A fierce conflict rages for many days. lished in 1896) to the memory of his
Toward its close the melancholy Monte- fond mother, who, according to an old
zuma appears upon the prison wall. Be- Scotch custom, was called by her maiden
fore all the people Guatamozin sends a name, Margaret Ogilvy. “God sent her
shaft home to the breast of his monarch, into the world,” he says,
who lives long enough to intrust the em- the minds of all who looked to beau-
pire to his slayer, and also free him from tiful thoughts. ” Margaret was a great
blame for his death, explaining that the reader; she would read at odd
shaft had been aimed at his (Montezu- ments, and complete, the Decline and
ma's) own request.
The Aztec army Fall' in a single winter. It was her
now rallies, and the Spaniards yielding delight to learn scraps of Horace from
at length to starvation, disease, and su- her son, and then bring them into her
perior numbers, leave the empire. Too conversation with colleged men. ”
shattered to regain its former vigor, even Barrie, after leaving the university,
under the wise rule of Guatamozin, the enters journalism, and his proud mother
State gradually totters to its eventual fall, cherishes every scrap he has written.
(to open
mo-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
369
These two people strike up a close com-
radeship, and Bernardine discovers un-
suspected depths of kindness and ten-
derness under the gruff exterior of the
Disagreeable Man. Her own nature is
insensibly softened and enriched by the
sight of the suffering around her. At
the end of the winter Bernardine's
health is re-established, and she returns
to the old second-hand book-shop where
she lives with her uncle. Robert Allit-
sen parts from her with scarcely a word;
but when she has gone, he pours out
in a beautiful letter all the love he feels
for her, and has fought so hard against.
The letter is never sent. Bernardine
confides to her old uncle her love for
this man.
In the meantime Mrs. Allit-
sen, his mother, has died; and shortly
after, Robert Allitsen appears in the
old book-shop. Bernardine requires him
to continue the sacrifice now for her
sake. That same day she is killed by
omnibus; and the Disagreeable
Man »
goes back to Petershof to live
out his lonely life. A sad picture is
given of the thoughtlessness of the care-
takers who accompany the invalids.
her
She laughs when she sees the title of
(An Auld Licht Community in a Lon-
don paper, and is eager to know if
her son receives pay for such an arti-
cle, being greatly amazed to learn that
this is the best remunerated of all his
writing.
“It's dreary, weary,
up-hill
work, but I've wrastled through with
tougher jobs in my time, and please
God, I'll wrastle through with this
one,” said a devout lady to whom some
one had presented one of Barrie's books.
He feared that his mother wrestled
with his writings in the same spirit.
Margaret was a great admirer of Car-
lyle, but her verdict of him was (1
would rather have been his mother
than his wife. » She always spoke of
<that Stevenson with a sneer, but could
not resist reading (Treasure Island and
his other books. Barrie asks, «What
is there about the man that so infatu-
ates the public ? » His mother's loyal
reply is, «He takes no hold of me; I
would hantle rather read your books. ”
Margaret is greatly pleased and very
proud to find herself so often depicted
in her son's books. She affects not
to recognize it, but would give herself
away unconsciously. She says, chuck-
ling, “He tries to keep me out, but he
canna; it's more than he can do. ))
At the ripe age of seventy-six, Mar-
garet Ogilvy peacefully passed away.
Her last words were “God” and “love );
and her son adds, «I think God was
smiling when he took her to him, as
he had so often smiled at her during
these seventy-six years. ”
»
an
But
ut Yet a Woman, by Arthur Sher-
burne Hardy, is a romance of real
life, its scene laid mainly in Paris during
the time of the Second Empire. Renée
Michael, a fair young girl destined to be
a religieuse, shares the home and adorns
the salon of her elderly bachelor uncle,
M. Michael. They enjoy the friendship
of M. Lande, and his son, Dr. Roger
Lande. The four, together with Father
Le Blanc, a kindly old cure, and Madame
Ships that Pass in the Night; by Stephanie Milevski, make up a congenial
. This little
at
story achieved notoriety when it was on Mt. St. Jean. Stephanie, the half-
published in 1894, largely on account of sister of her host, is the young widow of
its taking title. The scene is laid in a a Russian nobleman who has died in
Swiss winter-resort for consumptives. exile. She was associated with the emi-
Bernardine, a pathetic worn-out school- nent journalist M. De Marzac in the
teacher, of the new-woman type, who Bourbon restoration plot, and became the
has had hitherto little human interest, object of his ardent though unrequited
finds herself one of the 250 guests of love. Her affection is for Dr. Roger
the crowded Kurhaus at Petershof. Her Lande; but he loves Renée, and not in
neighbor at table is Robert Allitsen, vain. Stephanie induces M. Michael to
a man whom long illness and pain have allow her to take Renée on a journey to
rendered so brusque and selfish, that he Spain. Upon the eve of their departure,
goes by the name of the Disagreeable De Marzac, angered by Stephanie's con-
Man. ) He declares that he has no fur- tinued denial of his suit, accuses her of
ther duties towards mankind, having taking Renée to Spain in order to prevent
made the one great sacrifice, which is Roger from wooing her until the time
the prolonging, for his mother's sake, of set to begin her novitiate shall have ar-
a wearisome and hopeless existence. rived. The unraveling of this situation
XXX-24


## p. 370 (#406) ############################################

370
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
are
makes an excellent story. The book, girls rowing out of the sunset,-Althea
published in 1883, is written with charm- Indagine, and Cottle's younger daughter
ing delicacy of treatment, and conceived Cassie. Althea is the daughter of an
entirely in the French spirit.
unsuccessful and embittered poet, with
whom the girl leads a hermit life, seeing
Dialogues of the Dead, by George,
Lord Lyttelton. Lord Lyttelton is
no one but the Cottle family and an ad-
opted cousin, Oliver,- whom twenty years
a writer with whom only students of the
before, her uncle Dr. Luttrell had bought
English language and literature
likely to be familiar. In fact, his only
from his grandmother for £5, intending
to see how far education, kindness, and
claims to recognition as a littérateur rest
refined association could eradicate the
upon his (Observations on the Convers-
brutish tendencies in a gipsy child of
ion and Apostleship of St. Paul,' and
the Dialogues' here presented, which
the worst type. The boy, having become
first appeared in 1760. The conversation
an eminent chemist, displays when op-
of the Dialogues » shows how thoroughly portunity offers the worst characteristics
of his race. Lawrence falls in love with
versed the writer must have been in the
Althea; and Oliver Luttrell appears as
history of all times. The ruthless Cortez
his rival, having already, unknown to
sneers at the humanitarian efforts of
William Penn; Cardinal Ximenes haugh- friend Cassie. In the end Oliver is ex-
Althea, trified with the affections of her
tily pulls to pieces the reputation of his
posed as a forger, a discovery which
rival Wolsey; Boileau and Pope, the
deeply pains his foster-father.
Like a
satirists, hold a highly instructive conver-
fairy prince Lawrence comes to the as-
sation upon the merits of their respect-
sistance of all his relatives, revealing
ive literatures; and then comes Charles
himself at the most dramatic moment,
XII.
of Sweden in hot haste to Alex-
ander the Great, with a proposition that
and shipping most of them to Australia,
where there is room for all.
The un-
they two “turn all these insolent scrib-
happy poet, too, decides to emigrate.
blers out of Elysium, and throw them
down headlong to the bottom of Tar-
tarus in spite of Pluto and all his A"
ntonina, by Wilkie Collins. A romance
of the fifth century, in which many
guards, because an English poet, one
of the scenes described in the Decline
Pope, has called us (two madmen. ) »
Alexander demurs at this Draconic meas-
and Fall of the Roman Empire) are re-
ure, and by a few leading questions, Only two historical personages are in-
set to suit the purpose of the author.
which he answers himself, soon shows
troduced into the story,- the Emperor
the royal Swede that he was only a
Honorius, and Alaric the Goth; and
fool. In connection with this work, it
these attain only a secondary importance.
is interesting to note the Dialogues des
Among the historical incidents used are
Morts,' by the French free-thinker Fonte-
the arrival of the Goths at the gates of
nelle, and the Imaginary Conversa-
Rome, the Famine, the last efforts of
tions,' by Walter Savage Landor. The
the besieged, the Treaty of Peace, the
first complete edition of Lord Lyttelton's
introduction of the Dragon of Brass, and
works was published in London in 1776.
the collection of the ransom, - most of
Bell of St. Paul's, The, by Walter
,
these accounts being founded on the chron-
Besant, is a romance covering in icles of Zosimus. The principal charac-
actual development only three months, but ters are Antonina, the Roman daughter
going back twenty years or more for a of Numarian; Hermanric, a Gothic chief-
beginning Lawrence Waller, a typical tain in love with Antonina; Goisvintha,
hero of romance, a young, handsome, rich sister to Hermanric: Vetranio, a Roman
Australian, comes to London and takes up poet; Ulpius, a pagan priest; Numarian,
his residence at Bank Side, in the house a Roman Christian, Father of Antonina
of Lucius Cottle. Although they are not and a fanatic; and Guillamillo, a priest.
aware of the fact, Cottle and his family This book does not show the intricacy of
are cousins to Lawrence's mother; whose plot and clever construction of the au-
husband, an unsuccessful London boat- thor's modern society stories; but it is
builder, having emigrated to Australia, full of action, vivid in color, and suffi-
has become after thirty years premier of ciently close to history to convey a dra-
that colony. On the night of his arrival matic sense of the Rome of Honorius and
the young Australian sees two lovely, the closing-in of the barbarians.


## p. 371 (#407) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
371
erous.
-
Baby's Grandmother, The, by L. B. essay, and is the name of the imaginary
Walford. The heroine of this pleas- village in which they were written:–«An
ant story, one of the most fascinating inland English village where everything
heroines of fiction, is Lady Matilda Wil-
around one is unhurried, quiet, moss-grown
mot, sister of the Earl of Overton. Mar- and orderly. On Dreamthorpe centuries
ried at seventeen, for reasons of policy, have fallen, and have left no more trace
to a bad husband, she comes back in her than last winter's snowflakes. Battles
widowhood to her early home, Overton have been fought, kings have died, history
Hall, to live with her two brothers: the has transacted itself, but all unheeding
elder the little, ugly, shy, kind-hearted and untouched, Dreamthorpe has watched
Earl; and the younger, the Hon. Edward apple-trees redden, and wheat ripen, and
Lessingham, a handsome, affectionate fel- smoked its pipe, and rejoiced over its new-
low, not quite as bright as other people, born children, and with proper solemnity
obstinate, headstrong, and very hard to carried its dead to the church-yard.
manage, yielding his whims to nobody «The library is a kind of Greenwich
but his beautiful sister. Lady Matilda Hospital for disabled novels and romances.
has one daughter, a girl as dull and con- Each of the books has been in the wars.
ventional, as puritanic and self-seeking, The heroes and heroines are of another
as her mother is arch, brilliant, and gen- generation. Lovers, warriors, and villains
This girl, Lotta, marries (out of as dead to the present generation as
the school-room) a young prig, Robert, Cambyses - are weeping, fighting, and in-
in every way suited to her. Thus Lady triguing. It is with a certain feeling of
Matilda, at thirty-seven,- beautiful and tenderness that I look upon these books:
blooming, full of gayety and fun, ready I think of the dead fingers that have
to help everybody, and rejoicing in her turned over the leaves, of the dead eyes
very existence,- finds herself a grand- that have traveled along the lines.
mother. Her son-in-law invites two «Here I can live as I please, here I can
young Londoners, Mr. Challoner and Mr. throw the reins on the neck of my whim.
Whewell, to stand godfather to the baby. Here I play with my own thoughts; here
They come down to the country, and I ripen for the grave. ”
both fall in love with Lady Matilda. Perhaps no better idea can be given of
The plot of this clever story is re. the rest of the essays than by these quota-
markably well managed, -trifling causes tions. Dreamthorpe-the village of dreams
producing large results, as they do in casts its spell over all of them. The love
life. But its great charm and merit lie of quiet, of old books, and reverence for
in its skillful delineation of character, the past, finds its place in them, and if
its artistic contrasts, and its delightful they be dreams, the reader does not care
and never-flagging sense of humor.
to be awakened.
The titles of the other essays are: (On
Am
nne, a novel, by Constance Fenimore
the Writing of Essays); (Of Death and
Woolson, appeared serially in 1882. the Fear of Dying); (William Dunbar);
It immediately took, and has since main- (A Lark's Flight); (Christmas); (Men of
tained, high rank among American novels. Letters); (On the Importance of Man to
The story traces the fortunes, often sad Himself); A Shelf in my Bookcase);
and always varied, of Anne Douglas, a (Geoffrey Chaucer); Books and Gardens);
young orphan of strong impulses, fine (On Vagabonds. '
character, and high devotion to duty.
The plot centres in Ward Heathcote's ar.
Don Orsino, by F. Marion Crawford.
dent and abiding love for Anne, and her This book, which was published in
equally constant affection for him. It is
1892, gives a good idea of Rome after the
managed with much ingenuity, the study unification of Italy, as the author's pur-
of character is close and convincing, and pose is to describe a young man of the
the interest never flags. Like all Miss transition period. It will probably never
Woolson's work it is admirably written. attain the popularity of the two earlier
Saracinesca stories, because many readers
Drea
reamthorpe: A Book of Essays Writ- find the plot unpleasant and the ending
TEN IN THE COUNTRY, by Alexander unsatisfactory. In analysis and develop-
Smith. A collection of twelve essays, which ment of character, however, and in spark-
appeared in 1863, the first prose work ling dialogue, it far surpasses its prede-
of their author. The title is that of the first
cessors.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
an Italian physician. After his marriage
Vaughn discovers that his bride is men-
tally weak; that she has no memory,
and scarcely any comprehension of what
passes. The story then becomes compli-
cated, and full of adventures in Italy and
Siberia. Extremely sensational in char-
acter, and with little literary merit, the
graphic force of this story, the rapidity
of its movement, its directness, and its
skillful suspension of interest, gave it for
a season so extraordinary a vogue that
it outsold every other work of fiction of
vance.
its year.
Orsino Saracinesca longs for a career,
and being rebuffed at home, is attracted
by the sympathetic womanliness of Ma-
dame Maria Consuelo d'Aranjuez, whose
antecedents are mysterious. With the aid
of Del Ferice he undertakes some building
operations, mortgaging his house in ad-
One day he makes love to Ma-
dame d'Aranjuez, but soon realizes the
shallowness of his emotions. Subsequently
constant intercourse renews his affection
on a firmer basis, and he wishes to marry
her. Though she loves him she leaves
Rome, soon writing that a stain on her
birth prevents her marrying him. On the
day of her refusal he learns that his busi-
ness is ruined; but Del Ferice renews the
contract in terms to which Orsino submits,
only to avoid an appeal to his father.
Thus he gets more and more into Del
Ferice's power, until the united fortunes
of the Saracinesca could hardly save him.
At this crisis he receives from Maria Con-
suelo a friendly letter, asking merely that
he tell her about himself. This he gladly
does, writing freely of his business diffi-
culties. Finally the bank releases him
from his obligations, an action inexplica-
ble until the announcement of Consuelo's
marriage to Del Ferice. Then Orsino
guesses, what he afterwards learns, that
she has sold herself to save him. The
story moves rapidly, the atmosphere is
strikingly Italian, and the various compli-
cations are well managed and interesting.
Called Back, by "Hugh Conway. ”
(Frederick John Fargus).
Vaughn, the hero of this story of mys-
tery, is a young Englishman of fortune,
totally blind from cataract. By a curious
accident, he strays one midnight into a
strange house, mistaking it for his own,
and walks in upon a murder. He hears
a scuffle and a woman's shrieks, and
bursting into the room, stumbles over
the body of a man. His keen sense of
hearing informs him that there are three
other men in the room, and a moaning
woman. As he cannot identify them, the
men spare his life, and drug him. Found
by the police in a suburb, he is identified
and taken home. On recovery, he finds
no one to believe in his story. Two years
later, the cataract is operated upon and
he recovers his sight, when he falls
in love with and marries a young girl
of extraordinary beauty, Pauline March.
She is half English, half Italian; her only
living relative being an uncle, Dr. Ceneri,
East Angels, a novel, by Constance
Fenimore Woolson, 1888. Its setting
is “Gracias-à-Dios, a little town lying
half asleep on the southern coast of the
United States, under a sky of almost
changeless blue. The heroine, Edgarda
Thorne, the child of a New England
mother, but with Spanish blood in her
veins, who has lived all her life in
the South, is just ripening into woman-
hood when the story opens. The plot is
concerned chiefly with her love-affairs,
men of totally different types being thus
brought into juxtaposition. Like the au-
thor's other novels, East Angels' lacks
the romantic and ideal elements, but it
is strong in the delineation of every:
day character and incident. It is super-
fluous to say that the workmanship is
excellent and the interest well sustained.
Mehalah, by Sabine Baring-Gould,
1880, is a tale of the salt marshes
on the east coast of Essex, England,
a strange region, where even at the
present day, when this story is dated,
superstition is rife. Every character in
the book is eccentric, the half-mad Mrs.
De Witt with her soldier jacket and
her odd oaths, Elijah Rebow, the fiery
gipsy-beauty Mehalah, or Glory, as she
is called. Mehalah loves George De
Witt, but quarrels with him about
Phæbe Musset. Elijah loves Mehalah,
and vows to make her his wife. To
do this, he robs her of her savings,
burns the house over her head and
compels her to seek shelter under his
roof with her sick mother. So, among
this half-barbarous folk, go on the ameni-
ties of life; and the story grows more
and more lawless to the end.
It is a
powerful study of primitive characters,
never agreeable, but always absorbing.
Its strength is in the skill with which
the romancer environs his fierce human


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
373
creatures with
an equally untamable Whip and Spur, by George E. War-
nature. «Wild, singular, and extraor-
ing, Jr. This series of interesting
dinary as the conceptions and combina- personal experiences of the War of the
tions of the author of Mehalah) are, Rebellion was first published in the At-
they are almost, if not entirely, removed lantic Monthly. It was reprinted in
from the realm of imagination. It is book form in 1875. Colonel Waring was
on this fact that their value and their attached to the 4th Missouri Cavalry,
permanence as literature rest. They and the scene of his service was chiefly
are bits of human history, studies of in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and
eccentric development, scenes from the Tennessee. While there is very little
comedy of unsophisticated life. )
fighting recorded, other no less interest-
ing features of the War are related with-
out any attempt at dramatic effect.
Neighbor Jackwood, by J. T. Trow-
He
bridge, an anti-slavery novel, was tells the stories and paints the charac-
published in 1856, when its author had ters of various horses that he owned,
been turned into an «anti-slavery fanatic, Vix, Ruby, Wellstein, and Max. The
as he called himself, through seeing the two last chapters give a vivid picture of
fugitive slave Anthony Burns marched fox-hunting in England. The volume
from the Boston court-house to a reve- shows that Colonel Waring is as clever
nue cutter in waiting for him by the in handling the pen as in managing the
President's orders at Long Wharf, and great problem of cleaning the streets of
thus returned by the Commonwealth of a great city.
Massachusetts to his Virginia bondage.
“The story finished, I had,” says Mr. Ginx's Baby, by John. Edward Jen-
I
, trouble in
, English
it. I suppose a score of titles were con- laws and the administration of sectarian
sidered, only to be rejected. At last I charitable associations.
Gins, a navvy,
settled down upon Jackwood, but felt earning twenty shillings a week, with a
the need of joining to that name some wife and twelve children, living in two
characteristic phrase or epithet. Thus I rooms of a crowded tenement in a squalid
was led to think of this Scriptural motto district of London, despairs of finding
for the title-page: "A certain woman enough to feed another mouth, and de-
went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, clares he will drown the thirteenth when
and fell among thieves;' which suggested it arrives. He is swerved from his pur-
the question, Who was neighbor unto pose by the offer of the Sisters of
this woman? ) and the answer, Neigh- Misery» to take charge of the infant,
bor Jackwood. And I had my title. ) and Ginx's baby becomes an inmate of
Like his juvenile stories, this novel for a Catholic Home. The child is «res-
grown folks is crowded with incident cued from this Home through the efforts
and dialogue, - homely and true to life of a Protestant society; this society,
in part, and in part melodramatic. The through dissensions and lack of funds,
heroine, Camille,- fugitive (white ) turns him over to the parish; parochial
slave under the alias «Charlotte Woods, law requires his return to the parents:
- is sheltered by the Jackwoods in their and Ginx finally leaves his baby, then
Green Mountain farmhouse, and meets grown to boyhood, on the steps of the
thereabouts the hero, Hector Dunbury. Reform Club, and Alies the country.
Their mutual love, darkened by the dan- Ginx's baby grows up a thief, and ends
gers and distresses which multiply about his life by jumping off Vauxhall bridge,
the path of the fugitive, and almost at the spot where his father set out to
thwarted by a passionate and unscrupu- drown him on the day of his birth.
lous rival for the girl's hand, who knows (Ginx's Baby) was published anony-
her secret, is happily crowned at last by mously in London in 1871, speedily ran
marriage, though the husband has to pur- through many editions, was republished
chase his wife from her Southern master. in the United States, and excited warm
The story was dramatized and played in controversy in the press and even in
Northern theatres with some success; Parliament. It was followed by satires
sympathy for the maiden overcoming the on other phases of social economy, Mr.
prejudice against its abolitionist bearing, Jenkins preserving his anonymity for
and the mésalliance of Hector and Ca- some time under the signature of “The
mille.
Author of Ginx's Baby”; but none of


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374
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a mysterious white race inhabiting the
interior of Africa. Jonathan purchases
her to save her from the horrors of
slavery. The two pass through many ex-
citing adventures, finally arriving in Ka-
loolah's native land, Framazugda, which
is said to be located in 32' north lati-
tude, and somewhere between 250 and
300 of east longitude. In this remark-
able land, Kaloolah is a princess, of sur-
prising charm both of body and mind,
and takes pride in exhibiting to Jona-
than the glories of the wondrous city
of Killoam, whose unexpected civilization
rivals the descriptions of Mr. Rider Hag.
gard's African metropolis. Jonathan de-
termines to renounce America, weds the
fair Kaloolah, and becomes a great man
in Framazugda. The story is filled with
stirring adventure; shipwrecks, pirates,
slaves, deserts, enormous reptiles and
wild beasts, an endless variety of men
and scene, passing rapidly before the
eye, while considerable light is cast upon
the manners and customs of the peo-
ples whom Romer meets. The whole is
couched in dignified language and is per-
vaded by a spirit of wholesome manli-
ness.
the other works of this author attained
such a vogue or exerted such an un-
doubted influence upon the direction of
social reforms.
Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a
Guinea, containing curious and
interesting anecdotes of the most noted
persons in every rank of life whose
hands it passed through, in America,
England, Holland, Germany, and Portu-
gal. This satirical novel, by Charles
Johnstone, an Irishman, was published
in 1760. In Davis's Olio of Biblio-
graphical and Lit lry Anecdote,' a key
to the characters is presented. The
first two volumes of the work were
written for the author's amusement. Its
popularity induced him to extend it to
four volumes.
Chrysal, signifying gold or golden, is
the spirit inhabiting a guinea, which
passes through many hands, from the
prince's to the beggar's. It tells its own
story, which is chiefly the adventures of
those in whose pos ession it is for the
time being. This curious and now rare
work is written in an old-fashioned, pon-
derous style; and judged by modern
standards of melodramatic fiction, is not
very readable.
Cycle of Cathay, A, by W. A. P. Mar-
tin, 1896. A Chinese cycle, explains
the author of this volume, is sixty years,
the period covered in the sketches of
China here included. Dr. Martin, whom
forty-five years of residence qualify to
speak with knowledge of that mysterious
empire, describes the face of the country,
the villages and cities, productions, com-
merce, language, institutions, beliefs, but
above all, the every day life of the people,
and its significance in the general pro
gress of mankind.
History is made to
explain the present, and the present to
throw its light on the future. The tone
is, indeed, that of the foreign observer,
but an observer who honestly tries to dis-
abuse his mind of Occidental prejudice,
and to give an uncolored report. (A Cycle
of Cathay) ranks among the most interest-
ing and valuable of modern books on
China.
Kaloolah, a
aloolah, a narrative of travel and
adventure, by W. S. Mayo, (1849,)
purported to be an autobiography of
Jonathan Romer. In Africa, where most
of the scenes are laid, Jonathan meets
Kaloolah, a young slave who belongs to
was.
Cabot, John, The Discoverer of North
America, and Sebastian, his Son.
A Chapter of the Maritime History of
England under the Tudors (1496–1557).
By Henry Harrisse. (1895. ) A work of
authority for the earliest history of Amer-
ica; especially valuable for its complete
recovery of the true Cabot history, and
exposure of the false tradition of things
done and honors won by Sebastian, the
son, who is proved to have grossly falsi-
fied the course of events to make himself
a far more important figure than he ever
He did indeed play no small part
in the story after his father; but it not
only gave no ground for the claims made
by him in connection with the work of
the father, but left him discredited by
notable want of success. The entire his-
tory is admirably dealt with by Harrisse,
and the story is one of great interest.
Cape Cod, by Henry D. Thoreau: 1865.
Until Thoreau arrived to make ac-
quaintance with its hard yet fascinating
personality, Cape Cod remained unknown
and almost unseen, though often visited
and written about by tourists and students
of nature. Something in the asceticism,
or the directness, or the amazing keen-
ness, of Thoreau's mind brought him into


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375
sympathetic understanding of the thing eter and Worcester under Charles II. «It
he saw, and he interpreted the level got Parson Gauden a bishopric. ) Carlyle
stretches of shore with absolute fidelity. wrote November 26th, 1840. On Thurs-
In these pages the melancholy land looks day, January 4th, 1649, the change of Eng.
as long, lank, and brown » as it looks land from a monarchy to a republic, or
lying under the gray autumn sky. Nor commonwealth, had been made by the pas-
does he spare any prosaic detail. The sage in the Commons House of Parliament
salt wholesomeness of his sea breeze does of three resolutions: (1) That the people
not wholly overcome the offensive flot- are the original of all just power in the
sam and jetsam drifted up on the sand; State; (2) That the Commons represent
but on the other hand, with the simplest that
power; and (3) That their enactinents
means, he communicates what he feels needed no consent of king or peers to have
so fully, — the savage grandeur of the the force of law. On Tuesday, January
sea, and its evanescent and ever-changing 30th, between two and three P. M. , the ex-
loveliness. In this, as in all his other ecution of Charles I. had taken place. Ten
books, Thoreau rises from the observation days later, February 9th, there was pub-
of the most familiar and commonplace lished with great secrecy, and in very mys-
facts, the comparison of the driest bones terious fashion, the small octavo volume of
of observed data, to the loftiest spiritual 269 pages, the title of which is given above.
speculation, the most poetic interpretation The frontispiece to the volume was an elab-
of nature. His accuracy almost convinces orate study in symbols and mottoes, in a
the reader that his true field was history picture of the king on his knees in his cell
or science, until some aërial flight of his looking for a crown of glory. The twenty-
fancy seems to show him as a poet lost eight chapters purporting to have been
to the Muse. But whatever his gifts, he written by Charles, and to tell the spiritual
was above all, as he shows himself in
side of the later story of his life, each be-
(Cape Cod, Nature's dearest observer, to gan with a fragment of narrative, or of
whom she had given the microscopic eye, meditation on some fact of his life, and then
the weighing mind, and the interpretative gave a prayer suited to the supposed cir-
voice.
cumstances. Not only was the whole
scheme of the book a grotesque fiction, but
Our
ur New Alaska; or, The Seward the execution was cheap, pointless, “vapid
Purchase Vindicated, by Charles falsity and cant,” Carlyle said, and a vulgar
Hallock, was published in 1886.