No More Learning

Prethe end itofablishut that Tomed danes bebyna Henier Fieldsnes. ice:
Andrews is really of good , while ceded to that writer's masterpiece,
his sweetheart Fanny, a handsome girl and deemed by some critics the greatest
of humble rank, is the daughter of the English novel, was published in 1749,
parents who had adopted him; and the when the author was forty-two. He had,
pair are wedded amidst general jubila- however, been long at work upon it. The
tion. The confusion arising from the story is Fielding's third piece of fiction,
exchange of children at birth- a device and represents the zenith of his literary
since much used in English fiction — is power; Amelia,' which followed two
cleverly managed. The chief charm of years later and was his last novel, hav-
the story, however, lies in its lively epi- ing less exuberance and happy invention.
sodes, high spirits, and delightful humor. (The History of Tom Jones, a Found-
The success of this novel encouraged ling,' is the full title of the book; Tom
Fielding to write other and better books. is the foundling, left on the doorstep
of a charitable gentleman, Mr. Allworthy,
Clari
larissa Harlowe, by Samuel Rich- who gives him a home and rears him
ardson, was published in 1751, ten with care, but, grieved by his wild con-
years after Pamela,' when Richardson duct as a young man, repudiates him for
was over sixty years old. In Pamela) a time. Tom is a high-spirited, hand-
he tried to draw the portrait of a girl some fellow, generous and honest, but
of humble class in distress; in Clar- perpetually in hot water because of his
issa) he essayed to do the same thing liking for adventure and his gallantry
for a young woman of gentility. She towards women. He loves Sophia West-
is of a good country family (the scene ern, whose father, Squire Western, an
being laid in rural England of the first irascible, bluff, three-bottle, hunting Eng-
half of the eighteenth century, Richard- lish country magnate, is one of the
son's time), and is wooed by Lovelace, best and best-known pieces of character-
a well-known but profligate gentleman. drawing in the whole range of English
The match is opposed by the Harlowes fiction. The match is opposed strenu-
because of his dubious reputation. Clar- ously by the squire; and Tom sets out
issa for some time declines his advances; on his travels under a cloud, hoping to
but as she is secretly taken by his dash- win his girl in spite of all. He is ac-
ing ways, he succeeds in abducting her, companied by his tutor, the schoolmaster
and so compromising her good name Partridge, a simple-minded, learned man,
that she dies of shame,- her betrayer very lovable, a capitally drawn and
being killed in a duel by her cousin, amusing figure. Another character sym-
Colonel Morden. Lovelace's name has be- pathetically sketched is that of Blifil,
come a synonym for the fine-gentleman the contemptible hypocrite who seeks
profligate. He is drawn as by no means Sophia's hand and tries to further his
without his good side, and as sincerely cause by lying about Jones. Tom has
loving Clarissa, who stands as a sym- many escapades, especially of the ama-
pathetic study of a noble-minded young tory sort; and his experiences are nar-
woman in misfortune.
The story is rated with great liveliness, reality, and
largely told by letters exchanged be- unction, the reader being carried along
tween Clarissa and her confidante Miss irresistibly by the author's high good
Howe, and between Lovelace and his spirits. No other eighteenth-century story
friend Belford. Its affecting incidents give such truthful, varied, and animated
moved the heart of the eighteenth cen- scenes of contemporaneous life in coun-
tury, and ladies of quality knelt at Rich- try and town. Jones finally triumphs
ardson's feet imploring him to spare his over his enemies, is reconciled with his
heroine. To the present-day reader, the guardian, the blot on his birth is re-
tale seems slow and prolix; but it was moved, and he wins his Sophia. He is
able to enchain the attention of a man throughout a likable fellow, though his
like Macaulay, and has much merit of ethics are not always agreeable to mod-
plot and character.
It is, moreover, a ern taste or conscience.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
43
name
а
Expedition of Humphrey Clinker,
The, by Tobias Smollett. This
novel, Smollett's last and generally con-
sidered his best one, was published in
1771, only a few months before he died
at the age of fifty-one. The young man
who gives his
to the story is
really the least conspicuous of its char-
acters, and has not
very strongly
marked individuality. About a quarter
of the story has been told before he is
introduced He then makes his appear-
ance as a “shabby country fellow, who
takes the place of a postilion discharged
from the service of Mr. Matthew Bram-
ble. «He seemed to be about twenty
years of age, of a middle size, with
bandy legs, stooping shoulders, high fore-
head, sandy locks, pinking eyes, fat nose,
and long chin; but his complexion was
of a sickly yellow, his looks denoted
famine, and the rags that he wore could
hardly conceal what decency requires to
be covered. »
In spite of his unattractive exterior,
Humphrey soon wins the regard of his
employer and his family, to whom in
the end he proves to be related, though
by the bar sinister. The story is told in
a series of letters from Matthew Bram-
ble, an elderly bachelor, to his friend
and medical adviser, Dr. Lewis; by his
maiden sister Tabitha, to the house-
keeper, Mrs. Gwyllim; by Winifred Jen-
kins, her maid, to another maid, Mary
Jones; and by Lydia and Jeremiah Mel-
ford, niece and nephew of the Brambles,
to their friends Mrs. Jermyn, and Letitia
Willis, and Sir Watkins Philips. The
time covered by the letters is little more
than six months, and they are written
while the Brambles and their relatives
and servants are making a pleasure tour
through England and Scotland. The
letters are the vehicle of much interest.
ing information about the different places
visited by the family, including Bath and
all its frivolities, Scarborough, London
in the season, Newcastle and other towns
in the north, Edinburgh, Manchester,
and various country regions. Although
the novel has too much the air of a
guide-book through which runs a very
slender thread of story, each one of the
writers has his own point of view re-
garding persons and places. Each one
also displays his characteristics:
Matthew Bramble is observing, amiable
if a little cynical; his sister vain and
bent on getting a husband; Winifred,
her maid, is a youthful Mrs. Malaprop;
Lydia is a dutiful niece, though con-
stant to the lover from whom they try to
separate her; and Jeremiah, fresh from
Oxford, shows that his air of man of
the world is only assumed. In the end
Tabitha secures a husband, a Captain
Lismahago. Lydia's lover, masquerading
under the name of Wilson, proves to be
George Dennison, the son of estimable
and rich parents; and on the day when
aunt and niece are married to the men
of their choice, Humphrey Clinker, now
known as Matthew Lloyd, is married to
Winifred Jenkins.
Though (Humphrey Clinker) may not
altogether meet modern requirements as
a work of fiction, as a picture of eigh-
teenth-century life it is extremely inter-
esting. Smollett had a keen insight into
human nature, which gives a value to
all that he writes. The plot of Hum-
phrey Clinker) is perfectly clean; but in
many places it is stained by what may
be called colloquial coarseness.
Evelina, by Frances Burney: In 'Ev.
elina; or, the History of a Young
Lady's Entrance into the World, Miss
Burney, describing the experiences of her
charming little heroine in London, gives
a vivid picture of the manners and cus-
toms of the eighteenth century.
Some years before the opening of the
story, Sir John Belmont has deserted his
wife. When she dies, their child Evelina
is brought up in the seclusion of the coun.
try by her kind guardian, Mr. Villars. Sir
John is followed to France by an ambi-
tious woman, a nurse, who carries her
child to him in place of his own, and he
educates this child believing her to be his
daughter. Evelina, meantime, grown to
be a pretty, unaffected girl, goes to visit
Mrs. Mirvan in London, and is introduced
to society. She meets Lord Orville, the
dignified and handsome hero, and falls in
love with him. Later she is obliged to
visit her vulgar grandmother, Madame
Duval; and while with her ill-bred rela-
tives she undergoes great mortification
on meeting Lord Orville and Sir Clement
Willoughby, a persistent lover. During
this visit Evelina saves a poor young
man, Mr. Macartney, from committing
suicide. He proves to be the illegitimate
son of Sir John Belmont, and in Paris
he has fallen in love with the supposed
daughter of that gentleman, who, he is
afterwards told, is his own sister. He
own


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44
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
tells Evelina his story: but as no names
are mentioned, they remain in ignorance
of their relationship. At Bath, Evelina
sees Lord Orville again, and in spite of
many misunderstandings they at last
come together. Sir John returns from
France, is made to realize the mistake that
had been made, and accepts Evelina as his
rightful heir. All mysteries are cleared
up, Mr. Macartney marries the nurse's
child so long considered Sir John's daugh-
ter, and Lord Orville marries Evelina.
The characters are interesting con-
trasts: Orville, Lovel, Willoughby, and
Merton standing for different types of
fashionable men; while Captain Mirvan,
Madame Duval, and the Branghtons are
excellent illustrations of eighteenth-cen-
tury vulgarity. The story is told by let-
ters, principally those of Evelina to her
guardian. “Evelina) was published in
1778, and immediately brought fame to
the authoress, then only twenty-five years
old.
Cecil
scene gives up Mortimer. But the hero.
ine has her reward at the end. It is
hard, in our day, to understand the over-
powering family pride and prejudice, the
effects of which constitute largely the
story of the heroine. Cecilia) was pub-
lished in 1782, four years after the issue
of Evelina,' and met with public favor
almost as great as that which welcomed
the earlier romance. Sentimental, arti-
ficial, and unliterary though they are,
Miss Burney's stories present a vivid
picture of the society of her time, and
are likely to remain among the English
classics.
The Diary and Letters of Madame
D'Arblay, the gifted Fanny Bur-
ney, surpass in modern estimation the
rest of her writings. The record begins
with «Evelina. ) The success of her first
effort, the dinings, winings, and compli-
ments that followed, are recorded with
a naive garrulousness perfectly consistent
with simplicity and sincerity. The three
periods of the authoress's life, - her
home life, her service as maid of honor to
Queen Charlotte, and her subsequent trav-
vels and residence abroad with General
D'Arblay, -are described. She draws
portraits of her friends: Johnson, Burke,
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thrale, Boswell,
and her “Dear Daddy Crisp. Outside
their talk of literary celebrities, these me-
moirs describe court etiquette under the
coarse Madame Schwellenberg, the trial
of Warren Hastings, the king's insanity
during 1788–89, and many other incidents
which were the talk of the town. In later
life, after her husband had regained his
command, the stay of the D'Arblays in
Waterloo just before the day of the battle
furnishes a passage upon great events.
From this source, Thackeray, when describ-
ing the departure and death of George
Osborne in Vanity Fair,' probably drew
his material. Lively, talkative, gossips,
full of prejudices, the book is as interest-
ing as little Frances Burney herself must
have been.
Castle
astle Rackrent, by Maria Edgeworth.
This, as the author announces, is
(an Hibernian tale taken from facts and
from the manners of the Irish squire
before the year 1782. The memoirs of
the Rackrent family are recounted by
Thady Quirk, an old steward, who has
been from childhood devotedly attached
to the house of Rackrent. The old retain-
er's descriptions of the several masters
»
ecilia, by Frances Burney. "Cecilia;
or, Memoirs of an Heiress) is a
typical English novel of a century ago.
The plot is simple, the story long drawn
out, the style stilted, and the characters
alone constitute the interest of the book,
and justify Dr. Johnson's praise of Miss
Burney as a little character-monger. )
The charming heroine, Cecilia Bever-
ley, has no restriction on her fortune but
that her future husband must take her
She goes to London to stay with
Mr. Harrel, one of her guardians, and is
introduced into society by his wife. Mr.
Harrel contrives to influence her for his
own advantage, and succeeds in keeping
about her only those admirers who serve
him personally. She and the hero, Mor-
timer Delvile, have therefore little inter-
After borrowing money from
Cecilia and gambling it all away, Mr.
Harrel in despair commits suicide. Ce-
cilia then visits her other guardian, Mr.
Delvile, at his castle, where she is con-
stantly thrown with Mortimer, his son.
Family pride keeps him from proposing
to Cecilia, whose birth does not equal
his own; but her beauty and gentleness
overcome his resolves, and he persuades
her to a secret marriage. Mr. Monckton,
who wishes to secure Cecilia's fortune,
discovers her plans, and with the help of
an accomplice prevents the marriage, at
the very church. Cecilia returns to the
country, and after a harrowing family
name.
course.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
45
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under whom he has served, vividly por- present race of females is not very favor.
tray various types of the fine old Irish able to domestic happiness. ” His dying
gentleman); foremost among them all father had also enjoined Celebs to take
being Sir Patrick Rackrent, who lived the advice of an old friend, Mr. Stanley,
and died a monument of old Irish hospi- before marrying. Celebs goes to Stan-
tality,
> and whose funeral was such a ley Grove in Hampshire, taking London
one as was never known before or since on his way, and meeting at the house
in the county. ” Then comes Sir Mur- of Sir John Bedfield several fashionable
tagh Rackrent, whose famous legal knowl- women who fail to reach his standard of
edge brought the poor tenants little con- eligibility. At Stanley Grove he finds
solation; and his wife, of the Skinfiint his ideal in one of the six daughters of
family, who had a charity school for the house, Lucilla, with whom he duti-
poor children, where they were taught to fully falls in love, to be at once accepted.
read and write gratis, and where they In the month of his probation he meets
were kept spinning gratis for my lady Dr. Barlow, rector of the parish; Lady
in return. ) Next follows Sir Kit, «God Ashton, a gloomy religionist; the Carl-
bless him! He valued a guinea as little tons, ;-a dissolute and unbelieving hus-
as any man, money was no more to him band who is converted by a saintly wife;
than dirt, and his gentleman and groom and Tyrril, holding the Antinomian doc-
and all belonging to him the same. ) Also trine of faith without works, whose foil
his Jewish wife, whom he imprisons in is Flam, a Tory squire, simple in faith
her room for seven years because she and practicing good works.
The con-
refuses to give up her diamonds. In the versation of these and other personages
words of Thady, it was a shame for supplies the didactic features of the novel.
her not to have shown more duty, when (Celebs) was published in London in
he condescended to ask so often for such 1808, and had an instant and great pop-
a bit of a trifle in his distresses, espe- ularity. The first edition was sold in a
cially when he all along made it no fortnight; the book went through three
secret that he married her for money. ” more within three months, and eleven
The memoirs close with the history of within a year. Its republication in the
Sir Condy Rackrent, who dies from United States was also highly successful.
quaffing on a wager a great horn of
punch, after having squandered the re-
mainder of the family fortune. Castle Guy Mannering, by Sir Walter Scott.
(Guy Mannering,' the second of
Rackrent) was issued in 1801, and was Scott's novels, appeared anonymously in
the first of a series of successful novels 1815, seven months after (Waverley. It
produced by the author, whose descrip- is said to have been the result of six
tions of Irish character, whether grave weeks' work, and by some critics is
or gay, are unsurpassed. Sir Walter thought to show the marks of haste. Its
Scott has acknowledged that his original time is the middle of the eighteenth cen-
idea, when he began his career as a nove tury, its scene chiefly Scotland. Guy
elist, was to be to Scotland what Miss Mannering himself is a young English-
Edgeworth was to Ireland.
man, at the opening of the story trav-
eling through Scotland. Belated
Celebs in Search of a Wife, by Han- night, he is hospitably received at New
nah More. This is the best-known Place, the home of the Laird of Ellan-
work of fiction by that prolific moralist, gowan.
When the laird learns that the
Hannah More. It was written after she
young man has studied astrology, he
had passed her sixtieth year, and was begs him to cast the horoscope of his
intended as an antidote to what she con- son, born that very night.
sidered the deleterious influence of the The young man, carrying out his prom-
romantic tales of that day. In Celebs) ise, is dismayed to find two possible
she sought to convey precepts of religion, catastrophes overhanging the boy: one
morals, and manners, in the form of a at his fifth, the other at his twenty-first
novel. Celebs, a young gentleman of year. He tells the father, however, what
fortune and estate in the north of Eng- he has discovered, in order that he may
land, sets out to find a woman who shall have due warning; and later proceeds on
meet the somewhat exacting requirements his way.
of his departed mother. This estimable The fortunes of the Laird of Ellan-
matron held that “the education of the gowan, Godfrey Bertram, are
ne.
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46
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
the ebb, and he has hardly money to spoilt by a weak fussy father, lives alone
keep up the estate. His troubles are with him. Her married sister's brother-
increased when his son Harry, at the in-law, Mr. Knightley, is a frequent vis-
age of five, is spirited away.
No one
itor at their house; as is Mrs. Weston,
can learn whether the child is dead or Emma's former governess. Mr. Knightley
alive, and the shock at once kills Mrs. is a quiet, sensible English gentleman,
Bertram. After some years the father the only one who tells Emma her faults.
himself dies, leaving his penniless daugh- Finding life dull, Emma makes friends
ter Lucy to the care of Dominie Samp- with Harriet Smith, an amiable, weak-
son, an old teacher and a devoted friend minded young girl, and tries to arrange a
of the family. When things are at match between her and Mr. Elton, the
their worst for Lucy Bertram, Guy Man- clergyman, but fails. Frank Churchill -
nering, returning to England after many Mrs. Weston's stepson - arrives in the
years' military service in India, hears village, pays marked attention to Emma,
accidentally of the straits to which she and supplies the town with gayety and
is reduced. He at once invites her and gossip. Shortly after his departure, a let-
Dominie Sampson to make their home ter brings the news of his rich aunt's
with him and his daughter Julia. He death, and his own secret engagement to
has leased a fine estate, and Dominie Jane Fairfax, a beautiful girl in High-
Sampson rejoices in the great collection bury. Emma suspects Harriet of being
of books to which Colonel Mannering in love with Mr. Churchill, but discovers
gives him free access. In India Julia that she cherishes instead a hidden affec-
had formed an attachment for Vanbeest tion for Mr. Knightley. The disclosure
Brown, a young officer, against whom her fills Emma with alarm, and she realizes
father feels a strong prejudice. Captain for the first time that no one but herself
Brown has followed the Mannerings to must marry him. Fortunately he has
England; and to make a long story short, long loved her; and the story ends with
is proved in the end to be the long-lost her marriage to him, that of Harriet to
Harry Bertram, and Lucy's brother. The Mr. Martin, her rejected lover, and of
abduction had been accomplished with Jane to Frank Churchill.
the connivance of Meg Merrilies, a gipsy The gradual evolution of her better
of striking aspect and six feet tall; of self in Emma, and her unconscious admi-
Frank Kennedy, a smuggler; Dirk Hat- ration for Mr. Knightley's quiet strength
teraick, a Dutch sea-captain, also con- of character, changing from admiration
cerned in smuggling; and of Gilbert to love as she herself grows, is exceed-
Glossin, once agent for the Laird of El- ingly interesting. Chief among the other
langowan.
Glossin had aimed to get characters are Mr. Woodhouse, a nervous
possession of the laird's property, and invalid with a permanent fear of colds,
finally succeeded; but after the discov- and a taste for thin gruel; and talkative
ery of his crime, he dies a violent death Miss Bates, who fits from one topic of
in prison.
conversation to another like a distracted
All told, there are fewer than twoscore butterfly. Less brilliant than (Pride and
characters in (Guy Mannering,' and the Prejudice,! (Emma) is equally rich in hu-
plot is not very complicated. Meg Mer- mor, in the vivid portraiture of character,
rilies, and Dominie Sampson the uncouth, and a never-ending delight in human
honest pedant, are the only great crea- absurdities, which the fascinated reader
tions.
shares from chapter to chapter. It was
published in 1816, when Jane Austen was
by Jane Austen. The story of forty-one.
(Emma) is perhaps one of the sim-
plest in all fiction, but the genius of Miss
Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life,
Austen manifests itself throughout. All by “Christopher North” (Professor
her books show keen insight into human John Wilson, author of Noctes Ambro-
nature; but in 'Emma' the characters are sianæ'). First published in 1822 in
so true to life, and the descriptions so book form, and dedicated to Sir Walter
vivid, that for the time one positively lives Scott. The stories deal with the deep-
in the village of Highbury, the scene of est and the simplest passions of the soul,
the tale. At the opening of the story, - such themes as the love of man and
Emma Woodhouse, the heroine, hand- maid, of brother and sister, of husband
some, clever, and rich,) and somewhat
and wife; death, loyal-heartedness, and
(
>
Emma,


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
47
betrayal; of the Lily of Liddesdale (the A reconciliation is brought about, and
shepherdess lassie), and how she over- a short time after Gertrude's return to
came the temptation to be false to her the castle the Earl dies and she is made
manly farmer lover and marry a lord; rich. Colonel Delmour then renews his
of the reconciliation of two brothers over love-making, and becomes her accepted
their father's grave; of the death in lover in London. After their return to
childbirth of a beautiful wife; of the Scotland, a vulgar man, who has pre-
reconcilement of a deserted betrothed viously had secret interviews with Mrs.
girl to her lover by the girl's friend, St. Clair to obtain money, comes boldly
who was herself on the morrow about to forward and claims to be Gertrude's
become his bride. The tales resemble father. From this point the interest of
a little Hawthorne's (Twice-Told Tales,' the story lies in the development of
but a good deal more the recent beauti- character in Gertrude and her lovers,
ful Scottish stories of the (Bonnie Briar and the way in which they face what
Bush) and Margaret Ogilvy) variety, seems an irremediable misfortune.
The
though devoid of the Scotch dialect of characters are drawn with humor, the
these latter. Artless tales they are, full descriptions are true to nature, and there
of tenderest emotion and pathos, deal- are several original situations in the
ing with lowly but honest family life. book; as for instance the arrival at the
A little of the melodramatic order, with castle of Miss Pratt, a gossiping old
just a suspicion of a taste for scarlet spinster, in a hearse drawn by eight
and the luxury of tears (as in the story horses, in which she has sought shelter
of Little Nell in Dickens), and written from a snow-storm.
in a florid high-flown diction. Yet ad-
mirably wholesome reading, especially Destiny, by Susan Edmonston Ferrier.
This story, published in 1831, is the
for young people, who have always pas-
sionately loved them and cried
last and best of the three novels by the
over
Scotch authoress. The scene of action
them. They give also fine pictures of
Scotch rural scenery,- mountain, heath,
is the Highlands, and fashionable Lon-
don society in the first part of the nine-
river, snow-storm, the deep-mossed cot-
tage with its garden of tulips and roses,
teenth century. Written in a clear, bright
the lark overhead, and within, the little
style, in spite of its length it is inter-
esting throughout. Its tone is serious,
pale-faced dying daughter. Such a story
as (Moss-Side) gives as sweet and quiet
but the gravity is brightened by a de-
a picture as Burns's (Cotter's Saturday
lightful humor, which reveals both the
ludicrous and the sad side of a narrow-
Night.
minded and conventional society. The
reader laughs at the arrogant and haughty
Inheritance, The, by Susan Edmon-
ston Ferrier. (1824. ) The scenes of
chief Glenroy, growing more childishly
obstinate and bigoted as he grows older,
this interesting novel are laid in Scot-
and at 'his echo and retainer Benbowie;
land and England, and the story deals
at the self-sufficient and uncouth pastor
with the gentry of both.
Some years
M’Dow; and at the supercilious Lady
before the opening of the story, Mrs.
Elizabeth, who thinks herself always
St. Clair, an ambitious woman, has taken
the child of a servant to bring up as
recherchée.
The plot involves constant changes in
her own.
After the death of her hus-
the lot of the characters, the moral be-
band, Mrs. St. Clair and her supposed
daughter Gertrude, a charming girl, go
ing that no man can escape his destiny.
Somewhat old-fashioned, and much too
to his brother's castle in Scotland, of
long, the book is still agreeable reading.
whose estates Gertrude is to become the
heiress. Her two cousins, Edward Lynd: Doctor, The, a ponderous romance by
their
Southey, appeared
uncle, well as Mr. Delmour, the mously in 1834, though Vols. vi. and vii.
Colonel's sedate brother. Lord Rossville were not published until after his death
wishes his niece Gertrude to marry Mr. in 1847. It records the observations, phi-
Delmour, but she loves his handsome losophizing, and experiences of a quaint
brother and refuses. Upon this the Earl physician, Dr. Love, of Doncaster, who,
sends Gertrude and her mother from the with his faithful horse «Nobbs,» travels
castle, and the Colonel shows his true the country over and ministers to the
character by withdrawing his addresses. needs of
While little read in
as
men.


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48
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Rory
present days, it has generally received
the moderate praise of scholars. In form
it is a peculiar medley of essay, colloquy,
and criticism, lacking coherence; a vast
accumulation of curious erudition, medi-
tative wisdom, and somewhat labored
humor. Southey manifested much pride
in the book, from whose pure English,
freshness of innovation, and brilliant
though mechanical diorama of thought,
he expected a larger meed of praise than
has ever been accorded it, by either crit-
ics or the public.
O’More, by Samuel Lover. (1836. )
In 1797, De Lacy, an officer of the
French army, volunteered in the interest
of universal liberty to investigate the
prevalence of revolutionary tendencies
in England and Ireland. Falling sick
in the house of a well-to-do Irish peas-
ant, Rory O'More, he found his host
the soul of wit, honor, and hospitality.
Rory, undertaking the delicate mission
of forwarding De Lacy's dispatches, fell
in with a band of insurgents, who,
though calling themselves United Irish-
men, desired the reign of license rather
than the freedom of Ireland. One of
their number, Shan Regan, was Rory's
sworn enemy, having been rejected by
his sister; and through this feud the
hero met with unpleasant adventures, in
which his quickness of resource served
him well. At last, however, chivalrously
defending an unpopular collector from
Shan's ruffians, Rory was secretly shipped
to France with the man whom he had
befriended. Rumor spread that he had
killed the collector, and absconded; and
on his return a year later, Rory was con-
fronted with the charge of murder. The
opportune reappearance of his supposed
victim on the very day of O'More's trial
alone saved him from the halter. Mean-
while, a rebellion in Ireland had been
crushed; and the unhappy people, dis-
appointed in expected aid from France,
lost hope of independence. Rory with
his impoverished household, and the dis-
heartened enthusiast De Lacy, hopefully
turned their faces towards America. In
spite of its stilted style and improbable
incidents, this story is valuable in its
delineation of Irish character, and in
its picture of the Irish uprisings at the
close of the last century.
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens. was
published in 1838. This story shows
in vivid colors the miseries of the pau-
per's home where the inmates are robbed
and starved, while the dead are hurried
into unhonored graves; the haunts of
villains and thieves, where the wretched
poor are purposely made criminals by
those who have sinned past hope; and
one wrong-doing is used to force the vic-
tim deeper in vice. With such lives are
interwoven those of a better sort, show-
ing how men and women in all grades
have power on others for good or ill.
Oliver Twist - So called because the
workhouse master had just then reached
the letter «T) in naming the waifs —
was born in the poorhouse, where his
mother's wanderings ceased
forever.
When the hungry lad asked for more
of the too thin gruel he was whipped.
Bound out to work, he runs away from
this slavery and goes to London. The
Artful Dodger takes the starving lad to
the den of Fagin the Jew, the pick-
pocket's school. But he will not steal.
He finds a home. He is kidnapped, and
forced to be again with the bad ones,
and to act as helper to Sykes the rob-
ber in house-breaking. Nancy's womanly
heart, bad though her life may be,
works to set him free. Once more good
people shelter him, rescuing him without
assistance of the Bow Street officers, who
make brave talk. The kind old scholar,
Mr. Brownlow, is the good genius who
opens before him a way to liberty and a
life suited to his nature. The excitable
country doctor deceives the police, and
saves Oliver for an honest career. The
eccentric Mr. Grimwig should not be
overlooked. The mystery of his mother's
fate is solved, and he finds a sister. Al-
though the innocent and less guilty suf-
fer, the conscious wrongdoers are, after
much scheming and actual sin, made to
give back the stolen, repair — if such can
be the evil done, and pay the penalty
of transgression. They bring ruin on
their own heads. There are about twenty
prominent characters, each the type of
its kind, in this life-drama; separate
scenes of which we may, as it were, read
in our daily papers, so real are they.
The author says that as romance had
made vice to shine with pleasures, so
his purpose was to show crime in its
repulsive truth.
Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Cleghorn
Gaskell (1848) is a forcible tale of
Manchester, at the time when the manu-
facturing districts suffered the terrible


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
49
a
distress that reached its height in 1842.
It deals with the saddest and most terri.
ble side of factory life.
John Barton, the father of Mary, is a
weaver, an honest man, possessing more
than the usual amount of intelligence
of his class. When the story opens, he
has plenty of work and high wages,
which he spends to the last penny with
no thought of the possible «rainy day. ”
Suddenly his master fails, and he feels
the effect of his improvidence. His wife
and little son die from the want of or-
dinary necessaries, and Mary alone is
left to him.
Mary's beauty has attracted the atten-
tion of young Mr. Carson, the son of a
wealthy mill-owner. Meanwhile she is
deeply loved by Jem Nilson, a man of
her own class. In the distress of this
time it is decided to send a petition to
Parliament. John Barton is chosen one
of the delegates to present it. The fail-
ure of the petition embitters him so
that he becomes a Chartist. He further
increases his morbid feelings by the use
of opium to deaden the pangs of hun-
ger. Young Mr. Carson has indulged
in satires against the delegates, which
unfortunately reach their ears and rouse
their anger. They resolve on his assas-
sination and determine the instrument
by lot, which falls to John Barton. Sus-
picious circumstances lead to the appre-
hension of Jem Nilson. Mary suspects
the truth, and determines to rescue her
lover without exposing her father. At
the trial Jem learns for the first time
of Mary's love for him. John Barton
disappears without rousing suspicion,
and Jem is cleared through his ability
to prove an alibi.
The story ends with
Barton's return to his home, and his
death after a confession of his guilt.
The chief interest of Mary Barton) lies
in the touching simplicity of the descrip-
tions of daily life among the artisan
class. Their graphic power brings the
reader into a vital sympathy with the life
and scenes described. Some of the sad
pictures of those toiling, suffering peo-
ple are presented with intense pathos.
Lavengro: The Scholar, Girsy, Priest.
Romany Rye (Sequel to Lavengro).
By George Borrow. These books com-
prise a tale of loosely connected advent-
ures introducing romantic, grotesque, and
exciting episodes, and interwoven with
reflections on the moral and religious
condition of the world, with a large
intermixture of mystic and philosophic
lore. They suggest Le Sage's story;
and like the (Gil Blas,' the characters
are drawn largely from Spanish sources.
Gipsy life and legends form a kind of
background to the writer's reflections on
the men and morals of his time. The
author, born in East Dereham, Norfolk,
England, 1803, had been employed in
1840-50 as an agent of the British and
Foreign Bible Society in distributing
Bibles in the mountainous districts of
Spain, and had met with hardships and
rough usage which helped to embitter his
feelings toward the Roman Catholic reli-
gion, at the same time that they afforded
him glimpses of the simple life of the
lower classes, and especially an acquaint-
ance with the Gipsy tribe-life, which had
a peculiar charm for him. “Lavengro »
is depicted as a dreamy youth follow-
ing the fortunes of his father, who is in
military service. His visits are divided
between the Gipsy camp, the Romany
chal,” and the “parlor of the Anglo-
German philosopher. ” The title «Ro-
many Rye” [Gipsy Gentleman] is in-
troduced in the verse of a song, “The
Gipsy Gentleman, sung in Chapter liv.
of Lavengro:-
" Here the Gipsy gemman see,
With his Kernan jib and his rome and dree;
Rome and dree, rum and dry,
Rally round the Romany Rye. "
The song is sung by Mr. Petulengro, )
the author's favorite Gipsy character.
The hero's trials of mind and faith are
depicted, when, at the age of nineteen,
he is cast upon the world in London to
make his living as a hack author. Meet-
ing with success with one of his books,
he leaves London to roam abroad, and
becomes in turn tinker, gipsy, postilion,
and hostler; but ever preserves the self-
respect of the poor gentleman and the
scholar in disguise. His object in writ-
ing is to show the goodness of God, and
to reveal the plots of popery; he shows
much contempt for the pope, whom he
calls Mumbo-Jumbo,” and for all his
ceremonies. He would encourage char-
ity, free and genial manners, the ex-
posure of the humbugs of “gentility,”
and the appreciation of genuine worth
of character in whatever social station.
The titles «Scholar, Gipsy, Priest,” are
not successive characters assumed by the
author, but stand for these various types
of humanity. A marked feature of these
XXX-4


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50
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
books is their use of elaborate fables for which reveals the real woman: and a
moral instruction, Such are those of touching interview follows, in which the
the Rich Gentleman) and the Magic courted actress begs the simple young
Touch,' the Old Applewoman,' and wife to be her friend. Then comes
(Peter William, the Missionary. ?
The on the scene Sir Charles Pomander, in
author had previously published (Gip- amorous pursuit of Mabel; closely fol-
sies in Spain) in 1841, and The Bible lowed by her husband, whom Triplet has
in Spain) in 1844,- works possessing summoned to the rescue. A reconcilia-
the same lively interest as the later tion between the married pair results,
novels.
and Sir Charles retires discomfited.
Woffington takes an affectionate leave
Peg Woffington, Charles Reade's first of the Vanes, who soon return to their
novel, was published in 1852, when Shropshire home and domestic bliss;
he was thirty-eight. This charming while the noble-hearted Peg, after a few
story of eighteenth-century manners has years more of stage triumphs, retires
been dramatized under the title Masks before her bloom has faded, to a life
and Faces. ) It opens in the green-room in the country, and there ends her days,
of Covent Garden, where the Irish act- (the Bible in her hand, the Cross in
ress, Margaret Woffington, in the hey- her heart; quiet; amidst grass and flow-
day of her fame and beauty, tricks the ers, and charitable deeds. ”
entire dramatic company, including Col-
ley Cibber the famous playwright and
Henry Esmond.
This splendid ro-
comedian, by personating the great mance, published in 1752, is one of
tragic actress Mrs. Brạcegirdle. At the the most important of Thackeray's novels.
same time she achieves the conquest
It is a
romance of the time of Queen
of a wealthy and accomplished Shrop- Anne, and purports to be told by the
shire gentleman, Ernest Vane, who is hero in the years of rest after the storm
presented to her by a London fop, Sir and stress of a checkered life. It is writ-
Charles Pomander. Vane besieges her ten after the manner of the time, which
with flowers and verses until he arouses gives it a pleasant flavor of quaintness.
the jealousy of Sir Charles, who is also The hero, a boy of noble character, is
her admirer. In the midst of a ban- the true heir to the Castlewood estate,
quet which Mr. Vane is giving in honor but is supposed to be illegitimate, and
of the actress, his lovely country bride grows up as a dependent in the home
appears unexpectedly upon the scene. of his second cousin, the titular vis-
Peg Woffington, who had believed Vane count, where he is treated with kindness
to be a single man and her loyal and affection. The family consists of
suitor, hides her grief and resentment the young and lovely Lady Castlewood;
under a guise of mockery; but the in- a son, Francis, and a beautiful daugh-
nocent young wife faints away on find- ter, Beatrix. Lord Castlewood neglects
ing out how she has been betrayed. his wife, and exposes her to the unwel.
Woffington next appears in the garret come attentions of Lord Mohun, with
of a poor
scrub author and scene- whom he subsequently fights a duel, in
painter, James Triplet, whom she has which he is killed. Without justifica-
befriended by sitting to him for her tion, Lady Castlewood holds Esmond
portrait.
Here, after fooling a party responsible for the duel. Having
of her theatrical comrades and would- learned that he is legally heir to Castle-
be art critics, who have come to abuse wood, he is constrained by gratitude to
the picture, by the ingenious device of conceal the knowledge, and goes off to
cutting out the painted face and insert-
the wars.
Returning to England on fur-
ing her own in the aperture, she prac- lough, he is received with great affec-
tices the same trick upon Mabel Vane, tion, and immediately falls in love with
Ernest's wife, who has sought refuge Beatrix, whom he wooes unavailingly
with Triplet from the persecutions of Sir for ten years. The brilliant beauty be-
Charles Pomander. Mabel, seeing the comes engaged to the Duke of Hamil-
image of her rival, pours forth to it a ton, but he is killed in a duel. Esmond,
pathetic appeal that Peg will not rob a devoted Jacobite, brings the Pretender
her of her only treasure, her husband's to England in readiness to
succeed
heart; when to her dismay, she per- Queen Anne, who is dying; but the
ceives a tear upon the portrait's face, Prince lays siege to the fair Beatrix


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
51
instead of the throne. This wrecks the loved as the beautiful and coquettish
project; and Henry, now discovering his Beatrix Esmond. He is deep in debt,
purposes, crosses swords with him. The and has promised to marry an elderly
Pretender then returns to Paris, where cousin, when he is rescued from his
Beatrix joins him.
folly by the arrival of his shrewd and
Henry now discovers that his very generous brother George. George re-
long attachment for Beatrix has given sumes his heirship, and Harry is no
place to a tender affection for her longer a prey for cupidity. In the story
mother, notwithstanding her eight years of their subsequent adventures, the ex-
of superior age.
This is the weakest position of social baseness and hypocrisy
point in the novel, but the author man- would be grewsome if it were not for
ages it skillfully. The attachment being the kindly humor which mollifies the
mutual, no obstacle appears to their satire.
marriage. Frank is left in possession of
the estate, while Esmond and his bride Tom Brown's School Days, the finest
to
and stories
Virginia; where their subsequent for- depicting English public-school life, was
tunes form the theme of “The Virgin- written by Thomas Hughes, and pub-
ians. ”
lished in 1857, when the author was a
young barrister of three-and-thirty. It
Virginians, The, by William Make- leaped at once into a deserved popular-
peace Thackeray (1859), is a sequel ity it has never lost. Tom is a typical
to (Henry Esmond,' and revives a past middle-class lad, with the distinctive
society with the same brilliant skill. British virtues of pluck, honesty, and the
The chivalric Colonel Esmond, dear to love of fair play. The story portrays his
readers of the earlier novel, goes to life from the moment he enters the lowest
Virginia after his marriage with Lady form of the great school, a homesick,
Castlewood, and there builds a country- timid lad, who has to fag for the older
seat, which he names Castlewood in boys and has his full share of the rough
remembrance of his family's ancestral treatment which obtained in the Rugby
home in England. In the American of his day, to the time when he has
Castlewood his twin grandsons developed into a big, brawny fellow, the
reared by their widowed mother, Ma- head of the school, a football hero, and
dame Rachel Warrington, that sharp- ready to pass on to Oxford, - another
tongued colonial dame so kind and gen- story being devoted to his experiences
to her favorites, so bitter and there. A faithful, lifelike, and most en-
unjust to who oppose her. She is tertaining picture of the Rugby of Dr.
a loving but tyrannical mother; and Arnold is given; its social habits, meth-
after the Colonel's death, exercises auto- ods of teaching, its sports, beliefs, and
cratic rule over the Castlewood domain. ideals. The wide influence of that great
Among her frequent visitors is young man is sketched with hearty apprecia-
Colonel Washington, a brave, attractive tion; and in another figure — that of the
figure, with fame yet to win.
gentle, high-charactered lad Arthur-one
Virginian life in
in pre-Revolutionary may recognize Dean Stanley in his stu-
days is made very real to the reader; dent days. Individual scenes, like the
and is clearly distinguished from the bullying of Tom when he is green in the
English life upon which young Harry school, the football match, and the boat
Warrington ent after hi brother's race, will always cling in memory for
supposed death in a disastrous campaign their graphic lines and fullness of life.
of the French and Indian War, upon An honester, manlier story was
which he has accompanied Colonel written, for the author had been through
Washington. The lavish and generous it all, - the novel is by an old boy,” the
young Virginian is at first repelled by title-page declares; moreover, it teaches,
the cold courtesy and selfish thrift of his by the contagion of example, those ster-
Old World cousins. But his fortune ling virile virtues which have made the
soon wins him favor; and, too simple to English one of the great dominant races
detect mercenary motives, he plunges of civilization. To read (Tom Brown)
into social dissipation under the direc- is to have an exhilarating sense of the
tion of Baroness Bernstein, anti- vigorous young manhood of that nation,
quated egotist, whom his grandfather had its joy in fruitful activity.
are
erous
never
in


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52
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
master-
Moonstone, The, by Wilkie Collins few pounds in his pocket (and unlimited
(1868), is one of the best examples credit at his bankers'), unincumbered by
of the author's general purpose to mys- letters of introduction or social fetters.
tify the reader. At the storming of Se- His adventures, which are in keeping with
ringapatam, a holy city of India, by the his personality, extend over a few years,
British in 1799, a certain John Hern- varied by periodical returns to his fam-
castle possessed himself, by the massa- ily and reappearances in society; where
cre of its keepers, of a large and pecul- he is courted for his wealth, his gentle
iar diamond known as the moonstone. birth, and his eccentricities. The culmi-
With his dying breath, one of the Brah- nation of his fortunes is reached in an
mins cursed the Englishman, declaring unfortunate love affair with Lily Mor-
that the diamond would bring disaster daunt, a spirituelle creature, half child,
and misfortune to its unlawful possessors. half woman, a “human poem,” who dies
The story treats of the mysterious dis- broken-hearted when a cruel fate sepa-
appearance of the stone, bequeathed by rates her from her lover.
Herncastle to his niece, Miss Verinder, (Kenelm Chillingly) is less the life
and of the tragedy that ensued before of a man than the prelude to a life; a
the guilty persons could be with cer- preface of dreams, of disappointments,
tainty apprehended. The closing lines of disillusionments, before the realities
of the story find the moonstone once begin. He himself epitomizes his future
again in India, fixed as formerly in the and his past, when he says to his father,
forehead of an idol.
in their last recorded interview, “We
must- at whatever cost to ourselves -
Kenelm
enelm Chillingly, His ADVENTURES we must go through the romance of life
AND OPINIONS, by Edward Bulwer before we clearly detect what is grand
Lytton (Lord Lytton). (1873. ) This, one in its possibilities”; and again, My
of Bulwer's artistic novels of English choice is made: not that of deserter, but
life, is considered by many a
that of soldier in the ranks. »
piece, and is certainly one of his most Round him are grouped many inter-
popular works.
Kenelm Chillingly is esting characters,— Sir Peter and Lady
the long-desired heir of an old family, Caroline, his father and mother; his
who develops symptoms of remarkable cousin, Gordon Chillingly, the ambitious
precocity, to the anxiety of his parents politician; Chillingly Mivers, the caustic
and teachers. After leaving school, he is editor of The Londoner; the reformed
given an insight into London society, bully, Tom Bowles; the pretty village
and enters Cambridge with matured belle, Jessie Somers, and her crippled
opinions and judgment, graduating with husband; Cecilia Travers, who remains
honors. Coming of age in the early part faithful to her unreciprocated attachment
of the nineteenth century, —
,-a time of
for Kenelm; Mr. Welby, the polished
unwonted progress, of unsettlement of man of society; Walter Melville, the cel-
beliefs, and of dissatisfaction with the ebrated artist and “Wandering Min-
existing state of affairs,— he adds to the strel”); and several others.
general unrest of his generation an in-
dividual melancholy of temperament, a Far from the Madding Crowd, a paşa
phenomenal clearness of vision which
, is
detects and despises shams, and an in- perhaps the best example of his earlier
ability to fit himself into commonplace manner, and of his achievements in the
grooves and the ruts of inherited habit. domain of comedy. The story is mainly
In various phrases throughout his bi- concerned with the love affairs of Bath-
ography he is described, or describes sheba Everdene, a country girl with
himself — (A mere dreamer ); He had enough cleverness in her composition
a solitude round him out of his to render her impatient of the rustic
own heart”; “I do not stand in this Darby-and-Joan conception of marriage.
world: like a ghost I glide beside it and Her first wooer, honest Farmer Oak,
look on. With the temperament of the promises her all the insignia of married
idealist, Kenelm possesses an attractive rank if she will accept him.