No More Learning

Certain features of
the system later developed are unknown
to the Book.
as
Earthly Paradise, The (1868–70), a
poem by William Morris. One of the
most beautiful of nineteenth-century ro-
mances, it was written, as the author
says, to furnish a doorway into the
world of enchantment, that land beyond
the «utmost purple rim” of earth, for
which many are homesick. Yet The
Earthly Paradise) has about it the mel-
ancholy which pervades the pre-Raphael-
ite literature, and seems the fruit of
unfulfilled desire,- of the state of those
who must create their romance, in an
age unproductive of such food of the
soul. The poem is a collection of the


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I 2
SYNOPSES OF XOTED BOOKS
at
tales of Golden Greece, and of the dim, with masterly skill in the handling of
rich, mediæval time. Certain gentlemen his extraordinary knowledge; a book of
and mariners of Norway having consid- which a conservative authority has said:
ered all that they had heard of the «Since the beginning of literature, few
Earthly Paradise, set sail to find it. books have been written like the first vol-
They come last, world-weary old ume of Marx's Capital. It is premature
men, to a strange Western land, and to to offer any definitive judgment on his
a «strange people,” descendants of the work as a revolutionary thinker and agi-
Greeks, the elders among whom receive tator, because that is still very far from
them graciously. They agree to feast completion. There need, however, be no
together twice a month, and to exchange hesitation in saying that he, incompara-
stories: the Norwegians telling tales of bly more than any other man, has influ-
«the altered world of the Middle Ages; enced the labor movement all over the
the Greeks, of their own bright time civilized world. ” The conservative as-
when men were young in heart. For a pect of Marx's teaching is in the fact
year they tell their tales: in March, that he honestly seeks to understand
Atalanta's Race, and The Man born to what, apart from any man's opinion or
be King; in April, The Doom of King theory, the historical development actu-
Acrisius, and The Proud King; in May, ally is; and that he does not think out
The Story of Cupid and Psyche, and and urge his own ideal programme of
The Writing on the Image; in June, social reform, but strives to understand
The Love of Alcestis, and The Lady of and to make understood what must inev.
the Land; in July, The Son of Cræsus, itably take place.
and The Watching of the Falcon; in
August, Pygmalion and the Image, and Blithedale Romance. The, the third
Ogier the Dane; in September, The
of Nathaniel Hawthorne's romances,
Death of Paris, and The Land East published in 1852, was the outcome of an
of the Sun and West of the Moon; in intimate acquaintance with the members
October, The Story of Accontius and of the Brook Farm Community; and im-
Cydippe, and The Man who Never mortalized the brief attempt of that lit-
Laughed Again; in November, The Story tle group of transcendentalists to realize
of Rhodope, and The Lovers of Gudrun; equality and fraternity in labor. It is
in December, The Golden Apples, and more objective and realistic than Haw-
The Fostering of Aslaug: in January, thorne's other works, and therefore in
Bellerophon at Argos, and The Ring a sense more ordinary. Its central figure
Given to Venus; in February, Bellero- is Zenobia, a beautiful, intellectual, pas-
phon in Lycia, and The Hill of Venus. sionate woman; drawn as to some out.
In these tales the author draws upon lines, perhaps, from Margaret Fuller. At
Greek mythology, upon the (Gesta Ro- the time it opens, she has taken up her
manorum,' the Nibelungenlied, the Ed- abode at Blithedale Farm, the counter-
das; indeed, upon the greatest story- part of Brook Farm. The other mem-
books of the world. He has woven them bers of the community are Hollingsworth,
all together in one beautiful Gothic ta- a self-centred philanthropist; a Yankee
pestry of verse, in which the colors are farmer, Silas Forster, and his wife; Miles
dimmed a little. From his master,” Coverdale, the relater of the story; and
Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet has borrowed Priscilla, who is Zenobia's half-sister,
the three styles of his metre, the heroic, though of this fact Zenobia is ignorant.
sestina, and octosyllabic. The music of (The Blithedale Romance) is a brilliant
the verse is low and sweet, well adapted
instance of Hawthorne's power as a story-
to tales of old, unhappy, far-off things,
teller. No scene in the whole range of
and battles long ago. ”
His Prologue fiction is more realistic than the finding
and Epilogue are especially beautiful. of Zenobia's body in the dead of night;
drawn from the dank stream, a crooked,
Capital, by Karl Marx. English trans- stiff shape, and carried to the farm-house
lation edited by Fred Engels, 1889. where old women in nightcaps jabber
A book of the first importance, by the over it. Nothing could be more in the
founder of international socialism; written manner of Hawthorne than his comment
with marvelous knowledge of economic that if Zenobia could have foreseen her
literature and of the economic develop- appearance after drowning. she would
ment of modern Europe, and not less never have committed the act.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
13
a
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prome- the ship's side, and disappears in the ice
theus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shel- and mist. The story is one of unrelieved
ley (daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft gloom, but both in its invention and con-
Godwin and wife of the poet Shelley), duct exhibits unquestioned genius. It is
was published in 1817, and many subse- unique in English fiction.
quent editions have appeared. It is a
sombre psychological romance, and has
Ad
dventures of Sherlock Holmes, The,
a morbid power which makes it one of by A. Conan Doyle, consists of twelve
the most remarkable books of its kind sketches, purporting to have been recorded
in English. The story begins with some by Dr. Watson, a friend and coadjutor
letters written by Robert Walton, on of Sherlock Holmes. In each narrative
a voyage to the North Pole, to a sister Holmes figures as a scientific amateur
in England. He tells of falling in with detective of remarkable skill, unraveling
a mysterious and attractive stranger, who the most intricate criminal snarls. En-
has been rescued from peril in the North- slaved to cocaine, eccentric, brusque, he
ern Seas, and over whose life appears nevertheless is a patient and untiring stu-
to hang some mysterious cloud. This dent, having developed his penetrative
stranger, Frankenstein, tells to Walton faculties to an amazing degree. His forte
the story of his life. He is a Genevese is a posteriori reasoning, which enables
by birth, and from childhood has taken him so to group apparently unimportant
interest in natural science and the occult effects as to uncover the most remote and
mysteries of psychology. The reading of disconnected causes. As an analytical
such writers as Paracelsus and Albertus chemist he classifies many varieties of
Magnus has fostered this tendency. He cigar ashes, mud, dust, and the like; col-
has a dear adopted sister, Elizabeth, lates endless data, and constructs chains
and a close friend, Henry Clerval. At of evidence with a swift accuracy which
the age of seventeen he becomes a stu- results in the apprehension and convic-
dent at the University of Ingolstadt, and tion of criminals only less gifted than
plunges into the investigation of the un- himself. The sketches are: A Study
usual branches which attract him. Grad- in Scarlet); (A Scandal in Bohemia);
ually he conceives the idea of creating (The Red-Headed League (given in this
by mechanical means a living being, LIBRARY); (A Case of Identity); (The
who, independent of the ills of the flesh, Boscome Valley Mystery); «The Five Or-
shall be immortal. Like Prometheus of ange Pips); (The Man with the Twisted
old, he hopes to bring down a vital Lip”; “The Blue Carbuncle); (The Spec-
spark from heaven to animate the human kled Band”; (The Engineer's Thumb);
frame. After a long series of laboratory (The Noble Bachelor); «The Beryl Cor-
experiments, in which he sees himself onet); and (The Copper Beeches. ) All
gradually approaching his goal, he suc- are full of bizarre and often of grewsome
ceeds. But his creation turns out to be details, and all are unrivaled as speci-
a blessing but a curse. He has mens of constructive reasoning applied
made a soulless monster, who will im- to every-day life.
placably pursue Frankenstein and all his
loved ones to the dire end. It is in vain Book
ok of Nonsense, by Edward Lear.
that the unhappy scientist flees from This nursery classic, as much cher-
land to land, and from sea to sea. The ished by many adults as by hosts of
fiend he has brought into existence is children, is made up from four minor
ever on his track, and is the evil genius collections published at intervals during
of his whole family. He murders Cler- a long life.
The author began as an
val, brings Elizabeth to an untimely end, artist; colored drawings for serious pur-
and so preys upon the fears and terrors poses were supplemented by others for
of Frankenstein that the latter at last the amusement of the groups of little
succumbs to despair. The wretched man ones he loved to gather around him; and
accompanies Walton on his northern ex- the test added to them has proved able
pedition, hoping that he may throw his to endure the test of time without the
pursuer off the scent; but finally, in an aid of drawing, and much of it has be-
ice-bound sea, worn out by his hideous come part of the recognized humorous
experiences, he dies, and over his dead literature of the language. Of pure illus-
body hovers the horrid shape of the man- tration, save for an amusing title to each,
machine. The monster then leaps over his nonsense flora, fauna, and — shall we
not


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14
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
»
say, in his own manner - deadthingsia, his province greatly at heart, he invented
are full of wit;– for pictures can be witty the clever clockmaker less to satirize the
as well as words, and the drawings of Yankees than to goad the Nova Scotians
the “nastikreechia krorluppia,” the “arm- to a higher sense of what they might
chairia comfortabilis," and many other accomplish politically and economically.
scientific curiosities, never pall. A grade To carry out his plan, he imagined a
beyond this in verbal accompaniment are Nova-Scotian riding across country on a
the five-line stanzas after the manner of fast horse, and meeting Slick, the ped-
the «Old Man of Tobago,” in Mother dler, bound on a clock-selling expedition.
Goose): a few of these -as that of the The Yankee horse proves the faster;
“young lady of Lucca, Whose lovers had while his owner, in spite of an unattract-
all forsook her,” and of the old man who ive exterior, shows himself a man of wit.
said, How Shall I manage this terrible The peddler, with his knowledge of hu-
cow ? ) » — rank as familiar quotations, man nature and his liberal use of (soft
but he has been so greatly surpassed by sawder,” is more than a match for the
others in this line that they can hardly natives he has dealings with. Thus
be thought his best. The «Nonsense two birds are hit by Judge Haliburton
Cookery,” in one recipe of which we are with one stone. The average Yankee is
told to (serve up in a clean table-cloth satirized in the grotesque personality of
or dinner napkin, and throw the whole the peddler, and the Nova-Scotians are
mess out of window as fast as possible)); lashed for their short-sightedness and
and the voyage around the world of the lack of energy. The fund of anecdote and
four children, who are looked on by their keen wit displayed in this book won it
elders with «affection mingled with con- many admirers on both sides of the line.
tempt, add each their quota of good Either the Nova-Scotians as a whole did
things. But unquestionably his highest not feel hurt by its hits themselves,
level is reached in the famous ballads, or they found consolation in the picture
such as "The Jumblies, who went to presented of the sharp-bargaining, boast-
sea in a sieve,) and reached the lakes, ful Yankee. The Yankee enjoyed its
and the Torrible Zone, and the hills of the humor without being bored by its local
Chankly Bore”; the Pelican Song, with politics, and most readers made allow-
some really lovely poetry in it, and its ance for its intentional caricature. The
inimitable nonsense refrain; The Owl later chronicles of Sam Slick, including
and the Pussy Cat); (The Pobble who «The Attaché; or, Sam Slick in Eng-
Has No Toes ); (The Yonghy Bonghy Bo); land, met with less success than the
(The Quangle Wangle Quee); «The Old first.
Man from the Kingdom of Tess); «The
Two Old Bachelors); and others,- all to- Ab braham Lincoln, The History AND
gether making up a melange of buoyant
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF, by
fun which entitles the author to the grati- William Henry Herndon. (Second edition
tude of everybody.
1892. ) This biography of the foremost
American ) covers his life from birth to
death, being extremely full with regard
OF SAMUEL SLICK OF SLICK- to his origin and early days. These first
VILLE, by Thomas Chandler Haliburton. chapters contain many things that have
It would be hard to prove that the con- been severely criticized as trivial, mis-
ventional Yankee, as he is commonly leading, or false in effect if not in inten-
understood, did not exist before Judge
tion. Mr. Herndon was for twenty years
Haliburton published his account of that President Lincoln's intimate personal
impossible person; yet no other book friend as well as his law partner, and
has so widely spread before the world had perhaps a closer knowledge of his
the supposed characteristics of the typ- character and idiosyncrasies than any
ical New-Englander.
other man. Feeling, as he himself says,
Sam Slick, first presented to the pub- that ««God's naked truth) can never in-
lic in a series of letters in the Nova- jure the fame of Abraham Lincoln,” he
Scotian, in 1835, appeared two years later told what he thought to be the truth un-
in a volume. The author was then but reservedly — even unsparingly. One of
forty-three, although for eight years he Thackeray's objects in writing (The Vir-
had been chief justice of the court of ginians) was to draw George Washing-
Common Pleas. Having the interests of ton as he really was, with the glamour
Clockmaker, The: Savings and Do-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
15
of historic idealization stripped away. Cellini, Benvenuto, the Life of, –
Criticism objected to Mr. Herndon's book one of the few world-famous auto-
that it would go nigh to prevent the biographies, and itself the Italian Renais-
process of idealization altogether as to sance as expressed in personality,-- was
Lincoln. Yet throughout its minute and written between the years 1558 and 1562.
often trifling details, as throughout its It circulated in MS. and was copied fre-
larger generalities and syntheses, it is quently, until its publication in 1730. In
evident that the biographer loved his his introduction to his English transla-
hero, and meant to do him full justice; tion of the work, published in 1887, John
and that whatever shortcomings the his- Addington Symonds mentions sis Ital-
tory presents are due to the fact that ian editions,– those of Cocchi, Carpaeri,
the historian lacked the quality of im- Tassi, Molini, Beauchi, and Camerini.
agination, without whose aid no object These are of unequal value, since the
can be seen in its true proportions. The extant MSS. differ considerably in their
book has had a great sale, and is to readings. The original and authorita-
the general reader the most interesting tive MS. belongs to the Laurentian Col-
of all the Lincoln biographies.
lection in Florence. It was written for
the most part by Michele di Goro Vestri,
Jefferson, Joseph, The Autobiography the youth whom Cellini employed as his
of. (1890. ) The story of the third amanuensis. Perhaps we owe its abrupt
Joseph Jefferson, grandson of the great and infelicitous conclusion to the fact
comedian of that name, runs from Feb- that Benvenuto disliked the trouble of
ruary 20th, 1829, through more than sixty writing with his own hand. From notes
years to 1890; and it is little to say that upon the codex it appears that this was
there is not a dull page in it. In clear- the MS. submitted to Benedetto Varchi
ness and charm of manner, humor, and in 1559. It once belonged to Andrea,
wealth of anecdote, Mr. Jefferson com- the son of Lorenzo Cavalcanti. His son,
mands his readers in his story precisely Lorenzo Cavalcanti, gave it to the poet
as he has so long commanded his hear- Redi, who used it as a testo di lingua
ers on the stage.
for the Della Cruscan vocabulary. Sub-
The narrative begins at the beginning, sequently it passed into the hands of
– toddling infancy in Washington, and the booksellers, and was bought by L.
childhood in New York, Philadelphia, Poirot, who bequeathed it, on his death
and Baltimore, - wherever the father, in 1825, to the Laurentian Library. ”
Joseph Jefferson, manager of a theatre, Cellini's autobiography has been trans-
might be.
actor is in lated into German by Goethe, into Eng-
Chicago in 1839, where James Wallack, lish by Nugent, Roscoe, and Symonds,
Sr. , the elder Booth, and Macready, and into French by Leopold Leclauché.
came into view; he goes to Mississippi Symonds's translation is pre-eminent for
and to Mexico; and returns to Philadel- its truthfulness and sympathy. It is
pnia and New York. His reminiscences fitting that Cellini's record of himself
are of Mr. and Mrs. James Wallack, Jr. , should be translated into the foremost
John E. Owens, William Burton, Charles modern tongues, since he stood for a
Burke, Julia Dean, James E. Murdock, civilization unapproached in cosmopoli-
and Edwin Forrest. Then the
tan character since the age of Sophocles.
shifts to London and Paris.
Once more
Judged by his own presentment, he was
at home, we make acquaintance with an epitome of that world which sprang
Rip Van Winkle, and the climax of the from the marriage of Faust with Helen.
master's creative
power. Again he He, like his contemporaries, was a “nat-
ranges the world as far as Australia, ural» son of Greece; witnessing to his
Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand, wayward birth in his adoration of beauty,
coming home by way of London. Of so in his violent passions, in his magnifi-
wide a life the scenes were many and cent bombast, in his turbulent, highly
varied, and a great number of the chief colored life, in his absence of spirituality,
masters and notable ladies of the stage in his close clinging to the sure earth.
for half a century come up for mention; He was most mediæval in that whatever
and always, in report of scenes or por- feeling he had, of joy in the tangible
trayal of character, a refinement both of or fear of the intangible, was intensely
thought and of style gives the narrative alive. « This is no book: who touches
a peculiar charm.
this touches a man. )
The young
scene


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16
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
enne.
Napoleon Bonaparte, Memoirs of, by
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourri-
(1829-31; New York, 4 vols. , 1889. )
An exceptionally entertaining narrative
of the career of Napoleon, from his boy-
hood and school days in Corsica to his
final overthrow in 1815; the work of a
schoolfellow of the young Bonaparte, who
became in April 1797 the intimate com-
panion and private secretary of the then
successful general in Italy, and contin-
ued in this close and confidential position
until October 1802, but then suffered
dismissal under circumstances of a bit.
terly alienating character, and finally
wrote this history of his old friend under
the pressure of very mixed motives, -
pride in accurate knowledge of many
things in the earlier story, and in his
early companionship with Napoleon; de-
sire, perhaps, to come much nearer to
true history than the two extremes of
unqualified admiration and excessive
detestation had yet done; and no small
measure of rankling bitterness towards
the old comrade who never relented from
that dismissal with discredit in 1802, nor
ever again permitted a recurrence of per-
sonal intercourse.
Metternich said at the time of their
publication that Bourrienne's Memoirs,
though not brilliant, were both interest-
ing and amusing, and were the only
authentic memoirs which had yet ap-
peared. Lucien Bonaparte pronounced
them good enough as the story of the
young officer of artillery, the great gen-
eral, and the First Consul, but not as
good for the career of the emperor. The
extreme Bonapartists attacked the work
a product of malignity and men-
dacity, and a suspicion in this direction
naturally clings to it. But whether
Bourrienne did or did not inject con-
venient and consoling lies into the story
of his long-time friend and comrade,
whose final greatness he was excluded
from all share in, and whether he did
or did not himself execute the (Memoirs)
from abundance of genuine materials,
the book given to the world in his name
made a great sensation, and counts, both
with readers and with scholars, as
notable source of Napoleon interest and
information. «Venal, light-headed, and
often untruthful,” as Professor Sloane
pronounces him, Bourrienne neverthe-
less remains one of the persons, and the
earliest in time, who was in the closest
intimacy with Napoleon; and his history
might have given us even less of truth
if he had kept his place to the end.
Red Cockade, The, by Stanley J. Wey-
is romance
filled with exciting incidents of the
stormy times of the French Revolution.
The hero, the Vicomte de Saux, is one of
the French nobility. His sympathy with
the troubles of the French peasants
leads him to adopt the Red Cockade, not-
withstanding his ties of blood and his
engagement to marry a young woman
of a prominent Royalist family. He is
constantly torn between loyalty to his
convictions and to the woman th he
loves, and is often placed in situations
where he is obliged to save Mademoi-
selle de St. Alais from the rage of the
mob.
As the Vicomte de Saux refuses to
join the Aristocrats, the mother and one
brother of Mademoiselle de St. Alais de-
nounce him utterly. But Denise herself,
after having been saved by him from
her burning château, loves him intensely
and is true to him, though her relatives
have betrothed her to the leader of the
Royalists. The other brother Louis,
from his old friendship for the Vicomte,
upholds his sister. The book closes with
scene in the room where Madame
de St. Alais lies dying from wounds
received at the hands of the mob. Her
elder son has been killed by the revolu-
tionists. With the mother are Denise
and Louis, and also the Vicomte de
Saus. In her last moments she gives
Dénise to her lover. After their mar-
riage the Vicomte and his bride retire
to their country place at Saux. The
man to whom Denise was betrothed out
of vengeance
to her lover, disappears
after the overthrow of his party.
Memoirs of Count Grammont, by An-
thony Hamilton. These memoirs
were first given to the public in 1713,
though the collection was begun as early
as 1704. Hamilton was possessed of rare
literary ability; and being brother-in-
law to Count Grammont, was chosen
by him to introduce him historically to
the public. The author asserts that he
acts merely as Grammont's secretary,
and holds the pen at his dictation; but
although this may be partially true, the
ease and grace of the text prove it to
be Hamilton's own work. The memoirs
relate chiefly to the court life at the
time of Charles II. , and describe the
a
as
а
)


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
17
France, that our readers will be glad
to see this sketch of his life and work
before the production of this book, by
a literary authority of the first rank;
and it is properly appended here.
war
intrigues and love affairs of the King
and many of the courtiers. Grammont's
adventures and experiences in love and
are minutely and graphically set
forth, and he is depicted as a brilliant
and fascinating gentleman. Hamilton
says of him, that he was the admira-
tion of his age, and the delight of every
country wherein he displayed his enga-
ging wit, dispensed his generosity and
munificence, or practiced his inconstancy. )
Among the many who figure prominently
at this period in the profligate couft of
Charles II. , are the Duke of York, the
Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of St.
Albans, George Hamilton, Lady Shrews-
bury, the Countess of Castlemaine, the
Duchess of Richmond, and the various
ladies in waiting on the Queen. A
French critic has observed that if any
book were to be selected as affording the
truest specimen of perfect French gay-
ety, the Memoirs of Grammont) would
be chosen in preference to all others.
Macaulay speaks of their author as the
artist to whom we owe the most highly
finished and vividly colored picture of
the English court in the days when the
English court was gayest. ”
Reds
eds of the Midi, The, by Félix Gras,
translated into English by Mrs.
Thomas A. Janvier, is a strong story of
the French Revolution, published in 1896.
One Pascal La Patine, in his old age,
night after night, in the shoemaker's
shop, tells the story of his youth. His
father was killed by the gamekeeper of
the Marquis; he himself was forced to
fly for his life. Longing to be revenged
upon the aristocrats, he joins the “Reds
of the Midi » (the insurgents of South-
ern France), goes to Paris, sees all the
horrors of the Revolution, rescues the
daughter of the Marquis from the guil-
lotine, loves her in silence, enlists in
Napoleon's army, and after fighting in
Spain, Egypt, and Russia, returns to his
native village of Malemort to end his
days, firm in the faith that Napoleon
has never died. It was in Malemort
that Gras was born: the Prologue is
pure autobiography, and many of the
characters are drawn from life. There
is a vivid picture of the famous Mar-
seilles Battalion, «who knew how to
die," and a passing glimpse of Napo-
leon.
This now famous story is by an au-
thor so little known outside of Southern
FÉLIX GRAS
By Thomas A. JANVIER
Félix Gras, the son of a Provençal
farmer, was born May 3d, 1844, in the
little town of Malemort, five-and-twenty
miles to the eastward of Avignon, among
the foothills of the French Alps. His
schooling, stopping short of the univer-
sity, ended when he was seventeen years
old. Then he came back to his father's
farm; and there he might have lived his
life out had not his outrageous neglect of
his farm duties, that he might range the
mountains with his dog and gun, led
to his disciplinary dispatch to Avignon,
three years later, to be bound 'pren-
tice to the law. In his case the ways of
law led directly into the ways of litera-
ture. The notary to whom he was arti-
cled, Maître Jules Giéra, was himself a
writer of merit, and was the brother of
Paul Giéra, one of the seven founders of
the Félibrige, the society of Provençal
men of letters, having for its leaders
Joseph Roumanille and Frédéric Mistral,
which has developed in the past thirty
years so noble a literary and moral re-
nascence, not only in Provence, but
throughout the whole of Southern France.
With one of these leaders, Roumanille,
his sister's husband, he was already inti-
mate. And so his coming to Avignon
and entry into the lawyer's office was
his entry into the most inspiring literary
society that has existed in modern times,
that has had, indeed, no modern par-
allel in its vigor and hopes and enthusi-
asms, save perhaps in the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood; and that has had no mod-
ern parallel whatever in its far-reaching
results.
His association with such com-
panions, with whose aspirations he was
in close sympathy, quickly produced its
natural consequences : he accepted law
as his profession, but he made literature
his career.
He has justified his choice. His first
important work, an epic poem in twelve
cantos, Li Carbounié) (1876), treating
of the mountain life for which his affec-
tion was so strong, placed him at the
head of the younger generation of Féli.
bres; and his succeeding epic, (Toloza'
XXX-2


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18
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
-
(1882), with his shorter poems collected ton of Le Temps, has achieved only a
under the title 'Lou Roumancero Prou- moderate success. But if a critic was
vençall (1887), placed him second only right in affirming (what needs modify-
to the master of all Provençal poetry, ing to-day) that the verdict of a foreign
Mistral. The theme of (Toloza) is the nation is the verdict of posterity, Félix
crusade of Simon de Montfort against Gras — having won the approval of two
the Albigenses, treated with a fervent foreign nations at a single blow — is
earnestness that is in keeping with the sure in time to hold among French writ-
author's own fervent love of liberty in ers a commanding place. Probably the
person and in conscience, and with the recognition of his right to this place will
beauty that comes of a poetic tempera- be hastened by the publication of the
ment equipped with an easy command work upon which he is now engaged:
of poetic form. These same qualities a sequel to Li Rouge dóu Miejour,'
are found in his shorter poems, which treating of the White Terror, the Roy-
have also the dramatic intensity and the alist reaction in the Midi which fol-
thrilling fervor of a born ballad-singer lowed upon the excesses of the Reds.
whose tongue is tipped with fire. Not But even
now, in his own southern
less excellent is his collection of stories country, his position is secure. Since
in prose — the prose of a poet, yet racy August 1891 — in succession to Rouma-
and strong — 'Li Papalino) (1891), which nille, who succeeded Mistral — he has
have the ring of the novella of Boccac- been the Capoulie, the official head of
cio's time. In these his delicate firm- the Félibrige. In his election to this
ness of touch is combined with a brill- office he received the highest honor that
iancy of style that presents his dramatic can be bestowed upon a poet by his
subjects with all the vivacity of the early brother poets of the South of France.
Italian tale-tellers, but always with a
flavor distinctively his own. The papal Marriage of Loti, The (Le Mariage de
court of Avignon is alive again before Loti), by Louis Marie Julien Viaud
our eyes, with its gallantries, its trage- (“Pierre Loti”), was first published in
dies, its gay loves and deadly hates, its 1880 under the title Rarahu,' the name
curious veneering of religious forms of its heroine. While not one of Loti's
upon mediæval sensuality and ferocity. strongest books, it shows his power of
Yet his greatest popular success, Li re-creating the peculiar atmosphere of a
Rouge dóu Miejour) (1896), has been remote island visited during his long
achieved on lines differing widely from connection with the French navy. There
all his earlier work, and has come to is a curious mingling of fact and fiction,
him from outside of his own country. difficult to disentangle, in this glowing
This is a story of the French Revolu- study of Tahiti in the declining years of
tion, told autobiographically from the its Queen, Pomaré IV. A photograph
standpoint of a South of France peas- of the South Sea maiden of fourteen,
ant,-a departure in historical romance whose passion for Loti neutralized his
which has curiously modified the popu- love for Princess Ariitea, and finally
lar estimate of that political agony by captured him, is still in existence; and
presenting it from a totally new point Rarahu's whole mournful history is trace-
of view. Being translated into English, able in the wistful features and flowing
( The Reds of the Midi) was published hair. It is not so clear whether the large
in America, and subsequently in Eng- single blossom worn over
ear is
land, before it was published in France the hibiscus flower she had on when she
in either Provençal or French; and it first met the young officer, or the white
has been so warmly received in both gardenia that became her favorite orna-
countries that it has passed through six ment. A victim of the extraordinary
editions in America and through four in blending of primitive with conventional
England, where it has won a strong conditions that prevailed in the Society
indorsement from Mr. Gladstone, within Islands in 1872, this child of nature,
a year. In France, on the other hand, strikingly beautiful, but still more re-
the Provençal edition has made but little markable for her poetic imagination and
stir; and the author's own version in profound love for Loti, is placed for a
French, Les Rouges du Midi," although while on a better social footing than the
stamped with the hall-mark of literary usual so-called Tahitian marriage could
excellence by publication as the feuilles | give. Loti's sincere love for the half-
one
sd


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
19
taught savage, able to read in her Poly- Torquilstone. After her release she is
nesian Bible, and intelligent enough to united in marriage to Ivanhoe, through
be saddened by the intellectual gulf be- the effort of King Richard. While the
tween them, does not prevent him from Lady Rowena is a model of beauty,
laying down laws for her conduct during dignity, and gentleness, she is some-
his absence, without the slightest inten- what overshadowed by Rebecca, who
tion of observing similar ones. If Loti was Scott's favorite of all his characters.
is unconscious of the moral inconsist- She is as generous as her father is
ency, Rarahu is not; and after his final avaricious; and although loving Ivanhoe
departure she ceases - not indeed to pine with intense devotion, realizes that her
for him, but to be true to his mem- union with him is impossible. She no-
ory and precepts. Ground between the bly offers to the Templar Bois-Guilbert
upper and nether millstones of desertion any sum that he may demand for the
and temptation, she dies at eighteen of release of the imprisoned Rowena. A
consumption, retaining only the Queen's strong scene occurs when she defies this
pity and the affection of her cat Turiri, infatuated Crusader, and threatens to
- a good study of a cat by a true philo- throw herself from the turret into the
felist, who has devoted a volume to his court-yard. Bois-Guilbert carries her to
own cats,
This Tahitian idyl is slight; the Preceptory of Templestowe, where
its charm lies in the delicate analysis she is convicted of sorcery on account
of moods and emotions growing directly of her religion, her skill in medicine, and
out of island life and scenery. Its ori- her attractiveness. Condemned to the
ginality suffers somewhat in the read- stake, she is permitted a trial by com-
er's imagination, after the classic (Typee ) bat, and selects Ivanhoe for her cham-
of Herman Melville, whose voyage to pion. Rebecca is pronounced guiltless
the Marquesas was made in the fifties; and free.
but its merits are its own.
Another important character is Rich-
ard the Lion-Hearted, who returns to
Ivanhoe, one of Sir Walter Scott's most England from Palestine at the moment
famous novels, was written and pub- when his brother's conspiracy against
lished in 1819, a year of great domestic him is most rank. Disguised as the
sorrow to its author. The manuscript is Black Sluggard and the Knight of the
now at Abbotsford; and according to Fetterlock, he performs feats of valor
Lockhart, is a remarkable and character- at the Ashby Tournament and as the
istic specimen of his penmanship. Im- Black Knight, wanders through Sher-
mediately after its appearance, Ivan- wood Forest and holds high revel with
hoe) ime a favorite, and now ranks the Hermit of Copmanhurst, the jovial
among the most brilliant and stirring of Friar Tuck. Through Robin Hood he
romantic tales. Sir Wilfred, Knight of escapes assassination, and conducts the
Ivanhoe, a young Saxon knight, brave, successful siege against Torquilstone
loyal, and handsome, is disinherited by Castle. Maurice de Bracy, a conspirator
his father, Cedric of Rotherwood, on against King Richard, is a suitor for the
account of his love for Rowena, a Saxon hand of Rowena; Front de Boeuf is a
heiress and ward of Cedric's. Ivanhoe brutal baron in league with Prince John;
is a favorite with Richard I. , Ceur-de- Cedric the Saxon, Ivanhoe's father, sup-
Lion, has won renown in Palestine, and ports Athelstane's suit for Rowena, de-
now returns in the disguise of a palmer siring to see the Sasons reinstated; and
to see Rowena at Rotherwood. Under Isaac of York, the wealthy Jew, is a
the name of Desdichado (The Disinher- well-drawn character. Gurth, Cedric's
ited), he enters the lists of the Ashby swineherd, who is generally accompanied
Tournament; and having won the vic- by his faithful dog Fangs, is a typical
tory, is crowned by the Lady Rowena. feudal retainer; Wamba, Cedric's jester,
He is wounded, however, and returns is another; and Ulrica, a vindictive old
to the care of his friends Isaac of York, Saxon hag, who perishes in the flames
a wealthy Jew, and his daughter Re- of Torquilstone Castle to which she sets
becca. The latter tends him, and loses fire, is one of those strange, half pro-
her heart to this chivalrous knight. On phetic, half weird women whom Scott
returning from the Tournament, Row- loves to introduce into his stories.
ena is
ptured the enamored De II the scenes in Sherwood Forest,
Bracy and confined in the Tower of Robin Hood's men perform feats of


## p. 20 (#56) ##############################################

20
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
umes.
as
archery and deeds of valor, drawn from nology of the successive dynasties. The
the Robin Hood ballads and legends. figures settled upon by Professor Petrie,
Retainers, lords and ladies, knights, in his first volume, show seventeen dynas-
"Templars, monks, priests, prisoners, jail- ties ruling from 4777 B. C. to 1587 B. C. ,
ors, and men-at-arms are introduced ; and and Dynasty XVIII. carrying on the his-
the book is full of brilliantly colored tory to 1327 B. C.
It is thus the story of
pictures of the period which abounds in 3,450 years which he tells in the two vol-
contrasts between the Saxons and the
The history of the seventeenth dy-
Normans.
nasty (1738-1587 B. C. ), and of the eigh-
teenth, told in Vol. ii. , are especially
Jews
vs of Angevin England, The, by
Joseph Jacobs. (1893. ) A most inter-
important; and for these, no record or
monument has been left unnoticed.
esting volume of «Documents and Rec-
ords from Latin and Hebrew sources,
Egyptian Princess, An, a German his-
printed and manuscript, for the first time torical romance by Georg Ebers, was
collected and translated, with notes and published in 1864. Its scenes are laid in
narrative forming an exhaustive history Egypt and Persia, toward the close of the
of the Jews in England, from the Nor- sixth century B. C. The narrative follows
man Conquest to the year 1206. Mr. the fates of the royal families of the two
Jacobs finds no evidence that the Jews, nations, tracing the career of the head-
as a class, were known in England until strong, passionate Cambyses, from the days
they were brought in by the Norman of his marriage with the Egyptian prin-
kings. It was not until the accession
cess Nitetis, whom he was deceived into
of Henry II. , 1154 A D. , that they began accepting as the daughter of Amasis, King
to have a specially English history. It of Egypt, down to the times when, his
is substantially a history of their position ill-fated bride taking poison, he himself
usurers in the service of the Royal humbles the arms of Egypt in punish-
Treasury. The whole story of the Jews ment for their deception; and, dissipated,
in England goes on to their expulsion in violent, capricious, the haughty monarch
1290; and Mr. Jacobs estimates that a meets his death, Darius the Mede reign-
score of volumes would be required to ing in his stead. A figure of infinite
complete their history on the scale of pathos is the gentle Nitetis; with pitiful
the volume which he has executed. It patience meeting the cruel suspicions of
is thus a beginning only which he has Cambyses, and content to kiss his hand
made; but it is a very valuable begin- in her death agonies, the result of his in-
ning, as it enables him to indicate clearly temperate anger.
what were the notable aspects of English Another interesting character is Bartja,
Jewish life.
the handsome and chivalrous younger
brother of Cambyses, of whom the King
Esypt, A History of. Vol. i. , from the
Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Dy-
is so unjustly jealous. His love for Sap-
nasty. Vol. ii. , During the Seventeenth
pho, granddaughter of the far-famed Rho-
and Eighteenth dynasties. By W. M.
dopis, is one of the most genuine con-
Flinders Petrie. These volumes are the
ceptions in literature. Several historic
first of a series of six intended to embrace
characters are introduced and placed in
the whole history of Egypt down to mod-
natural settings, notably Crosus, mentor
ern times. A third, by Professor Petrie,
of the unhappy Cambyses; and Darius,
will complete the period of the Pharaohs,
whose future greatness is foreshadowed
Other writers will add volumes on Ptole-
in an early youth of discretion and prow-
The author has drawn a faithful
maic Egypt, on Roman Egypt, and on
Arabic Egypt; the design of the whole
picture of the times, having made a pro-
found study of his sources. The dialogue
work being to supply a book of reference
which shall suffice for all ordinary pur-
is sparkling, and the characters are han-
poses, but with special attention to facts
dled with precision and delicacy.
and illustrations which are new, and with Nippur; or, Explorations and Ad.
the utmost care to throw as much light as ventures on the Euphrates. "The
possible upon Egyptian dates. There is Narrative of the University of Pennsyl-
no intention of including a history of art, vania Espedition to Babylonia, in the
civilization, or literature; the one pur- Years 1888-90. ) By John Punnett Pe-
pose of the work is to get into as accurate ters. Vol. i. : First Campaign. Vol. ii. :
shape as possible the history and chro- Second Campaign (1897. ) The latest
ess.


## p. 21 (#57) ##############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
2 I
and most remarkable story of Babylon- also that the new vistas of ancient his-
ian exploration and discovery, carrying tory opened by the work recently done
back to a most unexpectedly early date in Babylonia have shown us men in a
the distinct records of human history high state of civilization, building cities,
and of developed culture. In the lower conducting conquest, and trafficking with
valley of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, remote lands, two thousand years before
both civilization and religion, literature the period assigned by Archbishop Us-
and science, had four conspicuous seats sher's chronology for the creation of
in cities which flourished not less than the world. The culture was Babylon-
eight thousand years ago. They were ian, and Nippur was its darkest devel-
Eridu, the most southerly and westerly, opment.
the seat of the worship of Ea, a god
of Beneficence, and of Merodach his son, Babylonian Influence on the Bible
especially known as a god of Mercy; and Popular Beliefs; by A. Smythe
Ur, the seat of the worship of the moon- Palmer, D. D. (1897. ) A small volume
god, Sin, one of whose seats was Sinai, specially devoted to showing how the He-
and especially a god of goodness, the
brew Mosaic books evince «familiarity
moon-deity being regarded as the Father- with the great religious epics of Baby-
God, to whom the sun is a son and the lonia, which go back to the twenty-third
evening star a daughter; Erech, farther century B. C. ,- to a date, that is, about
north, the seat of the worship of Ishtar, 800 years earlier than the reputed time
the evening and the morning star, con-
of Moses )); and how, in consequence of
ceived as the equal of her brother, the this familiarity, “Babylonian ideas were
sun, and the magnificent ideal of female worked into these early Hebrew docu-
character at the highest level of divin- ments, and were thus insured persistence
ity; and Nippur, the most northerly and
and obtained a world-wide currency. ”
easterly, and the seat of the worship of That Babylon still survives in our cult-
Bel, or the sun,-conceived, not as son ure,” is Dr. Palmer's general conclusion.
to the moon-god, but as a supreme god, He especially devotes his work to show-
represented by the setting sun, and most ing how the Babylonian conception of
especially revealed in the flaming red- Tiamat was reproduced in the Hebrew
ness of his setting in times of excessive conception of Tehom, «the Deep”; how
heat and drought; the Angry En-Lil, or the Babylonian idea of the Deep, sug-
“Lord of the Storm,” who caused all the gesting the Dragon of the Deep, gave
weather troubles of mankind, -desolat- the Hebrew mind its idea of Satan; and
ing winds, violent storms, floods, drought, how again the idea of the Deep became,
and all injuries. It was by him that first to the Babylonians, and en to the
the Deluge was brought, and for it the Hebrews, the idea of a Hades, or Tar-
good Ea, and kindly Sin, and Merodach taros, or Hell. Dr. Palmer makes prom-
the Merciful, charged him with cruel inent these points: (1) that “the Hebrew
injustice; and the Babylonian Noah, record of the creation is based on the
making a sacrifice after the flood, in- more ancient accounts which have been
vited all the gods except En-Lil. As preserved in the Babylonian tablets);
god of the red sunset the nether-world (2) that «religious conceptions of the
was his, ruled by a son who was of like Babylonians, suggested by phenomenal
cruel temper with his father.
aspects of nature, especially the Sun, lay
Nippur is thus the original seat of the at the base of the Hebrews' early faith”;
conception of a god of anger and a reli- (3) that “the Great Deep was consti-
gion of fear. It was a great and flour- tuted a symbol of lawlessness, was
ishing city as long before Abraham as personified as a dragon or great ser-
Abraham is before our day. Its temple, pent,” and “became a symbol of moral
commonly known as the House of En- evil; (4) that among the Hebrews
Lil, Dr. Peters says, (just as the temple this serpent or dragon introduces sin);
at Jerusalem was called the House of and (5) that this Chaos-Dragon contrib-
Yahweh,) had stood for about five thou- uted shape to later conceptions of the
sand years, when it fell into ruins about Devil. ” He further says, with reference
or before 150 B. C. Dr. Peters speaks of to the mediatorial god, Merodach of
the close connection existing between Babylonian belief: "It has often been
Babylonian and Hebrew civilization, le- remarked that Merodach, as mediator,
gends, myths, and religion. ” He states healer, and redeemer, as forgiving sin,


## p. 22 (#58) ##############################################

22
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
to
defeating the Tempter, and raising the
dead, in many of his features foreshad-
owed the Hebrew Messiah)); and also :
<< The Babylonians themselves seem
have considered their Merodach (or Bel)
and the Hebrew Ya (Jah – Jehovah) to
be one and the same. In such sugges-
tions of study as these, Dr. Palmer's
pages are very rich.
Babylonian Talmud, New Edition of
the. English Translation; Original
Text Edited, Formulated, and Punctu-
ated: by Michael L. Rodkinson. Revised
and Corrected by the Rev. Dr. Isaac
M. Wise, President Hebrew Union Col-
lege, Cincinnati, Ohio. Five volumes
published (1896-97); to be completed in
about twenty volumes. An edition in
English translation of the whole Talmud
thoroughly cleared of confusion and cor-
ruption, and brought into a readable and
intelligible form, in which it can be un-
derstood in its vast range of interest, and
judged upon its real merits as the great
Jewish encyclopædia of religion, ethics,
education, law, history, geography, medi-
cine, mathematics, and in fact knowledge
and opinion on every branch of thought
and action. Dr. Wise speaks of the work
as «Rodkinson's reconstruction of the
original text of the Talmud »; which is
confessed to have been in a very bad
state, from irrelevant matter thrust in by
later hands and even by hostile hands,
and from corruptions such as works ex-
isting for ages in manuscript, and suc-
cessively copied by scribes sometimes
careless of accuracy and often free with
changes or additions, are liable to. Dr.
Rodkinson's perfect mastery of the He-
brew, and his comprehensive knowledge
of the true Talmudical facts, with his
admirable grasp of high ideals, and con-
fidence that they are the ideals of his
race and of the Talmud, have enabled
him to reconstruct the original text and
to give a clear and readable rendering
of it in English, by which for the first
time the Talmud is made as accessible to
Anglo-Saxon readers as the books of the
Old Testament. In his representation,
“the Talmud is not a commentary on
the Bible. It is not a body of dogma
to be enforced, but of opinions to be
considered; (not the decisions, but the
debates, of the leaders of the people;)
(not a compilation of fixed regulations,
but a book of liberty, both mental and
religious,” knowing «no authority but
conscience and reason. " The extreme
freedom of suggestion and statement used
by those who speak in it, the special rea-
sons for many of its laws, such as the
desire to break from the neck of the peo-
ple the yoke of the priests, and the vein
of humor running through much that
seems most objectionable, are insisted on
by Dr. Rodkinson as showing that “noth-
ing could be more unfair, nothing more
unfortunate, than to adopt the prevailing
false notions about this ancient encyclo-
pædia. ”
Dr. Rodkinson's work is thus not only
a definitive English-Hebrew Talmud, for
popular reading as well as for study of
Jewish lore of every kind, but i. is an in-
terpretation to the modern mind of a vast
monument of Hebrew life and thought,
the value of which cannot be exaggerated.
Vols. i. and ii. give (Tract Sabbath,' in
390 pages. Vol. iii. gives (Tract Erubin,
of 250 pages, in which are embodied the
famous Rabbinical devices for getting
round the prohibitions of (Tract Sabbath. )
Vol. iv. has (Tract Shekalim,' which is
all about a sacred half-shekel tax, paid
by every Israelite at twenty years of age;
and “Tract Rosh Hashana) (or New Year),
232 pages. There are twelve of these
(Tracts, forming the first section of the
entire work, called Moed? (Festivals).
The whole of Dr. Rodkinson's colossal
task includes a new Hebrew text; some
parts of which, to fill gaps in the com-
mentary sections, he has himself composed
from materials given in the Palestinian
Talmud or in Maimonides. The entire
work is sufficiently advanced to make its
early completion secure. The reader of
Dr. Rodkinson's own writings easily rec-
ognizes in his mastery of English style,
and his high mental and ethical qualifi-
cations, ample assurance of his ability to
make his Reconstructed Talmud an ade.
quate text-book of the learning and the
liberal spirit of modern Reformed Juda-
ism. To Christian scholars, teachers, and
students of liberal spirit, his work must
be most welcome.
It may be briefly added here that there
are two forms of the Talmud; namely,
the Babylonian and the Palestinian.
There first grew up a body of expla-
nations and supplementary ordinances
called Mishna, or teaching, designed to
mark the application of Mosaic law or
to supplement it. The impulse to this
Mishnic development began in Babylon,
during the exile there; it dominated the


## p. 23 (#59) ##############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
23
return to Jerusalem under Ezra; and it Consent of the Corporation in England
was brought to a final result by Rabbi for the Propagation of the Gospels among
Jehudah Hannasi, about 160 A. D. After the Indians of New England. ”
the conclusion of the Mishna, there grew Some of the Indian words used by
up two bodies of further explanation, Eliot are so extremely long that Cotton
called Gemara, one at Babylon and the Mather thought they must have been
other in Palestine. The Mishna thus stretching themselves ever since the con-
came to exist in three greatly differing fusion of tongues at Babel. A second
forms: Mishna by itself, and Mishna as revised and corrected edition was printed
embodied with Gemara in the Talmud in 1685, only twelve copies of which are
of Babylon or that of Palestine. Dr. known to exist. An edition with notes
Rodkinson deals with the Babylonian by P. S. Du Poneau, and an introduc-
form of Mishna and Gemara.
tion by J. Pickering, was published in
Boston in 1822.