This Rus-
sian romance is a series of pictur-
esque studies on the life of the Cossacks of
the Terek, rather than a romance.
sian romance is a series of pictur-
esque studies on the life of the Cossacks of
the Terek, rather than a romance.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
Ticknor
piness and his faith - and bids her fare-
says:
well. The duchess immediately falls in “But, both during his life and after his
love with him, sends him repentant letters death (1557), Oviedo had a formidable
which receive no response, and after a adversary, who, pursuing nearly the same
desperate attempt to see him in his own course of inquiries respecting the New
house, leaves Paris just as Monsieur is World, came almost constantly to con-
hastening to call upon her. Armand de clusions quite opposite. This was no less
Montriveau searches five years for his a person than Bartolomé de las Casas,
lady, finding her at last immured in a the apostle and defender of the American
convent in Spain. Determined to rescue Indians,- a man who would have been
her from such an imprisonment, he suc- remarkable in any age of the world, and
ceeds in penetrating to the cell of her who does not seem yet to have gathered
who was called by the «Sister in the full harvest of his honors. He was
Thérèse,” only to find the dead body of born in 1474; and in 1502, having gone
the Duchesse de Langeais. This is one through a course of studies at (the uni-
of the most famous of Balzac's novels. versity of] Salamanca, embarked for the
The story is told with all his vigor and Indies, where his father, who had been
minuteness, and the characters impress there with Columbus nine years earlier,
themselves on the memory as persons had already accumulated a decent for-
actually known.
tune. The attention of the young man
was early drawn to the condition of the
Cas
asas, Las: HISTORY OF THE (West] natives, from the circumstance that one
INDIES. (Historia de las Indias, of them, given to his father by Columbus,
por Fr. Bartholomé de las Casas. ) The had been attached to his own person
Spanish original in manuscript, 1527–61; as a slave while he was still at the Uni-
only printed edition, 5 vols. , 1875–76. It versity; and he was not slow to learn,
is one of the most notable of books, not on his arrival in Hispaniola [Hayti:
only in its contents, -as a history of Span- 1502], that their gentle natures and
ish discoveries from 1492 to 1520, and a slight frames had already been sub-
contemporary Spanish Catholic criticism jected, in the mines and in other forms
as well as story of Columbus, – but in the of toil, to a servitude so harsh that the
circumstances which prevented its publi- original inhabitants of the island were
cation for more than three hundred years, beginning to waste away under the se-
and which still leave it inaccessible ex- verity of their labors. From this moment
cept to readers of Spanish. Its author he devoted his life to their emancipation.
was the most illustrious figure of the New In 1510 he took holy orders, and contin-
World during its first half-century, and ued, as a priest, and for a short time as
not less illustrious to all Europe as a rep- bishop of Chiapa, nearly forty years, to
resentative of the Catholic Christian feel. teach, strengthen, and console the suffer-
ing which led Queen Isabella to condemn ing flock committed to his charge. Six
Columbus for sending shiploads of Amer- times at least he crossed the Atlantic,
ican natives to Spain to be sold as slaves. in order to persuade the government of
His entire life and all his writings were Charles the Fifth to ameliorate their con-
devoted to urging the duty of humane dition, and always with more or less suc-
treatment of the Indians; and after pub- cess. At last, but not until 1547, when
lishing in his lifetime appeals and pro- he was above seventy years old, he estab-
tests which stirred the Catholic conscience lished himself at Valladolid in Spain,
throughout Europe, he left at his death where he passed the remainder of his
the great History, which Spanish feel- serene old age, giving it freely to the
ing refused the honors of the press until great cause to which he had devoted the
1875. The whole matter is dealt with freshness of his youth. He died in 1566,
## p. 220 (#256) ############################################
220
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Cast
none
at ninety-two. . Among the principal op- So far as Mr. Ticknor questions at all
ponents of his benevolence were Sepúl- the fairness of Las Casas, his view may
veda, - one of the leading men of letters be presumed to reflect Spanish judgment,
and casuists of the time in Spain,- and about which he might have thought dif.
Oviedo, who, from his connection with the erently if he had spoken simply from a
mines and his share in the government perusal of the pages of Las Casas. He
of the newly discovered countries, had says that Las Casas was “a prejudiced
an interest directly opposite to the one witness, but, on a point of fact within his
Las Casas defended. These two persons, own knowledge, one to be believed. ) The
with large means and a wide influence to prejudice of Las Casas was that of Cath-
sustain them, intrigued, wrote, and toiled olic Europe against slavery and wars of
against him, in every way in
their slaughter, the right to resort to which
power. But his was not a spirit to be Sepúlveda laboriously argued against Las
daunted by opposition or deluded by soph- Casas.
istry and intrigue.
The earli-
est of his works, called (A Very Short
astilian Days, by John Hay, has gone
Account of the Ruin of the Indies, was
through eight editions since its pub-
lication in 1871; a prosperity at which no
written in 1542,-a tract in which, no
reader of the book can wonder. Its sev-
doubt, the sufferings and wrongs of the
Indians are much overstated by the in-
enteen essays present a vivid picture of
the life of Spain. Joining a graceful and
dignant zeal of its author, but still one
brilliant style with the happiest percep-
whose expositions are founded in truth,
tion of the significance of things seen, the
and by their fervor awakened all Europe
to a sense of the injustice they set forth.
author finds a subject worthy of his in-
terpretation in that mediæval civilization
Other short treatises followed, written
with similar spirit and power; bu
of the Iberian peninsula which has lasted
over into the nineteenth century-a civ-
was so often reprinted as the first, and
ilization where the Church holds sway
none ever produced so deep and solemn
as it did in the Middle Ages: where the
an effect on the world. They were all
upper classes believe in devils, and the
collected and published in 1522; and an
edition, in Spanish with a French ver-
peasants dare not yawn without crossing
themselves, lest an imp find lodgment
sion, appeared at Paris in 1822, prepared
within them; where duels are fought in
by Llorente.
all deadliness whenever a caballero's del-
« The great work of Las Casas, however,
icate honor is offended; where alone the
still remains inedited,
,-a General His.
Carnival survives as an unforced, naive,
tory of the Indies from 1492 to 1520, begun
popular fête; where rich and poor play
by him in 1527 and finished in 1561, but
together, and enjoy themselves like child-
of which he ordered that no portion should
Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Alcalá,
be published within forty years of his
Seville, are so described that we see the
death. Like his other works, it shows
people abroad, at home, at church, at the
marks of haste and carelessness, and is
bull-fights, at the miracle-play, in the brill-
written in a rambling style; but its value,
iant light of their sub-tropical skies. The
notwithstanding his too fervent zeal for
whole history of Spain - of its Moors, its
the Indians, is great. He had been per-
Goths, its Castilians- is written in its
sonally acquainted with many of the
streets and its customs; and Mr. Hay has
early discoverers and conquerors, and at
translated it for Western eyes to read.
one time possessed the papers of Colum-
His book is the work at once of the shrewd
bus, and a large mass of other important
social observer and the imaginative poet.
documents, which are now lost. He knew
[of the regular
Alarcón. The opening scene of this
and gives at large his reasons for differing clever and amusing story is laid in Ma-
from them. In short, his book, divided drid, in the month of March 1848. In a
into three parts, is a great repository, to skirmish between the royal troops and
which Herrera, and through him all the a handful of Republicans, Don Jorge de
historians of the Indies since, have re- Córdoba, called Captain Veneno (poison)
sorted for materials; and without which on account of his brusque, pugnacious
the history of the earliest period of the manner, is wounded before the house of
Spanish settlements in America cannot, Doña Teresa Barbastro, who shelters him.
even now, be properly written. ”
A professed hater of women and marriage,
ren.
torians of the New World) anda udariedaisCaptain Veneno, by Pedro Antonio de
## p. 221 (#257) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
221
he laments his prolonged imprisonment to use the words of Professor Marsh: the
in terms which anger the mother and new in the form of a highly-trained, clear-
amuse the daughter; but his kind heart is thinking, frank-speaking modern man;
so apparent that his foibles are humored. the old in the guise of a whole community
When Doña Teresa dies, she confides to so remote from the current of things that
him that she has spent her fortune in its religious intolerance, its social jeal-
trying to secure the confirmation of the ousy, its undisturbed confidence and pride
title of Count de Santurce, conferred on in itself, must of necessity declare in-
her husband by Don Carlos. He hides stant war upon that which comes from
the truth from the daughter, Angustias, without, unsympathetic and critical. The
for a few days; but when she learns that inevitable result is ruin for the party whose
he is paying the household expenses, she physical force is less, the single individual;
insists upon his leaving, now that he can yet hardly less complete ruin for those
walk. He tries to induce her to let him whom intolerance and hate have driven to
pension her, or provide for her in any the annihilation of their adversary. ” The
honorable way except by marrying her, story was published in 1876, and reached
although he professes to adore her. His its ninth edition in 1896.
offers being rejected, he proposes marriage
with one inexorable condition, – that if Dona Luz, by Juan Valera. The scene
of this brilliant emotional story is laid
there should be children, they shall be
in Spain, during the seventies. Doña Luz,
sent to the foundling asylum; to which
she laughingly agrees.
The story is
at the death of her father, the dissipated
written with a breezy freshness; and the
Marquis of Villafria, takes up her abode
with his old steward Don Ascisclo, into
evolution of the Captain's character is
whose hands a large part of the estate of
delightfully done, from his first appear-
the marquis has fallen. High-strung and
ance to his last, where he is discovered
sensitive, with a rare beauty of mind and
on all-fours, with an imp of three on his
person, and entertaining no hope of mar-
back, and a younger one pulling him by
the hair, and shouting Go lang, mule! »
rying according to her inclinations, she
After (The Child of the Ball, this is the
gently repulses all admirers. Among her
friends she counts Don Miguel, the parish
most popular of Alarcón's stories, as it
priest; Don Anselmo, a skillful physician
deserves to be.
but a fierce materialist; and his daughter
Doña Manolita, a charming brunette, ca-
Dona Perfecta, by Benito Pérez Galdós.
This exquisite romance, the transla-
pricious and merry, loyal and affectionate.
tion of which was published in 1880, is a
Into this circle comes the missionary, Fa-
vivid description of life in a Spanish pro-
ther Enrique, nephew of Don Ascisclo, a
vincial town, just before the Carlist war.
man of great wisdom and elevation of
thought; and last of all, the hero, Don
Doña Perfecta Rey de Polentinos is a
Jaime Pimental. Around this group the
wealthy widow, just in all her dealings,
kind and charitable, but a perfect type
movement of the story takes place. The
of the narrow-minded and even cruel
dominant motives spring from avarice and
ambition; and the action is complicated
spirit of old Spain. The Spanish hate
the national government, but have a pecul-
by religious animosities. (Doña Luz) was
iar local patriotism, which in this case
published in Madrid in 1891, and its Eng-
turns an apparently kind and honorable
lish translation by Mrs. Serrano came out
in 1894.
woman against her own nephew, because
he dislikes the customs of her beloved Child of the Ball, The, by Pedro Ana
town.
tonio de Alarcón. The scene of this
This nephew, Don José Rey, handsome, powerful and tragic novel is Andalusia.
generous, and rich, is the hero of the story, Don Rodrigo Venegas mortgages his ha-
whose incidents are the outgrowth of old cienda to Don Elias Perez, and his whole
prejudice - religious and political.
estate is eaten up by usury. When Pe-
The author endeavors to show that the rez's house burns, no one tries to save
offenses of Doña Perfecta are the result it; and he proclaims that it is the work
of her position and surroundings rather of an incendiary trying to destroy all
than inherent in her character. In this evidence of his debt. Rodrigo rushes
book he begins to exploit the modern into the flames and saves the papers, dy-
Spain and its clashing interests. He ing as he delivers them. Rodrigo's estate
brings the new and the old face to face," is put up at auction, and bid in by Perez
## p. 222 (#258) ############################################
2 2 2
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
for one million reals less than his claims. blood, which has declared itself both in
Rodrigo leaves a young son, Manuel, who the personal appearance and the power
is adopted by the curate, Don Trinidad. of acquisition of Felipe, and which ex-
For three years after, Manuel speaks not cites a feeling of loathing in Salustio.
a word; till one day, standing before the He cannot understand why Carmen
image of the infant Christ with a ball should marry Felipe, but overhears her
in its hand (called the “Child of the secret when she is telling it to Father
Ball»), he says: “Child Jesus, why don't Moreno: she marries to escape sanction-
you speak, either ? »
Meeting Perez's ing by her presence in the house a scan-
daughter Soledad when a young man, dalous flirtation of her father. After the
he falls in love with her. He fights this marriage, Felipe, to save expenses, takes
passion; living for months at a time on Salustio into his house; and the results
the mountains, and with no weapon but are very unfortunate.
his hands, battling with the wild beasts.
To bring him back to civilization, Don Nabob, The, by Alphonse Daudet. This
Trinidad tells him that Soledad recipro-
romance is one of the most highly
finished of the author's works. Jansou-
cates his love. At the feast day of the
<< Child of the Ball,” it is customary to bid
let, the Nabob, has emigrated to Tunis
with but half a louis in his pocket.
for the privilege of dancing with any
He
returns with much more than twenty-
lady; the money going to the cult of the
five millions; and becomes at once the
Child. Manuel bids for a dance with
Soledad; but her father outbids him, and
prey of a horde of penniless adventurers,
whose greed even his extravagant gener-
he is obliged to desist. Perez accuses
him of his debt of one million reals; and
osity cannot satisfy. His dining-room in
the Place Vendôme is the rendezvous of
Manuel, to pay it, determines to leave
projectors and schemers from every part
Spain. He promises to return on the an-
of the world, and resembles the Tower
niversary of this day and claim Soledad;
of Babel. Dr. Jenkins, the inventor of
and woe to him who in the mean time
an infallible pill, persuades him to en-
dares to come between them. Eight
dow his famous Asile de Bethléem, hint-
years after, he returns and finds Soledad
ing to him that the Cross of the Legion
married to Antonio Arregui. All efforts
of Honor will reward his benevolence;
of Don Trinidad to dissuade him from
but it is the doctor, and not the poor
killing Arregui are in vain; but he is left
Nabob, who is decorated.
alone with the “Child of the Ball," and
Montpavon,
an old beau, saves a bank, in which he
finally decorates it with the jewels he
had brought for his bride, and lays at its
is a partner, from insolvency with the
money of
the multi-millionaire; the
feet the dagger he had concealed. The
next morning he leaves, but is overtaken
journalist Moessard receives a liberal do-
nation for a eulogistic newspaper arti-
by a letter from Soledad. He returns,
cle: in short, Jansoulet becomes the easy
bids a sum which Arregui cannot equal,
and Soledad Alies to his arms. Arregui
dupe of all who approach him.
(The
Nabob) is a romance of manners and
takes the dagger from the feet of the
image and stabs Manuel, and the lovers
observation; and it blends successfully
fall to the ground dead. The story is told
many of the qualities of both the natur-
alist and the romantic schools. It exhib-
with dramatic force; and tender, idyllic
its a singular faculty for seizing on the
passages lighten its tragic gloom.
picturesque side of things, and a won-
derful gift of expression. Although sev-
Christian Woman, A, by Emilia Pardo-
eral models among the French commer-
In this interesting novel,
cial classes must have sat for Jansoulet,
the author presents a very realistic pict-
most of the other characters are prom-
ure of modern Spanish life, into which
inent figures in Parisian life, very thinly
are introduced many current social and
veiled.
political questions. The story is an auto-
biography of Salustio Unceta, a student
King
ing of the Mountains, The ("Le
in the School of Engineers in Madrid, Roi des Montagnes'), by Edmond
and a liberal in politics and religion. About, appeared in 1856, when he was
His tuition is paid by his uncle Felipe, twenty-eight. The scene is laid in and
who invites Salustio to be present at his near contemporary Athens. The story is
marriage to Carmen Aldoa. There is in an animated and delightfully humorous
the Unceta family a trace of Hebrew account of the adventures befalling two
## p. 223 (#259) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
223
a
a
English ladies and
young German
everything. He dazzles and fascinates the
scientist, who are captured and held for women by his expressive looks and serene
ransom by the redoubtable Hadgi-Stavros, self-confidence; and being treated as a
king of the brigands. Mrs. Simons is genius, he naturally believes himself one.
an amusing caricature of British arro- He speaks of his immense labors; but
gance. “I am an Englishwoman,” is her all his literary baggage consists of news-
constant refrain; and she cannot compre- paper and magazine articles which he
hend how any one dare interfere with intends to write. He is soon found out,
the rights of herself and her daughter however; and from Daria's salon passes
Mary Ann. The Simons family is rich. into that of an affected old lady, a blue-
Hermann Schultze, the young German, is stocking also, who takes him even more
attracted by pretty Mary Ann, and with seriously than Daria did at first. She
the thrift of his nation, wants to make believes she can understand Hegel's met-
his fortune by marrying her. He tries aphysics when he explains them; so she
to ingratiate himself by proposing plans lodges and boards him, lends him money,
of escape which Mrs. Simons rejects. and insists that all her visitors shall ac-
Hadgi-Stavros dictates his private cor- knowledge his superiority. Unfortunately,
respondence in the presence of his cap- her daughter, a proud beauty, hears so
tives. Thus Schultze learns that the much of this superiority that she be-
king has a large sum of money in a lieves in it, becomes smitten with the
London banking house to which Mrs. great man, and wishes to marry him.
Simons's brother belongs. She writes to This is too much for the old lady, and
have the amount of her ransom paid; Dmitri is shown the door. He is at last
and the king is persuaded to give a re- forced to quit Russia, and dies defend-
ceipt by which he can be tricked out of ing a barricade at Paris. In the character
the amount. Mother and daughter are of Dmitri, Turgeneff satirizes a class com-
released. Schultze tries to escape, but mon enough in every country as well as
fails, and is severely punished. He at- Russia, especially among the young, -
tacks the king, and nearly succeeds in the class of people who niistake words,
poisoning him. A friend in Athens, in which they abound, for ideas, in which
John Harris, a typical American full of they are lacking. And yet, such is Tur-
resources, rescues Hermann. The king | geneff's fine and delicate skill in the an-
is devoted to his one child Photini, a alysis of feeling that he interests us in
schoolgirl in Athens. Harris persuades this poor boaster; he excites our pity for
Photini aboard his barge, keeps her him, - and it is a singular fact that the
prisoner, and threatens to treat her as lower Dmitri falls, the more interesting
Schultze is treated. Thereupon Schultze he becomes. He is a mixture of pride
is released. He afterward narrates the and weakness; and his good faith and
whole story to a friend, between whiffs harmlessness somewhat palliate his faults.
of his long porcelain pipe. This story is
one of the most brilliant and delightful On the Eve, by Ivan Turgeneff
.
In
of About's telling.
this tale which is devoid of plot,
but full of Turgeneff's charm of style
Dmit
mitri Rudin, a story by Turgeneff. and delicate character-drawing, he seeks
This great novel was first published to show the contrast between the dilet-
in 1860. The action passes in the country, tante trifling or learned pedantry of
some distance from Moscow, at the coun- young Russia, and the intense vitality of
try-seat of Daria Mikhailovna, a great conviction in the youth of other nations.
lady who protects literature and art and He first introduces two young Russians,
is determined to have a salon, She has André Bersieneff, a doctor of philosophy
one in embryo already, made up of an old from the Moscow University, and Paul
French governess, a young Circassian secre- Shubin, a gay and pleasure-loving artist,
tary, and a Cossack. The advent of Dmi- who has been modeling the bust of a
tri, a vainglorious creature who thinks beautiful girl, Elena Strashof, whose
himself a great man, completes it. He charms he dwells upon. She is the
has retained a few scraps from the books daughter of a dissipated noble; and her
he has read, some ideas borrowed from mother, a faded society belle, has left
the German transcendentalists, and her to the care of a sentimental govern-
number of keen aphorisms; and so he im-
The ardent girl, filled with high
agines he is able to pull down and set up aspirations, rebels at the prosaic routine
a
ess.
## p. 224 (#260) ############################################
224
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
sexes.
of her life, and longs for intercourse
with nobler natures. Both the young
men are in love with her, but she de-
spises Shubin as a trifler; and just as
she is beginning to be interested in the
young philosopher Bersieneff, the real
hero appears on the scene. This is
Dmetri Insarof, a young Bulgarian pa-
triot, whose life is devoted to freeing
his country from the yoke of Turkey.
His mother has fallen a victim to the
brutality of a Turkish aga, while his
father was shot in trying to avenge her;
and he is now looked upon by his com-
patriots as their destined leader in the
approaching revolt. His tragic story
and his high aims appeal to Elena's
idealism; but Insarof, finding that «on
the eve of the great conflict, he is
distracted from his mission by love for
Elena, has resolved to leave her forever
without a farewell. She, however, seeks
him out, and avows her devotion to
him, and her willingness to abandon
home and country for his sake. In his
struggle between his passion for her and
his dread of involving her in perils and
hardships, he falls dangerously ill. His
comrade and former rival Bersieneff
nurses him with disinterested friendship
until he is partially restored to health,
when he and Elena are married se-
cretly, owing to the opposition of her
family to the foreign adventurer. They
start together for Bulgaria to take part
in the struggle for his fatherland, but
have only reached Venice when Insarof
dies in his young wife's arms. Elena,
in a heart-broken letter, bids her par-
ents a last farewell before joining the
Sisters of Mercy in the Bulgarian army,
as she has now no country but his.
Thus ends the life story of the noblest
and most ideal pair of lovers the great
Russian novelist has ever drawn.
peasant to the nobleman. She is, in-
deed, the pivot on which the narrative
turns; is both hero and heroine, as she
partakes of the subtler qualities of both
The second though unacknowl-
edged hero is Maurice Jókai himself; his
story being generally, if not circumstan-
tially, autobiographical. In his youth he
had loved Bessy. She rejects his love,
but ever afterwards cherishes the mem-
ory of it as the one noble ideal in her
wayward life.
Even this may be a
form of perversity. Jókai leaves her to
console himself with the pursuit of liter-
Later he takes a patriot's
part in the Hungarian revolution of
1848. In the thick of it he marries an
actress, who is most devoted and faith-
ful to him. From time to time, Bessy
seeks his rather unwilling advice and
protection in her love affairs. From the
lady with eyes like the sea” he can-
not escape.
Its strong local color makes
the book a faithful picture of Hunga-
rian social life, while throughout it is
tremendously stimulating, fresh and bois-
terous as a wind from the Carpathian
Mountains.
ary fame.
Elizabeth; or, The Exiles of Siberia,
by Sophie Cottin, is regarded in
the English-speaking world as her best
work; though in France her Mathilde,)
founded on incidents in the life of Rich-
ard Cour-de-Lion's sister, is more highly
esteemed. The picturesque story of Eliz-
abeth was founded on fact; its theme
the successful attempt of a Polish maiden
of high birth to obtain the pardon of her
exiled parents from the Emperor Alex-
ander, at his coronation in 1801 — is so
exalted that one cannot help wishing it
had been told with more simplicity and
fewer comments, giving Xavier de Maistre
less excuse for retelling a story already
read and loved throughout Europe. Un-
like Madame Cottin, who gave Elizabeth
the moral support of a lover, De Maistre
introduced no fictitious love-making into
his version; convinced that nothing was
needed to heighten the interest created
by her daring resolve and unmixed mo-
tives. Yet the presence of much old-
fashioned sentimentality, and the utter
absence of humor, do not prevent Ma-
dame Cottin's story from having dra-
matic passages. Even the love-making
is not without charm; and the dialogue is
well managed. The descriptions of nature
and of remote corners of Russia are done
Eyes Like the Sea, by the celebrated
Hungarian novelist Maurice Jókai,
was crowned by the Hungarian Acad-
emy as the best Magyar novel of the
year 1890. It takes high rank among
the author's one hundred and fifty works
of fiction. The peculiar title of the
book has reference to the eyes of the
heroine, Bessy, a girl of gentle parent-
age, yet of a perverse, adventurous dis-
position, which during the course of the
story leads her five times into matri-
mony; the five husbands representing
almost every class of society, from the
## p. 225 (#261) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
225
Tsar Novishny,' perhaps the prettiest and
most characteristic story of all.
with much fidelity not to mention Eliza-
beth's peasant costume: her short red
petticoat, reindeer trousers, squirrel-skin
boots, and fur bonnet. A less virile writer
than Madame de Staël, Madame Cottin
nevertheless helped to pave the way for
the romantic school in France; her best
work coming between (The Genius of
Christianity) and the Meditations. )
suer.
Cºs
'ossacks, The, by Tolstoy.
This Rus-
sian romance is a series of pictur-
esque studies on the life of the Cossacks of
the Terek, rather than a romance. The
slight love story that runs through it sim-
ply serves as an excuse for the author's
graphic descriptions of strange scenes and
strange peoples. The hero, Olenin, is a
ruined young noble, who, to escape his
creditors and begin a new life, enters a
sotnia of Cossacks as ensign. One fine
night he leaves Moscow; and at the first
station on his way, he begins already to
dream of battles, glory, and of some di-
vinely beautiful but half-savage maiden,
whom he will tame and polish. His
arrival at the camp of his regiment on
the Terek gives occasion for a fascinating
and most realistic picture of the wild races
he meets so suddenly. The young ensign
falls in at once with his half-savage
maiden, a tall, statuesque girl, with red
lips, a rose-colored undergarment, and a
blue jacket, who looks back at him with
a frightened air as she runs after the buf-
falo she is trying to milk. As he is lodg-
ing with her parents, he sets about taming
her immediately. But he has a rival,
young Lukashka, whose threadbare kaf-
tan and bearskin shako had long before
captivated the fair Marianka. The love
affairs of the rivals, whom she treats im-
partially, although she has already made
up her inind, go on in the midst of hunt-
ing, ambuscade, and battle, which are the
real subjects of the book. At last Olenin
discovers that he is too civilized for Mari-
anka. "Ah! ” he says to himself, if I
were a Cossack like Lukashka, got drunk,
stole horses, assassinated now and then
for a little change, she would understand
me, and I should be happy. But the
cruelty and the sweetness of it is that I
understand her and she will never un-
derstand me. ) The young Cossack is
wounded in battle; and the ensign, not
displaying much emotion at this calamity,
receives a look from Marianka that tells
him his company is no longer desirable:
so he decides to exchange into another
sotnia. Tolstoy's pictures of the rough
life of the Cossacks have a wonderful
charm. The story is particularly inter-
esting as showing the first germs of the
altruistic philosophy which Count Tolstoy
has developed into a vigorous system of
self-renunciation, and almost a cult.
of folk-lore was selected, edited, and
translated from the Ruthenian by R. Nis-
bet Bain, and published in 1894. The
Ruthenian or Cossack language, though
proscribed by the Russian government,
is spoken by more than twenty million
people. There are in the original three
important collections of folk-tales, from
which Mr. Bain has made a representa-
tive selection for translation. There are,
Slavonic scholars maintain, certain ele-
ments in these stories found in the folk-
lore of no other European people. Among
these may be mentioned the magic hand-
kerchief, which causes a bridge across the
sea to appear before a fugitive, or a forest
to spring up in his rear delaying his pur-
There is the magic egg, which pro-
duces a herd of cattle when broken; and
the magic whip, which can expel evil
spirits. Many elements and episodes com-
mon to other mythologies are found, how-
There are, for example, Cossack
versions of Cinderella, and the woman
who took her pig to market. One tale of
a Tsar expelled by an angel is an almost
literal rendering of King Robert of Sicily,
with Cossack coloring. There is a Sam-
son-like hero, who reveals the secret of
his strength; and an episode of a man in
a fish's belly, which resembles Hiawatha
and the sturgeon rather than Jonah and
the whale.
The serpent figures prominently in these
stories; and is generally, though by no
means invariably, malign, and always
represents superior intellectual power.
The women are frequently treacherous,
especially when beguiled by the serpent;
but it is interesting to notice the number
of men who cannot keep a secret. The
lower animals are always friendly to man,
and frequently assist him in performing
difficult tasks. The whole tenor of the
stories is charmingly naif and inconse-
quent; among the vampires and magic
fires it is somewhat startling to encounter
guns and passports. The style is simple
and poetic, especially in "The Little
XXX--15
ever.
## p. 226 (#262) ############################################
226
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Death of Ivan Ilyitch, The, and other the countess waits without, and Cralo
Stories, by Count Lyof N. Tolstoy, and his monks discuss what should be
contains a series of short stories which done, the ready-witted young Ekkehard
represent the latest phase in the evolu- suggests that some one carry the count-
tion of the author's peculiar views. With ess across the portal. He is deputed to
the exception of The Death of Ivan do so; and from the hour when he takes
Ilyitch,' a sombre and powerful study of her into his arms, the poet-monk loves
the insidious progress of fatal disease, and the Countess Hadwig. Later, when he
a vehicle of religious philosophy, these is sent to be her tutor, despite his self-
tales were written as tracts for the peo- restraint he reveals his love to her. He
ple, illustrated in many cases with quaint is as “the moth fluttering around a can-
wood-cuts; aiming to bring a word of dle. ” Fleeing love's temptations, Ekke-
cheer and comfort to the poorer classes hard goes far up into the mountains with
oppressed by Russian despotism. The his lyre, and amid the snow-capped peaks,
second story, If You Neglect the Fire, sings his master-song. This he tran-
You Don't Put It Out, describes a triv- scribes, and tying it to an arrow, he
ial neighborhood quarrel resulting in shoots it so that it falls at the count-
ruin. (Where Love Is, there God Is Also) ess's feet. It is his parting gift. He
is the study of a humble shoemaker who journeys into the world, his songs making
blames God for the death of his child, but a welcome for him everywhere; and in
reaches peace through the New Testament. her halls the countess keeps his memory
(A Candle) and (Two Old Men,' told in a to fill her lonely hours. In 1885 the story
few pages, point a wide moral. "Six had reached its eighty-sixth edition in
Texts for Wood-Cuts, the titles of which the original German, while innumerable
suggest the subject of each cut, follow. translations have been made into English.
Under the heading of Popular Legends) Though Scheffel gave the world other
are the subjects How the Little Devil volumes of prose and poetry, none is so
Earned a Crust of Bread; The Repent- well known, or considered so good.
ant Sinner); A Seed as Big as a Hen's
Egg); and Does a Man Need Much Hero of our Times, A, by Mikhail
Lermontof. The novel portrays the
Land ? )
vices of the modern Russian of rank,
fashion, and adventure, and his utter
Ekkehard, by Joseph Victor von Schef-
selfishness and want of principle and
fel, is a story told by one who be-
lieved in the union of poetry and fiction. ”
conscience. The story takes the form of
To him “the characters of the past arose
a series of tales, of which the libertine
from out the mist of years, and bade
Petchorin, and his unhappy victims,
him clothe them anew in living form to
mostly confiding women, are the sub-
please his own and succeeding genera-
jects. Lermontof was a great admirer
tions. ) The time is the tenth century,
of Byron; and the fascinating Petchorin,
the rascal of the stories, with his mys-
the century of King Canute's conquest
of England. The hero, Ekkehard, is a
terious attractiveness, strongly resembles
young Benedictine monk of the holy house
Don Juan. The publication of the story
of St. Gall, in Suabia, a house whose
excited much controversy; and was the
abbot is an old man named Cralo. The
cause of the duel in which the author
abbot is a distant cousin to Hadwig,
was killed in 1841. Many people claimed
countess of Suabia, whose deceased lord,
that Petchorin was a portrait; but the
Burkhard, had been a tyrannical old
author distinctly states that he is not the
nobleman who in his dotage wedded
portrait of any person, but personifies
the vices of the whole generation. The
Hadwig, a fair daughter of Bavaria, who
had entered into the alliance to please
author does not set himself up as
her father. At Burkhard's death the
reformer, his idea being simply to de-
emperor has declared that the countess
nounce evil.
shall hold her husband's fiefs so long as uunnar: A Tale of Norse Life,
she does not marry again. But the count- by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, 1874.
ess, - young, beautiful, rich, and idle, (Gunnar, the one romance of Boyesen,
- in a moment of recklessness decides is also the earliest of his works of fiction.
to visit the monastery of St. Gall, The scene of the story is a small parish
which has a rule that woman's foot must in Bergen Stift, where Gunnar Thorson
never step across its threshold; and while lives in the little hamlet Henjumhei
a
G
## p. 227 (#263) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
227
with his father, Thor Gunnarson, and
his grandmother, old Gunhild. Gunnar's
mother, Birgit, having died when he was
a baby, his father and grandmother bring
him up carefully; and the latter fills his
mind with stories of Huldre and Necken,
and other strange creations of Norse
mythology. As his father Thor is only a
houseman or rent-payer, a sharp distinc-
tion is drawn between him and the fami-
ilies of the neighboring gāardmen or land-
owners. One of the chief of these is Atle
Larsson, Thor's landlord and the leading
man in the parish. As Gunnar grows up,
he falls in love with the beautiful Ragn-
hild, «a birch in the pine forest, niece
of Atle, and daughter of his haughty
sister; Ingeborg Rimul. It is the love
affair of Gunnar and Ragnhild which
forms the texture of the story, - its trou-
bled course, the dangers encountered,
the loyalty and patience of the lovers.
(Gunnar) carries the reader into an un-
familiar world of romance and poetry,
where he comes in contact with the
minds of the simple Norwegian peas-
ants, with their beliefs in fairies and
other mystical beings. Many of their
customs are described: the games of St.
John's Eve, the ski
race, the wed-
ding festivities at Peer Berg's, and some
of the religious ceremonies, such as those
attending confirmation.
fense of the Camp of Refuge at Ely,
and the successes attending the arms of
the little band of patriots in that fen
country; the sacking of Peterborough
by the Danes; the last stand made by
Hereward in the forest, are all graph-
ically described. Mr. Kingsley is liberal
sometimes in his allowance of redeeming
faults to his virtuous characters; yet,
in the fall of Hereward, he forcibly im-
presses the lesson that loss of self-respect
is fatal to noble effort.
There are fine passages in the book ;
and the mourning of the stricken Tor-
frida and the true-hearted Martin Light-
foot
the defeated Hereward is
full of pathos. The genial abbot of
Peterborough, Uncle Brand, and Earl
Leofric, are agreeably sketched. Ivo
Taillebois is true to life, or rather to
the chronicles and ballads; and William
himself is well drawn. The novel is a
book for Englishmen, and helps to popu-
larize their heroic traditions; but it is
of interest to all those who cherish the
ideals of manliness and heroism. The
story was first published in Good Words
in 1866.
over
House of the Wolfings, The, by Will-
Hereward the Wake, by the Rev.
Charles Kingsley. Mr. Kingsley
was Regius Professor of Modern History
in the University of Cambridge, on the
very site of his story. The author's
propaganda of the religion of rugged
strength also made him quite at home
in his theme.
The story, which is largely based on
the old ballads and chronicles, opens
near the end of the reign of Edward
the Confessor, when Hereward is made
a «wake ) or outlaw; and the tales of
his wanderings, his freaks, and feats of
arms, in the North, in Cornwall, in Ire-
land, and Flanders, have their founda-
tion in the old English records. The
author tells in dramatic style how the
hero returns from Flanders, and begins
his daring resistance to the Normans;
running the gauntlet of William's most
skillful generals, and at last meeting
and defeating the forces of the great
master. Hereward's strategy and daring
elicits the admiration of the stern Con-
queror himself. The story of the de-
iam Morris. «The tale tells that in
times long past, there was a dwelling of
men beside a great wood. ” Thus does
the first sentence of the book take us
into the atmosphere - half real, half
mystical, and wholly poetic — which per-
vades the entire story. These “men
belonged to one of the Germanic tribes
of Central Europe. Round about this
«great wood ” were three settlements or
«Marks,) each mark containing many
Houses; and it is with the House of
the Wolfings of Mid-mark that the tale
chiefly deals.
The chief of the Wolfings was Thio-
dolf, the wisest man, and of heart most
dauntless. Hall-Sun, his daughter, ex-
ceeding fair and with the gift of proph-
ecy, was first among the women.
The leading theme of the story is the
war between the Romans and the Mark-
men; how it fared with Thiodolf, and
how the Hall-Sun advises the Stay-at-
Homes by means of her wonderful in-
sight. Thiodolf is chosen War-Duke. He
meets the Wood-Sun, his beloved, a
woman descended from the gods. She
gives him a hauberk to wear in battle;
but owing to a charm that caused whoso
wore this armor to weaken in war, Thio-
## p. 228 (#264) ############################################
228
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
dolf does not acquit himself bravely in
their first skirmishes with the foe. The
Markmen become somewhat disheartened,
and the Romans advance even to the Hall
of the Wolfings. Then Thiodolf is led
by the Hall-Sun, who personifies courage
and duty, to the throne of the Wood-
Sun, who confesses that, fearing his
death and the end of their love on earth,
she had fastened the hauberk upon him.
Thereupon Thiodolf casts it away, and
subordinating love to duty, he goes forth
to meet a hero's death on the morrow's
battle-field. The sight of the War-Duke,
in his old strength and cheer, incites the
“stark men and doughty warriors » to
the complete undoing of the Romans.
The day is given up to the chanting of
dirges for the dead; and the night wears
away in feasting. All the kindred hal-
low with song the return of the warriors
« with victory in their hands. ” And
thereafter the Wolfings «throve in field
and fold. )
This fascinating story is pervaded with
the charm of a primitive people, who
live a picturesque life both in agriculture
and on the battle-field.
orders a reprieve, in quick succession.
Then, going in person to the prison, she
asks Chastelard to return the reprieve.
He has already destroyed it; and after
one short, happy hour with her, he goes
bravely to his death.
From an upper
window in the palace, Mary Beaton watches
the execution, and curses the Queen just
as Mary enters — with Both well.
In "Chastelard? Swinburne has por-
trayed a fickle, heartless, vain, and beau-
tiful queen; and in the few touches
given to a character of secondary im-
portance, has delicately and distinctly
drawn Mary Beaton. The male charac-
ters are less sympathetic.
The tragedy is conspicuously one to
be read, not acted. It is too long, too
much lacking in action, and of too sus-
tained an intensity, for the stage. The
style is essentially lyric, full of exqui-
site lines and phrases; and as a whole,
the play presents an intense passion in
a form of adequate beauty. It contains
a number of charming French Songs,
and is dedicated to Victor Hugo. It
was published in 1869.
The style of the authora the quaint Roundabout ePapers The, by William
English, molded frequently
into a beautiful chant or song, makes
(The House of the Wolfings) a most
artistic and attractive tale.
ties as
Chast
hastelard, by Algernon Charles Swin-
burne. The scene of this tragedy
is laid at Holyrood Castle, during the
reign of Mary Queen of Scots. Mary
Beaton, one of the “four Maries,
prom-
ises Chastelard to arrange a meeting be-
tween him and the Queen. When he
comes to the audience-room, however, he
finds only Mary Beaton herself, who, in
shame, confesses her love for him. While
he is assuring her of his pardon, they
are discovered by the other Maries. The
Queen, angry at what she has heard,
tries to make Chastelard confess his de-
sertion of her; and declares her intention
of marrying Darnley. Chastelard, by
the agency of Mary Beaton, gains access
to the Queen's chamber, discloses himself
when she is alone, and after having con-
vinced her of his love for her, submits
to the guards, who take him to prison.
Mary, fickle and heartless, in her desire
to avoid both the shame of letting him
live and the shame of putting her lover
to death, tries to shift the responsibility
to Murray, signs his death-warrant, and
Makepeace Thackeray. Thackeray
undertook the editorship of the Cornhill
Magazine; in the year 1859. (The Round-
about Papers' were sketches for the
magazine, coming out simultaneously, be-
tween 1859 and 1863, with Lovel the
Widower and “The Adventures of Philip.
They represent Thackeray's best quali-
an essayist, and cover a wide
range of subjects. Some of the titles
are: "On Two Children in Black,) On
Screens in Dining-Rooms, 'On Some
Late Great Victories,' On a Hundred
Years Hence,) and (A Mississippi Bub-
ble. One of the papers, (The Notch on
the Ase,' displays the author's peculiar
genius for burlesque story-telling. It is
a dream of the guillotine, occasioned by
his grandmother's snuff-box and a sensa-
tional novel. The essay On a Joke I
Once Heard from the Late Thomas Hood
is a cordial tribute to that poet's mem-
ory, and in it the joke is not repeated.
One of the most noteworthy of the
papers is called (On Thorns in the
Cushion. ) The task of editing a maga-
zine was irksome to Thackeray's kindly
and sensitive nature. «What, then,” he
writes, “is the main grief you spoke of
as annoying you,- the toothache in the
Lord Mayor's jaw, the thorn in the
## p. 229 (#265) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
229
cushion of the editorial chair? It is Joe Bagstock, the major. The scene is
there. Ah! it stings me now as I write. laid in England at the time the novel
It comes with almost every morning's was published, in 1848.
post.
They don't sting quite so
sharply as they did, but a skin is a skin, David Copperfield; of all my books,
bite, after , most . says in his
Ah me! we wound where we to this immortal novel, “I like this the
never intended to strike; we create anger best.
Like many fond parents,
where we never meant harm, and these I have in my heart of hearts a favorite
thoughts are the thorns in our cushion. ” child. And his name is David Copper-
Thackeray, in fact, resigned the position field. ” When David Copperfield) ap-
of editor in 1862, though he continued to peared in 1850, after Dombey and Son)
write for the magazine as long as he and before Bleak House,' it became so
lived.
popular that its only rival was Pick-
wick. ) Beneath the fiction lies much of
Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens. the author's personal life, yet it is not
The story opens with the death of
an autobiography. The story treats of
Mrs. Dombey, who has left her husband David's sad experiences as a child, his
the proud possessor of a baby son and youth at school, and his struggles for a
heir. He neglects his daughter Florence livelihood, and leaves him in early man-
and loves Paul, in whom all his ambitions hood, prosperous and happily married.
and worldly hopes are centred; but the Pathos, humor, and skill in delineation,
boy dies. Mr. Dombey marries a beau- give vitality to this remarkable work;
tiful woman, who is as cold and proud and nowhere has Dickens filled his can-
as he, and who has sold herself to him vas with more vivid and diversified char-
to escape from a designing mother. She acters. Forster says that the author's
grows fond of Florence, and this friend- favorites were the Peggotty family, com-
ship is so displeasing to Mr. Dombey that posed of David's nurse Peggotty, who was
he tries to humble her by remonstrating married to Barkis, the carrier; Dan'el
through Mr. Carker, his business manager Peggotty, her brother, a Yarmouth fisher-
and friend. This crafty villain, realizing man; Ham Peggotty, his nephew; the
his power, goads her beyond endurance, doleful Mrs. Gummidge; and Little Em’ly,
and she demands a separation from Mr. ruined by David's schoolmate, Steer-
Dombey, but is refused. After an angry forth. “It has been their fate,” says For-
interview, she determines upon a bold ster, as with all the leading figures of
stroke and disgraces her husband by pre- his invention, to pass their names into
tending to elope with Carker to France, the language and become types; and he
where she meets him once, shames and has nowhere given happier embodiment
defies him and escapes. Mr. Dombey, to that purity of homely goodness, which,
after spurning Florence, whom he con- by the kindly and all-reconciling influ-
siders the cause of his trouble, follows ences of humor, may exalt into comeli-
Carker in hot haste. They encounter ness and even grandeur the clumsiest
each other without warning at a rail-
forms of humanity. ”
way station, and as Carker is crossing the Miss Betsy Trotwood, David's aunt;
tracks he falls and is instantly killed by the half-mad but mild Mr. Dick; Mrs.
an express train Florence seeks refuge Copperfield, David's mother; Murdstone,
with an old sea-captain whom her little his brutal stepfather; Miss Murdstone,
brother, Paul, has been fond of, marries that stepfather's sister; Mr. Spenlow
Walter Gay, the friend of her childhood, and his daughter Dora, - David's child-
and they go to sea. After the failure of wife ));- Steerforth, Rosa Dartle, Mrs.
Dombey and Son, when Mr. Dombey's Steerforth, Mr. Wickfield, his daughter
pride is humbled and he is left deso- Agnes (David's second wife), and the
late, Florence returns and takes care of Micawber family, are the persons around
him. The characters in the book not whom the interest revolves. A host of
immediately concerned in the plot, but minor characters, such as the comical lit-
famous for their peculiar qualities, are tle dwarf hair-dresser, Miss Mowcher,
Captain Cuttle, Florence's kind protector, Mr. Mell, Mr. Creakle, Tommy Traddles,
who has a nautical manner of expres- Uriah Heep, Dr. Strong, Mrs. Markle-
sion; Sol Gills, Walter's uncle; Mr. Toots, ham, and others, are portrayed with the
who suffers from shyness and love; and same vivid strokes.
## p. 230 (#266) ############################################
230
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
Li
ittle Dorrit, by Charles Dickens, was
published 1856-57, when the author's
popularity was at its height. The plot
is a slight one on which to hang more
than fifty characters. The author began
with the intention of emphasizing the
fact that individuals brought together
by chance, if only for an instant, con-
tinue henceforth to influence and to act
and react upon one another. But this
original motive is soon altogether for-
gotten in the multiplication of characters
and the relation of their fortunes. The
central idea is to portray the experiences
of the Dorrit family, immured for many
years on account of debt in the old Mar-
shalsea Prison, and then unexpectedly
restored to wealth and freedom. Having
been pitiable in poverty, they become
arrogant and contemptible in affluence.
piness and his faith - and bids her fare-
says:
well. The duchess immediately falls in “But, both during his life and after his
love with him, sends him repentant letters death (1557), Oviedo had a formidable
which receive no response, and after a adversary, who, pursuing nearly the same
desperate attempt to see him in his own course of inquiries respecting the New
house, leaves Paris just as Monsieur is World, came almost constantly to con-
hastening to call upon her. Armand de clusions quite opposite. This was no less
Montriveau searches five years for his a person than Bartolomé de las Casas,
lady, finding her at last immured in a the apostle and defender of the American
convent in Spain. Determined to rescue Indians,- a man who would have been
her from such an imprisonment, he suc- remarkable in any age of the world, and
ceeds in penetrating to the cell of her who does not seem yet to have gathered
who was called by the «Sister in the full harvest of his honors. He was
Thérèse,” only to find the dead body of born in 1474; and in 1502, having gone
the Duchesse de Langeais. This is one through a course of studies at (the uni-
of the most famous of Balzac's novels. versity of] Salamanca, embarked for the
The story is told with all his vigor and Indies, where his father, who had been
minuteness, and the characters impress there with Columbus nine years earlier,
themselves on the memory as persons had already accumulated a decent for-
actually known.
tune. The attention of the young man
was early drawn to the condition of the
Cas
asas, Las: HISTORY OF THE (West] natives, from the circumstance that one
INDIES. (Historia de las Indias, of them, given to his father by Columbus,
por Fr. Bartholomé de las Casas. ) The had been attached to his own person
Spanish original in manuscript, 1527–61; as a slave while he was still at the Uni-
only printed edition, 5 vols. , 1875–76. It versity; and he was not slow to learn,
is one of the most notable of books, not on his arrival in Hispaniola [Hayti:
only in its contents, -as a history of Span- 1502], that their gentle natures and
ish discoveries from 1492 to 1520, and a slight frames had already been sub-
contemporary Spanish Catholic criticism jected, in the mines and in other forms
as well as story of Columbus, – but in the of toil, to a servitude so harsh that the
circumstances which prevented its publi- original inhabitants of the island were
cation for more than three hundred years, beginning to waste away under the se-
and which still leave it inaccessible ex- verity of their labors. From this moment
cept to readers of Spanish. Its author he devoted his life to their emancipation.
was the most illustrious figure of the New In 1510 he took holy orders, and contin-
World during its first half-century, and ued, as a priest, and for a short time as
not less illustrious to all Europe as a rep- bishop of Chiapa, nearly forty years, to
resentative of the Catholic Christian feel. teach, strengthen, and console the suffer-
ing which led Queen Isabella to condemn ing flock committed to his charge. Six
Columbus for sending shiploads of Amer- times at least he crossed the Atlantic,
ican natives to Spain to be sold as slaves. in order to persuade the government of
His entire life and all his writings were Charles the Fifth to ameliorate their con-
devoted to urging the duty of humane dition, and always with more or less suc-
treatment of the Indians; and after pub- cess. At last, but not until 1547, when
lishing in his lifetime appeals and pro- he was above seventy years old, he estab-
tests which stirred the Catholic conscience lished himself at Valladolid in Spain,
throughout Europe, he left at his death where he passed the remainder of his
the great History, which Spanish feel- serene old age, giving it freely to the
ing refused the honors of the press until great cause to which he had devoted the
1875. The whole matter is dealt with freshness of his youth. He died in 1566,
## p. 220 (#256) ############################################
220
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Cast
none
at ninety-two. . Among the principal op- So far as Mr. Ticknor questions at all
ponents of his benevolence were Sepúl- the fairness of Las Casas, his view may
veda, - one of the leading men of letters be presumed to reflect Spanish judgment,
and casuists of the time in Spain,- and about which he might have thought dif.
Oviedo, who, from his connection with the erently if he had spoken simply from a
mines and his share in the government perusal of the pages of Las Casas. He
of the newly discovered countries, had says that Las Casas was “a prejudiced
an interest directly opposite to the one witness, but, on a point of fact within his
Las Casas defended. These two persons, own knowledge, one to be believed. ) The
with large means and a wide influence to prejudice of Las Casas was that of Cath-
sustain them, intrigued, wrote, and toiled olic Europe against slavery and wars of
against him, in every way in
their slaughter, the right to resort to which
power. But his was not a spirit to be Sepúlveda laboriously argued against Las
daunted by opposition or deluded by soph- Casas.
istry and intrigue.
The earli-
est of his works, called (A Very Short
astilian Days, by John Hay, has gone
Account of the Ruin of the Indies, was
through eight editions since its pub-
lication in 1871; a prosperity at which no
written in 1542,-a tract in which, no
reader of the book can wonder. Its sev-
doubt, the sufferings and wrongs of the
Indians are much overstated by the in-
enteen essays present a vivid picture of
the life of Spain. Joining a graceful and
dignant zeal of its author, but still one
brilliant style with the happiest percep-
whose expositions are founded in truth,
tion of the significance of things seen, the
and by their fervor awakened all Europe
to a sense of the injustice they set forth.
author finds a subject worthy of his in-
terpretation in that mediæval civilization
Other short treatises followed, written
with similar spirit and power; bu
of the Iberian peninsula which has lasted
over into the nineteenth century-a civ-
was so often reprinted as the first, and
ilization where the Church holds sway
none ever produced so deep and solemn
as it did in the Middle Ages: where the
an effect on the world. They were all
upper classes believe in devils, and the
collected and published in 1522; and an
edition, in Spanish with a French ver-
peasants dare not yawn without crossing
themselves, lest an imp find lodgment
sion, appeared at Paris in 1822, prepared
within them; where duels are fought in
by Llorente.
all deadliness whenever a caballero's del-
« The great work of Las Casas, however,
icate honor is offended; where alone the
still remains inedited,
,-a General His.
Carnival survives as an unforced, naive,
tory of the Indies from 1492 to 1520, begun
popular fête; where rich and poor play
by him in 1527 and finished in 1561, but
together, and enjoy themselves like child-
of which he ordered that no portion should
Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Alcalá,
be published within forty years of his
Seville, are so described that we see the
death. Like his other works, it shows
people abroad, at home, at church, at the
marks of haste and carelessness, and is
bull-fights, at the miracle-play, in the brill-
written in a rambling style; but its value,
iant light of their sub-tropical skies. The
notwithstanding his too fervent zeal for
whole history of Spain - of its Moors, its
the Indians, is great. He had been per-
Goths, its Castilians- is written in its
sonally acquainted with many of the
streets and its customs; and Mr. Hay has
early discoverers and conquerors, and at
translated it for Western eyes to read.
one time possessed the papers of Colum-
His book is the work at once of the shrewd
bus, and a large mass of other important
social observer and the imaginative poet.
documents, which are now lost. He knew
[of the regular
Alarcón. The opening scene of this
and gives at large his reasons for differing clever and amusing story is laid in Ma-
from them. In short, his book, divided drid, in the month of March 1848. In a
into three parts, is a great repository, to skirmish between the royal troops and
which Herrera, and through him all the a handful of Republicans, Don Jorge de
historians of the Indies since, have re- Córdoba, called Captain Veneno (poison)
sorted for materials; and without which on account of his brusque, pugnacious
the history of the earliest period of the manner, is wounded before the house of
Spanish settlements in America cannot, Doña Teresa Barbastro, who shelters him.
even now, be properly written. ”
A professed hater of women and marriage,
ren.
torians of the New World) anda udariedaisCaptain Veneno, by Pedro Antonio de
## p. 221 (#257) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
221
he laments his prolonged imprisonment to use the words of Professor Marsh: the
in terms which anger the mother and new in the form of a highly-trained, clear-
amuse the daughter; but his kind heart is thinking, frank-speaking modern man;
so apparent that his foibles are humored. the old in the guise of a whole community
When Doña Teresa dies, she confides to so remote from the current of things that
him that she has spent her fortune in its religious intolerance, its social jeal-
trying to secure the confirmation of the ousy, its undisturbed confidence and pride
title of Count de Santurce, conferred on in itself, must of necessity declare in-
her husband by Don Carlos. He hides stant war upon that which comes from
the truth from the daughter, Angustias, without, unsympathetic and critical. The
for a few days; but when she learns that inevitable result is ruin for the party whose
he is paying the household expenses, she physical force is less, the single individual;
insists upon his leaving, now that he can yet hardly less complete ruin for those
walk. He tries to induce her to let him whom intolerance and hate have driven to
pension her, or provide for her in any the annihilation of their adversary. ” The
honorable way except by marrying her, story was published in 1876, and reached
although he professes to adore her. His its ninth edition in 1896.
offers being rejected, he proposes marriage
with one inexorable condition, – that if Dona Luz, by Juan Valera. The scene
of this brilliant emotional story is laid
there should be children, they shall be
in Spain, during the seventies. Doña Luz,
sent to the foundling asylum; to which
she laughingly agrees.
The story is
at the death of her father, the dissipated
written with a breezy freshness; and the
Marquis of Villafria, takes up her abode
with his old steward Don Ascisclo, into
evolution of the Captain's character is
whose hands a large part of the estate of
delightfully done, from his first appear-
the marquis has fallen. High-strung and
ance to his last, where he is discovered
sensitive, with a rare beauty of mind and
on all-fours, with an imp of three on his
person, and entertaining no hope of mar-
back, and a younger one pulling him by
the hair, and shouting Go lang, mule! »
rying according to her inclinations, she
After (The Child of the Ball, this is the
gently repulses all admirers. Among her
friends she counts Don Miguel, the parish
most popular of Alarcón's stories, as it
priest; Don Anselmo, a skillful physician
deserves to be.
but a fierce materialist; and his daughter
Doña Manolita, a charming brunette, ca-
Dona Perfecta, by Benito Pérez Galdós.
This exquisite romance, the transla-
pricious and merry, loyal and affectionate.
tion of which was published in 1880, is a
Into this circle comes the missionary, Fa-
vivid description of life in a Spanish pro-
ther Enrique, nephew of Don Ascisclo, a
vincial town, just before the Carlist war.
man of great wisdom and elevation of
thought; and last of all, the hero, Don
Doña Perfecta Rey de Polentinos is a
Jaime Pimental. Around this group the
wealthy widow, just in all her dealings,
kind and charitable, but a perfect type
movement of the story takes place. The
of the narrow-minded and even cruel
dominant motives spring from avarice and
ambition; and the action is complicated
spirit of old Spain. The Spanish hate
the national government, but have a pecul-
by religious animosities. (Doña Luz) was
iar local patriotism, which in this case
published in Madrid in 1891, and its Eng-
turns an apparently kind and honorable
lish translation by Mrs. Serrano came out
in 1894.
woman against her own nephew, because
he dislikes the customs of her beloved Child of the Ball, The, by Pedro Ana
town.
tonio de Alarcón. The scene of this
This nephew, Don José Rey, handsome, powerful and tragic novel is Andalusia.
generous, and rich, is the hero of the story, Don Rodrigo Venegas mortgages his ha-
whose incidents are the outgrowth of old cienda to Don Elias Perez, and his whole
prejudice - religious and political.
estate is eaten up by usury. When Pe-
The author endeavors to show that the rez's house burns, no one tries to save
offenses of Doña Perfecta are the result it; and he proclaims that it is the work
of her position and surroundings rather of an incendiary trying to destroy all
than inherent in her character. In this evidence of his debt. Rodrigo rushes
book he begins to exploit the modern into the flames and saves the papers, dy-
Spain and its clashing interests. He ing as he delivers them. Rodrigo's estate
brings the new and the old face to face," is put up at auction, and bid in by Perez
## p. 222 (#258) ############################################
2 2 2
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
for one million reals less than his claims. blood, which has declared itself both in
Rodrigo leaves a young son, Manuel, who the personal appearance and the power
is adopted by the curate, Don Trinidad. of acquisition of Felipe, and which ex-
For three years after, Manuel speaks not cites a feeling of loathing in Salustio.
a word; till one day, standing before the He cannot understand why Carmen
image of the infant Christ with a ball should marry Felipe, but overhears her
in its hand (called the “Child of the secret when she is telling it to Father
Ball»), he says: “Child Jesus, why don't Moreno: she marries to escape sanction-
you speak, either ? »
Meeting Perez's ing by her presence in the house a scan-
daughter Soledad when a young man, dalous flirtation of her father. After the
he falls in love with her. He fights this marriage, Felipe, to save expenses, takes
passion; living for months at a time on Salustio into his house; and the results
the mountains, and with no weapon but are very unfortunate.
his hands, battling with the wild beasts.
To bring him back to civilization, Don Nabob, The, by Alphonse Daudet. This
Trinidad tells him that Soledad recipro-
romance is one of the most highly
finished of the author's works. Jansou-
cates his love. At the feast day of the
<< Child of the Ball,” it is customary to bid
let, the Nabob, has emigrated to Tunis
with but half a louis in his pocket.
for the privilege of dancing with any
He
returns with much more than twenty-
lady; the money going to the cult of the
five millions; and becomes at once the
Child. Manuel bids for a dance with
Soledad; but her father outbids him, and
prey of a horde of penniless adventurers,
whose greed even his extravagant gener-
he is obliged to desist. Perez accuses
him of his debt of one million reals; and
osity cannot satisfy. His dining-room in
the Place Vendôme is the rendezvous of
Manuel, to pay it, determines to leave
projectors and schemers from every part
Spain. He promises to return on the an-
of the world, and resembles the Tower
niversary of this day and claim Soledad;
of Babel. Dr. Jenkins, the inventor of
and woe to him who in the mean time
an infallible pill, persuades him to en-
dares to come between them. Eight
dow his famous Asile de Bethléem, hint-
years after, he returns and finds Soledad
ing to him that the Cross of the Legion
married to Antonio Arregui. All efforts
of Honor will reward his benevolence;
of Don Trinidad to dissuade him from
but it is the doctor, and not the poor
killing Arregui are in vain; but he is left
Nabob, who is decorated.
alone with the “Child of the Ball," and
Montpavon,
an old beau, saves a bank, in which he
finally decorates it with the jewels he
had brought for his bride, and lays at its
is a partner, from insolvency with the
money of
the multi-millionaire; the
feet the dagger he had concealed. The
next morning he leaves, but is overtaken
journalist Moessard receives a liberal do-
nation for a eulogistic newspaper arti-
by a letter from Soledad. He returns,
cle: in short, Jansoulet becomes the easy
bids a sum which Arregui cannot equal,
and Soledad Alies to his arms. Arregui
dupe of all who approach him.
(The
Nabob) is a romance of manners and
takes the dagger from the feet of the
image and stabs Manuel, and the lovers
observation; and it blends successfully
fall to the ground dead. The story is told
many of the qualities of both the natur-
alist and the romantic schools. It exhib-
with dramatic force; and tender, idyllic
its a singular faculty for seizing on the
passages lighten its tragic gloom.
picturesque side of things, and a won-
derful gift of expression. Although sev-
Christian Woman, A, by Emilia Pardo-
eral models among the French commer-
In this interesting novel,
cial classes must have sat for Jansoulet,
the author presents a very realistic pict-
most of the other characters are prom-
ure of modern Spanish life, into which
inent figures in Parisian life, very thinly
are introduced many current social and
veiled.
political questions. The story is an auto-
biography of Salustio Unceta, a student
King
ing of the Mountains, The ("Le
in the School of Engineers in Madrid, Roi des Montagnes'), by Edmond
and a liberal in politics and religion. About, appeared in 1856, when he was
His tuition is paid by his uncle Felipe, twenty-eight. The scene is laid in and
who invites Salustio to be present at his near contemporary Athens. The story is
marriage to Carmen Aldoa. There is in an animated and delightfully humorous
the Unceta family a trace of Hebrew account of the adventures befalling two
## p. 223 (#259) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
223
a
a
English ladies and
young German
everything. He dazzles and fascinates the
scientist, who are captured and held for women by his expressive looks and serene
ransom by the redoubtable Hadgi-Stavros, self-confidence; and being treated as a
king of the brigands. Mrs. Simons is genius, he naturally believes himself one.
an amusing caricature of British arro- He speaks of his immense labors; but
gance. “I am an Englishwoman,” is her all his literary baggage consists of news-
constant refrain; and she cannot compre- paper and magazine articles which he
hend how any one dare interfere with intends to write. He is soon found out,
the rights of herself and her daughter however; and from Daria's salon passes
Mary Ann. The Simons family is rich. into that of an affected old lady, a blue-
Hermann Schultze, the young German, is stocking also, who takes him even more
attracted by pretty Mary Ann, and with seriously than Daria did at first. She
the thrift of his nation, wants to make believes she can understand Hegel's met-
his fortune by marrying her. He tries aphysics when he explains them; so she
to ingratiate himself by proposing plans lodges and boards him, lends him money,
of escape which Mrs. Simons rejects. and insists that all her visitors shall ac-
Hadgi-Stavros dictates his private cor- knowledge his superiority. Unfortunately,
respondence in the presence of his cap- her daughter, a proud beauty, hears so
tives. Thus Schultze learns that the much of this superiority that she be-
king has a large sum of money in a lieves in it, becomes smitten with the
London banking house to which Mrs. great man, and wishes to marry him.
Simons's brother belongs. She writes to This is too much for the old lady, and
have the amount of her ransom paid; Dmitri is shown the door. He is at last
and the king is persuaded to give a re- forced to quit Russia, and dies defend-
ceipt by which he can be tricked out of ing a barricade at Paris. In the character
the amount. Mother and daughter are of Dmitri, Turgeneff satirizes a class com-
released. Schultze tries to escape, but mon enough in every country as well as
fails, and is severely punished. He at- Russia, especially among the young, -
tacks the king, and nearly succeeds in the class of people who niistake words,
poisoning him. A friend in Athens, in which they abound, for ideas, in which
John Harris, a typical American full of they are lacking. And yet, such is Tur-
resources, rescues Hermann. The king | geneff's fine and delicate skill in the an-
is devoted to his one child Photini, a alysis of feeling that he interests us in
schoolgirl in Athens. Harris persuades this poor boaster; he excites our pity for
Photini aboard his barge, keeps her him, - and it is a singular fact that the
prisoner, and threatens to treat her as lower Dmitri falls, the more interesting
Schultze is treated. Thereupon Schultze he becomes. He is a mixture of pride
is released. He afterward narrates the and weakness; and his good faith and
whole story to a friend, between whiffs harmlessness somewhat palliate his faults.
of his long porcelain pipe. This story is
one of the most brilliant and delightful On the Eve, by Ivan Turgeneff
.
In
of About's telling.
this tale which is devoid of plot,
but full of Turgeneff's charm of style
Dmit
mitri Rudin, a story by Turgeneff. and delicate character-drawing, he seeks
This great novel was first published to show the contrast between the dilet-
in 1860. The action passes in the country, tante trifling or learned pedantry of
some distance from Moscow, at the coun- young Russia, and the intense vitality of
try-seat of Daria Mikhailovna, a great conviction in the youth of other nations.
lady who protects literature and art and He first introduces two young Russians,
is determined to have a salon, She has André Bersieneff, a doctor of philosophy
one in embryo already, made up of an old from the Moscow University, and Paul
French governess, a young Circassian secre- Shubin, a gay and pleasure-loving artist,
tary, and a Cossack. The advent of Dmi- who has been modeling the bust of a
tri, a vainglorious creature who thinks beautiful girl, Elena Strashof, whose
himself a great man, completes it. He charms he dwells upon. She is the
has retained a few scraps from the books daughter of a dissipated noble; and her
he has read, some ideas borrowed from mother, a faded society belle, has left
the German transcendentalists, and her to the care of a sentimental govern-
number of keen aphorisms; and so he im-
The ardent girl, filled with high
agines he is able to pull down and set up aspirations, rebels at the prosaic routine
a
ess.
## p. 224 (#260) ############################################
224
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
sexes.
of her life, and longs for intercourse
with nobler natures. Both the young
men are in love with her, but she de-
spises Shubin as a trifler; and just as
she is beginning to be interested in the
young philosopher Bersieneff, the real
hero appears on the scene. This is
Dmetri Insarof, a young Bulgarian pa-
triot, whose life is devoted to freeing
his country from the yoke of Turkey.
His mother has fallen a victim to the
brutality of a Turkish aga, while his
father was shot in trying to avenge her;
and he is now looked upon by his com-
patriots as their destined leader in the
approaching revolt. His tragic story
and his high aims appeal to Elena's
idealism; but Insarof, finding that «on
the eve of the great conflict, he is
distracted from his mission by love for
Elena, has resolved to leave her forever
without a farewell. She, however, seeks
him out, and avows her devotion to
him, and her willingness to abandon
home and country for his sake. In his
struggle between his passion for her and
his dread of involving her in perils and
hardships, he falls dangerously ill. His
comrade and former rival Bersieneff
nurses him with disinterested friendship
until he is partially restored to health,
when he and Elena are married se-
cretly, owing to the opposition of her
family to the foreign adventurer. They
start together for Bulgaria to take part
in the struggle for his fatherland, but
have only reached Venice when Insarof
dies in his young wife's arms. Elena,
in a heart-broken letter, bids her par-
ents a last farewell before joining the
Sisters of Mercy in the Bulgarian army,
as she has now no country but his.
Thus ends the life story of the noblest
and most ideal pair of lovers the great
Russian novelist has ever drawn.
peasant to the nobleman. She is, in-
deed, the pivot on which the narrative
turns; is both hero and heroine, as she
partakes of the subtler qualities of both
The second though unacknowl-
edged hero is Maurice Jókai himself; his
story being generally, if not circumstan-
tially, autobiographical. In his youth he
had loved Bessy. She rejects his love,
but ever afterwards cherishes the mem-
ory of it as the one noble ideal in her
wayward life.
Even this may be a
form of perversity. Jókai leaves her to
console himself with the pursuit of liter-
Later he takes a patriot's
part in the Hungarian revolution of
1848. In the thick of it he marries an
actress, who is most devoted and faith-
ful to him. From time to time, Bessy
seeks his rather unwilling advice and
protection in her love affairs. From the
lady with eyes like the sea” he can-
not escape.
Its strong local color makes
the book a faithful picture of Hunga-
rian social life, while throughout it is
tremendously stimulating, fresh and bois-
terous as a wind from the Carpathian
Mountains.
ary fame.
Elizabeth; or, The Exiles of Siberia,
by Sophie Cottin, is regarded in
the English-speaking world as her best
work; though in France her Mathilde,)
founded on incidents in the life of Rich-
ard Cour-de-Lion's sister, is more highly
esteemed. The picturesque story of Eliz-
abeth was founded on fact; its theme
the successful attempt of a Polish maiden
of high birth to obtain the pardon of her
exiled parents from the Emperor Alex-
ander, at his coronation in 1801 — is so
exalted that one cannot help wishing it
had been told with more simplicity and
fewer comments, giving Xavier de Maistre
less excuse for retelling a story already
read and loved throughout Europe. Un-
like Madame Cottin, who gave Elizabeth
the moral support of a lover, De Maistre
introduced no fictitious love-making into
his version; convinced that nothing was
needed to heighten the interest created
by her daring resolve and unmixed mo-
tives. Yet the presence of much old-
fashioned sentimentality, and the utter
absence of humor, do not prevent Ma-
dame Cottin's story from having dra-
matic passages. Even the love-making
is not without charm; and the dialogue is
well managed. The descriptions of nature
and of remote corners of Russia are done
Eyes Like the Sea, by the celebrated
Hungarian novelist Maurice Jókai,
was crowned by the Hungarian Acad-
emy as the best Magyar novel of the
year 1890. It takes high rank among
the author's one hundred and fifty works
of fiction. The peculiar title of the
book has reference to the eyes of the
heroine, Bessy, a girl of gentle parent-
age, yet of a perverse, adventurous dis-
position, which during the course of the
story leads her five times into matri-
mony; the five husbands representing
almost every class of society, from the
## p. 225 (#261) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
225
Tsar Novishny,' perhaps the prettiest and
most characteristic story of all.
with much fidelity not to mention Eliza-
beth's peasant costume: her short red
petticoat, reindeer trousers, squirrel-skin
boots, and fur bonnet. A less virile writer
than Madame de Staël, Madame Cottin
nevertheless helped to pave the way for
the romantic school in France; her best
work coming between (The Genius of
Christianity) and the Meditations. )
suer.
Cºs
'ossacks, The, by Tolstoy.
This Rus-
sian romance is a series of pictur-
esque studies on the life of the Cossacks of
the Terek, rather than a romance. The
slight love story that runs through it sim-
ply serves as an excuse for the author's
graphic descriptions of strange scenes and
strange peoples. The hero, Olenin, is a
ruined young noble, who, to escape his
creditors and begin a new life, enters a
sotnia of Cossacks as ensign. One fine
night he leaves Moscow; and at the first
station on his way, he begins already to
dream of battles, glory, and of some di-
vinely beautiful but half-savage maiden,
whom he will tame and polish. His
arrival at the camp of his regiment on
the Terek gives occasion for a fascinating
and most realistic picture of the wild races
he meets so suddenly. The young ensign
falls in at once with his half-savage
maiden, a tall, statuesque girl, with red
lips, a rose-colored undergarment, and a
blue jacket, who looks back at him with
a frightened air as she runs after the buf-
falo she is trying to milk. As he is lodg-
ing with her parents, he sets about taming
her immediately. But he has a rival,
young Lukashka, whose threadbare kaf-
tan and bearskin shako had long before
captivated the fair Marianka. The love
affairs of the rivals, whom she treats im-
partially, although she has already made
up her inind, go on in the midst of hunt-
ing, ambuscade, and battle, which are the
real subjects of the book. At last Olenin
discovers that he is too civilized for Mari-
anka. "Ah! ” he says to himself, if I
were a Cossack like Lukashka, got drunk,
stole horses, assassinated now and then
for a little change, she would understand
me, and I should be happy. But the
cruelty and the sweetness of it is that I
understand her and she will never un-
derstand me. ) The young Cossack is
wounded in battle; and the ensign, not
displaying much emotion at this calamity,
receives a look from Marianka that tells
him his company is no longer desirable:
so he decides to exchange into another
sotnia. Tolstoy's pictures of the rough
life of the Cossacks have a wonderful
charm. The story is particularly inter-
esting as showing the first germs of the
altruistic philosophy which Count Tolstoy
has developed into a vigorous system of
self-renunciation, and almost a cult.
of folk-lore was selected, edited, and
translated from the Ruthenian by R. Nis-
bet Bain, and published in 1894. The
Ruthenian or Cossack language, though
proscribed by the Russian government,
is spoken by more than twenty million
people. There are in the original three
important collections of folk-tales, from
which Mr. Bain has made a representa-
tive selection for translation. There are,
Slavonic scholars maintain, certain ele-
ments in these stories found in the folk-
lore of no other European people. Among
these may be mentioned the magic hand-
kerchief, which causes a bridge across the
sea to appear before a fugitive, or a forest
to spring up in his rear delaying his pur-
There is the magic egg, which pro-
duces a herd of cattle when broken; and
the magic whip, which can expel evil
spirits. Many elements and episodes com-
mon to other mythologies are found, how-
There are, for example, Cossack
versions of Cinderella, and the woman
who took her pig to market. One tale of
a Tsar expelled by an angel is an almost
literal rendering of King Robert of Sicily,
with Cossack coloring. There is a Sam-
son-like hero, who reveals the secret of
his strength; and an episode of a man in
a fish's belly, which resembles Hiawatha
and the sturgeon rather than Jonah and
the whale.
The serpent figures prominently in these
stories; and is generally, though by no
means invariably, malign, and always
represents superior intellectual power.
The women are frequently treacherous,
especially when beguiled by the serpent;
but it is interesting to notice the number
of men who cannot keep a secret. The
lower animals are always friendly to man,
and frequently assist him in performing
difficult tasks. The whole tenor of the
stories is charmingly naif and inconse-
quent; among the vampires and magic
fires it is somewhat startling to encounter
guns and passports. The style is simple
and poetic, especially in "The Little
XXX--15
ever.
## p. 226 (#262) ############################################
226
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
Death of Ivan Ilyitch, The, and other the countess waits without, and Cralo
Stories, by Count Lyof N. Tolstoy, and his monks discuss what should be
contains a series of short stories which done, the ready-witted young Ekkehard
represent the latest phase in the evolu- suggests that some one carry the count-
tion of the author's peculiar views. With ess across the portal. He is deputed to
the exception of The Death of Ivan do so; and from the hour when he takes
Ilyitch,' a sombre and powerful study of her into his arms, the poet-monk loves
the insidious progress of fatal disease, and the Countess Hadwig. Later, when he
a vehicle of religious philosophy, these is sent to be her tutor, despite his self-
tales were written as tracts for the peo- restraint he reveals his love to her. He
ple, illustrated in many cases with quaint is as “the moth fluttering around a can-
wood-cuts; aiming to bring a word of dle. ” Fleeing love's temptations, Ekke-
cheer and comfort to the poorer classes hard goes far up into the mountains with
oppressed by Russian despotism. The his lyre, and amid the snow-capped peaks,
second story, If You Neglect the Fire, sings his master-song. This he tran-
You Don't Put It Out, describes a triv- scribes, and tying it to an arrow, he
ial neighborhood quarrel resulting in shoots it so that it falls at the count-
ruin. (Where Love Is, there God Is Also) ess's feet. It is his parting gift. He
is the study of a humble shoemaker who journeys into the world, his songs making
blames God for the death of his child, but a welcome for him everywhere; and in
reaches peace through the New Testament. her halls the countess keeps his memory
(A Candle) and (Two Old Men,' told in a to fill her lonely hours. In 1885 the story
few pages, point a wide moral. "Six had reached its eighty-sixth edition in
Texts for Wood-Cuts, the titles of which the original German, while innumerable
suggest the subject of each cut, follow. translations have been made into English.
Under the heading of Popular Legends) Though Scheffel gave the world other
are the subjects How the Little Devil volumes of prose and poetry, none is so
Earned a Crust of Bread; The Repent- well known, or considered so good.
ant Sinner); A Seed as Big as a Hen's
Egg); and Does a Man Need Much Hero of our Times, A, by Mikhail
Lermontof. The novel portrays the
Land ? )
vices of the modern Russian of rank,
fashion, and adventure, and his utter
Ekkehard, by Joseph Victor von Schef-
selfishness and want of principle and
fel, is a story told by one who be-
lieved in the union of poetry and fiction. ”
conscience. The story takes the form of
To him “the characters of the past arose
a series of tales, of which the libertine
from out the mist of years, and bade
Petchorin, and his unhappy victims,
him clothe them anew in living form to
mostly confiding women, are the sub-
please his own and succeeding genera-
jects. Lermontof was a great admirer
tions. ) The time is the tenth century,
of Byron; and the fascinating Petchorin,
the rascal of the stories, with his mys-
the century of King Canute's conquest
of England. The hero, Ekkehard, is a
terious attractiveness, strongly resembles
young Benedictine monk of the holy house
Don Juan. The publication of the story
of St. Gall, in Suabia, a house whose
excited much controversy; and was the
abbot is an old man named Cralo. The
cause of the duel in which the author
abbot is a distant cousin to Hadwig,
was killed in 1841. Many people claimed
countess of Suabia, whose deceased lord,
that Petchorin was a portrait; but the
Burkhard, had been a tyrannical old
author distinctly states that he is not the
nobleman who in his dotage wedded
portrait of any person, but personifies
the vices of the whole generation. The
Hadwig, a fair daughter of Bavaria, who
had entered into the alliance to please
author does not set himself up as
her father. At Burkhard's death the
reformer, his idea being simply to de-
emperor has declared that the countess
nounce evil.
shall hold her husband's fiefs so long as uunnar: A Tale of Norse Life,
she does not marry again. But the count- by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, 1874.
ess, - young, beautiful, rich, and idle, (Gunnar, the one romance of Boyesen,
- in a moment of recklessness decides is also the earliest of his works of fiction.
to visit the monastery of St. Gall, The scene of the story is a small parish
which has a rule that woman's foot must in Bergen Stift, where Gunnar Thorson
never step across its threshold; and while lives in the little hamlet Henjumhei
a
G
## p. 227 (#263) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
227
with his father, Thor Gunnarson, and
his grandmother, old Gunhild. Gunnar's
mother, Birgit, having died when he was
a baby, his father and grandmother bring
him up carefully; and the latter fills his
mind with stories of Huldre and Necken,
and other strange creations of Norse
mythology. As his father Thor is only a
houseman or rent-payer, a sharp distinc-
tion is drawn between him and the fami-
ilies of the neighboring gāardmen or land-
owners. One of the chief of these is Atle
Larsson, Thor's landlord and the leading
man in the parish. As Gunnar grows up,
he falls in love with the beautiful Ragn-
hild, «a birch in the pine forest, niece
of Atle, and daughter of his haughty
sister; Ingeborg Rimul. It is the love
affair of Gunnar and Ragnhild which
forms the texture of the story, - its trou-
bled course, the dangers encountered,
the loyalty and patience of the lovers.
(Gunnar) carries the reader into an un-
familiar world of romance and poetry,
where he comes in contact with the
minds of the simple Norwegian peas-
ants, with their beliefs in fairies and
other mystical beings. Many of their
customs are described: the games of St.
John's Eve, the ski
race, the wed-
ding festivities at Peer Berg's, and some
of the religious ceremonies, such as those
attending confirmation.
fense of the Camp of Refuge at Ely,
and the successes attending the arms of
the little band of patriots in that fen
country; the sacking of Peterborough
by the Danes; the last stand made by
Hereward in the forest, are all graph-
ically described. Mr. Kingsley is liberal
sometimes in his allowance of redeeming
faults to his virtuous characters; yet,
in the fall of Hereward, he forcibly im-
presses the lesson that loss of self-respect
is fatal to noble effort.
There are fine passages in the book ;
and the mourning of the stricken Tor-
frida and the true-hearted Martin Light-
foot
the defeated Hereward is
full of pathos. The genial abbot of
Peterborough, Uncle Brand, and Earl
Leofric, are agreeably sketched. Ivo
Taillebois is true to life, or rather to
the chronicles and ballads; and William
himself is well drawn. The novel is a
book for Englishmen, and helps to popu-
larize their heroic traditions; but it is
of interest to all those who cherish the
ideals of manliness and heroism. The
story was first published in Good Words
in 1866.
over
House of the Wolfings, The, by Will-
Hereward the Wake, by the Rev.
Charles Kingsley. Mr. Kingsley
was Regius Professor of Modern History
in the University of Cambridge, on the
very site of his story. The author's
propaganda of the religion of rugged
strength also made him quite at home
in his theme.
The story, which is largely based on
the old ballads and chronicles, opens
near the end of the reign of Edward
the Confessor, when Hereward is made
a «wake ) or outlaw; and the tales of
his wanderings, his freaks, and feats of
arms, in the North, in Cornwall, in Ire-
land, and Flanders, have their founda-
tion in the old English records. The
author tells in dramatic style how the
hero returns from Flanders, and begins
his daring resistance to the Normans;
running the gauntlet of William's most
skillful generals, and at last meeting
and defeating the forces of the great
master. Hereward's strategy and daring
elicits the admiration of the stern Con-
queror himself. The story of the de-
iam Morris. «The tale tells that in
times long past, there was a dwelling of
men beside a great wood. ” Thus does
the first sentence of the book take us
into the atmosphere - half real, half
mystical, and wholly poetic — which per-
vades the entire story. These “men
belonged to one of the Germanic tribes
of Central Europe. Round about this
«great wood ” were three settlements or
«Marks,) each mark containing many
Houses; and it is with the House of
the Wolfings of Mid-mark that the tale
chiefly deals.
The chief of the Wolfings was Thio-
dolf, the wisest man, and of heart most
dauntless. Hall-Sun, his daughter, ex-
ceeding fair and with the gift of proph-
ecy, was first among the women.
The leading theme of the story is the
war between the Romans and the Mark-
men; how it fared with Thiodolf, and
how the Hall-Sun advises the Stay-at-
Homes by means of her wonderful in-
sight. Thiodolf is chosen War-Duke. He
meets the Wood-Sun, his beloved, a
woman descended from the gods. She
gives him a hauberk to wear in battle;
but owing to a charm that caused whoso
wore this armor to weaken in war, Thio-
## p. 228 (#264) ############################################
228
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
dolf does not acquit himself bravely in
their first skirmishes with the foe. The
Markmen become somewhat disheartened,
and the Romans advance even to the Hall
of the Wolfings. Then Thiodolf is led
by the Hall-Sun, who personifies courage
and duty, to the throne of the Wood-
Sun, who confesses that, fearing his
death and the end of their love on earth,
she had fastened the hauberk upon him.
Thereupon Thiodolf casts it away, and
subordinating love to duty, he goes forth
to meet a hero's death on the morrow's
battle-field. The sight of the War-Duke,
in his old strength and cheer, incites the
“stark men and doughty warriors » to
the complete undoing of the Romans.
The day is given up to the chanting of
dirges for the dead; and the night wears
away in feasting. All the kindred hal-
low with song the return of the warriors
« with victory in their hands. ” And
thereafter the Wolfings «throve in field
and fold. )
This fascinating story is pervaded with
the charm of a primitive people, who
live a picturesque life both in agriculture
and on the battle-field.
orders a reprieve, in quick succession.
Then, going in person to the prison, she
asks Chastelard to return the reprieve.
He has already destroyed it; and after
one short, happy hour with her, he goes
bravely to his death.
From an upper
window in the palace, Mary Beaton watches
the execution, and curses the Queen just
as Mary enters — with Both well.
In "Chastelard? Swinburne has por-
trayed a fickle, heartless, vain, and beau-
tiful queen; and in the few touches
given to a character of secondary im-
portance, has delicately and distinctly
drawn Mary Beaton. The male charac-
ters are less sympathetic.
The tragedy is conspicuously one to
be read, not acted. It is too long, too
much lacking in action, and of too sus-
tained an intensity, for the stage. The
style is essentially lyric, full of exqui-
site lines and phrases; and as a whole,
the play presents an intense passion in
a form of adequate beauty. It contains
a number of charming French Songs,
and is dedicated to Victor Hugo. It
was published in 1869.
The style of the authora the quaint Roundabout ePapers The, by William
English, molded frequently
into a beautiful chant or song, makes
(The House of the Wolfings) a most
artistic and attractive tale.
ties as
Chast
hastelard, by Algernon Charles Swin-
burne. The scene of this tragedy
is laid at Holyrood Castle, during the
reign of Mary Queen of Scots. Mary
Beaton, one of the “four Maries,
prom-
ises Chastelard to arrange a meeting be-
tween him and the Queen. When he
comes to the audience-room, however, he
finds only Mary Beaton herself, who, in
shame, confesses her love for him. While
he is assuring her of his pardon, they
are discovered by the other Maries. The
Queen, angry at what she has heard,
tries to make Chastelard confess his de-
sertion of her; and declares her intention
of marrying Darnley. Chastelard, by
the agency of Mary Beaton, gains access
to the Queen's chamber, discloses himself
when she is alone, and after having con-
vinced her of his love for her, submits
to the guards, who take him to prison.
Mary, fickle and heartless, in her desire
to avoid both the shame of letting him
live and the shame of putting her lover
to death, tries to shift the responsibility
to Murray, signs his death-warrant, and
Makepeace Thackeray. Thackeray
undertook the editorship of the Cornhill
Magazine; in the year 1859. (The Round-
about Papers' were sketches for the
magazine, coming out simultaneously, be-
tween 1859 and 1863, with Lovel the
Widower and “The Adventures of Philip.
They represent Thackeray's best quali-
an essayist, and cover a wide
range of subjects. Some of the titles
are: "On Two Children in Black,) On
Screens in Dining-Rooms, 'On Some
Late Great Victories,' On a Hundred
Years Hence,) and (A Mississippi Bub-
ble. One of the papers, (The Notch on
the Ase,' displays the author's peculiar
genius for burlesque story-telling. It is
a dream of the guillotine, occasioned by
his grandmother's snuff-box and a sensa-
tional novel. The essay On a Joke I
Once Heard from the Late Thomas Hood
is a cordial tribute to that poet's mem-
ory, and in it the joke is not repeated.
One of the most noteworthy of the
papers is called (On Thorns in the
Cushion. ) The task of editing a maga-
zine was irksome to Thackeray's kindly
and sensitive nature. «What, then,” he
writes, “is the main grief you spoke of
as annoying you,- the toothache in the
Lord Mayor's jaw, the thorn in the
## p. 229 (#265) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
229
cushion of the editorial chair? It is Joe Bagstock, the major. The scene is
there. Ah! it stings me now as I write. laid in England at the time the novel
It comes with almost every morning's was published, in 1848.
post.
They don't sting quite so
sharply as they did, but a skin is a skin, David Copperfield; of all my books,
bite, after , most . says in his
Ah me! we wound where we to this immortal novel, “I like this the
never intended to strike; we create anger best.
Like many fond parents,
where we never meant harm, and these I have in my heart of hearts a favorite
thoughts are the thorns in our cushion. ” child. And his name is David Copper-
Thackeray, in fact, resigned the position field. ” When David Copperfield) ap-
of editor in 1862, though he continued to peared in 1850, after Dombey and Son)
write for the magazine as long as he and before Bleak House,' it became so
lived.
popular that its only rival was Pick-
wick. ) Beneath the fiction lies much of
Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens. the author's personal life, yet it is not
The story opens with the death of
an autobiography. The story treats of
Mrs. Dombey, who has left her husband David's sad experiences as a child, his
the proud possessor of a baby son and youth at school, and his struggles for a
heir. He neglects his daughter Florence livelihood, and leaves him in early man-
and loves Paul, in whom all his ambitions hood, prosperous and happily married.
and worldly hopes are centred; but the Pathos, humor, and skill in delineation,
boy dies. Mr. Dombey marries a beau- give vitality to this remarkable work;
tiful woman, who is as cold and proud and nowhere has Dickens filled his can-
as he, and who has sold herself to him vas with more vivid and diversified char-
to escape from a designing mother. She acters. Forster says that the author's
grows fond of Florence, and this friend- favorites were the Peggotty family, com-
ship is so displeasing to Mr. Dombey that posed of David's nurse Peggotty, who was
he tries to humble her by remonstrating married to Barkis, the carrier; Dan'el
through Mr. Carker, his business manager Peggotty, her brother, a Yarmouth fisher-
and friend. This crafty villain, realizing man; Ham Peggotty, his nephew; the
his power, goads her beyond endurance, doleful Mrs. Gummidge; and Little Em’ly,
and she demands a separation from Mr. ruined by David's schoolmate, Steer-
Dombey, but is refused. After an angry forth. “It has been their fate,” says For-
interview, she determines upon a bold ster, as with all the leading figures of
stroke and disgraces her husband by pre- his invention, to pass their names into
tending to elope with Carker to France, the language and become types; and he
where she meets him once, shames and has nowhere given happier embodiment
defies him and escapes. Mr. Dombey, to that purity of homely goodness, which,
after spurning Florence, whom he con- by the kindly and all-reconciling influ-
siders the cause of his trouble, follows ences of humor, may exalt into comeli-
Carker in hot haste. They encounter ness and even grandeur the clumsiest
each other without warning at a rail-
forms of humanity. ”
way station, and as Carker is crossing the Miss Betsy Trotwood, David's aunt;
tracks he falls and is instantly killed by the half-mad but mild Mr. Dick; Mrs.
an express train Florence seeks refuge Copperfield, David's mother; Murdstone,
with an old sea-captain whom her little his brutal stepfather; Miss Murdstone,
brother, Paul, has been fond of, marries that stepfather's sister; Mr. Spenlow
Walter Gay, the friend of her childhood, and his daughter Dora, - David's child-
and they go to sea. After the failure of wife ));- Steerforth, Rosa Dartle, Mrs.
Dombey and Son, when Mr. Dombey's Steerforth, Mr. Wickfield, his daughter
pride is humbled and he is left deso- Agnes (David's second wife), and the
late, Florence returns and takes care of Micawber family, are the persons around
him. The characters in the book not whom the interest revolves. A host of
immediately concerned in the plot, but minor characters, such as the comical lit-
famous for their peculiar qualities, are tle dwarf hair-dresser, Miss Mowcher,
Captain Cuttle, Florence's kind protector, Mr. Mell, Mr. Creakle, Tommy Traddles,
who has a nautical manner of expres- Uriah Heep, Dr. Strong, Mrs. Markle-
sion; Sol Gills, Walter's uncle; Mr. Toots, ham, and others, are portrayed with the
who suffers from shyness and love; and same vivid strokes.
## p. 230 (#266) ############################################
230
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
Li
ittle Dorrit, by Charles Dickens, was
published 1856-57, when the author's
popularity was at its height. The plot
is a slight one on which to hang more
than fifty characters. The author began
with the intention of emphasizing the
fact that individuals brought together
by chance, if only for an instant, con-
tinue henceforth to influence and to act
and react upon one another. But this
original motive is soon altogether for-
gotten in the multiplication of characters
and the relation of their fortunes. The
central idea is to portray the experiences
of the Dorrit family, immured for many
years on account of debt in the old Mar-
shalsea Prison, and then unexpectedly
restored to wealth and freedom. Having
been pitiable in poverty, they become
arrogant and contemptible in affluence.
