No More Learning

literature was always a Whig bloom from
Besides dealing with England, Ireland,
a Whig stalk; Maga,' the Blackwood
America, and much of Europe, it also
venture, on the other hand, was meant
discusses socialism, Sunday and drink
to nurture and develop Tory flowers of
speech. For those were days when poli- questions, marriage and divorce, religious
legislation, woman questions and labor
tics colored opinion to a degree which
liberty, and Catholicism. It is a book of
is now almost incredible. ( When the
able, discussion and strong convictions,
reviewer sits down to criticize, wrote
Lockhart, «his first question is not, Is
by a writer who has many doubts about
modern democratic developments, but too
the book good or bad ? ) but 'Is the writer
a Ministerialist or
competent and too just to be scouted.
an Oppositionist ? ))
From beginning to end of these two Endymion by Benjamin Disraeli
, later
volumes
Earl
tions of the deeds and fortunes of th is one of a series of political portraits
publishing-house are delightful; while under the form of a novel, which for a


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6
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
time attained great popularity among the the easily recognized type of the Pusey-
English people, but for obvious reasons ite of the Tractarian religious movement,
was less interesting to foreigners. (Con- if not a personal portraiture of Cardinal
ingsby' and 'Endymion) are hardly more Newman. Other characters are doubt.
than descriptions of the rival political less drawn from life more or less plainly,
parties in England at the opening of the but none more vividly than Endymion
Reform Bill agitation, and of the Poor himself, in whose career the reader sees
Law and Protection controversies,- outlined very clearly the character and
colored with the pale glimmer of a pas- political fortunes of the author.
sion cooled by shrewdness, and of a ro-
mance carefully trimmed to suit the stiff Curiosities of Literature, by Isaac
. (
conventionalisms of English society,-
erary researches," as the author calls it,
and spiced with revenge on the author's
foes.
comprises three volumes, of which the
first was published anonymously in 1791,
(Endymion) relates the fortunes of a
the second two years later, while the third
youth so named, and his sister Myra;
children of one William Ferrars, who
did not appear until 1817. Repeated edi-
from humble life has won his
tions were called for, and it was translated
way
to
a candidacy for the Speakership of the
into various languages. A sentence from
House of Commons, when suddenly, by a
the preface explains the style and object
of the book. «The design of this work is
change of political sentiment in the bor-
to stimulate the literary curiosity of those,
roughs, the administration is overthrown,
who, with a taste for its tranquil pursuits,
and the ambitious and flattered leader
are impeded in their acquirement. »
finds himself both deserted and bankrupt.
To retrieve their social and political po-
From every field the author has gath-
sition is the steady ambition and never-
ered interesting and recondite facts and
anecdotes on diverse literary and histori-
yielding effort of the son and daughter;
and to Endymion's advancement Myra
cal topics, and has grouped them under
makes every sacrifice that a sister's de-
headings totally without sequence. The
votion can devise. Through personal in-
subjects vary from Cicero's puns to Queen
Elizabeth's lovers, and from metempsy-
fluence as well as his own fascinating
chosis to waxwork figures. For example,
personality and brilliant gifts, Endymion
it is asserted that in the reign of Charles
finds an entry with the winning side;
and being untroubled by any scrupulous
II. the prototype of the steam-engine and
We
motive of consistency to principle, keeps
the telegraph had been invented.
learn the source of the extraordinary
himself at the front in popular favor.
Myra marries the Prime Minister, and
legends of the saints, the true story of
at his death she takes for her husband
the printer Faust, and the Venetian ori-
the king of a small Continental State.
gin of newspapers. In short, the work
is a library of the little known, and is
Endymion crowns her aspirations by
marrying a widow in high station, who
as entertaining as it is instructive.
has long been his admirer, and whose Four Georges, A History of the, in
, .
the narrative. At the close of the story Vols. i. and ii. In this work Mr. McCar-
he sees, by a happy combination of po- thy deals, in his own words, with history
litical influence, the door opened to his in its old — and we suppose its everlasting
own appointment as Premier of England. -fashion: that of telling what happened
The story moves along in the stately in the way of actual fact, telling the story
monotonous measure of English high life, of the time. His manner of writing is
with not even any pronounced villainy the old-fashioned, time-honored one; but
to heighten the uniform color effect of it is very entertaining of its kind. His
the characters and incidents. There is a pictures are clear in color, full, and vivid;
noticeable absence of anything like high the figures that move across the pages
patriotic motive associated with that of are lifelike and complete. Opening with
personal advancement: it is difficult to a shrewd estimate of Queen Anne, and a
conceive of such personages living with- keen glance at the position of affairs at
out some political predilection. Over her death, Vol. i. includes the reign of
all is the subdued glow of an intensely George I. , taking in also that of George
selfish culture and refinement. Nigel, II. down to 1731.
He says: “England
Endymion's student friend at Oxford, is was to him as the State wife, whom for


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
7
course
>>>
political reasons he was compelled to the destitute may be provided for, the
marry; Hanover, as the sweetheart and temporarily unemployed given work,
mistress of his youth, to whom his affec- etc. ); those for whom such a
tions, such as they were, always clung, seems best being passed on to the self-
and whom he stole out to see at every supporting farm colony,” which in turn
possible chance. He managed England's contributes to English or other colonies
affairs for her like an honest, straight- or to the colony over sea” (yet to be
forward, narrow-minded steward. ) Vol. founded). The result would be a segre-
ii. finishes the reign of George II. , clos- gation of the needy into localities where
ing with his death. The rise of Pitt, the they could be handled, with a draining
lives of Wesley and of Whitefield, the off to unreaped fields, as this process
commotion excited by Walpole's unpop- became desirable, of a part of the great
ular excise bill, Clive's career in India, army of occupation. The book is the
Culloden, the happenings in the literary work of a man in deadly earnest, who
world, all the various interests, charac- feels himself to be an instrument in the
ters, and events of the reign, are consid- hands of God for the rescue of the lost.
ered. George II. , he says, “had still less.
natural capacity than his father. He was
Gull
ulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift's
parsimonious; he was avaricious; he was most famous book, was published
easily put out of temper. His instincts, in 1727. It is one of the most brilliant
feelings, passions, were all purely selfish. and profound of satires, one of the most
Personal courage was perhaps imaginative of stories, and one of the
the only quality becoming a sovereign best models of style. "Gulliver's Travels)
which he possessed. . . . Never was a was given to the world anonymously;
king better served than he; never had so though a few of Swift's friends, including
ignoble a sovereign such men to make Pope, Gay, Boling broke, and Arbuthnot,
his kingdom strong and his reign famous. were in the secret. It became immedi.
He began his term of royalty under the ately popular, and has never lost its
protection of the sturdy figure of Wal- interest for both young and old. «Gul.
pole; he closed it under the protection of liver's Travels, says
Leslie Stephen,
the stately form of Pitt. )
«belongs to a literary genus full of gro-
tesque and anomalous forms. Its form
in Darkest England and the Way Out, is derived from some of the imaginary
by William Booth, general of the travels of which Lucian's (True History)
Salvation Army. This book, whose title - itself a burlesque of some early travel.
is evidently suggested by Stanley's (Dark- ers' tales — is the first example. But it
est Africa,' treats of the want, misery, has an affinity to such books as Bacon's
and vice, which cling like barnacles to (Atlantis) and More's 'Utopia,' and again
the base of English society, as they do to later philosophical romances like "Can-
to the base of all old civilizations, and dide) and (Rasselas. »» It begins with
which it is so much easier to shut one's Gulliver's account of himself and his set-
eyes upon than to analyze, explain, and ting forth upon the travels. A violent
remedy. General Booth's opportunities storm off Van Diemen's Land drives him,
for knowing whereof he speaks have the one survivor, to Lilliput, where he is
been exceptionally good. The statements examined with curiosity by the tiny folk.
he makes are appalling, but they are They call him the man-mountain,” and
supported by figures and facts. The make rules for his conduct.
With equal
subject of his book is the temporal and curiosity he learns their arts of civiliza-
spiritual rescue of «a population about tion and warfare. His next voyage is to
equal to that of Scotland. Three million Brobdingnag, where he is a Lilliputian
men, women, and children
in comparison to the size of the gigantic
inally free, but really enslaved» — what inhabitants of this strange land, in which
he calls «the submerged tenth. ) The he becomes a court toy. In Brobding-
plan he proposes seems practical and nag, Scott says Swift looked through the
practicable, - one indeed in the execu- other end of the telescope, wishing to
tion of which he has made some pro- show the grossness of mankind as be
gress since the appearance of his book. had shown their pettiness. The next
The plan contemplates the establishment adventure is a voyage to Laputa, where
in the great centres of population of the inhabitants are absorbed in intel-
(<city colonies » (establishments at which lectual and scientific pursuits, and taken
»
nom-


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8
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
(
up with intense speculations, and their to lull to sleep. She has not been long
conduct is most eccentric; this is proba- among the familiar scenes, when Val-
bly a satire upon pedantry. Gulliver next entine's cousin, John Dering, who has
visits Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, and Japan, come to the neighborhood, calls to see
and gives an account of the Struldbrugs, her. His remarkable resemblance to
a famous tribe of men who have gained Barbara's dead husband, in appearance
physical immortality without immortal and speech and manner, is at first a
youth, and find it an awful curse. The source of suffering to her. After a time,
last voyage takes the traveler into the however, this resemblance becomes a
country of the Houyhnhnms, where the consolation. Yet she rebels against her
horses under this name have an ideal new feeling as disloyal to Valentine.
government, - Swift's Utopia, - and are She struggles to keep the identity of the
immensely superior to the Yahoos, the two men distinct. She hates herself
embodiment of bestial mankind. The because she cares for her cousin. Yet
irony and satire may be understood when her love for him grows stronger, as his
one remembers that Swift said: «Upon passion for her becomes more imperious.
the great foundation of misanthropy the She strives to resist it, to be true to the
whole building of my travels is erected ”; dead. Finally she gives herself up to
and the remark that the King of Brob- her love for the living, but her abandon-
dingnag made to Gulliver — «The bulk of ment to her overmastering passion is of
your natives appear to me to be the most short duration. She believes that she is
pernicious race of little odious vermin more bound to the dead than to the liv-
that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon ing, and sends John away at the last,
the face of the earth” — may be accepted that she may be faithful to her first love.
as the opinion of the cynic himself re- (The Quick or the Dead ? ) is morbid
garding mankind. Hazlitt said that in and immature to a high degree; yet as
(Gulliver's Travels) Swift took a view a psychological study of a sensitive wo-
of human nature such as might be taken man's conflicting emotions it is not with-
by a being of another sphere. His out interest and significance. The style
description of Brobdingnagian literature is impressionistic. «In the glimpsing
has been applied to the masterly prose lightning she saw scurrying trees against
of his great book: «Their style is clear, the suave autumn sky, like etchings on
masculine, and smooth, but not florid; bluish paper. ” “A rich purple-blue dusk
for they avoid nothing more than multi- had sunk down over the land, and the
plying unnecessary words, or using vari- gleam of the frozen ice-pond in the far
ous expressions. ”
field shone desolately forth from tangled
patches of orange-colored wild grass. ”
nick or the Dead ? The, a novelette «She threw herself into a drift of crim-
by Amélie Rives, was first pub- son pillows . . . brooding upon the
lished in 1883 in Lippincott's Magazine. broken fire, whose lilac flames palpitated
It attained at once great notoriety in over a bed of gold-veined coals. »
this country and in England, because of
the peculiar treatment of the subject, Ga allegher and Other Stories, by Rich-
the strangeness of its style, and the ard Harding Davis.
The other sto-
flashiness of the title, which has become ries include: A Walk Up the Avenue ;)
one of the best known in fiction. Its My Disreputable Friend, Mr. Raegen);
hysteria, its abundant and bizarre use (The Other Woman”; “There Were Ninety
of adjectives, and its innocent treatment and Nine); (The Cynical Miss Cather-
of passion, betrayed the youth and in- waight); «Van Bibber and the Swan Boat);
experience of the author; yet it is not (Van Bibber's Burglar); and (Van Bibber
without traces of genius. The heroine, as Best Man. ) The most noteworthy of
Barbara Pomfret, is a young widow, the collection are (Gallegher,' the story
whose husband, Valentine, has been of the little newspaper boy who brings
dead two years when the story opens. to the office late at night copy” relating
In the first chapter she is returning to to a famous burglary, after many thrill-
the old Virginia homestead, where she ing adventures; (The Other Woman,
had passed the few months of an abso- which presents an unusual ethical prob
lutely happy married life. There every. lem to an engaged couple; and the trio
thing reminds her of her lost love, of Van Bibber sketches, the hero of
awakening the pain that she had sought which is a unique type of man,- one
Quick


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
9
years old.
of fortune's favorites, but who, by some
malicious freak of fate, is perpetually
placed in peculiar circumstances, from
which he extricates himself with ease and
self-possession; his coolness under trying
circumstances never failing him, and his
fund of humor being inexhaustible. It is
only between the covers of so well-written
a book as the author's that one can meet
the pariahs and the preferred of society
hobnobbing at their ease, and be sure
that the acquaintance so formed will
bring with it no after-taste of regret.
Daniel Deronda (1876), George Eliot's
last novel, considered by some crit-
ics her greatest work, has repelled others
by its careful analysis of Jewish charac-
ter. It really has two separate parts,
and two chief figures, each very unlike
the other. Gwendolen Harleth, the hero-
ine, and Daniel Deronda, the hero, first
see each other at Baden, where Gwendo-
len tries her luck at the gaming-table.
When they next meet, Gwendolen is the
fiancée of Henleigh Grandcourt, nephew
of young Deronda's guardian, Sir Hugh
Mallinger. Grandcourt is a finished type
of the selfish man of the world.
He mar-
ries the beautiful, penniless Gwendolen,
less for love than in a fit of obstinacy,
as his confidant Mr. Lush puts it. Gwen-
dolen, as selfish as he, consents to marry
him because only thus can she save her
mother, her stepsisters, and herself, from
the poverty which the sudden loss of their
property is likely to bring them. The
tragedy of her married life is told with
dramatic force and profound insight.
Deronda has been brought up by Sir.
Hugh in ignorance of his parentage.
His fine education and great talents he
is always ready to place at the service
of others. By befriending a Jewish girl,
Mirah Lapidoth, he comes in close con-
tact with several Jewish families, grows
deeply interested in Jewish history and
religion, and when the secret of his birth
is revealed to him is glad to cast in his
lot with theirs. The influence of Deronda
on Gwendolen is very marked, and the
story closes with the prophecy of a lessen-
ing selfishness and egotism on her part.
Gwendolen's mother, Mrs. Davilow; her
uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Gascoigne,
and their children; the wealthy Mr. and
Mrs. Arrowsmith, whose daughter has the
courage to marry the man she loves, a
poor music teacher, one Herr Klesmer,-
are the chief minor characters. Other
people appear, like Lord Brackenshaw
and Mrs. Gadsby; but less care is given
to the portrayal of these than to the
noble Mordecai, the arrulous Cohens,
and the other Jewish types, or even to
Deronda's friend Mrs. Merrick, and her
artist son Hans.
In Daniel Deronda) George Eliot had
three objects in view: 1. To show the
influence of heredity; 2. To show that
ideals and sentiments lie at the basis of
religion; 3. To contrast a social life
founded on tradition that of the Jews)
with mere individualism. As a plea for
the Jews this book not only met the ap-
proval of the thoughtful men of that race,
but also gave the world in general a just
idea of this complex people.
Descent of Man and Selection in
Relation to Sex, The, by Charles
Darwin. The Descent of Man) was
given to the world in 1871, eleven years.
after the appearance of the Origin of
Species, when Darwin was sixty-two
In spite of the opposition
which the theories of the earlier work
had met in some quarters, it had already
given him a place as a leader of scien-
tific thought, not only in England but in
the whole world. "Darwinism » had in
fact become a definite term, and the new
book was received with interest. The
evidences of the descent of man from
some earlier, less-developed form, col-
lected and marshaled by Darwin, consist
of minute inferential proofs of similar-
ity of structure; at certain stages of de-
velopment, between man and the lower
animals. This similarity is especially
marked in the embryonic stages; and
taken with the existence in
of
various rudimentary organs, seems to
imply that he and the lower animals.
come from a common ancestor. From
the evidences thus collected, Darwin
reasons that the early ancestors of man
must have been more or less monkey-
like animals of the great anthropoid
group, and related to the progenitors of
the orang-outang, the chimpanzee, and
the gorilla. They must have been hairy,
with pointed, movable ears, and a mov-
able tail. They probably lived in trees,
and had a thumb-like great toe, ate fruit
chiefly, and made their home in a warm
forest land. Going back still farther,
Darwin shows that the remotest ancestor
of humanity must have been aquatic. As.
a partial proof of this, human lungs are
man


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IO
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
said to be modified swim-bladders. The from a fin to a fore-limb are the psychi-
general descent is given by Darwin some- cal variations that set in (almost to the
what in this fashion: From the jelly-like exclusion of physical variations) after the
larva to the early fishes, such as the lance- beginnings of intelligence in the human
let, then to the ganoids (as the mudfish), species. The superiority of man lies not
to the newt and other amphibians, then in perfection but in improvableness. The
to the platypus and other mammals such body is becoming a mere vehicle for that
as the kangaroo, and to the insectivorous soul which for a long time was only an
animals such as the shrews and hedge- appendage to it. On scientific grounds
hogs; after this by well-marked stages there is no argument for immortality and
to the lemurs of Madagascar, and then to none against it; but if the work of evolu-
the monkeys, which branch into those of tion does not culminate in immortality,
the Old and the New World, — from the then the universe is indeed reduced to
latter of which man is descended. With- a meaningless riddle.
out entering here into the question as to Mr. Fiske does not believe that in the
whether all the steps were proved, it is far-distant future, when food and shelter
enough to say that the Descent of Man have been placed within the reach of all
was received with enthusiasm by scientific men, disease curbed, and warfare and crime
men, and that its influence was much done away, life will grow stale and un-
greater than that of the (Origin of Spe- | profitable, but on the contrary more and
cies. It had an effect not merely on more absorbingly spiritual.
physical and biological science, but it led
to many new conceptions in ethics and Natural
Selection, Contributions to
the Theory of, by Alfred Russel
religion. In the volumes containing the
Wallace. (1870. )
(Descent of Man' Darwin placed his elab-
A volume of essays,
ten in number, which were first pub-
orate treatise on (Sexual Selection, which
lished in 1855, 1858, 1864, 1867, 1868, and
indeed may be regarded as
a part of
1869. The first and second of these, (On
the theory of man's descent. The theory
the Law which has Regulated the Intro-
of a common origin of man and the
other vertebrates was not new; but he
duction of New Species,' and (On the
was the first to develop a tenable theory
Tendency of Varieties to Depart In-
definitely from the Original Type,' give
as to the process.
an outline theory of the origin of spe-
cies as conceived by Mr. Wallace before
Destiny of Man, The, VIEWED IN THE
he had any notion whatever of the scope
Light of his Origin, by John Fiske.
and nature of Mr. Darwin's labors. One
This argument, originally an address
or two other persons had propounded,
delivered before the Concord School of
as Darwin admits, the principle of nat-
Philosophy, gives the simplest possible
ural selection, but had failed to see its
statement of the general theory — not the
wide and immensely important applica-
particular processes — of evolution, and
tions. Mr. Wallace's essays show that
openly endeavors to reconcile the spirit
he had not only noted the principle, but
and teachings of modern science with
those of the New Testament. While de-
had fully grasped its importance. To
some extent Mr. Wallace's essays, pub-
claring that the brain of an Australian
lished before Mr. Darwin's work
savage is many times further removed
(The Descent of Man,' showed a marked
from Shakespeare's than from an orang
divergence from Darwinian views. In
outang's, he yet shows that evolution, far
from degrading man to the level of the
a later reprint, 1891, of his (Contribu-
beast, makes it evident that man is the
tions,' Mr.
Wallace made alterations and
chief object of the Divine care. Man is,
considerable additions. In his Darwin-
after all, the centre of the universe
ism, 1889, Mr. Wallace gave an admir-
though not in the sense that the oppressors
ably clear and effective exposition of
of Bruno and Galileo supposed.
Darwin's views, with much confirmation
And be-
from his own researches.
fore man's reinstatement in his central
and dominant position became possible, the Early History of Mankind, Researches
limited and distorted hypothesis of theo- into, by Edward B. Ty-lor. (1865. )
logians and poets had to be overthrown. A volume of investigation into the ear-
Much stress is laid on the insignificance liest origins of culture, the high charac-
of physical in comparison with psychical ter of which gave the author distinction
phenomena: more amazing than the change as an authority in anthropology. The
on


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
II
a
same
same author's Primitive Culture: Re-
searches into the Development of Mythol-
ogy, Philosophy, Religion Language,
Art, and Custom,' 1871, carried on the in-
vestigation into other branches of thought
and belief, art and custom. The prob-
lems discussed are those of animism or
spiritism as a universal development in
early culture; the origin of rites and cere-
monies; the extent to which myths play
a part in the early history of mankind;
the early use of numerals and of directly
expressive language; and survivals in
culture which bring old ideas far down
into later periods. The interest of Mr.
Tylor's volumes to the general reader is
not less than their value to the special
student and the scholar; and as pure lit-
erature they hold a high rank.
Mormon, The Book of.
Translated
by Joseph Smith, Jr. Division into
chapters and verses, with references, by
Orson Pratt, Sr. Salt Lake City Edition
of 1888: copyright by Joseph F. Smith,
1879.
The title-page bears also a particular
statement of the character and origin of
the Book,' a part of which runs
follows:-
«An account written by the hand of
Mormon, upon plates taken from the
Plates of Nephi. Wherefore it is an
abridgment of the record of the people
of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites;
written to the Lamanites who are a
remnant of the house of Israel; and also
to Jew and Gentile: written by way of
commandment, and also by the spirit of
prophecy and of revelation.
“An abridgment taken from the Book
of Esther also; which is a record of the
people of Jared: who were scattered at
the time the Lord confounded the lan-
guage of the people when they were
building a tower to get to heaven; which
is to show
that Jesus is the
Christ, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting
himself unto all nations. »
The scheme of the book is that of the
visions and dreams and prophesyings
of Lehi, who dwelt at Jerusalem all the
days of the reign of Zedekiah; and of
the life and doings of Nephi, son of
Lehi; and of the preaching of Jacob, a
brother of Nephi; and of the events
under Mosiah, king over the Nephites,
and in whose days Alma founded their
church; and of an account by Alma's
son, Alma. of a period of rule by judges;
and of a record by Helaman, grandson
of the last Alma, and by his sons, of
wars and prophecies and changes down
to the coming of Christ; and of a
by a son of Helaman, Nephi, covering
the life of Jesus; and of still another
book of Nephi, continuing the story after
Christ for about three hundred years;
and finally of a book by Mormon him-
self, giving, at the end of a thousand
years from Lebi under Zedekiah, the
final story of the Nephi records and tra-
ditions. These successive books fill 570
of the 632 pages of the Book, and tell
a story of events from 597 B. C. to the
days of Mormon, about 350-400 A. D.
The work concludes with book of
ancient history by Moroni, son of Mor-
mon, and finally with a book of last
words by the
Moroni. In the
scheme thus outlined, use is made of
some of Isaiah's prophecies, freely quoted,
and of a good deal of the life of Jesus
in the Gospels, with changes freely
made. Two formal attestations are given,
in one of which three persons testify
that they had seen metal plates contain-
ing the originals of the entire work, and
knew them to have been translated by
the gift and power of God (out of the
reformed Egyptian”); and in the second
of which eight persons bear witness that
they had seen and hefted” the plates,
«and know of a surety that the said
Smith has got the plates of which we
have spoken. ) A characteristic word of
the spiritual higher teaching of the
book, on its final page, reads as follows:
«Come unto Christ and be perfected in
him, and deny yourselves of all ungod-
liness, and love God with all your might,
mind, and strength. Certain features of
the system later developed are unknown
to the Book.
as
Earthly Paradise, The (1868–70), a
poem by William Morris. One of the
most beautiful of nineteenth-century ro-
mances, it was written, as the author
says, to furnish a doorway into the
world of enchantment, that land beyond
the «utmost purple rim” of earth, for
which many are homesick. Yet The
Earthly Paradise) has about it the mel-
ancholy which pervades the pre-Raphael-
ite literature, and seems the fruit of
unfulfilled desire,- of the state of those
who must create their romance, in an
age unproductive of such food of the
soul. The poem is a collection of the


## p. 12 (#48) ##############################################

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

## p. 13 (#49) ##############################################

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

## p. 14 (#50) ##############################################

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

## p. 15 (#51) ##############################################

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

## p. 16 (#52) ##############################################

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