The
original
design of
the first volume of a proposed History
the author was to make a small work
of the United States, on the lines set
for popular instruction; and his first edi- forth by Mr.
the first volume of a proposed History
the author was to make a small work
of the United States, on the lines set
for popular instruction; and his first edi- forth by Mr.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
He
was for several years French minister at
the court of the Shah of Persia; and in-
stead of embodying his views of Ori-
ental character in the form of essays, he
conceives a set of characters displaying
their racial traits in action. The first of
the stories is “The Dancing Girl of Sha-
makha”; a study in the racial traits of
the Lesghians of the Caucasus, with
side-lights on Russian frontier life, the
slave-trade, and other things. Next fol-
lows (The History of Gamber-Aly,' illus:
trating the unstable, volatile, fanciful
Persian character, at the mercy of every
passing gust of emotion and wholly
given over to it while it lasts. Third
and grimmest of all is “The War
against the Turkomans); the
same
theme continued, but with special ref-
to the utter corruption of the
governmental fabric, based wholly on
personal influence, with neither public
spirit
ordinary forecasting
common-sense. Both these shed a flood
of light on Persian social life; a signifi-
cant feature, as also in the next, is the
supreme power of the women in it, exer-
cised with as little conscience as the
men exercise their public functions — nat-
urally. The impression left would be
most depressing and rather cynical, were
it not that in the last two he gives with
fairness another and nobler side of the
Oriental nature. (The Illustrious Magi-
cian) shows the passionate longing of
the Eastern mind for the ultimate truths
of the universe and of God, its belief
that the crucifixion of sense and steady
contemplation by the soul can attain to
those primal secrets, and its willingness
price for knowledge. The
final story, of great tragic force but
erence
nor
even
pay th
## p. 172 (#208) ############################################
172
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
unbelief. In the portraiture of the differ-
ing camps there are no sharp contrasts,
no unfair caricaturing, but an impartial-
ity, a blending of one into the other,
that makes one of the strongest claims
of the book to attention.
sweet and uplifting, is of Afghan life,-
(The Lovers of Kandahar. '
Le etters to His Son, by Philip Dor-
mer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield.
(1774. ) These letters were not written
for publication, but were intended by
Chesterfield to aid in training his son
and forming his character; and were
first given to the public after the Earl's
death. They are characterized by a mix-
ture of frivolity and seriousness, justness
and lightness. Begun when the boy was
but seven years old, the earlier ones
are filled with rudimentary instruction
regarding history, mythology, and the
use of good language; later follows what
has been called “a charming course of
worldly education, in which mingle
philosophical truths, political sophistries,
petty details regarding wearing apparel,
and so on. Almost every page contains
some happy observation or clever pre-
cept worthy to be remembered. Chester-
field endeavors to unite in his son the
best qualities of the French and Eng-
lish nations; and provides him with a
learned Englishman every morning, and
a French teacher every afternoon, and
above all, the help of the fashionable
world and good society. ” In the letters
the useful and the agreeable are evenly
blended. “Do not tell all, but do not
tell a lie. The greatest fools are the
greatest liars. For my part, I judge of
the truth of a man by the extent of his
intellect. » «Knowledge may give weight,
but accomplishments only give lustre;
and many more people see, than weigh. ”
«Most arts require long study and ap-
plication; but the most useful art of all,
that of pleasing requires only the de-
sire. ” The letters show evidences of the
lax morality of the times; but are
markable for choice of imagery, taste,
urbanity, and graceful irony.
Child
uildren of the World, by Paul Heyse,
published in 1873, obtained immedi-
ate popularity, and caused great contro-
versy over the fearless treatment of the
theme. The children of the world are
represented by a young doctor of philos-
ophy, a strong, well-balanced character;
his younger brother, an almost Christlike
idealist; and their circle of friends and
fellow-students, who, in spite of mistakes
and eccentricities, bear the stamp of true
nobility of soul. They are all either on
the road to, or have already reached, what
the children of God are pleased to call
Nathan the Wise, by, Gotthold Eph-
In this book we see
embodied Lessing's ideal of the theatre
as the pulpit of humanity. The theme
is the search for truth under all creeds,
the protest of natural kinship against
the artificial distinctions and divisions of
mankind on religious grounds, and the
elevation of neighborly love to the high-
est place in the Divine favor. The
play is called A Dramatic Poem in Five
Acts. ' The scene is in Jerusalem. The
plot turns upon the fortunes of a cer-
tain Christian knight in wooing for his
bride Recha, the supposed child of the
Jew Nathan. He had saved her life in
a conflagration, and the Jew in grati-
tude assents to the knight's suit; know-
ing, as the knight does not know, that
his ward is a baptized Christian child.
The Patriarch; learning of the Jew's
concealment of Recha's Christian origin,
and of her attachment to Nathan and
his faith, is ready to have the Jew com-
mitted to the flames for this crime
against religion. The matter is brought
before the Sultan Saladin for adjust-
ment; and the moral of the drama is
focused in the beautiful story related
by the Jew to Saladin, of The Father
and his Ring. ) A father had a certain
very precious ring, which on dying he
bequeathed to his favorite son, with the
instruction that he should do likewise,
— that so the ring should be owned in
each generation by the most beloved
At length the ring comes into the
possession of a father who has three
equally beloved sons, and he knows not
to which to leave it. Calling a jeweler,
he has two other rings made in such
exact imitation of the original one that
no one could tell the difference, and at
his death these three rings are owned
by the three brothers. But a dispute
very soon arises, leading to the bitterest
hostilities between the brothers, over the
question which of the rings is the first
and genuine one; and a wise judge is
called in to settle the controversy. See-
ing that the rings only breed hatred
instead of love, he suggest that the
father may have destroyed the true one
re-
son.
## p. 173 (#209) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
173
and given them all only imitations; but religious and political reaction which fol.
if this be not so, let each one of the lowed the death of Napoleon I. , that Man-
brothers vindicate the father's honor by zoni — who had already become famous
showing that the ring he owns has truly through his (Sacred Hymns, and his tra-
the power of attracting not the hatred gedies the Adelchi) and (Carmagnola,
but the love of others. The magna- both relating to remote periods of the
nimity and justice of the Sultan suggest past — now produced a colossal romance
that he is the judge prefigured in the which combined in one narrative a com-
legend; but the moral of the play points plete picture of Italian life. The scene of
to the one Divine Arbiter, who alone the story is laid within the country around
can read the motives and know the true Milan, and the plot concerns only the
deserts of men, and declare who is the troubled and impeded but at last happily
possessor of the father's ring.
liberated course of true love between the
The play was performed in Berlin two humble peasant Renzo and his already
years after the author's death, and was betrothed Lucia, the village maiden for
coolly received; but it was brought out whom Don Rodrigo, the chief of a band
with success by Goethe and Schiller in of outlaws, has laid his snares. On this
Weimar in 1801, and has long since simple scheme the author manages to
taken its place among the classics of introduce a graphic picture of the Italian
German literature.
robber-baron life, as represented by the
outlawed but law-defying Don Rodrigo
Elective Affinities, by Goethe, was pub- and his retainers; of various phases of the
1809.
clerical and monastic life, as represented
principal characters: Edward, a wealthy | by the craven village curate Abbondio,
nobleman, and his wife Charlotte; her the heroic priest Cristoforo, and the gen-
niece Ottilie; and a friend of Edward, tle and magnanimous Cardinal Borromeo;
known as the Captain. These four being of a devastating plague in an its terrors
together at Edward's country-seat, Ottilie and demoralizing power, as witnessed by
falls in love with Edward, Charlotte with the lover in searching the great city and
the Captain. The wife, however, remains the lazaretto for his beloved; of the
faithful to her husband; but Ottilie yields «monatti,” the horrible band of buriers
to her passion, expiating her sin only with of the dead; of the calming and restor-
her death. The tragedy of the book ing influence of the Church in bringing
seems designed to show that “elective order out of tumult, the wicked to pun-
affinities » may be fraught with danger ishment and virtue to its reward. The
and sorrow; that duty may have even a story is like a heritage of Boccaccio, De-
higher claim than the claim of the soul. foe, and Walter Scott, in a single superb
The novel is throughout of the highest panorama of which Salvator Rosa might
interest in the delineation of character have been the painter. The religious mo-
and of the effects of passion.
tive of the book is sincere but not exag-
gerated, and never runs to fanaticism.
Betrothed, The, by Alessandro Man- Its original publication was in three vol-
zoni. — (I Promessi Sposi. A Milan- umes, and occupied two years, 1825–26,
ese Story of the 17th Century. Discov- during which time it awakened a wide
ered and Retold by Alessandro Manzoni. interest in European circles; and having
Milan, 1825–26. Paris, 1827,' is the title of been soon translated into all modern lan-
a book which, the author's only romance, guages, it has become probably the best
sufficed to place him at the head of the known of all Italian romances to foreign
romantic school of literature in Europe. readers.
The purity and nobility of his life and
thien spiel fita cotone of his wisiting make Letters to an unknowned by a fperos pais
the companion of compatriot
, was published
Mazzini in morals and politics. He wrote death, in 1873, under the editorship of
little, but all was from his heart and be- Taine. The Inconnue was Mademoiselle
spoke the real man. Skeptical in early | Jenny Dacquin, the daughter of a
life, and marrying a Protestant woman, she tary of Boulogne, whose friendship with
in restoring him to the Christian church Mérimée extended over nearly forty
herself became Roman Catholic, and their years. For some time after the publica-
union was one of both heart and faith. It tion of the letters her identity remained
was under these influences, and amid the
a mystery to the public, as it had been
no-
## p. 174 (#210) ############################################
174
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
a
She pre-
to Mérimée during the first nine years
of their correspondence.
The letters have double value.
They throw ght upon two complex
types of modern character. They re-
cord subjective impressions of contem-
porary persons and events — impressions
all the more valuable because of the rare
individuality that received them. They
reveal a man whose intellect was not in
league with his heart; who was as fear-
ful of the trickery of the emotions as
the English are of (scenes); a man of
the world who had a secret liking for
other-worldliness; a cynic who made his
cynicism a veil for tenderness,
The woman is a more elusive person-
ality. She knew the power of mystery,
of silence, of contradiction.
ferred to keep friendship by careless-
ness, than to lose it by intensity. The
letters begin before 1842, and continue
until Mérimée's death in 1870. They
touch lightly and surely upon every
event of importance in political, literary,
and social circles. Many are written
from Paris, many from Cannes; some
from London; some from the Château
de Fontainebleau. They mention every-
body, everything, yet in a spirit of de-
tachment, of indifference, sometimes of
weariness and irony: -«Bulwer's novel
(What will He Do with It? ) appears to
me senile to the last degree; neverthe-
less it contains some pretty scenes, and
has a very good moral. As to the hero
and heroine, they transcend in silliness
the limits of romance. ” « The latest, but
a colossal bore, has been Tannhäuser. '
The fact is, it is prodigious. I
am convinced that I could write some-
thing similar if inspired by the scam-
pering of my cat over the piano keys.
Beneath Madame de Metternich's
box it was said by the wits that the
Austrians were taking their revenge for
Solferino. These extracts fairly illus-
trate the keen observation and good say-
ings of the Letters. )
a brigand or a philanthropist depends
purely on chance, crime and virtue being
mere accidents.
Civilization in Europe, General His-
tory of. By François P. G. Guizot.
(New edition with critical and supple-
mentary notes by George W. Knight.
1896. ) A standard work of great value,
much improved by Professor Knight's crit-
ical and supplementary notes. The gen-
eral summary of the progress of culture
in Europe is admirably done, with all
the new light to date. In a larger work,
the (History of Civilization,' Guizot sur-
veyed a wider field, and dealt more thor-
oughly with some of the great problems
of human progress. President C. K. Ad-
ams has said of this larger work that
perhaps no historical book is capable of
stirring more earnest and fruitful thought
in the student. )
In his «Civilization in Europe) Guizot
begins with the fall of the Roman Em-
pire, and ends with the opening of the
French Revolution. Although he ana-
lyzes all the important facts of history
between the great landmark of 476 and
the convocation of the States-General in
1789, he is far more anxious to grasp
their import than to give a vivid rela-
tion of them; and therefore, facts in
themselves play but a small part in his
exposition. They are simply a help in
his effort to discover the great laws
that direct the evolution of humanity,
and to show its development in the in-
dividual and in society. «Civilization,
he says, consists of two facts, the de-
velopment of the social state and the
development of the intellectual state; the
development of the exterior and general
condition, and of the interior nature of
man,-in a word, the perfection of soci-
ety and humanity. ” It was impossible
for the author to examine every aspect
of the problem in a single volume. His
investigations are therefore limited to
purely social development, and he does
not touch upon the intellectual side of the
question. But the perfect precision with
which he notes the origin, meaning, and
bearing of all accomplished events ren-
ders his work of priceless value.
Earth, Ancient Life-History of the,
by H. Alleyne Nicholson (1878).
An excellent, readable book giving a com-
prehensive outline of the principles and
leading facts of palæontology,the sci-
ence and story of those living things of
((
(
Cºlomba,
a romance by Prosper Méri-
mée, is the story of a Corsican ven-
detta, followed up to the end by the
heroine, with a wild ferocity tempered
with a queer sort of piety. The story
has an ethical significance of a rather
unfortunate kind, for the author's belief
in the dogma of fatalism underlies the
whole of it, – that circumstances control
the human will, and whether a man is
## p. 175 (#211) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
175
as
which the record is found in fossils. It But the causes operating with sudden vio-
is a branch of geology, the pages of the lence in the earthquake are at work in
record being the stone strata or the coal other ways, causing tremors or pulsations,
formations of the crust of the globe. The either too small in extent or too slow and
two large volumes of Professor Nichol- protracted to come under ordinary obser-
son's Manual of Palæontology for the vation. And on an immense scale what
Use of Students) (1879) go more fully are called oscillations-gradual and very
into all the facts, and are more richly extended movements are always tak-
illustrated; but the smaller volume cov- ing place. The causes and methods of
ers the ground sufficiently for ordinary these are explained in Professor Milne's
reading
very readable volume. In 1892 he assisted
Imagest, The, by Ptolemy of Alex-
in bringing out twenty-nine large repro-
A'
andria, about 150 A. D. This great
ductions of photographs showing the
astronomical and mathematical work es-
effect of the great earthquake of 1891 in
tablished the “Ptolemaic System)
Japan, on the face of the country and on
astronomical science for 1400 years, until
the life of the people. These, with the
the Copernican overthrew it, and gave to
letterpress story, furnish a singularly in-
celestial calculations the permanent basis
teresting earthquake exhibit.
of trigonometrical mathematics. Hippar-
chus, nearly three hundred years before, Mechanism of the Heavens, The, by
,
had made those advances in astronomy
Pierre Simon Laplace. The first
and mathematics of which Ptolemy's
two volumes of this remarkable work
work is the only existing report. It
were published in 1799, the third
ap-
was mainly as a systematic expounder,
peared in 1803, the fourth in 1805, and
correcting and improving earlier work,
the fifth in 1825. The author has set
that Ptolemy became so great a represent-
forth in one homogeneous work the lead-
ative figure in the literature of science.
ing results which had been separately
The system which bears his name was im-
achieved by his predecessors, at the
plicitly held by earlier philosophers, but
same time proving their harmony and
his statement became the authority to
interdependence. The entire work is
which it was referred. His work, entitled
divided into sixteen books, treating of:
(The Great Composition,' was called by
The General Laws of Equilibrium and
the Arabs magisté, «greatest,” and with
Motion; The Law of Universal Gravity;
al, “the,” the name (Almagest) came
The Form of the Heavenly Bodies; The
Oscillation of the Sea, and of the Atmo-
into use. — The Geography of Ptolemy,
in which he was more original than in
sphere; The Movement of the Heavenly
his other great work, was the geograph- Planetary Movements; The Theory of
Bodies on their Axes; The Theory of
ical authority in science even longer than
the Moon; The Satellites of Jupiter, Sat-
the Almagest) was in astronomy. The
materials of the work were derived in
urn, and Uranus; Comets; The Form and
Rotation of the Earth; Attraction and
great part from Marinus of Tyre, who
lived shortly before him, but the skill with
Repulsion of the Spheres; The Laws of
Equilibrium and Movements of Fluids;
which Ptolemy used them gave his work
The Oscillation of Fluids that cover the
its high authoritative character. A series
Planets; The Movement of Planets and
of twenty-six maps, and a general map of
the world, illustrated the 'Geography
Comets; and The Movement of Satellites.
. '
The work is very diffuse, and it is said
Earthquakes and Other Earth Move- that the author found himself at times
ments, by John Milne. (1886. ) This obliged to devote an hour's labor to re-
is a volume of the International Scien- covering the lost links in the chain of
tific Series) in which an attempt is made reasoning covered by the recurring for-
to explain the various movements within mula, “It is easy to see. ” (The Exposi-
the surface of the earth. Earthquakes tion of the System of the World,' by the
proper are sudden violent movements of same author, is a more popular disserta-
the ground, taking place with such a tion on the same subject, disembarrassed
shake of the earth's surface, or even an of the analytical paraphernalia of the
upheaval of parts and opening of chasms, greater work. It has been truly said
as to show almost inconceivable forces that Laplace was not properly an
operating, and to work terrible destruc- tronomer, but rather belonged to that
tion of buildings and masses of people. class of savants who, neglecting direct
(
as-
## p. 176 (#212) ############################################
176
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
once
observation of phenomena, depend upon
the observations of others, and discover
by force of calculation and meditation
those great laws of which the patient
researches of observers have shown the
elements, without suspecting the principle.
Translated by Mrs. Mary Somerville in
England, and by Nathaniel Bowditch in
America.
Creation, Natural History, of, by
brilliantly written exposition of evolution
theories in their most extreme form, of
which Mr. Darwin said, “If this work
had appeared before my essay had been
written, I should probably never have
completed it. ” The acceptance of the
work is shown by eight editions of the
German original within ten years, and
translation into twelve languages. Haeck-
el's Evolution of Man,' the English
translation of his (Anthropogenie) (1874),
is another widely popular exposition of
his extreme tendencies in science. The
immense labor which Haeckel performed
in his monumental five-volume contribu-
tion to the Challenger Reports, and his
lucid and brilliant (Generale Morpholo-
gie,' have placed him in the highest rank
of living naturalists. He especially
unsurpassed among naturalists in his mas-
tery of artistic execution.
Evoh
volution-Philosophy, Outline of, by
M. E. Cazelles; translated from the
French by O. B. Frothing ham. (1874. )
This thin volume of one hundred pages
contains the clearest and most attract-
ive brief statement of the philosophy of
Herbert Spencer which has been given
to the reading public. Beginning with
the question, How far can the universe
be explained ? » -- the insoluble (whence,
why, ,» «whither,” of mankind — the au-
thor explains the groundwork and start-
ing-point of Mr. Spencer's system of
thought; confessing that “By strict ne-
cessity, explanation brings us face to
face with the inexplicable: we have to
admit a datum which cannot be ex-
plained;” but showing that we can dis-
tinguish necessary data from unnecessary.
The history of objects must be taken up
at its origin; and philosophy must be not
only the theory of all these histories, a
systematizing of the axioms of all the
sciences, but a theory of the modifica-
tions of things. Spencer's Doctrine of
Progress is next explained with great
clearness; the deduction being irrefutable
that «Progress is not an accident, nor a
thing within human control, but a be-
neficent necessity. ) The Law of Evolu-
tion is next unfolded; and two chapters
are given to Positivism and Comte's
fundamental doctrines. Spencer's theory
of the Order of the Sciences is next
considered; and the final paper is upon
Evolution and Government. In this
careful and interesting exposition it is
explained how government as such, a
system of restraint, has passed from the
arbitrary into the reasonable, and must
find its domain more and more limited
as the reign of moral ideas is extended;
that religion is legitimate and science
indispensable, and that as humanity ad-
vances, not only perpetual peace will be
established between these two, but it
will be understood by mankind that law
is at
inexorable and beneficent;
that by conformity to it people march
toward a higher degree of perfection,
and reach a higher degree of happiness.
For this reason Spencer urges the ob-
servance of law; for this reason he is
indignant at its misapprehension. It is
in affirming the eternal principles of
things and the necessity of obeying them,
that he shows himself essentially reli-
gious. ”
Anthropology: AN INTRODUCTION TO
THE STUDY OF MAN AND CivilIZA-
TION, by E. B. Tylor: 1881. A work de-
signed to give so much of the story of
man as can be made interesting to the
general reader. It tells what is known
of the earliest appearance of man on the
globe; of the races of mankind; of lan-
guages and writing; of the various arts
of life and arts of pleasure, as they were
developed; of the beginnings of science;
of the earliest stages of religion, mythol-
ogy, and literature; and of the first cus-
toms of human society. The work is a
valuable contribution to popular knowl.
edge of the origins of human culture.
Like all Professor Tylor's books, it is
eminently readable.
Intellectual Development, The His-
tory of, Vol. i. , by John Beattie Cro-
zier. The first volume of an elaborate
work on the origin and evolution of the
systems of thought which have made up
the intellectual development of the hu-
man mind. The present volume tells
the story of Greek philosophy, which was
so long believed by all to stand alone;
and with it that of Hindoo thought, the
»
## p. 177 (#213) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
177
philosophical systems of India, which same time it supplies many elements of
are now known to rival the Greek as modern culture. The distinction given
products of the intellect, and as expres- the author by this work led to his having
sions of spiritual aspiration, if not as a seven years' period of service in India
aids to the moral life and helps to social as legal member of the Council; and on
and political order. The philosophies of his return to England and appointment
Greece and of India are fountain-heads to a professorship of jurisprudence at Ox-
of thought never surpassed as intellectual ford, his first course of lectures was pub-
outbursts, and suggesting a law of ori- lished as “Village Communities' (1871).
gin widely different from that of evolu- It was another course of Oxford lectures
tion as commonly understood. In sequel which gave the substance of his Early
to these ancient systems, Mr. Crozier Institutions); in which, as in Village
embraces in his survey the developments Communities,' he drew from knowledge
of Græco-Roman paganism, those of gained in India to throw light upon an-
Judaism, and those of Christianity in cient social and political forms. Not only
the Roman empire down to 529 A. D. , were these works among the first exam-
the date at which the latest schools of ples of thorough historical research into
Athens were closed by the emperor Jus- the origins of social order and political
tinian. In an earlier work, «Civilization organization, but the skill in exposition
and Progress, Mr. Crozier indicated his and admirable style in which they are
views in philosophy; arguing that the executed make them of permanent inter-
controlling factor of civilization is the est as models of investigation. The work
material and social condition of man, of Maine on the origin and growth of legal
and that in accordance with material and and social institutions was completed by
social needs, ideas of right and wrong a volume in 1883 on Early Law and Cus-
are formed.
tom. ) A principal contention of Maine
was that patriarchal or fatherly authority
Institutes of the Christian Religion,
was the earliest germ of social order.
by John Calvin. The first great the-
ological work after the Reformation, Beginners of a Nation, The. A his-
undertaking to establish, against Roman tory of the source and rise of the
Catholic belief and usage, a Protestant
earliest English settlements in America,
system of doctrine and communion; and with special reference to the life and
through its service as such, and its mas- character of the people. The first volume
terly grasp of system and argument,
in a history of life in the United States. )
widely accepted as the standard of re- By Edward Eggleston. (1896. ) This is
formed theology.
The original design of
the first volume of a proposed History
the author was to make a small work
of the United States, on the lines set
for popular instruction; and his first edi- forth by Mr. Eggleston in the sub-title
tion conformed to this design, except as
quoted above. The volume is fully and
he changed his plan in order to lay be- carefully treated in the LIBRARY, under
fore the King of France, Francis I. , Eggleston.
defense of the Reformed Confession. By
enlargement in successive editions, the Beginnings of New England, The, by
work reached the form in which it is
John Fiske. The occasion and man-
ner of this book, in the author's series of
now known.
American History volumes, are indicated
Early History of Institutions, Lect- in a few sentences of the preface: –
ures on the, by Henry Sumner (In this sketch of the circumstances
Maine, LL. D. (1875. ) In his remarkable which attended the settlement of New
work on "Incient Law: Its Connection England, I have purposely omitted many
with the Early History of Society, and details which in a formal history of that
its Relation to Modern Ideas) (1861), Sir period would need to be included. It
Henry Maine attempted to indicate some has been my aim to give the outline of
of the earliest ideas of mankind, as re- such a narrative as to indicate the prin-
flected in ancient law, and to point out ciples at work in the history of New Eng-
the relation of those ideas to modern land down to the Revolution of 1689.
thought. To a large extent the illustra-
In forming historical judgments,
tions were drawn from Roman law, be- a great deal depends upon our perspect-
cause it bears in its earliest portions traces ive. Out of the very imperfect human
of the most remote antiquity, and at the nature which is so slowly and painfully
(
a
.
XXX-2
## p. 178 (#214) ############################################
178
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ened age.
can
casting off the original sin of its in-
THE DUTIFUL Child's PROMISE.
heritance from primeval savagery,
it is
I will fear God, honor the King,
scarcely possible in any age to get a re-
I will honor my Father and Mother,
sult which will look quite satisfactory to
I will obey my superiors.
the man of a riper and more enlight-
The alphabet rhymes, illustrated by
Fortunately we learn
crude wood-cuts, follow. Among the
something from the stumblings of our
most atrocious of these is the picture of
forefathers; and a good many things the man of patience, spotted with sores,
seem quite clear to us to-day, which two
accompanied by this rhyme: -
centuries ago were only beginning to be
dimly discerned by a few of the keenest
" Job feels the rod,
and boldest spirits. The faults of the
Yet blesses God. ”
Puritan theocracy, which found its most There is said to have been a picture
complete development in Massachusetts, of the Crucifixion in an earlier edition,
are so glaring that it is idle to seek to
with appropriate rhyme; which our rigid
palliate them or to explain them away. Puritan ancestors discarded in favor of
But if we would really understand what Job, claiming that it smacked of pa-
was going on in the Puritan world of the
расу.
seventeenth century, and how a better Among other curious rhymes may be
state of things has grown out of it, we quoted:
must endeavor to distinguish and define
« Proud Korah's troop
the elements of wholesome strength in
Was swallowed up. ”
that theocracy, no less than its elements
e Peter denies
of crudity and weakness. ”
His Lord, and cries. "
In the scientific spirit, which seeks the
« Whales in the sea
truth only and never the buttressing of
God's voice obey.
any theory, yet with the largest liberality
# Time cuts down all,
of judgment, the historian illustrates the
Both great and small. ”
upward trend of mankind from its earlier The last rhyme is illustrated by a
low estate. His philosophic bent appears picture of the Grim Destroyer mowing
most lucidly expressed in the first chap- a broad swath with an old-fashioned
ter, where the Roman idea of nation- scythe.
making is contrasted with the English After the Lord's Prayer and the
idea; the Roman conquest, with incorpo- creed is an illustration of John Rogers
ration but without representation, with the surrounded by blazing fagots, guarded
English conquest, which always meant by the sheriff, with his wife and nine
incorporation with representation. Then small children and one at the breast »
follow a description of the Puritan exodus, gazing upon his martyrdom. There is
and the planting of New England, with an account of John Rogers, and a copy
comments on its larger meanings, a pict- of his rhymed address to his children.
ure of the New England confederacy; AN ALPHABET OF LESSONS next ap-
the scenes of King Philip's lurid war, pears, beginning with
and the story of the tyranny of Andros,-
James the Second's despotic viceroy, - | A wise son maketh a glad father, but a
foolish son is the heaviness of his mother;
which began the political troubles between
the New England and the Old, that ended and closing with
only with American independence. This
volume, as will be inferred, is among the
al hath consumed me because my
Zeal
enemies have forgotten the word of God.
most interesting and suggestive of Mr.
Fiske's many monographs.
THE SHORTER CATECHISM (Westmin-
ster), with a few hymns, occupies the
New England Primer, The. This remaining half of this little book of 64
famous work, the earliest edition pages, having only 3, by 244 inches of
of which known to exist was published printed matter on each page.
in Boston in 1727, has passed through In 1897 Mr. Paul Leicester Ford pre-
various changes of form and text.
pared a complete history of the New
An eighteenth-century edition England Primer, fully presenting the
tains the alphabet and syllabarium, fol- subject historically and bibliographically
lowed by several columns of simple in an illustrated duodecimo volume of
words. Next appears
354 pages.
con-
## p. 179 (#215) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
179
Bimbi
inbi: Stories for Children. Ouida ised his daughter's hand to the painter
has done nothing so perfectly as her winning in a contest to be decided by the
stories of child-life. In Bimbi) we see duke, and Luca could paint but ill. On
her at her best. The stories are simply the day of the decision the duke and all
but charmingly told, and show a wonder- present gaze in wonder upon one piece,
fully intimate sympathy with children. which is found to be the work of the
The characters are mostly little peasants, seven year-old child Rafaelle. Modestly
sweet, natural, and thoughtful, filled with and quietly the child claims Pacifica,
a love of beauty and of old legends, takes her hand and places it in Luca's.
and touched with the simple spontaneous They tell Luca that an angel has come
heroism that is possible only to a child. down for him. «But Luca heard not:
(Hirschvogel, which opens the volume, he was still kneeling at the feet of Ra-
is the story of a German boy's romantic faelle, where the world has knelt ever
attachment for a beautiful porcelain stove, since. »
made by the great master Hirschvogel.
August's father having sold the stove Old Mamselle's Secret, The Das
himself it, after Geheimniss der alten Mamsell), by
a terrible journey of three days is found « E. Marlitt» (Eugénie John), has its
inside by the young king who has bought action in Thuringia, Germany, in the
it; and who, pleased with the child's early part of the nineteenth century. In
devotion, allows him to stay with his the town hall of X- a performance
beloved Hirschvogel and receive an art- takes place, the chief actors of which
ist's education.
are Orlowsky, a juggler, and his wife
(Moufflou) takes its name from a clever Meta, a beautiful and refined woman. A
poodle, which Lolo, his little lame master, tragedy occurs: the great trick miscar-
had taught to do many tricks. Lolo's ries, and she falls mortally wounded by
mother having sold the dog while he was a stupid assistant. She implores her
away, the child takes the loss so much to husband to place their little girl of four
heart that he becomes ill, and is saved years in some quiet home. Herr Hell-
from death only by the opportune arrival wig, a retired merchant, compassionately
of Moufflou, who has escaped and walked adopts the child, Felicitas, in spite of
many miles to find his little master. the violent opposition of his wife,-a
Findelkind is a boy whose whole life is woman full of pious cant, but cruel by
saddened because some twin lambs from nature. They have two sons: John, who
his flock stray, and are frozen to death, is away at school, and Nathaniel, aged
while he is away upon a quest for money
Of the two servants, Frederika
with which to found a monastery.
is her mistress's humble counterpart, and
The Little Earl who gives his name to Heinrich his master's.
the last story in the book learns early the Felicitas is tenderly cared for by Herr
lesson that “It is the title they give me Hellwig until his death
a few years
and the money I have got that makes later. Thenceforward she becomes a
people so good to me.
When I am only household drudge, only retained because
me you see what it is. »
of the dying man's injunction to John.
(In the Apple Country) relates how a Felicitas accidentally discovers the Old
young Englishman receives into his home Mamselle, her benefactor's aunt, ostra-
Gemma, a hot-tempered, warm-hearted cized by the family, and living in a re-
little Italian girl, with her grandfather mote part of the mansion; and through
and brother, who have been arrested for her loving instruction, in stolen hours,
strolling. And when Gemma has grown Felicitas becomes very accomplished.
into a beautiful girl, impulsive still, but Nine years later, John, now become a
sweet and gentle, she consents to give up famous physician in Bonn, orders his
forever the grapes and oranges of Italy cousin, the Councilor's widow, to X-
to live in the "Apple Country,” as Philip for her child's health; and together with
Corey's wife.
him they become members of the Hell-
Perhaps the most charming of the sto- wig household. The beautiful but vio-
ries is (The Child of Urbino. ) Two lent-tempered young widow lays siege
friends of the child Rafaelle — Luca, a to John. He, however, falls in love
noble youth, and his sweetheart Pacifica, with Felicitas, whom as a child he had
a gentle maiden — are in great trouble. treated harshly. She hates him bitterly,
Pacifica's father, a great artist, has prom- and hopes soon to live openly with the
seven.
## p. 180 (#216) ############################################
180
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
same
Old Mamselle. But the latter inoppor- | along by the torrent of its passion to ul.
tunely dies, leaving all her property, not timate wreck, is the theme of this book,
to Felicitas, but to the Von Hirsch- written most poetically in a style of the
sprung heirs, if found. Felicitas is frankest romanticism. Bent Sörensen is
about to destroy a little book in compli- a poor Jutlander student, whose god is
ance with her friend's wishes, when the Mathematics, and whose one idea is the
Councilor's widow intervenes, reads it, practical duty of getting his degree and
and flings it at John's feet, thus reveal- caring for his old parents and his young
ing the Old Mamselle's secret. She had brothers and sisters. He meets Giacinta,
loved in her girlhood Oscar von Hirsch- a young singer, absorbed in her art.
sprung, a poor neighbor, occupying an- They fall in love at first sight. Hence-
other portion of the
mansion. forth Bent's course of life is changed.
Felicitas had long known that her real He neglects his studies and companions
mother was a Von Hirschsprung, and and is warned of expulsion. But he
the happy dénouement may be easily abandons himself to his passion,-even
imagined.
writing poetry, with a mathematical cast,
This story, published in 1867, has to her praise. She makes her debut in
passed through many editions; the Eng- opera with tremendous success in the
lish version by Mrs. A. L. Wistar is re- first two acts; in the third she falls in a
garded as even superior to the original. swoon with a hemorrhage. She recovers
and marries the old Hofrath, her protec-
Fruit: Flower, and Thorn Pieces, by
Richter (Jean Paul), appeared in
tor; but Bent's career is ended. Another
1796–97. It is a strange combination of
lover is introduced, only to be rejected.
The burning sun of love has touched
humor, tenderness, and fine imagination,
three lives, and the resistless current of
purporting to be the record of the «mar-
ried life, death and wedding of the
their melting snows has left stranded
three wrecks. The interest of the story
lawyer of the poor, Siebenkäs. ) The
dream-indulging, impractical poet of a
is in the author's handling of the scenes
of passion and tragedy. The English
lawyer represents Jean Paul himself;
translation by Margaret Symonds was
while Siebenkäs's wife, Lenette, the em-
published in 1895.
bodiment of the practical in life, stands
for Richter's good old mother. Her de
Am
mazon, The, by Franz Dingelstedt, is
votion to every-day ideas is well illus- a lively, witty story of Berlin society
trated when "Siebenkäs, in the midst in artistic and social circles, in which
of a grandiloquent harangue upon eter- love at cross-purposes finds a pleasant so-
nity, is interrupted by her exclaiming: lution. Roland, a distinguished painter,
"Don't forget to leave off your left is attracted by Armgard Krafft, whose
stocking to-morrow morning: there is a father is a rich banker; while Seraphine,
hole in it! » Of all Jean Paul's more a prima donna of popular fame, who
prominent characters, Siebenkäs is one poses for Roland as an Amazon, is for a
of the least extravagantly sentimental; time drawn towards a diplomat of high
and his history, though less ambitious rank. Thus the principle of the attrac-
than either «Titan” or “Hesperus,” is tion of opposites seems to be illustrated,
more popular. It displays Richter's but the novel proves to be a satire on the
kaleidoscopic variety of thought, wild doctrine of elective affinities. It is full
figures of style, and bewildering leaps of both poetry and humor; and in spite
from the spiritual to the earthly and of its bohemianism, thoroughly healthy
grotesque - and thence again to ideal in tone. It was published in 1868. The
heights. In some passages the rapid title refers also to an opera in which
sweep of thought seems too strong for Seraphine appears.
coherent utterance, and again it calms
This
ood Luck, by Ernest Werner.
down to a placid sweetness very ingenu-
Good
story describes in
a picturesque
His phrases, linked by hyphens,
and interesting manner the development
brackets, and dashes, almost defy the
of conjugal affection that follows a love-
translator's art, and are sufficiently diffi-
less marriage. Baroness Eugenie von
cult for even the German scholar.
Windeg, a beautiful girl of aristocratic
Melting Snows, by, Prince Emil zu lineage, marries Arthur Berkow, a civil.
Schönaich-Carolath. A virgin hu- ian, much beneath her in rank, whose
man soul, awakened by love and swept wealth is necessary to restore the fallen
ous.
## p. 181 (#217) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
181
fortunes of the Windegs. The match is the book as a whole presents a vivid
brought about by Berkow's father, a and dramatic picture of social and indus-
vulgar and unprincipled man, who has trial life in Germany. (1876. )
made his fortune in mining, and who,
being a large creditor of Baron Windeg, Dosia, by Henri Gréville (Madame Du-
uses every means in his power to bring
rand), (1877,) is a vivacious story
of Russian life. The heroine, Léodocia
about this brilliant marriage for his only
son, whom he idolizes and on whom he
Zaptine, is a frolicsome young madcap,
with the kindest heart, who is always
has lavished every luxury. While the
bridal couple are being driven to their
getting into scrapes. Grief-stricken be-
future home, their horses take fright and
cause of well-deserved scoldings, she de-
run away; and but for the brave and cides to elope with her cousin Pierre
prompt action of Ulrich Hartmann, one
Mourief, a young lieutenant staying in
of Berkow's miners, a dangerous and un-
the house; but thinks better of it when
ruly fellow, the carriage and its occu-
they are but a mile or two from home,
pants would have been dashed over a
and returns to the paternal roof. After
precipice. On reaching her palatial resi-
this escapade, Dosia is taken in hand
dence, Eugenie, whose anguish and re-
by the young widow Princess Sophie
gret have up to this time been sup-
Koutsky, the sister of Pierre's comrade
pressed, gives way to her feelings, tells
in arms Count Platon Sourof. Dosia and
Arthur of her scorn and dislike for him,
Pierre make the mutual discovery that
and taunts him with his motives in
they are not in the least in love with
bringing about their marriage. Arthur
each other; and the headlong, generous
receives her gibes in an indifferent man-
Pierre wins the Princess Sophie, while
ner, and after telling her that she has her grave brother Platon loves and mar-
been mistaken in this regard, leaves her,
ries the naughty Dosia.
The story is
with the assurance that in future she agreeably told, and is a good specimen
shall be freed from his society, except
of the best type of domestic novel.
when it is necessary to preserve appear-
ances. As time goes on, Eugenie dis Dosia's Daughter, by Henri Gréville
(Madame Durand), (1886,) like its
covers qualities in her husband which
predecessor Dosia,' has a slight plot,
win her respect and love; but he con-
charmingly told; and like that, presents a
tinues to treat her with cool politeness
and indifference. The elder Berkow
pleasant picture of society life in Rus-
sia. Agnes, or Ania, the daughter of
dies, leaving his miners in a state of in-
Count and Countess Tourof, considers
surrection; and Arthur takes control in a
herself a much misunderstood and un-
manner which shows great courage and
strength of character. At this time
appreciated young woman, and decides
Baron Windeg, who has come into pos-
to go out into the world and earn her
bread as a governess.
She runs away
session of a large inheritance, tries to
from home, and a very short experience
bring about a legal separation between
as her own mistress is enough to bring
his daughter and her husband, whose
her back to her parents, with the convic-
plebeian birth he cannot forgive. He
tion that home is best. The charm of
takes Eugenie home with him in order
the novel lies in its naturalness and sim-
to procure the divorce; but while the
plicity.
papers are being drawn up she hears of
Arthur's extreme danger at the hands of Jean Teterol's Idea (L'idée de Jean
the infuriated miners, led by Hartmann, Têterol), by Charles Victor Cherbu-
and, her love for her husband asserting liez. (1878. ) A clever narrator rather
itself, she flies to him and is welcomed than a keen psychologist, Cherbuliez can
with open arms. An explosion takes tell a good story in a picturesque style,
place in the mine just as matters reach with an accompaniment of interesting
a crisis, and Arthur risks his life to save philosophic reflections. Jean Têterol, a
his miners, thereby winning their esteem young peasant abused by his master,
and settling the controversy. His enemy the Baron Saligneux, shakes the dust of
Hartmann accompanies Arthur into the Saligneux from his shoes, and departs,
mine, and saves the life of his hated vowing vengeance. The idea which
master at the sacrifice of his own. The
to him then, and which thence-
interest in this story is well sustained; forth dominates his life, is a determi-
the characters are forcibly drawn, and nation to become a rich proprietor of
comes
## p. 182 (#218) ############################################
182
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
land instead of a serf. He goes to Paris,
and there by hard work and by shrewd-
ness amasses a fortune. At fifty-five,
many times a millionaire, he is a wid-
ower with one son, Lionel, to whom he
looks for the fruition of all his ambi-
tions. This boy, his “Prince of Wales,”
has had every sort of advantage. He
may marry an aristocrat and become one
himself. His father regards him with
a tyrannical pride and affection, some-
what galling to Lionel's more refined
nature. Jean Têterol returns to the vil-
lage of Saligneux, and there learns that
his old master is dead; that his son,
the present Baron, has a beautiful daugh-
ter, Claire; and that the estate is em-
barrassed and the Baron in debt. Jean
craftily manages to become his chief
creditor, and then demands Claire's hand
for Lionel From this point the compli-
cations of the story multiply rapidly.
Claire is made an interesting heroine:
Lionel rises in the esteem of the reader:
and the fortunes of the two, and of
the old estate, offer to Cherbuliez the
material of an agreeable domestic tale.
The manner of it is graceful, and its
touch delightfully free.
Immortal, The, by Alphonse Daudet.
(1888. ) L'Immortel) is the last
noted work of the late distinguished
French critic, dramatist, and novelist,
Alphonse Daudet. It professes to be a
description of maurs parisiennes, but is
really a satire on the pretensions of the
French Academy; its title, “The Immor-
tal, being the epithet popularly applied
to the forty members of that exclusive
and self-perpetuating body. Daudet him-
self, although his novel (Fromont Jeune
et Risler Aîné) was crowned by the
Academy with the Jouy prize, was never
elected to its membership; and with the
brothers Goncourt, Zola, and others, he
formed a rival literary clique.
The sa-
tirical thrusts in (The Immortal) were
keenly felt and resented by the Acade-
micians. Apart from this personal con-
nection, L'Immortel) cannot be said to
vie in interest or merit with the cele.
brated trine of the (Tartarins,' or with
Numa Roumestan, Kings in Exile,'
(Sappho. The hero of the story is
bookworm, Academician whose
works have been successively crowned
by the Academy) until its crowns were
exhausted, and nothing remained but to
elect him to membership. Meanwhile
he has been employed by the govern-
ment as Archivist of Foreign Affairs;
but an unhappy expression introduced in
the history of the house of Orleans –
«Then, as to-day, France, submerged
under the wave of demagogism” – gave
such offense to the government that it
cost him his position, his salary, and his
livelihood. He now devotes himself to
the editing of certain MSS. of untold
value, which have come into his posses-
sion, and his hopes and ambitions hang
upon the delight with which the world
will welcome these treasures. Treated
by his ambitious wife and spendthrift
son with ironical contempt and heartless
neglect, his misfortunes are crowned by
the revelation that his prized archæologi-
cal documents are forgeries; and that
the Academy, indignant at the disgrace
thus brought upon it, is discussing his
degradation among the “mortals. ) Ridi-
culed by all Paris, and berated at home
by his angry and disappointed wife,
“the perpetual secretary of the Acad-
emy,” finding neither solace nor protec-
tion in its shelter in this hour of his
dire need, ends his troubles by throw-
ing himself into the Seine. The story
is a work of pessimistic realism, portray-
ing the sordid and heartless selfishness
of mother and son, as contrasted with
the father's entire but wasted devotion
to what in the end is only delusion and
fraud.
Chou
houans, The, by Balzac. This was
the novelist's first important work.
The title, when it appeared in 1829, was
(The Last Chouan; or, Bretagne in 1800. )
In 1846 it was rearranged in its present
form. It is the story of a young girl,
Marie de Verneuil, sent by Fouché to
entrap the leader of the royalists in
Bretagne, the Marquis de Montauran.
She falls in love with him, reveals her
disgraceful mission, and devotes all her
energies to save him, until a trick of his
enemies leads her to believe him false.
Then she plots his ruin, is undeceived too
late, and both die together. Marie is an
exquisite creation, revealing that deep
and intuitive knowledge of the soul of
woman of which Balzac was to give so
many proofs afterward. Montauran also
is an original character, vigorously and
delicately drawn. In Hulot, the rough
republican commandant sprung from the
ranks, and in Marche-à-Terre, the fero-
cious but honest fanatic, we have two of
>
or
a
an
## p. 183 (#219) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
183
Balzac's «types, designed and classified
truthfully and convincingly. Many of the
scenes are of tragic intensity. Nothing
could be more terrible than that of the
massacre of the Blues at Vivetière, that of
the unmasking of the spy among her ene-
mies, or that of the roasting of the old
miser by the Chouans to compel him to
reveal his treasure. The description of a
mass said by a priest in rags, in the midst
of the forest, before a granite altar, while
the insurgents, kneeling near their guns,
beat their breasts and repeat the re-
sponses, is singularly grand and imposing.
The author made a profound study of the
scenery of Bretagne, and the manners of
its people, before he wrote his romance;
and his pictures of both scenery and peo-
ple have the stamp of reality and truth.
Country Doctor, The, by Honoré de
Balzac, belongs to the series known
as (Scenes from Country Life); a part of
his great cycle of fiction, «The Comedy
of Human Life. It appeared in French
in 1833, and in the standard English trans-
lation by Miss Wormeley in 1887. It is
one of Balzac's noblest pieces of fiction,
presenting beautiful traits of human na-
ture with sympathy and power. The
scene is laid in a village near Grenoble
in France, and the story begins with the
year 1829. To this village comes Genes-
tas, a noble old soldier who adores Na-
poleon, and believes in the certainty of
his return to save France. Under the
assumed name of Captain Bluteau, he
rests from his wounds, and is cared for
by Dr. Benassis, the country doctor, the
central character, and a remarkable study
of the true physician. He is a sort of
Father Bountiful in Grenoble. He treats
the poor peasants without pay, and dis-
likes taking money except from the
rich. He teaches the peasantry how to
improve their land, introduces methods
of work which make for prosperity, sug-
gests new industries, and effects a great
change for the better in the neighborhood;
so that in ten years the population is
tripled, and comfort and happiness are
substituted for poverty and misery.
was for several years French minister at
the court of the Shah of Persia; and in-
stead of embodying his views of Ori-
ental character in the form of essays, he
conceives a set of characters displaying
their racial traits in action. The first of
the stories is “The Dancing Girl of Sha-
makha”; a study in the racial traits of
the Lesghians of the Caucasus, with
side-lights on Russian frontier life, the
slave-trade, and other things. Next fol-
lows (The History of Gamber-Aly,' illus:
trating the unstable, volatile, fanciful
Persian character, at the mercy of every
passing gust of emotion and wholly
given over to it while it lasts. Third
and grimmest of all is “The War
against the Turkomans); the
same
theme continued, but with special ref-
to the utter corruption of the
governmental fabric, based wholly on
personal influence, with neither public
spirit
ordinary forecasting
common-sense. Both these shed a flood
of light on Persian social life; a signifi-
cant feature, as also in the next, is the
supreme power of the women in it, exer-
cised with as little conscience as the
men exercise their public functions — nat-
urally. The impression left would be
most depressing and rather cynical, were
it not that in the last two he gives with
fairness another and nobler side of the
Oriental nature. (The Illustrious Magi-
cian) shows the passionate longing of
the Eastern mind for the ultimate truths
of the universe and of God, its belief
that the crucifixion of sense and steady
contemplation by the soul can attain to
those primal secrets, and its willingness
price for knowledge. The
final story, of great tragic force but
erence
nor
even
pay th
## p. 172 (#208) ############################################
172
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
unbelief. In the portraiture of the differ-
ing camps there are no sharp contrasts,
no unfair caricaturing, but an impartial-
ity, a blending of one into the other,
that makes one of the strongest claims
of the book to attention.
sweet and uplifting, is of Afghan life,-
(The Lovers of Kandahar. '
Le etters to His Son, by Philip Dor-
mer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield.
(1774. ) These letters were not written
for publication, but were intended by
Chesterfield to aid in training his son
and forming his character; and were
first given to the public after the Earl's
death. They are characterized by a mix-
ture of frivolity and seriousness, justness
and lightness. Begun when the boy was
but seven years old, the earlier ones
are filled with rudimentary instruction
regarding history, mythology, and the
use of good language; later follows what
has been called “a charming course of
worldly education, in which mingle
philosophical truths, political sophistries,
petty details regarding wearing apparel,
and so on. Almost every page contains
some happy observation or clever pre-
cept worthy to be remembered. Chester-
field endeavors to unite in his son the
best qualities of the French and Eng-
lish nations; and provides him with a
learned Englishman every morning, and
a French teacher every afternoon, and
above all, the help of the fashionable
world and good society. ” In the letters
the useful and the agreeable are evenly
blended. “Do not tell all, but do not
tell a lie. The greatest fools are the
greatest liars. For my part, I judge of
the truth of a man by the extent of his
intellect. » «Knowledge may give weight,
but accomplishments only give lustre;
and many more people see, than weigh. ”
«Most arts require long study and ap-
plication; but the most useful art of all,
that of pleasing requires only the de-
sire. ” The letters show evidences of the
lax morality of the times; but are
markable for choice of imagery, taste,
urbanity, and graceful irony.
Child
uildren of the World, by Paul Heyse,
published in 1873, obtained immedi-
ate popularity, and caused great contro-
versy over the fearless treatment of the
theme. The children of the world are
represented by a young doctor of philos-
ophy, a strong, well-balanced character;
his younger brother, an almost Christlike
idealist; and their circle of friends and
fellow-students, who, in spite of mistakes
and eccentricities, bear the stamp of true
nobility of soul. They are all either on
the road to, or have already reached, what
the children of God are pleased to call
Nathan the Wise, by, Gotthold Eph-
In this book we see
embodied Lessing's ideal of the theatre
as the pulpit of humanity. The theme
is the search for truth under all creeds,
the protest of natural kinship against
the artificial distinctions and divisions of
mankind on religious grounds, and the
elevation of neighborly love to the high-
est place in the Divine favor. The
play is called A Dramatic Poem in Five
Acts. ' The scene is in Jerusalem. The
plot turns upon the fortunes of a cer-
tain Christian knight in wooing for his
bride Recha, the supposed child of the
Jew Nathan. He had saved her life in
a conflagration, and the Jew in grati-
tude assents to the knight's suit; know-
ing, as the knight does not know, that
his ward is a baptized Christian child.
The Patriarch; learning of the Jew's
concealment of Recha's Christian origin,
and of her attachment to Nathan and
his faith, is ready to have the Jew com-
mitted to the flames for this crime
against religion. The matter is brought
before the Sultan Saladin for adjust-
ment; and the moral of the drama is
focused in the beautiful story related
by the Jew to Saladin, of The Father
and his Ring. ) A father had a certain
very precious ring, which on dying he
bequeathed to his favorite son, with the
instruction that he should do likewise,
— that so the ring should be owned in
each generation by the most beloved
At length the ring comes into the
possession of a father who has three
equally beloved sons, and he knows not
to which to leave it. Calling a jeweler,
he has two other rings made in such
exact imitation of the original one that
no one could tell the difference, and at
his death these three rings are owned
by the three brothers. But a dispute
very soon arises, leading to the bitterest
hostilities between the brothers, over the
question which of the rings is the first
and genuine one; and a wise judge is
called in to settle the controversy. See-
ing that the rings only breed hatred
instead of love, he suggest that the
father may have destroyed the true one
re-
son.
## p. 173 (#209) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
173
and given them all only imitations; but religious and political reaction which fol.
if this be not so, let each one of the lowed the death of Napoleon I. , that Man-
brothers vindicate the father's honor by zoni — who had already become famous
showing that the ring he owns has truly through his (Sacred Hymns, and his tra-
the power of attracting not the hatred gedies the Adelchi) and (Carmagnola,
but the love of others. The magna- both relating to remote periods of the
nimity and justice of the Sultan suggest past — now produced a colossal romance
that he is the judge prefigured in the which combined in one narrative a com-
legend; but the moral of the play points plete picture of Italian life. The scene of
to the one Divine Arbiter, who alone the story is laid within the country around
can read the motives and know the true Milan, and the plot concerns only the
deserts of men, and declare who is the troubled and impeded but at last happily
possessor of the father's ring.
liberated course of true love between the
The play was performed in Berlin two humble peasant Renzo and his already
years after the author's death, and was betrothed Lucia, the village maiden for
coolly received; but it was brought out whom Don Rodrigo, the chief of a band
with success by Goethe and Schiller in of outlaws, has laid his snares. On this
Weimar in 1801, and has long since simple scheme the author manages to
taken its place among the classics of introduce a graphic picture of the Italian
German literature.
robber-baron life, as represented by the
outlawed but law-defying Don Rodrigo
Elective Affinities, by Goethe, was pub- and his retainers; of various phases of the
1809.
clerical and monastic life, as represented
principal characters: Edward, a wealthy | by the craven village curate Abbondio,
nobleman, and his wife Charlotte; her the heroic priest Cristoforo, and the gen-
niece Ottilie; and a friend of Edward, tle and magnanimous Cardinal Borromeo;
known as the Captain. These four being of a devastating plague in an its terrors
together at Edward's country-seat, Ottilie and demoralizing power, as witnessed by
falls in love with Edward, Charlotte with the lover in searching the great city and
the Captain. The wife, however, remains the lazaretto for his beloved; of the
faithful to her husband; but Ottilie yields «monatti,” the horrible band of buriers
to her passion, expiating her sin only with of the dead; of the calming and restor-
her death. The tragedy of the book ing influence of the Church in bringing
seems designed to show that “elective order out of tumult, the wicked to pun-
affinities » may be fraught with danger ishment and virtue to its reward. The
and sorrow; that duty may have even a story is like a heritage of Boccaccio, De-
higher claim than the claim of the soul. foe, and Walter Scott, in a single superb
The novel is throughout of the highest panorama of which Salvator Rosa might
interest in the delineation of character have been the painter. The religious mo-
and of the effects of passion.
tive of the book is sincere but not exag-
gerated, and never runs to fanaticism.
Betrothed, The, by Alessandro Man- Its original publication was in three vol-
zoni. — (I Promessi Sposi. A Milan- umes, and occupied two years, 1825–26,
ese Story of the 17th Century. Discov- during which time it awakened a wide
ered and Retold by Alessandro Manzoni. interest in European circles; and having
Milan, 1825–26. Paris, 1827,' is the title of been soon translated into all modern lan-
a book which, the author's only romance, guages, it has become probably the best
sufficed to place him at the head of the known of all Italian romances to foreign
romantic school of literature in Europe. readers.
The purity and nobility of his life and
thien spiel fita cotone of his wisiting make Letters to an unknowned by a fperos pais
the companion of compatriot
, was published
Mazzini in morals and politics. He wrote death, in 1873, under the editorship of
little, but all was from his heart and be- Taine. The Inconnue was Mademoiselle
spoke the real man. Skeptical in early | Jenny Dacquin, the daughter of a
life, and marrying a Protestant woman, she tary of Boulogne, whose friendship with
in restoring him to the Christian church Mérimée extended over nearly forty
herself became Roman Catholic, and their years. For some time after the publica-
union was one of both heart and faith. It tion of the letters her identity remained
was under these influences, and amid the
a mystery to the public, as it had been
no-
## p. 174 (#210) ############################################
174
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
a
She pre-
to Mérimée during the first nine years
of their correspondence.
The letters have double value.
They throw ght upon two complex
types of modern character. They re-
cord subjective impressions of contem-
porary persons and events — impressions
all the more valuable because of the rare
individuality that received them. They
reveal a man whose intellect was not in
league with his heart; who was as fear-
ful of the trickery of the emotions as
the English are of (scenes); a man of
the world who had a secret liking for
other-worldliness; a cynic who made his
cynicism a veil for tenderness,
The woman is a more elusive person-
ality. She knew the power of mystery,
of silence, of contradiction.
ferred to keep friendship by careless-
ness, than to lose it by intensity. The
letters begin before 1842, and continue
until Mérimée's death in 1870. They
touch lightly and surely upon every
event of importance in political, literary,
and social circles. Many are written
from Paris, many from Cannes; some
from London; some from the Château
de Fontainebleau. They mention every-
body, everything, yet in a spirit of de-
tachment, of indifference, sometimes of
weariness and irony: -«Bulwer's novel
(What will He Do with It? ) appears to
me senile to the last degree; neverthe-
less it contains some pretty scenes, and
has a very good moral. As to the hero
and heroine, they transcend in silliness
the limits of romance. ” « The latest, but
a colossal bore, has been Tannhäuser. '
The fact is, it is prodigious. I
am convinced that I could write some-
thing similar if inspired by the scam-
pering of my cat over the piano keys.
Beneath Madame de Metternich's
box it was said by the wits that the
Austrians were taking their revenge for
Solferino. These extracts fairly illus-
trate the keen observation and good say-
ings of the Letters. )
a brigand or a philanthropist depends
purely on chance, crime and virtue being
mere accidents.
Civilization in Europe, General His-
tory of. By François P. G. Guizot.
(New edition with critical and supple-
mentary notes by George W. Knight.
1896. ) A standard work of great value,
much improved by Professor Knight's crit-
ical and supplementary notes. The gen-
eral summary of the progress of culture
in Europe is admirably done, with all
the new light to date. In a larger work,
the (History of Civilization,' Guizot sur-
veyed a wider field, and dealt more thor-
oughly with some of the great problems
of human progress. President C. K. Ad-
ams has said of this larger work that
perhaps no historical book is capable of
stirring more earnest and fruitful thought
in the student. )
In his «Civilization in Europe) Guizot
begins with the fall of the Roman Em-
pire, and ends with the opening of the
French Revolution. Although he ana-
lyzes all the important facts of history
between the great landmark of 476 and
the convocation of the States-General in
1789, he is far more anxious to grasp
their import than to give a vivid rela-
tion of them; and therefore, facts in
themselves play but a small part in his
exposition. They are simply a help in
his effort to discover the great laws
that direct the evolution of humanity,
and to show its development in the in-
dividual and in society. «Civilization,
he says, consists of two facts, the de-
velopment of the social state and the
development of the intellectual state; the
development of the exterior and general
condition, and of the interior nature of
man,-in a word, the perfection of soci-
ety and humanity. ” It was impossible
for the author to examine every aspect
of the problem in a single volume. His
investigations are therefore limited to
purely social development, and he does
not touch upon the intellectual side of the
question. But the perfect precision with
which he notes the origin, meaning, and
bearing of all accomplished events ren-
ders his work of priceless value.
Earth, Ancient Life-History of the,
by H. Alleyne Nicholson (1878).
An excellent, readable book giving a com-
prehensive outline of the principles and
leading facts of palæontology,the sci-
ence and story of those living things of
((
(
Cºlomba,
a romance by Prosper Méri-
mée, is the story of a Corsican ven-
detta, followed up to the end by the
heroine, with a wild ferocity tempered
with a queer sort of piety. The story
has an ethical significance of a rather
unfortunate kind, for the author's belief
in the dogma of fatalism underlies the
whole of it, – that circumstances control
the human will, and whether a man is
## p. 175 (#211) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
175
as
which the record is found in fossils. It But the causes operating with sudden vio-
is a branch of geology, the pages of the lence in the earthquake are at work in
record being the stone strata or the coal other ways, causing tremors or pulsations,
formations of the crust of the globe. The either too small in extent or too slow and
two large volumes of Professor Nichol- protracted to come under ordinary obser-
son's Manual of Palæontology for the vation. And on an immense scale what
Use of Students) (1879) go more fully are called oscillations-gradual and very
into all the facts, and are more richly extended movements are always tak-
illustrated; but the smaller volume cov- ing place. The causes and methods of
ers the ground sufficiently for ordinary these are explained in Professor Milne's
reading
very readable volume. In 1892 he assisted
Imagest, The, by Ptolemy of Alex-
in bringing out twenty-nine large repro-
A'
andria, about 150 A. D. This great
ductions of photographs showing the
astronomical and mathematical work es-
effect of the great earthquake of 1891 in
tablished the “Ptolemaic System)
Japan, on the face of the country and on
astronomical science for 1400 years, until
the life of the people. These, with the
the Copernican overthrew it, and gave to
letterpress story, furnish a singularly in-
celestial calculations the permanent basis
teresting earthquake exhibit.
of trigonometrical mathematics. Hippar-
chus, nearly three hundred years before, Mechanism of the Heavens, The, by
,
had made those advances in astronomy
Pierre Simon Laplace. The first
and mathematics of which Ptolemy's
two volumes of this remarkable work
work is the only existing report. It
were published in 1799, the third
ap-
was mainly as a systematic expounder,
peared in 1803, the fourth in 1805, and
correcting and improving earlier work,
the fifth in 1825. The author has set
that Ptolemy became so great a represent-
forth in one homogeneous work the lead-
ative figure in the literature of science.
ing results which had been separately
The system which bears his name was im-
achieved by his predecessors, at the
plicitly held by earlier philosophers, but
same time proving their harmony and
his statement became the authority to
interdependence. The entire work is
which it was referred. His work, entitled
divided into sixteen books, treating of:
(The Great Composition,' was called by
The General Laws of Equilibrium and
the Arabs magisté, «greatest,” and with
Motion; The Law of Universal Gravity;
al, “the,” the name (Almagest) came
The Form of the Heavenly Bodies; The
Oscillation of the Sea, and of the Atmo-
into use. — The Geography of Ptolemy,
in which he was more original than in
sphere; The Movement of the Heavenly
his other great work, was the geograph- Planetary Movements; The Theory of
Bodies on their Axes; The Theory of
ical authority in science even longer than
the Moon; The Satellites of Jupiter, Sat-
the Almagest) was in astronomy. The
materials of the work were derived in
urn, and Uranus; Comets; The Form and
Rotation of the Earth; Attraction and
great part from Marinus of Tyre, who
lived shortly before him, but the skill with
Repulsion of the Spheres; The Laws of
Equilibrium and Movements of Fluids;
which Ptolemy used them gave his work
The Oscillation of Fluids that cover the
its high authoritative character. A series
Planets; The Movement of Planets and
of twenty-six maps, and a general map of
the world, illustrated the 'Geography
Comets; and The Movement of Satellites.
. '
The work is very diffuse, and it is said
Earthquakes and Other Earth Move- that the author found himself at times
ments, by John Milne. (1886. ) This obliged to devote an hour's labor to re-
is a volume of the International Scien- covering the lost links in the chain of
tific Series) in which an attempt is made reasoning covered by the recurring for-
to explain the various movements within mula, “It is easy to see. ” (The Exposi-
the surface of the earth. Earthquakes tion of the System of the World,' by the
proper are sudden violent movements of same author, is a more popular disserta-
the ground, taking place with such a tion on the same subject, disembarrassed
shake of the earth's surface, or even an of the analytical paraphernalia of the
upheaval of parts and opening of chasms, greater work. It has been truly said
as to show almost inconceivable forces that Laplace was not properly an
operating, and to work terrible destruc- tronomer, but rather belonged to that
tion of buildings and masses of people. class of savants who, neglecting direct
(
as-
## p. 176 (#212) ############################################
176
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
once
observation of phenomena, depend upon
the observations of others, and discover
by force of calculation and meditation
those great laws of which the patient
researches of observers have shown the
elements, without suspecting the principle.
Translated by Mrs. Mary Somerville in
England, and by Nathaniel Bowditch in
America.
Creation, Natural History, of, by
brilliantly written exposition of evolution
theories in their most extreme form, of
which Mr. Darwin said, “If this work
had appeared before my essay had been
written, I should probably never have
completed it. ” The acceptance of the
work is shown by eight editions of the
German original within ten years, and
translation into twelve languages. Haeck-
el's Evolution of Man,' the English
translation of his (Anthropogenie) (1874),
is another widely popular exposition of
his extreme tendencies in science. The
immense labor which Haeckel performed
in his monumental five-volume contribu-
tion to the Challenger Reports, and his
lucid and brilliant (Generale Morpholo-
gie,' have placed him in the highest rank
of living naturalists. He especially
unsurpassed among naturalists in his mas-
tery of artistic execution.
Evoh
volution-Philosophy, Outline of, by
M. E. Cazelles; translated from the
French by O. B. Frothing ham. (1874. )
This thin volume of one hundred pages
contains the clearest and most attract-
ive brief statement of the philosophy of
Herbert Spencer which has been given
to the reading public. Beginning with
the question, How far can the universe
be explained ? » -- the insoluble (whence,
why, ,» «whither,” of mankind — the au-
thor explains the groundwork and start-
ing-point of Mr. Spencer's system of
thought; confessing that “By strict ne-
cessity, explanation brings us face to
face with the inexplicable: we have to
admit a datum which cannot be ex-
plained;” but showing that we can dis-
tinguish necessary data from unnecessary.
The history of objects must be taken up
at its origin; and philosophy must be not
only the theory of all these histories, a
systematizing of the axioms of all the
sciences, but a theory of the modifica-
tions of things. Spencer's Doctrine of
Progress is next explained with great
clearness; the deduction being irrefutable
that «Progress is not an accident, nor a
thing within human control, but a be-
neficent necessity. ) The Law of Evolu-
tion is next unfolded; and two chapters
are given to Positivism and Comte's
fundamental doctrines. Spencer's theory
of the Order of the Sciences is next
considered; and the final paper is upon
Evolution and Government. In this
careful and interesting exposition it is
explained how government as such, a
system of restraint, has passed from the
arbitrary into the reasonable, and must
find its domain more and more limited
as the reign of moral ideas is extended;
that religion is legitimate and science
indispensable, and that as humanity ad-
vances, not only perpetual peace will be
established between these two, but it
will be understood by mankind that law
is at
inexorable and beneficent;
that by conformity to it people march
toward a higher degree of perfection,
and reach a higher degree of happiness.
For this reason Spencer urges the ob-
servance of law; for this reason he is
indignant at its misapprehension. It is
in affirming the eternal principles of
things and the necessity of obeying them,
that he shows himself essentially reli-
gious. ”
Anthropology: AN INTRODUCTION TO
THE STUDY OF MAN AND CivilIZA-
TION, by E. B. Tylor: 1881. A work de-
signed to give so much of the story of
man as can be made interesting to the
general reader. It tells what is known
of the earliest appearance of man on the
globe; of the races of mankind; of lan-
guages and writing; of the various arts
of life and arts of pleasure, as they were
developed; of the beginnings of science;
of the earliest stages of religion, mythol-
ogy, and literature; and of the first cus-
toms of human society. The work is a
valuable contribution to popular knowl.
edge of the origins of human culture.
Like all Professor Tylor's books, it is
eminently readable.
Intellectual Development, The His-
tory of, Vol. i. , by John Beattie Cro-
zier. The first volume of an elaborate
work on the origin and evolution of the
systems of thought which have made up
the intellectual development of the hu-
man mind. The present volume tells
the story of Greek philosophy, which was
so long believed by all to stand alone;
and with it that of Hindoo thought, the
»
## p. 177 (#213) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
177
philosophical systems of India, which same time it supplies many elements of
are now known to rival the Greek as modern culture. The distinction given
products of the intellect, and as expres- the author by this work led to his having
sions of spiritual aspiration, if not as a seven years' period of service in India
aids to the moral life and helps to social as legal member of the Council; and on
and political order. The philosophies of his return to England and appointment
Greece and of India are fountain-heads to a professorship of jurisprudence at Ox-
of thought never surpassed as intellectual ford, his first course of lectures was pub-
outbursts, and suggesting a law of ori- lished as “Village Communities' (1871).
gin widely different from that of evolu- It was another course of Oxford lectures
tion as commonly understood. In sequel which gave the substance of his Early
to these ancient systems, Mr. Crozier Institutions); in which, as in Village
embraces in his survey the developments Communities,' he drew from knowledge
of Græco-Roman paganism, those of gained in India to throw light upon an-
Judaism, and those of Christianity in cient social and political forms. Not only
the Roman empire down to 529 A. D. , were these works among the first exam-
the date at which the latest schools of ples of thorough historical research into
Athens were closed by the emperor Jus- the origins of social order and political
tinian. In an earlier work, «Civilization organization, but the skill in exposition
and Progress, Mr. Crozier indicated his and admirable style in which they are
views in philosophy; arguing that the executed make them of permanent inter-
controlling factor of civilization is the est as models of investigation. The work
material and social condition of man, of Maine on the origin and growth of legal
and that in accordance with material and and social institutions was completed by
social needs, ideas of right and wrong a volume in 1883 on Early Law and Cus-
are formed.
tom. ) A principal contention of Maine
was that patriarchal or fatherly authority
Institutes of the Christian Religion,
was the earliest germ of social order.
by John Calvin. The first great the-
ological work after the Reformation, Beginners of a Nation, The. A his-
undertaking to establish, against Roman tory of the source and rise of the
Catholic belief and usage, a Protestant
earliest English settlements in America,
system of doctrine and communion; and with special reference to the life and
through its service as such, and its mas- character of the people. The first volume
terly grasp of system and argument,
in a history of life in the United States. )
widely accepted as the standard of re- By Edward Eggleston. (1896. ) This is
formed theology.
The original design of
the first volume of a proposed History
the author was to make a small work
of the United States, on the lines set
for popular instruction; and his first edi- forth by Mr. Eggleston in the sub-title
tion conformed to this design, except as
quoted above. The volume is fully and
he changed his plan in order to lay be- carefully treated in the LIBRARY, under
fore the King of France, Francis I. , Eggleston.
defense of the Reformed Confession. By
enlargement in successive editions, the Beginnings of New England, The, by
work reached the form in which it is
John Fiske. The occasion and man-
ner of this book, in the author's series of
now known.
American History volumes, are indicated
Early History of Institutions, Lect- in a few sentences of the preface: –
ures on the, by Henry Sumner (In this sketch of the circumstances
Maine, LL. D. (1875. ) In his remarkable which attended the settlement of New
work on "Incient Law: Its Connection England, I have purposely omitted many
with the Early History of Society, and details which in a formal history of that
its Relation to Modern Ideas) (1861), Sir period would need to be included. It
Henry Maine attempted to indicate some has been my aim to give the outline of
of the earliest ideas of mankind, as re- such a narrative as to indicate the prin-
flected in ancient law, and to point out ciples at work in the history of New Eng-
the relation of those ideas to modern land down to the Revolution of 1689.
thought. To a large extent the illustra-
In forming historical judgments,
tions were drawn from Roman law, be- a great deal depends upon our perspect-
cause it bears in its earliest portions traces ive. Out of the very imperfect human
of the most remote antiquity, and at the nature which is so slowly and painfully
(
a
.
XXX-2
## p. 178 (#214) ############################################
178
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
ened age.
can
casting off the original sin of its in-
THE DUTIFUL Child's PROMISE.
heritance from primeval savagery,
it is
I will fear God, honor the King,
scarcely possible in any age to get a re-
I will honor my Father and Mother,
sult which will look quite satisfactory to
I will obey my superiors.
the man of a riper and more enlight-
The alphabet rhymes, illustrated by
Fortunately we learn
crude wood-cuts, follow. Among the
something from the stumblings of our
most atrocious of these is the picture of
forefathers; and a good many things the man of patience, spotted with sores,
seem quite clear to us to-day, which two
accompanied by this rhyme: -
centuries ago were only beginning to be
dimly discerned by a few of the keenest
" Job feels the rod,
and boldest spirits. The faults of the
Yet blesses God. ”
Puritan theocracy, which found its most There is said to have been a picture
complete development in Massachusetts, of the Crucifixion in an earlier edition,
are so glaring that it is idle to seek to
with appropriate rhyme; which our rigid
palliate them or to explain them away. Puritan ancestors discarded in favor of
But if we would really understand what Job, claiming that it smacked of pa-
was going on in the Puritan world of the
расу.
seventeenth century, and how a better Among other curious rhymes may be
state of things has grown out of it, we quoted:
must endeavor to distinguish and define
« Proud Korah's troop
the elements of wholesome strength in
Was swallowed up. ”
that theocracy, no less than its elements
e Peter denies
of crudity and weakness. ”
His Lord, and cries. "
In the scientific spirit, which seeks the
« Whales in the sea
truth only and never the buttressing of
God's voice obey.
any theory, yet with the largest liberality
# Time cuts down all,
of judgment, the historian illustrates the
Both great and small. ”
upward trend of mankind from its earlier The last rhyme is illustrated by a
low estate. His philosophic bent appears picture of the Grim Destroyer mowing
most lucidly expressed in the first chap- a broad swath with an old-fashioned
ter, where the Roman idea of nation- scythe.
making is contrasted with the English After the Lord's Prayer and the
idea; the Roman conquest, with incorpo- creed is an illustration of John Rogers
ration but without representation, with the surrounded by blazing fagots, guarded
English conquest, which always meant by the sheriff, with his wife and nine
incorporation with representation. Then small children and one at the breast »
follow a description of the Puritan exodus, gazing upon his martyrdom. There is
and the planting of New England, with an account of John Rogers, and a copy
comments on its larger meanings, a pict- of his rhymed address to his children.
ure of the New England confederacy; AN ALPHABET OF LESSONS next ap-
the scenes of King Philip's lurid war, pears, beginning with
and the story of the tyranny of Andros,-
James the Second's despotic viceroy, - | A wise son maketh a glad father, but a
foolish son is the heaviness of his mother;
which began the political troubles between
the New England and the Old, that ended and closing with
only with American independence. This
volume, as will be inferred, is among the
al hath consumed me because my
Zeal
enemies have forgotten the word of God.
most interesting and suggestive of Mr.
Fiske's many monographs.
THE SHORTER CATECHISM (Westmin-
ster), with a few hymns, occupies the
New England Primer, The. This remaining half of this little book of 64
famous work, the earliest edition pages, having only 3, by 244 inches of
of which known to exist was published printed matter on each page.
in Boston in 1727, has passed through In 1897 Mr. Paul Leicester Ford pre-
various changes of form and text.
pared a complete history of the New
An eighteenth-century edition England Primer, fully presenting the
tains the alphabet and syllabarium, fol- subject historically and bibliographically
lowed by several columns of simple in an illustrated duodecimo volume of
words. Next appears
354 pages.
con-
## p. 179 (#215) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
179
Bimbi
inbi: Stories for Children. Ouida ised his daughter's hand to the painter
has done nothing so perfectly as her winning in a contest to be decided by the
stories of child-life. In Bimbi) we see duke, and Luca could paint but ill. On
her at her best. The stories are simply the day of the decision the duke and all
but charmingly told, and show a wonder- present gaze in wonder upon one piece,
fully intimate sympathy with children. which is found to be the work of the
The characters are mostly little peasants, seven year-old child Rafaelle. Modestly
sweet, natural, and thoughtful, filled with and quietly the child claims Pacifica,
a love of beauty and of old legends, takes her hand and places it in Luca's.
and touched with the simple spontaneous They tell Luca that an angel has come
heroism that is possible only to a child. down for him. «But Luca heard not:
(Hirschvogel, which opens the volume, he was still kneeling at the feet of Ra-
is the story of a German boy's romantic faelle, where the world has knelt ever
attachment for a beautiful porcelain stove, since. »
made by the great master Hirschvogel.
August's father having sold the stove Old Mamselle's Secret, The Das
himself it, after Geheimniss der alten Mamsell), by
a terrible journey of three days is found « E. Marlitt» (Eugénie John), has its
inside by the young king who has bought action in Thuringia, Germany, in the
it; and who, pleased with the child's early part of the nineteenth century. In
devotion, allows him to stay with his the town hall of X- a performance
beloved Hirschvogel and receive an art- takes place, the chief actors of which
ist's education.
are Orlowsky, a juggler, and his wife
(Moufflou) takes its name from a clever Meta, a beautiful and refined woman. A
poodle, which Lolo, his little lame master, tragedy occurs: the great trick miscar-
had taught to do many tricks. Lolo's ries, and she falls mortally wounded by
mother having sold the dog while he was a stupid assistant. She implores her
away, the child takes the loss so much to husband to place their little girl of four
heart that he becomes ill, and is saved years in some quiet home. Herr Hell-
from death only by the opportune arrival wig, a retired merchant, compassionately
of Moufflou, who has escaped and walked adopts the child, Felicitas, in spite of
many miles to find his little master. the violent opposition of his wife,-a
Findelkind is a boy whose whole life is woman full of pious cant, but cruel by
saddened because some twin lambs from nature. They have two sons: John, who
his flock stray, and are frozen to death, is away at school, and Nathaniel, aged
while he is away upon a quest for money
Of the two servants, Frederika
with which to found a monastery.
is her mistress's humble counterpart, and
The Little Earl who gives his name to Heinrich his master's.
the last story in the book learns early the Felicitas is tenderly cared for by Herr
lesson that “It is the title they give me Hellwig until his death
a few years
and the money I have got that makes later. Thenceforward she becomes a
people so good to me.
When I am only household drudge, only retained because
me you see what it is. »
of the dying man's injunction to John.
(In the Apple Country) relates how a Felicitas accidentally discovers the Old
young Englishman receives into his home Mamselle, her benefactor's aunt, ostra-
Gemma, a hot-tempered, warm-hearted cized by the family, and living in a re-
little Italian girl, with her grandfather mote part of the mansion; and through
and brother, who have been arrested for her loving instruction, in stolen hours,
strolling. And when Gemma has grown Felicitas becomes very accomplished.
into a beautiful girl, impulsive still, but Nine years later, John, now become a
sweet and gentle, she consents to give up famous physician in Bonn, orders his
forever the grapes and oranges of Italy cousin, the Councilor's widow, to X-
to live in the "Apple Country,” as Philip for her child's health; and together with
Corey's wife.
him they become members of the Hell-
Perhaps the most charming of the sto- wig household. The beautiful but vio-
ries is (The Child of Urbino. ) Two lent-tempered young widow lays siege
friends of the child Rafaelle — Luca, a to John. He, however, falls in love
noble youth, and his sweetheart Pacifica, with Felicitas, whom as a child he had
a gentle maiden — are in great trouble. treated harshly. She hates him bitterly,
Pacifica's father, a great artist, has prom- and hopes soon to live openly with the
seven.
## p. 180 (#216) ############################################
180
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
same
Old Mamselle. But the latter inoppor- | along by the torrent of its passion to ul.
tunely dies, leaving all her property, not timate wreck, is the theme of this book,
to Felicitas, but to the Von Hirsch- written most poetically in a style of the
sprung heirs, if found. Felicitas is frankest romanticism. Bent Sörensen is
about to destroy a little book in compli- a poor Jutlander student, whose god is
ance with her friend's wishes, when the Mathematics, and whose one idea is the
Councilor's widow intervenes, reads it, practical duty of getting his degree and
and flings it at John's feet, thus reveal- caring for his old parents and his young
ing the Old Mamselle's secret. She had brothers and sisters. He meets Giacinta,
loved in her girlhood Oscar von Hirsch- a young singer, absorbed in her art.
sprung, a poor neighbor, occupying an- They fall in love at first sight. Hence-
other portion of the
mansion. forth Bent's course of life is changed.
Felicitas had long known that her real He neglects his studies and companions
mother was a Von Hirschsprung, and and is warned of expulsion. But he
the happy dénouement may be easily abandons himself to his passion,-even
imagined.
writing poetry, with a mathematical cast,
This story, published in 1867, has to her praise. She makes her debut in
passed through many editions; the Eng- opera with tremendous success in the
lish version by Mrs. A. L. Wistar is re- first two acts; in the third she falls in a
garded as even superior to the original. swoon with a hemorrhage. She recovers
and marries the old Hofrath, her protec-
Fruit: Flower, and Thorn Pieces, by
Richter (Jean Paul), appeared in
tor; but Bent's career is ended. Another
1796–97. It is a strange combination of
lover is introduced, only to be rejected.
The burning sun of love has touched
humor, tenderness, and fine imagination,
three lives, and the resistless current of
purporting to be the record of the «mar-
ried life, death and wedding of the
their melting snows has left stranded
three wrecks. The interest of the story
lawyer of the poor, Siebenkäs. ) The
dream-indulging, impractical poet of a
is in the author's handling of the scenes
of passion and tragedy. The English
lawyer represents Jean Paul himself;
translation by Margaret Symonds was
while Siebenkäs's wife, Lenette, the em-
published in 1895.
bodiment of the practical in life, stands
for Richter's good old mother. Her de
Am
mazon, The, by Franz Dingelstedt, is
votion to every-day ideas is well illus- a lively, witty story of Berlin society
trated when "Siebenkäs, in the midst in artistic and social circles, in which
of a grandiloquent harangue upon eter- love at cross-purposes finds a pleasant so-
nity, is interrupted by her exclaiming: lution. Roland, a distinguished painter,
"Don't forget to leave off your left is attracted by Armgard Krafft, whose
stocking to-morrow morning: there is a father is a rich banker; while Seraphine,
hole in it! » Of all Jean Paul's more a prima donna of popular fame, who
prominent characters, Siebenkäs is one poses for Roland as an Amazon, is for a
of the least extravagantly sentimental; time drawn towards a diplomat of high
and his history, though less ambitious rank. Thus the principle of the attrac-
than either «Titan” or “Hesperus,” is tion of opposites seems to be illustrated,
more popular. It displays Richter's but the novel proves to be a satire on the
kaleidoscopic variety of thought, wild doctrine of elective affinities. It is full
figures of style, and bewildering leaps of both poetry and humor; and in spite
from the spiritual to the earthly and of its bohemianism, thoroughly healthy
grotesque - and thence again to ideal in tone. It was published in 1868. The
heights. In some passages the rapid title refers also to an opera in which
sweep of thought seems too strong for Seraphine appears.
coherent utterance, and again it calms
This
ood Luck, by Ernest Werner.
down to a placid sweetness very ingenu-
Good
story describes in
a picturesque
His phrases, linked by hyphens,
and interesting manner the development
brackets, and dashes, almost defy the
of conjugal affection that follows a love-
translator's art, and are sufficiently diffi-
less marriage. Baroness Eugenie von
cult for even the German scholar.
Windeg, a beautiful girl of aristocratic
Melting Snows, by, Prince Emil zu lineage, marries Arthur Berkow, a civil.
Schönaich-Carolath. A virgin hu- ian, much beneath her in rank, whose
man soul, awakened by love and swept wealth is necessary to restore the fallen
ous.
## p. 181 (#217) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
181
fortunes of the Windegs. The match is the book as a whole presents a vivid
brought about by Berkow's father, a and dramatic picture of social and indus-
vulgar and unprincipled man, who has trial life in Germany. (1876. )
made his fortune in mining, and who,
being a large creditor of Baron Windeg, Dosia, by Henri Gréville (Madame Du-
uses every means in his power to bring
rand), (1877,) is a vivacious story
of Russian life. The heroine, Léodocia
about this brilliant marriage for his only
son, whom he idolizes and on whom he
Zaptine, is a frolicsome young madcap,
with the kindest heart, who is always
has lavished every luxury. While the
bridal couple are being driven to their
getting into scrapes. Grief-stricken be-
future home, their horses take fright and
cause of well-deserved scoldings, she de-
run away; and but for the brave and cides to elope with her cousin Pierre
prompt action of Ulrich Hartmann, one
Mourief, a young lieutenant staying in
of Berkow's miners, a dangerous and un-
the house; but thinks better of it when
ruly fellow, the carriage and its occu-
they are but a mile or two from home,
pants would have been dashed over a
and returns to the paternal roof. After
precipice. On reaching her palatial resi-
this escapade, Dosia is taken in hand
dence, Eugenie, whose anguish and re-
by the young widow Princess Sophie
gret have up to this time been sup-
Koutsky, the sister of Pierre's comrade
pressed, gives way to her feelings, tells
in arms Count Platon Sourof. Dosia and
Arthur of her scorn and dislike for him,
Pierre make the mutual discovery that
and taunts him with his motives in
they are not in the least in love with
bringing about their marriage. Arthur
each other; and the headlong, generous
receives her gibes in an indifferent man-
Pierre wins the Princess Sophie, while
ner, and after telling her that she has her grave brother Platon loves and mar-
been mistaken in this regard, leaves her,
ries the naughty Dosia.
The story is
with the assurance that in future she agreeably told, and is a good specimen
shall be freed from his society, except
of the best type of domestic novel.
when it is necessary to preserve appear-
ances. As time goes on, Eugenie dis Dosia's Daughter, by Henri Gréville
(Madame Durand), (1886,) like its
covers qualities in her husband which
predecessor Dosia,' has a slight plot,
win her respect and love; but he con-
charmingly told; and like that, presents a
tinues to treat her with cool politeness
and indifference. The elder Berkow
pleasant picture of society life in Rus-
sia. Agnes, or Ania, the daughter of
dies, leaving his miners in a state of in-
Count and Countess Tourof, considers
surrection; and Arthur takes control in a
herself a much misunderstood and un-
manner which shows great courage and
strength of character. At this time
appreciated young woman, and decides
Baron Windeg, who has come into pos-
to go out into the world and earn her
bread as a governess.
She runs away
session of a large inheritance, tries to
from home, and a very short experience
bring about a legal separation between
as her own mistress is enough to bring
his daughter and her husband, whose
her back to her parents, with the convic-
plebeian birth he cannot forgive. He
tion that home is best. The charm of
takes Eugenie home with him in order
the novel lies in its naturalness and sim-
to procure the divorce; but while the
plicity.
papers are being drawn up she hears of
Arthur's extreme danger at the hands of Jean Teterol's Idea (L'idée de Jean
the infuriated miners, led by Hartmann, Têterol), by Charles Victor Cherbu-
and, her love for her husband asserting liez. (1878. ) A clever narrator rather
itself, she flies to him and is welcomed than a keen psychologist, Cherbuliez can
with open arms. An explosion takes tell a good story in a picturesque style,
place in the mine just as matters reach with an accompaniment of interesting
a crisis, and Arthur risks his life to save philosophic reflections. Jean Têterol, a
his miners, thereby winning their esteem young peasant abused by his master,
and settling the controversy. His enemy the Baron Saligneux, shakes the dust of
Hartmann accompanies Arthur into the Saligneux from his shoes, and departs,
mine, and saves the life of his hated vowing vengeance. The idea which
master at the sacrifice of his own. The
to him then, and which thence-
interest in this story is well sustained; forth dominates his life, is a determi-
the characters are forcibly drawn, and nation to become a rich proprietor of
comes
## p. 182 (#218) ############################################
182
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
land instead of a serf. He goes to Paris,
and there by hard work and by shrewd-
ness amasses a fortune. At fifty-five,
many times a millionaire, he is a wid-
ower with one son, Lionel, to whom he
looks for the fruition of all his ambi-
tions. This boy, his “Prince of Wales,”
has had every sort of advantage. He
may marry an aristocrat and become one
himself. His father regards him with
a tyrannical pride and affection, some-
what galling to Lionel's more refined
nature. Jean Têterol returns to the vil-
lage of Saligneux, and there learns that
his old master is dead; that his son,
the present Baron, has a beautiful daugh-
ter, Claire; and that the estate is em-
barrassed and the Baron in debt. Jean
craftily manages to become his chief
creditor, and then demands Claire's hand
for Lionel From this point the compli-
cations of the story multiply rapidly.
Claire is made an interesting heroine:
Lionel rises in the esteem of the reader:
and the fortunes of the two, and of
the old estate, offer to Cherbuliez the
material of an agreeable domestic tale.
The manner of it is graceful, and its
touch delightfully free.
Immortal, The, by Alphonse Daudet.
(1888. ) L'Immortel) is the last
noted work of the late distinguished
French critic, dramatist, and novelist,
Alphonse Daudet. It professes to be a
description of maurs parisiennes, but is
really a satire on the pretensions of the
French Academy; its title, “The Immor-
tal, being the epithet popularly applied
to the forty members of that exclusive
and self-perpetuating body. Daudet him-
self, although his novel (Fromont Jeune
et Risler Aîné) was crowned by the
Academy with the Jouy prize, was never
elected to its membership; and with the
brothers Goncourt, Zola, and others, he
formed a rival literary clique.
The sa-
tirical thrusts in (The Immortal) were
keenly felt and resented by the Acade-
micians. Apart from this personal con-
nection, L'Immortel) cannot be said to
vie in interest or merit with the cele.
brated trine of the (Tartarins,' or with
Numa Roumestan, Kings in Exile,'
(Sappho. The hero of the story is
bookworm, Academician whose
works have been successively crowned
by the Academy) until its crowns were
exhausted, and nothing remained but to
elect him to membership. Meanwhile
he has been employed by the govern-
ment as Archivist of Foreign Affairs;
but an unhappy expression introduced in
the history of the house of Orleans –
«Then, as to-day, France, submerged
under the wave of demagogism” – gave
such offense to the government that it
cost him his position, his salary, and his
livelihood. He now devotes himself to
the editing of certain MSS. of untold
value, which have come into his posses-
sion, and his hopes and ambitions hang
upon the delight with which the world
will welcome these treasures. Treated
by his ambitious wife and spendthrift
son with ironical contempt and heartless
neglect, his misfortunes are crowned by
the revelation that his prized archæologi-
cal documents are forgeries; and that
the Academy, indignant at the disgrace
thus brought upon it, is discussing his
degradation among the “mortals. ) Ridi-
culed by all Paris, and berated at home
by his angry and disappointed wife,
“the perpetual secretary of the Acad-
emy,” finding neither solace nor protec-
tion in its shelter in this hour of his
dire need, ends his troubles by throw-
ing himself into the Seine. The story
is a work of pessimistic realism, portray-
ing the sordid and heartless selfishness
of mother and son, as contrasted with
the father's entire but wasted devotion
to what in the end is only delusion and
fraud.
Chou
houans, The, by Balzac. This was
the novelist's first important work.
The title, when it appeared in 1829, was
(The Last Chouan; or, Bretagne in 1800. )
In 1846 it was rearranged in its present
form. It is the story of a young girl,
Marie de Verneuil, sent by Fouché to
entrap the leader of the royalists in
Bretagne, the Marquis de Montauran.
She falls in love with him, reveals her
disgraceful mission, and devotes all her
energies to save him, until a trick of his
enemies leads her to believe him false.
Then she plots his ruin, is undeceived too
late, and both die together. Marie is an
exquisite creation, revealing that deep
and intuitive knowledge of the soul of
woman of which Balzac was to give so
many proofs afterward. Montauran also
is an original character, vigorously and
delicately drawn. In Hulot, the rough
republican commandant sprung from the
ranks, and in Marche-à-Terre, the fero-
cious but honest fanatic, we have two of
>
or
a
an
## p. 183 (#219) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
183
Balzac's «types, designed and classified
truthfully and convincingly. Many of the
scenes are of tragic intensity. Nothing
could be more terrible than that of the
massacre of the Blues at Vivetière, that of
the unmasking of the spy among her ene-
mies, or that of the roasting of the old
miser by the Chouans to compel him to
reveal his treasure. The description of a
mass said by a priest in rags, in the midst
of the forest, before a granite altar, while
the insurgents, kneeling near their guns,
beat their breasts and repeat the re-
sponses, is singularly grand and imposing.
The author made a profound study of the
scenery of Bretagne, and the manners of
its people, before he wrote his romance;
and his pictures of both scenery and peo-
ple have the stamp of reality and truth.
Country Doctor, The, by Honoré de
Balzac, belongs to the series known
as (Scenes from Country Life); a part of
his great cycle of fiction, «The Comedy
of Human Life. It appeared in French
in 1833, and in the standard English trans-
lation by Miss Wormeley in 1887. It is
one of Balzac's noblest pieces of fiction,
presenting beautiful traits of human na-
ture with sympathy and power. The
scene is laid in a village near Grenoble
in France, and the story begins with the
year 1829. To this village comes Genes-
tas, a noble old soldier who adores Na-
poleon, and believes in the certainty of
his return to save France. Under the
assumed name of Captain Bluteau, he
rests from his wounds, and is cared for
by Dr. Benassis, the country doctor, the
central character, and a remarkable study
of the true physician. He is a sort of
Father Bountiful in Grenoble. He treats
the poor peasants without pay, and dis-
likes taking money except from the
rich. He teaches the peasantry how to
improve their land, introduces methods
of work which make for prosperity, sug-
gests new industries, and effects a great
change for the better in the neighborhood;
so that in ten years the population is
tripled, and comfort and happiness are
substituted for poverty and misery.
