No More Learning

Greey's
fore his incarceration. It is divided into
original descriptions are characterized by
five books; and has for its object to prove
buoyancy, humor, and grace.
from reason, the existence of Providence Faery mucen, Thea metrical i comance
of to the
Edmund Spenser, dedicated to
prisoner, and tells him she is his guardian, Queen Elizabeth, was published in 1590.
Philosophy, come to console him in his
The poet was already known by his (Shep-
misfortunes and point out their remedy. herd's Calendar,' but the appearance of
Then ensues a dialogue in which are dis- the first three books of the Faery Queen)
cussed all the questions that have troubled brought him fame. The last three books
humanity: the origin of evil, God's om- appeared in 1595-96, and celebrated many
niscience, man's free will, etc. The (Con- people of Spenser's day. For instance,
solations) are alternately in prose and Queen Elizabeth is Mercilla; Mary Stuart,
verse; a method afterwards adopted by Duessa; Henry IV. of France, Burbon;
many authors in imitation of Boëthius, Charles IX. of France, Pollente; and Sir
who was himself influenced by a work of Walter Raleigh, Timias.
Marcianus Capella entitled De Nuptiis an allegory, founded on the manners and
Philologiæ et Mercurii. ? Most of the customs of chivalry, with the aim of por-
verses are suggested by passages in Sen- traying a perfect knight. Spenser planned
eca, then the greatest moral authority in twelve books, treating of the twelve moral
the West, outside of Christianity. The virtues; but only six are now in existence.
success of the work was as immense as These are: The Legend of the Red Cross
The poem is


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346
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
. .
Knight, typifying holiness; The Legend as the best are sketches on the romances
of Sir Guyon, temperance; The Legend of of chivalry and the Italian novelists. His
Britomartis, chastity; The Legend of Cam- facts are massed in a workmanlike man-
bel and Friamond, friendship; The Legend ner, and presented in a clear style, de-
of Artegall, justice; and The Legend of void of ornament, but used with vigor
Sir Calidore, courtesy. To these is some- and effectiveness.
times added a fragment on Mutability.
“In the Faery Queen, Spenser says, “I
'ssays, Modern and Classical, by
mean Glory in my general intention; but,
These studies reveal a pure literary taste,
in my particular, I conceive the most ex-
cellent and glorious person of our Sov-
refined and strengthened by sound schol-
ereign the Queen and her Kingdom in
arship. Every essay is enriched with re-
Faery Land. ” He supposes that the Fa-
sources of knowledge outside its own
immediate scope. The spiritual in poetry
ery Queen held a superb feast, lasting
twelve days, on each of which a complaint
or in art appeals strongly to the author.
His essay on V'irgil, full of acute ob-
was presented. To redress these twelve
injuries twelve knights sally forth; and
servations as it is, dwells most fondly on
during his adventures, each knight proves
the poet's supreme elegance, tenderness,
and stateliness, and on the haunting music
himself the hero of some particular virtue.
Besides these twelve knights there is one
with which his verse is surcharged. Much
general hero, Prince Arthur, who repre-
of Rossetti's art,” he says, “in speech and
color, spends itself in the effort to com-
sents magnificence. In every book he
municate the incommunicable, ) -- and it
appears; and his aim is to discover and
win Gloriana, or glory. The characters
is his own love for, and comprehension of,
the incommunicable that leads the essay-
are numerous, being drawn from classic
mythology, mediæval romance, and the
ist to choose many of his subjects: Marcus
poet's fancy. The scene is usually the
Aurelius, The Greek Oracles, George Sand,
wood where dragons are killed, where
Victor Hugo, The Religion of Beauty,
knights wander and meet with advent-
George Eliot, and Renan — «that subtlest
ures of all kinds, where magicians attempt
of seekers after God. ) Penetrative, lumi-
their evil spells, and where all wrongs are
nous, and fascinating, the essays of Mr.
vanquished. Each canto is filled with
Myers show also an exquisite apprecia-
incidents and short narratives; among
tion of beauty and the balance of a rare
the most beautiful of which are Una with
scholar.
the Lion; and Britomartis's vision of the Dickens. The Life of Charles, by
, ,
Forster.
(3 vols.
The Faery Queen' has always been ad- This book of many defects has the ex-
mired by poets; and it was on the advice cellence of being entertaining. It fol-
of a poet, Sir Walter Raleigh, that Spen- lows the life of its subject from his
ser published the great work.
birth in poverty and obscurity in 1812,
to his death in riches and fame in 1870.
Fiction, History of the, by John Dunlop. It extenuates nothing, because the bio-
(1814. ) This familiar work, the fruit grapher was incapable of seeing a foible,
of many years' accumulation of materials, much more a fault, in the character and
broke ground in a new field. It was the conduct of the friend whom he admired
first attempt made in England to trace
more than he loved him. The
the development of the novel from its poverty and sensitiveness of the lad, his
earliest beginnings in Greece to the posi- menial work and his sense of responsi-
tion it held early in this century. Con- bility for his elders, his thirst for knowl.
sidering the difficulties of the pioneer, the edge and for the graces of life, his
work is remarkably comprehensive and training to be a reporter, his experience
exact. Though later writers have dis-
a newspaper, his early sketches, his
proved certain of the author's theories, first success in Pickwick,' his sudden
as for instance his idea of the rise of the reputation and prosperity, his first visit
Greek novel, or the connection of the to America and his disillusionment,
Gesta Romanorum with subsequent out- the history of his novels, of his read-
growths of popular tales, his book still re- ings, of his friendships, of his home
mains a good introduction for the student life, of his second triumphant journey in
of fiction. The sections upon Oriental the United States, - this time to read
and modern fiction are least satisfactory, from his own books, - his whimsical and
even
on


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
347
fun-loving nature, his agreeableness as a
Elizabeth
Gold Elsie, by E. Marlitt.
father, a comrade, and a host, his gen-
Faber, the Gold Elsie of the story,
erosity, his respect for his profession, so called from her sunny hair, is the
the sum of the qualities that made him daughter of a forest clerk, whose ances-
both by temperament and performance try is at first wrapped in doubt, but who,
a great actor, — all these things are fully in the course of the story, is explained
set forth in the elaborate tribute which to be a lineal descendant of the noble
the biographer pays to his friend. The family of Von Greswits. Leaving Berlin
books are interesting because the mass on account of poverty, the family retire
of material is interesting. But it must to a ruined castle called Nordeck, in the
be admitted that they give an exagger- Thuringian Mountains, an inheritance left
ated impression of one side of the char- to Gold Elsie's mother by its late owner,
acter of Dickens,— his energetic, restless, a distant relative whose hand she had
insatiable activity,- and fail to do justice refused. Through her wonderful musical
to his less self-conscious and more lov- talent, Elsie becomes acquainted with
able qualities. They are, however, to be the family at Castle Lindhof, the aristoc-
reckoned among the important literary racy of the neighborhood; and there is
biographies of the time.
played out the usual love story, with its
misunderstandings, reconciliations, and
Cesa
esar Birotteau, The Greatness and final happy ending. The hero is Rudolph
Decline of, by Honoré de Balzac. von Walde, the owner of the castle, while
This novel pictures in a striking and ac- the villain is Émile Hollfeid. The no-
curate manner the bourgeois life of Paris bility of virtue and the nobility of birth
at the time of the Restoration. César are strongly contrasted in this story;
Birotteau, a native of the provinces, while the «simple faith” which is more
comes to the city in his youth, works than “Norman blood » is given its due
his way up until he becomes the propri- meed of praise.
etor of a perfumery establishment, and
amasses a considerable fortune. He is
a Girl, by Wilhelmine von Hil-
decorated with the Cross of the Legion
lern. (1865. ) This book is the
of Honor, in consequence of having been romance of a soul; the agonies, the sick-
an ardent Loyalist; and this mark of ness unto death, and the recovery, of a
distinction, coupled with his financial suc- noble mind. Ernestine von Hartwich,
cess, causes him to become more and embittered by the fact that she is only
more ambitious. He grows extravagant, a girl," a shortcoming which has caused
indulges in speculation, and loses every- her father's hate and mother's death,
thing. This stroke of misfortune brings determines to equal a man in achieve-
out the strength of character which, dur- ment,- in scientific attainments and in
ing his prosperity, had remained con- mental usefulness, – that her sex shall no
cealed beneath many petty foibles. In longer be made to her a reproach and
this story the life of the French shop- even a crime. This desire is taken ad-
keeper who values his credit as his vantage of by an unscrupulous uncle
dearest possession, and his failure as who will profit by her death. Secluding
practically death, is faithfully portrayed. her from the world, he attempts to
The other characters in the book are undermine her health by feeding her
lifelike portraits. Constance, the faith- feverish ambitions. Her mind is de-
ful and sensible wife of Birotteau, and veloped at the expense of every human
his gentle daughter Césarine, are in feelingevery womanly instinct, and
pleasing contrast to many of the women every religious emotion. She is shunned
Balzac has painted. Du Tillet, the un- by women, envied and humiliated by
scrupulous clerk, who repays his master's men, regarded by her servants and the
kindness by hatred and dishonesty; Ro- neighboring peasantry as a witch. It is
quin the notary; Vauquelin the great through the door of love, opened for her
chemist; and Pillerault, uncle of Con- by Johannes Mollner, that she finally
stance,- are all striking individualities. leaves the wilderness of false aims, un-
The book is free from any objectionable natural ambitions, and unsatisfactory
atmosphere, and is exceedingly realistic results, to enjoy for the first time the
to manners and customs. It has charm of womanhood, human compan-
been admirably translated into English ionship, and belief in God. The story is
by Katharine Prescott Wormeley.
overloaded with didacticism; its logic
Only
as


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348
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
fails, inasmuch as the poor girl is an in-
voluntary martyr; and its exaggeration
and sentimentality do not appeal to the
English reader. But the book is a great
favorite in Germany, where it has been
considered a powerful argument against
what is called the higher education of
women,
most impenetrable disguises for the pur-
suit of his inquiries.
The dénouement, gradually unfolded
toward the close of the story, shows Pros-
per to have been the innocent victim of
a plot. Madame Fauvel has had, before
her marriage to the banker, an illegiti-
mate son by the Marquis de Clameran,
an arrant rogue who poses throughout as
the benefactor of the Fauvels. De Clam-
eran has caused Raoul de Lagors to per-
sonate this son (who is really dead).
Raoul is introduced in Fauvel's home as
Madame's nephew, though she believes
him to be her son.
After frightening her into revealing the
secrets of the bank-safe, Raoul commits
the robbery. Her lips are sealed by her
fear that her early life will become known
to her husband. De Clameran plays upon
these fears to force Madame Fauvel to
induce Madeleine, her niece, to marry
him. Madeleine consents in order to
save her aunt, though she is really in
love with Prosper.
The plot is at last discovered; Raoul
escapes, De Clameran becomes insane,
Madame Fauvel is forgiven, and Prosper
marries Madeleine.
a
Friend Fritz ('L’Ami Fritz'), by the
collaborating French authors Erck-
mann-Chatrian, was published in 1876.
It is a charming Alsatian story of the
middle nineteenth century, in which the
hero is Fritz, a comfortable burgher with
money enough to indulge his liking for
good eating and drinking, and a stout
defender of bachelorhood. He is a kindly,
jovial, simple-natured fellow, with
broad, merry face and a big laugh. His
dear friend David, an old rabbi, is al-
ways urging him to marry; but the rich
widows of the town set their caps for
him in vain. At dinner one day Fritz
wagers David his favorite vineyard that
he will never take a wife. David wins,
for the invulnerable bachelor succumbs
to the charms of Suzel, the pretty sixteen-
year-old daughter of his farm-manager.
Fritz learns that he that loveth not
knoweth not God, for God is love. ) Old
David deeds the vineyard he has won
to Suzel for her dowry, and dances at
her wedding. The tale is a sweet idyl
of provincial and country life, full of pleas-
ing folk and pleasant scenes, described
with loving fidelity. Friend Fritz) was
dramatized and was very successful as a
play.
File No. 113, by Emile Gaboriau, a
French novel, introducing the au-
thor's favorite detective, M. Lecoq, ap-
peared in 1867. The scene is laid in the
Paris of the day; and the title indicates
the case file number in the records of the
detective bureau.
The story opens with the public details
of a daring robbery which has been
committed in the banking-house of M.
Fauvel. Suspicion points to Prosper
Bertomy, the head cashier.
The deep
mysteries of the case are fathomed by
Fanferlot, a shrewd detective, and Le-
coq. his superior in both skill and posi-
tion. Lecoq figures as a French Sherlock
Holmes, though his methods are essen-
tially different. He is pictured as possess-
ing surpassing insight, intelligence, and
patient determination; employing the
reason
French Humorists, The, by Walter
Besant. (1873. ) Succeeding the au-
thor's admirable work on early French
poetry, the present volume is for that
somewhat incomplete, omitting
even Clément Marot; and Voltaire, for
other reasons no less valid.
After introducing the trouvère and
chanson of mediæval times, the author
takes up representative humorists (the
designation is a broad one) from each
century from the twelfth to our own.
The studies present admirable pictures
of the authors' life-conditions and the
literary atmosphere they breathed. Ac-
companying these discriminating and
delightfully original studies are trans-
lations of pieces to show the character
and genius of the authors treated. There
are in all about twenty-five writers to
whom large treatment is given, promi-
nent among them Rabelais, Montaigne,
Scarron, La Fontaine, Boileau, Molière,
Beaumarchais, and Béranger. There fol-
low a number of exhaustive and learned
inquiries into such famous productions
as the Romance of the Rose) and (La
Satyre Ménippée, not to mention the
historical, critical, and interpretative no-
tices of the authors' famous books. Rich


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
349
in anecdote, historical allusion, and con-
densed learning, the volume becomes in
some sense a history of the rise of liter-
ature in France, contributing the while
to our own tongue a distinctly valuable
treatise, - exhaustive but not tedious;
erudite, but not heavy; sparkling, but
not effervescent.
one
as
an
Sir Richard F. Burton, Life of, by
his wife. One of the most romantic
figures of the nineteenth century was
Sir Richard Burton. He was of mixed
Irish, Scotch, English, French, and pos-
sibly Arabian and Gipsy blood; he
claimed his descent direct from Louis
XIV. of France; he published upwards
of eighty bulky volumes, including
translations of the Arabian Nights) and
the Lusiad' of Camoens; he began the
study of Latin when he was three, and
Greek when he was four, and knew
twenty-nine languages; he was the pio-
neer discoverer of Darkest Africa, and
his adventures took him into all parts of
the world. Out of such lives myths
are made. In 1887, Francis Hitchman,
aided by Isabel, Lady Burton, of whose
character and ability he speaks in the
highest terms, published an account of
Burton's private and public life, includ-
ing his travels and explorations in Asia,
Africa, and both North and South
America. After Sir Richard's death, his
wife published in 1893, also in two Oc-
tavo volumes, with many portraits and
other illustrations, a voluminous Life,'
in which she argues with passionate
insistance that she, and she alone, is
fitted to 'give a truthful and complete
account of his wonderful career and his
unique personality. ( There are three
people in the world,” she says, “who
might possibly be able to write sections
of his life. Most of his intimate friends
are dead, but still there are a few left. »
She insists that she was the one person
who for more than thirty years knew
him best. Daily, for all that time, she
«cheered him in hunger and toil, at-
tended to his comforts, watched his go-
ing out and coming in, had his slippers,
dressing-gown, and pipe ready for him
every evening, copied and worked for
him, rode and walked at his side,
through hunger, thirst, cold, and burning
heat, with hardships and privations and
danger. Why,” she adds, «I was wife
and mother, and comrade and secretary,
and aide-de-camp and agent for him;
and I was proud, happy, and glad to do
it all, and never tired, day or night, for
thirty years.
At the moment of
his death, I had done all I could for the
body, and then I tried to follow his soul.
I am following, and I shall reach it be-
fore long. ” Lady Isabel belonged to a
Roman Catholic family, and her rela-
tives, like his, were opposed to the mar-
riage, which took place by special
dispensation in 1861, At the time of
his death, Lady Burton startled society
by declaring that he had joined the
true Church. ” She says: « One would
describe him as a deist, one as an ag-
nostic, and
atheist and
freethinker, but I can only describe the
Richard that I knew. I, his wife, who
lived with him day and night for thirty
years, believed him to be half-Sufi, half-
Catholic, or I prefer to say, as nearer
the truth, alternately Sufi and Catholic. »
A little later she aroused much indig-
nant criticism by burning Sir Richard's
translation of The Scented Garden,
Men's Hearts to Gladden,' by the Arabic
poet, the Shaykh al Nafzâwi. She justi-
fies her action with elaborate argument;
and declares that two projected volumes,
to be entitled (The Labors and Wisdom
of Richard Burton,' will be a better
monument to his fame than the un-
chaste and improper work that she de-
stroyed.
Her alleged misrepresentations
corrected in a small volume entitled
(The True Life of Captain Sir Richard
F. Burton,' by his niece, Georgiana M.
Stisted, who uses the severest terms in
her portrayal of the character of the
woman whom her uncle married, as she
declares, in haste and secrecy, and with
effects so disastrous to his happiness and
advantage.
Still another contribution to the topic
is found in two thick volumes called
( The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton,'
which is the story of her life, told in
part by herself and in part by W. H.
Wilkins, whose special mission it is to
correct the slanderous misrepresentations
of the author of (The True Life. )
Whether as romance or reality, the story
of this gifted couple, with all their
faults, is a delightful contribution to the
literature of biography.
Oceana; or, England and her Colo-
nies, by James Anthony Froude.
(1886. ) This is the record of a journey


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350
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
sense -
made by the author via Cape Town to
Australia and New Zealand, and home
by way of Samoa, the Sandwich Is-
lands, San Francisco, Salt Lake, Chi.
cago, and New York, in 1884-85. Of
the places visited he gives historical
sketches, his own observations, personal
experiences, and speculations as to the
future, describes the sights, etc. ; all his
records being interesting, and most of
them valuable. He makes his visit to
Cape Town the occasion of a résumé
of not only its history and condition,
but of his own connection with South-
African affairs in 1874. In Australia
he is struck by the general imitation of
England, and asks, «What is the mean-
ing of uniting the colonies more closely
to ourselves? They are closely united:
they are ourselves; and can separate
only in the sense that parents and child-
ren separate, or brothers and sisters. »
Here too he sees that the fact that
he can take a ticket through to Lon-
don across the American continent, to
proceed direct or to stop en route at
will, means an astonishing concordance
and reciprocity between nations. In the
Sandwich Islands he finds (a varnish
of Yankee civilization which has de-
stroyed the natural vitality without as
yet producing anything better
good. ” He
pronounces the Northern
of the United States equal in
manhood to any on earth; has no ex-
pectation of Canadian annexation; thinks
the Brooklyn Bridge more wonderful
than Niagara, New York almost
genial as San Francisco, and New York
society equal to that of Australia,
though both lack the aristocratic ele-
ment of the English. In conclusion he
states his feeling that as it was Parlia-
ment that lost England the United
States, if her present colonies sever the
connection, it will be through the same
agency; but that, so long as the mother
country is true to herself, her colonies
will be true to her. Mr. Froude, as
is well known, is no believer in the
permanence of a democracy, and
several occasions in this work expresses
his opinion of its provisional character
as a form of political life.
Four Georges, The, by William Make-
peace Thackeray. As the sub-title
states, this work consists of sketches of
manners, morals, court and town life dur-
ing the reign of these Kings. The author
shows us “people occupied with their
every-day work or pleasure: my lord and
lady hunting in the forest, or dancing in
the court, or bowing to their Serene
Highnesses, as they pass in to dinner. ”
Of special interest to American readers
is the frank but sympathetic account of
the third George, ending with the famous
description of the last days of the old
King: Low he lies to whom the proudest
used to kneel once, and who was cast
lower than the poorest; dead, whom mill-
ions prayed for in vain. Driven off his
throne; buffeted by rude hands; with his
children in revolt; the darling of his old
age killed before him, untimely,-our Lear
hangs over her breathless lips and cries,
(Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little ! ) » These
essays do not profess to be history in any
certainly not in that in which
Macaulay understood or McCarthy under-
stands it, still less in that which Mr. Kidd
predicts it will some day assume: they
express the thoughts of the kindly satir-
ist, of the novelist who sees not too
deeply, but whose gaze misses nothing in
the field it scans, Written in much the
manner of Esmond) or Vanity Fair,'
and in the author's inimitable style, they
give delight which their readers never
afterward wholly lose.
Diary of Two Parliaments, by H.
W. Lucy. (2 vols. , 1885–86. ) A very
graphic narrative of events as they passed
in the Disraeli Parliament, 1874-80, and in
the Gladstone Parliament, 1880-85. Mr.
Lucy was the House of Commons reporter
for the London Daily News, and as “Toby,
M. P. ,” he supplied the Parliamentary re-
port published in Punch. His diary es-
pecially undertakes descriptions of the
more remarkable scenes of the successive
sessions of Parliament, and to give in skel-
eton form the story of Parliaments which
are universally recognized as having been
momentous and distinctive in recent Eng-
lish history. It includes full and minute
descriptions of memorable episodes and
notable men.
emocracy in Europe: A History, by
T. Erskine May. (2 vols. , 1877. ) A
thoroughly learned and judicious study
of popular power and political liberty
throughout the history of Europe. Start-
ing from an introduction on the causes
of freedom, especially its close connection
with civilization, the research deals with
the marked absence of freedom in Ori-
ental history, and then reviews the
or
as
men
as
on
,


## p. 351 (#387) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
351
ce
Fifteen
Decisive Battles of the World,
as
an
developments of popular power in Greece and by a remarkably opportune report,
and Rome, and the vicissitudes of pro- which had the fortune of being printed,
gress in the Dark Ages to the Revival that Vespucius came to the front in a way
of Learning It then traces the new to suggest to the editor and publisher of
progress the Italian republics, Switz- his report the use of the word "America »
erland, the Netherlands, France, and as a general New World name not includ-
England. The work shows careful studying Columbus's «West Indies. ” That in-
of the inner life of republics, ancient and clusion came later; and from first to last
modern; of the most memorable revo- Vespucius had no more to do with it than
lutions, and the greatest national strug- Columbus himself.
gles for civil and religious liberty; and
of the various degrees and conditions of
democracy, considered as the sovereignty by E. S. Creasy, describes and dis-
of the whole body of the people. The cusses (in the words of Hallam) «those
author regards popular power
few battles of which a contrary event
essential condition of the social advance- would have essentially varied the drama
ment of nations, and writes as an ardent of the world in all its subsequent scenes.
”
admirer of rational and enlightened po- The obvious and important agencies, and
litical liberty.
not incidents of remote and trifling con-
sequence, are brought out in the discus-
Dise
iscoveries of America to the year sion of the events which led up to each
1525, by Arthur James Weise, 1884. battle, the elements which determined its
A work of importance for its careful re- issue, and the results following the vic-
view and comparison of the various state- tories or defeats. The volume treats, in
ments of historical writers concerning the order: The Battle of Marathon, 413 B. C. ;
voyages of the persons whom they believed Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413
to have been the discoverers of certain B. C. ; The Battle of Arbela, 331 B. C. ;
parts of the coast of America between The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 B. C. ;
Baffin's Bay and Terra del Fuego. The Victory of Arminius over the Roman Le-
full statements are given, as well as a gions under Varus, A. D. 9; The Battle
judgment upon them. It appears,” says of Châlons, 451; The Battle of Tours,
Mr. Weise, “that Columbus was not the 732; The Battle of Hastings, 1066; Joan
discoverer of the continent, for it was seen of Arc's Victory over the English at
in 1497 not only by Giovanni Caboto [or Orleans, 1429; The Defeat of the Span-
John Cabot, his English name), but by ish Armada, 1588; The Battle of Blen-
the commander of the Spanish fleet with heim, 1704; The Battle of Pultowa, 1709;
whom Amerigo Vespucci sailed to the Victory of the Americans over Burgoyne
New World. ” The entire story of the dis- at Saratoga, 1777; The Battle of Valmy,
coveries of the continental coasts, north 1792; The Battle of Waterloo, 1815.
and south, apart from the islands to which The author concludes: “We have not
Columbus almost wholly confined his at- (and long may we want) the stern ex-
tention, is of very great interest. John citement of the struggles of war; and we
Cabot was first, about June 1497. Colum- see no captive standards of our European
bus saw continental coast land for the neighbors brought in triumph to our
first time fourteen months later, August shrines. But we witness an infinitely
1498. It was wholly in relation to conti-
prouder spectacle. We see the banners
nental lands that the names New World of every civilized nation waving over the
and America were originally given; and arena of our competition with each other
at the time it was not considered as dis- in the arts that minister to our race's
turbing in any way the claims of Colum- support and happiness, and not to its
bus, whose whole ambition was to have the suffering and destruction.
credit of having reached the isles of In-
a Peace hath her victories
dia beyond the Ganges ) - isles which
No less renowned than war. "
were still 7,000 miles distant, but which to
the last he claimed to have found. The
Charles XI! . History of, by Vol-
names «West Indies ) and Indians » (for taire. This history was published
native Americans) are monuments to Co- in 1731. It is divided into eight books,
lumbus, who did not at the time think of which the first sketches briefly the
it worth while to pay attention to the con- history of Sweden before the accession
tinents. It was by paying this attention, of Charles. The last seven deal with his


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352
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
power of
thoroughness with which he managed
his farm. Level-headed and practical,
Washington had organizing genius; and
it was that attribute, with his dauntless
integrity, which lifted him to command.
He had not the mental
any
one of his ministers. Yet he was the
best administrator of all. John Ad-
ams possessed the qualities of a brill-
iant lawyer, and the large forecast of a
statesman. At the same time he was
extremely impetuous, outspoken, and
high-tempered, and made many enemies.
Jefferson, like Washington, and unlike
Franklin and Adams, was a man of po-
sition and means; and was perhaps the
most cultivated man in America. With
these incitements to aristocratic views,
he was yet the truest democrat of them
all, and did more than any one of the
others to destroy the inherited class dis-
tinctions which were still so strong in
this nominally republican country for
years after the separation from England.
Mr. Parker follows the plan of consid-
ering the life and achievements of each
of his subjects, by periods, and then ex-
amines his mental and moral qualifica-
tions, his emotional impulses, and his
religion. This method, while it detracts
somewhat from the literary grace of the
essays, is admirably adapted to afford a
vivid and incisive presentment of char-
acter.
But apart
expedition into Poland, its consequences,
his invasion of Russia and pursuit of
Peter the Great, his defeat at Pultowa
and retreat into Turkey, his sojourn at
Bender and its results, his departure
thence, his return home, his death at
the siege of Frederickshall in Norway.
Intermingled with the narrative of bat-
tles, marches, and sieges, we have vivid
descriptions of the manners, customs, and
physical features of the countries in which
they took place. It resembles the (Com-
mentaries) of Cæsar in the absence of
idle details, declamation, and ornament.
There is no attempt to explain mutable
and contingent facts by constant under-
lying principles. Men act, and the narra-
tive accounts for their actions. Of course,
Voltaire is not an archivist with a docu-
ment ready at hand to witness for the
truth of every statement; and many of
his contemporaries treated his history as
little better than a romance.
from
inaccuracies, natural to a
writer dealing with events in distant
countries at the time, the History of
Charles XII. ' is a true history. Accord-
ing to Condorcet, it was based on mem-
oirs furnished Voltaire by witnesses of
the events he describes; and King Stan-
islas, the victim as well as the friend
and companion of Charles, declared that
every incident mentioned in the work
actually occurred. This book is consid-
ered the historical masterpiece of Voltaire.
Historic Americans, by Theodore Par-
ker (1878), contains four essays, on
Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, and Ad-
ams, essays originally delivered as lect-
ures, shortly before the author's death in
1860. They were written when the anti-
slavery agitation was at its height; and
the preacher's uncompromising opinions
on the evils of slavery decide their point
of view and influence their conclusions.
Yet in spite of the obsoleteness of that
issue, the vigorous style and wide knowl-
edge displayed in the papers insure
them a permanent interest. Franklin,
the tallow-chandler's son, is in the au-
thor's opinion incomparably the greatest
man America has produced. Inventor,
statesman, and philosopher, he had won-
derful imagination and vitality of intel-
lect, and true originality. In Washing-
ton, on the other hand, Mr. Parker sees
the steady-moving, imperturbable, unim-
aginative country gentleman, directing
the affairs of the nation with the same
some
Chara
haracteristics, by Anthony Ashley
Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. The
three volumes of Shaftesbury's (Charac-
teristics) appeared anonymously in 1713,
two years before the death of the author
at the age of forty-two. These, with a
volume of letters, and a certain preface
to a sermon, constitute the whole of his
published works. The Characteristics)
immediately attracted wide attention; and
in twenty years had passed through five
editions, at that time a large circulation
for a book of this kind. The first vol-
ume contains three rather desultory and
discursive essays: (A Letter concerning
Enthusiasm); (On Freedom of Wit and
Humor); Soliloquy; or, Advice to an
Author. ) The second volume, with its
(Inquiry con
oncerning Virtue and Merit,'
and the dialogue "The Moralists: A
Philosophical Rhapsody,' forms his most
valuable contribution to the science of
ethics. In the third volume he advances
various Miscellaneous Reflections, in-
cluding certain defenses of his philosopbi-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
353
verse.
cal theories, together with some essays the fine power of apt distinction, with
on artistic and literary subjects.
the richness of rhetoric and the play of
From the first appearance of the Char- delicate humor, which those who heard
acteristics,' it was seen that its philo- Mr. Curtis remember, and those who
sophical theories were to have an import- know him only in his published works
ant part in the whole science of ethics. must recognize. To lovers of Emerson
De Mandeville in later years attacked and Hawthorne these chapters will long
him, Hutcheson defended him, and But- be a delight, written as they were while
ler and Berkeley discussed him, — not al- the companionship of which they spoke
ways with a perfect comprehension of was still warm and fresh in the author's
his system. Its leading ideas are of the memory.
relation of parts to a whole. As the Equally interesting and valuable as
beauty of an external object consists in contributions to the biography of Amer-
a certain proportion between its parts, ican letters are the chapters on Oliver
or a certain harmony of coloring, so the Wendell Holmes, Washington Irving,
beauty of a virtuous act lies in its rela- and Longfellow. Perhaps no one has
tion to the virtuous character as a whole. given us more intimately suggestive
Yet morality cannot be adequately stud- portrait-sketches of the personalities of
ied in the individual man. Man must these familiar authors than are given
be considered in his relation to our earth, in these collected essays. Particularly
and this again in its relation to the uni- interesting to American readers are the
occasional reminiscences of personal par-
The faculty which approves of right ticipation in scenes, grave or humorous,
and disapproves of wrong is by Shaftes- where the actors were all makers of his-
bury called the moral sense, and this is tory for New England. The book con-
perhaps the distinctive feature of his tains Mr. Curtis's brilliant essay on the
system. Between this sense and good famous actress Rachel, which appeared
taste in art he draws a strong analogy. in Putnam's Magazine, 1855; a delightful
In its recognition of a rational as well sketch of Thackeray in America, from
as an emotional element, Shaftesbury's the same source; and a hitherto unpub-
( moral sense ) is much like the "con- lished essay on Sir Philip Sidney, which
science » described later by Butler. While is instinct with the author's enthusiasm
the “moral sense » and the love and rev- for all that is strong and pure and truly
erence of God are, with Shaftesbury, the gentle.
proper sanctions of right conduct, a tone
of banter which he assumed toward re-
Constable, Archibald, and his Lit.
ligious questions, and his leaning toward erary Correspondents, by Thomas
Deism, drew on him more or less criti- Constable. (1873. ) The story of the
cism from the strongly orthodox. Ву great Edinburgh publishing-house which
his (Characteristics) Shaftesbury became established the Edinburgh Review; be-
the founder of what has been called the came the chief of Scott's publishers;
«benevolent system of ethics; in which issued, with valuable supplementary Dis-
subsequently Hutcheson closely followed sertations by Dugald Stewart, the fifth
him.
edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica);
initiated the publication of cheap popular
Literary and Social Essays, by George
volumes of literature, art, and science;
The nine essays
and by a bold liberality in payment of
which compose this volume were col- authors, with remarkable sagacity in
lected from several sources, and pub- judging what would succeed with the
lished in book form in 1895. Written
public, virtually transformed the business
with all the exquisite finish, the lucidity of publishing. An apprenticeship of six
and grace which characterized every years with Peter Hill, Burns's friend,
utterance of Mr. Curtis, these essays are enabled Constable to start as
a book-
like introduction into the actual seller, January 1795. He began by pub-
presence of the gifted men of our cen- lishing theological and political pam-
tury in whose splendid circle the author phlets for authors, but in 1798 made some
was himself at home. Emerson, Haw- ventures on his own account. In 1800
thorne, and the placid pastoral Concord he started the Farmer's Magazine as a
of their liomes, are the subjects of the quarterly. The next year he became pro-
first three chapters, and are treated with prietor of the Scots Magazine, and in
XXX--23
an


## p. 354 (#390) ############################################

354
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
as
as
October 1802, the first number of the yet rigid course, like a gigantic and
Edinburgh Review appeared. The gen- splendid piece of firework; his follies re-
erous scale of payment soon adopted, peating themselves, like his inability to
twenty-five guineas a sheet, - startled the follow success, and his careless abandon-
trade, and greatly contributed to make ment of one way after another that
Constable the foremost among publish- might have led to a better and happier
ers of his day. He began with Scott in fortune. His harvest was like a south-
1802, a part interest only, but secured en- ern harvest, over early while it was yet
tire interest in 1807 by paying Scott a but May; but he sowed no seed for a
thousand guineas in advance for Mar- second ingathering, nor was there any
mion, and the next year one thousand growth or richness left in the soon ex-
five hundred pounds for his edition of hausted soil. ” His plays are analytically
Swift's Life and Works. ) Differences and critically considered, a whole chap-
arising now separated Scott and Constable ter being given to "The School for
until 1813, but in 1814 (Waverley) ap- Scandal' and (The Critic. ) The book
peared with Constable's imprint. The is attractively written in six chapters,
financial breakdown of various parties in follows: "Youth,' First Dramatic
1826 not only overthrew Constable, but Works,' (The School for Scandal, (Pub-
involved Scott to the extent of £120,000. lic Life,' Middle Age, (Decadence. It
Constable died July 21, 1827.
is the story of the most brilliant man of
the most brilliant period of the eigh-
Sheridan, by Mrs. Oliphant, is a bi- teenth century,- a man, who, but for a
ography in the English Men of Let- certain residuum of conscience, might be
ters) series. This agreeable history called an astonishingly clever juggler;
begins by picturing Sheridan the who, while youth, health, and novelty
young man of genius, setting ordinary favored, kept the ball of prosperity flash-
regulations at defiance, taking up posi- | ing hither and yon through the air, only
tions untenable by every rule of reason, to see it fall and shiver to atoms when
yet carrying through his purposes by these attributes failed him. Yet the
the force of brilliant natural gifts; care- vices of Sheridan were those of his time
less of literary fame; set most on achiev- and his fellows; and his virtues, if not
ing power,- even if by unsound methods. too many, were always charming and
Earlier, there are indolent school days at lovable. Indeed, so sympathetic is Mrs.
Harrow; a romantic youthful marriage, Oliphant's story of him, that the reader
followed by extravagant London house- involuntarily recalls that kind judgment,
keeping; the triumphs of dramatic au- _('Tis said best men are molded out of
thorship; the proprietorship of Drury faults. "
Lane Theatre. «There are some men,”
the author says of this period of his life,
“who impress all around them with such by William Makepeace Thackeray,
a certainty of power and success, that appeared first in Punch, and was pub-
even managers dare, and publishers vol- lished in book form in 1848. The idea
unteer, in their favor.
Sheridan was of the work may have been suggested to
evidently one of these men. ” Then Thackeray when, as an undergraduate at
came amazing social success; a great Cambridge in 1829, he contributed to a
and growing reputation as a wit; the little weekly periodical called The Snob.
friendship of Fox and Burke; entry into In any case, the genus Snob could not
Parliament; two great orations at the long have escaped the satirical notice of
trial of Warren Hastings; home, busi- the author of Vanity Fair. ) He was in
ness, and public troubles; an unfortunate close contact with a social system that
friendship with the Prince of Wales; a was the very nursery of snobbishness.
second marriage; financial ruin in the In his delightful category, he omits no
burning of the Drury Lane Theatre; type of the English-bred Snob of the
the loss of a seat in Parliament; arrest; university, of the court, of the town, of
poverty; death, - these are the main feat- the country, of the Church; he even in-
ures of the history that is made to pass cludes himself, when on one occasion he
before us. The picture at the end is severed his friendship for a
man who
different: «Through all these contradic- ate peas with a knife,- an exhibition of
tions of character, Sheridan blazed and snobbery he repented of later, when
exploded from side to side in a reckless the offender had discovered the genteel
Book of Snobs, The, a series of sketches


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
355
Browning Elizabeth Barrett, Letters
uses of the fork. The half-careless, half- ment of the French Revolution in the
cynical humor of it all becomes serious in (Tale of Two Cities. Among the import-
the last paragraph of the last paper: – ant characters, many of whom are the
“I am sick of court circulars. I loathe authors of sayings now proverbial, are
haut-ton intelligence. I believe such Gabriel Varden, the cheerful and incor-
words as Fashionable, Exclusive, Aris- | ruptible old locksmith, father of the charm-
tocratic, and the like, to be wicked ing Airt Dolly Varden; Mrs. Varden, a
unchristian epithets that ought to be type of the narrow-minded zealot, de-
banished from honest vocabularies. A voted to the Protestant manual; Miss
court system that sends men of genius Miggs, their servant, mean, treacherous,
to the second table, I hold to be a Snob- and self-seeking; Sim Tappertit, an ap-
bish System. A society that sets up to prentice, an admirable portrait of the
be polite, and ignores Art and Letters, half-fool, half-knave, so often found in
I hold to be a Snobbish Society. You the English servile classes half a cen-
who despise your neighbor are a Snob; tury ago; Hugh the hostler and Dennis
you who forget your friends, meanly to the hangman; and Grip the raven, who
follow after those of a higher degree, are fills an important part in the story, and
a Snob; you who are ashamed of your for whom Di kens himself named a fa-
poverty and blush for your calling, are vorite raven.
a Snob; as are you who boast of your
pedigree or are proud of your wealth. ”
by
Barnaby Rudge was Dickens's fifth (2 vols. , 1897. ) This definitive presenta-
novel, and was published in 1841.
tion of Mrs. Browning's character and
The plot is extremely intricate. Barnaby career is a selection from a very large
is a poor half-witted lad, living in Lon- mass of letters collected by Mr. Brown-
don toward the close of the eighteenth ing, and now used with the consent of
century, with his mother and his raven R. Barrett Browning. It is made a
Grip. His father had been the steward chronicle, and practically a life, by the
of a country gentleman named Haredale, character of the letters and the addition
who was found murdered in his bed, of connecting links of narrative. The
while both his steward and his gardener letters give an unusually full and inter-
had disappeared. The body of the stew- esting revelation of Mrs. Browning's char-
ard, recognizable only by the clothes, is acter, and of the course of her life. The
presently found in a pond. Barnaby is absence of controversy, of personal ill-
born the day after the double murder. feeling of any kind, and of bitterness ex-
Affectionate and usually docile, credulous cept on certain political topics, is noted
and full of fantastic imaginings, a sim- by the editor as not the result of any
pleton but faithful, he grows up to be excision of passages, but as illustrating
liked and trusted. His mother having
Mrs. Browning's sweetness of tempera-
fled to London to escape a myst rious ment. The interest of the work as a chap-
blackmailer, he becomes involved in the ter of life and poetry in the nineteenth
famous "No Popery » riots of Lord George century is very great.
Gordon in 1780, and is within an ace of
perishing on the scaffold.
The black; Bronte, Charlotte, Life of, by Mrs.
mailer, Mr. Haredale the brother and Gaskell, was published in 1857, two
Emma the daughter of the murdered years after the death of the author of
man, Emma's lover Edward Chester, and Jane Eyre. It has taken rank as a
his father, are the chief figures of the classic in biographical literature, though
nominal plot; but the real interest is not without inaccuracies. Its charm and
not with them but with the side harac- enduring quality are the result of its ideal
ters and the episodes. Some of the most worth. It is a strong, human, intimate
whimsical and amusing of Dickens's record of a unique personality, all the
character-studies appear in the pages of more valuable because biased by friend-
the novel; while the whole episode of ship. A biography written by the heart
the gathering and march of the mob, as well as the head, it remains for that
and the storming of Newgate (quoted in
reason the most vital of all lives of Char-
the Library), is surpassed in dramatic lotte Bronté. A mere scrap-book of facts
intensity by no passage in modern fic- goes very little way toward explaining a
tion, unless it is by Dickens's own treat- genius of such intensity.


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356
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
1
Bronte, Charlotte, and her Circle, by Differences); and leaving behind for the
Clement K. Shorter, was published benefit of the new generation annals of
in 1896.
It is not a biography, but a a life so wonderful in its completed work,
new illumination of a rare personality, so harmonious in its domestic relations, so
through an exhaustive collection of let-
unassuming in its acceptance of worldly
ters written by, or relating to, the novel- distinctions, that the mere reading of
ist of Haworth. In the preface the editor it elevates and strengthens.
writes: “It is claimed for the following There are charming descriptions of
book of some five hundred pages that childhood days in the Scottish home of
the larger part of it is an addition of Burntisland; days of youth when she
entirely new material to the romantic arose after attending a ball to study at
story of the Brontés. " This material five in the morning; a delicate reticence
was furnished partly by the Rev. Arthur concerning the first short-lived marriage
Bell Nicholls, Charlotte's husband, and with her cousin Craig, succeeded by the
partly by her lifelong friend Miss Ellen truer union with another cousin, the
Nussey.
«Somerville » of whom she speaks with
The arrangement of the book is cal- much tenderness; domestic gains and
culated to assist the reader to a clearer losses, births and deaths; the begin-
understanding of Charlotte Bronté's life. nings, maturings, and successes of her
A chapter is given to each person or group work; trips to London and the Conti-
of persons in any way closely related to nent; visits to and from the great; the
her. Even the curates of Haworth are idyllic life in Italy, where she died and
not overlooked. Yet the editor's discrimi- is buried; loving records of home work
nation is justified in every instance by and home pleasures; sorrow's bravely met
letters relating directly to the person or and joys glorified, -all told with the un-
persons under consideration. The entire affectedness which was the keynote to
work is a most interesting and significant her amiable character. Little informa-
contribution to the ever-growing body of tion is given of the immense labor which
Bronté literature.
preceded her famous works. The woman
who, as Laplace said, was
the only
Personal Recollections of Mary Som- woman who could understand his work,
erville, with SELECTIONS FROM HER who was honored by nearly every scien-
CORRESPONDENCE, by her daughter Martha tific society in the world, whose mind
Somerville.
was akin to every famous mind of the
Never has the simplicity of true great- age, so withdraws her individuality to
ness been more clearly shown than in give place to others, that the reader is
the life of Mary Somerville, the life often inclined to forget that the modest
of a woman entirely devoted to family writer has other claims to notice than
duties and scientific pursuits; whose en- her intimate acquaintance with the great.
ergy and perseverance overcame almost And as in many social gatherings she
insuperable obstacles at a time when was overlooked from her modesty of
women were excluded from the higher demeanor; so in these Recollections,
branches of education by prejudice and pages of eulogy are devoted to the
tradition; whose bravery led her to achievements of those whose intellect
enter upon unknown paths, and to make was to hers as moonlight is to sun-
known to others what she acquired by light,” while her own successes are ig-
so courageous an undertaking. After a nored, except in the inserted letters of
slight introduction concerning her family those who awarded her her due meed
and birth, which took place December of praise, and in the frequent notes of
26th, 1780, the Recollections, begin in her faithful compiler.
early childhood and continue to the day
of her death. She lived to the ripe old Poetry, the Nature and Elements of,
age of ninety-two, preserving her clear- by Edmund Clarence Stedman. The
ness of intellect to the end; holding fast lectures contained in this volume, pub-
her faith in God, which no censure of lished in 1892, were delivered by the
bigot, smile of skeptic, or theory of sci- author during the previous year at Johns
ence could shake; adding to the world's Hopkins University, inaugurating the
store of knowledge to her final day,- her annual lectureship founded by Mrs.
last work being revision and com- Tu bull of Ba ore. M Stedman
pletion of a treatise on the Theory of treats of the quality and attributes
))


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
357
of poetry itself, of its source and effi- many other eminent philologists maintain,
cacy, and of the enduring laws to which Mr. Lang denies; declaring that the analy-
its true examples ever are conformed. ” sis of names, on which the whole edifice
Chapter i. treats of theories of poetry of philological comparative mythology)
from Aristotle to the present day; Chap- rests, is a foundation of sifting sand. Sto-
ter ii. seeks to determine what poetry ries are usually anonymous at first, he
is; and Chapters iii. and iv. discuss, believes, names being added later, and
respectively, creation and self-expression adventures naturally grouping themselves
under the title of Melancholia. These around any famous personage, divine, he-
two chapters together (afford all the roic, or human. Thus what is called a
scope permitted in this scheme for a Greek myth or a Hindu legend may be
swift glance at the world's masterpieces. ” found current among a people who never
Having effected a synthetic relation be- heard of Greece or India. The story of
tween the subjective and the objective Jason, for example, is told in Samoa, Fin-
in poetry, the way becomes clear for an land, North America, Madagascar. Each
examination of the pure attributes of of the myths presented here is made to
this art, which form the themes of the serve a controversial purpose in so far as
next four chapters. Mr.