No More Learning

He was always angling, and knew the
history and character of wild and domes-
tic animals; but did not become so ab-
sorbed in them as to ignore the villa-
gers, their Christmas festivities and other
features of their life. After serving his
apprenticeship to an engraver in Newcas-
tle, he went to London; but pined for the
country, and though he abhorred war,
said that he would rather enlist than re.
main. He opened a shop in Newcastle,
where for nearly fifty years he carried on


## p. 205 (#241) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
205
We see
his work. His serious work begins with and notable events, biographies, anec-
his illustrations to a work called (Select dotes, historical sketches, and oddities of
Fables. His cut for Poor Honest Puss) human life and character, as well as ar-
is worthy of a Landseer in little. Bewick ticles on popular archæology tending to
considered his Chillingham Bull, drawn illustrate the progress of civilization, man-
with difficulty from the living model, his ners, and literature, besides many fugi-
masterpiece; and its rarity, owing to the tive bits and odd incidents. The editor
accidental destruction of the original in bringing out this work expressed a
block, enhances its value. But he reached desire to make it both entertaining and
his high-water mark in birds.
instructive, and in this effort he has
them as he saw them,-alive; for he had admirably succeeded.
an eye-memory like that of Hogarth.
One of the last things he ever did was Books
ks and their Makers, A. D. 476-
to prepare a picture and a biography, in
1709; by George Haven Putnam,
A. M.
some seven hundred words, of a broken-
(2 vols. , 1896. ) A history of the
down horse, dedicating the work to the
production and distribution of the books
that constitute literature, from the fall
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals. This forerunner of Black
of the Roman Empire to the close of the
Beauty) was entitled “Waiting for Death. )
seventeenth century, when copyright
His own death occurred in 1828,' before
law, in an English statute of 1710, first
the head of the old horse had been en-
recognized the writings of an author
tirely engraved. Among many delightful
as property to be protected. In an ear-
lier work, Authors and their Public in
passages, this life contains an interesting
Ancient Times, Mr. Putnam covers the
account of the visit that the naturalist
Audubon paid him in 1827. Although
whole ground of the making and circu-
lation of books down to the fall of the
Bewick was responsible for the revival
of wood engraving, he had no (school »
Roman Empire. The three volumes ad-
in the conventional sense. Mr. Dobson
mirably tell the story of books, from their
explains the marked differences between
beginnings in Babylonia, Egypt, India,
Bewick's method and that of Dürer and
Persia, China, Greece, and Rome, to the
Holbein, and credits him with several
age of the printed in place of the manu-
inventions.
script book; and then the immensely
expanded story from Gutenberg's produc-
tion of a working printing-press to the
Book of Days, The, edited by Robert
Chambers. These two large vol-
«Act of Queen Anne. It would be hard
umes (which have for their sub-title (A
to find a more entertaining or a more
Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in con-
delightfully instructive story than that
nection with the Calendar)) contain a
here drawn from wide resources of schol-
arly research, critical discernment, and
curious and interesting collection of what
its editor calls old fireside ideas. This
broadly sympathetic appreciation of every
encyclopedic work was published in Ed-
phase of a great theme, and handled with
inburgh in 1863; and in bringing it out,
happy literary skill. The history of the
the editor expressed a desire to preserve
making of manuscript books in the mon-
interest in what is poetical, elevated,
asteries, and later in the universities,
honest, and of good report, in the old
and of some libraries of such books; and
national life," — recognizing the histori-
the further history of the great printer-
cal, and even the ethical, importance of
publishers after the revival of learning,
keeping this active and progressive age
and of some of the greatest authors, such
in touch with obsolescent customs, man-
as Erasmus and Luther, is a record of
ners, and traditions. Beginning with
that pathway through twelve centuries
January first, each day of the year has
which has more of light and life than
any other we can follow.
its own curious or appropriate selection,
By readers
who value literature as bread of life and
and its allowance of matters connected
with the Church Calendar, - including
source of light to mankind, Mr. Put-
the popular festivals, saints' days, and
nam's volumes will have a first place.
holidays,— with illustrations of Christian
Bostonians, The, a novel of the present
antiquities in general. There is also day, by Henry James, was published
much folk-lore of the United Kingdom, in 1886. Written in a satirical vein, it
embracing popular notions and observ- presents with unpleasant fidelity a strong-
ances connected with times and seasons; minded Boston woman possessed by a


## p. 206 (#242) ############################################

206
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
cause
of the most conspicuous and remarkable
scholars in law and founders of legal
practice in American history. A profes-
sor of law in Columbia College in 1796;
judge of the Supreme Court of the State
in 1798; Chief Justice in 1804; Chancel-
lor in 1814-23. On retiring from the
bench in 1823, Kent resumed the work
of a Columbia professor, and gave lect-
ures which grew into the Commenta-
ries); the wide and accurate learning of
which, with their clearness of exposi-
tion, have given him a high and perma-
nent place among the greatest teachers
of law. His decisions as Chancellor,
published 1816–24, almost created Amer.
ican chancery law: and he added to his
great work a (Commentary on Interna-
tional Law,' 1866; Abdy's Edition, 1877.
A notable edition of the Commenta-
ries) is that edited by O. W. Holmes, Jr. ,
1873.
«mission. ” Olive Chancellor, a pale,
nervous, intense Bostonian, who takes
life hard,” is never so happy as when
struggling, striving, suffering in a cause.
The
to which she is devoted
throughout the novel is the emancipa-
tion of women. Living in a one-sex
universe of her own creation, she takes
no account of men, or regards them as
monsters and tyrants. When the book
opens she discovers, or believes she dis-
covers, a kindred soul, - Verena Tarrant,
the daughter of a mesmeric healer, a
beautiful red-haired impressionable girl;
a singularly attractive prey for the mon-
ster man, but possessed nevertheless of
gifts invaluable to the cause of women's
rights, if properly utilized. Certain phases
of Boston life-as women's club meet-
ings, intellectual séances, and lectures —
are depicted with great cleverness; and
the characters are delineated with his
wonted shrewdness and humor. The
novel abounds in epigrammatic sentences.
Olive's smile is likened to a thin ray
of moonlight resting upon the wall of a
prison. ” The smile of Miss Birdseye, a
worn philanthropist, was “a mere sketch
of a smile,- a kind of installment, or pay-
ment on account; it seemed to say that
she would smile more if she had time. )
Miss Chancellor was not old - she was
sharply young. ”
Copyright, The Question of. Compris-
ing the Text of the Copyright Law
of the United States, A Summary of the
Copyright Laws at present in force in the
chief countries of the world, together
with a Report of the Legislation pending
in Great Britain, a Sketch of the contest
in the United States (1837-88), in be-
half of International Copyright, and cer-
tain papers on the development of the
conception of literary property, and on
the results of the American Act of 1891.
Compiled by George Haven Putnam. (2d
Ed. Revised, 1896. ) The full and exact
account on the title-page, and the name of
the scholarly publisher who has prepared
the work, are a guarantee that nothing
more could be desired for an arsenal of
argument on copyright and a handbook
of information absolutely complete.
Cºmme
ommentaries on American Law, by
James Kent. (4 vols. , 1826–30. ) Edi-
tion Annotated by C. M. Barnes, 1884.
The celebrated Kent's Commentaries,
ranking in the literature of law with the
English Blackstone. The work of one
>
Commentaries on the Laws of Eng-
land, appearing from 1765 to 1768,
is the title of the celebrated law-book
composed at forty-two by Sir William
Blackstone, successively professor of law
at Oxford and justice of the Court of
Common Pleas in London. Unique
among law treatises, it passed through
eight editions in the author's lifetime,
and has been annotated numberless times
since, for the use of students and prac-
titioners. It comprises a general discus-
sion of the legal constitution of Eng-
land, its laws, their origin, development,
and present state; viewed as if the author
were at work enthusiastically detailing
the plans and structure of a stately edi-
fice, complete, organic, an almost perfect
human creation, with such shortcomings
only as attend all human endeavor.
The complacent, often naive, tone of
fervent admiration betrays the attitude
of an urbane, typical Tory gentleman of
the eighteenth century, speaking to oth-
ers of equal temper and station concern-
ing their glorious common inheritance, -
the splendid instrument for promoting
and regulating justice that had been
wrought out from the remnants of the
Roman jurisprudence through slow, la-
borious centuries, by dint of indomitable
British common-sense, energy, and intel-
lect. The insularity and concordant air
of tolerance with the established order
of things gives piquancy to the lim-
pid, easy style, dignified and grace-
ful, with which a mass of legal facts is


## p. 207 (#243) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
207
man
correc-
(
ordered, arranged, and presented, with
Man of Feeling, A, by Henry Mac-
abundant pertinent illustration. Espe- kenzie. This short novel, published
cially characteristic is the account of anonymousiy in 1771, is said to have
the rise and status of equity practice, created as much interest in England,
and of the various courts of the realm. when first published, as did La Nou-
Thoroughly a of his complacent velle Héloise) in France. It is remark-
time, untroubled by any forecast of the able for its perspicuity of style; though
intellectual and social ferment at the it shows the influence which Sterne ex-
close of his century, Blackstone has yet ercised over the author. Endeavoring
written for the generations since his to profit by the fact that the author
day the most fascinating and compre- was unknown, a clergyman of Bath,
hensive introduction to legal study in Mr. Eccles, claimed to be the author,
English; and has the distinction of hav- presenting a manuscript with
ing written the sole law-book that by its tions, erasures, etc. Although the pub-
literary quality holds an unquestioned lisher then announced the name of the
position in English literature.
real author, on Eccles's tomb is in.
scribed: «Beneath this stone, the Man
Lan
and of Cokaine, The. An old Eng- of Feeling lies. ” The story purports
lish poem, of a date previous to the to be the remainder of a manuscript
end of the twelfth century, preserved,
left after the curate had extracted sey-
among other sources, in Hickes's The- eral leaves at random for gun-wadding.
saurus) and the Early English Poems) Young Harley, who is in love with his
of Furnivall. The name appears also neighbor's daughter, Miss Walton, sets
in the French and German literatures, out for London with the object of ac-
sometimes as “Cocaigne,' again as (Co- quiring the lease of an adjoining prop-
kaygne. ' In every instance it represents erty. His experiences on the trip make
an earthly land of delight, a kind of up several short stories.
He is a great
Utopia. Dr. Murray thinks the name physiognomist, but is deceived by two
implies <fondling, -a gibe of country-
)).
plausible gamblers. He visits Bedlam
folk at the luxurious Londoners.
Hospital; and the pitiable sights there
The old English poem in question is seen are described. A very interesting
a naive description of the extremely chapter is that describing a dinner with
unspiritual delights of a land on the a Misanthrope, in which the latter's
borders of the earth, «beyond West complaints of his time seem to be the
Spain, where all the rivers run wine sempiternal ones of all nations. The
or oil, or at least milk, where the shin-
story of his meeting with Miss Atkins,
gles of the houses are wheaten cakes, her rescue from a brothel and return
and the pinnacles “fat puddings,” and to her father, is skillfully told. The
where,- undoubted climax of felicity, cruelties of the press-gang, and of the
(water serveth to nothing but to siyt treatment of East-Indian subjects, af-
(boiling) and to washing. "
ford an opportunity for the «Man of
In this fair land of Cokaine, where Feeling) to condemn the East-Indian
no one sleeps or works, and where men policy of the government.
Upon his
fly at will like the birds, stand a great return, believing that Miss Walton is
abbey and cloisters both for nuns and to marry another, he falls sick. She
monks. The ease and gayety of the visits him; and her acknowledgment
religious vocation in this paradise of that she returns his affection does not
gray friars and white is depicted with come soon enough to save his life.
the broad humor and exceeding frank-
ness of our forefathers. It is a satire
Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth. Belinda
on the morals and pretensions of the Portman, the charming niece of Mrs.
ecclesiastical body; but, though the pict- | Stanhope, goes to spend the winter in
ure is painted in colors veiled by no London with Lady Delacour, a brilliant
reverence, they are mixed with little and fashionable woman; at her house
bitterness. The author laughs rather she meets Clarence Hervey for the first
than sneers.
time. He admires Belinda and she likes
The French poem of the same name, him, but mutual distrust serves to keep
Pays de Cocaigne, differs from the them apart. Belinda is greatly beloved
English in that it lacks the whole sa- in the household; and her influence al-
tirical description of the cloisters.
most succeeds in bringing about a recon-
»


## p. 208 (#244) ############################################

208
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
>>>
ciliation between Lady Delacour and her | Light of Asia, The; by Edwin Arnold.
dissipated husband, when her Ladyship (1878. ) The Light of Asia) is a
becomes most unreasonably jealous, and poetic exposition in eight books of the
Belinda is forced to seek refuge with her Hindoo theology. It was,” the author
friends the Percivals. While there, Mr. says, «inspired by an abiding desire to
Vincent, a young Creole, falls violently aid in the better mutual knowledge of
in love with her; but the old friendship East and West. ” Through the medium
with Lady Delacour is re-established, and of a devout Buddhist, Arnold presents
Belinda returns without having bound the life of the young Gautama, living in
herself to him. Believing that Clarence princely joy, shielded from every care
Hervey's affections are already engaged,
and pain. He develops the wistfully
she would have married Mr. Vincent had dreamy character of the young prince
she not discovered his taste for gaming. into the loftiness of the noble, loving
Clarence is deeply in love with Belinda, Buddha, who “cast away the world to
but feels obliged to marry Virginia St. save the world. The religious teaching
Pierre, whom he had educated to be is merely indicated, because of the limi-
his wife. Fortunately she loves another. tations of the laws of poetry and the
The story ends happily with the recon- sacrifice of philosophical details to dra-
ciliation of the Delacours, and the mar- matic effect.
riage of Clarence Hervey and Belinda. The Buddha of Arnold teaches that
the way to attain Nirvana, the highest
Ben , desire of every soul, is through four
Lew Wallace. The scene of this ex- truths. The first truth is Sorrow: "Life
tremely popular story is laid in the East, which ye prize is long-drawn agony. ”
principally in Jerusalem, just after the The second truth is Sorrow's Cause:
Christian era. The first part is introduc- «Grief springs of desire. The third
tory, and details the coming of the three truth is Sorrow's Ceasing. The fourth
wise men, Melchior, Kaspar, and Bal- truth is the way, by an eightfold path,
thasar, to worship the Babe born in the « To peace and refuge”; to Nirvana,
manger at Bethlehem. Some fifteen years the reward of him who vanquishes the
later the hero of the tale, Judah Ben Hur, ten great sins. Nirvana, according to
a young lad, the head of a rich and noble the poet, is not annihilation. It is the
family, is living in Jerusalem, with his calm sinless state reached, by the sup-
widowed mother and little sister to whom pression of all fond desires, through an
he is devotedly attached. When Valerius existence continually renewed according
Gratus, the new Roman governor, arrives to the law of Karma. The poem, which
in state, and the brother and sister go up was published in 1878, is rich in sensu-
on the roof to see the great procession ous Oriental pictures and imagery. It
pass, Judah accidentally dislodges a tile has been translated
lan-
which fells the governor to the ground. guages, both European and Asiatic; and
Judah is accused of intended murder; has done much to create an interest in
his (till then) lifelong friend Messala, a the religion of Buddha.
Roman noble, accuses him of treasonable In 1890 appeared The Light of the
sentiments, his property is confiscated, World,' written, it was said, to silence
and he is sent to the galleys for life. In the criticism that Buddha was Christ
the course of the narrative, which in- under another name, and to show the
volves many exciting adventures of the essential differences in the teachings of
hero, John the Baptist and Jesus of Naza- the two. The story follows the histor-
reth are introduced, and Ben Hur is con- ical life of Jesus.
It is divided into
verted to the Christian faith through the five sections, each of which sets forth a
miracles of our Lord.
special aspect of the divine life. De-
This book is one of the most success- spite its Oriental setting, the character
ful examples of modern romantic fiction. of Christ remains simple and dignified.
It displays great familiarity with Ori- Like its predecessor, the book has be-
ental customs and habits of mind, good come a popular favorite.
constructive ability, and vivid powers of
description. The story of the Sea Fight, John Inglesant, a notable historical
for example, and of the Chariot Race romance by J. H. Shorthouse, was
(quoted in the LIBRARY), are admirably published in 1881, when he was forty-
vivid and exciting episodes.
seven years old. It depicts with a won-
into many


## p. 209 (#245) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
209
derful atmosphere of reality the England
of Charles I. 's time, and the Italy of
the seventeenth century, when the tar-
nished glories of the Renaissance were
concealed by exaggerations of art and
life and manners. In John Inglesant,'
the hero, is drawn one of the most com-
plete portraits of a gentleman to be
found in the whole range of fiction.
Like a Vandyke courtier, he is an aris-
tocrat of the soul, sustaining the obliga-
tions of his rank with a kind of gracious
melancholy. Of a sensitive, dreamy tem-
perament, possessing consummate tact,
he has been trained from childhood by a
Jesuit Father, St. Clare, for the office of
court diplomat, and of mediator between
the Catholics and Protestants in Eng-
land. His introduction to the court of
Charles I. is the beginning of a most
picturesque and dramatic career in Eng-
land, and afterwards in Italy, where he
goes to seek the murderer of his twin-
brother Eustace. He enters into the
sumptuous life of the Renaissance; but
in his worldly environment he never
blunts his fine sense of honor, nor loses
his ethereal atmosphere of purity. When
he at last finds his brother's murderer
in his power, he delivers him over in a
spirit of divine chivalry to the vengeance
of Christ. The novel as a whole is like
an old-world
romance, a seventeenth-
century Quest of the Holy Grail. It
abounds in rich descriptions of the
highly colored spectacular existence of
the time, and follows with sympathy
and comprehension the trend of its com-
plex religious life.
He per-
where she lives with surly Tony Fos-
ter as guardian, and his honest young
daughter, Janet, as attendant.
Amy
had formerly been engaged to Tressil-
ian, a worthy protégé of her father.
Tressilian discovers her hiding-place; and
not believing her married, vainly tries
to induce her to return home. He then
appeals to the queen before the whole
court. A disclosure of the truth means
Leicester's ruin, but seems inevitable,
when his confidential follower, the un-
scrupulous Richard Varney, saves the
situation. He affirms Amy to be his
own wife, and is ordered to appear with
her at the approaching revels at Kenil-
worth, Leicester's castle, which the
queen is to visit. Amy scornfully re-
fuses to appear as Varney's wife, and
Varney attempts to drug her. In fear
of her life, she escapes and makes her
way to Kenilworth.
The magnificent
pageant prepared there for Elizabeth,
and the motley crowds flocking to wit-
ness it, are brilliantly described. Amy
cannot gain access to her husband, but
is discovered and misjudged by Tressil-
ian. The Queen finds her half-fainting
in a grotto, and again Varney keeps
her from learning the truth.
suades Elizabeth that Amy is mad.
He persuades Leicester that she is false
and loves Tressilian, and obtains the
earl's signet ring and authority to act
for him. Amy is hurried back to Cum-
Place. There, decoyed from her
room by her husband's signal, she steps
on a trap-door prepared by Varney and
Foster, and is plunged to death, just
before Tressilian and Sir Walter Raleigh
arrive to take her back to Kenilworth.
They have been sent by Elizabeth, to
whom Leicester, discovering the injust-
ice of his suspicions, has confessed all.
He falls into the deepest disgrace; and
Elizabeth, feeling herself insulted both
as queen and as woman, treats him with
scorn and contempt. Kenilworth) is re-
garded as one of the most delightful of
English historical romances.
Redgauntlet, by Sir Walter Scott
.
Sir Alberick Redgauntlet, ardently
espousing the cause of the Young Pre-
tender in 1745, pays for his enthusiasm
with his life. The guardianship of his
infant and daughter is left to
his brother, outlawed for violent adher-
nor
Kenilworth, by Sir Walter Scott, ap-
peared in 1819, when its author was
fifty and had long been distinguished
both as poet and novelist. Kenilworth)
was the second of his great romances
drawn from English history. The cen-
tral figure is that of Elizabeth, the
haughty queen. She is surrounded by
the brilliant and famous characters of
the period — Burleigh, Edmund Spenser,
Sir Walter Raleigh; and also by a host
of petty sycophants. The Earl of Sur-
rey and the Earl of Leicester are rivals,
each high in her favor, each thought to
be cherishing a hope of winning her
hand. But beguiled by the charms of
Amy Robsart, the daughter of a coun-
try gentleman, Leicester has secretly
married her, and established her at
Cumnor Place, a lonely manor-house
son
to the House of Stuart; but the
widow, ascribing her bereavement to
ence
XXX-14


## p. 210 (#246) ############################################

2 IO
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
es
a
the politics of the Redgauntlets, desires and the intimate knowledge of men and
to rear her children in allegiance to women that Miss Austen always shows.
the reigning dynasty. The little girl Mr. Bennet, amiable and peace-loving,
having been kidnapped by her guard- es to Mrs.
Bennet, his querulous,
ian, the mother fees with her boy; who, ambitious, and narrow-minded wife, the
ignorant of his lineage, is brought up difficult task of marrying off his five
in obscurity under the name of Dar- daughters. Her daughter Elizabeth,
sie Latimer. Warned by his mother's though not so beautiful as Jane, is the
agents to shun England, the young man brightest and most attractive member
ventures for sport into the forbidden of the family. She has a lively dispo-
territory, and is seized by Redgaunt- sition, frank; pleasing manners, and a
let. Detained as a prisoner, Darsie at warm heart; and though bitterly prej-
length learns his true name and rank, and udiced against Mr. Darcy, the wealthy,
meets his sister, now grown to charm- dignified hero, his excellent qualities
ing womanhood. Redgauntlet, a des- and faithful devotion win her at last,
perate partisan, endeavors by persuasion and she forgives the pride from which
and threats to involve his nephew in he stooped to conquer her. Among the
new plot to enthrone the Chevalier, minor characters are George Wickham,
and conveys the youth by force to fascinating and unprincipled, who elopes
the rendezvous of the conspirators. with Lydia Bennet; Mr. Bingley, Dar-
Meanwhile, Darsie's disappearance has cy's handsome friend, who marries Jane
alarmed his devoted friend, Alan Fair- Bennet; and Mr. Collins, a small-souled,
ford, a young Scotch solicitor; who, in strait-laced clergyman.
The scene is
spite of great danger, traces him to laid in England in the country; and the
the gathering-place of the conspiring characters are the ladies and gentlemen
Jacobites. The plot, predestined to fail-
Miss Austin describes so well in her
ure through Charles Edward's obstinate novels. Pride and Prejudice) was pub-
rejection of conditions, is betrayed by
lished in 1813. It was Miss Austen's
Redgauntlet's servant, and the conspir-
first novel, and was written when she
ators quickly dispersed, their position was twenty-one years old, in 1796.
rendered absurd by the good-natured
clemency of George III. Redgauntlet, Botanic Garden, The, by Erasmus
chagrined at the fiasco, accompanies
Darwin. The first part of this long
the Chevalier to France, and ends his poem appeared in 1781; and received
adventurous
in monastery. so warm a welcome that the second part,
Darsie, now Sir Arthur Redgauntlet, containing the Loves of the Plants,' was
remains loyal to the House of Han- published in 1789. It was intended «to
over, and bestows his sister's hand describe, adorn, and allegorize the Lin-
upon Alan Fairford (in whom, accord- næan system of botany. After the clas-
ing to Lockhart, Scott drew his own
sic fashion of his day, the poet adopts a
portrait).
galaxy of gnomes, fays, sylphs, nymphs,
Sixteenth in the Waverly series, "Red- and salamanders; affording, as he says,
gauntlet) was issued in 1824, two years
«a proper machinery for a botanic poem,
before the crash that left Scott penni- as it is probable they were originally the
less. Though showing haste, the tale
names of hieroglyphic figures represent-
does not flag in interest, and even the
ing the elements. And concerning the
minor characters -- notably Peter Pee- (Loves of the Plants,' he remarks that
bles the crazy litigant, Wandering Willie
as Ovid transmuted men and women,
the vagabond fiddler, and Nanty Ewart and even gods and goddesses, into trees
the smuggler — are living and individual. and flowers, it is only fair that some of
them should be re-transmuted into their
ide and Prejudice, by Jane Aus-
Pride
original shapes.
. The story of Pride and Prej-
« From giant oaks, that wave their branches
udice) is extremely simple: it is a his-
dark,
tory of the gradual union of two people, To the dwarf moss that clings upon their bark,
one held back by unconquerable pride
What beaux and beauties crowd the gaudy groves,
And woo and win their vegetable loves ! »
and the other blinded by prejudice; but
in spite of little plot, the interest is sus- The whole poem, of many hundreds of
tained through the book. The charac- lines, is written in this glittering heroic
ters are drawn with humor, delicacy, verse; some of which is poetical, but the
career
a


## p. 211 (#247) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
211
more
>
over
the grass,
greater part labored, prosaic, and uninter-
esting. The book might have been for-
gotten but for the parody upon it, (The
Loves of the Triangles,' which appeared
in the Anti-Jacobin; much to the amuse-
ment, it is said, of the caricatured poet.
As the grandfather of Charles Darwin,
and as an early observer of some of the
natural phenomena upon which the Dar-
winian system rests, Erasmus Darwin has
of late years become once more an in-
teresting figure.
Botany, A History of, 1530-1860, by
Julius von Sachs. (1875. English
translation, 1889. ) Not a specially sci-
entific book, but an admirable contribu-
tion to the literature of science, giving in
most readable form the story of botan-
ical discoveries and developments during
more than three centuries. Dr. Sachs has
long stood at the head of living botanists.
His great work on The Physiology of
Plants, not dealing with external aspects
of the plant world at all, but devoted en-
tirely to the inner life of plants, not only
shows the high-water mark of botany as
a science, but is a book of the greatest
interest for readers. In his History' he
has presented a most interesting narrative
of the successive stages of botanical ad-
vance, the guesses that were made and
the false views adopted, the true discov-
eries by which real knowledge was arrived
at, the resistance at times to these ad-
vances in consequence of the difficulty of
exchanging old views for new; and the
final conquests of truth and the broad
development of an exceptionally inter-
esting science.
Maine Woods, The, by Henry D. Tho-
reau, was published in 1864. When
the first essay was written the author
was forty-seven years old; but the whole
book, while filled with shrewd philo-
sophic observations, has all the youthful
enthusiasm of a boy's first hunting ex-
pedition into the wilds of Maine. And
it is this quality that makes his expe.
riences so charming alike to young and
old. Lowell says, “among the pistillate
plants kindled to fruitage by Emerson-
ian pollen, Thoreau is thus far the most
remarkable, and it is eminently fitting
that his posthumous works should be
offered us by Emerson, for they are
strawberries from his own garden. A
singular mixture indeed there is: Alpine
some of them, with the flavor of rare
mountain air ; others wood, tasting of
sunny roadside banks or shy openings
in the forest; and not a few seedlings
swollen hugely by culture, but lacking
the fine natural aroma of the
modest kinds. Strange books these are
of his, and interesting in many ways,
instructive chiefly as showing how con-
siderable a crop may be raised in a com-
paratively narrow close of mind. » If
the lovers of Thoreau count this judg-
ment as less than the truth, it neverthe-
less contains a truth. These sketches
treat of expeditions with the Indians
among Maine rivers and hills, where
unsophisticated nature delights the bot.
anist, zoologist, and social philosopher.
In the first essay are many shrewd
comments upon the pioneers as he sees
them. «The deeper you penetrate into
the woods,” he says, “the more intelli-
gent, and in one sense the less countri.
fied, do you find the inhabitants; for
always the pioneer has been a traveler
and to some extent a man of the world. )
<< There were the germs of one
or two villages just beginning to ex-
pand. ”
«The air was a sort of
diet-drink! »
(the lakes, a mir-
ror broken into a thousand fragments
and wildly scattered
reflecting the full blaze of the sun. »
The book is full of strange doings of
the Indians who talk with the mus-
quashes (muskrats) as with friends, of
the varied panorama of nature, and the
picturesque lives of the busy lumbermen
and the hardy pioneers.
Pepacton, by John Burroughs. This
book was published in 1881, and
is one of the most pleasing of the many
delightful collections of papers on out-
door subjects that Mr. Burroughs has
given us. It takes its title from the
Indian name of one of the branches
of the Delaware; and the first paper
gives account of a holiday trip
down this stream in a boat of the
writer's own manufacture. In the next
he
tells
many interesting facts
about springs, and their significance
in the development of civilization. In-
deed, in all the papers he shows him-
self not only the close scientific ob-
server, but the poet who sees the hidden
meanings of things. Perhaps he is most
interesting when he combines literature
with nature, as in the essay on Birds
and the Poets,) in which he shows that
most of the American poets have been
an
us


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2 1 2
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
the essays
are
a
inaccurate in their descriptions of na- his affront to her. Offitt stealthily enters
ture. As he says, the poet deals chiefly Farnham's home, strikes him with a ham-
with generalities, but when he descends mer borrowed from Sleeny, and makes
to the particular he should be accurate. off with a large sum of money — just as
Longfellow has erred most in this re- Alice and Mrs. Belding arrive in time to
spect, while Bryant, Emerson, and above care for Farnham's serious hurts. Offitt
all Whitman, have been more careful. dexterously directs suspicion to Sleeny,
The rhyme for “woodpecker” seems to who is arrested. The real culprit hastens
trouble the poets; as Mr. Burroughs to Maud, and urges her to fly with him.
puts it-
Suspecting the truth, she refuses, and
«Emerson rhymes it with bear,
wheedles from Offitt his secret, which
Lowell rhymes it with hear;
she at once reveals. In the mean while,
One makes it woodpeckair,
The other woodpeckear. "
Sleeny breaks jail and flies to Maud's
home. Here he meets Offitt, and kills
In another paper he demonstrates
him for his perfidy. Sleeny is at once
Shakespeare's surprisingly accurate
cleared of the charge of assaulting Farn-
knowledge and use of natural facts,
ham, but is tried for the killing of Of-
and that the close observer and analyst
fitt and acquitted upon the ground of
of the human heart had an equally
temporary insanity. The book is brill-
keen sense for the doings of birds and
iantly written, and its presentation of the
flowers. There is also an attractive
conditions of «labor» is very graphic.
study of our fragrant flowers, and of
Though it had a great vogue, its author-
the origin and propensities of weeds.
ship has never been acknowledged.
(The Idyl of the Honey-Bee) almost
sends one to the woods bee-hunting,
in general, the writer's enthusiasm for Bluffton, by M. J. Savage. This story
outdoor things is contagious. For this
is a new Pilgrim's Progress,' from
reason
more than
an untenable Valley of Content through
charmingly written record of the author's
Sloughs of Despond, over Hills of Diffi-
The hero,
own observations, they are an inspira- culty, to a Land of Peace.
tion to search out the secrets of nature
Mark Forrest, is a young clergyman
at first hand.
trained in the very straitest sect of Cal-
vinistic theology, who, having broadened
Bread-Winners, The, a brief novel
, his mind by travel and encounters with
appeared anonymously in 1883. It men of all sorts and conditions, finds
is a social study of modern life. Alfred himself so far liberalized in thought that
Farnham, a retired army officer, takes he can no longer preach his former doc-
a kindly interest in Maud Matchin, trines. He is called to a flourishing
the handsome but vulgar daughter of church in the Mississippi Valley town of
a master carpenter in a Western city. Bluffton, where most of the congregation
Maud's head is turned by Farnham's approve and accept his preaching of
kindness, and she boldly confesses her practical Christianity; but a few conserv-
love to him — which is not reciprocated. atives try to dismiss him, and finally to
Maud's rejected lover, Sam Sleeny, an depose him for heresy. He is engaged to
honest but ignorant journeyman in Match- Margaret, the beautiful daughter of one
in's employ, is jealous of Farnham. He of these, Judge Hartley; but as she can-
is dominated by Offitt, a vicious dema- not oppose or desert her beloved father,
gogue, and joins a labor-reform organ- the engagement is broken, and Forrest
ization. Farnham loves his beautiful leaves Bluffton and his love for con-
neighbor Alice Belding. She refuses his science's sake. Three years later they
addresses, but soon discovers that her meet by accident in California. The old
heart is really his. During a riotous judge has died, Margaret has become lib-
labor strike (described at length), Farn- eralized, and the lovers marry, agreeing
bam organizes a band of volunteer patrol- to devote their lives to the highest service
men for the protection of life and property. of mankind. Many character sketches
His own house is attacked by the mob, and much good dialogue fill the pages.
and Sleeny assaults its owner with a There is but a slender thread of plot; the
hammer; but failing to kill him, threatens interest of the story lying in the growth
future vengeance.
Offitt now pays his of the hero's convictions, and his manly
addresses to Maud, who intimates that adoption of what seems to him the cause
she desires to see Farnham suffer for of truth, to his own personal loss and


## p. 213 (#249) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
213
>
On the way
a
sorrow. Written about 1876, the book bears her to return to London with him, and
marks of youth and inexperience; but the friends lose track of them. Wade
it has the force which characterizes the goes to find them, and by the aid of
work of a man absolutely in earnest. some paintings of their wild experiences
in the West, which he recognizes as
John Brent; by Theodore Winthrop, the work of Miss Clitheroe, he is able
was published in 1862, after the to track down father and daughter, and
death of the author in one of the ear- the lovers are reunited. In spite of the
liest engagements of the American Civil pleasant love element that runs through
War, - that at Big Bethel, Virginia. It the story, the reader feels that Fulano,
is his best-known and most striking the noble brute, shares with John Brent
story. Richard Wade, an unsuccessful the honors of hero.
California miner, has been summoned
East by family news and decides to Mademoiselle Mori, by Miss Margaret
Roberts. The writer tells us that
travel across the plains on horseback.
the words: «First I am a woman, with
He exchanges his mine for a superb
black stallion which is supposed to be
the duties, feelings, and affections of a
woman; and then I am an artist, may
unmanageable. In Wade's hands it be-
be taken as the text on which this tale
comes docile and kind, and he names
it Don Fulano. An old friend, John
was composed. Many incidents are true,
Brent, a roving genius of noble charac-
having occurred during the Italian revo-
lution of 1848-49. The author says that
ter, agrees to ride with him, Brent hav-
ing a fine iron-gray horse.
it is far from being a picture of all that
Rome did and suffered at that time,
they are joined by a couple of low
scoundrels, giving the names of Smith
being but a sketch of the way in which
and Robinson; and near Salt Lake City
private lives are affected by convulsions
they meet cavalcade of Mormons
in the body politic. The scene is Rome,
and the story that of the lives of Irene
under the leadership of a sleek rascal
named Sizzum. In the company is an
Mori and her brother Vincenzo. Irene
English gentleman, Mr. Clitheroe, with
is an opera singer, her brother a cripple
and a wood carver.
his beautiful daughter Ellen; Clitheroe
They are helped
has become a Mormon, half against his
in the day of great want by Mrs. Dal-
will, and is under the influence and in
zell, an English widow. Both are ardent
the power of Sizzum, who has lured him
patriots. Irene is engaged to Leone
to America and who admires Ellen. In
Nota, a poet and a patriot, but is also
the Rockies she is abducted by Smith
loved by Count Clementi, a traitor to
and Robinson, whose real
the cause of freedom which he feigns to
serve.
Murker and Larrap. Wade and Brent,
There is a secondary love story,
joined by one Armstrong, whose brother
that of Luigi Raretti, a soldier betrothed
has been murdered by the abductors,
to sweet little Imelda Olivetti, but at.
give chase on their horses. This ride
tracted by the fiery Gemma Clementi,
of the three avengers, side by side, over
whom he at last sees in her true colors,
when he returns to Imelda. There are
the plains, is described with great vivid-
ness and dramatic power. There is
delightful descriptions of the many curi-
something epic in its intensity, large-
ous customs and festivals of Rome. The
ness of sweep, and nobility of motive.
story was written in 1859.
Brent's horse, Pumps, breaks down; but Black Sheep. The. A novel by Ed-
Wade takes his friend ,
Yates. (1867. )
and they finally ride the villains down las is the black sheep of his family. His
in a mountain defile. Brent is wounded, mother, a widow, has married Capel Car-
but not dangerously. The tale then ruthers, a wealthy, pompous, narrow-
continues the account of the eastward minded bit of starched propriety. Carru-
trip and the heroic exploits of Fulano,
thers refuses to make a home for the youth
who is a paragon of horses, Winthrop's on his splendid estates, and casts him
warm love for these animals making the
adrift on the world. George becomes
sketch very sympathetic. Don Fulano wild and reckless, and moves in a set of
is shot by Murker's brother, who thus black sheep”; men and women mostly
avenges the death of his kin. Brent of gentle birth like himself, who have
loves Ellen and she returns his love,
fallen into evil ways.
Chief among
but her faithfulness to her father leads these are George Routh and his wife
names
are


## p. 214 (#250) ############################################

214
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
as
a
more
Harriet, professional sharpers, who deem self-support a missionary. Fresh
it to their interest to get him into their from a country parsonage and a life
power. Routh is a scamp by nature. of quiet reading, she rejoices in the
His wife, an innocent girl, falls to his beauty of her surroundings and their
level through her overwhelming love classic associations. Her fellow voy-
for him. Routh lends Dallas the money ager, Hubertsen De Vries, hand-
to pay a gambling debt to a mysterious some and well-born young American,
American named Deane. The style of sympathizes with her enthusiasm, and
the story is energetic, and its rapid com- impresses her with his scholarship.
plications make it interesting.
At Beirut, Irene is introduced to a
medley of nationalities, and enters upon
Birch Dene, by William Westall. The
scene of this sombre story is laid in
a busy pleasant life at the missionary
London and the North of England, the
station. The beauty and gay colors of
the East, its novelty, and simpler, more
England of George . IV. and the landed
passionate life, stimulate her emotional
proprietor. A young gentlewoman, wife
nature. She sees a great deal of the
of an officer, comes up to London with
her child, to meet her husband, on his re-
commonplace consul, unable to master
turn from extended foreign service. He
a foreign tongue, and hungry for Amer-
does not arrive, and she can hear no news
ican companionship; and of a fierce
of him. Friendless and alone, she falls
young doctor, a self-made man, soured
into dire want; and finally, one stormy
in the process, who teaches her Syriac.
day, snatches a little cloak hanging out-
She continues her friendship with De
Vries, to whom the good things of life
side a shop, for her shivering boy. She is
have always come so easily that he
immediately seized and brought to trial.
lacks eagerness, and is somewhat slow
In the criminal code of that day, steal-
in discovering whether or not he loves
ing an article valued at five shillings or
the pretty missionary until the out-
was one among one hundred and
break of war exposes Irene to danger,
fifty capital crimes; and the poor woman
and affords her admirers an opportu-
is sentenced to be hanged, a fate she
nity to show their worth.
escapes by dropping dead in the dock.
Stricken with brain fever after the trial, Clarissa Furiosa; by W. E. Norris,
the poor little lad, Robin, cannot remem- This story, which may be regarded
ber his father's name, which his mother in the light of a satire on the New
had carefully concealed, nor where he Woman,” is perhaps the least successful
was born.
He is sheltered and brought of the clever author's novels. Clarissa
up by a kindly old bookseller; but on the Dent, an orphan, rich, petted, and pretty,
death of his benefactor, when no will is after a brief courtship marries Guy Lut-
found, the little property passes to
trell, a soldier. Clarissa goes with the
nephew, a miserly undertaker. To get regiment to Ceylon, where Guy flirts,
rid of Robin, now aged nineteen, he ap- and she concludes that incompatibility of
prentices him to a cotton-spinner in the views must separate them; she returns
Lancashire village of Birch Dene. The to England, and most of the story is
interest of the story lies in its graphic taken up with the semi-public life to
portraiture of the English industrial life which she devotes herself. The book is
of the early part of the century, in its amusing, like all of Norris's, and the
study of artisan character, its clever in- workmanship is of course good. But the
vention of incident and plot, and its note is forced, and the reader feels the
humane spirit.
writer's want of genuine interest in his
characters. It was first published in the
Irene the Missionary, by John Wil-
liam De Forest, 1879, is a pleasant
Cornhill Magazine, in 1896.
love-story in an Oriental setting, and a Cleopatra, by H. Rider Haggard. This,
very clever study of Americans abroad. the most ambitious of Haggard's
Its chief characters are fine, sincere, lik- romances, presents a vigorous picture of
able young people; and there are bright Egypt under the rule of the wonderful
descriptions of the novel
in
Harmachis, priest and magi-
which they find their happiness. Irene, cian, descendant of the Pharaohs, tells
a beautiful, imaginative girl, is intro- his own story. Certain nobles, hating
duced on her way through the Ægean the Greek Cleopatra and her dealings
Sea to Syria, where she is seeking with Rome, plot to overthrow her, and
a
scenes
Queen.


## p. 215 (#251) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
215
seat Harmachis on her throne.
He en- Priscilla; and from the fact that she was
ters her service to kill her when the the first girl born among the Plymouth
revolt is ripe, but falls in love with her Pilgrims, her career has an especial
and cannot strike. Following this com- interest for readers of history. Yet al-
plication comes plot and counterplot, though Betty gives her name to the
treason and detection, - private griefs book, she is not the heroine. The story
and hates that overthrow empires, and opens when she is about four years old,
the later tragedy of Cleopatra's stormy and continues until after her marriage
life; more than one historic figure ad- with William Pabodie, - critical years in
ding dignity and verisimilitude to the the history of the Plymouth colony, whose
tale. The plot is well managed, and the events are skillfully woven into the nar-
interest maintained. The book is writ-
rative, and whose great men— Winslow,
ten in a curiously artificial manner, care- and Bradford, and the doughty Miles
fully studied. It contains many dramatic Standish, with Dr. Fuller, and the How-
passages, with now and then an unex-
lands, and John Alden himself — appear
pected reminiscence of the manner of
and reappear, with Barbara Bradford
(King Solomon's Mines) and (She); and Priscilla, and the pure, fragile Lora
while its pages are crowded with gor- Standish, whose early death causes her
geous pictures of the splendid material father such sorrow. In sharp contrast
civilization of Egypt.