No More Learning

This work was originally published
a series of papers in Blackwood's
Magazine, the first of them appearing in
1829. They were afterwards published
(in 1834) in two volumes; and have
enjoyed a wide and well-sustained popu-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
orphan, who, with her sister Celia, lives Dorothea, nevertheless, is a sweet and
with her uncle Mr. Brooke, a man of upright character, and her second hus-
vacillating and uneven temperament. band, Ladislaw, is in every way to be
Dorothea's longing for a lofty mission admired. Two secondary love stories in
leads her to marry an elderly and Middlemarch) are those of the witty
wealthy clergyman, Rev. Edward Casau- Mary Garth and the spendthrift Fred
bon, who has retired from the ministry Vincy, and of Celia Brooke and Sir
to give his time to an important piece James Chettam. The chorus, which con-
of literary work. Dorothea, though not stantly reflects Middlemarch sentiment
yet twenty, hopes to be his amanuensis at every turn of affairs, is a large one,
and helper; and is greatly grieved to including Mrs. Fitchett, Mrs. Dill, Mrs.
find that her husband sets slight value Waule, Mrs. Renfrew, Mrs. Plymdale,
on her services. In other ways she has Mrs. Bulstrode, Mrs. Vincy; and among
been disillusioned before the death of the men, Mr. Dollop, Mr. Dill, Mr. Bro-
Mr. Casaubon, a year and a half after throp Trumbull, Mr. Horrock, Mr. Wrech,
their marriage. A rather insulting pro- Mr. Thesiger, and Mr. Standish.
vision of his will directs that his widow More carefully drawn are the caustic
shall lose her income if she marries Will Mrs. Cadwallader, the self-denying Mr.
Ladislaw, a young cousin of Mr. Casau- Farebrother, hypocritical Mr. Bulstrode,
bon's. Ladislaw is partly of Polish the miser Featherstone, and the honor-
descent; and both his mother and his able Caleb Garth and his self-reliant
grandmother had been disinherited by wife.
their English relatives for marrying for-
eigners. Ladislaw owes his education to Life of Goethe, The, by George Henry
,
Mr. Casaubon; but not until after the Lewes. (1864. ) The first important
death of the latter does the friendship biography in English of the greatest of
between the younger man and Dorothea German writers, this book still holds its
take the tinge of love.
place in the front rank of biographical
Rosamond Vincy, who may be called literature. The volume is a large one,
a minor heroine, is the daughter of the and the detail is infinitely minute, be-
mayor of Middlemarch. She is a beauti- ginning with the ancestry of the poet,
ful girl, whose feeling that she is much and ending with his death in 1832. His
more refined than her commonplace rel- precocity, the school-life and college-life
atives, leads her to lofty matrimonial of the beautiful youth, his welcome in
aspirations. She wins the love of Dr. society, his flirtations, the bohemian
Lydgate, who, though nephew to a bar- years that seemed prodigally wasted, yet
onet, has a hard struggle to esta ish that were to bear rich intellectual fruit
himself as a Middlemarch physician, with when the wild nature should have so-
Dr. Sprague and Dr. Minchin as rivals. bered to its tasks, his friendships, his
Neither he nor his wife knows how to travels, his love-affairs, his theories of
economize; and the latter, feeling her life, his scientific investigations, his
husband's poverty an insult to herself, is dramatic studies, criticisms, and produc-
a hindrance to him in every way.
The tions, his momentary absorption in edu-
story of his efforts to maintain his fam- cational problems, his official distinc-
ily, and at the same time to be true to tions, his intellectual dictatorship, his
his ambition to add to the science of his ever-recurring sentimental experiences, -
profession, is a sad one. In the charac- all the changing phases of that many-
ters of Dorothea and Lydgate George
sided life are made to pass be re the
Eliot develops the main purpose of this reader with extraordinary vividness.
novel, which is less distinctly ethical Like almost all biographers of imagina-
than some of the others. Her aim in tion and strong feeling, Mr. Lewes, who
(Middlemarch) was to show how the means to maintain a strict impartiality,
thought and action of even very high- becomes advocate. He presents
minded persons is apt to be modified Goethe's wonderful mentality without ex-
and altered by their environment. Both aggeration. He does no more than just-
Dorothea and Lydgate become entangled ice to the personal charm which seems
by their circumstances; though in his to have been altogether irresistible. But
the disaster is greater than in it is in spite of his biographer's admis-
hers, and in each case it is a moral and sic rather than because of them, that
not a social decline which is pointed out. Goethe appears in his pages a man from
an
case


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521
was
in the Salem witchcraft trials.
No man
of the time was better furnished with
material to keep a diary, and his was
well done. Its pages afford many a
vivid picture of the early colonial per-
sonages, – their dress and their dinners,
their funerals and weddings, their town
meetings, their piety, their quarrels, and
the innumerable trifles which together
make up life. Mr. Chamberlain finds
this diary a match for Evelyn's and
-
(2
is concerned. He has drawn most of
the material for his book from the three
huge volumes of the journal, following
the career of the diarist from his first
arrival in the colony to his death in
1729. The pages are studded with quo-
tations delightfully quaint and charac-
teristic; and the passages of original
narrative nowhere obscure these invalu-
able (documents. ”
a
whose vital machinery the heart
omitted. Perfect taste he had, exquisite
sentiment, great appreciation, a certain
power of approbation that assumed the
form of affection, but no love,- such the
Goethe whom his admiring disciple
paints. The book presents the senti-
mental German society of the late eigh-
teenth century with entire understand-
ing, and is very rich in memorabilia of
many sorts.
Voltaire, Life of, by James Parton.
vols. , 1881. ) A well-executed at-
tempt to tell the story of the most ex-
traordinary of Frenchmen, and one of
the most extraordinary of human be-
ings”; a writer whose publications count
more than two hundred and sixty in
number, and whose collected works fill
a hundred volumes. Mr. Parton's work
extends to more than 1,200 pages of care-
fully selected biographical evidence,
autobiographical in fact, presenting the
remarkable man and the great writer
delineated by himself. For more
concise work the reader may take John
Morley's (Voltaire, the keynote of
which, on its first page, is the declara-
tion that Voltaire is almost more than
one man, is in himself a whole move-
ment of human advance, like the Re-
vival of Learning, or the Reformation;
an extraordinary person whose existence,
character, and career, constitute in them-
selves a new and prodigious era.
Samuel Sewall, and the World He
Lived In, by N. H. Chamberlain,
is an account of one of the most notable
of the early Puritan worthies, who was
graduated from Harvard College in 1671,
only fifty-one years after the landing of
the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Sewall came
of a good family of English non-con-
formists, who came to this country when
he was a boy of nine. He grew up to
be a councilor and judge, highly es-
teemed among his contemporaries; but
his fame to-day rests not on his achieve-
ments in his profession, but on the re-
markable diary which he kept for fifty-
six years, chronicling minutely the
events of his daily life. He saw all
there was to be seen in public and so-
cial life. As a man of position, con-
nected with the government, he made
many journeys, not only about the col-
ony but over seas to court. As a judge,
he knew all the legal proceedings of the
country, being concerned, for example,
Voyage Around my Chamber, by Xa-
vier De Maistre. (1874. ) A charm-
ing group of miniature essays, polished
like the gems of a necklace, the titles
of which were suggested by the familiar
objects of the author's room.
It was
written during his confinement for forty-
two days under arrest in Turin, while
holding the position of an officer in the
Russian army.
He treats his surround-
ings as composing a large allegory, in
which he reads the whole range of
human life. He depicts with delight
the advantages of this kind of “fire-
side travel," in its freedom from labor,
worry, and expense; and then he shows
under the vast significance of such ob-
jects as the Bed, the Bookcase, the
father's Bust, the Traveling-Coat, and
the instruments of Painting and Music,
the wide range of reflection and delight
into which the soul is thus led. The
bed is the beginning and the end of
earthly life; the library is the pano-
rama of the world's greatest ideals; and
here he reflects on the grandeur and
attractiveness of Lucifer as depicted by
Milton. The traveling-coat suggests the
influence of costume on character, which
is illustrated by the effect of an added
bar or star of an officer's coat on the
wearer's state of mind. (The Animal)
is the heading of the chapter defining
the body as the servant of the soul,
a mistress who sometimes cruelly goes
away and neglects it, as when, while
the mind is absorbed in some entran-


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White Company, The, a
cing thought, the hand catches up heed- an old man
anuscript which he discovers.
lessly the hot poker. The most subtle His ancestor, a priest of Isis, had been
of these interpretations is that of the slain by an immortal white sorceress,
portrait of a fair lady whose eyes fol- somewhere in Africa; and in the an-
low the gazer; but foolish is the lover cient record his descendants are exhorted
who thinks them bent on him alone, for to revenge his death. The sorceress, no
every other finds them gazing equally other than «She, is discovered in a re-
at him even at the same moment. markable country peopled by marvelous
beings, who, as true servants of the sor-
romantic
tale of the fourteenth century, by
ceress, present an exaggerated picture
of the barbaric rites and cruelties of
A. Conan Doyle. Alleyne Edricson, a
Africa. To this strange land comes the
gentle, noble-spirited youth, who has
been sheltered and educated among a
handsome and passionate Englishman,
with two companions who share his
company of white-robed Cistercians in
England, leaves the abbey to make his
many thrilling experiences. A mysteri-
ous bond exists between the young Eng.
way in the world. Together with two
lishman and the sorceress: the memory
sinewy and gallant comrades, Hordie
of the ancient crime and the expectation
John and Samkin Aylward, he attaches
of its atonement. The climax of the
himself to the person and fortunes of
story is reached when the travelers and
Sir Nigel Loring, a doughty knight, the
mirror of chivalry, ever in quest of a
the sorceress together visit the place
where the mysterious fire burns which
passage-at-arms for the honor of his
gives thousands of years of life, loveli-
lady and his own advancement in chiv-
ness, strength, and wisdom, or else swift
alry.
death. She ) for the second time dares
In vigorous phrase and never-flagging
to pass into the awful flame, and so
interest, the tale rehearses how that Sir
meets her doom, being instantly con-
Nigel heads the “White Company, a
sumed. The weird tale does not lack a
band of sturdy Saxon bowmen, free
fitting background for its scenes of ad-
companions, and leads them through
venture, the author choosing an extinct
many knightly encounters in the train
volcano for the scene of the tragedy;
of the Black Prince, in France and
so vast is its crater that it contains a
Spain. The story rings with the clash
great city, while its walls are full of
of arms in tourney lists, during way-
caves containing the marvelously pre-
side encounters and on the battle-field,
served dead of
of a prehistoric people.
and reflects the rude but chivalric spirit
Mr. Haggard's practical knowledge and
of the century.
experience of savage life and wild lands,
Many characters known to history are
his sense of the charm of ruined civili-
set in lifelike surroundings. The move-
zation, his appreciation of sport, and his
ment is rapid, stirring episodes follow
faculty of imparting an aspect of truth
each other rapidly and withal there is
to impossible adventures, find ample ex-
presented a careful picture of the tumult-
pression in this entertaining and wholly
uous times in which the varied scenes
impossible tale.
are laid.
squire, Alleyne, wins his spurs by gal? Uarda, by Georg Moritz Ebers. (1876. )
This is a study of ancient Egyp-
lant conduct, thrillingly told in a passage
tian civilization in the city of Thebes,
which will rank with the author's ablest
in the fourteenth century before Christ,
efforts. Alleyne lives to return, with a
under Rameses II. A narrative of He-
few comrades of the decimated White
rodotus, combined with the Epos of Pen-
Company, and claims the hand of Lady
taur, forms the foundation of the story.
Maude, Sir Nigel's daughter, who has
We have a minute description of the
long loved the young squire, and gladly
weds him as a knight.
dress, the food, the religious customs
and
of the ancient Egyptians.
She, by Rider Haggard. (1887. ) This There are three separate love stories:
is å stirring and exciting tale. Mr. that of Bent-Anat, daughter of Rameses,
Haggard has pictured his hero as going who loves Pentaur, the poet-priest; that
to Africa to avenge the death of an of Nefert, wife of Mena, the king's chari.
Egyptian ancestor, whose strange his- oteer; and that of L'arda herself, who has
tory has been handed down to him in many adorers, for only one of whom she
wars


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523
SO
cares,– Rameri, the king's son. Pentaur
Usurper, The, by Judith Gautier. This
is sent into exile, rescued by Uarda, fol- interesting novel, which was first
lowing in Bent-Anat's train. He saves published in 1875, in two volumes, is
the king in battle, and is rewarded with founded on an episode in Japanese his-
the princess's hand.
Nefert is pur-
tory. The author, who had numbered
sued by Paaker, but is true to her hus- among her instructors a Chinaman, gives
band. Paaker plots to betray Rameses, a most accurate and painstaking descrip-
and perishes in his own trap. It then tion of the feudal and social life and
becomes known that he is the son of a customs of Japan. Taiko-sama, one of
gardener, and Pentaur the true son of the great soldiers of Japan, had reduced
the noble, they having been exchanged the power of the Mikado to a shadow,
at birth. Uarda (The Rose) proves to be and was himself the real ruler with the
grandchild to the king of the Danaids, title of Shogun. Before dying, he mar-
her mother having been taken captive ried his son Fidé-Yori to the grand-
many years before. She marries Ram- daughter of Hyeas, and made the lat-
eri; and after her grandfather's death, ter regent until his son should be of
they rule over many islands of the Med- age.
iterranean and found a famous race.
It is at this time (1614) that the action
of the novel begins. I wakura, Prince
Signor. 1o, II, by Salvatore Farina. of Nagato, who is the intimate friend of
This story of the egoism of Marco Fidé-Yori, is the hero of the tale, who
Antonio Abaté, professor of philosophy endeavors to foil the schemes of Hyeas.
in Milan, is charmingly told. In the Iwakura is in love with the Queen, and
first three chapters, the Professor, in the through her obtains an order for Hyeas
most naive manner, tells of his detesta- to surrender his power to Fidé-Yori.
tion of egoism, and how he has sacri- Hyeas refuses, and a civil war begins.
ficed himself by allowing his dead wife, Iwakura has among his subjects one
and living daughter Serafina, to make named Sado, who resembles him
themselves happy by waiting on him. closely that Sado is enabled to lead a
Iginio Curti, an opera singer, is the life of fashion and folly in his master's
wolf who breaks up his happy home by person while Iwakura is in another
marrying Serafina. Many letters from place serving Fidé-Yori. When war be-
his daughter he returns unopened to gins, he sends Sado to defend Nagato,
Curti. Tiring of his solitary life, he while he, with a band of two hundred
advertises for a wife. In one of the sailors, devotes himself to a desultory
answers, signed Marina, the writer says warfare, turning up when least expected,
she is a young widow. He recognizes and saving the Mikado and Queen from
the handwriting of his daughter, and being captured. Sado is defeated and
writes for her to come home. She does beheaded. The head is sent to Hyeas,
so; and he finds Curti has told her who believes it to be that of Iwakura;
nothing about the return of the letters, but the latter with his band makes his
but has given her many presents, which, way into Hyeas's camp, steals Sado's
he said, came from her father, in place head and two hundred horses, and rides
of letters.
away, to the great dismay of Hyeas's
Thinking Serafina ill, her father obliges army. Peace is proclaimed and reigns
her to go to bed; and he goes to bring for a short time; but Hyeas learning
the granddaughter, whom Serafina had of the Queen's love for Iwakura, she re-
left at home. His surprise is great when signs the crown, and the Mikado mar.
he finds Curti alive and healthy, and ries the second granddaughter of Hyeas.
that Marina is an opera singer for whom The latter attacks the palace of Fidé-
Serafina had written the letter. When Yori, who is about to kill himself, when
he discovers that Curti not only de- Iwakura appears and shows him a sub-
ceived his daughter as to her father's terranean passage through which Fidé-
selfishness, but that his little grand- Yori escapes to the province of Satsuma,
daughter believes him to have sent her where his descendants are said still to
many presents, he says that hereafter he live. Iwakura sets fire to the palace
will teach his pupils that above all the and is destroyed with it. The descend-
treatises on philosophy, there is one that ants of Hyeas ruled Japan until 1868,
must be studied early and to the last when the Mikado again
into
day of our lives, self — Il Signor Io. power.
came


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Moral Tales, by Miss Edgeworth (1801), his childhood, has inculcated in him the
have been translated into many very traits he has endeavored to over-
languages, and have retained their pop- come, and Thorbjörn grows up aggres-
ularity in England and abroad. As the sive and reticent. He is deeply in love
title denotes, these stories have a didactic with Synnövé, but does not dare to
purpose, and although intended to amuse confess his feelings to her family; nor
young people, would insinuate a sugar- does she allow him to visit her, on
coated moral. The character-drawing is account of the reputation in which he is
capable and shrewd; and the fluent, ani- held. He finally promises her he will
mated style makes them easy reading. mend his ways and become more re-
The seven stories comprising the volume spected, when he unintentionally becomes
have a sensible, matter-of-fact, thoroughly entangled in a brawl, and is stabbed and
eighteenth-century quality. Miss Edge- seriously wounded. This catastrophe
worth inculcates nobility, generosity, and causes a change in him for the better;
sincerity; but above everything else, she and by the time of his recovery he is
inculcates good sense. It is not enough much softened and improved. His father
for young Forester to be brave and tal- at the time of his son's illness realizes
ented. He is held up to ridicule for his how deep his affection is for him, and a
uncouth ways and disdain of conven- reconciliation takes place between them
tions, until he learns the wisdom of con- which is the beginning of their final
forming to social usage. Evelina is a understanding of each other. After his
feminine Forester, and learns the same return to health, his father goes with
lesson. Tact is a favorite virtue with him to Solbakken and asks for the hand
Miss Edgeworth. It is by carefully con- of Synnövé in marriage, which is
sulting the individual tastes of her pupils granted by her parents. The story has
that « The Good French Governess” re- been called one of Björnson's master-
forms Mrs. Harcourt's family. Tact is pieces; and shows his fine perception of
the secret of the “Good Aunt's success human nature, and his skill in revealing
in her educational experiment. Miss the traits and characteristics of the
Edgeworth teaches boys and girls to de- peasantry of his native country. The
spise self-indulgence and uncontrolled development of the savage beauty of
emotion; and to mistrust appearances. Thorbjörn's character, and the strong
Her model hero is young Mr. Mount- scene at the church door, where he
eagle, the matrimonial prize in Made- becomes reconciled to his former enemy,
moiselle Panache, who, momentarily at- show the marvelous power of the author.
tracted by the beauty of Lady Augusta,
has the sense to perceive her inferiority Rab and His Friends. by Dr. John
, amiable
story by a
Helen Temple.
well-beloved Edinburgh physician, is
one of the choicest of English classics.
Synnövé Solbakken, by Björnstjerne Rab is a sturdy mastiff — "old, gray,
Björnson. This story, which brindled, as big as a little Highland
the first to reveal to the world at large bull ») — with "Shakespearean dewlaps
the genius of the author, was brought shaking as he goes. His friends are
out in 1857, in a Norwegian newspaper, his master and mistress, James Noble,
and
not translated into English the Howgate carrier, “a keen, thin, im-
until 1870, although it had previously patient, black-a-vised little man”; and
appeared in French, German, Spanish, the exquisite old Scotchman, his wife
and Russian. The scene of the narra- Ailie, with her unforgettable face, pale,
tive is laid among the Norwegian hills, serious, lonely, delicate, sweet, with
which are minutely and picturesquely dark gray eyes “full of suffering, full
described. Synnövé, the daughter of a also of the overcoming of it. ” Ailie is
well-to-do farmer, is a pretty and charm- enduring a terrible malady; and her
ing girl, idolized by her parents and
husband wraps
her carefully in his
beloved by all who know her. She loves plaid and brings her in his cart to the
her early friend and schoolmate Thor- hospital, where her dignified patient
björn Granliden, who is generally consid- lovableness through a dangerous opera-
ered a rough and vindictive fellow. He
tion moves even the thoughtless medi-
is the son of worthy parents, but his cal students to tears. She is nursed by
father, by over-severity towards him in her husband. Handy, and clever, and
was
was


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
525
was
swift, and patient as any woman, was versation, but frequently the writer in
that horny-handed, snell, peremptory
his own
person addresses the reader
little man;
» while Rab, quiet and obedi- directly. In whatever guise he appears,
ent, but saddened and disquieted by however, we cannot help recognizing the
the uncomprehended trouble, jealously genial personality of Holmes himself.
guards the two. Perhaps no truer, more As he says in the verses subjoined as
convincing dog character exists in lit- epilogue to the series:
erature than that of ugly faithful Rab.
“A Boswell, writing out himself!
The pathos in the simple lives of him-
For though he changes dress and name,
self and his friends is heightened by the
The man beneath is still the same,
tinge of Scotch dialect, as well as by the
Laughing or sad, by fits and starts,
One actor in a dozen parts,
author's wise self-restraint.
The story
And whatsoe'er the mask may be,
springs from his scientific knowledge of The voice assures us, This is he. »
life and disease, like a flower from the
soil. Its essence and charm lie in the
Martian, The, by George Du Maurier,
warm-heartedness and refined sympathy his third and last novel, was pub-
which lift it above science, and vibrate lished posthumously in 1897. The hero
contagiously in every word.
is Barty Josselin, the story of whose
life is told by his friend and companion,
Poet at the Breakfast Table, The, Robert Maurice. The school life of the
by Oliver Wendell Holmes. (The two lads in the Institution F. Brossard,
Poet,' like its predecessors, (The Auto- in Paris, is sketched in detail in Du
crat) and (The Professor,)
first Maurier's inimitable manner, the account
printed as a series of papers in the being largely autobiographic. Barty is
Atlantic Monthly, making its appearance from the start a handsome, high-spirited,
in 1872.
In merit it is somewhat su- mischievous, and gifted fellow, thor-
perior to “The Professor, but hardly oughly practical, yet with traits that
equal to (The Autocrat”; and though have in them a strange idealism. After
containing the familiar Aunt Tabitha,' school, the boys return to England, and
and Homesick in Heaven, has nothing Barty goes into the army, but does not
to be compared with (The Chambered like it, and resigns. Then his eyes give
Nautilus) or (The One-Hoss Shay. ) out; and he travels for a time, and con-
Like the earlier volumes, it consists of sults various physicians, being helped
rambling, discursive talks on many sub- finally by a celebrated German special.
jects, — religion, science, literature, — with ist, Dr. Hasenclover, who assures him
a frequent excursion into the realm of that he will be blind in only one eye.
philosophy. The local flavor is very Before this, he has come to such melan-
strong, as usual with Holmes; and prob- cholic discouragement that he intends
ably the papers will always have a suicide; being saved therefrom by dis-
greater attraction for New-Englanders covering in a dream that he has a kind
than for those to whom the local allus- of guardian spirit, the Martian, a woman
ions are pointless, and the setting alien. soul, who has undergone a series of in-
Nevertheless, the author's sympathies carnations, and is now an inhabitant of
are as wide as humanity itself; and he Mars. She advises him about his eyes,
gives many a hard hit at prejudice and and thereafter, for many years, she con-
intolerance. Moreover he says repeatedly stantly communicates with him and helps
that his chief object in writing is to him, using a kind of shorthand called
meet some need of his fellow-creatures, blaze. She inspires him to write won-
to strike some chord that shall wake a derful books, whereby he becomes
responsive note in some kindred soul. famous author. Against her advice, he
Certainly this wide-reaching human kind- obeys the dictates of his heart by mar-
liness is not the least charm of this de- rying Leah Gibson, a noble Jewess, when
lightful book.
the Martian would have had him choose
The principal persons at the table are Julia Royce, an English belle whom he
the Poet; the Old Master, a scholarly meets in Germany. The marriage is so
philosopher; the Scarabee, a withered happy that the Martian acknowledges
entomologist; the poetic young astrono- her mistake. When Barty's daughter
mer; Scheherazade, a young girl who Martia is born, the Martian becomes
writes stories; and the Lady. All of incarnated in her form; and upon the
these occasionally take part in the con- young girl's death, the strange being
a


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526
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
no
from another world returns to Mars, and opinions, serves Laboulaye as a means
whereupon Barty himself also passes of expressing himself pungently on many
away. The charm of the story lies in points wherein his own country might
the genial description of bohemian friend- well learn of a younger nation.
ship and love, seen retrospectively in The first bewildering change which
the half-light of illusion; and in the greets the metamorphosed physician is
suggestive way in which the odd super- the exceeding comfort of his household
natural element is woven into the nar- arrangements, with the unfamiliar baths
rative.
and heating apparatus; the next is the
affectionate and unrestrained attitude of
Tartuffe, by Molière (Jean Baptiste
his wife and children. A thunderbolt
Poquelin). This most famous com-
falls upon him when he finds his daugh-
edy, once performed under the title
“The Impostor,' was published complete
ter engaged to a man who has not pre-
viously asked his consent, and who makes
in 1669. The principal characters are:
Madame Pernelle; Orgon, her son; his
absolutely no inquiries about a dot. An
wife Elmire, his son, and daughter; and
equal surprise is the career of his son,
a friend, Tartuffe, who stands forth as a
who at sixteen chooses a business, finds
type of the religious hypocrite. The old
an opening, and departs, like a man, for
the Indies.
lady is very devout, but uses plain
words when scolding the grandchildren.
Then in a succession of humorously
Orgon, the husband, on coming home
interesting chapters the author takes his
hears that his wife is ill; but immedi-
hero through the civil world of America
ately inquires about Tartuffe, seeming to
as it was in the sixties; he makes him a
think of else.
volunteer fireman, shows him the inner
This honey-lipped
workings of the free American Press, in-
egoist is chosen by the father as the
itiates him into the bitter knowledge of
proper person to whom he should marry
what it is to be a candidate for office.
his daughter.
But she thinks not so. Those who
And the whole is told with the would be
are forced to marry against their will do
grumbling tone of an old fellow who
not make virtuous wives. The modesty
wants to believe in the superiority of his
of Tartuffe is easily shocked; yet he
adored country in every particular over
this land of savages. ”
would examine closely the material of
the dress of Elmire, to whom he pays
But alas when the sorcery is undone,
court, telling her that to sin in secret is
and the Parisian reawakes in fair Paris,
with an unmistakable French family about
not to sin at all. Elmire risks her repu-
tation a little to unmask the vile deceiver
him, he would fain have remained under
the enchantment. His son is no longer
in the eyes of her husband. Through
self-reliant; his daughter blushes and is
fear of hell, Tartuffe yet rules the hus-
shocked to tears at his suggestion that
band, gets his property by scheming, and
has him arrested as a traitor. At last
she shall marry the man of her heart;
and his wife is indignant that he should
the king acts; and Tartuffe is led off to
prison. This is a striking presentation
suppose his daughter so ill-bred as to have
of the manners and morals of the people
a choice. There is a keen reproach for
and times,
France in the mockery of the finale, which
pictures the doctor in an asylum, where
Paris in America (Paris en Ame- in the estimation of his countrymen, his
rique), by Édouard René Lefebvre strange ideas fit him to be an inmate.
Laboulaye. This satirical romance was
first published in 1863. Through the won-
Las
ast Days of Pompeii, The, by Ed-
derful adventures of a Parisian doctor of ward Bulwer, Lord Lytton. (1834. )
the conventional type, who with his whole The characters and scenes of this story
family is spirited away to America by a are in a great measure suggested by the
sorcerer, Laboulaye sets forth an amus- peculiarities of the buildings which are
ing contrast between many customs and still to be seen at Pompeii. The tale be-
institutions of the New World and those gins a few days before the destruction of
of his own «belle France. The whim- Pompeii, and ends with that event.
sical conceit of this old Frenchman sud- The simple story relates principally to
denly become in appearance and environ- two young people of Grecian origin,
ment an Americ: while retaining his GI cus and lone, who are deeply at-
memory and his hereditary prejudices tached to each other. The former is a


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
527
(
handsome young Athenian, impetuous, the book. "The Pearl of Orr's Island)
high-minded and brilliant, while Ione is was not published until 1862, although it
a pure and lofty-minded woman. Ar- was begun ten years before that time.
baces, her guardian, the villain of the
story, under a cloak of sanctity and Minister's Wooing, The, by Harriet
Beecher Stowe. The scene of this
religion, indulges in low and criminal
designs. His character is strongly
interesting story is laid in New Eng-
land, and deals with the habits and
drawn; and his passion for Ione, and the
traditions of the past century. Mary
struggle between him and Glaucus, form
the chief part of the plot. Nydia, the
Scudder, the only daughter of a wid-
owed mother, has been reared in an
blind girl, who pines in unrequited af-
fection for Glaucus, and who saves the
atmosphere of religion and piety. Being
lives of the lovers at the time of the
of a naturally sensitive temperament,
destruction of the city, by conducting
she lives up to their teachings with con-
scientious fervor. She is in love with
them in safety to the sea, is a touching
and beautiful conception. The book, full
her cousin, James Marvyn, but does not
of learning and spirit, is not only a
listen to his protestations, because he
charming
has no religious belief. He goes to sea,
novel, but contains many
be
minute and interesting descriptions of
is shipwrecked, and supposed to
ancient customs; among which, those
drowned; and Mary, in course of time,
feels it to be her duty and pleasure to
relating to the gladiatorial combat, the
become engaged to the venerable Dr.
banquet, the bath, are most noteworthy.
Hopkins, her pastor and spiritual ad-
viser. The wedding-day is set, and
Pearl of Orr's Island, The, by Harriet
Beecher Stowe. This story gives a
only one week distant, when Mary re-
truthful and interesting picture of the
ceives a letter from James Marvyn, tell-
ing of his miraculous escape from death,
people in a Maine fishing hamlet. Mara
Lincoln, the «Pearl, a beautiful girl,
his religious conviction, and change of
has been brought up by her grand-
heart, and his abiding love for her. He
follows the letter in person, and presses
parents, Captain and Mrs. Pennel; her
father having been drowned and her
his suit; but Mary, in spite of her in-
mother having died at her birth. Moses,
clinations, considers it her duty to abide
the hero of the book, shipwrecked and
by her promise to the Doctor. How-
washed ashore upon the island when
ever, through the intervention of Miss
Prissy Diamond, a delightful little dress-
very young, is brought up and cared
for by the Pennels; and bears their
maker, who acquaints Dr. Hopkins with
The result of this is the mutual
the facts of the case, this sacrifice is
attachment of the young people, which
prevented. The good Doctor, at the
is at first more strongly felt by Mara.
cost of his own happiness, relinquishes
The
Moses accepts Mara's devotion as a mat-
Mary, and gives her to James.
to
ter of course, and does not awaken to
central purpose in this story is
the fact that he is in love with her
show the sternness and inflexibility of
until piqued by the attentions bestowed
the New England conscience, which
holds to the Calvinistic doctrines through
upon her by Mr. Adams of Boston.
Then, prompted by jealousy, he pays
all phases of life. The struggle that
marked attention to Sally Kittridge, a
goes on in the heart of Mrs. Marvyn
bright and attractive girl, Mara's dear-
and of Mary, when James is supposed
to be drowned unconverted, is a graphic
est friend; but Sally, always loyal to
Mara, makes Moses realize the true state
delineation of the moral point of view at
of his feelings.
that time. All the characters in the
The descriptions of the picturesque
book are well drawn and have striking
individualities; Madame de Frontignac,
scenery of the island are graphic and
accurate; and the Pennel house, now
Miss Prissy, and Candace, the colored
known as the “Pearl house, and the
servant, being especially worthy of note.
“grotto,” where Moses and Sally are
The story was first published in serial
shut in by the tide, are objects of inter-
form in the Atlantic Monthly in 1859.
est to visitors.
Captain Kittridge, and the quaint say-
in form a
ings of Miss Roxy and Miss Ruey graphic and vivid picture of the political
Toothacre are entertaining features of condition in England during the Western
name.
The spicy sea-warns of Micah Clarke, by A. Conan Doyle,


## p. 528 (#564) ############################################

528
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
an
Mr. Verdant
as
prose, the
runs
to
rebellion, when James, Duke of Mon- (Micah Clarke) is a book for old and
mouth, aspired to the throne, and when young; a book which instructs, while it
Englishmen were in arms against Eng- quickens the imagination and stirs the
lishmen. The story tells of the advent- blood.
ures of the young man whose name the
Green, Oxford
book bears, of the many perils which he
encountered on his journey from
Freshman, The Adventures of,
Ha-
by Cuthbert Bede” (Rev. Edward
vant to Taunton to join the standard of
Monmouth, and of the valiant part he
Bradley). Since its publication in 1853–
played in the final struggle, when the
57, this story has taken a certain place
an English humorous classic, com-
King's troops were victorious and hun-
dreds of Protestants, who had escaped
parable in some sort to Kortum's fa-
mous Jobsiad' in German (though one
death on the field, were hanged for trea-
is in
other in doggerel
son.
Through this melancholy but thrilling
verse), but on the whole sui generis.
It narrates the university adventures
narrative
a pretty vein of love-
of an innocent and simple young Eng-
making. The gentle and innocent Pur-
lishman of family and position, brought
itan maid, Mistress Ruth Timewell, who
up in the bosom of an adoring family;
had never heard of Cowley or Waller or
Dryden, and who was accustomed to de-
the pranks his fellow undergraduates
rive enjoyment from such books as the
play on him; the rather severe «course
(Alarm to the Unconverted, Faithful
of training ” they put him through, in
order
Contendings, or Bull's Spirit Cordial,
remove his home-feathers,”
and the result finally achieved. Humor
finds love more potent than theology,
and fun abound in it; and though much
and prefers Reuben Lockarby, a tavern-
of the fun is
keeper's son, to Master John Derrick, a
mere horse-play, and
much of the humor of a kind which a
man of her own faith.
But the climax of Micah Clarke) is
later literary taste finds happily out of
fashion, the book still gives pleasure to
reached in the description of the battle
the whole English undergraduate world,
on the plain in the early morning, in
and to a smaller American contingent.
which one learns what religion meant
in England toward the close of the six-
teenth century. Against the disciplinei Manxman, The, by Hall Caine, is a
present-day romance, the scene of
and well-equipped regiments of the King which is the Isle of Man. It was pub-
are opposed Monmouth's untrained and lished in 1894; and was the most success-
ragged forces, - peasants, armed only ful of the author's novels up to that
with scythes, pikes, and clubs, but with time. Old Iron Christian, Deemster (or
the unfaltering courage of fanaticism in Judge) of the Isle, has two sons,
their hearts and with psalms on their Thomas and Peter. The elder, Thomas,
lips.
marries below him and is disinherited.
Again and again they stand firm while He dies, leaving a son, Philip, who is
the serried ranks of the royal troops are
reared in the Deemster's house. The
hurled against them. They meet death younger, Peter, has an illegitimate son,
with a song, and flinch not. But as the Peter Quilliam, who loves pretty Kate
day advances, out of the fog break the Cregeen, daughter of an innkeeper. The
long lines of the King's cavalry, “wave two lads grow up together as
after wave, rich in scarlet and blue and friends. Peter and Kate
gold, and the scythe-men and pikemen hearts, but her father objects to him be.
of Monmouth are cut to pieces. The cause of his birth and poverty. Pete
duke himself, preferring life with dis- goes off to make his fortune, leaving
grace to honor and death, is seen gal- Kate in Philip's charge. Philip, during
loping in terror from the field. But his absence, wins her love and betrays
even as the leader flies, one of his peas- her. Meanwhile tidings come of Pete's
ant soldiers, whose arm had been par- death. Philip cares for Kate, but feels
tially severed by a ball, sits behind a that she is in the way of his ambition
clump of alder bushes freeing himself to become Deemster. He tells her that
from the useless limb with a broad- they must part; and on the return of
bladed knife, and giving forth the Pete, who was falsely reported dead, she
Lord's Prayer the while, without a pause marries the latter out of pique, hoping
or a quiver in his tone. ”
until the last that Philip will interfere
Sworn
are
Sweet-


## p. 529 (#565) ############################################

SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
529
name
as
and marry her himself. She has a child
She has a child | White Aprons, ja
romance of Ba-
by her husband, but is tortured by the
con's Rebellion, by Mrs. Maud
thought that it may be Philip's. The Wilder Goodwin, is a story of the strug-
shame of her loveless marriage nearly | gle in Virginia between popular rights
drives her crazy; and on Philip's return and aristocratic privilege a hundred
from abroad she runs away on the very years before the Revolution. The hero,
day that he becomes Deemster, to live Bryan Fairfax, is sent by Bacon to
with him secretly, under an assumed bring to his camp several ladies, adher-
The blow well-nigh crushes Pete ents of his opponent, Governor Berke-
when he returns to the empty house. ley. Among them is Penelope Payne,
He does not suspect that she has joined with whom the young soldier speedily
Philip; whom he tells that, solicitous for falls in love. Bacon sends Penelope to
her health, he has sent her to England. Jamestown to inform Berkeley that if he
To guard her good name he even re- attacks before noon, the women will be
ceives mock letters from her, written placed in front of Bacon's uncompleted
by himself. Philip represents to Pete works. Penelope taunts Bacon with
that she is dead. The husband never cowardice, and tells him that he and his
learns the truth, but leaves the island followers shall be known White
forever, placing the boy in Philip's keep- Aprons. The tide of war turns, Bacon
ing Their guilty union so preys upon dies, and Fairfax is taken prisoner by
the conscience of both Philip and Kate, Berkeley, who becomes an unbearable
however, that the woman at last leaves tyrant. When Fairfax is put on trial
him, and Philip offers what restitution for his life, Penelope, to the surprise of
he can.
He makes a public declaration all, comes forward to testify in his favor,
of his sin, resigns his high office, and and openly confesses her love for him.
takes in his own the hand of the Berkeley in a frenzy of rage condemns
woman he has loved and wronged, that Fairfax to death, but consents to his re-
they may begin life openly together. prieve for three months. Penelope
With this dramatic scene of the confes- straightway sets out for England to seek
sion the story closes.
a pardon from the King. She goes to
the house of her uncle, the historic
Leighton Court, by Henry Kingsley. Samuel Pepys, and there she meets
(1866). This book is an interesting Dryden, Buckingham, and various other
story of English social life at the time wits and beaux. The beauty of her
of the Indian mutiny. Robert, the portrait, painted by Kneller, obtains
younger brother of Sir Harry Poynitz, her an audience with the King; who,
masquerading as a master-of-houp
after a trial of her constancy, grants her
der the name of Hammersley, is en- the pardon, with which she makes all
gaged by Sir Charles Seckerton to take speed home, arriving at the critical mo-
care of his pack. He falls in love with ment when Fairfax is on the scaffold.
Laura Seckerton, and at last tells her The story ends as it begins with the
of his attachment, when she urges him burden of an old song: “Love will find
to leave the country. The next morn-
rn- out the way. ” Though slight in texture,
ing Hammersley's horse is discovered the work is very daintily executed, and
drowned on the sea-shore, and his mas- the spirit of colonial Virginia is well
ter is supposed to have shared the same suggested.
fate. Laura, believing him dead, ac-
cepts the hand of Lord Hatterleigh. Friendships of Women, The, by W. R.
The plot now concerns itself with gam- Alger (1868), is a curious and sug-
bling debts. family quarrels, and in- gestive work the emotional and
trigues social and financial, tale-bearings, affectionate side of woman-nature. The
challenges, and sudden deaths. It moves different chapters consider the friend-
rapidly, however, to a proper ending. ships of mothers and sons, of daughters
The author calls the story «a simple tale and fathers, of sisters and brothers, of
of country life. The character of Hat- wives and husbands, of mothers and
terleigh, with his sterling worth hidden daughters, of women and women. Pla-
under a rather dull and effeminate ex- tonic love is also considered at length.
terior, is very cleverly drawn, as is also The author is less the creator than the
Sir Harry Poynitz, with his life of ap- editor of hi subject. The chief value
parent villainy and final justification. of the work is indeed the vast number
XXX—34
un-
on


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530
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
women
as
as-
men
Gervis, a brilliant diplomat, marries an
Italian woman, by whom he has two
children, Claud and Geneviève. His
second wife is a Russian, Princess
Omanoff, who has already been twice
married, and has her own cynical views
as to the blessings of matrimony. Mr.
Gervis and the Princess maintain sepa-
rate establishments, but are on friendly
terms. When the story opens, Mr. Ger-
vis, with his son Claud, after a long
residence abroad, has just returned to
England to take possession of a family
estate, lately inherited. From this point
the true story begins. Its complications
arise from the love-affairs of Claud and
his beautiful sister, from certain outlived
episodes in the life of the Princess, and
from the serious effects that spring from
the frivolous cause of the Beachborough
Club's reading-room gossip. Nothing is
out of the common, yet the elements of
disaster and of tragedy are seen to be
potential in the every-day lives of the
every-day characters. The book abounds
in types of character done to the life.
Even the callow clubhouse smokers
have an individuality of their own; and
French dandies, men of letters, gam-
blers, scoundrels, Russian adventurers,
and back-biting ladies of quality, row-
dies, and philosophic speculators on the
cosmos in general, are each and all as
real as the crowd in the street.
note
of historical examples brought together
in illustration of the kind of relationship
in question. It is a summing up of
concrete instances of friendship.
The book had great vogue in its day.
Its readableness and interest have not
been diminished by time.
Wom
Toman in the Nineteenth Century,
by Margaret Fuller Ossoli. (1844. )
A book of special interest from the
remarkable character and intellectual
ability of its author, and from the rep-
resentative position which it holds as an
early prophecy of the now broadly de-
veloped recognition of
pirants for culture, and as applicants
equally with for positions and
privileges in the various fields of hu-
man activity. After actively participat-
ing in the celebrated Brook Farm ex-
periment of idealist socialism, where
she thoroughly wrought out for herself
new-departure convictions in religion,
and having served a literary appren-
ticeship of
a translator from
the German, and as editor for two years
of The Dial, a quarterly organ of New
England Transcendentalism, she brought
out in 1844 her (Summer on the Lakes,
and the next year the Woman in the
Nineteenth Century,' — a considerably
enlarged reproduction of an essay by
her in The Dial of October 1843, where
she had used the title, The Great
Lawsuit; or, Man as Men, Woman as
Women. ) By adding a good deal
the article during a seven weeks' stay
at Fishkill on the Hudson (to November
17, 1844), she made what was in effect
a large pamphlet rather than a book
adequately dealing with her subject, or
at all representing her remarkable pow-
ers as they were shown in her (Papers
Literature and Art. ) To do her
justice, the book, which was her proph-
ecy of a
movement which the
tury is fulfilling, should be taken as
a text, and her later thoughts brought
together under it, to have as nearly
as possible a full indication of what,
under more favorable circumstances, her
genius would have given to the world.
Matrimony, by, W. E. Norris
, (1881. )
is the
story of the fortunes of a county family
named Gervis, the scene being laid
partly in Beachborough, an English
county-town, and partly among an aris-
tocratic half-bohemian set in Paris. Mr.