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not crcate for h.TT.__f wm. sahitary trouble, and coo_n__B me if hc fOvnild m. rry or opon a banker's book. I advise him, however, to |et we_ alone. It was a mournful thing for FiizGerald and for Bernard Barton's daughter that their friend's counsel was not taken. We presently find Donne writing to Fanny Kemble, in the vein of de Sevigng, announcing the marriage of la Grande Mademoiselle: that Fita is actually to bo Benedick. the married man. He adds concern lng Lacy Barton. who waa a year younger than FitxGerald: "In respect that she is tall and well : .. out Charles ls w.r.t to call her Barton Barton, concoiving. 1 suppose, xhat Baden-Baden moans dou-.e-Bade_. However. though there be rruch ef her, it is so much good, and as she at_d Edward have _><-ei. iutimate friends for at least a quarter of a century, and she has gTeat . .'erenoe for him, 1 am not clear, though I hav. boen as incredulous as 1 hemas and as full of denial as Peter. but that both have consulted and concluded wisely."' Though the rair had t>i-o. fn_n_is so long?and though FitxGerald was artuated by the gentlest sympathy in pro viding by marriage for the poor old maiden left penniless at her father's death?matrimony brought diseord. Another letter from Donne to Fanny Kemble shows how dilficuit a person FitiOerald must have been for an unloved wife to live with: Ed. FitxGerald has taken rooms at 24 Portland Terrace for 3 months. much to my delight, for he ls within r. :ich, n_?__h to his own discomfiture. for the rooms. it s.-en__=. are dark and dismal. looking for ward on the wild b .isls [rn the Zoological Gar donsl. looking backward on a cemetery. The paper of his sitting room is a dark. indeed an in visil.e green. th? windows are narrow, and he says that "his contemporary"?which, being inter pneted. means h_5 wife! looks in this chambcr of b.rr.irs liko I.ucrezia Rorgia. Most extraordinary of B'-nenieks is our friend. He talks like Blae beard. Spcak_= **0" Icaping o'cr the line": really distresses even Spedding'-'well-regulated mind. I have however. so much confidence in him that I believe all this irony. with a rootod regard for I_ucy. and so much confidence ln Lucy as to be? lieve she'll tami> Pctruchio. swagger as he list. Yet for the present I agree with your sister. "Your areount." quoth ske. "of Edward FitxGer? aid is very drolL but not eomfertahle, I think. At least if I was his wife. I sho-uld not like him even to play at being borod by me. I think my wom? an'. feeling would revolt at that. and my worn m's folly at being called the 'Contemporary.' ** A year or so later Donne describes what he calls the ~pleasant but not proper" situation of his friends in Norfolk. with E. F. G. rusticating ln great ease and comfort, and Eucy. or. as her husband then caiVed her, "the elder," also rusti cating a few miles away. Some months after Donne tefls Mrs. Kemble that FitzGerald "is now gone on a visit of three or four days to his ?elder.' aHa$ *conten.porary,* Adias Mrs. E. F. G. It so bappens that his broth_r John's wife re sides in the same part of Kent with his Ed? ward-) elder, preferring, it seems, the charge of a lunatic to abiding with her husband! There ls another lady in the same neighborhood dwelling under somewhat similar circumstances: tn short, one friend describes the locality as 'a klnd of park. where eldere are turned out to gra_.e,* " Donne ceases to write of this unhap py marriage as the transiator of "Omar" returns more and more to the recluse ways of his bach elorhood. "I have not been well and we're growing old," laments Fitz after a while. " "Tis time to think of curling oneself up like a Dog about to Iie down. Had I worked as you have done, I should have given way years and years ago; but like a selfish Beast I have kept out of obligations and self-sacrifices." One of the most welcome passages in the letters from FitxGer? ald to Donne is that in which he refers to his brief calendar of tbe life of Charles Lamb? "dear Fellow": I hesitated at expatiating so on the terrible year 1736, or even mentloning the Drink in 18 .; but the _____ is necessary to show what a Salnt and Hero tbe man was; and only a Noodle would fail to understand the Drink. etc, which never affected Eamb's conduct to those he loved. Bless him' _3aint ChaTles!" said Thackeray, one day, taking op one of his I__ters and putting it to hia Forehead. Donne and FiteGerald had many points of agTeemenl in taste. Both. for example. were def-oted to Scotfs novels. "W_o is the best Novelist I don't know," wrote the latter, "but I know that Sir Waiter is delightful to me." And lt is related of Donne in his last days that, long after the power to read lt had passed, he would sit with one of Scott's books in his hands finger Ing it _ov_i_gly. George Borrow was another friend of Donne, and the two w_:ked together round Bury SL Edmunds, feil in with gypsies and "heard the apeech of Egypt." "BorroWs face lighted by the red turf fire of the tent," says Donne, "was worth iGoki-ig at." He is aahy white now?but twenty years ago, w-hen hla hair was like a raven's wing, he must _>?>_ been hard to discriminate frem a born Bo WaB Borrow is best on the tramp-if you can ? . k 4V- miles per hour. as I can with eaae and To by choice. and can walk IS of them at a stretch -which I can comcass also-then he will talk IlliSs of adventnres even better than his Prmted t^ZT He cannot ahide those Amateur Pedes E__j_i who sauntcr. and in his chair he is given to groa-a and be contradictory. Charles Reade, Donne describes as sitting dur? lng his calls with head on one side like a mag pie and derfving. seemingly, much amusement from the contemplation of his host. "Long are hls calls. long his pauses of silence, during which tt ls u__ele_.s to talk to him-he hears or marks you not." Such little pictures are scattered th-ougbout this volume, and we leave the reader to flnd them for himself. We wili quote only an anecdote about Donne himself, one having refer enoe to his work as an Examiner: *rr Donne was extremely partic-lar as to what J&, hTlicen___-. and several cartoons appeared ^ ". .?-?.-,.: ; .|-. -. al I>i~ _xr~_-_m. It 1~ aahl ?_ .__ -il^_ltow?_ the word "G__" to appear, ana a m\?2Fte told o? a gentleman cafflng on Wm a. d T P mZ; ?__eri with his children looking over manuscrip-s. AB be ent?^ -? ~- MBwar, "Iler?*'a another Go. z*u?*- TiETaut. and pot "Very well. my dear, ??? ii-? ?*"? ?"" **** 'Leaven' aa usual." A COIjONIAL TOWN. Ancient IVetlicrsfield in Connectteut History. TrTB HTSTOTiY OF ANCIF/NT W h'l'HERSFIEI.D, CONNKCTTCCT. Corrrprising the Present Towns of Wethersfleld, Rocky Hill and Newinjr ton. and of Glastonbury Prior to Its Incorpora tion in 1693, from Date of Earllest Settlement to the I'resent Time. Based upon manuscript collections of the late Judge Sherman W. Adams. ajid recast enlarged and edited by Henry R_ Stiles, A. M., M. D. With 137 illustra tior.s and maps. 2 vols., royal 8vo, pp vi, 995; vlii, S.G. The Grafton Press. Dr. Stiles brought to the preparatlon of the two monumental volumes of tlie history and genealogies of ancient Wethersneld the same j painstaking care and capacity for research tbat ; characterized his previous work on "Ancient j "Windsor." He was aided, moreover, by his past j experience and the volurninous eollection of : manuscripts and other data left by the late Judge Adams. Despite the llmitatlons imposed by ill health, the fact that Dr. Stiles had never MADAMB BUItON. (From the portrait by David.) visited Wethersfield before undertaking his her culean task, and the miscellaneous and Inchoate charac^er of the Adams papers. he has succeeded in compiling a remarkably thorough and con secutive history of the town. The inquiry into the beginnings especially of these old Connecticut River towns has, of course, an Interest not merely local. They were among the first offshoots of tbe originai Plymouth Colony, and have been the cradles of families that have taken leading parts in shaping the destlny, and imparting their most salient char acteristics to American life and manners. The greater the number of facts that one can dis eover about these sturdy pioneers, no matter how trivial many of their doings may appear in the perspective of nearly three centuries, the closer we can come to understanding the forces that have so largely made for our present de veiopment Wethersfield, which later acquired fame for its onions and State prison, was found ed by one John Oldham, an adventurous and lawless in dividual of Watertown, Mass., who characteris tically obtained permission for the migration of himself and his associates after it was an ac complished fact. The settlement was, indeed, first known as Watertown, and the reason of its change of designation to "Wethersfield has been shrouded in mystery that Dr. Stiles now seeks to clear away. He thinks the name was suggested by the Rev. John Sherman, the town's first minister, in honor of the Rev. Richard Rogers, of WTethersfield, England, a brother of the Rev. John Rogers, of Dedham, in whose honor Dedham, Mass.. was named. The con nection is rather remote, but in the absence of any better solution it may be accepted as at least possible. The town, however named, and in spite of the unruly character of its founder, was law-abiding ln theory, lf not always ln practice, and the duties of constable were so arduous and un pleasant that "to many a cltizen the payment of a fine of 40 shiUings was preferable to the acceptance of such an office." And as we read that ln one year seven men who were succes slvely elected refused to serve, it aeems likely that the people were accustomed to east thelr votea with an eye to the town treasury rather t_an to the availablllty of the candidates?an ln genious method of reducing the tax rate! Among other public officials of those days were house viewers, chimney viewers, public whippers, cattle herders, sheen masters. ordinary (or tav ern) keepers, way warders, pounders, town perambulators, town meeting warners and town criers. The last named officer emplo3-ed a drum to attract the attention of the inhabitants to his notices and to summon them to the meeting house on Sundays and other occasions. There was also a bell in the meeting house, but it was not always rung. There was no separation of church and state ?n those days, and the nssign ment of seats in the meeting house, "dignifylng the seats" as it was termed, was done by a committee appointed by a town meeting. The committee was directed to observe the following "grounds of advancement, viz.: Age, dignity of descent, place of public trust, pious disposition, estate, peculiar servieeableness of any kind." When the fourth meeting house was buiit, in 17G4, men and women were allowed to sit to? gether. "Widows, however, were to be seated according to the judgment of the committee; and single persons were allowed to choose their seatmatea" Wethersfleld, as well as Boston, had Its anti-Stamp Act demonstration, and by force of arms secured the resignation of the stamp master, Jared Ingersoll. Thereupon five hundred mounted farmers, armed with peeled staves, accompanied him to Hartford and com pelled hirn to read his withdrawal from the ob noxious office from the steps of the courthouse, wherein the General Assembly was then in session. Very interesting Is Judge Adams's account of the trials for witchcraft. The first of these was held in 1648. The victim was Mary John? son, "by her oune confession . . . guilty of familiarity with the Deuill." It was of this case that Cotton Mather wrote that "her confession was attended with such convictive circum stances that it could not be slighted (!)... and she dy*d in a frame extremely to the satis faction of them that were spectators of lt" JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID. Three Rare Souvcnirs of the Famous French Painter. There were sold last Thursday at the Hotel Drouot ln Paris, three portraits by J.-L. David, belonging to an M. R., which direct attention to a very interesting phase of the painter's career. In a preface to the catalogue we have just re? ceived from M. Paul Chevallier, some particu? lars are given in regard to the portraits and their origin by M. Roger-Miles. He finds in them useful materiai for ccntradiction of the legend which presents David as, above all things a painter of the Napoleonic epoch, which is to say, of the earlier nineteenth century. He sees in tbe canvases links which connect David with Boucher and his school, a view of the mat? ter amply borne out by the illustrations, one of which, showing the portrait of Mme. Buron, we reproduce. This lady's husband also flgures in the trio, which is completed by a portrait of M. Desmaisons. David's father fell ln a duel in December, 1757, when the lad was only seven years old. Boucher, then court painter, aml a kinsman, was consulted by the widow as to her son's education, and the subject seems also to have twaen put before M. Desmaisons, architect to the King. and the Burons, all relativea They want? ed the boy to pursue his studles before adopttng a career, and when that career was to be chosen they were not certain that it ought to be one of painting. The boy was persistent, however. and he was placed in the atelier of Vien. In 17G9 the grateful young painter executed the portraits of the Burons; M. Desmaisons he did not paint until 1782. All three canvases carry us back to his earlier period, to the time of hls freshest enthusiasm, when his technique was still free from the .ciassical influences destlned to count for so much ln his developmcnt. They seem to be beautiful works of art, lnteresting as studies of character and delightfully flexible in execution. Here, indeed, are echoes of Boucher and of that century of elegance and suavity with which one would not otherwise think of a* sociating the David of the Napoleonic reglme. LITERARY NOTES. "Back to Sunny Seas" is to be the title of Mr. F. T. Bullen's book describing his recent journey through the West Indies. Mr. Henry James is going back to England next month. and his book on his recent impres sions of America will probably appear early next year. It wlll. no doubt, be welcomed with much curiosity, for many of Mr. J.mes's coun trymen believe that he is too much out of sym nathy with his native land to write of it im partially and with ur_derstanding. The Great Lexicographer!?Is lt possible that we may have a fresh glimpse of him in the at? titude most revered by the august Miss Pinker ton! A correspondent of "Notes and Queries" communicates a saying of Dr. Johnson on taking a pinch of snufT, which has not to his knowl? edge at any time appeared in print. Here ia the saying: Permit me to lmmerge the summits of my digita ln your box of pulverized odoriferous sweets for the purpose of producing a pleasing titiUation of tha olfactory nerves. As for the authenticity of this elegantly pon derous and polite sentence, it is thus attested by Mr. O. B. Fellowes: "It was repeated by Df. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, who again repeated if to Sir James Fellowes (her literary executor); be repeated it to my father, and my father to me." Mr. Bodley, the author of a notable work on France, has been prevented by a long illnesa from finishing the second series of that work. He is now recovering and will soon take up again the new volumes dealing with religious questions ln the great republic?a subject which ls just now lnteresting ln many directiona An English bookselling story is told by a clever woman who asked for a volume of Robert Browning's works. "I haven't got it, madam." replied the bookseller. "I make ft a rule never to stock any books I can't understand. and I can't make head or tail of Mr. Browning. Can you?" Scarcely knowing whether to be aj_____ or annoyed, but prepared to take another vol? ume, the lady said: "Have you Praed. then?** "Yes, madam," quoth the bookseller, "I*v? prayed, and that don't help me." A poem by Browning, hitherto unpublished, is corning out in an English periodical. It is called "A Forest Thought." and was written by the poet in a woman's album nearly seventy years ago. There ls an lnteresting note of Browning's which was written to Eady Dilke and is repro duced in her husband's just published memolr of her: As for news. I have none. We are all reading tbe ' 1-ife of Dlekens" and admiring his scnsitiveness at having brushed shoes and trimmed gallipots ln his early days, when?did he see with the eyes of certain of hls sagest friends?it was the b'st educa tion imaginable for the like of him. Shall I verslfyT In Dickens. sure, philosophy was lacking. Since of calamities he counts the crowning, That, young. he had too much to do with Biackinfc Old he had not enough to do with B?g. R. B. A short biography of George Borrow is ln course of preparation by Mr. C. K- Shorter. A quantity of Borrow's MSS., comprising poema, prose and letters, have been procured by him from the executors of Borrow's stepdaughter. It was of this Htnrietta, by the way, that Bor? row proudly observes "she has ail sorts of good qualities, and several accomplishments, know? ing something of conchology, more of botany, drawing capitally in the Dutch style, and piay ing remarkably well on the guitar?not the trumpery German thing so called?but the real Spanish guitar." There is a pleasant picture In "Wild Wales" of Henrietta playing on her gui? tar the old muleteer tune of "EI Punto de la Vana" while her stepfather jovially sang the words, with here and there a llne that some how swings through the reader's memory, like? The lasses of Havana go to mass 'n coaches yellow. Mr. Quiller-Couch Is writing a new novel. which is to be published serlally before corning out ln book form. He will lssue a volume of short stories in the autumn. An Exposition of Japanese Tiiought The Soul of Japan. By INAZO NITOEE, A.M., Ph.O, Professor in the Imperial Universlty of Kyoto. Iatroduc ion by W. E. GRIFFIS. This ls a revised and enlarged edlfrfon of a book whose subtle charin it is difllcult to express in a paragraph. It ls so packed with thought, so attractive in style, so rich in comparativo illustrations of Oriental and Occidental ways of looking at things, with here and there a touch of satire. but never bigoted or narrow. "Ifushido" is the Japanese feudal equlvalent of chlvalry. It was an organic growth of centuries of military careers. It ls unwritten, llke the English Constitution, yet out of it has grown the Japan of to-day. l2mo, net, $1._?. {By moil, $1.35.) G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, "S&JEg,.