New-York tribune. [volume], May 28, 1910, Page 8, Image 8

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Literary JVetvs and Criticism
Some Lovers in the Romantic
Period in France.
the PASSIONS of the French ro-
T M ANTICS By Francrs Grlbble. Wi^
twenty portraits.- Svo, pp. %t.. s-v-
Charles Scribner'a Sons. /.
One of the chapters in this book-be
e.r.i -with tfco following words: "Alex
andre Dumas is Bald to have told an un
known 'j>iy. who told a newspaper man,
who put tie story in the 'Figaro,' that
It was he who introduced Juliette to Vic
tor Hugo." Mr. Gribble usually has bet
ter authority to go upon in his bio
graphical sketches, but the latter never
theless leave the impression that they
»re compacted chiefly of tattle. It is
rather sickening tattle, in some respects,
but on the other hand it is often very
musing. Mr. Gribble is a clever writer,
who has put together so many pages of
R*>ssip about the indiscretions of cele
brated people that he has at last de
veloped a certain manner of his own.
not precisely a formula, but a light,
harmlessly entertaining way of relating
more or lees Impossible incidents. His
heroes and heroines on the present occa
sion are clearly an impossible crew, for
ail that ■- ■•■ of them possessed genius
and wrote their names high in the an
nals of French achievement. But Just
because they were brilliant folk, and led
busy, picturesQue lives, one lingers sym
pathetically enough over the history of
what they were pleased to regard as ad- i
ventures of the heart. Adventures of
the senses these were, really, but your
French romanticist, in the time of revolt
against convention alike in life as in
art, was never wont to underestimate
the significance of his emotional experi
ences. For one thing, his interrogations
of his ego were almost uncannily devoid
of humor.
It is. Indeed, a little odd that Mr.
Gribble should nowhere reveal any con- '■
sciousness of the essentially humorless
character of the proceedings he de
scribes. Perhaps by dint of long ab
sorption in the records here summarized |
he has lost something of his own sense
of proportion and so fails tV> perceive
the absurdity frequently cropping out
in the relations of his lovers. He in
dulges now and then in a cynical smile,
but that is all. Evidently he does not
see that there was something preposter
ous about the "passions" dealt with in
this book. In one case, to be sure, that
of Victor Hugo, he studies the facts in
the proper light and shrewdly exposes
the Hugo legend, turning Inside out the
poet's pretensions to noble birth, ex
traordinary precocity and so on, and
pitilessly .holding up to scorn his inti
macy with Mine. Drouet. In the main, he
takes just a shade too seriously love
affairs which no glamour of literary dis
tinction can free from a certain vulgar
taint. If he has any excuse for a thinly
philosophical treatment of these epi
sodes as illustrating the great movement
of revolt, it lies in the fact that with
the French Romantics art and amatory
intrigue were, without question, inex
tricably mixed. "Paul et Virginie" was
no doubt written, in a measure, out of
personal experience. Bernardin de
SaJnt-Pierre put himself into his work.
:— did Lamartine. and you can read
plainly enough in some of the pages of
Alfred de Vigny the influence of his in
fatuation with Marie Dorval. But this
is quite another matter from saying
that without their love affairs these and
ether Frenchmen would have failed to
realize the works which to-day make
their fame, and while Mr. Gribble does
not by any means press that point, the
mere writing of his book implies an
ascription to those affairs of an impor
tance to which they are scarcely en
titled.
One takes them, rather, as examples
of an amazing license, of a mood spell
ing a kind of topsy-turveydom. It could
not last. Mankind in all probability is
subject to the same fits that overtook
Mr. Gribble's astounding sentimental
ists, yet for seme posfibilities at least
the door would seem to have been shut
unon the world In which they lived.
2lfr<\ lor example, is a characteristic
passage from the career of Bemardin
cie Saint-Pierr*:
He went en to Arnst^r<iam. with hardly
d penny in his pocket; and the stars in
their courses fousrht for him. A certain
Frenchman called MusteJ was liviag at
Amsterdam, and liernaxdin had or.cc
vorkod under a schoolman tor of that name.
Perhaps, he thought, there might h» some
relationship between the two men.
!i turned out that the two men were
Vrothers-. It also turned out that M Hae
1<»1, a mal -■ and editor of th<? "Gazette
de HollanckV was plad to .-• c his broth
er's friend and willing to do his best for
him. and able to make him a practical
»nrl businesslike offer. He Finoked a pipe
vith him in a summer house at the end
of hit; carrten, was plea&ed with him. in
rrodooed him to the ladies of his family,
and cam* out plump with his jjen
nrons proposal: "I have a Btoter-in-taw."
be sa:d. 'and I have a newspaper I con
;irf the fortunes of both of them. You
V.rd better marry the one and become sub
editor of the other. Your salary shall be
x'jie thousand ducats a year."
He had other adventures as piquant
efs this one — people were always propos
ing to marry him — and. in fact, we
should mention here that Mr. Gribble'a
hook includes much more than the re
cital of lender vows exchanged. Gath
ering up many odds and ends as he goes
along. be very amusingly sketches not
only loves but careers. His account of
F^rnardin de Saint Pierre, for example.
Ip a capital little monograph. Still, the
sentimental issue is never very far off,
and, as we have already hinted, Mr.
Gribble is hardly to be blamed for giving
it so much weight when we see how in
cessantly it'obtruded itself in all circles,
and with what gravity it was discussed
«yen in quarters nominally averse to the
philanderer. Take the acquaintance of
Delphine Gay with Alfred de Vigny.
£he met him at dances from time to
time, admired the handsome and sympa
thetic young officer, and. like more than
one other young woman, was touched
by his charm. "Her mother guessed
her secret from her blushes when his
name was mentioned. 'You are in love
with him?' she asked, and Delphine ad
•...:t«.i that rial was; and Mme. Sophie
Gay embraced her and promised to do
lier very bast to help her to marry him
and live happily ever afterward." Ladies
of nil shades of emotional principle had
that kindnesj for icvc'rs in those days,
toiitcacplatins th- :r divagations with &
sofUy mfttemal .-olicitude. "Make him
hip;:-y. ivy chile." ivrote George Sand to
U:«r:t* Dorval, when Gijrny and the ac
jjcis .-.. re flirting together. "Such men
i> he is ne«sd happiness and deserve it."
Did be find happiness? Was happi
fters achieved by any of these lovers?
The question may seem, perhaps, some
* Brfeat irixlevnr.t, and it is idle to ask it
Caen any gravely moral point of view.
Tii.; rtsor&liit has lea ii% for a pen in
this connection than for a pair of tonga.
Yet one cannct helj> observing the sen
ei Ally unsatisfactory drift of all these
enterprise* or Vl*ny, Musset, Hugo,
Painte-Beuve, Merimee and th« rent. If
they got some agreeable reward for their
pains they also got an immense amount
of vexation and chagrin. Mr. Gribble's
book is amusing, aa we have said, amus
!r.R in its anecdotes, in its sidelights on
famous personalities, but on the whole it
ioßVflg a dubious taste in the mouth, and,
above all, a curious 6ense of trivial, futile
things. If it was part of his purpose to
detract from the greatness of his per
sonages, to exhibit weakness in them and
even cheaper, more contemptible traits,
he hits in that abundantly succeeded
MR. EGGLESTON'S MEMOIRS
His Impressions of Life in In
diana Fifty Years Ago.
RECOLLECTIONS OF A VARIED LIFE.
By Gforse Cary Egrleston. With por
trait. Svo. pp. vlii, S-». Henry Holt &
Co.
It is a varied life, but above all a busy
one, upon which Mr. Eggleston looks
back at ttie age of threescore and ten.
"Hoosier schoolmaster" at sixteen, law
yer, Confederate cavalryman and officer,
for many years a hard -worked news
paper man in important positions, liter
ary adviser of publishing- houses and
general literary "worker," he has to his
credit also a. ehelfful of books whose
titles number considerably over thirty.
His "Recollections," while not a formal
autobiography, is yet a consecutive re
view of his life, with occasional depart
ures from strict chronology when the
reminiscent mood is strong upon him.
It Is this vein of retrospective anec
dotes, told in their proper place, re
gardless of the date of their occurrence,
which gives the book its cozily Intimate
quality. Subjective it is not, yet the
author sufficiently, and evidently; un
consciously, analyzes himself here and
there, most significantly in an early
paragraph, which sounds the note of
all the?e pages. He says:
I have found my fellow men In the main
kindly, just and generous. The chief pleas
ure I have had in living has been derived
from my association with them in good
fellowship and all kindliness. The very few
of them who have wronged me 1 have for
given The few who have been offensive
to me I have forgotten with conscientiously
diligent care. There has seemed to me to
be no better thing to do with them.
The early chapters of these Recollec
tions form an interesting addition to our
fund of knowledge of the conditions of
life in this country in the eighteen
forties. a subject upon which much has
been written of late by Mr. Eggleston's
reminiscent contemporaries, but to
which much remains to be ad^.ed. The
country at that time was "all American,"
certainly In the West, where even the
few survivors of the Swiss founders of
Mr. Eggleston's birthplace, Vevay, Ind.,
were looked upon with tolerance as poor
foreigners who could not help their in
feriority. He continues:
And yet, in spite of the prevailing con
viction that everything foreign was in
ferior, the people of the Ohio Valley, who
constituted the most considerable group of
Western Americans, looked with unapprov
ing but ardent admiration upon foreign
life, manners and ways of thinking as
these were exemplified in New Orleans. The
men who annuafly voyaged thither on fiat
boate brought back wondering tales of the
strange things seen there, and especially
of the enormous wickedness encountered
among a people who had scarcely heard of
the relipicus views accepted among our
selves as unquestioned and unquestionable
truth. I remember hearing a whole ser
mon on the subject once.
Rather unexpected is Mr. Eggleston'a
reference to the "religious animosities of
t^iat period, with their relentless intol
erance, their unreason, their matchless
malevolence, and their readiness to be
lieve evil." this, too. in the midst of a
2>eople whose great virtues he depicts in
plowing colors, the high qualities of the
rm-n and women of Kentucky and Vir
ginia. Carolina, Pennsylvania and New
England, who came to found the popula
tion of the Middle West. Provincialism
was rampant in these days, owing to
lack of means of intercommunication:
■We had no national life In the elghteen
fortif-s. or for long afterward— no com
munity of tMtght, or custom, or atlitude
of mind. The peveral parts of the country
\ver<» a loose bundle of segregated and, in
many ways, antagonistic communities.
I uind together only by a common loy
cir.» to the conviction that this was the
gr^?.test. most glorious, most Invincible
■ ountry in the world. God-endowed with a
mental. m<-ral and physical superiority that
; ill all the rest of the earth's nation?
mpietely out of the reckoning. We -were
sil of v? Americans— intense, self-satisfied,
p^lf-glorifying Americans— but we had lit
» in common. The country was pro
siDcfal to the rest of the world and etill
more narrowly provincial each region to
t;:« others. T think, however, that the
West was less provincial and narrow in
its views and sympathies than were New
England, the Middle States and the South
at that time, and this for a very suf
ficient reason- the West was a common
routing ground.
This is one of those books which the
reviewer begins to mark appreciatively
for quotation, only to discover ere long
that he cannot possibly find room for
half the passages selected. We must
pass over, therefore, with a mere refer
ence Mr. Eggleston's many revelations
of the changes that have been made in
our everyday life since the middle of the
lnst century (he reminds us, for in
stance, of the very recent date of the in
troduction of the bathtub as an article
of daily and universal use) and content
ourselves with quoting from his capita!
chapters on his experiences in the Con
federate army, only his slyly humorous
confession that the book which stopped
a bullet and saved his life was not the
"improving" work of tradition, but a
copy of "Tristram Shandy." Referring
to the unceasing warfare waged between
thp oidtime country schoolmaster and his
husky pupils, and speaking with the au
thority of full knowledge, he says:
There w;. - really some Justification for
this ' attitude of the young Americans in
every such district; for under the old sys
tem, as I very well remember it, the gov
ernment of schools was brutal, cruel, in
human in a degree that might in many
eases have excused if it did not Justify a
homicidal impulse on the part of its vic
tims. The boys of the, e.irly time would
tit* \ *r have grown into the stalwart Ameri
cans who fought the Civil War if they
had submitted to such injustice and so
crue! a tyranny without making tho utmost
resistance they could.
By far the greater part of the volume
Is, however, devoted to Mr. Eggleston's
later recollections, which are almost ex
clusively Journalistic and literary. He
Stewed as editor, literary editor and
editorial writer on the stuffs of thre«
blew York dallies, end was for oiany
years an occasional contributor to the
columns of The Tribune. His pages are
studded with stories and sketches of
American men of letters of the last
thirty years and with observations on
the practical side of literature as a
lit-rary adviser and author comes
to know it. He xvaa one of the founders
<jf Urn Authors' Club, and takes care- to
explain why women authors are not
eligible tv membership. The argument
is sound.
It was at the Authors' Club that John
Hay ' took up the cudgels for the dime
novel and Edwin Booth supported him.
"U":at about their literary quality?"
asked some one In the group.
"It is very bad," answered Edwin Booth,
"but it isn't this quality they put to the
Croat. X h&T* read dOMna, hotm. huu
NEW-YORK DAILY TRIBUNE. SATURDAY," ' MAY 28, 1910.
rlr^ds of them, and I have never challenged
their literary quality, because that is some
thing to which they lay no claim. Their
strength lies in dramatic situations, and
they abound in these. I must say that
some, of them are far better, stronger and
more appealing, than are many of those
that have made ' the fortune of successful
plays."
"Do you read them ' for the sake of dra
matic situations. Mr. Booth?" some on©
asked. _
"No, 1 read them for the sake of sleep,"
he replied. "I read them Just as I play soli
taire—to divert my mind and to bring re
pose to me."
Mr. Eggleston givea a curious charac
ter sketch of (he late Frank R. Stockton:
I never saw Stockton angry. I doubt
that he ever was so. I never knew him to
be- in the least degree hurried or to mani
fest Impatience In any way. On the other
hand. I never knew htm to manifest en
thuslaem of any kind or to Indulge in an:
but the most moderate and placid rejoicing
over anything. Good or Hi fortune seemed
to have no effect whatever upon his spirits
or hip manner. . . His self-po6Bessed
repression of enthusiasm is clearly mani
fest In his writings. In none of his stories
Is there a 9Ug:ge6tlon of anything but phflo
tophic calm on the part of the man who
wrote them. There is humor, a fascinating
fancy and an abounding tenderness of hu
man sympathy of a placidly Impersonal
character, but there is no passion, no
strenuoslty. nothing to suggest that the
author is anywhere etirred to enthusiasm.
He one day said to me that he had never
regarded what is called "love Interest" aa
necessary to a novel, and, in fact, he never
made any very earnest use of that Interest.
The book has the cheerful atmosphere
of a successful life whose daily task has
been also Its never failing dally pleas
ure and interest. To be allowed to do
what one loves to do, to do it well, and
to find recognition, is. after all, a solid,
wearing form of happiness.
FICTION
Stories of the American on His,
or Her, Travels.
THE BEGGAR IN THE HEART. By
Edith Rlckert. 12mo, pp. 34 8. Mof
fat. Yard & Co.
THE DUKE'S PRICE. By Demetra and
Kenneth Brown. Illustrations by A. O.
Learned. 12mo, pp. 292. The Houghton
Mifflin Company.
SALI-Y BISHOP: A ROMANCE. By B.
Temple Thurston. 12mo, pp. 424.
Mitchell Kennerley.
THE BLINDNESS OF DR. GRAY; OR,
THE FINAL LAW. By Canon Shee
han, D. D. 12mo, pp. 488. Longmans.
Green & Co.
Put not thy faith in "blurbs." The one
on the slip cover of "The Beggar In the
Heart" Informs us that "the scene is
rural England," which is exactly, of
many places, the one where it is not, ex
cept in a few pages toward the end. The
story starts in New England, stops for a
while in Paris and then wanders all over
Europe, settling down finally In a County
Council building (what we would call a
model tenement) in "Westminster, Lon
don. Here the love story of a Yankee
old maid begins, and It is a delightful
story all through, imaginative and In
genious in its mingling of poetry with
the hard facts of life as the poor live It.
Of course, the Yankee spinster has been
polished and rounded by her rolling life
with her painter uncle on Montmartre
and on their modest travels in search of
such art treasures as their slender purse
could afford; but she was romantic and
fanciful from childhood, when she first
found her other self in the dim old mir
ror at home, which remained her com
panion and confidant and counsellor all
through the great adventure of the noble
lord who proved to his own satisfaction
that her ancestry was better than his,
not on account of the Mayflower connec
tion, but of a dissolute younger son who
had been cast off by his father In the
days of Charles 11. The book iA a fairy
tale pure and simple and sweet, with a
most fantastically matter-of-fact, re
alistic twentieth century setting. The
reader will like the mature heroine, with
her un-Puritan nickname of "Petty-
Zou," and become Interested with her in
Pip and the many other children of the
neighborhood and their mothers, and
Tudor the Constable, and Eleanor and
Mr. Lawrence O'Neill, "known over the
footlights as Audley Mortimer," and
Bumpus and Mrs. Barker, recipients of
Petty-Zou's charity, and Rosa Gungle
wick, whom she called "Pouf," and the
Countess of Bavernake.
"The Duke's Price," a novel of inter
national marriage, will go to swell the
numbers of this kind of fiction without
adding to the lustre of the genre or
throwing new light upon a much dis
cussed social phenomenon of the day.
The fact that the noble husband of this
story is a gentleman, not a blackguard.
Is somewhat of a novelty in a story of
this sort, to be sure, but unfortunately
the plot is a hackneyed one, that of the
misunderstanding between husband and
wife which is not cleared up until after
many days and much danger of marital
shipwreck, when love finds the way at
last. The American heiress overhears
some words spoken by her French
mother-in-law, and jumps at once to the
conclusion that she has been married for
her fortune; the ducal husband is proud,
and accepts the attitude she takes
toward him in consequence. The rift is
easily widened to the proportions of an
estrangement by the treachery of a
woman and a man, scandal wags its
tongue,, but all comes right in the end,
Jurt as it came right years ago in the
books of Miss Marlltt and E. Werner,
and. later, in Ohnet's "Maltre de
Forges." There is no question here of
plagiarism, but simply of the exhaustion
of the material upon which writers of
the ' international marriage novel can
draw. So many tales on the subject
have been produced in the last few years
that an author could happen only by
mere accident upon an original situa
tion; no amount of planning and plot
ting will evolve it. It would be well for
our novelists to leave the topic alone for
a while, unless, indeed, they should hap
pen upon a really new combination of
the familiar materials. "The Duke's
Price" would have had a better chance
of success some years ago. To-day it is
decidedly conventional in subject, plot
and characters. And the Parisian smart
set has little novelty left for us. s
In the letter of dedication to Mr. Ger
ald dv Maurier prefixed to - "Sally
Bishop" the author, Mr. E. Temple
Thurston, expresses uncertainty (and in
difference) concerning "the attitude of
the critical mind" toward Chapter IV in
Book I and "the sensitiveness of the
delicate mind, when it cioses its eyes on
Chapter VI of Book .II." So far as
Chapter IV of Book I Is concerned, the
"critical mind" of the present reviewer
can reach only one conclusion, which is
that the incident there described Is in no
way essential to the development of the
story, and therefore questionable art, as
well us in doubtful taste. As for Chap
ter VI of Book 11. that is bo eminently
in ping with the emotional processes
Of the heroine and the moment that the
"delicate mind" will understand t,
whatever may happen to its "sensitive
ness." For the rest, this "romance" la.
in everyday parlance, an excellent piece
of realism— a page of life whose scene
happens to be London, though any other
city In Christendom, and, for that mat
ter, in portifrm infl4<Uum M veil, B»iftt
Just as readily have been selected, and
has. indeed, at least so far as Christeit r
dom is concerned, yielded abundant ma
terial for similar tales ere now. Sally
Bishop is the daughter of an English
clergyman who goes Xo London to earn
her livelihood, which she finds as stenog
rapher in a business house. Chance—
the chance that always lies in watt for
the working woman in narrow, soul
deadening circumstances— throws her to
gether with a barrister and occasional
Journalist. She has her 'romance," and
pays its price. This sort of thing has
been done so often in fiction that one
wonders if it be worth while doing asrain,
even though it be done so well as in the
case of Sally Bishop.
Canon Sheehan's pictures of rural Ire
land have a value all their own. He
knows his people and loves them, which
1= perhapp the very reason why he sees
their folbfes and worse as clearly as
their Virtues, and gives them credit for
both with striking Impartiality in his
stories. His sense of humor never fails
him. and never falls to reach the reader,
but over it all hangs the pall of the mel
ancholy of the race and of the narrow,
monotonous life which is slowly disap
pearing before the approach of the new
order, rather than assimilating it. This
author's books wiH in time to come have
a certain value as historical social docu
ments. So here Is another 4 of D/ Shee
han's well drawn parish priests, auto
cratic from experience, yet gentle at
heart, laboring valiantly among a people
possessed of an amazing ingenuity in
separating religion from the practical
conduct of the affairs of this life, prone
to lawlessness and revolt against author
ity in any form. And. of course, there is
another new curate, to accentuate the
difference between the ways of the old
priesthood and the new, and a niece from
America, and politics and conspiracy
and more plot than this Author has ever
yet given us in a single- book.
THE DUCHESSE DE DINO
Her Fascinating "Ohronique"
Brought to a Close.
Paris, May 21.
The fourth and last volume of the
"Chronique" Of the Duchesse de Dino,
edited by her grandniece. Princess
Radziwill, n£e Castellane, and just pub
lished by Plon-Nourrit, covers the period
from January 1, 1851, to May 1, 1882.
The duchess underwent severe treat
ments at Ems and Schlangenbad for a
painful malady due to a complication of
rheumatic and liver complaints, but the
waters failed to mitigate the disease,
and she died at Sagan on September 19,
1862. The alert observation of Talley
rand's niece is exercised in recording
personal details and characteristic traits
of the two branches of the Bourbons in
face of their common enemy. Louis Na
poleVtn, .for whom, however, she seems
to have had a secret liking, owing to the
strong qualities' and masterful perse
verance that he displayed during the
most brilliant period of his career.
The concluding volume of the sprightly
duchess is not quite as amusing as its
predecessors, because men and women,
and what they did and said, are viewed
from a distance. She was no longer an
actor, but a spectator. Nevertheless, no
important diplomatic intrigue, no politi
cal or social event, escaped her attention.
She kept up her intimacy with Thiera,
who. when at Nice in 1856, speaking of
Napoleon 111. snid to her: "I don't like
tne cook, but I find his cooking excel
lent." When the Emperor heard of this
remark he quietly observed to a friend:
"Tell M. Thiers that I shall never em
ploy him as my scullion (marmiton). be
cause he would spoil my sauces " The
duchess relates some of the feats ac
complished at the Tuileries by Home, the
American spiritualist, and his sister, and
points out how this singular pair exer
cised their "formidable electro-magnetic
force," turned the heads of the Emperor
and Empress, and acquired for a brief
time extraordinary political influence.
The duchess throws a new light upon
the negotiations for peace between
France and Austria after the French
victories in 1859. It appears that Na
poleon, in an autograph letter to the
Empemr Francis Joseph, asked for an
armistice. This unusual step, coming
from the victor instead of from the van
quished, was due to the fact that Rus
sia had never forgiven Austria for re
maining neutral during the Crimean
War, and the Russian Chancellor,
Prince Gortschakoff, repaid Austrian
diplomacy by secretly urging Kossuth
to issue proclamations of Hungarian In
dependence, and to foment internal
strife at Pesth, Vienna. Trieste and
Prague just after the Austrian defeats
in Italy. Napoleon, fully aware of the
part played by Russia, forthwith took
the Initiative by proposing an armistice,
and this was, after some hesitation, ac
cepted by Emperor Francis Joseph, who
would certainly not have done so had it
not been for the Russian intrigues with
KossuUi. Moreover, the French armies
were suffering at that time from a ter
rible epidemic of typhoid fever. Had
hostilities recommenced the final re
sult might have been reversed. The
"Chronique" is provided with an excel
lent index, and contains an admirable
portrait of the duchess as she appeared
In 1850. C. I. B.
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Current Talk of Things Present
and to Come.
The length of a novel by Mr. William
de Morgan Is such that it is always a
little surprising that a man of his years
fchould have succeeded in writing it at
all. Nevertheless, he Is indomitable, and
we have scarcely got over welcoming
one story of his when another is in sight.
Henry Holt & Co. announce for early
publication a new novel by him, which
will probably be entitled "An Affair of
Dishonor."
Mr. H. G. Wells has recently got hold
of a fellow countryman who has been a
casual laborer in his time and nt>w pre
sidos over the destinies of a Bath chair.
He Is a Socialist, a thoughtful man, and,
into the bargain, capable of some liter
ary' work. Mr. Wells persuaded him to
write a memoir of his life, and this has
been published under the title of "George
Bfeek, Bath Chairman." One English
reviewer says of the story that It is told
"in limpid, strong, simple English of the
great school of Bunyan and Defoe.' We
hope to see it.
We wonder how many renders there
have been since the halftone came in
who have preserved any memory of the
brilliant illustrative work once done by
the lute Krederiik Sandys. He did. to
be sure, comparatively little, but that
little was euperb. and it is a pity that
his drawings produced for the wood en
graver should loot MTO have boen burled
In magazine pages now rarely accessible.
To set the bnlance straight Mrs. Sandys
is publishing a book embracing all M
the tv.f nty-four illustrations in black
and white which her husband executed.
1 There should surely be an American
edition.
•
Mr. Andrew Lang, reviewing a recent
! book on "The Romance of the Oxford
I Colleges." notes that, according to the
author. Jowott failed to discern his', Mr.
| Liing's. potentialities. Commenting upon
i this luminous discovery he says:
I He diagnosed them so well that he told
me not to write ir mv college essays/ "as
if you were writing for B penny paper. " "A
prediction, cruel smart." but these were
vpiv early days, "as yet no sin was
dreamer]. '" He told a very near kinsman or
mine (who. of course, told me), that, though
I was this and that (the compliments were
not repeated), I was aiso "such a
fool." He wont the whole length of the ex
pression: ard who, after that, could fall to
love and honour the speaker? I do re
member a breakfast party at Jowett's when
a young Liberal don said that the Confed
erates were crucifying negroea whom they
found In arms against them, one of the
regular "atrocity" "stories, told In all war.-.
Being a very shy freshman I said that,
though an extreme measure, It seemed a
naturnl thing to dn in the circumstances.
But Mr. Jowett held his peace, in place
of administering one of his legendary
snubs. Indeed. I never heard him deliver
one of them, nor knew in him anything but
the greatest kindness and patience.
Those who suffer from a certain dis
ability which is perpetually causing
them to administer unconscious snubs
i to their most cherished friends will be
[amufed to learn that Mr. Lang, too,
has had the misfortune, from his earlier
years, not to remember faces. Between
his shortsightedness and some more
mysterious faculty he sees people quite
differently on different occasions. He
i tells how this once embarrassed him
with Mark Twain. He met the Ameri
can writer in London and then did not
see him again for a year or two. He
continues his story as follows:
Well, one dny I partook of luncheon at a
club of both sexes, being the guest of the
late Mr. F. W. H Myers. On one hand
was a lady, with whom I conversed: on the
other was' a total stranger—
And as he never spok© to me,
I never spoke to him.
He had a great shook of hair, which was
of a very faint yellow, verging on white.
When we departed we wrote our names
in the club book. The stranger signed his
name; I followed, and read it. It wag
"Samuel L. Clemens"— was Mark himself!
I rushed after him, and explained my total
inability to tell "who is who." He re
marked that he had been rather puzzled by
my failure to recognize him.
Readers of George Meredith who desire
to possess a good portrait of him will
be interested In en etching recently pro
duced by Mr. Jacques Reich. This is a
plate, about six by ilght inches in size.
from the familiar photograph' taken of
the novelist's proiiie and showing him in
the prime of Hf©^ It has always been
appreciated, but >Mr. Reich has turned
It into a work of art, bringing out, with
a certain lichness, the textures which
not even t'le best of photographs can
reproduce. He has given to this precious
souvenir of Meredith's personality a new
color and animation, and, besides, has
\ poftened the effect of angularity belong-
S Ing to his original document. It is alto
gether a most satisfactory plate.
From the same artist we have received
• an impression ot his etching after Ches
ter Harding's portrait of Chief J.ustlce
[ Marshall, a larger and bolder plate than
! the Meredith. Taking advantage of the
i increased scale, Mr. Reich has de-
I veloped his full, warm tones very broadly
and freely. It is a painter-like and very
handsome reproduction of a portrait
greatly valued not only by lawyers but
by all those who cherish the memory of
a highminded and brilliant American.
An extremely useful work of reference
is supplied in "The Catholic Church in
the United States of America," published
by the Catholic Editing Company. This
compendious survey, produced in cele
bration of the golden Jubilee of Pope
Pius X, gives practically all the histori
cal Information that could be desired by
the student of the subject. The first
volume was devoted to accounts of the
religious orders and communities in the
United States, with portraits of their
founders and views of thre principal
monasteries, convents and other Insti
tutions. The second volume, recently
published, traverses the archdioceses,
dioceses and vicariates apostolic .in the
provinces of Baltimore and New York,
and the three following volumes will
take up the other sections of the United
States In due order. A sixth and con
cluding volume will treat of the whole
history of the Catholic Church in this
country. The work is published on a
large scale, and is richly illustrated with
good halftones. It is well calculated to
be of service among churchmen and in
public libraries.
The British Prime Minister and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer have
agreed to appoint a departmental com
mittee to inquire into the present condi
tion and future position of the wonder
ful, mass of documents forming the pub
lic records. Mr. Sldjiey Lee at the re
cent meeting of the Shakespeare Trust
said that though he did not .share Pro
fessor Wallace's precise view of the
value or bearing of all his recent dis
coveries at the Record Office he yielded
to none in his admiration of the skill
and enterprise which had directed his
efforts. But even Professor Wallace's
application and industry. Mr. Lee con
tinued, could not hope to unearth all
the secrets that the Public Record Office
undoubtedly stored. There were hun
dreds of thousands, he thought he might
say millions, of legal records similar to
those which Professor Wallace had ex
amined that should be read through if
the search was to be made exhaustive.
It is good news that the national ar
chives of England are to be sifted at
last. It is not impossible that discov
eries of great importance to historical
and literary students may be made.
The library of the late Marion Craw
ford, the novelist, has just been sold in
London. The sale realized about SS.TXX).
Lord Curzon, In talking to the mem
bers of the Shakespeare Trust the other
day, dealt with the wisdom of conserving
the places where great men were born
and lived and died. Rather more than
a year ago, he said,- he took advantage
of a holiday that was imposed upon him
after an illness to pay a visit to St.
Helena oi purpose to study the sur
roundings of the last tragic years of. the
great Napoleon's life. Visiting the
house at Longwoo'd. and the surround
ings, he saw at once that quite one-half,
he thought one might say three-quar
ters, of what had been written about
the last years of the Emperor Napoleon
was utterly false and wrong, '■because it
had been written by men who had not
the slightest conception of the surround-
Ings in which those years were passed.
Half the. details of the horror of the sur-
RARE BOOKS & PRINTS IN EUROPE.
• • A LL-OUT -OF -PRINT -BOOKS"
*» WHITE ME: can get you any book «v«r
published on any subject. The most expert
book finder extant. When In England call ami
■«• my 500.000 rar« books BAKER'S aUK AT
&QOJK BHOF. jobs Brlfht at. Birmingham,
roundings in which he waa supposed to
have eked out th? last shabby, deplor
able years of his existence were , b own
to pieces when one saw the beautiful and
exquisite character of the surroundings
in which he was placed. He gave these
as mere illustrations of the effect upon
one's own knowledge and comprehension
of a visit to the localities in which great
men- lived and died.
A new French book which will appeal
to various readers on this 3ide of the
Atlantic Is M. Julien «n*rs«fs "La
Musique chez les Peuples Indigenes de
rAmeriqu* dv Nord. Btats-Unla et
Canada." M. Tiersot \s the librarian o
the National Conservatory of Music in
Paris, a composer, and the author of
many book, on music. He has studied
the subject of his new volume in this
country and in Canada.
BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
BIOGRAPHY.
i «ssg*»jgsss"-oStS!K£ arts
Therewith. Edited by Nathan Will
MacChe.ney. Illustrated. 12ino. pp. **• ■
655? {Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.)
This memorial volume contains n :..s
tributes paid to Lincoln by n^. cd H 71 ce _ n , O n
the celebrations in Boston. Washington
New York, Chicago, Cincinnati and other
cities of the United. States. Among th«
numerous Illustrations are to be found the
statue by Augustus Saint-Oaudens and the
head of Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum.
KARL MARX: HIS LIFE AND WORK. By
John fipargo Illustrated. Bvo. pp. 3.>*
(B. W. Huebsch. » ' '■
This biography portray! Marx •a • a
many sided man. not only m the founder
of modern socialism, but In the character
of economist, philosopher, poet, worm
patriot and husband and father.
BJORN9TJERNE BJORNSON. "•*-"£« "5T
William Morton Payne. Ll* D l«mo. PP
93. (Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.)
A brief survey of his life by an Ameri
can admirer of the Norwegian. This
essay was first published in March. 190« J.
on the occasion of BJornson seventieth
birthday. Since then several additions
■ . have been made In the way of translation,
anecdote and the consideration of the
novelist's later productions.
LEIGH HUNT'S RELATIONS WITH BTRON.
SHELLEY AND KEATS. By Barnetta
Miller. Ph. D. Bvo. pp. vll. 16». (Th« Co
, lumbla University Press.) -;.V .
A monograph dealing with the part
played by Leigh Hunt in the lives of these
poets; his services of friendship to ana
his able criticism and Just defence of
them.
THE EMPRESS EUGENIE. 1870-1810. Her
• Majesty's Life Since "The Terrible Tear. 11
Together with the Statement of Her Case;
The Emperor's ■ Own Story of Sedan: An
Account of His Exile and Last Days, and
Reminiscences of tha Prince Imperial from
Authentic Sources. By Edward' Legge.
With Illustrations and facsimile letters.
Svo, pp. xtil. 409." (Charles Scribner's
Sons.) -• ' '
I THE FASCINATING DUC DE RICHELIEU.
Louis Francois Armand Dv P'.essis (1603
1788.) By H. Noel Williams. With seven
teen Illustrations. Bvo. pp. xxlv. 34tJ
• (Charles Scribner's Sons..)
An account of hi 3 eventful life and the
part he played at court. in military affair*
and In diplomatic missions;- his friendship
for Voltaire and his many love affairs.
j THE PASSIONS OF THE FRENCH ROMAN
TICS. By Francis Gribble. With twenty
portraits. Svo. pp. xvi, 303. . (Charles
Scribner's Sons.)
Reviewed in another column.
FICTION.
WULLIE M'WATTIE'9 MASTER. By J. J.
Bell. Illustrated. Small lUmo. . pp. 163.
(The Fleming H. Revell Company.)
The story of Wullte's master and how
h» taught him to pain:. The scrapes that
' Wullle cot Into, and how. with the help of
: his employer, he got out. By the author
of "Wee Mac^regor." ' _
TANGLES UNTANGLED By Pat R!c« 12mo.
pp. 313. (The J. S. Ogllvle Publishing
Company.) "
!AT THE SIGN OF THE BURNING BUSH. A
Novel. By M. Little. 12mo. pp. vl. 343.
(Henry Holt & Co.)
Starting as a 'satire on three Scotch
divinity "students." the ta!a develops as
a medium for unconventional thinking and
a story of., love and humor.
1 THE SHERIFF OF DYKE HOLE. A Story of
- a Montana Mining Camp. By Ridgwell
Cullum. Frontispiece by tha Klnneys.
12mo, pp. 447. (Philadelphia: George W.
Jacobs & C 0..)
I MADEMOISELLE CELESTE. A Romance of
the French Revolution. By Adele FTgu
• fon Knight. Frontispiece by Clarence F.
Underwood. 12mo. .->r>. 322. (Philadelphia:
George W. Jacobs & C-O
Franz de Beaurepeau. a Republican and
member of the, National Guard. Is -In love
with an aristocrat. Celeste Countess de
Lavarolle. She is doomed to death, but
Franz saves her and send her to England
In care of his friend Victor, who also
falls in love with her. Shall they relin
quish love for the sake of friendship?
This is the point on which the story
hinges.
THE GREAT NATURAL HEALER. By
Charles Heber Clark (Max Adeler.). Illus
trated. 16mo. pp. 82. (Philadelphia:
George W. Jacobs & Co.)
Relating to tha trials of a man who.
through a series of misunderstandings, is
mistaken for a great natural healer by
the people of the little town of Borax.
! THE PERJURER. By W. E. Norrls. 12mo.
pp. 312. (Brentano's.)
A story of English life.
BRITZ. OF HEADQUARTERS. By Marcln
Barber. 12mo. pp. 304. (Jtoffat. Yard &
Co.) .
Brltz is one of the "sleuths" of police
headquarters In New York. The tale opens
with the discovery of the robbery of the
famous Maharanee diamond. Brits is de
tailed to solve the problem of its disap
pearance.'
j THE STORM BIRDS. By Vchroeder Davis.
12mo. pp. 376. (Moffat. Yard & Co.)
A novel based on the diplomatic in
trigues which culminated In the Spanish-
American -war. interwoven with love epi
sodes and thrilling and humorous Inci
dents.
PHILIPPA AT HALCYON. By Katharine
Holland Brown. Illustrated. 12mo. pp.
422. (Charles Scribner's Sons.)
A college girl story, portraying the situ
ations and incidents of undergraduate life
In a Western college.
THE SILENT CALL. By Edward Milton
Royle. Illustrated. 12mo. pp. 392. (Charles
Scribner's Sons.)
By th» author of the play called "The
Squaw Man." The hero of this story Is
the squaw man's son. .„ ••
A SPLENDID HAZARD. By Harold MacGrath.
With illustrations by Howard Chandler
Christy. 12mo. pp. 370. (Indianapolis: The
Bobbs-Merrill Company.)
A tale of love and adventure.
THE FORSAKEN. By Ivan TrepofT. Frontis
piece. 12mo. pp. 170. (The Cochran« Pub
lishing Company.)
In th* guise of a novel, this book ts really
an argument for th« morality of divorce.
MORNING STAR. By H. Rider Hapgard. With
three Illustrations by A. C. Michael. 12mo
pp. x. 303. (Longman?. Green & Co.>
• A romance of Old Egypt.
BACK TO THE LAND. A Medley. By "C 2 "
12mo. pp. xll. 106. (Longmans. Green & Co.)
The adventures of a couple who d-cided
they would desert London and repair to th«
country, where they would find an ancient
manor holme -fallen on evil days which they
would restore, and there spend peaceful vaca
tions, secure from suffragettes and children's
missions.
DRIFTING THISTLEDOWN. By Mrs. P. *
Barnett and Another. 12mo. pp. 157 " iLonir
nans. Green & Co.)
A story told In the form of letters from
England, on shipboard and from South
Africa. ' i 5. s
JUVENILE.
THE FRGOS O' POOLO: OR, WONDER WAT*
OF TINY FOLKS.. By Joshua Freeman
Crowell. Illustrations by Harold Slchel 4to
pp. 176. (E. P. Dutton & Co.) -«cnei. «o.
A collection of stories and versa about
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS!
Tublijihed
A Story of Girls' College Ltc
Philippa at Halcyon
By Katharine Holland Brown
An Excellent Commencement fVcatlsi
Q HE has transferred to her pages the actual atmosphere o: l
girls' college— the very spirit or tl'e . :. „ •'■'■■ i y.
Nowhere is so true and so charming an impre : £
college life. Upon the scene— a Western , ' ' - ro **
varied girl characters, who. with Philippa. herself a .hara.'tcr «
great fascination, pass through episodes exeunt; .r. ::^<-i.
amusing.
Illust ■ ■
Charles Scribner's Sons. New York
\ toads.- spider* be?s and s'waaa - ,-„__ .
'"CWpplfl an*. Happy Chappto are twAjS?
sparrows, great friends, wUlcft alwaj. ,v tc *
together and were always happy j n »» r '*
weather or cold, and sang th* m.-*»t <uiTt?
fa! songs. **"**■
FOLK STORIES FRO* SOUTHERN mom*
WEST AFRICA. By Elphlnstcno ' nf^S*- :
F.K. G. S.. F. R. A. I. With •,!?"•
tlon by Andrew Lang. Wits, ttst~_*lf
12mo. pp. »v. 138. (Longman*. Onmt~*
A collection of forty short *.->«•■
strange institution* and adventure* *•
MISCELLANEOUS. -.
OBERAMMERGAf By Jose;.' -, a.!—
Short. - Illustrated. 12rno. p->" , "•?•
(Thomas Y. crr>w»l! £ Co.) ** 7, *
A description of th» viilag* wh«r» -v
Passion Play la produced and the «**£*
day life of the people. with special «»"2*
■ . .n to the character* chosen to take ,
In th* drama. " A r*»um> of th« di..*^
Included, together with helpful laiar-."*
tiaa for visitors. 1ra *-
THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINEBS. By v~~-
Smith Williams, M. D. LL. D kvW^ 7
ZOO. (Harper & Bros.) . * '»•
Dr. Williams holds that p-sopl» i-l2
■with the greatest efficiency only Jl*J 1 *
. physically, mentally and morally ha.-»?
His book contain* advice for tin »r«%i
th* body and then treat* of th* men' ■
social and moral aspects of the imi^^
of happiness. «raoi«^
ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF To.
DEPARTMENT OK EDUCATION Off 35
CITT OF NEW TOniC FOR THE Y?7?
ENDING JULY 31. 100*4. 12iso an £?
(Board of Education. > " *•_*•
Comprising th« reports of the saosa^.
tenclents of school buildings. r.'jnS'
lectures and of the Nautical School- 7*
a pubile school directory and l!sti~!
school officials, committees, and Dr*si<t.n.
> of th« Board of Education; ; • •««•
PROGRESS FROM EXPERIENCE. By 3*.
ward S«ld«n Hyde, l.'mo, pp. 33. .ST
Cochrane Publishing Company.) **
Th* > author considers the .esB««
whether there Is any such thin? a* 31^
ress. or whether that of the preasa^S
consists In following the downward ii£?
His arguments snow that the latter to £
the- case. " **
SOUTHERN GERMANY 'Wurtemb*™ ud
Bavaria). Handbook lor tr»T«i>ri S
Karl Baedeker. With thirty ma; f ,3
forty-five plans, Eleventh revised *»!?£&
16mo. pp. xxx. 88-1. (Charles Scraa^t
Sons.) W|
THE NEW . ERA. Woman's Era; or. T-»
formation from Barbaric to Huaxaa* *^T
ilizatlon. By Virginia L.eb!tck. 14tBa.iT
117. **
A plea for woman suffrage.
• MUSIC.
THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE MODEItV Ca.
CHESTRA A.XD early records 5
THE PRECURSORS OF THE v-•v '-•
FAMILY. With over eve huadrwl ClaJ.
- tratlorw and plates. By Kathleen 9essa>
ir^er. In two volume- Hro, pp. zxsNK.
212. 47. 44^, 19. (Imported by Chvu '
Scribner's Sons.)
Voluma I is devoted to modem orah^
tral insiriim«nt», and Volume. II to avesa>
ologlcal records and researches into-,
remote* origin of the violin family, v
contains a bibliography of .Tiastc sat
archajologry (English and foreign) a-j ;-'
dices to the two volumes.
PHILOSOPHY.
MARCUS AURELIUS AND THE'LaTSI
STORIES. By F. W. Buss*;'. D D. "ij^T
p> xl. 302. (Charles Scribner'a Son*.
An estimate of the Stole teacher* .
POETRY AND DRAMA.
SONNETS FOR CHOICE. By Margaret Cua. '
ler Aldrlch. li'mo. pp viii, jj. . MoJit
Yard <& Co.) i
Some of the sonnets in the coUaetaß i
axe on the various months and seassnssl
the rear, some are on faith and lor«.
THE IRON MUSE. By John Curtsl Unto.
wood. 12mo. pp. x;v, 13' J. (G. P. pjj. 1 ;
cam's Sons. )
These verses are on women, sclana% £4 j
city, the sea and the inner life.
WILL SHAKESPEARE. OF STRATH*
AND LONDON- A drama ia four tea
By Margaret Crosby Munn. 12rao. 3,
301. (Dodd. Mead & '"o 1
The first act begins la 1552, ta»te«o{
Shakespeare's marjiii^ • to Anne BMsb>
way. The other acts 'lea! with tha |ssst
directly befor» Shakt-sp-arers r»Wra a)
Stratford from London
RELIGIOUS.
THE YEAR OF GRACE. Trinity to A&vwl
By George Hodges. Dean of th* Satsssji
Theological School. Cambridge Mia
12mo. pp. -90. (Thomas Whittaker. Ist)
A series of twenty-five sermons on m
subjects as -Th« Courage of the Commw
place." '"The Peace of Nations," "Ti»
Work of rh-> Ministry." "The Old Ha
dredth." "Th* Marnlflcat." -Our Lov:^
God" and "The Twelve - and the fh»
Thousand "
A STUDY OF GOD. MAN AND DESTEtI
As Disclosed by Love and Fidelity 4
Truth and by the Evil Reverse of S«J
Love and Fidelity. By A'ldlson Bratast
12mo. pp. xx. '-■'■ 'The Cochraaa Po
lishing Company. )
REPRINTS.
THE EVOLUTION OF MAN. A Popular
tlflc Study. By Ern#st Ha*ckei. lam
volumes. Illustrate'! Translated &■
the firth fanlarg eiitlon by Joseph 3fc.
Cabe. Vol. I. Embryology or '">ntoaj»
Hvo. pp. xx. 393 ' V,. II The MH
of -the Species or Phytogeny, j Pp. xlv.T*
(G. P." Putnam's Sops.*
BOOKS AND PUBLICATION^
"The impossible is such &•
lightful fancy and so frankly
make-believe — while the possi
ble is so true and so fascinat
ingly told."
From the Introduction by Pro/.
Vernan L. Kellogg. Author of "I*
sect Stories,"' to
"VamWs"'
A Prince and His Ants
By LUIGI BERTELT.I Translitrf j
by SARAH F. WOODRUFF- *■ j
s colored plates and many tec
illustrations. 12mo. $1.35 net: W
mall, $1 4v >
This book has hart a wide pcpa
larity among the children of Itajv
and *is now Issued in a spin:-*
translation. It is th ■• gaging***
of a boy who became an ant M"
had many thrilling adventures *»
other ants, and wasps and tees, a-*
of his sister who became a *H*"*rS
• VXew circular of AMERICA*
NATURE SERIES and other bocJ
for lovers of outdoor life ready ■*
week, and sent rree on applicatic-
HENRY HOLT & CO. :
NOW HEADY
L M. MONTGOMERY'S .NEW 300K_
KILMENY of
the ORCHARD
A CHARMIRG LOVE STCST
By tl»* author of
•ANNE OF GREEN GABLES" (2Oi!» iM *" r
am! t
"ANNE OF avrVTILFA " <10th Prig ? *—
For Sale Everywhere V~.
PAGE: tsfTKKS '„*,——
DR. HENRY \AN Dtkt
Spirit of America
To- day