A witness to the state of his mind, . . . but as new more and more to help his fellow-men; and It was a happy and saving quality in one who spent so much of his vitality in his work, that he was able to throw off all care, and, with the zest of a boy, give himself up to the delight of flower or insect-hunting with his children, or a mountain or fishing excursion with his beloved "Tom Brown," Tom Taylor or Froude; when, overflowing with wholesome nonsense, he was the life of the party. To the former he wrote, planning a trip to Snowdon : After agonizing struggle "he read for CHARLES KINGSLEY.* RARE spirit passed away from this world when Charles Kingsley died. Whatever charges and "bitter newspaper attacks" certain utterances of his may have drawn upon him during some of the most fruitful years of his over-crowded life, no one could then or ever call in question the integrity of the man, his utter unselfishness and his sweetness of soul. The story of his life, told in letters of his own and reminiscences of friends, connected by a thread of narrative, is more fascinating than any of his fictions. We have known him as the writer of charming verse and stimulating story, the advocate of the poor man's rights, and the brilliant preacher; but here we have a revelation of his real life, his perplexities and doubts, his strong affections, his keen delight in out-of-door pursuits, his tenderness and humility, his exquisite humor and the perfect happiness that reigned in his home; and can see how much better he was than the best that he wrote, and how delightful it must have been to have had him for a per-idays if there were a sick one who might Wherever he went, he wrote to his family sonal friend. He was born in Devonshire, where his father held a curacy, and was remarkable as a child. His father was cultivated and refined, of loving nature and "stainless honor," with the tastes of an artist and a fondness for natural history; his mother was "full of poetry and enthusiasm," with a love for science and literature; and in this first-born son were reproduced in strong personality the prominent traits of both, including a force and originality and martial spirit which must not be left out of the account. "Our talent," he says, "such as it is, is altogether hereditary." As a youth he is described as of "keen visage and great bodily activity," "original to the verge of eccentricity," while yet a "genuine out-of-door English boy," with an absolute enthusiasm for botany and geology, fearless and brave, and yet keenly sensitive, tender-hearted and forgiving; constitutionally shy, and a stammerer - disadvantages which he never overcame, though the infirmity of speech disappeared when he warmed to his work in preaching. The dread of entering a room, or of speaking, sometimes amounted to terror, so that he said he "could have wished the earth to open and swallow him." At twenty he first met his future wife, who says: "He was then full of religious doubts, and his face, with its unsatisfied, hungering look, bore miss him. He could "swing a flail with the "Of all men on earth, I should like to have Tom Taylor for a third. Entreat him to make it possible, and come and be a salvidge man with us; and tell him I can show him views of the big stone work which no mortal cockney knows, because, though the whole earth is given to the children of men, none but we jolly fishers get the plums and raisins of it, by the rivers which run among the hills, and the lakes which sit a-top thereof. Tell him I'll show him such a view. as tourist never saw, nor will see, 'case why, he can't find it; and I will show him the original mouth of the pit - but I only think of the trouts half pounds, and we'll kill his wife and family. . . which the last I saw killed. . was three and oneAnd oh, what won't we do, except break our about the scenery and the flowers. With America, which, it will be remembered, he visited in 1874, he was greatly delighted, especially with Longfellow, and "dear old Whittier," and Asa Gray; and: "I cannot tell you a thousandth part of all I've seen, or of all the kindness we have received." New England is graphically described, as in winter : "The saddest country, all brown grass, icecedar-scrub, low, swampy shores; an iron land, polished rocks, sticking up through the copses, which only iron people could have settled in. The people must have been heroes to make what they have of it." The grandeur of our West overpowered him; and the profusion of flowers was a perpetual delight. "And, oh! the flowers!" "Flowers most lovely and wonderful ;" and "enormous tropic butterflies, all colors, as big as bats. We are trying to get a horned toad to bring home alive." All enthusiasm to the last; but he longed to get home - the place so dear that he never liked to quit it. In spite of occasional depression — which was hereditary-he kept a cheerful front, conquering his sadness before he came forth to his daily associates whose lives he made sunny and healthful. "I wonder," he would say, "if there is as much laughing in any other home in England as ours." Terribly overworked by the pressure of writing to meet his expenses and by his constant service for humanity, he broke down in his * Charles Kingsley. His Letters and Memories of His agree with, but could always love. These meridian, and looked forward to the final Life. Abridged. Scribner, Armstrong & Co. varied and trying experiences qualified him rest like one exhausted; but was constantly more thankful for his experiences than he had words to tell; "Oh! how good God has been to me!" The end came, as he had wished, at Eversley: "the home to which I was ordained, where I came when I was married, and which I intend shall be my last home for go where I will in this hard-working world, I shall take care to get my last sleep in Eversley church-yard." These "Memories" are edited with a good degree of tact and judgment; and the abridgment for American readers contains all that is of especial interest to them. The volume is of handsome shape, and has, beside the index and a chronological list of his works, a fac-simile of the manuscript of "The Three Fishers,” and several illustrations-Eversley rectory, the study window, the great fir trees and the church; an admirable portrait of Mr. Kingsley, which shows a wiry-looking man with keen eyes under knit brows and a most kindly aspect; and his grave, where, on a cross, are “the words of his choice, the story of his life: " "Amavimus, Amamus, Amabimus!" THE TURKS IN EUROPE.* different family, their history and traditions always must be so as long as the Turk keeps his The period of what may be called Turkish "squatter-sovereignty" in Europe Mr. Freeman dates from the accession of Othman to the rude power founded by his grandfather, Ertoghrul, the wandering chieftain who entered Asia Minor out of the East about the middle of the thirteenth century. From the word Othman sprang "Ottoman." Bajazet, about the beginning of the fifteenth century, was the first Ottoman prince who bore the title of Sultan. In 1453 Constantinople was captured by Mahomet, and "the new Rome became the capital of the Ottoman power.” The course of the Ottoman power since that time Mr. Freeman relates with a careful particularity which we have not space to follow. He does not think it has lost much of IN N this brief essay Mr. Freeman brings the its barbarian character under the influence stores of great historical learning, the of European ideas, though no doubt the discriminating glance of a critical mind, and Turks have "aped European ways" and "put the charms of a singularly simple method on a varnish of European civilization which and intelligible style, to the review of what has deceived many people." "Reforms" is known as "the Eastern Question." We have been only pretended. Since the death have nowhere seen within anything like so of Mahmoud [in 1839] the succession of narrow a compass so ample and clear a state- weak and worthless Sultans has been wholly ment of the facts, and so conclusive an argu- in the hands of a corrupt "ring." "These ment upon them. Who and what is the men dress and talk like Europeans, and so Turk? What has he done in Europe? take Europeans in, while they carry on a What shall be done with him? These are worse system of tyranny than that of the old the questions which Mr. Freeman sets out Sultans." to answer. It is not to be denied that he writes as an advocate whose mind is made up; but we do not see how, in the light of the case as he presents it, the minds of his unprejudiced readers can fail to be carried along with him. He first studies the European nations proper by themselves, in order "This kind of tyranny, which has no parallel in modern Europe, and which can hardly have been surpassed in any age or country, is known phrases, such as the 'sovereign rights of the Sulin diplomatic language by two or three cant tan,' and 'the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire. The integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire' means that the Turk should be allowed the power of doing whatever crimes he pleases through the whole To preach to him, to argue with him, is simply to waste words. He will yield only to superior force. His direct rule in Europe must be made to cease. He must have no voice in the choice of rulers for the provinces his garrisons must be allowed in any of the he has so long held in subjection. None of regions that are to be set free. "Justice, reason, humanity, demand that the rule of the Turk in Europe should be got rid of; and the time for getting rid of it has now come." Such are the ringing words with which Mr. Freeman brings his plea to a close. He writes, as the extracts we have given show, with some heat, but we think it to be the heat of an honest and manly indignation at a great historic wrong, and not that of an impulsive partisanship prompted by insufficient knowledge. In his indignation we fully share, and we wish his timely pamphlet might do something to correct what we believe to be the misplaced sympathies of not a few Americans. MY BOOKS. A Fragment from Barry Cornwall's unpublished verses. From the old world's divine and distant date, Down to the poet who but yester-eve Whom Death the tyrant cannot doom to die, And meditate upon your verse that flows, Whether THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN.* THE HE author of this volume is an Englishto point out the essential differences between man, a younger brother, we believe, of them on the one hand and the Turks on the Matthew Arnold, who, in the summer of 1875, other. He shows how nearly all the Euroaccompanied by his wife, left London and pean nations belong to one family of manAnd now, what shall be done with this un- made his way to Warsaw, St. Petersburg, kind, speak languages which once were one, comfortable creature-the Turk in Europe? and Nijni Novgorod; thence down the Volga have much of their history and memories in His power, according to Mr. Freeman, "is to Astrakhan and through the Caspian Sea, common, are adherents of one common reli- something purely evil, something which can- landing at Enzelli, a port on the Persian gion, live under a common civilization, and not be reformed." It is a mistake to speak side. From this point he traveled by caraenjoy, generally speaking, the benefits of of it as "a government: van through Persia for a distance of more national governments. The Turks, on the "Systematic oppression, systematic plunder, than a thousand miles, passing through Ispaother hand, "are simply a band of strangers, the denial of the commonest rights of human han, Teheran and other important places. beings to those who are under its power, is not a foreign army, in short, encamped in that government in any sense of the word. It is, He left the Caspian Sea early in October, part of Europe which from their encampment therefore, a mistake, and a dangerous mistake, to and reached Bombay in March following, is called Turkey." They have "no share in speak of the Sultan and his ministers as a 'gov-returning home via Alexandria. any of the things which bind the nations of take to speak of the rights' of the Sultan; for A journey of a thousand miles by a lady Europe together." They belong to quite a he has no rights. The Turk has never dealt with in a saddle was not to be thought of, but the subject nations in such a way as to give him any rights over them, or to bind them to any duty ernment,' and to treat them as such. It is a mis * The Turks in Europe. By Edward A. Freeman, D. C. towards him. His rule is a rule of brute force, L., LL. D. Lovell, Adam, Wesson & Co. of mere brigandage." Through Persia by Caravan. By Arthur Arnold. Harper & Brothers. "The kerjava, in its best appearance, takes the form of two very small gipsy tents made of light bands of wood, the top bent circular, and covered with shawls or carpets. In each of these tents a man or woman sits, after the kerjavas have been slung, like panniers, across the saddle of a strong mule. In the kerjava one must sit cross-legged, or with one's feet hanging out. The open side is sometimes turned to the tail of the mule, and the rider cannot see where the animal is going. Miss Martineau says that the greatest ap as there are neither carriage roads nor car-"Shadow-of-God," the Shah of Persia, and past by the pages of the history before us, riages in Persia, Mrs. Arnold was under the also with his son, governor of Teheran. The we have felt that all through the period it necessity of traveling either in a "kerjava" government, the people, the country, its pres- treats the average civilization of the United or a "takht-i-rawan: " ent condition, the prospects of the future, States has been higher than that of the railways, British trade, the relations of Per- mother country. sia to India and to Russia, all are dwelt upon forcibly and intelligently. The volume parent danger in England, in 1863, was throughout is interesting and instructive. threatened by the Trades Unions, “a desIt is inscribed to the Earl and Countess potism of working-men over fellow-workers Granville. in their own class and their own trade," and refers to the conflicts between labor and capital which have often assumed such grave and even frightful shapes. We are thankful that in this land we have been spared the terrible experiences which she suggests. While, however, we deprecate the tone of the American introduction, we find little to which to object in the body of the work. "The takht-i-rawan is a carriage built of wood, and placed upon a strong framework, of which the two long poles, forming the four shafts, are the principal parts. The sides are generally paneled in order to obtain strength without weight, and the roof of thin boards is covered with coarse cotton or canvas to keep out the rain. There is usually a small square of glass in the side doors to give light when these are closed. One can rarely find a takht-i-rawan when such a carriage is wanted; they are usually built to order, and cost from six to ten pounds sterling." Mules are harnessed into the shafts. The passenger can sit cross-legged or lie at full length. The motion is irregular, and if perchance either mule stumbles the occupant of the "takht-i-rawan" is thrown against its side with great force. The author of this volume is a keen observer. He has traveled enough to take things easy under adverse circumstances, and to make the best of the situation, whatever it may be. He is a concise and forcible writer, as will be seen from the following paragraphs : -- "In Persia, passing from the swift, and, on the whole, steady career of Western Europe in the ways of civilization, there appears to be not only an absence of progress, but rather retrogression. That which is truly interesting in Persia is the extended scenery, and the out-door life for no European sees much of the in-door existence of the people. Persia is, par excellence, the land of magnificent distances. In summer the mountains, always in sight, and in many places strongly colored with the metallic ores which they contain, glow with wondrous beauty in the rose-light of the morning sun, and harden into masses of deep purple and black when the clear and pleasant starlight is substituted for the glare of the blazing sun of Persia. In another season, when look IN A CONTEMPORARY HISTORY.* is all its own. familiar with the events, and the men and women have a reality for us that those of more remote eras almost entirely lack. The romance of the latter is lost, it must be confessed, but the bearing of recent events upon rian character which ought, in this age at our own circumstances gives them a utilitaleast, to be considered preferable. In these The four volumes before us occupy twenty- volumes, for example, we miss the heroes two hundred well-filled pages in treating a and myths of earlier times, but in their stead period which Mr. Green, the latest writer on we see a great nation struggling with "corn the subject, disposes of in an "Epilogue" of laws," and "poor laws," with "parliamentary eight pages, and to which Mr. Knight, in his reform," ," "Catholic emancipation," and the admirable popular history, is able to allow a single volume. It was, indeed, at the in- the progress of a civilization which advances proper treatment of "dissenters." We watch stance of Mr. Knight that Miss Martineau with increased momentum every day, as the entered upon the task of writing a chronicle steamboat and the railway, the penny-post, of the "Thirty Years' Peace" that succeeded the newspaper-press and the telegraph, add the downfall of Napoleon. Mr. Knight him- their respective quotas to the material and self had begun the work, and indications of intellectual capital of the people. the fact are to be found in a similarity that exists between certain pages in the writers' respective histories. These facts are, of course, duly acknowledged. When a Boston firm proposed to republish the English edition of the History of the Peace, in 1863, Miss Martineau added an entire book, extending the work from 1846 The progress is by no means peacefully accomplished. At one time the "O. P." riots, for the restoration of old prices at the theaters, interrupt the proceedings of parliament during a discussion of the conduct of the Spanish war. Again, the coal districts are excited by riots caused by distress aris ries. Then the workers with hand-looms rise ing from the snow-covered mountains, we have to 1854; and also wrote a new introduction ing from the stoppage of certain manufactoparently perfect level covered with a dazzling ex- which added very much to the completeness and destroy the machinery that they think is seen the plains resembling an arctic sea, the ap panse of untrodden snow; and, again, when the white hills loomed through the blinding storm like icebergs of polar regions. and value of the whole. The introduction adds to the "completeness," and the new "Wherever the people are seen, their presence book to the "value," of the work, for we can adds to the charm of the landscape. The men see little of interest in the former. It is are handsome and picturesque in their costumes couched in the style so often adopted by the of blue or white cotton, with here and there one in red and yellow. In the towns the traveler rec- English when they wish to patronize any ognizes in the people the characters of the tales other worthy people. The relations of our in 'The Arabian Nights.' There is the handsome, stalwart porter, the hamal, with panting country and England have materially changed breast exposed and darkly sun-burned skin, within the last score of years, and at the scratching his shaved head, ready for any new present time it is graciously acknowledged the mistress of the equally mysterious house, by our brethren over the sea that we are no wherein he may be murdered or enriched, killed whit inferior to them in any respect. In fact, and served by lovely maidens bearing dishes of as we have refreshed our knowledge of the gold and silver, according to the good pleasure of the genii." summons, including that of the mysterious lady, and buried like a dog, or clad in splendid robes to render their work useless and to take bread from their mouths. In one year an enrollment of militia brings the mob into collision with the authorities; in another a queen's funeral procession does not pass through the streets that the people wish, and they rush to arms; and still again the "enclosing" of certain lands (a time-honored incentive to riot) causes a suspicious and ignorant populace to rise against soldiers and landlords with unreasoning violence. To these must be added the burning of ricks, the seizure of corn, the Chartist riots and the violent disturbances at elections, before we can arrive at a just apthe XIXth Century to the Crimean War. By Harriet Mar-preciation of the turmoil and bloodshed Mr. Arnold had an interview with the tineau. vols. Porter & Coates. which marked most of the years of "the *The History of England from the Commencement of 4 peace" of which Miss Martineau gives us without a struggle. Miss Martineau asserts history to the point where the story fairly the history. that the "adventurers in gas-light did more opens. The heroine, so far as the leading for the prevention of crime than the govern- character of so uneventful a tale can be called ment had done since the days of Alfred;" by that name, is an orphan, left in charge of and yet noble lords and patriotic citizens de- her two uncles, brothers, who in their turn nounced them as "rapacious monopolists die, leaving her their heir. An attachment intent upon the ruin of established industry," which grows up between her and a cousin, and derided them as deluded visionaries. It Geoffrey Walsham, is curiously complicated was argued in Parliament that the introduc- by money considerations. The lovers, almost tion of gas would ruin the whale-fisheries and before they recognize each other as such, are drive out of existence that hardy race of men separated by unkindly fate, but finally reemployed in them, besides depriving of their united, and all ends well, as it should in the support thousands of seamen, rope-makers, well-regulated story. The talent of the mast-makers, sail-makers, and others indirectly connected with them. It is undoubtedly well that conservatives should exist, but it is to be wished that they would show more ner. There are, of course, many passages of a much more agreeable nature than those which describe these social and civil turmoils, for many beneficent influences first began to work during the period. The story of the inauguration of cheap postage opens with an anecdote in which Mr. Coleridge and Rowland Hill exhibit their reflective and unreflective charity in a very interesting manThe story is that owing to the high charges on letters a poor woman arranged with an absent brother that he should send her a blank letter, unpaid, as a token of his welfare, which she, on her part, should permit the postman to retain for non-payment of postage on delivery. Mr. Coleridge hap-temperance in their advocacy of the old pened to see the postman taking the letter away and volunteered to pay the charge, only discovering when too late that he had wasted his charity. Mr. Hill, on the other hand, reflected that a system which encouraged cheating must be wrong, and was thus led to advocate penny postage. The whole history of the smuggling of letters and the other methods adopted by reputable persons to evade the postal laws, shows that cheap postage has proved a moral blessing to England. ways! Here we must stop abruptly, for there is no natural limit to so fruitful a theme. The reader of these volumes - now furnished at a price which appears ridiculously cheapwill find them crowded with incident of the most instructive and entertaining nature, and will thank the publishers for the present timely reissue of them. The rise of the Society for the Diffusion SOME NOVELS OF THE MONTH.* of Useful Knowledge, and of others of a THES HESE four books, which, with possibly similar nature; of a national system of educa- the exception of the third, are tales tion; and of various benevolent and religious rather than novels, have certain traits in movements, are traced in these volumes in common which allow them not unnaturally connection with the political progress. Miss to be grouped together; while individual charMartineau of course could not develop a acteristics at the same time afford marked philosophy of history in treating events so contrasts, helpful in forming a general judgrecent, and she makes no attempt at so doing. ment. The first, second and fourth have Sometimes she permits her feelings to get their scenes laid in England, the third mainly the better of her judgment, or her wishes to in Ireland. All are stories of woman's love, run away with her reason, as, for example, and three of them have more or less to do when she impressively asserts that sponta- with man's heartless treachery and the shame neous generation was proved by the experi- or sorrow of his victims. The last three are ments of Mr. Andrew Crosse made in 1836, written by women; and, but for positive inand long ago discredited by scientists. In formation to the contrary, we should have the light of subsequent events the lecture suspected like authorship of the first. The with which she favors the "scientific part of first, however, is separated from its compansociety" for the "levity" and "anger" with ions by the absolute cleanliness of its matewhich the statements of Mr. Crosse were re-rials; and the last is even more decisively ceived, will serve as a warning to those who distinguished by its remarkable originality tend towards dogmatism in the realm of and power. science. author is best shown in the portraiture of Aunt Penelope, which is very well done. None of the coarse iniquities of life are al|lowed to appear, beyond the glimpse of a remote duel; while that particular evil which is so fondly made use of in modern fiction, and indeed so prominently in each of the other three books now under notice, is not so much as named. Aunt Penelope carries on a good deal of her conversation in French, a sacrifice to the verities of character which the unlearned reader will greatly deplore. The story is short and harmless, but we cannot in justice say that it is more than moderately interesting or in any degree brilliant. The scene of Bessie Lang, like that of the foregoing, is laid in England, forty or fifty years ago. The story is peculiar in form, in that instead of being a direct narrative in the author's own language, it is told ostensibly by the aunt of the motherless young woman whose name it bears. This Bessie Lang is a yeoman's daughter, betrothed to one of George Stephenson's apprentices. She is betrayed by a strolling artist with whom she capriciously falls in love, and dies, leaving a child, who is compassionately adopted by her earlier and ever faithful lover. He does not marry, but takes the child at the beseeching request of its heart-broken mother; breaking then away from England to find a home in America. What good comes from telling such tales as this? The Dark Colleen is the work, we should say, of an admirer of Mr. William Black's "Princess of Thule," and to some extent is a reminder of that incomparable story. That it is a conscious imitation we should not like Olivia Raleigh, which takes its place as an to say. It opens in an Eagle Island off the early volume in Lippincott's "Star Series," west coast of Ireland, which well corresponds is warmly commended in its American intro-to the rugged and picturesque spot in which duction as a story which no one can begin Mr. Black discovers his heroine. There is and leave unfinished. We have found its a "King" to this Irish island, as there was a beginning tedious, and that both patience" King of Borva." There is a "Morna” as and perseverance are needed to get through there was a "Sheila." And there is a "Capthe three or four opening chapters of family There are a thousand passages of great interest in these volumes, but we can refer to but one more. The introduction of gas in the streets threw a flood of light upon a condition of profligacy, indecency, brutality and squalor which without the faets it would be difficult to have imagined. The drowsy watchman, the flickering oil-lamps, the linkboys and the thieving vagabonds of the early years of our century, passed out of London, and comparative order and decency now mark its streets by night. And yet, this reform, patent as it now appears, was not anticipated, nor permitted to be effected, nett. Scribner, Armstrong & Co. tain Bisson" as there was a "Lavender." The interest of the whole first portion of the * (1) Olivia Raleigh. By W. W. Follett Synge. J. B. book brings Mr. Black's powerful opening Lippincott & Co. (2) Bessie Lang. By Alice Corkran. Henry Holt & Co. Connaught." Lovell, Adam, Wesson & Co. (4) That Lass o' Lowrie's. By Frances Hodgson Bur chapters to mind, but the effect suffers in the comparison. From this point on the analogy fails, and the standard of merit with which the book sets out is not maintained. Bisson, who is a shipwrecked French sea-captain, cast up by the waves, and saved by Morna surmise. Liz's unfortunate history, Derrick's criticism, with a suspension of popular confifrom the hands of the heartless and supersti- quarrel with Joan's father and the latter's dence and interest; after this, a rallying to tious islanders, turns out to be a first-class miscarrying attempt at vengeance, Anice's the support of what came near to being a scoundrel. After trying in vain to seduce tact and success in alleviating some of the tottering project; and finally, its triumphant Morna, he succeeds in making her his wife social ills of the community with which she completion. The names of some of the by going through a "ceremony" of marriage. is brought into relation, Derrick's devotion most eminent citizens of the Commonwealth Presently, getting tired of his victim, he pro- to the interests of the miners, and an explo- are connected with this history. Mr. Webposes to return to France, but Morna, who sion of the mine in consequence of a disre- ster's orations at the laying of the cornerreally loves him, clings to him, and the two gard of his counsels by the Company, make stone in 1825, and at the dedication in 1843, leave the island together. Arrived in France, up the piece, which is tragedy and comedy by were among his most distinguished efforts. Bisson cruelly neglects, and finally, for an- turns, Mr. Craddock doing his part well to There was a curious bit of secret history in other woman, abandons his Irish beauty, who furnish the latter. The contrasts of charac- connection with the laying of the cornerafter a series of varied insults, mishaps and ter are marked between Joan and Anice, stone. Mr. Webster was a little fearful lest trials, finds her way back alone, worn in body and between Derrick and Grace. The a previous celebration of the 19th of April, and crushed in spirit, to her remote home. movement is exceedingly spirited. Much of at Concord, with an oration by Mr. Everett, The story is a sorrowful one, superior in lit- the conversation is carried on in the Lanca- should "take the wind out of his sails;" and erary qualities to either of the two before shire dialect, which is managed with great there was also, for a moment, danger of a named, but not marked by a high tone, and skill. We have not for a long time read a slight "unpleasantness" over the invitation far from satisfactory to the moral sense. story so well put together, so absolutely nat- to Lafayette to participate in the exercises, After such as the foregoing Mrs. Burnett's ural and faithful to realities, so free from it being finally determined that the Masonic That Lass o' Lowrie's is read to great advan-structural weakness and artistic defect; and, brethren should be honored with the foretage; and taken by itself it cannot fail to considering its materials, so wholesome in most part. The relation of the Masonic make a very deep impression. In impor- tone. We could only wish that Mrs. Bur- fraternity to the progress of the work at tant qualities its equal has not appeared various points was, indeed, the occasion of in many a day. Artistically viewed it might a good deal of feeling, and political considbe described as a "charcoal sketch" rather erations could not be altogether excluded than a finished picture, and indeed it is by from the management of the enterprise. As virtue of this character that its strength an offset to these less agreeable features is most apparent. Its essential quality is may be mentioned the generous and devoted power. It impresses rather than pleases; it aid rendered by the women of Boston and holds rather than entertains; for while it is vicinity, who came to the rescue at an opporboth entertaining and pleasing in a very tune moment, and perhaps did as much as marked degree, yet to say that it were simply any one class to ensure success. It is an that would be to give no hint of its masculine interesting fact, too, that the opening of a vigor, its dramatic intensity, its clear truthgranite ledge at Quincy, to supply the stone fulness to life and the consummate art of its needed for the monument, was intimately reexecution. The art is all the greater in that lated to the construction of the always famous you see nothing of it, but only the scenes "first railway" in the United States, over which the art pictures and the life which it which the granite was transferred from the portrays. These are pervaded by the most quarry to tide-water. graphic and telling effects. Outlines and touches do the work, and do it rapidly and sharply. The scene is laid in Riggan, a repre nett had so modified Liz's character and his- HISTORY OF THE BUNKER HILL Mr. Warren has little to say about the battle which the monument commemorates, sentative mining town in the north of Eng- MR. Warren's volume is a massive and and, of course, enters into none of the nice land; whose air is full of smoke and grime, the din of labor, and the gloom of poverty and ignorance and sorrow. The prominent character is Joan Lowrie; a sort of queen among her people, self-contained, heroic, masculine in proportions both morally and physically. Few such figures have been seen in fiction. On her side of the picture stands her devil of a father and the indistinct forms of other of the work-people; one Liz, an outcast, with her death-struck baby; "owd" Sammy Craddock, another very original creation; and the boy, Jud, whose adventures with his dog, Nib, serve to enliven the action. Over against this group are Fergus Derrick, the engineer; Mr. Barham, the impractical rector, Anice, his daughter, and Mr. Grace, the curate. The motive of the story is the development of the feminine in Joan, and the slow growth and final recognition of mutual attachment between her and Derrick. As to what befalls Grace and Anice we are left to sumptuous one, printed in large type, be its Secretary, he found scarcely any of controversies over persons and names to which that event has given rise. His work is not marked by any special literary value, which indeed such a subject, so treated, could hardly allow. Nor is the volume one for which there can be any wide demand; but for all Charlestownians, for many Boston people, for all who honor Massachusetts and her contributions to the national character and life, for public libraries, and for such individuals as wish to include in their private collections what is unique and special, it has a distinct value. The heliotypes include fac-similes of many interesting letters from public men, and of several portraits and documents. There is no index, the author having had the idea that his minute table of contents, with its sub The history of Bunker Hill Monument is There was first the conception in the minds that of most public enterprises of its kind. of a few patriotic and public-spirited citizens; then an effort to enlist the sympathies and the cooperation of the community in general; then a fair and somewhat enthusiastic beginning of the work itself; then a stage of topical references to pages, would answer *The History of the Bunker Hill Monument Association during the First Century of the United States of America. every purpose. We notice some trivial blemishes in the text, but, in the main, the Work seems to us to have been intelligently and successfully performed. |