THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MAGO.*

Re

On page 241: "You ask me, dear, why I do color deepen in Mercy's cheeks, and a stern them for presents to any monarchs to whose not say that I long to see you. I am not sure expression gathering in her eyes, as she looked presence I might be admitted in the course of that I ever do long, in the sense in which you not be angry with me. steadily at him with unutterable surprise, Do I could not help saymy progress. Another gift that I selected was use the word." One of her letters "was ing it; but I do not say it as men generally a drinking cup of silver with two handles; it full of love; but it was, nevertheless, hard say such things. I am not like other men; I was raised upon a stem and embossed with and pitiless in its tone." No woman ever lived have lived alone all my life with my mother: ornaments worked in gold, representing fruit she you need not mind my saying your face is and flowers. The whole of these I deposited who was so exquisitely conscientious; lovely, any more than my saying that the ferns deemed it heinous for one to report one's self in a box of the sandal-wood of Ophir, curiously on the walls are lovely.'" as not at home to an unwelcome visitor, and inlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl. to her the commonest little prevarications membering that the king was not only fond of practised in the best society were blemishes music, but was a skilful performer, I further of the blackest hue. We should have added looked out for him a three-stringed harp of to the evidence of this young woman's inconsandal-wood, ornamented with colored tufts, sistency the following contradictions: On page THIS is a very quaint but interesting book. and surmounted by the figure in solid gold of a 280, in answer to Stephen's question, "Mercy, It deals with events of twenty-eight bird with open beak and outstretched wings. you do not love me as you used to do," "I hundred years ago, and among its personages This instrument could not be matched out of such as Phoenicia, and the wood of which it was made, can't, Stephen." At last (p. 281) she spoke, are many famous historical figures, in a voice of unutterable yearning and tender- Hannibal, kings David and Hiram. The pur- like that of the box, had been brought from ness, "I do love you, Stephen." This re- pose of the book is to present sketches of the Ophir, as an acknowledgment of his having minds us of the childish game, He loves world as it was ten centuries before the Chris- designed some ships for him which could brave me; he loves me not." tian era, and faithfully is this done. Its his- the open sea." We need not repeat that this book is excep- torical facts are strictly authentic, and the tionally well written; having all the marks of description of the different lands visited by high culture, and rich in fine thoughts. In Captain Mago, and the customs of their peoproof of this statement, we quote a few pas-ple are reasonably accurate. Altogether the work is not only instructive, but also entertaining; and there is a peculiar pleasure in reviewing the people and events of a period so long past, and so different from that which is familiar to us. The history of the Phoenicians is of peculiar value.

sages:

"He had yet to learn that the lesson, which, sooner or later, the proudest, most scornful, most self-centred of human, souls must learn, or must die of loneliness for the want of learning, that humanity is one and indivisible; and the man who shuts himself apart from his fellows with pitying condescension, as his inCaptain Mago sailed from Tyre to Joppa and feriors, is a fool and a blasphemer, a fool, Tarshish. His officers were experienced men, because he robs himself of that good fellow--though one of them, Bodmilcar, was a pirate ship which is the heaven of life; a blasphemer, because he virtually implies that God made men unfit for him to associate with."

The positive author affirms that all who board at hotels are 66 'homeless, all of them; their common vagabondage is only a matter of degrees of decency." Did she never board at a hotel; and did she count herself a homeless wanderer, a vagabond, a tramp? She has her favorite figures," a slight, girlish figure, in a plain, straight, black gown like a nun's." A few pages farther on, this same young lady "looked as if she might be a nun."

and scoundrel. His expedition visited King
David at Jerusalem, and gives a fine account
of his visit. We quote some passages of his
description: -

66

Shortly before sunset, on the evening of the second day, we reached Jerusalem, a city very strongly built upon a steep and elevated plateau. The distant view of the city is extremely striking; the soil on which it is built is undulating and irregular, so as to produce the effect of the whole place being literally studded with domes and terraces; the whiteness of the walls, and the numerous roofs that

.

"Seated upon the throne was the monarch himself (David), a man of moderate stature and slight build, advanced in years, but nevertheless retaining unimpaired every symptom of agility and vigor. His straight, uncurled beard was perfectly white, but his hair was dressed in the ordinary fashion of his countrymen. His costume was very simple; neither frontlet nor coronet adorned his brow; no bracelets encircled his wrists; no rings were upon his toes; he wore a plain white tunic with a purple border, and instead of the high-heeled shoes usually worn by kings, he had on his feet a pair of mountaineer's sandals. There was nothing in his attire to distinguish him from ordinary men; only by the penetrating glance of his clear blue eye could he be marked out as one that was born to reign."

The narrative leads the reader by pleasant ways through various lands, whereof the author tells much of interest. It is very well written and illustrated, and is a thoroughly good book.

IMPRESSIONS AND REMINISCENCES.* IT is pleasant to make the acquaintance of

"The wisest and the tenderest of men are are imbedded in the foliage of the olive yards continually making blunders in their relations that skirt the walls,—all combine to make up with women; especially if they are so unforthis remarkable woman, so recently gone tunate as to occupy in any sense a position in- a picture that cannot fail most favorably to out of the world, in a character so different volving a relation to two women at once. The impress the traveller with its beauty. relation may be ever so rightful and honest to When we had completed our repast, I began from that in which we have been wont to beeach woman; the women may be good women, to prepare my presents for King David. First hold her. She has been distinctively a writer and in their right places; but the man will find of all, I chose a hyacinth-colored under-tunic, of fiction, and as such has been admired and himself perpetually getting into most unexpected hot water, as many a man could testify made of the finest Egyptian linen, and a pur- dreaded, marvelled at and feared. The moralpathetically, if he were called upon." ple upper-tunic, embroidered round the neck ity of her earlier novels was not questionable; She wrote of love and sleeves with flowers, and bordered with it was unmistakably evil. silver fringe; to these I added a girdle wrought only, and of a passion which will not endure She voiced the in gold and silver, with a lion's head in gold the scrutiny of pure minds. for a clasp, the eyes being a bright enamel. fashionable sentiment of her day and nation; This girdle was a most elaborate specimen of and, true representative of the life she saw Egyptian workmanship, being one of four that and shared, she is not amenable on this ground I had purchased of a native artist, intending to censure.

One notable circumstance in the action of this story must not fail of mention. Two or three days after Mercy's arrival in Penfield, Mr. Stephen White, a silent, speechless man, who dared hardly say, Boo! to a goose, bursts out in the presence of his divinity in the following glowing strain:

"Miss Philbrick, your face is the very loveliest face I have seen in my life. Do not be angry. Oh, do not!' he continued, seeing the

* The adventures of Captain Mago; or a Phoenician Ex

Books share and reflect the ruling public sentiment amid which the author

By George Sand.

dwells; she only transferred to the canvas of her novels the licentious scenes which she saw with her physical eyes. With age have come to her restraint and wisdom. She is not happy; she is cynical; she regrets the affectional emotions, -the tendresses of the long ago past, -and finds nothing in the commonplace present wherewith to compensate herself. But her mood and her aspirations have undergone a change; she is sadly cheerful now, and in her isolation entertains herself with sombre reviews of the vanished years. As a consequence of this mutation, she has here done what must be called her best. Eliminate from it the conspicuous element of cynicism, which saddens all her utterances, and there would remain calm philosophy and safe speculation.

In this volume she treats of common themes with a nimbleness of thought, and a grace of style, which cannot be too warmly admired. Herself is her chief subject; indeed, herself is her world. Her thoughts, her reflections, her doubts, her recollections, her hopes, these are arrayed for us in beautiful guise; but the effect of the picture is too solemn.

stitutes the charm of Nature would require in love with her, and tries to kill Naisi an
more time than to feel and appreciate it, I his brothers; but they flee with Deirdre to a
shall venture to tell A-, to-morrow, that
of the half of what we feel, and that there is of Eman, who gives surety for their safety,
beautiful island. Decoyed thence by the King
literary descriptions are but poor expressions
more pleasure in sitting still than in writing. they return under the guarantee of Fergus,
limitations, not only from fear of taking cold,
"A pleasure, however, which must have its son of Roy; but the king, violating his oath,
but A
risked a cold at the open window. This excel- ing stanzas:
orders them to be killed. We quote the open-
has just raised a scene, because I
lent man cannot understand that it is better to
have a cold in his head, than to deprive his soul
of a sublime joy."

She writes much and well, though under prejudice about France and the French people; and the international hatred of Germany blazes out with portentous glow. She laments the old times, saying: "There is now no bourgeoisie. This death, with that of its sister, nobility, has been added to the record of historical mortalities. There remain but two classes: one consumes, the other produces; one is rich, or moderately so,- the other is poor, or miserable." A little farther on she dogmatizes: "I believe in a great future for the French people; but I assign no fixed time for its development. They are the best, most amiable people on the earth; but this healthy "These good old friends ask me in what could easily be inoculated with the leprosy or and robust body has its terrible diseases, and state is my mind? If they could read it at all hours, they would perhaps find that it is in a the plague. Before realizing my expectations, state of grace, as the Catholics say. I should it may have to pass through crises of which say that it is in no particular state. It has en- I dare not think." tered, long ago, that road where accidents and dangers prevent a return. I am thought too indulgent towards the affairs and the people of these times. I am not as indulgent as is believed, but have acquired only such amount of patience as I found necessary; that is all. After having passed judgment, I have no desire to punish what I condemn: I prefer to forget it. Is this lassitude, or nonchalance? Perhaps it savors of disgust. They say that I am not suited to the present times; that I must suffer from the change that has taken place, within the last ten years, in the progress of ideas. What does one not suffer in the contemplation of reality? But we should Reflection,

an

This philosophical passage, which embodies direct statement of her opinions, insists upon being quoted:

a

much for not absolutely controlling my mind. "Therefore I do not reproach myself so I feel that its merry frolics and its listlessness arise from the nature of the impressions which it receives, and which it has not always the the question of good and evil. If, in perverse right to avoid. This has nothing to do with onous food, it is in vain to preach free arbitraminds, the corrupt imagination furnishes poistion. The perverse mind will choose the never yield to a fruitless sorrow. freedom of evil. In holy minds, the imaginaafter laying us low, ought to raise us again. treated inconsiderately, and which, sadly or tion is a delicate friend, which must not be They avow that reflection saddens them; but joyously, tells us of divine things; thus making let them reflect still more, and they will ex-amends to us for the time that it spends in perience that slight internal joy, which prompts actual study." them to say, I taste what is good and true in life; I have no relish for what is false and poisonous. Now that I am able to discern the true, nothing can prevent me from making it a means of sustenance.' "

"Who has not longed for the wings of a

DEIRDRÈ

bird?. I would be modest enough to be satis-OUR enthusiastic announcement of this

fied with the feet of the hare, or the compara

poem having called forth many comtively immense bounds of the grasshopper. Iments, some of them quite incredulous, we take an interest, too, in the little hidden ex- feel it our duty, by a careful review of the istence of the field-cricket, whose apartment is so warm, so neat, and its harlequin mask so work, to vindicate our own judgment. serious, so comic. It holds a tambourine The scene of this story lies in Ireland in under its wings, and seems as happy as a sav- the very old days. A lovely daughter is born age, with its constant repetition of the same unto Feilimid, the story-teller of the King of note. What gayety, what madness, is displayed at evening, in a flowery meadow, when Eman. Caffa, a philosopher, foresees that her all the insects of the field, in a feeling of great beauty will be the bane of the land. security derived from the absence of man, The nobles demand her "taking off;" but noisily mingle their various dialects in a gen- the king shuts her up, intending to make her eral conversation! Do we not feel like stop- his wife. Naisi, son of Usna, with his two ping to listen, for want of being able to join

in their demonstrations? But, as to describe brothers, carries her to Alba, and joins the that incessant and prolific action which con- king's army. The king of this country falls

THE FEAST IN THE HOUSE OF FEILIMID.
IT happed in Eman at the joyous time
When wood-flowers bloomed, and roses in their prime
Laughed round the garden, and the new-fledged bird
'Mid the thick leaves its downy winglets stirred,
That the King's story-teller, Feilimid,
'Mong all the bloom that, like a bright robe, hid
The earth's dark places, felt himself full sad,
He knew not why, and sent, to make him glad,
His henchman with a message to the King.
The nobles and the knights, and all, to bring
From the bright palace straightway to his house,
That they might hold therein a gay carouse.
And the King came, with knights and nobles all,
And soon their shields hung o'er them in the hall:
Buckles were loosened, belts and swords thrown by,
And pleasure sparkled in each warrior's eye.
Full soon the old man felt his soul restored,
As laugh and jest were bandied round the board,
As the King smiled upon him kind and gay,
As songs were sung, and harps began to play,
And cups were kissed by many a bearded lip,
And care from all hearts loosed its felon grip.
And higher rose the heart-inspiring hum
Of the glad revel through the banquet room,
As the blithe hours went on with laughter meet,
With merry jest and minstrel's music sweet,
And lay of war and tale of maid and man,
And clash of cup and clinking of the can.

Upon that revel gay the sun went down,
And the pale night put on her starry crown;
Yet higher rose the joy and jollity
Of the Great King and all that company:
Till at the very topmost of their mirth,
When jokes and jovial wit had brightest birth,
And all their hearts with generous wine were high,
Through the whole house there rang a mighty cry,-
A long, shrill-sounding, quivering wail of woe,
Like the young heifer's cry in her last throe
When a great snake coils round her on the heath,
Crackling her bones and crushing out her breath.
Round the blithe board the revellers sat still,
As rose again that cry more wild and shrill:
Amazed some held on high th' untasted cup,
Some at their swords and shields looked furtive up;
Some, readier of hand, with nervous grip
Clutched the long blade that dangled at the hip,
And eyes sought eyes with quick inquiring glance;
Till Feilimid arose, as from a trance
Of terror, with pale face,

"O guests!" he said,
"What means this cry of anguish and of dread?
Instinctive in my heart its pangs I feel,

Like the sharp griding of the poisoned steel!
Tell me, O Caffa!- tell! thou great and wise,
Who knowest why morning dawns and daylight dies,
And comets glare and tempests pelt and beat,
And the fierce Thunder-god his brazen feet
Stamps in grim fury shaking earth and sky,
O wise one, tell what means this woful cry!"
Then Caffa spoke, -the King's own hoary sage,
To whom all Nature like a golden page,
Well conned, lay open, full of wondrous things, -
"O knights and minstrels, O Great King of kings,
And thou, good friend of mine, O Feilimid, -
From me of Nature's secrets few are hid.
Well do I know this portent, well I know
Why rings throughout the house this cry of woe:
Thy wife, O Feilimid, in travail lies,

And in his strength some god speaks through her cries;
And with the last to thee a babe is born,
Bright as the dawn of May's most glorious morn!
Then let the feast go on! The goblets fill,

And round the board a great libation spill
Unto the mighty gods of Earth and Sea,
And Air and Fire, for a good destiny

To the poor babe new-born, though all in vain
I know shall be our prayers!"

Then rose again
The hubbub of the feast, as King and knight
Upstood, and brimming filled the goblets bright,
And raised them with a shout their tall heads o'er,
And turned them down, till on the shining floor
The wine flowed like the plenteous April rain,
Spattering their long limbs with its ruddy stain
Like the red tide of battle!

Through the hall

The guests again were silent one and all,
As from a far-off door there came a noise
Like that a strong wind makes, which blustering toys
With the wood's leaves-upon a summer day;
And from the door in solemn slow array
A bevy of old beldames, two by two,
Paced rustling up the hall in varied hue
Of shawls and scarts and robes and broidery
Of silk or serge, befitting their degree
As palace women. First of all there came
Old Lavarcam, the Conversation Dame

Of the Great King, who told him all the sport
And loves and plots and scandals of the Court.
A pace before them walked she mincingly,
And to each great lord bent the pliant knee;
Sharp eyes she had, each speck and fault that saw,
And face as yellow as an osprey's claw,
And wrinkled, like tough vellum by the heat,
As moved she toward the monarch's golden seat,
Smirking and smiling on the baby bright
That in her arms lay clad in lily white,
With large blue eyes and downy yellow hair,
And skin like pink-leaves when the morns are fair.
With many a bow she stopped before the King,
Then turned to Feilimid :-

"To thee I bring
This babe thy wife gave birth for thee to-night.
Did mortal brain e'er dream so fair a sight?
Did mortal eye since Miled's day behold
Such radiant skin, such hair of downy gold?
No! never on this earth thou'lt find her peer;
Then let great Caffa tell, the noble seer,
If this sweet bud shall grow to woman's bloom,
And what of joy or grief shall be her doom!"

Then Caffa rose, at first with peering gaze,
Like one who looks through morning's misty haze
To see some dark things hid in plains beyond;
Then his eyes flashed: then with light hand and fond
He touched the little babe on brow and breast,
And thus to her alone these words addressed :---

"O lovely little bud of womankind,

In thy short day small gladness shalt thou find,
Though thou shalt bourgeon into bloom and be
Fairest of women! Mighty queens shall see
Thy fame spread wide, fulfilled of envy's gall,
And long for thy destruction. Kings shall fall
Before thee. Each thread of thy yellow hair
For some great hero's heart shall be a snare
Of love's enchantment: blue shall be thine eyes
As the deep sapphire depths of April skies;
White pearls thy teeth, thy lips and bright cheeks red
As berries in the bosky wildwood bred

'Neath summer suns, and fair and smooth thy skin
As the soft satin rose-leaves white and thin

Of the King's garden in the prime of June!—
Alas for thee, that ere the woful noon

Of thy young day, that day of grief distraught, —
Full many a deed of darkness shall be wrought!
For thou, all beautiful, shalt wake the fire
Of jealous anger and insane desire

In many a hero's heart; and war's red field
Shall gleam with levelled lance and brazen shield
And thirsty sword, where hostile banners rise
Of kings renowned, to win thy smiles and sighs:
Alas! for in thy day, and all for thee,
Great Usna's sons shall die by treachery
And the King's wrath; and from that deed of shame
Fair Eman's halls shall feed the ravening flame
Of war and carnage, kindled by the light

Of thy destroying glances, till the night

Of woe enwrap the land accurst of men,

O Deirdre, evil fate beyond our ken!

O leveller of Ulad's fair abodes!

O beautiful bright firebrand of the gods!"
Then rose an aged lord with haughty air
And shaggy brows and grizzled beard and hair,
Whose fierce eye o'er the margin of his shield
Had gazed from war's first ridge on many a field
Unblinking at the foe that on him glared,
And might be ten to one for all he cared.
Now unto all things was he callous grown,
And his hard heart was like the nether stone,
As on the babe he bent his dreadful eye:
"O King!" he said, "O champions great and high!
O minstrels! list this tale I tell to ye

My father brought from lands beyond the sea: "—

He proceeds to tell the story of an infant bear
found by people of the far North, floating on
a cake of ice. They cared for and worshipped
it, and it grew to enormous size. One day it
devoured a sleeping child, and they slew it.
Here the narrator asks,-

"What with the she-cub first should they have done?"
And the answer comes from all the lords,-

"Slain it upon the strand."

After much fighting and sore hardships, the
little band of Usnanians are lured back to
Eman by the wiles of the king, and, at a ban-
quet given in their honor, Naisi and his
brothers are basely murdered. The king
hastens to claim Deirdrè as his bride, but finds
her cold in her dead husband's arms.

ous combat, make up the grandest features of the drama. The poet's knowledge of and devotion to Nature are exceptional. He knows the bird and beast-haunted woods, the gloomy mountains, the fecund trees, the craggy rocks, the purling streams, and the deep roaring sea, as he knew the haunts of his childhood; and he weaves their associations into his story with a fitness that has never been surpassed. The brute creation, too, has been his study, as every page illustrates. If there is a blemish in his work, it is his too frequent employment of wild beasts as instruments of embellishment. In the painting of natural beauties he has no predecessor, no peer. Under his cunning hand the world takes on new charms, and the face of Nature seems new-washed by benignant rains. Characterization is one of his strong points. No two of his personages resemble one another; each is distinct and individual, while all contribute to the honor of manliness, truth, and valor.

His diction shows that he has culled the English vocabulary with careful and reverent hand, and laden his basket with none but the choicest blossoms; and over the whole sky of his poem there broods an atmosphere of the most exquisite refinement.

But words cannot do justice to the grandeur and beauty of "Deirdrè;" it is the poem of the century, as we have said; it may be equalled in the coming time, but it can never be surpassed.

MINOR BOOK NOTICES.

of the habits, also, of children. Her serial
stories in the above-named magazine have
constituted the principal attraction of each
number. Her secret is a familiar acquaintance
with children, their likes and dislikes, and
manner of talking. These characteristics are
very evident in her recent book, “The Cook-
instruct young readers. It is a picture of real
ing Club," which will not only entertain but
life, such life as you and I and all our readers
have seen and loved in the country. The lit-
tle girls illustrate a variety of character, and
clearly show the effect of home training. The
moral influence of the book is admirable.
[D. Lothrop & Co.]

One's first thought on reading the last line of this poem is of its absolute integrity of excellence. Not a faulty line mars its expansive beauty; not a common-place sentiment degrades it. Its tone, pitched high, swells on a continuous and noble level, and sinks at last in a solemn tragedy. We have never read a poem whose perfection is so steadfastly sus-Mrs. Farman holds an easy precedence tained; from the first line to the last, there is as the writer of stories for young girls. Her no descent from the original nobility of thought the Wide Awake has been eminently judicious administration of the editorial department of and style. The metre is simply exquisite, and successful, and she has manifested a rethe cadences rolling off with a sonorous mel-markable knowledge not only of the tastes but ody which suggests the music of the spheres. Its atmosphere is strangely high and healthful. Honor rules almost every act in the eventful drama; and the portraits of Naisi and his lordly brothers impress the reader's mind with a dignity and reverence hardly inferior to the tender sentiment inspired by Deirdre's wifely and maternal devotion. The most exigent sense of duty seems to animate every personage in the poem; and the episode of their deaths illustrates the noblest qualities of human nature. The portrait of Deirdrè embodies the sweetest and most delicate touches of the poet's brush. She is an ideal woman, rich in all a woman's charms, and in all the virtues and goodness of an angel. No wonder the veteran Arman, the stalwart king of Alba, and the murderous sovereign of Eman, succumbed to the spell of her supreme loveliness. The poet's art is half-hidden by his skill; he has deftly linked event with event so as to constitute an effective series of surprises. Battle-scenes abound, and the sketches of bloody strife, of shining armor, of gallant steeds, and of valor

victim of the condensing process. It is a -"Our Mutual Friend" is the second book we never liked, and we have no regret for its sufferings. Indeed, we are inclined to think that under elimination it is really improved, for there is less of it. The accomthe theory by which condensation is attempted plished editor casts a ray of illumination on to be justified, when he says that, of those who "read every paragraph of a long novel, many, it seems to me, might be glad to reread, matic element in those romances which once in a condensation which preserves every dragave them pleasure." This amounts to an

appears humped, the posterior half being in- for; they would not make a good figure in
clined at a sharp angle with the anterior half. battle or in a duel. Alas! we females are of
The vertebral column, however, will be found little use to our country! The history of all
to be straight, and the apparent hump-back the malcontents as ever was hanged is amus-
arises, not from any bend in the vertebral ing."
column, but from the manner in which the long
iliac bones are set on the sacrum." Many
facts about Biology are gathered in this book,
and illustrated with singular clearness and ac-
curacy. The authors' names are a sufficient
guarantee of the latter. [Macmillan & Co.]

66

46

Messrs. Little, Brown, & Co. have published a pretty little brochure on English History, which seems likely to meet a popular want. It is very concise, but presents the chief facts of English history in an attractive form. It is rich in facts, many of which are recondite, and not found in ordinary narratives. What is now Great Britain was formerly Britannia; Britain and its people were Britones, or

-"A Course of Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology" is by no means milk for babes. It is pure science, as pure and as strong as Profs. Huxley and Martin could make it. In the Preface, by Prof. Huxley, -Tiniest and daintiest volume is "Rab we read that, some twenty years ago, he and his Friends," one of the brightest and reached the conviction that the scientific zoolo- most touching stories that ever flowed from gist should no more be ignorant of the funda-mortal pen. The more one reads the better Bretons. When James I. became King in 1604, mental phenomena of vegetable life, than the one loves it. Who equals the author in the the title "Great Britain was first applied to scientific botanist of animal existence. The painting of dogs? One can see the long, low, the kingdom. The author rapidly traces the chapters of the volume are entitled as follows: raking Game Chicken," the lumbering shep-career of the Romans in Britain, and its progYeast; Protococeus; Proteus Animalcule; Col- herd-dog, and the great, Herculean, heavy-ress under the rule of the Anglo-Saxon, orless Blood Corpuscles; Bacteria; Moulds; moulded Rab; and their death-grapple is a Danish, and Norman kings, and follows the Stoneworts; The Bracken Fern; The Bean vivid drama before us. The contrast of Rab's sovereign order down to the House of BrunsPlant; The Bell Animalcule; Fresh-Water moods, wreaking his slow vengeance upon the wick. England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales Polypes; The Fresh-Water Mussel; The hapless Chicken" with a sudden snap, and are viewed under separate heads, the informaFresh-Water Crayfish, and the Lobster; The cowering at his master's feet, is instant and tion given about them being mainly statistical. Frog; Appendix. The lecture on Yeast is true. Rab in the sick-room is a portrait from The estimate of William Rufus, the Conqueror's full of curious information, which, indeed, may | life,— the great creature incensed by the agony son, strikes us as harsh and unwarranted. It be said of all its fellows. The chief elements of his mistress, and sobered by the restraining, differs widely from that of Freeman as set of yeast combine to form the Torulæ, which glance of his master. His end is sad enough, forth in his “Norman Conquest," and is not, are a Protein compound, analogous to Casein, and the reader involuntarily drops a tear into we think, so firmly based on evidence. Cellulose, and a small proportion of the min- his melancholy grave. The style of the story King Henry VIII. is thus characterized by eral in matters. The Torulæ are living bodies, is not its least charm, so clear, so simple, so the author: "He was a man of great reading, witness their growth and multiplication. heartful. We almost feel inclined to pronounce and was not destitute of statesmanlike qualities. Looked at in the process of multiplication, this book the best composition of its kind in the He was the steady enemy of the power of the they are seen to give rise to minute buds, English language. [Osgood & Co.] titled aristocracy, and had a certain desire for which speedily grow, taking on the size of the prosperity of England; but his temper was their parents, and ultimately are detached, A worthy comrade is "Marjorie Flem-imperious, his whole system a base and grindgenerally after they have developed other ing," Arcades ambo. It is the biography of a ing tyranny, and the manner in which he sacbuds. The Torule does not throw out a bud; little Scotch lassie in whom the bud of woman- rificed the lives of his best friends, when they but its protoplasm divides into (usually) four hood has early blossoming, a precocious seemed at all in his way, cannot be justified by masses, termed acospores, each of which sur- little thing, whose precocity sometimes renders any amount of special pleading. A steady rounds itself with a cell-wall, and the whole her ridiculous. Some of her sayings are de- enemy of heresy and schism, his unbending are set free by the dissolution of the cell-wall lightfully naif and odd, some older than her will involved him in a series of acts which of the parent. The Torula being alive, the years. We quote a few of them:made him the head of a schism, and under question arises whether it is an animal or a I walked to that delightful place, Cokyhall, Providence contributed essentially to the progplant. Although no sharp line of demarcation ress of the Reformation in England. Yet he can be drawn between the lowest form of aniwas at heart no friend to the Reformation, and mal and of vegetable life, yet Torula is an inburned alike Romanists and Protestants on dubitable plant, for two reasons. In the first account of their failure to conform to his will." place, its protoplasm is invested by a continuous cellulose coat, and thus has the distinctive character of a vegetable cell. Secondly, it possesses the power of constructing Protein out of such a compound as Ammonium Tartrate; and this power of manufacturing Protein is distinctly a vegetable quality." Each lecture "I am very very glad that Satan has not contains an instalment of Laboratory Work," given me boils and many other misfortunes. which will be found very useful by the profes- In the holy bible these words are written that sional or amateur biologist. Very interesting the Devil goes like a roaring Lyon in search is the lecture on Stonewort, water-weeds, of his pray, but the lord lets us escape from found in ponds and rivers. One end of each is fixed in the mud of the bottom, while the other floats at the surface. The plant continually increases in length in two ways. New nodes, internodes, and whorls of appendages are constantly becoming obvious at the base of the terminal bud; and these appendages increase in size, and become more and more widely separated, until they are as large and far apart as in the oldest part of the plant." More is given to the Frog than to any space other single subject. "The only species of Frog indigenous to Britain is that termed the common or grass frog (Rana temporis), while on the Continent there is, in addition to this, "In my travels I met with a handsome lad another no less abundant species, the hind- named Charles Balfour, Esq., and from him limbs of which are considered a delicacy; got ofers of marage, offers of marage did whence it has received the name of the edible I say? Nay, plenty heard me." frog: Rana esculenta, "Johnny Crapaud." The casawary is an curious bird, and so is "The Frog, when at rest, habitually assumes a the gigantic crane, and the pelican of the wilsitting posture, much like that of the dog or the derness, whose mouth holds a bucket of fish and Under these circumstances, the back water. Fighting is not what ladies is qualified

cat.

156

with a delightful young man beloved by all his
friends, especially by me, his loveress; but I
must not talk any more about him, for Isa
says it is not proper for to speak of gentalmen,
but I will never forget him."

"I am now going to tell you the horible and
wretched plaege that my multiplication gives
me, you can't conceive it; the most devilish
thing is 8 times 8 and 7 times 7; it is what
nature cannot endure."

him."

"I am going to-morrow to a delightful place, Bræhead by name, belonging to Mrs. Crraford, where there is ducks, cocks, hens, bublyjocks, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and swine, which is delightful. I think it is shocking to think that the dog and cat should bear them [this is a meditation physiological], and they are drowned after all. I would rather have a mandog than a woman-dog, because they do not bear like woman-dogs; it is a hard case; it is shocking. I came here to enjoy Nature's delightful breath, it is sweeter than a fial [phial] of rose oil."

66

Of James I. the author says, His tyranny was worse than that of the Tudors, for he claimed exemption from all law but that of his own will." He is too severe, in our opinion, in his judgment of William III. He makes the good point that the ministers of George III. were, rather than himself, responsible for the faults of his administration. A chapter is devoted to the genealogy of the British royal family. This is a pleasant little book, excellently written, and gives the reader a clear idea of the most salient events in the history of Great Britain.

- One of the finest and most feeling poems in "Poems of Place" is Moore's "Breffni," who is deceived by his false love. "Kitty of Coleraine" is so dainty and fine that we quote it entire:

As beautiful Kitty one morning was tripping

With a pitcher of milk from the Fair of Coleraine,
When she saw me she stumbled-the pitcher it tumbled,
And all the sweet buttermilk watered the plain.
"Oh what shall I do now; 'twas looking at you now;
Sure, sure, such a pitcher I'll ne'er meet again.
'Twas the pride of my dairy; oh, Barney M'Leary,
You're sent as a plague to the girls of Coleraine!"
I sat down beside her, and gently did chide her
That such a misfortune should give her such pain;
A kiss I then gave her before I did leave her,-
She vowed for such pleasure she'd break it again.
'Twas hay-making season, I can't tell the reason,
Misfortunes will never come single- that's plain;
For very soon after poor Kitty's disaster,
The devil a pitcher was whole in Coleraine.

THE LITERARY WORLD.

BOSTON, NOVEMBER 1, 1876.

S. R. CROCKER.

EDITOR.

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law.

THE

HISTORY.

WHAT TO READ.

lishment in the chief cities of the Union of We heard one Sunday last month, in a newspapers of the highest integrity and the Brooklyn (N. Y.) church, a sermon of true relisoundest princi, le, in whose columns one gion. It was one of our few experiences of might look with confidence for wise counsel that pleasure, for, in these days of Beechers, and a true statement of facts. Papers like the Newmans, and Winslows, the clerical characLondon Times, able and absolutely indepen- ter is no guarantee of its wearer's piety or of dent, are what we want; their helpfulness can his power to instruct his flock. The preacher be fairly estimated only by those who have was Rev. J. T. Duryea, of the Classon Presgiven the subject careful thought. Nothing is byterian Church. His theme was the knowlmore pernicious than to trust to the teachings edge of God, its qualities and characteristics, of partisan papers; for to their wilful and and the way to attain it. God has given us damaging misrepresentations must be attribu- thinking powers, and of these we are to make ted all the political evils of the time. No man steps which shall lead us up to him. The idea is qualified to vote who is not accurately in- of Fatherhood, the picture of the thoughtformed as to the merits of candidates and ful and believing mortal, standing, confident causes. The diverse reports of the state of and sustained, in the benign presence of his things at the South constitute a striking illus- Maker, recognized and blessed, was drawn tration of the untrustworthiness of the Amer- with the strength and vividness of the true HE writing of History has become a ican press. orator, and will linger long in the minds of mania among the Americans, so that there those who saw it. Religion, as he expounds is hardly a community in the country, however it, is very simple in character and easy of atsmall, whose annals have not been carefully tainment; his definition eliminates it from all preserved. This is an excellent custom, worIN N his "Syllabus of a Course of Lectures the doubts and difficulties that shroud it to the thy of long perpetuation. By it the circumon the English Language," Professor Hiram popular mind. His theory of journeying up stances of the origin of every settlement are Corson declares that, "to read any one good to God, by the ladder of thought and knowlrevealed, the characteristics of its founders set production of an author, even superficially, is edge, was forcibly illustrated by instances in forth, and the discipline through which it has far better than to read all that has been written his own experience and observations. passed to permanent vitality. These home-on and around and about it." Ignoring the mind of man he glorified with thrilling enthuhistories deserve hearty encouragement; but pleonasm of these two propositions, we must siasm, exhibiting its mighty capacity by elowe cannot say the same of the many essays in dissent from the Professor's position. Pre- quent and impressive figures. foreign and American history which just now suming that the book has a noble and fruitful hand," he said, holding up one of those memcrowd the market. Not less than four histo- subject, which the writer is utterly incapable bers, "grasps only what it can contain; but ries of England have recently been issued, of treating, is it not better to read the illumi- the human mind, growing with continual covering the same periods, and treating of the nations cast upon it by many and great minds, thought, expands to an illimitable attainment." same events. In the inevitable competition, than to read its thin transparency? In the In manner, style, utterance, and general effect, each measurably fails of its mission. The same contrast of several judgments the truth apDr. Duryea maintains an ideal harmony and is true, to a certain extent, of the histories of pears, while the view of a single feeble mind ease which dispose the mind of the hearer to our country, which have been produced by is narrow and inadequate. The contents of calm attention, and attune his thoughts to the The magnificent scores, apropos of our Centennial Anniversary. any book are enriched and re-enforced through melodies of heavenly choirs. There is not room for all of these, and in their digestion by a strong and clear-sighted intellibasty preparation inaccuracies are sure to gence. They represent, after that process, the wealth of one mind added to that of another. Prof. Corson's subsequent advice, that the beginner should avoid philosophical criticism, is pertinent and valuable; but the general proposition that precedes it is better to read a feeble original than the vigorous comments upon it is false. With his position as above stated, that the original work of an author should be read, the later position, that the student should read parts only of some writers, is inconsistent.

occur.

FEW

THE INFLUENCE OF THE PRESS. EW of us appreciate the mighty power of the American press, which, it is no exaggeration to say, is the strongest force in the nation. It is especially potential in times like the present, when a fierce political contest is progressing, and when its vilest qualities are drawn into vehement and bitter expression. No conscience seems to rule in the editorial offices; no scruples obstruct the fabrication of matter favorable to the editor's party; and the people, eager for accurate information and trustworthy guidance, are subjected to a mere choice between lies. The modern editor does not hesitate to malign his political foes, deservedly or not; the effect of editorial words on them is not considered; only the effect on the party. We look in vain, even in the columns of our favorite journal, for the truth. It shapes its utterances in accordance with partisan policy, without reference to truth, law, or good morals. We heartily desire the estab

that it

The

The human

strains of congregational music re-enforced the serene devoutness of the audience, and the scene exemplified the sanctity of true cultus. Dr. Duryea has built up this church from very small beginnings, and has thus proved that some good can come out of Nazareth, that the shadow of Plymouth church and its idol has not blighted the piety and manliness of Brooklyn.