however, verbose a fault almost necessari-witness to the state of his mind, but as new more and more to help his fellow-men; and ly inherent in writing primarily intended for hopes dawned, the look of hard defiance gave the volume before us is full of recognition of the ear and not for the eye. A way to a wonderful humility and tenderness. the sympathy and encouragement and stimulus for which men and women in all parts of the world were indebted to him. 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 : Wherever he went, he wrote to his family 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 Whittier," and Asa Gray; and: CHARLES KINGSLEY.* After agonizing struggle "he read for RARE spirit passed away from this Holy Orders," and at twenty-three settled world when Charles Kingsley died. down at Eversley-for life, as it proved; Whatever charges and "bitter newspaper and two years later brought home his bride attacks” certain utterances of his may have to the old rectory which "had not been redrawn upon him during some of the most paired for a hundred years ❞—such a damp, fruitful years of his over-crowded life, no unhealthy place, that, in spite of the rector's one could then or ever call in question the sanitary improvements, we are forced to beintegrity of the man, his utter unselfishness lieve that it had a share in breaking him It was an and his sweetness of soul. The story of his down while yet a young man. life, told in letters of his own and reminis- unpromising parish; "the services had been "Of all men on earth, I should like to have cences of friends, connected by a thread of utterly neglected," the communion seldom narrative, is more fascinating than any of his observed; and in consequence "the ale- Tom Taylor for a third. Entreat him to make it fictions. We have known him as the writer houses were full on Sunday, and the church possible, and come and be a salvidge man with us; and tell him I can show him views of the big of charming verse and stimulating story, the empty," and "there was not a grown-up man stone work which no mortal cockney knows, beadvocate of the poor man's rights, and the or woman among the laboring classes who cause, though the whole earth is given to the children of men, none but we jolly fishers get the brilliant preacher; but here we have a reve- could read or write." For such a people his plums and raisins of it, by the rivers which run lation of his real life, his perplexities and best work was done; for them his ser- among the hills, and the lakes which sit a-top doubts, his strong affections, his keen de-mons were prepared with the utmost care. thereof. Tell him I'll show him such a view. as tourist never saw, nor will see, 'case why, he light in out-of-door pursuits, his tenderness He knew intimately every individual in his can't find it; and I will show him the original and humility, his exquisite humor and the parish, and was "chivalrous to every woman, mouth of the pit - but I only think of the trouts which the last I saw killed. . was three and oneperfect happiness that reigned in his home; gentle to every child, true to every man;" half pounds, and we'll kill his wife and family. and can see how much better he was than never too tired or too busy to listen to them, And oh, what won't we do, except break our the best that he wrote, and how delightful it but ready to give up his sorely-needed hol-necks?" must have been to have had him for a per- idays if there were a sick one who might sonal friend. miss him. He could "swing a flail with the threshers," or a scythe with the mowers, and enter into every one's interest; thanking God for having given him such a versatile mind. As a result, while they learned to respect themselves, they loved the parson, and went to church, where he preached them sermons they could understand; for he used forcible illustrations with which they were familiar, catching men "by their leading ideas," so that his preaching became a mighty power, and Eversley made a great advance in morals and culture before he was taken away from it. When vital questions began to stir the nation, he threw himself into the Chartist As a youth he is described as of "keen struggle with all the impetuosity of his agvisage and great bodily activity," "original gressive nature, ready to dare anything to the verge of eccentricity," while yet a rather than violate his own convictions of "genuine out-of-door English boy," with an duty, or compromise with what seemed to absolute enthusiasm for botany and geology, him an evil. "I will not be a liar, I will fearless and brave, and yet keenly sensitive, speak," he wrote home from London, at a tender-hearted and forgiving; constitutionally time when to speak was perilous. And when shy, and a stammerer - disadvantages which he became dissatisfied with the want of faith he never overcame, though the infirmity of and vitality in the church, he roused such speech disappeared when he warmed to his antagonism as would have dismayed a less work in preaching. The dread of entering a courageous man. Finally, he drew upon himroom, or of speaking, sometimes amounted to self additional reproach in accepting church terror, so that he said he "could have wished promotion, incurring thus the charge of inthe earth to open and swallow him." consistency. That a man of such an unusual At twenty he first met his future wife, combination of qualities should sometimes who says: 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." "He was then full of religious doubts, and his face, with its unsatisfied, hungering look, bore seem to contradict himself, and err in judg- motive "dear old "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, icepolished rocks, sticking up through the copses, cedar-scrub, low, swampy shores; an iron land, 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 per"And, oh! the flowers!" petual delight. "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 "And this state of things not only is so, but it may The period of what 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 men dress and talk like Europeans, and so take Europeans in, while they carry on a worse system of tyranny than that of the old Sultans." ment upon them. Who and what is the "This kind of tyranny, which has no parallel the Turk should be allowed the power of doing Turk? What has he done in Europe? 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 he has so long held in subjection. None of his garrisons must be allowed in any of the 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 Or pale Urania's deep and starry eyes. 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 Englishman, a younger brother, we believe, of Matthew Arnold, who, in the summer of 1875, accompanied by his wife, left London and made his way to Warsaw, St. Petersburg, and Nijni Novgorod; thence down the Volga to Astrakhan and through the Caspian Sea, landing at Enzelli, a port on the Persian side. From this point he traveled by caravan through Persia for a distance of more "Systematic oppression, systematic plunder, than a thousand miles, passing through Ispathe denial of the commonest rights of human han, Teheran and other important places. beings to those who are under its power, is not government in any sense of the word. It is, He left the Caspian Sea early in October, therefore, a mistake, and a dangerous mistake, to and reached Bombay in March following, speak of the Sultan and his ministers as a 'gov-returning home via Alexandria. take to speak of the rights' of the Sultan; for A journey of a thousand miles by a lady 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 *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. ernment,' and to treat them as such. It is a mis of mere brigandage." *Through Persia by Caravan. By Arthur Arnold. Harper & Brothers. as there are neither carriage roads nor carriages in Persia, Mrs. Arnold was under the necessity of traveling either in a "kerjava" or a "takht-i-rawan :" "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. 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, 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 and the roof of thin boards is covered with coarse 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 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 an absence of progress, but rather retrogression. 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 seen the plains resembling an arctic sea, the ap parently perfect level covered with a dazzling expanse of untrodden snow; and, again, when the white hills loomed through the blinding storm like icebergs of polar regions. "Shadow-of-God," the Shah of Persia, and past by the pages of the history before us, I A CONTEMPORARY HISTORY.* as those Miss Martineau enjoyed. The four volumes before us occupy twentytwo hundred well-filled pages in treating a period which Mr. Green, the latest writer on the subject, disposes of in an "Epilogue" of eight pages, and to which Mr. Knight, in his admirable popular history, is able to allow a single volume. It was, indeed, at the instance of Mr. Knight that Miss Martineau entered upon the task of writing a chronicle of the "Thirty Years' Peace" that succeeded the downfall of Napoleon. Mr. Knight himself had begun the work, and indications of 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 Recent history possesses an interest that is all its own. To a certain extent we are 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 volumes, for example, we miss the heroes and myths of earlier times, but in their stead laws," and "poor laws," with "parliamentary we see a great nation struggling with "corn reform," ," "Catholic emancipation," and the proper treatment of "dissenters." We watch the of a civilization which advances progress with increased momentum every day, as the steamboat and the railway, the penny-post, the newspaper-press and the telegraph, add their respective quotas to the material and intellectual capital of the people. 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 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 ing from the snow-covered mountains, we have to 1854; and also wrote a new introduction ing from the stoppage of certain manufactowhich added very much to the completeness and destroy the machinery that they think is 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 summons, including that of the mysterious lady, 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 and buried like a dog, or clad in splendid robes gold and silver, according to the good pleasure of the genii.". *The History of England from the Commencement of 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 ap the XIXth Century to the Crimean War. By Harriet Mar- preciation of the turmoil and bloodshed which marked most of the years of "the Mr. Arnold had an interview with the tineau. 4 vols. Porter & Coates. 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 temperance in their advocacy of the old ways! 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 manner. The 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 happened 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. author is best shown in the portraiture of Aunt Penelope, which is very well done. None of the coarse iniquities of life are allowed 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 The rise of the Society for the Diffusion SOME NOVELS OF THE MONTH.* foregoing, is laid in England, forty or fifty of Useful Knowledge, and of others of a THESE four books, which, with possibly years ago. The story is peculiar in form, in similar nature; of a national system of educa- the exception of the third, are tales that instead of being a direct narrative in the tion; and of various benevolent and religious rather than novels, have certain traits in author's own language, it is told ostensibly movements, are traced in these volumes in common which allow them not unnaturally by the aunt of the motherless young woman connection with the political progress. Miss to be grouped together; while individual char-whose name it bears. This Bessie Lang is Martineau of course could not develop a acteristics at the same time afford marked a yeoman's daughter, betrothed to one of 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. and leave unfinished. We have found its 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 a "King" to this Irish island, as there was a "King of Borva." There is a "Morna" as there was a "Sheila." And there is a "Captain Bisson" as there was a "Lavender." The interest of the whole first portion of the Olivia Raleigh, which takes its place as an to say. It opens in an Eagle Island off the There are a thousand passages of great early volume in Lippincott's "Star Series," west coast of Ireland, which well corresponds interest in these volumes, but we can refer is warmly commended in its American intro-to the rugged and picturesque spot in which to but one more. The introduction of gas induction as a story which no one can begin Mr. Black discovers his heroine. There is 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. * (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. (3) The Dark Colleen. By the Author of "The Queen of 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, ural and faithful to realities, so free from it being finally determined that the Masonic structural weakness and artistic defect; and, brethren should be honored with the foreconsidering its materials, so wholesome in most part. The relation of the Masonic tone. We could only wish that Mrs. Bur- fraternity to the progress of the work at nett had so modified Liz's character and his- various points was, indeed, the occasion of tory as to save the story from the taint which a good deal of feeling, and political considher part therein gives to it. Still this ele-erations could not be altogether excluded ment is managed with delicacy and discretion. The work of a firm and well-controlled hand is seen from beginning to end. The intensity of the treatment never is allowed to descend into the sensational, and the striking individualities of its characters have nothing of extravagance or caricature. Among recent works of fiction That Lass o' Lowrie's certainly holds a place quite by itself, and, if it has not exhausted the talent of its author, denotes an important accession to the ranks of American writers in this department. After such as the foregoing Mrs. Burnett's That Lass o' Lowrie's is read to great advantage; and taken by itself it cannot fail to make a very deep impression. In important qualities its equal has not appeared in many a day. Artistically viewed it might be described as a "charcoal sketch" rather than a finished picture, and indeed it is by virtue of this character that its strength is most apparent. Its essential quality is power. It impresses rather than pleases; it holds rather than entertains; for while it is both entertaining and pleasing in a very marked degree, yet to say that it were simply that would be to give no hint of its masculine vigor, its dramatic intensity, its clear truthfulness to life and the consummate art of its execution. The art is all the greater in that you see nothing of it, but only the scenes which the art pictures and the life which it portrays. These are pervaded by the most graphic and telling effects. Outlines and touches do the work, and do it rapidly and sharply. The scene is laid in Riggan, a repre HISTORY OF THE BUNKER HILL sentative mining town in the north of Eng-M MONUMENT ASSOCIATION.* R. Warren's volume is a massive and sumptuous one, printed in large type, on heavy paper, with the attraction of a number of portraits on steel and upwards of twenty heliotypes. The author was the acter is Joan Lowrie; a sort of queen among President of the Association from 1847 to land; whose air is full of smoke and grime, the din of labor, and the gloom of poverty and ignorance and sorrow. The prominent char 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 Crad from the management of the enterprise. As Mr. Warren has little to say about the battle which the monument commemorates, and, of course, enters into none of the nice which that event has given rise. controversies over persons and names to His work is not marked by any special literary value, which indeed such a subject, so treated, could hardly allow. Nor is the vol ume one for which there can be any wide demand; but for all Charlestownians, for 1875. When, in 1839, he was first chosen to The history of Bunker Hill Monument is 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 dock, another very original creation; and the that of most public enterprises of its kind. unique and special, it has a distinct value. ; boy, Jud, whose adventures with his dog, Nib, Anice, his daughter, and Mr. Grace, the curate. The motive of the story is the de velopment of the feminine in Joan, and the slow growth and final recognition of mutual eral; then a fair and somewhat enthusiastic 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 beginning of the work itself; then a stage of topical references to pages, would answer every purpose. We notice some trivial blemishes in the text, but, in the main, the *The History of the Bunker Hill Monument Association attachment between her and Derrick. As to during the First Century of the United States of America. / work seems to us to have been intelligently what befalls Grace and Anice we are left to By George Washington Warren. James R. Osgood & Co. and successfully performed. |