A NOVEL.
By JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
From the London Examiner.
"We will not say that Mr. Julian Hawthorne has received a double portion or his father's spirit, but 'Bressant' proves that he has inherited the distinctive tone and fibre of a gift which was altogether exceptional, and moved the author of the 'Scarlet Letter' beyond the reach of imitators.
"Bressant, Sophie, and Cornelia, appear to us invested with a sort of enchantment which we should find it difficult to account for by any reference to any special passage in their story."
From the London Athenæum.
"Mr. Hawthorne's book forms a remarkable contrast, in point of power and interest, to the dreary mass of so-called romances through which the reviewer works his way. It is not our purpose to forestall the reader, by any detailed account of the story; suffice it to say that, if we can accept the preliminary difficulty of the problem, its solution, in all its steps, is most admirably worked out."
From the Pall Mall Gazette.
"So far as a man may be judged by his first work, Mr. Julian Hawthorne is endowed with a large share of his father's peculiar genius. We trace in 'Bressant' the same intense yearning after a high and spiritual life, the same passionate love of nature, the same subtlety and delicacy of remark, and also a little of the same tendency to indulge in the use of a half-weird, half-fantastic imagery."
From the New York Times.
"'Bressant' is, then, a work that demonstrates the fitness of its author to bear the name of Hawthorne. More in praise need not be said; but, if the promise of the book shall not utterly fade and vanish, Julian Hawthorne, in the maturity of his power, will rank side by side with him who has hitherto been peerless, but whom we must hereafter call the 'Elder Hawthorne.'"
From the Boston Post.
"There is beauty as well as power in this novel, the two so pleasantly blended, that the sudden and incomplete conclusion, although ending the romance with an abruptness that is itself artistic, comes only too soon for the reader."
From the Boston Globe.
"It is by far the most original novel of the season that has been published at home or abroad, and will take high rank among the best American novels ever written."
From the Boston Gazette.
"There is a strength in the book which takes it in a marked degree out or the range of ordinary works of fiction. It is substantially an original story. There are freshness and vigor in every part."
From the Home Journal.
"'Bressant' is a remarkable romance, full of those subtle touches of fancy, and that insight into the human heart, which distinguish genius from the mere clever and entertaining writers of whom we have perhaps too many."
NOW READY, A NEW EDITION OF
THE HOUSEHOLD OF BOUVERIE.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "MIRIAM MONFORT."
From Gail Hamilton, author of "Gala Days," etc.
"'The Household of Bouverie' is one of those nuisances of books that pluck out all your teeth, and then dare you to bite them. Your interest is awakened in the first chapter, and you are whirled through in a lightning-express train that leaves you no opportunity to look at the little details of wood, and lawn, and river. You notice two or three little peculiarities of style—one or two 'bits' of painting—and then you pull on your seven-leagued boots, and away you go."
From John G. Saxe, the Poet.
"It is a strange romance, and will bother the critics not a little. The interest of the book is undeniable, and is wonderfully sustained to the end of the story. I think it exhibits far more power than any lady-novel of recent date, and it certainly has the rare merit of entire originality."
From Marion Harland, author of "Alone," "Hidden Path," etc.
"As to Mrs. Warfield's wonderful book, I have read it twice—the second time more carefully than the first—and I use the term 'wonderful' because it best expresses the feeling uppermost in my mind, both while reading and thinking it over. As a piece of imaginative writing, I have seen nothing to equal it since the days of Edgar A. Poe, and I doubt whether he could have sustained himself and reader through a book of half the size of the 'Household of Bouverie.' I was literally hurried through it by my intense sympathy, my devouring curiosity—it was more than interest. I read everywhere—between the courses of the hotel-table, on the boat, in the cars—until I had swallowed the last line. This is no common occurrence with a veteran romance-reader like myself."
From George Ripley's Review of "The Household of Bouverie," in Harper's Magazine, November, 1860.
"Everywhere betraying a daring boldness of conception, singular fertility of illustration, and a combined beauty and vigor of expression, which it would be difficult to match in any recent works of fiction. In these days, when the most milk-and-watery platitudes are so often welcomed as sibylline inspirations, it is somewhat refreshing to meet with a female novel-writer who displays the unmistakable fire of genius, however terrific its brightness."
Mrs. Warfield's New Novel.
MIRIAM MONFORT.
by the author of "THE HOUSEHOLD OF BOUVERIE."
The N. Y. Evening Post says of "Miriam Monfort:" "Mrs. Warfield's new novel has freshness, and is so far removed from mediocrity as to entitle it to respectful comment. Her fiction calls for study. Her perception is deep and artistic, as respects both the dramatic side of life and the beautiful. It is not strictly nature, in the general sense, that forms the basis of her descriptions. She finds something deeper and more mystic than nature in the sense in which the term is usually used by critics, in the answer of the soul to life—in the strange, weird, and lonesome music (though now and then broken by discords) of the still small voices with which human nature replies to the questions that sorely vex her. She has the analytic capacity in the field of psychology, which enables her to trace phenomena in a story without arguing about them, and to exhibit the dramatic side of them without stopping to explain the reasons for it. In a word, her hand is as sure as that of a master, and if there were more such novels as this simple semi-biographical story of Miriam Monfort, it would not be necessary so often to put the question, 'Is the art of fiction extinct?'"
The Cincinnati Daily Gazette says: "'Miriam Monfort,' which now lies before us, is less sensational in incident than its predecessor, though it does not lack stirring events—an experience on a burning ship, for example. Its interest lies in the intensity which marks all the characters good and bad. The plot turns on the treachery of a pretended lover, and the author seems to have experienced every emotion of love and hate, jealousy and fear, that has inspired the creations of her pen. There is a contagion in her earnestness, and we doubt not that numerous readers will follow the fortunes of the beautiful but much-persecuted Miriam with breathless interest."
The All Day City Item says: "It is a work of extraordinary merit. The story is charmingly told by the heroine. It is admirable and original in plot, varied in incident, and intensely absorbing in interest; besides, throughout the volume, there is an exquisite combination of sensibility, pride, and loveliness, which will hold the work in high estimation. We make a quotation from the book that suits the critic exactly. 'It is splendid; it is a dream, more vivid than life itself; it is like drinking champagne, smelling tuberoses, inhaling laughing-gas, going to the opera, all at one time.' We recommend this to our young lady friends as a most thoughtfully and delightfully written novel."
APPLETONS' (so-called) PLUM-PUDDING EDITION OF THE WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS.
LIST OF THE WORKS.
Oliver Twist
American Notes
Dombey and Son
Martin Chuzzlewit
Our Mutual Friend
Christmas Stories
Tale of Two Cities
Hard Times, and Additional Christmas Stories
Nicholas Nickleby
Bleak House
Little Dorrit
Pickwick Papers
David Copperfield
Barnaby Rudge
Old Curiosity Shop
Great Expectations
Sketches
Uncommercial Traveller, Pictures of Italy, etc.
Any person ordering the entire set, and remitting $5, will receive a Portrait of Dickens, suitable for framing. The entire set will be sent by mail or express, at our option, postage or freight prepaid, to any part of the United States.
Single copies of any of the above sent to any address in the United States on the receipt of the price affixed.
GRACE AGUILAR'S WORKS.
HOME INFLUENCE. A Tale for Mothers and Daughters.
THE MOTHER'S RECOMPENSE. A Sequel to Home Influence.
WOMAN'S FRIENDSHIP. A Story of Domestic Life.
THE VALE OF CEDARS; or, the Martyr.
THE DAYS OF BRUCE. A Story from Scottish History. 2 vols.
HOME SCENES AND HEART STUDIES. Tales.
THE WOMEN OF ISRAEL. Characters and Sketches from the Holy Scriptures. Two vols.
CRITICISMS ON GRACE AGUILAR'S WORKS.
HOME INFLUENCE.—"Grace Aguilar wrote and spoke as one inspired; she condensed and spiritualized, and all her thoughts and feelings were steeped in the essence of celestial love and truth. To those who really knew Grace Aguilar, all eulogium falls short of her deserts, and she has left a blank in her particular walk of literature, which we never expect to see filled up."—Pilgrimages to English Shrines, by Mrs. Hall.
MOTHER'S RECOMPENSE.—"'The Mother's Recompense' forms a fitting close to its predecessor. 'Home Influence.' The results of maternal care are fully developed, its rich rewards are set forth, and its lesson and its moral are powerfully enforced."—Morning Post.
WOMAN'S FRIENDSHIP.—"We congratulate Miss Aguilar on the spirit, motive, and composition of this story. Her alms are eminently moral, and her cause comes recommended by the most beautiful associations. These, connected with the skill here evinced in their development, insure the success of her labors."—Illustrated News.
VALE OF CEDARS.—"The authoress of this most fascinating volume has selected for her field one of the most remarkable eras in modern history—the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella. The tale turns on the extraordinary extent to which concealed Judaism had gained footing at that period in Spain. It is marked by much power of description, and by a woman's delicacy of touch, and it will add to its writer's well-earned reputation."—Eclectic Rev.
DAYS OF BRUCE.—"The tale is well told, the interest warmly sustained throughout, and the delineation of female character is marked by a delicate sense of moral beauty. It is a work that may be confided to the hands of a daughter by her parent."—Court Journal.
HOME SCENES.—"Grace Aguilar knew the female heart better than any writer of our day, and in every fiction from her pen we trace the same masterly analysis and development of the motives and feelings of woman's nature."—Critic.
WOMEN OF ISRAEL.—"A work that is sufficient of itself to create and crown a reputation."—Mrs. S. C. Hall.
Sir HENRY HOLLAND'S RECOLLECTIONS.
RECOLLECTIONS OF PAST LIFE
By Sir HENRY HOLLAND, Bart.,
1 vol., 12mo, Cloth. 350 pp.
From The London Lancet.
"The 'Life or Sir Henry Holland' is one to be recollected, and he has not erred in giving an outline of it to the public. In the very nature of things it is such a life as cannot often be repeated. Even if there were many men in the profession capable of living to the age of eighty-four, and then writing their life with fair hope of further travels, it is not reasonable to expect that there could ever be more than a very few lives so full of incidents worthy of being recorded autographically as the marvellous life which we are fresh from perusing. The combination of personal qualities and favorable opportunities in Sir Henry Holland's case is as rare as it is happy. But that is one reason for recording the history of it. Sir Henry's life cannot be very closely imitated, but it may be closely studied. We have found the study of it, as recorded in the book just published, one of the most delightful pieces of recreation which we have enjoyed for many days.... Among his patients were pachas, princes, and premiers. Prince Albert, Napoleon III., Talleyrand, Pozzo di Borgo, Gulzot, Palmella, Bulow, and Drouyn de Lhuys, Jefferson Davis, Lord Sidmouth, Lord Stowell, Lord Melbourne, Lord Palmerston, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Lansdowne. Lord Lyndhurst, to say nothing of men of other note, were among his patients."
From the London Spectator.
"We constantly find ourselves recalling the Poet Laureate's modernized Ulysses, the great wanderer, insatiate of new experiences, as we read the story of the octogenarian traveller and his many friends in many lands:
'I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart,
Much have I seen and known. Cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least and honored of them all.'
You see in this book all this and more than this—knowledge of the world, and insatiable thirst for more knowledge of it, great clearness of aim and exact appreciation of the mind's own wants, precise knowledge of the self-sacrifices needed to gratify those wants and a readiness for those sacrifices, a distinct adoption of an economy of life, and steady adherence to it from beginning to end—all of them characteristics which are but rare in this somewhat confused and hand-to-mouth world, and which certainly when combined make a unique study of character, however indirectly it may be presented to us and however little attention may be drawn to the interior of the picture."
From The New York Times.
"His memory was—is, we may say, for he is still alive and in possession of all his faculties—stored with recollections of the most eminent men and women of this century. He has known the intimate friends of Dr. Johnson. He travelled in Albania when Ali Pacha ruled, and has since then explored almost every part of the world, except the far East. He has made eight visits to this country, and at the age of eighty-two (in 1869) he was here again—the guest of Mr. Evarts, and, while in this city, of Mr. Thurlow Weed. Since then he has made a voyage to Jamaica and the West India Islands, and a second visit to Iceland. He was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, Lockhart, Dugald Stewart, Mme. de Staël, Byron, Moore, Campbell, Rogers, Crabbe, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Talleyrand, Sydney Smith, Macaulay, Hallam, Mackintosh, Malthus, Erskine, Humboldt, Schlegel, Canova, Sir Humphry Davy, Joanna Baillie, Lord and Lady Holland, and many other distinguished persons whose names would occupy a column. In this country he has known, among other celebrated men, Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, Seward, etc. He was born the same year in which the United States Constitution was ratified. A life extending over such a period, and passed in the most active manner, in the midst of the best society which the world has to offer, must necessarily be full of singular interest; and Sir Henry Holland has fortunately not waited until his memory lost its freshness before recalling some of the incidents in it."