NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE BOYNE WATER: A TALE. By John Banim. Post 8vo., pp. 578, Boston: Patrick Donahoe. [For sale in New York by P. O'Shea, Bleecker street]. This story is reprinted from The Boston Pilot, of whose columns it has formed for some months past a principal attraction. It is one of the earliest of Banim's works, and the favorable judgment which it received on its first appearance has now a success of forty years to confirm it. It is a novel of the historical school which Scott made so popular in the last generation, the incidents upon which it is founded belonging to the revolution of 1688, which established William of Orange on the throne of Great Britain. It gives a graphic picture of the siege and capitulation of Limerick, and brings upon the scene James and William, Sarsfield, Tyrconnel, Ginkell, and other familiar characters of that stirring epoch. Banim delights, also, in descriptions of natural scenery. In these he is spirited, and, we believe, accurate. He spared no pains to make himself thoroughly familiar with the localities of which he wrote. While he was engaged upon his novels he used to journey, in company with his brother, through the theatre of action, and study each historical spot with the care of an antiquary. The perfect acquaintance thus obtained with the places of which he wrote had, of course, no little effect upon the vivacity of his narrative.
His pictures of Irish life are vivid and truthful, though he is happier in narrative or description than in dialogue. His heroes and heroines are too much addicted to stilted conversation and to sentimental remarks, which look very well in print, but are never heard in ordinary life. The minor characters, especially those of the peasant class, such as Rory na Choppell, the "whisperer," or horse-tamer, have the gift of speech in a much more natural and agreeable manner. The subordinate parts of the book, in fact, are its best parts. The Gaelic chieftain, reduced to poverty by the English conquerors, but retaining all his pride of spirit and [{287}] authority over his people, in a sequestered hut among the mountains; the blind harper; the old priest; the mad woman of the cavern; the fanatical soldier of Cromwell; and the lawless Rapparees, are depicted with great skill. The heroes of the story—for there are two—are the one a Catholic, the other a Protestant. They fight on opposite sides, and in the delineation of their characters, and the division of fine sentiments between them, Banim holds an even hand. He wrote for an English public, and fearful of offending by too warm an avowal of his religious convictions, he seems to us to have gone occasionally to the opposite extreme, and penned several passages which Catholics cannot read without displeasure. But, despite these faults, which are neither very many nor very serious, "The Boyne Water" ranks among the best of Irish novels, and Banim as a worthy companion of Carleton and Gerald Griffin.
SERMONS ON MORAL SUBJECTS. By his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman. 8vo., pp.434. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co.
The discourses contained in this volume form an appropriate supplement to the "Sermons on our Lord and on His Blessed Mother" which we noticed last month. They were delivered under the same circumstances as the previous collection—that is, for the most part, at the English College in Rome—and ought not, therefore, to be considered as a regular course. But if they do not pretend to be a complete series of moral instructions, they will, nevertheless, be found to touch upon nearly all the fashionable sins, and to afford ample food for reflection to all classes of persons. They have the same characteristics of thought and expression which mark the cardinal's other writings—the same kind tone of remonstrance with sinners and encouragement for the penitent, the same earnest love of God and man, and the same, rich, sometimes exuberant, diction. Cardinal Wiseman ranged through a great variety of subjects, and touched nothing that he did not adorn, but his style never varied much; from one of his books you can easily judge of all. There is little difference between the style of the "Sermons on Moral Subjects" and that, for instance, of "Fabiola," or the "Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion." It is an ornate mode of writing which accommodates itself to a diversity of subjects, and never, in the cardinal's pages, seems out of place.
The sermons now before us are eminently practical; and, although a large proportion of them are addressed directly to irreligious persons, and treat of such subjects as "The Love of the World," "Scandal," "Detraction," "Unworthy Communion," "Unprepared Death," and the "Hatefulness of Sin," they display, in a very marked manner, that affectionateness to which we have elsewhere alluded as a characteristic of the cardinal's discourses. He seems to love rather to expostulate than to upbraid; rather to remind us of the happiness we have lost by sin than to threaten us with the punishment of impenitence; and even when his subject calls for stern language, the kindly spirit continually breaks out.
The last sermon in the volume is entitled "Conclusion of a Course." It contains the following passage, explanatory of the purpose of the whole collection:
"These instructions, my dear brethren, have obviously one tendency; they are all directed to expound what the law of God commands us to believe and to practice, in order to reach those rewards which he has prepared for his faithful servants. They are directed to suggest such motives as may induce us to fulfil these commands; to encourage those who are already on the path to persevere in it; to bring back those who have wandered; to impart strength to the weak and resolution to the wavering and undecided."
AT ANCHOR; A STORY OF OUR CIVIL WAR. By an American. 12mo., pp. 311. New York: D. Appleton & Company.
The writer of this novel is evidently a Catholic, but the story is political, not religious. It purports to be the autobiography of a loyal Massachusetts woman. She marries a Carolinian whom she does not love, and accompanies him to his plantation-home. At the breaking out of the war, the husband accepts a commission in the Confederate service. He is reported killed, and the wife, having learned during his absence to love him, devotes herself to the sick and wounded in Richmond. After a time she makes her way back to Massachusetts, and there, at the end of the book, the missing lord turns up; not only safe and sound, but converted from the political errors of his ways, and eager to fight under the Federal [{288}] flag. He enlists as a private, and has risen to be sergeant when a wound disables him for further service, and husband and wife are at last united and happy in each other. This plot, if it is a plot, is interwoven—we cannot say complicated—with several interesting incidents. The heroine has another lover, toward whom she leans a willing ear, both in maiden life and during her supposed widowhood; and he, on his part, has another mistress, who turns out to be our heroine's half-sister. Of course he marries this lady; and so both couples, after much tossing about, are peacefully "at anchor."
This is something far better than the common sort of sensational war-stories. It contains neither a guerrilla nor a spy; narrates no thrilling deed of blood or hair's-breadth escape; describes no battle; and admits that both parties embrace many noble and honorable men. The writer (it needs little penetration to see that she is a woman) expresses herself fearlessly, but without undue bitterness, on political matters, and scatters over her pages many excellent reflections.
THE MYSTICAL ROSE; OR, MARY OF NAZARETH, THE LILY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID. By Marie Josephine. 12mo., pp. viii., 290. New York: D. Appleton & Company.
The authoress of this work is a Vermont lady of some literary experience. Her book gives ample evidence of a cultivated and well-stored mind. It is an attempt to present, in irregular verse, a legendary narrative of the life of the Blessed Virgin; and if the poetry is not all of the first order, it is at least devotional, or perhaps we should, say consistent with devotional ideas—for the writer deals more with the poetical than the religious aspect of her subject. She has drawn the rough materials for her poem from a great variety of sources, to which she gives reference in copious notes. She claims to have "appropriated every coveted relic or tradition handed down by historian, Christian or pagan, from the archives of Latin Church, Hebrew, or Greek, coming within scope of her original plan." She has certainly succeeded in bringing together a great number of beautiful legends, which she handles in the most affectionate manner.
THE CORRELATION AND CONSERVATION OF FORCES: A series of Expositions, by Prof. Grove, Prof. Helmholtz, Dr. Mayer, Dr. Faraday, Prof. Liebig, and Dr. Carpenter. With an Introduction and brief Biographical Notices of the Chief Promoters of the New Views. By Edward L. Youmans, M. D. 12mo., pp. xlii., 438. New York: D. Appleton & Company.
This excellent work reached us too late for an extended notice in the present number. We shall speak of it at greater length next month. In the meantime we warmly recommend our readers to buy it.
We have received the April number of The New Path: a Monthly Art Journal, the publication of which, after an interval of several months, is resumed under the auspices of James Miller, 522 Broadway. This little periodical represents radical and peculiar views or art, Being allied in opinions to the Pre-Raphaelite school; but its independent and out-spoken, and often valuable, criticisms must have struck the limited circle of readers to whom it formerly appealed. We hope under its new management it will exercise a healthful influence on American art. The present number contains articles on Miss Hosmer's Statue of Zenobia, "Our Furniture," notices of recent exhibitions, etc., etc.
Murphy & Co., Baltimore, send us The Mysteries of the Living Rosary, printed in sheets, and accompanied by appropriate instructions, prayers, and meditations.