TALK ABOUT BOOKS.
It would be difficult for a biography of Sydney Smith, that man who always took short views of life, hoped for the best, and put his trust in God, to be other than interesting. Mr. Reid’s biography[L] is so interesting that the reader quite forgets to criticise. It is a many-sided sketch of the brave hearted dominie. It tells his history, to be sure, but one gets a very good idea of many of his associates as well; it tells his route through life, and as a happy idea adds descriptions and illustrations of the various localities in which he lived, as they are to-day. There is just enough quotation from the reverend Sydney to give pith to the sober, clear narrative of the writer, and just enough of the “Times” to keep one in sympathy with his age. Several letters and essays never before printed appear in the volume. Mr. Reid, we are pleased to see, presents the courage, the unfailing hope, and the abundant common sense of his subject as characteristics of more importance than his wit.
It is moderate praise of the book[M] produced by Mrs. Mitchell to say that all lovers of art and its history will find it a valuable acquisition to their libraries. The author has chosen the historical method of presenting her subject, and begins with Egyptian sculpture, passes on to Chaldean, Assyrian, and Persian; then to that of Phœnicia, Asia Minor, and Greece, and ends with works of the Italian masters. Feeling that “description can not by any possibility supersede the sight of the artistic creations,” she has freely illustrated the book with accurate representations of many of the great masterpieces. There can be no work better suited for the use of those who desire to acquire a knowledge of this branch of art.
M. Gaillard has added one more to the many books already issued for the purpose of teaching “French Conversation.”[N] The system he has adopted differs from all the others in this respect: questions alone are given, to which the scholar is to frame his own answers. A clue to the words needed in the replies, and to the construction of the sentences and idioms will be found in the questions. Thus the memorizing of set sentences which never will fit in anywhere save in the recitation room, is avoided, and the pupil is obliged to think for himself instead of merely observing how the words are used by others. Theoretically the plan is a good one. As a text-book for common use in schools and elsewhere, we doubt, somewhat, its feasibility.
No tourist to the White Mountains can afford to do without Mr. Drake’s book.[O] The last edition of it is prepared expressly for their use, and contains in the form of an appendix a complete guide-book. One of the covers is provided with a pocket, within which is placed a map of the White Mountains, and one of Vermont and New Hampshire. This pocket will also prove convenient for carrying memoranda. The book contains many fine illustrations, is printed from large, clear type, and is handsomely bound. And as one sees in word pictures the scenery of the mountains, and is delighted with racy little incidents of travel, and with anecdote, or is thrilled with some perilous adventure, he can not help saying that author, artist, and publisher have all done their part toward making an attractive book.
It was a good idea to publish a dictionary of the “Women of the Day.”[P] Miss Hays has undoubtedly put an immense amount of labor into the neat little volume which she has just sent out to the world. However, the publication has been too soon. More labor is needed to make the book as useful as it ought to be. More than once her biographies of the best known women are incorrect, as when she located Marion (which name, by the way, she spelled Marian) Harland’s present home at Newark, N. J., a place she left years ago. Again, in some of the sketches the work is poorly arranged. Why should Miss Willard’s whereabouts in 1878 be tacked on at the end of the article, after it had been brought up to 1882, instead of being inserted in its proper order? For all that, it is a very useful work. It will be of great help to the general reader interested in eminent women.
A valuable series of “Outlines” of the Philosophy of Hermann Lotze has been undertaken by Prof. Ladd, of Yale College. A leading philosopher of Germany, Lotze’s works have been sealed to all English readers, save those who were able to overcome philosophical German. This series will furnish an opportunity long desired by those interested in German thought to make themselves familiar with Lotze’s ideas. “Outlines of Metaphysics”[Q] is the first work issued.
Mrs. Jackson’s “Ramona”[R] takes rank at once in the highest class of fiction. The fascination in its pages holds one from beginning to end, and he closes the book with much the same impression as if he had just returned from a day’s exquisite enjoyment of wild and rugged mountain scenery. The characters possess an individuality such as is found in those drawn by Dickens, and the fine shaping of plot and incident recalls George Eliot’s “Romola.” The story of “Ramona” has to do with Indian life in Southern California and Mexico, and is of historical interest. As one reads of the wrongs cruelly inflicted upon the noble Alessandro and the heroic Christian spirit with which he endured them all to the bitter end, there comes a sense of shame that under American laws, base, unprincipled men could commit such deeds of plunder and violence with impunity. The character of Ramona is unique. Her devoted love for Alessandro, the gladness with which she accepted the life of deprivation and danger at his side, and the development, through heavy sorrows, of her deep, true, womanly nature, give the book a richness of color and a depth of pathos seldom met.