Truly this is a world of disappointments. When this book, handsomely bound and printed in bold type on delicately tinted paper, was placed before us, and upon reading the numerous titles of honor which the author, with more frankness than modesty, had appended to his name, we hastily came to the conclusion that the Catholic Church on Long Island had at last found a worthy and erudite historian. Alas for the vanity of human hopes! Ere we had perused a dozen of its hundred and thirty pages, we discovered that the brilliant and costly setting, which we fondly hoped contained a literary gem beyond price, enclosed nothing but a paltry imitation in paste. Our chagrin was the greater on account of the importance of the subject, affording, as it does, many salient points of interest that deserve to be perpetuated in something like good language and in proper method; but candor compels us to say that this book seems more like a scrap-book, made up of slip-shod newspaper paragraphs unartistically retouched and strung together. And then the reckless scattering of polyglot adjectives, the continuous recurrence of the same words and forms of expression, the forgetfulness of facts within the knowledge of most of the school children of Brooklyn, and the inexcusable ignoring of the simplest rules of grammar, which characterize this production, are, we venture to affirm, unparalleled in the history of modern book-making. The last chapter, however, surpasses all the others in verbosity. In thus coming before the public as the historian of the Catholics of Long Island, the author seems to have forgotten that the art of book-writing can only be learned by years of patient study, and that the high-sounding phrases which would do well enough for a class of young students are altogether out of place in the pages of a book intended to be placed in the libraries of our most intelligent citizens. Literary vanity is generally a harmless and sometimes an amusing weakness, but, when gratified at the expense of serious subjects, it deserves neither encouragement nor the charity of our silence.
The Historical Reader. By John J. Anderson, A.M. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 544. New York: Clark & Maynard. 1871.
This work, compiled for the use of schools, has many merits and some grave defects. The task of culling from the best writers choice passages descriptive of striking historical incidents is one that requires much judgment and experience for its proper performance; while the difficulty of avoiding even the appearance of national prejudice or religious bias is almost insurmountable. Most of us have our favorite authors, whose merits we are apt to exaggerate, and whose peculiar views we too often accept without much investigation. Professor Anderson is not free from this weakness, though, as a rule, his selections are made with discretion and fairness. Milton's eulogy on Cromwell is one of the exceptions, for we hold it not good that our children should be taught to reverence the memory of that monstrosity whose hands were so repeatedly imbrued in innocent blood. Froude's "Coronation of Anne Boleyn" is another, for, as the readers of The Catholic World well know, very little dependence can be placed on the historical veracity of that gentleman. But the most serious mistake of the compiler lies in the fact that only American, English, Scotch, and French history, with a few passages from ancient authors, is presented; Ireland, Spain, Germany, and other European countries being completely ignored. Taking into account the vast number of children Of German and Irish descent in our public and private schools, who ought, we think, to be taught something of the history of their ancestors, we should expect that at least one-half of this book would be devoted to extracts from the historians of these races, whose writings are now as accessible to compilers of history as those of any other nationality. Of Spain, the discoverer and first colonizer of the New World, we have not a word; and Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci, the cradle of modern art and poetry, is altogether overlooked. In this respect, therefore, The Historical Reader is sadly deficient in universality and completeness. The Vocabulary attached will be found useful, and the Biographical Index would be more interesting if the writer had used his adjectives less generously, and more reliable if he had not insisted on calling Burke a British statesman and Goldsmith an "English" writer.
A History of the Kingdom of Kerry. By M. F. Cusack. Boston: P. Donahoe. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1871. 8vo, pp. 512.
This latest contribution to the historical literature of Ireland is in every respect worthy the genius and industry of the accomplished author of The Illustrated History of Ireland, and other works of an historical and biographical character. Hitherto the remote county of Kerry has been known to tourists and artists for the beautiful scenery of the Killarney Lakes, and to the general reader only as the home of the great orator and politician O'Connell; for the meagre and antiquated history of the county by Smith has long since passed into oblivion, and can scarcely be found in any of those receptacles for worn-out authors, called second-hand book stores. It remained for Miss Cusack (Sister Mary Frances Clare), who, of all contemporary Irish writers, seems most imbued with a passionate desire to produce and reproduce incidents illustrative of the past glories and sufferings of her native country, to undertake the task of writing a history of this, in many respects, the most interesting of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, and it must be confessed that, considering the unpromising and limited nature of the subject, she has performed it with wonderful accuracy and success. The large and handsome volume before us, as a local history, may be considered a complete narrative of every event connected with Kerry, from the very earliest period of the traditional epoch down to the close of the seventeenth century, with occasional glances at the affairs of adjacent counties, when necessarily connected with those of her favorite locality. Several, and not the least attractive of the chapters to a scientific student, are devoted to the geology, topography, and archæology of Kerry and other kindred topics, in the preparation of which the author has been assisted by some of the best scholars in Ireland, whose readiness in thus contributing the result of long years of study and experience not only does credit to their generosity and gallantry, but demonstrates that Miss Cusack's patriotic and charitable efforts are fully appreciated by those who know her well and are best fitted to appreciate the value of her labors. The appendix, which is very full, will be found particularly interesting to such of our readers as derive their descent from the ancient Kerry families, containing, as it does, a minute and doubtless correct pedigrees of the O'Connors, O'Donoghues, O'Connells, O'Mahonys, McCarthys, and other septs whose names are indelibly associated with the history and topography of the county.
The illustrations of local scenery are passable, we have seen better, but the letterpress is excellent, and the whole mechanical execution of the work is worthy of the subject, and very creditable to the taste and enterprise of the publishers.
Manual of Geometrical and Infinitesimal Analysis. By B. Sestini, S.J., author of Analytical Geometry, Elementary Geometry, and a Treatise on Algebra; Professor of Mathematics in Woodstock College. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 1871.
"We leave it to the reader," says Father Sestini in his preface, which, by the way, corresponds to the book in shortness, "to judge whether, without detriment to lucidity, our efforts to combine comprehensiveness with brevity and exactness have been successful." It seems to us that they have. It is impossible to understand analytical geometry and the calculus, the principles of which are developed in this work, without patient thought and application of mind; diffuse explanations may be written, no doubt, which will enable an ordinary student to master the actual text of his lesson, but they will not be likely to set his mind to working on its own account; and the discovery of the meaning of a sentence which seems obscure, but is only so from the student's want of mental exercise in these matters, is of more real service, and at the same time gives more pleasure, than the most copious elucidations. To use these is like taking a light into a dark place; it shows clearly what is immediately around, but does not allow the pupils of the eyes to expand. And without a similar development of the mathematical faculty, which is probably really more common than is generally supposed, needing only proper exercise to bring it out, the study of the science will be comparatively fruitless, and a mere labor instead of a pleasure.
It is, of course, possible to carry this principle too far, and make a book which will be incomprehensible without profuse oral explanations, which will equally prevent a profitable exercise of the mind. The author seems to have carried it just far enough. No one to whom the study of the higher mathematics will be profitable at all can find a better work to set him upon the track and give him a grasp of the subject than F. Sestini's manual. The expert also, as well as the student, will be pleased with the neatness of its execution, both in the mathematical and in the ordinary sense.
Vermont Historical Gazetteer. A Magazine embracing a Digest of the History of each Town, Civil, Educational, Religious, Geological, and Literary. Edited by Abby Maria Hemenway, compiler of the Poets and Poetry of Vermont. Burlington. 1870.