He takes the De Gourgues account as the French give it, and, with them, multiplies forts at San Mateo; but we must confess that there are discrepancies in it which have always excited our distrust, although the story is accepted generally by French Catholic writers.
Pink and White Tyranny. A Society Novel. By Mrs. Harriet B. Stowe. Boston: Roberts Brothers.
Mrs. Stowe has given us in this volume, with her usual distinctness of purpose, a true picture, not overdrawn, of fashionable life as displayed at our popular watering-places and in many of our fashionable homes. The author's "views," so pronounced on all subjects, are generally given with characteristic energy and earnestness, if not always with discrimination. So graphic are her descriptions that the reader can see the places she describes, and has a clear insight into the hearts of her characters.
It is well that one whose writings are always so extensively read should show up the corrupt condition of manners and morals that prevail in what is technically called "high life," and in this book Mrs. Stowe has given an interesting and lifelike picture of the everyday well-known scandals that are sapping the very foundation of our existence as a nation.
It is hardly just, however, to put all the folly, all the extravagance, and all the sin of our demoralized belles and beauty to the credit of France; poor France has enough of her own to bear. French morals, French manners, French novels, French literature, and even the French language are put down in this volume as the source of all in the morals of this country that is not pure and elevating. The root of the trouble lies nearer home, and spreads far back to the childhood of these vain men and women, when they were taught that to enjoy themselves was the great end for which they were made. "Have a jolly time in life, honestly if you can, but have the jolly time any way," is the chief lesson given to the children and young persons belonging to the world of to-day; and this peoples our places of public resort with the "fast" and the shameless.
A poetic picture of New England life is Mrs. Stowe's specialty, and refined, cultivated, quiet Springdale is refreshing after the flirtations and assignations of the watering-places.
We find in these pages a just and charming tribute to the Irish character as wife and mother; while the author's views of marriage are in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church, and it is no small merit in the book that it strongly advocates the doctrine, "one with one exclusively, and for ever."
The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude. By the author of "St. Francis and the Franciscans," etc. London: Burns, Oates & Co. Boston; P. Donahoe. 1871.
This is another of the "Kenmare series of books for spiritual reading." It needs no other recommendation. The profit to be derived from a devout reading of the revelations of this great saint is inestimable. They cannot fail to have a lasting influence on the mind that opens itself to their teaching. If some may object that such a book as this is too mediæval for the nineteenth century, we answer that there are plenty of chosen souls who look back to the middle ages as the millennium of the Church, when earth was nearest heaven.
St. Peter: his Name and his Office. By Thomas W. Allies, M.A., Author of "The See of St. Peter the Rock of the Church," and other Works. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 299. London: R. Washbourne; New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1871.