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uentin Durward, by Sir Walter Scott. (1823.) The scene of this exciting story is France during the reign of Louis XI., and its main outline is this: Quentin Durward, a brave young Scot, having a relative in the Scottish Guards of the French king, comes to France to seek his fortune. The crafty and superstitious Louis is pleased with the youth, and sends him on a strange errand. Under the royal protection are two vassals of the Duke of Burgundy, the lovely Isabelle of Croye and her scheming aunt. Charles of Burgundy is too formidable an enemy, and Louis decides to make Isabelle the wife of William de la Marck, a notorious brigand, who is quite able to defend his bride. The unsuspecting Quentin is sent to conduct the ladies to the Bishop of Liège, the plan being that William shall attack the party and carry off his prize. Quentin, discovering the king's treachery, succeeds in delivering his charge to the bishop; but even here she is not safe. William attacks the castle of Liège and murders the bishop, while Quentin and Isabelle escape. She returns to Burgundy, preferring her old persecutor to the perfidious king. But that wily monarch has already joined forces with the bold duke, to avenge the bishop's death and to besiege De la Marck. Charles offers the hand of Isabelle as a prize to the conqueror of William, and Quentin bears off in triumph a not unwilling bride.

Among the chief characters introduced are the Burgundian herald, the Count of Crèvecœur, and Le Balafré of the Scottish Guard, Quentin's uncle. The figure of Louis is well drawn in his superstitions, his idolatry of the leaden images that garnished his hat-band, in his political intriguing, and in his faithlessness and lack of honor. The book made a sensation in France, and its first success was on foreign shores. It was written at the flood-tide of Scott's popularity at home; the ebb began with St. Ronan's Well,' published six months later. The principal anachronisms are given in the notes of the later editions.

King Noanett, by F. J. Stimson ("J. S.

of Dale"). This novel is based upon the history of old New England and of England during the Protectorate. Bampfylde Moore Carew tells the story of his life. As a lad of twenty he is

living with his grandfather, Farmer Slocombe. While wandering over his favorite moors of Devonshire, Carew first meets Mistress St. Aubyn, with whom he falls desperately in love. This love is henceforth to be the leading influence of his life; its first effect being, however, to bring him to arrest and exile. Having drawn his sword in defense of her grandfather, Lord Penruddock, he is taken under arms by Cromwell's soldiers, and is sentenced to the Colonies. Among his fellow-prisoners on the ship he meets Miles Courtenay, an Irishman and cavalier, and Jennifer, a young girl whom they take under their protection. Her gratitude to Courtenay expresses itself in a great and self-sacrificing love. Though themselves in ignorance of the fact, Carew and Courtenay both love the same woman, Mistress St. Aubyn. The desire of each is to find her. In Virginia they work as slaves on the tobacco plantations, then escape to join the army. While warring with a tribe of Indians, they capture the mighty chief King Noanett. The mystery sur rounding this strange personage is at once penetrated by the two young men, and a romantic episode closes the story. The book contains beautiful descriptions of Devonshire, and most interesting sketches of old Dedham and its laws. It is said that the dashing and warmhearted Irishman was modeled on the character of the late John Boyle O'Reilly, with whom the author often talked over the plan of the book.

Fair Maid of Perth, The, by Sir Wal

ter Scott, 1831, is historic in setting and thoroughly Scotch. The time is the reign of the weak but well-meaning King Robert III. of Scotland; whose scapegrace son David, the crown prince, is the connecting link in the story between the nobility and the burgher-folk of the city of Perth. Catharine, the beautiful daughter of Simon Glover, an honest burgher, is admired by the crown prince, who seeks her love but not her hand. Repulsed in his suit, the prince, through Sir John Ramorny, his servant, tries to abduct Catharine on the eve of St. Valentine's day; but by the timely intervention of Henry Wynd, the armorer, she is saved; and Henry becomes, according to custom, her valentine for the year to come. Then follows a series of complications, political,

ecclesiastical, and social, through which the eager reader follows the fate of the fair Catharine, the prince, the Black Douglas, and the other chief characters. Like all Scott's novels, The Fair Maid of Perth' contains fine descriptions of scenery, and stirring accounts of battle; and unlike many of his plots, this one allows the "course of true love" to run comparatively smooth, there being only obstacles enough to prove the mettle of the honest armorer.

For Faith and Freedom, by Walter

Besant, 1888, is a story of Monmouth's Rebellion. The greater part of it purports to be told by Grace Abounding Eykin, the lovely Puritan daughter of the Rev. Comfort Eykin, D. D., rector of Bradford Orcas, Somersetshire. Followed by his wife and daughter, he joins the rebel forces as chaplain. With the insurgents enlist also Barnaby Eykin, his son, who receives the command of a company; Robin Challis, grandson and heir of Sir Christopher Challis (the magnate of their neighborhood), Grace's accepted lover; and Humphrey Challis, his cousin, another fine fellow though in a different way, and a skilled physicianalso in love with Grace, and beloved by her as a brother. With the collapse of the uprising they all come to grief. The chaplain and his wife die in jail. The three young men are taken, imprisoned, and as a result of influence brought to bear at court by the Rev. Philip Boscorel, Sir Christopher's son-in-law, allowed with many lies to be transported by an inhuman Bristol sharper to Barbadoes, where they are sold as slaves. From this point the story moves rapidly through joy and sorrow, through deception and disgrace, among the wretched surroundings and exciting incidents. The victims finally escape from Barbadoes, and at last return to England, in time for the three men to take part in the Prince of Orange's triumphal invasion. In the wake of peace comes personal happiness at last. The story is well constructed, and carefully and correctly wrought out to the minutest details. It is told in English closely approaching that of its date.

most

Gathering Clouds: A TALE OF THE

DAYS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM, by Frederick W. Farrar. This story depicts the strifes of the see of Constantinople, in somewhat the manner of Kingsley's

'Hypatia as that deals with Alexandria. The period, end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century, is that bewildering age when the clouds are gathing over Church and State. The hero is John Chrysostom, the preacher of Antioch, beloved by Christian and respected by heathen. The first chapter describes the riot that followed the attempt of the Emperor Theodosius to take the of lent city on the Orontes. Then follows the story of its threatened doom, averted by the devotion of Flavian and "Presbyter John"; and the rescue of the boy Philip, whose thoughtless act has led to the destruction of the statues of the Emperor's wife and children. It follows Chrysostom to Constantinople, to the patriarchate of which the modest preacher has been appointed by the new Emperor Arcadius. It tells of the sturdy faithfulness of the new chief, the envy and plots against him, the rising of the Goths and their massacre, and the exile and subsequent death of Chrysostom. Many historic characters find their way into the story; but not all of the alleged saints merit their aureoles. The valiant John, however, is a bulwark of righteousness; and is portrayed, not as an abstraction, but a living, large-hearted man. The stories of the devoted youths Philip and Eutyche, of David and Miriam, with the Gothic youths Thorismund and Walamar, are given; and the story ends with the martyrdom of Eutyche, the death of Chrysostom, and the capture of Rome by Alaric.

Cloister and the Hearth, The, by

Charles Reade.

The masterpiece of this vigorous novelist recreates the fifteenth century, and presents to modern eyes the Holland, Germany, France, and Italy of the Middle Ages, as they appeared to medieval people. The hero of the story is Gerard, son of a Tergouw mercer; a studious sweet-natured lad, strongly artistic in bent, but designed for the Church, where a good benefice is promised him. He falls in love with Margaret Brandt, the daughter of a poor scholar, and giving up the Church ca reer, betroths himself to her; and is of the eve of marriage when his irate father imprisons him in the stadthuys for disobedience, as a mediæval parent has power to do. From this point the story ceases to be a simple domestic tale, and becomes a record of swift adventure in Holland, Germany, and Italy.

Then follows a most touching tale of betrayed affection, of noble womanly patience and heroism; and through all, a vivid and thrilling portrayal of the awful power of the mediæval Church. Scene crowds on scene, and incident on incident, aflame with the imagination of the romancer. The dramatic quality of the story, its vivid descriptive passages, the force and individuality impressed on its dialogue, its virile conception of the picturesque brutality and the lofty spirituality of the age it deals with, the unfailing brilliancy of the novelist's treatment of his theme, and its humorous quaintness, place The Cloister and the Hearth among the half-dozen great historical romances of the world.

Gadfly, The, by E. L. Voynich. This

is a story of the revolutionary party in Italy, written with great power, and with extreme bitterness against the priesthood. The English hero, Arthur Burton, bred in Italy, is studying at the Catholic seminary in Pisa, where the director, Montanelli, is his devoted friend. The sensitive and ardent Arthur is an orphan, who, unhappy in the family of a worldly uncle, has thrown himself into the plots of young Italy. He is betrayed by a priest, his confessor, to the Austrian police, and sent to prison with his comrades, who regard him as the traitor. On being released, he encounters a young English girl, Gemma Warren, whom he loves, and who taunts him with his treachery and strikes him on the cheek. The same night his uncle's wife, who hates him, makes the terrible revelation that although he is the reputed son of an English gentleman, his real father is a priest who has expiated the sin of his youth by exile as a missionary in China, and who is no other than his beloved teacher, Montanelli. In despair under these redoubled blows, Arthur flees in disguise to South America. Thirteen years later, a club of revolutionists in Florence elects a new member to write its incendiary pamphlets. This member is a SouthAmerican, called for his wit and power to sting, the Gadfly. Gemma, now the widow of a revolutionary leader, begins by detesting the Gadfly for his vindictiveness, which is shown especially towards the good bishop Montanelli; but becomes interested in his cleverness and his underlying melancholy, and ends by loving him, without suspecting that he

is the lost Arthur. They engage together in a dangerous insurrection in the Apennines, during which the Gadfly, in the disguise of a pilgrim, makes a pretended confession to the bishop, and overhears him in agonized prayer for his lost son. The Gadfly is taken prisoner at the moment when the bishop is striving to interpose between the combatants. Though treated with horrible cruelty in the Austrian prison, nothing can tame his fiery spirit. The bishop, who, while living a life of piety and good works, is a constant prey to remorse, intercedes with the governor for the unfortunate prisoner, who rewards him only by mockery and insults. Finally, in an interview in the Gadfly's cell, after he has been wounded in an attempt to escape, he reveals himself to the bishop, but refuses his love and intercessions on his behalf, except on condition that his father shall give up for him his allegiance to the hated church, and renounce the Crucified One. This the unhappy bishop cannot do; and the Gadfly, refusing on his side all concessions, is led out to be shot in the prison-yard. The wretched father becomes insane; and in a terrible scene at the altar during the high mass, pours forth his madness and despair, and falls dead of a broken heart.

Hou

ouse by the Medlar Tree, The, by Giovanni Verga, is a realistic and touching story of lower-class life in an Italian fishing village. The fortunes of the Malavoglia, a title of ill luck which seems to have attached itself by heredity to the family so called, are connected with the old homestead, the house under the medlar-tree; and these fortunes are affected by the changes in the anchovy trade, the coming of steam packets and railroads, increased taxes, and the general breaking-up of old ways in the decade before 1870. The goodhearted and thrifty grandfather, Padron 'Ntoni, sees his big family of grandchildren grow up to disappoint, one after another, all his brave wishes and hopes for the prosperity both of his sturdy little fishing-sloop, the Provvidenza, and his ample old house. The story is full of action and of unsophisticated human feeling. To read its pages is to live in the little village of Aci Trezza and know personally every one of its forty or more vividly drawn characters. Nothing is concealed, nothing is indoors. It is all

in the full glare of the southern sun, and the forms of light and shade stand out with pitiless distinctness.

Lit

iterature of Southern Europe, His. tory of the, by Jean Charles Léonard Sismondi. L. L. de Loménie, in the 'Galerie des Contemporains Illustres,' calls Sismondi "the most eminent historian of the nineteenth century in everything relating to the science of facts"; and George Ticknor says his brilliant 'Literature of Southern Europe' will always be read for the beauty of its style, and the richness and wisdom of its reflections. He was a man of enormous erudition (published sixty-nine volumes), and made truth his idol, he says. He lived eighteen months in England and five or six years in Italy, accompanying Madame de Staël on two Italian tours. His portrait shows a face strikingly like that of our Washington Irving. He was born in Geneva in 1773, and in 1811 gave there the lectures out of which the books we are considering grew. The lectures were published in four volumes (Paris), in 1813. The work is a little feeble in parts, but as a whole strikingly original. He begins with a full account of the Troubadour literature and of the Trouvères, with copious illustrative citations; and discusses with ample learning the work of Dante, Boccaccio, Tasso, Petrarch, and Alfieri. Then he gives rich tableaux of Spanish and Portuguese literature, The Cid, Cervantes, Camoens, and others. In his treatment of Spanish literature, he did not have access to all the original authors, but depended largely on his predecessor, Bouterwek. But Ticknor gives him very high praise for wide research and breadth of view.

Hajji

Baba of Ispahan, by James J. Morier. As the Arabian Nights' Entertainments' gives the truest of all pictures of Oriental life, so 'Hajji Baba' describes life in Persia. The book purports to be a translation of the autobiography of a Persian, but was really written by J. J. Morier, who was born in England in 1780. Being sent as British envoy to the court of Persia, he became thoroughly familiar with the language and customs of the country. The book is written in an easy strain, and is extremely entertaining, even to the reader of to-day. It was so successful that Morier followed it up by 'Hajji Baba in England,' which represented

the Persian's experiences on a visit as ambassador to the court of St. James. Sir Walter Scott reviewed the original 'Hajji Baba' in the London Quarterly, in terms of the highest praise, calling it the Oriental Gil Blas.' It was published by Blackwood in 1824, and is still popular both in England and America. Intruder, The (L'Intruse), by Maurice

Maeterlinck, is a play by which the writer achieved an international reputation. It is a one-act piece of few characters and little action, simple in construction, rich in suggestion, potent in its realism. A family sit in the gloomy room of an old château and talk in the most natural, matter-of-fact way, while one member, a young wife, lies very ill in childbirth in the adjacent room. Through the commonplace speech one can feel the tension of their nerves; the effect is heightened by the skillful use of details by the dramatist. All is indirect, symbolic, pregnant with innuendo. It is as if Death, the Intruder, were knocking at each door and window. At length a sister of charity enters, and by the sign of the cross makes known that the wife is no more.

Gree

reen Book, The, by Maurice⚫ Jókai. The author of this novel of Russian life is a Hungarian, who has achieved prominence as a politician, success as a journalist, and wide repute as a novelist. Nearly all the action of 'The Green Book' passes in St. Petersburg. Pushkin, the poet, is deeply in love with Zeneida Ilmarinen, the favorite opera singer, and indeed the favorite subject, of both the Tsar Nicholas and the Tsaritsa. She is a splendid creature, the really great character of the book. The Princess Ghedimin, a former favorite of the Tsar, is depicted as a fiend. "The Green Book» is the name of a large volume in which are recorded the names and the doings of the chief band of conspirators against the life of the Tsar. This is kept in a secret room in Zeneida's palace, where the conspirators meet. By an ingenious mechanism, when any one opens the outer door the table containing the book disappears, and a roulette-board in active operation takes its place. Thus the authorities are deceived into thinking that she is trying merely to conceal from the police the evidences of gambling. Zeneida's noble and self-sacrificing behavior during the flood of the Neva results in bringing

together Pushkin, Sophie Narishkin,— the illegitimate daughter of the Tsar by the Princess Ghedimin,—and Bethsaba, a beautiful young girl. Sophie falls deeply in love with Pushkin, as her mother has already done, and the Tsar favors the marriage. But the child falls ill, and on her death-bed makes Bethsaba and Pushkin promise to be married before her funeral. The Tsar dies at the nands of The Man with the Green Eyes; Zeneida's affection keeps Pushkin out of a conspiracy which promises to free Russia, but ends in failure; the conspirators are put to death; and Zeneida and Prince Ghedimin flee to Tobolsk, where they spend the rest of their lives. There are many romantic episodes.

Fisher Maiden, The, by Björnstjerne

Björnson, the Norwegian novelist, dramatist, poet, and statesman, appeared in 1868, and has been translated into many tongues. It is an early work, written in his first flush of power, and is a characteristic story of Norwegian life among the common people. Several of the poems in the novel express fervently the author's optimistic patriotism. The early part of the tale is laid in a fishing village on the coast, where lives the fisher maiden, a strong-natured, handsome, imaginative girl, whose mother keeps a sailors' inn. Her development is traced in her love affairs, by which she gains a bad reputation, so that her

109

1889, is a story of family life in Norway, characterized by unerring analysis and a convincing truthfulness. The novel, though somewhat pessimistic and sad in its drift, is relieved by satiric humor and charm of description. The Commodore is elderly, amiable, henpecked; his wife ambitious and ill-tempered, with a foolish fondness for her son Karsten, a lazy young naval officer who marries for money to find himself duped. The daughters Cicely and Martha, girls of high spirits, good looks, and fresh, unspoiled natures, suffer in their love affairs through the narrow conventionality which surrounds them, and the marplot interferences of mother and brother. Cicely is parted from a fine young officer who is deeply in love with her; and poor Martha dies broken-hearted because through an intrigue of her ambitious mother, her devoted lover boy is sent off to sea to get rid of him, and is drowned on the eve of her intended marriage. The plot is a mere thread; but the fretful social atmosphere of the household, with its jarring personalities constantly misunderstanding each other to their mutual harm, is delineated with fine, subtle strokes of character-drawing: it would seem to be the author's intention to give an idea of the petty, stifling social bonds in a small Norwegian town of to-day.

mother sends her away from her native Li

place; in her experience in Bergen, with
its self-revelation of her own artist-nature
by her first sight of a play; in her life
in the family of a priest, with its chance
for cultivation and training of her dra-
matic powers; and in the final adoption
of the stage as a profession: the novel
closing, rather tantalizingly, just as the
curtain rises on her début. Petra, the
fisher maiden, has the instincts, gifts,
and ambitions of the artist, and her
earlier love episodes are but ebullitions
of this chief motor-power.
trayed sympathetically; for as Björnson
stated to a friend, she is, in many of
her traits, an embodiment of himself.
The story is full of accurate yet charm-
ingly idealized studies of native types
and scenes, and is regarded as among
the novelist's freshest, finest creations.

She is por

Commodore's Daughters, The ("Kom

mandorens Dottre'), by the Norwegian novelist Jonas Lie, published in

iza-Dvoryanskoe Gnyezdo (Nest of Nobles), by Ivan Sergéevich Turgeneff. (1858; English translation 1869.) The story of this gloomy novel is not easily analyzed, but a bare statement of the plot would run thus: Maria Dmitrievna Kalitine, a rich widow living in a Russian provincial town, has a beautiful daughter Liza, who is deeply religious. Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin, who pays court to her, is a young man with charming manners and an easy flow of egotistical talk. Presently appears Fedor Ivanovich Lavretsky, a distant cousin of Maria Dmitrievna, who is known to live unhappily with his wife. Between his father, a despotic, narrow-minded egotist, and his aunt Glafira, a harsh, fierce old woman, Lavretsky's bringing-up has been a strange and solitary one; and at the age of twenty-three he naturally falls in love with the first pretty girl he sees, -Varvara Pavlovna Korobine, — whom he marries. As she detests Russia, they finally settle in Paris, where he discovers

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