صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

165

Marco Polo. The record of the ad

ventures of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, as dictated by him to a fellow-prisoner in Genoa, is one of the most remarkable books of travel ever written. Marco Polo was born at Venice about 1254. His father, a man of noble rank, in 1275 had taken Marco with him on a trading expedition young to China and the East. The youth of twenty entered the service of the Emperor of China, and traveled extensively through the neighboring regions. Returning, later, to Venice, he was captured in the struggle between that city and Genoa.

student is that of Colonel Henry Yule, in two volumes, London, 1875.

Hernando Cortez, The Life of, by

Arthur Helps, English historian and essayist, was published in 1871, being dedicated to Thomas Carlyle. It is a

clear, simple, scholarly account of the picturesque conquest of Mexico-a conquest by a gallant gentleman and warrior, who was no better than his age. The author seeks neither to extenuate nor to conceal the doubtful qualities in the character of Cortez, but accepts him in the impersonal spirit of the historian.

that Rusticiano or Rustichello of Pisa wrote for him the history of his wanderings.

It was in the year 1298 Columbus, Christopher, History of

The "young bachelor's" experience made an interesting book. "Ye shall find therein" (says the prologue) "all kinds of wonderful things. Some things there be indeed therein which he beheld not; but these he heard from men of credit and veracity."

It is said that a French version of the book was made under his direction. Though his narrative made a great sensation, it was for many years regarded as a mass of fabrications and exaggerations. It had an undoubted effect, however, upon exploration; and later researches have confirmed the truth of many of the author's descriptions. may be taken as a sample of its style: "Book iii., Chap. ii. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU.

This

"Chipangu is an Island toward the east in the high seas, 1500 miles distant from the continent; and a very great Island it is.

"The people are white, civilized, and well-favored. They are idolaters and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless.

[ocr errors]

"I will tell you a wonderful thing about the Palace of the Lord of that Island. You must know that he hath a great palace which is entirely roofed with gold. Moreover, all the pavement of the palace, and the floors of its chambers, are entirely of gold, in plates like slabs of stone, a good two fingers thick, so that the richness of this palace is past all bounds and all belief."

The work was published in English in 1818. The most valuable edition to the

the Life and Voyages of, by Washington Irving. This history, published in three volumes, was written by Irving in 1828, during his residence in Madrid. He was at the time an attaché of the United States legation, having been summoned there by Alexander H. Everett, then minister to Spain, who desired him to translate Navarrete's Voyages of Columbus,' which were then in course of publication. Irving entered upon this work with much interest, but soon came to the conclusion that he had before him rather a mass of rich materials for history than a history itself; and being inspired by the picturesque aspect of the subject and the great facilities at hand, he at once gave up the work of translation and set about writing a 'Life of Columbus' of his own. Having access to the archives of the Spanish government, to the royal library of Madrid, to that of the Jesuits' college of San Isidoro, and to many valuable private collections, he found numberless historic documents and manuscripts to further his work. He was aided by Don Martin de Navarrete, and by the Duke of Veraguas, the descendant of Columbus, who submitted the family archives and treasures to his inspection. In this way he was enabled to obtain many interesting and previously unknown facts concerning Columbus. He was less than a year in completing his work, which has been called "the noblest monument to the memory of Columbus.» This history, a permanent contribution to English and American literature, is clear and animated in narrative, graphic in its descriptive episodes, and finished in style. Recent historians have differed from Irving with regard to the character and merits of Columbus, and have produced some evidence calculated

to shatter a too exalted ideal of the great discoverer; but despite this, his valuable work still fills an honored place in all historic libraries.

Inquisition of the Middle Ages, A

History of the, by Henry Charles Lea, 3 vols., 1888. A work at once comprehensive in scope, complete in learning, and judicious in thought. It tells the story of the organized effort against heresy made by the Christian Church of the Middle Ages, or for about three centuries previous to the Reformation (1215-1515 A. D.). For the entire history of this effort Mr. Lea makes two periods, that of the old or mediæval Inquisition, before the Reformation, and that of the new or reorganized Inquisition coming after the Reformation, except in Spain, where Ferdinand and Isabella "founded the New Inquisition."

This famous institution is not viewed by Mr. Lea as an organization arbitrarily devised and imposed upon the judicial system of Christendom by any ambition of the Church of that age or any special fanaticism. It was a natural development, an almost inevitable expression of the forces universally at work in the thirteenth and following centuries. To clearly understand it and judge it fairly, Mr. Lea carefully examines the whole field of intellectual and spiritual developments, and the condition of society, in the Middle Ages. He makes of chief importance an examination of the jurisprudence of the period, as a means of ascertaining the origin and development of the inquisitorial process: some of the worst features of which would have been a blot upon the history none the less if there had never been any quest for heresy; while the idea of heresy was one of the deepest seated, not only of the period, but of later generations, and as relentlessly applied under Protestantism, in some special instances, as under Catholicism.

Mr. Lea devotes an entire volume to "The Origin and Organization of the Inquisition, the sad story of how the giving way in jurisprudence of the old barbarisms was arrested by the use of those made by the Church; and how the worst of these barbarisms were given a consecration which kept them in force five hundred years after they might have passed away; and in force without the restraints which Roman law had

imposed. The darkest curse brought by the Inquisition, in Mr. Lea's view, was the application of its unjust and cruel processes to all criminals, down to the closing years of the eighteenth century; and not to criminals only, but to all accused persons.

In his second volume Mr. Lea follows the story of the Inquisition in the several lands of Christendom. The third he devotes to special fields of Inquisitorial activity. It is a story, not only of how those whose motives, by the standard of their age, were only good, inflicted the worst wrong and cruelty upon their fellow-creatures under a false idea of the service of God, but how ambition and avarice took advantage of the system. At the best it was a monstrous application of mistaken zeal to keep men from following their honest thoughts into paths of desirable progress. Mr. Lea's masterly treatment of the whole history makes his work an authority second to none.

Pepita Ximenez, by Juan Valera.

The scene of this vivid story is in Andalusia. Pepita Ximenez, when sixteen years old, is married to her rich uncle, Don Gumersindo, then eighty years old. At the end of three years, she finds herself a widow, with many suitors for her hand, among them, Don Pedro de Vargas. At this time his son Luis comes to pay him a visit before taking his last vows as a priest. Having lived always with his uncle, he is learned in theology and casuistry, but little versed in worldly affairs. The acquaintance with Pepita arouses sentiments which he had never known; and he soon recognizes that he loves her, and that she returns his affection. Horrified at his position, both in regard to his profession and to his father, he resolves never to see Pepita. Visiting the club, he meets Count de Genazahar, a rejected suitor of Pepita, who speaks slightingly of her. He expostulates with him on the sin of slander, but is only derided. The expected departure of Luis has so affected Pepita that she is ill; and her nurse, Antonona, goes to Luis and obliges him to come to bid farewell to her mistress. He goes at ten o'clock at night, and is left alone with Pepita. She tries to convince him that he is ill adapted for a priest. If he has allowed himself to be charmed

by a plain country girl, how much more are to be feared the beautiful, accomplished women he will meet in future life. Her self-condemnation causes him to praise her; and when he leaves her, at two o'clock in the morning, he is obliged to confess his own unworthiness. He learns that Genazahar owes Pepita a large sum of money; and goes to the club, where he finds him gambling. He enters the game and finds a chance to insult him. In a duel they are both wounded, the Count, dangerously. When Luis recovers he marries Pepita.

The novel is regarded in Spain as a modern classic.

the house. He grants Mansour's three wishes: that Omar shall be healthy and wealthy, and love no one but himself. On Abdallah he lays a charge to seek the four-leaved clover. Omar is reclaimed at fifteen by his father, and immediately begins a career of selfish and heartless greed. To Abdallah a wise Jew explains that the four-leaved clover was a mystic flower, which Eve had hastily snatched on her expulsion from Paradise. One leaf was of copper, one of silver, the third of gold, and the fourth a diamond. Eve's hand trembled as the fiery sword touched her, and the diamond leaf fell within the gates of Paradise, while the other three leaves, swept away by the wind, were

Berber, The; or, The Mountaineer scattered over the earth. The deeds by

of the Atlas, by William Starbuck Mayo (1850), is a tale of Morocco. It is full of incidents of the most stirring character; and read after a course of modern psychological novels, is refreshing as a sea-breeze, because it has no purpose save that of amusement. The author draws a vivid picture of the lawless existence of the Sultan, and the free, danger-loving life of the mountaineers; and contrasts characters with sufficiently bold strokes, while his plot is excitingly romantic. Edward Carlyle, a rich Englishman at Cadiz, fancies himself in love with Isabel, daughter of Don Pedro d'Estivan; and through the machinations of Don Diego d'Orsolo, who himself desires to marry her, is discovered on a clandestine visit. He escapes capture by plunging into the water from his boat; is picked up by a pirate craft belonging to Hassan, the searover, who proves to be Edward's longlost brother Henry; and together they go to Morocco, where there are adventures enough of love and piracy to satisfy any reader.

Abdallah; or, The Four-Leaved Clover

(French, Abdallah; ou, Le Trèfle à Quatre Feuilles'), an Arabian romance by Edouard Laboulaye (1859). An English translation by Mary L. Booth was published in 1868.

Abdallah is the son of a Bedouin woman, widowed before his birth. Hadji Mansour, a wealthy and avaricious merchant of the neighboring town of Djiddah, confides to her care his new-born son Omar; and fearing lest the evil eye shall single out his child, he charges her to lay the boys in the same cradle and bring them up as brothers. An astrologer is summoned to

which Abdallah seeks to win the successive leaves-and especially the crisis of his fate when revenge against Omar, who has irreparably injured him, is weighed against the diamond leaf-form the material of the story. This book of the great scholar and scientist Laboulaye is likely to be remembered when his more ambitious labors are forgotten. The stories breathe the very atmosphere of the East; while the Oriental character is studied and rendered with the accuracy of the naturalist and the imaginative charm of the poet. Nothing could be more delightful than the invention displayed in the way of incident, and nothing sweeter than the unwritten moral of the wisdom of goodness.

Annals of a Sportsman, by Ivan Tur

geneff, consists of a number of sketches of Russian peasant life, which appeared in book form in 1852, and established the author's reputation as a writer of realistic fiction. Turgeneff rep resents himself with gun on shoulder tramping the country districts in quest of game and, in passing, noting the local life and social conditions, and giving closely observed, truthful studies of the state of the serfs before their liberation by Alexander II.; his book, it is believed, being one of the agencies that brought about that reform. Twenty-two short sketches, sometimes only half a dozen pages long, make up the volume. Peasant life is depicted, and the humble Russian toiler is put before the reader in his habit as he lived in the earlier years of the present century; contrast being furnished by sketches of the overseer, the landed proprietor, and representatives

of other intermediate classes. The general impression is sombre: the facts are simply stated, leaving the inference of oppression, cruelty, and unenlightened misery to be drawn. There is no preaching.

The best of the studies- "The Burgomaster,' (Lgove,' (The Prairie,' (The Singers,' (Kor and Kalmitch, (The District Doctor'-are little masterpieces of analysis and concise portrayal, and a gentle poetic melancholy runs through all. Especially does the poetry come out in the beautiful descriptions of nature, which are a relief to the poignant pathos of some of the human scenes.

Arne, by Björnstjerne Björnson, was

published in 1858, when the author was twenty-six. It was the second of the delightful idyllic tales of Norwegian country life with which Björnson began his literary career. It is a simple, beautiful story of the native life among the fiords and fells, with a charming love interest running through it. There is no intricacy of plot, and the charm and power come from the sympathetic insight into peasant character and the poetical way it is handled. Arne is a typical son of the region, sketched from his days of boyhood to his happy marriage. The portrayal of Margit, Arne's mother, is a pathetic and truthful one; and many of the domestic scenes have an exquisite naturalness.

lack Diamonds, by Maurice Jokai,

Black

the famous Hungarian novelist, is a strong story of industrial and aristocratic life in Hungary, with a complicated plot, and dramatic-even sensationalfeatures. It was published in 1870. Its interest centres around the coal-mining business; the black diamonds are coalalso, by a metaphor, the humble folk who work in the mines and exhibit the finest human virtues. The hero is Ivan

Behrends, owner of the Bondavara coal mine; a man of great energy and ability, with a genius for mechanics. He does a small conservative business, and a syndicate of capitalists try to crush him by starting an enormous colliery near by; only to make a gigantic failure, after floating the company by tricky stockexchange methods. Ivan outwits them by sticking to honest ways and steady work. Edila, the pretty little colliery girl whom Ivan loves, goes to the city as the wife of a rich banker, and has a

checkered career there, becoming the protégée of a prince and a conspicuous actress; but eventually she prefers to come back to the mine, don her old working clothes to show her humility, and marry Ivan. Very graphic scenes in the stock exchange, in the underground world of the miner, and in the fashionable society life of Vienna and Pesth, are given; the author being thoroughly familiar with Hungary, high and low, and crowding his book with lively incidents, and varied clearly drawn characters.

As

slauga's Knight, a romantic tale of mediæval chivalry, by Friedrich Fouqué, Baron de la Motte, was published in 1814 Aslauga was a golden-haired Danish queen, whose memory was preserved in an illuminated volume that told of her good and beautiful life. The fair knight Froda read in this book, and made a vow that Aslauga should be his lady, the object of his love and worship. She thereupon appears to him, an entrancing visionary form. From that day forth he often sees her, in the dimness of the forest, or mingling with the glory of the sunset, or gliding in rosy light over the winter sea. She protects him in a great tournament, where the bravest knights of Germany fight for the hand of the Princess Hildegardis. Only Froda contends for glory, not for love, and wins. Froda's dear friend Edwald desires to win the princess; but as he is second, not first, she scorns him. Froda is to wed the princess; but on the day of their nuptials, Froda's skyey bride, Aslauga, again appears in her golden beauty to claim her faithful knight; he dies that Edwald and Hildegardis may be one.

The pretty story is told with simplicity and grace. It has about it the same air of unreality and remoteness that give charm to Undine.

Bride of Lammermoor, The, is included

in the group of Waverley Novels > called 'Tales of my Landlord.' The plot was suggested by an incident in the family history of the earls of Stair. The scene is laid on the east coast of Scotland, in the year 1700. The hero is Edgar, Master of Ravenswood, a young man of noble family, penniless and proud. He has vowed vengeance against the present owner of the Ravenswood estates, Sir William Ashton, Lord Keeper, whom he considers guilty of fraud; but foregoes

his plans on falling in love with Lucy, Sir William's daughter. There is a secret betrothal; the ambitious Lady Ashton endeavors to force her daughter to marry another suitor; and in the struggle Lucy goes mad, and Ravenswood, thinking himself rejected, comes to an untimely end. The most famous character in the book is the amusing Caleb Balderstone, the devoted old steward of Ravenswood, who endeavors constantly to save the family honor and to conceal his master's poverty by ingenious devices and lies, and whose name has become the symbol of "the constant service of the antique world." Though sombre and depressing, the Bride of Lammermoor' is very popular; and the plot has been used by Donizetti in the opera (Lucia.)

were unable to marry, and her infant she believes to have died at birth. Her sister, however, has brought up the child under the name of Esther Summerson. Esther becomes the ward of Mr. Jarndyce, of the famous chancery law case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, and lives with him at Bleak House. Her unknown father, the Captain, dies poor and neglected in London. A veiled lady visits his grave at night; and this confirms a suspicion of Mr. Tulkinghorn, Sir Leicester Dedlock's lawyer, already roused by an act of Lady Dedlock. With the aid of a French maid he succeeds in unraveling the mys tery, and determines to inform his friend and client Sir Leicester of his wife's youthful misconduct. On the night before this revelation is to be made, Mr. Tulkinghorn is murdered. Lady Dedlock is

Boris Lensky, a German novel by Ossip suspected of the crime, disappears, and

Schubin, was published in an Engglish translation in 1891. The story is centred in the career of a famous musician, whose name gives the title to the book. A violinist of world-wide reputation, a man to whom life has brought golden gifts, he is yet unhappy, as forever possessed with a craving for the unattainable. The most unselfish love of his barren life is for his beautiful daughter Mascha. Her downfall, when little more than a child, becomes a means of testing this love. Nita von Sankjévich, a womar whom Lensky had once sought to ruin, comes to his rescue in Mascha's trouble, and procures the girl's marriage to her false lover. The book closes with Len sky's death; when his son Nikolai, who had cherished a hopeless love for Nita, begins a new life of calm renunciation, free from the selfishness of passion.

The book is strong and realistic. The depiction of the temperament of genius is remarkably subtle and faithful.

Bleak

leak House. A novel by Charles Dickens. (1853.) One theme of this story is the monstrous injustice and even ruin that could be wrought by the delays in the old Court of Chancery, which defeated all the purposes of a court of justice; but the romance proper is unconnected with this. The scene is laid in England about the middle of this century. Lady Dedlock, a beautiful society woman, successfully hides a disgraceful secret. She has been engaged to a Captain Hawdon; but through circumstances beyond their control, they

after long search is found by Esther and a detective, lying dead at the gates of the grave-yard where her lover is buried. The story is told partly in the third person, and partly as autobiography by Esther. Among the other characters are the irresponsible and impecunious Mr. Skimpole; Mrs. Jellyby, devoted to foreign missions; crazy Miss Flite; Grandfather Smallweed; Krook, the rag-andbottle dealer; Mr. Guppy, who explains all his actions by the statement that "There are chords in the human mind »; the odiously benevolent Mrs. Pardiggle: " Mr. Turveydrop, the model of deportment; Mr. Chadband, whose name has become proverbial for a certain kind of loose-jointed pulpit exhortation; Caddy Jellyby, with inky fingers and spoiled temper,- all of whom Dickens portrays in his most humorous manner; and, among the most touching of his children of the slums, the pathetic figure of poor Jo, the crossing-sweeper, who "don't know nothink." The story is long and complicated; but its clever satire, its delightful humor, and its ingrained pathos, make it one of Dickens's most popular novels. No other has an equal canvas.

European Morals, History of, from Au

gustus to Charlemagne, by W. E. H. Lecky, 1869. An elaborate examination, first of the several theories of ethics; then of the moral history of Roman Paganism, under philosophies that successively flour. ished, Stoical, Eclectic, and Egyptian; next the changes in moral life introduced by Christianity; and finally the position

« السابقةمتابعة »