250 Beaumont From this point the complications and perversities of the story begin. There is much incident, all throwing light on character, and helping in its evolution, and the book is extremely entertaining: while as a vivid picture of a fading civilization-a society in modern America as purely feudal as that of the Middle Ages-it is unsurpassed. April Hopes, a novel of two young people, by W. D. Howells, was published in 1887. In the heroine, Alice Pasmer, he has portrayed the high-bred New England girl with the Puritan conscience. The hero, Dan Mavering, a sence. But a handsome knight, disguised as a beggar-woman, manages to gain an entrance, and pays court in succession to Nonchalante and Babillarde, who allow themselves to be deceived by his flattering tongue. Then he attempts to woo Finette; but she is not a bird to be caught with such chaff, and she finds an opportunity of dropping him into a trench, and so gets rid of him. In this graceful story, the author endeavors to prove that distrust is the mother of safety, just as idleness is the mother of all the vices. Harvard graduate of good family, has Adolphe, a romance by Benjamin Con this conscience to contend with in his wooing of Alice and during his engagement with her. Their most serious misunderstandings arise from the girl's ironclad code, which "makes no allowance for human nature.» The book is well written, exhibiting the author's characteristic realism of style and treatment. Dame Care (Frau Sorge), a novel by Hermann Sudermann, was issued in 1888. The story follows the life of Paul Meyerhofer, a boy at whose cradle Care seemed to preside. He was born on the day his father's estate was sold at auction. His childhood was spent in poverty, his boyhood and youth in hard work. He had always before him the spectacle of a cowed, suffering mother; of an overbearing, shiftless father, whose schemes for making money only plunged his family in deeper misfortune. His younger sisters, when they grow up, bring disgrace upon him. To save their honor he makes enormous sacrifices; in short, his whole career is one of misfortune. The one brightness of his life is his love for Elsbeth Douglas, the daughter of his godmother. At the close of the novel it is intimated that he will marry her, and that "Dame Care," his foster-mother, will not trouble him again. The story, written with much pathos and beauty, is a peculiar blending of realism and romanticism. stant. The story has very little incident or action. The whole plot may be summed up in a few words: Adolphe loves Eléonore, and can be happy neither with her nor without her. The beauty of the author's style and the keenness and delicacy with which he analyzes certain morbid moods of the soul, have placed this work among the masterpieces of French literature. The romance is almost universally believed to be an autobiography, in which Constant narrates a portion of the adventures of his own youth. round Ar a Spring ('Autour d'une Source'), by Gustave Droz, is a French idyl of country life in this century, charming in its truthful presentation of a village community. It was published in 1869. The hero is the Abbé Roche, a middle-aged priest in a mountain town. He is a man of noble, vigorous nature, and fine presence, with no experience of the outside world. To the long-untenanted château of Manteigney comes its count, with his pretty young wife, a rather light fashionable Parisian, whose money has enabled her husband to rehabilitate his ancestral possessions. She is a strange, alluring apparition to the priest, and he loves her, to his sorrow. She is a somewhat cynical study of a social butterfly. The attraction of the tale lies in the romantic nobility of the Abbé, the poetry with which the country scenes are depicted, -the fact that Droz was originally a painter comes out in his picturesque descriptions,—and the light touch with which the frivolous folk of the château are portrayed. The title of the story refers to a medicinal spring that is discovered on the Manteigney estate. Crime of the Boulevard, The, a novel, by Jules Claretie, is the history of a crime which occurred in Paris, on the Boulevard de Clichy, in 1896. Pierre de Rovère is found murdered in his apartment. Bernadet the police agent, who has a passion for photography, takes a picture of the retina of the dead man's eyes, and finds the image of a man whom he recognizes at the funeral. He arrests this person, who proves to be Rovère's dearest friend, Jacques Dantin. He is, however, not the real murderer. The mixture of pseudo-science and sensational detail in this novel is thoroughly French. Captain Fracasse, by Théophile Gau tier. The scene is laid in France during the reign of Louis XIII.; the manners, morals, and language of that age being carefully depicted. The Château de la Misère, situated in Gascony, is the home of the young Baron de Sicognac, where he lives alone in poverty, with his faithful Pierre, and his four-footed friends Bayard, Miraut, and Beelzebub. To a troop of strolling players he offers shelter, they in turn sharing with him their supper. Falling under the charms of Isabella, the pretty ingénue of the troop, he accepts their kindly offer to continue with them to Paris, where good fortune may await him. Martamoro, one of the actors, perishes in the snow; and Sicognac, ashamed of being a burden to his companions, takes his place, assuming the name of Captain Fracasse, and passing through many adventures on the road. Isabella returns the love of Captain Fracasse, but will not allow him to commit a mésalliance by making her his wife. 'Captain Fracasse,' although announced in 1840, was not published until 1863, when it met with most brilliant success. Much of the story is borrowed from the 'Roman Comique' of Scarron. Disciple, The (Le Disciple), by Paul Bourget, in its eloquent preface, which is the best part of the book, calls upon the young men of the present to shake off the apathy that overcame the author's own generation after the disheartening siege of 1870. Without this preface, the reader would be likely to set the book down as unwholesome, and not grasp the idea that the character of the disciple is intended as a warning against the habit of analyzing and experimenting with the emotions. The boy's imagination, drawn out by the The brilliant but often enervating literature that comes in the way of all university students, is further stimulated by the works of an agnostic philosopher, who treats exhaustively of the passions. young man becomes his devoted follower, and makes a practical application of his teachings. In a family where he becomes a tutor he experiments with the affection he inspires in a young girl, and is the direct cause of her death. The philosopher, recognizing the logical outcome of his theory that the scientific spirit demands impartial investigation, even in the things of the mind and heart, feels no small remorse. His disciple escapes the vengeance of the law, only to fall in a duel with the dead girl's brother. The recluse, who according to the journals was the original of the character of the philosopher, died in Paris in 1896. Unlike the philosopher, he was a lifelong botanist, devoting all his energies to that science, so that the points of resemblance between the real and the fictitious professor are mostly external. Both lived near the Jardin des Plantes, their sole recreation consisting in looking at the animals. Both held aloof from society, never marrying, and practicing the severest economy. When an officer of the Legion of Honor sought the botanist to confer the red ribbon upon him, he found that member of the Institute on the point of cooking his dinner, and unwilling to admit him to his garret. In the story, the mice that overrun the garret, the caprices of Ferdinand, and a pet rooster kept by the concierge, are the only enlivening elements. But the holes and corners in the region of the Jardin des Plantes, and the exquisite vistas of the Observatory and Luxembourg Garden, have never been better described. House ouse of Penarvan, The, by Jules Sandeau. The scene of this semihistorical romance is laid in Brittany, and the story opens in the year VI. of the Republic. Mademoiselle René de Penarvan is living in an old château near Nantes, her only companion being the Abbé Pyrmil. They are both devoted to the glories of the ancient house; and Pyrmi is writing its history, the chapters of which René illuminates with Gothic tracery and emblazonment. She is the last of her race and will not marry. But an unexpected incident alters her resolve. The Abbé has discov 252 ered that a male heir exists,—a plain, simple-hearted youth, living on the produce of his farm and about to marry a miller's daughter. To prevent such a horrible disgrace René marries him herself, somewhat against his will. She then puts a sword into his reluctant hand and sends him to La Vendeé to fight for his legitimate king. He returns wounded, and she is prouder of him than ever. But he dies, not without telling her that he no longer loves her, for she does not really love him. She is a heroine, not a woman. She was in love with a hero, a paladin, not with the artless country boy, who only desired to live at peace. Their child, whom René cannot forgive for being a girl, grows up. Her timidity, gentleness, and simple tastes, are hateful to the proud châtelaine; and when she falls in love with a bourgeois, the mother's anger is terrible. But the daughter conceals a firm will under her modest exterior, and ultimately marries the man of her choice. René is forced to yield, and finally admits that she has not fulfilled her duties as a wife and a mother. This is the best known of Sandeau's works outside France. It contains one of his most skillfully constructed plots. The contrasted characters of René, her husband, and her daughter, show great psychological knowledge and skill. The portrait of the Abbé Pyrmil is not unworthy to rank beside that of Dominie Sampson. Romance of a Mummy, The, by The ophile Gautier. In this remarkable novel, first published in 1856, is contained almost all then known of the life and customs of the ancient Egyptians. It will probably never be popular with the general reader, because of its too local color; and few can appreciate the amount of study necessary to write such a book. There is an exuberance of minute details about the architecture and inside decorations and furnishings of the palaces, founded on accurate studies. The author has chosen for the date of his story the time when, according to the Bible, Moses led the Israelites out of bondage; and from the same source and without any help from Egyptian records, he gives an account of the events that lead to the drowning of the host of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. The story treats of the love of Tahoser, daughter of the Theban High Priest, for Poëri, a young Jew who is steward of Pharaoh. He is in love with Ra'hel, and escapes across the Nile every night to meet his beloved, who lives in one of the mud huts where the Jews, reduced to slavery, are baking bricks in the sun for the building of the Great Pyramids, Tahoser disguises herself as a servant, and enters the service of Poëri. She swims the Nile one night, following him, and finds him with Ra'hel. Falling ill with a fever, she is cared for by Ra'hel, and upon her recovery is to be married to Poëri; but Pharaoh learns of her hiding-place and takes her to his palace. After his death she reigns, and is buried in his tomb. The papyrus, which the novelist says was found with her body, discloses the story of her life. Mr. Poirier's Son-in-Law, by Émile Augier and Jules Sandeau. This charming little French comedy, sparkling with wit, has already become what Francisque Sarcey says it will always continue to be -a classic, but not a dry classic. It describes the old struggle between the "bourgeoisie" and the aristocracy, pointing out the weaknesses of each. Monsieur Poirier, a rich tradesman, with the ambition of ultimately entering the peerage, has bought a ruined Marquis for his daughter. The Marquis, Gaston de Presles, finds himself at first in a most comfortable position. He lives in great luxury at the expense of his father-in-law, whom he continually holds up to ridicule. At the same time he resumes his old way of life; pays scant attention to his wife, supposing that she must be uninteresting; and devotes himself to Madame de Montjoy, about whom he cares nothing. Things do not continue to go so pleasantly however. Monsieur Poirier tries to force him into a political career, which he flatly refuses. Antoinette his wife begins to appear in a new light. She twice saves his honor, once by signing herself for a debt of which her father refuses to pay the usurious interest, a second time by destroying a letter from Madame de Montjoy, of which her father had got possession. Gaston de Presles is astonished to find himself desperately in love with his own wife. She however, having discovered his intrigues with Madame de Montjoy, declares herself a widow, but relents when for her sake he promises to give up fighting a duel. The reconciliation is complete. Verdelet, an old friend of Poirier, and Hector de Montmeyran, are the other important characters. The rôle of Poirier is now taken at the Théâtre Francais by Coquelin Cadet. Am At mour, L', by the noted French historian Michelet, was published in 1859, when he was sixty-one years old. In the Introduction he writes: - "The title which would fully express the design of this book, its signification, and its import, would be 'Moral Enfranchisement Effected by True Love." Judged by the standards of the present day, 'L'Amour' seems old-fashioned; its ideals of women obvious. the time of its publication, however, it appeared revolutionary and daring. Yet it was merely an attempt to establish reverence for the physical life of woman. Her intellectual life was considered only as a kind of appendage to the physical. Michelet apparently had no other conception of woman and her destiny than as maiden, wife, mother, housekeeper. Of the end-ofthe-century woman he had no foreknowledge. The conception of his work rested on a sentimental basis. It was the fruit of a philanthropic motive. He saw about him not a nation of families, but of individuals. He wished to hold before his countrymen an ideal of family life. This ideal was noble but narrow. Woman was to him a fragile plant to be cared for and cherished by man. One muscular girl playing golf would have destroyed his pretty conception, but the athletic college woman did not belong to the fifties. The work however served its purpose. As far as it went it was good. Its conception of love, though one-sided, was sufficiently in advance of contemporary thought on the subject to render the book remarkable. Cripps the Carrier, by R. D. Black more. With a single exception, this is the most sensational and the least probable of Blackmore's stories. The scene is laid in Kent, and the plot hinges on the disappearance of a young heiress, and her very strange experiences. Through an agreeable way of telling it, the book is much less startling and, more attractive than a bare synopsis of the plan would make it sound. The interest is sustained, and the situations are ingeniously planned. Published in 1876. In His Name, by Edward Everett Hale, (1873,) is a story of the Waldenses, that radical religious body, which, seven hundred years ago, believed that every man should be free to read the Scriptures and to seek a personal interpretation of them. The story deals with the grievous punishments for heresy that were decreed against them by the Archbishop of Lyons. Pierre Waldo, the leader of the sect, is forced to flee the country; and his cousin Jean, a rich weaver, denies his kinship and despises his followers. But when Jean's only daughter, the apple of his eye, Félice, falls ill, it is found that only Father John of Lugio, one of the proscribed Waldenses, in hiding among the hills, has the medical skill which may save her. Jean Waldo's prejudices melt away, and he sends to entreat Father John, "for the love of Christ," to come to his stricken house. This phrase is the password of the secretly wide-spread sect, in answer to which gates fly open, and aid comes from all sides. Félice is saved, through the ardent service of those who labor "in His name." Round this slight framework are grouped the touching and often dramatic incidents of the story. The tone of the time is sympathetically caught, and the book is steeped in a tender and helpful religious feeling. All Mr. Hale's charm of narration characterizes it; and without didacticism, he never forgets present problems. As It was Written: A Jewish Musi cian's Story, by Sidney Luska (Henry Harland). This story is as fatalistic as the Rubáiyát, though the scene is laid in modern New York. Ernest Neumann, a young violinist of great promise, but of painfully sensitive temperament, falls in love with a beautiful girl of his own race, Veronika Pathzuol, living with her uncle Tibulski, a kindly old dreamer and an unsuccessful musician, whom she supports by singing and teaching. Ernest and Veronika are shortly to be married, when she, in the absence of her uncle, is murdered in her bed. The mystery of this murder is the motive of the ensuing plot. Sombre and tragic though it is, the romance shows unusual vigor of conception and execution, and extraordinary intuitive knowledge of the psychology of an alien race. Barabbas: A Dream of the World's Tragedy, by Marie Corelli, is briefly the story of the last days of Christ, his betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection. 254 The scene opens in a Syrian prison where Barabbas, a convicted murderer and thief, is awaiting sentence. It being the feast of the Passover, according to the Law the Jews can demand the release of a prisoner. Fearful that Christ will be given up, they ask the freedom of Barabbas. Leaving his cell, he joins the crowd in the Hall of Judgment, is present on the journey to Calvary, at the crucifixion, and at its tragic ending. The crimes of Barabbas had been instigated by the wiles of Judith Iscariot, a beautiful wanton, who also prompts her brother to the betrayal of his Lord. Judas Iscariot is described as a weak-minded youth, a willing tool in his sister's hands. His self-destruction and her ruin by Caiaphas unite in driving her insane. During her madness she attempts to kill the High Priest; who however escapes, and hating Barabbas for his rivalry in Judith's affections, has him imprisoned on the false charges of attempted murder and the theft of Christ's body from the tomb. Barabbas dies in prison, after being converted to Christianity. He is depicted as a "type of Human Doubt aspiring unto Truth.» The story is dramatically told, but gives the author's imaginary conception of persons and events rather than historic portraits. It shows, however, a certain amount of study of Jewish manners and customs. The style is florid and meretricious, appealing more to the emotions than to the reason. Ardath, by Marie Corelli, narrates the experiences of a world-worn and skeptical poet, Theos Alwyn. In a monastery in the Caucasus he meets Heliobas - who appears also in A Romance of Two Worlds.' Here Alwyn is permitted to hold brief conversation with his spiritual affinity, "God's maiden, Edris." On the field of Ardath near Babylon, whither he goes at the suggestion of Heliobas, to enter upon a strange novitiate, he sees himself in a vision, in Al-Kyris the Magnificent, a glorious ancient metropolis, where his adventures are many and varied. Retaining only an intermittent consciousness of his former personality, he takes up his abode with Sah-lûma, the imperious, egotistic poet-laureate, and shares his epicurean pleasures. The story is a study in re-incarnation, written in the style characteristic of the author. Ari rius the Libyan, by Nathan Chapman Kouns, is an idyl of the primitive church in the third and fourth centuries. In his native Cyrene, Arius is reared a devout Christian. Thoroughly educated in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, he early turns to the critical study of the Scriptures. When he is sixteen, he and his father, Ammonius, rescue from drowning an Egyptian lady, Hatasa, and her daughter Theckla, who eventually become converts; and there is a love affair, but as Theckla disappears wholly at the end of the first book, it has no structural importance to the story. The real subject is the struggle for supremacy between the Eastern and Western Empires, under the emperors Licinius and Constantine and the conflict in the Church over the differing views of the Trinity. Arius is the protagonist on one side; and Athanasius, a brilliant young archdeacon, is secretly employed by Constantine to crush him. After Constantine has vanquished Licinius (thus establishing the supremacy of the Western Empire), and founded Constantinople, the council of Nice is called to overthrow Arius. Arius, refusing to subscribe to the Nicene creed, is banished to Illyricum. Finally Constantine recalls him, but too late. Many pages are devoted to theological questions, the historical characters serving to explain them. The book shows accurate knowledge, both historical and theological, and is well written; but its value is that of an accurate treatise on certain disputed dogmas, with correct antiquarian illustrations, rather than that of a historic romance. An nastasius; or, MEMOIRS OF A MODERN GREEK, WRITTEN AT THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, by Thomas Hope: 1819. The author of this romance, a rich retired merchant, woke one morning, like Byron, to find himself famous. He was known to have written some learned books on furnishing and costume; but Anastasius' gave him rank as an accomplished painter of scenery and delineator of manners. The hero, a young Greek ruined by injudicious indulgence, is an apostate, a robber, and a murderer. To avoid the consequences of a disgraceful love affair, he runs away from Chios, his birthplace, and seeks safety on a Venetian ship. This is captured by the Turks, and Anastasius is haled before a | Turkish magistrate. Discharged, he fights |