painter of great promise, gives up original work to paint the portraits of rich men, and marries the niece of Boston's greatest art patron, a high-minded but somewhat narrow girl, with whom he is totally out of sympathy. The story traces his gradual deterioration; and his outlook on life becomes more and more worldly. In short, the motive of the book is the illustration of that dry-rot of character which is certain to seize on its victim when wealth, or ease, or any external good, is made the end of existence. It shows the remorselessness of nature in insisting on her penalties when her laws of development are disregarded. Yet the story never degenerates into an argument, nor is it loaded with a moral. Several of the personages have epigrammatic tendencies, which make their society entertaining. "People who mean well are always worse than those who don't mean anything." "He was one of those men who have the power of making their disapproval felt, from the simple fact that they feel it so strongly themselves." "Modern business is simply the art of transposing one's debts.» "A broad man is one who can appreciate his own wife." "A woman may believe that she herself has accomplished the impossible, but she knows no one of her sisters has.» «Conventionality is the consensus of the taste of mankind.» "The object of life is to endure life, as the object of time is to kill time." Society matrons, maids, and men, are delineated with the sure touch of one who knows them; and receptions, Browning Clubs, art committees, business schemes, and politics, form a lively background for the story.

Modern Instance, A, by William D.

Howells. (1881.) The scene of the story is first laid in a country town in Maine, where Bartley Hubbard, a vain, selfish, unprincipled young man, is editing the local paper. He marries Marcia Gaylord, a handsome, passionate, inexperienced young country girl, and takes her to Boston, where he continues his

journalistic career. As time goes on, the incompatibility of the young couple becomes manifest; Marcia's extreme jealousy, and Bartley's selfishness and dissipation, causing much unhappiness and contention. The climax is finally reached, when, after a passionate scene, Bartley leaves his wife and child, and

is not heard from again for the space of two years. His next appearance is

in an Indiana law-court, where he is endeavoring to procure a divorce from Marcia; but his attempt is frustrated through the intervention of her father, Judge Gaylord, who goes to the Western town and succeeds in obtaining a decree in his daughter's favor. At the end of the story Bartley is shot and killed in a Western brawl, and Marcia is left with her child, dragging out her existence in her native town. Ben Halleck, who is in love with Marcia, figures prominently throughout the book, and the reader is left with the impres sion that their marriage eventually takes place. If the novel can hardly be called agreeable, it proves Mr. Howells has penetrated very deeply into certain unattractive but characteristic phases of contemporary American life; and the story is told with brilliancy and vigor.

Morgesons, The, Elizabeth Barstow

Stoddard's first novel. (1862.) The plot is concerned with the fortunes of the Morgeson family, long resident in a sea-coast town in New England. Two members of it, Cassandra, by whom the story is told, and her sister Veronica, are girls of strange, unconventional nature, wholly undisciplined, who live out their restless lives against the background of a narrow New England household, composed of a gentle, fading mother, a father wholly absorbed in business and affairs, and a dominant female servant, Temperance. When Cassandra returns home from boarding-school, she finds Veronica grown into a pale, reticent girl, with unearthly little ways. Veronica's own love-story begins when she meets Ben Somers, a friend of her sister. Both girls are born to tragedy, through their passionate, irreconcilable temperament; and the story follows their lives with a strange, detached impartiality, which holds the interest of the reader more closely than any visible advocacy of the cause of either heroine could do. 'The Morgesons' is rich in delineation of unusual aspects of character, in a grim New England humor, in those pictures of the sea that are never absent from Mrs. Stoddard's novels. Suffusing the book is a bleak atmosphere of what might be called passionate mentality, bracing, but calling for a sober power of resistance in the reader.

Red Badge of Courage, The, by Ste

phen Crane, was published in 1895. It attracted a great deal of attention both in England and America, by reason of the nature of the subject, and of the author's extreme youth. It is a study of a man's feeling in battle, written by one who was never in a battle, but who seeks to give color to his story by lurid language. Henry Fleming, an unsophisticated country boy, enthusiastic to serve his country, enlists at the beginning of the Civil War. Young, raw, intense, he longs to show his patriotism, to prove himself a hero. When the book opens he is fretting for an opportunity, his regiment apparently being nowhere near a scene of action. His mental states are described as he waits and chafes; the calculations as to what it would all be like when it did come, the swagger to keep up the spirits, the resentments of the possible superiority of his companions, the hot frenzy to be in the thick of it with the intolerable delays over, and sore doubts of courage. Suddenly, pell-mell, the boy is thrown into battle, gets frightened to death in the thick of it, and runs; after the fun is over, crawls back to his regiment fairly vicious with unbearable shame. The heroic visions fade; but the boy makes one step towards manhood through his wholesome lesson. In his next battle courage links itself to him like a brotherin-arms. He tests and is tested, goes into the thick of the fight like a howling demon, goes indeed to hell, and comes back again, steadied and quiet. book closes on his new and manly serenity.

The

"He had rid himself of the red sick

ness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal, blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He now turned with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies. >>

Moths, by Louise de la

Ramée

("Ouida»). (1880.) This novel depicts the corruption (springing from idleness and luxury) of modern European society, especially of the women of rank, who are compared to moths "fretting a garment.» The first chapter presents such a woman, Lady Dolly, a fashionable butterfly with an ignoble nature. Her daughter by a first marriage, Vera, joins her at Trouville. The girl has been

brought up by a worthy English duchess, who has instilled into her mind the noblest traditions of aristocracy, and has developed a character unworldly, highspirited, and idealistic. The plot turns on her tragic conflict with a false and base social order. Like Ouida's other novels of high life, it unites realism with romance, or with a kind of sumptuous exaggeration of the qualities and attributes of aristocracy, which, to the average reader, is full of fascinaion.

Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville, is the

name by which a certain huge and particularly ferocious whale was known. This whale has been attacked many times, and has fought valiantly. Captain Ahab, of the whaler Pequod, has lost a leg in a conflict with this monster, and has vowed to kill him. The story tells how the captain kept his vow; and it serves not only for the relation of some exciting adventures in the pursuit of whales, but as a complete text-book of the whaling industry. Every species of whale is described, with its habits, temperament, and commercial value. Every item in the process of whale capture and preparation for the market is minutely described. Besides all this, the characters of the owners, officers, and crew of the whaling ship are drawn with truth and vigor; and there is a good sketch of a New Bedford sailors' boarding-house.

The scene is laid first at New Bedford and Nantucket, and afterwards on those portions of the ocean frequented by whaling vessels, and the time is the year 1775. Probably no more thrilling description of a whale hunt has been written than that of the three days' conflict with Moby-Dick, with which the story closes, and in which the whale is killed, though not until he has demolished the boats and sunk the ship. 'Moby-Dick' is of increasing value in literature from the fact that it is a most comprehensive hand-book of the whaling industry at a time when individual courage and skill were prime factors, when the whale had to be approached in small boats to within almost touching distance, and before bomb-lances, steam, and other modern improvements had reduced whaling to the dead-level of a mere "business." (It was published in 1851.) It contains also the best rendering into words of the true seaman's feeling about the ocean as his home which has ever been written.

the rebellion of the Santal tribes and its causes. It is interesting to know that he ranks Warren Hastings very high as a sagacious and disinterested statesman, and says that no other name is so cherished by the masses in India as their benefactor. (Orissa) is a detailed account of all elements of life and of history in a selected Indian province; a study in small of what the government has to do, not on great theatrical occasions but as the beneficial routine of its daily work. Incidentally, it contains the best account anywhere to be found of the pilgrimages of "Juggernaut» (Jaganath); and an excellent summary of the origins of Indian history and religions.

Marius, the Epicurean,

a philo

sophical romance by Walter Pater, and his first important work, was published in 1885. The book has but a shadowy plot. It is, as the sub-title declares, a record of the hero's "sensations and ideas," a history of a spiritual journey. Marius is a young Roman noble, of the time of Marcus Aurelius. Like the philosophic emperor himself, he is the embodiment of the finer forces of his day; his temperament being at once a repository of the true Roman greatness of the past, and a prophecy of the Christian disposition of the New Rome. He seeks satisfaction for the needs of his soul in philosophy, the finer sort of epicureanism, that teaches him to enjoy what this world has to offer, but to enjoy with a certain aloofness of spirit, a kind of divine indifference. In his earliest manhood he goes to Rome, meets there the philosophic emperor, mingles in the highly colored life of the time, studies, observes, reflects. His closest friend is Cornelius of the imperial guard, a Christian who loves Marius as one in spirit a brother Christian. Through association with Cornelius, and by the law of his own character, Marius is drawn into sympathy with the new religion; yet, as becomes one who shares the indifference of the gods, he makes no open profession: but at a critical moment he lays down his life for his friend.

'Marius, the Epicurean,' is a remarkable story of spiritual development, as well as of the strange, luxurious, decaying Rome of the second century of the Christian era. Pater has drawn this panoramic background with the accuracy of the scholar and the sympathy of the

433

artist. "The air of the work, the atmosphere through which we see the pictures pass and succeed each other, is chill and clear, like some silver dawn of summer breaking on secular olive-gardens, cold distant hills, and cities built of ancient marbles.»

Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert,

appeared in 1856, when the author was thirty-five. It was his first novel, and is regarded as the book which founded the realistic school in modern French fiction, the school of Zola and Maupassant. The novel is a powerful, unpleasant study of the steps by which a married woman descends to sin, bankruptcy, and suicide. It is fatalistic in its teaching, Flaubert's theory of life being that evil inheres in the constitution of things. Madame Bovary, a doctor's wife, has been linked to him without really loving him; he is honest, uninteresting, and adores her. Reared in a convent, her romanticism leads her to dream of a lover. She finds one, then another; spends money after the manner of a light woman; and when she has involved her husband in financial ruin, kills herself and leaves him to face a sea of troubles. The time is the first half of this century; the action takes place in provin cial French towns. The merit of the novel lies in its truth in depicting the stages of this moral declension, the wonderful accuracy of detail, the subtle analysis of the passionate human heart. Technically, in point of style, it ranks with the few great productions of French fiction. It is sternly moral in the sense that it shows with unflinching touch the logic of the inevitable misery that follows the breaking of moral law. dame Bovary is the masterpiece of a great artist whose creed is pessimism Pastor Fido, Il, by Giovanni Battista

Ma

Guarini. This pastoral drama, which was first produced in 1585, is the masterpiece of the author, and its influence can be seen in all subsequent literature of this class. It is a most highly finished work, after the style of Tasso's 'Aminta,' but lacks its simplicity and charm. It is said to be rather a picture of the author's time than of pastoral life, and that to this it owed its great popularity; it having run through forty editions during the author's life, and having been translated into almost all modern languages. The scene is laid in

ficed annually to the goddess Diana. The people can be freed from this tribute only when two mortals, descendants of the gods, are united by love, and the great virtue of a faithful shepherd shall atone for the sins of an unfaithful woman. To fulfill this condition, Amarilli, who is descended from the god Pan, is betrothed to Silvio, the son of Montano, the priest of Diana, and a descendant of Hercules. Silvio's only passion is for hunting; and he flees from Amarilli, who is beloved by Mirtillo, the supposed son of Carino, who for a long time has lived away from Arcadia. Amarilli reciprocates the love of Mirtillo, but fears to acknowledge it, as falseness to her vow to Silvio would entail death. Corisca, also in love with Mirtillo, learns of it, and by a trick brings them together and denounces them. Amarilli is condemned to death; and Mirtillo, availing himself of a custom allowed, is to be sacrificed in her place, when Carino arrives, and Mirtillo is found to be the son of Montano. his infancy he was carried away in his cradle by a flood, and had been adopted by Carino. As his name is also Silvio, it is decided that Amarilli in marrying him will not break the vow which she had made to Silvio, and by this marriage the decree of the oracle will be fulfilled.

In

Poe, Edgar Allan, by George E. Wood

berry. (1897.) In preparing this latest biography of Poe, the author carefully reviewed all previous biographies and essays bearing upon his subject, rejecting all statements not fully authenticated. He also had recourse to recently furnished documents from the U. S. War Department, and also to personal letters from friends and relatives of Poe.

Woodberry dwells upon Poe's brilliancy, originality, and ability as a critic as well as an author. He admits Poe's inexcusable habit of passing off his own old productions as new articles, often with little or no revision, but defends him against the charge of plagiarism. In fact, he notes that Poe's lack of continuous application and absolute want of mental and moral balance alone prevent him from being the peer of the ablest authors of his time. It is the best life of Poe extant, and may be considered final.

of the world-famous series of romances to which it gives the title, was published in 1814. The author withheld his name at first, from doubt as to the success of the venture. The continuance of the concealment with subsequent issues followed perhaps naturally; Scott himself could give no better reason afterwards than that "such was his humor." Although the authorship of the series was generally credited to him, it was never formally acknowledged until the avowal was extorted by his business complications in 1826. 'Waverley' is a tale of the rebellion of the Chevalier Prince Charles Edward, in Scotland in 1745. Edward Waverley, an English captain of dragoons, obtains a leave of absence from his regiment for the purposes of rest and travel. His uncle, Sir Everard, whose heir he is, gives him letters to a Scotch friend, Baron Bradwardine of Tully-Veolan, Perthshire, who is a quaint mixture of scholar and soldier, and a strong Jacobite. He has a beautiful and blooming daughter Rose. During Waverley's visit, a party of Highlanders drive off the Baron's cattle; and Waverley offers to assist in their redemption from Fergus Mac Ivor, «Vich Ian Vohr," the chief of the clan. Waverley accompanies Fergus's messenger first to the island cave of Donald Bean Lean, the actual robber, and thence to Fergus's home, where he meets the chief himself and his brilliant and accomplished sister Flora. Waverley falls in love and offers himself to Flora, who discourages his addresses. Joining a hunting party, he is wounded by a stag and detained beyond his intended time. Meanwhile the rising of the Chevalier takes place; and Donald Bean, assuming Waverley to be a sympathizer and desiring to precipitate his action, intercepts Waverley's letters from home, and uses his seal (stolen from him at the cave) to foment a mutiny in Waverley's troop. This and his unfortunate delay have the double effect of causing Waverley to be dishonorably discharged from his regiment for desertion and treason, and of inducing him in return to join the rebel lion in his indignation at this unjust treatment. He first, however, attempts to return home to justify himself; but is arrested for treason, and rescued by the Highlanders when on his way to the dungeons of Stirling Castle. He serves