The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-12-21
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Victor Hugo's Napoleon the Little, Is
book oftener quoted and referred to than
read. Written as long ago as 1852, when the
coup d. etat with its crimes and blood was
still fresh in the minds of men, the book Is
one prolonged shrek of horror and indigna-
ton. Its translation and publication now,
when many of its prophesies have been full
filed, and when the monster it describes is at
length overthrown, are timely. The trans
ation before us has just been made by .
Hartford clergyman, and is published by
Sheldon & Co., New York. Though every
page of it is marked by the authors familiar
mannerisms, and though defamation is much
more plentiful than argument, it is one of the
most powerful books the great French Liber-
al ever wrote. The events Of Bonaparte's
usurpation, from the time he took the oath
as President of the Republic, on the Goth of
Dec. 1S48, with so much superHuous empha.
sis and protestation of honesty, to that bloody
4th of Dec. 1851, when, with an air of phleg.
matte indifference he ordered those about him
to tell St. Arnaud "to execute his ORDERS"
namely, to massacre the people, are described
in vivid and dramatic way that has never
been attained by any author. Victor Hugo
has keen eye for the picturesque, and wheth-
er he speaks Of "Charles Louis N apoleon
Bonaparte's' personal appearance or tho
dreadful scenes of December, his descriptions
are unrivaled in their briliancy. Whoever
has read the series OF terrible pictures called
Carlyle's History Of the French Revolution may
have some idea of the vigor OF the French
writer's style, though their dogmaiism is the
to have in common. Yes, if there must be
Bonapartes in the world. let us thank God
that he has also created Victor Hugos to un.
veil their moral hide0usness, to photograph
them in the blazing light Of Democratic truth.
to mako their deformities so visible by describ:
ing them with inspired words that the world
shall forever hold them in adherence and con.
tempt in spite of all the gliding that subsidized
Abbotts can apply. (Received by Loring,
Short b Harmony =
Prof. Noah Porter Of Yale College, who 10
well known in connection with the last revis.
ion of Webster's Dictionary. has enlarged his
lecture on literature till it has become o vol
ume. It is published by Charles Scrbner &
Co., New York, and is called Books and Read
ing or What Books Shall Read, and Hoso SHAH
I Read Them? Written by college professor,
Of course the didactic spirit is dominant
throughout the book, but there is not that over
refinement and academic prudishness that
might naturally be apprehended. A care not
to overstep the limits 0. good taste and schol-
arly reserve has prevented any attempt at bril-.
liant composition, but it is curious to observe
that it has not prevented an occasional sole
cism like the use of extremist" or An occa-
sional rather startling colloquialism like
"blatherskite." But one cannot fail to COM
mend the catholic and tolerant spirit of the
b,ek, even though it warns the beginner in lit
erature against the Swinburnes, Walt Whit
mans, Charles Reads and popular women nov
elists Of the period, on account of their impur-
ity. At first thought this prohibition seems
illiberal, and reminds one Of the unintelligent,
old-fashioned prejudice againsti'' yaller-covered
novels" But there is much force in his sug.
gestion that though the kind of literary work
referred to may be unobjectionable from an ar
tistic point of view, and though it may be harm
less to people of culture who observe it from
that stand point alone, it is not good for the
uninitiated who know nothing of the techni-
caities of art, and nothing OF the true spirit
and meaning OF literature. Our author would
by no means exclude fiction FROM any -body's
course of reading, but would exerci-e some
discrimination in regard to Its selection. In
treating of "a Christian literature" Prof. Por-
ter is once more very near forgetting to be tol-
Grant. 1t is amusing to find him turning
Holmes and Emerson and Tboreau and others
of the "Boston school" summarily out of the
pale of Christian fellowship, but even this he
does with the least possible offensiveness-
They are all very nice gentlemen-for pagan
gentlemen! In his discussion of history he
strongly conmends the new school Of writer's
like Arnold, Grote and particularly Niebuhr,
who 0write history in q critical spirit, and,
strongly condemns the old school partisan his
torians, like all the ancients and like Bancroft,
Hildreth, Macauley, Gibbon, Hume and, by
implication, Motley. The chapter on newspa-
persland periodicals is the least characterized
by good sense and fairness of any in the book.
kgs authoIs who are are able to write with aslibss
unjust towards their brethren of the prees.--
(Forisale by Hoyt, Fogg & Breed)