The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-25

ARVIBW OF VIEW B0OKS.


paret" has been out of print for many years,
and the interest which it originally excited
has been kept alive among select few by
ahe series of exquisite designs from the pencil
Of F. o. O. barley which it inspired. When
il first appeared, more than twenty years ago,
it excited the ardent admiration of a limited
number of readers, while it was con-
temned by the many and finally fell
into neglect, as such books are apt
to do. The issuing of a new and
handsome edition at this time, however, is
proof that the book has some of the vitality
that its admirers claimed for it, and although
n reperusal after the lapse of a number of
wears has only confirmed our original opinion
that its extravagances are decidedly more pro-
ninent than its beauties, it cannot be denied
that it is a work of very great merit that is
well deserving of permanent place in Ame-
rican literature. While the author has not
copied or even initiated Goethe, he has, un-
consciously perhaps, borrowed an idea from
him, and margaret" may not inaptly be
described as a Yankeefed feminine .."Wil-
helm Meister." 1t is literally certain from al
internal evidences that if "Wilhelm Meister"
had never been written, ''Mar-
garet" would never have appeared,
in its present state at least. The purpose
Of the book is to represent an intellectual and
particularly spiritual development, and the
events of the story are designed only to form
a background upon which to display the Pc
culiar religious, moral, and political theories of
the writer. In reality the book has no plot,
but is merely series of incidents, but the
author has shown his ability as an artist by
the admirably drawn characters that people
his pages, and by the many exquisite descrip-
lions of scenery and New England life that
are scattered through the work. The charac-
ter of Margaret, in particular, is''delineated
with poetical insight that is remarkable,
and in spite of the many inartistic extrava-
sances with which it is overlaid, and the peculiar
theological ideas which it is employed to set
forth, the heroine is altogether charming
until she becomes the presiding genius of a
sort of Yankee Utopia, when both book and
heroine begin to lose their fascination.
Margaret" is not book that will suit the
tastes of the ordinary run of novel readers,
and it must be said that there is much
in it that is both absurd and insufferably dull
Since it has been written some of the social
and religious experiments suggested by it
IL
experiments are worth anything at all, they
prove that neither the cause of religion nor
that Of the temporal happiness of mankind
are to be promoted by the establishment of
special communities that labor apart from
the great mass of humanity. AS o picture OF
New England life at the period just after the
Revolution Margaret" has merits of a very
decided order, and in spite of the wordiness
that is one of its marked characteristics, it is
well worth reading and of being retained
upon the library shelf for more than one
perusal.
The designs by Mr.. barley, to which we
have before alluded, are even more worthy
of preservation and a wide disse mination
than the book which they illustrate. The
series has long been considered by the most
judicious admirers of the artist as his chef
G0u0re, and as it has long been out of print
and is only obtainable occasionally at second
hand bookstores, new edition would not be
inappropriate, now that the story is again
coming into notice.
-Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfnger send us
a ''History of the American Stage" by T.
Allston Brown. Published by Dick & Fitz-
gerald. There is probably no man in the
United States who is better able to compile
such work as the one before us than Colonel
Brown. He has had number of years ex-
perience as critic, and has, in various ways,
had unusual facilities for obtaining informa-
tion about actors and actresses and matters
relating to stage history in the United States.
This book is biographical dictionary of
nearly all the members of the dramatic and
musical professions that have appeared in
the United States from 1873 to 1870, rather
than history in the strict acceptation of the
word. In this shape, however, it will be
more interesting and more useful to the ma
jority of those who will use it
fhan it would be if it were a
ssntinuous narrative. AS a work of refer
ence to all who are interested in theatrical
matters it will be invaluable, and the author
is to be complimented both upon his indus
try and his critical impartiality. With regard
TO deceased members of the theatrical pro-
fession and the most prominent living per-
formers, il is remarkably full and satisfac-
tory, and its only deficiency is that it has
been found impossible always to obtain the
necessary information about the least promi-
nent of the actors now upon the stage. This
is a deficiency, however, that no theatrical
chroniclsr would be able to overcome, and it
in reality impairs the value of the book but
little. The book is profusely illustrated with
portraits of prominent living actors and
actresses, and it is well worthy of place
npon the library shelves of all who are inte-