The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-11-08
New Publications.

New Publications.
MARGARET: a Tale of the Real and the Ideal,
Blight and Bloom. By Sylvester Judd. Bos-
ton: Roberts Brothers.
We hope we shall not be. thought unchari-
table when we soy that the author OF this
book appears to US to be crazy. 1t is the
only hypothesis by which We can account
for the mass OF incoherent jargon which
comes to US with the magniloquent title
above quoted. It is impossible to disentan-
Gle the slender thread OF story from the
heterogeneous collection Of sesquipedalian
words (which stagger under their own
..weight" through the four hundred closely
printed pages. We shall not, therefore, at
tempt the hopeless task, but will content
ourselves with Indicating few of the lead
ing features Of this wonderful production.
margaret" the heroine, is first introduced
to us s'phantasmagorically," as the author
puts it, On infant, playing in the grass near
its parents cottage, in New England; and,
in the first chapter, we have one or two sug-
eestions of what is really the only merit We
have been able to discover in Mr.. Judd's
writing-a certain sympathy with outward
nature which shows ITSELF every now and
then, in bits Of fresh and vivid description.
The rest OF the book is comprised under the
ostensible divisions Of Margaret's youth and
womanhood, and, except that it grows more
unintelllgible, as 'the Real and the Ideal,
.tBlisht and Bloom" alternately predominant
in the heroine's Development, does not differ
much FROM it's opening promise. Here is a
specimen, taken at random. OF the ordinary
conversation of one OF Margaret's- friends,
Master Gilman:
"Those super.auricular capillary appendages,
hardened with pomatum, 20 what shall we lisen
them, or with what sinllitude shall we set
them forth. They are like the caves of a
Chinese temple. or, in the vernacular Of your
brother, NImrod, they are like sleeps talii
yea, 7erlly. But by paradox, I'd est, oy
DEPRESSING and returning, we will keep in the
straight track. The deacon, the parson and
the master, megalospIanchnotical triad, have
recommended Hale's Spelling Book. Enoch
was pupil OF mine, and, though grown sane
Eloquent of late. he always knew how to say
the right thing, as his book aoundantiy
teaches. Webster, moreover, advertises us
that & Is no letter; the goal of every breath
less, whip-fearlng, a5ed-arlan valorous strife,
the high-sounding Amperyand no letter
Mehercule! You apocopate that from the
alphabet, and Deacon Hadlock will apocopate
you from the school; yea, verify
The author informs Us, in the preface,
that s.Master Gilman has been called sort
ssof diluted imitation Of Dominic Sampson" !"
Shade of the Wizard Of the North, turn not
back from the spirit land to avenge the desc
Grafton! No one but Mr.. judd would ever
have dreamed OF the comparison.
When Margaret first meets her future
lover, (Which she does in chapter headed,
in strict conformity with the heterogeneous
ness of the whole book, Nargaret-.Mr.
'Emlyn --CAria ~ they thus discourse with
each other:
Margaret. "Am rot an automatic reSc.
tablc-a witci-aazei in Inoccasins? The mas
ter says an OF the order Bipeds, and in
species Simultaneous; distinguished by thirty
two teeth, and having the superior extreinilics
terminated by hand, which Is susceptible OF
greater variety Of motions than that of any
other animal, and is remarkably prehens!le,
&C., &c. For my own part, incline
to the sylvan analogy, only my clothes are not
half so durable as this bark, nor my hair so
becoming as the leaves, and l must undress
myself at night, and take to my bed, while the
trees sleep standing and unhooded. Then,
what pothcr we make about eating. while
the tree lives on its own breath, and, easier than
q duck, muddles for nourishment with lis
roots"
Whcreto the lover profoundly responds:
"You will not overlook the mind, the spirit
the fabled Psyche, the inner voluntary life, the
dtversifer of action. the possibility OF achieve
ment. the gubernator of matter, the annotator
of the uni, erse, the thinking, willing, loving
aspiration aud submission, retrospection and
prospection, smiling and weeping, speech and
silence, right and wrong, art, poetry, music,
herolsm and seif-renunciation, the sell:con-
sciousness oil Infinite inGnltes-all, oil demon
strate the separateness and superiority OF
man."
After a due amount OF this sort of talk,
Margaret and Mr.. Evelyn marry, and shs
becomes, if possible, even more wonderful