New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-09-24
NEW BOOKS.

I kOOksTONE. by Catherine 5. McQuald.
| A story sufficiently we'll written as to style
but weak in its plot and marred by that
'old dispensation" mixture of fiction and
religion, which never was wholesome for
man or beast, even in the seventeenth cen.
| fury, when it was popular, The religious
bigotry is exasperatingly weak. and the
| villainy Of the wicked" hero a transparent
sham that would have shamed babe in
| arms. An exceedingly innOculous novel.
A DAUGHTER OF HETH. by William Black.
A most charming and delightful novel, By
that always pleasing author. This book pos
sesses all the vivacity and originality of his
! previous works, with the additional charm of
piquant, naive, lovable little heroine, who
makes us laugh when she is merry or only
naturally quaint, and for whom we drop a
tear as we end her history, less happy than
it should have been, because of a too fascin-
ating married man. The book is one of the
few good ones this season has produced. and
fascinates one from its beginning to the end.
We recommend it cordially.
GIBBONS Rock. By katherine Saunders.
159 pages.
A story of love and smuggling which will
prove interesting to small boys. and not un-
interesting to fully grown ones. Not a
scriptural story, as its title suggests. but
one of the Kentish coast. told with simple
pathos which has made it deservedly pOpu-
lar in England, where 1t has won golden
opinions. 1t is an elegant little book as to
type, paper and binding, and every good
boy should have copy.
LIFE OF HENRY LORD BRoUGHAM. Harper
Il Brothers. In three volumes.
This work was collated and corrected by
Lord Brougham himself, when in his
eighties. 1t comprises correspondence be-
tween himself and the noted characters
of England during the beginning of this
century. Also, fragments of his diaries in
his early years. We have received volumes
one and two, which bring the life of the
author down to his ffty-second year. As
an insight into the social and political his
tory of England during the latter part of
the reign of George Ill. all of George "
and William ", and of Victorias up to
1861, this biography of Lord Brougham
possesses a peculiar interest. But it con-
tains manifest faults. The egotism of the
compiler is a prominent and disagreeable
feature of the work, and characteristic of
his lordship's later days. after he arose from
what his contemporaries thought was his
deathbed. and found the papers full of
eulOgy on his character and abilities. He
never quite recovered from the tlattery.
though his health was fully restored. The
two volumes already published are for sale
by Eyrich. No. 100 Canal street.
SONGS OF THE SIEERAs. By Joaquin Miller
Boston: Roberts Brothers, publishers.
Miller is certainly the most successful poet
that has come before the public since Long
fellow gave us Hiawatha. This is not in
tended to institute comparison between
the two, for there is too great a dissimikrity
in their respective works to warrant it,
Longfellow is polished, learned and fanci-
full. Miller is rough at times almost homely,
but always true, and, at the same time,
poetical. Both have been reviewed in
Europe, and each received tiattering COM
pliments. The London Spectator says of
Miller's volume:
When one has taken up the volume. it is
very difficult to put it down: and such "A
fact in the case of a writer who has ample
time before him to perfect his style, out
weighs multitude OF shortcomings in de-
tail The nature Of these minor defects will
sufficiently appear in the course Of the ex-
tracts to be given. and for the reason just
mentioned they do not affect our general
estimate: it is therefore needless to dwell
on them. The constant use of the perifras-
tic conjugation with the auxiliary verb do in
places where the principal verb does not
REQUIRE any emphasis. is the only fault Of
style that has struck US distinctly and OBJ
trusively.
That which is first to fix the attention as
a prominent quality in Mr. Miller's poems, is
the faculty Of transmitting direct and vivid |
Of outward nature. In the
older countries, the value of an artists OBJ
servations is in danger OF decreasing at the |
same time that the perfection OF the instrU- |
ments for recording them is being increased.
1t is difficult for any one within the imme- |
date influence of a European culture, ii he |
does not possess original power OF very !
rare quality, not to mix up his actual expe- |
rience with precOnceived ideas OF what his |
ought to be: and therefore, in
the world OF art, not less than IN any Otnef
world. great is the multitude of those who
seek their life and lose it. On the other |
hand, the best part of Mr.. Miller's work be-
longs to stage of thought at which seek
ing has hardly begun: he can lose his life in
nature, and has the reward OF finding it,
This description of storm breaking, which
occurs very early in the volume, is enough
to show the presence of no common power:
II lay in my hammock; the air was heavy
IND hot and threatening the very heaven
" az holding its breath and bees in bevy |
Hid under my thatch; aud birds were driver. |
10 clouds to the rocks in a hurried whirr
As peerd down by the path for her:
She stood like bronze bent over the river,
The proud eyes hx'd, the passion unspoken
W hen the heavens broke like great dyke broken, |
4 hen, ere fairly had time to give her
4 enOnt OF warning, q rushing Of wind |
And the rolling of clouds and a deafening din |
Ind darkness that had been black to the blind
came down. as shouted Come in come in
come under the roof. come up from the river
rhe tasserd tops of the pines were as weeds
The red woods rOckd like to lake side reeds
md the world seemd darkend and drown'd for
ever"
The horror of sudden darkness could not
,e more forcibly brought out than in the
inc We have italicized, and, 80 far as We
now, the expression is quite new; at any
ate, the whole scene was fresh in the
writer's mind. If it be asked who she was
hat bent over the river, the answer is not