The Portland daily press., 1873-10-11
Recent Publications.

"ANeNy WIN - 'NAy AiSA- ASPttatioh dluOilS
American writers for tho clearness, grace and
refined humor which characterize his works.
As poet he displays the same traits; his tai
ent is not of the rough, vigorous and eccen-
trio school which-though peculiarly en- RAP
port with the rapid, exaggerated existence of
the west-has been TO a great degree recog-
nized as distinctively American. Mr.. Howels
is a scholarly man of elegant culture; and he
draws his poetical inspiration less from ma
terial nature and untutored passion than
from the sentiments and associations that art
and literature suggest to his mind His SYM
pathies are quick and delicate. and this trait,
so desirable, leads him at times to adopt some
what the manner of other poets whose works
he has enjoyed. 1t can surely be no disprase
to say that when Mr.. Howells is most himself
without suggestion of any other writer-he
is at his best. The sombre mask of Heinrich
Heine. distorted and cynical, is too transpar-
ent to conceal the face of this poet, t,whose nat
ural thought and sentiment are thoroughly
sound, true and sweet. ''Feuerbilder,"
.'Pleasure-Pain, ''The Snowbirds," etc., are
examples of this tendency.
Mr.. Howelrs perception of the subtle
beauty of nature is clear and fine, and he re-
produces it in delicate, telling touches, as for
example, in ''The Pilots Store:'
All the soft, damp air was full of delicate perfume
From the Young willows in bloom on either bank of
Faint delicious fragragce trancing the ndolent sens
In luxurious dream of the river and land of the
lotus
Not yet out of the west the roses of sunset were
And on the shore beside the cotton-trees rose in
the evening,
Phantom-ke, yearningy, wearily with the inscruta-
BILE sadness
OF the mute races of trees.
Among the shorter poems, many of them
exceedingly beautiful, we particularly select
The Mulberres," as admirable in design
and finish---this sketch of Venice, this
thought of America.
But loveliest, brightest, most original Of all
the poems in the volume is the pastoral 'sBo-
peeps" 1t is airy, fanciful and quaint as
fairy tale told to child the coloring is soft
and pure, the outlines are graceful and
piquant as those of painting of Greuze.
The poet tells us how the little shepherdess
lay asleep.
Upon the soft, enamored grass
l. the wooing shelter of an apple-tree,
And at her feet the tranced bronx Is glass,
And in the blossoms over her the bee
Hangs charmed of his sordid industry;
For love of her the light wind will not pass.
And when she wakes to knowledge of her
loss, and goes in search of her stray lambs
what could be more exquisite than this gray
toned night scene:
BY many pond, where timorous water-biris
With Gathering cries and throbbing wings arose,
By many pasture, where the soft-eyed herds
Looked shadow-huge in their uumoved repose,
Long through the lonesome night that sad one goes
And fills the solitude with wailins words.
Or more tender and imaginative than the
succeeding stanza:
So that the little field mouse dreams of harm
Struggled away from harm beneath the weeds;
The violet, sleeping on the clover's arm
Wakes and is cold with thought of dreadful deeds.
The pensive people of the water-reeds
Hark with mute and dolorous alarm.
The poet has sl.illfuly interviewer other
traditions with that of his pretty pastoral
maiden; and takes leave of her-a happy
princess, the bride of the son of King Cole,
that genial monarch of nursery legends; and
little Boy Blue blows his ''horn of Elfand.
and tends he fairy sheep that have all come
back to find their dreamy shepherdess; and
the merry ''fiddlers three" play at the we'd
ding of Bopeep.
Mr.. Howells' command of language is ad-
mirable, and his verse is. always smooth and
musical,
The public will, we believe, recognize at
once the value of the present volume, and
give it the warm welcome that it deserves.
Published by J. r. Osgood &c Co. For
sale by Bailey and Noyes.
The North American Review. October
1879.
The current number of the Review con-
tains fewer articles of general interest than
have its predecessors during the year. The
initial paper is chapter from John Fiske's
work on the doctrine of evolution. In meet
ing the objections raised against Darwinism
Mr.. Fisk holds that the all important con-
trast is not between man and other primites,
but between civilized man and prmetive
man. He thinks we are mislead BIZ compar-
ing the brute with the intelligent Caucasian
rather than with the Australian. The differ
ence between the latter and the anthropoid
is less marked than the difference between
the two races Of men. The paper is an able
and exhaustive one abounding in strong
linked logic and plausibly drawn differences.
''Universal suffrage under Napoleon III'' is
vivid picture of the bastard freedom of the
third Empire. A thoughtful paper on sour
Electoral Machinery takes ground in favor
of the district as oppose to the general sys-
tenn. An article on Taine's philosophy ranks
the brilliant Frenchman high as meta
physician, but takes exception to many of
his logical methods. The sixth paper is
based on Miss G. L. Stephens inquiry into
the reasons for and against the establishment
of religious sisterhoods for charitable pur-
poses. The book reviews are, as usual, ex-
cellent.
Published by J. r. Osgood & Co.
The Tourmaiinc. ley A. q. EIamiin. NJ ID.
DIR. Hamlin has surely of all specialties
the most delightful. There is something
inexpressibly fascinating in the study oi
precious stones and in the history oil tne