The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-01
NEW BOOKS ~ BOSTON.
The .Life of Mrs. .Barbauld"---
Frothingham's Iife of (,
a. Theodore Parker"
THE RADICAL CLUB.
The Boston Theatres and
BOffin's Bower. =,
MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY NEWS.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY NEWS.
- BOSTON, Jan. 81 1874
II the average Bostonian were rebuilding the
creed ! could imagine his saying:-.I believe in
Theodore Parker, fne' only progressive and live
the0oRanc and in James Freeman Clarke. the only
other divine who can hold a candle to him." In
ether words, the eafker' influence still survives
here, 80 much so that very large sale is antici
patsd. forthe ~ he, Of that celebrated man, which
The Rev. o. B. Rockingham, OF your city, has Just
dneaHa: writihg and which j. X. Osgood Il Co.
tyho are now superbly enscOnced in ther new
quarters at.Franklin and Federal streets) aresOn
the eve q bringing out. The book win be a'duo-
decimo, containing 400 pages, and be prefaced
with a:pGtrait OF Mr. Parker, taken from MOrses
bust .Snch Inspection as have been able to
make SdnYes me that it VIII be more popular than
Mr. Weiss two large volumes Both MIR.
Weiss md Mr.. rockingham may be said
10 h&S4 great reputation for uupop-
ularity. They are admired by overwhem-
ing minorties. Since, one year ago, when the
Young Mems Christian Association of your city
refused to allow Mr.. Weiss to lecture in their nall
on shakespeare" on the ground that the lecture
was not evangelical, the enthusiasm OF these mi
nOrities has, f6f course, been the increase. As
for rockingham, he says quite enough every Sun
day to incursthe enmity OF every proper person
who believes him to be going TO. the devil But in
New York. Gswen as Boston there are probably
enough sympathizers with what Parker called
absolute religion" to secure large sale Of the
forthcoming "Liie." The biography is delight
fully written. 1t resembles "The Religion OF Hu-
mainly" IN Astounding IN sentences as clean-cut
as the M0lAes Of a fern, as delicatey picked out
as trees S1efls against a background of blue sky.
As O wrf9& Parker had two pecuharities which
do not fiH0 that rockingham has noticed. One was
frequen8use OF the word ..exploiter, in relation
to the DYRy- He 'is fond of repudlatng the idea
OF Gods sing .the,"expoiter'' OF mankind. The
other is tEhabit Of addressing readers as though
Boston wekA the sum total OF civilization. The
biography II full OF genuine work. Mr.. Frothing-
ham is not one Nof those intellectual dentists who
give their readers mental teeth plugged with the
gold of other peoples thoughts, '.-+
Very. interesting Is the
80 -, LIFE OF MRS. BARBAULD,"
which is now being printed by the same firm ut
the UniversityPress, Cambridge It will be in two
volumes OF about 400 pages each, and has been
compiled by Mrs. Grace Atkinson Ellis, Boston
lady, who thus makes her FIRST literary venture.
In the preface Mrs. Ellis acknowledges assistance
from George D. Ellis, D. D., her iatner law; Mr..
James L. Little, her father; Mr.. Justin Winsor,
cuPCAiutOuuCAt VI OHC DOsCOu fuulC lIDIdTy,
Mr.. J. T. Fieds and Mr.. Hunter OF the Williams
Library, London. An eXcelently engraved portrait
Of Mrs. Barbauld is executed by Mr.. W. H. Forbes.
beautiful religion was the background OF Mrs.
Barbauld's character. To borrow a figure from
PHYSIOLOGY, lit was the great sympathetic
nerve OF her life. It was this which
made her ''Prose Hymns for Children" 80
remarkable for exalted devotion, deep yet
simple thought, and grand purity of
style. To these attributes Mrs Ellis does Justice
Ielicitousy pointing out one Of the most exquisite
sentences that Mrs Barbauld ever uttered-''Re-
spect In the infant the future man; destroy not in
the man the rudiments OF an angel" 1t was senti-
nents Ike this which gave Mrs. Barbaud her
saiue as trainer OF the young. Among her pupils
we're Lord Chief Justice Denham, and Sir william
Cell, the distinguished discoverer Of the plain Of
Troy During her long career (she was born at
Kibwortn, Lecesershire, June 90 l743, and died at
stoke New1ngton March Q, 1s25l she made ac-
luaintance with John Howard, DR.. Prlestey,
Dugad Stewart, Sir Walter Scott Hannah More,
Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, Nine. D'Arblay, Roscoe,
Joanna Baillie, Sir James Macintosh, Charles
Lamb, Wordsworth, Samuel Rogers, Maria Edg-
worth and Henry Crabb Robinson. Of most
Df these Mrs. Ellis reproduces pictures
etched by skilled literary artists. AS
rule the style of the biographer is unaffected.
Occasionally she falls into unnecessary grandilo-
quence, as for instance, when wishing to say that
Mr.. Barbauld took bath in the river she says
that he used the river Tor the purpose of ablution
This is almost as bad as calling chair an instru-
ment OF sedentary sOlace Mrs. Ellis appropriately
uses her title page motto Tickell's line, ''To
strew fresh flowers let The task be NINE" In the
selections Of which the second volume consists
none Of Mrs. Barbauld's political pamphlets are
eaf ha nj NOT Ind
in Miss Atkins collection" appear. Two of Mrs.
Barbauld's best essays, those on Education" and
Prejudice" are also kept. These first appeared
In the R0fathlV Margarine. Every who is
familiar with 'Tbe Muses. 10y the by how many
ire p will be glad to know that 1t has
not been exscnded. 1t first appeared in
1880 in Mrs. S. C. Hairs "Forget Me Not" the very
title OF which may lie said to have been its title to
oblivion. Pleasant glfmpses are given OF the
society which the genius OF Mrs. Barpauld drew
around her. To this society four OF the most
charming women in London at one time contrib
uted. These were-Mrs. Montagu, whose house
In Hill street and afterwards in Portman place was
the resort of all the celebrities OF the London
world; Mrs. vesey, wife Of the Hon. Agmondesham
vesey, an Irish gentleman and one OF Burke's
friends; Mrs. BOscawen, celebrated in Hannah
Hore's poem, "sensibility," and Mrs. Eliza.
Of Mrs. Montagu, in particular, an accom-
plished natterer might well be excused for
saying that nothing would make him happier
10 be in her company for time than to be
IN 1t for an eternity though I do not know that
anybody ever did say so. But even Dr. Johnson
was vanquished by her exquisite urbanity, and
when, one evening alter having visited her, he
was asked by Boswell whether he was not highly
gratiHed, he deigned what any one else would
have dsdained) to reply, NO. sir not highly graft
ned but do not recoect to have passed many
evenings with fewer objections" Mrs. Barbaud
admired simplicity in literate style. She objected
to Lord Byron's because he used "bubul" for
nightingale and "gul" for rose. She SAID OF him
that he filed leaf In the book Of fame, but 1t was
very blotted leaf DR.. Johnsons criticism OF Mrs.
Barbauld was not in its way, less severe. When
her '.Early Lessons" first appeared he said that
MISS Akin Akin was her maiden name) was
specimen Of what early cultivation brought
forth, and she had ended by marrying