The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-10-24
THE PRES S.
SATURDAY MORNING OCT. "a, 1874
Recent Publications.

Recent Publications.
The PROPHET: A TRAGEDY. By Bayard Taylor,
author Of 'Lars,' 'The Masque of the Gods" &c.,
Published by j. R. Osgood s. Co. For sale by Lor-
ing, Short & Harmon. 500 sn
In this, his latest poem, Mr.. Taylor's talent
is not so advantageously displayed as in for
lner ones. The subject of the '.Prophet" is
not an agreeable one-the founding of the
Mormon sect. 1t is hardly necessary to say
that Mr.. Taylor's good taste and refinement
have presented the matter in form and word
ing as unobjectionable as possible; and that
he has, by earnestness and dignity of treat
ment, done much to raise it toward the re.
gion OF purely tragic poetry. Crimes and
catastrophes need, however, to be removed
from the reader by softening lapses of time
and space; else the physical horror and dis
gust which they excite, overpower the state
ly sadness, the calm and ennobling grief which
are the result of tragedy not forced beyond
the artistic limit.
As poem "The Prophet has literary
merit; we miss, however, in its slightly mo-
notonous and often heavy and prosaic blank
verse, the vigor and clearness of Ian guage,
noticeable especially in his fine sMasque Of
the Gods" In the present work the author
finds himself at disadvantage in having for
his hero an enthusiast, at first deluded by his
own vague visions, made later the tool Of
shrewder minds, and misled to his ruin.
The character of Livia is strongly outlined,
but somehow fails to make the impression
upon the readers imagination that it is evi.
dently intended to make. In brief it is
no discredit to Mr.. Taylor that it is so-it
seems to us that the most successfully drawn,
though not the most conspicuous characters
of the drama, are Rhoda, the Prophets wife,
and Hannah, his mother. These women,
true to their faith and instincts amidst the
violent shocks of the action of the tragedy,
are beautifully depicted, and to them are
allotted many fine and clearly expressed
thoughts. Mr.. Taylor's sense of rythm is
excellent, and his habitual good use of Lam
guage often rises to points of much original
ity and beauty.
The song that Rhoda sings to her sleeping
child is so admirable specimen of the mod
ern ballad, and is so full of simple pathos and
beauty-that we t-anscribe it:
"My baby smiles, at last awake,
The curtains let me draw,
And on my happy bosom take
The child he never saw.
He'll come tonight: the minds at rest,
The moon is full and fair;
wear the dress that pleased him best.
lt A ribbon in my hair.
So lately wed, SO long away!
But OIL between is Joy:
He left wife; he'll find to-day
mother and boy.
Be still, my heart! the sound hear
Is not the step know;
But hope so perfect turns to fear,
And bliss is nigh to woe.
What voices now delay his tread,
Or plan sweet surprise?
Come, babe, and we shall wake, instead,
The rapture of his eyes,"
The moonlight, through the open door,
Upon her forehead smiled.
Still feet and fIOzen heart they bOre
He never saw his child!
In conclusion,we can only say that although
"The Prophet is not amcLg the authors
most unqualified successes, it gives evidence
of thought, poetical talent and literary skill.
Its faults are traceable to its rather unwieldy
subject; the difficulty which author and read
er alike feel in sympathizing with most of its
dramatis persong; and certain want of fire
and movement which drama, founded on
- -
ual action and passion, can hardly escape.
FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA. A
series of Historical Narratives, by Francis Park
man, author of the "History of the Conspiracy of
Pontiac p 1.-THE Oregon TRAIL" etc. Part Fourth
THE OLD REGIME IN CANADA. Boston: Little,
Brown & Co. 1874. From Loring. Short g. Har-
mon.
Mr.. Parknan has devoted himself to that
branch of the history of America connected
with the French Colonization, and while no
other part of its history can equal in romance
the Spanish Colonization, and in truth
scarcely anything in the history of the world,
yet the French Colonization must come next
in picturesqueness. Lamartine says of his
mother call her thoughts were sentiments"
which seems always true Of the French char
acter when it blossoms into history. There
fore Mr.. Parkman, though not so fortunate
in his subject as Mr.. Prescott in that which
he has made his own, has been happy in the
selection of the theme to which he has de-
voted his labors, and the industry and fidel-
ity with which he has worked and gathered
his material gives him claim to a high posi-
ton among our historians.
This volume opens with an account of the
situation in 1858, giving vivid description of
the sufferings of the Jesuit colony at Onon-
daga, and sketch of the History of the un-
fortunate Hurons, which hehas already more
fully treated in "The Jesuits in North Amer
ica."
The picture of Indian fighting in the early
days of Montreal, which follows, shows that
the French had an equally bloody appren-
ticeship to serve before they could occupy the
land as did the English settlers of New En-
gland.
The hardships of the French were aggra-
waited by long quarrels between the different
orders of Priests, and between the Priests
and the Governors. 4lE5
The reign o. Louis XIV and the coming of
a regiment of regular troops infused new life
into the colony, and their campaigns against
the Mohawks, the first made in the depth ol
winter on snow shoes, while they bivouacked
amid snow and ice, are described with much
vigor. These marches into the enemy's
country brought them into the territory
| claimed by Ine Engusn, anu were Ine CULT
mencement of the old French war which
trained up our ancestors for their later and
greater struggle with Great Britain.
| His success in character sketching is good
as witness that Of the jolly and gigantic
priest Dollier de Casson, who had been al
officer of cavalry in his time and tough
under Turenne, and punished an insolen
savage who interrupted him at prayer b.
knocking him fat, to the great admiration Q
the other Indians.
The manner in which Louis XIV tried t
increase his colony by shipping out girls an
offering premiums for marriages and for ba
| b;oc ohouc ubat q friond of ours calls