New-York tribune., 1874-06-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

claimed, An viii now be over soon and then for the
worms and the biogrsphers" To be devoured by the |
worms, and TO be deled by the biosraphers' IN her
view, added equal pang to the terrors OF DEATH Ii
Mr.. Chase his death'bed could have ioreseeh ,u0
character Of this volume he would have shared the ds
NAV ~ the lustrious artist unworthy memo
rial OF a great man has never been produced py pre-
eumption and incompetence. The author is DO oe.oi
qualified TO represent the character OF mf |"aeo ~
q worm 10 take the dimensions Vi '
siral His work is permeated by an inmate 'u
sarity which contrasted with the dignity Vi 'nc
s no less ludcrous than disgusting Or the nrst
rudimens Of literary culture he is profoundly ignorant
Ills presumption in writing q book can be compared
only to the audacity OF the housepanter who should
cssay TO the productions OF Raphael His manners
and his mind on the same level The gracious
courtesy which should accompany the pursuit OF letters
no ono vould expect OF a casehardened politician,
INIT there certain decency of behavior the want OF
which is a disappointment in any one VINO mas " SAT a.
mood meu's feass" or lived where oelis 90 Knoh ior
church." The conceitedness OF the writer is no less
conspicuous than his iucapacity. His own figure Is
made more prominent the scene than that OF the ad
mirabe Chief Justice He solcitous to display
himself 10 advantage han 10 depict the character OF his
subject fair colors The consciousness OF this lncred
IDLE neanness pervades the volume. Its vain'eorious
spirit combined with air Of apology reminding you
of the guilty spaniel hesitates whether to lawn
upon his master, or 10 sneak away from MS seh'' Al
the very outset work the author puts an Often
siye boast He would not suffer either the Chief Justice
or any member OF his family, TO influence Its compost
mon. He all sufficient in his own conceit ana Will
brook no suggestion from inferior minds Hetakes care
10 inform us that he never considered Mr.. Chase as
paiut or deputy Omniscient." Still "Chase was no
UriaA Heep" "He never a funkey or a snob," and
never "was ashamed OF father or mother" He knew
that he was not only big, but brainy" lie never
was a wilmer" After many descriptive touches
OF this kind. the author expresses the nope that
the gentle reader will at least begin to understand the
holy Office Of this book, IN which mingled expation'
gratitude and justice modify and animate each para
graph. each sentence. and each word" The precise
Of this mystic senence will doubtless remain as
profound secret to the uninitiated reader as the
information that the landscapes which Mr.. Chase was
fond Of revisitiDg in memory had "nothing bold or
grand in their purely telurc features" The awful pos
siby hned in the following neat passage is DOUBT
less essential the comprehension OF Mr. Chases char
acter affords the author an excellent opportunity
10 indulge in his favorite vein OF composition Had
he contracted any love for whisky, what drunkard
Salmon Portland Chase would have been! He never
would have been Chief Justice. He would not have
been in Lucolns Cabinet SOD He would have filed
drunkards grave before the time when he first held
public Office. He would have been energetic,
thorough, and devoted in attention to the bottle,
and the bottle would have got the best OF him
before he reached the age Of thirty years"
But Mr.. Chase might have made something of a figure
in the world had his habits only been seadier Energy
like his had it less OF the spasmodc order, would
have worked one not fancy what a world of won
der for 1.-The boy in whom it showed itself. But Mr.
Cbase's energy always rather unsteady" The
syle Of this exquisite passage is fully eua to the
fiment. Mr.. Chases mission fnancier is illustrated
ly q delicate simile " The financial pig had 10 be
dressed" 1t gratifying TO find the author so free from
loca preudices appears from the following confes
sion ALREADY have called attention to the sectional
which made Yankees very odous TO river men,
especially Cincinnati for a long time. But though
heard storer, Walker Billy Greene, and other New
English CncinDatians called Yankees, did hear
that applied to Chase or to rare Ben Fessenden
two men remarkably unlike each other. Never did
Chase a Yankee. He appeared to me more
like naughty and yet gentle Englishman with the
modern improvements The author evnces a subtle
discrimination in his analysis Of Mr. Chases charater
'He not, have said, and maintain, snob, but
he almost a snob." Indeed, "he was almost
at times a Christian snob." Happily 1t is not iint
mated that he was any time what has recently
become known as a Christian statesman" Nor was he
ever, We glad to learn, financially fool or pot
caly trickser" Still the writer cannot speak OF our
hero with any great degree of confidence. During the
progress work he has often been tempted TO think
that after ALL he not worthy He was but pous
patriotic knave. He had too much of the evil COM
munications which corrupt good manners; and he
Came TO be unworthy citizen and false Christian"
Tits relief discover that these suspicious were un-
founded and that the author comes to thelconcuson
that II there period when our hero" was not a
real worthy he became toward the last what prom
by youth and early manhood In spite OF this
conviction however the dark speeters again make their
appearance and he is more tempted to say, This
Is not the faneied he Is not the worthy sup
posed Corwin and Johnston were not far out when
they told Lincoln that Chase embodied perfdy."
But he again reassured by the remembrance that Mr.
Chase trusted him after receiving his birthday letter,
and finally settles down with the satisfaction
that IL "Chase's conduct toward Lincoln right,
yet Chase true worthy, as was Lincoln Also" But
we Will time in further exposure
OF this feeble and absurd volume. 1t Is only
90 be regretted that the venerated memory
Of the Chief Justice has been associated with pre-
posterous performance. Instead Of judicous seec-
tion from the journals and letters Of Mr. Chase, age
after page loaded with the most trivial details which
he could never have dreamed would be laid before the
public eye and which OF little general interest
the clippings OF his beard the dust of his shoes The
execution Of the work iu other spects remarkable
for pedantry and bad taste it is for its lack of
ence and good manners. Instead forming valuable
addition 10 the biographical literature of the country
will prove the object OF contempt and the butt of rdi-
cue. Under the pretense OF relating the history
gifted and llustrous man, nothing be more dis
graceful than a monument 10 the personal spite
and vanity OF the writer
l2mo. pp. 364. Roberts Brothers.
The groundwork of these stories betrays q
rare insight into the mysteries of emotion rather
than the exercise OF caprcious and errant invention
artificial element enters into their composition. but
they the natural growth OF sincere experiencei
subtle perception of the manifold workings OF impas
sJoned life The wrler takes nothing al second hand
khe attempt TO c'Othe familiar combinations III
new forms she deals with feelings aud fancies that
have been revealed TO her from their original depths
hence the living freshness Of her narratives which
snfn than fhe