The Portland daily press., 1875-03-27

idTulS VIII -SOOu OuJeCG tuUunU, ii the WOrk
were well done. But he dealt too much in the
sham romanti, and in medieval upholstery.
Still Mr.. Stephen expresses the warmest admi-
ration for Scott as a man. and con fesses that
he is 'the most perfectly delightful of story
elers." Isn't that all he ever claimed to be?
Ot Hawthorne, who is the subject OF the
sixth paper, Mr.. Stephen treats delicately and
discriminatory, styling him the finest if not
the most powerful genius of America. Haw-
thorne's greatest achievement, in the critics
view, is that he has shown what elements of
romance are discoyerable amongst the harsh
prose OF this prosaic age. Mr.. Stephen holds
that it was an advantage to Hawthorne to be
confined till middle age amongst the bleak
granite rocks and the half-baked civilization
OF New England" IF his life had passed
where the plough may turn up an antiquity
in every furrow, and the whole face of the
country is enamelled with ancient culture, be
might have wrought more gorgeous hues into
his tissues. but he might have succumbed to
the temptation of producing mere upholstery"
''Having to abandon the poetry which is manu-
factured out of mere external circumstances,
he was forced TO draw it from deeper sources.
---Ine cohcfuaing essays are devoted to Balzac
and De Quincy. ~Gf Balzac we are told that
in the quality of intenserfsalization OF actors
and scenery he is unique He pelieyed in his
own dreams. HIS genius for skillfully COM
bined Photographic detail explains his strange
power of mystiication. But our critic objects
to the statement that the Frenchman's novels
display wonderful knowledge of the human
heart-holding that such knowledge does rot
exist. The greatest poet or novelist, he says,
describes only one person, and that is himself;
and he differs from his interiors, not neces-
sarily in having a more systematic knowl-
edge, but in having wider sympathies, and. SO
TO speak, possessing greater number of char
acters. We are told of Balzac's power of
painting women; but "his best women give us
the impression that they are courtesans acting
the character of virgins, and showing admira-
BILE dramatic skill in the performance" At
best they breathe in an unwholesome atmos-
phere. 'Eyeu when they don't think of break
ing the seventh commandment, they are
always thinking about not breaking it." His
women are not varied in character nor very
lifelike; but be has endowed them with an
admirable capacity for suffering, and forces US
to listen sympathetically to their cries of
anguish. That is the secret of their power
and his A great mistake is to consider that
Balzac in fit of lofty moral Indignation, tears
off the veil and discloses the corruptions of
modern society. He represents the world as
wicked, it is true, but he makes it fascinating
Society is very corrupt, but intensely amusing.
Paris is hell, but hell is the only place worth
living in. Mr.. Stephen finds that his novelist
took pleasure in dwelling upon horrors from
which healthy imagination sbrinks, and re-
joiced greatly in gloating over the mysteries OF
iniquty. His morbid tendencies seriously
niure his art He wished to show that life
in Paris is as interesting to the man OF real
insight as any more ideal region; but he falls
short in so far as he Is unable to represent
things as they are, and has a taste for impos-
sible horrors
OF De Quincy Mr.. Stephen has not the most
exalted opinion. He is given the credit
however of standing absolutely alone as the
inventor and sole performer on new musical
Instrumentation such an instrument Is the
English language in his hands. '1f his lam
guage were empted of all meaning whatever,
the mere sound of thewords would move us,
as the lovely word Mesopotamia moved White
fields hearer." The beauty of the thought is
lost in the spleudor of the style. Language is
the dress; and that dress is the best, according
to modern canons of taste, which attracts least
attention from its wearer But de Quincy
seorns this maxim, and boldly challenges our
admiration by appearing in the richest color
ing that can be got out of the dictionary. His
I Iokin funn
bestowed by ladies' upon rich garments, that
it is capable of standing up by ITSELF" AS an
example at once of his style and of his affinity
10 Sir Thomas Browne Mr.. Stephen quotes De
Quincey's comment upon passage in the Urn
Burial: "'Now since these bones have rested
quietly in the grave under the drums and
trampngs lof three conquests.' sc. What
melodious ascent" De Quincy exclaims, "as
of prelude to some impassioned requiem
breathing from the pomps of earth and from
the sanctities of the grave! What a .fuctas
decumanus of rhetoric! Time expounded, not
by generations or centuries but by vast periods
of conquest and dynasties; by cycles of Pha-
raohs and Ptolemies, Antiochi and Arsacides!
Aud these vast SUGGESTIONS of time distin-
guished and figured by the uproars which re-
volve at their inaugurations; by the drums
and tramplings rolling overhead upon the
chambers of forgotten dead-the trepdations
of time and mortality vexing, at secular inter-
walls, the everlasting sabbaths of the grave?'
In THE CAMARGUE. By Emily Bowes. Loring,
Publisher Boston. For sale by Loring, Short 81
. Harmon.
Since the days Of the troubadours, the land
of ''Sunny Provence" had fallen far from its
early glory of poetry, song and romance until
a few years ago what is termed the "Provencal
Revival opened a new field for poets and ro'
mancers, delighted the common people and
captivated the critics OF France. In our coun-
try the faithful translation of Mireio at the
hands of Harriet Preston has given us an ap'
probation of the wild and genuine nature OF its
poetry and of what it must be with the melo-
dous ring and rhythm Of the rich Southern di-
alect.
sIn the Camargue" is clear and vivid prose
yet grows poetcal at times in description OF
natural scenes. 1t is SO original in detail that
it might be mistaken for a translation were it
not for the purity and fluency of Its English.
At any rate the writer must have speIt much
time and study in this particular region OF
country, and made herself famlilar WIN l's
scenery, the peculiar characteristics OF its peo-
pie, their pastimes, superstitions and legends.
She must have seen the! orange and mulberry
groves, and the mirages of tho vast silver-white
| salt plains She must have been in the thick
est of the "ferrade" and assisted at the "mues
aaa. :, could navel haze written 50 clear
ly or painted so lovingly.
The story is a sad one and the characters are
life-like. Rambert the eattle-guard is Crane.
noble fellow and his tragic death and tender
burial are very affecting. Noel is always pic
ture, either when swinging among the branch
es of the orange trees, with her dusky hair
braided and laid about her shapely head in a
coronet and-with her beautiful eyes. radiant
with love and youth, or after years OF weary
waiting we see her at last a lovely pure-eyed
nun in a gray flowing robe and white cap. I'
is one of the best books we have read for long
time and we recommend it to novel readers ana
novel lovers.
| THE GLOBE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH Lam
GUAGE. Boston: Estes s. Lauriat. For sale by
Dresser, Mcclellan s. Co.
This volume of nearly eight hundred pages
;s snecially intended for school use, but will be
found to be of convenience and value to all