The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-03-04
Literary Notes

new poem, wnicn is a sequel to the "Legende
des Siecles." 1t is entitled Lies Quatre Vents
de pEsprit," and is divided into parts-the
''Vent du Drame," the 'Vent de POrdre." the
"Vent de la Satire" aud the 'Vent de la Com
edie" The first part contains three unpub-
lished dramas in verse.
A Washington lady writes to Chicago pa.
per, that 'Emerson's 'Parnassus' is very much
like the kingdom of heaven-frst you are sur
prised to see who Is there, and then you are
surprised to see who isn't"
In February and March, 1873, series of lee
lures was delivered at the Royal Institution, by
R. Bosworth Smith, on "Mohammed and Mo
hammedanism," which has since been pub
lished in book form, and has received the high
est Communications from the English authori
ties as the first thoroughly appreciative study
of this religion that has been made in England.
The lectures give high estimate of the proph-
ct, and emphasize the good work done by his
religion in overthrewing polythism. Max
Mdller's reference to this phase Of M0hamme-
danism in his famous lecture In Westminster
Abbey, and Dr. Drsper's view of il as the first
reformation Of Christianity, lend great inter-
est to the subject. IL is curious that these lee
tures which Harper & Brothers are now re-
printing, should not have been forwarded to
any American publisher, for the deluge of ad-
vance sheets rarely leaves anything behind, but
they were quite overlooked until the high en-
comiums of the English press attracted the at
tention of this house.
1t is aaid that Mr. E. P. Whipple has been
engaged to write for Harpers Magazine an ar
ticle on American progressive literature during
the past hundred years.
Mrs. Ohphsnts new novel, which has been
running in Backwood's, "The Story of Valen-
tine; and bis Brother" as she curiously punct-
uatesit, will be published during the spring by
Harper & Brothers.
The second volume of Blanchard Jerrold's
life of Louis Napoleon has been published In
England, and fetches its hero to his electionsss
a deputy to the National Assembly. We learn
that while in the United States, In 1887, be
avoided general society, but cultivated the ac-
quaintance of Washington Irving, Chancellor
Kent, and other distinguished men. In let
ter 10 his mother, Queen Hertense of Holland,
he tells very amusing incident, which shows
how early the interviewer began to be an
American institution. Geing on deck in the
gray dawn. one hot summer morning, on the
was approached by polite person in his shirt,
who deferentially asked, 'Would you have the
kindness, sir, to relate to me your history?"
A superb edition of Manon Lescaut was one
of the choice holiday books of Paris. This
book is one of the most evil of the French ro-
mances, being the biography OF q courtesan by
her next friend, the Able Provost Arsene
Houssaye, who knows all about this sort Of
thing, writes of it to the Tribune, thus: ''Ma-
non Lescaut is masterpiece simply because IL
is romance which has been lived. The Abbe
Provost is none other than Des Grieux. In the
eighteenth century the abbes lived In Paris as
they now live at Rome. They were amiable
paeans who did net waste their days IN church;
they are represented rubicund and round, with
merry eyes and pursed-up lips. They saved
their souls in their own way, going to the court
and tho opera They disguised themselves
and went in search of adventures. They said
their prayers after supper. They did not
share the righteous indignation of Bossuet, but
thought that everything was the best in the
best of worlds The Able Provost himself
said. I shall never make a romance so'impossi-
BILE as my own life And in fact what an in
credibly romantic and poetic figure is hisi
Three times Jesuit, twice a soldier, in turn
an exile and an outlaw, but always lover,
whether in Holland or England or France,
| inhabitating cell Of the cloister, or haunting
| the carabets of Paris. This was how he be-
l came the novelist of the human heart. once
| said in the preface of new edition, the pas
| sion of the Abbe Provost for his heroine has
| made Manon Lescaut the missal of lovers; his
art of story telling has made it the breviary of
romancers' Alexandra Dumas III, recently
/ writing also preface of this immortal book
| said, rManon Lescaut is the prayer book Of
| courtesans. Welll / think that both of US
were making phrases, in our two prefaces.
Courtesans do not read Manon Lescaut much,
and those who do read it, do not seek in it tho
| art of losing their lives while beguiling men.
Woman has not passed in vain under the tree
of knowledge. Whatever she may be, coquetto
or ingenue, she can still teach all the roman
GERS their business" The introduction by Du-
mas, above spoken Of is that to the holiday
edition, which also contains his portrait 1t is
| said that his picture Of the modern demi-mon-
| daine, with the heads Of o fallen empire upon
her neck and her arms loaded with jewels
| stolen by princes of the blood" is one of the
| most startling which that able and pitiless pen
| has produced.
An editorial book is announced from Phila-
| delphia The contents comprise Secrets OF
| the Sanctum; an Inside View of an Editors
Life" Mr. A. f. Hill is the author and it is
| dedicated "most affectionately" ITO the Fra
| ternity; to the Editor; to the Reporter; to the
Correspondent; to the Contributor; to the
Proof-reader; to the Copy to the Press
man; to the Foreman; to the Compositor; in q
word, to the Devil
Bret Harte is busyiwriting novel. The sto-
ry will be longer than any he has yet written,
and will be published by Hartford firm. 1t
will be sold by subscription.
Henry s. Williams, Phi. D., Of Yale College,
has written a book, which will be published by
G. 2. Putnam's Sons, on the Anatomy of the
Domestic Cat" The book will be accompa-
MED by book OF plates reduced by the Os-
borne process from the charts Of Hercule
Straus-Durkhsim, representing the cat't bones
ligaments, and muscles in minute detail This
book is the first of proposed series on the DE
scriptve Anatomy of Typical Animals" pre-
pared for the guidance and use of students OF