The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-08-14
Recent Publications.

THE ABBE TIGRANE: Candidate for the Papal
Chair. From the French of Ferdinand Fabre.
Translated by Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon.
New York: j. B. Ford & Co., Publishers.
This is a peculiar tale. written with an evi.
IDENTIFY intimate knowledge Of persons and
things in the French Catholic Church. and
with dramatic power and intensity that take
strong hold on the reader. 1t is graphic and
picturesque from the very opening. Its locality
is laid in one of the most sequestered of the
French cathedral towns, but its ram:fications
extend to Paris, to the Court of Napoleon ILL.,,
to Rome and the Vatican. 1t made quite q
stir in Paris from the fact of its being supposed
to represent some real characters among the
higher hierarchy. The interior pictures of
French ecclesiastical life, the devoted piety.
bitter passions, self-sacrificing benevolence,
envy, steady performance of duty, keen and
selfish intrigue, and ambition, show more
graphically that French nature is human ma
ture, and that Churchmen are men of like pas
sions with their Catholic and Protestant lay
brethren.
Rev. L. w. Bacon, the translator, is the eld-
est son of the doughty theological doctor at
New Haven, and inherits the family keenness
of perception and talent for expression, He is
a facile French scholar, and has enjoyed, dur
ing his several years residence in Europe (es-
pecially of late in Geneva, where he has been
for some timej, the friendship of men like Faith
er Hyacinthe, so that he is versed also in much
of the ecclesiastical customs of the venerable
Mother Church. and reproduces the ideas and
''inside points of the vivid original tale with
unusual clearness and aptness.
The book is a brilliant picture of ife.-inter-
esting from beginning to end. For wonder,
it is a French novel without immortality, a tale
of intrigue without women, and altogether one
of the most original, piquant, and readable
stories which have been issued for a long time.
WoAMN's LOVE; OR LIKE AND UNLIKE. By j.
F. Smith. Boston: Estes and Lauriat. For sale
by Hall L. Davis.
Despite its many faults of style Like and
Unlike" is an in teresteng story, with plot
which is quite refreshing in these days of nc
plots. The villain is that now we'll. established
favorite, the business rascal who is a banke,
and who steals the funds of his customers. The
hero is also banker and an honest one. OF
herones we have quite q choice. There are
many other characters, more or less interest
ing, among them q colonel who swears in Q
anachronistic style, making use of "'sdeath'
and like expressions. The scene is English
the characters are English, and the story is
English throughout.
HISTORY OF ROME. By the Rev. M. Creighton
New York: d. Appleton s. Co. For sale by Bal
ley and Noyes.
This little volume, bound in flexible cloth, is
one Of the excellent History Primers edited by
| j. R. Green, the author of "a short History of
| the English People," 1t aims to give in con-
| densed form the chief events in the history oi
| Rome from the foundation of the city to- itl
occupation by the Barbarians. Ofcourse min
or events are passed by with no mention, bu
important epochs are clearly and strikingl,
though concisely treated. The maps and chron
ologIcal tables greatly add to the value of tn,
volume.