The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-02-16
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

AMONG My Books: SECOND SERIES By James
Russell Lowell. j r Otgood 4 Co.:
Every one who has read Prof. LowelIs other
critical volumes. Among my BOoks. and My Study
WiadoloS, will welcome this new candidate for his
favor. When it is remembered that this Poet
Critic is by pretty general consent, set down as
among the first, perhaps indeed, the very first, of
American essayists and in no whit inferior to
Matthew Arnold one HE%Aturally prepared for
something of excellent quality, and such expecta-
ton will not be disappointed in regard to the pres
ent book. Most of the essays have, we believe,
appeared heretofore 10 print The one on Edmund
Spencer, we recall reading with great interest in
the North american RevieIo The largest, most
complete and altogether exhaustive one, is that
with which the collection opens, on Dante, whose
works the writer declares be has mad. study for
twenty years. 1t covers l24 pages and fills one
third of the volume. But the interested reader
will have no reason to complain Of its length, for
it treats of the biography the character the philO
sopby, the religion, the political aspects, and the
great Poem of the wonderful Tuscan, in such
thorough way that any one OF ordinary culture
cannot fail to fnd therein satisfaction and delight.
Certainly, according to this showing, Dante was
right noble spirit, fred with an intense patriotism,
martyr and exile for liberty's sake, one of the
earliest advocates of free government, and the Illus
tration of purer phase of religion then generally
obtained at that period. Prof Lowell claims for
him that he was the very first religious Poet who
subdued dogma to the uses of Imagination - that
A. IL. " bodr fho fun IF ha NhrIc
tian idea, so also is it of Dante's poem" Nat
urally everything centred for him in Rome, but in
his Commedia, he denounced the vices Of the
popes and priests with the utmost severity, and
does not scruple to give prominent places In his
visions of "Hell," to some of his contemporaries
in the papal chair Of Spenser, the poets poet,
as Charles Lamb called him, our critic writes very
lovingly. He wearies somewhat las who would
not in this practical nineteenth century of ours
of his long-drawn alegory, so inferior to Bunyan's
but nevertheless be finds "a DELICIOUS abundance
and an oveif ,wing luxury in his verse" that more
than compensates He speaks cut boldly about
Wordsworth, and confesses that there is no denying
that The Excursion is tame. His power of par.
ticularization" he considers his strongest point,
and that is what gives such force to bis sOnnets.
The fifth niche in the temple Of Fame, is however,
uugrudgingly accorded to him. The essay on
the latest biographer Of the Poet, Prof Mason has
done his work. According to Prof. Lowell, it is
very bad. His style he cIiticises most severely, as
pretentious ard often vulgar; metaphOricaly, be
'slsps Milton on the back" which the Professor
considers an unwarrautable liberty to take with the
author of Paradise Lost Throughout, our critic
balances are so evenly carried, that we have great
pleasure in trusting ourselves to his guidance. We
can only hint at the value of the volume.
In THE Holy LAND This is delightful book
of Oriental travel, from the pen Of the Rev. DR..
Thompson, of L linburgh. 1t comes to the Amer.
lean reader through the press Of A. d. +. Ran
dolph & Co., and is of exceptional beauty as to its
typography, paper, and abundant illustration 1t
is written in an agreeable style, abounds In clear
description, and leads the reader chsrmingy over
the paths made sacred to US by the footprints of
our blessed Lord. The FIVE chapters on Jerusalem
beget something of the enthusiasm in which the
traveller himself INDUCES and one has not finished
a dozen pages of the book without conviction of
its value, as illustrating scripture history, times
and scenes. Of course We know that Oriental
countries do not change any in decade of Centu
ries but we realize it more directly, as we have
such graphic evidence of it in DR., ThOmpSOn's
pages He gives himself largely to consideration
of ancient sites and is very incOnocast as to the
matter of the mOnkish traditions He lays many
so called difficulty to rest by his illustrations and
actual experience as is the case of the blessings
and the curses pronounced on Mount Gerizim and
Mount Eba Whichratiouaists have often declared
could not possibly be heard by the people, and was
therefore an exaggeratiOn OfJOshua's. DR.. ThOmp-