The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-06-03
Recent Publications.

TRANscENDENTALIsM IN NEW ENGLAND. HIS
TORY. By Octavius Brooks Rockingham New
York: G. P. Putuam's Sons. For sale by Loring
Short s. Harmon.
"A Boston Cultus man" is the oppr obriors
term by which certain Indians and other wes-
tern barbarians stigmatize a person who ap-
pears to be inefficient. So says, in effect, cor
respondent of the New York Tribune, who is
so near OF kin to those uncivilized scorners of
Boston cultus" that he adopts their sneer to
direct it, for political effect, against the sup
porters of Bristow Some of the more dis
tinguished Boston cultus" men, Emerso on, Al
colt, Theodore Parker, George Ripley, and
with them, Margaret Fuller, appear upon the
pages of Mr.. Frothingham's book. To each of
these CHAPTER is given. And in another chap
ter certain "minor prophets of that cultus.
W. FL. Channing G. A. Bartol, j. f. Clarke,
Sam. johnson, Sam. Longfellow, d. A. Was
son, I. W. Higginson and John Weiss are
presented to the reader with most felciteus
description and discrimination. One may learn
here the significance of the "cultus'' which is
illustrated by names such as these, and discov-
er the head and front of its offending. These
were Transcendentalists; prominent represen-
tatives of that practical idealism which the
Gradgrinds and the Chadbands, apd the Tit
mouses will always scorn as impractical and
visionary.
''Transcendentalism," says Mr.. rockingham,
was an episode in the intellectual life of New
England; an enthusiasm, a wave of sentiment,
breath of mind that caught up such as were
prepared to receive it, elated them, transported
them and passed on, mo man knowing whittier
it went. Its influence on thought and life was
immediate and powerful. Religion felt it, lit
erature, laws, institutions. To the social agita-
tions of forty years ago it was invaluable as an
inspiration. The various reforms owed every
thing to it. New England character received
from it an impetus that never will be spent"
Another wave of that enthusiasm is very
much to be desired at this time, and In this
State of Maine, where reform is too often
used as word of scorn, and s'reformers" fall
under the safe and easy contempt of journ al
lists While we are waiting for that wave to
come we can do no better than become ac-
quainted with the times Of refreshing so re-
Gently past.
In this book Mr.. rockingham gives COM
prehensive and philosophical presentation of
the transcendental movement He:inds its be-
ginning, or rather its germ, in Germany, and
traces its development along the course of Ger.
man philosophy; describing by the way, with
the touch of master, the distinctive thought
of Kant, jacob, Fichte, Schleiermacher. Goe-
the, Richter, and others. He then shows the
development of similar course of thought in
France and England, and exhibits Cousin,
Constant Jouffroy, Coleridge, Carlyle and
Wordsworth, in their respective relations to it.
But it was in New England that Transcendent-
alism came to maturity. "For with some
truth it may be said that there never was such
thing as Transcendentalism out of New Eng
land" "New England furnished the only plot
of ground on this planet, where the transcen-
dental philosophy had chance to show what
it was and what it proposed" The body of the
work is therefore devoted to Transcendentalism
in New England; and Of this the history is full
and complete, written by one who himself
sympathizes largely with that he describes. 1t
is work that was needed, a history that
waited to be written, a task that sooner or
later some one must have attempted. To say
that it has been performed at last by Mr.. FrotA-
ingham is to say that it has been we'll per-
formed. 1t is book that should be in every
library. G. W. B.
LIFE, LETTERS AND TABLE TALK OF BENJAMIN
ROBERT HAYDEN. Edited by R. H. Stoddard.
New York: Scribner, Armstrong s. Co. For sale
by Lorng, Short g. Harmon.
This is the first number of a series, called the
Sans Souci Seriec, consisting of the autobiogra-
phies and other personal recollections of people
who have made their mark and are now MAIN
ly forgotten. 1t is edited by the same hand
(Mr. Richard Henry Stoddard's) who prepared
so acceptable work in arranging the material
known as the Bric-a-Brac collection. The
quantity of literature of this description is so
great that the services of judicious editor are
much needed to bring it within manageable
bounds and open up a mass of readers who
would otherwise have left it on the shelves.
Yet of all reading the geographic reading is the
most widely interesting. 1t is Sterne's starl-
ing over again. The future of masses does not
interest US so much as the joy or grief of sim
gle individual, whose motives aud whose ex-
periences, once comprehended, tell effectively
the story of masses. The fortunes of Hayden
derive peculiar interest from his tragic end.
He saw many of the best people; ke had
CLEANS of triumph, embittered by long periods
of misfortune, brought about by his impractical
qualities; he was dependent upon the aristoc-
racy, whom he alternately fattered and abused !;
he had no repose, nor the dignity which grows
out of it; in every view that he took of friends
or OF life TIE mountainous me-" as Emerson
calls it, stood out. He was born in 1856 and
perished by suicide, in 1876. His journals and
his letters give most accurate representation
of the life of the man; and they give sketches
of persons whom he knew-Wordsworth Keats,
Milford, Hazlitt, Lamb and others-which add
materially to the value of the book.
It'd.
The PRIME MINISTER. By Anthony Trollope.
Published by Harper Brothers. N. Y. For sale by
Loring, Short q Harmon.
This is one of the best of the authors many
novels It's merit and interest consist chiefly
in its sketches of political life in England. no.
ted with the impartial manner, entirely free
from prejudice and bias, which is characteris-
tic of Mr.. Trollope-even in telling the, story
of imaginary people and the doings and say.
ings of their private supposititious lives. He
generally seems to have no personal affection
for the characters he creates, he neither accu.
ses nor excuses-but tells his tale as best be
may, leaving the verdict to the reader But ir
the present volume, the author himself is CON-
PEELED to draw with loving touch the sketch ol
the almost ideal poltician-Plantsgenet Pali
ser. His high understanding of the duties of q
servant of the people, his delicate sense of hon.
or, his unselfsh. strong and tender nature
influenced by the position of Prime Minister
form a study which, though of course closely
connected with English politics, will be appre
ciated by Americans, to whom such ideal poll
ticians are constantly becoming more desirsble
more practicable and more familiar. Th
| Prime Minister-as well as some other charac
ters who figure in these pages-is taken in
| great degree from actual life. How closely tn,
| models have been followed, is of course impos
sble to say, but it is good to know that sucl
| exist.
A NILE JOURNAL, by t. G. Appleton, illustrated
by Eugene Benson. Boston: Roberts Bros. Fol
sale by Loring, Short Harmon.
The author is gentleman of elegant leisure
who made boat journey up the Nile and pub
| l;cbod his iournal in order that tho m, HI;