The Portland daily press., 1877-09-29
Recent Publications.

I OIo3 ~ 10 LIT. IOlLQ6S Una
ooes tue honors IN graceful verse; when class
mates Oh years LETT far behind in kindly half
Iights OF memory take hands, brother witl
brother, this hand of flesh and that of shadow
it is DR.. Holiness hand that touches all thu
vibfating strings that laugh and grow sad ant
run through all the delicate, capricious hsrmo
MES of feeling. The genial understanding n
human nature, the fine pathos, the elegap
wit OF bis writings have an unmistakable flavo
OF individuality. Not seldom his verse rises I,
noble nights while he is also peculiarly happy
III the delicate, airy manner that recalls tb,
songs of Beranger at their best, and adds to il
purity of intention and sentiment. Wind
clouds and Star-Drifts is the poem in vbict
thought and style are most sustained at bril-
liant and elevated pitch. 1t may be said anf
Win reason, that Dr. Holmes sometimes al
lows his muse to appear in curl papers: thai
there is an occasional easy going, off hand lin
gle IN his verse that does imperfect iustice tf
the polish and depth of his best manner. ve
this fault-if fault it be-is chiefly to be noted
in his poems for festive occasions where he il
leader of the chorus of laughter and yhert
stately verse would be unsuitable. The sym
pathetic quality of Dr. Holmes gift is finely
| shown in bis exquisite poems written after tbs
lectures upon Keats and Shelley-poems filled
with subtle beauty and extraordinary poetic
| fervor.
Mr. James L. Fieldss Underbrush Boston.
! j. X. Osgood s. Co.; Portland Loring. Short &,
Harmony is by no means as hard to get throus b
as is the OBTAINING foliage, its namesake. 1t is
a very pleasant collection of essays written in
ready and flowing style, which is at its best in
Its more serious vein, and of which the humor is
somewhat too dependent upon large words gro
tesquely applied; trait that unless employed
with great lightness of hand is apt to become
tedious and 10 render the movement of the
| theme too slow. My Friends Library contains
| curious and interesting notes upon some rare
Old books; the Village Dogmatist and Bother
some People are anus ng essays; Diamonds
| and Pearls contains much D! easant in
| formation; ths sketch of the author of Pan
and Virginia gives charming portrait of a
writer "whose name in our ears and our
fathers ears was SWEET and in the plain talk
with his nephews, If were Boy Again, MIR
Fields gives practical, wise and kindly advice
to his young friends.
Miss Martineaus Household Education fRos
ton: J. r. Osgood & Co.; Portland: Loring.
Short & Harmony is in the straightforward
dogmatic style of that unhappily constituted
but sagacious woman. One wishes that she
might have been born in the Spartan republic
where her unlovely virtues, her unloving beney-
oieace, her stoical submission without trust in
heavenly care, would have accorded with the
spirit of the age and not have been so pathetic
contrast between the wisdom Of the head and
the utter darkness of the heart. If, however.
every mother will read these essays upon the
education of children, by the light of her own
loving instincts, and supply the lack, where
hard wisdom is inadequate, with tender fool
ishneSs, she will find macy useful and admira
be hints.
La Silk Attire is another of Messrs. Harpers'
Library Series Of Mr.. William Blacks novels
(Portland; Lorlng, Short s. Harmony 1t is
original and interesting, though not equal to
the authors later works in sustained power of
plot Cor treatment One sees in thesa early
works OF Mr.. Black, the promise of bsauty, so
well kept in his more recent writings. There
| is very much pathos. and a genuine power of
dellneation in this novel; it brings before us
real men and women, with an occasional sus-
plelon of theatrical effect, natural and pardon
aple IN young writer; the bons naotS are some
Nmes little too elaborate in their iptrodne-
tlon-Mr. Black will sometimes create club-
memSsr for the sake of single epigram. But
IL Is rather as compared with the authors bet
yer WORK that one is inclined to critcise In Silk
Assle-ls pleasant to note his Increase in
ar6'stlc ieefng, in fineness of sentiment and
description, and in construction, while it NAV
surely De saidof the novel under consideration
that 1T Is much better than the average of fic-
ton, and displays, 10 partial DEVELOPMENT ex-
ceedingly desirable qualities.
Carita, 10y Mrs. olphant New York: Harne,
Brothers; Portland. LoEng, Short & Harmony
Is novel OF much merit A1d interest It has
curious semi-detached effest, however from
It's mode OF construction. 1t is psrhaps. az nro.
| logue and drama that it is intel.led-hut in
power and charm the former greatly a1rpasses
the story to which it is the introduction. Mn.
Oliphant has, in two at least of her recent
| stories, Innocents, and brief tale that an.
peared in one of the English magazines, de-
veloped the action that resulted from lninten-
tional suicide, witnessed too late to prevent it,
by woman who came under suspicion as a
murderer. In the opening chapters of Oarta
the author takes theme not very unlike this
wife who under the terror which results from
incurab,e disease, implores her husband for the
poison that only can relieve her; and who, in
his absence, takes the fatal draught, praying
| for pardon Tor herself and consolation for him.
The painful interest excited by this tragic story
is verv great; but, for that svery reason, it is
fnrv hu itSalf-to,, or A.
quiet, pleasant tale thatsreates the life of the
daughter of this stricken woman; apart these
histories iare both finely told, but their incon-
gruity mars the effect of the work as whole.
| The book abounds in the deicats, quiet and
powerful touches we'll known to Mrs. Ohphant's
| readers, and has freshness and grace of style.
Marjorie Bruce's Lovers, by Mary Patrick
| (New York: Harper Brothers; Portland: Lor-
| ing, Short & Harmony is smoothly and agree
ably written. The heroine is a somewhat ex
traordinary compound of conventional levity
| and intermittent dignity, with the best of ex-
cuses-that of imperceptibility in the object of
| investigation-for not knowing her own mind.
There is debonnair nobleman with golden
sidewhiskers, who is subversive of Marjories
peace and is constantly in process of elaborate
reconciliation with the heiress of nexhaustible
purse and patience that he finally marries.
| Marjorie Bruce is in brief, not very healthy,
wealthy, witty or wise contribution to litera-
| ture; but does well enough for an idle hour.
Voyage of the Steadfast, by the author of
Little Ben Hadden, etc. Boston: d. Lothrop
& Coz is a story of sea adventures, with
decided religious tone. 1t may be safely rec
commended for its interest and good influence
| The adventures of the whale ship and with the
natives of the South Sea Islands are very
lively and we'll told
Harper's Half Hour Series is represented
this week by an essay upon the Jews and their
Prosecutors, by Eugene Lawrence, evidencing
| much research; and graceful story of artist
life in Rome, entitled Virginia.
The delightful little Vest Pocket volumes re-
ceive an addition to their value and number in
Favorite Poems by George Herbert. Sir Walter
Scott and Schiller; Lord Macanlay's Horatius
| and Virginia, Lake Rsgillus, Ivry ect, and
Robert Bloomfeld's old fashioned and rather
prosaic Farmers Boy; Mr.. Aldr ich's Midnight
Fantasy, in which he daringly undertakes to
depict the result had Hamlet married Juliet