The Portland daily press., 1877-05-19

which secured to him universal kindliness, as
we'll as the praise due to his poetic gift-for
all graces of character and manner that spring
from nature entirely pure and genial, were
characteristic of him. Numerous interesting
letters attest the value set by his contempora-
rar.es upon his friendship. His, descriptions
of many of these are notable for their insight,
brightness and charitable quality-in striking
and pleasant contrast to parallel passages from
the recent biography of Miss Martlneau. Moth
ing but the reading of the. book itself can give
an adequate idea of this poets life, the latter
years of which were crowned with golden rest,
and silence earned of song. To him
in his old age, Mr.. A. q. Swinburne addressed
some verses of admration-the youngest to
the Oldest singer:
In vain men tell us tim can alter
Old loves, or make old memories falter,
ba M wR s ahs Ed the old years life
The old sun revives the new -hedged hours,
The old summer rears the newborn roses.
Much more muse that bears upon her
Raiment, and wreath and flower of honor,
= Gathered long since and long since woven,
Fades not or falls as falls the vernal
Blossoms that bear no fruit eternal
By summer or winter charred or cloven.
No time casts down, no time upraises,
Such love, such memories and such praises
=, AS need no grace, of sun or shower
M No saving screen from frost or thunder
To tend and house around and under
The imperishable and peerless flower.
Old thanks, old thoughts, old .aspiratio
Outve mems lives, and lives Of nations,
Dead but for one thing which survives
The inalienable and unpriced treasure,
The old joy of power, the old pride of pleasure
That lives in light above mems lives.
And, six years later, the same hand laid upon
the grave of the old poet tribute of song, rich
and fragrant as a blossom of the night last
gift to one of the truest of men and of singers
Bryan Waller Proctor.
In Mr.. Henry James novel, The American,
Boston: j. r. Osgood & Co. Portland: Lor-
ing, ShoIt & HARMONY is readily recognized a
genuine gift of the novelist He tells story
with point and vivacity of treatment
which are French, and minureness
of airy, philosophic dttail-it these quail
tiles may be said to combine-that often
suggests the Partisan school of novelsts,
and occasionally the deferential recollection,
quite characteristic of clique of our own writ
ers TO the methods of Mr.. Hawthorne How
much Staying power Mr.. James talent DOS
sesses is not yet decided. His style seems at
present somewhat exotic and grown under
glass. He evidently. .'knows his Paris" admir-
ably-at second hand; he has the effect of hav-
ing become blase in regarding the world-from
his parlor window; but the liveliness and eff
feet with which he transfers the desired effects
to his work give evidence of vivid imagination
and free handling of his subject. Mr. James
novels are rarely precisely agreeable, and The
American is not an exception. 1t is difficult to
say where the unattractiveness exsts-a little
in degree of unreality; somewhat in the un-
satisfactory, though artistic, end of the story;
still more perhaps in the curious types of char
acter presented. Mr.. James is often happy IN
epigrams and phrases. The death Of Valentine
is very Parisian; and the Nioches, father and
daughter, are also product, and undesirable
enough, of Paris. Madame de Cintre is q
sketch from the Faubourg ST. Germain-a
white and scentless flower of the aristocracy.
As for the American himself he is quite typi-
cal-he is an embodied experiment
Gatherings from an Artists Portfolio New
York: d. Appleton s. Co. Portland: Bailey
& Noyes.) is the title of little volume by Mr..
James A. Freeman. 1t is precisely what it
purports to be, collection of disconnected
souvenirs of an artists life in Rome, in various
styles and degrees of finish. The recollections
Of some of the popular models-one of whom,
little Angelo, shows his charming face as
frontispiece-are very interesting and must be
full of pleasant suggestion to those familiar
with Rome. The romantic history of the Lady
Inez and her artist lover, has, however, too
much of the lay figure element in it, construc.
tion and lacks the easy, irresponsible toue of the
rest of the book-which as whole is gossipy,
unpretentious and attractive.
Juliet's Guardian, by Mrs. Fl. Lovett Gamer.
on, New York: Harper Brothers. Portland:
Lorng, Short & Harmon. is novel of much
interest, written with coed degree of skill
force and originality. The characters are we'll
DRAM, and the plot-oue of society life-well
maintained. The illustrations are poor, with
one or two exceptions; that upon page Is is a
marvel of mannerism and impossiblity.
Rev. Mr.. Murray's Adirondack Tales, apart
from the clerical title of their author and the
odor of sanctity that the "Golden Rule publish
ing house" seems to denote-might have been
written by any secular brother who was accus-
toned to camping out and was an admirer of
Mr.. j. Fenimore Cooper. The Story tho Key
told me, loses by too large admixture of the su-
pernatural; The Man who didn't Know Much,
is pathetic and also contains some amusing
passages; the Humorous Sketches are labelled
and 1t would be discourteous to dispute their
title. The best traits of Mr.. Murray's book are
its free and genuine enjoyment of nature and
.4,,~ n,,I taI
in everything" Boston: Golden Rule Publish
ing Co. Portland: Dresser & Mcclellan.
The great result Of Lieut. Clmeron's ex-
pedtion, (Across Africa,by Commander Verney
Lovett Cameron. Harper & Bro, New York;
Portland, Loring. Short & Harmony
that which gave it special interest, was.the
discovery that Livingston's great river Luaba
was the Kongo Who has not felt touching
interest in reading Livingstones Last Journals
at the thought of the romantic faith with
which he believed that far South of the great
lakes, he had discovered a river that fed them;
a river at whose source he almost knew that he
should ind the famous fountains of Herodotus
while he lay PROSTATE with fever in the Jun
giles, hoping that his life work had not been
wrested from him by moro fortunate explorers
and praying for strength to complete it? Des-
pite the improbabilty that the river could
make its way through he mountains that sur
round Lake Albert, aud Notwithstanding his
confession that he could not identify the
mountains of Bisa with the Mountains Of the
Moon, mentioned by Ptolemy the Geographer,
while Kilimanjaro, with its SNOWY crest, in the
neighborhood of Lake Victoria admirably filled
the description, the reader half hoped and half
believed that his faith was not vain. But
hardly had the book been read when news
came that Cameron had crossed the continent
to Loaudo, and had decided the question
against him; then who could regret that he
died in the faith? This journey seems to settle
the mint Nh at to Snaka and Grant tho d;Soox