The Portland daily press., 1879-07-12
SATURDAY, MORNING, JULY 1s.

Chesterfield Charles Francis Adams Defense
of Poetry, Henry w. Longfellow; Nathaniel
Hawthorne, G. w. Curtis; James Fenimore
Cooper, Francis Parkman; Shakespeare Once
More, j. r. Lowell; The Mechanism of Vital
Actions, Oliver Wendell Holmes. 1t will be
observed how representative of the writers
line of work are most of their chosen themes.
1t is like seeing a matchmaker take chro-
nometer to pieces, explain its springs and its
wheels and the subtle connection of its tiny
tenuous wire with the movement of its hands,
to read one of DR.. Holiness brilliant exposi-
tions of the physical conditions of human
thought and action. Without personal disrt-
spect to Mr. Charles Francis Adams-I4ord
Chesterfeld's chill distractions of Deport-
ment and his lofty overlooking of the fact that
an average public does exist, is quite the model
of the Massachusetts style of politician. Mr..
Longfellow need have written no Defense of
Poetry, for his whole life is itself the worthy,
continual praise of his art.
The Colonel's Opera Cloak is the title of the
most recently published volume of Mcssrs.
Robertss No Name Series portland: Loring,
Short & Harmon) 1t is fairly fascinating,
full of life and gaiety; all a-bubble like bobo-
links song. The writer must have laughed
when she wrote it; the boy who came for
'copy'' must have smiled in the sleep, which
he traditionally takes while waiting for manu-
script the compositor surely enjoyed the fun
of setting it; and no doubt the bookbinder
held his sides as he bound it. Let no reader
fancy that it is q professedly funny book; a
few puns indeed occur in it, but only as its
merry stream encounters some little verbal
pebble. There is not very much of plot or
story, but in every scene the Colonel's Opera
Cloak, the overworked garment worn. as occa-
sion arises, by each and every member of a
family. This family, having hired furnished
house in Northern city, proceed as whole
to astonish the natives by their style of house,
keeping; while Leslie, the graceful little
Southern heroine, charms one young native in
particular. There is little to say of the story,
except that it is one of the pleasantest and
brightest of the popular series to which it be-
longs; it is full of clever sketches, natural,
fluent, pretty babbe, and is as gay and enter
COulpdiiOu ioI ouiiiillCl OitCihooii
as reader could desire
English Composition is the title of an ex-
ceedingly practical, thoughtful and readable
manual written by DR.. John Nichol of the
University of Glasgow, and published in
Messrs. d. Appleton's series of Literature
Primers. Its teachings are pleasantly given;
and the clearness and breyity of its chapters
will be found useful to the student who wearies
of the tiresome complications of most works
upon rhetoric. This little volume is thor
oughly to be commended to all who handle
the English language with any sense of its
power, variety and effect (For sale by Dres-
ser & McLellan.)
A-Saddle in the Wild West, by William HI
Rideing New York: d. Appleton & Co.;
Portland: Dresser & McLellan) is a rough
ready and readable narrative of the authors
iourneyings in the far west. 1t is told in fresh,
manly style, with no pretensions to literary
finish; and is very lively and graphic de-
scription of the scenes observed by the writer.
The tone of the book is good, not at all lacking
in real refinement or in sense of the pictur-
cSque; anu llllpIcSScS tllt ItdutT lilo HOucot
work of bright, observant and sensible man.
In Messrs. Harper's Half-Hour Series port
land: Loring, Short & Harmony are recently
issued Macaulay's Essays upon History, and
upon Hallam's Constitutional History; and
Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel. The contrast
is fairly comic between the size of these elfn
volumeS and the worth and imnortanca of
their contents 1t looks as though Messrs.
Harper were trying their best to get contract
to furnish the library of King Oberon.