The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-04-12
LITERATURE.


nIes drawn from the best writers, to which Is
now added an index of words. by GeorSe ,r"o ,
A. NJ. New edition, with additions ana
corrections New York; Harper X brothers
Chicago: Jansen, McClurg x Co.; Ottawa; io'
sale by Osman Il Hapcman. Price sou
There is probably no other work in the whole
range Of philosophy, not even Webstcr's Die
tionary that has so high claim Us " s'''ua''
authority on the English language ~ CTaop
Synenymcs. In fact, there Is no olhcf "o'N ~
the language that prctcnds TO take us place
There are works of the same class Hike Houir
Synonymes, Rogets Thcsaurus, ~c tha' are
convenient enough for reference, but are useless
when it is necessary to distinguish between me
shades of meaning. The work OF Mr.. ,rabp,
however, has maintained its place so long and Is
so well known that any lengthy notice OF 1t here
would be supertluous. But each new edition adds
10 its size, 50 that what p years ago was mod
est volume of three or four hundred pages, has,
ny steady accretions in the edition before u.s.
swelled into a closely printed volume OF nearly Il
thousand pages. On the table Of any man Oh III
erary pursuits or pretcnsions, the work Is OF
course as indispensable as dictionary
DAVID HUME. BY Prof. Huxley, New York;
Harper Brothers. Chicago: Jansen, Met lurg
IL Co. Ottawa: Osman X liapcman. frlce
- cents.
In the series of English Men Of Letters, ~ edit
ed by John Morley, and reprinted by the liar-
pers, one of the most striking is this little vol
ume by Prof. Huxley. As mere biography tho
subject is soon disposed of. Hume rs school
boy, growing gradually into the quiet, secluded,
studious scholar and thinker, cstccming himself
4. nd iuIapnnIapt income oil
fifty pounds year. affords little material for an
entertaining biography But this PIoddnE Sto.
dent, who scarcely vGnturCd outside of his mod
est chambers in "Edcnboro town. until ripe IN
wears as well as scholarship and fame, delyed
deep in UNEMPLOYED mines OF psychological mys'
tory, bringing up treasures the real value "l
which even the present aye is only beginning to
realize So it is not in the author OF that match.
less history Of England, by which only the gen
eral world remembers Hume, that Huxley is IN
terested 1t is in the philosophic side of lIumc's
character that he finds his greatest charm, and
this he undertakes TO present lovingly and with
no simulated enthusiasm Though Hume was
in advance of his age, the world has not stood
still since then, and the interest of the volume
lies in the skill with which the author, after pre-
senting the germ thought, so to speak, OF hume,
traces its growth into fully maturcd and rccog
nzed scientific or philosophc truth To amind
interested in the progress of the day in psychol.
ogical science, this little volume must possess a
peculiar charm.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH BY William Black IIar-
per ~ Brothers, New York; Jansen, McClurg
~ Co., Chicago; Osman ~ ilapcman, Ottawa.
Price - cents.
This is another of the Morley series Of English
Men OF Letters william Black, the famous nov
clist must have found Goldsmith as congenial II |
character as any Of the best heroes Of the crca-
ton of his teeming Imagination. What u queer
genius Goldsmith was anyhow. As a hoy hating
his books and his teacher; college student
indolcnt, always in scrapes and always hard up;
then wandering over the continent sheer tramp,
he finds himself at last settled and housed in a
garnet in London, to exc out precarious sub
sistencc with his pen, in an age when brainwork
was exceptionally cheap and poorly rewarded.
Yet this reckless, uncouth wild Irshman, from
his dngy garnet soon sent forth such scintilla- |
lions Of genius as TO challenge the surprise and
admiration of the great DR., johnson himself, who
at once became the poor lrishman's fast friend
and cung to him thcnccforth with all the aec.
ton of his sturdy, ardent nature to the last. Mr..
Black also sticks faithfully to his hero thorough evil
and through good report; sympathiscs with him
IN his struggles with poverty and cNacting tail. |
ors and landladics; eXcoriates the grasping book.
sellers who show him so little consideration ms
their oycrworkcd hack; rcjoiccs with him when,
having made lucky "strikc" he is able to put
on gorgeous apparel occupy stately chambers,
and entertain his friends at cxtruvagant dinners:
and then, when tins crratic genius has charmed
his contemporaries, as he has the ages with much
that is sweetest, tcndcrcst aud most graceful in
English literature, his biographcr accompanies
him sorrowully, as he does his unhappy Mcleod
Of Dare, to the melancholy cnd-unly instead of
sending him 10 the bottom Of the scu he buries
him like - bcggar in Temple churchyard the
precise spot being unknown. $50 lived aud
died poor Goldsmith" "But let not his fra,ics
he remembered: he was very great man"
MOTIVES or LIFE. BY David Swing. Chicago:
Jansen, Mctlurg ~ Co. Ottawa: for sale by
Osman " ilapcman. Price 81.
There is humancncss so ingram in Mr. Swings
nature that it pcryades all his writings and utter
ances. Launched the stage some wears ago
a. presbyterian clergyman, his nature soon re-
VOTED against the rigid eXactions of such a creed
and he driftcd into heresy. There were Obcds
and Jcrcmiahs enough if he must prophcsv. he
would prophesy only pleasant things So he cast
crccds aside and has become a thinker Rut
his thinking ID rather in the direction Of dreamy
mysticism. Ills longings are after the beautiful
and good-he breads conflict, avoids discussion.
is man the mere powcress creature Of external /
motives, or has he will power which NAV bid
defiance to all things outside Of self These are
questions for the Complies, and Lockcs and
Humes. We know the human soul is drawn
along by six angels of good, which are ID the
desire Of intellectual culture. 90 the motive
called home, 90 love Of fame, a. hope of pleas.
1re, 90 love of mankind, and 90 religion. These
are not all the motives that influence mems lives,
but they are a few Of the leading reminder. of
great duties and great rewards So Mr.. Swing
ells us in his tender, loving persuasive way how