The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-02-21
Recent Publications.

try would perhaps better have been changed
for the occasion to Men of English Letters
For American writer's have part in the inheri-
tance OF the wealth of the English literature
and Hawthorne had N great degree the ten
dency often noted in the writings of our coun-
trymen to look with longing eyes upon lands
which have past and have not their history
all unmade before him. Mr.. James has much
sympathy with this trait Gndeed he sometimes
exaggerates his pose of the cosmopolitan so far
as to appear less at home in his own land than
elsewhere, and to view his countryman from
the disinterested standpoint of an impartial
observer (and he sets forth with subtlety and
pathos Hawthorne's continual instructive de-
sire to recede from the sunlight, overstrong of
the day in which he lived, into whatever of
| shadows the past or the solitude of lonely
places might afford, or the mysterious isolation
of the sad souls that he loved to paint slowly,
with sombre touch upon souch. Mr.. Henry
James has done some of his very best work in
this essay upon Hawthorne-for biography it
may hardly be called-as the writer observes,
so few were the events of Hawthornes life, so
] wholly does its interets circle around
| the few but memorable writings which
he gave to the public. Mr.. James's
| habit of subtle analysis, often lacking
movement in fiction, takes on more vigor in
| the handling of facts. He is remarkably skill
| full i'll dssecting-but the doll of his own man.
| ufacture is apt to be stuffed with sawdust
| But with subject for criticism like Haw-
| thOrne's complex and unique nature, Mr..
| James displays keen and delicate critical pow
er which often surprises the reader by its prac-
| tical and sympathetic qualities. He cites some
little anecdotes, slight enough in themselves,
but very ap5 as showing the serious and palms. |
taking spirit of New England life in the years
over which still falls the stern shadow of the
Puritans and accounts with delicate reasoning, |
Tor the continual oppression with which the
thonght of wrong-doing weighed upon Haw- |
thorne's works, for, as child looks back again
and again at the dark corner he fears, Haw- |
thorne's mind seems to have cast its glances in
TO the mysteries of sin and Judgment. Mr.. |
Jamess biography is so filled with fine and |
interesting description, so clear, so delicate so
pertinent that it must lose some Of its essence |
in the double-distilling process of the newspa-
paper criticism of his critique. 1t is little !
matter OF surprise that he should allow his
favorite French idioms which occasionally |
make his work read like clumsy translation
Ito obtrude themselves in memoir of one of
the masters of pure English. These phrases of
Paris are as charming in novel as the affecta-
tions OF a pretty woman; III serious critical
work they are out of place; and if Mr.. James's |
biography of Hawthorne survives for the read
ing of the next half century-as its excellent
quality merits-these coquetries of his style will
be strangely out Of date. But at least, the
will hp nj 10 for n, fpa |
pathetic and luminous review of the literary
career OF Nathaniel Hawthorne. (New York:
Harper Brothers; Portland: Loring, Short g.
Harmony
Another volume of this valuable Men of
Letters Series (New York: Harper Brothers;
Portland: Loring Short g. Harmony is the
biography of Southey, written by Prof. Ed
ward Dowden. 1t gives a clear and very
agreeable portrait of the poet. mo one of his
generation," observes the biographer, lived
so completely in and for literature as did
Southey;" and he goes on to describe the
scope, variety and amount of work which the
poet performed in the course of his long and
efficient life. But in the words of Prof
Dowden:
Southey himself, however, stands above his
WorhS. 10 MAKE acQualnt9nce with the man
is better than to study the subjects of his
| books. In such memoir as the present, to
glance over the contents of hundred volumes,
lcealing with matters widely remote, would be
owander upon vast circumference when we
| Sht to strike for the centre. If the reader
G;.e to know SouJhey as he read and wrote in
lie lie hrary, as he reioced and sorrowed among
.a 80 ~ 9dreD as he held hands with go,d old
nI as he walked by the lakeside, or lin
se sieh I'm muse near some mountain stream, as
o ND and feared for England as he
tthhoagnSf th life and death and future beyond
Sa VIC elas the end of this small book will have
oeeh accNl lished.
It's prisely thi. which Prof Dowden's
memoir ents. 1t gives portrait of Southey
whlcn the ader instinctively knows to be
faithful as us spirited and comprehensive
rroi Dowoeh style is bright, forcible and
a'tractiVe; ana us volume forms one of the
oesC CONTRIBUTORS Nothe well-designed series
IN which it appears
The American Boo Exchange of New
York publish the first v'unn> of their nonrlar
edition of Gibbons Define a,d Fall of tbs
Roman Empire, with nees by NV HH
Milman and complete ndex Of t., ,orl
The convenient form, small price and I'D
able print of the publications of the Book Ext
change make them exceedinglydesirable for
persons who wish to possess apuidant litera-
ture without too great outlay.
Sporting Adventures in the Far West by j.
Mortimer Murphy (New York: Hrper Broth
ers; Portland: Loring, Short 4 Harmony.
The author, who writes in very sirited and
graphic fashion, was in the Weston country
for nearly seven years; and as naturalist and
| hy,p int H.. IF
the wild inhabitants of the region. Tie OPEN
ing chapter of directions to sportsman as to
outfits, hunting grounds, wood-craft AMI shoot
ing will set fire to the imagination of tie boys
who will read his book; and he tells many
thrilling tales of grizzlies and wolves, and OF
: less formidable creatures. Several ilustra-
tions add to the interest of the volume, which
is gaily bound in peacock-blue, gold and red,
with grizzly on guard over the authors
| name.
! Camp and Cabin (New York: Fords, How
ard & Hulbert Portland: Loring, Short &
l Harmony is little volume of Western sketches
written by Mr.. Rosster w. Raymond, editor
of the Engineering and Mining Journal
Thanksgiving Joe is very pathetic story,
somewhat in Mr.. Bret Harte's serious VEIN
and Agamemnon is we'll told in lighter and
more amusing style. Widow Baker is a tale
: of New England of which Mr. Raymond re-
marks: "The only justification can offer for
including New England story in such COL
J lection is the fact that the language and influ-
ence of New.England are found everywhere in
the West, and that nobody objects to their
company" Indeed, Widow Baker commends
herself. The Wonders of the Yellowstone
the Ice-Caves of Washington Territory, and
! the Ascent of Gray's Peak form the subjects
, of very interesting and picturesque descriptive
| sketches.
Another volume of Professor William j.
,, Rolfe's edition of Shakespeare's Plays, con-
+ tains King John, with notes aud illustrations.
This edition merits unqualified praise as in
every way adapted for the use of students and
families by its clear and instructive comments.
convenient size, excellent type, paper and il