Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-17
THE DAILY REC0RD-UNI0N.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

now before US. No author Is more heartily
greeted at this table than Mr.. Green, for he
is at once historian and practical edu-
Gator. We know Of no one who has COM
bined in his historical works so admirably
the facts OF history. with the art of address
ing the masses of the people, as does Pro-
fessor Green. It may be said OF him that he
has popularised the reading of English an
malls, that he has furnished the best volumes |
of English history for textbook uses in in
terrnediate and high schools, and has given |
the most practical example of the art of |
concisenesz in history records without strip !
ping from them any of their truth, or the in |
terest OF their romance, pathos or tragedy. |
1t was with exceeding emotions of pleasure !
that the announcement of more elaborate |
works upon English history from his pen was
received by al who had read his earlier
books. The man who could SO successfully !
lead the youthful reader, awaken his interest
and enchain his attention, as he did in his
Readings from English History" was, we
felt convinced, equal to a like task with the
adult intelligence for the field of experiment.
The practiced historical reader will find re-
awakened interest in studying Greens history,
comparatively with Hume, for instance, as
each one uses the same facts 30 differently as
almost 20 obscure their identity. The radical
difference between these two is called to the
attention on the very opening pages,
and the religious doubts of the one, and
the positiva right mindedness of the other, are
unmistakable, and the rapid passage of the
first over the Saxon annals is in strong con-
trast with the patient researches of the latter
into the springs and sources of English civil |
ization. The academic and lofty style of the |
earlier is In striking comparison to the SIM |
plicity and plainness Of the later writer |
Professor Green is to be classed with the ad- |
yanced practical writers and thinkers. He |
moves with modern thought, not driven by it, |
but is actuated by manifest sympathy with
enlightened moods of the modern. He writes |
with respect amounting almost to rever-
ence for the past but does not permit it to
blind him to the truth. His work does not |
deal so much with mere events rs it does with |
the growth out of events, the march to des-
tiny with comparatively little attention to
habits and customs and mere incidental life !
details, he grasps the thought of the period |
with which he deals, traces it in all its as
poets, and thinks and reasons with prac-
teal plainness that at times is almost cold.
He cannot be said to write brilliantly to
charm by his rhetoric or entrance by schol
arly diction, but he does what is better, he
interests by plain, compact statement and by
following out with unvarying exactness the
sentiment and mood of the period of which
he treats he places the reader among the
people whose history he records, introducing
him to their thoughts and purposes, and max
ing him partaker, as it were, of that era,
without for a moment losing sight of the
present or being led from true lines of judg
ment.
ART In AMERICA. Critical and Historical Sketch.
by S. G. W. Benjamin New York Harper &
Bros. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft s. Co. One
vol. quarto.
This is a freely illustrated and highly en-
bellished work, with about one hundred
choice plates-wood- reproducing in
miniature specimen works of such artists as
Copley, Smybert, Newton, Lully, lie Clear,
Baker, Mount, Weir, Durand, Richards,
Cropsey. Church, Mignot, Lafarge, Moran,
CASTELAR,, Magrath, Rogers, Palmer, Hartley,
Gibson, Reinhart, Eakins, Tiffany, Dielman,
Muhrman, Sartain, Powers, Ward, Story,
Bridges and others. Mr.. Benjamin is the
a series of articles of recent appearance,
which attracted much attention for their his
toric accuracy, cleaIness of perception and
impartiality of judgment, as well as for grace
of diction. Mr.. Ben jamin cannot be said to
be believer in the mere genius of art
he takes the high ground that the art
of a nation is the result of growth
centuries of growth, and that with it, as with
all other efforts of the human intellect, its
browning excellence comes only when ma
turity and repose "Cffer the occasion for its
development" 1t is one of the chief merits
of the test of this writer that at no time does
he permit his judgment to be carried from its
basis by enthusiasm. He, perhaps, may be
more properly styled an art historian than an
art critic, his work partaking more of the
nature Of history than of criticism but 1t is
by no means lacking in critical character
force. The work should not be classed as a
full history, however, but rather as an out
line of the growth of the arts in
America. This seems to have been
the modest aim of the writer, and he
has sUbordinated criticism TO it. He has
not considered the claims of n number of
prominent American artists resident abroad |
to a place in his record, but, as he apologet-
ically suggests, it was necessary to draw the
line somewhere and to have discussed the
productions of American artists away from
home would have enlarged the scope OF the
work too greatly to have permitted its issu-
ance in such form as to popularize it, and
this was one aim, evidently, of the produc
tonic invite reading by those who have
heretofore given but little time to the consid-
Grafton of art culture. The articles in this
work originally appeared in serial fern in
''Harper's Magazine" but in their new ar
rangement possess new interest.
TIE Boy Travellers IN TIE FAR EAST, OR THE Ap-
VENTURES OF Two YoUTHs JOURNEY TO JAPAN
AND CHINA. By Thomas W. Knox. New York
Harper Il Bros san Francisco: A. L. Ban |
croft s. Co. One voi., quarto, illustrated.
This is freely illustrated narrative of the
travels of fictitious characters in Japan and
China. It is written for children and con-
veys in simple and interesting text, much in
formation, while the attention is kept and the
curiosity piqued by sufficient of plot and
story form to engage the juvenile mind from
the first to the last page. Probably this is
the first book written from other than a re-
igious standpoint, TO convey information to
the boys and girls of America concerning the
lands of curiosity and mystery. Mr.. Knox's
descriptive powers are questioned-they !
exceed his endeavors in the realm Of fiction |
by far, for he is not nearly so good a story
teller as he is descriptive writer. However,
he has sufficient tact to address himself to
youth in the narrative form, and this with
more ease and success than we would have
given him credit for, judging from his pre-
yious efforts. His book is one which any
child may read to advantage, and which can
not fail to interest, amuse and instruct.
practical Taxidermy and Home Decora-
ton, - is the title of an octave volume issued
by the Orange Judd Company, New York.
1t is the preparation of Joseph H. Batty,
who was taxidermist for the Hayden Expedi-
ton and for several Government survey
parties. 1t contains much general, useful in
formation for sportsmen, and gives very ex-
plicit directions about camp outfit, the care
of guns, the collecting of animals, the prepa-
ration of their skins for mounting, the preser-
walton of animals heads, the mounting of
skeletons, the stufiug and mounting of birds |
etc, and the setting up of specimens on
shields also the collecting and preparing of
birds eggs, the preserving of fish and reptiles
and of crustaceans and other marine animals
the preparation and care of cabinets, the
making OF rock work, paperiDg and tinting
cases, modelling, casting and carving; deco
rating with natural objects, collecting ferns,
autumn leaves, grasses, etc. And after this