The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-04-27
Magazine Notices.

1t is easy to see upon what elements of popu-
larity in the May Scribner the publishers have
issued an extra edition of this number First
OF all, the personal interest is large. Four as
poets OF Thomas Carlyle are treated Of: Mr..
Emerson giving his personal Impressions Of
him in 1S4S, and Mr.. George Saintsbury, the
well-equipped English critic, writing an ex-
haustive essay on his literary work, while his
prophetic character and the '.reminisce nces''
come in for notice in the editorial departments.
Jenny Lind is the subject of a paper of criticism
by the composer, Sir Julius Benedict, who
was her pianist during her American tour;
this paper includes comparison of her with
her contemporaries, Persiani. Grisi and Mali
bran. Concerning Artemus Ward number of
readable anecdotes are given in paper OF
reminiscence of his home and family by a
townsman Of Waterford, Maine. The localities
of Dickens's scenes as explored by the writer,
DIR. B. E. Martin, constitute another popular
theme. Three interesting subjects of adven-
ture are treated in the Mutineers of the Boun-
ty, a journal of the life of the Pitcairn Island
ers from lS59-S0, by Miss Rosalind A. Young.
native; Amongithe Esquimaux with Schawtka
by W. III. Glider, second officer of the Frank
lin Search Party, and author of the HERALD
letters-the first magazine paper on the expe-
dition-and the Wild Sheep of the Sierra, by
John Muir, the Sierra naturalist, who in his
poetic way records some curious facts about
these mountaineers, whom he has studied
above the clouds A paper of facts and figures
about Post Office Savings Banks in Great Brit
ain appears just when the new Postmaster
General is announcing his intention of estab-
fishing the system here. Most timely of all,
however, is Colonel Warnings first pa
per on The Sanitary Condition of New
York, which makes a sad showing of the dan
gers to health which lie in wait for the citizens
of the metropolis.
The fiction consists of the first part of Mr.
Cables new novelette,, Madame Delphine with
pirate hero and quadroons, and light story,
Houi Soft Qui Nal y Pense, which affords
some bright glimpses of mischievous children,
and at the start gives the reader a nut t.
crack. Mr. Boyesen has :: long narrative poem
OF Christianity in Rome il che first century,
written in dactyllic hexameter. DR.. Holland
has Threnody; a well-known poet contributes
A Stirrup-cup, without his name; and there
are shorter pieces by Andrew Lang, Susan NJ.
Spaulding, and j. II. Morse.
The illustrations include some striking
material. The frontispiece is portrait of
Thomas Carlyle, engraved by Cole after the
Photograph by the late Mrs. Cameron. Unlike
most portraits of the Chelsea sage this does not
represent him in decrepitude. Another en-
craving of excellence is a full-page portrait of
Jenny Lind, from a daguerreotype taken in
America in 1850 and never before engraved.
Other portraits of popular interest are Mr..
Blum's half-length of Lieut.. Schwatka in Es-
quimaux Dress, and MIR. Birch's Artemus
Ward as Lecturer, based on an old sketch in
the now defunrt London Illustrated Times and
vouched for by Brownies friends as a most
faithful portrait. Among the other illustra-
tions are drawings of Sairey Camps, Peggot-
tvs Boat-house, The White Horse Inn, Foun
tain Court, The Temple, the alleged originals
of The Old Curiosity Shop, and The Little
Wooden Midshipman, and other scenes from
Dickens; four striking finished drawings by
Blum of Roman subjects in the first century
the Augurs, the Vestal Virgins, the Flavian
Arena, etc.; map of the Schwatka sledge
journeys and sketches of related incidents;
finely engraved heads of merino ram and wild
sheep of the Sierra, with other sketches; two
large Cossack pictures and a reliable map of
the original topography of New York City, re-
constructed from old data.