Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-07-07
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

Is Retrospect of q Long Life" BY S. C.
Hall. F. S. A. New York D. Appleton &
Company. This is book made 40 of those
odds and ends that are universally interest
ing. The author did not need to write "a
man of letters by profession, under his name
on the title page. the whole book being IN.
mistaksbly the work of a mind and pen
trained to take note Of and make the most of
every subject of Importance TO reading man.
kind-in short, a journalist. Mr.. Hall was
horn with the century, and at 80 Is able to
sketch wildly from personal recollection the
sedan chairs, the boisterous clergy, the robust
eating and drinking, the unsatisfactory da.
gUerteOtYpes-he was the fifth man to be
- taken 10 E1gland-khe corrupt elections
snd all the horrors of sixty years sgO, from
which we have emerged into a decidedly bet
ter state OF fairs. The Recollections" are
divided into classes. as the newspaper press
Of long ago; the Houseso of Lords and Commons
MIR. Hall began life SIS Parliamentary report.
err; the origin Of some public charities; The au-
thors, actors and artists the writer has known,
snd recollections OF Scotland. Ireland, Paris
and Germany. Each subject Is treated in
paragraphs, short or long as its scope de-
Easnds, ehe theme indicated at the beginning
Of the paragraph in small capitals Taere Is
great variety, and the whole makes book
delightful 20 turn over and dip into at ran
com. The biographical parts are very Cos.
sipy and entertaining, while always chsrita-
Die, and IA the case Of notable scandals and
Eltelicities, gFayely reticent. In she essay,
for it Is almost that, on the elder Lord Lyt-
t01-which is classified with Recollectious of
.ri- lrfspny Ill i
Eer's sub editor on the Nei0 Monthly MaFz-
tae-we are told that the present Lord Lyt-
k0n Is preparing a memoir of his iIlustrious
Esther, who ID described as having been
scutely and morbidly sensitive TO attack and
rldicule, AMI therefore prosecuted by the
Es5ps Of criticism until MS life was
sn agony. The RecOllections ara warmly
Iaudatory Of Irish character and sympa-
thetic with the troubles of the Irish nation,
the rural destitution in the days Of tithes and
middlemeh being very graphically described.
Blr. Halls wife was Irish, and he pays slfec-
slonste tribute 20 her character and writings,
she having been, it appears, 90 prolific with
her pet Chat she constantly read sketches of
her own with interest, not recognizing them
as hers. Mr.. Hall announces and defends his
hrm faith in Spirituaisn, snd writes that
William and Mary Hewitt were also con-
WINGED Spirituslists, and that IN their house
ne was IL communication with spirits IF dead
frjeads. Ia the portrait Of Mr. Hall, which
forms the frontispiece of the volume, there is
so be traced somewhat Of the .ook Os the
mystic. There ia throughout the book sn al.
most comic loyalty to Queen Victoria, God
bless her being always added after auy men
ton OF her name. The sovereign Lsdv settled
5 literary pension on both Mr.. Hall and his
wife. The index, while it is complete, Is not
altogether satisfactory, names Of persons and
places being sometimes arbitrarily cIasssd.
For sale by James 7. White & Co, San
Francisco.
"Dust A Novel" By Julian Hsw-
thorne. New York Fords. Howard &
Hurlbert. Mr.. Hawthorne writes in svOWed
protest against the novel of analysis, oppos-
ing athereto the novel Of plot aud incident ::
but this his latest story owes much OF its in
terest to very searching and subtle analysis
in the case of the three principal characters.
The scene is laid entirely in England in the
year 1920, when " horsehesh was one Of the
most influential religions in England; pugil-
ism being another caste third, and drunk
snness the fourth" The rise OF s groat bank.
ing house, whose head st the time OF the
story also runs a great gambling house. isop-
srdiziug the one for the Other ia excelieDtly
told. Mr.. Hawthorne is not coldly superior
to being very much in love with one Cf his
OF the women whose love is g mans hest edu-
cation, yet one whom a man Of balsnce and
Judgment wouid much prefer not to
marry. Psrdits is beautiful, subtle,
luxurious, supple in mind 81 body, singularly
well-bred, and so worldly that one doubts a
little whether she would, logically, have COM
1nitted suicide as her creator makes her do,
snd there is the fslseness and glitter about
her which is the outcome of French training.
IL. II. III III
character. Philip Lancaster, the hero, is a
good study Of literary character. Intense
vanity, coupled with morbid self-deprecistion,
inveterate self-analysis, titful capacity for
hard work, the gift OF loving and the iutui-
ton TO love the woman who will have the
best influence upon him; an sudAcious i'm
agination which is bewitched with the reck-
Iessness Of intrigue, and 8 calm dominating
intellect which shows him the folly Of flying
IN the face Of society these-sre the elements
Of the nature which Mr.. Hawthorne hss de-
vsloued by the action Of his story. What
keeps the novel from being even very great is
. lack of cslmness, \ certain tinge Of revolt
aud morbidity 10 the authors own conception
Of the universe, which constantly Jars upon the
reader and throws him into a state Of pro-
test. 1t is very uncomfortable of Philip not
TO say that he loves his Marion on the last
page, and only a man in passing mood of
irritation would answer his wife By saying
thst such men as he were the curse of the
earth. The literary style is excellent though
the use Of the contraction " It's for it Is "
is so prevalent as to become teasing and If
this is characteristic of che year 1920 so, as
Mr.. Hawthorne justly Observes were doosid"
and BOUNDS. yet he has left those e1ple-
lives to the imagination. For sale By W. A.
L c. S. HoughtoD, Sacramento.
"Old Creole Days" By George ". Gable.
New York, Charles Sc-ibner'a Sons. Under
this name Mr.. Cable mas collected bis Creole
stories, many of which appeared in the Cen
t,,Tg MdgdeiHe, into two handy little volumes
bound in red.broWn psper covers, esch vol
ume complete il it7elf. Madame Del.
phine is the most elaborate. and perhaps the
best of the first volume; Poison Jone.' Of
the second. Mr.. Cable mas found q new field
in the picturesque scores aud dialect Of New
Orleans before the war, snd he has BEEN able
to work his idea. The lsnguor and slight
tumhle-to- pieces air OF the South is conveyed
one scarcely knows how, not in direct words
certainly, and yet the impression is always
thsre For exquisite fitness of words 10 the
thing described this of Madame Delphine's
daughter could hardlybe surpassed: She had
the soft, lsck-luster beauty of the South no
ruddiness of coral, no wszel white. no pink
of shell no heavenly blue IN the glance but
= face that seemed, in all its other beauties,
only a tender accompaniment for the large
brown ewes. We say no color of
shell on face or throat but this was no de-
GciencY, that which took its place being the
warm, transparent tint Of sculptured ivory"
The relations of the priests 20 their parish
toner's is very beautifully told, the author
seeming TO appreciate the grace ana tender
nefs and artistic value Of the unsslEshness
producal by genuine religions feeling. The
love has It's place in them. The dsnoUement
cf POsson LONG l. eFsr hros1lv hi,morors