New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TWO FAMOUS WOMEN.

a.~n n pvvruA THOMAS. Famous Women
sSr,es. ismo pp 27s. Roberts brotners'
MARY LAME ,smo BY pp As sse RS5srts Brothers
m. .Fomous Women Series" does not materially
.~,r,oxa with the successive issues. III Is good
.rougb feminine writing but 1T Is. perhaps not
exsctlv literature and there is more than chance
4h.t n may become tedious Miss Blinds book on
George Eliot was interesting and tasteful; MISS
Robipson's story Of Emily Bronte's life wasinter-
es,ina and hysterical; Miss Thomas's biography
of George Sand is interesting but unimportant. one
treats the career of the great Frenchwomah Win
the eingeriness with which refined woman VIII
ing for other refined won en- would naturally 'ouon
upon life so full of storm and stress ibis WISE
and right and quite 1T should De 1or MISS
Thomas; but as we have said before, this is
not literature. The material ior SUI
Gent biography of George Sand Is NOT Vos
comnlete and no woman now hving
has as vet shown herself competent to prepare sucn
n memorial. It could only be another George
Sand who could write of Aurore Dudevant WIN
the breadth. the Justice and tie understanding VI
man. and the sympathy and generosity OF woman
when such person arises the fit biography vi 'no
greatest French no veist after Balzac may DC gvon
to the world. 1t is only just TO say tn'' Hi'S'
Tbomas doe, not pretend to offer more than gen
eral outline of the history of her subject; po'
il is a question whether general Outline VI 'ni'
sort is necessary or desired.
Miss Thomas-who is an English noveilst Oh SONIC
abiltv-exhibits divers faults of STYLE but writes
ON the whole. with directness and simplicity. Her
somewhat colorless book will placidly interest the
reader but will not rouse him to discussion nor 10
much reflection Much space is gwen
to description and criticism OF George
Sands works In this Miss Thomas
Ia with few exceptions comfortably at home, show.
ing knowledge intuition and nice conception Oh
literary values. She has apparently carefuiiy re-
strained enthusiasm for her subject; though she
writes throughout in an admirng strain, she does
not often thicken her ink overmuch with money
The publishers of this volume arc also the pun
fishers of several works by George Sand, ana tnoy
have defaccd the biography by advertising In u
foot-note each of these particular novels "nen
referred to in the body of the text above ms IS
piece of bad taste which exasperates the reader anu
which we would not have expected from firm OF
Roberts Brothers Judgment and reputation.
Mrs. Gichrisps monograph on Mary Lamb
dese,ves pralse for the skilful editorship II
aisplays 1t presents comparatively few pages
of original matter, most of 1t being apt and
wisely selected extracts from the letters and other
writings of Mary and her brother Charles Ihese
are 80 carefully and tastefuly combined as to form
n pleasant biography of the gentle creature who, IN
spite OF sorr0w and insanity, bestowed SO mucn JOY
and 40 much kindness. The volume adds little to
our knowledge of the brother and sister, but it puts
into AN agreeable abstract that touching story OF
life-Ione devotion, unsel6shness and courage Lam
doris socaled extravagant admiration for Miss Lamb
hardly seems extravagant in the face of the testi-
mopy of Charles and of all their friends. Marys
nature was of endearing tenderness. depth and 10y
atty; she was perpetrator as well as cause OF
much sweet wit and quaint pathos; and that she
had more than touch of the genius that glorlnes
the name of her brother may be seen In her WORK
1t is difficult to read without something that
feels like tearsn her exquisitely simple
little story of Elizabeth villiers" Had it not
beeu for her perpetual battle with insanity so
brayely fought, she might have won noble place
in literature.
The love and care which Mary gave to Charles,
the love and care which he gave in return, were
such IA are not often seen in this sefseekng world
1t was the unselfsh tenderness of lifetime, not
that of few months and years. Charles LAMPS
slender and delicate body held soul which
was strong to suffer and to soothe
the suffering of another. Nervous,
tremulous as he seemed" writes Talfourd, so
slight of frame that he looked only fit for the most
placid fortune, when the dismal emergencies which
cbeckered bis life arose he acted with as much
promptitude and ylg0r as III ne were sliuhe Win
herculeau sinews" Never any one have known
in this world,n says De Quincy, upon whom for
bounty, for indulgence and forgiveness and
for regal munifcence, you might have thrown
yourself with SO absolute reliance
"a upon this comparatively poor Charles Lamb"
1t was of this nan that arrogant Thomas Carlyle
wrote with contempt that might justly have been
meted out only to adebased and ignorant drunkard
The contrast is worth remembering :-Carlyie,
burly selfish, vain abusing everything which did
not exactly suit hin own peculiar tastes
whining and rearing continually about his
dyspepsia and making life with 1t
a burden to himself and every one about HIM ;
Lamb, delicate, poverty-stricken, struggling
Increasingly with the demon of madness, with
attacks of nervous fever, seepessness and depres-
sion vet CHEEKY, self sacrificing and helpful to the
hour Of his death.
The life of Mary Lamb was so bound up in that OF
her brother that the biography of one must neces-
sarily be the biography of both. Mrs. Gichrist has
ingeniously managed that they shall
tell their own story; and If her volume reads
like an enlarged Quarterly RecieU article. 1T is not
the worse for that She reprints for the first time
Mary Lambs wise little essay on "Neediework,"
which fret appeared in The British Ladys Magazine
gives hitherto unpublished and not very impor-
tant note by Lamb. and also the undated and un-
addressed letter which Coerdge wrote to Lamb on
the tragic death Of his mother and which was in
clnded in Gilimans unfinished " Life of C0lerldge."