The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-04-26
LITERATURE.
Books.

The accession nj queen Victoria 10 inc 'cfl
eral Election of 1880. BY Justin McCar by,
MP. Harper & Brothers, New York; Jan.
sen, mcclure n Co., Chicago. OTTAWA:
For sale by Hapeman II Graham $40
No book in the present decade was re-.
ceived with lvelier interest or welcomed
with more popular favor than Justin Nc
Carthy's A History Of Our Onn Times. II
covered period of English history
crowded with stirring events and Il galaxy
of statesmen and politicians such rs nc
other period had produced II large proper
ton of whom We're still living and conspic-
uous actors on the political stage. To
write up these men and events trutbfully
and iearlessly, without giving offense for
injustice or exciting contempt for flattcry,
and in q way to win applause, was an
achievement that evinced master hand.
But life Is short, and the work embraced
three ponderous volumes, Astounding in
many rhetorical passages, brilliant reiiec-
tons, moralizings and philos )phizings,
that could often be only irksome To the
general reader To make il more available
for popular ,ise the author has been prevail
ed upon TO prepare an abbreviatOn Of his
great work, reducing ii to about althird Of
its former bulk There is no omission OF
his brilliant sketches Of eminent men or
change of the substance of current histori
cal narrative the elimination being confined
the such passages AS were intended more
70 give color and finish 10 the authors
periods than to add to the intrinsic value
Of the work AZ a popular historic record
In its present form the book is all that the
ordinary reader can desire, and we agree
with the suggestion that it would be an
admirable text book for our higher schools
in which contemporary history is lament
ably neglected
THE CONQUEST or ENGLASD. BY John Rich
ard Green, NJ. A., LII. d., author of THE
Making Of England" &c. Harper n Bro
Tiers, New York; Jansen, McClurg " Co.,
Chicago For sale by Ilapeman * Graham,
Ottawa. Price, $3.50.
A deep and melancholy interest attaches
20 this book 1t was composed by man
far advanced In consumption when he
commenced ii, and who at each step felt
more keenly the grip OF the last enemy.
Indeed only the first few chapters were
written by his own hand, others being die.
tated by him and the rest put together by
his intelligent and capable widow from
materials he had left behind him, partly in
printed form, as she tells us in the preface,
and partly in manuscript notes and papers
written from month 10 month, often con
sisting only Of rough and imperfect frag-
ments Yet rs drawn into connected
whole by Mrs. Green, these are essentially
the product of Mr. Green and of great his
torical value The plan of Mr.. Green in
his studies of early English history, seems
10 have been suggested by the work of
Mr.. Freeman, who had begun with the in
depreciation of the Norman Conquest
Back of that lay many years In obscurity,
the calculation of which was essential to Il
complete view OF the English people.
The Making of England" was one of the
results of Mr. Green's studies In that direc-
ton, covering the four hundred years dur
ing which England was in the process Of
formation or making, reaching from the
conquest of Britain by the Saxons, the
.Jutes and Angles to the union of all Eng
land under Egbert. The gap between Eg.
bert and the opening of Mr.. Freeman's
history remained to be filed, and for this
the conquest of England" was designed.
But whatever regret we may feel that
Mr.. Green was not allowed himself To
bring his great plan to completion, the
book Is one still of inestimable value and
interest Few brighter or more active in
tellects have been given to the world in
recent years than that of John Richard
Green, and with the decay of the body his
mind seemed only to brighten and etheria-
lie. He had the marvellous faculty be
yond any author We have ever read of
transporting himself to remote times and
living, SO to speak, among the people of
whom he wrote. The laws, the manners,
the customs of the people, the village life,
the appearance OF the land-all are repre-
sented with vividness rs pleasing as II Is
wonderful While it is hard to read with
out tears the faithful wife's details of the
last struggles of the dying author TO finish
his work, one can rs little repress II feeling
of gratitude that she has not allowed the !
results of those dying efforts to perish, but
preserved them is so graceful though I'M
perfect form
TIMES OF FREDERICK l. An Historical Ro-
nance of the period succeeding the reign OF
Charles XII. From the Swedish of Prof. Il.
TOpelius Vol. " of "The Surgeons
Storics") Jansen, McCurg " Co, Chica-
90. For sale by +. Y. Griggs, Ottawa.
Price, Sl.25.
In the Fourth Volume of THE Surgeons
Stories Times Of Frederick y, Prof.
Topelius has drawn wonderful picture Of
the condition of Sweden in the ever
memorable period succeeding the Times