The Portland daily press., 1885-01-17

many faults. Few women have been so Bit
terly censured; but that was partly the fault
Of the time in which she lived. Not, we
hope, that at present the moral standard is
any lower, but that ''justice is tempered by
mercy" and broader views are extant upon
the so-called "woman question" In her re-
markably well written and interesting book
Mrs. Pennell says, mo one can read the life
of Mary WollstonecrafG without loving her,
or follow her first bitter struggles without
feeling honor, nay reverence, for her true
womanliness which bore her bravely through
them. She never shrank from duty nor la
mented her clouded YOUTH" And we think
all thoughtful minds will acquiesce in this
opinion. After many years justice is being
done this remarkable woman; and the pres
ent history of her brave struggles against ad-.
verslty, her literary work, her failures and
her successes will be found of absorbing in
terest.
Sir Moses Montehore. A Centennial Biog-
raphy, with Selections from Letters and
Journals. BY Lucien Wolf. Illustrated.
New York: Harper & Brothers; Portland:
Lori G, Short & Harmony. The Centennial
Biography of Sir Moses Montefiore is a vol
ume OF much interest at the present time,
and will be of still more value after the
death of this good man. as historical rec
ord. His charities lave been exhaustless
and his catholicity remarkable. "Although,"
says his biographer, "hs brethren, from
their unprotected state, have always had the
first claim upon his benevoeuce, Sir Moses's
charity has not been confined to them. His
is almost always the first response to every
appeal, irrespective of religious differences.
Not mansion house list is published but in
cudes his name, and his private char
ity knows no secta7ian limits" Lady
Montefore aided and encouraged her
husband in all his good works. A woman
of extraordinary talents and accomplish
ments, she still 10 a quiet and unassuming
way tdevoutly fulfilled the duties of jew
ish wife," ''Her generosity knew no bounds.
no one ever sought help of her and was de-
MED" The history of Sir Moses Mootefi-
ores lie is the history of his people during
the last one hundred yearst and Mr.. Wolf
has succeeded iu making a volume which
contains great deal of valuable and inter-
esting information, which is compiled from
official records and other reliable data.
Madam. By Mrs. Oliphant. New York:
Harper & Brothers; Portland: Loring, Short
& Harmony. Mrs. Oliphant's last novel is
another evidence of the versatility of this
brilliant and talented writer. 1t is far from
an agreeable story; in fact anything more
| unpleasant than the plot, or the manner in
| which it is worked out, can scarcely be con-
ceived. 1t is unnecessarily painful, and alto
gether improbable; and yet there i s the i'm
print of the authors genius, and we are in
terested in spite of ourselves. But the story
| is not clever enough to make its readers will
| ing to undergo the prolonged agony which is
| inflicted from the beginning to the end of
| the book, and which is unrelieved by any
ray OF pure sunshine, and we are quite ready
| to pronounce it one of the least satisfactory
! of Mrs. Oliphants works, and in spite of
certain fascination which it possesses, alto
| gether unlike anything else which has come
| from the pen cf this gifted woman. 1t is a
story of extremes, The good people are too
| good, the bad too bad, the wise too wise,
and the foolish too foolish. 1t may be called
| original, perhaps, as the plot and the char
| acters are wholly unexpected-but in Mad.
am the author certainly has not given us of
her best, which is excellent.
| The Correspondence and Diaries of John
| Wilson Croker. Edited by Louis ]. Jen-
nings. New York: Charles Scribners Sons;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony Crok-
er was Secretary to the Admiralty for twen-
| ty-one years, namely from 1909 to $780, and
was the founder of the Quarterly Review
| and one OF its principal contributors. His
] position, social and literary, made him the
associate of the leading men of his day. The
book before US is crowded with materials for
! literary and political history of the first
half of The Nineteenth Century. Says the
| Quarterly Review for October: "Anecdotes
| of universal interest come to us at first hand
| we are taken into the best company -gener-
ais, statesmen, aud literary men, such as
Wellington, Canning, Lyndhurst, Peel, Lord
Ashburion, Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Gra-
ham, Guizot, Metternich, Sir Walter Scott,
Isaac D'IsTaei, Lockhart, and others; see
them ia their lighter as we'll as graver
| vivid, and in some more pleasing, impress
| sion of them than we have before enter
tained." The work is escellently printed
and admirably edited by Louis J. Jennings.
Custom and Myth. By Andrew J. Lang,
M. A., Late Fellow of Merton College, Ok
| ford. New York; Harper & Brothers !;
| Portland: Loring, Short & Harmony This
is series Of essays, the result of years of
study of Oriental Mythology, and cannot
fail to interest even that difficult person to
| please, ''the general reader.' The author
denominates these essays ''fint fakes from
a Neolilhic workshop and speaks of his
work as merely skirmishing in front of
more methodca attempt to vindcate the
anthropological Interpretation of myths. Es-
| pecially interesting is his essay on the Kalev-
| ella, the Finnish Epic which was the source
| from which Longfellow drew bis inspira-
| ton when COMPOSING Hiawatha. Scarcely
less interesting are the essays on Cupid .Rsy-
che and the Sun Frog and the myth of CIo-
| nus. The book should have wide reading.
Songs of the Silent World and Other Po-
ems. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Boston /:
Houghton, Mlffiin 6 Co; Portland: Loring,
Short 6 Harmony. We find Miss Phelps's
pretty and dainty volume of poems just pub
| llshed to be in her most strikingly character
| tic manner. The Songs of the Silent World,
with which the book opens, are in the spirit
of The Gates Ajar, and have an earnest and
| pathetic ring If the verse of this writer
has not the power Of her prose, ii is still in
teresting, original and of more than common
merit and attraction. The book contains
very excellent portrait of the author, which
will make it still more valuable to her hosts
of friends and admirers.
Fresh Fialds Pv Holm Rnrrouohs (Ros