The Portland daily press., 1886-01-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

| Siege anu CdptuIe VI rofI Loyal, anu De-
struction of Falmouth, May 20, 1890. By
John T. Hull. This volume dc octave pages
| is issued as City document and is neatly
| printed by the new firm of Owen, Strout &
| Co. The article was read before the Maine
Genealogical Society, June Q, 1885. A map
of the Neck as it is supposed to have APP
pcared in 1890 is given, in which Thames
street is represented as the eastern arm of
Fore street. This looks strangely to those
who are familiar with Willis's 1775 map, OF
who can remember it as it appeared before
it was incorporated into Commercial street.
The author justly observes that this was no
ordinary raid, but a part of plan originated
at the court of Versailles for the conquest of
New York and New England, and one of the
most important events in our local history.
In his introduction he quotes Willis's state
ment that Gen. Jedediah Preble served with
Wolf at Quebec, which Mr.. Goold has here
tofore shown to be incorrect. The author
has collected everything obtainable about the
siege, but the record is brief. A few pages
contain all that was reported ON either side,
but he has added many interesting documents
and notes which explain the situation. He
quotes the French account as saying that
sour people lay ON the nights of the 26th
and 9th on the ocean within fifty feet of
the fort Reference to the translation on
p. 76 shows it to be Fifty PAGES, or $50 feet;
and probably con the ocean, in the original
meant on the shore, just as BoutOnge sumner
means Boulogne by the sea and not on it; so
that the French camp was behind a bold
bluff 100 feet from the fort
He thinks the bones of the slaughtered
were buried inione grave in the Eastern Gem
etery, but there is no evidence that that GEM
etery was ever used until twenty-seyen years
later, and it is more probable that they were
buried near the fort, and it is also likely
that the earliest burial ground was near the
meeting house ON Maehigonne Point
1t is gratifying to have everything relative
to our early history put in print, and Mr..
Hull deserves many thanks for his diligence
and labor in preparing this valuable sketch.
The wide divergence of the meagre original
statements show the difficulty of obtaining
reliable accounts. Thus Mather's account
quoted by Willis, 6 ives thirty as the number
of Clark's company who fell into the am
bush ON Munjoy, and fourteen as the number
slain. Robert WatsonS narrative makes
the company twenty-siX and the slain TWEEN
ty; and Governor Bradstreet's letter gives
the same statement The French account
made the company thirty and the slain twen-
ty-fve, only fire, all oounded, escaping
to the garrison. While the Able Maurault,
in his history of the Abenakis, says the COM
pany consisted of fifty, of whom forty-six
were killed and four escaped covered with
wounds. Readers who struggle to reconcile
these statements will be less prone to criti-
else reporters of the present day who fail to
agree precisely in every detail.
The whole subject deserves more attention
than has heretofore been given it, and if
Mr.. HulPs suggestion of a monument to the
victims of that massacre cannot be carried
out it is to be hoped that historians will be
able to dig out of past records the names of
those who there fell, and embalm them in
the memories of their townsmen.
Poems of William Wetmore Story 2 vols.
Boston and New York: Houghton, Miffiin &
Co.; Portland: Loring, Short & HARMONY
Thes too dainty volumes from the River
side Press contain nearly all the poems here
tofore published under the titles of "Grafii
D'Italia," NOW out of print, and HE and
She, or Poets Portfolio" with a selection
from previous volume printed in 1850, and
number of fugitive poems which have APP
peared in various magazines, and some which
have never before appeared in print. These
poems are more than graceful verses-such
as can be turned off by men of emotional de-
yelopment, who have the knack of clothing
their thoughts in rythmical language-they
are the products of richly endowed and ex-
ceptionally artistic nature which has found
field fetted for its genius, and has lived his
life, done its work, and spoken its thoughts
in.the full enjoyment of his surroundings.
As sculptor and poet America may well be
proud of this son ef one of her most illustri-
GUS jurists who abandoned his law books,
and devoted himself to art alone. In so do
ing he has lost his distinctive character as an
American and taken on the cosmopolitan
tone of a citizen of Rome; but no one can
read these poems without feeling that the
world has been gamer by the change.