Los Angeles herald., 1892-11-20
ABOUT BOOKS AND DO0xMAKE&
The Monk and the Hangmaa's
Daughter a Wierd Take.
Mr.. Meriwether's Last BOok-Travels
on the Mediterranean.
Famous Women OF tho French Court.
Reviews of = Number of New Pub
lications-Book Notes
and Comments.
lay L. lB.l

On OatuTOay 'eVoulus VI i"oV "o
Miss Mather closed her engagement at
the Grand Opera house, presenting
lengthy version of Victor Hugo's Es-
meralda, called in this instance Inc
Egyptian. The tragic ending OF the IN
fatuated monk in the last 'act sustains
startling resemblance to the closing
event of the life of the principal char
.acter in the new novel collaborated by
Ambrose Bierce and G. A. Danziger OF
San Francisco, entitled The Monk and
the Hangman's Daughter. The founda-
tion of the novel is an old manuscript
originally belonging to the Franciscan
monastery at Berchtesgaden, Bavaria.
The manuscript was obtained from
peasant by Herr Richard Voss of Heidel-
berg, from whose German version the
book is an adaptation. The work is
printed on fine paper, with marginal
headings in red ink in an entirely
unique and original style. The illustra-
tions are full page, by Theodore Hamp.
and are some of the best specimens OF
modern book illustrations. Bierce is q
strong writer, one of the strongest OF
the present day, and the father CT a
school of literature that is 30 unique
that he has but few followers.
His work is o source of never failing
iov to those whom he does not excoriate,
but steel and vitriol have no terrors for
the men who have stood before one OF
his assaults with pen and ink. He is
the apostle of the Opposite, which is
merely originality. In this adaptation
the writers leave but little of the orig
inal story, and there is so much OF their
own clever work that to all intents and
purposes the work is almost entirely
new, The scene is laid in the noun
tains of Bavaria in the latter part of the
18th century, and is portion OF the lie
of q young Franciscan monk named Am
brosius of the monastery OF Berchtes-
gaden. 1t tells of his removal from the
monastery in the city of Passau to that
of Berchtesgaden, near Salzberg, and an
elaborate and accurate description OF the
mountainous ecenery along the way OF
the meeting between himself and Bene-
dicta, the hangman's daughter, describ-
ing the hardships and ignominy encoun-
tered by the public hangman and his
family in those early days. Then follows
the gradual growing of the monks love
for the beautiful Benedicta, his fight
between love of church, faith and duty
due to his calling and vows, and the
love for this strange, fascinating, but
good child. His superior of the monas-
terry finding out this infatuation, ban
ishes him to a remote spot far up the
mountains.
The position of public hangman b. ing
a revolving one, is kept in one family for
yeare, as it is inherited by the son from
his father, and their families are ostra-
cised and derided by ell the Inhabitants.
On the death OF her father, Benedicta
is forced to flee to the mountains to es-
cape the prosecutions Of her neigh bors,
and by strange fatality wanders to the
same place in which Ambrosius has
taken refuge, but is followed by wild,
unprincipled fellow, the con of the rich
ruler of the estate or province. Then
follow days of peace and love. of jealousy
and rage and despair, days of happiness
and rejoicing, andiof prayer and repent
ance.
The last chapters are devoted to the
elimination of this passion and ;eal.
ousies, in which the monk, having be-
come crazed from fasting and wandering
over the mountains in search of Bene-
dicta, whom be has lost. finds her and
upbraids her for loving the reprobate,
Rochus. murders he- and delivers him
self to justice, being hanged to expiate
his crime. 1t is not strong novel, but
shows some of the evils of the church
laws existing at that time, and from
what we have seen in the verses in
Black Beetles in Amber and the finer
articles in Soldiers and Civilians we be-
lieve Mr.. Bierce writes better by him
self.
1t seems hardly necessary for the
author of A Tramp Trip to apologize for
producing another book OF travels. Lee
Meriwether says in the preface to his
Afoat and Ashore on the Mediterra-
mean, "that he is emboldened to hope
that the chapters of his book, of twice
told tales to the few, may not be devoid
of interest to even experienced travel
ers, who may have failed to see the out
of-the-way places in the Mediterranean
visited by the writer in his little craft,
the Principe Farnese." Mr.. Meri-
wether, however, has not only the ad
vantage of describing unfrequented To-
calities. The charm of his book is due
quite as much to the fact that he is a
practical and admirable narrator, OBJ
serving keenly, and always with sutf-
cient sense of the humorous. His route
lay at first along the coast OF Spain and
Northern Italy, and he saw much and
narrates much that was entertaining in
this part of his trip. More interesting,
perhaps, is the description of his Jour
nev after he chartered the Principe
Farnese, at Naples, and visited the ex-
treme southwestern coast of Italy and
some of the Aegean islands.
The volume has, moreover, deeper
significance than is implied in it's title.
The author was formerly commission
er of labor statistics for the state OF
Missouri. During his narrative he finds
opportunity to say something of i'm
portance regarding the systems OF prison
labor in Europe, the condition OF the
workingmen there, and the cost of pro-
ducing such Mediterranean fruits as are
exported to the United States in compe-
tition with fruits grown in the latter
country. The book contains numerous
reproductions of photographs taken
during the trip. Any reader OF foreign
travels can take cheap trip with this
fascinating author through the sunny
climes of the Mediterranean, skirting
many places which the traveller by rail
never reaches but which are full of
beauty, grandeur and historical data
little known to the outside world.
x*x
The first of the three volumes in the
Famous Women of the French Court,
relating to the duchess of Barry, ended
with the death, in September, 1924. of
Louis XVIII. The second volume, The