The Portland daily press., 1893-11-11

/ should seem as though some resting
ground might be found for the question
OF authenticity. DR.. Vincent is an inves-
tigator of much learning and scholar.
ship, as would be suggested by this
| book, it the readers were unacquainted
with his other published works. In the
| Handbook he has compressed vast
| number of authorities upon all the dis
puted points, and when he makes any
comments they are terse and pithy.
For example IA. W. Meyer and asso.
ciates: Kritisch exegetischen Kommentar
Der das Neue Testament: @Myer is a
prince among, exegetes. He is honest,
learned, fair, pervaded with the historic
consciousness, independent of dogmatic
canons, Judicial, clear in statement.
He leans toward an excessive liberalism,
and is not a good authority on textual
questions" J. p. Louege: Bibelwerk
| on the entire Bible, contains much
valuable matter, but is loaded with a
mass OF useless lumber, such as homi.
litical and practical reflections, etc.
There is an excellent index at the close
of the volume.
The Life of Sh kespeare. Copied from
the best Sources, without Comment. By
Daniel W. Wilder. Boston :ssLittle, Brown
u Company; Portland: Loring, Short
& HARMONY This little book of two
hundred pages is crammed full of care
fully selected information, concerning
the great poet upon whom tones upon
tonnes have been written, from Samuel
johnson to sDelia Bacon and Ignatius
Donnelly. The great Shakesperian
scholar and antiquary, James Orchard
liwell-Phillipps, is the source from
which the author has largely drawn his
material, and the excerpts from him and
other authorities are. judiciously ar
ranged and edited The book is of I'M
doubted value and will save much troub-
lie and research to one seeking accurate
data of Shakespeare and his plays.
Yanko, the Musician and Other Stories
By Henry Sienkilwiez Translated
from the Polish by jeremiah Curtin.
Boston: Little, Brown & Company;
Portland: Loring, Short s. Harmon.
1t is not always necessary to be familiar
with foreign language to arrive at a
correct estimate Of the skill of the trans
lator; and we venture to say that Mr..
Curtin has caught the flavor of his au-
thor in presenting US the English form
of these delightful stories. They are five
in number: The Little One, The Light
house Keeper of Aspinwall, Diary of
Tutor in Poznam, A Comedy of Errors
and Bartch, the Victor. We will not
undertake to offer analyses of these tales.
but we freely commend them for the
spirit, humor and tenderness which
make them attractive to young and old.
The Boys of Greenway Court. A Tale
of the Early Days of Washington. By
Hezekiah Butterworth. Mr.. Butterworth
has given Us some excellent boys books
before, such as In the Boyhood of Lin
coin, The Log Schoolhouse on the Co.
fnmbia, The Zigzag Books, etc. and this
is perhaps, the most interesting of the
lot. Historical plays, stories, novels,
poems by the masters are not only the
most intensely. interesting, but by their
vivid pictures, striking delineations of
character, rapid movement and brilliant
dialogue, they place us upon the very
scenes themselves, make US participants
or eyewitnesses and profoundly impress
us as the usually sombre page of the
plodding historian has no power to do.
Such masters are Shakespeare, Scott.
Hugo, Thackeray and Dumas-they
are unfailing fountains of delight, and
they lead their reader to more serious
and substantial investigation Of the per-
sonages and events that they so brightly
place before him. The story on our desk
is very pleasantly told, with plenty of
coloring and movement. The book is
beautifully gotten up, with large type
upon good paper and adorned with ten
capital illustrations. (New York: D. Ap-
pleton & Company; Portland: Loring,
Short & Harmony
Paul Du Chaillu has been name to
conjure with. His Explorations in Cen.
GHdA allICds OtOElcS VI tu6 COfllla COun-
try. The Country of the DIV arts, The
Land of the Midnight Sun, and others
have been as fascinating in their presen-
tation of facts as Jules Verne has beau
in the most extravaganza flights of his
imagination. Three years ago he pub
lished The Viking Age. in which he at
tackled the generally received belief that
Englishmen are of Anglo Saxon origin,
claiming that they came from Scandi-
navia, and that the Norsemen settled
England instead of the German tribes,
and gave it its name; "that the word
Eng Swedish ang) is d common appel
lation all over Scandinavia; that Eng
land or 'angland' to this day is the
name given to fat, grassy land by the
Morse people, as it was in earlier times.
The probability is that the Norsemen,
seeing the fat shores of Britain on the
North Sea, called it England or Land
of Meadows. and tho nany,Ia in Tho oo,,roo