The herald., 1894-07-08
[BY L. BHHYMER ]


[BY L. BEHYMER
RERLYCRoss, a novel, by R. D BLAcKMoRE,
ss'nU. ss'mnl c Cloth. Si.T5. Published BY Harper
! n Brothers, New York city. For sale by the
Htoil & Thayer company Ia9 south spIing
street.
Tho action OF Mr.. Blackmore's new
novel falls at the manhood Of the CEN
tury, more than 80 years ago, and in
Dsvonshire, among those men of Devon.
who, even more than country people
elsewhere, take their time about what
they do and think of thing before they
say it-simple. old-fashioned, highly
respectable, and wonderfully quiet, ex-
'cept when lashed up by some outrage.
And an outrageous act it is that these
people believe to have been committed
fastening suspicion upon the young hero,
rudely interrupting his happiness. and
threatening permanent destruction to
the happiness of Q very gentle heroine.
The event is intimated repeatedly,
and as many times again put in doubt.
80 that the readers sympathetic intar-
est, not less than the fortune OF Sir
}Thomas' daughter and "Jemimy," hangs
upon the issue. Sweet cadences in
expression echo the sounds of the coun-
try life described. Some of the para
graphs are like phrases in music-one
fingers over them;- THAT strain again,
it had dying fall" Again there are
passages in which humor turks in am
bush, hidden in some bosky suggestion
that is so delicate and unusual that the
30 oh RI nnn0ti0in0 N
his way, when suddenly it is upon him
from behind, and with a merry laugh
has mastered him, thus taken unawares
and attacked on the defenseless side.
Perlycross is indeed literary event.
A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE, being the
memoirs of CASTOR de Bonne, Sieur de
Marsac, by STANLEY J. WeYMAN. Twelve
mo, cloth, $1.25. Published by Lymans.
Green & CO., New York CITY. for sale by
stoll g. Thayer Co.
Stanley J. Weymsn began writing
about ten years ago, and it has been his
great ambition to write an historical
novel. This he has done in A Gentle-
man OF France, which has lately ap-
peared, has been widely read and has
been much liked. 1t is good piece of
work, but it is not the great historical
novel it's author hoped it would be and
u h;s ads,i-o-s IL in If anraaats
\ claimed for it. although it has, perhaps,
more OF the quality Of The Three Guards
men than of Quentin Drrward.
The scenes are laid in France and Ma
varre, and the time is that of the last of
the Valoise and the frat of the Bour-
bons. We are introduced to the third
Henry, whom Chicot served, and to the
fourth Henry, to whom Margaret. the
queen, was married, and we can imagine
what Dumas would have done with this
particular gentleman of France if he
had undertaken the narration of his
many and exciting adventures. He is a
great fighter, this De Marsao of Mr..
Weyman, brilliant swordsman, hard
hitter, brave, faithful. cool, honest but
the Incidents OF his career are too many,
too crowded and too hurried. They give
the hero-and the reader-no time to
breathe, no time to rest at all. He gets
into new danger before he has escaped
the old; he is arrested before he is
fairly cured OF the plague; he is chal-
lenged by Crillon the moment he has
disarmed the Italian bully; neverthe-
less. the reader follows him with the
deepest attent ton from the beginning to
the end. Whether he is dealing blows
or making love, whether he is fighting
poverty, pestilence, and provost mar
shals, or incoming over a knot of red
velvet, he is a very delightful character,
even if he is not D'Artagnsn. And there
is only one D'Artsgnan in all the world
x*x
THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA, a Tale of Two
Countries, by RICHARD HENRY SAVAGE: IL
mo-. 90 cents. Published by K. Tennyson
Nicely, Chicago, in Neely's Library of Choice
Literature. For sale by the Antiquarian
Bookstore, III West First street.
Thora is M utorv of o,,r Sipoa xo1~o
rom&ntio than the secret purchase OF
Alaska, an enormous realm, from the
Czar OF Russia in 1867. When the blue
and white cross and imperial ensign
were hauled down on October 10, 1867.
by an imperial princely governor-general
the flags OF the greatest despotism and
the model republic of modern times
foated side by side in strange amity.
Around old Baranof castle the weird
mysteries of Russian rule and of an ex-
citing past have woven q network of
thrilling legends. Love and princely
pride. great schemes, national policy
and strange happenings marked the
Russian regency since 1904; the Amer
lean occupation and the story is told in
these thrilling pages.
Richard Henry Savage has painted
the scenes of an immense intrigue, be-
kAAAiHe WAeh ShO bihubiUL w AmoIlCh
and reaching to the later days, whom, in
fire and flame, Baranoff's magnificent
stronghold Vanished forever on March
II, 1894.
The story Of realm. one-seventh OF
the entire area Of the United States,
transferred by an emperor VINO never
saw it, through a mere note OF Baron
stoeckl to the great secretary of state,
William H. Seward, is one of the giant
enterprises of private daring. Singu-
lary enough it was three years before,
on March 5, 1870, the transfer was SOL
amniy ratified. A kingdom worth five |
hundred millions was sold for psltry
sevan millions in gold. The hidden
games OF the times are displayed in full.
population was transferred and
hearts were broken in the imperial Jug
gle. There are stories OF statecraft, OF
the greed of gold, OF tender love, of deeds
OF matchless daring, clinging to the
blackened ruin on Katalan's rock,
In beautiful Sitka bay, George Wash
ington's vessel, the Columbia, lay be-
fore the czar had seized the Indian
rhyafa, fortroou opA ~uL-- -. -