Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-10-20
Hook Notices.

tnarIeS 'ScTlDNeT CohS. on ProN''
Price. $50.
English Lands. Letters, and Kings is
the third volume, or rather, we should
say, the third book, of most charming
series by Mr.. Mitchell, the other two being
Prom Cet to Tudor" and From Eliza
beth to Anne" 1t IL dedicated to Mrs.
Grover Cleveland "for the courteous re-
ception which. while yet an inmate of
college on the beautiful banks OF Cayuga
lake, she gave to some portions of the lite
rary talk embodied IN these pages" and
Is a succession OF biographical and lite
rary pictures, in which daintiness OF touch
and warmth of coloring find expression
throughout.
Those who arc satisfied with nothing
short OF the most accurate details and
dry-as-dust critical analyses in the treat
ment of authors who have passed away
will not find their standard of the correct
thing realized in LANDS, Letters, and
Kings" but that class of readers who de-
light in sunniness, the tinge of romance.
and sympathy in dealing with biography
will revel in the book. Mr. Mitchelfs pic
lures are living pictures. His authors
breathe again. and constitute varied
group, Unframed in delicate outline OF
writers, commencing with Bishop Berkeley
and including good old DR.. Isaac Watts,
Young, Lady Mary Montagu, Pope, Rich
ardscn, James Thompson (the poet of the
seasons), Gray, Samuel Johnson, Burke,
Boswell. Gibbon. Hume, Collins, Sheridan,
Crabbe. Cowper. Jane Austen, Burns,
Rogers. Coleridge. Wordsworth. and
others are closely connected, and with
them the sovereigns Of their period. Mar
rative. anecdote, and pleasant criticism
are intermngled in most fascinating
style. Most delightfully."-. as has been aptly
said, does Mr.. Mitchell refresh our men,
DRY upon our literary inheritance. He is
master OF the art of showing his own
preferences without doing violence to the
preferences Of others. \ fine example
OF his style is presented in the following
from his chapter on "Cowpers Poetry:
"Critics have agreed that we shall not
rank him among the great poets, but he
comes nearer TO their mark than anybody
in his day believed possible. He is so
true; he Is so tender; he is SO natural II.
in his longer poems, there is sometimes a
lack of last finish and an overplus OF
language. there is a frankness OF utter
ance and a bllowy undulaton OF move
ment that have compensating charms. He
loves nature as a boy loves his play: his
humanities are Weakened by all her voices.
He not only seizes upon exterior effects
with a painters eye and hand but he
has touch which steals deeper meaning
and influences and transfers them into
verse that flows softly and quietly as
summer brooks. He cannot speak or
rhyme but the doors Of the country cling
TO his words. There is no crazy whirl Of
explosives which would apply to a hun
dred scenes, but clear, forceful eplthet--
full of singleness Of story: for spires lift
ing over stretches OF grasS-grown plain;
marsh birds trailing their flight by slug
gish rivers; boats dragged slumberously
at moon-tide with seething bubbles In
their wake; great banks Of woodland
wading through SHOWS, or throwing sha-
dows by morning. or counter-shadows by
evening. over the tanks of low hills on
which they stand in leafy platoons. And
for sounds-far-off, church bells waking
solitudes with their tremulous beat and
jangle birds chasing the echoes OF their
own songs; bees murmuring over banks OF
thyme; cattle lowing in the meadows. or
the bay OF some Mountaineering full and
clear and lost again-as he follows far
off some cold trail among the hills"
The book abounds in writing OF this
character.
For sale by j. w. Randolph & Co.
A KINGS DIARY. BY Percy White.
The Cassell Publishing Company New
York: 1895. Pages l55. For sale by
Hunter & Co.
This is lively, interesting little story.
to the perusal Of which a few hours of
leisure time may be not improvidently
appropriated. 1t begins with n confess
sion Of being in love and the RETROSPECT
lions Of many OF our readers doubtless
run on all fours with this avowal OF the
authors experience. Let me look at my
life. / am outwardly the same man /
was three months ago, although inwardly
all the furniture OF my mind has changed.
/ am never calm now, yet sometimes
supremacy happy at the memory OF q
look or word OF one woman. In these
chambers, near these dusty books. with
the view across the river, and the snort
ing Of steam tugs, the whistle of loco
motives always In my ears. for six years
i have sat-idly, alas! most OF the time
wondering what fate would bring me.
Now II has brought me this. My diary
tells me i have met her twenty-five
times. Reduced 10 time and stated
automatically. that means / have spent
about fifty hours in her society, and seen
them blossom in purple and red have
read Maud three times lately. and now
understand why Tennyson thought IL his
y
enchanted and wondering circle seeing
dimly through my fairy casement-no
doubt, in the wrong OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
OF the real world, OF which. in spite OF
my vision ! still form n part. Yet Sc
cretly, secretly in my soul, there exists
n little element OF doubt lest this be an
ignomnious state. No; I'll not believe IT,
But quo me rapit Venus? I'll follow
wherever she leads"
(,.1 CfafA nP rfan IL
inmates in marriage. some unpleasant
ness with papa and mamma, a matrimo-
NAL alteration, and estrangement. q
whole-hearted Reconciliation, and then a
pathetic and melancholy denouement.
What IL Is the reader must find out for
himself and until he does he must specu-
lates what Is the significance Of the title
Of the book.
MARGARET WINTHROP. By Alice
NOISE Earle. Charles Scribners Sons;
1871 u mo- s125. For sale by j. w.
Randolph & Co.
This is one volume of Scribner's series
of Women Of Colonial and Revolution
airy Times" 'the aim OF which is not
only to present carefully studied portraits
OF the most distinguished women of
Colonial and Revolutionary times; but to
offer as a background for these portraits
pictures OF the domestic and social. In
stead Of the political and other public
life OF the people In successive periods
OF national development"
The subject Of this little biography was
the kind wife of John Winthrop. one
of the earliest Governors Of the Colony
Of Massachusetts bay. She was the
daughter OF Sir John Tyndal, mas
ter In chancery, In Essex county, Eng.
who lost his life IN felonious at
tack by q disappointed sutton. against
l. ~ ~