The San Francisco call., 1896-11-22

I In May, 1895, when Napoleon goes to Paris,
| is the time named as the end of his appren-
ticeship and the fXation OF his character into
| what it remained to the end. The careful stu
| dent OF his life sums him up as decidedly un-
scrupulous. He says that as Corsican he re-
tanned the national sensibilitv, together with
an enormous amount OF endurance, both physi-
cal and mental. He was devoted to his family
and his people, but willing to sacrifice the lat
ter to his ambition.
| His moral sense was practically lacking. AS
| to religion, he had superstition which passed
IN his mind for faith. Some times he scoffed,
but in general he preserved formal and out
ward respect for the church. He was willy in
! diplomacy. "His pupy principles were re-
/ publican in their character, so far as they had
: any tissue or frmness."
The stiffness of Napoleon's ch aracter is well
shown in the description Professor Sloane
gives OF how he watching for an oppor-
tunity to lead revolution in Corsica, and yet
eager to draw his pay as French officer while
absent from his regiment.
I The great mans illegible handwriting is &C
counted for by saying that he abandoned the
excellent chlrography OF his youth in order to
conceal his defective knowledge of French.
His professed love for France is regarded as
assumed. "He was citizen of the world-a
man without a country-his birthright was
gone, for Corsica repelied him and France he
Josephine is described as having retrousse
| nose, and as having falsifed her age to the
extent OF five years in the marriage certificate
| While the general was achieving his first great
fame in Italy, the historian saws: s'Though
she had made ardent professions of devotion
to her husband the marriage VOW sat but
lightly on her in the early days of their sepa-
ration. Her husband appears TO have been for
short time more constant but. convinced of
her fckleness, to have become as unfaithful as
She"
| Speaking of the bloodthirstiness OF the
Jacobins the comment is made that the mas
sacres as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulon were
| the reply to the horrors of like or worse ma
ture perpetrated in Vendee by the royahsts.
Considering the thrilling subject perhaps
! the history might have been written with
more warmth and color, but it is no doubt &C.
curate, judicial, scholarly, and executed with
| the great advantage of much new light.
| Among the features of special distinction in
the Christmas Scribner's the following are an
nounced: Attractive printing in gold and
colors, shown on the special cover designs,
and the twelve pages of illustrations by Oliver
Herford. Nine complete short STORIES most OF
them illustrated. An article on the late Sir
John Millais, with twenty pages of pictures,
most OF them chosen by himself IN the last
weeks of his life. Poems elaborately Illus
|
| Cowles.
The Hon. Thomas C. Platt discusses 'The
| Effect OF Republican Victory in the Novem-
Der number OF the North American Review,
! and confidently asserts that the election of
| Mckinley and Hobart will constitute q verdict
so emphatic that during theNlifetime of all
those who are on earth to-day no man or
party viii be found bold enough 10 go before
the people advocating doctrines which mean
repudiatfon. Other important articles in this
issue are: '.The Protection OF Bank Deposit
tors" Election Trials in England" "High
Buildings" Government by Party" and "The
Plain Truth About Asiatic Labor"
According to the Paris correspondent of the
London Daily Mail NJ. Zolas paris" is going
to be a great book, cor at least that is the i'm
preston which the author has allowed to
escape Paris will be like boiling vat-a
vat in the process of fermentation; the intel
lectual life, the life of the work people, the
Chamber of Deputies the law courts, the
literary and artistic worlds, all that there is
in our great city, will be represented. This is
a little crushing, and Zola's touch is never
very light; but Paris he promises. will be q
work rather op ptimistic.'" /"
A luxurious edition of Don Quixote is issued
by Thomas Y. Crowell &s Co. John Ormsby
translates and produces the book, which is
"A
fishers gives the information that there are
more than 800 editions of Don Quixote, less
than half of which Spanish. The Ormsby
arrangement is perhaps the best known
Ninety-one pages are taken up, out OF the two
volumes of this edition, in PREDATORY note q
biographical sketch OF Cervantes a chapter of
statistics about Don Quixote and an authors
preface, besides commentators verses,' con-
sisting OF familiar sonnets and other old-fash-
iOned 6urleSNupq N xuiI
make choice holiday gift.
"Hours With Famous Parisians," by st uart
Henry, will be published by Way e. Williams
in December. Mr. Henry has lived so long in
Paris that he has become as much a French
man as the Parisians. he is part of the life he
describes; he is saturated with its atmos-
phere. And this familiarity is evident in his
sketches of contemporary writer's, actors and
pain tiers. Some of them are done broadly in
charcoal, others worked out with more care.
ful elaboration; but the peculiarities of each
personality are suggested with delightful
abandon. There is a dashing picturesque
ness in the book. which shows something of
the alertDess OF the American journalist to-
gether with graceful delicacy that is essen
tally French.
| Harper's Round Table, published November
10, will contain, besides its many interesting
short stories, articles, and the usual depart
ments on interscholastic, sport, bicycling.
photography. stamps, ETC., the following spe-
| cal features:
short story entitled "Recaptured," by Cap
tain Charles King. U. S. a; an article by Paul
Du Chaillu, the well-known African traveller,
who describes in many graphic, exciting pas
sages, an elephant hunt in Africa; the first of
| series OF articles on typical English schools
! by John Corbin; story of the sea entitled ga
School of Sharks" by Charles Lewis Shaw, and
an illustrated article on the marine parade
| that took place in New York harbor on Satur-
day night, October "a.