The sun., 1897-05-01

vi uIcSS lnHH OI JnO CnuFInS JHc RUT-
ments contain. Ho Is enrapturcd with tho way
In which tho Countess of Carlisle wears riband
OF black silk twisted round her arm no pNlpi
tates with pleasure when Mistress Katherine
bradshaw puts crown of laurel on his head,
railing on one knee, we may believe, and clasp
ing his hands as he receives II. He soes his
loves through tho medium Of shoestrings and
pomander bracelets, and Is alive, as poet has
been before or since, to tho picturosqueness Of
dress, Everybody knows his exquisite lines
ABOUT tho 'tempestuous petticoat, and his
poems arc full Of little touches no less delicate
than this" With these sketches and the authors
"Jacobean Poets" one may make very pleas
ant and complete acquaintance with tho singers
CT vigorous and stately age.
Tho publication, in book form, Of series Of
papers by Mrs. Elizabeth Rachel Chapman, un-
der tho title OF Marriage Questions in Recent
Fiction, and Other Essays" John Lane), recalls
tho wordy warfare reused some years ago whom
Mrs Mona Card blow shrill blast upon tho
trumpet of revolt. Marriage rejection and mar
riage reform, the decline of divorce, st. Paul
and the woman movement, and the indssolu-
bility OF marriage few OF tho questions
hero discussed with that deep solemnty and
IL we may dolicately hint 1t, with that lack Of
the redecming sense Of humor which seems to
mark ono of tho most rigid limitations of 30
many OF these gentle rcformcrs who. nova
days. are always with us. This Is most anus
ingly noticeable in essay on Tho Dis
paragement of Women in Literature" After
lengthy discussion OF the Of Sonya
Kovalevsky, the birdlike young Russian woman
OF whose curious experiments in love and the
higher mathematics wo have already hoard SO
much, Mrs. Chapman arms herself with her
longest bonnet pin and wanders back through
the ages to try conclusions with the shade of
Shnlya ant aN1
domineering attitude toward tho opposite sex"
convinces her that 1t is time this matter should
be put right. To her tho exquisite fooling of
Katherine and Petruchio is but series OF
scarcely veiled insults levellcd at the head OF
womankind in general. Hark to Pctruchio:
will be master of what is mine own;
She is my goods. my chattels; she is my house.
My household stun. my field. my barn.
My horse. my OK, my ass, my anything.
And worse and worse when Katherine says:
But now see our lnnces ore but straws,
Our strength as weak. our weakness past compare
That seeming be most which we, indeed, least
Then vail your stomachs, for It IA no boot,
And place your hands below your husbands foot.
what" asks Mrs. Chapman, is to be said
Of teaching Of this kind diligently nstilled into
our young men and maidensf We Cheerfully
confess that such question is, indeed. a poser
Iernbps tno simplest way out oI tne uliHCuity
would be for some of these good ladies to tako
Shakespeare in hand After they have brought
him so into touch with modern thought that he
may decently make his bow and express opinions
calculated to please an advanced and intelligent
audience of agc-end maidens and young men,
thore Is still left to them large and fruitful
field. beginning. say with Menandcr. they
| might, to take name at random here and
there, next tackle Juvenal and Aristophanes,
working their way gradually through tho ages
till they reach the immortal author Of lies
Precieuscs Ridicules." In him alone they may
find occupation that will keep them busy for
some years.
In strong contrast to the militant and pro-
gressive attitude Of Mrs. Chapman Is tho de-
cidedly retrograde and anti-reform position
taken up by Mrs. Clapham Pennington in "A
Key to the Orient" u. Selwyn TAFT & Sons), q
nicely bound and printed little volume cont ain
Ing some very light but readable chapters on tho
women Of Islam. Oriental slavery and the mis-
sionaries and religions Of the East. Facing the
title page 10 q halftone portrait of the author.
When attached to tho works Of antiquarians.
scientific writers and most minor poets VIC have
often failed to see the necessity for this particu
lar form of establishment. In this case 1t Is
but fair to say that we cordially COM
mend the publisher. Mrs. Clapham Pennington
knows the Orient. We are bound in polite
ness to admit this since, in the course OF her
narrative, she pauses from time to time to
reitcrate the fact. Moreover. she has been to
Constantinople. has had the guidance of an ex-
| cellent dragoman, has paid several unofficial
visits to Turkish and Egyptian harems has
seen Nautch dance, and assisted at Moham-
medan marriage ceremony. All this in addi-
tion to the fact that, at the early age of 49, she
wrote a comprehensive treatise on Tho Re
ligion of Zarathustra Spitama," in which,
among other matters. she settled the much
vexed question of the date Of that
worthy's birth. 1t is true that Orien-
talists, from Du Perron and Burnouf TO
Prof. Max Muller. have left the matter In
doubt; but in this case again. as Mr.. Gosse says,
who knows that the enthusiasm Of youth may
not have been better advised than the sobriety
of middle lifel" 1t is. however, In her discus
sion of the relative positions OF the women of the
Occident and the Orient that Mrs. Pennington 10
most interesting. When she contrasts the life
Of the New York or London shop or factory girl,
sewing woman or teacher with that OF the oda-
lisque In tho harem. fed upon sherbet and bon
bons and asked to perform only the lightest kind
of duties, she pronounces unhesitatingly for the
latter. OF course there are the tales of the bow
string, the sewnup sack, and the midnight
plunge into the Bosporus. but these are mostly
romance. And" says our author, "at least we
the most painless way OF putting people to
death. which Is moro than can be said OF tho
Yankees" Tho reader will probably not be in
clined to take Mrs. Pennington as seriously AS
she occasionally takes herself. We arc sorry
that she did not tell us more about that Nautch
dance and certain pretty AbyssInan woman
in sky blue brocade. But, as she says In tho
preface 81 love to tell of what have seen, and
/ could tell much more; but unless enters
into tho thoughts and feelings of the East one
hardly understands;' and / do not wish to be
misund derstood." Perhaps some day sho will
write sequel to the present volume II SO we
will promise not to misunderstood her
In Lads Love" (Applotons) Mr.. S. II. Crock
ett has surpassed himself, and Ian Maclaren,
Gabriel Setoun, Saunders Macecclefechan. and
all the rest OF his sonsle brither Scots may hide
their diminished heads. For here Is tho very
quintesscence OF damaged dialect and the fine
flower of Kail-eeard romance But let Mr.
Crockett. In his predatory note. prepare the way.
"The somewhat peculiar and composite flavor
L. tla hna ltadf frpp ftnn