The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-03-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

A Second Century of Charades nv
William Bellamy. Mr.. Bellamy's first
little volume Of oharades created onite a
sensation amongst the guessing sentry-
a very large GLASS by the way uf both cid
and young. This second collection is
equally good and only lacks the noysltv Of
the first. The quips and quirks of word
and phrase are adroit. poetical and divert
ing. The present reviewer lays no claim,
to the "charade sense" and is promo 20
follow the common custom of foutina
that in which he himself is no exnsrt.
Imagine then his self satisfaction in
opening the pages Of g A Second Century
of Chraties' at "CLXXXI. beginning
"My First
A mystic number that defies
The computations Of the wiss;"
and solving the matter of two syllables
and whole. at what the gamins iuele-
gantly term the first lick. Naturally he
then examined the book, bound to its
favor. He would call attention tortwo or
three clever rhymes, in these cases ven
First For Liquor
Last a Stioker
Whole A Slicker
Barber.
My first and second though bird,
To. sing song was never heard;
1t took my whole to sing my third.
Macaulay.
My first is a man and brother;
nj 1n.,E to Fl
My whole WAS Plato's fare, the learned
And nourished all the great and good Of
Hellas;
Meet food for meditation, when we think
That now 1T designatss bakers drink.
Broma.
(bsaring7in MUD that broma is the Greek
for food)
These we consider very neat, and to-
gether with their fellow incognitos, we
heartily commend thom to lovers of Jug
glery of sense and sound. (Boston and
New York: Houghton. Miffiin & Com
pany; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon. Price S1.OO.)
A Previous Engagement. Comedy.
W. d. Howells. Bound in red paper re-
lieved By black lines, and MS daintily
PACED, printed and illustrated ms If it
were consigned to modern buckram
covers, this biz of hy-play from more
serious literary attempts, deserves word
Of its own. Namely, It's far more su btle
than its artless phraasing would suggest.
And. again, if at this late date, anyone
doubts Mr.. Howell's mastery in realism,
let him, feeling that perchance "a Pre-
vious Engagement" lags in the reading,
tours to reproduce. He will, we venture
to predict, BIS astonished at the brillianoy
and verisimilitude to life which the lit
tie play discovers. (New York: Harper
& Brothers; Portland: Loring. Short &
Harmon. Price so cents.
Book and Heart. Essays on Literature
aud Life by Thomas Wentworth Higgin-
son. The title of Col. Higginson's re-
cent volume is explained by his quota
tion from NEW England Primer 1902
"My Book and Heart must never part. y
Somehow one can imagine this line re-
peating itself mentallys, from sheer force
of boyhood memory till 1t should earn
dismissal from recollection by being In
scribed on an adult title page. The
binding Of the volume is return to an
earlier red and gold which has a CHEEKY
value after the subdued tints of art can
vases in vogue today. Eor the subject
matter of these very brief essays, few
pages only to numerous topics, Col.
Higginson has made his materiul thor
oughly charming. Very quietly the au-
thor deals with up to date themes. Here
and there kradical treatment; always
something of good thinking, expressed in
scholarly language and with elegance OF
style. SO unobtrusively are these little
talks presented that it is only some time
after reading them that we realize how
frequently our own thinking processes
have been appealed to and set anew at
work. Here We have pointed out to us
the modern method in fiction of doing q
way with explanations and leaving much
to the presumption of brains' in the
| reader. A couple of MSS.-Keats and
A nnsNnl clcTrcN VrHno