The San Francisco call., 1897-11-14

10 nand and tulhlls in every respect the
promise OF the three earlier volumes, an
extended notice of which was given on
this page of THE CALL several weeks ago.
We took occasion at that time to testify
to the carefulness with which the history
has been written, to the scholarly acumen
OF Its author and to the painstaking atten-
tlon which he has employed in securing
facts for his work, which is published by
n. J. Stone d Co., 500 Market street, this
city.
The fourth volume is introdace with
the administration of Governor Burnett
and brings the history to a completion
with the close of the year 1887. Politi-
cally, the book covers the whole time
since the State was received into the
Union, and 1t is matter for congratula-
uon that Mr.. Hittell has given his read
ers careful description without bias. Par
tlcularly is this evidenced in his treat
ment OF the labor troubles in California.
One need only compare Bancrofts history
OF the subject With that of the writer of
the work under review to see wherein in
accuracles have been corrected, worthy
men put straight and demagogues CEN
sured.
that the work Just completed will un-
doubtedly take its place as the standard
history of California. The book has cost
number OF years of immense labor in
its preparation. 1t was not written as a
speculation nor was it patched together
as a job. Com pleted as it is in work
manike manner it stands as a monument
to the industry of Theodore h. Hi.teIl,
admirably preserving in permanent form
those romantic events forming the history
OF one of the most important States in the
Union,
Happy indeed must be the lot o. the
young man engaged in the study of Eng
lish literature at the Leland Stanford
I Junior University in the possession Of so
helpful an instructor as Professor William
Henry Hudson, whose last book, Idle
Hours in Library" reaches the review
desk OF THE CALL from the press OF William
| Doxey, at the Sign of the Lark. Judging
| his Ia bors in the classroom from this vol
| ume he must be man with the rare fac
! ulty OF imparting knowledge IN the pleas
ant manner of a friend rather than in that
of professional mentor, and it is this
! characteristic that makes the successful
| teacher.
The title of Professor Hudson's box is
| happily chosen, suggesting as it does the
work OF man whose keenest delight it is
to browse among his beloved books-at
| random, ifyou will-yet taking from their
pages here little, there little" and
serving it up to his audience acce ptably,
either from the lecture platform or in the
Of hoOLr II iO
one of the essays before US was prepared,
and from the method of the preparation
OF the dish comes its delightful SAVIOR.
There are four essays in Professor Hud-
sons book-"London Life in Shakes
peare's Tlme," "Pepys and His Diary"
Two Novelists of the English Re tora-
tion" and "a Glimpse OF Bohemia" OF
these We single out "Pepys and His
Diary" as being the one possessing the
most general interest to the ordinary
reader and as indicating to the
greatest degree what Mr Hudson can do
in the way of enveloping a deal of solid
instruction in an attractive wrapper.
Never have We read so interesting a dis
sertation on the subject, nor one that so
completely satisfied the requirements
both of the student and the man who
likes instruction in homeo pathlc doses.
What is there touching the garrulous
Samuel that you would know2 When he
lived? How he live a.? HIS manners? His
dress2 His wife? The condition of Eng
land in his time socially and politically ?
You Will find your every question answered
at length and in the way that d scholar
would reply to them. By he way, how
do you pronounce the diarists name?
Professor Hudson is prepared for your
query with a verse published IN London
several years ago:
There are people, Pm told-some say there
are heaps
Who speak OF the talkative Samuel as Peeps,
And some, so precise and pedantic their
step is,
Who call the delightful old diarist Pepys;
But those l think right and l follow their
steps,
Ever menuOn the garrulous gossip as Peps.
'Tis curious book, Pepys' Dairy, and
one that pays good interest for the time
expended in its pernsal. OF style it has
none, neither does it possess any literary
quality Its value from a historical
standpoint may also be questioned.
Whence, then, it's attractiveness, appar-
from first? Professor Hudson thoroughly
satisfies the rea der on this point:
Pepys' memoranda have lasting interest for
us on account of their naive frankness, their
plain and simple spontaneity, their trans
parent honesty of seifexpression. AS we read
we realize that, for once at least, we are
brought into the closest, the most vital contact
with living man, and that this man speaks
to US, who, by the irony of fate, chance to
oyerhear his unconsidered utterances with
out disguise, without reticence or reserve
of the things which stand nearest to his
heart. The reader of Pepys Dairy knows Pepys
himself better than his scquaintances knew
him at the Office, in the coffee house, at the
street corner; better than his friends knew
him at the social board, spite OF the truth that
there is in wine; better even than his vile
knew him In the intercourse OF the home. To
us he lays bare without sophlsticai1on or guile
thoughts and impulses, desires and disap-
pointments, concealed from them beneath the
conventional wrappings of daily manners and
life-personal criticisms aud private expert
ences which living he conided to none.
Does this strike you as a small matter? Then
pause for a moment and ask yourselves of
what other man whose written words have
Eorn h ta ola nf T1rlhI