The herald., 1898-03-06

his dream of glory, and the disaster of
Moscow when Moscow burned 1t seemed
as If the nations were lighted up that the
nations might behold the scene. AS that
mighty sea of flame gathered and heaved
and rolled upwards, and yet higher, till its
flame licked the stars and fired the whole
heavens, 1t did seem as though the God
as If the heavens were lighted up that the
| of flame on the front of his throne that
doom that shall fall upon the strong nation
that tramples in scorn upon the weak"
Perhaps this speech delivered in the sem
ate half century ago is the best example
of Corwin's impassioned oratory. as well
as his frank and open honesty of opinion.
Very little appears to have been saved
from the campaign utterance-the stump
speeches-of Corwin. One, however, is re-
produced from the Cincinnati Gazette in
the fall of 1859, speech some three hours
long, delivered in. the course of his guber-
material campaign. This is in most elo-
Quent and tender vein throughout. and re-
minds one of Sargent S. Prentiss in rich
ness and yet simplicity of diction.
We hail the coming of this fine volume
and commend it to every student of our
history and to every lover of literature.
A COLONIAL WITCH. Being Study of
the Black Art in the Colony of Connect
icut BY Frank Samuel Child author
of can Old New England Town THE
Colonia, Parson OF New England" etc
12-mo, gilt top, SIPS. The Baker & Tay-
lor & Co., publishers, New York city.
This volume is a discriminating study Of
the social conditions of New England two
centuries and q half ago. The scenes are
laid in Connecticut, where the black art
was tragic reality. Mr. Child is master
of the whole matter of the witchcraft of
tho early days, and we can recall no kcer-
er analysis of the subject than is here pre-
sented. Miss Wilkins has never hit off
the theme more deftly, and in some of :ts
phases Mr.. Chid's skill rivals the Scarlet
Lester of Hawthorne. 1t is an ensrossing
study of the old days, charmingly present.
ed, and can be commended as one of the
most fascinating new books OF the season.
AN ELUSIVE LOVER. A novel. BY vir-
ma Woods 16-mo, cloth cover. 81 paper.
o0 cents. Houghton. Miffiln 81 Compa-
ny. For sale by Stoll e Thayer
Miss Woods, whose home is in Sacrament
to, has given us a California story with
the scenes laid in Los Angeles. 1t will he
sure of being widely read and will not
prove a disappointment. Miss Woods had
a reputation to sus tain, and she has we'll
sustained it. 1t is a thoroughly well writ
ten book and the interest grows to the
last. The description of places and the
general plan of the story show taste judg-
ment and constructive skill while a mos,
daring plot is set before the reader. Even
here no artistic canon is violated, since,
audacious as is the invention, it is Nt
wholly incredible, and the reader enters
upon it with interest and sympathy
Gottfried Jager painted a Madonna with
MS beloved Constance for a model. Rex
Carringtcn bought the picture took it
nome and worshiped it. Each one had
strange lapses of memory and inexplica-
bic absences of body-disappearing for
weeks al time and never being able TO
account for it. They were jealous of each
other and wanted to fight duels, but only
one ever turned up at the appointed hour.
Finally Gottfried is arrested and tried for
the murder of the other. but is acquitted
because he is discovered to be Darlington
himself. 1t was the most remarkable case
OIL amensia ever known, probably. Alto
gether it is curiously entertaining story.
Antiquity had its own strange ways of
handing down its wealth-ways so strange
that we recover our legacies only by rob-
binS its tombs, Prof. ]. Irving Manatt tells
US, in the March Atlantic. The sepulchers
of Mycenae have at last old us the actual
life-story of Homer's idealized Achaians,
while the tomhs of Egypt are found to be,
sacred and secular, the archives of un-
counted generations 1t is to their fune-
real etiquette We owe the recovery of
Bacchylides and of many another precious
scroll. The old Egyptian thought to while
away eternity with his favorite authors.
and so took with him to the long home not
only his Book of the Dead,' but a stock
of light reading-tales, love stories. and the
Such bursting forth of genius from
the dust was looked for when the buried
cities of Campagna came to light; and
Wordsworth uttered this prophetic note:
20 ye who patiently explore
The wreck of Herculanean lore,
What rapturei Could We seize
Some Theban fragment, or unrolI
One precious tender-hearted scroll
OF Pure Simonides''
If "haughty Time" has failed as vet to !
grant the letter of the poets WISH the |
essence of it is taking shape in accom-
plished fact. Instead of a single scroll of |
the elder keian, the younger is now re-
stored to us in full score of his sweetest !
songs. Some eighteen centuries ago there
died at Luxor man who loved Bacchy-
lides so well that the poet must needs bear
him company beyond the bourne.
That the dead man thumbed the precious
volume in the tomb we cannot say, but it |
was in safekeeping. Meantime everH copy
aboveground would seem to have per-
ished within the four centuries following.
AT least, for any trace we can get of him.
beyond the hundred-odd lines that had
lodged here and there, as other ancients
quoted them, 70 point a moral or adorn
tale, Bacchylides had been lost to the
world for 400 years, until the tomb at |
Luxor gave up its treasure year ago.
O o o
The following is from 1.-THE Best Iitera-
ture in Schools" by Horace f. Scudder,
editor of the Atlantic Monthly and man
aging editor of the Riverside Literature
series:
ut is not necessary to criticse the skill
Or taste in selection of those who compile