The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-05
THE 18TH CENTURY.

Miscellanies. BY Austin Dobson.
Dodd, Mead & Co.
The eighteenth century, which exer-
cises so potent spell over the mag
ination of Mr.. Austin Dobson, holds
him fast in the pages of this delight
full little collection Of thirteen essays.
| The name Of "A1iscellanies'' is appro-
priately enough applied to them, for
they hover over wide range of sub
1ects, being for the most part either
literary or else. archaeological
Ihe f1rst, essay is about Goldsmith's
poems and plays; then comes one on the
latest life of Steele, one or BosWell's
predecessors and editors, one GA the
| Vicar of Wakefield and its illustra-
tors. Others have to do with John
Gay, Charing Cross, old Whitehall, and
Leicester Fields, and about them all
Mr.. Dobson chats easily ana entertain
j'1ngly, gathering together very effect
lively the associations of old places,
and focusing the light in a new way
upon old men of letters. Mr.. Dobson
has genius for this sort of explora-
ton. Whoever enjoys a leisurely stroll
through the artificial but elegant liter
airy parterres of the age Of Walpole.
Hogarth, Reynolds, Swift, and Pope,
could not find q more engaging or
learned guide than Mr. Dobson.
The Porto Rico of Today: Pen Pic
lures OF the People and the Country
BY Albert Gardner Robinson. Serb
ner's Sons. For sale by Putnam, Davis
& Co.
While books and articles innumera-
Die have appeared in answer to the
demand for information upon Cuba
ana the Santiago campaign, Porto Rico
and the Porto Ricans have received ra-
Their less attention than was their due
at the hands of the army of newspaper
| correspondents and others, to whom
the public is indebted for so much. of
It's knowledge concerning the nations
new possessions. THE Porto Rico of
Today is based upon a series of let
tiers furnished to the New York Eve
nlng Post during the months of Aug
| ust, September and October of last
year by Mr.. Robinson. As correspond
ent for that newspaper, he accompan-
led one of the first detachments of the
army of invasion to Porto Rico, and
renamed on the island until after the
| conclusion OF the campaign by the rails
| ing of the American flag over the city
or san Juan, on Oct. IS. The purpose
| OF his letters, now collected in book
form, is to present a picture of the
| people and of the country, end to throw
| llght upon the commercial possibilities
III our new possession that lie within
the reach of American business men.
Mr.. Robinson opens his book with a
description of the preparations for the
campaign, life on the troopship Miller
and the landing at Ponce. Few of the
| processes of the campaign are not open
! TO severe criticism" he says 1T is
difficult to deal with any of it's phases
without some censuFe for things done
and for others left undone." Mr.. Rob-
inson has adopted Porto Rico as the
name Of the island, although he con-
! tesses that it is a corrupt term, with
no adequate warrant for its adoption
1t appears that the old Carib name
was Buriquen, Borinquen, Burikem
Barichen, or simply 30, writer's and
travellers having agreed in putting
| their personal construction upon it.
But when Columbus discovered the is
land, on his second voyage, he gave it
the name of San Juan Bautista. There
was city, situated upon the shore of
beautiful harbor on the northern
coast, and called Puerto Rico (rich
porD. In process of time the city be-
came San Juan de Porto Rico, there
came a confounding of the terms, and
the whole island became a erich port"
or harbor. Porto Rico, according to
Mr.. Robinson, is a compounding of the
Spanish rico with the Portuguese porto.
The board of geographic names decid-
ed during Harrison's administration in
favor of Puerto Rico The post office
department has adopted Porto Rico
The navy department is said to favor
Puerto Rico, and when Gen Miles. in
his recent report used the latter SPELL
ing, the government printing office
changed it to Porto. Mr. Robinson
suggests that, having expelled the peo-
pie who have given the island an in
appropriate name, we might very fit
tingly return to the name puerto
Rico" and christen the island with the
long discussed but historic and appro-
pirate title of Boriquen, which, accord
ing to good authority, signifies THE
land of the valiant lord"
If Mr. Robinson's impressions of
Porto Rico are less heroic in kind than
the impressions of other war CORE
spondents when writing of Cuba, there
is ample compensation for the lack of
gunpowder in the excursions into the
coffee district, the saunterings through
Ponce, San Juan, and various typical
towns and villages. Here is much in
formation, agreeably presented, con-
corning the highways, which touch but
small portion of the island the rail-
roads and telegraphs--are 143 miles of
railroad in operation, and the tele-
graph system is fairly effective; indus
trial possibilities, commerce, taxation
under the old regime, and so on. Mr..
Robinson is not so gay and airy a
writer as Mr.. Richard Harding Davis,
but he wears well, and readers win
find themselves entertained and their
mental horizon enlarged by the pc
rusal of 1.-THE Porto Rico of Today"