New-York tribune., 1902-01-30
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ARCHBISHOP PLUNKET-TALES OF THE
SPANISH MAIN-NEW-ENGLAND so
CIETY ORATIONS S-ATHLETICS
AT PRINCETON.


lin will long be remembered one of the
best the wisest. and most effective In the vol
ume entitled William Conyngham Plunket,
Fourth Baron Plunket, and Sixty-frst Arch-
bishop Of Dublin" CE. P. Dutton & Coz MI
2 D. How offers US a memoir pleasant, If rather
ponderous. 1t represents the Archbishop as
thorough Irishman whose character was made
UP of many contradictory elements. John OF
Gaunt was among his mothers ancestors and
in the centuries between there was TO be counted
many a brilliant roistering cavalier and court
beauty On the other side a sturdy Presby-
terian great grandfather, who perhaps left him
something of the reserve which often sat strange
y on his affectionate and genial nature HIS
fathers father. the first Baron Plunket Lord
Chancellor of ireland. a great orator-so
great that Macaulay, after his first Reform
speech heard with delight some veteran par
iamentarians comparing his efforts to Plunkets.
In the Chanceor's last days his grandson was
much with him. and the old man and the boy
would sit for hours Gaping another's quo
tations. A few lines piped out by the little fell
low from the big volume of classics upon his
knee would set the old orator rolling out page
after page of magnificent Latin, to the great
delectation of the small William. A good deal
of the grandfather's tenacity in the boy, a
quality which peculiarly fitted him for the ee-
clesiastical work of his maturity.
He was born to that work, indeed, by tenn
permanent and conviction. With the rest of the
Irish clergy he fought the disestablishment of
their Church. but when 1t came he accepted it
Loyalty applied himself 10 settling the church
government lines. and finally arrived
AT the conclusion that the gain outweighed the
loss This gain he felt, to be found in the
renewed strength and vitality derived by the
Church from the admission of the laity TO an
active participation in her counsels and her
practical affairs, in new unity and loyalty.
and in the freedom from agrarian comphca-
tions brought about by disconnection from the
question of tithes To look at all religious mat
ters in a broad and noble way was characters
tic Of the man. He always had welcome for
true hearted clergymen of other creeds and did
much to establish brotherly relations between
his own and other churches. Mr. HOW quotes
a striking story of episode in a great re-
ngions convention in Dublin. An eminent Con-
gregationaI minister from London had been sup
pressed with great discourtesy on question OF
orthodoxy. Burning with Indignation. the Arch
bishop, who presided, rose in his place, declared
his own belief in the doctrinal point on when
the Londoner had been practically excluded, and
delivered so forcible rebuke that it cleared the
religious air from that time forth To him no
sincere Christian was alien and his wrath
was always reused by intolerance. But II he
was capable of anger so, too, was he the gentlest
and kindest OF There is a touching story
told OF a visit to country rectory when ne
was Bishop of Meath. He had won the con-
fidence of the little of the house, as was
his way.
The child told him how his playreom was
church and how he wanted the Bishop to come
TO his service There was no resistlhg SUN a
plea and the little fellow led him by the hand
to the room. Lord Punket could haraly nav" nav
been prepared for what followed. Quite inno-
Gently the boy brought him to the pulpit, ana
then left him there. saying. Please peach me
a sermon" The petition was not In vain THOSE
who were present say that for that one little
child he preached a children's as beauti-
full any they had ever heard.
Romantic dreams and stirring scenes are
called up by the name of the Spanish Main.
which is among the most eloquent in our lam
guage, says Mr.. Mowbray Morris in the intro
duction to his little book, Tales of the Spanish
Main" (The Macmillan Company. He has
retold some of the most interesting episodes of
it's early history in entertaining way-a col
lection Of stories of real adventure that boys
will delight in, though they not written
down" in the least TO Juvenile intelligence and
many Of maturer years will relish them. Mi.
Morris is careful the historical evidence,
and has weighed it carefully. He begins with
the story of Columbus and of Balboas discovery
OF the Pacihc-that valiant, much enduring
man." who met fate like Columbus In return
for his great services 10 his country. Still more
delightful the adventures of Drake and
Hawkins; the formers secret plan to seize the
Treasure of the World"-the port of Nombre
de Dios. where garnered year by year all
the rich harvest of the Peruvian mines-and all
his other exploits that read more like a fable
Of romance than the sober facts that they are
The search for Ell Dorado another of the
adventurous quests of the time-the golden city
Of Manoa; more properly, the golden king. a
very circunstantial figure TO the contemporaries
of Pizarro. and described by Oviedo as being
always covered with powdered gold so that
from head to foot he resembled an image of
gold fashioned by the hand of a skilful work.
man.
Sc the legend grew each fresh rumor in
terpreted by the Spaniards in the light of their
Unsuitable greed adding fuel to the flame; the
kingdom took the name of the king and for
near two centuries and a half lured Spaniards
and Engishmen to their deaths. Mr. Morrfss
chapter In the Track of the Plate Fleets" tells
of the vigorous onslaughts of the English navy
on the Spanish treasure ships. of the plucky fight
Of the Revenge and the defeat of her COM
naander, Sir Richard Grenville. And, finally.
The Brethren of the Coast" the buccaneers
are the subject Of most entertaining account;
their insensate ferocity. their daring their wild
ard picturesque lives and deaths. They were
not all so bad as painted: and Mr. Morris lets
the famous Morgan have the benefit of many
doubts
Ine annual gatherings Of the New England
society in New-York have for almost century
been notable features of the intellectual life or
the metropolis and have provided some of the
most excellent orations that have been dely-
ereo mere There is much reason. therefore. fo=
he 1<