The New York Herald Newspaper, December 6, 1874, Page 6

6 NEW YORK LITERATURE The Lesson of the Life of an American Sailor. SOME THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. A Glance at the Latest Novels. GEORGE SAND’S INFLUENCE. ‘What the Girl with Her Feet on the Fender Said About Poetry. (irs op ANDREW H. Foors, ReAR ADMIRAL UniTep States Navy. By James M. Hoppin, Professor in Yale College. Harpers, 1874. Here is the story, gracefully and judiciously told, of the Mfe of a very remarkable man—ofa Christian gentleman and of as brave and thorough asallor asever steppeda deck. It is with the author, too, @ labor of love, and as natural a growth of the New Haven soil as are the noble elms that hang over Nis bero’s grave. It is marred by very few of those blemisnes which invariably are detected in clerical and semi-clerical com- position, and by at least one mistake into which ‘we wonder sO painstaking a biographer should be betrayed. One biemish 1s such a strange, maa deduction as we find at page 59, where we read, speaking of one of Foote’s early cruises, that of ts contents and whole the crew, with the exception of one veteran toper, joined | the movement, so that the Cumberland became the first temperance sbip in the United States Navy; and how interesting ts this when we think | of the future fate of this vessel, selected to be the martyr ship of the civil war, when, in the terrible Qght with the trou-clad and iron-beaked Merri- mac, with her fag fytng and her crew cheering, she Qeltvered her last fire at her country’s foes, end went down unconquered and unsullied in her pure renown.” Another mistake—unless we read history very tncorrectly—is in attributing to the John Adams during her Eastern cruise in 1837 the @ttack on Quallabbattoo (p. 41), in Sumatra, Which occurred in 1831, and in which Commodore Downes took part (Cooper’s Naval History, vol. 3, p. 31). very minute criticisms, though it is just as well in historical writing to be strictly accurate as to facts,and to avold “sentiment” and “coinci- dences.” The book ts really a very clever one. Itmay not be for our navy what ‘Southey’s Nelson” 1s to the British service, but no naval lad or man can read it and make its chief actor a study without advantage. The highest and we doubt not the happiest Portion of Poote’s career, of which, if egotism can ever be permitted to mingle with criticism, we can Speak (rom some observation, was the model cruise of the Portsmouth tm 1856~67, in the Eastern seas. 1t was mowel in every particular. He had a model ship, a frame of beauty and a thing of life, He had @ model crew and officers. Tne crew Foote made what they became. The officers he chuse for himself, and as one looks at their names (p. 121), the living and the dead, and most Gre living, we see with what sagacious dexterity the choice was made. All were distinguished after- wards when strife began, one of them resuming the commussion which he had resigned, and we see among them the names of another who 1s now, as @ trusted man of science, sounding the depths of the Pacific, and one man who, nearer at hand, our townsman, Captain Simpson, isengaged in most responsible domestic service, and still another, who In this volume (p. 409) pays @ manly tribute to his old commander, and who, close at hand in his beautiful Orange church eloquently preaches the gospel of peace. Such were Foote’s chosen companions on this brilliant cruise, which, though in peaceful times; had accidentally enough fighting about it to give it a dash of the heroic. Wereter, of course, to the assault of the Barrier Forts in the Canton River. It was Foote’s luck more than once in his life, and never more than in Cuina, 0 have a relatively in- capable superior. In 1856 the flag oficer in the East was broken down by age and infirmity, and ‘was quite content to leave anything like decisive action to others. The whole conduct of the affair of the Barrier Forts was Foote’s, though tne of- cers of the Nagship gallantly took part in it. Captain Foote returned to a brief period of re- pose, during which, indeed, he was compelied to look on the rising clond of civil war. In his polit- ical opinions he was, though of New England, no Ultratst. He favored conciliation, Foote had no doubt as to his duty, and immediately asked for active service, He got it at once, for ho one did nim fuller justice than his neighoor Secretary Welles, but it was not the “blue water.” No part of the naval service of the civil war, not even the ineffectual pursuit of the Alabama, was very elevating. Steam has put anend to the ad- venture of blockading, such as Collingwood had in the Unannei, never going ashore tor two years, or our squadron did at Tripoli or Vera Cruz or on the western coast of Mexico. But to sucha man as Foote anything was better than Uchting upa | Darrow river and shelling earthworks, Yet he ‘Went to work, not only without repining, but with a wiil, and to the story so well told by his biographer we must refer the reader. For his services Foote was thanked by Congress and made a rear admiral, Whue being nursed at home the news came to him that, in utter Gespair, as it were, the administration had offered him the South Atiantie squadron and ordered him to Charieston, On his way thither fatal symptoms Of disease, long Wound, arrested bim in New York, and here, at the Astor House, with his family around him, and his dear imend, Edward Simpson, one of the Portemonth group, and who was to be (had he lived) bis fag officer, at his side, he died on the 26th of June, 1863, agea fifty-six, Tue Common FroG. By St. George Mivi . 5 Macmilian & Co., London. o wh eee The author begins bis work by asking, What ts @ frog? and leads the reader through 150 delightful pages before he finishes his definition. He is certainly in love with his subject, summing up his admiration of it by calling it the martyr of science. More than any other animal, frogs have peen the Subject of experiment. Physiologists have ex- sected their brains, amputated their legs and arms, removed their eyes and ears, injecting all Sorts of poisons into their systems and touched their nerves with the fine end of a stroke of light- ning, until we are ready to cry, Stay! let the poor fellow crawl under a \ilypod while you try your Practical jokes on some other vertebrate. Mr. Mivart gives us in this charming little volume @ great many facts which tend to increase our respect for the inhabitant of the pond who makes night hideous with his incessant music. Unwitling to admit that he ts inferior in any re- spect to other vertevrates, he claims that as there are Oying fsb and fying squirrels #0 there are fly. ing frogs. He quotes, witn entire approval, the following story, told by Alfred Wallace :—“One of the most curious and interesting creatures which I met tn Borneo was a large tree frog, which was brought me by one of the Chinese workmen. He assured me that be bad seen it come down, in a slanting direction, from 4 bigh tree, as if it new. On examining it I found the toes very tong ana fully webbed to their extremity, so that, when ex- panded, they offered a surface much larger than the body. The forelegs were aiso bordered by a membrane and the body was capable of cunsider- After this we shall not ve tar ‘wrong when we call the (rog @ pretty bird, alter all, The book is well written and ts well adapted | able inflation.” to stimulate a taste for natural history. A Free Lance i THE FISLD OF LIFE AND. Ler { vers. By Wiliam Cleaver Wilkinson. New York Albert oO. ‘This book ws something of @ curiosity both ia “the spirits room was emptied | These, however, we are aware, are | latent and aggravated by his | Matter and style. It is evidently the product of a thoughtful mind, but is not in any sense a free lance, sinve the criticisms offered are within the ordinary range of iitellectual effort, We have looked through the book to find where the title comes from, but have not yet discovered the place where it hides itself, To be sure, a title is a very telling ching, and every publisher knows its effect on the sale of a work, but it 1s hardly fair to make one open his eyes in surprise when he reads the title page, expecting to find in every chapter & Novel and startling treatment of given subjects, nd then go on to the word “Finis” with the ordinary methods and language of & common pook reviewer. In tbis instance, the title ts bigger than the book itself, and has no more relation to it than the fabled sermon had to the text when it was said that if the one had the smallpox the other would not catch it, Mr, Wilkinson first introduces us to an iaolatrous worship of George Eliot, Such is his admiration of this amiable and gifted lady that he is compelled to reclassify our writers of fiction that he may make an honorable place in whica she shall stand alone. Mrs, Browning has ‘virile affectations,” Mme. de Stael is “strong distinc- tively as men are strong,’’ but George Enot carries the feminine quality to its height. The literary style of this essay is not beyond criticism. The vocabulary of the author is exceedingly camber- some, He uses a great many words of Latin and Greek origin, woras of four or five syllables, which Tather confuse the reader. To our mind no good essayist has any right to use, under ordinary cir- cumstances, words more than two syllabies long. Ihe gets excited, he may once in a while—mark you, only once in a while—fold up his enthusi- asm in a word or two of four syllables; but when he habitually pours out polysyllabic expressions his mania bas become uncontrollable and he needs @ strait Jacket, whe last essay of tne book, on “Erasmus,” is full of painstaking and is more than | well worth reading. Its positions are taken with | candor and firmness and the subject is handled 1n | @ skilful and scholarly manner, The other articles, on “Lowell” and “The Christian Commission,” are | only the ordimary productions of a magazine writer. | Hzprew History. By Rev. Henry Cowles, D. D. | D. Appleton & Co, ‘This is @ well made book and does credit to the publisher. Like most of the books which come | from the hands of thts house, 1t is well printed and bound, and fit to occupy a place on the stu- | gent’s shelves. Mr. Cowles is from Oberitn, Onto, | and is one of the many Western scholars who are | proving their mght to the attention and intel- | lectual respect of the American people. Tne Western colleges, which twenty years ago were | either not in existence, or, if just born, were com- | | pelled to be satisfied with very ordinary talent in | | the professors’ chairs, have grown ambitious | | | | | of late, and by prudently expended funds have secured the services of some of the best minds of the nation. It requires no gilt of prophecy to assert that within the | next twoor three decades, the abundant wealth of the West will enable tt to command for its pro- fessorships the fnest culture and the profoundest scholarship of the country. “Hebrew History’? is 'a well planned book. Beginning with the death | of Moses, Mr. Cowles leads the reader through every stage of development that marked the prog- Teas of the most remarkable race on the earth, and then draws the green curtain at the end of the last act, when the old dispensation dies, His style is clear and vigorous, and bis treatment of the various complicated questions which arise Is, on the whole, very fair. His volume should be read, not only by the student of theology ana sacred history, but by every one who lays claim to the title of scholar. Tue EccLesiasticaL History OF EUSEBIUS, Ed- ited by F, A. March, LL. D. With an invroduc- tion by A. Ballard, D. D,, and explanatory notes by W. B. Owen, A. M. Harper and Brothers. ‘This book consists of selections from Eusebius relating to the lives of the aposties and other per- | sons mentioned in the Bible, to the history of apostolic and other tuspired writings, the fate of \ Jerusalem, tne great persecations, the acts of | martyrs and the life and manners of the early | ages. It is splendidly printed in Greek text, and is part ofa series which owes its origin to an endow- ment by Mr. Benjamin Douglass, for the study of early authors, in Lafayette College. Since there is hardly a word of English in the volume we hesi- tate avout commending it to the general reader. To the lawyer and the clergyman, who have kept up their love of the classics and who retain a knowledge of the difference between Alpha and Omega, it will be invaluable. The whole series, of which this volume is a small part, willbe a grate | ful contribution to the dusty shelves of our col, lege libraries. Davip, Kine or IsragL. By Wilitam M. Taylor, D.D. Harper & Brothers. All our readers are acquainted with the author of this somewhat buiky, but very readable volume. He is one of the very best clerical importations that have been brought to this country—a man whose chief charm in preaching 1s bis evident honesty and deep earnestness. Asa pulpit orator he 1s peculiarly devoid of that ad captandum method which secures notoriety rather than re- spect and solid fame. No clergyman in the city is more sumple in style or more effective in utter- ance than Dr. Taylor. The present volume was written, every chapter o1 it, conamore, It is evi- dently & work of@ student in love with his sub- Ject, He begins at the beginning, and, as it were, jJotters through the life of David, commenting as be goes on the various phases of the character of that little anderstood man, who exchanged the | shepherd’s crook for the sceptre of the king; who | was at once impulsive and cautious; who | at times rose to a power of anathema which | makes the blood curdle and at times sung so sweetly that his Psalms become the lullaby of the ; soul. The work will undouotedly have a large sale and cannot fail to add to the generai admiration | | and respect (or its author, | Davip FRIEDEICH SrRaUss, By Eduard Zeller. | London: smith, Eider & Uo. This little volume will be interesting only to a | small class of readers, but to them it will be ex- | ceedingly interesting. Strauss has stirred the theological world more than any other writer or | bois century. Beginning his career a8 @ roman- | cist, believing in somnambulism, mesmerism and | spirituahsm, he swung round to the opposite ex- | treme in middle life and found satisfaction in de- | mouncing these things as frauds. It is a curious | fact, and one very significant to the student, that the lectures of Schieiermacher, whose conserva- | tism raled North Germany, created so much oppo- | sition in Strauss’ mind, that he set about writing the “Life of Jesus,” and proving toat all super- naturalism is mythical. The book is very sug- gestve, and well worth reading. Its account of German student life will attract the attention of scholars, The number of hours which the contemplative Teutonic race can give to severe mental lavor is simply prodigious. To work with one’s brains for fourteen hours a day for fourteen or fifteen consecutive years is to us Americans a Marvel 60 great that tt taxes our credulity more than all the miracies whieh Strauss pronounces fabulous. Strauss was born in 1908, and was married to an actress, whose fine voice and artistic merit at tracted him, in 1842. This marriage was an un- happy one, and the couple lived together only five years, when they separated by mutual consent. He took possession of the two children, a girl anda boy, and afterward livéd the life of a recluse, somewhat soured by his conjugal experiences. In 1872 he retired to his Swabian home, the home of his childhood, with a singular presentiment hang- | ing over him, and in the following year died. There | 18 @ tone of sadness tn his life, which was, perhaps, caused by the excitement and criticism with whicb 1s embodied in the following little poem, | written near she close of his career, entitied a wis Over the Neckar, Over the Rhine, Once more to wander Were gladiy mine. The seven mountains Blow soft and ir ‘Then to the city t I next would r Which won the That blessed my home. : ‘The house f would search for The streets abont— Mother and children Ail ovaing oul | which his aggressive books had been received, and | And in the chamber, The cheer! Two sweet twin babies Lie tn the cot Shade the eyes gent!: ¥ ——- Without affright. o oo aoe A J. G. Wood. London: ‘Thia Is @ bracing, healthy book, written by a ro- bust man. In earilest infancy he acquired the habit of close observation and 3 taste for outdoor fe. With mtcroscope in hand he was accustomed for hours to watch the movementa of whole classes of insects which common eyes never see, Une can hardly read this volume without feeling that he must spend his last penny in anaquarinm. Life seems to be hardly worth the having if one has nota pet toad and a stock of binebottle fies to feed him withal, or a frog who has just begun to know his name, or @ little newt who every now end again strips bis own skin off and swallows it, or at least a dozen or two of spiders, those plucky little pugilists who are always ready for a fight. That Mr. Wood must be a fine specimen of the physical man 18 evidenced by the incidental Way in which he speaks of @ half-mile swim as @matter of daily occurrence. We do not wonder that he can produce book after book in a rapid succession that would send most men to the bos- pital with a congestion of the bratn, if he ts able to perform such physical feats as are suggested by this incident. His encounter with a medura, classified scientifically as the cyanea captiaia, offers such @ plausible explanation of certain deaths by drowning, commonly attributed to the cramp, and 1s withal so interesting as showing the general style of the writer, that we reproduce it in part>—“One morning, toward the ena of July, while swimming of the Margate coast, lsaw ata distance something that looked like a patch of sand, occasionally visible and occasionaDy covered, as it were, by the waves. Knowing the coast pretty Well, and thinking that no sand onght to be in such @ tocality, I swam toward the strange object, und bad got within some etght or ten yaras of it before finding that it was composed of animal substances. I naturally thought it must be the refuse of some animal that had been thrown overboard, and swam away from it, not being anxious to come in contact with so unpleasant a substance. While stil approaching it I had noticed a slight tingling in the toes of the left foot; but as I invariably suffer from cramp in those regions while swimming I took the pins and needles sensation fora symptom of the accus- tomed cramps and thought nothing of it. As I swam on, however, the tingling extended further and turther, and began to feel very much like the sting ofa nettle. Suddenly the truth flashed across me, and I made for shore as fast as [ could, On turning round for that purpose I raised my right arm out of the water and found that dozens of slender and transparent threads were hanging from it, and evidently at- tached to the medura, now some forty or fitty feet away. The filaments were slight and delicate as those of a spider’s web, but there the similitude ceased, for each was armed with a myriad Poisoned darts that worked their way into the tissues and affected the nervous system like the sting of wasps. Severe, however, as was this pain it was the least part of the torture inflicted by these apparently insignificant weapons, Both the respiration and the action of the heart be- came affected, while at short intervals sharp pangs shot through the chest, as if a bullet had Passed through heart and lungs, causing me to Jallas if sttuck bya leaden missile.” It is not strange that Mr. Wood warns battling against the attacks of the cyanea capellaia, The whole vol- ume has an Interest for the general reader which will insure a ready and large sale. THE WINIER NOVELS. Itis the supreme genius of George Sand that makes her novels so dangerous. Her stories are 80 thoroughly absorbing that it ts tmpossible for the reader to lay one down uniil it is finished. If George Sand were a coarse woman there would be Uttle to fear from her writings. No one buta woman could write with such delicacy and yet such tremendous force. ‘George Sand under- Stands the passions that tear the human breast better than any of the modern writers that lam acquainted with,” remarks Miss Rachel, who is verging upon the uncertain age and has bad her own experiences. “MY SISTER JEANNIE.’ Felicia, who reads novels almost entirely for the story, readily agrees with Miss Rachel, but for her part it is the plot and the characters that are the most interesting. She ssys:—‘Jeannie 1s cer- tainly a lovely girl, but too sentimental for my taste. I think it a little unnatural that she should fall so desperately in love with a boy whom she haa lived with as a brother. To be sure, she had long suspected that she was not the daughter of Mme. Blelsa,- in which case Laurent would not be‘her brother. I wonder that Mme. Bielsa did not fathom Jeannte’s heart. Perhaps she did, and that was the reason that she did not press her to acceptone of the many suitors who besought her hand.” “Laurent’s love for Manueia, whom‘he had never seen, is very natural,” adds Fred; “I have experienced passions of that kind myself.” “poor Manuela!” sighs Miss Rachel, “how weak yet how strong! Her life with Sir Richard must have been utterly miserable, notwitnstanding nis kindness. Of course she Joved him, but what was her return? If the right man had married Manuela in the first place he might have made something of her. All she needed was the right sort of love, She was capable of bestowing a great heart full upon some one; but it was no more than natural that she should want a little in return. How like her it was to fall in love with Laurent, and how thoroughly consistent her running away with Vianne!’’ «1 wonder,’’ muses Felicia, “if Laurent was not halfin love with Jeannie even before he discov- ered that she was not his sister?” “Felicia, [fear that you lose the best part of George Sand in your eagerness aiter the story,” gays Miss Rachel. ‘Do you ever stop to consider what a wonderful writer she 13; how {ull her books are of life’s philosophy; how she goes down into the deepest abysses of the heart and brings its innermost secrets to the surface? Are you not filled with admiration at the beautiful language with which she clothes her thoughts; at the wit that flashes through the pages like diamonds on @ velvet background? You lose a great deal, my Felicia; George Sand is more than a story telier.’” “A TERRIBLE SECRET,” The title, “A Terrible Secret” (Carleton), was entirely too sensational for Miss Rachel, and nothing would induce her to read the poox. Felicia, who never stopped at anything in the shape of a novel, read the story through, and then gave her cousin the benefit of her opinion. ‘The story 18 not half so startling as its name implies. To be sure it could hardly be called a tale of every day life, yet there are some nataral bics init, The strange insanity in the Catheron family which led the men to murder their wives if they particularly doted on them is not consistent with average human nature. The devotion of Inez Catheron to her cousin, Sir Victor, is really touching. That she should be willing to be branded as a murderess to save his good name, although he slighted her to marry & Miss Dobb, the beautiful daughter of a soap boiler, partakes, indeed, of the heroic. When the son of old Sir Victor appears upon the scene, and visits America, thinking that bis father is dead, the story becomes quite interesting. The Stuart family, whom he meets here, and Edith | Darrei, with whom he fails in love, are really ex- cellent types Of a certain class of Americans. New York is full of just such girls as Beatrix Stuart, jolly, good-natured and a little rough. You andi know plenty of them, Cousin Rachel, and they are not 60 dreadful after all. { think it onnatural for a Ee Uke Edith Darrel to have married Sir Victor while she loved her cousin, Charley Siuart, 80 a ly; but, poor girl, her nigh marriage did not do ber much good. The very day they were mar- ried sir Victor had a twinge of the family insanity. The bride and groom travel into Wales, and th bride ies down to take a nap wi th groom goes out to smoke a cigar. When he returns he sees bis wife sleeping, and he loves her 80 inte y that he knows that be will kil her if he stays there. So he writes a hasty note, and is off tn the next train, When Edita wakes up she finds ber husband gone. She reads the note, un- derstands she is deserted, refuses his prof. fered mon th scorn and goes out as a shop gir, ‘Time she meets Sir Victor, and he begs her to come back again and live with him. she naturally refuses. he is dying and sends for her, 'She goes to his bedside, and tells her the ter- rivle secret—how near the insanity he inherited , came to betag her death, She forgives him, and he dies. Then she goes back to rica, has & deathbed scene on her own account begs Obarley Stuart to marry her before breath leaves her body. He consents; they are married ani immediately revives.” “And is that the story you have been pouring Rachel, with @ “THE FROZEN DEEP.’” over al lday ?”’ questions of disdain, “If you want to read a story that will fasten TS attention jor about a couple of hours,” said Rachel to Felicia, “try Wilkie Collins’ ‘Frozen Deep.’ ‘rhere is enough incident crowded into those few pages to make an ordinary novel of three volumes,” fs Fred, who is seated by the window reading the introduction to the story, chimes in, ‘“{ should like to have seen the drama as it was played as Manchester at the Douglas Jerrola memorial, Just listen to the cast of the principal male parts:— Lieutenant Crayford, Mr. Mark Lemon; Frank Aldersiey, Mr, Wilkié Coilins; Richard Wardour, Mr, Charles Dickeps; Lieutenant Steventon, Mr. Charles Dickens, Jr.; Bateson, Mr. Shirley brooks; ss Mr. Charles Collins. Just imagine such @ cast “Mr, Collins says,” adds Miss Rachel, “that Dickens created a great part out of Richard War- dour, but I cannot imagine a rdle more wholly foreign to the great novelist’s character than that of Wardour. O1 course whatever Dickens did he did well; but 11 must have been considerable of a task for him to have assumed the character of such a passionate, unreasonable lover a8 Wardour. [ do not wonder that Clara Burnbam did not love that man. None buta Spanish or creole girl would like a lover of that sort, He was enough to irighten a Northern-bred 1 out of her life. To be sure he turned out well in the end and conquered birmself like a hero; but no girl could have married him and been happy. Frank Aluersiey is much more to the feminine taste. He is everything that is loveable. For my part I cannot see what there was about Olara Burnham for two such men to love se desperately— @ sentimental girl, who was gifted with second Sane To me she does not possess half the charms of the pretty Mrs, Crayiord, But, then, men’s women are seldom women’s women.” “Just hand me that book,” said Felicia, ‘1 will sit here by the fire and read it before dinner.” William F, Gill & Co. are the publishers, “THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.” Fred had read ‘Ihe Mysterious Island” as it ap- ared from month to montn tn Scribner's, and Roa just brought a copy in book form from Bren- tano to mail toatriend, Tne best character in this story of Verne’s,” said he, “is Gideon Spilett, the HERALD special. If ail reporters and cor- respondents were made of such stuff it would be a good thing for journatism. Hear how Verne de- scribes him:—“A mab oO! great merit, energetic, prompt and reety, for everything, full of ideas, having overrun the entire world, soidier and art- ist, fervid in counsel, resolate in action, reckon- ing neither pains nor fatigues nor dangers when it Wag necessary to know all—for himself first, tor his journal afterward; @ genuine hero o! curi- osity, of information of the unpublished. He was one of those imtrepid observers who write amid cannon balis, chronicle under bullet fire, and for whom all dangers are but pieces of good luck.” “What a splendid fellow!” exclaim both of the young ladtes at once, ‘Tell us soime More about ‘The Mysterious Island’ Fred.’! “Weil, then, to begin. Four men went adrift in & balloon, and were wrecked upon @ desert coast, 7,000 miles from their native land. These men were Gideon spilett, Harbert Brown, Pencoif and Neb, @ colored man. They found that the land they were cast upon was a Vast isiand. There they lived like so many Ropinson Crusoes, making hew discoveries every day and meeting with the most astounding adventures. Jules Verne knows bow to teil an improbable story with every sembiance oj truth, and to make it more attractive than re- ality. Ilike nis stories exceedingly, but tt seems to me that this one ends very abruptly. 1 believe, though, that this is only the first part, and that after it is completed in the Monthly we will have it altogether in book iorm.”” “TEN OLD MAIDS.”? In all my novel reading experience I never came across such & DOOK as this,” said Felicia, one afternoon, as the volume in question slipped off her lap upon the floor. “I thought from the title, ‘Ten Ola Maids; and Five of Tnem Were Wise and Five of Them Were Fooltsh,’ that the book would bave some ‘snap’ at least. The story 18 of a young girl whose father was cast mto priaon on suspicion of incendiarism, where he died irom cruel treat- ment, and whose lover deserted her on the eve of | marriage. She buys a farm in the iar off country, takes her four sisters with ber, buries her jather’s body within sight ofthe house, puts up a high board fence about the place, makes her sisters work in the Gelds like men, and spends her own time in roaming through the woous with a guo over her shoulder in quest of game. Sne is only twenty-five years old, but sbe has a heart of iron, and beats her sisters till the bivod comes sets a bulldog on any one who calls upon her, and tsa termagant generally. Her lover comes back after five years and prays forgiveness, but she ‘will not need his prayer. While living near her he is accused of murder, tried, found guilty and hung, and this remarkable woman takes her seat at the 100t of the gallows and witneases the entire operation. The poor lover kicks his last kick apd dies. When the jailer comes to put the woman out of the yard he finds her stiff and cold; ‘one drop of biood colored her parted lips. Her heart had burst.’ The real murderer is discovered and takes rege in a barn. A woman who has a grudge against him takesa gun and goes out to soot him, but before she has time to fire the man falis off of @ beain upon @ pitchfork and 1s pierced to death, but tnat does not prevent the blood- thirsty woman from firing one round of shot tnto his dying body. There is not a redeeming feature 1o the book. I never heard so many slang words and expressions in my life, nor so mucao gownrignt common talk. Even when one of the heroes is proposing marriage of the heromes his speech is so fall vulgar slang that it made me biush for the writer. J don’t know now which were the foolisn and which were the wise oid maids, for they all seem very foolish, I cannot understand how any one could write such stuf.’’ “That any one should write it is not so strange,” adds Miss Rachel; ‘but that a publisher could be found willing to pubiish it 18 more than surpris- in . “AFTER THE BALL.” Like Mr. Wegg, Felicia often drops into poetry. It is generally just before she retires to her snowy couch that she is seized with a poetic sentiment, or sometimes after she is snugly tucked under the covers she will turn ms the gas over her head and dip into a volume of Browning. Byron or even Joaquin Miller, After hearing Albani in ‘Lucia?’ the other night she had a toucn of senumentalism, and when she retired to her bedroom she picked up @ volume of Nora Perry’s, “Alter the Ball and Other Poems,” and sat with her ieet on the fender and began to read aloud to Miss Rachel, who was snugly carled upon a corner of the lounge. “L like this verse, cousin Rachel,” and Felicia read :— And one face shining out like a star, ‘One tace haunting the dreams of cach, one voice sweeter than others are Breaking into silvery speech. It was a sad little poem; I wish that Maud might have livea and been happy too. “Did Nora Perry write ‘that waltz of Von Weber’s’?’’ asked Miss Rachel. “I am very fond of that little bit, and have it copied in my work of poetic selections. it is about @ clerk down in a dark counting house who heard a hand organ grinding out Weber’s last waltz, and it tells of the memories the music recalled to his mind.”” «Yes, here it1s;’? and Felicia reads:— What is it brings me that scene of enchantment, So fragrant and tresh trom out the dead years, That Just for the moment Vil swear that tie music Of Weber’s wila walizes were still in my eafst What ts tt, indeed, in this dusty old alley, That brings me that night or toat morning in June? What is \t indeed?—I laugh to contess it— A hand organ grinding a creaking old tunc! . . * * * * ‘That one memory only had left me a lonely And grey-bearded bachelor, dreaming of Junos, When the nights and the mornings, from the dusk to the dawnings. Seemed set to the music of Weber’s wild tunes, “It seems to me,” said Miss Rachel, “that all of Nora Perry’s poet 4 to the music of Weber's wild tuves! There delicate sentiment about her verses that makes them very charming when one feels in the romantic mood;’’ and the two ‘oung ladies fell to musing—the elder of what had en and the younger of What was yet to come. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. That old journalistic title, The Leader, is to be revived in a London organ of advanced thought in politics, literature, religion and.art, The oldest journal but one in Berlin, the Spener Gazette, will not appear alter the ist of November. The newspaper in question nas existed no less than 134 years. The founders received the privi- lege of publishing it from Frederick the Great, The Spectator pronounces Justin McCarthy's new novel, ‘““.inley Rocheford,” superior to his former books as a study of character and in respect to its finished style, though inferior in interest as a story. The latest work on Pompeii is by Signor Curtt, and is in three volnmes, with fine engravings and @ good itinerary among the ruins. Mr. J. O. Halliwel!, the Shakespearian scholar, will bring out suortly his “Iiustrations of the Lile of Shakespeare,” in @ folio volame. Mr. Halliwell has ransacked all England for materials for this work. Soon sfter Judan R Benjamin, of Louisiana, established himself as a London barrister, he wrote a “Treatise on the Law of Sales,’ which das passed through two editions in London, and will be reissued here by Hurd & Houghton, That industrious poet and transiator, the Rev. Charles T. Brooks, will soon publish a “Book of Sententious Sayings,” mage up from the noted writers in all languag: Raiph Waldo Emerson's new book, “Parnassus,” Will contain an anthology of the finest poems which the distinguished editor approves, and will be accompanied with brief critical notices, Os- 00d & Co,, of Boston, will publish the book. . HERALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1874—QUADRUPLE SHEET. LONDON GOSSIP. A Reminiscence for the Vatican Controversy. DOLLINGER AND GLADSTONE. Dickens and the Philanthropic Pillman. MERTROPOLITAN ODDS AND ENDS. Lonpox, Nov. 21, 1874, In default of more exciting topics public atten- tion is still concentrated on the fight between MR. GLADSTONE AND THE VATIOAN, and the fame is fanned from time to time by the publication of letters from “eminent hands,” such as Mgr. Capeland Sir George Bowyer, while this morning the journals pat forth the interesting tn- terview with Dr. Dillinger, sent to the HERALD by its Munich correspondent, Meanwhile the tories, who are keenly alive tothe gai or loss of politt- cal capital, are rather frightened lest the ex- Premier’s outspokenness may do him good with the constituencies, and they are, therefore, labor- ing to prove that the pamphlet, though virulent, does not say much for bis Protestantism after all. They declare that, just belore hts conversion to Rome, the celebrated John Henry Newman wrote an essay “On the Catholicity of the Anglican Chaoch,” which was very much in the spirit of Mr. Gladstone's brochure, From that essay the fol- lowing is an extract:— Till we see in them asa Cnurch more straight- forwardness, truth and openness, more of severe obedience to God's least commandments, more scrupulousness about means, less of'a politjcal, scheming, grasping spirit, less of intrigue, less tnat looks hollow and superficial, less accommoda- tion to the tastes of the vulgar, less subserviency to the vices of the rich, less humoring of men’s morbta and wayward imaginations, less tndul- gence of their low and carnal superstitions, less see, with the revolutionary spirit of tne day, we will keep aloof from them as we do. In perplexed umes such as these, when the lanamarks of truth are tora up or buried, here is a sure guide providentially given us, which we cannot be wrong in oliowing, “By their fruits ye shall know them” When we go into foreign countries, we see sureratitions in the Roman Church which shock us; when we read history we find its spiri of intrigue so rife, 80 widely spread, that “Jesuitism”’ has become a by- word; when We look round us at heme we see it associated everywhere with the low democracy, pandering to the spirit of rebelion, the lust of change, the unthankiulness of the irre- ligions, and the enviousness of the needy. We see its grave theologians cornecting their names with men who are corvicted by the common sense of mankind of something very like perjury, and its ieaaersip alliance with , @ political party, notorious in the orbves lerrarum as a sort of standard in every place of liberalism and infidelity. We see it attempting to gain con- verts amongus by unreal representations of its doctrines, plausible statements, 001d assertions, appeals to the weaknesses of ‘human nature, to our fanctes, our eccentriciues, our fears, our frivoliues, our false phlosophies. We see its agents smiliag and noddng and ducking to attract attention, as gypsies maxe up to truant Doys, holding out tales for the nuwery, and pretty pictures, and gold gingerbread, and physic con- cealed in jam, and sugar plums fo) good children, One would say that nothing could be much stronger against the Ruman Catholics than that, and yet within a few months of i's publication tne writer was received into the Ronish Church, of which, as Father Newman, he is now one of the greatest ornaments, So, say our friends the priests, arguing from analogy, tiere is no reason why Mr. Gladstone, though he doth protest so much, might speedily declare himself, what he is at heart, an “Old Catholic.’ By the way, Dr. Dollinger is n& very well posted up im regard to our electoml statistics, He states that “the representationof Ireland is ultra- montane, guided by a Dbishep or bishops re- ceiving their directions rom Réme;” thus taking no account of the lage proportion of Orangemen and less pronounced Protestants to whom the Roman Catholic doctrines are worse than poison, I think, however, the HERALD correspondent has placed beyond a doubt the fact that Mr. Glad- stone’s pamphiet is really the outcome of his in- terview with Dr. Ddllinger, although the Daiy Telegraph so strenuously denied it the other day. THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA is still here, but will probably leave next month, immediately after the christening of her grand. child. Rumor still states very positively that Her Imperial Majesty keenly feels the slight put upon her by the Queen, who returned irom Baimoral this morning, and some say that the Empress may possibly nut be present at the christening, urging her own delicate state ef health as an ex- cuse. She nas been suffering from a rather sharp bronchial attack, and the court physician has come over from Petersburg to attend her. Her two sons, the Uzarowitz and the Duke Alexis, seem to be enjoying themselves very much, going every night to the theatre. The Prince and Princess of Wales are entertaining a large party at Sandrig- ham, shooting pheasants during the day and dancing at night. The fact that Mr. Chamberiain, Mayor of Birmingham, who recently entertained the prince and princess, is a professed republican seems to have created -unnecessary discussion, The people here do not appear to comprehend that u mancan bea republican and yet behave himself with politeness to tttled persons with whom he has official relations, Mr. Chamberlain, while acquitting himself in his office in sucha manner as to earn the compliments of the royal party, did so without abrogating nis political sen- uments, a8 the forthcoming number of the Fort- nightly Review wili probably show, Mr. Disraeli has even GOLDEN OPINIONS from the geographers by the graceful manner in which he has consented on behalf of the govern- ment to the equipment of a new Arctic expedition. Preparations are already being made, as there is no intention of allowing a revocation of the per- mission, Sir Joseph McClintock, the famous Polar explorer. has recetved a commission to purchase two suitable vessels, and has gone to Dandee, the principal whaling port, to look for them. It is ex- pected that Captain Markham will have the com- mand, Apropos, I met at dinner last night Lieu- tenant Payer, the Austrian explorer. He medi- tates a visit to New York, and I took the liberty of assuring bim he would meet with a hearty wel- come from the Geographical Society and the courteous Chief Judge U. P. Daly. I hear from good authority that the government will, next session, Nake some modification in the EDUCATION AcT, which, inits working, bas been iound to press hardly on the lower classes. Some of the agents of the school boards have been much too zealous in bringing cases of omission to send children to the poard schools. “Lives there a man with soul so dead” as never to have heard of Professor Benton’s HOLLOWAY'S PILLS and omtment? fhese curative medicines have been constantly advertised for the last twenty years in every newspaper in the world, the result of its publicity being thatthe Professor nas real- ized an enormous fortune, He and his wife are now wel stricken in years and they have no children. So he ts spending his money in benefi- cence, Believing—possibly from the large sale of his quack medicines—that most people are mad, he has built an asylum for the insane at Virginia Water, near Windsor, at a cost of £100,000, and he 1s now about to erect at Egham a university for ladies, on an estate which he has just bought for £26,000, The best professors willbe engaged to ge highest education possible to women, and he acheme Will cost £150,000, This Mr, Holloway once asked DICKENS TO WRITE one page of matter, mentioning in some way or other Holloway’s pills. in the envelope con- pati I gad request Was a check for £1,000. Dick- ens, who was greatly annoyed, put envelope and contents into another, loose, and returned them by the messenger, saying there was no answer. 1 had chis story from Dickens’ own lips, Ou Tuesday next the TICHBORNE CLAIMANT is to be brought irom the Millbank Prison, wnere he 18 confined, to the Centrai Criminal’ Court, where ne is to be examined as a witness in an action for libel which is brought by Mrs. Pittend- reigh against Dr. Keneally, ‘This action is believed to be what is cailed in England a “plant,” in America ‘a put up Job," the sole intention of it being that the claimant should be once more | Paraded in person before the public with the view of attempting to revive the interest which had altogether died out. 1 do not imagine ft will have the degired effect. The public meetings which they have held, the subscriptions they have started, started, the newspaper that was to be their organ, ll have signally failed, aud the Tichborne case Was voted a nuisance, of which everyoody was giad to hear the last. People will be surprised at the Wonderful change in the aspect of the claimant, Since his confinement he has lost apwards of 100 pounds in weight, and is now a man of ordinary roportions, He still has, itis said, the huge, baggy jowl, but the vast stomach has entirely disap- peared, Lunderatand that he is very silent aud Very dejected, He waiks in a yard for exercise @lone and has no communication with any of the Fr prisoners, The most fashionable amusement of the present season is undoubtedly the ‘ ING RINK, DOs such 48 those attended at Petersburg, bas @ much muider and less enjoyable style of exercise. The skating which obtains among us is on wi such as you have seen at the theatre, the rink is simply o large surface bd Tink attached to Prince’s Club is the ‘most fasbionable, and as the exercise seems to lend the greatost’ facility for indiscriminate flirtation and sotitude a deux it 18 extremely pop- ular. beauties, however, must beware. As- ene aoe a oo ou Spon,and yr week ‘ating in the rink a! on had 3 tambie and knocked out five front teeth. Surgeons recomm good places exercise, No wonder!" ise - - POOR ToM HOOD dled yesterday morning, dropsy for its final stage. He pone nee wae He was , not long ago was a very good okie i ea ¥ very Pleasant, too, and genial, without much solid power of writing, but with a tree pen, given to He was the only son Rh saa Hose Rtg a8 Hood, an an only sister, Mra. many books cand com Brodiief. He wrote a good tributed to a good mi riodicala, - haps best known as editor of Pun, it going out to lecture in America, bat met with no encouragement from the entrepreneur; a pity, for ne had a fine presence, & good Voice and, aa nis 18 BOD, WO ve been warmly med. Nothing new at we , Since I last rrote all-are a in, wrote all are doing much than is usual at this time of years The aay (‘Hamlet’) and the Haymarket “Dundreary”) exceptionally well, To-night Miss Amy Sheridan, an English blonde who, if! mistake not, did not succeed on your eide, opens the Opera Comique, the money being found by a German Hebrew speculator well known to this city. GRADY’S DIAMONDS. He Drops 88,000 Worth and Has a Lik tie Trouble in Recovering Them= A Policeman Concerned in the Story. Jonn D, Grady is a diamond broker, and gener- ally goes about with $30,000 or $40,000 worth of these gems in his pocket, He carries them very loosely, handies them carelessly, and occasionally drops $5,000 or $6,000 worth in the street. He Gropped $6,000 worth in Court street about a year ago, and had to giveayeward of $1,000 to get them back. On the 12th of November he dropped $8,000 worth of these precious stones near the Fulton ferry, while he was chasing one of the Fulton street cars. When he discovered nis loss he swore at himself, called himself all the careless vagabonds he could think of, and declared he would never trust himself again with ‘diamonds as faras he could see himself, After hunting the street over where he supposed he dropped the jewels without being able to discover them, he wanted somebody to kick him, He thought 1f somebody would just give him a good Kicking he would feel better. Upon cooling off, however, he offered a reward of $1,500, Aftera week or two had passed he began to think he Was not likely to get his property back. opt When be had about given up all e he rap across a newsboy named Smith, who said he saw Officer Grant, of the Second precinct, pick up the package containing the diamonds. He made an aidavit to the fact and Grady went for Grant, Grant denied having picked up the diamonds, but toia Grady that he thoughs he could get them for him. Grady’s hopes began to brighten, and he offered Grant, as ne saya, $5: but Grant is alleged to have said that $1,! would come nearer to the mark. Then he saw the reward aud told Grady that he shonld want the full amount, $1,500. Grady left him without bei able to get nis diamonds. He then receive » letter irom a lawyer named Crook who told him be might be able to assist him in getting his diamonds. Grady saw Crook, but was unable at the first interview to get the diamonds or to discover who had them. Grady began to get Uneasy, and finally shook the $1,500 on the lawyer's desk. whereupon the diamonds, with the excep- tion of a lady’s cluster pin, were produced. Now Grady makes an affidavit to the effect that there was, as he believes, an efforton the part of the lawyer, tne oMcer and another party to deprive him of his property. Grady, therefore, obtained the following injunction from the Superior Court restraining the lawyer from disposing of the re- ward unti further orders from the Court. New York Supreme Court, Ki County, s6:—James oN Stant Fone’ Dos and Abel Crook Onuhe smeniod affidavit and compjaint to be served herein, and on such further affidavits and papers as may be served before and read on the argument herein, let the defendants or OW eause before ine, one of the Justices bers .thereot, in the County Court ‘on the 7th day of December, 1874, atten A. M. of said day, why the deiendant Abel Crook. should tot ve enjoined irom: paying over or disposing of any person CG het ay the sum of $1,500 deposited with him by Jobn D, Grady, plaintiff herein, on the 23th day of November. 1874, during the pendency of this action, and why the defendant should not have such other a1 further reliet as to this Court may seem just. And in meantime the said defendant, Abel Crook, is hereby joined from paying over to, of disposing of, the sum of 1,500, of aay portion thereof, to any person or persons, until the further order of this Court, . B. TAPPEN, Judge of Supreme Court. Dated Brookiy, Nov. 30, 1874, On this a summons for relief was issued, and Jonas G. Grant, Abe! Crook and the middie man, “John Doe,” will have to appear before Judge Tappen on Monday morning. BRUTAL TREATMENT ON AN AMERICAN SHIP. House, clty of Brook (From vhe New Zealand (Dunedin) Times, Oct. 22} We commented, a few days ago, on the nature of the evidence given before the magistrate at PortChalmers in the preliminary inquiry into the supposed murder of a seaman by the second mate (Dodd) on board the bark Oneca, Tne allegations then made and the hints of further revelations were such as to lead to the belief that the state of matters on board that ship, and the conduct of the master throughout the voyage were such as to call |. fora very scrutinizing inquiry by the American Consul, if not by the British authorities, The fall report more than confirms the impression con- veyed by that forwsrded by telegraph. There 1s not the slightest doubt, if the evidence ts trae— and upon it, as given before ® higher court, the prisoner has been convicted of mansiaughter— that the master of the vessel is one of those inhu- man brutes who have disgraced the mercantile navy in time past, who have all but disappeared Jrom the British marine, but are still to be found in number too great under the American flag. He seems to have resorted to systematic 1ll treatment of his crew, to have forced the second ofiicer to follow up his system of treatment and to have been quite prepared for more than one murder. The chief officer, the cook, the stewardess, several of the seamen and one or more of the appren- tices, all have given evidence of the most serious character—evidence which, we trust, the authori- ties Will see it impossible to overlook. fright ful a case has never, m our recollection, come be- fore the public of New Zealand. A SAILOR BOY'S EXPERIENCES. It will be remembered that during the examina- tion of Dodd, the second mate of the Oneca, one of the witnesses (Frederick Travers) asked the magistrate if he might say something “on hisown account.” And, this being objected to by counsel, he expressed a desire to be allowed to come ashore next day to interview the magistrate. This was acceded to; and, after hearing the lad’s story and ascertaining bis bodily condition, Mr. Mans- Jord sent him to the Dunedin Hospital. One ofour reporters visited Travers there, and obtained from him @ statement of tis treatment on board the ship. While the trial of Dodd was pending we suppressed this, but there no longer exists an reason for withholding it {rom publication, T foe lowing is the STATEMENT OF FREDERICK TRAVERS, I left New York in the Oneca on June & I shipped a8 an ordinary seaman, It was my orst time to sail with Captain Henry. The ship did not call at any port on the way. About two days after leaving New York the captain hit me with the Tropes. I was pulling at a rope, but he said that I was not pulling hard enough, He hit me once over the head and once round the body. He also made me climb the buckstays for two hours one day. lasked him to let me down, but when I did 60 he used to reply, “Get up there, you young devil.” Istruck on a rail and was nearly goin; overboard, He then told me that I coul ‘oO below. The captain and his wife came on deck while I was on the backstays. They laughed atme. He hit me every day with the rope’s end. Some time after the lst of September I hid myself away in the chain-locker for three days and four nights. The second mate had threatened to club me and to cut my heart out, Jt was fear of the captain and second mate which led me to hide my- seifin the chatn-locker. When the second mate came down from aloft on a cold day he used to say wo me, “You damned é@on of a b—nh, I will warm myseif on you.” He would then get hold of me and jerk and kick me around; and when that Would not satisfy him he would take tne rope’s end and knock me around jor awhile. it was the second mate’s treatment, rather than the captain’s, which caused me to hide myself away. I never complained to the captain of the treatment! re- ceived from the second mate, 1 was nearly a to death In the chaindocker. John Green my lite. . MURDEROUS HIGHWAYMEN. Mr. Edward Fallow, of No, 425 East 117th street, was returning home shortly before twelve o'clock on Friday night. He was almost at his house when two men sprang upon and began to pummel him. {n the general méiée which occurred one of his assailants drew a pistol and discharged it, the bail striking Fallow on the leit arm. The thieves nad by this Ume taken trom him @ small satchel, which contained a smali sum of money and some less vaiuabile items, and when the shot was fired they ran away. Mr. Fallow went to the Tweitth pre- cinct station house, where ho related his adv ture and Lad toe wound in bis arm dressed,