The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 5, 1896, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCI SCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 35, 1896 21 e The appointment of Alfred Austintothe poet reateship of England has caused some prise in American literary cir- | cles, and even in the “tight littie island | over the sea’” it was certainly not widely ated that the distinguished honor i be conferred on Mr. Austin. Other s were freely mentioned, and it now s strange that Austin should not have been considered quite carly among the prominent possibilities. If poetical genius the real test in the selection of a laureate, no one would dispute the claim of Algernon Charles Swinburne to | the title, for he is estimated the best thumist of the day, and the ablest crit concede that mapry of Swinbuir lyrics re for strength of expre rhythm to the ngua the “unbr: moralists passionate s ¢ metimes mentione to Ter b L an event ability. | no mean | rary world, and he | sense of his much as son, su one it ] his , were 1btless ments in securing aureateship. poems chools of heroic, earn to assc R thor with the laureateship oi E of gland. | ] THE REDOUBT. | bayonets | | | bosom bare his men imp! teel b °l it ringing clashed ; 1 2 bladeless hilt, supped to-nig! the trenches there av : An insight into the ment of the new poet 1 in his poem, “Is La The last two stanzas a low. The first of these s of Liuman sympathy. Th: affords a fair example of A expression : fe worih Jiving? Yes, so long there is wrons (o rig e weak against the strong, T tyranny to i hi; Long as th or celings and senti- ate is furnished Worth Living?" preduced be- n's patriotic of anguish swells 1, and 1ids grow wet, d of Christmas beils n and forget; b with freedom reigns, hope survives, remains ives: s den tract o While there is one untrod For intellect or will, And men are free o think and act, Lite Is worth living stiil. Not care to live while English homes | Nestle in English trees, | And England’s trident-scepter roams Her territorial seas! while English songs are sung ‘W herever blows the wind, And Xngland’s laws and England’s tongue Entranchise half mankind! S0 long as in Pacific main, Oron Atlantic strand, Not ! And English trum pets shrill, He Is dead already who doth not feel Lite is worth living still. MACAIRE. Theannouncement of a drama by Robert Louis Stevenson and William Ernest Hen- ley aroused a good deal of public interest. Stevenson was one of the few English writers of recent years from whom strong dramatic work was to be expected. His ability to develop exciting plots, produce thrilling scenes, create vigorous men and women and express their thouzhts and emotions in stirring language had been too often and too forcibly shown in novels for any one to doubt that he might achieve a marked success as a dramatist. The public, therefore, expected of him some- thing more than an ordinary play, and the appearance of his work was awaited With eagerness, The publication of been made and a every reader of it caire,” and is matic farce,” an absurdity, the play has now disappointment awaits It vears the title “Ma- announced as g ‘‘melodra- The phrase is something of | weakne nifested in | w | or riding reac ness, flippancy and improbability of a farc® in the first two acts, and then a sudden change to the terrors and tragedies of melodrama in the third act. This gro- tesque combination shows something of Stevenson’s genius in conception, but evi- dently it has been worked out by a weaker hand than his. Instead of the comedy growing up by degrees into the melodrama tne two paris remain quite distinct. There | 13 nothing in the comic parts that even sug- | gests the tragedy that follows, and the re- sult is so incongruous as to be wholly out of the domain of art and an absurdity pure and simple. The play is as faulty in detail as in con- struction. The action is not lively, the sit- uations are not novel, the talk is not bright in the comic pertions nor intense in the tragic. In scarcely a single passage is there any trace of that vivid and im- pressive sivle of which Stevenson was so complete a master. It would be easy to find in any of nis novels conversations far | more dramatic and more brilliant than | any that occur in this avowedly dramatic | It would seem that Stevenson may | e conceived the bold idea of biending a farce with a melodrama, but in the of his last days was unabie to | t out, and therefore made it a part- p work with Mr. Hawley, and left t gentleman the task of completing the design. About the only interest that can be taken in the work will grow out of the | question 1t will raise as to the possinility of successfully combining farce and melo- | ama on thesstaze. Shakespeare did not | esitate to introduce comic elements into | ragedies, but he never made any one aracter both tragic and com! It is AMercutio who m: j Romeo who kills Macaire, how- ever, is both the jester and the murderer. He plays for tw the licht villainy of | a rogue ina comic opers, and then reap- | us the murderous scoundrel of welo- | There are certainly wonderfal ies in the development of a »har- | rof that kind and it yet may be snc- | esstully portrayed on the stage. It has | not been well d is instance, but, Dethe Sty ! be taken up by | melodramatic farce become one of the t; umphs of our ties NAPOLEON IN THE FIELD. | The admirable celerity and accuracy of Napoleon’s move s in the field were | due to the excellent arrangements by | ch they were made, saj 1e in his holeon’ in the January Cen- two insepurable companions | and Marshal Duroc and Cuu<’ ter of the horse. | latter bad always the map of the | through which they were driving | v for instant use. The seats of the imperial carriage could be converted into a couch for the Emperor’s frequent nigut journeys, but ordinarily l’:erxlliur‘ and Murat took turns at sitting at his side, | while Caulaincourt rode close beside lhe‘ door. Behind, and as near the wheels as pussi- | ble, rode seven adjutants, fourteen ord- nance cfficers and four pages, who must be ready on the instant to receive and | carry ord Two of the officers must be | familiar with the speech of the country. | Rustan, his E-yptian body servant, rode with them. There were also two mounted | each carrying maps, papers and materials. ! escort was protected by a_body of :d chasseurs. In case the Empéror alighted for any purpose, four of these mstantly did likewise, and, surrounding bim with fixed bayonets, or loaded pistols | pointed outward to the four points of the | compass, preserved this relative position | as he moved. Last of all came the grooms with extra | horses; for the Emperor's personal use there were from seven to nine. These | were substantially the arrangements still in vogue during the Prussian campaign. Thereafter his distrust of those about him | gradually increased, until toward the end | of . is career it became acute, and then, as a consequence, the numbers of his suite were much ciminished. Whenever there was need of yost-haste | the Emperor found relays of nine saddle- | horses or six carriage-horses prepared at | intervals of from seven to ten miles aleng l | mer s 81 His were the G laincourt, ma The count his route. In this way he often journeyed OIS % T T T at therate of fourteen miles an hour for six hours at a time. Similararrangements on a much smaller scale were made for the staff. This body was under the indispens- able Berthier, and was so numerous as to be practically capable of subdivision into several. In 1806 there were thirteen adju- tants, three heads of departments with five adjutants, thirty-one staff officers and thirty engineers. Under the chief of ar- tillery was a personal staff of eighteen offi- cers, under the chief of engineers one of nineteen, and under the commissary-gen- eral oneof forty-three. Arrivingat his rightquarters the Emperor found his office ready—a tent or room with five tables, one in the center for himself and one at each | corner for Lis private secretaries. On his OWn was a map, dotted with colored pins which marked the position of every body of his troops. In this campaign lie had the only one in existence, prepared long in advance by his own orders. It is significant of the Prussian over- | corfidence and supineness that they had | none. As soon as possible was arranged | the Emperor’s bedchamber, across the door uf which Rustan slept, and adjoining it was another for the officers on duty. Dinner occ\inenl less than twenty minutes, for in the field Napoleon ate little and that rapidly. By 7 in the evening he was asleep, At 1in the morning the commander-in- chief arose, entered his office, where the secretaries were already at work, found all reports from the divisions ready at his hand, and then, pacing the floor, dictated his dispatches and the orders for the com- ing day. There is an accepted tradition that he often simultaneously composed and uttered in alternate sentences two dif- ferent letters, so thut two secretaries were busy at the same time in writing papers on | tifferent topics. The orders when com- le ised were handed to Berthie 3in the morning they were on their vay, and reached the separate corps fresh from headquariers just bejore the soldiers set out on their march. It was b; perfect machinery t accura command and obedience was a: LIFE AT SHUI | Jews were subjected in Poland by the | Cossacks. much to be desired. It might have been more attractive in shape. [Columbus, Ohio: The Editor Publishing Company.] HISTORY OF THE JEWS. This is the fifth volnme of Professor Graetz's celebrated work, and is in many respects the most important of the whole series 1ssued by the Jewish Publication Society of Philadelphia. It is translated from the German, though it appears to be a curious oversight that in no part of the present work is the name of the trans- lator put forward. ‘What the late John Richard Green was to the English people Graetz is to the He- brews. His work exhibits a profundity of thought and a depth of insight that is truly remarkable. Yet the author of the “History of the Jews” has not endeavored to act the part of an interpreter for his people in the same manner as has Ernest Renan. Professor Graetz rather exhibits to the world his analytical powers, and does not af\ponr to be swayed to any great extent by his natural sympathies. The present volume opens with some sc- count of the persecution to which the The characteristics of the Gen- tile Pole and the Hebrew are touched | upon, and 2 minute description is given oplhe ritual part of the faith as it is prac- ticed in the land of the Czar. As is well known, there exists no coun- try in the world where the subtleties of Talmudical lore are so often brought into requisition as in Poland. It would of necessity be so, in a country overrun by the spies and hirelings of what is virtually a foreign Government. Here one would expect fo find the Maggid holding in his hand the scepter of dominion over the house of Jacob, adjudicating between a man and his neighbor, righting wrongs, and even deciding upon what would ap- pear trivial matters to the occidental Hebrew. With great force Professor Graetz puts forward his reasons why the study of the Talmud was so cultivated in Potand, and why everything was, as it were, regarded from a Talmudical point of view. And the present-day student is bound to acknowledge the learned his- torian’s remark, “Thus religion sank, not merely, as among Jews of other countries, to a mechani ntelligent ceremonial, but tg a subtle art of interpretation,”’ as equally correct of the Polish Jew's studies at the present day. The settlement of the Jews in England during the protectorate of Oliver Crom- | well is admirably discussed, and here is ed a vast quantity of matter hay- ing reference to the Spanish and Portu- ALFRED AUSTIN, THE NEW POET LAUREATE. [From a recent photograph.] by his friends that were he to lay aside his pen for the brush, or to take up music in- stead of either, he would become famous. His home is a storehouse of interesting things from all over the world. He bas a great collection of odd costumes, in which he has a fancy for actiring himself. THE GODS GIVE MY DONKEY WINGS. Angns Evan Abbott has given a fantastic title to his fantastic little book. He takes 135 pages in which to set forth his opinion that “‘poets, painters, pundits, preachers Hebrews (Sephardim). Starting h Ben Israel and his services This is a volume of sketches of Pacific Coast life, by whose name will be familiar to many, as Mrs. Brown has been quite a pro writer for the periodicals of late ve: There are twelve sketches in the pres Clara Spalding Brown, | ! | sh Judea the author | :s upon the life and work of that | | master of philosophy, Baruch Spinoza. It ishing to learn tbat his alleged discovered through nis non- synagogue. And so much r of his philosophy feared | dance the power and play-actors, with a gelf - conceit which the world refuses to honor, have been known to hold that their as high as are those of lenders, the dealer in slaves, the publican and such like pillars of a coun- try’s edifice, whom the people invariably | choose to bear the dignities of civic office.” | Those who like a “mystery play” will be pleased with Mr. Abbott’s work, for not the NAPOLEON’'S MODE OF [Eeproduced from the Century Magazine.l TRAVELING. | volume, most of them dealing with the sensations and experiences of women transvorted from the East to ranch life in California and Arizona. There is a good deal of homely truth in many of the tales, and they are not lacking in a certzin hope- ful note which sounds pleasantly through what might otherwise be the unrelieved pessimism_of the author’s view. Clara Spalding Brown is not a finished write Nowhere does her work reacu any artistic height, but it is wholesome and not with- out interest. In point of construction perhaps the best sketch in the collection is | “The Schoolma’am of Mineral Hill.”” The | stories nearly all have to do with mining life, and there is a touch of realiem about them that will appeal to many women of the Pacific Coast who have tasted the doubtful sweets of pioneer existence. The mechanical part of the book leaves PIERKRE LOTL ATTIXKED and yet it sccnral,elf de- i scribes the ‘work. We have all the ght- AS AN ARAB SHEIK. that he was offered an annual pension | conditional upon his undertaking not to | carry-on an active crusade against the | powers that were. It is gratifying that bribes availed nothing and as a con- sequence the advocate of free thought was ut under the ban, all persons being for- idden to bave any communication with bim. A strange fact, remarked by Pro- fessor Graetz, is that “against his will he (8pinoza) has contributed to the glory ot the race which be so unjustly reviled."” Passing over several chapters devoted to the Jews in Germany, in Spain and in Por- tugal, considerable “attention is paid to their condition in France between the years 1791-1805. Concerning the French revolution, Professor Graetz makes use of the following remarkable language: ‘The revolution was a judgment which in one day atoned for the sins of a thousand years, and which hurled into the dust all who, at the expense of justice and religion, had created new grades of society. * * * For the Jews, 100, the most abjeci and despised people in European society, the day of redemption and liberty was to dawn after their longslavery among the nations of Europe. * * % What Mendelssohn had thought possible at some dis- tant time * * * was realized in France with almost magical rapidity. It1s interesting to note that to France the world owes that clause which finds a place 1n the constitution of every civilized country, that *‘No one shall be molested on account of his religious opinions, in so far as their outward expression does not 'ihsturb public order as established by aw.” The Damascus Blood Accusation and its terrible consequences to Hebrews in the far East is elaborately and minutely reported. The historian records the steps "that were taken by the British Govern- ment through Lord Palmerston toward cbtaining the freedom of the poor unfor- tunates, and how the late Sir Moses Mon- tefiore traveled to Damascus as the repre- sentative of England, financially backed by the Rothschilds. The last chapter in the fifth volume is devoted to a review of the rise and prog- ress of reform Judaism, of its birth in Ger- many and its transplantation to the United States. It is with regret that the reader lays down Professor Graetz’s valuable contribu- tion to history, and it is with regret, too, that the author abandons his pen after completing his task. Itis probably this idea which induced him to add a ‘‘retro- spect,” at the end of which sounds a last | triumphant note for the cause of the | Hebrew—-‘In any case, the Jewish nation is an extraordinary phenomenon, dating | as it does from hoary antiquity, but pos- sessing youthful vigor, having passed through numberless vicissitudes, yet re- maining ever true to itsell.” [Philadel- phia: Jewish Puablication Society.] PIERRE LOTI IN ARABIAN COSTUME. To write his latest book, Lieutenant irhtest idea of how the pecnliar condi- tions are to produce resuits may be gathered from the events as they pass under the reader’seye. In truth no great de- gree of interest is aroused, and the impa- tient reader is more desirous of nnishing the book than of obtaining definite knowl- edge of the outcome. The ducking of the termagant and the marriage of the statue- maker may be set down as the onlv pleas- ing episodes in -the somewhat wearisome tale. [Published by Scone & Kimball, Chicago. For sale by Doxey; price $1.] OUR SOCIETY BLUE BOOK. Charles C. Hoag has published the seventh volume of *“Our Society Blue Book.” The one for the current season | | ¢ | illustrations b contains many new and attractive features, including fine half-tone pictures of many elegant private residences. Besides giving the names, addresses and receiving days of society people in all the principal cities and towns of California, it includes the com?luce personnel of the social clubs, hotels and boarding-houses, and contains all the numerous other features so essential to a publication of this character. It is exquisitely printed and bound and will be an ornament to any library table. « THE MAGAZINES. The Century for January is an excellent number. A leading feature is the first of a series of papers on Rome by F. Marion Crawford, illustrated by Castaigne. An- other novel article is an account by Borch- grevink, the explorer, of *“The First Land- ing on the Antarctic Continent,”” being an account of the recent vovage of the whaler Antarctic. Mr. Borchgrevink has has not befure written anywhere an ac- count of this voyage, and the Century paper is accompanied by pictures by him- self, which have the advantage of being vioneers in this field. Professor Chauncey M. Cady contributes a curious article, based on I:u nal experience, entitled “Respon- sibility Among the Chinese.”. The Na- poleon Life deals wita Jena and the Prus- an campaign, and is particularly rich in Myrbach. Among other Hopkinson Smith’s novel, “Tom Groegan,” Tom being a woman con- tractor in difficulty with a labor union. Perhaps the article in Harper's which will excite the most general interest is the first installment of a new hiog: Washington by Professor W Princeton, reference to w in last Sunday's CaLL. increasing | importance of our navy gives special in- | terest to the paper b; Lounsberry, | 'he United S The second installment of Whitney’s journey “On 8 to the Barren attractions is g W. shoes rounds” descr the first taste of life | in the open with a temperature 40 degrees below zero. *‘The German Struggle for Liberty” is brought by Poultney Bigelow to the period of the revolt of Germany inst the tyranny of Napoleon. ner's Magazine enters upon its tenth year with an unusual number of in- teresting features. What most readers | will first turn to is the serial by J. M. Bar- rie, his only fiction since the publication of “The Little Minister’” four years ago. In these times of prolific novelists it is un- usual for one of the most popular of them to show the reticence exhibitea by Mr. Barrie. A reading of this first long install- ment of “Sentimental Tommy”” will con- vince every one that Mr. Barrie has pro- duced a masterpiece. Among other arti- cles are: ‘A New Sport; Tobogganing at 8t. Moritz,” “The History of the Last Quarter Century in the United States,” now in the ninth chapter, continued by E. B. Andrews; “The New Public Library of Boston,"” by T. R. Sullivan, with draw- ings from nature by E. C. Peixotto, repro- ducing the most salient features of this splendid edifice; “Madame Annalena,’”’ a short story by Bliss Perry. McClure's is always readable nowacays, and the January number is no exception. The history of Lincoln by Miss Tarbell increases in_ interest. Amnother isa paper by Murat Halstead on “Blaine’s Candi- dacy for the Presidency in 1894.” Eliza- beth Stuart Pnelps, continuing her charm- ing autobiographical chapters, describes with the fullest sympathy and yet with unfailing vivacity the life of “‘the Ando- ver of New England theology; the Ando- ver of a peculiar peovle, the Andover that held herself apart from the world and all 00/ Y il ‘, ) I ) 4 /& ) Viaud, who has given himself the pen name of Loti, took a caravan and traveled |'as the wise men must have journeyed when | they followed the Star of Bethlehem. He leaves notbing to chance. He goes to the scene that he intends to describe, and does not take in its features at a hasty glance, coming away to give an impression, a mere sketch. He does far more than this. He | wears the dress, eats the food, lives the life of the people. They become his peo- ple, and if he cannot think their thoughts, at least he reads them. Consequently his [From a photograph.] ictures are perfect in every detail. "Loti 1s versed in many hases of art. It issaid l’/ f; o1 2 THE NEW YEAR, LReproduced fiom the Pali Mall Gazette.] that was therein”—an Andover which, she truly says, *‘will soon become an interest- ing wraith.” Other noteworthy features of the number are a popular article by the eminent astronomer, Sir Robert Ball, giv- ing the latest information regarding “The Sun’s Light,” and excellent short stories by Anthony Hope and Herbert D. Ward. In Frank Leslie’s Monthly Christras and New Year articles meet the require- ments for holiday literature. There is an interesting article on great ship canals by Arthur A. Abbott. *A Bygone Bohemia® 1s an account of the set of free and easy spirits that flourished in New York in the fifties. There are numerous stories and poems, and a wealth of illustrations. Iu the January Forum there is a finan- cial article by Adolf Dadenburg, which is a reply to Leroy Beaulieu's article in the December issue. Other notable articles are: “Railroad Rate Ware; Their Canse and Cure;” “Some Naval Aspects of the Japan-China War’—the latter by Vice- Admiral S8ir Edward K. Fremantle, H. B. M. navy. The riovelette in the January number of “Lippincott”” is “Mrs, Crichton’s Credi- tor,” by Mrs. Alexander. Other articles are: “The Moonshiner of Fact,” by Francis Lynde; “Landmarks,” by Charles C. Abbott; *‘Architecture in America,” by John Stewardson; “The Man Wko Came to Town,” by Charles Dudley Rhodes; “The Way of a Will,” by W. T. Nichols, and “Our Lady of the Angels,” by Dorothy E. Nelson. In its exterior the January Cosmopoli- tan has a surprise for its friends in a new cover, well colored and drawn. Between the covers is a rich store of stories and de- scrip{ive articles. Robert Louis Steven- son’s story, ‘“A Tragedy of the Great North Road,” is more interesting than ever. Altogether the numberis above the | average, and that is saying a good deal. i LITERARY NOTES. Shelley spent between one and two years in writing “Queen Mab.’" Pope, when translating Homer, con- sidered from fifty to one hundred lines to be a fair day’s work. Mme. Sarah Grand is said to have re- ceived over $10,000 on a 10 per cent royalty for the American rights in “The Heavenly Twins.” Sixty-nine Christmasesare a good many, but the Youth’s Companion celebrated its sixty-ninth last year, and is more vigor- ous than ever before. Thackeray wounld produce, under pres- sure, a novel in six or eight months. He did not like to work, and, as he stated, only did so under compulsion. Mrs. Oliphant has written the volume on Joan of Arc for The Heroes of the Na- tion series, This leads the Tribune to ask whether Joan is a hero or heroine. There is but one collection of the pore traits of Lincoln that pretends to be com- plete, and that ‘is the collection made by the publishers of McClure’s Magazine. The next volume in the “Rural Science Series” will be an important monograph on the “Spraying of Plants,”’ by E. G. Lodeman, instructor in horticulture in the Cornell University. It is said that Jules Simon’s real name is Suisse, and that when his first book was written Victor Cousin advised him to change it on accountof the number of Swiss acting in the capacity of concierge in Paris. Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps has a good short story entitled “Twenty-four: Four” in the January Harper's. It is a New England tale of alternating humorous and pathetic interest, in which the telephone plays an important part. Miss Marie Corelli writes to the New York Herald that she is a mest modest and retiring person, and that she refuses all requests for her portrait or to appear before the public, thouch she might make a great deal of money by reading from her own works. George Gissing, a novelist, now much praised in England, is a young and very | accomplished man. He has traveled much and speaks several languages. He lives at Epsom and seldom visits London. He is described as “an extremely handsome man, with auburn hair and mustache and large intelligent eyes.” St. Nicholas recently offered prizes for the best corrections of ‘a misspelled poem. More than 10,000 answers were received from all over the worli—from Turkey, Ecypt and Eurove; from a little Countess in Vienna and from the grandchildren of Emerson and Hawthorne in America. The committee reluctantly states that the penmanship of the English and Canadian children excels that of Uncle Sam’s boys and girls. Dr. Edward Everett Hale is responsible for this story: ‘““When Canon Farrar left us some vears ago—a most_charming and intelligent visitor—he told Phillips Brooks that he was coing to give a farewell lecture on his impressions of America. Brooks, who was a thorough American and a per- son of excellent common-sense, said to him promptly: ‘Don’tdo any such thing, In the first place you have no impressions and in the second place they are all wrong.’ "’ Some weeks ago Andrew Lang brought down upon his head the wrath of Ameri- cans by delendinfi the action of an Eng- lish publishing house in suptressing an American imprint from a book published both here and in England. 1n his de- fense Mr. Lang rang a change upon the old-time query, and asked, patronizingly, Who cares for an American imprint? Lately, however, he is himself moved to wrath by the flippant comment of the London Athenwum upon a volume of “Harvard Studies in Greek Philology.” The Athenzum reviewer asks: “Who will adventurs himself to read an essay of eighty-four pages in Latin? Why not leave such things to the Germans?”’ Upon which Mr. Lang indignantly commentss | “Why not, indeed, bring us_the Rag-Bag, or Tid-Bits, and let our cousins, American or Teutonic, do the scholars’ work of the world? The classical studies of Harvard are an example to us in Oxford and Cam- bridge, even if they are, necessarily, of no interest to literary rural spinsters and pils lars of the circulating library.” Coming from so genuine a scholar as Mr. Lang, this generous outburst is a compliment indeed. B e Y NEW TO-DAY. HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE WCNDERFUL KEW REMEDY THAT SO QUICKLY RELIEVES AND CURES SCRE THROATS, HEAD COLDs, HEAD, FOOT, FACE, EAR and TOOTH ACHE, ~MITCHELL'S 5 MAGIC=L0TI0 by gt 5, § Pour some out in a small teacup, when half evaporated keep for EXTERNAL USE ONLY for pains in the side, chest or back, sciatic or asthmatic pains or bruises, stiff neck. Cover and keep the cup. If dry add a little lotion to the sediment.