The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 6, 1896, Page 23

LE GALLIENNE'S LIFE AND THE PHILOSOPHY FOUND IN HIS BOOKS It is always a difficult matter to write con cerning the personality of a living man. Es- pecially is this true when one has no private knowledge on the subject and depends mostly on current literary evidence. Irecollect hear- ing Kate Field say that she found herself ina constant state of amazement at her own doings as chronicled in the papers. So it may be with Mr. Le Gallienne. We can never feel quite comfortably sure that what we read about him is true. He may have passed years of his boyhood ina “dingy Liverpool office,” and later been secretary to the actor, Wilson Barrett, and escaped from thatinto the jour- nalism which preceded his brilliant success in letiers. All this, which we are usually told concerning him, may or may not be true, but wedo know that, college-bred or not, he is a man of wide reading and culture, and we sus- pect that he was not born—as he tells us of his two lovers—‘‘in that class which is denied the luxury of struggle.” We have one certain guide in ell matters relating to Mr. Le Gal- lienne. His own writing isof such an inti- mate and personal character that in it his in- ward life is clearly pietured, and the events which have shaped itare suggested to those who care to read between the lines. And it seems impossible that any should not so care. There is such a charm tothe man’s person- ality. As we read we come to have a veritable feeling of tenderness for him. His grief is our grief. When we realize that “White Soul” has died it seems our own bitter and irretrievable loss. His pictures show us a face still young, young indeed to have known such striving and triumph and despair. The outlines are sunken as though worn by some inward con- flict, and sorrow has left her wan traceson the cheeks. His early Jife was a struggle—not of the sort which crushes endeavor, but of the kind which stimulates to achievement. We know that he had in mind his own early life when he describes his “Seventh BStory Heaven.” Indeed Le Gallienne throughout is s0 true a philosopher that he sees the great things of life in the small, and realizes what 1s so often remarked and so seldom perceived, that happiness is a state of mind rather than & condition of body. As with many young writers, his first essay was in verse and criticism. “My Lady’s Son- nets” and “Volumes in Folio” were his first introduction 1o the reading public, aside from the reviews, mainly of poe: peared in the pages of the “Nineteenth Cen- tury” magazine. These last have recently been gathered together under the title, ‘A Logbook of Literary Criticism,” and have at- tracted more attention than would probably their author never Bills of Narcissus,” or “Prose Fancies.” Undoubtedly his work in the tine of criticism was & valuable training. He is thorougnly in touch with the writers of his own time as well as with the great pens of the past. His “Religion ot a Literary Man” is full of quotations and references to whatis admirable in contemporary thought. So that we seem to be walking always in have been the case had “The Book written goodly company. And so thankiful are we for such fellowship that we feel no sympathy with those crities who cry for greater originality. That there is no new thing under the sun was said so manyyears ago that we have almost | fo: rgotten how trueitis. Our debtis none the great to one who shall say the same old things freshly and simply, and in such man- | ner as to arrest attention. And this Le Galli- enne does par excellence in his * Religton of & Literary M Man.” We trace the influence of thew Arnold’s rationalistic theories, and no s the influence of Carlyle and Emerson and Browning, and, most greatly of all, George Meredith. When he tellsus that any phrase used to express Deity without personsality be- me itself personified, we are re- nded of Max Muller, who points out that thing in a profounder way and without a of Le Gallienne's graceful charm. tive guise, so that the average reader who has neither time nor patience for heavy works is charmed by Le Gallienne into an attention which may be more profitable than he at the | s. There is & greatness in mere | time reali simvleness which is reached by few. This work has been called “the funniest book on religion ever published.” Yet, what con- flict is there! It is indicated plainly enongh to those who can see beneath the surface optim- ism and good cheer and courage the mani- fold uncerteinties which beset the rationalistic mind. Le Gailienne might have said, as the man who has dominated his philosophy as well as that of most thinking Englishmen of this half of the century said of himself, that he was ‘Wandering between two worlds, one dead, The other powerless to be born. Perhaps Matthew Arnold put more of his epiritual yearning in that poem of “The Grand Chartreuse” than his intellect ever allowed him to express in prose. Le Gallienne has the temperament of a mystic and the brain of a rationalist—what surer ground for conflict! Itis the old warfare between Plato and Aris- | totle, between the subjective reasoning and the system which evolves theories from ob- served facts. As not infrequently happens in a time like ours, these two opposing forces have met in a single personality. Le Galli- enne cannot be certain of immortality in the | sense of continued identity, because it cannot be proved, and he holds that the belief mat- ters less than we suppose. His chapter on “The Hereafter,” in the Religio Scriptoris, aroused such controversy that he followed it by his sketch, ‘‘Death and Two Friends,” in the “Nineteenth Century.” This is in the form of dialogue. Two friends discuss the mooted point. Le Gallienne, ag Scriptor, contends that the idea of rest is the one most grateful to the aged and pain-weary who face death. Lector, the friend, retorts by asking him whether he has ever seen one he loved die. Scriptor answers ‘“yes,” and then follows the wonderful description of those two lovers parted by death. “It is but one sad little story of all the heaped-up sorrow of the world; but in it, as in a shell, I seem to hear the murmur of all the tides of tears that have surged ahout the lot of man from the begin- ning.” Those were the two happiest lovers in the world, through struggle and achievement, until death laid his grim hand upon the little sweetheart’s face. urely I felt God owed more than he’ could repay these two lovers, whom it had been so easy to leave to tneir simple joys. And from that night to this I can never look upon my white bed without seeing afar off the moment when it, too, will bear the little figure of her I love best in the world, bound for her voyage to the Minotaur—Death.” It is easy to trace the influence of Pater—I know no better master—upon Le Gallienne’s style. The rhythm of his words at times strik- ingly suggest the older writer, as when he speaks, in his rhapsody on “Whitebait,” of “ittle fin pressed lovingly by little fin,” we involuntarily recall Pater’s “‘little cell by cell,” in his marvelous porirait of Leonardo’s Lisa. In point of finish Le Gallienne’s later work is a distinct advance on his earlier. There are fewer of those sudden let downs, which give us much the same sort of shock as thatre- ceived by stepping off a siair unexpectedly. The reader has become accustomed to the s1oothness ands ease of Le Gallienne's sen- tences, the exquisite choiceness ot his words, when, presto! Without the slightest warning & sudden “flop” in style and sentiment. Take for example, the following from “The Religion of a Literary Man’: *It was to those who cannot that Christ refused & sign. If the world with all its myriad wonders will not toucnh them, if through the veils of all its so trans- parent forms they cannot see the face of God flashing—neither will they believe though one rose from the dead. To-morrow his resurrec- tiou would be as commonplace as the tele- which had ap- | viewing him with an eye to branch establish- ments in Hades.” There is less of this in_his latest book, and its beauty 1n parts is matchless. 1i Le Gallienne indicates his philosophy in his ‘Religio Seriptoris” he gives us bits of his life in the ““Prose Fancies.” The first series is dedicated to his wife y pruse for her poetry.” The book ends with the sketch “White Soul” —such a tribute as would have gladdened ana made humble with joy the heart of any wife. 1t closes with these words: “And if there are those who can look on that face without being touched by its strange, spiritual loveliness, without seeing in it one of those clear springs that bubble up from the oternal beauty, there must indeed be many who would miss the soul for which her face is but the ivory gate, who would never know how white is all within, never see or hear that holy dove. . ‘“‘But I have seen and heard, ana I know that if God should covet White Soul and steal ber from me, her memory would ever remain with me as one of those eternal realities of the spirit { to which ‘realities’ of flesh and blood, of wood and stone, are but presumptuous shadows. | “I am not worthy of White Soul. Indeed, | just togrow more worthy of her was I put into the world.” One is saddened to know that before the sec- | ona series of his “Fancies” went to press White | Soul hadin truth been taken from him—that | unspeakable anguish became his. The sketch “Death and Two Friends,” re- ferred to above, was supposed by many to have been written after his wife’s death. Itseems to me, on the contrary, that 1t would not have been possible for Le Gallienne to so write in | his sorrow. In point of fact, the sketch was published some time before her death. | It must have been with & strange sort of pre- | science that he wrote of his friend’s grief. In the same way Rossetti, when a boy of 19, pic- } tured in “The Blessed Damosel” the anguish he was to suffer years afterward in the death | of his young wife. “The Seventh-story Heaven” is among the | most charming of the Fancies, but in ‘‘The | Greatness of Man” Le Gallienne strikes his highest note. GRACE 8. MUSSER. SECOND COMING OF ELIJAH. THE TIME IS COMING. By W. B. Bolmer. New York: G. W. Dillingham & Co,, publish- ers. For sale by San Francisco News Com- Just | virtue of a book like this is that it pre- | sents great thoughts in refreshing and attrac- | : price, clothbound, §1. | Mr. Bolmer’s tale is found upon the beliet, | entertained by ancient Jews and by a very respectable number of Christian divines, that | Elijah, naving never died, will return in | Proper person to heraid the second advent. In superb pertection of stalwart manhood, most notable for a voice of incomparable power and sweetness, he addresses, upon the very scene of his greatest trinmph, the leaders of the Jews, who, in large numbers, are repossessinz, under the protection chiefly of the American Repub- | lic, the land of sheir forefathers. The wonder- ivful failure of most persevering efforts to re- build the temple at Jerusalem affords the re- | turned prophet an opportunity to advocate the cause he has come to advance. A magnificent | service of dedication is brought to an | abrupt close by an elemental disturb- ance that demolishes the glorious strue- ture which was on the eve of completion. Th storm bas hardiy ceased when ah stands forth to deliver his message. | The scene shifts to the United States, whither | Elijah transfers himself, he thereupon begin- ning a work on new lines among the Chris- tlans, with some of whom he readily obtains | scceptance on the strength of the occurrences | in the Holy Lend. | DEALS WITH THE DIVORCE EVIL. | EDGAR gt FAIRFAX. By sters.’” the author of the New York: W. Dillingham For sule by San_ Francisc paper, price 50 cents. This narrative deals with the divorce evil. | The hero 1s a Virginian, and while in Europe he becomes fascinated with Barbara Weis- haupt, & German peasant, who has become & celebrated actress. Edgar's relatives are aristocrats; and he fears tieir fury if he mar- ries her. While Barbara is acting in the Unitea States the next year Edgar secretly | marries her, but they separate in a short time. | Edgar regrets his marriage with Barbara— | wants to get rid of her and obtains a divorce | from her. Then Edgar falis inlove with Do- lores Woodville, a rich Baltimore belle, and becomes engaged to her; but he discovers that she thinks divorce is wrong and he conceals all his past life from her. Emil Leonhardt, a cousin of Barbara, has always hated Edgar and in revenge for a fancied wrong he reveals his diverce to Dolores and breaks off the en- | gagement. Dolores dies of & broken heart and | Edgur hes an attack of brain fever, which de- | stroys his reason for a time; but he recovers | and becoraes an earnest Christian. He dies of | afever contracted while doing mission work | in the city of New York. A WELCOME CHEAP EDITION. AS THE WIND BELOWS. A novel, bv Eleanor Merron. New York: American Publishers’ Cor- poration. Paper, 50 cents. It is pleasing to note that Miss Merron’s strong, thought-inspiring book has been sent | through a cheap edition, in paper covers. The | volume tells the story of the lives of several young women of exemplary character, also | that of others of the reverse, all of whose lives | are tossed hither and thither by circumstances, | or fate, whatever that may be or mean, even | as the autumnal leaves are scattered by the winds. The male characters of the book, and there are several, are alike conspicuous for their vicissitudinous experiences, and it is both interesting and educating to watch them closely. Those who read this book carefully are impressed with the uncertainties of youth and beauty, health, wealth and position. It suggests, however, that while we cannot al- ways have things to please us, “it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good”; also that if, in- deed, everything is not for the best, it cer- tainly is not for the worst. A MAN OF THE WORLD. MR. MERCER OF NEW YORK. A novel, by Annie Henri Wilson. New York: G. W. Dilling- ham & Co., publishers. For sale by San Frau- cisco News Company; paver, price 50 cents. Mercer is young, handsome and rich, but against him there are many odds. His lines have fallen into high places, according to the world's standard, but he 15 a seif-confessed ab- normal individual for whom society has lost attraction. Having gone the pace that kills in time, he retires to an isolated spot in the North Carolina mountaius to recuperate. Here he runs across & girl, peculiarly and re- freshingly sweet and innocent, who appesis to his fancy, and who is later given into his care by her poor and illiterate old parents. The story revenls how this manof the world dis- charged a trust. It is & story of a man’s honest endeavor along new and better lines, of renouncement and sacrifice. Conaitions shift and vary, and tragedy plays a part. The story is on the sensational order. PORTRAYS CUBAN PLUCK T%gxcgatfilefifikATED. OR . A_novel, oy {Reissued ) New vor Ifin‘ltcu.bl:r:’u.;l’l:g:::; Corporation; 12mo: 226 pages; paper, 50 cents. A s.ory of 1869 is here given, portraying marital jealousies and presenting xaleido- scopic views of American, English, Spanish and Cuban typesof character. It portrays the persevering pluck of the Cuban spirit and speculates as to the outcome of the chronic Spanish-Cuban difficulties. The language of the book is simple and unaffected. A silken read of romance is woven in its pages. Added to its commendable features are the SAVED BY nhone, and enterprising firms would be inter- facts that one can, withouteffort,lay down the e THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1896 23 book at an instant’s notice and take it up agsin as willingly when opportunity presents itself. INDIAN STORY FOR BOYS. TH£ GOLDEN ROCK. By Ifeitepant R. H. w York: American P iblishers’ Cor- 12mo, cioth, 315 pag.s; price 50 cents. This is & new book for boys by one of their favorite authors. The narrative is founded upon facts as related to Lientenant Jayne by the hero of the story, Richard, or rather Dick Stoddard, as he is called in the book. The titles of the chapters imdicate both the char- acter and locality, as well as the deep interest of the volume: Lost and Found; Diamond Cut Diamond; The Land ot the Sioux; A Wonder- ful Region; A Memorable Night; A Timely Rescue; A Storm in the Northwest; The Trap- per’s - Home; Trapping for Beavers; A Wonder- ful Discovery; Good and Bad Fortune; Fight- ing for Life; In Despair; Without a Clew; The Young Captive; Back and Forth and Back Ageain; Life Among the Sionx; The Flight of Dick; Conclusion. The book is illustrated with five full-page illustrations. It will no doubt be eagerly read by all the boys of America who may be fortunate eaough to ob- tain copies. IN THE TEMPEFANCE CAUSE PLATFORM PEARLS—For temperance workers and_other reformers. Compiled by Lilian M. Heath. New York, London and Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company; cloth, 256 pages, 75 cents. Here is a collection of choice recitations in prose and poetry that will be welcomed by all who have occasion to_arrange or take part in public gatherings. W.C.T.U. members and other temperance workers, woman-suffrage ad- vocates, educational and religious societies will be especially interested, because this con- venient little book supplies material needed to make thelr meetings attractive. “Home talent” is given an opportunity to score a hit before the most exacting audiences by using the recitations in this book of Platform Pearls. The selections have been made with great care and with a good taste and judgment that betokens peculiar fitness on the part of the compiler for such work. The general ex- cellence and appropriateness of the pieces for the occasions for which they are intended are especially marked; their variety and scope prevent monotony and make a happy selection always possible at short notice. FOR SOCIETY'S IMPROVEMENT. THE KING'S DAUGHTERS. A romance. By Ellen . ‘Dickinson _(relssued). New York: American Publishers’ Corporation; 12 mo; 275 Pages; cloth $1, paper 60 cents. Of particular interest to all concerned for the welfare of that praiseworthy orgsnization known as “The King’s Daughters” is this little book. All through the volume much truth is told, to which no exception can be taken, An anti-gossiping society is advocated by the author, who deals some 'trenchant blows in various directions among the “upper ten.” Society giris, as such, also come in for their share of attention by way of sundry les- sons on behavior. The story unfolds no little romance and must leave its impression on the reader. The book is beautifully printed in large, clear type and contains twelve full-page half-tone engravings. A POPULAR STORY REISSUED. SUNSET PASS By Captain Charles R. King. New York: American Publishers’ Corporation. Paper covers, 50 cents. Captain Charles King’s book, “Sunset Pass; or Running the Gauntlet Through Apache Land,” which hes fora long time been out of print, has been reissued, in paper covers. There is no better writer of Tealistic fiction from a “Far West” point of view than Captain King, who was an officer of United States cay- alry and of artillery. He knows whereof he writes. “Sunset Pass” is a typical, spirited story; one that is enjoyable by young and old. The book is illustrated by about twenty full- page pictures. WHAT A NOVEL SHOULD BE. BEHIND PLASTERED WALLS. By Willlam W. M. Cornish. New York: G.W. Diliingham & Co., publishers. For sale by San Francisco News Company: price, clothbound, $1. In the novel before us we have the author’s conception of what a novel should be, or rather what an ideal author should be. Speak- ing through his heroine he says: **An ideal author, I should say, is one who is eapable of investing a book with such interest, of inspiring such genuine en thusiasm, such an overmastering enchainment of the senses, that the reading of his book, once commenced, can- not be discontinued 1ill finished.” HEROIiSM IN HUNBLE LIFE. JILL, A LONDON FLOWER GIRL. A novel, by L.T. Meade. New York: American Publishers’ Corporation. Paper, 50 cents. The romeance of the London flower girl is rather out of the common order. The book is one hard to lay down without having finished the story. Jill is both morally and physiolog- ieally beautiful, and her maiden promises are sacred to her in spite of the dictates of an in- tense love. She would have sacrificed her life for her word’s sake but for the heroic and seli-sacrificing instinet of Silas Lynn, who released her. will be enjoyed by all who are exercised by sympathy and sentiment. A NEW ENGLAND ROMANCE. EUNICE QUINCE. By Dane Conyngham. New York: American Publishers' Corporation; 362 pages: paper 50 cents. This interesting book is now issued in paper covers, as well as in cloth. The story of Eunice Quince meets all the requirements in a novel caleulated to bring only enjoyment and refreshment. One delights in a book that gy 2 & WHY IS IT SO7 Some find work where some find rest, And so the weary world goes on; Isometimes wonder what is best; The answer comes when life is gone. Some eyes sleep when some eyes wake, And 50 the dreary night hours o; Some hearts beat where some hearts break, Ioften wonder why tis so. Some hands fold where other hands. Are lifted bravely in the strife; And =0 through ages and through lands Move on the two extremes of life. Some feet halt while some feet tread, In tireless march, a thorny way; Bome struggle on where some have fled, Some seek where others shun the iray. Some sleep on while others keep The vigils of the true and brave; They will not rest till roses creep Around their names above the grave. FATHER RYAN. TIME'S DISTANT. TO-MORROW. Earth had whirled down the path of the ages, And the race on its service had grown Tothe dreams of the earlier sage: There was neither a yoke nor a throne. Love was law and the race knew no others; Greed and anger had flown from Lhelr hearts, For the nighest and lowest were brothers In the grace that Time’s teaching imparts. All the cannons that once in the battle Had inturiate nations upheld: All the muskets whose ominous rattie Death’s insatiate muster had swelled. All the sabers whose terrible edges Had demanded the life of & man— © A A ‘Were Interred under blossoming hedges; Earth was ruled by a worthler pian. None was robbed of life’s portion of pleasure, Nor was any welghed down with its woe; All obtained of its giadness due measure And were happy, the high and the low. Toil was noble and each was expected To contribute a share of its gaing To their care whom the fates had directed £hould abide in the region of pains. And the tollers were never unwilling To divide with the helpless their store ; Heaven’s pereepis the ages instilling Made them eager to even the score. & AT e b e e In the skies the first stars were appearing; O'er the earih was night's shadowy pall; No: a sound stirred the sense of his hearing Save the whip-poor-will’s penetrant call. . He arose from the bank where, reclining, He hal wandered ia fancy afar; In his soul Was & lamp that was Lixe the glow of yon scintillant “God is good (80 he thought) in his kindness; He has given the people hope’s power To sustain them through eons of blindness And to lead to the ultimate hour. «As the man. through the scourging of sorrow, Learns the blessings life's losses convey, 80 ' he race, in time’s distant to-morrow, Shall be brougnt to the worth fer way.” FRANE PUTNAM. SONGS OF THE HOME. THE HOME-COMING. Tn glad green ficlas sweet belis sre nngiog; In woodlands dim a thrash is singing, And fountains at thy feet are springing. In vine-clad cots the lights are shining ‘Where rise no songs of sad repining, ‘And roses for thy rest are twining. And one awaits thy kiss—thy greeting; Thy heart her dear name is repeating And times thy footsteps With its beating. Sweet 18 thy toil—thy s:tong endeavor, And neither Iife nor death shall sever Toy heart from love that lives forever! FRANK L.~ TANTON. / IF WHILE THE BODY SLEEFS. 1¢, while the body sleeps, the soul could steal Forth from its fleshty prison to the dny, Feel summer’s breath and drink the morning dew, With everr sin laid like a Tobe away, Ana walk unseen yet see all hidden good, And looking back behold its house of sin, 0f weak uncleanness and of narrow bounds, Who, once released, again wou'd enter in? RUTH WARD KAEN in The Letter. SLEEP SONG. Let’s sail to Sleep. my boy— The far-oft shore of Sleep, Where waters creep, my boy, Where lo:us-meadows sweep! The lilies loll upon the tired tide, The brooaing birds’ songs sound away and wide, { And tinkiing tones fill copses through the coun- try’s side— 3 Let's sall to Sleep, my boy, Let's sail to Slecp, my boy! Bid “bye-bye!” now, my boy, We're over Slumber Sea; Ana from the prow, my boy, See—meadows motion me! ‘Waves touch the crinkled shores with kiss As soft as mother’s hand in sickness is: And soft the airs that sing and signal coming bliss. Now rest in Sleep, my boy, Now rest in Sleep, my boy! WiLL T. HALE in Memphis Appeal It is a tale of humble life that | e 4 Q XPLOITING THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF THE ROCKIES IN BRITISH AMERICA » keeps him entertained from first to last. The heroine bejongs to the *‘Brahmin Caste,” and has the advantage of rich Spanish blood in her veins. The characters introduced are por- trayed with a graphic pen, and the book occu- ples a prominent place among the novels of New Englana lite. AN ADMIRABLE STYLE. WITHOUT SIN. A novel. by Martin J. Pritchard. Chicago: Herbert S. Stone & Co., publishers. For sale by Doxey; price $1 25. - This is a peculiar story framea about a very beautiful girl, whose life to all appearances is a saintly one. In the end she proves to have been the victim of a mortal error, which im- pels her to leave a world which had been sing- ing the praises of her surpassing loveliness and to atone foralife’s mistake in the relig- ious solitude of the cloister. The literary style of the author is admirable. LITERARY NOTES. A biography of Joseph Thomson, the Afri- can traveler, is being written by his brother, the Rev. J. B. Thomson. The complete novel which Willidwr Carleton, the Irish novelist, left among his papers is to be published shortly in London. A new and complete edition, in eight vol- umes, of the works of J. M. Barrie, including the latest books, “Margaret Ogilyie” and “‘Sen- timental Tommy,” is announced by the Messrs. Scribner. Andrew Lang’s iong-expected biography of John Lockhart will be published by the Messrs.. Seribuer in the fall. It will be interesting to see if the biography of Lockhart will be as ab- sorbing & work as Lockhart’s own biography of Scott. Baring Gould bas finished the personal life of Napoleon Bonaparte upon which he has | been working for a long time. In his leisure moments Baring Gould has made something of a hobby of the study of Nupoleon, and this volume is the result. A novelette by Richard Wsagner, the great musical composer, entitled “A Pilgrimage to Beetnoven,” is announced to begin with No. 470 or the Open Court. It is a sketch of great literary power and depth of thought, full of humor and varied artistic interest. It had been thought that the exhaustive biography of Murat, which Comte Murat is preparing, chiefly from documents in the pos- session of the family, would have been ready by the autumn. The issue of the work, how- ever, has Leen delayed, and it will not see the | light until the beginning of next year. A book entitled “The Shadow Christ,” soon to be published by the Century Company, is snid to treat an old subject with an eloguence and force unusual in religious writings of the | It is a study or Christ’s fore- | present day. runner in the Old Teslament, written by a young minister, the Rev. Gerald Stanley Lee. “Sister Jane” is the title of Joel Chandle Harris’ most ambitious novel, which is an nounced for publication by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. It treats of life in the South beiore the war, and those who have read it betieve that “Sister Jane” will stand side by side with | « Uncle Remus” as &n original creation. The Joseph Knight Company of Boston an- nounces for publication on September 15 «Bacon vs. Shakesveare,” by Edwin Reed, with illustrations end a facsimile of the cover of oneof Bacon's MS. volumes recently discov- ered. Mi. Reed is a member of the New York | Shakespeare Society and a well-known sup- porter of the Bacon theory. Blackmore’s new story, “Dariel,” which he has written for Blackwood’s Magazine, is his iourteenth large siory. “Dariel” will tollow “An Uncrowned King: A Romance of High Politics,” which is concluded in the Septem- ber number of the magazine, and isannounced to be by the author of “His Excellency’s Eng- lish Governess,” Sydney Grier. W. J.Stiliman is editing an art volume de- | voied to “Venus and Apolio in Painting and Sculpture.” It will consist of forty-one iarge- sized photogravures, .orty of these being in duplicate, and one in colors as a frontispiece. The work will contain all the best examples of Venus and Apollo by the most ramous old masters and sculptors. Messrs. Bliss, Sands & Foster of Loadon are the publishers. General Horace Porter’s personal recollec- tions of General Grant, which the Century will | publish, beginning in November, are to be called “Campaigning With Grant.” General Porter first met Genersal Grant at Chattanooga. He s0on became attached to his staff, and was with him constantly from that time until th close of General Grant's first term as Presi- dent, during which he was Grant’s private sec- retary. There is no end to the issuing of books con- cerning Dante. A first series of “Studies in Dante,’” by the Rev. Dr. E. Moore, editor of the “Oxford Dante,” will be published imme- diately by the Clarendon Press. Dr. Mcore gives in this volume a list of direct quotations from Scripture and from classical authors ex- ceeding 600 in number, und aiso of allusions and forms of expression which more or less certainly imply a reference to some previous writer. The Messrs. Harper will publish in Septem- ber a new edition of ‘‘Harper's Dictionary of Ciassical Literature and Antiquities,” edited by Professor Harry Thurston Peck. The first edition of the Dictionary was published fifty years ago, and was not, we need scarcely say, edited by Professor Peck. * Dr. Charles Anthon was the first editor, and, exceilent as was the work when it left his hand, the importance ot recent archzological researches has made a new edition necessary. The novel-reading world is in a flutter of ex- pectation over the forthcoming publication of Mr. Du Maurier's new novel, “The Martian,” which will begin in the October Harper’s. It 18 said that, notwithstanding the fame and fortune that “Trilby’’ has brought to him, Mr. Dn Maurier will not allow that book to be named in his presence. Not that he despises bis fascinating heroine, but because he is weary and disgusted with unpleasant features connected with the story’s popularity. Bright, seasonable, full of whoiesome read. ing and artistic illustrations, Outing for Sep- tember is worthy of its foremost position in the field of sport. The contents include: “The Secret of the Pines,” by H. M. Hoke; “The Thirty-Foot Class,” by R. B. Burchard; “The Courtship of Jack C " by George Gladden; ¢Rail and Reedbird,” by Ed W. Sandys; “With the Uplana Plover,” by James E. Benton, and wrenting in the Arid Lands,” by John W. Hays. The celebrated “Hoyt-Ward- Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations,” which obtained such a deservedly high reputation when first pub- lished some years ago, has just been thoroughiy revised, greatly enlarged and entirely reset, and will be issucd this fall by the Funk & Wagnalls Compeny, New York, London and Toronto. It will be praciically a brand-new work, with elegant cover design by George Wharton Edwards, and rubricated title page. There will be nearly 1200 pages, containing 30,000 choice quotations embracing & com- prehensively broad field of subjects, with 70,000 lines of concordance. The Dodge Book and Stationery Company of this City have in press for immediate publica- tior: an edition de luxe of the famous Persian poemof Omar Khayyam, the Rubaiyat, as translated into English by Edward Fitzgerald. Copious notes have been appended to the work, together with a brief life of the author. The edition de Juxe will be printed on fine paper and bound in boards with white cloth backs. The edition wlll be limitea to fifty copies; five copies, however, will be bound in white calf and printed on a much finer paper. The same house has also in preparation a cheap edition of the Rubaiyat which they will issue in paper coversat a low figure to meet the demand for a popular priced edition for students. CAMPING IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. By Walter Dwight Wilcox. New York and London; G. P. Putnam’s Sons, publishers; for sale by Wilifam Doxey. The author of this work considers that the extremely wild character of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and the very short time since they were opened up to travelers, are the probable reasons for the lack of literature and the absence, heretofore, of any thoroughly illustrated publication concerning that region. Mr. Wilcox, during a period of four years, made camping excursions into many of the wilaer partsof the mountains in question and effected & considerable number of ascents, A camera was his inseparable companion, and he ob- tained photographs oi typical scenery from every possible point of view. No expense of time or labor, he telis us, was spared in order to obtain true and artistic representations of nature. In many cases the proper light effects on lakes and forests required hours of delay, and frequently, on lofty mountain summits, high winds made it necessary to anchor the camera with stones; while the cold and ex- posure of the high altitudes made the circum- stances unfavorable for successiul work. Nev- ertheless, the photogravures in the volume reach a rere degree of excellence and make & superb, artistic adornment of a work that ably describes the comparatively unfrequented mountain wilderness of the great Northwest. Speaking particularly with reference to the forest primeval of the Selkirk range of moun- tains, Mr. Wilcox allows himself to indulge in some Interesting cogitations, word-etchings, contrasts and comparisons : “The idea that is at length developed in the mind by & long rest in one of these deep and somber forests is that of the majesty and silent, motionless power of vegetation. The creations of the vegetable world stand on all sides. They well nigh cover the ground; theylimit the horizon and conceal the sky. The tall cedars have a shreddy bark that hangsin long strips on their tapering boles and makes the strong- est contrast with the rough bark of the firs. ‘What gould be more unlike, too, among ever- greens than the spreading, fan-like foliage of the cedars, the needle-like leaves of the flrs and the delicate spray of the hemlocks? “What avast amount of energy has been preserved in the forest giants; with whata crash would they fall to the ground, and what a quantity of heat which.they have stored up from the sun through hundreds of summers would they give out when burned slowly in a fireplace! 1f we examine a single needle or a thin shaving of wood under the microscope and obtain & glimpse of the complexity of the cells and pores with which this vegetable life is carried on, or consider the wonderful pro- cesses by which the flowers are fertilized and the cones mature,so thatthe species may never die out, and then regard the immensity of the whole forest, stretching boundless in every direction, all constructed from an in- finity of atoms, the mind and the imagination are soon led beyond their depth. RSB T . “Trees have all the qualifications of living forever. There is no reason why a tree should ever die, were it not for some unnatural cause, such as the fury of a storm, the rending power of lightning or the destructive in- fluence of insects and parasites. In California, in the Mariposa grove, some of the giant red- wood trees are 2500 years old. They began to | grow when Solon was making laws for the ancient Greeks. California sare, These wonderful groves of however, exceptional, and | have survived by reason of the clemency of the climate and the fact that the aromatic red- wood is avoided by insects. 1n most forests the laws of chance and probability rarely allow the sturdiest trees 10 run the gamut of | more than a few hundred years, and if they attain a thousand years it is their ‘fourscore by reason of strength.’ *“In the Selkirks one sees the ground covered with huge tree trunks in all stages of decay, slowly moldering away -into a newer and richer soil; some have yielded to the natural processes ot decay, others to accident or forest fires, while in some places winter avalanches have cut off the tops of the trees forty or fifty feet above the ground,and left nothing but a maze of tall stumps where once stood & noble forest. “The Selkirk forests are demse and some- times almost magnificent in their luxunance, and vastly surpass the forests of Eastern ranges in the variety of species, the size of the trees and the luxuriant rankness of vegetable growth. At the same time they do notap- proach the almost tropical vigor and grandeur of the Pacific Coast forests, where a green car- pet of moss covers the trunks ana branches of the huge trees, and even ferns find nourish- ment in this rich covering, aided by the reek- ing, humid atmosphere, on branches forty or fifty feet above the ground. Insuch a forest the ferns and brakes reach a height of six or eight feet above the ground, the various mosses attain a remarkable development and hang in long green tresses & yard in length from every branch and exaggerate the size ot the smaller branches, while the beautiful tufts of the Hypnum mosses appear like the fronds of small ferns, so large do they become. “The forests of the Summit range, the Sel- kirks and the Pacific Coast are almost perfect ndexes of the humidity of the climate. The Selkirk forests are less vigorous than those of the Pacific Coast, but miore so than the light and comparatively open forests of the Sume- mit range, where the climate is much drier.” Califorpians in the valleys, where snow rarely. if ever, appears, and where, if it does come down for a few moments in the midst of winter, it is regarded as a remarkable phe- nomenon, are hardly in a position to appre- ciate the beauties of snowstorm in midsum- mer, which Mr. Wilcox found delight in near the base of Mount Assiniboine. The pictures of mountain lakes in this region resemble miniature arctic seas. The scenmery about Mount Assiniboine is sublime. From the snowfields the bare rock cliffs rise about 3000 feet; the angle of slope on either side beinga little more than 51 degrees—a slope which is often called perpendicular. The mountain proper is 11,680 feet in heignt, according to measurements made by the author. The book contains 280 pages, printed in the wvery best style of the bookmaker’s art, and the perfectness and finish' of the twenty-five full- p:ge photogravures demand more than pass- ing mention. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the volume. And by this expres- sion let it not be imagined that the work as a contribution to descriptive literature is under- valued. The reader will find entertainment and instruction in the author’s account of camp life in the Canadian Rockies, and es- pecially in his chapters relating to the regions about Banff, Lake Louise and Glacier; while'a sketch of early explorations in the British Northwest gives to the velume some of the merits of a history. The leading article in the Critic of August 22 is as striking as one might expect it to be from its unusual heading—‘“Hullabaloo.” It is a story of the convention as the “billboard of modern thought,” on which are advertised our noble desires or posted our national sins. The recent episode at Chicago is taken as & text. The. article is full of pungent truths, forcibly and effectivély expressed. There is a letter from Andrew Lang, a string of bantering verses on the water-cure fad (“The Barefoot Brigade”) and a number of little pictures illustrating Burns’ birthplace and favorite resorts. The Shetland Islands will be the scene of & new novelette, entitled “Prisoners of Con. science,” by Mrs. Amelia E. Barr, the first part of which will appear in the September Century. The characters in the story are fisher-folk brought up in the most rigid tenets of Oalvinism, and they are kedged about with the “phantoms of a gloomy creed.” Through the tragedies that enter the hero’s lite he is brought to » milder faith, reading the promises as well as the penalties or the Scriptures, Louis Loeb, the artist, who furnishes the illus- trations, was sent to the Shetland Islands to make the drawings from life.