simply admirable one of the most interest-
ing documents of our time. It is gossip, but
it is gossip of the best description ; and al-
though Mr. Whitman never, we think, knew
Bismarck until after his fall, his view of him
differs in no respect from that of the writer
of the present notice, who never saw the
prince after he ceased to be German Chancel-
lor. There is not a trace of that change
which the pamphleteers and journalists of the
empire, and in some degree of tlTe whole
world, tried to fasten upon Bismarck after
his decline from power. The picture is a
pleasant one, revealing all the striking family
affection and courtesy to friends and the far-
off' historic judgment of men and things with
which we were familiar, but revealing them
with a dignity and simplicity which will
charm not only Prince Bismarck's friends,
but also all throughout the world who value
the greatness of its great men.
The conversations are consistent with each
other, and they form, therefore, a perfect
whole. To take an example from a trifle,
in one of the early interviews Bismarck com-
plains that he has had bad nights for many
years, that all through his tenure of the
Chancellorship the slightest worries assumed
vast proportions at night, when he would lie
awake for hours, and would get up and make
notes, finding, however, invariably in the
morning that these notes were useless. In
one of the latest conversations he returns
to the same subject, and, being told by an
Englishman present what any such English-
man was sure to tell him, namely, that Glad-
stone never had a sleepless night, the prince
replied that he did not envy our statesman,
as the fact did not reflect credit upon his
heart, Another visitor said that at all events
Gladstone possessed principles. At this Bis-
marck laughed, and said that when you want
to have your own way it is very convenient
to have principles which can be made to fit
in with and to justify your conduct. He had
always been content to feel that his own con-
duct must be in accordance with what his
instincts told him was his duty, and had he
attempted to regulate his action by any other
principle he would have been a prey to
sophistry.
Some of the conversations date from the
end of Prince Bismarck's life, and he dis-
cussed with Mr. Whitman the Emperor's
telegram to President Kruger and the Jame-
son raid. He thought that our Government
was open to the charge of complicity, or, at
least, of being afraid of the originator of the
raid in other words, Mr. Rhodes. Of the
raid itself he said that, while desperate cour-
age might have done much to redeem such
an odious crime, he was amazed at those who
had entered upon it deliberately being content
to surrender at the first brush. (Appleton.
$1 net.) The Athenaeum.
The Spirit of the Ghetto.
Commenting on Hutchins Hapgood's new
book, "The Spirit of the Ghetto," Zangwill
writes :
"The book will be a revelation to the Chris-
tian, and even to the modern Jew, neither of
whom understands how complete and charac-
teristic a life pulsates in the Ghetto, how
it tingles with every kind of activity intel-
lectual, political and dramatic. The mere bi-
ographic and historical sketches with which
the book teems make it a unique storehouse
of original information nowhere else acces-
sible, but the book is more than this. It is
a criticism of life, and moreover a criticism
tending to sweetness and light. For it is
the work of no prejudiced Jew but of an out-
sider of culture, able to interpret what he
sees, to understand its ratios and finally to
divine the deep antique springs of idealism
that transfuse the Ghetto with a poetry that
the American life often loses. The Ghetto
must pass indeed into the larger life, and
Jewish life disappear except in name unless
revitalized by Zionism but the moment of
transition is profoundly interesting, and this
moment Mr. Hapgood has caught with all its
strong lights and shadows. The book de-
strves the success due to novelty and truth,
vonveyed with charm."
Aside from its literary value the book is
of unusual interest pictorially since Jacob
Epstein has, in numerous drawings, exactly
reproduced the distinctive types and scenes
of the Ghetto. (Funk & Wagnalls. $1.35 net.)
Fehruary, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
47
The Papal Monarchy.
That Dr. Barry should have been chosen
tJ do the "Catholic Europe"' chapter in Lord
Acton's "Cambridge Modern History" is a
testimony to his fitness for the part assigned
him in the Story of the Nations Series that
could hardly be improved, but the book that he
has written does, nevertheless, improve upon
it. Written by a Roman Catholic dignitary and
scholar, it is done with as much frankness
and fairness as it could have been by any
ner in which the papal monarchy came to be
established. In his introductory chapters Dr.
Barry clearly indicates the steps by which
the Roman Bishops reached their peculiar
dominance. We are permitted to believe that
there would never have been any papal mon-
archy if the Roman Empire had not deserted
Rome for Constantinople as its imperial seat.
Yet what made for the papal monarchy was
not so much that the Popes were left very
much to themselves in Italy as that they
From " The Papal Monarchy."
THE PAPAL PALACE AND BR OKEN BRIDGE OF AVIGNON.
G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Protestant. Dr. Barry enjoys the advantage
of being a trained and effective man of let-
ters, and consequently he brings to the pres-
entation of his story no merely clerical for-
mality, but the freedom of a vigorous and
lively pen. He is not only master of his ma-
terial, but his book is exceedingly well writ-
ten. His object is to inquire how the Ponti-
I'ex Maximus, heir of old Rome, and now its
Chistian Bishop, dealt with the peoples who
invaded the Western Empire, and how they
dealt with him. The limits of his treatment
are considerably extended beyond the prom-
ise of the title-page, (590-1303,) there being
two introductory chapters of great interest
and importance, leading up to the time of
Gregory the Great and making plain the man-
made splendid use of their opportunity in the
teeth of the barbaric hordes. If Dr. Barry
does simple justice to the Popes who scan-
cl&lized their office, he does no less to such
Popes as Leo the Great and Gregory the
G:eat. We are well assured that it was not
by any luck or accident that the papal mon-
archy was established, but in virtue of the
service rendered by the Popes to Italy and
Evrope in a time of sorest need.
The book as a whole is a great story ad-
mirably told; and it is a consoling one, for,
though we have not yet attained, neither are
already perfect, the world is getting on. The
former times were not better than these. "E
pur si muove !" (Putnam. $1.35 net.)
John W. Chadwick, in N. Y. Times Sat. Rep.
4^
THE LITERARY NEWS.
[February^ 1903
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
After years of waiting, the "Men of Let-
ters" series at last has a life of Longfellow,
a life which might very appropriately have
stood at its beginning, since Longfellow was
certainly the most widely famous of the first
distinguished group of American writers, and
the most exclusively a man of letters. The
author. Colonel T. W. Higginson, cites in
his preface three sources of new material
upon which he has drawn. The manuscript
correspondence of Mary Potter Longfellow,
the poet's first wife, covers the years of his
early married life and his first trip to Europe.
Again, the manuscript volumes of "Harvard
College Papers" have furnished matter bear-
ing upon Longfellow's relations with the
Harvard authorities during his professor-
ship. Finally, a few extracts from some of
his earlier writings, not hitherto brought
together, are thrown in as early evidence of
"his life-long desire to employ American ma-
terial and to help the creation of a native
literature."
Colonel Higginson fails to establish his
claim for a special "Americanism" in the
quality of Longfellow's work, and no one need
regret the failure. A bumptious determina-
tion to be different is no more desirable than
the disposition to be a servile follower, and
Longfellow fell into neither of these pitfalls.
He threw his soul no more heartily into his
American themes than into "The Golden
Legend." for instance, and discreet Americans
will not be sorry that he chose the latter
theme at a time when his mind was actually
balancing between that and a drama on Cot-
ton Mather.
On the whole, Colonel Higginson's new ma-
terial is hardly so important a feature of his
book as he seems to suppose. The fact that
he has written it will be a better passport to
the favor of most readers, for we never fail
to get something richly worthy of our at-
tention when one of the fast disappearing
inner circle of the older New England writ-
ers consents to talk of any of the others.
(Houghton, Mifflin, $1.10 net.) The Critic.
The Last Days of Pekin.
Pierre Loti does not bother himself about
pclitical or military affairs in China, naval
officer though he is ; it is as a man of letters
arul an artist that he views this invasion of
the Orient by the occidental barbarians. He
has given an unrivalled picture of the city as
h^ found it after its capture, under the heel
ni^ the invader, dust and destruction every-
where, the temples polluted and the palaces
sacked. Intensely proud of the behavior of
the French troops as he saw them, with now
and then an oblique glance at those of other
nationalities unnamed, generously sympa-
thetic with the Chinese, in their helplessness
and terror, and deeply moved by the great
age and dim grandeur of the palaces and
From "The Last Days of Pekin."
Copyright, 1902, by Little, Brown & Co.
MARBLE BRIDGE OVER MOAT BEFORE SOUTHERN GATE OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY.
February, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
49
shrines which he visited, he has given a faith-
f.il and impressive record of what he saw and
felt during his stay in Pekin. In the short
space of time which he had at his disposal
for his operations he has arrived at an un-
derstanding of the Chinese national character
that is unique and probably substantially cor-
rect. At any rate, he has given his readers
an intelligible account of his own feelings.
(Little, Brown. $1.75 net.) Public Opinion.
The Diary of a Saint.
"The Diary of a Saint"' is a wonderfully
clever piece of fiction, and strong in its con-
trasts. If it had been transplanted, char-
acter and scenes, to some village in France
or Spain, the change, we fancy, would have
been better understandable than to have
Tuskamuck so near at home.
In Ruth Privet the author has newly drawn
a perfect saint, though she is a young woman
of free opinion as to creeds. She is well-to-
do, highly educated, and is respected. She
adores the memories of her dead father and
mother. Ruth's maternal instinct, derived
from her mother, is intensified. Her phil-
osophy of life she gets from her father. All
through the story the sage precepts of that
departed father are repeated, and many of
them are worthy of quotation. Ruth holds
in dislike the hard tenets of religion in vogue
in Tuskamuck, and the belief in general and
universal damnation.
Mr. Arlo Bates presents many personages
in "The Diary of a Saint." There are aristo-
crats in the village, and their ways and man-
ners are described. Then, too, in or near
Tuskamuck there are those who are of the
mud, not the honest mud of a rain swept
road, but the vile muck of the pigsty, an^
the author lays much stress on this unfor-
tunate lowest layer of impurity. Sometimes
you wonder how Ruth could have loved such
a cad as George Weston, or such a headstrong,
impetuous man as was Tom Webbe, and how
rapidly her affections could pass from one to
the other. Was it pity that went hand in
hand with her love?
The best compliment we can pay Mr. Arlo
Bates is to insist that his "The Diary of a
Saint" will stand a double reading. In his
own way, a peculiar way, the author teaches
charity, mercy, and love, and it makes no
matter whence these man and woman saving
traits are derived. (Houghton, Mifflin.
$1.50.) N. Y. Times Sat. Revietv.
Andrew Carnegie, the Man and His Work.
Andrew Carnegie fills so large a space in
the public eye that anything and everything
concerning him takes on wide interest. Much
that is written is apochryphal ; so a life that is
honest and authoritative, without being direct-
ly inspired by Mr. Carnegie, will meet a genu-
ine need. Such a work is Barnard Alderson's
"Andrew Carnegie," which is a character
sketch of his life. In this Mr. Alderson has
had the assistance of the men who have known
Mr. Carnegie best, and who, reailizing that
this work vvas to be one in which the public
would have the fullest confidence, have given
it many novel bits of news.
No work of fiction, telling of the rise to
fortune of its young hero, could be half as
interesting as this sketch of Mr. Carnegie's
career. It tells of his youthful days in Scot-
land ; his first place in America as a bobbin
boy at one dollar and twenty cents a week;
how he rnastered telegraphy and became the
secretary to Thomas A. Scott, and all the
stepping stones to the career that was to be-
come the model for the youth of the world.
This life does not deal simply with Mr.
Carnegie as an amasser of wealth. His at-
titude toward labor is shown; his gospel of
wealth is studied and made clear by his own
life; his benefactions are touched upon, but
without any taint of flaunting; his views on
political matters receive consideration, and
there is a pleasant tribute to his skill as a
writer.
Altogether the book is one which will have
a strong and helpful effect. It will not be
possible for every boy to reach the wealth
and position that Mr. Carnegie has won, but
it will show that there is always betterment
in store for the one who is honest and faith-
ful ; who does not count the hours he works ;
who makes it his business so to master the
details of his profession that he is indispensa-
ble in it; who is pure in thought and deed.
(Doubleday, Page. $1.40 net). Cleveland
Leader.
The Disentanglers.
Mr. Lang has only himself to blame if, in
a good many quarters, he is regarded less as
the brilliant man of letters that he unques-
tionably is than as a kind of phenomenon, a
source from which almost anything is to be
expected. When he is not publishing some
study in anthropology he is translating Greek
poetry; when he is not clearing up an his-
50
THE LITERARY NEWS.
[February, 1903
torical mystery he is editing a book of fairy
tales. When he is not producing an essay,
or a book review, or a group of paragraphs
on any and every subject under the sun, he
is collaborating with Mr. Haggard or Mr.
Mason on a novel, or he is inventing a series
of short tales, all his own, like that which
he gives us in "The Disentanglers." What-
ever this versatile author does is sure to be
interesting, and his latest book is no excep-
tion to the rule. "The Disentanglers" is
original in conception and prodigiously clever
in treatment. The "great idea" of the two
impoverished young Englishmen to whom we
are introduced in the first chapter is to or-
ganize a system of disengaging or disen-
tangling those youths and maidens who con-
template marriages against which family op-
position is sure to be brought. This, at all
events, is the point from which they start,
but the clients answering the judicious ad-
vertisement in which they announce their
campaign of diplomacy involve them in all
manner of adventures. Mr. Lang is fertile
in the contriving of unconventional situa-
tions. Sometimes he goes in for pure com-
edy, as in the tale of the much-engaged heir-
ess and her three curates. Sometimes he is
inimitably satirical, and sometimes tragic.
Sometimes he makes brilliant use of such
modern properties as wireless telegraphy and
the submarine boat. Always his character-
istic humor is playing like summer lightning
around the events of his stories, always his
touch is light and skilful. Mr. Lang, with
all his infinite variety, has never, we suppose,
even dreamed of rivalling the "boomster" in
modern fiction. But if this amusing book, as
amusing in substance as it is accomplished in
style, does not win a wider popularity than
anything of Mr. Lang's has hitherto enjoyed,
we shall be very much surprised. (Long-
mans. $1.50.) A''. Y. Tribune.
The Reign of Queen Anne.
"An age illustrious in war, in politics, in
literature, and in art." So Mr. Justin Mc-
Carthy describes the period of English history
covered by these two volumes. It is in deal-
ing with such a momentous and variegated
epoch as that of Queen Anne's reign that Mr.
McCarthy's methods and qualifications as a
historian gain their best opportunities. His
calm outlook, his ethical standpoint, his pic-
turesque, descriptive style, his penchant and
capacity for limning, in a few deft sentences,
the outstanding personages in his story, his
keen perception of the significance of the
undercurrents and backwaters of national
life, and his unquestionable genius in weaving
into a flowing and coherent narrative the
confusing movements of thought and action
have free play in this interesting period.
The place of Queen Anne's reign in the story
of the development of the English nation is
conceded by all intelligent men and women.
It was a period of internal and external strug-
gle, of national regeneration. As Mr. Mc-
Carthy says, it was an age which became a
turning-point not only in the history of Eng-
land but in the history of Europe.
For his sketch of the great European strug-
gle which marks Queen Anne's reign Mr.
McCarthy prepares his readers by a sweep-
ing survey of the social, political, and mon-
archical condition of Europe on the eve of the
great war. No part of this history is more
carefully and brilliantly written than these
preliminary chapters, which place the reader
in the true perspective and amid the very
atmosphere of the times. The story of the
struggles on the Continental battlefields is in-
terwoven into the narrative of the political
and social movements at home a plan ad-
mittedly essential as the vicissitudes of the
war abroad affected so directly the course of
political events at home.
In his closing resume of the reign, Mr.
McCarthy declares that the age of Queen
Anne began a distinctly new chapter in the
history of England's political and social life,
and he insists that the name Queen Anne
though her influence was "passive and in-
considerable" will pass into history with
those of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Vic-
toria. (Harper. 2 v. $4 net.) Literary
World.
The Red House.
Mrs. Bland's new novel, "The Red House,"
is bright with the sunshine of a happy tem-
perament, moved by the contemplation of a
young man and his wife imagined as settling
themselves in a new home and experiencing,
in alternate strata, so to say, the joys of sen-
timent and the woes of practical housekeep-
ing. The hero and his Chloe wake up in
their modest establishment to learn that an
obliging uncle has left them the house which
gives this book its title, and 100 a year
with which to make themselves comfortable
in its old-fashioned rooms. What they enjoy
and what they suffer when they take posses-
sion Mrs. Bland pictures in vivid fashion,
lending to her narrative vivacity and humor.
(Harper. $1.50.) A''. F. Tribune.
February, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
51
t Itteartj "Mm.
i fftUtttt iBttontfjlj IKcbifln of ffiurrtnt HCttraturr.
EDITED Jjy A. H. LEYPOLDT.
FEBRUARY, 1903.
BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS !
According to the official organ of the book-
trade 5485 new books appeared in the United
States during the current year and 2348 books
already known to the world were brought
out in new editions, many of them with val-
ue ble editor's material vouched for by some
of the best-known scholars of their special
fields. We take the following table from the
Fublishers' Weekly of January 31, in which
also appears a description of the most im-
portant books included imder every heading:
Classes.
Fiction
Law
Theolog-y and Religion
Education
Literature and Collected Works
Juvenile
Poetry and Drama
Biography, Correspondence
Physical and Mathematical Science. .
Description, Geography, Travel
History
Medicine, Hygiene
Political and Social Science
Fine Arts : 11. Gift Books
Useful Arts
Philosophy
Works of Reference
Domestic and Rural
Sports and Amusements
Humor and Satire
Totals
1901.
V O
914
480
476
529
297
434
274
340
250
202
264
186
244
1 60
96
30
57
64
42
5496
2645
8141
^5
1320
60
57
31
423
161
174
2645
DO f-S
475
599
431
208
420
250
367
293
272
247
207
239
173
109
74
96
86
SI
50
5485
2348
7833
959
165
40
148
335
94
149
18
63
31
54
92
32
44
56
29
15
2348
Who can hope to put such vast array
in any kind of perspective in the limits of
a few columns ? It is safe to state that noth-
ing stands out beyond all else as a great orig-
ii-al production of 1902. But it is becoming
more and more difficult to reach "the top,"
en which there is always room. General edu-
cation, technique in style, facts that must pass
muster no matter how ably stated, life, in-
terest, cleverness, these are taken for granted
in every writer. The standard of the average
has been so raised that it becomes more and
n-iore rare to find the culture, scholarship
and practiced technique of the literary ar-
ti:an inspired by creative genius, that un-
ki.own something that since the beginning
has said: "Let there be light"! It must also
be remembered that our great newspapers
and magazines absorb more and more the
ki owledge, the time and the special talents
oi our most practiced writers. And the year
just ended, with its closing of the great war
i'l South Africa, the coronation of a king
who rules over 11,137,213 square miles and
o\er 396,105,693 fellow-men, eruptions of
volcanoes on two continents, unparalleled in
history, a coal strike that brought home to
an entire nation the dangers of "poverty or
riches," and political conditions making a re-
vision of the Constitution of the United
States a "burning question," furnished ma-
terial for much brilliant editorial work.
The publishers all report a most prosper-
ous year, and one and all call it "a fiction
year." Last month we gave the "great sellers"
in this department. The personal element,
of course, has entered largely into the selec-
tion of the twenty-five novels now pointed
out as worthy of a reading. It is gratifying
to note how many of the heroines of these
books have that "soothing, unspeakable charm
of gentle womanhood! which supersedes all
acquisitions, all accomplishments." Our best-
known novelists did nothing distinctive.
Henry James carried his peculiarities to a
point where he became almost unintelligibk,
and Howells and Crawford can only be cred-
ited with succes d' estime.
In choosing the twenty-five books of gen-
eral literature the point of view has been the
interest of the subject to American readers
?nd the valuable information the list covers.
Biographical literature was good, and it is of
interest to find Thomas Higginson's "Life of
Whittier" taking a place in the English Men
of Letters Series. The year brought seven
new editions of Shakespeare and thirteen
be oks about Shakespeare, and many able ar-
ticles in magazines regarding Mrs. Gallup's
amazing "Bi-literal Cipher of Sir Francis
Bacon." There were four editions of Poe,
of which the Virginia edition and the Book-
lovers' Arnheim edition are decided additions
for collectors on Edgar Allan Poe. A Milton
Concordance appeared in England which will
naturally soon reach us. This is a literary
undertaking of great moment. Some excel-
lent literary essays were published, and in
this line may be mentioned the most original
book that fell into our hands. "The Lost
Art of Reading," by Gerald Stanley Lee,"
shows individuality and the "personal equa-
tion" so sadly lacking in much of the most
meritorious work.
THE LITERARY NEWS.
{February, 1903
TWENTY-FIVE NOVELS OF MERIT.
Atherton, Gertrude. The conqueror. $1.50.
Macrnillan.
A "dramatized biography" re-creating a liv-
ing man and living times. Alexander Ham-
ilton, as man and great leader in the shaping
of the United States, is brought before the
reader with the technical skill of the author.