published in 1887.
As the object of these volumes is not bio-
graphical, the editors have very wisely ar-
ranged the letters under various heads evo-
Darwin's favor. But it is needless for us to
multiply quotations, as these letters will be
widely read. How Darwin's friends felt for
him, even when they doubted the validity of
his views, may be judged from a letter to him
from Adam Sedgwick :
"I only speak honest truth when I say I was
overflowing with joy when I saw you, and saw
you in the midst of a dear family party, and
solaced at every turn by the loving care of a
From Van MidcUedyk's " History o Puerto Rico." Copyright, 190a, by D. Appkton & to.
FORT SAN GERONIMO, AT SANTURCE, NEAR SAN JUAN.
lution, geographical distribution, geology, bot-
any, vivisection, and miscellaneous. The
correspondence adds to our wonder at the
wide range of knowledge and of interest pos-
sessed by the writer but of that enough was
said on a previous occasion. One particular
advantage that wc hope to find from the pres-
ent publication is that the perusal of these
letters will induce younger naturalists to make
a study of what Darwin himself wrote, rather
than the views of later writers about him.
"Darwiniana" of all sorts are persistently
read; the original is far too rarely studied.
At any rate, the disciple of Darwin has here
further opportunities of studying the working
and understanding the meaning of the mas-
ter's mind.
In these, as in the previously published let-
ters, the reader will frequently have cause to
admire the character of Darwin.
Darwin's wish that borings should be made
in Pacific atolls has been fulfilled, and the
editors think that the verdict is entirely in
dear wife and daughters. How different from
my position that of a very old man, living in
cheerless solitude. May God help and cheer
you all with the comfort of hopeful hearts
you and your wife, and your sons and daugh-
ters."
The editors tell us that they have not dis-
covered "to what prize" a letter to Sir W.
Bowman refers; they may take it that it is
the "Actonian Prize" in the gift of the Royal
Institution, of which Sir William was in 1878
the honorary secretary. In the next edition
the late Prof. Westwood should be spoken of
.as the "Hope Professor of Zoology," not "En-
tomology."
The volumes are adorned by fourteen pho-
tographs, which are of great interest; and in
many cases short biographical notices of Dar-
win's correspondents add to the interest and
value of the book. Its best praise is that it is
worthy to stand by the three biographical vol-
umes which we already owe to Mr. F. Darwin.
(Appleton. 2 v., net, $5.) The Athenceum.
3^34
THE LITERARY NEWS.
[May, 1903
From "A Comedy of Conscience." Copyright, 1903, by
The Century Co.
"leave my house."
Robin Brilliant.
A woman's dual nature, a man's facile affec-
tions, the shadow of a bygone tragedy, form
the plot of Mrs. Dudeney's strong story, a
plot wrought with much power, the secret well
kept until the decisive moment, and the far-
reaching influences that mould choice and fate
admirably conceived. True, one becomes im-
patient of the lack of saving common sense
which could so easily have rescued the situa-
tion from its ultimate pathos ; and one longs
for just such wise counsel as was given in
"Silas Lapham" to avert a renunciation that
really sacrificed two for one. But this is the
way of novels, ?nd Mrs. Dudeney justifies
Robin's sacrifice of herself and her lover by
the young girl's terror of a second ghastly
tragedy such as had blighted her own parents-
love and lives.
Robin is in all her aspects a charming
creature, loyal, fearless, high bred her roots
deep in the soil and the race that gave her
birth, unflinching when difficult duty calls her,
and withal, having a certain element of hard-
ness which is the defect of her qualities. Her
rival's helpless, clinging, absorbing nature
throws Robin's contrasting temperament into
high relief.
The story is relieved from sombreness by
much humor. Mrs. Dudeney's villagers are
delightfully racy, and are as real as if we
had known them all our lives. When we have
satisfied or dissatisfied ourselves as to the
romance, we return again and again to loiter
in Lamzed's shop, to join the kindly gossip
there, and to make purchases that will win
for us Mrs. Lamzed's haughty "I thank you."
Or else we visit Mrs. Margary and listen to
her superstitions, quite resolving to try her
pins-in-a-bottle charm against certain people
we wot of, who need no April pullet's feath-
ers to prove them witches. Or we sit in Mrs.
Wass's darkened chamber, our hearts outside
with the faithful Willyam Blackaby. The
circle of the lesser gentry who revolve about
Great Faune are equally well done; and the
mid- Victorian grandmother is as dainty a bit
of painting as one is like to meet for many a
long day. Despite the reader's revolt against
the needless marring of young lives and his
rather impatient longing to be permitted a lit-
tle happiness in his fiction, he will find "Robin
Brilliant" full of compensations for its denoue-
ment in its delicate humor, its lightness of
touch, the absolute livingness of every human
being upon its pages, and not least in the rare
literary quality of its workmanship. (Dodd,
Mead & Co. $1.50.) A''. Y. Times Saturday
Review.
A Comedy of Conscience.
It is a "fetching" situation about which Dr.
S. Weir Mitchell has woven the delightful
little tale fittingly named "A Comedy of Con-
science." A fair and gentle spinster, living
in other-worldly seclusion, is robbed of her
purse in a crowded trolley car, and on her dis-
covery of the theft, after returning home, dis-
covers also that the thief has left in her little
handbag a valuable diamond ring. Here, then,
is the quandary, as it translates itself to her
feminine conscience, and is set down in her
httle diary:
"This stone is worth $800!
To whom does it belong?
Was it that man's?
Did he steal it? That is not my business.
Yes, it is.
The ring is not mine.
I have it. I did not steal it.
It was not given to me. The man robbed
himself. He will never come for it.
What shall I do with it? Oh, dear!"
The last question is the one which Dr.
Mitchell undertakes to answer, with delicate
art and an undercurrent of humor. How Miss
Serena's conscience was finally set at rest, and
what came of the little comedy which to its
chief actor was not a comedy at all the read-
er will discover in the .course of an hour or
so of quiet enjoyment. (Century. $1.)
May, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
135
American Diplomacy in the Orient.
This painstaking and dignified account of
our diplomatic history of a hundred years with
Asiatic countries and with the Pacific Islands
has peculiar weight from the fact that its au-
thor has enjoyed a more varied diplomatic
career than that of any other recent American
statesman. He has been Minister to Mexico,
to Russia, to Spain; he has acted as a pleni-
potentiary to negotiate reciprocity treaties
with Germany, Spain, the British West Indies,
San Domingo, and other countries; in suc-
cession to James G. Blaine he was Secretary
of State; he visited China and Japan, having
been invited by the Emperor of China to
assist in the peace negotiations following the
Chino-Japanese war; he was Special Ambas-
sador to Great Britain and Russia for settle-
nent of the Behring Sea seal question, and
finally was appointed a member of the Anglo-
American Joint High Commission for the
settlement of Canadian questions, in which
capacity he is still acting. His present volume
appropriately follows his "Century of Amer-
ican Diplomacy," which com-
prised a general review of the
foreign relations of the United
States from 1776 to 1876. Since
the latter date great events
have happened in Asia and in
the Pacific. The Hawaiian Isl-
ands have been annexed, and
one of the Samoan; an Ameri-
<:an administration of the Phil-
ippine Islands has been begim,
and the political relations be-
tween the United States and
China have become much more
intimate. The protection of our
enlarged interests and the dis-
charging of new political du-
ties have come upon us during
one and the same period. It
is, therefore, with keen inter-
est that the observer of events
takes up this admirably told
history of American diplomacy
in the Orient, reads it with
care, and judges for himself
whether, after our record of a
hundred years of honorable in-
tercourse, this record is to be
a safe guide for our future con-
duct. With the great majority
of readers, we believe, there
can be but one answer.
(Houghton, Mifflin. $3 net.)
The Outlook.
TO THE SPIRIT OF MAY.
And now she stands upon enthroning hills
And tosses wreaths of roses o'er the world,
With banner'd bloom about her head unfurl'd
And at her feet the music loving rills
While winter's lingering stirrup-cup with frothy
clouds she fills.
The blue sky hangs above her like a veil,
And, dropping low, fringed with divinest lace^
It adds a softened shyness to that face,
Which, like a maid in love, now pink, now pale,
Needs but one look from earth to blush and tell its
love-blown tale.
One slipper'd foot, flushed as the blossoming trees,
Is thrust, half-naked, in the bloom and spray
Of orchards, where throughout the dreamy day
The sunshine glints the wings of weaving bees,
And all her children, music mad, do touch their
thousand keys.
And baby vines, awakening, have wound
And twined a bracelet bloom about her arms.
While 'round her waist, 'neath nestling charms,
A russet belt, with beaded berries bound
The sun-maid's belt, dropped at her bath, which
lover earth had found.
And Music dreams and pines and sighs
Within her eyes. And Poesy is there,
Prophetic-faced, with sun-red, Sappho hair.
And Hope above, star-vestal'd vigil keeps
And throws a ray of ripeness o'er that face where
unborn Harvest sleeps.
(Coates.) From Moore's
from Tennessee.''
'Songs and Stories
From "Songs and Stories from Tennessee."
"dIS am JAKE,
Copyright, 1903, by Henry T. Coates dt Co.
LITTLE JAKE."
136
THE LITERARY NEWS.
[May, 1903
From McCall's "Truth Dexter.'
Copyright, 1902, by Little, Broivn & Co.
TRUTH DEXTER.
America and the Great Epochs of History.
This volume is interesting and instructive
reeding. The hours glide swiftly as we ponder
it, and we rise from it at last with additions
to our mental store. W. J. Mann has read
widely, he has just appreciations, his style is
cltar and vivid; and through these qualifica-
tions he makes an impression which we are
tlankful to receive. The book, if not unique,
is somewhat out of the ordinary. A descrip-
tion of it is essential to the presentation of
any view of it. The title is correctly given,
"America in its Relation to the Great Epochs
of History." But what are the epochs? He
gives them date from certain events in our
own history, 1492, 1620, 1788, 1850. The first
date, of course, is that of the discovery of
America; but that was within the epoch
known as the Italian Renaissance, the features
of which are graphically brought before us.
The second date, that of the settlement of
America, is in the epoch of the Protestant
Reformation, of which he tells with vivid pen.
Ihe third date, that of the formation of our
Federal Constitution, he finds in an epoch of
Revolution in Europe; and he paints it well.
The fourth date, that of Nullification, of
which the issue was our Civil War, was in an
epoch of Political Reconstruction. Such is
the outline of the book, and the reader will
see that it opens tracts of study which only
a dull pen could make uninteresting. This
synchronizing of events is very desirable.
However poor the use we make of it, we are
richer and broader for it. While, however, at
the lower range of mere knowledge we may
prize it, at the higher range in which we draw
fpom it contributions to our thought, it is be-
yond price; and we must enter our critical
judgment of the author as having come short
right here. He connects events in time. We
should like to see more of their relation one
to another. We do not say that the author
altogether fails here, but we wish his success
were greater. W^e are well satisfied with him
aS litterateur, but we could wish him some-
thing more of a philosopher. (Little, Brown
& Co, net, $1.) Christian Register.
Children of Destiny.
Molly Elliot Sea well does not confine her
talent to one branch of fiction, but wanders
as her moods lead her, from the "Sprightly
Romance of Marsac" to "Francezka," and
thence to these "Children of Destiny," whose
fate was spun and cut short in Virginia in the
first quarter of the nineteenth century.
The, author does not redraw the old picture
of a landed gentry hyper-cultured, hyper-aris-
May, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
137
tocratic, a kind of country in which eighteenth-
century romance, powder and patches and
courting and duehng and gaming survived
long after they had passed away in England.
Her people are more understandable, less arti-
ficial. The primitiveness, the monotony of
their planters' existence is brought out as
uxuch as the immutable exclusiveness of their
social relations. A bit provincial they were,
somewhat crude notwithstanding their elabor-
ate manners, "county people" rather than a
smart set.
The book is conservative in its simple but
v.'ell-sustained and all-suffering plot. It were
inaccurate to call it old-fashioned, yet, un-
doubtedly, the story harks back to an older
school of story-telling whose charms are not
yet forgotten ; in a loose way it may be classed
with the books of Maxwell Gray, for instance,
uith the novels that are primarily intended to
entertain, while at the same time touching
with a certain hand the deeper feeling of hu-
manity.
"Children of Destiny" is remarkably well
written, and its literary merit aids the plot in
luring the reader from page to page until the
end is reached. Its characters are well dif-
ferentiated, its incidents picturesque, and lo-
cality and atmosphere are suggested with all
the charm that must have been theirs. (Bobbs-
Merrill Co. $1.50.) Mail and Express.
Thyra Varrick.
Mrs. Amelia E. Barry's latest love story is
set in Scotland in the days of "the '45," that
vain attempt to raise the Jacobite cause again
to supremacy. In Thyra Varrick she has
drawn one of those heroines, so dear to her
heart, far removed from the fast-and-loose
playing hoydens of the average historical
novel, simple, courageous, and sincere. Thyra
in her Scottish home is an influence for peact
and beauty that nevertheless brings unrest
and strife into the life of those about her.
The main thread of her story is a familiar
one that of the young adventurer sent on
his mission to kindle the embers of Jacobite
revolt, losing sight of his mission and its
demands in the entanglement of unexpected
romance, and playing with a fire that is not
easily quenched. Thyra's response to his sud-
den, dangerous suit, its discovery, and the
trials and humiliation that follow make a
story as absorbing as it is wholesome and
sincere. In the end, it is made clear that the
affection which is noted in home and can
trace years of quiet growth, is the safer and
the surer one, and Thyra's brief and stormy
romance is forgotten in the peaceful happi-
ness that comes to her at last. Mrs. Barr is
at her best in the scenes of Scottish life that
she has chosen for her present book. (J. F.
Taylor Co. $1.50.)
From Mrs. Barr's "Thyra Varruk."
THE ASHES
Copyright, 1903, by J. f. Taylor Co.
STILL LYING THERE.
138
THE LITERARY NEWS.
[May, 1903
JAMES JOY BELL,
Author of " Wee Mac)?reeg;or." Copyrljfht. 1903, by Harper & Bros.
James Joy Bell.
Mr. J. J. Bell, the author of "Wee Mac-
greegor," was born in Glasgow, Scotland,
about thirty years ago. He is the son of the
senior partner of a well-known firm of tobacco
manufacturers in England. His early educa-
tion was received in the schools of Glasgow
and at Glasgow University, where Mr. Bell
first essayed literary work, contributing verse
to different publications and later becoming
editor of the Glasgozv University Magazine.
Since 1898, when he was the assistant editor
of The Scots Pictorial, he has published a
number of volumes as well, contributing regu-
larly to the columns of the larger Glasgow and
London papers. Among his publications are
chiefly books for children and a small book of
verse entitled "Songs of the Hour." All these
volumes reveal the child life, which imparts
to "Wee Macgreegor" Mr. Bell's latest vol-
ume the exquisite charm and sincerity which
marks it throughout. Recently, Mr. Bell has
abandoned all his editorial work in order to
fill the demand for his stories, which the Lon-.
don and Scottish publications seem so anxious
to use. "Wee Macgreegor" has been not only
Mr. Bell's most successful book, but has
attained a vogue far in excess of any other
publication in England. It was first taken up
in Glasgow, but quickly travelled to London,
which city it has taken by storm, despite its
Scottish accent. In this country "Wee Mac-
greegor" is being published by the Harpers.
la the Garden of Charity.
There is always something repulsive in the
love of a noble woman for a thoroughly bad
and worthless man. If, under these circum-
stances, constancy is not actually a vice, it is,
at least, a curiously deformed and distorted
virtue. The reader of Mr. King's admirable
.'tory has to forgive his heroine an almost
monstrous excess of just this abnormal con-
stancy before he proceeds to reverence the
self-renunciation, the rare greatness of soul
with which she meets and rises above the most
tragic lot that can befall a woman.
The story is worked out with much skill
and sympathy. We go into the very valley of
the shadow with Charity, we feel her anguish,
we wrestle with her temptations, we fairly
hold our breath lest she should falter and fail,
and we read of the ultimate victory of self-
renouncing love through a mist of which we
are not ashamed. The character of Charity's
r:val, the fiercely undisciplined child of for-
eign races and of wilderness rearing, is finely
contrasted with the poise, the dominating re-
ligious conscience of Charity herself, whom
her own name daily and hourly reminds of
that which is "the greatest thing in all the
world," and inspires to live up to it. ,
The simple Nova Scotian folk form an in-
teresting background to the figures of the two
women. All are carefully and adequately
drawn, Mrs. Music peculiarly racy, with a
suggestion of some of George Eliot's wisely
gentle villagers.
From ' Wee Macgreegor." Copyright, 1903, by Harper 4 Bros.
THE BOY HIMSELF.
May, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
139
Simple, strong, and dramatic, written with
sincerity and charm, "In the Garden of Chari-
ty'' is a distinct contribution to literature and
will make a wide appeal to lovers of both the
human and the heroic. (Harper. $1.50.)
N. Y. Times Sat. Reviezv.
ings and coloring won him his name, and se-
cured him a position in a travelling circus.
How "Calico" eventually became a "featured"
factor in "The Grandest Aggregation" is well
worth reading.
There is a wild rush and sweep in the de-
Fruui "lluiata -Nine. Copyright, 1903, by Charles Scribner'a Sons.
MR. DAVE KEPT HIS SEAT IN THE SADDLE.
Horses Nine.
Lovers of horses will find t^is collection of
nine stories about horses especially pleasant
reading. There is no straining of the proba-
bilities, and the little vein of pathos which
enters now and then is of the legitimate kind,
vhich tottches the feelings without harrowing
them.
"Skipper," the biography of a "blue rib-
boner," is the tale of a horse of the mounted
police squad. "Calico, who travelled with a
round top," retails the fame and honor that
fell to the lot of a horse whose bizarre mark-
scription of "Black Eagle's" desperate fight
for the leadership of the band of free plains
rangers; "Barnacles" justified mutiny, "Blue
Blazes" unfortunate experiences, "Chieftain's"
understanding with his driver, the stories of
"Old Silver," the fire engine horse, "Bonfire,"
and "Pasha," the son of Selim, are spirited
and enjoyable. Most of the stories reveal
human characteristics with no less sympathy
than those of the horses. There are many
fine books about horses. This is one of the
very best. (Scribner. $1.25.) Brooklyn
Times.
I40
THE LITERARY NEWS.
[May, 190,
Little Ffeopf^
Fiom '-Down North and Up Along." Copyright, 1903, by Doubleday, Page & Co.
LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE NIGHT.
Letters of Mademoiselle de Lespinasse.
The admirable translation of "The. Letters
of Mile, de Lespinasse," by Miss Katharine
Prescott Wormeley, has hitherto been acces-
sible only in the Versailles Historical Series,
her rich collection of French memoirs. It is
now reprinted by Hardy, Pratt & Co., of Bos-
ton, in popular form, on thinner paper, but
with no omissions. Here we have, as in the
more luxurious edition, the introductory essay
by Sainte-Beuve, and the notes by D'Alembert,
Marmontel, de Guibert and others. The let-
ters from Frederick the Great and Voltaire
are also included. The book has at the present
m.oment a special interest, affording to read-
ers unfamiliar with the French language an
opportunity to study for themselves the par-
allel between the life history of Mile, de Les-
pinasse and the story told by Mrs. Ward in
"Lady Rose's Daughter," which has been
pointed out in the Tribune; but it should be
widely read for the sake of its heroine. Mile,
de Lespinasse was very far from deserving the
criticism snappishly passed upon her by Hor-
ace Walpole, whose friendship for Madame
du Deffand, indeed, blinded him to the merits
ot her rival. There have not been wanting
more recent commentators to level sneers at
her character, but the evidence provided by her
letters and by those who knew her well i
sufficient to show that if she was not by an
means a saint, she was not, on the other banc
evil. Weak and unfortunate, she is a patheti
and a charming figure in the French history o
the eighteenth century, a woman of characte
and distinction. (Hardy, Pratt & Co. nel
$1.25.) iV. Y. Tribune.
From "The Black Lion Inn." Copyright, 1902, by
R. H. Russell.
A REMINGTON HEAD.
Exits and Entrances.
Here is a collection of essays, reminiscen
and fanciful, that touch upon many phases o
life. From the author of "South Sea Idyls'
one could expect charming bits of word paint
ing concerning those islands of the Pacifii
where reality fades into half-imagined fairy
land; but a far wider range of personal ex
perience is shown in Charles Warren Stod
dard's "Exits and Entrances." It contain:
delightful chapters on Stevenson, ,whom Mr
Stoddard knew at the time of his first visi
to California, when poverty and ill-healtl
were pressing close, and. again, when he wa;
preparing for the cruise among the Soutl
Sea islands from which he was never to re-
turn. Amusing glimpses are given of Marl-
Twain as a lecturer in foggy London ; wit!
personal recollections of George Eliot anc
George Henry Lewes, of Charles Kingslej
while canon of Westminster, of Bret Hart
and of Joaquin Miller.
The author's poetic fancy finds fuller ex-
pression, however, in the sketches of travel
in Egypt and Arabia, in Italy and Hawaii;
while one of the most delightful chapters
describes a night spent in Anne Hathaway's
cottage at Shottery.
The book as a whole represents the ran-
dom memories and odds and ends of literarj
eft'orts culled from a life rich in associations
and experience, added to which is a pleasing
facility of expression. (Lothrop. $1.25 net.)
May, 1903]
THE LITERARY NEWS.
141
Ten Thousand Miles in Persia.
One of the most trustworthy and useful
accounts of Iran which has been published
in our day will be found in the volume of
nearly five hunderd pages entitled "Ten
Thousand Miles in Persia," by Major Percy
Molesworth Eykes. This narrative is the
outcome of eight years of travel and study
in Persia, during the course of which period
the adjacent countries, India, Asiatic Russia
and Turkey, were visited more than once.
The author asserts without fear of contradic-
tion that in the present generation no Euro-
pean has seen more of Eastern and Southern
Persia than himself, while his official position
as British Consul in Kerman and Persian
Beluchistan gave him exceptional opportuni-