446 



LITERATUEE AND LITEEARY PEOGEESS IN 1870. 



by W. M. Baker, is a tale with a clerical hero, 

 having its scene in the South. It is fresh, racy, 

 and met with a cordial reception. " Ten Times 

 One is Ten, or the Possible Eeformation," by 

 Colonel Frederick Ingham the familiar pseu- 

 donym of the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, is a 

 well-told story by one of the best story-tellers 

 we have. Like most of his other fictions, he 

 has a purpose in view, indicated in the second 

 title of the book. The charm of the tale need 

 not be disturbed by any doubts as to the possi- 

 bility of such things taking place, human nature 

 being what it is. " Fifteen Years, a Picture 

 from the Last Century," by Mrs. The"rese Eob- 

 inson ("Talvi"), is a posthumous publication, 

 and shows the lack of that thorough finish 

 which its author would have given it had there 

 been time. But the volume does not need the 

 association of such a memory to win to it the 

 favorable appreciation of its readers. " Widow 

 Goldsmith's Daughter," and its continuation, 

 " Chris and Othp," by Julie P. Smith, show 

 fertility of invention and power in delineation, 

 with sucli defects of structure as indicate im- 

 maturity or defect of artistic capacity. " The 

 Lady of the Ice," by James De Mille, is comedy 

 carried to the verge of farce. Indeed, but for 

 one character, the learned, chivalrous, and ri- 

 diculous Irish " ginthleman," the reader might 

 almost resent the long play upon his curiosity, 

 amusing as it is. " Margaret, a Tale of the 

 Eealand the Ideal, of Blight and Bloom, "by the 

 Rev. Sylvester Judd, by its reappearance after 

 some years of neglect, bears witness to its vi- 

 tality and truth to life in New-England. " Sum- 

 mer Drift-Wood for the Winter Fire," by Eose 

 Porter, is a religions fiction superior to most 

 of its class, in genuine feeling and purity of 

 style. " Valerie Ayliner," by Christian Eeid, 

 the name assumed by Miss Frances C. Fisher, 

 of Salisbury, N. C., made a very favorable im- 

 pression for a first work. The Eev. Jacob Ab- 

 bott, whose genius for interesting young read- 

 ers is seldom surpassed, has reentered the field 

 by publishing " The Juno Stories." But he has 

 taught to others his art, and the volumes can 

 hardly have the popularity they would have 

 had if published earlier. "The Merman and 

 the Figure-Head, a Christmas Story," by Clara 



F. Guernsey, is from a pen not unpractised in 

 writing for the young, though this happens to 

 be the only one of her tales we have read. It 

 is an ingenious and instructive parable of so- 

 ciety under a veil of very diverting fiction, fit 

 for the appreciation of children of a larger 

 growth. Some others claim mention : 



Hammer and Kapler. By J. Esten Cooke. 



The Schoolmaster of Abbach and Other Stories, 

 after the German of Van Horn. 



Askaros Kassis the Copt. A Eomance of Modern 

 Egypt. 



The Shadow of Moloch Mountain. By Mrs. Jane 



G. Austin. 



The Victory of the Vanquished. By the author of 

 the " Schonberg-Cotta Family." 



John "Whopper the Newsboy. 



What She Could. . By the author of " The Wide 

 Wide World." 



Out of the Wilderness. By Mrs. J. D. Chaplin. 



Adrift with a Vengeance. By Kinahan Corn- 

 wallis. 



Up Broadway, and its Sequel. By Eleanor Kirk. 



The Planters Northern Bride. By Mrs. Caroline 

 Lee Hentz. 



Married in Haste. By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. 



At Last. By Marion Harland (M. V. Terhune.) 



Eomance of the Revolution of '76. 



MISCELLANEOUS. The issue of the second 

 volume of Mr. S. Austin Allibone's " Diction- 

 ary of Authors," with the announcement that 

 the third and concluding volume is completed 

 and soon to follow, is ground for congratulating 

 the author and the public. It is a unique work, 

 the result of marvellous diligence put forth 

 under the guidance of extraordinarily good judg- 

 ment. The plan, now it is before the public, 

 seems as obvious as the setting up of the egg 

 by Columbus, but no one happened to hit upon 

 it before, and its carrying out is as admirable 

 as its conception. Owing to the length of 

 time that the work has been in preparation, it 

 is not brought down to the date of issue, in 

 the biographical accounts of contemporary au- 

 thors, or in the enumeration of their works. 

 But the heaviest part of the task being happily 

 accomplished, the necessary additions and 

 amendments needed to bring the work up to 

 any date can be made with comparative ease. 



While Mr. Allibone tells us what books there 

 are in our language, Prof. Noah Porter, of 

 Yale, in his volume on "Books and Eeading," 

 tells young and inexperienced readers on what 

 principles to select, and by what method to 

 read books. -The work, nnlike most books of 

 advice in this kind, is characterized by breadth, 

 candor, a catholic taste, and unfailing good 

 sense. "What to Eead and How to Eead," 

 by Charles H. Moore, M. D., is little more than 

 a classified list of books, with brief notes, and 

 some good counsels. The judgments pro- 

 nounced on authors are generally sound, and 

 the work, being brought into small compass, 

 may serve a useful purpose in aid of the selec- 

 tion of libraries. 



Under the title, "Among my Books," Prof. 

 James Eussell Lowell has gathered a number 

 of his critical essays, which, as they have from 

 time to time appeared, have received more 

 unqualified praise for discrimination, candor, 

 wide intelligence, and delicacy of handling, than 

 any other essays in literary criticism, especially 

 of poetry, that have been produced among us. 

 " Words and their Uses, Past and Present, a 

 Study of the English Language," by Richard 

 Grant White,' as it sharply criticises contem- 

 porary writers, has been sharply criticised in 

 return. But, though not immaculate in all its 

 details, the book is a real service to the purity 

 of English style, threatened as it is with a del- 

 uge of slang and ignorant pretension. "So- 

 ciety and Solitude " is the happy title of a new 

 collection of Essays by Ealph Waldo Emerson 

 a cluster of ripe fruit from a rare tree. " Po- 

 litical and Miscellaneous Writings of William 

 G. Goddard" recalls the memory of a noble 



