486 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1886. 



Perkins, and Richard Lodge's " History of 

 Modern Europe " extends from the Ottoman 

 invasion to the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. " The 

 Story of the .Nations " series deserves mention. 

 It was increased by nine volumes during the 

 year, namely: "The Story of the Jews," by 

 James K. Hosmer ; " Chaldea," by Z. A. Ra- 

 gozin ; " Germany," by Baring-Gould and Ar- 

 thur Gilman; "Carthage," by Church and 

 Gilman ; " Hungary," by Vambe'ry and Heil- 

 prin; "The Moors in Spain," by Stanley Lane 

 Poole and Arthur Gilman; " Spain," by E. E. 

 Hale and his sister, Susan Hale; "Norway," 

 by H. H. Boyesen; and "The Saracens," by 

 Arthur Gilman. "Chivalric Days," by E. S. 

 Brooks, admirably retells the immortal stories 

 that are, with many grains of allowance, made 

 to do duty as mediaeval history. 



In his more serious work, " The Creoles of 

 Louisiana," George W. Cable preserves the 

 vivacity that marks his lighter productions, 

 and depicts a race and a location whose peculi- 

 arities are scarcely suspected by the majority 

 of intelligent Americans. In " The Making of 

 New England," the other extreme of our wide 

 domain, Samuel Adams Drake has endeavored 

 to adapt a species of object - teaching to the 

 purposes of history. " Children's Stories of 

 American Progress," by Henrietta 0. Wright, 

 are aimed in the same direction. " The Mas- 

 sacres of the Mountains," by J. P. Dunn, is a 

 compilation not before attempted on a like 

 scale, of all the Indian wars of the United 

 States within the past half-century. "Out- 

 lines of Universal History," by Prof. George 

 P. Fisher, of Yale College, is an historical ref- 

 erence-book of the highest value a worthy 

 addition to the author's previous works. 

 Gen. James Grant Wilson's "History of the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church in New York, 

 1785-1885," and G. W. Schuyler's " Colonial 

 New York " are valuable additions to the lo- 

 cal history of Church and State. 



Biography. The most important work of its 

 class ever undertaken in this country is the 

 " Cyclopedia of American Biography," edited 

 by Gen. James Grant Wilson and Prof. John 

 Fiske. The first volume, including names be- 

 ginning with A, B, and C, appeared near the 

 end of the year, and five others are in course 

 of preparation. Portraits are given with praise- 

 worthy frequency, and much information not 

 hitherto accessible has been here brought to- 

 gether in a convenient and attractive form. 

 Works of national importance and semi-his- 

 toric in character are " Grant's Personal Mem- 

 oirs," which have received an unprecedented 

 popular welcome ; " The Life of Gen. Winfield 

 Scott Hancock," by F. E. Goodrich ; and "Rem- 

 iniscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished 

 Men of his Time," are edited by Allen Thorn- 

 dike Rice. W. O. Stoddard has written ex- 

 cellent lives of George Washington and of 

 Ulysses S. Grant, and Col. T. W. Knox's " Life 

 of Robert Fulton " is easily the best yet pub- 

 lished. Here, too, should be mentioned Laura 



C. Holloway's "Ladies of the White House," 

 and Miss Ludlow's " Life of Mary Anna Long- 

 streth," of Philadelphia. Cassius M. Clay, 

 late United States minister to Russia, published 

 the first volume of his memoirs. Three vol- 

 umes have been issued of " The Live* of the 

 Presidents," which, when all are told, will pre- 

 sent a complete history of the United States 

 in the shape of biographies. Ben: Perley 

 Poore, a living compendium of Washington 

 gossip, has brought out the first volume of 

 his " Reminiscences of Sixty Years," and his 

 contemporary in the same field, Charles Lan- 

 man, has written " Hap-hazard Personalities," 

 a chain of reminiscences covering his long 

 life in the capital. The autobiography of Mar- 

 tha J. Coston, entitled " A Signal Success," is 

 in reality a biography of her husband, the in- 

 ventor of the Coston signals, now used by most 

 of the maritime nations, and the story of a 

 once famous Washington belle. A " Life of 

 Schuyler Coif ax," by O. J. Hollister, recalled 

 vividly the shock with which the country 

 heard that Mr. Colfax was concerned in the 

 Credit Mobilier affair. Mr. Hollister's account 

 of the matter somewhat modifies the popular 

 verdict in the case. The " Memoirs and Let- 

 ters " of Mrs. Dorothy Madison preserve the 

 memory of one of the famous republican beau- 

 ties of her day, and of contemporary interest 

 are the "Memoirs of Mrs. Edward Living- 

 ston." The name of Mary Clemmcr is still 

 fresh in American literature, for she is remem- 

 bered by the maiden name under which she 

 won her literary reputation, rather than by that 

 acquired in marriage. Her husband, Edward 

 Hudson, himself a well-known journalist, has 

 written an excellent biography of his late wife, 

 entitled "An American Woman's Life and 

 Work." The five volumes of "Actors and 

 Actresses of Great Britain and the United 

 States," by Brander Matthews and Lawrence 

 Button, have involved a great deal of research. 

 They include, it is believed, every noteworthy 

 name from the earliest days of acting to the 

 present time. " A Memoir of Prof. J. Lewis 

 Diman," by Caroline Hazard, is a deserved 

 tribute to his life and services. "Madame 

 Mohl, her Salon and her Friends," by Kat 

 leen O'Meara, is one of the cleverest bi( 

 graphical and social studies that have recent 

 appeared. 



In art biography should be noted Mi 

 Schuyler Van Rensselaer's "Henry H. Rich* 

 son and his Works." 



Philip Schaff contributes to religious bi( 

 raphy " Saint Augustin, Melanchthon, N( 

 der"; and James Freeman Clarke appi 

 tively writes a " Life of William Henry Ch 

 ning," the Unitarian leader. W. A. Croffut 

 the author of " The Vanderbilts and the Stoi 

 of their Fortune," suggestive of rich fielc 

 of investigation for American biographers. 

 "The Life of Joel Barlow," by C. B. Todd, 

 recalls the brilliant poet and diplomat of 

 Revolutionary fame to a generation that has 



