LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1898. 



367 



his correspondence with Boccaccio and other friends, 

 designed to illustrate the beginning of the Renais- 

 sance, translated by Prof. James Harvey Robinson 

 and Henry Winchester Rolfe, and accompanied 

 with an historical introduction and notes. " Heroic 

 Personalities " were recalled by Dr. Louis Albert 

 Banks, D. D., while the always interesting and ro- 

 mantic " Buccaneers and Pirates of our Coasts " 

 were a novel theme for the pen of Frank R. Stock- 

 ton. " De Soto and his Men in the Land of Flor- 

 ida" were followed with spirit and accuracy by 

 Grace King, while Noah Brooks told " The Story 

 of Marco Polo " anew. " Tuen, Slave and Em- 

 press," by Kathleen Gray Nelson, traced the re- 

 markable career of the dowager ruler of China, 

 while " The Story of Evangelina Cisneros, told by 

 herself," contained also the story of her rescue 

 written by Karl Decker, and was illustrated by 

 Frederick Remington, T. Fleming, and others. 

 " The Life of Henry Bradley Plant." the founder 

 and president of the Plant system of railroads and 

 steamships, by G. Hutchinson Smyth, outlined a 

 successful business man. " A Memorial of a True 

 Life " was the title of a biography of Hugh Mc- 

 Allister Beaver, by Robert E. Speer, and another 

 earnest worker in the cause of Christianity was 

 chronicled in " The Setting of the Crescent and the 

 Rising of the Cross ; or, Kamil Abdul Messiah : A 

 Syrian Convert from Islam to Christianity," by 

 Henry Harris Jessup, D. D. " A Yankee Boy's Suc- 

 cess," by Henry Steele Morrison, narrating his ex- 

 periences as a boy reporter, had an introduction by 

 Chauncey M. Depew, and Will M. Clemens edited 

 "The Depew Story-Book." '-Black-Belt Dia- 

 monds " was the title of gems from the speeches, 

 addresses, and talks of Booker T. Washington to 

 students of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, selected 

 and arranged by Victoria Earle Matthews. A 

 compilation by William S. Pelletreau of " Early 

 Wills of Westchester County, New York, 1664- 

 1784," contained also genealogical and historical 

 notes ; " Early Germans of New Jersey " had their 

 history, churches, and genealogies revived by T. F. 

 Chambers ; while a collection of sketches cf " Rep- 

 resentative Deaf Persons of the United States of 

 America " was edited by James E. Gallaher. 



Criticism and General Literature. Under 

 this head are to be recorded several volumes of es- 

 says, notably " Exotics and Retrospectives," by 

 Lafcadio Hearn ; " Essays on Work and Culture," 

 by Hamilton Wright Mabie; "As it Seems to Me: 

 Essays," by Elbert Hubbard; "Music and Pofetry: 

 Essays upon some Aspects and Inter-Relations of 

 the Two Arts," by Sidney Lanier, and " Essays in 

 Dramatic Criticism," with impressions of some mod- 

 ern plays, by L. Dupont Syle. " The Principles and 

 Methods of Literary Criticism" were examined by 

 Prof. Lorenzo Sears, and Charles F. Johnson entered 

 into the "Elements of Literary Criticism." Har- 

 riet Noble prepared a handbook for the study of 

 "Literary Art," and Henry Spackman Pancoast 

 "An Introduction to American Literature" as a 

 companion volume to his previous " Introduction to 

 English Literature." " Emerson and Other Es- 

 says," by John Jay Chapman, display much origi- 

 nality as well as ability, and from William Cranston 

 Lawton we have a careful study of " The New 

 England Poets," and a review of the " Successors 

 of Homer." " The Bibliotaph and Other People," 

 by Leon H. Vincent, proved sympathetic and en- 

 tertaining; Lilian F. Field wrote "An Introduc- 

 tion to the Study of the Renaissance " ; John Scott 

 Clark proposed a laboratory method for "A Study 

 of English Prose Writers" ; and Vida Dutton Scucl- 

 der reviewed in graphic fashion " Social Ideals in 

 English Letters." Rev. Greenough White edited 

 papers of the English Club of Sewanee upon " Mat- 



thew Arnold and the Spirit of the Age," and Wil- 

 liam G. Ward set forth " Tennyson's Debt to En- 

 vironment " in a brief monograph. William H. 

 Fleming told us " How to Study Shakespeare," and 

 Frank M. Bristol advanced a theory concerning 

 " Shakespeare and America." Kuno Francke prof- 

 fered " Glimpses of Modern German Culture." 

 Caroline Louisa White contributed a new study of 

 the life and writings of "Aelfric " to the "Yale Stud- 

 ies in English," another issue of which was " Dry- 

 den's Dramatic Theory," by M. Sherwood. Caro- 

 line K. Sherman made a brief critical analysis of 

 " Dante's Vision of God," and Walter Copeland, the 

 author of " Greek and Roman Sculpture," treated 

 exhaustively of "The Women of Homer." "Men 

 and Manners of the Eighteenth Century " were de- 

 scribed by Susan Hale for the " Chautauqua Reading 

 Circle Literature"; "Home Life in Colonial Days" 

 was from the practiced pen of Mrs. Alice Morse 

 Earle ; while Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer gave 

 a picture of " The Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta 

 at Home and in Society, 1609-1760." John C. Van 

 Dyke wrote with subtile charm of " Nature for Its 

 Own Sake," making what he termed first studies in 

 natural appearances ; Charles M. Skinner made us 

 in love with " Do Nothing Days " ; and from Dr. 

 Charles Conrad Abbott we heard of ''Clear Skies 

 and Cloudy." "The Cross in Tradition, History, 

 and Art " was the subject of an exhaustive study by 

 Rev. William Wood Seymour. Mrs. Amelia Edith 

 Barr treated of " Maids, Wives, and Bachelors " in 

 the realm of reality, having so long successfully 

 handled them in romance; Eliot Gregory, posing 

 as "An Idler," dwelt on " Worldly Ways and By- 

 ways"; while Hamilton Wright Mabie contributed 

 an introduction to " Our Conversational Circle," by 

 Agnes H. Morton. "The Gentle Art of Pleasing" 

 was suggested by Elizabeth Glover, and " Helps to 

 Right Living" by Katharine H. Newcomb, while 

 Mrs. Constance Gary Harrison (Mrs. Burton Harri- 

 son) discoursed of " The Well-bred Girl in Society." 

 " Facts about Book Worms " as to their history in lit- 

 erature and work in libraries were vouchsa'fed by 

 Rev. J. F. X. O'Conor, and the " First Report of a 

 Book Collector," by William Harris Arnold, con- 

 tained much specific information. " Myths and 

 Legends beyond our Borders," by Charles M. Skin- 

 ner, contained the folk tales of Canada and Mexico, 

 while from Minnie Walton Myers we had a summary 

 of " Romance and Realism of the Southern Gulf 

 Coast," and from John Trotwood Moore " Songs and 

 Stories of Tennessee." Collections of " Wit and 

 Wisdom from many Minds " filled two volumes, and 

 among other compilations are to be mentioned 

 " Golden Thoughts from the Great Writers," ar- 

 ranged by Alfred J. Fuller, and " Treasure Bits," bv 

 Rose Porter; "Great Words of Great Americans." 

 selected by Paul Leicester Ford, were supplemented 

 by seven representative specimens of " Modern Amer- 

 ican Oratory " ; " Choice Readings for Public and 

 Private Entertainments," edited by Robert McLean 

 Cumnock, went through a new revised and enlarged 

 edition ; while "A Century of Indian Epigrams," 

 chiefly from the Sanskrit of Bhartrihari, were trans- 

 lated by Paul Elmer More. Nathan Haskell Dole 

 offered a practical manual of corrections for " The 

 Mistakes We Make" in history, language, and facts. 

 The second annual volume of the " Cumulative In- 

 dex to a Selected List of Periodicals," edited by the 

 Cleveland (Ohio) Public Library, was issued, as was 

 a second revised edition of the "American Library 

 Association's List of Subject Headings for use 

 in Dictionary Catalogues." Luther S. Livingston 

 compiled "American Book Prices Current for 1898," 

 of which a limited edition was published ; " ' The 

 Bookman Literary Yearbook " for 1898 was edited 

 by James Macarthur ; " The Annual Literary Index. 



