478 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1883. (HISTOBY.) 



field and value. Carroll's "Twelve Ameri- 

 cans " (Harper & Brothers) attempted a sketch 

 of representative men in different walks of life. 

 Other works of considerable interest were 

 " Recollections of a Drummer Boy," by Rev. 

 Harry Keifer (James R. Osgood & Co.), a rem- 

 iniscence of experiences during the late war ; 

 " Recollections of a Naval Officer," by W. H. 

 Parker (Charles Scribner's Sons) ; " Memoir of 

 John Keese, Wit and Litterateur," by William 

 L. Keese (D. Appleton & Co.); " Abelard and 

 Heloise," by Mrs. Abby Sage Richardson (James 

 R. Os'jcood & Co.), anew study of the two cele- 

 brated lovers ; and Miss Titcomb's " Early New 

 England People"; " Quincey's " Figures of 

 the Past," and Lanman's "Leading Men of 

 Japan." The latter-named book gave an en- 

 tertaining account of people, institutions, and 

 prominent personages in the most progressive 

 empire of the East. Among religious biogra- 

 phies may be mentioned "Life of Adoniram 

 Judson," by Edward Judson (Anson D. F. Ran- 

 dolph & Co.) ; " Autobiography and Letters of 

 Orville Dewey, D. D.," by his daughter, Eliza- 

 beth Dewey (George H. Ellis), a study of an 

 eminent orator and scholar; " Life and Mission 

 of Emanuel Swedenborg," by Benjamin Wor- 

 cester (Roberts Brothers); "Life of Bishop 

 William Rollinson Whittingham," by William 

 Francis Brand (E. & J. B. Young & Co.); and 

 " Autobiography of Bishop Erastus O. Haven "' 

 (Phillips & Hunt), edited by Rev. Dr. 0. C. 

 Stratton. The year was rich in literary biog- 

 raphy. F. H. Underwood's " Life of John 

 Greenleaf Whittier " (James R. Osgood & Co.) 

 was rivaled by a biography of the same poet 

 by W. Sloane Kennedy (D. Lothrop & Co.). 

 The latter named biographer also wrote a " Life 

 of Oliver Wendell Holmes " (S. E. Cassino & 

 Co.). B. G-. Lovejoy's " Life of Bacon " (Estes 

 & Lauriat), George W. Cooke's "George Eliot" 

 (James R. Osgood & Co.), Mrs. Julia Ward 

 Howe's " Life of Margaret Fuller " (Roberts 

 Brothers), Austin's " Life of Longfellow " 

 (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.), and Francis E. 

 Cooke's " Theodore Parker " (Cupples, Upham, 

 & Co.), were all books of more than ordinary 

 value and literary charm. Other biographical 

 studies to which attention may be called as 

 possessing much political and historical inter- 

 est are the " Life of Alexander H. Stephens," 

 by Richard Malcom Johnson and William 

 Hande Browne, and " The Life and Times of 

 S. S. Prentiss," by Hon. Joseph D. Shields (J. 

 B. Lippincott & Co.). Some other biographies 

 worthy of mention are " Life of Adelaide Phil- 

 lips," by Mrs. R. 0. Waterson (A. Williams & 

 Co.) ; Bucke's " Walt Whitman " ; Waters's 

 "Life of William Cobbett " ; Grace Green- 

 wood's " Queen Victoria " (Anderson & Allen) ; 

 " Life of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside," by Ben 

 Perley Poore (J. A. & R. A. Reid); "The 

 Washington Irving Correspondence," and 

 Stone's " Our French Allies." The reprints 

 by American publishers of biographical works 

 written by English or other foreign authors 



include many of signal value and interest. 

 Among these, special attention may be called 

 to "The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle 

 and Ralph Waldo Emerson" (Houghton, Mifflin, 

 & Co.) ; " Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh 

 Carlyle," edited by J. A. Froude (Charles Scrib- 

 ner's Sons) ; Bos worth Smith's " Life of Lord 

 Lawrence " (Charles Scribner's Sons) ; " Life, 

 Letters, and Literary Remains of Edward Bul- 

 wer, Lord Lytton," by his son the Earl of Lyt- 

 ton (Harper & Brothers) ; " Anthony Trol- 

 lope's Autobiography " (Harper & Brothers) ; 

 Kostlin's " Life of Luther " (Charles Scribner's 

 Sons) ; " Life and Achievements of Edward 

 Henry Palmer," by Walter Besant (E. P. Dut- 

 ton & Co.); Hall's "Retrospect of a Long 

 Life " (D. Appleton & Co.) ; and Madame 

 Gautier's " Richard Wagner " (A. Williams & 

 Co.). To these should be added the new vol- 

 umes in the " English Men of Letters Series " 

 (Harper & Brothers), Morison's " Macaulay," 

 Mrs. Oliphant's " Sheridan," and Dobson's 

 " Fielding " ; in the " Famous Women Series " 

 (Roberts Brothers), Miss Thomas's " George 

 Sand," Miss Mathilde Blind's " George Eliot," 

 Mrs. Gilchrist's "Mary Lamb," Miss Robin- 

 son's " Emily Bronte," and Miss Helen Zim- 

 mern's " Maria Edgeworth " ; in " English 

 Classics," Fowler's " Shaftesbury and Hutchin- 

 son" (G. P. Putnam's Sons); in "Foreign 

 Classics," Graham's " Rousseau " (J. B. Lip- 

 pincott & Co.) ; and the " Life of Sir William 

 Rowan Hamilton," by Robert Perceval Graves 

 (J. B. Lippincott & Co.). 



History. In History, American literature in 

 1883 was noticeably rich. Among the earliest in 

 publication, and certainly foremost in interest, 

 was the " History of the People of the United 

 States " (Vol. I), by John Bach McMaster (D. 

 Appleton & Co.). In this work the author has 

 followed the method of Macanlay and Green, 

 and presented a vivid picture of American life 

 in its customs, manners, social characteristics, 

 etc. Probably no book of the year made a 

 greater sensation. Another notable issue by 

 the same house was a new and revised edition, 

 thoroughly rewritten, of Bancroft's "History 

 of the United States" (Vols. I, II, III). This 

 contains the .final touches of the author. An- 

 other work, similar in scope to that of McMas- 

 ter's, is entitled " A History of the American 

 People," by Arthur Gilman (D. Lothrop & Co.), 

 and is marked by ability and research. " Mex- 

 ico," by Hubert Howe Bancroft (Bancroft & 

 Co.), was the first volume of the Spanish- Amer- 

 ican section of a gigantic undertaking, cover- 

 ing the ethnology and history of the whole re- 

 gion of the Pacific coast from British Columbia 

 to the Isthmus of Panama. Noticeable among 

 the histories was the literature of the late civil 

 war. Foremost among these were volumes in 

 the "Campaigns of the Civil War" series, and 

 the "Navy in the Civil War" series, both 

 published by Charles Scribner's Sons. " The 

 Shenandoah Valley in 1864," by George E. 

 Pond, was a judicial and vividly written work. 



