King at the Century 



achievements in science. And in the 

 field of letters it was the inspiration of 

 one of the very few books that have 

 a clear title to be called unique. The 

 Helmet of Mambrino is a charming, 

 an original, thing, and a striking illus- 

 tration of his versatility. But it is a 

 trifle compared with his Mountaineer- 

 ing in the Sierra Nevada, which is, 

 in its way and considering its propor- 

 tions and necessary limits, a work of 

 imagination of a very high order. It 

 is the portrait of a period and place 

 and people painted with the firmest 

 strokes, the individual impressions on 

 which it is based generalized into 

 typical interest and focussed into vi- 

 tality by the writer's imagination as 

 by a sun-glass. It is a book of which 

 it is difficult to speak without ex- 

 aggeration. It stands so completely 

 by itself that it is hard to find the 

 comparison that fits it. And it is a 

 significant thing, I think, that the 

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