dead men of the place are my intimate friends. I am at home in any cemetery. With the fellows of the sixteenth century I am on the most familiar terms. Any ghost that ever flits by night across the moonlight square is at once hailed by me as a man and a brother. I call him by his Christian name at once."

Once in a while you come across such little bits of humor as this:

"His Majesty is a mild old gentleman, wadded and bolstered into very harmonious proportions. He has a single tooth, worn carelessly on one side, which somewhat interferes with his eloquence. I do not think that I took notes enough of his conversation to be able to give you a report. He was glad to hear in answer to a question that I proposed passing the winter here. And as I felt how much unalloyed satisfaction the circumstance must really cause to his bosom, I internally resolved not to change my plan."

If you are going for a week in the country, take these two volumes with you, in spite of their bulk and weight. They will tempt your soul as far away from the trivialities of the newspapers, from the worries of business, from the nonsensical verbiage of briefs, as your body is from the dust of the city. Your soul needs rest and refreshment as well as your frame; and here you will find it. You will scarcely get into sweeter and purer air by going up in a balloon. But that everyone may enjoy them, let us beg the publishers to make haste to give us these charming letters in a lighter, cheaper, and more portable form. ALEXANDER CALDWELL.

AMERICAN LITERATURE.*

The seventh and eighth volumes of Stedman's and Hutchinson's "Library of American Literature," which are now before us, represent, upon the whole, perhaps the most interesting period of the literature of the Republic. They do not, it is true, contain a majority of the greatest names that have given distinction to our literature, but they mark a more general culture, a wider diffusion of the creative spirit, a more varied and independent intellectual productiveness, and a broader scope of literary activity, which have developed with our national progress during the present century. The earliest volumes say the first two or three of the series-had an engaging interest aside from their literary quality, which was

*A LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Compiled and Edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman and Ellen Mackay Hutchinson. In Ten Volumes. Vols. VII. and VIII. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company. (W. E. Dibble & Co., Chicago.)

often dull, having a valuable historic character and preserving the records of a great deal that was peculiar in the career of the colonists and their descendents and the evolution of our institutions till the government was fully established. With Bryant, the vital poetry of America, which only occasionally before him had struck a true note, began. Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, and Poe kept up the strain on diverse keys and with new variations, but never rose above it. The current of literary activity widened, took new directions, and created fresh features in the landscape of the world of letters. Books multiplied, readers increased, a juster and more capable criticism arose, and a higher standard of general excellence was reached in all departments of imaginative composition. The editors of these volumes have evidently been embarrassed by the wealth of their material, but they have not lost the true scent for what is suitable for such a compilation as the great one on which they are engaged. We shall never cease to admire the accurate scholarship, the good taste, and the fine discrimination that distinguish these selections, and which have conspicuous illustration through the whole series. When so little space can be afforded to even a copious writer, to put one's finger on a few passages, or perhaps a single article, that fairly indicate his special qualities, requires, in addition to sufficient knowledge, an insight, a particular gift, which, to say the least, is exceedingly uncommon. But this has been done with an unerring judgment in this compilation. It is not to be denied that in many instances other selections equally deserving might have been chosen, but none, we venture to say, could give in the same compass what more fairly interprets the prime characteristics of their respective authors.

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.

The

Oliver Wendell Holmes leads the list of writers included in the seventh volume. His space is not stinted, and contains a brilliant extract from his "Elsie Venner," also Chambered Nautilus," "Iris," Dorothy Q.," "On Lending a Punch Bowl," "The Last Leaf," and other pieces, in which the wise humor, the serious philosophy, the gentle banter and the fine poetic vein of the wit and sage are naturally disclosed. Enough is given of the sarcastic and resolute spirit, the wide learning and swift eloquence of Wendell Phillips to mark the irrepressible individuality of the man. Charles Sumner appears extracts from his noble speeches, “A Crime

In

In

Against Kansas and "On the Admission of Kansas," and in other strong passages. several short poems by Frances Sargent Osgood appears what is most peculiar to her muse. Some of the choice work of Harriet Beecher Stowe is given in "Eliza's Flight," "The Other World," and "The Minister's Housekeeper." Horace Greeley has sixteen pages, which show him in his various mental attitudes, genuine qualities, and remarkable gifts. The wonderful spontaneity, the large and rich religious spirit, the manly courage and patriotism of Henry Ward Beecher are vividly seen in "The Battle Set in Array," "The Death of Lincoln," "Concerning Future Punishment," and The Sacredness of the Bible." graphic delineations of "Charles and Philip," "The Fall of Antwerp," and "William the Silent," Mr. Motley reveals his noble dignity, polished workmanship, and trained historic sense. We have a taste of Thoreau in "Spring Beside Walden," "The Fisher Boy," and The Wellfleet Oysterman"; and of Saxe's humor in "The Way of the World" and "The Briefless Barrister." Some of W. E. Channing's most expressive work is found in these pages, and several fine productions of Thos. W. Parsons. Edwin P. Whipple's critical faculty and finished rhetoric are evident in such examples as "The Shakesperian World," "The Judicious Hooker," and "Webster as a Master of English Style." Lowell is treated to liberal space, and we have many specimens of his serious, amusing, and instructive composition his charming poems, his sound political doctrines, his fun and pathos, his penetrating criticism, and his robust patriotism. Here are "She Came and Went," "The Courtin'," "The Pious Editor's Creed," "What Mr. Robinson Thinks," "Abraham Lincoln," "The First Snow Fall," "Argument for a Reform Party," and "In Defense of the Study of Greek," which are not likely to die. Following are W. W. Story's "Cleopatra," Herman Melville's "In the Prison Pen," J. G. Holland's "Interludes from Bitter Sweet,'" Henry Howard Brownell's "Let Us Alone," and Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Walt Whitman is here at his best in "The Large Hearts of Heroes," "And Still I Mount and Mount," "O Captain! My Captain," "Ethiopia Saluting the Colors," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," "O Vast Rondure," and "Joy, Shipmate, Joy." Parke Godwin, John Jay, Evart A. Duyckink, W. H. Channing, John

Bigelow, John Weiss, James Freeman Clarke, Philip Schaff, Thomas Dunn English, Samuel Longfellow, W. T. Sherman, U. S. Grant, James Headley, Henry A. Raymond, Charles Astor Bristed, John C. Fremont, Noah Porter, Samuel Osgood, John W. Draper, Susan Warner, Sarah Roberts, Philip Pendleton Cooke, R. S. Storrs, Alice Cary, B. J. Lossing, Henry James, Maria White Lowell, and other wellknown names have place in this volume, the majority being represented by a single example.

The eighth volume opens with three extracts from Richard Grant White: "Shakespeare the Dramatist," "War in the Land of Uncle Sam," and "The Englishman's Typical American." Then we have "The Doctrine of Forces," by E. L. Youmans; "Emerson in His Study," by J. E. Cabot; "Mother Margary," by George S. Burleigh; "Travelling in the Desert," by H. M. Field; "The Transcendentalist," by O. B. Frothingham; "The Closing Scene," by T. B. Read; "On Books and Berries," by Donald G. Mitchell; "The Man Without a Country," by E. E. Hale; "The Apotheosis of Voltaire," by James Parton; "Southern Manners and Slavery," by Fred. Law Olmsted; "The Solitude of Occupation," by W. R. Alger; and "Choose," by Sarah J. Lippincott. Francis Parkman, whose brilliant histories give such lustre to American literature, is represented by four extracts, namely, "New England and New France," "The Vengeance of Dominique de Gourgues," "The Coureurs-de-Bois," and "The Heights of Abraham." Among the examples of T. W. Higginson are "American Literature," "A Song of Days," and "Waiting for the Bugle." Mrs. Elizabeth Stoddard's "A Summer Night" and "A Wreck on the White Flat" are happily chosen. There are several extracts from George W. Curtis's delightful papers, showing his earlier and later, but always graceful, style, and the charm of his political as well as his purely literary productions. The selections from Bayard Taylor are capital, including "The Song of the Camp," "The Bedouin Song," and passages from his Centennial Ode and Prince Deucalion." R. H. Stoddard will have no reason to complain of the fine array of his poems. on these pages, and his admirers will be pleased to see such favorites as "The Flight of Youth," "The Shadow," and "Abraham Lincoln." Lincoln." Margaret J. Preston is honored with four extracts, and the best talents of

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Stephen C. Foster, the popular song-writer, have expression in his "Old Folks at Home,' "Massa's in the Cold Ground," "Nelly Bly," and "My Old Kentucky Home." Among the writings of Rose Terry Cooke we have "Blue Beard's Closet" and "The Deacon's Week"; of J. T. Trowbridge, "The Vagabonds," and of Fitz James O'Brien, "From the Diamond Lens." 66 • What I Know About Gardening" and "A Mountain Tragedy" will, of course, be found in the examples by Charles Dudley Warner; and so, too, are here "A Poem of the South Winds" and "Love's Autumn," by Paul H. Hayne. Helen Hunt Jackson, whose lovely genius makes her death so lamented; and Louisa M. Alcott, beloved of thousands, whose grave is still fresh; Amelia E. Barr, Lucy Larcom, Julia C. R. Dorr, Mary L. Booth, Martha J. Lamb, Mary V. Terhune, Mary B. Dodge, and other well-known names of female writers are not forgotten. Of those who have distinguished reputation in political science, theology, law, and letters are Edward Atkinson, David A. Wells, Carl Schurz, J. G. Blaine, E. L. Godkin, James A. Garfield, D. C. Gilman, Andrew D. White, George P. Fisher, W. D. Whitney, John Esten Cooke, W. J. Stillman, Charles Nordhoff, Alexander Winchell, Lewis Wallace, Charles G. Leland, Henry C. Work, and Thomas Starr King of blessed memory. A good many names are omitted in this notice which deserve the high reputation they have earned, and some of whose writings are of as fine a quality as those which are far better known to the public.

One interesting feature of this volume is its collection of " Negro Hymns and Songs," which have entertained and amused, and to a certain degree, nobody knows how extensively,

"

A

refreshed and moved thousands of souls. An adequate account of our literature would lack a significant element without them. On these pages are Roll, Jordan, Roll," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Bright Sparkles in the Churchyard," "Stars Begin to Fall," "In that Great Gettin' Up Mornin'," "Away Down Sunbury," and "Charlestown Gals."

"The Popular Songs and Ballads" of the Civil War had much to do in stimulating and sustaining patriotic feeling and purpose, and the records of our great conflict would be incomplete in their omission. Here are some of the most characteristic and influential, and them are, "Three Hundred Thousand among More, "The Fancy Shot," The Soldier

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Boy," "Dixie," "The Bonnie Blue Flag, "When this Cruel War is Over," and "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home."

The size of these books, numbering 582 and 602 pages, respectively, suggests the high quality of the writings of those authors who have a right here to representation. The two volumes which are yet to come to complete the set will doubtless be as bulky as these, and we suspect that some deserving writers will be entirely excluded simply on account of insufficient space.

The portraits in these volumes are a decided improvement on some of the others. The seventh volume contains engravings on steel of J. R. Lowell and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and fourteen on wood, among which are Noah Porter, Greeley, Beecher, Motley, Parsons, Thoreau, Julia Ward Howe, and Walt Whitman. In the eighth volume are presented admirable steel engravings of Francis Parkman and Bayard Taylor; and among the wood cuts are portraits of Richard Grant White, Donald G. Mitchell, Edward Everett Hale, Thos. Wentworth Higginson, George William Curtis, Richard Henry Stoddard, Charles Dudley Warner, and Helen Fiske Jackson.

HORATIO N. POWERS.

INDOOR STUDIES.*

One finds much to commend in "Indoor Studies," the latest book of John Burroughs. There is a directness, a genuineness about it, a sincerity, and except, perhaps, in one essay

-a geniality, a sweetness of temper, that are delightful. Yet Mr. Burroughs has his likes and dislikes; and, as he informs us, his personal predilections influence his judgment. While taking soundings in the sea of literature, he always keeps sight of the plummet of his preference, even when he does not see to the bottom of his subject. His characteristics are well illustrated by the ingenious little essay

on

"Little Spoons vs. Big Spoons." It is pleasant and suggestive reading (though some may object that the author makes too much of his mare's-nest that, since English spoons are bigger than American spoons, a comparison of everything else in the two countries must reveal a corresponding difference); and it states a legitimate point of contrast between British

* INDOOR STUDIES. By John Burroughs, author of “ Wake Robin, Winter Sunshine," Birds and Poets," "Fresh Fields," Signs and Seasons," etc., etc. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

the ridiculous; of power, lies plethora; of sense, lies twaddle, etc. Take but a step sometimes and you pass from one to the other, from a shout to a scream, from the heroic to the vainglorious. Victor Hugo, in his imaginative flights, is forever hovering about this dividing line, fascinated, spellbound by what lies beyond, and in his reachings after it outraging the modesty of nature,' till the very soul blushes,' when we read this, we say to ourselves, "Why all this vehemence? Everyone recognizes a certain extravagance in Hugo's style sometimes; why not point out calmly his excellences and his defects?" But when we compare this with what Mr. Burroughs says elsewhere of Hugo,-"Yet it is impossible not to feel the man's power, even in the poorest translations of his books"-we begin to suspect that this step, this faux pas of which he speaks above, has oftenest been detected by him in the translator and not in Hugo himself. But we need say little of the latter portion of the essay on "A Malformed Giant," because Mr. Burroughs himself remarks in a note: "Perhaps I ought to apologize to my reader for the polemical tone of the latter part of this essay." To apologize would be all very well, but not when two other courses stood open— to suppress or to revise.

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Speaking of Emerson, Mr. Burroughs says:

Probably the best test of good prose is this: it is always creative; it begets in the mind of the reader a deep and pervading sense of life and reality.

With all his brilliancy, I think Ruskin lacks the creative touch. Emerson falls short of it many times, but at his best the creative power of the best prose was assuredly his."

Elsewhere Mr. Burroughs says of Hugo:

"The bishop in Les Misérables' is perhaps Hugo's most serious attempt to paint (for he does not create) a lofty character."

Now there can be no question, it seems to me, in the mind of anyone who will examine both writers candidly, that Hugo has more of creative force than Emerson. Hugo's creations may sometimes be like a mediæval transformation of the "gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire" of ancient mythology; but they are, none the less, creations. Emerson, on the other hand, as Mr. Burroughs allows, is almost incapable of consecutive thinking, or, at least, of consecutive expression:

"The weak place in him as a literary artist is probably his want of continuity and the tie of association-a want which, as he grew old, became a disease, and led to a break in his mind like that of a bridge with one of the piers gone, and his power of communication was nearly or quite lost. Anything like architectural completeness Emerson did [sic] not possess.

There is no

Now just as in chemistry no new compound can be made out of a single element, I do not understand how, short of Deity, there can be any creative composition without putting things together. If a "central and leading idea," if "logical sequence," if some degree of "architectural completeness " are not essential to creative prose, what then is essential? None appears to deny that Victor Hugo has these things, that Carlyle has these things, and that Emerson lacks them. Had Mr. Burroughs been able to drop his plummet below the turmoil and froth of the surface, had he only been able to condone Hugo's mannerism and egotism, as he has condoned the mannerism and egotism of Carlyle, he might have found in Hugo more of well-grounded optimism, more of the spirit of liberty and of non-conformity, more of the fire of genius, more of greatness of soul, more of elemental force, than in any other writer since Milton.

But Milton himself, it seems, Mr. Burroughs also fails to appreciate. We are told:

"It is hard to reconcile Arnold's criticism of Emerson's poetry with what many of us feel to be its beauty and value. It is irritating to Emersonians to be compelled to admit that his strain lacks any essential quality. I confess that I would rather have his poetry than all Milton, Cowper, Gray, Byron, and many others ever wrote; but doubtless in such a confession I am only pointing out my own limitations as a reader of the poets. This is the personal estimate which Arnold condemns."

In short, Mr. Burroughs would encourage in us a careless ease and recklessness like that of his favorite Whitman, or an elaboration of minute, brilliant, metallic sparks and flashes like Emerson's, rather than a devouring passion, a sublime ardor for the production of a living and breathing creation, "perfect and entire, wanting nothing," like Milton's. I say Milton's, because his was no narrow, insular, or conventional perfection; because, like Emerson, and Carlyle, and Hugo, and more than all of them,— he had and expressed the heroic spirit; because, like Emerson and Hugo,and more than they, he had in every thew and joint and sinew, and expressed in every line, our own national spirit of liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement.