Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/124

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Editorial Department.

no willlul misstatements, but evinces throughout an honest desire to be perfectly fair. The book is one which will give much food for reflection to those who have any tendency towards the beliefs of Christian Science, and will be read with interest by all. except, perhaps, the followers of Mrs. Eddy. Brook Farm, its Members, Scholars, ami Visitors. by Lindsay Swift, is the title of the coming volume in the -National Studies in American Letters." which are edited by Professor George E. Woodberry, of Columbia University, and published by The Macmillan Company. This book is a history of the experi ment in social reform known as lirook Farm, with a biographical and critical account of the distinguished persons associated with it, — Dana, Curtis, Kiplev. Alcott, Channing, Dwight, Margaret Fuller, Haw thorne, Hecker, Branson, and also of many of the lesser known members and visitors. The subject is one oí lasting interest, since it not only involves the lives and works of such eminent American names, but throws so clear and illuminating a light on the conditions of that intellectual and social ferment in Ne»- England which attended its literary period. Mr. Stephen Bonsai, lately war correspondent to the New York Herald, has written a book which The Macmillan Company have just published under the title of The Golden Horse-shoe. It is the story of recent American expansion told with unconscious torce and lucidity throughout a series of letters ex changed by two young officers of the army from their respective posts in the Philippines and in Puerto Rico. In editing this correspondence of two inconspicuous actors in recent events, Mr. Bonsai has rendered a public service. The frankness which »as possible in a private letter adds to the histori cal value the additional charm of personal narration, imtrammeled by reservations. A delightful series of essays on leading English litterateurs will be found in Frederic Harrison's new work, Tennyson, Jiuskin, Mill, and other Literary Estimates.1 Some of these studies have already appeared in print, but most of them are now pre sented to the public for the first time. In addition to the names appearing in the title, there are papers »n.Matthew Arnold. John Addington Symonds. Lamb. Keats, Gibbon, Froude, and Freeman. A new history of France has just been published by The Macmillan Company. The author, Mr. Thomas F.. Watson, gives an interesting and clear narrative of the development of the French nation, 1 TENNYSON, KUSKIN, MILL, AND OTHER LITERARY ESTIMATES. By Frederic Harrison. The Macmillan Co., New York. 1900. Cloth, $2.00.

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and his Story of France ' will deservedly take a high place in historical literature. To note the varying forms of government; to trace the ancient origin of laws and customs; to mark the encroachments of absolutism upon popular rights; to describe the longcontinued struggle of the many to throw off the yoke of the few; to emphasize the corrupting influence of the union between Church and State; to illustrate once more the blighting effects of superstition, ig norance, blind obedience, unjust laws, confiscation under the disguise of unequal taxes; and the syste matic plunder, year by year, of the weaker classes by the stronger, — have been the motives which led the author to undertake the enormous labor involved in this work. We commend the book to our readers as one of the most satisfactory histories published for a long time. Nothing so healthfully stimulates the study of his tory as a visit to the scenes made memorable by the lives of great men or the march of great events. Boston is particularly favored in having at its very doors many places of the greatest historical interest, and Mr. Drake in his Historic Mansions and High ways around Boston * takes the reader over ground which was the scene of stirring events in our country's history, and so graphically describes the places and the events connected with them that one feels at once an inspiration and desire to visit and stand on the very spot where our national life began. The book abounds in legend and anecdote, and is fully and beautifully illustrated. The struggle between the French and Spanish for the possession of Florida affords a romantic set of incidents for the pen of a story-writer, and in The Sworiiufyusitce,3jistissuedby Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., the author has improved the opportunities offered to the utmost. The historical portion of the story deals with the events treated of in Parkman's "Pioneers of France in the New World," from the destruction of the Huguenots by Menendez at Fort Caroline, Florida, to their avenging by Dominique de Courges. The tale of Pierre Debré, who escaped from the massacre of Fort Caroline and who, having been adopted as the son of the Indian chief, Satouriona, lived as an Indian, and of his love for Eugénie Brissot, another Huguenot, taken captive by the 1 THE STORY OF FRANCK, from the Earliest Times to the Consulate of Napoleon Bonaparte. By Thomas E Watson. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1899. 2 vols., cloth, $5.00. 2 HISTORIC MANSIONS AND HIGHWAYS AROUND BOSTON. By Samuel Adams Drake. With illustrations. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1899. Cloth. » THE SWORD OF JUSTICE. By Sheppard Stevens. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1899. Cloth, $1.25.