Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE

A Study from Life

By HENRY W. LUCY.

12mo. Cloth. Portrait. Price, $1.25.

The obvious difficulty of writing within the limits of this volume a sketch of the career of Mr. Gladstone is the superabundance of material. The task is akin to that of a builder having had placed at his disposal materials for a palace, with instructions to erect a cottage residence, leaving out nothing essential to the larger plan. I have been content, keeping this condition in mind, rapidly to sketch, in chronological order, the main course of a phenomenally busy life, enriching the narrative wherever possible with autobiographical scraps to be found in the library of Mr. Gladstone’s public speeches, supplementing it by personal notes made over a period of twenty years, during which I have had unusual opportunities of studying the subject.—Author’s Preface.

Mr. Lucy begins with the boyhood and early home life of his subject, and in a series of twenty-six graphic chapters, some of the titles of which are “Member for Newark,” “Chancellor of the Exchequer,” “Premier,” “Pamphleteer,” “The Bradlaugh Blight,” “Egypt,” “The Kilmainham Treaty,” “The Stop-Gap Government,” “Home Rule,” “In the House and Out,” Mr. Lucy has drawn, we believe, the most accurate portrait of one of the greatest men of the century yet drawn, and has told most graphically, tersely, and at the same time comprehensively, the story of a great career not yet finished. We have nowhere seen a better description of Mr. Gladstone’s methods, of his strength and weakness as a debater, than Mr. Lucy gives us.—Boston Advertiser.

Mr. Lucy entitles his new book on Gladstone “A Study from Life.” It is more than this, for the book covers rapidly his whole life, from birth to the present time, describing with tolerable clearness the great events of which he has been a part. For an outline biography the reader will find this narrative satisfactory and readable. But the greatest interest attaches to those incidents in Gladstone’s life of which the writer has been an eye-witness. He describes with great vivacity the parliamentary function known as “drawing old Gladstone out.”—Advance.

Roberts Brothers, Boston, have just published an interesting book by Henry W. Lucy, entitled “Right Honorable W. E. Gladstone: A Study from Life.” Though not necessarily so intended, this history of Gladstone is virtually the history of his country during the period of his ascendency at least, and the book is valuable from that standpoint, because it is evidently fairly conceived and executed. The sketch of Mr. Gladstone is that of an admirer, but that will not tell against it with the world at large, which is alone an admirer of the “Grand Old Man.” Beginning with his boyhood, it pictures him with friendly but faithful hand to the end of his career as head of the English Government, in language which gives an additional charm to the book, tracing his course from the day he became Member of Parliament till he was the acknowledged champion of Home Rule, and showing how, as his mind developed with experience, it cast off original errors growing larger day by day.—Brooklyn Citizen.

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PRINCE BISMARCK

By CHARLES LOWE, M.A.,

Author of Alexander III. of Russia, &c.

12mo. Cloth. Portrait. Price, $1.25.

This work of Mr. Lowe’s responds fully to the need that has been felt, particularly in this country, for a brief but comprehensive life of Bismarck. It comes to us from an author of acknowledged reputation, who has studied the career of the Iron Chancellor with great care, and undoubtedly possesses knowledge of his subject equal to that of any other person. It is the second biography he has written of the Chancellor. His other work appeared about ten years ago in two large volumes, in which the story of Bismarck’s life and public success was told exhaustively, full use being made of all material available at that time.

The work under notice is in no sense an abridgment of the earlier biography, but is entirely new. In writing it, though, the author has had the advantage growing out of his previous undertaking, of knowing his man thoroughly, and this advantage has enabled him to write in a free and bold style, which is the great charm in a biographical work. The new work is better than the old in another important respect also,—it is up to date. In the ten years that have elapsed since the earlier biography was written, a good deal has been learned about Bismarck and his associates, and the work they were engaged in, that runs contrary to the theories and estimates of ten years ago. Mr. Lowe has made use of this new material.

Still another advantage has been the knowledge that Bismarck’s political career has ended. The view that is now presented to us is that of a finished whole,—Bismarck may be spared for years to enjoy the love of his countrymen and the high esteem of the world, but he never again will serve the Empire of Germany in a public capacity.

Mr. Lowe’s story closes with an account of the reconciliation between Emperor William and Bismarck, which was completed a little over a year ago, when the Emperor sent that famous steel cuirass to Friedrichsruh. “May the solid steel,” wrote his Majesty, “which is to cover your breast be regarded as the symbol of German gratitude which enfolds you with its steadfast loyalty, and to which I, too, desire to give my eloquent expression.” “I shall don this new breastplate,” replied the statesman Prince, “as the symbol of your Majesty’s gracious favor, and leave it to my children as a lasting memento of the same.”

Mr. Lowe is a warm admirer of Bismarck, and his admiration shows itself in almost every page of his book. We fail to notice, however, that his prejudice has warped his judgment of persons and events. He has written a biography that is as fair as anybody could write at this time, and the fact that he has a warm place in his heart for the Iron Chancellor certainly is not to his discredit as a man and a historian.—New York Times.

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THE GREAT GOD PAN AND THE INMOST LIGHT.

BY ARTHUR MACHEN.

KEYNOTES SERIES.

16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

A couple of tales by Arthur Machen, presumably an Englishman, published æsthetically in this country by Roberts Brothers. They are horror stories, the horror being of the vague psychologic kind and dependent, in each case, upon a man of science who tries to effect a change in individual personality by an operation upon the brain cells. The implied lesson is that it is dangerous and unwise to seek to probe the mystery separating mind and matter. These sketches are extremely strong and we guarantee the “shivers” to anyone who reads them.—Hartford Courant.

For two stories of the most marvelous and improbable character, yet told with wonderful realism and naturalness, the palm for this time will have to be awarded to Arthur Machen, for “The Great God Pan and the Inmost Light,” two stories just published in one book. They are fitting companions to the famous stories by Edgar Allan Poe both in matter and style. “The Great God Pan” is founded upon an experiment made upon a girl by which she was enabled for a moment to see the god Pan, but with most disastrous results, the most wonderful of which is revealed at the end of the story, and which solution the reader will eagerly seek to reach. From the first mystery or tragedy follow in rapid succession. “The Inmost Light” is equally as remarkable for its imaginative power and perfect air of probability. Anything in the legitimate line of psychology utterly pales before these stories of such plausibility.—Boston Home Journal.

Precisely who the great god Pan of Mr. Machen’s first tale is, we did not quite discover when we read it, or, discovering, we have forgotten; but our impression is that under the idea of that primitive great deity he impersonated, or meant to impersonate, the evil influences that attach to woman, the fatality of feminine beauty, which, like the countenance of the great god Pan, is deadly to all who behold it. His heroine is a beautiful woman, who ruins the souls and bodies of those over whom she casts her spells, being as good as a Suicide Club, if we may say so, to those who love her; and to whom she is Death. Something like this, if not this exactly, is, we take it, the interpretation of Mr. Machen’s uncanny parable, which is too obscure to justify itself as an imaginative creation and too morbid to be the production of a healthy mind. The kind of writing which it illustrates is a bad one, and this is one of the worst of the kind. It is not terrible, but horrible.—R. H. S. in Mail and Express.

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DISCORDS. A Volume of Stories.

By GEORGE EGERTON, author of “Keynotes.”

AMERICAN COPYRIGHT EDITION.

16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

George Egerton’s new volume entitled “Discords,” a collection of short stories, is more talked about, just now, than any other fiction of the day. The collection is really stories for story-writers. They are precisely the quality which literary folk will wrangle over. Harold Frederic cables from London to the “New York Times” that the book is making a profound impression there. It is published on both sides, the Roberts House bringing it out in Boston. George Egerton, like George Eliot and George Sand, is a woman’s nom de plume. The extraordinary frankness with which life in general is discussed in these stories not unnaturally arrests attention.—Lilian Whiting.

The English woman, known as yet only by the name of George Egerton, who made something of a stir in the world by a volume of strong stories called “Keynotes,” has brought out a new book under the rather uncomfortable title of “Discords.” These stories show us pessimism run wild; the gloomy things that can happen to a human being are so dwelt upon as to leave the impression that in the author’s own world there is no light. The relations of the sexes are treated of in bitter irony, which develops into actual horror as the pages pass. But in all this there is a rugged grandeur of style, a keen analysis of motive, and a deepness of pathos that stamp George Egerton as one of the greatest women writers of the day. “Discords” has been called a volume of stories; it is a misnomer, for the book contains merely varying episodes in lives of men and women, with no plot, no beginning nor ending.—Boston Traveller.

This is a new volume of psychological stories from the pen and brains of George Egerton, the author of “Keynotes.” Evidently the titles of the author’s books are selected according to musical principles. The first story in the book is “A Psychological Moment at Three Periods.” It is all strength rather than sentiment. The story of the child, of the girl, and of the woman is told, and told by one to whom the mysteries of the life of each are familiarly known. In their very truth, as the writer has so subtly analyzed her triple characters, they sadden one to think that such things must be; yet as they are real, they are bound to be disclosed by somebody and in due time. The author betrays remarkable penetrative skill and perception, and dissects the human heart with a power from whose demonstration the sensitive nature may instinctively shrink even while fascinated with the narration and hypnotized by the treatment exhibited.—Courier.

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PRINCE ZALESKI.

BY M. P. SHIEL.

Keynotes Series. American Copyright Edition.

16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

The three stories by M. P. Shiel, which have just been published in the Keynotes series, make one of the most remarkable books of the time. Prince Zaleski, who figures in each, is a striking character, most artistically and dramatically presented. “The Race of Orven,” the first story, is one of great power, and it were hardly possible to tell it more skilfully. “The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks” is in something the same vein, mysterious and gruesome. It is in “S. S.,” however, that the author most fully discloses his marvellous power as a story-teller. We have read nothing like it since the tales of E. A. Poe; but it is not an imitation of Poe. We much doubt if the latter ever wrote a story so strong and thrillingly dramatic.—Boston Advertiser.

The first of the three tales composing this little volume is entitled “The Race of Orven,” which supplies the character from whom is taken the title of the book. The other two are, “The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks” and “The S. S.” There are three maxims on the titlepage, probably one for each of the tales,—one from Isaiah, one from Cervantes, and one from Sophocles,—but they are a triple key to the spirit of book altogether. The Prince, however, rules the contents entirely, pervading them with mysticism of every imaginable character. The “S. S.” tale is decidedly after the manner of Poe, full of mysterious problems in murders and suicides, to be treated with ingenious solutions. There is a morbid tendency running through the entire trinity, the author seeming to invent characters and complications only to exhibit his ingenuity in unravelling them, and in stringing on these ingenious theories the spiritual conceptions in which he is wont to indulge his thought. But the thought is both magnetic and bold, and rarely illusive. Hermitages, recluses, silences and funereal glooms, and the entire family of grotesque thoughts and things, are not merely wrought into the writer’s canvas, but are his very staple, the warp and woof composing it. It is an across-the-seas collection of conceits, skilfully strung on one glittering thread by a matured thinker. The attempt is made to carve out the mystery of things from the heart of the outward existence. The men and women on whom the scalpel is made to work are real flesh-and-blood entities, of such strong points of character as to be actually necessary in developing the author’s thought as much as his purpose. The book belongs to the increasing class that has come in with the introversive habit of modern thought and speculation—call it spiritual or something else.—Boston Courier.

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THE WOMAN WHO DID.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

Keynotes Series. American Copyright Edition.

16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

A very remarkable story, which in a coarser hand than its refined and gifted author could never have been effectively told; for such a hand could not have sustained the purity of motive, nor have portrayed the noble, irreproachable character of Herminia Barton.—Boston Home Journal.

“The Woman Who Did” is a remarkable and powerful story. It increases our respect for Mr. Allen’s ability, nor do we feel inclined to join in throwing stones at him as a perverter of our morals and our social institutions. However widely we may differ from Mr. Allen’s views on many important questions, we are bound to recognize his sincerity, and to respect him accordingly. It is powerful and painful, but it is not convincing. Herminia Barton is a woman whose nobleness both of mind and of life we willingly concede; but as she is presented to us by Mr. Allen, there is unmistakably a flaw in her intellect. This in itself does not detract from the reality of the picture.—The Speaker.

In the work itself, every page, and in fact every line, contains outbursts of intellectual passion that places this author among the giants of the nineteenth century.—American Newsman.

Interesting, and at times intense and powerful.—Buffalo Commercial.

No one can doubt the sincerity of the author.—Woman’s Journal.

The story is a strong one, very strong, and teaches a lesson that no one has a right to step aside from the moral path laid out by religion, the law, and society.—Boston Times.

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