Book Reviews [pp. 107-112]

1887.1 Book Reviews. 111
A Club of One.1 reminding the reader of pleasant things that he
The contents of this volume purport to have likes to be reminded of, than as suggesting to him
come from a pretty good-sized drawer, locked and much of anything "that has not been said before."
padlocked, and found filled with manuscripts. The Briefer Notice.
editor presumes "to give them the title they bear, Messrs. Lee & Shepard have issued in their
the author of them having departed this life." We "Handbook Series " two magazine articles by Thos.
are asked to think that they were written not for Weutwortli Higginson, here entitled Th;~~ on Writthe public, but purely for occupation; that "their ing and Speech-making.2 The author is a master of
author, a reader and thinker, though an invalid, both accomplishments, and what he says is well
could not be idle," that "he has said some things worth reading by young writers and speakers. He
that have not been said before, and has said them lays down six specific rules for success in speechin his own way. The preface thus invites the making, and gives much excellent advice to conreader's criticism; for all the world awaits the tributors to literature. Among other requisites,
writer who can fulfill the expectation that must at- he insists upon clearness of expression; but when
tend such an announcement. Reader. we readily the labor to acquire this fails, "we can try," he
confess the writer has been; thinker, not so much says, "to believe it only that inevitable obscurity
as reader and re-narrator. The "things that have which Coleridge calls a compliment to the reader."
not been said before," we have patiently sought, But by what sarcasm of fate does he, in impressing
and have to confess that our seeking is without its the lesson offer to his readers the following unpromised reward. happy sentence? "If, therefore, in writing, you
About all of originality that readers l~ave any find your theme to be abstruse, labor to render
right to hope for, is not in the thought, but in the your statement clear and attractive, as if your life
way of putting things. And there is here and depended on it: your literary li~e does depend on
there throughout this volume a freshness and it, and if you fail, relapses into a dead language,
quaintness of expression that saves the reader from and becomes like that of Coleridge only a Biootherwise inevitable ennui. If the editor is the graphia Literaria." If Mr. Higginson were dead,
veritable author of the book, lie apparently seeks the commentators, like worms, would be "e'en at
immunity from a too critical review by standing him." But, living, he may rise and explain.
in the shadow of a presumed invalid, who finds We also receive a new edition of English Synoconsolation in the constant seclusion of his rooms, ngins 1)iseriminated,3 by Archbishop Whately, edin his books, which give him the best compan- ited by Richard Dublin, who has revised the work
ionship, and in his pen, which lie takes up to ut- throughout. The book, which has helped educate
ter the thoughts that seem to prelude his reading. several generations of scholars, needs no special
His thoughts, however, keep always close company words of commendation. The last issue of the
with his books, so close, indeed, that the readcr series of volumes devoted to "Epochs of Modern
is impressed with the idea that they are only the History" is that entitled "The Early Tudors,
result of his reading. The book seems to be tlse Henry VII, Henry VIlL"4 They are reprints
product of many notes taken while reading. They from English publications, and are rightly comare upon a multitude and variety of subjects. The mended as epitomes that are worth a place in
books read were mostly the standard books of En- every one's library. Without pretending to be deglish literature. His thinking was not very deep rived first hand from the original sources, they are
nor continuous, for on almost every topic he gra- all written by authors selected by the editor for
ciously yields the greater space to excerpts and an- their special qualifications for writing the separate
ecdotes, which his books kindly and richly furnish. periods to which the volumes are devoted. The
As the final result, one finds that it may be true present is the seventeenth volume of the series, and
that the book was composed by one "who might with the previous vol'imes makes complete an exhave been sociabl&', for he is often held most so- cellent history from the earliest English history to
ciable and most entertaining who, if he converses, the death of Henry VII. Obiter Bieta5 is a
does not afflict us with thoughts too deep nor too 2llints on Writing and Speech-making. By Thomas
long in expression, and fortifies himself against Wentworth Rigginson. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1887.
For sale in San Fra~icisco by Samuel Carson & Co.
the charge of wearying us by a plentiful supply of 3Synonyms Discriminated. By Archbishop Whately.
anecdotes of people more illustrious than himself. edited by Richard Dublin.
The volume is not without interest, but rather as ~IThe ~arly Tudors. H-jnry VII: VIII. By the Rev. C.
Moberly, M. A., late a Master of Rugby School. New
York: Charles Scribuer' 5 Sons. 1887.
`A Club of One. Passages from the note-book of a man
who might have been sociable. With marginal sulnmary 5 Obiter Dicta. Second Series. By Augustine B1rrell.
by the editor. Boston and New York. Houghtoa, Miff- New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1887. For sale in
lin & Co. 1887. San Francisco by A. L. Bancroft & Co.