and strongly influenced by Emerson" (p. 297). Mr. Conway is himself conspicuously one of these minds, and the "personal equation" of his book is not a thing which we should wish to eliminate, but, indeed, contributes to give it a distinct and probably a permanent value as a part of the Emerson literature.

Dresser's "Japan: Its Architecture, Art and Art Manufactures."*

In his new book on Japan, Dr. Christopher Dresser has wisely chosen an entirely untrodden field in Japan. In "A Glimpse at the Art of Japan," Mr. Jarves has tantalized the student and the inquirer with a series of suggestive essays, chiefly historical, and none of which gives the slightest clue to what we want to know of the art of that wonderful and muchwritten-about country. Dr. Dresser went to Japan on a special mission: he was determined to discover, if possible, the secret of Japanese art. He thirsted for information concerning the motives and the processes of art, as it has been practiced for hundreds of years in an isolated and secluded kingdom. He accomplished much in the four months spent in the country; and, when we consider what he might have given us after an extended sojourn, we must needs regret the haste which necessarily characterizes his work. The faults of the book, which are by no means few or slight, are partly chargeable to the shortness of his stay and to his invincible and amiable good na

ture. It was his custom, evidently, to believe all that

was told him.

Nevertheless, we have in this volume the first clear and satisfactory glimpse of the subject of which it treats. It is the only book, it may be said, that gives an intelligible notion of the theory and practice of art in Japan. Dr. Dresser was not only a guest of the nation, going on an official errand, but he is, as he "an architect and ornamentist by profession," and it is as a specialist that he submits his laborious volume. In the course of his extended journeys, he visited sixty-eight potteries and more than one hundred temples and shrines, many of which he studied minutely.

says,

The work is divided into two parts, the first containing the simple narrative of the author's movements, his daily observations, and his reflections upon all that he saw and heard. These are set down with conscientious fidelity, and with much of what we may call "the local color." The second part contains chapters devoted to special subjects, religion and architecture, analogies and symbols, the manufactures of lacquer, pottery, metals, fabrics, etc., being each treated separately and with delightful clearness and minuteness. This part of the author's work contains a great deal that is new and valuable. It is to be regretted that he did not have time and space to describe at greater length the details of working in what is popularly known as cloisonné enamel. The general description of this branch of art with which he favors us is not new; and if he could have gone into details as to the methods employed in the prepparation and coloring of the materials used in the

Japan: Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures. By Christopher Dresser, Ph. D., F. L. S., etc. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. New York: Scribner & Welford.

enameling, he would have done a substantial service to the potter's art. But the chapters on lacquers and pottery may be commended to the reader as models of patient and intelligent study and preparation.

The author is evidently a close student of what may be termed evolution in art. It was his desire to discover, if possible, whence the Japanese have derived their designs, theories, and knowledge of art and artprocesses. He finds in Japan many curious analogies leading to Egypt, Greece, India, China, Corea, and distant parts of Asia. His studies of these branches of inquiry, although they may not all be received with unquestioning faith, are highly interesting. In the matter of designs of a purely native origin, also, the reader will find much novel entertainment in the illustrations that profusely adorn the work. A striking example may be found on page 278, where is given a cut from a Japanese artist's drawing, showing the origin of the familiar "hawthorn" pattern of decoration on porcelain. The translation of the legend, "The late frost nips the plum blossoms, and causes them to fall on the thin and cracked ice," sufficiently explains the design and its source.

The only drawback to the complete enjoyment of the volume is the ineptitude with which it has been put together. The flaws in the composition are numerous and often flagrant. The persistent use of the present tense is tedious, exasperating, and sometimes ludicrous. The author seems to have taken out a license to revise the generally received orthography of Japanese names to suit his own whims. For example, there is neither sense nor reason in his giving "sachi" for the liquor commonly known as sake, and so spelled by all makers of Anglo-Japanese dictionaries. Nor is "Cutane," for Kutani, any more reasonable than any of the numerous other changes in the names of towns and cities which the author has unwarrantably made. We find him taking from Dr. Wistar the dedication to him of the climbing plant known as the wistaria, and repeatedly referring to it as the "westeria." These little liberties taken with

us

existing facts and accepted theories are calculated to shake our faith in the authority of the writer. But this is a minor drawback to one's enjoyment of what must long be considered the best work ever written on the industrial art of Japan.

Mabie's "Norse Stories."'*

To render poetry, and especially old Scandinavian poetry, in good English prose, is a difficult task, as any one who has tried it is apt to appreciate. What Mr. Mabie has undertaken to do, however, is not to paraphrase the lays of the Elder Edda and the tales of the Younger, but rather to select the most interesting and poetic myths, clothing them in a form which would appeal to modern readers. A translation of the Elder Edda, retaining the alliterations and the rhapsodic form, was published many years ago by Mr. Thorp; and Professor R. B. Anderson, of the Univer sity of Wisconsin, gave us recently a very creditable version of the principal portions of the Younger. These two works, and possibly also Mallet's "North

Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas. By Hamilton Wright Mabie. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1882.

ern Mythology," have furnished Mr. Mabie with the material for his pleasing stories, and it must be admitted that he has performed his task both with taste and skill. The arrangement of the myths, in what might be called their chronological sequence, is especially to be commended. The creation of the world from the body of the giant Ymer, the happy life of the gods in the shining Valhalla, their adventures and perpetual warfare with the giants, their destruction at Ragnarök by the powers of evil, and the final regeneration of the world under the reign of one god, All-father, are described with a happy simplicity and a keen appreciation of the poetic element in each separate myth. Especially delightful is the story of Balder, the God of Love, who, through the machinations of Loke, was slain by the blind god Höder, and had to descend to the under-world, whence he returned after the great battle of Ragnarök to reign once more over a peaceful and happy earth.

Although Mr. Mabie's book is primarily intended for youthful readers, to whom the heroic element in such tales as Thor's “Fishing” and his fight with Hrungner must strongly appeal, there is a poetic suggestiveness in many of the myths, the full significance of which can only be appreciated by maturer minds. Thus, the charming tales of the "Apples of Ydun" and Odin's "Search for Wisdom" are replete with elusive hints, which invite to poetic treatment; and "The Twilight of the Gods," with its sequence "The New Earth," seem to contain an obvious allegory, prophesying the end of the bloody reign of the ancient gods, and the harmonious development of humanity under a new and peaceful code, when war shall have disappeared, and Balder the Beautiful, returning from the dead, shall pervade the earth with his beneficent influence. Mr. Mabie has done wisely, however, in confining himself to pure narrative and avoiding the many tempting opportunities for allegorical interpretation. That the above-named myths indicate a dim consciousness on the part of the Norsemen that their fierce and fratricidal religion was destined to be superseded by a gentler and more humane creed, is scarcely to be questioned, but beyond that fact all conjectures are unsafe. That Odin was neither a sun-myth, nor personified valor, nor a corruption of an original purer conception of the deity, has been demonstrated; while there is a strong probability in the theory which assigns both him and his colleagues definite places in remote history as chiefs who led the Teutonic tribes in their early wanderings from their

home in Central Asia.

Bartlett's "Life of Rimmer "'*

DR. RIMMER is one of the many figures in American art that fill one with uneasiness. The artistic genius in this country, until recently, has had no place. In other circumstances Rimmer might have achieved more satisfactory results; here everything was against him, though perhaps nothing was so much against him as a disquiet and pride inherited from a father who believed himself a prince by birth, and his own inherent

The Art Life of William Rimmer, Sculptor, Painter, and Physician. By Truman H. Bartlett, Sculptor. Illustrated with Heliotype Reproductions. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. 1882.

lack of patience and humble teachableness. He had a strong artistic temperament, but was thorough in nothing except anatomy. In that he was an excellent theoretic teacher, though he always disapproved of dissection for art-students, and, in explaining the most difficult parts of interior anatomy, would use the blackboard only.

Rimmer made his strongest impression not in his studied designs, pictures, and modelings, but at the blackboard. He had a most facile pencil, and would improvise on the blackboard as a musician does on the key-board, producing varied and beautiful harmonies of line. He was eminently a draughtsman, caring little for the illusion which a picture-maker is apt to cherish. He was totally ignorant of color, and took very uncertain interest in form as such; but line as a rapid means of expressing a situation, an idea, a passion, was always at his own command, and strongly moved him in such men as Rembrandt and Michael Angelo. His enormous egotism not only prevented him from understanding and learning from his immediate contemporaries, but kept him from acknowledging indebtedness to an older artist like Allston (whom he was doubtless affected by), or to a modern master like Blake, who also evidently had a decided effect upon his thought.

As a teacher he will long be remembered with gratitude by many who were helped on by his stimulating manner and ready encouragement. As is apt to be the case to-day, his best pupils were women, who, for the sake of learning, were willing to be "bullied," and who would blindly follow his lead. Mr. Bartlett's book contains many curious testimonials and notes from this class of acquaintances and critics. The author throughout has done, perhaps, a little more than justice to an extraordinary man—a man of an irascible and far from frank disposition; of much untrained and unfruitful power; and one whose career was pathetically painful and unsatisfactory. The reproductions scattered through the volume will give an idea of the largeness and vigor of some of Rimmer's conceptions.

Hunt's "Talks on Art."*

THE second series of the late Mr. Hunt's "Talks," as preserved by one of his pupils, is, if anything, of more value and interest than the first,- although the first has had a success at home and abroad which must have been gratifying to the artist. Both books give an interesting insight into his method of teaching, which seems to have been by a series of mental shocks alternations of scorn with extravagant praise. He regarded his pupils as little children, and scolded or commended them accordingly. Artists will find the book full of suggestion, and the general reader will learn much in it of interest in regard to Millet and Couture (both of whom Hunt knew well) and in regard to many other persons and things of artistic and human interest; and the same general reader, as well as the artist, will get either a pleasant or a painful, and very likely a profitable mental fillip, from nearly every paragraph.

*W. M. Hunt's Talks on Art. Second Series. Compiled by Helen M. Knowlton. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1883.

Ole Bull. *

OLE BULL was an interesting character, and his long and eventful life afforded the material for a capital biography; and if his wife has failed to avail her self of her opportunity, her failure is attributable to the fact that wives are never good biographers. It may be that Mrs. Bull, in calling her book a memoir, disclaims the purpose of writing a biography, in the sense of a complete and systematic account of her late husband's career. But even a memoir, though it

permits of a looser construction, can scarcely be called successful, unless it presents a tolerably vivid picture of its subject and affords the reader an insight into the workings of his mind. After reading Mrs. Bull's book, we know Ole Bull no better than we did before. We are, to be sure, made acquainted with the circumstances of his life, and several entertaining anecdotes are related, which tend to exhibit him in his heroic rather than in his every-day aspect. The tale of his triumphs, which were indeed well merited, is recited at great length, and the exemplary manner in which he bore all the vicissitudes of fate is commented upon. But, though we should not presume to question the correctness of the biographer's view, it is not to be denied that it fails to command the reader's credence. Such bloodless perfection as is here exhibited would be highly anomalous in an artist of Ole Bull's volatile, impulsive and passionate nature. The man Ole Bull whose acquaintance we hoped would in some degree account for the artist Ole Bull and make him humanly intelligible, has not sat for the portrait in this book, though his external lineaments are faithfully enough depicted in the frontispiece. It is an apotheosized ideal of an artist and husband which is reflected in these pages, and though there may be glimpses here and there of the handsome Norwegian gentleman whom many of us had the good fortune to know, it is, as it were, only his public and stage character which we are permitted to view.

The most entertaining portion of the book is, perhaps, the chapter relating to Ole Bull's childhood among the mountains and fiords of Norway. He was born in Bergen, in 1810; his family were well-to-do and belonged to the upper classes. The boy's musical genius manifested itself at an early age, and his passion for his "fiddle" (which was not encouraged by his parents) induced him to practice at night in a ravine called the "Giant's Caldron," scaring the peasants out of their wits and giving rise to legends about fairies and nixies. His struggles with poverty during his first years of study abroad, and his first decisive triumph at Bologna, brought him in contact with all the musical celebrities of the day, and before long all Europe was echoing with his fame. The sketches of great singers and virtuosos like Malibran, Beriot, Fanny Elssler, Chopin, and Liszt, which are here introduced, are very pleasant reading, and the intrigues by which rival artists and impressarios tried to arrest his triumphal progress are of the kind which we are prepared to look for in the life of every eminent musician. What lends, however, an additional interest to the career of Ole Bull, is the more or less

*Ole Bull: A Memoir. By Sara C. Bull. With Ole Bull's "Violin Notes" and Dr. A. B. Crosby's Anatomy of the Violinist. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

intimate relations which he sustained with nearly all the celebrities of the century, in the world of letters, art, and politics. There was a singular charm in his presence, to which even the most obdurate cynic had in time to surrender. Kings and emperors lavished found inspiration in his music and pleasure in his favors upon him, and poets, sculptors and painters company. This music is now out of date, and the another in which technique plays a larger role. The school which he represented has been superseded by tion of emotion, attained by later masters of the viomore complex and perhaps more profound interpretalin, presupposes a higher musical culture on the part of the public, and would scarcely have appealed to American audiences thirty or forty years ago as did the direct and headlong method of Ole Bull with his imitation of natural sounds and alluring echoes from Norse fiords and mountains. The unexampled enthusiasm which he excited during his first visit to the United States, in 1843, is reflected in diaries, newspapers and magazines, from which Mrs. Bull makes copious extracts. Even though we may hesi tate to indorse the extravagant verdict of his eulogists of that time, the fact still remains that he was a man of genius whose art and personality merit a more critical study than they have here received.

"College Cuts." *

IN the many daily, weekly, fortnightly, and monthly journals edited and published by the undergraduates of American universities, is to be seen in actual operation that College of Journalism, which was once the hypothetical subject of much discussion and desire. The young man who has done his stint of work on his college paper has got something of an insight into journalism in both its literary and its practical aspect; and if the paper was illustrated, he has a still wider experience. Since the improvement of the various processes of photo-engraving, many of these college journals are illustrated, none of them more successfully than the "Spectator" of Columbia College, which for several years has been adorned with satiric cartoons, generally on college topics, and with pertinent and impertinent cuts on society at large. Yet it was a bold thing to collect three or four score of these sketches of society, and to send them forth in a volume with a dedication to Mr. Du Maurier. But boldness is justified of its children. The drawings are better than one would expect from inexperienced young men, and the jokes beneath them have often a high degree of literary merit. There is abundant humor and point in the legends, some of which are as neat and as polished as one could wish. "Cause and Effect" (page 41) and "Robbing Peter" (page 45) have true comedy in them; and "A Sinecure" (page 50) is a delightful bit of fun,—a little too collegiate in its flavor, it may be, for most readers, but only the more enjoyable, perhaps, to those who can appreciate the point. It must be noted, however, that but few of these "College Cuts" have to do with student-life; most of them are pictures of society as it is seen outside of scholastic halls. And it may be that the future

*College Cuts. Chosen from the "Columbia Spectator." 1880-81-82. New York: White & Stokes.

social satirist of New York, who is to do for America what Leech and Mr. Du Maurier have done for England, is to be found among these young artists. For one thing, they are Americans, and they depict American scenes and feelings. For another, their drawing is really promising, and their present performance is of merit enough to warrant hope of much better work in the future. Consider the earlier sketches of Mr. Du Maurier himself, and see the progress the artist has made as he gained mastery over himself; consider especially the delicate indelicacies of M. Grévin, a draftsman whose work is now done with the utmost economy of labor, in the merest and most effective outline, with no stroke wasted; consider M. Grévin's earlier drawings, involved, elaborated, cross-hatched,

and note how different they are from the work he does now, when he has full confidence in himself; consider these things, and confess, as we turn these "College Cuts," that Mr. Herzog and Mr. M'Vickar and Mr. Coles have qualities which may develop greatly in the future,-when they will demand more consideration than need now be vouchsafed to these firstlings of their muse, interesting and amusing as this volume of "College Cuts" will be found.

IN the first edition of THE CENTURY for February, 1883, page 603, first column, for "Pompey," read "Titus"; and page 581, second column, for "Robert G. Shaw," read "Francis G. Shaw."

Cupid as Reporter:

A REMINISCENCE OF ST. VALENTINE'S.

I'm not at home if Cupid calls (she said)
To ask for "news" concerning whom I'll wed;
The subject has no interest for me,
Nor even sense, so far as I can see.
Besides, I hate the matrimonial press,
And petty puffs of fortune, face, and dress.
So, if he calls-that brazen baggage, Cupid!
Just say I'm out, or ill, or-stay, you stupid!
Invite him in- but say, with cold regard -

Mind, very cold! -"Please, sir, I'll take your card!'

CUPID.

Sweet Lady, I can "swear" the heavens blue-
And I am free to say he swears by you!
The point is not, to swear my blue eyes dim,
But frankly this will you swear thus by him?
If you refuse, 'tis settled in a trice! -
Another Party calls him "very nice!"

SHE.

What, she!-O Cupid, hasn't he more sense?
Her charms are all in the imperfect tense.
I will say this: He's far too good a man,
To be entrapped by that sly Party's plan.
He ought to join some Party of the best
Youth, beauty, taste, found either East or West;
Whose principles, both elegant and sound,
Are firmly based on such important ground
As strict reform of the Domestic Service-
But do not say that I have told you this,
Or know such Party-swear upon this kiss!

Here's "Hymen's Times," Feb. 14-'83;
GOOD GRACIOUS!-was there ever such a scandal!
I wonder what it says regarding me? -
He's printed every word I said! —THE VANDAL!
Not only that!-He's interviewed my maid!
And she has told him all she knew!-The jade!

Ah, well! who'll be the wiser anyway?
You can't believe a word the papers say.

Clarence Clough.

A PEDIGREE! Ah, lovely jade!
Whose tresses mock the raven's shade,
Before I free this aching breast,
I want to set my mind at rest;
'Tis best to call a spade a spade.

What was thy father ere he made
His fortune? Was he smeared with trade,
Or does he boast an ancient crest-
A pedigree?

Brains and bright eyes are overweighed;
For wits grow dull and beauties fade;
And riches, though a welcome guest,
Oft jar the matrimonial nest.

I kiss her lips who holds displayed
A pedigree.

IV.

RONDEAU À LA BALTIMOre.

A PRETTY face! O maid divine,
Whose vowels flow as soft as wine,

Before I say upon the rack

The words I never can take back, A moment meet my glance with thine.

Pronounced papaire.

Say, art thou fair? Is the incline
Of that sweet nose an aquiline?

Hast thou, despite unkind attack,
A pretty face?

Some sigh for wisdom. Three, not nine,
The graces were. I wont repine
For want of pedigree, or lack
Of gold to banish Care the black,
If I can call forever mine

A pretty face.

Robert Grant.

Aphorisms from the Quarters.

SOME pocket-knifes mus' 'a' been made to len' out.

A man dat kin make a libin' playin' de fiddle aint ap' to pester de hoe-handle.

'Casionally, a man wid right smart edication can't find his knife when it git in de wrong pocket.

A long spell o' roomatiz is ap' to p'int out your bes' friends.

De rainbow might be better lookin' ef 'twa'n't sech a cheap show.

De bottom o' de meal-box make mighty po' music. Big blaze o' fire can't roas' your 'taters.

De bes' seed ain't bound to make big water-milions. It's a mighty rotten old house dat wont make kindlin'-wood.

Bresh-fire soon gone.

Heap o' wummy scaly-barks come orf de top limbs. De crawfish gits into trouble by buildin' too fine a chimley to a little house.

You can't take de twis' out de gra'-vine by cultervatin' it.

Peacock can't hide his foots by spreadin' his tail. Green 'simmons aint 'fraid o' nobody. Edication don't come by bumpin' 'g'in' de school'ouse.

When de morkin'-bird try to mork eb'rything, he boun' to let out some music dat aint wuf much.

It's a mighty lazy nigger dat don't keep his ax sharp.

A hole under de garden palin's is a hard secret to keep.

See whar you gwine to hit 'fo' you lif' your hoe. Sas'fus-root tea wont hu't your 'specterbility when de crap come out short.

Too much trabblin' on de railroad make some folks lose de right lick for de cotton-patch.

De young peaches safe when de martin start her

nes'. You don't need much fence roun' de cowcumber vine.

J. A. Macon.

THE readers of this Department will be glad to know that Mr. J. A. Macon, whose name often has appeared of late as a contributor to these pages, has recently collected his published poems, songs, and aphorisms, and with much additional matter has issued them in book-form. This volume, entitled "Uncle Gabe Tucker; or Reflection, Song, and Sentiment in the Quarters," is published by Messrs. J. B. Lippincott and Co., of Philadelphia.