imparting to his productions in both kinds a delightful tinge of the foreign and remote. In addition to his capacity as a poet and a romancer, he is a wit and humorist of sparkling quality. In reading his books one seems also to inhale the perfumes of Arabia and the farther East, blended with the salt sea-breeze and the pine-scented air of his native State, New Hampshire.

He was born in the old seaside town of Portsmouth, N. H., November 11, 1837; but moved to New York City in 1854, at the age of seventeen. There he remained until 1866; beginning his work quite early; forming his literary character by reading and observation, by the writing of poems, and by practice and experience of writing prose sketches and articles for journals and periodicals. During this period he entered into associations with the poets Stedman, Stoddard and Bayard Taylor, and was more or less in touch with the group that included Walt Whitman, Fitz-James O'Brien and William Winter. Removing to Boston in January, 1866, he became the editor of Every Saturday and remained in that post until 1874 when he resigned. In 1875, he made a long tour in Europe, plucking the first fruits of foreign travel, which were succeeded by many rich and dainty gatherings from the same source in later years. In the intervals of these wanderings he lived in Boston and Cambridge; occupying for a time James Russell Lowell's historic house of Elmwood, in the semi-rural university city; and then established a pretty country house at Ponkapog, a few miles west of Boston. This last suggested the title for a charming book of travel papers, From Ponkapog to Pesth. In 1881 he was appointed editor of the Atlantic Monthly, and continued to direct that famous magazine for nine years, frequently making short trips to Europe, extending his tours as far as the heart of Russia, and gathering fresh material for essay or song. Much of his time since giving up the Atlantic editorship has been passed in voyaging, and in 1894-5 he made a journey around the world.

From the beginning he struck with quiet certainty the vein that was his by nature in poetry; and this has broadened almost continually, yielding richer results, which have been worked out with an increasing refinement of skill. His predilection is for the picturesque; for romance combined with. simplicity, purity, and tenderness of feeling, touched by fancy and by occasional lights of humor so reserved and dainty that they never disturb the pictorial harmony. The capacity for unaffected utterance of feeling on matters common to humanity reached a climax in the poem of Baby Bell, which by its sympathetic and delicate description of a child's advent and death gave the author a claim to the affections of a wide circle; and this remained for a long time probably the best known among his poems. Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book is another. of the earlier favorites. Spring in New England has since come to hold high rank both for its vivid and graceful description of the season, and its tender fervor of patriotism, and for its sentiment of reconciliation between North and South. The lines on Piscataqua River remain one of the best illustrations of boyhood memories, and have something of Whittier's homely truth. In his longer narrative

pieces, Judith and Wyndham Towers, cast in the mould of blank verse idyls, Mr. Aldrich does not seem so much himself as in many of his briefer flights. An instinctive dramatic tendency finds outlet in Pauline Paulovna and Mercedes-the latter of which, a two-act piece in prose, has found representation in the theater; yet in these, also, he is less eminently successful than in his lyrics and society

verse.

No American poet has brought his stanzas with greater faithfulness to an exacting standard of craftsmanship than Mr. Aldrich, or has known better when to leave a line loosely cast, and when to reinforce it with correction or with a syllable that might seem, to an ear less true, redundant. This gives to his most carefully chiselled productions an air of spontaneous ease, and has made him eminent. as a sonnetteer. His sonnet on Sleep is one of the finest in the language. The conciseness and concentrated aptness of his expression also-together with a faculty of bringing into conjunction subtly contrasted thoughts, images, or feelings-has issued happily in short, concentrated pieces like An Untimely Thought, Destiny, and Identity, and in a number of pointed and effective quatrains. Without overmastering purpose outside of art itself, his is the poetry of luxury rather than of deep passion or conviction; yet with the freshness of bud and tint in spring-time, it still always relates itself effectively to human experience. The author's specially American quality, also, though not dominant, comes out clearly in Unguarded Gates, and with a differing tone in the plaintive Indian legend of Miantowona.

If we perceive in his verse a kinship with the dainty ideals of Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Musset, this does not obscure his originality or his individual charm; and the same thing may be said. in regard to his prose. The first of his short fictions that made a decided mark was Marjorie Daw. The fame which it gained, in its separate field, was as swift and widespread as that of Hawthorne's The Gentle Boy or Bret Harte's Luck of Roaring Camp. It is a bright and half pathetic little parody on human life and affection; or perhaps we should call it a parable symbolizing the power which imagination wields over real life, even in supposedly unimaginative people. The covert smile which it involves, at the importance of human emotions, may be traced a certain extent in some of Mr. Aldrich's longer and more serious works of fiction; his three novels, Prudence Palfrey, The Queen of Sheba, and The Stillwater Tragedy. The Story of a Bad Boy, frankly but quietly humorous (with the scene of the story localized at old Portsmouth, under the name Riversmouth), a less ambitious work, still holds a secure place in the affections of many mature as well as younger readers. Besides these books, Mr. Aldrich has published a collection of short, descriptive reminiscent, and half-historic papers on Portsmouth; with a second volume of short stories entitled Two Bites of a Cherry. The character drawing in his fiction is clear-cut and effective, often sympathetic, and nearly always suffused with an agreeable coloring of humor. There are notes of pathos, too, in some of his tales, and it is the blending of these qualities, through the medium of a delightful style, that defines his pleasing quality in prose.

Holiday Books

Now that the ancient lady who picks the geese whose feathers make the snow, has grown old and neglectful and leaves our winters bald and irregular, old John Gutenberg is trying to supply her deficiencies by whirling out of a thousand printing presses a very blizzard of books. The multitudinous, fluttering snow-flakes of the white leaves make great heaps on the book-stalls and news-stands; they sift into every home through doors and windows and postbox crevices and even down the chimneys on Santa Claus' back. As for the book-reviewer, shovel and scramble as he may, they drift in upon him, till resistance is futile. At length he must sink exhausted and lie buried from sight till the next spring time thaw discovers him again to an indifferent world.

The promise of a good business year has improved both the quality and the quantity of the holiday books. There are, as usual, a number of reprints and translations cf standard works in

"éditions de luxe." The most important and beautiful of these is perhaps Old Creole Days, by George W. Cable, which the Scribners have brought out in a superb edition. Illustrated by Albert Herter, with numerous photogravures. $6 and $12.

Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. By Washington Irving. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 2 vols. $6,00.

This account of John Jacob Astor's attempt to carry the fur trade across the Rockies and establish it along the Pacific shores deserves such a reprint, for it has all the value of history, and that, history of a peculiarly picturesque enterprise that failed because of its dangers and hardships. It is profusely illustrated and reads like fiction.

Undine. By F. de la Motte Fouqué. New York: The Macmillan Co. $2.00,

This translation of a German classic is chiefly notable for its illustrations by Rosie M. M. Fouqué. They carry out the spirit of the strange romance in

Travels in a Tree Top; The Freedom of the Fields. By Charles C. Abbot. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 2 vols. $.3.00.

Pleasant outdoor essays, prettily illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens.

London, as seen by Charles Dana Gibson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. $5.00 and $10.00.

People who buy books for the sake of their appearance on a library table will make no mistake in purchasing this handsome folio. Those who buy for the intrinsic, rather than the extrinsic, value, will be equally justified. This volume presents some of the latest and best work of an artist whom there are many reasons for calling the greatest penman of his time. He is more various and vigorous technically than the great Vierge. In spite of one of the most slashing pens imaginable, he has delicacy sufficient for the finest laces and the most dainty skins. His compositions have somewhat the look of posing, but they atone for this by the complete characterization and individuality of each figure. Each character is truly a character. Mr. Gibson is also an experimenter, and while his personality is too strong ever to be submerged, he has various manners. His London shows many of them. There is probably no illustrator, save possibly Howard Pyle or Henry Mayer, who could show such versatility of handling as that displayed by Mr. Gibson in his Outside the Pit Entrance, Hyde Park Corner, and A First Night. It is a very far cry from the desolate empty

a very remarkable manner. Many of the illustrative fancies are in a symbolic and allegoric style very rare now and very difficult to succeed in. The drawings vary from strange grotesquerie to ravishing beauty. In some of them the influence of William Blake is evidently felt. But the manner is the artist's own.

Morocco; its People and Places. By Edmondo de Amicis. Translated from the thirteenth Italian edition by M. H. Lansdale. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Co. In 2 vols.

A sumptuous edition notable for its full-page

illustrations.

The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance. With an index to their works. By Bernhard Berenson. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Third edition. $6.00 and $12.00.

A sympathetic account of the formative influences that wrought out the peculiar glories and warmth of the Venetian school. It is illustrated with twentyfour photogravures from paintings of especial charm, and is supplied with an index of painters, their works and the whereabouts of their works. To the traveler desirous of following up any painter, it will be of especial value and convenience.

Some Colonial Homesteads and their Stories. By Marion Harland. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. $3.00.

Both the text and the charming illustrations of this book should convince anyone that while this country has only a very brief past to look back on, that past was very picturesque. We lack ruins here, but there are many things that are "gold o'erdusted" and these are liberally presented in this work.

CHARLES F. LUMMIS

From The King of the Bronchos. Copyright, 1897, by Chas. Scribner's Sons.