BOOKS READ
Sarah read about 50 books on the journey!
Descriptions of the books, the authors and Sarah’s impressions.
LIFE OF NAPOLEON
by John S.C. Abbott
1855
Abbott takes a very favorable view of the leader from the French, rather than the British, perspective.
His view was different from that of the time period, with examples of Napoleon as a good man, who was merciful and did not want war.
Sarah appears to have an advance manuscript of the book, since it was not published until 1855.
The history of Napoleon has often been written by his enemies. This narrative is from the pen of one who reveres and loves the Emperor. The writer admires Napoleon because he abhorred war, and did everything in his power to avert that dire calamity, because he merited the sovreignty to which the suffrages of a grateful nation elevated him, because he consecrated the most extraordinary energies ever conferred upon a mortal to promote the prosperity of his country, because he was regardless of luxury, and cheerfully endured all toil and all hardships that he might elevate and bless the masses of mankind, and because he had a high sense of honour, revered religion, respected the rights of conscience, and nobly advocated equality of privileges and the universal brotherhood of man. Such was the true character of Napoleon Bonaparte. The narrative contrived in these pages is offered as a demonstration of the truth of these assertions.
The world has been bewildered by the contradictory views which have been presented of Napoleon. Hostile historians have stigmatized him as a usurper, while admitting that the suffrages of the nation placed him on the throne; they have denounced him a tyrant inexorable as Nero, while admitting that he won the adoring love of his subjects; he is called a bloodthirsty monster, delighting in war, yet it is confessed that he was, in almost every conflict, struggling in self-defense and imploring peace; it is said that his unsatiable ambition led him to trample remorselessly upon the rights of other nations, while it is confessed that Europe was astonished by his moderation and generosity in every treaty which he made with his vanquished foes; he is described as a human butcher, reckless of suffering, who regarded his soldiers merely as food for power, and yet, on the same page we are told that he wept over the carnage of the battlefield, pressed the hands of the dying, and won from those soldiers who laid down their lives in his service a fervour of love which earth has never seen paralleled; it is recorded that France at last became weary of him and drove him from the throne, and in the next paragraph we are informed that, as soon as the bayonets of the Allies had disappeared from France, the whole nation rose to call him back from his exile, with unanimity so unprecedented, that without the shedding of one drop of blood he traversed the whole of France, entered Paris, and reascended the throne; it is affirmed that a second time France, weary of his despotism, expelled him, and yet it is at the same time recorded that this same France demanded of his executioners his beloved remains, received them with national enthusiasm, consigned them to a tomb in the very bosom of its capital, and has reared over them such a mausoleum as honours the grave of no other mortal.
The reason is obvious why the character of Napoleon should have been maligned. He was regarded justly as the foe of aristocracy privilege. The English oligarchy was determined to crush him.
Am reading Abbott, “Life of Napoleon” and like it extremely. He seems to take a most clear and just view of the man and his acts. Napoleon certainly was a very, very wonderful man with powers of mind unequaled; so superior and universal. Of course, there have lived men who in particular branches may have far excelled, but none, I believe, more so universally great. And then, the qualities of his heart were good. This has been denied, but who can read this history or any other where justice is at all done him and call him selfish, hardhearted and cruel. Justice is being rendered this wonderful man and will continue to be, more and more so. For his sins, Europe and most particularly England are answerable; they would not let him in France enjoy the peace they so earnestly longed for – but by their injustice hurried him on his too ambitious career.
And another day…
I have been reading some chapters in Napoleon this morning; was much interested particularly in his account of the Duke D’Enghien. It has always seemed like such a dark plot on Napoleon and I never before so fully understood the motive by which Napoleon actuated. Napoleon was justly exasperated by the wrongs he was constantly receiving from the Emigrants with the Bourbons at their head, and was thus rashly lead on to do a deed he afterwards felt regret for. But if a man ever had provocation for such a deed, Napoleon had – and this account is certainly the most satisfactory as regards Bonaparte as any I ever read; the clearest, fullest.
And lastly…
Last evening, I finished all I have of Abbot, “Napoleon”. It is aggravating to read so good and interesting a work in this way. When it is all published, I shall read it again in one continuous whole.
Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon-Conde, Duke d'Enghien
Louis Antoine de Bourbon was a member of the reigning House of Bourbon in France. He was given the title of the Duke d’Enghien at birth. At the beginning of the French revolution in 1789 he emigrated and served under his father (Duke of Bourbon) and grandfather (Prince of Conde) in the army of emigrants, who unsuccessfully tried to invade France. When the army was dissolved in 1801, he settled in the Rhine area of Baden.
In 1804, Napoleon, then First Consul of France, heard false information that lead him to believe that the Duke d’Enghien was involved in a plot to assassinate him and restore the monarchy. He had the duke seized and brought to the Chateau de Vicennes, where he was hastily tried and shot by firing squad in a moat of the castle. His last words were ‘I must die then at the hands of Frenchmen!’
Royalty around the world, especially in Russia, were shocked and dismayed at the execution.
Although Napoleon may have regretted the decision to kill the duke, it did quiet domestic resistance. Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French soon afterwards.
John S. C. Abbott
John Stevens Cabot Abbott (1805-1877) from Brunswick, Maine, was a Congregational minister who became an American historian and writer. His most popular work was History of Napoleon Bonaparte (1855). Other works are History of the Civil War, History of Napoleon III, and Frederick II. John’s brother Jacob Abbott was also an author, writing many biographies of historical figures geared towards children. John and his wife, Jane Williams Bourne, had nine children and also had guardianship of a 10-year old Japanese girl, Shige Nagai, who was sent to the United States to be educated as part of the 1871 Iwagura Mission. Shige studied music at Vassar College, becoming one of the first two Japanese women to attend college, and when she returned to Japan, she became one of the first piano teachers in the country.
QUEECHY
by Elizabeth Wetherell
(Susan Bogert Warner)
1852
A good family story about growing up, facing hardships and meeting them with a kind, forgiving and understanding spirit.
Fleda’s life at 11 years is filled with sorrow and struggle. She has lost both parents and her grandfather. Sent to live with her aunt’s family she faces many financial difficulties. With a strong belief system in God, she tackles all her problems with a faith that she will be shown the way to put food on the table for her family. It is a long hard road that she has to travel but she does it gracefully and lovingly.
Since leaving home I have read “Queechy” – interesting, a very good book.
Elizabeth Wetherell (Susan Bogert Warner)
Susan Bogert Warner was an American evangelical writer of religious fiction, children’s fiction, and theological works. She wrote under the name of Elizabeth Wetherell. Her early life was one of wealth and privilege, until her father lost his money in the Panic of 1837. The family had to sell their home in New York City and move to a farmhouse on Constitution Island, near West Point. She and her sister, novelist and hymnist Anna Bartlett Warner, began writing to help the family’s finances.
Elizabeth’s first novel, Wide, Wide World, was very successful. Queechy was her second work.
She wrote over thirty novels, many of which went into multiple editions.
MY NOVEL
or
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH LIFE
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
This is one of the lesser known novels of Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
It seems to have similar plotlines as some works by Charles Dickens, a close friend.
I have also finished “My Novel or Varieties in English Life”. It is excellent – very, very interesting – fine characters of so much interest introduced; I only wish the concluding part had not been written. I like it not at all, there is a sort of malice about it. Randal Leslie was indeed bad enough, but I think it would have been better to have left his future career to the imagination of the reader. It would better have closed with the death of Egerton.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was an English writer and politician. He was a member of Parliament for many years, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and was offered, but declined, the Crown of Greece in 1862 when King Otto abdicated. For a time he was an extremely popular writer, and made a good living as an author, although he is little read today. He was a good friend of Charles Dickens, and instrumental in convincing Dickens to change the ending of Great Expectations. When he died he was buried at Westminster Abbey as a significant writer, at the request of Charles Dickens.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton does have some fame, or infamy, for creating a few known phrases:
“the great unwashed”, “pursuit of the almighty dollar”, “the pen is mightier than the sword”, and especially the opening phrase “It was a dark and stormy night.”
The latter is from the novel Paul Clifford, and is considered by writers to be an example of bad writing. The phrase itself is not solely the culprit, but it is part of a terrible opening sentence…
It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
In fact the English Department of San Jose State University holds an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest where they ask entrants to “compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels”.
MEMOIR OF MARY L. WARE
Mary L. Ware (1798-1849) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She spent her youth alternating between schooling and caring for her dying parents and grandparents. She married Rev Henry Ware Jr in 1827. He was an influential Unitarian theologian, faculty member of Harvard Divinity School, and first president of the Harvard Musical Association. He had mentored Ralph Waldo Emerson when Emerson studied for the ministry in the 1820s. When Henry took ill, Mary nursed him as well, while also caring for their children and his children from a previous marriage. After he recovered, he accepted a professorship of divinity at Cambridge University, but had to resign in 1842 because of failing health. Following her husband’s death in 1843, Mrs. Ware left England and settled in Milton, Massachusetts, where she tutored three children along with her own.
I am also reading the “Memoirs of Mrs. Mary Ware”. I have as yet read but little of it, but expect to find it very interesting. I like this memoir reading, when it is good, very much.
and later on…
I have been reading “Mrs. Ware’s Memoirs” – read some last Sunday, keep it a sort of a Sunday book. Have been rather disappointed in it today, got tired of reading – do not find that interest as yet that I expected. Presume it will be more interesting as I read on. So far, it has been almost entirely letters written to an intimate friend. They are very personal and read more like religious dissertations. No doubt but she was an excellent and superior woman and I shall become more interested.
Yesterday, I read considerable in Mrs. Ware’s. I find it extremely interesting. She must indeed have been a very fine woman with much force of character, very energetic and very useful and with all very lovely and amiable, also one to have been sadly missed by family and friends, the object of her kindness and bounty. She was very pious, and one whose religion seemed to guide and influence her in all things. To read the life of such a woman humbles me to the dust and creates a longing to be far different from what I am.
KING ARTHUR
A POEM
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Our land’s first legends, love and knightly deeds,
And wonderous Merlin, and his wandering King,
The triple labour, and the glorious meeds
Won from the world of Fable-land, I sing;
Go forth, O Song, amidst the banks of old,
And glide translucent o’er the sands of gold.
I have commenced Bulwer’s “King Arthur” today, in perfect despair of Williams ever getting through his papers. I want so much to read it, I cannot wait. I expected it would have been my first book after leaving but others have been before it.
and another day…
As to “King Arthur”, I am disappointed as far as I have read. From what I heard I expected to find it very beautiful and very interesting. So far, I do not think it either – not to be compared to “New Timon”. I may change my opinion, but I think not. A great deal of it seems to be very labored and very harsh – not at all musical. Certainly, it does not read as if it gushed from his soul.
and another day…
Williams tells me that a Clipper Ship is in sight. We, of course, have gained on her. So I must say good morning to this and take a look at her – and then for “King Arthur” whom I hope will prove more interesting today. Otherwise I shall give it up for the present warm weather, concluding I am not in a fit state of mind to appreciate it and neither is Williams who has looked into it several times.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was an English writer and politician. He was a member of Parliament for many years, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and was offered, but declined, the Crown of Greece in 1862 when King Otto abdicated. For a time he was an extremely popular writer, and made a good living as an author, although he is little read today. He was a good friend of Charles Dickens, and instrumental in convincing Dickens to change the ending of Great Expectations. When he died he was buried at Westminster Abbey as a significant writer, at the request of Charles Dickens.
PUNCH
PUNCH was a humorous political magazine
that charted the interests, concerns and frustrations of Britain
from 1841 to 2002
Punch Magazine was a weekly British humorous magazine with political commentary.
It was established in 1841 and ran until 2002. It was especially popular during Victorian times.
The first editors were Henry Mahew and Mark Lemon.
It is said that someone remarked that “a humorous magazine, like good punch, needs lemon”, referring to Mark Lemon.
Mahew then said, “A capital idea! Let’s call the paper Punch!”
The illustrations were done in pen and ink. One of the drawings satirized some murals that were being designed for a public building since it seemed ostentatious for the times. The murals were first displayed on pieces of cardboard or “cartones” in Italian. This evolved into the word “cartoon” as we know it today.
I was much amused with Willie this morning. Before breakfast Willie, his father and myself were looking at a volume of Punch. Willie, who is quite at home with “Mr. Punch”, as he calls him, was pointing out the different personages, Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, Sir Robert Peel and etc. Soon his father was called on deck and Willie himself went into the Cabin where the young gentleman called for paper and pencil to make “old men” with. His wants being supplied, and he on my lap, commenced making his head, or as he calls them “old men”. He made several and then said, pointing to one with a famous nose, “Mama, that is the Duke of Wellington” – another Lord Brougham, another Sir Robert Peel, etc. Another of his favorite personages is Mr. Punch himself, and Willie at all times draws him well enough for anyone to recognize. This passion for drawing “old men” is very great. The consumption of paper, in consequence the same.
LARDNER’S
OUTLINES OF HISTORY
by Professor Dionysius Lardner
Embracing a Concise History of the World, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time: Arranged So that the Whole May be Studied by Periods, Or the History of Any Country May be Read by Itself: with Questions for Examination of Students
Published in 1843, this was written as a Reference Book with very brief histories of many civilizations.
It is divided into:Ancient History / Middle Ages (500 – 1500) / “Modern” History (1500-1815)
The book also lists: Royal Dynasties, Eminent Persons, Chronological View of Important Events, and Questions for Examination of Students on each chapter.
There are 49 engravings on wood.
Some months ago, Willie was particularly fond of looking at the pictures in an old school book of mine called “Lardner’s Outlines of History”. When he looked at the pictures he wanted to be told about them. It seemed foolish to tell him about Napoleon, Wellington, and Brutus, etc. but the child wanted it, and so we did. One day we found out what a retentive memory he had. He was sitting on my lap, looking at, and asking about, the pictures in the same book. The thought occurred to me to try and see if he remembered what I had told him about the several pictures. His father was sitting by and we were both so startled by the results, that a little fellow, not much more than two years old, should have his head filled not only with the contents of some dozen silly story books, but also with a partial of historical names and events, that we concluded to put the book away and say nothing more concerning it. It was done, and he has never seen it since. However, day before yesterday, I asked him a few questions to try how retentive his memory might be – the result was that every question was answered correctly, so I concluded to let the matter rest.
Professor Dionysius Lardner
Professor Dionysius Lardner was an Irish scientific writer.
One of his greatest achievements was editing the 133-volume Cabinet Cyclopædia. It included writings from 38 different authors, some of the most knowledgeable people of the time.
The “cabinets” were
Arts and Manufactures, Biography, History, Natural History, and Natural Philosophy.
Customers could purchase a single volume, a single cabinet, or the entire set.
Some of the writers included History of Scotland (by Sir Walter Scott), History of Ireland (by Thomas Moore), Naval History by Robert Southey. Lardner contributed to Mathematics and Physics.
Lardner’s personal life was filled with scandal, since he became involved with a married woman, divorced his wife and married his mistress.
According to Wikipedia...
During the first quarter of the 19th century, self-improvement literature became an important portion of the book market: “it was the age of the ‘Family Library’ edition”.
In his article on the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Morse Peckham writes that this “revolution in literacy, [was] partly the result of the spread of liberal ideas by the French Revolution, [and] partly of the desire to combat those ideas by teaching the poor to read the Bible and religious tracts [… It] was to have an effect on modern society almost as profound as the industrial and agricultural revolutions”.
Dionysius Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia, published between 1829 and 1846, was one of the most successful of these enterprises, which also included John Murray’s Family Library and the publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
Although intended for the “general reader”, the series was aimed specifically at the middle class rather than the masses: each volume cost six shillings, prohibiting purchase by the poor. The advertisements for the Cyclopaedia describe the expected audience as “merchants, captains, families, [and] new-married couples”.The prospectus assured its readers that “nothing will be admitted into the pages of the ‘CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA’ which can have the most remote tendency to offend public or private morals. To enforce the cultivation of religion and the practice of virtue should be a principal object with all who undertake to inform the public mind.”
THE HISTORY OF
THE DECLINE AND FALL
OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
by Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
was published in six volumes
between 1776 and 1788
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is known for the quality and irony of its prose,
its use of primary sources,
and its polemical criticism of organized religion.
It covers the period from 98 to 1590.
Gibbon provided extensive notes along the body of the text which indicate not only details of his sources for the material but also his thought process. This was a precursor to the use of footnotes. Because they are somewhat humorous, they have been called “Gibbon’s Table Talk”.
Tomorrow I must commence and read an hour or two in Gibbon. Must take the time for that when Willie sleeps.
Read an hour and a half in Gibbon directly after breakfast, the first of it is very dull reading. After I read more in the narrative, I know I shall find it very interesting.
Read an hour and a half in Gibbon this morning. It is becoming much more interesting. This morning I have been reading more, particularly concerning the religious liberty allowed all their conquered nations by the Romans, so that there existed none of that intolerant religious feeling common in this day. Then instead of looking for all the differences that might exist, they only seemed to see the resemblances and concluded that though this manner of worship was various, yet it was the same deities that they all worshipped. Pity that there could not be more of such feeling in these days.
Edward Gibbon 1737-1794 was an English historian, writer and Member of Parliament.
His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was published in six volumes.
Although he published other books, Gibbon devoted much of his life to this one work.
A STEP FROM
THE NEW WORLD TO THE OLD
AND BACK AGAIN
by Henry Philip Tappan
The 1st volume is devoted to England, Scotland and Holland;
the 2nd volume the Rhine, Switzerland, Belgium and France.
These volumes are not made up of extracts from the guide books,
but of the thoughts, impressions, and reflections fresh from the Professor’s own mind.
“A Step from the New World to the Old and Back Again” published in 1852 by Professor Henry Tappan is in two volumes.
The book sold for 1.75 at the time.
This was Tappan’s first trip to Europe and he was so excited about everything he saw.
At the time it was said…
New volumes on Europe are amazingly numerous, and, yet, every good book of journeying is, and ever will be, in ready demand. The wondrous beauties of nature, and the miracles of art in which Europe so richly abounds, will never cease to interest us; and as every traveler (if he chance to possess a head of his own) sees with new eyes, his impressions, if faithfully recorded, are as fresh, and as new, and as interesting, as though we had never heard of the same things a hundred times before.
Williams read considerably to me in Professor Tappan’s book this morning. I meanwhile sewing. We like the book very much. There is so much good sense and just appreciation of things in it. It shows a healthy vigorous mind. It is his first visit to Europe and the first part of the book made me think frequently of a happy and joyous boy let loose from school; so happy joyous and pleased does he seem. The conversation with an Englishman on the vexing subject of slavery, I think, is very good, clear and just. Also the chapter on Oxford, the latter part particularly – subject education – but the whole as far as we read is good.
Professor Henry Tappan
In 1852 Professor Tappan met with the Regents of the University of Michigan. The institution had been established 12 years before, but was languishing. Tappan became the first President with a tenure from 1852-63. He did great things for the University. Tappan Hall was named for him.
Now the University of Michigan has over 46,000 students and one of the largest alumni organizations in the country.
ROSE DOUGLAS
or
SKETCHES OF A COUNTRY PARISH
being the
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
A SCOTCH MINISTER’S DAUGHTER
As an old woman,
Rose Douglas tells the story of her life.
Her upbringing in a small town
A difficult time in the big city
And a return to her roots
As an old woman, Rose Douglas tells the story of her life.
Raised in a small parish in Scotland by her loving father, a clergyman, she had ties to many in the town.
Upon her father’s death Rose was required to live with her aunt’s family in the city of Glasgow, where they were not very welcoming.
Eventually she was befriended by a family that helped her gain her independence from her unkind relations.
She fell in love with their son, who became the new minister in her village, and was able to return to her family home once again.
Williams finished reading “Rose Douglas” this morning. He thinks it was written by the author of “Mary Powell”. We both like the book very much. It is very interesting and the style pleasing; a good healthy book. Its effect must be good, cannot be otherwise. However, there is one thing in it I do not like and that is the unhappy end of her unkind relations; that has rather a spiteful vindictive look.
I do love to have Williams read to me. It is so pleasant to read the same book together and talk about it. Although I have not mentioned it to him yet I have been quite amused with the earnest manner in which Williams has discussed Rose Douglas – the same as if he had been conversing about a term founded on fact story. It is just what he is always accusing me of and laughing at me for. For my part, I like much to converse about a book of this kind in that way. I become as deeply interested as if all were real. I fancy and seem to become personally acquainted with the characters introduced; also the scenes and places I had visited. I always had this peculiarity from a child and I can now recall books that I read then, the scenes of which are as vivid to my mind’s eye as if I had in reality but just visited the place. In conversing last evening with Williams I found it was the same with him, even in a greater degree. I really was amused with this perfect exactness of his.
After her father’s death and with no means to support herself, Rose went to live with her well-to-do aunt and her husband in Glasgow. They had three daughters and two sons of their own, who were not very welcoming to their cousin. Rose was treated like a servant girl by the family and was happy when she obtained a governess position elsewhere so that she could gain her independence.
At the end of the novel, Rose Douglas relates the following about the fate of her relations…
I think it was about two years after my marriage…that Mr. Dagleish unexpectedly became a bankrupt. He had, contrary to his usual prudence in mercantile matters, involved himself in large and doubtful speculations, and even induced his son-in-law so far to join him. These proved ruinous, and poor Mr. Dagleish had the pain of communicating to his incredulous and finally horror-struck family – that he was a broken man. He lost energy afterwards and never retrieved himself. But the family – what a fearful change it was to them! Everything had to be given up to the creditors, even their very furniture.
Mr. Dagleish did not survive his fall many months. They said that the heartless frettings and constant reproaches of his family for his imprudence, were more than he could bear, and killed him. I was deeply grieved for him.
Poor Elise, in spite of her worldly advantages, had a sorrowful fate. She did not live long to enjoy these, for she died of her second child.
I called upon my aunt the first time I was in Glasgow after Mr. Dagleish’s death, and found her in a small, dingy uncomfortable flat in an obscure part of the town. What a change! And she had sunk by that time into a mere querulous old woman. She could talk of nothing but their misfortunes…blaming her departed husband with little delicacy; and this continued without intermission, till, with a sickened heart, I came away.
Her sons, poor woman! were of no comfort to her. Robert went off to America immediately after the failure, and Matthew, after leading for some years a very idle dissolute life about town, – followed him and she was left alone with her two daughters, to subsist upon a small pittance allowed them from sympathy by the creditors. Their friends of their prosperity, of course, all forgot them. My husband generously permitted me to assist them. My assistance was accepted by my aunt, but she testified no gratitude. However, I did not expect it.
She at last sunk into a state approaching to imbecility, in which condition she continued until her death. Her daughters felt the change in their condition very painfully. They are alive still, a pair of peevish, backbiting old maids, with few friends and many enemies.
HISTORY OF
MARIA ANTOINETTE
by John S.C. Abbott
In this history of Maria Antoinette it has been my endeavor to give a faithful narrative of facts, and, so far as possible, to exhibit the soul of history. A more mournful tragedy earth has seldom witnessed. And yet the lesson is full of instruction to all future ages. Intelligence and moral worth combined can be the only basis of national prosperity or domestic happiness. But the simple story itself carries with it its own moral, and the reflections of the writer would encumber rather than enforce its teachings.
We have read his “Marie Antoinette”. Found nothing new whatsoever in it but her story never fails to interest me. Her history in connection with husband, sister and children is the saddest I have ever read. I like Mr. Abbott’s views of her character.
The tragic drama of Maria Antoinette-otherwise known as Marie Antoinette-and her bloody end during the French Revolution has fascinated students of history from all over the world, but rarely have the full facts been so completely captured and mapped out as in this wonderful retelling by master storyteller John Abbott. The fifth child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I, Maria Antoinette was married to Louis-Auguste, heir to the throne of France in 1770, in what was expected to be the beginning of a familial alliance between the Austrian and French royal houses. When her husband finally acceded to the throne in 1774, she became Queen of France and Navarre-and the most powerful woman in the land. The author recounts how political and social events enveloped Maria Antoinette, who was plunged into political intrigues not of her own making and of which, in many cases, she was completely unaware. Abbott paints a sympathetic, but objective, overview of her life, and what could have been done differently-with the benefit of hindsight. The royal family’s attempted escape to Austria at the very height of the French Revolution however sealed her and her husband’s fate. Accused by the revolutionaries of treason and of loyalty to the Austrians, Maria and her husband found their titles abolished, were imprisoned, and ultimately executed. This work, written only fifty-six years after the events, and at a time when Maria and Louis’ eldest daughter, Marie Therese, was still alive, remains one of the finest accounts of this bloody, terrible, and often misunderstood event in European royal history.
THE HISTORY OF
CLEOPATRA
QUEEN OF EGYPT
by Jacob Abbott
The story of Cleopatra is filled with
danger, intrigue, romance and tragedy.
Part of the Makers of History Series
by brothers
Jacob Abbott & John S.C. Abbott
“The story of Cleopatra is a story of forbidden love—
its uncontrollable impulses, its intoxicating joys, its reckless course,
and the dreadful ruin in which it invariably ends.”
“The History of Cleopatra” was part of the “Makers of History” Series, written by brothers Jacob Abbott and John S.C. Abbott, geared towards a young audience.
The brothers had a wonderful gift for storytelling.
“The Abbott biographies have a delightful combination of action and adventure, along with truly interesting personality portraits, intriguing subplots, and fascinating secondary characters.”
“I want to thank you and your brother for Abbott’s series of Histories. I have not education enough to appreciate the profound works of voluminous historians, and if I had, I have no time to read them. But your series of Histories gives me, in brief compass, just that knowledge of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the greatest interest. To them I am indebted for about all the historical knowledge I have.”
—Abraham Lincoln.
PLUTARCH’S LIVES
or
PARALLEL LIVES
by Plutarch
Volume 1. Theseus, Romulus, Lycurgus, Numa, Solon, Publicola, Themistocles, Camillus, Pericles, Fabius, Alcibiades, Coriolaunus Timeolon, Aemilus Paulus, Pelopidas, Marcellus, Aristides, Cato the elder, Philopemen, Flaminius, Pyrrus, Marius, Lysander, Sulla, Cimon, Lucullus, Nicias, Crassus.
Volume 2. Seutouris, Eumenes, Agesilaus, Pompey, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Phocion, Cato the Younger, Agis, Cleomones, Tiberius Graccus and Gaius Graccus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Demetrius, Mark Anthony, Dion, Marcus Brutus, Aratus Artaxerxes II, Galba, Otho.
Some of the most famous “pairings” were:
Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar
Demosthenes and Cicero
The works were extremely popular, which is why much has survived to this day.
The Greek philosopher and historian Plutarch
wrote a series of 48 biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans,
arranged in pairs
to illustrate their moral virtues and vices.
We are now reading “Plutarch’s Lives”. Strange to say I never read them. They are extremely interesting but as familiar as if I had often read them before. Thanks to good Mrs. Milligan who drilled me pretty well in ancient history. It being her pet study, I believe.
Plutarch lived from 48 AD to around 119 AD.
Born to a wealthy Greek family, he was a philosopher, biographer, essayist and priest at the Temple of Apollo.
He became a Roman citizen.
He is most well known for the work Plutarch’s Lives, but he also had a collection of essays called “Moralia” – customs and mores.
His writings were very influential in future English and French literature.
Shakespeare used Plutarch’s biographies as the basis for some of his historical plays.
From Wikipedia...
“Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans”, commonly called “Parallel Lives” or simply “Plutarch’s Lives”, is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings.
The work contains pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman, as well as four unpaired, single lives.
It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals biographized, but also about the times in which they lived.
As he explains in the first paragraph of his Life of Alexander, Plutarch was not concerned with writing histories, as such, but in exploring the influence of character-good or bad-on the lives and destinies of famous men.
ROBINSON CRUSOE
Written in 1719, ROBINSON CRUSOE is often considered to be the first English novel.
It has been one of the most widely published books in history and was wildly popular in Sarah’s time.
There were more than 700 alternative versions, including some children’s versions with pictures and no text.
Perhaps that is the type of book Willie enjoyed on The Sea Serpent.
The fictional novel tells of the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, who, against the wishes of his parents, chooses a life at sea and sets sail from England.
He is involved in several shipwrecks, has his ship overtaken by pirates, and is marooned on the Island of Despair off the Venezuelan coast for 28 years.
Robinson Crusoe develops a vast array of survivorship skills – he learns how to make tools, creates a home, grows crops, and raises goats.
During this time he also encounters cannibals, rescues a prisoner whom he names Friday, who becomes his servant and companion.
Eventually an English ship arrives and they are brought back to Europe, where they have a few more adventures before settling down in Lisbon.
What a sweet little companion our little Willie is – so full of intelligence, affection and life. Books continue to be his great amusement, very many of them (for he now has a large basket full) he knows them from beginning to end, and amuses us greatly by reading them aloud. Lately he has taken a great fancy to Robinson Crusoe. Colin Campbell has a fine copy full of illustrations and every day after tea is generally the time Willie wants me to go through the book with him, giving him a full account of every picture. The little fellow just two and one-half years, will sit by my side listening with the most fierce attention for an hour or more, and he remembers well what I tell him. Very often now, I call upon him to give the explanations and he is ever ready and right.
Daniel Defoe 1660-1731
Born Daniel Foe, Daniel Defoe witnessed many unusual occurrences in London – the Great Plague in 1665, the Great Fire in 1666, and the Great Storm of 1703. His family were Presbyterian dissenters at a time when those who practiced religion outside the Church of England were often persecuted. Often in debt or in trouble with whatever leaders were in power, Daniel spent time in prisons and was even a spy, but he made some major contributions in the field of journalism. He was a pioneer of business and economic journalism and is often considered to be the first English novelist. His major work, Robin Crusoe, is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He authored over 300 works – books, pamphlets and journals.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
from the Discovery of the American Continent
by George Bancroft
While I sewed, Williams finished reading an article in Littell on Bancroft’s “History of the United States”. It was very interesting and I only wish Mr. Bancroft would finish his history. He has been a long time about it. The historians of the present age all seem to follow this dilatory fashion and it is rather aggravating as there are several very interesting ones on the carpet.
George Bancroft 1800-1891
George Bancroft was a United States historian and statesman. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and entered Harvard at age 13. He then studied in Germany and traveled in Europe, meeting the most distinguished teachers of the time. Back in New England, he promoted the elevation of secondary education, helping to establish the Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts.
He served as Secretary of the Navy, and during his tenure he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.
LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME
by Thomas Babington Macaulay
The Lays were standard reading in British public schools for more than a century.
William Churchill won a prize at school by memorizing all 1200 lines of Macaulay’s text.
A collection of narrative poems (lays).
Four recount heroic episodes from Roman history:
Horatius
The Battle of Lake Regillus
Virginia
The Prophecy of Capys
Two were from more recent events:
Ivry
The Armada
This poem tells of the Roman officer Publius Horatius who successfully defended the Sublician Bridge over the Tiber River from the Etruscan Army as the Roman Army dismantled it, thus preventing the enemy’s advance and saving Rome.
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.”
Haul down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?
No sound of joy or sorrow
Was heard from either bank;
But friends and foes in dumb surprise,
With parted lips and straining eyes,
Stood gazing where he sank:
And when above the surges
They saw his crest appear,
All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany
Could scarce forbear to cheer
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
This poem celebrates the Roman victory over the Latin League, where legend says that Castor and Pollux fought for the Romans.
All round them paused the battle,
While met in mortal fray
The Roman and the Tusculan,
The horses black and gray.
Herminius smote Mamilius
Through breast-plate and through breast,
And fast flowed out the purple blood
Over the purple vest.
Mamilius smote Herminius
Through head-piece and through head,
And side by side those chiefs of pride,
Together fell down dead.
Down fell they dead together
In a great lake of gore;
And still stood all who saw them fall
While men might count a score.
This tells the tragic story of Virginia, the daughter of a poor Roman farmer, Virginius. The evil patrician Appius Claudius, desiring the young and beautiful girl, devises a plot whereby he claims her to be his ‘runaway slave’ and engages the help of the corrupt officials to endorse his claim. Virginius resolves to save his daughter by any means, even death.
“Foul outrage which thou knowest not, which thou shalt never know.
Then clasp me round the neck once more, and give me one more kiss;
And now mine own dear little girl, there is no way but this.”
With that he lifted high the steel, and smote her in the side,
And in her blood she sank to earth, and with one sob she died.
Capys , the grandfather of Romulus and Remus, fortells the future greatness of Romulus, victory over Greece and the founding of the city of Rome.
Thine, Roman, is the pilum:
Roman, the sword is thine,
The even trench, the bristling mound,
The legion’s ordered line;
And thine the wheels of triumph,
Which with their laurelled train
Move slowly up the shouting streets
To Jove’s eternal flame.
This poem celebrates a battle won by Henry IV of France and his Hugenot forces over the Catholic League in 1590.
Now glory to the Lord of hosts, from whom all glories are!
And glory to our sovereign liege, King Henry of Navarre!
Now let there be the merry sound, of music and of dance,
Through thy corn-fields green, and sunny vines, O pleasant land of France!
JOURNAL OF THE PILGRIMS
AT PLYMOUTH, IN NEW ENGLAND, IN 1620
by George B. Cheever, D.D.
Section 1: An eye-witness account of the Pilgrim’s first year –
from their safe landing
to the first Thanksgiving.
Section 2: Supplementary material by George Cheever –
“Historical and Local Illustrations of
Principles, Providences and Persons”.
Also known as Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth, this was a first-hand account of the Pilgrims first year – from their landing in Cape Cod, then Plymouth in November 1620 to the first Thanksgiving in November of 1621. It tells of their safe arrival, their positive and negative interactions with the Native Americans, and their establishment of a peaceful settlement.
It was mostly written by Pilgrims Edward Winslow and William Bradford. They sent it back to England by way of Robert Cushman, Chief Agent in London for the settlers.
It was meant to show the investors that their money was well spent and also meant to encourage others to come to Plymouth to help build a colony.
Its publication was arranged by George Morton (also known as G. Mourt), who stayed behind in Holland when the Pilgrims left for America, championing their cause. Sometimes the document is erroneously credited to him, hence Mourt’s Relation. Morton emigrated in 1623 on the ship Anne, but he died the next year.
The booklet was printed by John Bellamy and sold at his shop “Two Greyhounds” in Cornhill near the Royal Exchange in London.
The version read by Sarah was published in 1848 by George B. Cheever, D.D., a well-known Christian abolitionist minister.
The first section is the Journal itself.
The second section is material that George Cheever provided to supplement the Journal, which he called “Historical and Local Illustrations of Principles, Providences and Persons”.
I am reading today “Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth 1620”. Last Sunday I read the first part containing the original journal kept by the Pilgrims themselves – today I am reading the second part written by George B. Cheever, D.D. I think I shall find it interesting; it looks very much so. With the first part the journal, I was delighted and sadly disappointed when it came to an end, which it did at the commencement of a very interesting period. I wonder why they did not carry it on.
ARABIAN NIGHTS
ARABIAN NIGHTS or
ONE THOUSAND and ONE NIGHTS
is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian
stories and folk tales
from the 8th to the 14th century
One day, King Shahryār discovers that his wife has been unfaithful. Consequently, he has her executed. But in his bitterness and grief, he decides that all women are the same. Shahryār begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning before she has a chance to dishonor him. Eventually, the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Scheherazade, the vizier’s daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the King a tale but does not end it. The King, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins (and only begins) a new one, and the King, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once again. So it goes on for 1,001 nights.
The most famous stories are:
Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
these first two were not added to the collection until the 18th century by French scholar Antoine Galland
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
The Three Apples
The Tale of the Hunchback
The Vizier and the Sage Duban
The Fisherman and the Genie
The Three Princes and the Princes Nouronnihar
The Lovers of Bassorah
Williams has been reading the “Arabian Nights” for the last two or three days. He read two or three stories aloud to me and seems to find a re-perusal quite interesting. However, his cooler judgement is not a little shocked at the idea of placing them in children’s hands. I quite agree with him. In almost every story there is that which would make me shrink from reading or placing in either a son or daughter’s hands. I think I shall try the experiment of reading them myself to Willie when he is old enough and thus get the exceptional parts. I think I can manage to make it a treat for him to hear. As for myself, I have not read all these stories. When a child, my father, though he had the volumes, ever kept them locked up in his large lawyer’s writing desk. Never would allow me to read them. One volume I managed to borrow from a young school friend, the others I suppose she had not. That was the only one I read when a child. After my father’s death I happened one day when this desk was opened there lay the four little red volumes. I was eighteen then and supposing that no one would object, carried the volumes to my room. But I could not take pleasure or even interest in reading them. I suppose it was because they had been prohibited by a parent, dearly loved and now dead. I tried one or two and then gladly took them back to their long resting place in the desk, nor do I know whatever became of those what to me were once most mysterious volumes. Nor did I again ever touch the “Arabian Nights” till a few months before Willie was born. Being then at Portsmouth and having Frank and Horatia with me, I frequently read them a story. These volumes were Frank’s – new, bright red and full of illustrations. The charm was broken. They had not the forbidden effect of those very little dark red leather books. Even then I read on with little interest.
A KEY TO UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Original Facts and Documents Upon Which the Story is Founded
Together with Corroborative Statements Verifying the Truth of the Work
When Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in was written in a manner that was somewhat sympathetic to both the white southerners as well as the black slaves. Pro-slavery critics claimed that it was either totally false or wildly exaggerated. In response, Harriet wrote The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1853 as a non-fiction retort, where she wrote of each character’s real-life equivalent. The tone was harsher, providing a more aggressive attack on slavery.
Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811-1896
Harriet was born in Connecticut to a famous religious family – The Beechers. She received a classical education at Hartford Female Seminary. When she moved to Ohio to be near her father, she met many African Americans who had been victims of slavery and were now having difficulties in the North. After moving to Maine with her husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe, they participated in the Underground Railroad and were critics of slavery. From 1851-1852 Harriet wrote a serialization of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the National Era newspaper. Her purpose was to enlighten Northerners on the horrors of slavery in the South and to make Southerners more empathetic.
When published as a novel it sold 300,000 copies.
In 1853 Harriet Beecher Stowe was invited to Great Britain by anti-slavery groups. She traveled the country for 5 months where she was often rushed by excited crowds. She attended numerous anti-slavery rallies and was presented with the Stafford House Address, a 26-volume leather bound petition signed by more than 563,000 British women asking their American sisters to work to abolish slavery.
At the start of the Civil War in November of 1862, Harriet traveled to Washington DC where she met the President.
Supposedly, Lincoln greeted her by saying,
“So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.”
THE NIGHT-SIDE OF NATURE
by Catherine Crowe
Spirits of the dead who cannot break their link with the Earth, the unfathomable mysteries of dreams that predict the future, apparitions, doppelgangers, haunted houses and poltergeists –
Catherine Crowe’s book examines these and other cases of supernatural happenings.
Written in 1848, this may be the first book that attempts to explore paranormal activity in a scientific manner. It contains over 400 pages of ghostly experiences interspersed with arguments for and against investigators findings. Spirits of the dead who cannot break their link with the Earth, the unfathomable mysteries of dreams that predict the future, apparitions, doppelgangers, haunted houses and poltergeists – Catherine Crowe’s book examines these and other cases of supernatural happenings. It is especially remarkable that it was written by a woman. Her vignettes also show what day to day life was like in the 18th century.
Catherine Ann Stevens Crowe (1803 –1876) was an English novelist, collector and writer of spirit stories, and playwright, who also wrote for children.
Poltergeist
Last night I commenced to myself a book called “The Nightside of Nature” by Catherine Crowe. It treats of dreams, illusions, ghosts and all sorts of night things. I have no doubt it will make me quake, and fear to look about in the dark. I told Mr. Morgan, by whom also “Thorpe” was lent us, that I feared to read it and that I should leave it alone. But lo and behold it is the very first book I take up. It looks terribly interesting. I could not help my eye glancing over a page here and there.
Have been reading Gibbon and the “Nightside of Nature”. I have read about 150 pages in the last and have quite a notion to give the book up. So far there is nothing new to me but a string of horrible stories. I studied while at school and read much better books on the subject. They were terribly interesting to me but their unpleasant effect never passed away from my mind and if I go on reading this book to the end I shall surely be seeing sights or – just as bad – fancy seeing them.
Talked with Williams about Mrs. Crowe’s book – which notwithstanding my notion of giving up yesterday, I have been reading nearly all day. The book is interesting, but I do not like it. The lady seems very credulous, believing in ghostly apparitions, wraiths and everything else in any sort of fashion connected with them; gives perfect credence to what seems to me, the most silly ridiculous story. Her ideas of the spirit or soul after death is not at all pleasing to me though she seems to think much to the contrary. It made me think of Dante’s purgatory and heaven with all their circles; and the so restless spirits who wander about between the two – not good enough for the one, nor bad enough for the other their restless unhappy spirit drawn more earthly than elsewhere – tormenting friends and acquaintances. She delights in German Literature and believes in nearly all their superstitions and marvelosities.
As I could not walk this evening, I finished the “Night Side of Nature”. It is indeed a relation of wonderful things, also of horrors. Mrs. Crowe seems to put confidence in all she relates, though it may be entirely beyond her comprehension. Some, indeed a great many things she relates, strike me as most ridiculous and impossible of belief – so contrary to all scriptural ideas. Others I can fathom rather better than she at the time she wrote. Could the late discourses of table moving and spiritual rappings throw considerable light on the subject? As for spiritual rappings, I think the discovery of table movings has, or is, about to enlighten the world concerning that.
THE DISCARDED DAUGHTER
OR CHILDREN OF THE ISLE
A TALE OF THE CHESAPEAKE
by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte (E.D.E.N.) Southworth
Chapters from The Discarded Daughter...
Chapters:
Introductory. St. Clara’s Isle.
I. Mount Calm.
II. The New Suitor.
III. The Husband’s and the Father’s Tyranny.
IV. The Madness and Flight of Alice.
V. The Wild Appeal.
VI. The Husband’s Authority.
VII. Country Neighbours.
VII. Hutton of the Isles.
IX. The Bride of the Isles.
X. Hutton Lodge.
XI. The Nocturnal Visitors.
XII. The Maiden Wife.
XIII. The Patience of Alice.
XIV. Alice’s Visit to Hutton Isle.
XV. Night and Storm on the Isle—Child of the Wreck.
XVI. The Desolate House.
XVII. Vanishing of Agnes.
XVIII. The Elfin Girl.
XIX. Elsie.
XX. The Ball—The Unexpected Guest.
XXI. The New-found Heir.
XXII. Devotion of Love.
XXIII. Elsie in the Attic.
XXIV. Cruelty—A Chamber Scene.
XXV. Marriage.
XXVI. “The Heart Over-tasked.”
XXVII. The Wife’s Trust.
XXVIII. Life’s Storm and Soul’s Shelter.
XXIX. Day After the Wedding.
XXX. Deep Dell—Country Tavern.
XXXI. The Vault.
XXXII. The Children of the Isle.
XXXIII. The Maninosie Gatherers.
XXXIV. The Footstep.
XXXV. The Night Visit.
XXXVI. Nettie in the Mansion.
XXXVII. The Interview.
XXXVIII. Elsie in the Log Cabin.
XXXIX. What Came Next.
XL. The Flight of Time.
XLI. Light on the Island.
XLII. The Beehive.
XLIII. Hugh and Garnet.
XLIV. The Struggle of Love and Ambition.
XLV. Elsie’s Fortunes.
XLVI. The Secret Revealed.
The old village parson is replaced, and before long love blooms between Alice Chester and the young Reverend Milton Sinclair.
But Colonel Chester blocks their marriage, and grants the hand of his daughter to General Garnet.
Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte (E.D.E.N.) Southworth (1819–1899)
Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth was an American writer of more than 60 novels. She was the most popular American novelist of the late 1800’s.
When her husband deserted her and their 2 children to go in search of Brazilian gold in 1844, she wrote novels to support herself. She started by writing in The National Era newspaper which published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She was friends with Harriet Beecher Stowe and although not as active, was a proponent of women’s rights.
In her novels, “her heroines often challenge modern perceptions of Victorian feminine domesticity by showing virtue as naturally allied to wit, adventure, and rebellion to remedy any unfortunate situation.”
The Hidden Hand (1859) was her most popular novel.
Her royalties earned her about $10,000 a year, making her one of the most well-paid writers of her day.
Commenced reading the “Discarded Daughter, or Children of the Isle”. It is interesting as all this author’s works, but like them, all overwrought and unnatural.
THE DAYS OF BRUCE
A Story of Scottish History
by Grace Aguilar
A romantic novel of Scottish history in the days of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland 1306-1329.
A famous warrior, he freed Scotland from English rule during the First War of Scottish Independence.
The Scottish people consider him to be a national hero.
Day before yesterday commenced a book of two volumes by Grace Aguilar “The Days of Bruce”; found it extremely interesting and very well written, much more so than any other work I have read of hers. It is of a higher order. Finished it this afternoon.
Grace Aguilar
Grace Aguilar was an English novelist and writer. At an early age she showed great interest in history, especially Jewish history. When her father died, Grace wrote to earn a living. After a few dramas and poems in 1842 she published Spirit of Judaism, in defense of her faith and its professors, and in 1845 The Jewish Faith and The Women of Israel. She is best known for her novels, Home Influence (1847) and A Mother’s Recompense (1850).
THORPE:
A Quiet English Town and Life Therein
by William Mountford
William Mountford was an English Unitarian minister,
who later moved to Boston.
He wrote this book – mostly written in conversational form –
based on life in Hinckley, Leicestshire,
where he had once had a ministry.
Evening before last Williams commenced reading again our book “Thorpe” by William Mountford. He is an English Unitarian Minister who has been in the United States the last three or four years. I believe he is now settled somewhere in the neighborhood of Boston. I have read several of his works and like them very much. They are beautifully written. Judging from his works I should think him a pious, excellent man with large and liberal views.
This morning finished “Thorpe” by William Mountford. Williams commenced to read it aloud soon after we left San Francisco but after reading a few pages one evening gave it up as paining his ear. Day before yesterday I commenced myself. I’m glad I read it alone for it is a book I want to read pages and sentences over and over again and indeed while chapters so full is it of fine and beautiful thoughts. Much of it conveyed, indeed nearly all, in the form of conversation.
I know not when I have read a book of this kind I liked so much. Its author is Unitarian (a minister) and I like him and agree with him in his views regarding the character, mission and nature of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not only as they appear in this work but others of his also that I have read. One of his principals, if not the principal character, in this “Thorpe” is that of a Presbyterian minister who expresses evidently the author’s own views, thoughts and feelings on the subjects introduced. This good minister is certainly one to be loved – there is a pleasant quaintness about him and indeed about all the book – great learning combined with simplicity, good sense and a penetrating knowledge of mankind, for he makes them his constant study, as well as books. His conversation is full of thoughts, elevating and instructing – indeed, as I said before this is the character of the whole book of all the characters and conversation in a greater or less degree.
William Mountford (1816-1885)
Born in Kidderminster, England, William Mountford was a minister and preacher who wrote several works. He moved to the United States in 1850, where he married and retired.
.
LYELL’S TRAVELS IN NORTH AMERICA
by Sir Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, a renowned geologist from Great Britain, and his wife Mary traveled extensively in North America, making 4 visits from 1841 to 1853. Traveling by horseback, stagecoach, train, and steamboat, and staying in hostels to shacks, they collected samples that they later categorized and labeled. He made many observations on the formation of the American landscape.
He then used this data to write two volumes of “Lyell’s Travels in North America” in a travel diary format, incorporating his geological findings while also commenting on social issues of the day.
His books not only supported his theories, they also gave Americans more of an understanding of their geology and gave Britain a positive impression of the New World.
Before breakfast read nearly an hour in Lyell’s “Travels in America”. I note this book contains an account of his second visit. Commenced the book yesterday, have read some hundred pages and find it very interesting reading – being a celebrated geologist as well as a botanist, his books seem filled with remarks on these subjects. This morning I accompanied him to the White Mountains, visited a number of its localities and ascended Mount Washington. This I could well do having spent a fortnight there with Williams soon after we were married. Mr. Lyell says nothing of visiting Franconia – I am surprised, there being so much of the grand and beautiful there to attract the traveler. How much I long to visit those scenes again and so does Williams. We often speak of them. At will I can call them all up to my mind’s eye with vivid distinctness.
Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
Born in Kinnordy, Scotland, Charles Lyell was educated as a lawyer but soon pursued his passion for rocks and fossils, becoming one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century.
His Principles of Geology laid the foundations of evolutionary biology, and greatly influenced Darwin. His work led to the general acceptance of the principle of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth has been formed through slow-acting geological forces over billions of years.
His health declined after the death of his wife in 1873, and he died two years later.
He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
JAPAN:
An Account, Geographical and Historical,
from the earliest period at which the islands composing this empire were known to Europeans, down to the present time,
and the expedition fitted out in the United States, etc.
by Charles MacFarlane
Due to their isolationist policies, Japan was largely unknown to Europeans and Americans.
Interest in Japan peaked in 1852 when Commodore Matthew Perry was given the task to negotiate a treaty to open trade and improve relations in that area.
Although Charles MacFarlane did not visit Japan himself, he compiled information on what was known about Japan and the Japanese people: its geography, history, culture and national character.
Sources include works by
Engelbert Kampfer (1651-1716), Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Golovnin (1776-1831) and Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828).
Have found it an extremely interesting book, have become much interested in the character of the Japanese as a Nation, there being none of the exclusiveness about them that characterize the government with their two Emperors at the head, though, in both instances, only nominal heads. From all accounts they must be a very intelligent, enterprising (as far as their government will allow) people. Polite, affable and full of honor. Their women are respected and cherished, well-educated, and most graceful and fascinating in society and home. Every Japanese high or low is more or less educated – all can certainly read and write. In no country are there so many schools. But at a certain age the children of the higher classes are removed and their education carried on to a much higher state of perfection. Women are frequently found among their best authors in history, poetry, etc.
I should like much to see some of the ladies of Japan. If all accounts of them are correct, MacFarlane in his work speaks in the highest terms of them. They are intelligent and highly educated; their manners most refined and exceedingly graceful. Those who have seen and become acquainted with them say they would grace the most polished court in Europe.
Charles MacFarlane (1799-1858)
Charles MacFarlane was a Scottish writer who lived in Italy and Turkey and then settled in London, England. He is known for his historical novels and biographies, as well as comprehensive histories of such places as England, Italy, Sicily, China, Japan and India. Some of these were from his own first-hand knowledge, and others, like Japan, were compilations of the works of others.
HORSE-SHOE ROBINSON
A Tale of the Tory Ascendency:
by John Pendleton Kennedy
Historical romance set during the American Revolution in the western mountain areas of Virginia and the Carolinas in the times leading up to the British defeat at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Although a work of fiction, many of the characters, such as the Britsh General Charles Cornwallis, and the battles described were real. The story also shows the conflict within families and between friends, whose loyalties differed.
The plot revolves around the lives of lovers Mildred Lyndsay and Arthur Butler and Mary Musgrove and John Ramsay. Mildred and Arthur are secretly married against her father’s wishes. Sergeant Galbraith “Horse-Shoe” Robinson, (so named because he had been a blacksmith) serves as a guide and protector to Arthur Butler, but he unwittingly delivers him to the Tories. Horse-Shoe escapes and through his wit and courage returns during the Battle of Kings Mountain with a charge of men who free Butler. He is reunited with Mildred. Her father arrives and is mortally wounded, but lives long enough to forgive the couple. Mary’s lover John dies in the novel, but she returns with Mildred and Arthur to live on the family farm.
“Horse Shoe” is a well drawn character, no doubt there were many such characters. The account of the desultory warfare carried on at the south by Sumpter, Marion, Clarke and Williams is very fine and exciting. Some of his incidents are almost too wonderful to be true and then sometimes his tale is a little unnatural but altogether I like it very much. The story of Mary, the Miller’s daughter, and John Ramsay is too sad. It was a shame to kill poor John. Besides this one, we have two other works by the same author. I look forward to reading them with such pleasure.
John Pendleton Kennedy (1795 –1870)
John Pendleton Kennedy was an American novelist, lawyer and politician who served as United States Secretary of the Navy from July 26, 1852 to March 4, 1853, during the administration of President Millard Fillmore. He wrote several novels, but concentrated more on his political career.
NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS:
The Gripping Journals of the Man Who Discovered the Buried Assyrian Cities
by Austen Henry Layard
Exciting personal account of the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard as he describes his adventures as he travels by caravan to remote unfamiiar places in Asia Minor, his discovery of the ancient city of Nineveh, the excavations, and the transfer of vast treasures including bas-reliefs, winged lions, tombs and large stone carvings to the British Museum in London.
Nineveh was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and one of the greatest and largest cities of its time. It was founded as early as 6000 BC and is mentioned in the Bible.
Commerce and religion thrived around 3000 BC, the city was decorated with ornate stone carvings, there were walls and an aqueduct.
In 612 BC Nineveh was sacked, its inhabitants deported or murdered and the city was buried until its discovery by British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in 1847. Hundreds of tons of sculpture were excavated and sent to the British Musuem and several large objects eventually landed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where they can be seen today.
Nineveh is located in modern day Iraq, near Mosul.
Those books were given to Williams by Mr. Nye, also several others, among them Layard’s “Nineveh and Its Remains”, a book I have long wanted to read. This present of Mr. Nye’s is certainly a most acceptable one, nothing could be more so for a sea voyage. We have altogether an abundance of books, more than we can read this voyage.
Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894)
Austen Henry Layard was the foremost archeologist of his day. He was also a politician and diplomat.
Layard was English, but was born in France and spent a lot of his youth in Italy. A lover of travel and the fine arts, he embarked on a journey across Asia. After doing some unofficial diplomatic work for the British Ambassador he made his way to some ruins at Nimrud and Kuyunjik in 1847, where he discovered the city of Nineveh and worked on the excavation of hundreds of tons of objects. His second expedition in 1849 led him to Babylon where he discovered the Library of Ashurbanipal, 30,000 clay tablets containing text from the 7th century BC, which is now in the British Museum.
Layard wrote books of his adventures and discoveries which were very well-written travel books that were extremely popular in his day. He later had a political and diplomatic career.
The objects he discovered make up the major portion of the Assyrian collection at the British Museum in London.
THE CONFESSIONS OF FITZ-BOODLE
AND SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF MAJOR GAHAGAN
by William Makepeace Thackeray
“The Confessions of Fitz-Boodle” are reprinted from Fraser’s Magazine 1842 and
“Some Passages in the Life of Major Gahagan” from the London edition of 1841.
Also finished last evening one of Thackeray’s Works “Confessions of Fitz-Boodle and Some Passages in the Life of Major Gahagan”; it is an amusing burlesque, occasionally put me in mind of Gillivers.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)
William Makepeace Thackeray was a British novelist. Born in Calcutta India, he had a difficult childhood since his father died when he was young, and he went to live in England without his mother, attending several boarding schools. He lead some years of semi-idleness, then married and developed a career writing. He wrote for Fraser’s Magazine, Punch and others. He also wrote a successful novel, Vanity Fair, which was compared to Charles Dickens, his contemporary. Unfortunately, his wife had severe depression which required her to be institutionalized. He died of a stroke at age 52, and is buried in Westminster Cathedral.
LITTLE PEDLINGTON and the PEDLINGTONIANS
A Satire
by John Poole
Paul Pry, an English gentleman, is looking for a place to go to escape London’s summer heat.
Influenced by a quirky guide book, he visits “Little Pedlington”, described as a “very Paradise”.
“Hail, Pedlingtonia, Hail, thou favoured spot! What’s good is found in thee; what’s not, is not.”
Written in typical British satirical humor, the book describes the trials and tribulations of arriving there and the cast of characters he meets along the way and once he arrives.
Last evening finished “Little Pedlington” by John Poole. Marie Cobb lent it to me, telling me at the time to read it when I wanted a good laugh. I have found it very amusing, however, thought there was rather much of it – two volumes. It is an extravaganza on the people and society of a small out of the way English town, but there is far, far more truth in it than one might first think as they read laughingly on. I have seen very much of the same thing myself, most particularly the subject matter causing the grand final excitement that closes the second volume, setting the whole town “by the ears”. One hears too much of this in China, especially in Macao. How ready we are to detect and talk of each other’s faults – why cannot we be blind to these, or at least leave them alone and delight ourselves and friends in all the good traits of our friends – but alas! It does not seem to be in human nature to do so. I always feel vexed enough with myself if I allow myself to say aught to the disadvantage of another. It is a miserable plan ever to talk of friends or acquaintances unless it may be something within favor – each will soon enough find out for themselves all the faults of those we are thrown with.
Sarah mentions that it is long… I have found it very amusing, however, thought there was rather much of it – two volumes.
Why is it so long?
John Poole was famous for a satirical play called Paul Pry, about an interfering busybody.
This book was originally published in 1836 as 200-page Paul Pry’s Journal of a Residence at Little Pedlington, describing his first visit to Pedlington.
It was reissued in 1839 as Little Pedlington and the Pedlingtonians, with over 500 pages, describing a second visit, a detailed theatrical show and journal entries of a recently deceased resident.
John Poole (1786–1872)
John Poole was an English playwright. He was best known for his comic drama or farce, Paul Pry, about a “comic, idle, meddlesome and mischievous fellow consumed with curiosity; an interfering busybody”. “Paul Pry” actually came to mean “an excessively inquisitive person”.
The play was performed in London, New York and Sydney Australia in the mid-1800s.
In his later years, Poole himself fell on hard times and was supported financially by Charles Dickens, who considered him an inspiration.
NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THE UPPER PROVINCES OF INDIA FROM CALCUTTA TO BOMBAY (1824-25)
by Reginald Heber
Reginald Heber served as Bishop of Calcutta from 1823 to 1826. He worked tirelessly to improve the spiritual and living conditions of the Indian people, embarking on first a trip to northern, then southern India. His wife published his journals after his untimely death, due to an arduous work schedule and poor health. Heber has been commemorated in both India and England.
I find “Heber’s Journal” very interesting but thus far not anything like as interesting as Colonel Sleeman’s work. How sorry I am that I had not the time to finish that work. Hope I shall meet with it again.
Bishop Heber’s Journal becomes more and more interesting.
The account of his visit to Benares is extremely interesting. It made me long to go there, that most holy city of the Hindus.
Yesterday, read a good deal in Heber’s Journal. I find it more and more interesting. It makes me long to visit the scenes that he describes; to see those magnificent palaces and tombs, many of which are so perfectly preserved though built centuries ago. Most of all do I long to go to Agra, then I would like to see the tomb of Akbar at Leoundra, his palace, etc. at Futtehpoor, also the palaces, temples, tombs, etc. at Umur and Tyepoor.
Yesterday morning finished Heber’s “Journal”. I had become extremely interested in it and it’s sad and sudden and made me feel very sad.
Reginald Heber (1783-1826)
Reginald Heber was an English bishop for the Anglican Church and hymn-writer.
He served in England as a country parson for 16 years where he wrote 57 hymns, including the famous Trinity Sunday hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”.
When offered the position of Bishop of Calcutta in India he first refused due to concerns about health issues, but desiring to do mission work abroad, he finally agreed.
Arriving in 1823, he was interested in all aspects of Indian life and quickly made friends, both with the local population and with the representatives of non-Anglican churches.
Although there was much work to do in Calcutta, in 1824 Heber set out on a tour of northern India in a desire to pass on to the Governor General, Lord Amherst, much of what he had learned and observed on his long voyage.
Sarah describes Heber’s visits to:
Cawnpore (which was to be the site of a terrible massacre of British women & children in 1857);
Benares where suttees practice self-immolation or killing themselves;
Chunar where there is a stone where god sits 9 hours a day to protect the area
Upon his return to Calcutta he compiled a series of detailed reports. He also wrote letters to London, strongly criticising the East India Company’s stewardship of its Indian territories. He was concerned that few Indians were promoted to senior posts, and noted the “bullying, insolent manner” towards Indians that was widespread amongst the Company authorities.
Despite his heavy workload he began a tour of southern India in 1826. After visiting Madras, Pondicherry, Tanjore, he went to Travancore. Heber returned to his bungalow for a cold bath. Immediately after plunging into the water he died, possibly from the shock of the cold water in the intense heat or a massive brain hemorrhage.
Although Heber’s time in India had been brief he had made a considerable impression, and news of his death brought many tributes from around India. Memorials were erected there and in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
His wife Amelia Heber, widowed with two young daughters, returned to England. Over the next three years she worked to preserve her husband’s work and memory by editing and publishing his works.
Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, 1827.
Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from Calcutta to Bombay (1824-25) by Reginald Heber
Also his southern journals as well.
Sarah expresses concern for Heber’s widow and children…
Yesterday morning finished Heber’s “Journal”. I had become extremely interested in it and it’s sad and sudden and made me feel very sad. I seemed to go back thirty years and sympathize with the sad and desolate widow, desolate indeed she must have been, thus to lose, and under such trying circumstances too, a husband she must deeply have loved. I should like much to know what her future history was and what it may now be, for she may be living. Also of those two little girls. How little we know what the future of a day may bring forth.
I asked Mr. Taylor this morning if he knew anything concerning Bishop Heber’s family. He said, “Oh Yes” that Mrs. Heber not a great while after her husband’s death married a Greek Prince and lived with him in Greece; that their daughters had married and one he thought returned to India to live.
Amelia Heber was very successful in her efforts to establish her husband’s literary fame. It was a shock to her family and readers when they learned that she had remarried. In 1830 she married Count Demetrius Valsamachi, a Greek nobleman from Cephalonia, and they went to live in Corfu, Greece.
Demetrius worked for the Ionian government under the British protectorate; he became a British subject and was later knighted by Queen Victoria.
Her daughter Emily married Algernon Percy, the son of the Bishop of Carlisle,
Her younger daughter Harriet married a son of Heber’s friend John Thornton.
In 1831, Amelia Valsamachi gave birth to another daughter, Penelope Rubina Maria Valsamachi.
In 1849, Penelope married Morton Sumner whom she met on holiday with her parents in Marseilles. The marriage proved unfortunate, and Amelia Valsamachi did her best to help extricate Penelope from it, the result being a highly publicized divorce proceeding in 1855 in the House of Lords. She then married Nicholas Kallegari, a physician.
Despite this scandal and lasting recriminations for her own remarriage, Amelia Valsamachi continued to visit her daughters and family in England, and attracted the notice of visitors to Corfu.
Her husband, Count Demetrius Valsamachi died at Corfu in 1870, after a short illness.
Amelia Heber Valsamachi died a few months later at Hodnet Hall, Shropshire, aged 82.
Rose Water / Rose Oil
The Bishop speaking of Chazopoor just below Benares says that it is celebrated for the beauty and extent of its rose garden. Many hundred acres are thus cultivated. The rose water there is good and cheap, a large quart can be had for a few shillings. The attar is obtained after the rose water is made by setting it out during the night and till sunrise in the morning in large open vessels exposed to the air and then skimming off the essential oil which floats at the top. The rose water thus skimmed bears a lower price but there is said to be very little perceptible difference in it! To produce one rupee’s weight of attar, 200,000 well grown roses are required. The price even on the spot is extravagant. A rupee’s weight being sold in the bazaar for 80 L.R. and it is often adulterated with sandalwood. At the English warehouse where it is warranted genuine at 100 L.R. at 10 lbs. I can hardly understand how they are paid for the expense even at this price.
Bulgaria, Morocco, France and India are the major rose oil producing countries.
“Arkprakash” an old Sanskrit text mentions rose water distillation and a famous Buddhist monk, Nagarjuna, who lived in the 8th-9th century has given details on how rose water is to be distilled. Around the same time the Arab historian, Ibn Khaldun also described the process.
Rose Attar or Otto is Rose Oil, also called Ruh Gulab.
Attar is a Persian word meaning perfume.
It is made from steam distillation of rose flowers plucked very early in the morning.
The first product is rose water and from the water, over a period of days, rose oil in minute quantities is collected.
1 kg of oil is obtained from 4000 kgs of petals.
10 gms of rose attar are equivalent in price to 10 gms of gold
Rose water is used as a coolant and medicinally in eye drops and lotions and as skin moisturizers.
It is also used as food flavouring, especially in Indian sweets and as a welcome spray at all festive occasions, like weddings.
Rose oil is used in perfumes, soaps and other cosmetics like creams and lotions, for flavouring soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, as also in the Indian system of medicine.
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hawthorne explores guilt, retribution and atonement as the Pyncheon family faces life in their gloomy, seven gabled home. (americanliterature.com)
Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The street is Pyncheon Street; the house is the old Pyncheon House; and an elm-tree, of wide circumference, rooted before the door, is familiar to every town-born child by the title of the Pyncheon Elm. On my occasional visits to the town aforesaid, I seldom failed to turn down Pyncheon Street, for the sake of passing through the shadow of these two antiquities,—the great elm-tree and the weather-beaten edifice.
Day before yesterday I commenced Hawthorne’s “House of the Seven Gables” and finished it yesterday. It is a charming story and beautifully written, some parts powerfully so. As usual with Hawthorne it has its share of wild, horrible and ghostlike. I must say, however, that I was rather shocked at that long soliloquy of his ever Judge Pyncheon as he sat a corpse in the old family chair. It is powerfully written, but all of it did not seem to be in good taste. I liked it not. Mr. Taylor thought it the finest passage in the book. I told him it was too horrible. He liked it for that reason. Phoebe, beautiful character, so fresh and healthy, and good poor old Hepszibah. I like thee too, old maid, Pyncheon.
Hawthorne’s novel The House of Seven Gables (1851) was probably influenced by his ancestor, as well as the home of a cousin in Salem, Massachusetts that he visited.
One of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ancestors was Judge John Hathorne, a harsh judge from the Salem witch trials. Nathaniel eventually changed his name to Hawthorne, perhaps for this reason.
The house is thought to have been based on the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion in Salem, which used to have seven gables when it was built in 1668. It was owned by Hawthorne’s cousin Susannah Ingersoll, and he visited there often as a youth.
MEMOIR OF JULIA SOPHIA DAVIS
Who Died at Worcester, March 31, 1833
by Julia Sophia Davis
John S.C. Abbott (Ed)
Moral tale for young readers, recounting (mostly in her own words) the final days on earth of a young Massachusetts girl, whose cheerful fixation on the coming joys of the afterlife provide, in the words of the editor, “an unusually interesting exhibition of youthful piety.”
An exemplar of the morbid-romantic strain in mid-19th-century American letters.
I read this afternoon “Sophia’s Memoir of her Julia”; I found it beautifully written and exceedingly interesting. Oh, what unspeakable agony it must have been for her parents to have parted with so lovely a child, so full of all gentle and loveable qualities, sweet, lovely ones. Their only consolation must be when thinking of thee that thou are unspeakably happy with thy Savior. May my death be peaceful and happy as thine’s. Are departed spirits allowed to watch over the friends they have left below? If so, it is a delightful thought. Julia seemed to feel quite confident that she should become her parents’ guardian angel.
THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a member of the Utopian farming community Brook Farm from April to November 1841. Blithedale Romance uses this setting to dramatize the story of four main characters who leave the city for the idealized life on the farm, but their private desires and romantic rivalries create conflict that ultimately leads to tragedy. The story emphasizes the social and political issues of the 19th century. Another example of Dark Romanticism – which tends to draw attention to the unintended consequences and complications that arise from well-intended efforts at social reform.
The main characters are: Hollingsworth, an idealistic but egotistical reformer; Zenobia, an ardent feminist and exotic beauty; Priscilla, her frail and mysterious sister; Old Moodie, the sisters’ manipulative father; Westervelt, a demonic mesmerist; and Miles Coverdale, whose narrative of the Blithedale experiment reveals the sexist and classist oppression permeating the Utopian group.
Yesterday morning finished “Blithedale Romance” by Hawthorne. I had commenced it the afternoon previous and found it extremely interesting – parts of it powerfully written. It is a strange wild story. Mr. Taylor admires extremely the character of the principal heroine “Zenobia” – thinks Hawthorne has Margaret Fuller in his thoughts while he writes. I entirely disagree with him, as far as looks went she was indeed a splendid woman, but I cannot say that she is a fine character. Perhaps she was splendid but certainly not fine – not like Margaret Fuller. I like her perhaps best in the first scene where she is introduced. The scene between her and Coverdale in the city when he makes his evening call is very fine. She is most sweet with her tongue, is queenly in her bearing and shows her real woman’s character. The last scene at Eliot’s Pulpit is really grand. Zenobia’s opinion of Hollingsworth, her true reading of her character, and then, when it is acquiesced in by Coverdale and he pronounces Hollingsworth a witch; then Zenobia’s defiance of him, her estimate of his intellectual character and of Coverdale’s are so like the woman. Also her message to Hollingsworth when the injured woman’s feelings find vent – all is very fine. But what is the aim or purpose of Hawthorne in all these wild stories that he writes thus beautifully bewitchingly?
The novel takes place on an idealistic communal farm called Blithedale. From April to November of 1841, Nathaniel Hawthorne and his future wife Sophia Peabody joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, called Brook Farm – not so much for its ideals, but to save money. He drew upon these experiences for his novel The Blithedale Romance (1852).
Zenobia is thought to be patterned after the American journalist and women’s rights advocate Margaret Fuller (1810-1850). She was a frequent visitor to Brook Farm during the time that Hawthorne was a resident there. Fuller wrote for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune (as did Bayard Taylor). She was the first American female war correspondent and a full-time book reviewer. She wrote Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. She was an inspiration to Susan B. Anthony as well as Walt Whitman. She may have also inspired the character of Hester Prynne in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. She died with her son and husband on a return trip to the United States when their ship hit a sandbar and sank off Fire Island, New York.
When Hawthorne and his wife lived at the Old Manse in Concord, Mass, poet Ellery Channing came for help on the first anniversary of the Hawthornes’ marriage. A local teenager named Martha Hunt had drowned herself in the river and Hawthorne’s boat Pond Lily was needed to find her body. Hawthorne helped recover the corpse, which he described as “a spectacle of such perfect horror … She was the very image of death-agony”. The incident later inspired a scene in his novel The Blithedale Romance.
THE SNOW IMAGE and OTHER TWICE TOLD TALES
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This was a collection of short stories.
The Snow Image: A Childish Miracle was originally intended for adults and later adapted for children.
A sister and brother, named Violet and Peony, create a snow girl that magically comes to life, but melts when their unimaginative father insists that she is real and brings her inside.
Another example of Dark Romanticism – which tends to draw attention to the unintended consequences and complications that arise from well-intended efforts at social reform.
It behooves men, and especially men of benevolence, to consider well what they are about, and, before acting on their philanthropic purposes, to be quite sure that they comprehend the nature and all the relations of the business in hand. What has been established as an element of good to one being may prove absolute mischief to another.
Have been reading Hawthorne’s “The Snow-Image and Other Twice Told Tales”. The “Snow-Image” is a very pretty little tale. It like it the best; indeed do not think much of either of the others. I have made a pretty story of the “Snow-Image” for Willie; he is delighted with it. I have told it to him already some dozen times. How strange Hawthorne with all his power does not attempt something greater than these stories and tales that he so much loves to write. I should not think that he would feel that he was fulfilling the object of his life; that is, his literary life.
ANCIENT AND MODERN INDIA
by William Cooke Taylor
and P J MacKenna
Bayard Taylor lent Sarah a book about the history of India.
This morning commenced another work on India, a book lent me by Mr. Taylor. Its title is “Ancient and Modern India” by Taylor and MacKenna. It is mostly taken up with the various wars of India I believe.
Yesterday and today read considerable in my history of India. The proceedings of the company in India are really sickening; the poor natives had a hard time of it indeed; for the largest number of the Company’s servants, from the Gov. General down, seemed to think that their chief business was to enrich themselves and they did do it in all sorts of ways. Dishonorable and untruthful conduct was of no account in their dealings with the natives.
Since I last wrote in this, have finished the history of India. The three works on India that I have read have vastly improved my knowledge of that country – it really seems quite familiar.
SWALLOW BARN
or A Sojourn in the Old Dominion
by John Pendleton Kennedy
The book is thought to be more of a story of the manners and customs of Virginian plantation life rather than a traditional novel.
The story focuses on two plantations – Swallow Barn and the Brakes – and a long-running legal battle between the owners.
In the end a courtship between members of the families helps resolve the conflict.
Read last week “Swallow Barn” by Kennedy, an amusing tale or rather sketches of Virginia life, pleasant reading and well written.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
by S. Wells Williams
Samuel Wells Williams, American linguist, missionary, author and professor, who served as official interpreter for the Perry expedition to Japan in 1853 and socialized with the Howlands in Macao, wrote this book about the
“Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, etc. of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants” in the year 1848.
Education
Yesterday I was much interested with the subject of Chinese education. I rather think no other nation would exhibit father, son and grandson all contending at the same time for the same prize, and on the father’s part, after repeated failures year after year, will they still try for the prize. Some are so old that they die from fatigue and excitement. This intense desire for success in literary studies does not arise from the love of learning itself, for there is little of beauty in their literature to repay them, but the hope of civil advancement. Learning being the great and only stepping stone to power.
Family
In another chapter the Chinese family relation is spoken of: the respect and care taken of age, etc.; the love of children, particularly of sons. They would consider it a dreadful calamity not to have a son to revere the memory of their ancestors and worship at their graves. Large families are common with them; nine families of Chung Kung’s inhabit one house. All these were his descendants and at the table of Chin, seven hundred mouths were daily fed.
Land
Speaking of the cultivation of the land and its various products, Mr. Williams says that it is not known that one acre of land in all the Chinese Empire is sown with grass seed.
Customs
In China the stork is considered with the Tortoise and Fir trees – one of the emblems of longevity, and the three are grouped together on visiting cards at New Year’s in a pretty picture implying the wish that there may be many happy returns of the season.
Mr. Williams also speaks of Tibet as connected with the empire. Speaking of their dead, says they are exposed in the same manner as with the Parsees, the bodies of the lama only being burned. It seems to be one of the great objects of this people to prevent their increase as much as possible. The priests and lama are not allowed to marry, and one wife is sufficient for a large family of sons, the elder son has the right of choosing who shall be. In this he consults his fancy as the sexes are not kept apart as in China.
Pheasants
Mr. Williams gives a very interesting account of the Chinese pheasants; they are a magnificent bird. There are the golden and silver pheasants. The prevailing colors of the golden are yellow and red, finely blended with each other in different shades. The silver pheasant is the largest and is more stately in its gait. Its silver back and tail only show the more beautifully in contrast with the steel blue of the breast and belly. It is one of the most splendid birds known. The females of both species present a remarkable contrast by their plainness and humble bearing. The Phasianus Superbus, or bar tailed pheasant, is another magnificent member of the genus, remarkable for the great length of its tail feathers, some have been seen seven feet long; generally they are four feet. Their body is not so large or showy as the silver pheasant, nor so graceful in its movements.
Monkeys
One of the most remarkable of the tribe of monkeys is the Douc or Cochin-China monkey which is also found in Kwangsi, a province of China – one of the eighteen. It is a large species of great rarity and remarkable for the variety of colors with which it is adorned. Its body is about two feet long, and when standing in an upright position, its height is much greater. Its face is of an orange color and flattened in its form. A dark bank runs across the front of the forehead and the sides of the countenance are bordered by long spreading yellowish tufts of hair. The body and upper part of the forearms are brownish grey, the lower portions of the arms to the wrists being white. Its hands and thighs are black and the legs of a bright red color; while the tail and a large triangular spot above it, are pure white.
Literature
This morning finished the first volume of Mr. Williams’ book on China – six hundred closely printed pages. The latter part of this volume has a number of translated extracts from the Chinese literature. I have found them very interesting. There are some from the writings of Confucius, also of his disciple Mencius. Mr. Williams says Mencius flourished about eighty years after the death of his master and although in estimating his character it must not be forgotten that he had the advantages of his example, still in most respects he displayed an originality of thought, inflexibility of purpose and extensive view superior to Confucius and must be regarded as one of the greatest men Asiatic nations have ever produced. Mencius was born 400 B.C. in the city Tsan, now in the province of Shantung.
Next week I hope to commence “The Middle Kingdom”, an extensive work on China by S. Wells Williams, long a resident of that country. It belongs to Mr. Taylor. Mr. Contee read it when we first left China and says that it is very dry, but his opinion does not deter me. I have made three visits to China and know just next to nothing of the country. I am determined to know something even to wading through the “Middle Kingdom”, even if it be “dry as dust” as Carlyle would say.
I find parts of Mr. Williams’ work on China very interesting, none of it as dry as Mr. Contee represented.
Yesterday I was much interested with the subject of Chinese education.
In another chapter the Chinese family relation is spoken of: the respect and care taken of age, etc.; the love of children, particularly of sons.
Mr. Williams gives a very interesting account of the Chinese pheasants; they are a magnificent bird.
One of the most remarkable of the tribe of monkeys is the Douc or Cochin-China monkey which is also found in Kwangsi, a province of China – one of the eighteen.
This morning finished the first volume of Mr. Williams’ book on China – six hundred closely printed pages. The latter part of this volume has a number of translated extracts from the Chinese literature.
Have finished the “Middle Kingdom”. Found it a very interesting book, full of the information on China that I wanted.
THE NILE BOAT
or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt
by W.H. Bartlett
Bartlett summarizes the history of Egypt and then describes his trip through Egypt in 1845 with illustrations, including the Sphynx, the Pyramids, the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings and much more.
Am reading, and have nearly finished, a work on Egypt called “The Nile Boat or, Glimpses of the Land of Egypt” by W. H. Bartlett. Find it very interesting. It is an elegant work illustrated by many elegant engravings. Mr. Parkman handed it to me the other day, thinking it would please me.
William Henry Bartlett (1809-1854)
William Henry Bartlett was a British illustrator, author and world traveler who was highly regarded in his day. Many of his drawings were made into engravings.
His aim was to “render lively impressions of actual sights”.
His obituary from The Caledonian Mercury, Edinburgh, Scotland 02 Oct 1854
Mr. W.H. Bartlett, whose premature death at sea has just been announced, was well known to the public by his historical and illustrated works. His “Forty Days in the Desert”, “Nile Boats”, “Walks About Jerusalem”, and other works of biblical and classical interest, have already passed through several editions, and acquired a steady popularity both in England and America. His last published work, “The Pilgrim Fathers”, is an historical narrative of great interest; and like its predecessors, is beautifully illustrated by drawings taken on the spot. Mr. Bartlett’s last visit to the East was undertaken only a few months ago, with the express design of inspecting some ancient remains, and of furnishing a series of illustrations for a new work on the subject. But on his return from that hallowed ground, he was taken suddenly ill on board the French steamer Egyptus, and in the course of the following day expired in the prime of life, and when almost in sight of land. To the talents of an accomplished artist, an able and agreeable writer and a traveller whose graphic description of society, as well as scenery, in every quarter of the world, are so generally admired, Mr. Bartlett added those higher qualities of mind and heart which, to all who knew him, formed a bond of attachment which only strengthened with years.
CASA GUIDI WINDOWS
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning felt strongly about Italy’s struggle for political autonomy from Austria and quest for unification, known as the Risorgimento. She published the first part of “Casa Guidi Windows” in 1851 about the hopeful early events. This refers to her eye-witness view of history from the windows of her Casa Guidi apartment in Florence, Italy. The Unification was to be a long and painful process, however, and she wrote the second part three years later. Unification did not finally occur until 1861.
JULIET OF NATIONS
I HEARD last night a little child so singing
’Neath Casa Guidi windows, by the church,
O bella libertà, O bella!—stringing
The same words still on notes he went in search
So high for, you concluded the upspringing
Of such a nimble bird to sky from perch
Must leave the whole bush in a tremble green,
And that the heart of Italy must beat,
While such a voice had leave to rise serene
’Twixt church and palace of a Florence street:
A little child, too, who not long had been
By mother’s finger steadied on his feet,
And still O bella libertà he sang.
Read a few days ago, a volume of poems by E. Barrett Browning; liked the poem titled “Casa Guidi Windows” very much. It is very finely written, parts of it read like the very gushings of her heart.
SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“Sonnets from the Portuguese”, a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was first published in 1850. Because they are so personal, Elizabeth was hesitant to publish the poems, but her husband Robert Browning thought they were “the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare’s time”. Since Robert Browning called Elizabeth his little “Portuguese” due to her dark complexion and her admiration for the famous Portuguese poet Camoes, they thought the title “Sonnets from the Portuguese” might make them less personal. No one seemed to be fooled by the title.
Number 33
Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
The name I used to run at, when a child,
From innocent play, and leave the cowslips piled,
To glance up in some face that proved me dear
With the look of its eyes. I miss the clear
Fond voices, which, being drawn and reconciled
Into the music of Heaven’s undefiled,
Number 43
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise;
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith;
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
“Sonnets from the Portuguese” is beautiful, it is her own heart’s history. The title with which she sends it forth to the world is no disguise to those who know her history. I cannot understand how a person, particularly a delicate minded female, can give her best, dearest and most private feelings to the world. I should think she would treasure them up and guard them well from the world’s eye. However, it is pleasant for her readers and I am content if she is.
FINAL MEMORIALS OF CHARLES LAMB
by Thomas Noon Talfourd
Charles Lamb wrote many letters in his lifetime addressed to close friends, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, among others.
They were valued for their “charm, wit and quality” and shedding light on the English literary world in the Romantic era.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) was an English essayist, poet and author, sometimes referred to as “the most lovable figure in English literature” and “the most delightful of English essayists”.
He is best known for his Essays of Elia and the children’s book Tales from Shakespeare, which he wrote with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764-1847).
Charles, and particularly his sister Mary, had issues with mental illness throughout their lives. At a period in time when Mary was under a great deal of stress caring for her parents and another brother, she stabbed and killed their mother. With the help of friends, a jury declared a verdict of “lunacy” rather than “willful murder” on the condition that she be placed under the care of Charles for safekeeping. He placed her in a private mental facility rather than committing her to insane asylum.
She was eventually released. Mary and Charles never married and lived together in London, caring for each other. They became active socially with theatrical and literary figures, and were famous for their weekly “salons”, which included poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Charles had been to school with Samuel Coleridge and considered him one of his closest friends.
In 1801, Charles and Mary collaborated on a children’s book, Tales from Shakespeare, which were artful prose summaries of 20 of Shakespeare’s most famous works. He wrote the the tragedies and she wrote the comedies.
While also working as a clerk for the East India Company, Charles began writing essays for The London Magazine from 1820-1825. They featured a character called Elia and therefore were known as Essays of Elia. Their personal and conversational tone made them very popular.
Charles Lamb died in December 1834 at age 59 of a streptococcal infection contracted from a minor graze on his face after slipping in the street. Although his sister was ten years older, she lived until 1847. She is buried beside him.
Charles Lamb wrote many letters in his lifetime addressed to close friends, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, among others. They were valued for their “charm, wit and quality” and shedding light on the English literary world in the Romantic era.
Soon after Charles’ death, a decision was made to publish the letters as a collection. Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795-1854), an English judge, politician and author, was chosen as the editor.
Letters of Charles Lamb was published in 1837 with 180 letters. Some were omitted in order to protect the feelings of Lamb’s surviving friends and his sister Mary, as there were references to her periodic fits of insanity.
After Mary’s death, Talfourd’s Final Memorials of Charles Lamb was published in 1848 with 82 additional letters.
This is probably the collection of letters that Sarah is reading in 1853.
From Wikipedia regarding the Final Memorials…
At the time of her death, few people outside of hers and her brother’s immediate circle of friends knew about either her mental problems or the circumstances of her mother’s death. Their friend Talfourd soon published a memoir of the Lambs carefully and respectfully giving details of Mary’s mental condition, while praising her as a friend and writer. One intention of Talfourd’s was to boost the reputation of Charles by showing how much he had done for his beloved sister. He said that Mary was “remarkable for the sweetness of her disposition, the clearness of her understanding, and the gentle wisdom of all her acts and words”, and that “To a friend in any difficulty she was the most comfortable of advisers, the wisest of consolers.” Hazlitt called her the one thoroughly reasonable woman he had ever met. She was, in fact, a favorite among Charles’s literary friends. Nevertheless, periodicals of the time, such as the British Quarterly Review, did not write about her with the same kindness and respect.
With Talfourd’s Volume, I was exceedingly interested. How beautiful the friendship between Charles and Mary. So pure and holy. I feel as if I loved them like old and dear friends. A singular and sad lot was theirs on earth and how nobly born. I have ever felt deep interest in their history from the first time I knew aught of Charles Lamb and his delightful writings, but this work has doubly interested me. Their sad lot at times, made me shed bitter tears as I read. I feel now as if I must read again all his writings. Now that I know and love the man, his writings will have double interest. I shall enter into all his feelings and thoughts and understand them as I never could before. I feel that they will be indeed to me like the writings of some loved friend.
Charles and Mary Lamb were active socially with theatrical and literary figures, and were famous for their weekly “salons”, which included poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
In 1869, following both of their deaths, a club called The Lambs was formed in London to carry on the “salon” tradition.
A counterpart was formed in New York in 1874. It still exists today.
According to their website:
The Lambs is a social gathering place for entertainment industry and art professionals. Performers, directors, writers, artists and technicians of the entertainment industry gather to celebrate their commonality, in a place where they come to enjoy each others’ company, and to display and hone their crafts in an atmosphere of creativity and support, and to nurture creative endeavors. The Lambs is also a historical society preserving and promoting our remarkable 146-year history.
JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE OF TWO YEARS AND A HALF IN GREAT BRITAIN
by Jehangir Nowrojee
and Hirjeebhoy Merwanjee
Two Parsee cousins from a master shipbuilding family in Bombay, India traveled to Great Britain 1838 to 1841 to train as naval architects at Chatham Naval Dockyard.
They wrote a journal to document the experience of their travels.
It is a fascinating view into life in England in the early 1840s from the perspective of an outsider.
The account includes their impressions of:
Voyage from Bombay to England, River Thames, Climate, Bridges, Carriages, Railroads, Parks, British Museum, Scientific Institutions, Markets, Hospitals, Houses of Parliament, Fine Arts, Public Buildings, Dockyards, Publications, Customs, Manners, Entertainment: Theaters, Diorama, Zoo, Madame Tussaud Wax Museum