[2357] Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications
Miss Preston's translations. Portraits of celebrated women.
From the French of C. A. Sainte-Beuve. One volume. 16mo. Price $1. 50.A book we can cordially recommend to all, but especially to our lady readers. Among other sketches with equal truth and skill are Madame de Stael, Lafayette, Ruland, and Guizot. We have all heard of Madame de Stael and Madame Ruland; but few know much of Madame Lafayette, and comparatively little is known of Madame Guizot, and others in the list, who so well deserve to be known, Miss . Preston has shown good judgment in her selection from the Portraits de Femmes. Her readers will thank her for an introduction to women whose distinguished abilities and virtues, as well as generous culture, make their acquaintance as profitable as it is pleasant; and also for the good words with which she prefaces her introduction. From the Universalist Quarterly Review.
M. Sainte-Beuve has rare insight into the female character, which is partly intellectual and partly sympathetic. His appreciation of what is truly feminine is very hearty, and his sensibility is stirred whenever he stands face to face with a true and noble womanhood; and yet he never loses his critical self-praise through admiration, nor fails to recognize and esteem the strength and active heroism which he deems the proper masculine qualities. He has his strong likes and dislikes; hut he sees clearly even when his heart is throbbing with strong emotion, and his sense of justice keeps all his impulses under control when he is at work upon his canvas. With an ability that is rarely equalled, with a taste that instinctively seizes what is fit, and rejects all that is inappropriate, and with a style that combines accuracy, vigor, and an affluent richness, he gives us in these Biographical Essays a volume that deserves a wide circulation, and which will be turned to again and again by thoughtful and cultivated readers. The translator has done her work well, and the publishers have withheld nothing which they could contribute to make an attractive book. From the Dover Morning Star.
A large number of the essays of Sainte-Beuve deal with the writings, lives, and characters of the most remarkable women of his country, with many of whom he has himself enjoyed intimate acquaintance, and of all of whom he has been a keen and devoted student, not less generous in his appreciation than capable in his discriminating insight. Some years ago he collected a volume of these papers and published it, under the title of ‘Portraits of Celebrated Women.’ They are among the best of his writings in those fine qualities of knowledge, sentiment, and expression, which have secured for him so wide and solid a reputation. Nine of the choicest of these portraits have been carefully transference into happy English by Miss Harriet W. Preston, and set before the American public in a handsome form by the house of Messrs. Roberts Brothers. We were already indebted to this house for the ‘Memoirs and Correspondence of Madame Reclamier,’ and the ‘Life and Letters of Madame Swetchine,’ two of the most charming, instructive, and exemplary works in modern literature. They have largely added to our obligation by the present work; for no cultivated and aspiring person can read it without delight and edification. Sainte-Beuve has done his work with all the strength and tact and grace of his refined genius. Miss Preston has accomplished her difficult task with uncommon skill, with pervading accuracy and frequent felicity. The publishers have put the book in our hands in a shape at once attractive, convenient, and inexpensive. It only remains for the favored reader to do his part, by perusing the volume with the docile and loving attention due to its costly and fascinating contents. Rev. W. R. Alger, in the Liberal Christian.Sold everywhere. Mailed, postpaid, by the Publishers, Roberts Brothers, Boston
