Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications.
The letters of Madame de Sevigne to her daughter and friends.
Edited by Mrs. Hale.
12zmo. Price ZZZ1$.50.The charm of Madame de Sevigneas letters has so long been acknowledged that criticism is uncalled for in referring to them, nor would it be easy to find a word of admiration or praise that has not already been pronounced in their favor. For spontaneity, tenderness, playfulness, sweetness, they are unequalled. The style is all that is most simple and natural and graceful. Madame de Sevigne has no variety of inspiration, and but little profundity of thought. She is inspired by only one sentiment, her love for her daughter; but this single note is so sweet, and is sung in so many keys, and with such a pleasing accompaniment of spicy gossip and pensive meditation, that its monotony is never unpleasing. The influence which these letters have exerted upon the development of the French language and French literature has again given them a classical reputation, which works of far greater pretension and power have never attained. They will ever be classed with the works of a few great authors, who founded in France the distinctive literary school that at a later period obtained a development so varied and so brilliant. By the simplicity and sincerity of her genius, Madame de Sevigne corrected the false taste and feeble sentimentality of her day, while the purity of her style exerted an immense influence in forming the language in which she wrote. Miss Vaughan, in The Leader.Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, postpaid, by the publishers, Roberts Brothers, Boston.
[1392]
A book of poems.
by John W. Chadwick,
Author of ‘The Man Jesus,’ ‘The Faith of Reason,’ ‘The Bible of To-Day.’It is the very life we live and all of it, the very place we live in, the very sorrows and joys of our present day that the poet finds full of cheer and peace and suggestion.
Liberal Christian.
Their chief worth is in their abounding human tenderness.
Portland Press.
Mr. Chadwick has evidently written because he could not help it, and his verses are genuine poetry. He has taken counsel with his own mind and heart; his verse is sincere and truthful, and its melody is perfect.
New York Times.
With a full, rich nature, and a keen poetic sense, Mr. Chadwick has put into these little pieces sweetness and light, tenderness and subtle beauty.
New York Evening Post.
Mr. Chadwick's fine poetic sensibility and mastery of form find even more natural expression here than in his vigorous and thoughtful preaching.
Christian Register.
He has many new things and many new old things to sing, and God made him a singer. With high praise in short space we bid him welcome.
New York Evening Mail.
Sixth Edition. One volume. Square 16mo. Red edge. Price, $1.00. Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of the advertised price, by Roberts Brothers', Publishers, Boston.Mr. Chadwick is an independent and intrepid thinker, but the sentiment that pervades and chastens these pieces is singularly pure and sweet, trustful and devout, tonic and cheering.
New York Graphic.
[1393]
Our autumn holiday on French rivers.
By J. L. Molloy.
With Pictorial Title. 16mo, cloth. Price $1. 25.A quite fascinating book for idle summer days. Mr. Molloy has the true gift of narrating. He is a charming chronicler of the voyage of ‘The Marie’ on the tumultuous Seine, and on the solemn, mighty Loire . . . . A bright, sunny book, so full of pleasant fun and refined enjoyment.
Boston Daily Advertiser.
There is not a stupid page in the whole book; every chapter is jolly, fresh, observant; the whole reflects delightfully both the spirit in which the jaunt was undertaken, and that in which the country-side accepted the jovial wanderers. . . An autumn holiday will cause many readers to pass a happy hour or two. It is not stimulative to the brain, it requires no effort of thought; intellectual persons may find it spun out, and serious people discover its levity; but hot and tired people will regret neither the coolness of its main theme nor its happy superficialty.
New York Times.
Mr. Molloy has a singularly delicate and quick touch; and his fun and pathos are equally ready and genuine. His little volume of sketches is a rare work; it is in every way charming, full of information, and delicious as the fragrance and savor of a peach grown against a south-looking wall with its crimson cheek set toward the sun. Wherever the lover of pleasant books may be,—in quiet country town, under shade of mighty hills and their pine-forests, or near the sounding promontories of the sea, or if he stay in the heat and noise of the town,—he can have no more delightful reading than this record of an Autumn Holiday on French Rivers.
Portland Press.
Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, by the Publishers, Roberts Brothers, Boston.Roberts Brothers are issuing a charming series of books of out-door life, which is just the kind of books that are called for both by the present season and the growing taste for that kind of recreation. Another one just published is ‘ Our Autumn Holidays on French Rivers,’ by J. L. Molloy, and is as bright, breezy, spirited, and racy of the country life which it depicts, as any one can desire.
Hartford Courant.
[1394]
No name (second) series: baby Rue.
One peculiar charm of the ‘No Name’ novels is that they are really light reading, in the best sense of the term; bright and clever stories, which are really entertaining, because they are neither dull nor harrowing to the feelings of the reader. This is the kind of reading the American people need; especially in the summer season, as means of relaxation to over-taxed brains, and as helps to the rest of over-worked bodies. ‘ Baby Rue ’ is just a book of this sort. It is cleverly written, and deals with characters and events always of interest to American people, gathered from the military life on the Western frontier forty years ago; and it deals also to some extent with the ‘Indian Question,’—that very large question to which, in those forty years, we have been able to give so very small an answer.
Penn Monthly.
In turning over its pages, the thoughtful reader cannot help feeling that the author had something more than the simple story in view. He has given what seems to be a thoroughly impartial view of the Indian question, and showed the natural result of the faithless and treacherous policy followed by the government in dealing with the savage tribes. He shows that in warfare soldiers and savages are alike cruel, and that nobility of character is not confined wholly to the white race. All in all, ‘Baby Rue’ is a notable book, and one that will have more than a momentary popularity; full of vivid descriptive passages, strong in character drawing, and touching with equal skill the springs of pathos and humor. It will be read to be remembered.
Boston Transcript.
The book is one of great earnestness and beauty, of exceeding interest and undeniable power. In all fiction we recall no more touching incident than the friendly Indian's bringing, in his folded blanket, about a squire foot of damp, sandy earth, bearing the imprint of the little lost child's foot, which proves her to be still alive. He must be, indeed, a hardened reader of fiction who can read without moist eyes, how the young officer stooped to kiss the footprint of his Baby Rue, and offered a hundred dollars to the man who would carry it intact to the child's mother at the fort.
The Critic.
One volume. 16mo. Green Cloth. Price, $1.00. Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. When not to be found, send directly to the publishers. Roberts Brothers, Boston.The novel of incident is almost an unknown thing to the present generation of fiction readers; and, therefore, it is a positive relief to turn from books which are in the main mere studies of character clothed in epigramatic dialogue, to a work which recalls the days when a story had color and movement, and did not remind us of the scientist who would ‘peep and botanize upon his mother's grave.’ Not that the novel of the present day has not its merits, but because it wearies with minute dissections, when we are in the mood to read a story for itself alone, and not for any analytical power which an author may display. Having these ideas in mind, we have found genuine pleasure in reading ‘ Baby Rue,’ the latest addition to the ‘ No Name Series.’ . . . The descriptive passages are done with a facile pen, and show that the author is thoroughly familiar with his ground, and the reproduction of negro dialect and peculiarities is very happy.
Boston Courier.
[1395]
No name (second) series: the Tsar's window.
The basis of all novels is, more or less, love. Of course that is the principal subject of this story, and an extremely pretty love tale it is, with an excellent plot and some interesting characters well drawn. Incidental to the story are introduced some excellent descriptions, not only of Russia's two great cities, St. Petersburg and Moscow, as they appear to any observer, but of Russian society and its peculiar features. It is really a book of valuable instruction in this respect, and the instruction is made highly interesting.
Post.
The pretty story of ‘The Tsar's Window’ is told by some happy and fortunate person who has travelled in Russia under advantageous circumstances, and who saw the rosy side of imperialism; not without reflecting upon the other side, however, for with the true American spirit the author comments upon such things as feasts at the palace, of which the splendor is almost indescribable, and of the plague beyond the Volga, where whole villages had to be burned to the ground, together with the clothing of the peasants. The descriptions of St. Petersburg sights and people are bright and pleasing, and there is much that can be gleaned of the domestic life of the nobility by reading this little volume.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The Tsar's window is the city of St. Petersburg, whence Peter the Great looked out into Europe over the icy waters of the Baltic. Into the frozen city this little volume brings a group of Americans, whose visit to the Russian count, their relative, is diversified by much coquetry, love-making, sight-seeing, and going to Court. If there be something of the guide-book about the story, it is assuredly glorified guide-book. The descriptions are neat, vivid, sharply drawn as a line engraving. The charm of the book is in its descriptions of the city ( St. Petersburg ) and of court ceremonial,
says the New York Tribune.
They are charmingly disinterested men, suffering just enough to be interesting, and to give the needed shadows to the bright and prosperous life in which they lived so easily and pleasantly. The love affairs all end satisfactorily; the visit in St. Petersburg was rich in incident, novelty, color, and amusement; the reader looks in at the Tsar's window with the author, and sees just what she wishes him to see; and her story of Russian life and Russian love will probably be very popular.
Boston Advertiser.
The romance is more the framework for the descriptive portions than the theme of absorbing interest, but it helps to make the picture of the Russian capital more enjoyable, and impresses the events in social and domestic circles pleasantly on the memory. ‘The Tsar's Window’ is agreeable without being exciting, and will be found an entertaining companion for leisure hours, the circle it introduces being one of marked refinement and social culture.
Providence Journal.
In one volume, 16mo, green cloth. Price, $1.00. Our publications are to be found in all bookstores, or will be mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the publishers, Roberts Brothers, Boston.It is a story of to-day; that is, of travel, foreign residence, exciting adventure, personal experiences in Russia, an imperial wedding at the court of the late czar, and, as a suitable wind-up, a love match at the end. Evidently life in Russia, as presented here, has been written by one who draws upon his experience and not upon his imagination or the guide-books.
Exchange.
[1396]
No name (second) series: Don John.
Of the many pleasant volumes which this successful series has included, none is more attractive than Don John. The plot is ingenious, something too much so; for the hurry of desire to disentangle its thread leads the reader to miss the charm of the genuine modern idyl to which this harassing mystery seems alien. . . As a last word to the reader—read Don John as rapidly as you will for sake of finding out the book's secret; but be sure to read it again, for its sweetness must be drawn out slowly as a bee takes honey from the little slim goblets of the pink clover.
Portland Press.
Don John has the first and chiefest requisite of a novel,—it is extremely interesting from first to last. Nobody could mistake the plot, or no plot—the remarkable children . . . clever beyond the actualities of real life, unique as never were any American nursery plants, whatever English ones may be, lustrous with the author's peculiar humor, abounding in scintillations of aphoristic wit, with that sad and only half-satisfying ending which Miss Ingelow is in the habit of giving to her stories. It is largely a vivid picture of boy-and-girl life, and as such is specially delightful.
Home Journal.
The delineation of character and the portrayal of the delightful relations existing between parents and children in the cultured circles of English middle-class society, is most skilfully done, and it is safe to say that, though quite different from the preceding novels of the ‘No Name ’ series, none exceed it in point of interest and charm of style.
Don John, the latest of Messrs. Roberts Brothers' ‘No Name’ novels, is a clever, entertaining, and in some repects an original book... The story is always interesting; sometimes it is fascinatingly so. . . . It is a novel in all respects above the average. Not only will it fix and hold the reader in virtue of the ingenuity of its plot and the spirit with which it is told, but there is very good character work in it. . . . The scene is England, and the story presents a very charming study of English home life. The style in which the story is written is very pleasing. While there are fine, delicate touches of pathos, the general tone is bright and cheery, and at times the text becomes brilliant, especially in the sayings of Charlotte. Above and beyond its power to amuse, the novel teaches a lesson, well to learn. It is a valuable addition to the popular series.
Boston Post.
In one volume, 16mo. Green cloth. Price, $1.00. Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. When not to be found, send directly to the publishers, Roberts Brothers, Boston.The persons are well conceived and sustained, and in their various ways are highly interesting. The plot is odd and effective. The book has a noble moral tone, and there is much capital fun in it.
Congregationalist.
