Chapter II: The Weather-cross (6)

In this little incident of his boyhood, the salient features of the character of John Banim, the man and the author, are easily discernible. His extreme facility of conception, his hurrying energy of execution, his confidence in the merits of his productions, his indomitable persistence in commanding public attention, his patience and courage under defeat and disappointment, and his scrupulous honesty of purpose, which controlled alike his writings and his business relations, are all contained and foreshadowed in the circumstances of this almost infantile enterprise. Maturer years darkened the shadows, deepened the lines, heightened the lights of Banim's character; but such as he was, when he ran home from his school-mates in their hours of play, "to see that 'Farrell the Robber' had not stolen his mother," such also was he, till, in his last hours, he begged of his brother,

"That I would stand by while his grave was digging, and that,
when his body was lowered to its last resting place, I should
be certain the side of his coffin was in close contact with
that of his beloved parent."

Of the literary life and achievements of Banim, of his privations and discouragements, of his physical sufferings, and his premature decay and death, the pages of Mr. Murray's book contain a tolerably full description. It is to be regretted, however, that the task did not fall into the hands of Michael Banim, his brother and co-laborer in the O'Hara Tales. The work before us is too evidently the accomplishment of "an outsider"--of one who draws his information from letters, from books, from the accounts and descriptions of others, and not of one who "knew his man," and delineates the results of his own personal sight and hearing. John Banim was a man whose biographer should have been his most intimate and dearest friend, whose choicest qualities those who knew him most thoroughly could alone adequately value, and whom a distant public can be taught fully to appreciate only by a writer who himself has learned the lesson through long and close association.

Of the works of Banim, (one of the best of which we have also just received,) it is needless for us to make particular mention. They are worthy to be classed among the standard fictions of the century, whether for their rhetorical or dramatic power, and are almost wholly free from the loose sensationalism which disgraces the pages of so many modern tales. We have found them to inculcate virtue and industry, to do honor to purity and devotion, to abound in filial affection and religious fidelity to duty; and there is no half-heartedness in our wish that they, and such as they, may supplant, at least among Catholic readers, the noisome volumes which come swarming faster and faster both from the American and English press.

----

Problematic Characters: A Novel.
By Freidrich Spielhagen.
New York: Leypoldt & Holt. 1869.

It seems unnecessary, to say the least, to translate from the German pictures of life like those contained in this romance, since there are innumerable English and American novels, filled with the same sensuous details, and teeming with shameless descriptions of illicit love. In all the family life introduced to our notice in the course of this thick volume, the only married pairs that are described as living comfortably together are objects of ridicule, while men who make love to their neighbors' wives, and the married women who respond to these advances, are made to appear exceedingly interesting and lovely, and their wicked words and deeds justified on the ground, so popular in these days, _incompatibility_ in the conjugal relations.

As might be expected from such immoral teaching, utter infidelity follows in its wake.

{718}

Responsibility to God or man is ignored throughout these pages, though much is said about the great eternal laws of nature, which seems to mean, according to this author, unbelief in the God of revelation; since the only persons who profess to have any faith in the life beyond are proved arrant hypocrites, and excite only our disgust by their assumed piety.

Such reading should be condemned without qualification, although the style may be, as in this volume, graceful and polished, the language vigorous, often piquant, the descriptions of natural beauties glowing with light and warmth, social questions discussed with equanimity and calmness--but the trail of the serpent is over them all. We unhesitatingly pronounce this a dangerous book--not _problematically_, only, but positively bad reading.

----

Walter Savage Landor. A Biography.
By John Forster.
8vo, pp. 693.
Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co.

Mr. Forster has led us to expect so much from him, by his excellent biography of Goldsmith and other works, that we are not only disappointed but a great deal surprised by the defects of the present bulky volume. Landor's life was a tempting theme to one who knew it so well as Mr. Forster. Stretching far beyond the ordinary limit of human longevity, crowded not perhaps with very stirring incidents, yet with figures of deep historical and literary interest, and curious for its extraordinary manifestations of a strong character, it was a subject of which an accomplished writer might have made one of the best biographies in the language. Mr. Forster has committed a grave fault, however, in being too diffuse, and, valuable as his book must be to the student of Landor's history and times, it certainly cannot be called very interesting. What with the prolixity of the narrative, and the prolonged summaries and analyses of Landor's writings, the reader is too often tempted to close the book from utter weariness. Yet there is a remarkable attraction in the life of that violent, wrongheaded, wonderful old man of genius, who left so many enthusiastic friends, though, it has been truly said, nobody could possibly live with him, and who has enriched English literature with poetry worthy of the classic ages of Greece, and prose among the purest and most eloquent in the language, though there is probably no other author of equal pretensions of whom the mass of readers are so completely ignorant. For this reason, Mr. Forster's biography, cumbrous as it is, deserves an extensive circulation, and it contains so much merit, that we hope he may be induced to bring it into better shape.

----

Wandering Recollections Of A Somewhat Busy Life:
An Autobiography.
By John Neal.
Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1869.

If the Messrs. Roberts had desired to issue a book "_for the season_," they could hardly have selected one more appropriate than this pleasant autobiography of John Neal. Like the life of its author and subject, it is full of variety, "everything by starts, and nothing long," and runs as naturally from the piling up of bricks and mortar in the resurrection of Portland from the ashes of 1866, to the traditions and incidents of two centuries ago, as Mr. Neal himself seemed to slip from shop-keeping into authorship, and from peddling into law.

It is a book that one can take up anywhere, and find somewhat of amusement and instruction; and can lay down anywhere without fearing to lose the train of thought or the thread of narrative. There is method enough in it to entitle it to be called an autobiography; there is also a complete justification of the title which its author has appropriated to it. It is the pleasant chat of an old man of seventy-three, over events and personages into contact with whom extensive travel and a long life have brought him; a "_potpourri_" of the memories and observations of two continents and of over three-score years. Its publishers have done for it in print and paper what the matter and the manner of the work deserved; and if it finds its way into the portmanteau of the summer tourists whether by mountain-side or sea-side, it will hardly fail to be read, and so put to good use otherwise perhaps wasted hours.

----

{719}

Sogarth Aroon; Or, The Irish Priest.
A Lecture. By M. O'Connor, S.J.
Baltimore: Murphy & Co. 1869.

The author of this lecture was once the bishop of Pittsburg, a prelate hardly second to any member of the American hierarchy in learning and all the highest qualities of a bishop; and, as all know, he resigned his dignity to become a simple Father in the Society of Jesus, where, in spite of his broken health, he has ever since been zealously laboring for the salvation of souls. Father O'Connor has always been remarkable for his intense devotion to his native country and to the best interests of Irishmen. More than once, his learned and powerful pen and voice have been employed in their cause. In this lecture he has once again given a just and glowing tribute to the Irish priesthood. There are some, both here and in Ireland, who are fearing lest the tie which has bound the Irish people to their priests should be weakened by the efforts of demagogues seeking political influence, and by other causes of like nature. We trust this may never be the case; but it behooves all who love the Irish people truly to imitate Father O'Connor, and do everything in their power to strengthen this tie, and keep alive the spirit of Catholic faith in the bosoms of the children of the Martyr Church of Ireland. We recommend this lecture to general circulation both here and in Ireland, as an antidote to the poison which some traitors to their race and their religion are seeking to disseminate.

----

Young Christian's Library, containing the lives of more than
eighty eminent saints and servants of God.
12 vols.
Philadelphia: Henry McGrath. 1869.

This miniature library should be found in every Catholic household. While necessarily abbreviated, "The Lives" it contains are by no means mutilated condensations, and can be read, not alone with much spiritual benefit, but with real pleasure, in so admirable a manner has the editor performed his allotted task. Hence, although specially designed for youth, we have no hesitation in recommending it to persons advanced in years as an excellent substitute for the Rev. Alban Butler's more elaborate work, from which they are severally abridged. The series is very beautifully got up, and reflects great credit on the taste and liberality of the publisher.

----

Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia For 1868.

This well-known annual sustains its reputation as a valuable repertory of contemporaneous history. One great merit it has, is the careful manner in which authentic documents are reproduced _in extenso_. In regard to Catholic matters, it is, as usual, guardedly respectful, evidently intending to be impartial to every body. This is, of course, attempting the impossible, and it is easy to see which way the drift and current of the work do run. We say this in order that the younger and more inexperienced Catholic students may understand that works of this kind, proceeding from non-Catholic sources, are only to be used as lexicons and books of reference, but never to be trusted as guides or authorities for forming their opinions.

----

The Habermeister.
Translated from the German of H. Schmid.
New York: Leypoldt & Holt.
Price, $1.50.

In this novel we have a vivid picture of German peasant life. The plot rests upon the assumption of unlawful authority, in the name of an ancient custom, the necessity of which has long since disappeared; and the catastrophe is brought about by the use made of it by infamous persons. The characters are well delineated. The rag-picker's ride and the grave scene will be found to exhibit to advantage the talents of an author whose greatest success lies in his description of men. The denouement is satisfactory, although brought about by slightly distorting the truth in regard to the convent reception-room. But the changes in the butcher's character were impossible, if we regard terror as the cause, for terror brings only degradation.

----

{720}

The Irish Brigade, And Its Campaigns:
with some account of the Corcoran
Legion, and sketches of the principal officers.
By Capt. D. P. Conyngham, A.D.C.
Boston: Patrick Donahoe. Pp. 559. 1869.

In this, the second edition of Captain Conyngham's well-known work, the publisher has left nothing to be desired, but has given us a book which, with its clear type, good paper, handsome and substantial binding, will compare not unfavorably with any recent issue of the press.

----

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY will have ready, in a few days, a new edition of _St. Liguori's Way of Salvation_, and a new edition of the Douay Bible, 12mo, printed on fine paper. Also an 8vo edition, on superfine paper, illustrated.

----

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY is now printing a cheap edition of Challoner's _Catholic Christian Instructed_, 24mo, to be done up in strong paper covers, and sold at 20 cents per copy, or _ten dollars_ for _one hundred copies_. This will enable clergymen and others to distribute this valuable book among non-Catholics. The Society will also print a cheap 12mo edition (large type) of the some book, which will be sold at a low price. At the same time, cheap editions will be issued of _The Poor Man's Catechism_, (two editions,) _Poor Man's Controversy_, Bossuet's _Exposition_. Gallitzin's _Defence of Catholic Principles_, and Gallitzin's _Letters on the Bible_. Also cheap editions, bound, of _The Following of Christ_ are in press. These, with several other new editions of valuable books, will be printed during the fall. The new edition of Bishop Bayley's _History of the Church on New York Island_ will be enriched by several new notes, and portraits on steel of Bishops Concannon, Connolly, Dubois, and Archbishop Hughes.

----

Messrs. John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, will soon publish _The Life of the Very Rev. Frederick W. Faber, D.D._

Mr. Patrick Donahoe, Boston, has in press a _Life of Christopher Columbus_, translated from the French.

D. & J. Sadlier & Co. are preparing for publication _Ten Working Designs for Catholic Churches_. The work is highly recommended by several archbishops and bishops.

----

Books Received.

From Leypoldt & Holt, New York:
Stretton. A Novel.
By Henry Kingsley.
With illustrations. Pp. 250. 1869.

From Lee & Shepard, Boston:
Credo; an American Woman in Europe.
Patty Gray's Journey from Boston to Baltimore.

From Benziger Bros., New York and Cincinnati:
Cantarium Romanum.
Pars Prima.
Ordinariun Missae.

----------

{721}

The Catholic World.

Vol. IX., No. 54. September, 1869.

----------

Daybreak.