Immortal Memories Part 15

{251c} Considerant, Victor (1808-1894). Born at Salins, and, after the Revolution of 1848, entered the Chamber of Deputies. He crossed to America to found a colony in Texas, but ruined himself by the experiment.

He returned to France in 1869. He was the author of many socialistic treatises.

{251d} Roscher, Wilhelm (1817-1894), economist, was born in Hanover.

Held a chair first in Gottingen and afterwards in Leipzig, where he died.

His _Geschichte der Nationalokonomik in Deutschland_ appeared in Munich in 1874.

{251e} Mill, John Stuart (1806-1873), the famous publicist and author, was born in London, and educated by his father, James Mill (1773-1836).

He served in the India Office, 1823-58; he was M.P. for Westminster, 1865- 68. His works include the _Principles of Political Economy_, 1848; the _Essay on Liberty_, 1859, and the _System of Logic_, which first appeared in 1843.

{252a} Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), poet and critic, was born at Ottery St. Mary, Devons.h.i.+re; educated at Christ's Hospital, London, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. In the volume of _Lyrical Ballads_ by Wordsworth of 1798 Coleridge contributed the _Ancient Mariner_, and he was to make his greatest reputation by this and other poems. His best prose work was his _Biographia Literaria_ (1817). His _Aids to Reflection_ was first published in 1825.

{252b} Radowitz, Joseph Maria von (1797-1853). A Prussian general and statesman; born in Blankenberg and died in Berlin. Fought in the Napoleonic wars and was wounded at the battle of Leipzig. Afterwards served as Amba.s.sador to various German Courts. He wrote several treatises bearing upon current affairs, and his _Fragments_ form Vols. IV and V of his _Collected Works_ in 5 volumes, which were issued in Berlin in 1852-53.

{252c} Gioberti, Vincent (1801-1852). An Italian statesman and philosopher; born in Turin, where he afterwards became Professor of Theology. Was for a time Court Chaplain, but his liberal views led to exile, and he retired first to Paris, then to Brussels. Afterwards became famous as a neo-Catholic with his attempt to combine faith with science and art, and urged the independence and the unity of Italy. His _Jesuite moderne_, published in 1847, created a sensation. After some years of home politics he was appointed by King Victor Emmanuel as Amba.s.sador to Paris. It is noteworthy in the light of Lord Acton's recommendation of his _Pensieri_ that his works have been placed on the Index.

{253a} Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Baron von (1769-1859), the great naturalist, was born and died in Berlin, and studied at Frankfort- on-the-Oder, Berlin and Gottingen; he spent five years (1799-1804) in exploring South America, and in 1829 travelled through Central Asia. His _Kosmos_ appeared between 1845 and 1858 in 4 volumes.

{253b} De Candolle, Alphonse de (1806-1893). The son of the celebrated botanist, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and was himself a professor of that science at Geneva. His _Histoire des sciences et des savants depuis deux siecles_ appeared in 1873.

{253c} Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882), the great naturalist and discoverer of natural selection, was born at Shrewsbury, where he was educated at the Grammar School, at Edinburgh University, and at Christ's College, Cambridge. His most famous book, _The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection_, was first published in 1859.

{253d} Littre, Maximilien Paul Emile (1801-1884), the famous lexicographer whose _Dictionnaire de la langue francaise_ gave him a world-wide reputation. He was born in Paris. He a.s.sociated himself with Auguste Comte and the _Positive Philosophy_, and contributed many volumes in support of Comte's standpoint.

{253e} Cournot, Antoine Augustin (1801-1877). Born at Gray in Savoy; wrote many mathematical treatises. His _Traite de l'enchainement des idees fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l'histoire_ was published in 2 volumes.

{254} This was a most comprehensive addition, and fully makes up for the abrupt termination of the list of the hundred best books with two omissions. The omission of the book numbered 88 will also have been remarked. There are probably a hundred "Monatschriften der Wissenschaftlichen Vereine" or magazines of scientific societies issued in Germany. Sperling's _Zeitschriften-Adressbuch_ gives more than two columns of these.

{260a} The Bible can be best read in paragraph form from the Eversley edition, published by the Macmillans, or from the Temple Bible, issued by J. M. Dent--the latter an edition for the pocket. The translation of 1610 is literature and has made literature. The revised translation of our own day has neither characteristic. Something can be said for the Douay Bible in this connexion. It was published in Douay in the same year as the Protestant version appeared--1610. Certain words from it, such as "Threnes" for "Lamentations" as the Threnes of Jeremiah, have a poetical quality that deserved survival.

{260b} The Iliad may be read in a hundred verse translations of which those by Pope and Cowper are the best known. Both these may be found in Bohn's Libraries (G. Bell & Sons); but the prose translation for which Mr. Lang and his friends are responsible (Macmillan) is for our generation far and away the best introduction to Homer for the non-Grecian.

{261a} Under the t.i.tle of "The Athenian Drama," George Allen has published three fine volumes of the works of the Greek dramatists.

{261b} Dryden's translation of Virgil has been followed by many others both in prose and verse. There was one good prose version by C. Davidson recently issued in Laurie's Cla.s.sical Library. An interesting translation of Virgil's _Georgics_ into English verse was recently made by Lord Burghclere and published by John Murray. The young student, however, will do well to approach Virgil through Dryden. He will find the book in the Chandos Cla.s.sics, or superbly printed in Professor Saintsbury's edition of _Dryden's Works_, Vol. XIV.

{261c} There have been many translations of Catullus. One, by Sir Richard Burton, was issued by Leonard Smithers in 1894. In Bohn's Library there is a prose translation by Walter K. Kelly. Professor Robinson Ellis made a verse translation that has been widely praised.

Grant Allen translated the Attis in 1892. On the whole, the English verse translation by Sir Theodore Martin made in 1861 (Blackwood & Son) is far and away the best suited for a first acquaintance with this the 'tenderest of Roman Poets.'

{261d} Horace has been made the subject of many translations. Perhaps there are fifty now available. John Conington's edition of his complete works, two volumes (Bell), is well known. The best introduction to Horace for the young student is in Sir Theodore Martin's translation, two volumes (Blackwood), and a volume by the same author ent.i.tled _Horace_ in "Ancient Cla.s.sics for English Readers" (Blackwood) is a charming little book.

{262a} Dante's _Divine Comedy_ as translated by Henry Francis Cary (1772- 1844) has been described by Mr. Ruskin as better reading than Milton's "Paradise Lost." James Russell Lowell, with true patriotism, declared that his countrymen Longfellow's translation (Routledge) was the best.

Something may be said for the prose translation by Dr. John Carlyle of the _Inferno_ (Bell) and for Mr. A. J. Butler's prose translation of the whole of the _Divine Comedy_ in three volumes (Macmillan). Other translations which have had a great vogue are by Wright and Dean Plumptre. The best books on Dante are those by Dr. Edward Moore (Clarendon Press). Cary's translation can be obtained in one volume in Bohn's Library (Bell) or in the Chandos Cla.s.sics (Warne).

{262b} I contend that while most of the poets are self-contained in a single volume, Shakspere's plays are best enjoyed as separate ent.i.ties.

Certainly each of them has a library attached to it, and it is quite profitable to read Hamlet in Mr. Horace Howard Furness's edition (Lippincott) with a mult.i.tude of criticisms of the play bound up with the text of Hamlet. But Hamlet should be read first in the Temple Shakspere (Dent) or in the Arden Shakspere (Methuen). To this last there is an admirable introduction by Professor Dowden.

{262c} Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ should be read in Mr. Alfred W.

Pollard's edition, which forms two volumes of the "Eversley Library"

(Macmillan). The "Tales" may be obtained in cheaper form in the _Chaucer_ of the Aldine Poets (Bell), of which I have grateful memories, having first read "Chaucer" in these little volumes. The enthusiast will obtain the Complete Works of Chaucer edited for the Clarendon Press by Professor W. W. Skeat.

{263a} FitzGerald's _Omar Khayyam_ can be obtained in its four versions, each of which has its merits, only from the Macmillans, who publish it in many forms. The edition in the Golden Treasury Series may be particularly commended. The present writer has written an introduction to a sixpenny edition of the first version. It is published by William Heinemann.

{263b} Goethe's _Faust_ has been translated in many forms. Certainly Anster's version (Sampson Low) is the most vivacious. Anna Swanwick, Sir Theodore Martin and Bayard Taylor's translations have about equal merit.

{263c} Sh.e.l.ley's _Poetical Works_ should be read in the one volume issued in green cloth by the Macmillans, with an introduction by Edward Dowden, or in the Oxford Poets (Henry Froude), with an introduction by H.

Buxton Forman, but perhaps the best edition is that of the Clarendon Press with an introduction by Thomas Hutchinson. Mr. Forman's library edition of _Sh.e.l.ley's Complete Works_ is the desire of all collectors.

{263d} _Byron's Poetical Works_, edited by Ernest Coleridge, form seven volumes of John Murray's edition of Byron's _Works_ in thirteen volumes.

There is not a good one-volume Byron. I particularly commend the three- volume edition (George Newnes).

{264a} Wordsworth may be read in his entirety in the sixteen volumes of _Prose and Poetry_ edited by William Knight in the Eversley Library (Macmillan). The same publisher issues an admirable _Wordsworth_ in one volume, edited, with an introduction by John Morley. But the first approach to Wordsworth's verse should be made through Matthew Arnold's _Select Poems_ in the Golden Treasury Series (Macmillan).

{264b} _Keats's Works_ are issued in one volume in the Oxford Poets (Froude), and in five s.h.i.+lling volumes by Gowans and Gray of Glasgow. Mr.

Buxton Forman's annotations to this cheap edition exceed in value those attached to his more expensive "Library Edition," which, however, as with the _Sh.e.l.ley_, in eight volumes, is out of print.

{264c} The four volumes of Burns, with an introduction by W. E. Henley, are pleasant to read. They are published by Jack, of Edinburgh. The best single-volume _Burns_ is that in the Globe Library (Macmillan), with an introduction by Alexander Smith.

{264d} There is no rival to the one-volume edition of _Coleridge's Poems_, with an introduction by J. d.y.k.es Campbell, published by Macmillan. Mr. d.y.k.es Campbell's biography of Coleridge should also be read. The prose works of Coleridge are obtainable in Bohn's Library. The fortunate book lover has many in Pickering editions.

{264e} _Cowper's Complete Works_ are acquired for a modest sum of the second-hand bookseller in Southey's sixteen-volume edition. The two best one-volume issues of the _Poems_ are the Globe Library Edition with an introduction by Canon Benham (Macmillan), and _Cowper's Complete Poems_ with an introduction by J. C. Bailey (Methuen). The best of the letters are contained in a volume in the Golden Treasury Series, with an introduction by Mrs. Oliphant. _The Complete Letters of Cowper_, edited by Thomas Wright, have been published by Hodder & Stoughton in four volumes.

{265a} _Crabbe's Works_, in eight volumes, with biography by his son, may be obtained very cheaply from the second-hand book seller. With all the merits of both _Works_ and _Life_ they have not been reprinted satisfactorily. The only good modern edition of _Crabbe's Poems_ is in three volumes published by the Cambridge University Press, edited by A.

W. Ward.

{265b} The best one-volume _Tennyson_ is issued by the Macmillans, who still hold certain copyrights. The Library Edition of _Tennyson_, with the Biography included in the twelve volumes, is a desirable acquisition.

{265c} Not all the sixteen volumes of the Library Edition of _Browning_ pay for perusal. The most convenient form is that of the two-volume edition (Smith, Elder & Co.), with notes by Augustine Birrell.

{265d} _Milton's Poetical Works_ as annotated by David Ma.s.son (Macmillan) make the standard library edition, and the same publishers have given us the best one-volume _Milton_ in the Globe Library, with an introduction by Professor Ma.s.son, Milton's one effective biographer.

{266a} _The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_ is first introduced to us all as a children's story-book. Tennyson has placed on record his own early memories:--

"In sooth it was a goodly time, For it was in the golden prime Of good Haroun Alraschid."

But the collector of the hundred best books will do well to read the _Arabian Nights_ in the translation by Edward William Lane, edited by Stanley Lane Poole, in 4 volumes, for George Bell & Sons.

{266b} The most satisfactory translation of Cervantes's great romance is that made by John Ormesby, revised and edited by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, published by Gowans & Gray in 4 s.h.i.+lling volumes.

{266c} _The Pilgrim's Progress_ is presented in a hundred forms. The present writer first read it in a penny edition. It should be possessed by the book-lover in a volume of the Cambridge English Cla.s.sics, in which _Grace Abounding_ and _The Pilgrim's Progress_ are given together, edited by Dr. John Brown, and published by the Cambridge University Press.

{266d} Schoolboys, notwithstanding Macaulay, usually know but few good books, but every schoolboy knows Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ in one form or another. The maker of a library will prefer it as a Volume of Defoe's _Works_ (J. M. Dent), or as Volume VII of Defoe's _Novels and Miscellaneous Works_ (Bell & Sons). There are many good s.h.i.+lling editions of the book by itself, but Defoe should be read in many of his works and particularly in _Moll Flanders_.

{267a} As with _Robinson Crusoe_, _Gulliver's Travels_ can be obtained in many cheap forms, but it is well that it should be obtained as Volume VIII of _Swift's Prose Works_, published in Bohn's Libraries by George Bell & Sons. There has not been a really good edition of Swift's works since Scott's monumental book.

{267b} _Clarissa_ should be read in nine of the twenty volumes of Richardson's Novels, published by Chapman & Hall--a very dainty well-printed book. "I love these large, still books," said Lord Tennyson.

{267c} The greatest of all novels, _Tom Jones_, is obtainable in several Library Editions of Fielding's _Works_. A cheap well-printed form is that of the _Works of Henry Fielding_ in 12 volumes, published by Gay & Bird. Here _The Story of Tom Jones a Foundling_ is in 4 volumes. The book is in 2 volumes in Bohn's Library--an excellent edition.

{267d} Johnson's _Ra.s.selas_ has frequently been reprinted, but there is no edition for a book-lover at present in the bookshops. It is included in _Cla.s.sic Tales_ in a volume of Bohn's Standard Library. The wise course is to look out for one of the earlier editions with copper plates that are constantly to be found on second-hand bookstalls. But Johnson's _Works_ should be bought in a fine octavo edition.