"Bring me my books!" said the Baron, not for the first time. But on this
occasion the Baron was a prisoner in bed, and likely to remain so for
many days. Consequently, he required amusement. He had heard of a book,
called _Three Men in a Boat_, by Mr. JEROME K. JEROME, some of whose
observations, in a collection of papers entitled _Stage-land_, had
caused him to laugh several times, and to smile frequently, for the
subject has not been so well touched since GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKETT
wrote his inimitable _Quizziology of the Drama_, which for genuine
drollery has never been surpassed. Anticipating, then, some
side-splitters from _Three Men in a Boat_, the Baron sent for the work.
He opened it with a chuckle, which, instead of developing itself into a
guffaw and then into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, gradually
subsided altogether, his smile vanished, and an expression of weariness
came over the Baron's face, as after heroically plodding through five
chapters he laid the book down, and sighed aloud, "Well, I'm hanged if I
see where the fun of this is." The Baron may be wrong, and the humour of
this book, which seems to him to consist in weak imitations of American
fun, and in conversations garnished with such phrases as "bally idiot,"
"bally tent," "doing a mouch," "boss the job," "put a pipe in his mouth,
and spread himself over a chair," "land him with a frying-pan,"
"fat-headed chunk," "who the thunder" and so forth--a style the Baron
believes to have been introduced from Yankee-land, and patented here by
the _Sporting Times_ and its imitators,--interspersed with plentiful
allusions to whiskey-drinking, may not be, as it is not, to his
particular taste; and yet, for all that, it may be marvellously funny.
So the Baron requested an admirer of this book to pick out the gems, and
read them aloud to him. But even the admirer was compelled to own that
the gems did not sparkle so brilliantly as he had at first thought.
"Yet," observed the admirer, "it has had a big sale." "_Three Men in a
Boat_ ought to have," quoth the Baron, cheerily, and then he called
aloud, "Bring me _Pickwick_!" He commenced at the Review, and the first
meeting of _Mr. Pickwick_ with the Wardle family. Within five minutes
the Baron was shaking with spasmodic laughter, and CHARLES DICKENS'S
drollery was as irresistible as ever. Of course the Baron does not for
one moment mean to be so unfair to the _Three Men in a Boat_ as to
institute a comparison between it and the immortal _Pickwick_, but he
has heard some young gentlemen, quite of the modern school, who profess
themselves intensely amused by such works as this, and as the two books
by the author of _Through Green Glasses_, and yet allow that they could
not find anything to laugh at in _Pickwick_. They did not object to
_Pickwick_, as ladies very often do, that there is so much eating and
drinking in it. "No," says the Baron, in bed, "Give me my _Pickwick_,
and, after him, for a soothing and pleasant companion, give me
WASHINGTON IRVING. When I'm in another sort of humour, bring me
THACKERAY. For rollicking Irish life, give me LEVER. But as to
youth-about-town life of the present day, I do not know of any
second-class humorist who approaches within measurable distance of the
author of _The Pottleton Legacy_, in the past." So far the Baron. And
now "The Co." speaks:--
_A Tour in a Phaëton_, by J. J. HISSEY, is an interesting account of a
driving trip through the Eastern Counties. It abounds in hisseytorical
research; we are taken to all kinds of out-of-the-way and picturesque
places, of which the Author gives us graphic pictures with pencil as
well as pen. A fresher title to the work might have been devised, as the
present one bears a striking likeness to Mr. BLACK'S _Adventures of a
Phaëton_,--who, by the way, was the first to render driving tours
popular. The volume abounds in poetical quotations. The authority,
however, is seldom given, and inverted commas are conspicuous by their
absence. It can hardly be imagined that all this poetry is by the writer
of the book. In one instance he quotes a well-known verse by
ASHBY-STERRY, without acknowledgment, in which, for some inscrutable
reason, he has introduced a rugged final line which effectually mars the
harmony of the original stanza.
Those who prefer Scotch broth well peppered to Butter-Scotch, should
read _Our Journey to the Hebrides_, by Mr. and Mrs. PENNELL. They seem
to have gone out of the beaten track in their tour, which is pleasant,
and their views of Scotland, though they may cause controversy, are
novel, and at the same time indescribably refreshing. As to the views of
Scotland chronicled by Mr. PENNELL'S clever and facile pencil, they are
full of thought, elaborate detail and wondrous originality. There are
some forty of these, all remarkable for their everlasting variety and
high artistic excellence.
_Dr. Hermione_ (_Blackwood_) is rather an idyl than a novel, and would
have done better still if it had been cast in the form of a comedy. The
still anonymous author who followed up _Zit and Zoë_ by _Lady Bluebeard_
possesses the gift, rare among novelists, of writing sparkling dialogue.
The quickly changing scenes in the last chapter of _Dr. Hermione_, with
its sprightly chatter would serve the poor player almost as it stands.
It is not too late to think about the comedy. In the meanwhile the novel
does very well, and if he had made his story a book for the play, we
should have missed many dainty descriptions of scenery. Nothing is so
good as his description of the Lake District in Autumn, unless it be his
pictures of the surroundings of the Nile as it
Flows through hushed old Egypt and its sands,
Like some grave mighty thought, threading a dream.
_Some Places of Note in England_ (DOWDESWELLS) have been deftly noted by
a notable artist, namely, BIRKET FOSTER. From the "places of note," he
has evolved some of the most delicate of harmonies. Whether he gives us
a Canterbury _cantata_, a Richmond _rondo_, a Stratford symphony, a
Lambeth _lied_, or a Tilbury _toccata_ we are equally delighted with his
choice of _motivo_ and his brilliancy of execution. In this volume we
have five-and-twenty pictures, admirably reproduced in the highest style
of lithography. Mr. BIRKET FOSTER has been before the public for many
years--he appeared, if we mistake not, in the early numbers of the
_Illustrated News_: his work has been constant, and his pictures
countless ever since, and yet, in the present volume, we find him better
than ever.
_Sporting Celebrities._ The first number of this new monthly contains
two excellent portraits by M. WALERY. One is of the Duke of BEAUFORT,
the other of Mr. CHOLMONDELEY PENNELL. They are accompanied by crisp
well-written biographical notices. The two portraits are well worth the
price charged for the Magazine. A couple of good photographs for a
shilling, cannot be considered dear. In addition to this, there are
twenty pages of letterpress--so altogether it is a splendid
shillingsworth. BARON DE BOOK-WORMS & CO.
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