RECENT HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS.
In this volume are gathered a number of essays, chiefly on historical subjects, which have appeared at various times in magazines. They are characterized, as might be expected, by the clear and attractive style and the incisive thought that belongs to all of Mr. Adams’ literary work.
Some of the essays are of pronounced value and interest. Notably the essay on the Gold Conspiracy, which to any one who is at all familiar with the details of one of the most remarkable episodes in American financial history, will prove absorbingly interesting. It contains a sketch of Jay Gould, which, in the light of recent occurrences, has a peculiar interest.
In no field of investigation at the present time is the skeptical spirit more active than in the historical, and the essay on Capt. John Smith will provoke some criticism and more regret, as it is an effort to cut away the historic basis from the beautiful story of Pocahontas. As Dr. Schliemann has lifted Troy and its legends to the dignity of history, perhaps some historical explorer may be inspired to undertake the same task for the Pocahontas incident.
We have received in pamphlet form, as one of the published collections of the Minnesota Historical Society for 1891, the account of the ceremonies of the two hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Falls of St. Anthony by Father Hennepin in 1680, and the different papers read on that interesting occasion. This “Part” is a continuation of the series of short sketches and papers which had been interrupted, and makes a valuable addition to the data for Western History. It is a real pleasure to praise the beautiful typographical appearance of this pamphlet.
Dr. Venable has been very successful in his undertaking to show the progress of literature, education, art, politics and religion in the Ohio Valley, from the days of the early settlers until the present time. He has done this by sketching the careers of those who have been conspicuous in these fields of culture and practical interest, and has gathered a great fund of information, anecdote and biographical detail, which has made his narrative very interesting as well as full.
A book on James Freeman Clarke, by Edward Everett Hale, encourages “great expectations,” and these expectations are not disappointed.
It is a delightful mixture of the handiwork of two bright thinkers and recognized lights in our native literature. After a modest account of himself, the subject of the sketch is delineated still further by a fond and appreciative friend. The man, broad and free and catholic in his thinking and in his feeling, opens his heart to us in diary and letters. And what he fails to tell, as eminently improper for himself to tell, Dr. Hale gives to us, so that the picture may be complete. The keynote to the book, and the real use of it, areindicated on the first page by Dr. Clarke himself: “I have lived in an important period; have known many eminent men and distinguished women; have seen great changes in social life, in religious opinion, in private morals and public manners. If I can succeed in making a few suggestive pictures, or memory sketches, it may be a gratification to my children and friends, and possibly contribute matter for the future historian of this period.”
The two concluding volumes of the Historical Collections of Ohio are now published together, and complete a monumental work. Dr. Howe has given many years to this undertaking, and is said to have personally visited every locality of which he treats, and collected his facts from the lips of living men and women as well as from written records. The work is more than a formal history. It unfolds before the reader the whole life and annals of Ohio, from the earliest settlements to the present day. Geography and statistics go hand in hand with narration, reminiscence and details of social life and customs.
We have received the third volume of the publications of The Ohio Archæological and Historical Society. This volume is mainly concerned with the anniversary exercises connected with the centennial of the settlement of Gallipolis. Exhaustive papers on “The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis,” “The Scioto Company and its Purchase,” and the “Early Judiciary of Ohio,” attest the historical value of this volume. It also contains a report of the sixth annual meeting of the society, February 19th and 20th, 1891. The secretary (Mr. A. A. Graham), very pertinently says in his preface, “The State is now indebted to the Ohio Archæological and Historical Society for three valuable historical volumes, and if the society had done nothing else, its existence is more than justified.”