turbulent days of Florentine party strife, when he rides down Messer Corso Donati, “the baron,” and wounds him with his javelin, and then goes into exile at Sarzana, where he sings his dying song and sends it to his lady, “who,” he says, “of her noble grace shall show thee courtesy.” All the poets were not as constant as their own lines would have us believe. Dante reproaches the famous Cino da Pistoja for fickleness, and the latter confesses the charge, and declares he cannot get “free from Love’s pitiless aim.” Guido Cavalcanti rebukes Dante himself for his way of life after the death of Beatrice; and this valuable sonnet should be read in connection with the beautiful passage in the _Purgatory_ (xxx. 55-75) where Beatrice herself upbraids the tearful poet.
In the second part, comprising _Poets chiefly before Dante_, we have specimens of the Sicilian school–a _canzone_ by the great Frederick, and a sonnet by his luckless son Enzo, who died in prison at Bologna after a confinement of nearly twenty-three years. Of more importance are the poems of Guido Guinicelli, of which the philosophical one entitled “Of the Gentle Heart” was a nine days’ wonder, but which, even in Rossetti’s elegant version, seems cold and formal. The most natural and pleasing pieces among much that is artificial and conventional are a ballad and two “catches” by Sacchetti, who died just after 1400, and properly does not belong to Dante’s circle. Mr. Rossetti’s readers will, however, be grateful to him for his delightful versions of the two catches, one “On a Fine Day,” the other “On a Wet Day,” giving the experiences of a band of young girls who have gone to spend the afternoon in the fields and are overtaken by a shower.
Poems like these, unfortunately, are rare. The range is a limited one–Platonic love in its conventional form, or the still more conventional form of chivalric love, imported bodily from the Troubadours. Scattered here and there are some noble poems; as, for instance, the one attributed to Fazio degli Uberti on his lady’s portrait, which begins–
I look at the crisp golden-threaded hair, Whereof, to thrall my heart, Love twists a net; Using at times a string of pearls for bait, And sometimes with a single rose therein.
Mr. Rossetti has performed his task in a way to deserve the warmest praise. The difficulties he has overcome are very great, consisting not merely of intricate rhyme and assonance, which he has faithfully reproduced, but a text often corrupt and meaning often obscure. He says himself in his preface that “The life-blood of rhythmical translation is this commandment–that a good poem shall not be turned into a bad one;” and this commandment, as far as we can see, he has not broken in a single case, while in some instances, we are bold enough to say, the translation is better than the original.
History of the Army of the Cumberland, its Organization, Campaigns and Battles. Written at the request of Maj.-Gen. George H. Thomas, chiefly from his private military journal and other official documents furnished by him. By Thomas B. Van Horne, U.S. Army. Illustrated with campaign and battle maps compiled by Edward Ruger, late Superintendent Topographical Engineer Office, Head quarters Department of the Cumberland. 2 vols. and atlas. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co.
It was natural that General Thomas should make choice of some one to whom he could entrust the task of writing his military history. For that purpose he chose Mr. T.B. Van Home, a chaplain in the regular army, and the work, which was begun in 1865 and finished in 1872, was subject to Thomas’s own examination. The result is now, after this long delay, presented to the public in a shape that does great credit to the publishers, whose imprint is almost synonymous with good workmanship. Of the literary skill, or want of it, on the part of the author not much need be said: he is evidently zealous in his anxiety to do honor to the memory of General Thomas, and to do justice to all who served with him; but he is sadly lacking in the art of suitably clothing his ideas with fitting words, and much of his elaborate composition is badly wasted in trying to find extravagant language for the recital of important events. In some cases, where the official reports printed at the close of each chapter recite in simple words the actual occurrences, the text of the book is overlaid with unusual words and involved sentences, in which the statement of the same facts is lost in a cloud of phraseology of a very curious and original kind. “Primal success,” “the expression of a stride,” “the belligerence of the two armies,” “philosophy of the victory,” “palpable co-operation,” “the expression of an insurrection,”–these are some of the odd inventions of the author; and for instances of passages just as odd, but too long for citation, we refer to the description of the battle of Shiloh–a weak imitation of Kinglake’s worst style–where we are told that “change is the prophecy of unexpected conditions.” Fortunately, the second volume is much less marred by such faults, and the great event of Thomas’s career, the battle of Nashville, is told with clearness and in full detail.
Although Thomas is the hero of the book from the time when he took command at Camp Dick Robinson in August of 1861, it was not till October, 1863, which brings us to page 394 of the first volume, that he succeeded to the command of the Army of the Cumberland, after Rosecrans, who had followed Buell and Sherman and Anderson. Under the other generals Thomas had served with marked ability and fidelity, and his dealing with them is fairly reflected by the author of this work, for he rarely criticises either of Thomas’s commanding officers–for the most part merely records the operations of the army, and puts in most prominence Thomas’s own services, just as his military journal no doubt supplied the material. Of all that long and dreary marching and countermarching through Kentucky and Tennessee the account is full and clear, and we find Buell and Halleck saying that they know nothing of any plan of campaign in the very midst of their operations. At last with Halleck, and still more with Grant in authority, there were movements ordered that had some relation to each other and a general plan of operations, and then the overwhelming strength of the North began to turn the scale. Thomas was called on by Rosecrans, as he had been by Buell, for advice, but he was obliged to act independently too; and then, as at Stone River, he showed an energy and a capacity that ought to have secured his earlier promotion. At Chickamauga he was actually left in command by Rosecrans, and while the latter was looking for new help elsewhere, Thomas at the front saved the shattered army and led it safely back to Chattanooga, where it underwent its famous long siege. The measures for its relief were planned by Rosecrans, approved by Grant, and executed by Thomas, with large assistance from “Baldy” Smith, whose skill as an engineer was fully attested then. When Thomas did at last succeed to the command of the Army of the Cumberland, he showed his superiority to his predecessors by marked improvement in his method of securing supplies, in his use of cavalry, and in the increased efficiency of his infantry. When Johnston, thanks to Davis’s unwise interference with the Confederate armies, gave way to Hood, the latter almost at once gave token of his inferior skill by being defeated by the Army of the Cumberland–by less than half of it, in fact–in an attack intended to destroy three armies of more than five times the number of the Union force actually engaged. Thomas was in command at this battle of Peach-tree Creek, one of the sharpest and most significant actions of the campaign, though no official report is found at the end of the chapter in which it is described. The events that led up to the victory of Nashville are always worth the telling, and the account given in this work may be looked upon as in some respects Thomas’s own version of them. A brief chapter by Colonel Merrill of the Engineers gives a very good description of three of the leading features of the work done by that corps in the Army of the Cumberland. To cross great rivers there was need of pontoon-bridges; to protect the long lines of railroads it was necessary to provide block-houses; to go through a country that was often a trackless forest, and always badly provided with real high-roads, it was all-important to have maps, and to reproduce them rapidly and plentifully. Colonel Merrill’s chapter is pithy, pointed and to the purpose, showing how well our technical troops did their share of work, and how large and important that share was in securing the general result. The maps are also well done, and therefore useful in enabling a reader to follow out the details of the narrative.
_BOOKS RECEIVED._
Dissertations and Discussions; Political, Philosophical and Historical. By John Stuart Mill. Vol. V. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
From Everglade to Canon with the Second Dragoons, 1836-75, Compiled by Theo. F. Rodenbough. New York: D. Van Nostrand.
Grand’ther Baldwin’s Thanksgiving, with other Ballads and Poems. By Horatio Alger, Jr. Boston: Loring.
Shakespeare Hermeneutics; or, The Still Lion. By C.M. Ingleby, M.A., LL.D. London: Truebner & Co.
Minutes of the Ohio State Archaeological Convention. Columbus: Printed for the Society by Paul & Thrall.
Strength of Beams under Transverse Loads. By Prof. W. Allan. New York: D. Van Nostrand.
The Illustrated Catholic Family Almanac for 1876. New York: Catholic Publication Society.
Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1874. Washington: Government Printing-office.
Our Poetical Favorites. Second Series. By Aschel C. Kendrick. New York: Sheldon &Co.
Camp-Life in Florida. By Charles Hallock. New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Co.
Lectures on Art. Second Series. By H. Taine. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
Pretty Miss Bellew. By Theo. Gift. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
Drawn from. Life. By Charles Dickens. New York: E.J. Hale & Son.
The Conquest of Europe: A Poem of the Future. By Confucius.
Cartoons. By Margaret J. Preston. Boston: Roberts Brothers.