An After Word
Here let us face the last question of all: In the shade and valley of Life, on what shall we repose? When we must withdraw from the scenes which our own energies and agonies have somewhat helped to make glorious; when the windows are darkened, and the sound of the grinding is low,—where shall we find the beds of asphodel? Can any couch be more delectable than that amidst the Elysian leaves of Books? The occupations of the morning and the noon determine the affections, which will continue to seek their old nourishment when the grand climacteric has been reached.
The Author of “Hesperides.”
Footnotes
1 Robert Collyer: Addresses and Sermons.
2 The Doctor, Interchapter V., 1856.
3 Arthur Schopenhauer: Parerga und Paralipomena, 1851.
4 The Elements of Drawing, in Three Letters to Beginners, 1857.
5 The Spectator, No. 166.
6 Fortnightly Review (April, 1879),—“On the Choice of Books.”
7 Parerga und Paralipomena (1851).
8 The Critic (July 5, 1884),—“Leisure Reading.”
9 John Ruskin: Sesame and Lilies.
10 Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1848.
11 Society and Solitude,—“Books.”
12 George Gilfillan.
13 Friends in Council.
14 Views and Opinions, by Matthew Browne (W. H. Rands).
15 The Choice of Books.
16 Temple Bar (September, 1884),—“Barry Cornwall on the Reading of Books.”
17 Sesame and Lilies.
18 Meliora (October, 1867).
19 Sparks’s Life of Franklin, part i.
20 My Schools and Schoolmasters.
21 Memoir of Robert Chambers: with Autobiographic Reminiscences of William Chambers.
22 Chinese Classics, by J. Legge. 3 vols.
23 Frederic Harrison: Fortnightly Review (April, 1879), “On the Choice of Books.”
THE SURGEON’S STORIES. By Z. Topelius, Professor of History, University of Finland. Translated from the original Swedish comprising—
TIMES OF GUSTAF ADOLF,
TIMES OF BATTLE AND REST,
TIMES OF CHARLES XII.,
TIMES OF FREDERICK I.,
TIMES OF LINNÆUS,
TIMES OF ALCHEMY.
| In cloth, per volume | $ 1.25 |
| The same, in box, per set | 7.50 |
| In half calf, per set | 16.50 |
| In half morocco, per set | 18.00 |
These stories have been everywhere received with the greatest favor. They cover the most interesting and exciting periods of Swedish and Finnish history. They combine history and romance, and the two are woven together in so skilful and attractive a manner that the reader of one volume is rarely satisfied until he has read all. Of their distinguished author the Saturday Review, London, says: “He enjoys the greatest celebrity among living Swedish writers;” and R. H. Stoddard has styled them “the most important and certainly the most readable series of foreign fiction that has been translated into English for many years.” They should stand on the shelves of every library, public and private, beside the works of Sir Walter Scott.
The Graphic, New York, says:
“Topelius is evidently a great romancer,—a great romancer in the manner of Walter Scott. At moments in his writing there is positive inspiration, a truth and vivid reality that are startling.”
The Sun, Philadelphia, says:
“We would much prefer teaching a youth Swedish history from the novels of Topelius than from any book of strict historical narrative.”
BIOGRAPHIES OF MUSICIANS.
LIFE OF LISZT. With Portrait.
LIFE OF HAYDN. With Portrait.
LIFE OF MOZART. With Portrait.
LIFE OF WAGNER. With Portrait.
LIFE OF BEETHOVEN. With Portrait.
From the German of Dr. Louis Nohl.
| In cloth, per volume | $ 1.25 |
| The same, in neat box, per set | 6.25 |
| In half calf, per set | 13.75 |
Of the “Life of Liszt,” the Herald (Boston) says: “It is written in great simplicity and perfect taste, and is wholly successful in all that it undertakes to portray.”
Of the “Life of Haydn,” the Gazette (Boston) says: “No fuller history of Haydn’s career, the society in which he moved, and of his personal life can be found than is given in this work.”
Of the “Life of Mozart,” the Standard says: “Mozart supplies a fascinating subject for biographical treatment. He lives in these pages somewhat as the world saw him, from his marvellous boyhood till his untimely death.”
Of the “Life of Wagner,” the American (Baltimore) says: “It gives in vigorous outlines those events of the life of the tone poet which exercised the greatest influences upon his artistic career.... It is a story of a strange life devoted to lofty aims.”
Of the “Life of Beethoven,” the National Journal of Education says: “Beethoven was great and noble as a man, and his artistic creations were in harmony with his great nature. The story of his life, outlined in this volume, is of the deepest interest.”