FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27  
28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   >>  
sh art, and a liberal appreciation of its merits, has been and is on the increase; and, though the proverb be somewhat musty, "Where there is a will," &c. [1] Copied by permission of the Proprietor. * * * * * THE BOOK OF BEAUTY. [This is a title of no small pretension. It is in certain respects ill chosen, though it may, in some degree, denote the exquisite triumphs which art has here accomplished. The Illustrations consist of eighteen portraits of every order of beauty, of variety enough to realize Sir Philip Sidney's aphorism, that "whatsoever is liked, to the liker is beautiful." But here all must be liked; therefore all are beautiful. The very names would make out a sort of court-roll of Venus, and the book itself the enchanting effect of the goddess' embroidered girdle, which had the gift of inspiring love. This charm will doubtless ensure the volume hundreds of possessors. The names of a few of the galaxy will give the reader a faint idea of their charms, unless the reader accord with Juliet's somewhat peevish "What's in a name." Thus, we find Julia, the queen of sentimentality; Belinda, gay and sparkling; Madeline, the early prey of despair; Lolah, languishing amid Eastern magnificence; the Orphan, pencilled in the very simplicity of nature, and finely contrasted with the coquetry of art; Theresa, the very type of romance; Geraldine, Meditation, the Bride, and Lucy Ashton. But we must not omit the heroine of our extract--with tall, etherial form, raven ringlets, and pearly eyes--such charms as would attune the wise man to another Song of Beauty. The letter-press of the volume is too in the type of beauty--from the chastely-elegant pen of Miss Landon. It consists of tales and sketches, lights and shadows, such as none but her accomplished pen could tell or harmonize. Here is probably the best illustration--] THE ENCHANTRESS. (_By herself._) You see in me, "the only living descendant of those Eastern Magi to whom the stars revealed their mysteries, and spirits gave their power. Age after age did sages add to that knowledge which, by bequeathing to their posterity, they trusted would in time combat to conquer their mortality. But the glorious race perished from the earth, till only my father was left, and I his orphan child. Marvels and knowledge paid his life of fasting and study. All the spirits of the elements bowed down before him; but the future was still hi
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27  
28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   >>  



Top keywords:

accomplished

 

beautiful

 

spirits

 

beauty

 

knowledge

 

volume

 
Eastern
 

charms

 
reader
 
letter

chastely

 
elements
 
elegant
 

shadows

 
lights
 

Landon

 
consists
 

sketches

 
heroine
 

extract


Meditation

 
Ashton
 

etherial

 

attune

 

ringlets

 

pearly

 

future

 

Beauty

 

father

 

mortality


conquer

 

glorious

 

perished

 
combat
 
bequeathing
 

posterity

 

trusted

 

mysteries

 

living

 

illustration


ENCHANTRESS

 

fasting

 
Geraldine
 

revealed

 
orphan
 
descendant
 

Marvels

 
harmonize
 
Belinda
 

consist