Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "VILLA EDEN."
THE GREAT NOVEL OF THE DAY.
O N T H E H E I G H T S
By BERTHOLD AUERBACH.
One handsome volume, with Pictorial Title. Price, $2.00.
Only recently presented to American readers, this volume has made itsmark, and will be henceforth classed among those works of fiction whichhold a lasting place in literature.
"'On the Heights,' in its calm beauty, is like a bill-side meadow on abright May morning, when every blade of grass holds a sparkling world,and the air is stirred by no sound save the matin songs of the birds,and no darkness falls upon the ground save the occasional shadow of acloud, which creeps slowly away, giving place to the full flood ofsunlight.
"The 'heights' are heights of social position, of intellectualstriving, and of moral purity; and the problems treated are the deepestproblems of life."--_Rochester Democrat_.
The title is beautifully chosen, originated by Goethe's line, "On everyheight there lies repose." Throughout it brings into sharp contrast thelife of the palace and the life of the cottage.
"The _beauty_ of the work lies in the idyllic charm of the good,true-hearted cottage life. Nothing in literature surpasses it; we thinkit would be no exaggeration to say that nothing rivals it. We will notrecount, however briefly, the story here; that were to mar a pleasurefor some reader whom we hope to draw to this great work. Suffice it tosay that it is a record of sin and of expiation,--not of sin in itsoutward act, but in its essence. There is nothing sensational here,nothing lurid,--no bigamy, no savage murders; this book is a soulhistory, and a great crime--no less a one than the ruin of a familythrough a falsely directed love--is seen in the distance,--obscurely,as in the death of Mary Stuart in the last scene of Schiller's play.Amid the development of sin in a pure but passionate soul, and amid itsexpiation, there are brought upon the stage characters of Romangrandeur, not attractive, indeed, because stiff and hard, but trulynoble and quickening.
"To the Christian reader the book appeals with special force, for beingabsolutely Christless, and yet dealing with the deepest needs of asinning soul, it presents an argument stronger than any which we haveever seen for a Saviour who shall expiate sin, and leave the offenderfree to go on and labor and enter into the joy of life, withoutcondemning himself to an expiation which shall end only with his death.Thus the book, which is a special plea in behalf of an absolutelyChristless philosophy, leads directly and irresistibly to the cross ofChrist. No religion is worth much, according to Auerbach, but for thepoetry it guards and expresses. Yet, while this is the tone of thebook, the writer of this article confesses that he rises from 'On theHeights' with a clearer sense of the need of Christianity to solve thedeepest mysteries of woe and sin and suffering than he has had before,and that all who are able to see anything in this book but a charmingand yet saddening story, will find themselves like-minded."--_Extractfrom a review by a Clergyman in the Hartford Evening Post._
"The author's last work, 'On the Heights,' has been pronounced thefinest German novel since Goethe's 'Wilhelm Meister.'"
"Auerbach is thought by many to be the first writer of fictionliving."--_New York Evening Post._
"Among the living European novelists, Auerbach holds a pre-eminentrank."--_New York Tribune._
"The leading German novelist of these days."--_New Haven Palladium._
"The genius of the master is stamped on the production of hispen."--_Providence Post._
"'On the Heights' is the most remarkable novel that has come to us fromthe home of Goethe during the present century."--_Northern Monthly_,_May_, 1868.
"One of the few great works of the age."--JOHN G. SAXE, _in AlbanyArgus_.
* * * * *
EDELWEISS. A STORY. Translated by ELLEN FROTHINGHAM. One volume. Square16mo. Illuminated paper covers, price 75 cents; or in red cloth, price$1.00.
GERMAN TALES. Translated by C. C. SHACKFORD. Square 16mo. Red cloth,price $1.00.
_Mailed, postpaid, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers_,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.
MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS.
The attention of readers, and all who are engaged in the formation ofpublic or private libraries, is called to the following books:--
LIVES OF EXEMPLARY WOMEN.
Messrs. ROBERTS BROTHERS are publishing a series of Lives of ExemplaryWomen, uniform in style and price.
Memoirs and Correspondence of Madame Recamier. Translated from theFrench and edited by Miss LUYSTER. with a fine portrait of MadameRecamier. Sixth edition. One handsome 12mo volume. Price $2.00.
"Her own contributions to it are exceedingly brief; but herindividuality permeates the whole work, and gives it unity. She wasundoubtedly a woman of genius: but it was in her life alone--in hernoble friendships, in her unselfish devotion to all bound to her by anyties--that gave her genius expression; and it is only fair, therefore,that she should attain immortality, not through the labor of her ownspirit, but rather through the praise of those by whom she was so wellbeloved."--_Virginia Vaughan in the Leader._
Life and Letters of Madame Swetchine. By Count de FALLOUX. Translatedby Miss PRESTON. Fourth edition. In 1 vol. 12mo. Price $2.00.
"The 'Life and Letters of Madame Swetchine' is a companion volume to'Madame Recamier;' and both works give us two phases of contemporaryParis life, and two characters, that, with some accidentalresemblances, present strong points of contrast.
"The social influence both women exercised was good; but, when wecompare the two, Madame Recamier's sinks to a much lower level. She(Madame R.) was gentle and kind, ready to sacrifice herself to anyextent to advance the material influence of her friends, but she wasessentially a worldly woman; whereas Madame Swetchine was 'in theworld, but not of it.' She exerted an immense spiritual as well asintellectual influence on all who approached her, and raised herfriends to her own level. Madame Recamier made her associates _pleased_with themselves, whilst Madame Swetchine taught hers to _forget_themselves.
"As a biography, the Life of Madame Swetchine is more satisfactory, andmuch better written; that of Madame Recamier is fuller of personalanecdote respecting distinguished persons, and, as a book of reference,is more valuable. We frequently meet the same people in each,and, in this respect, they serve to illustrate and explain eachother."--_Providence Journal._
The Friendships of Women. By Rev. W. R. ALGER. Fourth edition. 1 vol.12mo. Price $2.00.
"Mr. Alger is among our most diligent students and earnest thinkers;and this volume will add to the reputation he has fairly earned as theoccupant of quite a prominent place in American literature. He deservesall the popularity he has won; for, always thoughtful, sincere, andexcellent of purpose with his pen, he allows no success to seduce himinto any content with what he has already accomplished. His'Friendships of Women,' for many reasons, will have a wide circle ofreaders, and cannot fail to increase our sense of the worth of humannature, as it enthusiastically delineates some of its most elevatedmanifestations. By telling what woman has been, he tells what woman maybe,--intellectually as well as morally, in the beauty of her mind aswell as in the affections of her heart and the loveliness of herperson."--_Salem Gazette._
Sainte Beuve's Portraits of Celebrated Women. To match "MadameRecamier," "Madame Swetchine," "The Friendships of Women." In 1 vol.12mo. Price $2.00.
"The women whose 'portraits' are given in this handsome volume areMesdames de Sevigne, de La Fayette, de Souza, Roland, de Staeel, deDuras, de Remusat, de Krudenor, and Guizot. Most of these names willhave a familiar look and sound to 'well-read' young ladies; but howmany of the latter could give, without special preliminary cramming,any, even the most superficial, account of the life of any one of thesewomen,--how she live
d, what part she played in social or politicallife, what books she wrote, what were her excellences and faults, aswell of character as of style? Those who could not, will do well to buythis book, and give it a careful reading. Besides adding to theirknowledge of history, they will learn that there have been women,French women at that, who were neither butterflies nor drones, whoselives were wider than the ball-room or the nursery, who used theiropportunities to become something and to do something in the world,and who still live in their writings and in the talk of cultivatedmen."--_Hartford Courant._
The Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Edited, with a Memoir, byMrs. SARAH J. HALE. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth gilt. Price $2.00.
LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU.--"The female wit of the days of Pope;benefactress of the species. Thy prose is admirable, better than acute,idiomatical, off-hand, conversational, without inelegance, fresh as thelaugh on the young cheek, and full of brain. Admirable thou wert, andever wilt thou be thought so."--_Leigh Hunt._
The Letters of Madame de Sevigne to her Daughter and Friends. Edited,with a Memoir, by Mrs. SARAH J. HALE. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth gilt. Price$2.00.
MADAME DE SEVIGNE:--"The moment her name is mentioned, we think of themother who loved her daughter; of the most charming of letter-writers;of the ornament of an age of license, who incurred none of itsill-repute; of the female who has become one of the classics of herlanguage, without effort and without intention."--_Leigh Hunt._
MESSRS. ROBERTS BROTHERS publish--
ECCE HOMO. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.50. WHERE IS THE CITY? $1.50. ECCE DEUS. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.50. HEAVEN OUR HOME. $1.25. THE PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID, $2.00. MEET FOR HEAVEN. $1.25. THE PILLAR OF FIRE. $2.00. LIFE IN HEAVEN. $1.25. THE THRONE OF DAVID. $2.00.
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Das landhaus am Rhein. English Page 215