376 Rcviezus of Books Without this man the history of Boston would be less worthy than it is ; and his uplifting influence reached far over the nation and beyond the sea. J. P. QUINCY. A Life of Francis Pavkiuan. By Charles Haight Farnham. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1900. Pp. xv, 394.) At first glance, Mr. Farnham's Life of Francis Parkman must be disturbing to those who knew how slight was Parkman's patience with the vagaries of New England philosophy. When in the authorized biography of such a man you find a whole section devoted to what the table of con- tents calls his " spiritual growth," and when this section is formally preceded by others on the man "as seen in his works," and on his "pre- paration," you half dread to read, fearing lest you shall find the outlines of an heroic life weakened and distorted by sentimentality. This super- ficial aspect of Mr. Farnham's book deserves remark, because its very superficiality makes it salient. In truth it is almost the only fault of a work which should come to be recognized as a masterpiece of literary portraiture. The merit of this work is the more unusual if, as the terms of its plan suggest, Mr. Farnham is temperamentally disposed to sympathize with Transcendentalism, and with Reform, and with whatever else tended romantically and ardently to disintegrate that sturdy old New England in whose later days Parkman found his own sympathies increasingly con- servative. But, after all, Mr. Farnham shows qualities which could counterbalance any temperamental bias. In the first place, he has an ex- ceptional power of placing himself in cordial sympathy with his immedi- ate subject ; in the second, he has a still more exceptional power of seek- ing only to perceive the truth and to set it forth truthfully. From this results a style at once unobtrusive and efficient. You are rarely aware of Mr. Farnham's phrasing ; you are never at a loss to understand what he means. From beginning to end of his book you are in the presence of the remarkable personality which this work will keep alive for those who care to know it. The vividness of Mr. Farnham's portrait any one must feel. To appreciate its fidelity one must perhaps have had the happiness to know Parkman with some approach to familiarity. Except in its more personal aspects his life was uneventful. Its incidents were only those of a cease- less struggle with physical and mental obstacles which would have proved fatal to almost any courage but his. The historical work which he ac- complished every one knows. What can truly be known only to the comparatively few who chanced to meet him in his later years is the strong, uncompromising, unmistakable individuality of his character. Amid the same persistent braveries which brought into being the master- pieces of our historical literature, this grew to its ripeness. One's memory of Parkman can never be confused with any other ; it is at once human and heroic, affectionate and inspiring. Above all, it is distinc*- ineffaceable.
