The October number of the Atlantic is full of interest to Harvard students, containing, as it does, contributions by Professors Palmer and Royce and by John Fiske, Moreover we are tempted to recognize under the pseudonym of "Hope Notnor" the talented sister of our professor of the History of Art.
Professor Palmer's article on "Hexameters and Rythmic Prose" was suggested, as members of the classical club will remember, by the discussion which followed the reading, at a meeting of that club, of Mr. Lawton's "Homeric Girl," afterwards published in the Atlantic. Professor Palmer argues that the dactylic metre is one inconsistent with the nature of the English language. When we translate Homer we unconsciously seek simple Anglo Saxon words and these are rarely dactylic. The author argues the superiority of rythmic prose and gives an example by a translation of his own from the twenty-third book of the Odyssey.
Professor Royce follows up his letter in a recent number of the Century with an article on General Fremont. Professor Royce's researches in Californian history have convinced him that General Fremont's achievements have been very much overestimated. In his history of California and in the recent Century letter he dealt heavy blows upon those who attempt to set Fremont on a pedestal for adoration as a here and the conqueror of California. The present article is no less vigorous than what he has already had to say upon the subject.
John Fiske's article is an historical account of "Benedict Arnold's Treason." Hope Notnor's essay, mentioned above, deals with the "Nieces of Madame de Montespan" J. Kirke Paulding contributes a summary of the biography of Johannes Butzbach of Miltenberg, who lived in the sixteenth century and whose struggles in search of an education form interesting reading. Other noticeable articles are by E. P. Evans on Ibsen, and by Sarah Orne Jewett-a story named "By the Morning Boat." The serials meander along as usual and there is the usual supply of book criticisms and of verse.
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