Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/352

 3i6

��Town and City Histories.

��[May,

��plenty, though historically of little value.

St. Louis is more plentifully supplied with histories than any other Western city, and these histories are as much worse as they are more numerous. One of these deserves notice, from the fact that its title-page so ridiculously and exasperatingly misrepresents its contents. This page reads as follows : " Edwards's Great West and her Com- mercial Metropolis, embracing a com- plete History of St. Louis, from the landing of Ligueste, in 1764, to the present time ; with portraits and biog- raphies of some of the old settlers, and many of the most prominent business men. By Richard Edwards and M. Hopewell, m.d. Splendidly illustrated. i860. $5." This seemed to promise well, but when we turned the page and read the introduction, our expectations were, to say the least, somewhat shaken, and our sense of the eternal fitness of things somewhat shocked, when we found the citizens of St. Louis called " a powerful Maecenas." Shade of Virgil ! What a profanation !

Any book that is preceded by a ded- ication, a preface, an introduction, and a full-page portrait of the author (with a big A), must, in the very nature of things, be a monstrosity. But, leaving these anomalies out of account, in the present instance, the composition of the book is sufficient proof that the epithet is not undeserved. " And this is so, for," — as Herodotus would say, — in a book called Edwards's Great West, the " Great West " is summarily and mercilessly disposed of in just five pages. Then follow eighty-two pages of biographies and portraits, ingenious- ly defended by the author as follows : " Biographies of those who have be- come identified with the progress of

��the great city, who have guarded and directed its business currents year by year, swelling with the elements of prosperity, and who have left the im- press of their genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of the State, must be sought after with avid- ity, and must be fraught with useful instruction." There is no question that these biographies are fraught with use- ful instruction — all biographies are ; but to assert that they must be sought after with avidity is a little too much to be swallowed. Such assertions show either deplorable ignorance or unwarrantable misrepresentation of human nature, and in this case we are convinced it must be the latter. Ed- wards knew perfectly well — for he seems to have been sane — that nobody but the subjects of these biographies would seek them " with avidity," and he made these plausible, bombastic assertions to excuse himself for having sprung such a trap on an unsuspecting public. That he tries to palliate the offence is sufficient proof of his guilt.

Mark what he says about the " splen- didly illustrated " portion of his book. " It will be a source of satisfaction to the reader," says he, " that the engrav- ings of individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by the flighty imagina- tion from airy nothingness, but repre- sent the lineaments of men," etc. " Airy nothingness " is refreshing !

Part n, also, is almost wholly de- voted to biographies, one batch being introduced with this sage remark : " Biography is the most important feature of history ; for the record of the lives of individuals appears to be invested with more vitality and interest than the dry details of general historical narrative." Q. E. D. — of course. With Part III we reach the history of

�� �