The Nameless Castle | Page 3

low, to the pages of his romances and dramas with a brilliancy and
mastery of style that captivated the people, whose idol he still remains.
Scenes from Turkish life--in which, next to Hungarian, he is
particularly interested; historical novels, romances of pure imagination,
short tales, dramatic works, essays on literature and social questions,
came pouring from his surcharged brain and heart. The very virtues of
his work, its intensity, and the boundless scope of its imagination,
sometimes produce a lack of unity and an improbability to which the
hypercritical in the West draw attention with a sense of superior
wisdom; but the Hungarians themselves, who know whereof he writes,
can see no faults whatever in his work. It is essentially idealistic; the
true and the beautiful shine through it with radiant lustre, in sharp
distinction from the scenes of famine and carnage that abound. His
Turkish stories have been described as "full of blood and roses."
Of his more mature productions, the best known are: "A Magyar
Nabob"; "The Fools of Love"; "The New Landlord"; "Black
Diamonds"; "A Romance of the Coming Century"; "Handsome
Michael"; "God is One," in which the Unitarians play an important part;
"The Nameless Castle," that gives an account of the Hungarian army
employed against Napoleon in 1809; "Captive Ráby," a romance of the
times of Joseph II.; and "As We Grow Old," the latter being the author's

own favorite and, strangely enough, the people's also. Dr. Jókai greatly
deplores that what the critics call his best work should not have been
given to the English-speaking people.
In 1896 Hungary celebrated the completion of his fifty years of literary
labor by issuing a beautiful jubilee edition of his works, for which the
people of all grades of society subscribed $100,000. Every county in
the country sent him memorials in the form of albums wrought in gold
and precious stones, two hundred of these souvenirs filling one side of
the author's large library and reception-room. Low bookcases running
around the walls are filled only with his own publications, the various
editions of his three hundred and fifty books making a large library in
themselves. The cabinets hold sketches and paintings sent by the artists
of Hungary as a jubilee gift; there are cases containing carvings,
embroidery, lace, and natural-history specimens sent him by the
peasants, and orders in gold and silver, studded with jewels, with
autograph letters from the kings and queens of Europe. In the midst of
all this inspiring display of loving appreciation, Dr. Jókai has his desk;
a pile of neatly written, even manuscript ever before him, for in his
seventy-fourth year he still feels the old-time passion for work calling
him to it early in the morning and holding him in its spell all the day
long. A small room adjoining his library contains the books of
reference he consults, a narrow bed like a soldier's, and a few window
plants. It might be the room of a monk, so bare is it of what the world
calls comforts. One devoted man-servant attends to Dr. Jókai's simple
wants with abundant leisure to spare.
While in Budapest Dr. Jókai is seldom seen away from home, except in
Parliament, where he has a seat in the Upper House, or at the theatre
where his plays are regularly performed, or at the table of a few dear
relatives and old-time friends. His life is exceedingly simple and well
ordered.
Just a little way back on the hills that rise beyond Buda, across the
Danube and overlooking wide stretches of beautiful, fertile country,
stands Dr. Jókai's summer-home. His garden is a paradise. Quantities of
roses climb over the unpretentious house, the paths are lined with them;

gay beds of poppies and other familiar favorites in our Western gardens,
but many new to American eyes, crowd the fruit that grows in
delightful abundance everywhere, for Dr. Jókai tends his garden with
his own hands, and his horticultural wisdom is only second to his
knowledge of the Turkish wars. His apples, pears, and roses win prizes
at all the shows, and his little book, "Hints on Gardening," propagates a
large crop of like-minded enthusiasts year after year. Now, as ever, any
knowledge he has he shares with the people. After a long life of bitter
stress and labor, abundant peace has come in the latter days.
Hungary boasts four great men: Liszt, Munkacsy, Kossuth, and Jókai,
who was the intimate friend of the other three.
NELTJE BLANCHAN.
NEW YORK, JUNE, 1898.

CONTENTS
I CYTHERA'S BRIGADE II THE HOME OF ANECDOTE III THE
MISTRESS OF THE CATS IV SATAN LACZI V ANGE
BARTHELMY VI DEATH AND NEW LIFE IN THE NAMELESS
CASTLE VII THE HUNGARIAN MILITIA VIII KATHARINA OR
THEMIRE? IX SATAN AND DEMON X CONCLUSION


PART I
CYTHERA'S