not professedly a boy's book, this volume, by its style and general treatment, will be most acceptable to boys, and may well be read by them. General Rodenbough, recognizing the fact that the medals have not been given publicly, yet are witnesses to real bravery and daring, has taken pains to get at the stories which tell why in each case the medal was given. The result is a spirited and worthy book of heroic deeds.

Biography. The Two Spies, Nathan Hale and John André, by Benson J. Lossing. (Appleton.) We should hesitate a little about applying the term spy to André, though it was the honorable title worn by Hale. Mr. Lossing has brought together the facts regarding the two men, and presented them in his customary manner, which is that of a man unfailingly interested in historic anecdote and generously devoted to his country's honor. - Memoirs of the Rev. J. Lewis Diman, D. D., compiled from his letters, journals, and writings, and the recollections of his friends, by Caroline Hazard. (Houghton.) Miss Hazard has fulfilled an important task in combining that fine influence which Dr. Diman's personality effected during his lifetime. The familiar yet not too intimate narrative of a scholar's life, while it does not stir one with trumpet notes, bears a most gracious lesson and stimulus to those who, regardless of fame and worldly applause, are faithful to that call which bids them work in the upper air of philosophy and theology. Dr. Diman at the time of his death was just beginning to receive from the public that recognition which his fine powers and scholarly work had won from his peers, and had he lived a longer life the portion narrated in this book would still have had the greatest interest. Miss Hazard has shown good taste and decorous reserve in her part of the work. Susanna Wesley, by Eliza Clarke (Roberts), a volume in the Famous Women Series. The mother of the Wesleys did not belie the common saying that mind is from the mother. She lived so long into the fame of her sons that their life is reflected somewhat in hers, and thus this volume, besides portraying the character of an uncommon woman, throws some light also on her more noted sons. glimpses one gets of English middle-class life in the eighteenth century are very interesting, and it may be said in general that the author has shown good judgment in selecting those incidents which show the Wesleys in all their relations, and not only on the strictly religious side. Memoir of William Henry Channing, by Octavius Brooks Frothingham. (Houghton.)

The

The absence for many years from America of W. H. Channing, as well as the overshadowing influence of his uncle's name, have served somewhat to obscure the general fame of a

notable man, and Mr. Frothingham has done well in recording his life, both for what it was in itself and for its representative character, since Channing was an important person in many social and religious reforms here and in England. The narrative contains incidentally many interesting pictures of life in Cambridge, Boston, Cincinnati, and other places during a very formative period of American society, and for this reason, if no other, will reward the reader who may have slight interest in theological matters.

Character Por

History and Biography. traits of Washington, selected and arranged by W. S. Baker (R. M. Lindsay), is an admirably conceived compilation, the purpose of which is to present Washington as he was seen and known by his contemporaries, and to indicate the impression which his character has made upon later writers and students of history. The period covered is from 1778 to 1885, the first selection being from James Thacher and the last from Robert C. Winthrop. There are eighty selections in all, each of which is accompanied by a brief and carefully prepared biographical note touching the writer. The volume is handsomely printed, and completes Mr. Baker's valuable trilogy, the two previous works being Engraved Portraits of Washington and Medallic Portraits of Washington. - Dorothy Wordsworth, The Story of a Sister's Love, by Edmund Lee (Dodd, Mead & Co.), is an appreciative collection of reminiscences of an amiable and interesting woman. Unfortunately for her and us, and for Mr. Lee himself, he writes second-class English.The Chief Periods of European History, by Edward A. Freeman (Macmillan & Co.), embraces the six lectures delivered by Mr. Freeman before the University of Oxford in 1885, supplemented by his paper on Greek Cities under Roman Rule.

Poetry. Brander Matthews's Ballads of Books (Coombes) is a delightful edition of original and selected verse on bibliographical themes; delightful so far as it goes, but it by no means exhausts the field. Every verse-lover will think of ten or twenty poems that should have place in such an anthology. For instance, there is nothing in Mr. Matthews's volume so good as Lowell's The Nightingale in the Study.

An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry, by Hiram Corson, LL. D. (Heath & Co.), is a book that will commend itself to every lover of the greatest living English poet. Professor Corson, however, is a critic to whom even Browning's faults are so many evidences of genius. - White, Stokes, and Allen have issued an exquisitely printed little volume containing the poems of Sir John Suckling, with preface and explanatory notes by Frederick A. Stokes.