into them abound on every page, but there is no parade of learning, and the discussion is pre-eminently earnest and candid. Their chief aim is to be practically useful to ministers of the Gospel and Christians generally. [Scribner, 12mo, $2.00.]

It is stimulating to most minds to have some one else look about on life and sum up in a pleasant way many of those facts, of small import seemingly in themselves, and yet, as bearing upon character, of vital significance. E. Conder Gray, an Englishman, who has evidently read widely and wisely, has just given us a book On Making the Best of Things, and Other Essays-Idle Musings, in which he has entertainingly pointed many of his morals with illustrative citations from famous think

Clinton Scollard is the author of a pleasantly written volume, Under Summer Skies, in which the sights of Cairo and some of the incidents of travel in Egypt and Palestine are described with a picturesque and sympathetic touch. The scenes in the streets and bazaars of the city are written about in a way that is both entertaining and instructive, and the author succeeds in conveying a decided sense of the dreamy languor and singularly fascinating atmosphere of this Oriental capital.

From "Famous European Artists."

T. Y. Crowell & Co.

SIR EDWIN LANDSEER.

The illustrations are an important part of the book, which in its arrangement and manufacture reveals an artistic taste. [Welch, Fracker Co., 12mo, $1.25.]

Among writers of observation and travel Maturin M. Ballou has attained a very enviable position. He is one of the few travellers whose recorded comment and judgment are certain to secure a wide reading. His latest volume deals with a country in which Americans are becoming more deeply interested as their relations with it commercially become more important. Under the title of Aztec Land Mr. Ballou recounts the incidents and observations of a journey in Mexico, noting with the trained eye of a traveller and jotting down with the trained hand of a writer those things which are salient in the landscape, the character, and the life of our nearest neighbor on the South. What such an observer as Mr. Ballou sees is not, of course, the springs of character nor the interior work

ings of national forces and impulses, but a great variety of aspects and phenomena, which, taken together, convey a clear and comprehensive impression of a people. Philosophy comes after collocation of facts, and Mr. Ballou is one of those writers who furnish us with the materials for forming our own conclusions. He does not omit characterization of the people, but his work is strong in keen observation of their peculiarities, habits, social life, moral ideals, religious observances, rural customs, agricultural methods, political organization. Without making any pretence to the elegance of a fine literary quality, Mr. Ballou's narrative is clear, direct, always interesting, and at times picturesque and vivid. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 12m0, $1.50.]

When the death of Mr. Browning was announced by cable there appeared in the columns of the Nation a characterization of the poet which attracted instant attention and drew, it is reported, from the foremost American critic the opinion that it was the best account of the poet which had come from America. Those who knew the circumstances held the article in greater regard because of the rapidity with which it had been prepared. Yet there was no touch of haste in it; it had

rather the assurance of tone and the firmness of judgment which belong to long matured and carefully executed work. This striking piece of criticism appears in a volume of kindred studies by Mr. George Edward Woodberry, which bears the title of Studies in Letters and Life. The study of Browning fairly illustrates the critical and literary quality of the volume and continues the disclosure of severe training, high standards and painstaking workmanship which were evident in Mr. Woodberry's "Edgar Allan Poe" and in his more recent volume of verse, "The North Shore Watch." A marked inclination for thorough technical skill and finish, an instinct for what is exact and carefully wrought in form, and an intellectual insight rather than profound and moving sympathy characterize Mr. Woodberry's work. Swiftness, fluency, and spontaneity are almost entirely absent from it; scholarly thoroughness, precision of expression and wellcalculated balance and proportion of parts are everywhere noticeable. It is with Letters rather than with Life that Mr. Woodberry is chiefly concerned. The range of his themes is considerable and includes Browning, Landor, Keats, Crabbe, Shelley, Bunyan, Cowper and Byron, while the "Illustrations of Idealism” drawn from sculpture and literature, reveal his trained æsthetic perception. This volume is the work of a highly educated and meditative mind, sensitive to finesse and beauty of thought and form; a mind drawn to the best things

and rejoicing in the exactions which beset their attainment; a trained and cultivated rather than an original and creative mind. It is a wholesome sign of the times that sound workmanship has such reverence at Mr. Woodberry's hands, and there is much to encourage the hope that he will take the step which still lies between what he has done and the most vital and virile work. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 12mo, $1.25.]

Introduction to Philosophy, by Professor George T. Ladd, of Yale University, is not an elementary work, as its name might imply, but a broad and comprehensive review of the intended for advanced students who are alwhole field of philosophical research, and is ready somewhat acquainted with the different branches of mental and moral science. It views all these branches from historical, expository, and critical standpoints, examines the nature and contents of each, and shows the relations which exist between the various branches. The author's style is marked for its breadth of thought, and its clearness, conciseness, and simplicity in dealing with profound and abstruse subjects. Professor Ladd is a thorough master in every department of philosophy and more than a mere commentator,

for in the course of his examination of the various branches and schools of philosophy, a system of philosophy of his own has been suggested and sketched. This gives additional and almost unique position in philosophical interest to a work which occupies an important literature. [Scribner, 8v0, $3.00.]

A distinguished critic has said that the defect in the Celtic character is the lack of the instinct for organization, and has endeavored to prove this proposition by citing the history of the Irish and the Scottish highlanders. The latter especially have been notable for loyalty, devotion, imagination, and courage, but the ideal to which all these qualities have paid tribute has been the family and not the State, the clan and not the nation. Whether or not this generalization be true it goes far to explain the brilliant unrest of Scottish history, which has been rather a series of striking and roman tic episodes than a continuous development. The Story of Scotland from the Earliest Times to the Present Century, by James Mackintosh, LL.D., is a condensed narrative, full of impressive events and romantic interest, and full also of illustrations of that dauntless courage and unconquerable fidelity to conviction which are a part of the Scottish character. The story has often been told more picturesquely and vividly, but we doubt if it has anywhere been told more concisely and accurately. The strife of the clans, the evolution of a rude and unstable monarchy, the passions and

antagonisms of the nobles whose power was hardly less than that of the Sovereign, and whose pride was often greater, the long and futile struggle against the English-all these phases of Scottish history are presented with great clearness. The narrative, although so condensed that it necessarily misses somewhat of the romantic and picturesque light which shines upon so many incidents in Scottish history, is by no means devoid of dramatic interest. Dr. Mackintosh's book has the admirable quality of condensing within reasonable compass a story to which most readers are unable to devote prolonged study. It is well illustrated. [Putnam, 12m0, $1.50.]

Richard Henry Stoddard's rank as a poet lends especial interest and value to The Lion's Cub, with Other Verse, in which are to be found the poems that he has written in recent years. The high qualities of Mr. Stoddard's verse-the broad view of life that it reflects, the profound thought that it embodies, the graceful and melodious form that it takes-are all well known to the lovers of poetry. Those, however, who are familiar with his work will be surprised, we think, in glancing over these pages, to discover the broad range of themes which his song covers. The reflective, lyric, legendary, dramatic, and narrative-these and variants of them are expressions of the poet's different moods, and they indicate in a somewhat remarkable way the range of his thought and the breadth of his sympathies. [Scribner, 12m0, $1.25.]

ex

Professor Henry Morley is a painstaking and indefatigable student of English literature, a scholar whose acquirements qualify him to speak with authority on all questions of literary history. The great work of his life will undoubtedly be the comprehensive and haustive history of our literature which he is now writing under the title of English Writers. The fifth volume, which has just come from the press, discloses a mastery of the entire period which it treats, and surpasses the earlier volumes in interest and importance. It is entirely devoted to Wyclif and Chaucer, and its nearly three hundred pages are crowded with facts which interpret and explain these two striking and significant figures in our early literary history. The story of Wyclif as a teacher and reformer is told with adequate fulness, and his characteristics and services as a writer are indicated with discrimination and generous appreciation. Professor Morley is at his best, however, in dealing with Chaucerone of those genial natures and wide-reaching, sunny minds which appeal to every man of imagination and heart. The wide interest in Chaucer, which has been one of the features of recent literary study, has borne ample fruit in

a large accumulation of material, both biographic and literary, and Professor Morley has availed himself of these researches to present a very comprehensive and detailed account of the poet's mind and work. The genesis of each work is indicated, the foreign influences are thoroughly discussed, and the historical data necessary to an understanding of Chaucer's principal poems are furnished. No compilation of knowledge relating to Chaucer, arranged and assimilated with sound judgment, is better adapted to the needs of the student than that which Professor Morley furnishes in this volume. [Cassell, 12m0, $1.25.]

The eighth volume in the Carisbrooke Library consists of A Survey of London, published in 1598 by John Stow, a patriotic Londoner, who, born in 1525, lived through the whole reign of Elizabeth and into that of James I., dying at Morley tells us in his introduction to the book, the age of eighty. A tailor by trade, as Mr. he early developed a taste for historical and antiquarian research, and became a collector of old books, records and manuscripts, which he used as a basis for his "Summary of English Chronicles." Of the first edition of this is in the British Museum. It was published in book there is only one copy existing, and that dated 1604, were also issued by him, embody1561, and ten subsequent editions, the last one The success of his venture led Stow to publish ing the annals of Queen Elizabeth's reign. in 1598 this Survey of London. He was the one Londoner who, in the reign of Elizabeth, made a thorough study of his native city and described all he knew of its history and present estate. About a quarter of the book is occupied with the record of such facts as the author could gather regarding the customs, usages and appearance of the city from the time of the Romans until his own day. Then he takes up each ward and tells what of interest is to be found in it, going into minute details about the origin of the public buildings, the streets, the markets, etc., and varying his description occasionally with some bit of legendary history or with some scrap of gossip that he had heard about this or that place. The whole is written in the simplest and purest of Elizabethan English.

In striking contrast to this picture of the town of London, with its incidental reflection of the life of the people, is the view that one gets in Ben Jonson's Masques, the ninth volume in the Carisbrooke Library, of the sort of entertainments that were provided for the court of Elizabeth's successor, James I. Of the masques there are twenty-nine, and Mr. Morley's introduction explains the occasions which they celebrated and the part which the Queen and her ladies and the King's courtiers

took in them. The first of these masques was produced on Twelfth Night in 1605, and the last on Shrove Tuesday, in 1630.

The tenth volume in the same series is Ireland Under Elizabeth and James the First, as described by the poet Spenser, Sir John Davies, Attorney-General for Ireland under James I., and by Fynes Moryson, Secretary to the Lord Deputy for Ireland. Spencer's review of the State of Ireland is in the form of a dialogue, and occupies nearly half of the book. [Routledge, 8vo, per vol., $1.00.]

The eighth volume of the Henry Irving Shakespeare brings to a completion a work which has fulfilled in every respect the promises of its projectors. No popular edition of Shakespeare's plays with which we are acquainted combines so many features likely to prove useful and valuable to the general reader. The reading and acting versions, which Mr. Irving has indicated by the use of brackets in the text; the historical, critical, and literary introductions to each play; the copious explanatory and critical notes; the maps and the lists of words used only in each play; the scores of full-page and text illustrations-these are the results of the labors of some of the foremost of English Shakespearean scholars, while Mr. Irving's and the late Mr. Frank Marshall's share in the preparation of the volumes is of especial value, because of the fact that until they undertook the task there had never been an editor of Shakespeare who was himself a playwright with a full knowledge of the practical working of the stage. The present volume is noteworthy in that it contains a general introduction by Professor Edward Dowden, one of the best known of Shakesperean scholars, who states what is known of the poet's life, and discusses his plays at some length. The more famous portraits of Shakespeare, with the Stratford bust, are reproduced, and the volume includes much other interesting matter. The plays that form the body of the volume are "Hamlet," "Henry VIII.," and "Pericles," which are followed by the poems. [Scribner and Welford, 8vo, $3.00.]

The history of American Christianity was the theme which Dr. S. D. McConnell first had in mind to write, but he decided that the undertaking was too great, and the time not ripe. We have, therefore, in its place a History of the American Episcopal Church from the Planting of the Colonies to the End of the Civil War. With an eloquent enthusiasm the learned rector of St. Stephen's relates in a clear and well-ordered narrative, with moderate yet loyal spirit, the history of the vicissitudes and the struggles of his church throughout the various periods of American history, its planting in the colonies, its influence

upon those among whom it has wrought, its growth and expansion, and the relation in which it has stood to the great moral and social questions of our times. He speaks with great candor of the shortcomings of the Episcopal church, and fairly estimates the character of the different religious bodies with which it has come in contact. As a chapter in the history of American Christianity the book has a definite value for all readers, and its learning and attractive style render it eminently readable. [Whittaker, 12m0, $2.00.]

A little flexible-covered book that is at once a guide and a prettily illustrated souvenir is Quaint London, by "Old Mortality," describing a number of relics of the old city which are well worth looking up. The places and objects are of decided historical interest, but they are unknown to most residents of as well as visitors to London. They include Goldsmith's monument in the Inner Temple, St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, Tallow Chandler's Hall, the "Old Bell," an inn in Holborn, Barnard's Inn, also in Holborn, and Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn, the Charterhouse immortalized by Thackeray, York House and its Water Gate, the London Stone, and the old houses in Drury Lane, one of them built in the reign of Henry VII.-these are some of the places and sights that are described in a page or two each by the author. [Scribner & Welford, square 12mo, 50 cents.]

Francis C. Sessions, of Columbus, Ohio, President of the Ohio Historical and Archæological Society, has been travelling extensively of late, and, like so many others, has made books out of his observations and experiences. Two of these, From Yellowstone Park to Alaska and From the Land of the Midnight Sun to the Volga, are just published. Mr. Sessions has put down a great many facts of interest respecting the peoples and countries he has seen, and has combined them with commonplace observations that add little or nothing to the value of his record of travel. The publishers have made two handsome volumes, clearly printed on excellent paper and neatly bound in cloth. They are illustrated with a number of half-tone-plates. [Welch, Fracker Co., each 12mo, $1.50.]

Some very unusual verse is to be found in a daintily dressed volume entitled A Little Brother of the Rich, and Other Verses, by Edward Sanford Martin. They are not all vers de société. Some of them have a more serious motive, and Mr. Martin is as successful in being grave without affectation as in being gay without frivolity. There are various parodies in which the feeling for burlesque is agreeably kept within the limits of decorum,

though the poet's talent for literary bouffe of a high order is unmistakable. A quaint flavor pervades the volume and unifies a great variety and wide range of topics and treatment. Technically the verses" are not only impeccable but extremely felicitous, and many conceits are so clever in themselves and so cleverly expressed that they are sure to remain in the memory of the appreciative reader. There are some fifty poems, and besides the title poem, "A Mortifying Subject," "Revulsion," and Throwing Stones" may be signalized as examples of the author's happiest vein. [Scribner, 12mo, $1.25.]

RECENT FICTION.

Encouraged no doubt by the popular success of "The Master of the Magicians," Mr. and Mrs. Ward have made another Biblical story or incident the theme of a romance. Come Forth deals with one of the most striking episodes in the New Testament; it reaches its climax in the astounding scene at the grave of Lazarus. The man to whom the incommunicable experience of resurrection had come is the hero of this romance, in which Mary and Martha are leading figures. The authors of this story were certainly courageous when they selected these ancient and familiar characters, this ancient and marvellous story, for modern treatment, and the judgment of their work will depend largely on the feeling of the individual reader. It must be conceded, however, even by those who shrink from this effort to realize to the imagination these far-off and sacred persons, that the work has been done with entire reverence. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 12mo, $1.25.]

Into her last novel, Blind Fate, Mrs. Alexander weaves love, jealousy, and murder in about equal proportions. In marrying pretty but penniless Mabel Wynn, Colonel Callander incurred his mother's extreme displeasure. The arrogant old woman could never endure his gentle young wife, and with her insinuations succeeded in arousing her son's jealousy of the friendship existing between Mabel and her former guardian, Paul Standish. One morning the young wife is found dead in her bed, and the rest of the story is devoted to the tracing of her murderer and to her sister Dorothy's love affair with Standish. [Holt, 16mo, $1.00.]

The marked individuality of Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's style is not less evident in Ascutney Street than in her earlier stories. The characters are strongly marked; the descriptions are keen, pungent, and betray an instinct for seeing things which entirely escape common observa

tion; the dialogue is clever, epigrammatic, sometimes a little artificial. Mrs. Whitney sees people and places in high light; every object in her landscape stands out with the utmost distinctness; all her characters are accentuated in the portrayal. Ascutney Street" lies in so strong a light that the little thoroughfare seems very real to us, and the heroine gets our personal good wishes at the end of the story. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 12m0, $1.50.]

The many admirers of Miss Grace Denio collection of them to be found in the volume Litchfield's stories will be glad to have the

that bears the title of one of the best, Little Venice. An unusual grace of expression and refinement of sentiment characterize all of Miss Litchfield's work. Besides the title story there are: "Selina's Singular Marriage;'

Myrtle; A True Story in Two Parts;" "One Chapter;" "An American Flirtation;" "La Rochefoucauld's Saying;"" Hilary's Husband," and "The Price I Paid for a Set of Ruskin." Most of these have appeared in the magazines. [Putnam, 16m0, $1.00.]

A holiday edition, printed on heavy paper in large type, of Bulwer Lytton's "Last Days of Pompeii" contains thirty-five full-page illustrations from drawings by Frank Kirch

bach and others. Some of the most dramatic scenes of the famous novel are used as the subjects of the illustrations, which are drawn with power and grace. [Routledge, 8vo, $3.]

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

Professor N. S. Shaler's popular account of some familiar geological phenomena, entitled Aspects of the Earth, is issued in a new and cheaper edition, with all of the illustrations that gave distinction to the earlier edition. [Scribner, 8vo, $2.50.]

The late Eugene Schuyler's famous biography, Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, is published in a new and cheaper edition, the two hundred beautiful illustrations of the original and more expensive edition being retained. [Scribner, 2 vols., 8vo, $6.00.]

Mrs. Burton Harrison's collection of delightful fairy tales, Bric-à-Brac Stories, with the illustrations by Walter Crane, the English artist, is published in a new and cheaper edition that will be welcomed by thousands of young readers. [Scribner, 12m0, $1.50.]

A new edition of E. T. W. Hoffmann's Weird Tales is published, with the addition of eleven superb etchings by the celebrated French artist, Ad. Lalauze, who has seized upon some of the dramatic and picturesque incidents in