fer American books that are American, and English books that are English. To these that are neither one thing nor the other large pages and small paper, English spelling and American imprint-we are not yet reconciled.

ABBOTT'S COMMENTARIES.*

ers who wish in the students' hands the merest dry-bones of a subject and know how

so many aids to the interpretation of the
New Testament it would be discreditable in
our day to produce an inaccurate commenta- to clothe them with living flesh and blood in
ry. But the evidences of painstaking care the class-room or laboratory, will find it well
which abound in all the volumes now noticed adapted to its general purpose. The claim
give the student a welcome assurance that of the writer to have presented "only such
he has a competent guide. Dr. Abbott fol- facts as are of fundamental importance,"
lows Alford, but only as a main help. Hack- seems to be realized, and the result is as

worthy.

THESE volumes are part of a series de- ett's mark is seen in the Notes upon the clear and accurate an outline of the present signed to cover the New Testament. Acts. The text is enriched by independent science of vertebrates as could well be exAt least three questions will be asked con- criticism. The great critical authorities are pected in 134 small pages. The sixty illuscerning them by that portion of the religious used. In a book for family use it is a ques-trations are commonplace enough, but will public for which they are especially prepared: |tion whether there is not an error on the be amply sufficient if the important direction Are they "orthodox ?" Are they accurate? side of new renderings. The reference of the author is heeded, to verify all the Are they needed? passages are well chosen, full, and trust- facts from typical specimens. The classification is, perhaps, sufficiently up with the times, though some of our late zoologists A serious would criticise on that score. omission is a tabulated view of the classification of the whole sub-kingdom. The book is provided with a good index and a glossary of the technical terms not defined in the text. The Astronomy is a clear and compact work, though not so sharply and accurately written as the Vertebrates.

Perhaps there is no better answer for the first question than the author's statements upon doctrines at the present time in controversy. Among these are the Atonement, Inspiration, and the Future State. Upon the Atonement he says:

"The sins of the world are put away by Christ, not merely through the influence of his life, teachings, and example, but by his blood poured out for a sinful world.—Commentary on Matthew, p. 286.

The discussion of Inspiration in the introduction to Matthew is full and admirable. In discussing Punishment Dr. Abbott favors the Annihilationist views of Constable and others. Upon Matthew xxv: 46, he remarks: "The phrase everlasting punishment implies that the result, not the punishment, will be everlasting."

He questions whether there will be positive infliction.

any

Upon the words, "depart from me," in Matthew vii: 23, he comments:

"Observe... that the sentence, as recorded in Rev. xxii : 11, is a simple fixing, eternally and irreversibly of the character formed here."

The following note upon Luke xii: 47, , 48, teaches a limited doctrine of restorationism: "The passage certainly teaches that there are degrees of punishment in the future life; and it seems to me, therefore, necessarily, to imply that all who are punished in the future are not eternally punished."

In interpreting passages like the 25th chapter of Matthew, Dr. Abbott rejects the theory of the premillenarians. His manner here, however, is doubtful and hesitating Baptism receives a full and circumspect treatment. The passages in the Acts, used by Pedobaptists as proof-texts against the immersionist view, and in favor of infant baptism, are abandoned to the Baptist interpreters. To some this will be unsatisfactory. Not less unsatisfactory to others will be the statement that the Acts gives us no theory of church government, and was not designed to do so. These views upon baptism, church government, and millenarianism do not impeach Dr. Abbott's orthodoxy. Of his treatment of Future Punishment less can be said.

We pass to the point of accuracy. With

* Illustrated Commentaries upon Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Acts. By Rev. Lyman Abbott. A. S. Barnes & Co.

It assumes a

The third question, Is this Commentary needed? will not detain us long. For family use it has had so far no real competitor, while it is sufficiently full for teachers, and for the ordinary use of many clergymen. It is attractive. Its size is handy. It is well printed. It is written with that clearness of style so admirably illustrated in the author's Dictionary of Religious Knowledge and other works. Considering the quantity of knowledge of the first three books of Euclid, matter, it is a cheap work. Beyond any and the student who wants a concise view of other commentary within our knowledge it the subject from the mathematical standis readable. The range of authors quoted point will find himself reasonably satisfied. is exceptionally wide, Leighton, Arnot, Jere- The almost entire absence of descriptive. my Taylor, Binney, Brougham, Bentham, astronomy will render the book dull to the John Woolman, Burke, Shakespeare, are average student and teacher, and it is to be names selected at random. The Gazetteer regretted that a little keener condensation is an excellent feature. The introductions did not leave room for some pages of this and special essays are carefully prepared, more popular matter. full, and valuable. The pictures are new, and they illustrate the text. Many of them are works of art.

With so many attractive features these books will interest children. They will help to make home study of the Bible a delight. While for Sabbath-school teachers and scholars, it would be difficult to find another work combining so many of the essentials of a good commentary.

MINOR NOTICES.

as a

History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio. [Williams Brothers, Philadelphia.] Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, form part of the Western Reserve. They lie side by side, or rather one above the other, next to the Lake Shore, just to the east of the city of Cleveland. They comprise between them some twenty-four townships, of which the most important seems to be Painesville. The work before us, in its corporeal aspect, is broad, square, and flat, like most of the townships it covers. It is similiarly broad Zoology of the Vertebrates. By Alex. Mac-in its scope, and "square" in its intention alister, M. D. Revised for American stu- and performance, but far from "flat dents by Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr. [Henry piece of reading matter. Indeed, though Holt & Co.] Astronomy. By R. S. Hall. we never set foot in either of the counties Specially revised for America by Simon named, and perhaps never shall, we have Newcomb. [Henry Holt & Co.] These been not a little entertained in looking over two little books form the advance of a its pages. Its historical introduction, on the new series of "Handbooks for Students settlement of the region by pioneers from and General Readers;" convenient in size, Connecticut; the annals of the town, includand well-printed and bound; intended, as ing all the details which enter into town life the publishers state, to be "intermediate and character; and the biographies of leadbetween the so-called 'primers' and the ing citizens, old and young, dead and living; larger works presenting detailed views of all these points have interested us in turn. the respective subjects." The volume on The numerous views and portraits interZoology is not another of the mass of pic-spersed, on steel, wood, and stone by turns, ture-books of science that so cumber our add much distinctness to the record, and the schools, but dry, unrelieved fact and state- portraits give it quite a family character. We ment. The professor of book zoology will have been happy in making through their be disgusted with it at once; but the rapidly instrumentality the acquaintance of a large increasing number of really scientific teach-number of stalwart Ohio worthies.

The

a

collection of faces, as a whole, cannot be the State. Other essays treat of the influ- use of the word, and in this case the use is said to be one of beauty, but we doubt if ence and method of English studies, of the peculiarly appropriate in view of the fact there are many handsomer men in the relation between thought and expression in that the papers have an autobiographic cast, United States than Capt. S. L. Phelps, or their various aspects, and of scientific and and are in a sense a reflection and record of many dearer old ladies than Mrs. Maria popular education. Two successive papers the author's intellectual development, and so Bailey. Our tender salutations, madame; contrast indirectly the Puritan and the Afri- of the growth of his very valuable contribuand may your winning countenance gladden can types of mankind, the faults of the tions to contemporary science. Dr. Draper the Madisonites for years to come! To former being hidden beneath a rather indis- is not one of the most prominent, but he is Mr. J. Sedgebeer of Painesville we must criminate eulogy. The longest article in the one of the most eminent, of our physicists. award the prize for the most attractive book discusses the position of Coleridge in While other men have talked, he has toiled. homestead. The title-page of the work theology and philosophy, in which depart- While others have paused to reap and enjoy contains no author's name, but the publish- ments the author strangely fancies that his reward, he has pushed on into new fields of ers in a prefatory note acknowledge their influence will at last be most widely felt. exertion and achievement, and has been in a indebtedness to Hon. A. G. Riddle of Wash- The closing essay upon the Confessions of measure lost to sight by reason of his very ington, D. C., by whom a large part of it Augustine is reprinted from the author's advance beyond the sight-line of exploration. was written. Though a native of Massa- edition of that work published in 1859. The first photographic portrait from life was chusetts, and for some years a resident of made by him, and he was the first in AmerWashington, much of Mr. Riddle's life has Outlines of Ontological Science, or ica to give attention to the spectroscope. been spent in this section of Ohio, and here Philosophy of Knowledge and of Being. By His discoveries in the realms of light and was laid the scene of his very clever novel, Henry M. Day. [G. P. Putnam's Sons.] heat have been many and valuable, and his Bart Ridgeley. The importance of local The first impression concerning this book interest in philosophical history is well history is hardly to be overestimated, and is that the form is far superior to the known. The preface to the present work we are glad to see that the interior portions contents. The form is very elaborate; is an interesting summary, warmed with a of the country are attending to the provision and a glance at the table of contents pardonable pride, of the scientific service of of it. The form of this, however, which is awakens expectations which the work does a most useful life now drawing to a close. that of a huge atlas, might be improved. not meet. The author deals with Philo- The steel portrait, which appears as frontissophical Logic, Philosophical Psychology, piece, is an admirable likeness of one of the Literary Essays. By W. G. T. Shedd, Philosophical Theology and Philosophical most learned, modest, and genial of scienD. D. [Charles Scribner's Sons.] Pro-Cosmology; and though one's first impres- tific men. The papers which compose the fessor Shedd's newly-published series of sion is not entirely removed, it is modified bulk of the volume are held in a certain Literary Essays forms a companion-volume, by further reading. We doubt, however, unity by their relation to a common subject or sequel, to his Theological Essays which if the philosophical skeptic would be much of "radiant energy," and belong to the very were collected longer ago. Esthetics and disturbed by anything which is said. The highest class of scientific literature. They Literature furnish the subject of the later definition of knowledge as "a conscious embody the researches of a singularly keen series, as Theology and Philosophy had fur- identification of attribute with its subject," and patient mind, and are clothed in a style nished those of the earlier. Yet the "vari- is only a definition of the judgment, and of exceptional clearness and beauty. ety in the contents" of the two volumes is does not touch the skeptical question at all. their interest is chiefly for the advanced not so great as might at first be supposed. It expresses only the form of knowledge, student of physical law. In both, it is a theologian who writes, and and leaves its ontological validity undecided. the subject has for the most part a theolog. The relativist, also, could accept this definiical interest. The criticism even is not tion without in any way abandoning his Superfluous self-sacrifice has become of late primarily literary or aesthetic, but fits into a position that all knowledge is phenomenal. years so favorite a motif with novel writers, that theological system. Ruskin is not more In enumerating the objective conditions of their readers' sympathies are pretty well dulled truly an art critic, amid his widest digres- knowledge, the author makes no mention of both as to surprise or pity. We all know and sions in the fields of religious and political the most important, namely, the rationality are weary of the stricken and majestic hero, with thought, than Prof. Shedd is a theologian of the real. The entire frame work of the the brand of Cain upon his spotless brow, or the through all his digressions in the field of object is composed of rational relations; forger's ink on his innocent fingers, who substiletters. We dwell upon this fact from no and the rational idealist might complain tutes himself for a guilty parent, brother, granddisrespect toward the author, or the class in that this fact has not been recognized mother, sister-in-law, or idiot second cousin, and which he belongs, but merely as an explana- There is no doubt that something is; the considers twenty or thirty years of unmerited tion of the scope and tenor of his work. great question is to know what it is which obloquy but a small price to pay for keeping the These papers were written in the years be- truly exists. The author has not dealt with eye of justice averted from the real offender. We tween 1844 and 1859, none of them being, these more fundamental questions of on-girl, with searching dark eyes, who detects the are tired, oh, how tired, of the slight, spirituelle in their original form, of a later date. Some tology in any satisfactory way. His distruth from the first, and after much wringing of were delivered as public addresses, others cussion of space and time, also, seems to us her hands and mental contortion, succeeds in appeared in the periodical literature of the not to touch bottom. Nevertheless, there proving it to the satisfaction of the world. As time, and still others were designed as intro- is much acute and able criticism and expo- to the old nurse be she superannuated or ductions to new editions of older authors. sition in the work, and the time spent in monthly-who serves as moral white-of-egg in Much skill has therefore been required to reading it will be far from lost. We com- settling and clearing up the dénument, our feelarrange the scattered pieces in a fitting mend it to philosophical students. ings toward her cannot be fitly expressed in order, and to make a unit of the work. In words. It is a shock, therefore, to find a superfluous self-sacrifice the leading feature in a story the opening paper, "the key-note to the Scientific Memoirs. By John W. Draper, otherwise so clear and entertaining as The First whole," as the author calls it, the mutual M. D., LL. D. [Harper and Brothers.] Violin [Henry Holt & Co.]. Forgery is the relations of the Good, the True, and the Dr. Draper here uses the word “ "Memoirs crime of which Eugen Courvoisier, its hero, is Beautiful are discussed, and it is clearly to describe a series of thirty papers upon suspected, the real culprit being his wife. As shown that the subordination of the two as many related topics in a particular the person whose name is forged is Eugen's own former to the latter can only result in moral department of scientific research. This is brother, it would seem that a few words of quiet degradation, whether in the individual or in not a usual, though it is not an improper, family explanation might have prevented all

CURRENT FICTION.

But

scandal and misunderstanding, and why he should have elected to throw up his prospects and live a seven-years' lie for the sake of avoiding such explanation, is inexplicable, except that in that case there might have been no story to write. Barring this fatal flaw, the tale is one of more than ordinary interest. The characters are fresh and well-conceived, and the details of life in a German musical community vivid and picturesque. We are also spared the aged nurse, a fact which should be mentioned to the credit of the book.

The holiday season saw few more beautiful little volumes than Jules Sandeau's Madeleine, the last addition to the "Tales from Foreign Tongues" [Jansen, McClurg & Co.]. It won its author a prize from the Academie Française over thirty years ago, so that no desire for novelty has caused the present translation; but we are unable to see that its literary value is such as to entitle it to red lines and golden edges. The presence or absence of literary merit is, however, of slight moment compared with the moral tendency of a book; and with regard to this, also, we are obliged to withhold our approval. It goes without saying that the publishers would not have admitted to their series any work obviously impure in its teaching; but this is not enough. A Christmas book like this is largely intended for immature readers, and our young girls do not breathe such a moral atmosphere that it is necessary to follow their every step with pictures of the dreadful things which might happen; nor do we think it advantageous to give them the idea, as is done in this story, that their chief usefulness is likely to consist in rescuing a brother from wasting his substance "in riotous living." There is one chapter in the present volume which is especially offensive in this respect-so much so that we cannot characterize it here. A cheaper edition of this story is published by T. B. Peterson & Brothers.

Molly Bawn, by the anonymous author of Phyllis [J. B. Lippincott & Co.], is from begin ning to end a story of lovers. Molly, the heroine, an Irish beauty and coquette, charmingly fresh and vivacious and spirited, makes a conquest of her brother's guest, Luttrell, in the first very chapter, and alternately torments and caresses him to the last. They quarrel and part, and are reconciled again and again, and she is so winsome in spite of some objectionable ways and words, that there is excuse for his infatuation. As if one coquette was not enough, a second is soon brought in, Cecil, who made a marriage of policy, but parted from her husband as soon as the ceremony was over without his seeing her face, so closely was she 'veiled. When he meets her, three years after, at a country house where all the people of the story are waiting to have the rich old grandfather of Molly die, he at once falls in love with her, and the history of his wooing of his own wife has as much of the melodramatic element as the other. The two beauties, one deliberate and the other thoughtless in her coquetries, are very skillfully managed, and the interest in the probable result to the two victims of their cruelty is really quite as absorbing as the question about the old man's will, in which several of the parties are concerned.

Wives often publish the discourses of their husbands, but husbands seldom, if ever, publish the lectures of their wives.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

106. Burr and Blennerhasset. Wanted the title and author of an historical novel which appeared in this country twenty-five or thirty years ago, in which Blennerhasset and Aaron Burr were the prominent characters, and which created at the time of its publication a profound sensation.

Chicago.

W. W. B.

Burr and Hamilton figure in J. Clemens's tale of The
Rivals, but we do not recall any novel in which Burr and
Blennerhasset figure.

107. Arthur Stacy. Who is he?
Bangor, Me.

M. E.

108. Authorship wanted of the following:
a vague unrest,

109.

And a nameless longing filled his breast."

versifiers, a character so great and eminent that no later age has escaped his influence; nor will his poems and his pieces ever be lost to English literature.-Eugene Lawrence.

WINTER EVENINGS.

HE winter evening passed as Cowper de

THE
scribes it has almost, if not altogether,

ceased to exist among social customs, although it remained in the ordinary life of country homes through more than half the century which has gone by since the Task was written. Its limits may be taken generally as from six o'clock till ten; the "bubbling and loud-hissing urn" belonging to the opening scene, the hours of reading aloud while the ladies were occupied in needlework and embroidery filling the space between seven and nine, when "the customary rites of the last meal commence," and are followed by what would then have been described as the "evening religious exercises," varying in method and in length, but less brief and hurried than is now often the case with the "family prayers" which represent them. Two hours daily of steady reading throughout a long winter gave a character to the home-life in the past which is not likely to be repeated in the future. The "multa" of the circulating library have replaced, in such leisure for evening reading as now exists, the "multum" of the standard work; and with the change the art of reading aloud is dying out for want of practice. We are not recommending any literal return to the old routine. Unless books for reading were judiciously chosen, and enlivened by intelligent comment or explanation, the ceremonial to the elder children, who were not sent to bed till eight or nine o'clock, became insufferably tedious. The reader was usually one of the boys-partly because he could not sew like his sisters, and partly because it was otherwise difficult to keep him quiet and out of mischief-and one evil consequence of the tedious infliction may have remained to trouble his later Obviously "patronem " is a misprint for patronum, and years. The acquired habit of reading mechani

The Pawnbroker. Can any of your readers tell me why going to a pawnbroker came to be expressed by the slang phrase of going to see one's uncle? Also, why pawning an article came to be called putting it up the spout? Zanesville, Ohio.

J. C.

110. Patronem. Is Mr. Taylor right in
using the form "patronem" in his translation of
"Faust," where he introduces the chant,
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
Quem patronem rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?"

I

find it so in both editions.
Cambridge.

the error was overlooked in both editions.

III.

H. R. G.

cally, although at the same time intelligently and well, while the mind was engaged on entirely

"The First Four Acts." In Bishop foreign subjects of thought, had in some cases beBerkeley's familiar lines,

what is meant by "the first four acts?" Are
any particular epochs referred to? If so, what
are they? Are not the words used merely as an
extension of the metaphor? The author seems
to mean that we have now reached the last and
most glorious act in the drama of the world, the
preceding portion (four acts) being already past.
And in the last three words of the third line is
there not an allusion to the fact that dramas were
formerly acted in the afternoon, so that they
closed literally "with the day?” J. W. W.

For nearly thirty years Dryden was the lord of English literature, sitting in his chair of crit icism at Will's Coffee-house, pouring out profusely a succession of plays, poems, criticisms, translations, letters, always certain of a wide circle of readers; admired by the Court and the people; the great intellect to whom young Addison came to learn propriety of diction; upon whom, when a child, Pope looked with prophetic awe; the finest, and almost the first, of English prose writers, the most ready and animated of

come so much a second nature as to make it dif-
ficult in after life to fix the attention on the book
in reading, whether by the eye alone or with the
voice as well. It is, however, certain that the
average schoolboy of the present day does not
read aloud as well as would have been expected
of him in a former generation, or might be now
anticipated from his own general intelligence.
Information in our time necessarily extends over
ably neither so solid nor so deep as it once was;
a wider range, but in ordinary society it is prob-
and we know, at the same time, more books than
our fathers knew, and less of them. Modern rest-
of home education, which did in a manner go on
lessness is incompatible with the steady progress
within such circles as Cowper pictures; the news-
"paper, of course, forming only an accident and
not the substance of the evening readings. Nor
can there be any doubt that, to minds accustomed
to the indulgence of the restless spirit and seek-
ing relief in continued movement and variety, the
quiet winter life of the country home would be
intolerably dull. No greater penance could be
tomed and dissatisfied visitor in such a household,
imagined than the enforced stay of an unaccus-
both to himself or herself and to the unfortunate
relatives or hosts who were condemned to endure
the unceasing burden of complaints. With the
justice of such complaints we are not now con-
cerned. Our contention is, not that every one is
bound to find gratification in being thrown on the
personal and literary resources of a country home,
but that we ourselves, if we choose to take de-
light in such simple surroundings, have a right
to enjoy our own tastes and to express our
predilection without being exposed either to cen-
sure as misanthropes and curmudgeons, or to
pitying commiseration as a kind of half-conscious
dormice. The customary courtesies of life may
scarcely allow of an actual response to the com-
passionate question, “Do not you find it very
dull in the winter?" in any such form as "No,
but we think it very probable that you would;
although in a great many instances this is the
only reply which could be given in a Castle of
Truth. The Saturday Review [London].

The

Literary World. named Bayard, for he was another chevalier the list more in detail, the prominence of

BOSTON, JANUARY 4, 1879.

The sense, to a healthy mind, of being strengthened or enervated by reading, is just as definite and unmistakable as the sense, to a healthy body, of being in fresh or foul air and no more annoyance is involved in forbidding the reading of an unwholesome book, than in the physician's ordering the windows to be opened in a sick room. There is no question whatever concerning these matters, with

any person who honestly desires to be informed about them; the real annoyance is only in expressing

judgments, either of books or anything else, respecting which we have taken no trouble to be informed.

BAYARD TAYLOR.

- RUSKIN.

HAD Bayard Taylor lived until the

an

eleventh of this month he would have been only fifty-four years old; but before he was twenty he had, published his first book, and for more than two thirds of half a century he was before the public as author, a journalist, a lecturer, and a diplomatic servant. Into the period of his active life he crowded more work than many men could have put into twice the space. Could he have worked lightly instead of laboriously, we doubt not that his robust constitution and exuberant spirits would have prolonged his activity and usefulness at least to the appointed limit of three score years and ten. We very much fear that the necessities of a literary life have driven him, as they have

driven so many others, to an untimely grave. It is said that Buffalo Bill has retired from the stage with a fortune of $135,000, which he will invest in cattle; but our Bayard Taylors must toil day and night for a mere living, with possibly the additional perquisite of securing a congenial and peaceful home for their old age.

sans peur et sans reproche. Many of the works on Language and Literature" is most picturesque features of American ex- still more striking. We lately remarked perience were gathered into his personal [Vol. IX, p. 92] on the literary revival history. Beginning life at the printer's case, which marks our present time, and an assemhe ended it in one of the four highest diplo-bling of a few of the titles of works pubmatic positions in the gift of his country, lished last year relating to literary study will thus exemplifying in his career the peculiar attest the truth of the remark. On American possibilities which our institutions offer to literature alone may be mentioned Tyler's character and energy. The industry, versa- History, Beers's Century, Richardson's tility, productiveness, and success. of his Primer, and the American Catalogue; and for literary pursuits at the same time singularly the field in general Weber's History of Indian well illustrate the best points of our national Literature, Cruttwell's History of Roman achievement in literature, and present both Literature, Quackenboss's History of Ana model and an incentive to those who come cient Literature, Petit's How to Read, Blaisafter him. dell's Outlines, Rivingtons' School Classics, "Genius," said Buffon, "is only a pro- Weisse's English Language and Literature, tracted patience." "It is nothing," adds and the Rhetorics by the two Professors Helvetius, "but a continued attention." Hill, and Professors Hepburn and De Mille. Certainly, then, Bayard Taylor was a man of If 1878 has given us no single great novel genius. And he had endowments of the like some that have distinguished other spiritual nature which many men of tran- recent years, it has been productive of a scendent genius lack. He was whole-souled large amount of very excellent general ficas well as many-minded. The regard which tion. The year which has produced The his virtues had won, added to the admiration Wreck of the Grosvenor, Margaret Chetwhich his talents had excited, had given him wynd, Through a Needle's Eye, Marmorne, a large place in the public perception, which The Cossacks, The Return of the Native, will seem very large now that he is removed Macleod of Dare, The Europeans, and last, from it forever. He will be more than but by no means least, the stream of stories missed; he will be mourned. from the hand of Henri Gréville, cannot be called barren or unfruitful in good novels.

LAST YEAR'S PUBLICATIONS.

OUR list of New Publications for 1878
gives the titles of about eight hundred
works issued mostly from the American press
They may be roughly

during the year.
classified as follows:

Fiction,
Juveniles,

Religious,
Poetry,

Biography,

Language and Literature,
Travel and Observation,

Material Science,

History,

Art,

Political Science,
Miscellaneous,

200

75

75

70

50

40

40

30

30

20

15

The year has naturally been attentive to

the Eastern question: as the two volumes of News Correspondence, the two volumes on Cyprus, De Amicis' Constantinople, Sergeant's New Greece, and The Russians of To-day, attest. Under the general head of travel and observation the works of special note are the narrative of the cruise of the Challenger, The Great Thirst Land, and The Voyage of the "Sunbeam." In biography the Mr. Taylor was perhaps our most strikingly. yield has been rich, as witness the Reminisrepresentative American man of letters. cences of John Randolph, the Memoirs of MarThe American man of letters is a different montel, Charlotte Cushman, Gen. Bartlett, personality from his English comrade. A and Mrs. Jameson, the Clarkes' Recollections self-made man in a new country, he is variof Writers, the series of English Men of Letously at a disadvantage. While he is striving ters, and the Artist Biographies. The poetical after his ideals, he must also be getting Under all of these heads, of course, are shelf has been enriched by Mrs. Browning's bread and butter. He must dream his dreams, many reprints and translations. The "Ju- Early Poems, Shelley's Minor Poems, Matand see his visions, but all the while the veniles" are mostly books of fiction, though thew Arnold's Poems complete, more Poems pot must be kept boiling. He must culti- including a gratifying proportion of history of Places, the Family Library. of British vate a many-sided capacity, and not withhold and science in simple forms. "Religious" Poetry, and the Fireside Cyclopedia. The his pen from any page which circumstances includes commentaries. "Poetry" includes memory of Keats has been revived by the offer him. If sometimes he surprise us collections as well as original productions. publication of his Letters. In the procession like the street musician who has acquired "Language and Literature" includes some of works on pottery and porcelain, headed the knack of playing on several instruments text-books for study. Fiction," of course, so impressively a year ago by Prime's and of music, such as they are, at the same time, would be expected to head the list nu- Elliott's, have marched Nichols's and Lockwe remember that his ambidexterity is not merically, but the general relation between wood's and Young's, and the anonymous of fancy; it is by compulsion. The wonder the departments is a gratifying one. It China Hunters' Club. Green, Lecky, and is a pleasant circumstance that the wants Stubbs have made important contributions of children are so liberally provided for. It to English History. The French Revois a significant circumstance that " Relig-lution has been lighted up afresh by ious" works stand so near the head. It is Taine and Van Laun; China has been a striking circumstance that "Poetry" should opened instructively to English students . lead "Travel and Observation," and that by Archdeacon Gray and Dr. Edkins; the best elements of American character. "Language and Literature" should lead and Mr. Tylor has given us further results The choice blood of the Pennsylvania "History.” of his Researches into the early history of Friends flowed in his veins. He was well When we come to examine the contents of mankind. Canon Farrar has helped some