Books of the Month

Poetry and the Drama. Charles Scribner’s Sons have begun a reissue in uniform volumes of the writings of the late Dr. J. G. Holland, and his poems, Bitter-Sweet and Kathrina, are the first of the series on the poetical side. The page is a good one, if the type is a little small. — Miami Woods, A Golden Wedding and Other Poems, by William D. Gallagher. (Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati.) The labor expended upon the blank verse which occupies the first part of the volume appears to have affected the author’s ear in the more lyrical portions. — Gems of Poetry and Song on James A. Gartield (J. C. McClenahan & Co , Columbus, Ohio) is a collection, made with reverence for the president’s memory, of the principal poems called out by his sufferings and death. A portrait and the eulogy by Rev. Dr. Stores preface the volume. — The Whittier Birthday Book, arranged by Elizabeth S. Owen (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), may be named as in some respects the most successful of its class, since Whittier’s sentiment is largely personal and always pure, and in the assignment of verses to names a delicate taste has been employed. The book, besides its special use, is a de lightful anthology.

Philosophy. Evenings with the Skeptics, by John Owen (Longmans, London; Bouton, New York), is a historical and philosophical examination, in two volumes, of the pre-Christian and the Christian skeptics; the word being taken to indicate those minds which, by their nature, question and suspend judgment, rather than dogmatize, the analytic rather than the constructive, — Socrates thus being the preëminent pre-Christian, Augustine, Abélard, and Aquinas being included among the Christian skeptics. The conversational form is chosen to lighten the subject and to justify some discursiveness, but the author is not a novelist who has fallen upon philosophy; he has that art yet to learn. — Is Darwin Right ? or, The Origin of Man, is the title of a small volume in which the author, William Denton, aims to show the insufficiency of Darwin’s theory, since it fails to take account of the spiritual side of the universe. He is ready to grant a natural origin to the material man, but he cannot find an explanation in that of spiritual faculties, and he calls the source of these “ the infinite spirit.” He seems careful not to call the spirit God. (Denton Publishing Company, Wellesley, Mass.)—The Artist and his Mission, a Study in Æsthetics, by Rev. William M. Reily (John E. Potter & Co., Philadelphia), is a reproduction of lectures delivered before a college class, and while somewhat ungraceful in form, and thus discrediting its theme, is a serious and sincere effort to discover and express the ethical side of æsthetics. — Mr. W. W. Kinsley’s Views on Vexed Questions (Lippincott) concern the supernatural, the origin of species, Satan anticipated, the character of Shelley, and other topics. The anticipation of Satan may not strike the reader as being a question which has ever vexed him, but the title really covers a chapter on the origin and prevention of evil.

History and Biography. Memoirs of Count Miot de Melito, edited by General Fleischmann, and translated by Mrs. Cashel Hoey and Mr. .John Lillie, has been republished in America (Scribners), with notes and an index prepared for the American edition. Count Miot, who was born at Versailles in 1762, was closely connected with the Bonaparte family, and his memoirs, which are transcribed from diaries, and have therefore special value as contemporary accounts, deal especially with the fortunes of Prince Joseph Bonaparte. But there is no record in full of Count Miot’s sojourn with the prince in the United States. It is a pity that we could not have his notes on American life of that day.—Mr. Charles Dudley Warner leads off a series of American Worthies, which the publishers (Holt) anxiously promise shall be light and airy, with his Captain John Smith. It is to Mr. Warner’s credit that when he sat down to laugh he rose to make remarks, and has produced a discriminating sketch of Smith’s career, in which the truth is patiently sifted from the exaggeration of Smith’s own tropic imagination. Still, there are traces of smiles on Mr. Warner’s countenance while engaged on this serious task.— Mr. John Morley’s The Life of Richard Cobden (Roberts) needs not be disregarded by the reader who is indifferent to the diseussion of free trade, for he will find something here better worth his while in the portrait of a typical Englishman, drawn by a skillful and able hand. — The author of the Paine Genealogy, Ipswich Branch, Mr. Albert W. Paine (printed by O. F. Knowles & Co., Bangor, Me.), is fortunate in finding the first of the name a pagan, for it gives him an immense advantage over rival genealogists, who get lost while still within the limits of Christianity. The author means his book in other ways to throw light upon colonial history, especially upon the matter of witchcraft.—The third volume of Von Holst’s Constitutional and Political History of the United States has appeared (Callaghan & Co., Chicago), including the period of 1846-1850. The contribution is an important one, yet we think it would have been more effective if the author had more reserve, a scientific manner as well as a scientific method. There are passages which read as if the author had been trained as a newspaper reporter.— In the New Plutarch Series (Putnams), we have Sir Richard Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, by Walter Besant and James Rice. It was a happy thought to set these ingenious novelists upon the legend of Whittington and his Cat. They have produced a clever biography, and instead of there being a grin without a cat, as in Alice in Wonderland, there is a serious and historic cat. Thank Heaven, one story is left to us! — Another volume of the New Plutarch Series (Putnams) is Martin Luther and his Work, by John H. Treadwell, a book which appears, unlike the rest of the series, to be of American origin. The author’s view is one apparently of almost unquestioning admiration. It is a pity if he has not read Mozley’s masterly analysis. — A. P. Russell, already known by his readable mosaic of Library Notes, has written a historical and biographical sketch of Thomas Corwin (Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati), which will be welcomed by all to whom the man was a striking figure in American life. — Louise, Queen of Prussia, is a translation from the German of August Kluckhohn, by Elizabeth H. Denio (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), of a brief memorial, which gives in an agreeable form the character and behavior of an estimable woman.

— By an odd chance the next book on our list is Harriet H. Robinson’s Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement (Roberts), which aims at summing the several steps which have been taken up to the present day, and which have issued in the opportunity for woman now presented. — The Wit and Wisdom of Parliament, by Henry Latchford (Cassell), is a half-anecdotal history of Parliament, or rather a glance at striking and entertaining passages of that history, taken in order of time. It is of interest mainly to those who already have an acquaintance with the subject. — In a series of Diocesan Histories, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, that of Chichester has been issued, provided with a map, list of bishops, and index, and treated with a minuteness of detail which is of special interest only in Chichester. — In spite of the title-page of Mrs. Gustafson’s book about Genevieve Ward (J. R. Osgood & Co.), it is neither a sketch nor a biography. It lacks the proper biographical perspective, and it is much too long for a sketch. The work occupies the border-land between domestic history and theatrical advertisement. If the writer had been wiser she would have been less entertaining. If she had had even a mild sense of humor she would have spared the reader that list of persons who have formed matrimonial alliances with the Ward family since the glacial period.—Another dramatic biography, of a very different temper, is Mr. William Winter’s charming account of the Jeffersons, which forms the second volume of Mr. Hutton’s American Actor Series. (J. R. Osgood & Co.) — Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons have completed their issue of Dickens’s Letters by the publication of a third volume.

Science. The International Scientific Series (D. Appleton & Co., New York) has for its thirtyfourth volume a book on the sun, by C. A. Young, professor of astronomy in the College of New Jersey. The book was not written expressly for scientific readers nor for the masses, but, as the preface says, for those who, “without being themselves engaged in scientific pursuits, yet have sufficient education and intelligence to be interested in scientific subjects when presented in an untechnical manner.” It offers a clear and precise view of what is known about the sun, and is very well illustrated. Whenever the question of what is certain and what men conjecture has come up the author has stated the facts on which conclusions are based, and frequently has indicated how much confidence can be placed on data. — The first annual report of the United States Geological Survey, by its director, Clarence King, has been issued from the Government Printing Office. It is devoted mainly to office reports and a sketch of what the organization is to effect. An excellent map, showing the geographical divisions of the survey, accompanies it. It is a pity that government should not employ a publisher for its reports. The present system is wasteful and inadequate.— Vol. XXXV. of the International Scientific Series is Volcanoes: What they Are and What they Teach, by John W. Judd, which gives an outline of the present state of knowledge upon the subject. (Appletons.) — The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident Ants of the American Plains is a monograph by Henry C. McCook, D. D. (Lippincott), and one of interest to the general reader as well as the scientific student.—J. Milner Fothergill, M. D., in his little book, Animal Physiology (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York), has succeeded in telling in an interesting way the “story” of the human body: the action of the muscles, respiration, digestion, circulation, and the construction and functions of the nervous system. As a rule such books, although intended, as this is, for use in elementary schools, and to incite in the young scholar a desire to know more of physiology, are made dull hy a superabundance of badly arranged anatomical and technical terms. In this book, however, the reader will find a decided exception. — The Elements of Integral Calculus (Ginn, Heath & Co., Boston) has been written by W. E. Byerly, professor of mathematics at Harvard College, as a text-book. It is a sequel to Treatise on Differential Calculus, the fifth chapter of which, on account of frequent references to it, is added, and also a Key to the Solution of Integral Equations.

Education. Perhaps under this head may be included The Elocutionist’s Annual, No. 9, edited by Mrs. J. W. Shoemaker (National School of Education and Oratory, Philadelphia), a book of “pieces,” collected from various sources without much regard to perspective. — The plays of Cymbelineand Coriolanus complete the series of Shakespeare for schools and families which Rev. H. N. Hudson has been editing. (Ginn & Heath.) It is a pleasure to think how much more convenient it is for schools to take up the study of Shakespeare now, under the guidance of such judicious editors as Mr. Hudson and Mr. Rolfe. One may choose one or the other edition, but in either case he gets ever so much Shakespeare. — Mr. Rolfe’s latest volume is Antony and Cleopatra. (Harpers.) — William Smith, the veteran editor, issues his appendix to Initia Græca, being Additional Exercises with Examination Papers. (Harpers.) The book ought to be serviceable to teachers who wish sight or dictation exercises, where other books are regularly used.—Harper’s Classical Series for Schools and Colleges, edited by Professor Drisler, contains the Protagoras of Plato, by E. G. Sihler, Ph. D. The page is a neat one, though we do not like the German style of spacing words to give them em-

phasis. Fine Arts. Mr. Bouton issues an edition of Chatto and Jackson’s A Treatise on Wood-Engraving, which, in spite of the many volumes which have appeared since the original publication of this book, and of the varied discussion of the subject, remains a standard and encyclopædic work. It is only a pity that the cuts should have become worn. — The third volume of the seventh year of L’Art, sent by the same publishers, reminds one anew of the wealth of illustration offered by this journal, and its importance as a chronicle of contemporary art in the centre most productive and most influential. — Tennyson’s Song of the Brook (Estes & Lauriat) is announced as the first of a series of similar books. There is little in this to distinguish it from the host of illustrated books which aim at a picture for every syllable.

Books for Yonny People. The Prize Painting Book Good Times, pictures by Dora Wheeler, words by Candace Wheeler (White and Stokes, New York), is a performance not to be praised on the part of the publishers who propose, the artist and poet who aid, and the parents who encourage children under sixteen to compete for prizes of seventy-five, fifty, and twenty-five dollars, for the best filling in of color upon the black and white ground given.—The fifth volume in G. M. Towle’s series of Young Folks’ Heroes of History is devoted to the attractive subject of Ralegh, his Exploits and Voyages. Ralegh’s connection with American history makes it doubly reasonable that boys and girls should know of him. (Lee & Shepard.) — The good work which the lamented Sidney Lanier had previously done in bringing Froissart and Malory info familiar nearness to young people was continued by him in a volume which appears since his death, The Boy’s Mabinogion, being the Earliest Welsh Tales of King Arthur in the famous Red Book of Hergest. (Scribners.) Mr. Lanier’s own high and honorable regard for the purest literature passes into such work as this. The southern love of joust has been turned to excellent purpose in this series. — The Floating Prince and other Fairy Tales, by Frank R. Stockton, is a capital book, if one has lost all his reverence for fairies. If the comparison is not too shocking, it is a sort of atheistical fairy-book, very funny, very clever, and very enjoyable, if one has got over his belief. If E. B. Bensell, as we think, drew the pictures, his name should certainly have been given. Nothing could be more in the spirit of the book. We recommend it to all parents, and they can do as they think best about showing it to their children. (Scribners.)—A Trip Eastward, by Edward Abbott, is the third in the series known as The Long Look Books (Henry D. Noyes & Co., Boston,) and may cheerfully be commended to all who like honest literature for the young. It is Jacob Abbott with an infusion of new blood. - Shakespeare for the Young Folk (Fords, Howard, and Hulbert) is a presentation of three plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As you Like It, and Julius Gæsar, very much as the editor, R. R. Raymond, might read them to an audience of young people; that is, with parentheses of explanation between the more attractive and intelligible dramatic lines. The idea is capital and notill carried out. — The weekly numbers of Harper’s Young People for the year 1881, bound, make a liberal volume, which will have all the charm which bound volumes of magazines have for the youthful mind. — Boston is not likely to be hidden under a bushel; it is on three hills, as every one knows, and the season brings three books about it: one by Hezekiah Butterworth, entitled Young Folks' History of Boston (Estes & Lauriat), liberally illustrated, and generously annexing, for literary purposes, Concord and Mt. Auburn; one by Samuel Adams Drake, Around the Hub (Roberts), also illustrated, in which Mr. Drake’s own and hereditary resources easily find outlet; and one by H. E. Scudder, Boston-Town (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), in which a slight dramatic action is given to the narrative by the introduction of the familiar machinery of a grandfather and his grandsons. —The Knockabout Club in the Woods (Estes & Lauriat) gives the adventures of six young men in the wilds of Maine and Canada. It is by C. A. Stephens, already known by similar contributions; the animal spirits of the book compensate for some lack of literary skill. — Chatterbox (Estes & Lauriat) is getting to be a generic title of a book. This particular Chatterbox appears to be a mixture of English and American literary and artistic scraps. — The Deserted Ship, by George Cupples (A. Williams & Co., Boston), is a sailor’s story, not unsuccessful in its salty flavor, and likely to be read with avidity by all boys who have been so unfortunate as not to be left behind in the polar regions. — Driven to Sea, or the Adventures of Norrie Seton, is by Mrs. George Cupples (Williams), the present edition being a reissue of a book published ten years ago, but quite worthy of being kept in remembrance. — Kate Greenaway’s contribution this year is a delightful little Mother Goose (Routledge), all the prettier for not being too fine in its appearance, though we are well aware that the printing is not rude.—Little Mook and other Fairy Tales, by W. Hauff (Putnams), translated by Percy E. Pinkerton, is a volume which reminds one of some of the best classic -wonderstories by a vexatious nearness in form and distance in tone. — Hector (Roberts) will be welcomed by many when they read upon, the titlepage the name of Flora L. Shaw, the author of Castle Blair. — Our Little Ones (Lee & Shepard) is the bound volume of a monthly for young children, edited by William T. Adams, better known as Oliver Optic. It cannot always be commended for purity of English, and its contents in their variety require further editing by the judicious parent..— The Young Folks' Robinson Crusoe is an adaptation made fifty years or more ago by an estimable lady, Mrs. Farrar, of Cambridge, and now reissued under the editorship of William T. Adams. (Lee & Shepard.) In her work, Mrs. Farrar has omitted pretty much all of Robinson’s mental history and moral and religious reflections. — An ambitious book is J. D. Champlin Jr.’s Young Folks’ History of the War for the Union. (Holt.) Mr. Champlin is already known by his serviceable Young Folks’ Cyclopædias, and we commit ourselves to his guidance in this matter with some confidence, which is not lessened by the title of his work. The conception involved in that is an important one. The narrative is full, it is straightforward, it introduces a boy whenever he can be found, and it is written without passion. The illustrations are rather worn, but the author has shown his good judgment in making frequent use of

maps. Ethics and Religion. Professor Black ie, whose literary activity takes him in various directions, has published a volume of Lay Sermons (Scribners), which are sermons inasmuch as they have texts and presume practical Christianity, and are lay by the accident of the preacher’s position. That they were not pulpit deliverances gives a further secular character to the subjects discussed, which include Landlords and Land Laws and the Scottish Covenanters. The author is somewhat garrulous, sometimes crotchety, often vain, but is honest and always Scotch. —Among the sermons called out by President Garfield’s death, two by Dr. Henry W. Bellows, Before and After the President’s Death (Putnams), will remain as a record of the warm feeling which overflowed ordinary pulpit, bounds. —The New Ethics, by Frank Sewall (Putnams), is an essay on the moral law of use; that the writer frankly confesses his discipleship of Swedenborg should not prejudice the reader against the perusal of a thoughtful and suggestive essay. —The New Infidelity, by Augustus Radcliffe Grote (Putnams), is a contribution toward an eirenicon in this stage of the conflict of opinions; Mr. Grote would remove the occasion of war between religion and science by discovering to men that the real difference lies in the religious nature itself, with its twofold tendencies to paganism and superstition. The book is a thoughtful one, but the author is perhaps misled by his attachment to one or two theories which are not yet in good working order. — The Conflicts of the Age (Scribners) is a reprint in pamphlet form of four articles which have appeared in the North American Review, where they were intended to reflect the opinions of the age. They purport to be by an Evolutionist, an Agnostic, a New Light Moralist, and a Yankee Farmer, though some doubt has been thrown upon the authenticity of the last title.

Fiction. Kith and Kin is by Jessie Fothergill, author of The First Violin, and is No. 130 of the Leisure Hour Series. (Holt.) Both of these facts give one a prejudice in favor of the book. —Esau Hardery, by William Osborn Stoddard, who is best known by a popular boy’s story, is called on the title-page A Novel of American Life (White and Stokes, New York), and confronts one at once with the most familiar form of American country dialect. There is so much American life that a novel of it needs to be tolerably comprehensive.— The Appletons send out Victor Cherbuliez’s Noirs et Rouges in Mrs. Sherwood’s translation under the title of Saints and Sinners. — The latest volume of the No Name Series (Roberts) is My Wife and my Wife’s Sister. — The indignation which the author of How is Your Man ? (Lee & Shepard) feels toward that system of life insurance which goes by the incisive and ghastly nickname of “graveyard insurance” has driven him to write a story, with the hope that he may catch readers thus who would pay no attention to a remonstrance in any other form. The excuse must serve for an otherwise unpleasant piece of fiction. — In the Trans-Atlantic Novels (Putnams) have been printed The Vicar’s People, by Geo. Manville Fenn, John Barlow’s Ward, and The Golden Tress, translated from the French of Fortune du Boisgobey.—The Baroness Taulphæus’s charming novel of The Initials has been issued by Peterson. Age cannot wither its charms, nor offensive typography render it unreadable. — In the Round Robin Series (Osgood) of anonymous novels there have been published Rosemary and Rue, a pretty, wandering story of France and Newport, and Damen’s Ghost, which is named with mysterious significance, Damen being as shadowy as the Ghost, and neither exercising any influence over the story. — Eleanor Maitland, by Mrs. Clara Erskine Clement (Osgood), is a novel which recalls the age of serious fiction. — Against the Stream, by the author of the Schönberg-Cotta Family, takes its title, from the purpose of the writer, who, under the guise of autobiographic reminiscences in the England of Waterloo, tells the story of individual Christian effort, against the current of popular evil. A second book by the same author, entitled Conquering and to Conquer, is a story of Rome in the days of St. Jerome. A third, Lapsed, but not Lost, is a story of Roman Carthage. All three of these books, which are published by the London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and sent us by E. & J. B. Young & Co., of New York, labor under the disadvantages of their class of suggesting a frugal masquerade, but they at least offer topics for reflection above the range of much fiction, and they are serious and sometimes even thoughtful in their character.—The latest issues of the Franklin Square Library (Harpers) are The Mysteries of Heron Dyke, described as a novel of incident, Christowell, a Dartmoor tale, by R. D. Blackmore, and The Comet of a Season, by Justin McCarthy.

Travel. Lieutenant Schwatka made the longest sledge journey on record when he made his search in the Arctic for the Franklin records ; the account of the journey, made by his first officer, William H. Gilder, in a series of letters to the New York Herald, has been published in an octavo volume, under the title Schwatka’s Search (Scribners), with maps and illustrations, and is a worthy addition to Arctic literature. — Florida is as attractive to book-makers as it is to those who have not yet gone there. The latest addition to its literature is Florida for Tourists, Invalids, and Settlers: containing practical information regarding climate, soil, and productions; cities, towns, and people; the culture of the orange and other tropical fruits; farming and gardening; scenery and resorts; sport, routes of travel, etc. By George M, Barbour. (Appletons.) Mr. Barbour writes with enthusiasm, but with intelligence also, and if he prophesies smooth things there will be many glad to believe him. A full map is in the volume. — Through Cities and Prairie Lands, by Lady Duffus Hardy (Worthington, New York), is a lady-like account of a journey which the author and a friend took in America. They brought with them a determination to be pleased, and a willingness to learn. — Cuban Sketches, by James W. Steele (Putnams), is a bright volume by an observing man who has lived long enough in the island to have a right to opinions as well as impressions.— A timely volume of travel is in Mrs. Admiral Dahlgren’s South Sea Sketches (Osgood), the report by a cultivated lady of the countries lying along the Pacific coast of South America. Mrs. Dahlgren accompanied her husband when he was in command of the South Pacific Squadron. The author is not only a good reporter of what she sees, but a sensible commentator. — In A Pickwickian Pilgrimage (Osgood), Mr. John R. G. Hassard has taken Dickens for a guide in some saunterings which enabled him to identify the local habitation of characters who had become more real to him and other readers of Dickens than the actual people whom he met in his journey. His record is agreeable reading if one carries Dickens in his heart as well as his head. —My First Holiday, by Caroline H. Dall (Roberts), consists of a series of letters home from Colorado, Utah, and California, With the conscience of a critic we have read Mrs. Dall’s Preface, when, with the irresponsible feelings of a reader, we should have omitted one with so impolite a heading as A Preface to be Read. The book as a whole will scarcely add to the accurate knowledge one may desire to have of the country traversed, since he will begin to doubt the qualifications of the writer to report clearly, her own querulous personality always getting in

the way. Literature. Half-Hours with Greek and Latin Authors is a volume intended to popularize the ancient classics by a selection from translations, accompanied by biographical notices; the book is in the interest especially of young people in schools. It is edited by G. H. Jennings and W. S. Johnstone. (Appletons.)—The reissue of Dr. Holland’s writings (Scribners), in uniform style, many years after the appearance of the first, looks like a verdict by the generation upon the endurance of his writings, so we record here the reappearance of Timothy Titcomb’s Letters and Gold Foil, his Lessons in Life and Plain Talks, books which need no apology with a large number of readers. —• E. H. Plumptre’s translations of Sophocles and Æschylus come in a neat dress in two volumes. ( Routledge.)— Country Pleasures, the Chronicle of a Year, by George Milner (Roberts), is a delightful addition to a class of books which already has choice representatives, reports of nature drawn by one who is equally at home in field and library.

Criticism. Mr. Appleton Morgan, whose previous scattered papers on the subject have before this enrolled him in the company of Shakespeare doubters, has published now The Shakespearean Myth, William Shakespeare and Circumstantial Evidence (Robert Clarke & Co-, Cincinnati), in which he employs chiefly external evidence to prove again that Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare’s works. The apostles of this negative creed may console themselves for the inertia of their audience by the reflection that the world is stupid. He makes a clever hit in publishing in a couple of pages the Complete Poetical Works of William Shakespeare. — A new edition of Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (John R, Anderson & Co., New York and Chicago) will he welcomed by many who have used up their old edition in a vain search for the word they wanted, and for which they could offer in exchange several words that just failed of being the right ones. We fear that the elaborate analysis by Mr. Roget is the only part of the book never really studied. — A liberal construction of our title permits us to name here Charles Dudley Warner’s essay on The American Newspaper (Osgood), read before the Social Science Association, and issued now in a convenient form for aspiring editors. Whatever Mr. Warner writes on such a subject would scarcely be speculative. — M. Alexandre Beljame sends his Le Public et les Hommes de Lettres en Angleterre au dix-huitième Siècle (Hachette, Paris), an octavo volume devoted to Dry den, Addison, and Pope, and containing a careful bibliography at the close. — A new edition of President Porter’s useful Books and Reading has been furnished, with a compact, well-chosen, select catalogue of books, by J. M. Hubbard, arranged under topics, but confined chiefly to history, travels, and literature.