Books of the Month

History and Biography. Ancient Cities from the Dawn to the Daylight, by W. B. Wright (Houghton), is a quick, incisive sketch of certain great centres of antiquity, a study of whose conditions has a bearing upon the general study of the development of humanity. The cities are Uz, Nineveh, Babylon, Memphis, Alexandria, Petra, Damascus, Tyre, Athens, Rome, Samaria, Susa, Jerusalem, closing with a significant chapter on the New Jerusalem. Mr. Wright, in his modest preface, disclaims any title to learning, but resorting to the best authorities, some of them unfamiliar, he has written a little book which is instinct with life, and in many cases picturesque and striking. It will do much towards giving people a fresh and animated conception of antiquity. — George Ide Chace, LL. D., a Memorial, edited by James O. Murray. (Printed at the Riverside Press, Cambridge.) The form which this Memorial takes is a fit one. In the first place, Dr. Murray has collected the reminiscences and estimates of eminent pupils of this eminent teacher, deftly weaving them into a slight biographic sketch; and then follow several addresses and essays given by Professor Chare, and indicative of the character and scope of his mind. We doubt whether any men in this world receive such reverent admiration as strong, single-minded teachers.— The cruise of the Alabama, by One of the Crew (Houghton), is a sailor’s yarn. In its facts it is corroborated by the historians of the quarter-deck, but as it does not undertake to say much about the gentlemen who managed the Alabama, so neither do those historians really tell much about Jack. Jack now speaks for himself, and to read this book is to get a good notion of what bilge-water is to a delicate nostril. It is wise for one to put his head into the forecastle of such a craft as the Alabama, if he would understand what the vessel was. — Shaftesbury, by H. D. Traill, in Lang’s English Worthies (Appleton), is a brief biography of the first earl, spirited, clever, and making the most of a somewhat unpalatable subject. — Madame Roland, by Mathilde Blind (Roberts), is the latest in the Famous Women Series. Miss Blind has the quality of admiration which makes a biographer interesting; perhaps it also makes her a little blind, as where she seems to fancy Roland himself a hero in his manner of death. — The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States, by J, G. Rosengarten. (Lippincott.) The larger part of this little book, which is an expansion of an earlier one, is given to the Germans in the last war, but the element in the former wars is also treated, though not so fully as by Greene and Kapp.— Albany and its Place in the History of the United States, by Berthold Fernow. (Charles Van Benthuysen Sons, Albany.) Mr. Fernow. who is the custodian of the colonial records of the State of New York, was the historian appointed at the recent two hundredth anniversary of the founding of Albany, and in this sketch he aimed at a series of chronological studies which should be something more than a merely local glorification, — The Destruction of Rome is a brief letter from Herman Grimm (Guppies, Upham & Co.), translated by Miss Adams, in which the distinguished author points out how remorselessly the Italians are robbing Rome of those features which give it its greatest claim upon the world’s interest. — The Olden Time Series, edited by Henry M. Brooks (Ticknor), has advanced to the fourth and fifth numbers: the former devoted to Quaint and Curious Advertisements, and the latter to Strange and Curious Punishments. Mr. Brooks’s method is to cull from the old newspapers striking passages, and to add occasional brief comments or explanation of his own. We like his plan, for it provides readers and students with the means for coming close to the objects which illustrate the manners and customs of their ancestors.

Books for Young People. Silver Rags, by W. B. Allen (Lothrop), is a slightly sentimental and diffuse story-book, in which rather well-worn tales are told over again by a story-book uncle to storybook children, while story-book incidents carry forward the slight plot. At any rate, the author writes without the help of noxious slang. — The Children of Old Parks Tavern, by Frances A. Humphrey (Harpers), is a bright story of old colony life some fifty years ago. The author, with two young people for her chief characters, has managed to introduce Daniel Webster as a subordinate, and to incorporate a great deal of local historical allusion in a dexterous fashion. The sensational portions are used to increase the interest of the story, and are not intensified too much. Altogether the little book is very near a success in a most difficult field. — Rolf House, by Lucy C. Lillie (Harpers), is a quasi-sequel to a book by the same author, entitled Nan, but the reader’s interest does not depend on her acquaintance with the previous work. The book is a small novel in its way, built upon the sort of day-dreams for supporting themselves and families which girls of fifteen may be supposed to enjoy.— Into Unknown Seas, or The Cruise of Two Sailor Boys, by David Ker (Harpers), is a succession of incredible adventures, told with the most cheerful confidence in the reader’s credulity. The book has an honesty of sensationalism about it which is truly refreshing.—The Riverside Museum, by Jak (Crowell), is a healthy, lively book, in which the best side of boy nature is presented, with a good deal of familiar and not obtrusive instruction in natural history.