appeal to the people. The remedy must go deep into grounded notions of what constitutes freedom and what really is government by the people; then it may reach that institution of perverted functions, Congress. The prime requisite for the advancement of the public good is to instil in the public mind a deep, persistent distrust of the National Congress. Only by stirring to the depths can there come lasting good." The book might have been strengthened by precise references to the documents and authorities quoted.

IL LIBRO D'ORO.
By Mrs. Alexander.

This large and handsome volume. is a genuine treasure-house of hagiographical literature, containing over one hundred and twenty pieces of widely various character. They are selected from a range of authors that begins with Saints Jerome, Basil, and Augustine, and comes down beyond the Franciscan chronicles. Mrs. Alexander, who has discharged the translator's task very faithfully and gracefully, has drawn from four well-known collections: Selections from the Lives of the Holy Fathers, together with the Spiritual Field (Venice, 1623); Selections from the Lives of the Saints and Beati of Tuscany (Florence, 1627); Selections from the Wonders of God and His Saints (Bologna, 1593); Flowers of Sanctity (Venice, 1726). Many of them belong to authentic biography; while a great number are of the kind whose sole purpose is to convey a religious or moral truth under the guise of an anecdote or a story, and others, again, are clearly the offspring of that simple, child-like credulity which, as Bishop Hedley says, though closely associated with piety, during the Middle Ages, and at a much later date in certain countries, is at most but the material cause of piety. All of them, however, are edifying, and many of much spiritual beauty. It is encouraging to observe that the non-Catholic world is beginning to understand the true value of such literature, and to understand, too, that the Catholic mind also knows it. We are getting away from the days when respectable writers often enforced their denunciations of Catholic preten sion, ignorance, and credulity by pointing to the Golden Legend as a sample of the beliefs which the church imposed as genuine history on her flock.

*Il Libro D'Oro of Those Whose Names are Written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Translated from the Italian by Mrs. Francis Alexander. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

REX MEUS.

This is a partial life of King David-based on the Scriptures-intended as a book of meditation or

spiritual reading. The writer assumes, with a composure that might well excite the envy of our professional Scripturists, that David, during the years of his early manhood was the accomplished type of every Christian virtue, and even of Christian chivalry-a perfect synthesis of St. Aloysius Gonzaga and Sir Galahad. Furthermore, she takes for granted that even the most trifling incident or circumstance of his career, and every obiter dictum of the sacred narrative, ought to contain some typical reference to our Lord, or some profound moral or religious lesson. Extensive reading in spiritual literature, as well as in such secular works as those of Ruskin, Mrs. Craven, Matthew Arnold, accompanied with a finely trained imagination, enable her to read into the text a wealth of suggestion which is always tender and sentimental, and sometimes of solid practical worth. Persons accustomed to serious commentary of the Bible may be inclined to find the book too liberally stocked with gratuitous conjecture; and souls accustomed to the strong nourishment of St. Teresa might find that, occasionally, the sentimentality is somewhat cloying.

THE BROTHERS' WAR.
By Reed.

A Southern gentleman, a veteran of the Eighth Georgia volunteers, a survivor of First Manasses and Gettysburg, and a member of the Ku-Klux-Klan, Mr. Reed contributes a lively volume† towards the mighty mass of literature that has grown around the Civil War and the negro question, past and present. He reviews the origin of the war, and appreciates, from the Southerner's point of view, but in a spirit of kindliness and consideration for the North, the causes which led to what he loves to call the Brothers' War. A wealth of personal reminiscences helps to render his discussion of topics fresh and original, though, it must be said, too, somewhat desultory. Calhoun, Toombs, Webster, and Jefferson Davis come in for lengthy consideration. It is Mr. Reed's opinion that, had Toombs been in Jefferson's place, the South would have been victorious. So

*Rex Meus. By the Author of My Queen and My Mother. With Preface by Right Rev. Bishop Hanlon. New York: Benziger Brothers.

The Brothers' War. By John C. Reed, of Georgia. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
VOL. LXXXII.-53

appeal to the people. The remedy must go deep into grounded notions of what constitutes freedom and what really is government by the people; then it may reach that institution of perverted functions, Congress. The prime requisite for the advancement of the public good is to instil in the public mind a deep, persistent distrust of the National Congress. Only by stirring to the depths can there come lasting good." The book might have been strengthened by precise references to the documents and authorities quoted.

IL LIBRO D'ORO.
By Mrs. Alexander.

This large and handsome volume is a genuine treasure-house of hagiographical literature, containing over one hundred and twenty pieces of widely various character. They are selected from a range of authors that begins with Saints Jerome, Basil, and Augustine, and comes down beyond the Franciscan chronicles. Mrs. Alexander, who has discharged the translator's task very faithfully and gracefully, has drawn from four well-known collections: Selections from the Lives of the Holy Fathers, together with the Spiritual Field (Venice, 1623); Selections from the Lives of the Saints and Beati of Tuscany (Florence, 1627); Selections from the Wonders of God and His Saints (Bologna, 1593); Flowers of Sanctity (Venice, 1726). Many of them belong to authentic biography; while a great number are of the kind whose sole purpose is to convey a religious or moral truth under the guise of an anecdote or a story, and others, again, are clearly the offspring of that simple, child-like credulity which, as Bishop Hedley says, though closely associated with piety, during the Middle Ages, and at a much later date in certain countries, is at most but the material cause of piety. All of them, however, are edifying, and many of much spiritual beauty. It is encouraging to observe that the non-Catholic world is beginning to understand the true value of such literature, and to understand, too, that the Catholic mind also knows it. We are getting away from the days when respectable writers often enforced their denunciations of Catholic pretension, ignorance, and credulity by pointing to the Golden Legend as a sample of the beliefs which the church imposed as genuine history on her flock.

Il Libro D'Oro of Those Whose Names are Written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Translated from the Italian by Mrs. Francis Alexander. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

REX MEUS.

This is a partial life of King David-based on the Scriptures-intended as a book of meditation or

spiritual reading. The writer assumes, with a composure that might well excite the envy of our professional Scripturists, that David, during the years of his early manhood was the accomplished type of every Christian virtue, and even of Christian chivalry-a perfect synthesis of St. Aloysius Gonzaga and Sir Galahad. Furthermore, she takes for granted that even the most trifling incident or circumstance of his career, and every obiter dictum of the sacred narrative, ought to contain some typical reference to our Lord, or some profound moral or religious lesson. Extensive reading in spiritual literature, as well as in such secular works as those of Ruskin, Mrs. Craven, Matthew Arnold, accompanied with a finely trained imagination, enable her to read into the text a wealth of suggestion which is always tender and sentimental, and sometimes of solid practical worth. Persons accustomed to serious commentary of the Bible may be inclined to find the book too liberally stocked with gratuitous conjecture; and souls accustomed to the strong nourishment of St. Teresa might find that, occasionally, the sentimentality is somewhat cloying.

THE BROTHERS' WAR.
By Reed.

A Southern gentleman, a veteran of the Eighth Georgia volunteers, a survivor of First Manasses and Gettysburg, and a member of the Ku-Klux-Klan, Mr. Reed contributes a lively volume† towards the mighty mass of literature that has grown around the Civil War and the negro question, past and present. He reviews the origin of the war, and appreciates, from the Southerner's point of view, but in a spirit of kindliness and consideration for the North, the causes which led to what he loves to call the Brothers' War. A wealth of personal reminiscences helps to render his discussion of topics fresh and original, though, it must be said, too, somewhat desultory. Calhoun, Toombs, Webster, and Jefferson Davis come in for lengthy consideration. It is Mr. Reed's opinion that, had Toombs been in Jefferson's place, the South would have been victorious. So

Rex Meus. By the Author of My Queen and My Mother. With Preface by Right Rev. Bishop Hanlon. New York: Benziger Brothers.

+ The Brothers' War. By John C. Reed, of Georgia. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. VOL. LXXXII.-53