experience and its blessedness, is not enjoyment here or hereafter, but a holy and Christ-like character.

Hence, let us say in conclusion, we do need an "ethical revival," a revival not of religion as that word is used in its demoralized sense, but of righteousness — righteousness rooted and grounded in the conscience, and below this, in God, who is the ground and authority of conscience; righteousness, which is ours, and yet not ours, being derived from Christ the righteous, living and reigning within, a righteousness born of faith, and nourished by truth, and working by love, and issuing in good works, i. e., in all the fruits of a regenerate and holy character; a righteousness which is more than an "experience of religion," which needs no self-inspection or examining committee to detect; which is seen and read of all men; which shows itself in whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, let us think on these things, and do them.

ARTICLE VIII.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

EVERY DAY ENGLISH.*-This volume, with its appropriate title and the author's well known name, will find for itself readers without formal recommendation, or rather will enlarge the circle of those who have read most of its contents in other forms. It comprises thirty chapters, of which within a few years some appeared in the New York Times under the same title, and others in the "Galaxy" magazine. A lively preface of sixteen pages treats of the same writer's work, "Words and their Uses" published nine years earlier, as well as of the present, which is described as its "Sequel," and of the controversy it occasioned, referring to his critics with characteristic freedom and confidence. The chapters of varying lengths are arranged under four heads,--Speech, Writing, Grammar, Words, and Phrases. The whole is dedicated, in a pleasant note, to Prof. Child, of Harvard University, and an index is added which is always convenient for recurrence to the details of such discussions, besides an ample table of contents. Many of our readers are sufficiently familiar with some of the essays thus reproduced (with "little change" from their original form "except by omission and condensation") and with the author's other writings on the same themes, to know what to expect here. He sets forth with his wonted clearness and vivacity his views of English spelling, especially in opposition to the phonetic reform urged nowadays; of pronunciation according to the best usage in England, for which he is a zealous stickler; of grammar, in opposition to the current teaching in our school-books, and indeed to the existence of any proper grammar in our present English tongue; and of words and phrases now commonly misused in this country.

The name of Richard Grant White was first made familiar by his Shakespearean scholarship, and then by his enthusiasm and ability in discussing questions of this sort. His large acquaintance with English literature, especially of the Elizabethan period, his stores of illustration, his positive opinions, and especially his readable style, have given his papers wide circulation, and they

* Every Day English. A Sequel to "Words and their Uses." BY RICHARD GRANT WHITE. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1880. 512 pp.

have done no little service by exciting interest and diffusing information on the questions discussed. He takes pains to disavow any exhaustive or scientific treatment of philology proper, and to show becoming deference to writers eminent in that department from whom he frankly differs on related questions; yet none the less carries an air of excessive confidence, of something like dogmatism, which itself sometimes provokes dissent and antagonism. The pronoun "I" figures largely in his discussions, but this may be pardoned from their controversial character. It is amusing that he professes himself averse to controversy while dealing in it so freely, and in a manner that invites it. He professes little concern for himself about spelling, yet says, "I have reason to believe that I have never misspelled a word since I was old enough to be trusted with pen and ink" (p. 202); and as to pronunciation, "I do not know that I have any standard myself: how to pronounce a word is the last thing of which I should think" (p. 15); and in denying the charge of assuming to be a critical authority, he says, "I do not profess-I may say that I hardly try-to write good English" (preface, p. 12). In repeating his request not to be called upon "to decide disputed points in language” he adds, "I have never set myself up as competent for such an office, and for it I have neither leisure nor liking" (note, p. 427). Yet these are things on which he has thought and read much, with close observation, and written fully and freely so as to command public attention. Certainly his own English style would appear to be a remarkable instance of success without effort or care in a department where both have often failed. We are reminded of an editor's judgment on a contributor who argued against all rules for spelling, leaving every man to his own fashion, that the only fault in the article was that it was all spelled correctly.

Besides the knowledge and discrimination everywhere shown in these pages, and their effective style, which make them stimulating and wholesome reading, the discussions which might otherwise have been dry for most readers are enlivened by pleasantry and a certain gossipy flavor, and not the less for the personal part borne by the author, which is in some degree due to the fact that they deal largely with inquiries addressed to him by interested readers, these inquiries showing the hold he has taken of the public mind. For the most part they will be found helpful toward a right use of our mother tongue, particularly in the fuller notices, than can be found elsewhere of current perversions and blemishes.

If we should go into more particular criticism of the critic, one of our chief exceptions would be in the matter of pronunciation, to the emphasis and exclusiveness with which he refers to what he regards as the best standard in the usage of well-bred people in England, with undue disparagement of the best American usage. In this respect as in some others may not our well-bred people have become already entitled with time to more consideration, and at least in prospect be able themselves to furnish a respectable standard? Certainly when a critic so positively cites the usage of the best English society on a disputed pronunciation, one may ask what special opportunities he has had of ascertaining that standard, itself. As far as we can learn (besides the wellknown diversities among the common people) educated speakers abroad are less uniform and punctilious on many questions of English pronunciation than our own, and sometimes surprisingly indifferent about the sounds of their own language while needlessly scrupulous about Latin quantities. On this subject the tone of this book here and there seems to us to be hardly in keeping with the third and sixth chapters of "Words and their Uses," where he deals freely with "Criticisms," and stands up well for our literature against foreign arrogance. We thank him for his protest against the modern foolish fashion in England which would confine the word sick to nausea, against the best authorities in the language, and hardly less for his argument against the fashionable misuse of drive as compared with ride. These are instances in which the best usage has been retained on this side of the water, and ought not to be given up. Of course there will not be unanimity among intelligent readers on all the questions mooted in these volumes as to the right use of words, and Mr. White would be the last to expect it, but he will be supported in most of his criticisms by competent judges, and certainly there are errors enough in our time and country, both in the use and pronunciation of words, to call for such effective comments. Moreover, one of the most wholesome lessons in all his essays is well directed against the verbose, turgid and affected style that seems to be "a besetting sin" of so many newspaper-writers and sensational speakers.

By the way, we second Mr. White's preference of the ee sound, rather than that of i long, in either and neither. Of the latter, which some speakers have taken pains to learn, he says in "Words and their Uses" (p. 264): "It is an affectation, and in

this country a copy of a second-rate British affectation. Persons of the best education and the highest social position in England generally say eether and neether" (see also p. 179 of this work). But in the same work we have nothing to say for his introduction of such a word as scunner (p. 257), which we "guess" (though only from the connection) must mean prejudice or whim.

JOSEPH COOK'S "SOCIALISM."*-Joseph Cook's eighth and last volume is entitled "Socialism," and is partly on that subject and partly on others of a kindred nature.

It discusses the theories of socialistic political parties, powerfully advocates self-help as the hope of the poor, describes the cooperative stores of England, and the cooperative banks of Germany, and treats of sanitary and educational reforms, tramp laws and temperance. It is not a treatise; it contains no thoughts directly addressed by the author to the reader, but rather a record of what the author said, on certain occasions, to audiences in Boston. This fact is, as it should be, kept before the reader's mind. At the beginning of each lecture there are given the time and place of its delivery, and its number in the course, while the word "applause," frequently recurring, calls the reader's attention to the fact that the author is not actually addressing him, but is permitting him to know in what manner he once addressed certain other persons and how they received what was said. This makes the book more readable rather than less so, for it places one, in imagination, in the audience, and enables him to enjoy rhetorical periods, and to kindle his own emotions from those of others.

It follows that the volume should not be judged as a treatise; the critic has only to make up his mind whether the public addresses here recorded were good, and what were their particular merits. Poor lectures might possibly make a good treatise, but good lectures make necessarily rather a poor one. Mr. Cook's critics would all doubtless admit the above principles in theory, but some of them have forgotten it in practice, and have talked about his works as if they were originally written for print.

The present work is far too oratorical for a treatise, but none too much so for a course of lectures. It would be a serious de

* Socialism. With preludes on current events. By JOSEPH COOK. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1880. 12mo.