to the 17th century our Lawyers, when they wrote in the English Language, made use of Characters which were derived from the Modern Gothic. These were generally used by them for Conveyances, Wills, &c., until about the middle of the 17th century.

"The Character or Hand-writing of ancient Records, as far as my observation has extended, has gradually degenerated from Age to Age. Thus the Records of the Saxon era, whether written in Saxon or Latin, are infinitely more plain and legible than those of subsequent eras; they are also little obscured with Abbreviations, which have created much Doubt and Ambiguity in after ages, particularly in that valuable Record 'Domesday Book.'

"From the Norman Conquest until the reign of Henry III. the Character is in general plain and perspicuous; of this latter reign, however, there are many records which cannot be read with facility on account of the Intricacy of the Character and the Number of Ab. breviations.

"The same Observations may be applied to Records from this Reign until that of Edward III. inclusive.

"From this Period downwards I have experimentally found that less difficulty occurs in reading and translating Records, and that the Hands used from the Reign of Richard II. to that of Philip and Mary are such as may be read

without much trouble.

"Hitherto each Reign appears to have had a set or uniform Character; but in the Reign of Elizabeth and her Successors, the Clerical Mode seems to have been in a great measure abandoned, and

each

Transcriber to have written according to his own Fancy; and it is observable that the English Records of the 16th and 17th centuries are in general more dif

ficult to be read than the Latin Records of preceding ages."

The present edition of Wright's Court-hand contains thirty engraved and lithographed plates of alphabets of the various characters in use in England during the last thousand years, with specimens of words, with their contractions and abbreviations. The plates contain also passages from ancient documents of different periods, some of which show indeed a beautiful style and strength of caligraphy. The appendices of the work are especially valuable, and comprise a list of the ancient names of places in Great Britain and Ireland; an alphabetical table of ancient surnames, from which many people will probably learn for the first time what their names mean, and how far they have become corrupted; and also a glossography of unclassical Latin words, such as are found in old records and not in dictionaries. The work as a whole is unique, and, it almost goes without saying, should be in every important library.

La Sainte Bible, qui comprend l'ancien et le nouveau Testament, traduits sur les textes originaux Hébreu et Grec. Par Louis Segond, Docteur en Théologie. Oxford: De l'imprimerie de l'Université. London: Henry Frowde. 1880.

To have a copy of our sacred literature in a familiar language other than our own is to have a very valuable book of reference at hand. If we are in doubt about the precise rendering of a passage which seems obscure in our own language, the help of a version in another tongue may be found to suggest some felicitous turn of expression which would not otherwise have readily occurred to the mind, and which settles our difficulty for us. A work like the present, produced under conditions

of typographical excellence, is assured a place in the history of sacred bibliography. M. le Docteur Segond has corrected the proofs himself, and the work owes something also to Professor Bartholomew Price, and other Oxford custodians of the keys of learning.

The version of the New Testament here appears for the first time; that of the Old has already had three editions, the first at Geneva in 1874, the second at Nancy in 1877, and the third at Geneva in 1879. With regard to variety of versions, the French ones, until a very recent period, were renderings, mostly based one upon the other, of the Latin Vulgate. This is now the fourth translation into French from the original tongues, those already published being one at Neuchâtel, one at Lausanne, and one at Paris, the last being not yet quite completed.

The text followed in the New Testament has been that of Tischendorf, Octava critica major, which includes the collation of the Sinaitic manuscript. In the version a happy mean is attained between too stiffly literal a rendering and two loose a freedom.

But we

Matt. vi. 23 we have "Si donc la lumière qui est en toi est ténèbres, combien seront grandes ces ténèbres! If the light-element be darkness, the purport of the saying is, how dark will be the element of which light is not expected! Davidson's version, "how great the darkness!" instead of "that darkness," allows of the true sense. Again, in the parable of the Ten Virgins, M. Segond makes the wise virgins reply almost rudely to the beggars

A

for oil, "Non; il n'y en aurait pas assez pour nous et pour vous." French version, published in Paris in 1864, " par une réunion de pasteurs et de ministres des deux Eglises Protestantes de France," leaves the direct negative in doubt by placing it in parenthesis. "[Non], de peur qu'il n'y en ait pas assez pour nous et pour vous." Davidson is much more faithful to the refinement of expression of the Greek: "There might not be enough for us and you." Occasionally, too, a suspicion suggests itself that M. Segond is too familiar with our English authorised version; why, for instance, should he verbally follow the expression (Phil. iii. 21) "vile body "with his "qui transformera notre corps vil," when the literal rendering of the Greek is "the body of our humiliation? With so splendid an instrument of cultured speech in his hands as the language of France, we think M. Segond might, on the whole, have done better to have let himself forget England and her too familiar version of his text before he began his own. Before M. Segond's work is many years old, England may expect to have a new authorised version of a finer accuracy than the present one, which will make his adaptations from the latter seem antiquated, by the side of an original version, which is what his professes to be now.

surface of the earth, and others remove it to the distance of 1006 miles from that surface, it must be admitted that we have yet something to learn as to the true nature of these most rare and most beautiful of the more sublime phenomena of Nature.

All that is, up to this time, known-and most of what is thought-by persons competent to form instructed opinions on the subject of Aurora, is collected and arranged by Mr. Capron in an attractive volume. Nor does the author appear as a compiler alone. He writes both as an observer and as a scientific experimenter, giving coloured diagrams of his own drawing of several auroral displays which it has been his good fortune to witness; and also gives accounts of his experiments on the effect of magnetism on the electric glow, by which, under the circumstances that he describes, science has to some extent imitated the phenomena of the Northern Lights. The spectroscopic analysis of the auroral light also has engaged much attention-a band of yellowish-green being one of the characteristic features of the spectrum of the aurora, which has not been found in other spectra. The whole subject is fully and ably treated in Mr. Capron's work, which forms an illustrated monograph that will permanently associate the name of the author with the history of the study of displays which rank among the most brilliant of nature's marvels.

The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome. By E. M. Berens. London and Edinburgh: Blackie and Son. 1880.

This little book will satisfy a want that has been often felt, namely, to introduce the classical mythologies to young people in a poetical and unobjectionable form.

Neither Lemprière nor Smith's dictionaries are desirable to place in the hands of young people; and yet it grows more and more needful to true culture that the classical allusions with which literature and art abound should be familiar. Mrs. Berens has acquitted herself admirably of her delicate task. Her work forms rather a diluted dictionary than a reading book, yet each section is thoroughly readable. The style is graceful, and the stories are always put forward in their most ideal and spiritual character, and even the driest details are invested with life and interest. The book is further rendered attractive by numerous illustrations of antique sculptures.

The Philosophy of Handwriting. By Don Felix de Salamanca. London: Chatto and Windus. 1879.

This really charming and amusing little book should delight not only chiromancists, but all lovers of autographs, for it brings before them over a hundred signatures of the most eminent men and women of the day. Don Felix de Salamanca starts upon the lines laid down by the elder d'Israeli that "the handwriting bears an analogy to the character of the writer, as all voluntary actions are characteristic." After a brief preface in which he explains his purpose, the author proceeds to give a fac-simile of various signatures, and appends a short expository note. These notes are very entertaining, smartly written, and often singularly just. The obvious objection might of course be raised by a disbeliever in this science, that, in every case noted by Don Felix, the literary or public character of his subject was well known, and therefore he had merely to deduce this from the handwriting. The objection would, however, be hardly fair, for Don

Felix not only gives his views, but his reasons for holding the same. A very salient instance is the handwriting of Lord Beaconsfield. The Premier's writing has, it appears, changed its character as frequently as its author's fortunes have changed, and at all times has varied from day to day. "Generally," says Don Felix, "the hand may be described as bold and flashy; there is no trace of either the littérateur or the politician about it, and it changes its style much more rapidly than the semifabulous chameleon its hue. Sometimes an entire note has been decently written-especially when intended to be complimentary in tone-and upon other occasions scarcely a single letter has been well formed, and only the autograph-upon which extra carefulness is invariably lavished-has been presentably finished. shifty and changeable a manner does not inspire much confidence in the writer's stability of purpose, although self-esteem may safely be predicated from it." Gladstone's handwriting is said to have fallen into chaos since the introduction of post-cards. The quaintness of Mr. Alma-Tadema's hand is duly noted, the clearness and carefulness of Mr. Browning's, the eccentricity and unevenness of Mr. Swinburne's. Don Felix's analysis of Leslie Stephen's hand is an admirable exposition of that writer's style. Indeed, the whole book is full of noteworthy matters. We can only recommend our readers to get it and judge for themselves.

So

An Inquiry into the Age of the Moabite Stone. By Samuel Sharpe. London: Russell Smith. 1879.

The erudite author of " The History of Egypt," "The History of the Hebrew Nation," and many other works bearing upon Biblical history, has issued a pamphlet in

which he critically and learnedly discusses the question as to the age of the Moabite Stone. This celebrated stone bears an inscription which purports to have been written about B.C. 850 by Mesha, King of Moab, who lived in the reigns of Omri, Ahab, and Jehoram, kings of Northern Israel. It mentions his successful war against the Israelites and his after-doings at home. It is written in Hebrew, but in Phoenician characters, and therefore, from its subject-matter, its language, and its character, it is most interesting to the student of the Bible. When it was first discovered its genuineness was much contested, but latterly its opponents have been silent, and its genuineness seems to be allowed. Indeed, Dr. Ginsburg has written a work to this effect. Mr. Sharpe differs from the conclusions of this writer. He thinks the inscription a forgery, only not a modern but an ancient forgery, and therefore scarcely less valuable than if genuine. Mr. Sharpe then proceeds point by point to show his reasons for his belief. They are numerous, and we have not space to follow him into each detail. He shows, among others, how the boast of the inscription that Mesha conquered the land of Reuben from Israel in the reign of Ahab, or his son Jehoram, is expressly contradicted by the Bible, while its statement that Omri took the land of Medeba does not agree with history. Again the inscription claims for Mesha and the Moabites an amount of civilisation and military power which we cannot readily grant, since the civilisation of the Moabites under Mesha was probably but little more advanced than that of the Canaanites in the time of Moses. Further, the agreement of the inscription with the language of the Books of Kings, which has been much

quoted as a proof of its genuineness, rather goes to prove that it was written after the Captivity. The inscription also gives to the town of Siran a name used, as far as we know, only after the Christian era; and finally the characters and the manner in which the words are divided by dots and the sentences by strokes, point to a more modern origin. Thus, in giving this inscription to the age of Mesha, we are met with serious difficulties on all sides. Mr. Sharpe then opens an historical inquiry, and arrives at the conclusion that the inscription may date from A.D. 260, and that its purpose was to argue that the province of Moab included the land of Reuben. He points to the years when the Roman empire was falling to pieces under Aurelian and Gallienus,

while Odenathus of Palmyra governed Syria, and before his widow, Zenobia, made herself Empress of Egypt as well as Syria, as a time when a prefect of Moab may possibly have thought it worth while to appeal to history against a Syrian superior by means of this inscription, in order to show that the province of Moab did of old include the land of Reuben. Mr. Sharpe justly admits that to say with certainty that this was So, would be rash indeed. He only tentatively puts forward this theory, but he supports it with so much sound learning that in any case his arguments should receive the most careful attention of scholars.

Lands of Plenty: British North America. By G. Hepple Hall. W. H. Allen and Co.: London.

This is a useful handbook of information on British North America, written by a man whose recollections are still fresh upon himsufficiently so to enable him to mark the outlines of the huge continent he

has traced with vigour and distinctness. The Dominion of Canada, embracing eight divisions, and including the whole of the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, is in the present day attracting exceptional attention. England, the Northern States of Europe, require an outlet for their overflowing populations. No country so available for their settlementthe four millions of inhabitants now occupying almost as many square miles, are preparing the road for the incoming tide of European settlers, and the 5800 miles of railway will, it is thought, soon double and quadruple. From Manitobah the vast plains or fertile prairies extend to the Rocky Mountains on the west and to the Hudson Bay and parallel latitudes in the north, covered with a rich loam three to nine feet in depth, the wheat zone being estimated to cover 600,000,000 acres; in fact, according to the author, elbow room enough to permit a hundred million of inhabitants to settle down and yet not fill the space. All the cereals appear to thrive, the only enemy of the farmer being the grasshoppers; but their visitation is only a rare occurrence, and the Russian Mennomites who have settled in the district of Manitobah in considerable numbers appear to be able to master the intruder. Once that the attention of the public is directed to these natural granaries, what between lakes, rivers, and railways, the European markets may for ages to come draw an illimitable supply of food from these districts. These are the views entertained by the author; in how far they can be supported by facts the reader will have to judge after the perusal of this small volume, crowded with data and figures which bear the stamp of veracity and have the merit of accuracy.