ever, of the English minister at Berlin, Mr. Elliot, is worth relating. Metternich had asked him how he contrived to have a letter to send to London every post-day, there being two each week. Elliot replied: "You will see no difficulty in the matter when I tell you my secret. If anything comes to my knowledge which may interest my government I tell it. If I do not know of anything I invent my news and contradict it by the next courier. You see I can never be at a loss for material for my correspondence."

PUTNAM'S "NEW PLUTARCH."*-Geo. P. Putnam's Sons have commenced the publication of a series of biographies which will be attractive and valuable. Lives of Abraham Lincoln, by Chas. G. Leland, Judas Maccabæus, by Claude Reignier Conder, and Admiral Coligny, by Walter Besant, have already appeared. These works are not to be mere republications in a new form of old works, but they will present fresh studies of some of the most important historical characters. The sketch of Admiral Coligny is particularly noticeable for the fresh interest which is thrown around the life of this great chief of the Protestant party in France in the sixteenth century.

The sketch of his boyhood, and of the home influences which surrounded him in the Chateau at Chatillon-sur-Loing, where he was born, and where his remains now rest; the description of the present appearance of the town, and of the surrounding country; the account of his first introduction to court life; of his mode of life there, and of the friendships he formed, introduce the reader to an entirely new field, and give glimpses of the life and character of Coligny which are not to be found elsewhere. It may serve to illustrate the style of Mr. Besant if we give a short quotation from his account of the first meeting of Coligny with Francis, of Guise:

"Among the young nobles about the Court was one of about the same age as Coligny, toward whom he was at once attracted, and he became speedily attached by the strongest tie of affection and friendship. He was the most gallant, the most handsome, the most noble of all. Never was so brave a youth--never was

"The New Plutarch." Gaspard de Coligny, (Marquis de Chatillon) Admiral of France; Colonel of French Infantry; Governor of Picardy, Ile de France, Paris, and Havre. By WALTER BESANT, M.A. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 12mo, 232 pp. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

one with so courtly, so genial a manner, so winning a tongue. All loved this young man alike, from the King, who yet suspected him and all who bore his name, to the meanest gamin in the street, who ran and shouted in irrepressible exuberance of admiration when the young Prince passed by, radiant in splendid apparel, in the smiles and sunshine of his youth and comeliness. Absalom was not more loved. Galahad was not more knightly than this young Francis de Joinville, eldest son of Claude de Lorraine."

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He dazzled the young provincial Seigneur fresh from his castle at Chatillon; he seemed to the quiet and reserved Gaspard the type of all knightly virtues-the home of all noble aspiration. Coligny believed in him with all the sincerity of a young man's How should he suspect that behind the frank sunshine of that face, the laughing eye, the warm hand, lurked the latent possibility of all that ferocity and bigotry and self-seeking on which his own fortunes were to be wrecked. *

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It was a time when young men cultivated friendship after the supposed manner of the ancients. These friendships were, like the Latin verses of the scholars, to be the wonder and delight of future ages. Guise and Coligny proposed to figure in the lives of some new Plutarch, another pair of friends as illustrious as Damon and Pythias. After a few years we look for Damon and Pythias and we find their friendship cooled; yet, a little while, and we find their friendship turned to hatred !"

LIFE OF SAVONAROLA.*-Few stories gather about them more that is memorable in history than that of the Florentine martyr, whose life is made the subject of this book. His name recalls at once memories of Lorenzo de' Medici, of Piero de' Medici, of Charles VIII. of France, and of how many other of the great personages who lived in Italy in the fifteenth century, and made it illustrious. The author does not profess to throw any new light on the history of the times, but he has presented in convenient form and in an attractive manner an account of the political and social condition of Italy, which sets in clear light the causes of the failure of the reforms attempted by Savonarola. There can be no better account of this interesting chapter in Italian history for popular purposes.

*Times before the Reformation, with an account of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, the Friar of Florence. By WILLIAM DIDWIDDIE, LL.B. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1880. 12mo, pp. 381. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

LEADERS OF THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL.*-The scope and plan of this work are so well outlined on its title page that there is little else to do, in bringing it to the notice of our readers than to describe the contents and character of the work. The idea which has resulted in this compendious and interesting record of the lifework of so many leaders and confessors in the Church of God, was given forth by Dr. Piper, in 1850. At a church-diet in Stutgard, he offered as a thesis, "That the whole evangelical church in German lands is interested in forming a common roll of lives for all the days of the year, to be settled on the foundation of our common history, and thus to be made a bond of union of the churches in all the countries." This proposal was gradually carried into effect by the annual publication of a Year Book, to which eminent scholars in Europe contributed biographies of still more distinguished leaders in all ages of the church, until 365 names had been enrolled. The German churches could be able in this manner to fulfill the precept, "Remember them who have spoken unto you the word of God." Out of the whole number, Dr. McCracken has selected ninety-three persons, whose biographies he has translated. The original list contains many unknown and local names of early martyrs and missionaries, with a score or two of Bible personages already well known, so that the present abridged roll is really more useful than the complete one. To supply the deficiencies in this record of the Church Universal, whose triumphs and leaders are now world-wide, Dr. McCracken has added thirty-eight lives of the various noted men in America, and those who have set up the standard of the Cross in pagan lands. There are altogether one hundred and twenty-five biographies from the pens of eighty-two writers.

In order the better to give an idea of this work, the arrangement of the lives may be stated. The Christian era is first divided into Five Periods, each of which is sub-divided geographically so as to group the persons in a natural connection.

I. The Church's spread in the South, centuries I to V. This contains twenty lives, from Symeon of Jerusalem, to Augustine and Chrysostom.

* Lives of the Leaders of the Church Universal, from the days of the Successors of the Apostles to the present time. The lives by European writers, from the German, as edited by DR. F. PIPER, Professor of Theology in the University of Berlin. Now translated into English, with added lives by American writers, by H. M. MCCRACKEN, D.D. Phillips & Hunt, 805 Broadway, New York; and Congregagational House, Boston. 1879. 900 pp. 8vo.

II. The Church's spread in the North, centuries V to X. This contains fourteen lives, from Patrick of Ireland, to Cyril of Slavonia.

III. The Church's Centralization, centuries XI to XV. This has also fourteen lives, from Anselm of England, to Savonarola of Italy.

IV. The Church's Reformation. The sixteenth century is all taken up with notices of twenty-four great men in Central and Northern Europe, commencing with Luther and ending with William of Orange.

V. The Church's Reformed Progress, centuries XVII to XIX. Gustavus Adolphus leads this company, which includes only a few of those good and great men who might well appear in it; but the selection is very just in bringing to the front the men whose influence has gone on increasing since their deaths. The list is divided into those who lived in Europe, numbering fifteen in all; and thirty-eight more, in later days, in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceanica. The thirty biographies of the American church leaders are distributed among the various denominations so as to show, in a lucid manner, the claims each person has on the homage and gratitude of his fellow Christians for what he did in building up the Living Temple. Ten lives are given for the leaders in the American Colonial Period of the Congregational, Presbyterian, Lutheran, German Reformed, United Brethren, and Baptist churches. Among these are:- Francis Makemie, who was imprisoned in New York for preaching Presbyterian doctrines; H. M. Muhlenberg, who led the Lutheran body by his talents and energy, down to 1787; Michael Schlatter of the Reformed German, from 1747 to 1790; Philip Otterbein of the United Brethren, from 1752 to 1813; and James Manning of the Baptists, whose ministry reached from 1763 to 1791. These early workers in our own churches deserve to be known along with their compeers of greater note; and Dr. McCracken's plan admits the lesser lights into his galaxy, as well as the greater, like Edwards, Hopkins, and Witherspoon.

The twenty lives of the American National Period are divided among twelve denominations of Protestants, so that each branch, numbering as many as five hundred parishes, has one leader at least; and those having over three thousand have three. The mission fields are represented by Egede in Greenland; Zeisberger in North America; Schwartz in India; Vanderkemp in Africa;

Martyn in Persia; Morrison in China; Judson in Burmah; and John Williams in Oceanica.

This synopsis of Dr. McCracken's book will be sufficient to show its intention. In order to ascertain its real value, our readers must judge after they have taken time to examine what we think is well worth buying. It is a chaplet of pearls in its long succession of the names of witnesses for the truth from Symeon, the son of Cleopas, a relative of the Virgin, and bishop of Jerusalem, down through the centuries to Hodge, Wilberforce, and Judson. Among the 125 names are to be found those of nine Women "who labored much in the Lord,” viz., Blandina and Perpetua, Monica, Hildegard of Bingen, Luther's daughter Magdalena, Renata or René of Ferrara, Anne Askew, Elizabeth Fry, and Isabella Grabam. Their records show them to be worthy successors of those women who, on the morning of the resurrection, were bidden by Christ and his angel to go and tell his disciples the first messages of their risen Lord.

READER'S HANDBOOK OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.*-Mr. Winsor has undertaken in this book to direct the student of the history of the American Revolution to the sources of information on all the leading events of the war. So careful and accurate has been his work, that the references are not simply in the general, to books by their titles, leaving the reader to find for himself the portion of the book which is to be examined, but in those cases where it is unnecessary to read the whole book, to chapter and page where he will find what will be of service. To illustrate the author's method, we will select the "Events of 1777," and give the first few titles of subjects. We are told first where the "political aspects" of the year may by studied; next, the "British plan for the campaign of the year," with reference to the American, English, French, and German maps; then the evacuation of Jersey by Howe; then, the condition of affairs in Connecticut and Rhode Island; and this is followed by " Burgoyne's advance from Canada." The references to these subjects occupy nine pages, and the other subjects for 1777 take up thirty-two additional pages. Mr. Winsor gives an intimation that he may follow this volume with others of a similar character covering themes of history, *The Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution, 1761-1783; by JUSTIN WINSOR, the Librarian of Harvard University. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co, 1880. 12mo, pp. 328. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.