hair was uncombed, and his beard was grizzly and of a few days'

growth.'

"Within a week I was in Burlington, New Jersey. I called at a friend's house.

"My husband,' said his wife to me, 'had such a horrid dream about you the other night. He dreamed that a man killed you in a street fight. He ran to help you, but before he reached the spot your enemy had killed you with a great club.'

666

“Oh, no,' cried the husband across the room; 'he killed you with a hatchet.'

"These are the circumstances as I recall them. I remembered the remark of old Artaphernes, that dreams are often the result of a train of thought started by conversation or reading, or the incidents of the working time, but I could recall nothing, nor could either of my friends cite any circumstance that ever they had read, had ever heard by tale or history,' in which they could trace the origin of this remarkable dream.

6

"I am, dear sir, very truly yours,

"HENRY ARMITT BROWN.

"P.S.--I may add that these friends of mine were personally unknown to each other.

"The first one, in New York, dreamed that he was the foremost who reached the scene, the other that he was one of the number who followed; both of which points coincided with my own dream."

LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS.*. -No one who has ever laughed or wept over the pages of Charles Dickens can fail to be interested in these "letters," which appear in two volumes, and cover over a thousand pages. There is the same charm of style, clearness of expression, and idiomatic English, which mark his published works; and the information given, and the opinions expressed, with not infrequent touches of humor or pathos, keep up the interest throughout. The one characteristic of these letters which we will emphasize-among the many upon which we might dwell -is their friendly tone. In the haste of life, so common in this country, do not our American literary men fail to exhibit that warm interest in their friends which would make their own lives

*The Letters of Charles Dickens: Edited by his sister-in-law and eldest daughter. In two volumes. Charles Scribner's Sons: New York. 12mo. pp. 544, 536. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

richer and more mellow? No person can read these pages, however uncongenial the character of Charles Dickens may be to him personally, without saying: "How many friends he had, and how he loved them!" We cannot forbear, too, noticing the tenderness of his feelings. A single illustration must suffice from his correspondence at the time he was finishing the "Curiosity Shop." To a friend he writes: "I am breaking my heart over this story, and cannot bear to finish it."

We cannot forbear quoting a part of what he wrote from Baltimore to his son, who was at school in England, about "taking pains" and "careful work." "I am very glad to hear of the success of your reading, and still more glad that you went at it in downright earnest. I should never have made my success in life if I had been shy of taking pains, or if I had not bestowed upon the least thing I have ever undertaken exactly the same attention and care that I have bestowed upon the greatest. Do everything at your best. . . . Look at such of my manuscripts as are in the library at Gad's, and think of the patient hours devoted year after year to single lines."

The letters to his son Henry (page 455), and to his son Edward (page 466), will surprise most persons, and are both worth looking up and reading through. He commends to each of them the study of the character of Christ, and concludes his letter to Edward: "I now most solemnly impress upon you the truth and beauty of the Christian religion, as it came from Christ himself, and the impossibility of your going far wrong if you humbly but heartily respect it. Only one thing more on this head. . . . Never abandon the wholesome practice of saying your own private prayers, night and morning. I have never abandoned it myself, and I know the comfort of it."

MEMOIRS OF PRINCE METTERNICH.*-This important work is not properly a biography of Prince Metternich, so long one of the great leaders of the Conservative party in Europe, but a "collection of materials " prepared by him, after his retirement from office, to be used hereafter " as a clue" to guide in the preparation of what may be written of his public life. He says Memoirs of Prince Metternich, 1773-1815. Edited by Prince RICHARD METTERNICH; translated by Mrs. Alexander Napier. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1880. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 430, 638. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

himself, "I have made history, and therefore have not found time to write it." The two volumes which are now given to the public cover the years from 1773 to 1815, and comprise a series of brief comments on all the most important events which took place within that period. When it is remembered that it is Metternich himself who is speaking of men whom he had the best of opportunities to know, and of measures with which he was thoroughly conversant, every page has a special value.

It is useless to attempt within the limits at our command to quote what he has said with regard to particular events or persons, but it may be worth while to call attention to the principle which, as he avows, has been the guide of his life. He claims that he has been governed in all his public actions by "that precept of the Book of books," which is as obligatory on States as it is on individuals, "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." He says that his motto has been "True Strength lies in Right." This may seem strange words to some who have read the history of his career, but we doubt not that he was conscientious in it all. Within the scope of his vision the people did not appear, and the great powers of Europe and their interests alone seemed of any consequence, while among them the interests of Austria was predominant for the reason that she was the "surest guardian of the principles which alone guaranteed the general peace and equilibrium." But however the reader may regard the public life of Prince Metternich, he will be impressed by the fact that through this memoir he appears everywhere the same commanding figure which he was for so long a period among his contemporaries. The very opening paragraphs are pervaded with a dignity which would become the might of "buried Denmark:” "A spectator of the order of things before the Revolution in French society, and an observer of or a participator in all the circumstances which accompanied and followed the overthrow of that order, of all my contemporaries I now stand alone on the lofty stage on which neither my will nor my inclination placed me."

These volumes are to be followed by others which will include the period of the general peace, and end with the Chancellor's retirement from political life in 1848; and then by still others which will embrace the period from 1848 to 1859, the year of his death.

There is very little in these volumes before us of the nature of anecdote. The bow is scarcely ever unbent. One story, how

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."

*

*

*

*

*

*

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 nature. 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.

*

*

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. 12mo, pp. 381. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

1880.