enlargement of the brief hints and stories found in the New Testament is wrought out with the skill which carries on the reader without weariness. The translation of the Apostle's writings is made with care and accompanied with suggestive notes. We think the volume will hold a place in the literature of this subject, and will be consulted by many who are desirous of entering more fully into the life and history of this great Apostle.

MEYER'S COMMENTARY ON MARK AND LUKE.*-Since the last issue of the New Englander, two new volumes of the Edinburgh translation of Meyer's Commentary have been received. We have now in English all the portions of this great work which were prepared by Meyer himself, except that which relates to the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philemon. The more this work is used, the more will our students in theology make progress in the true way in exegetical study, and we cannot but hope that the publication of it in England and America will be of the greatest service to those who are coming forward into the clerical profession. That the author has always reached the truth in his conclusions, or that he is in every case a safe guide to follow, will be denied by many, perhaps by all. But it is beyond doubt that his method is the true one, and that he is one of the ablest, if not the ablest, of all who have adopted his method.

The present volumes are translated from the last edition which the author himself revised, so that we have before us his latest opinions and his most perfected work. The translation has been made with much care, and though inferior to the original in some cases, as all translations must be, it gives the English reader a very faithful representation of the words and thoughts of the author. We are glad to see that the publishers have found encouragement enough from the public to lead them to continue the translation, so as to include the Commentaries on the Pastoral and the Catholic Epistles, as well as on the Epistle to the Hebrews, which were written by Professors Huther and Lünemann, the coadjutors of Dr. Meyer. It would be a matter of regret if the entire work as published in Germany were not to be

* Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Gospels of Mark and Luke. By HEINRICH AUGUST WILHELM MEYER, Th.D., Oberconsistiorialrath, Hannover. Translated from the fifth edition of the German, by Rev. ROBERT ERNEST WALLIS, Ph.D. The Translations revised and edited by WILLIAM P. DICKSON, D.D., Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. New York: Scribner & Welford. 1880. 2 vols. 8vo. $3 each.

brought out in an English form. The doubts which the publishers express concerning the issuing of Dr. Düsterdieck's volume on the Apocalypse we hope may soon be removed by the demands of those who are interested in having the Commentary in its completeness.

THE LAND AND THE BOOK. *-The new issue of Dr. Thompson's highly valued work on Palestine has long been anticipated with much interest by students of the Scriptures. In its exterior, the volume on Southern Judea which has lately appeared is quite satisfactory. The paper and typography are excellent, and the numerous maps and illustrations are well mated to the beauty of the text. We can only hope that eventually a cheaper edition for general circulation may be put forth for the benefit of those who cannot afford to purchase the work in its more costly form. Dr. Thompson has the inestimable advantage of having resided for nearly fifty years in the country which he describes. He is no hasty traveler, giving out the information which he has collected for the purpose. He is, moreover, sympathetic with the Scriptures, a reverent believer. He writes in a devout spirit. He is an accurate and truthful observer. He is, also, familiar with the Bible, and is thus able to bring forward its passages in apposite relation to the scenes and phenomena to which they refer. A more profound scholarship would have given additional merit to the volume before us. We do not think that the method of an imaginary journey, which the author adopts, is, on the whole, a happy expedient. But the work is a substantial addition to our means of becoming acquainted with the land of the Bible.

GEIKIE'S LIFE AND WORDS OF CHRIST.-This work has been so long before the public, that it will only be necessary to call the attention of our readers to the fact that the Messrs. Appleton have issued a new edition, from the same stereotype plates as the original two-volume edition, at the low price of one dollar and fifty cents. The type is good, and the book is given to the reader in its entirety, including all the author's notes. The paper is very

*The Land and the Book, or Biblical illustrations, drawn from the scenes and scenery of the Holy Land: Southern Palestine and Jerusalem. By WILLIAM M. THOMPSON, D.D., forty-five years a missionary in Syria and Palestine. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1880.

The Life and Words of Christ. By CUNNINGHAM GEIKIE, D.D. Two volumes in one. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1880. 8vo. pp. 1258.

thin, and yet not such as to cause the type to strike through it and thus to injure the pages or occasion difficulty in reading. It is of so inferior character, however, as greatly to mar the appearance of the volume. The purchaser must find his compensation for this evil in the saving of expense which is afforded by means of it.

While not ranking as the best of the Lives of our Lord which have been published within the last few years, Dr. Geikie's work is one of value and of interest to the reader. It is a work showing much care and study, and has already met with most favorable criticism in this country, as well as in England, the home of its author.

LANIER'S SCIENCE OF ENGLISH VERSE.*-This is a book of curious interest, which we have not yet examined as thoroughly as it deserves, but enough to see that it will invite and reward the attention of such as have leisure to make it a study. It is a labored, scientific treatment of its subject. In the author's definition, however, verse is not, as in common use, equivalent to poetry, but more strictly what is called versification. The treatment is concerned with the structure rather than with the sentiment of poetry, with the form more than with the material; with verse as sound addressed to the ear, (and not the less if through the medium of the eye), even as it would appear if the words themselves were not understood, as in the case of a foreign tongue, but only so many sounds heard. The preface shows, what is true enough, that writers who have treated of English versification, have found it and left it in an unsettled state, not subjecting it to rigid analysis, nor ascertaining its laws. No science of verse, as in modern times of music, has been constructed, nor so much as attempted. The old classic metres have been more thoroughly studied than those of English poetry. The author aims to supply the deficiency. He analyzes and classifies the variations of sound heard in verse, as to duration, loudness, pitch, and a certain quality which he calls "tone-color," and he attempts to represent these differences to the eye by musical notation. His method is certainly novel and ingenious. Dr. Rush made some use of music in his "Philosophy of the Voice," but the scheme here proposed is more elaborate than any we remember to have seen. It is a work of much study and nice discrimination. The

*The Science of English Verse: by SIDNEY LANIER. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 315.

style is careful, perhaps too formal and technical. We are not prepared to say how far such a work, however successful in its way, is needed, or likely to be helpful in composition, but students of poetry will find much in it that is entertaining and suggestive. We have noted in one or two instances something like a provincialism in the confusion of the words will and shall.

NEW EDITION OF IRVING'S WORKS.-Messrs. Geo. P. Putnam's Sons have commenced the publication of a new edition of Washington Irving's complete works in twenty-six volumes, which are to be printed from entirely new electrotype plates and to be amply illustrated. Diedrich Knickerbocker's "History of New York" has already appeared, and is prefaced by a "biographical and critical study" of Washington Irving by Mr. Charles Dudley Warner. Mr. Warner's essay, and the oration on Irving by William Cullen Bryant, which he delivered in New York in 1860, and the "Personal Reminiscences of Irving" by the late Mr. Geo. P. Putnam which were printed in the Atlantic Monthly in 1860, have been published also in a separate volume.

BLANQUI'S HISTORY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN EUROPE.*-Mr. David A. Wells, who introduces this English translation of a work which has attained a world-wide reputation, says that "it is a mistake to refer the origin of political economy to a very recent period; so recent in fact, as many suppose, as the latter half of the eighteenth century. It is indeed true that at the period referred to, the record of the experience of mankind in the work of bettering their material condition was for the first time carefully and philosophically studied, and the principles deducible from such experience elaborately formulated by Turgot, Quesnay, Adam Smith, and others. But the experience dates back to the very dawn of civilization, and in its lessons and applications has ever since constituted the foundation and framework of every structure of progressive human society, irrespective of locality upon the earth's surface, or race difference, in its individual constituency. It is the narration of these experiences from the time of the Greeks and Romans down to the year 1842, which M. Blanqui has attempted in the work before us. We have only space to announce the publication of the English translation of this important and interesting work by Mr. Geo. P. Putnam's Sons.

History of Political Economy in Europe.-By Jérome-Adolphe Blanqui. Translated from the fourth French edition by EMILY J. LEONARD, with Preface by David A. Wells. New York: Geo. P. Putnam's Sons. 1880. 8vo. pp. 585.

GIESELER'S CHURCH HISTORY, VOL. V.*-Professor H. B. Smith had completed 120 pages of the translation of this volume, when his death deprived the country of one of its keenest and ripest scholars, and the Church of a theologian of the highest ability and accomplishments. Mrs. Robinson, the wife of the late Dr. Edward Robinson, who is herself a German by birth, has rendered into English the most of the remaining portion of the volume. It hardly needs to be said that she is quite competent for such a task. Of course, the volume loses the additional notes and illustrations which Professor Smith, had he lived, would have connected with the text. Of the great value of Gieseler's work it is superfluous to speak. In extent and accuracy of learning, and in impartiality of treatment, no modern historian excels him. His History is a thesaurus of documentary material, selected and arranged by the hand of a master. The portion of the present volume which pertains to the Reformation, is one of the very best sections of the work. The concluding part did not enjoy the benefit of the author's revision; but it is a valuable summary of modern events in the field of church history. The translators have done well in omitting the chapter relating to America.

PROF. KNAPP'S SPANISH "CLASS READINGS."―The accomplished Professor of modern languages in Yale College has published a small volume of selections from the writings of living Spanish authors, with a vocabulary and notes, for the use of students in Spanish.

* A Text-Book of Church History. By Dr. JOHN C. L. GIESELER. Translated and edited by HENRY B. SMITH. Vol. v., 1517-1854. Completed by MARY A. ROBINSON. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880.

+ Lecturas de Clase, escojidas de autores Españoles que hoy viven. Coleccionadas y anotadas por D. GUILLERMO I. KNAPP.