weapon into the hand of a criminal which is too dangerous to be left unguarded. Mr. Crawford having suggested such a risk, it behooves the Roman Catholic authorities to fit it with a remedy. chapters as put together from the memo- And yet, although we can call Captains FOR CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS.* THE BIBLE AND ISLAM.* THA HAT the great Arabian religious leader borrowed elements of his teaching from both the Jewish and the Christian religions existing before his time is a fact of general knowledge. The Mohammedan system as a whole, however, resembles Judaism so much more than it resembles Christianity, especially in its Unitarian view of the doctrine of God, that at first sight it seems questionable how far this belief in adaptaWe trust that enough has been said to tions from Christian sources accords with assure our readers that all who feel a profact. But the closer examination which found interest in the religion which had so Professor Smith makes in this series of surprising an origin and growth, and which ten lectures before the Union Theological has played and may still play so remarka- Perhaps the best bit of writing in all Seminary shows that in truth many ideas ble a part in the world's history, can find the three hundred pages is in the chapter were incorporated from Christianity. The in this series of lectures a most interesting recounting the meeting of the fleets about likeness to Judaism is, however, in larger, and profitable field of investigation. the "Virgin," where "the boats swung up more general aspects, whereas the contrithrough the mists to the southward," and butions adopted from Christianity are often "the schooners rocked and dipped like in matters below the surface, and thus less mother ducks watching their brood, while readily noticed. In case of both the ear- COR the first time it seems to us Mr. the dories behaved like mannerless ducklier religions Mohammed often followed ex- Kipling has failed in his venture; lings." Here for a moment at least a mastra Biblical sources, rabbinic traditions, and though let us soften the judgment by add-ter's touch is plain. such crudities as may be seen in the Apoc- ing that Mr. Kipling's failure might well The story opens on the Great Banks ryphal gospels. In fact, the Christianity mean success for a younger writer. Plain with a whistle of warning to befogged fishwhich alone Mohammed knew was the im- Tales from the Hills, The Jungle Book, The ermen, and a most miraculous escape from perfect and probably technically heretical Seven Seas, even the much criticized .007, drowning is arranged for Harvey, the hero, form prevalent in Arabia early in the sev- prove Mr. Kipling a man of power and rare who literally plunges into his adventures. enth century of our era. The Moslems are originality, and above all of a catholic sym- In the incidents of a cruise on the Banks likewise not without a great body of tradi-pathy so comprehensive and insinuating in centers the story; but in the background tional divinity and law in the works of the its intelligence that seemingly there exists - may we say backwater? - we catch intercommentators. The object of Dr. Smith in neither man, beast, nor mechanism too com- esting glimpses of ships and sailors of every these lectures is, however, mainly to show plicated for him to reach its inmost heart nationality, and Harvey Cheyne, Senior, in what respects Hebrew and Christian and write of it as one who knows. The with his hypochondriac wife and his milteachings are reproduced in the Koran it- shadow of these qualities rests upon Cap- lions in mines and railroads, reminds us self. In this exposition such important tains Courageous, but this book never would that land exists as well as sea. Indeed, the subjects as the following are examined: have made for its author the reputation story is rather an olla podrida, for after The common basis of the different relig- which he won so justly from his earlier tossing on the Banks all summer, the reader ions in preëxisting heathenism; the Koran tales. We remember distinctly the interest is rushed overland in the Cheyne's private narratives, more generally from Jewish and admiration with which we first made car from San Diego to Boston and back sources - sometimes repeated more than acquaintance with His Majesty the King again; and indeed, the elaborate description once, and too often almost grotesque in and poor Black Sheep, with all the rest of of the trip in railroad jargon, with its details form; the doctrine of God and of the divine their company, young and old, and the al- of connections with "specials" and "limgovernment, and how far the latter is, as to most breathless eagerness with which we iteds" and the histories of telegrams flying man, fatalistic; sin and salvation; the fu- turned page after page of the cheap paper round the country, seems only an unfortunture life; church and state. It is interest- edition of Plain Tales, the first volume it ate reminiscence of .007 and quite unnecesing to notice, in some teachings of the had been our good fortune to see. "Oh! sary to the present story. Koran, a development of doctrine; in the a young Anglo-Indian newspaper corresponlater, as compared with the earlier suras, dent," was the usual answer to questions this phenomenon is well known in the of the author's identity; and yet that same other religions with which Islam is here obscure correspondent rushed into fame compared. Its perception in case of the with stories to which cannot be compared Koran, however, requires the services of this latest effort of the distinguished novelan expert guide such as we here happily ist who is found worthy of one of the most possess in Professor Smith, on account of luxurious editions possible to modern skill, the total want of chronological order in the and of a place in literature among the masters of English style. *The Bible and Islam; or, The Influence of the Old and New Testaments on the Religion of Mohammed. Being the Ely Lectures for 1897. By Henry Preserved Smith, D.D. Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.50. •Captains Courageous. A Story of the Grand Banks. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated. The Century Company. $1.50. We In Mr. and Mrs. Cheyne and their son is a touch of caricature - the boy in petticoats would be worse than Daisy Miller, to whom he has been likened; but they serve to adorn a tale that should supply valuable hints to many American parents. should hesitate, however, to prescribe a course of treatment heroic enough to transform young Harvey in four months from a pasty-faced youth, with a cigarette and a look of "irresolution, bravado, and cheap smartness," into a sunburnt, manly fellow, really likeable-hesitate seriously, unless, Among Mr. Kipling's ardent admirers we are glad to number ourselves, but even he cannot yet rest on his laurels. It is a disappointment to think that Captains Courageous is below the standard Mr. Kipling himself has set for us, and we can only hope that it may be followed very shortly by a story that will suggest more the inevitableness of genius and less the appearance of the "made to order." Whatever the If you are decided not to write to me, say so, and you shall have no more letters from me. Remember that I have never entreated the weak sex." At last, the dismissal: Mascagni. indeed, Mr. Kipling were on hand to direct not to Sir George Douglas's own judgment so events ex machina. much as to that of the misguided publisher of the "Famous Scots Series." original justice of these criticisms, they in a "God forgive thee thy desertion of me! measure apply to the present volume. Its faults Yesterday from my balcony I said this to thee. are those of a piece of work which has not had Adieu! Thou hast deceived me cruelly. Who knows but it was this same disabused sufficient time to cool before being hurried into lover who advertised in the Tribuna of Octoprint. We feel that on reflection Mr. Saints-ber 21: "Deceived in love, I desire to marry a bury would have diluted his praise, which is so young girl, a widow, or even a person of advanced generous as to create an uneasy doubt of its years, with a small dowry." trustworthiness, or rebellion, according to the reader's knowledge and temperament. Mr. Saintsbury is, moreover, so determined to deal a blow at certain recent judgments of Scott's work that he takes some sadly untenable positions. In these days of careful character analysis it is unfortunate that he should call attention so vociferously to some shadowy heroes and heroines of the Waverley Novels and insist that they are all flesh and blood. He will hardly have it that literature generally-poetry cerScott; and he makes some rash comparisons tainly has made advances since the days of between Scott's poetry and "Christabel," "The Ancient Mariner," and other really great imag. inative poems. Mr. Saintsbury is not always at MINOR NOTICES. American Songs and Lyrics. An interesting collection of American verse appears in Mr. Frederic Lawrence Knowles's last book, The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics, containing some hundred and fifty examples of what the editor considers most representative of the native lyric at its best. As Mr. Knowles states in his frank preface, an editor's judgment cannot always be without prejudice, and every reader will doubtless be able to improve the book for himself by additions or substitutions of his own fancy; but on the whole the work is well done, and it is especially commendable for its preservation of several bits of verse that hitherto have enjoyed no more permanent resting-place than our magazines afford. The title of the book, with its suggestion of that richer English Treasury, emphasizes unavoidably the differences between the old pen and the new, and the comparison forces the acknowledgment that our native muse has not entirely outgrown her callow youth. [L. C. Page & Co. $1.25.] his best in this volume. The statements just THE ITALIANS OF TODAY. A Love Story in Miniature. The Growth of the French Nation. George Burton Adams, Professor of History in Yale University, has written an excellent short history of the French nation. Of course he can only tell his story in the briefest manner possible when he attempts in one short volume to include the long course of French history from the time when Gaul made its first appearance on record down to the end of the nineteenth century, "when the same land is the home of a powerful and thoroughly united nation, ruling itself as a great republic." No detail is possi-journals! I select at random. ble in a history of this size, but the writer shows the gradual and regular growth of this primitive people into the highly organized nation of today, and traces in a skillful way the causes of this growth. The book is an excellent text-book, and is made especially valuable for class-room use by two full-page, colored maps and about fifty illustrations. [The Macmillan Co. $1.25] Mr. Saintsbury's Scott. In Paris we have certain newspapers which publish "personals; but how faint of colour compared with those which I meet here, on the fourth page of many of the most important Mascagni is a Tuscan. He was born at Leghorn, a purely commercial city, whose streets and harbour I saw one foggy day, of which I study in the Conservatory at Milan, poor in remember nothing. In 1884, after three years' money, and endowed, it seems, with a formida ble appetite, he engaged himself as sub-director with an operetta troupe, at a salary of five lire a day. Two years he lived this vagabond life, going from one little theatre to another, constantly changing impresarios. He became completely disgusted. Like most Italians (who, as a rule, himself. And near the close of 1885 they estabniarry very young) he had taken a wife. He had met, loved, and married a young singer, poor like lished themselves at Cevignola, a little city of Apulia, near Foggia. Here Mascagni made friends. He gave lessons on the piano, and "In that case we appoint you director of the municipal orchestra, with a salary of a hundred lire [twenty dollars] a month." Fortune was beginning to make advances to Mascagni; but the post of direttore della scuola orchestrale would not have sufficed to give the poor musician fame, or even the humblest com petency. After a time Signor Edoardo Sonzogno, the rich Milanese publisher, proprietor of the Secolo, and a sort of Mæcenas for Italian artists, offered a prize for a one-act opera. Mascagni resolved to try; and composed, upon a libretto by his friend Taglioni, from a novel by Verga, the score of the Cavalleria rusticana. He was one of the three successful competitors, and the only one whose work, represented at Rome in 1890, was enthusiastically received. The rest of the story-I mean to say the journey of the Cavalleria over Europe-is too well known to need mention. What is not, however, matter of general notoriety is the fact that the Sicilian author, from whom the libretto had been borrowed, seeing the unexpected success of Mascagni's opera, instituted a suit, which has just been decided, and the rights of the poet The passion reveals itself and grows : have been valued at an enormous sum. "Never "Beautiful Florentine, I thought I understood mind," says my neighbour, "it is Signor Sonzogno the signal of your fan. If it is so, be at the win-who has to pay." I ask him, " But why abandon dow, same hour." a vein so happily opened? Why subjects like William Radcliff and the Rantzau? Do you not think an Italian would do better, even in music, to draw inspiration from the poetry, so abundant, of his native land?" "Thanks! I hope to receive good news. Courage, my angel, my treasure, my repose!" "Mamma's health still prevents my return. Yet, when I gaze into the blue depths of the sky, to every star that crosses the mountains, to every breath of wind, I confide the salutation of my heart for you, O most sympathetic (simpaticona)! 66 It is possible to pick many flaws in the new Happy, and sure of your love! I wish I book on Scott in the "Famous Scots Series" by thousand years, ideal of my heart, sole and abso could live a thousand years to love you for a Mr. George Saintsbury; still, when all the carp-lute queen, my whole thought, my whole soul! ing is done, to say much in its favor. It was pointed out by Mr. William Wallace in a late Contemporary Review that other volumes in this series suffer from hasty preparation for the press; and a writer in a recent number of the Saturday Review remarks of Sir George Doug las's resurrections of certain Scotch worthies connected with the publishing house of Blackwood that the resurrections were probably due A thousand kisses - small, medium-sized, and Then comes the ultimatum, sometimes brutally "Very little politeness in your way of acting! He was about to answer. We were at the moment in the foyer, or, rather, under the portico of La Pergola, in a crowd of people. There was noisy talking all about us; an aspect of joy, of true emotion, pervaded all these Italian faces; hausted, of welcoming a national work, a new the pleasure so rare, so coveted, not yet extalent; perhaps a successor to Verdi, now passing off the stage? A sudden stir in the crowd made us look round. Mascagni himself, bareheaded, his arms linked with those of two friends, young like himself, came running down the staircase, brilliant with light. The three were all laughing and leaping down the stairs like boys. And he seemed so happy, he rejoiced in his young fame with such simplicity, he was so thoroughly the poet carried away by the rapture of his first Success, that I did as everyone else was doing applauded him with all my heart. The Literary World BOSTON 8 JANUARY 1898 Entered at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., as second-class mail matter EDWARD ABBOTT, Editor. Jay on one side and on the other side of Mrs. aged to see a large part of the world. If more Joaquin Miller is at present on the Yukon River on a little steamer frozen in the ice, and his friends hope when ice thaws he will be able to reach the open sea, but the chances are against him. He started for the Klondike last July, and he climbed the Chilkoot Pass, shot the White Horse Rapids, and examined the mines in the gold fields, but we have not heard a word from him for the last three months. On me demande, pour ce charmant volume, un mot de préface en français; le voici; Quand, en 1865, je publiai mon premier recueil de poésies - écrites au collège, pour la plupart — le grand poète américain Longfellow eut la flatteuse beinveillance de m'appeler "the pathfinder of a new land of song." Avec mille fois plus de raison puis -je aujourd'hui passer le compliment à There is nothing but cheerful news from mon sympathique confrère et ami, l'au- Mr. Horace E. Scudder, who seems to be enteur de ce livre; car, si jamais quelqu'un, joying himself abroad greatly. Just now he is chez nous, a mérité le titre de "pathfinder in Rome, and he will be in Italy until the spring. of a new land of song," c'est assurément lui.- LOUIS FRECHETTE: Introduction to "The Habitant." NEW YORK LETTER. T is a great satisfaction to hear that work on and for the next three months he will devote Iour and needed library is soon to himself to completing the new novel, te begin. Just when it will be finished may, of It may be premature to comment upon a bill which is only yet in the condition of one that "is to be presented" to Congress for enactment; but the proposition is one that ought to be attacked as soon as it shows its head. It is said that a Californian Congressman proposes legislation which shall require four copies of the best edition of every copyrighted book to be sent to certain designated public libraries at San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, and New Orleans. Now, if to the libraries of those cities, why not to Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore? And if to them, why not to every library in every city and town of any size in the United States, until it shall end in requiring every publisher to furnish a copy of every book published by him to every public library from the Atlantic to the Pacific, "free gratis for nothing? Anything more absurd on the face of it can hardly be imagined, and to enter on any such scheme is the extreme of radical fool-property belonging to the public, was that the ishness. If there is any truth in the report we Sunday newspapers would publish the plans, and hope the bill will be killed before it is even read. that the publication of the plans was more deGood-by to the Old Bell Inn, and we are sirable than a mere description of the plans. sorry enough to write the words. This precious In spite of all precautions, however, on Wednesarchitectural relic of the London of past genera- day evening-the very day when the information tions, almost the only surviving example in the was given out - one of the evening papers pub English metropolis of the coaching inn of Mr. | lished an article on the new building, together Pickwick's time, stood on Holborn, and has with a design which represented the lower winlong been a delight to the eyes of the favored dows in the place where the upper windows few who knew where to find it and were familiar with its interior courtyard, its quaint coffee room, its tiers of galleries, and the sleepy old way its busy life went on. In the past ten years its character has somewhat deteriorated, but we well remember the unique pleasures of a week spent there some fifteen years ago, the daily excitement of the departure of the coach for Ux-tects! bridge, the Chalfonts, and Amersham, and its return late in the evening when its course had been run; and the keen enjoyments of a trip on said coach with a driver and his father who were together as exact a reproduction of the Wellers, junior and senior, as could be produced out of real life to match the figures of Dickens's creation. Mr. Henry G. Chapman, author of the articles in the Atlantic Monthly on "Belated Feudalism in America," is a grandson of John ought to have been! Moreover, the Evening called A Sister to Evangeline, which he now has well under way. Like his first work of fiction, The Forge in the Forest, which was very highly praised on its publication last spring, it will be a romance of Canadian life, and several of the characters in the first work will reappear. Since coming to New York Professor Roberts has been joined by two of his younger brothers, William Carman and Theodore, both of whom have been appearing frequently in the periodicals of late with contributions of prose and verse. Mr. Theodore Roberts lately became associated with the Independent. Anthony Hope is having a very remunerative winter in this country. Though he cannot be said to have achieved a very great artistic success as a reader, he finds his public appearances remunerative, and there is a brisk demand for him throughout the country. During his tour he has managed to write his first play, The Adventures of Lady Ursula, and it has won so great a success that it will doubtless make a small fortune for him. Mr. Hope's sequel to A Prisoner of Zenda, which is now running in McClure's Magazine, I have heard very enthusiastically praised by a critic who has read the whole work, and it is likely to have an enormous sale when it is published in book form. It is said that the bookrights have been secured by Henry Holt & Co., who have already published several of Mr. Hope's novels. Mr. F. Marion Crawford is also having a prosperous season on the platform this winter. It will probably be continued longer than his manager had at first planned to make it. Nansen, too, is drawing large audiences, but I hear that he is heartily sick of the whole business of lecturing, and declares that he will never consent to undertake another tour. He frankly Mr. Richard Harding Davis has finished his new novelette, and it will shortly appear in Scribner's Magazine. It is said to have been written on lines somewhat similar to those of avows that his present tour is simply for the A Soldier of Fortune, which won one of purpose of making money for his family. The the greatest successes of the past year, and repetition of his lecture night after night must to be full of romance and adventure, the plot being laid amid the picturesque scenery of Tangiers. Mr. Davis shows in his work the value to a writer of extensive travel. In the past few years, like Mr. Kipling, he has man be exceedingly wearing on a man used to occupation of a wholly different kind, not to speak of the torture of handshaking to which celebrities are so cruelly subjected nowadays. Mr. Munsey's experiment in the publication NOTES ON THE EARLIEST EDITIONS In both the first and second editions the running headline reads "A fable for the critics." Allibone mentions a "5th ed., Bost. 1856, 12mo. pp. v. 8o." of books at low prices is being watched by Fisher Unwin of London. La Belle Nivernaise ing on the back, with blind lines at the top and some of our publishers with great interest. It is a noteworthy example. bottom of the back. looks now as if a new and wide field were being harvested for the first time. During the past few years the cost of publishing has greatly increased in this country, owing to the advance made in the creation of books artistically printed and bound. Indeed, so great has this become in the case of several of our publishing firms that the margin of profit has whole page opposite the title. Rubricated title, Half-title. Advertising matter covering the been alarmingly reduced. It does not by any without the line "A vocal and musical med. quent editions the date of the rhymed imprint means follow that, because a book is exquisitely made, it will attract more readers than another book of equal literary merit that is of cheap workmanship. Indeed, it sometimes seems that the finer the artistic finish is the smaller the number becomes of readers who have taste enough to admire it. Mr. Munsey, on the contrary, is appealing to the great mass of readers who care for books merely to be entertained for the time, and have little regard for the quality of paper or binding. The other day I asked a writer, who several years ago published an admirable historical work, why he did not write other books in the same line. His explanation seemed to me very significant: "I don't write history," he said, "simply because I can't afford to. It's a luxury that only a rich man, or a clergyman with leisure, or a college professor with a promotion to gain, can indulge in. On that history of mine I put in two years of almost unremitting toil, and I received just five hundred dollars for it! A great many histories are written for publishers in this country at that price, and the wonder is that they are as good as they are. Some of them are written in a few months; but except as pleasant, easy reading, of what use are they? None whatever. They are simply repetitions of facts that have appeared in other books. To make a great many of them really important contributions to historical research, years of study in Europe would be necessary. Under the circumstances I found myself, if I wanted to do historical work, confronted with the alternative of giving up the task of supporting my family or of writing superficial histories!" Robert W. Chambers has been making great strides of late, and there is no doubt that he has a brilliant future. His latest story, Lorraine, has been very well received, and I hear that his forthcoming novel, Ashes of Empire, a story of Paris during the siege, is considered by his friends the best work he has yet done. Some doubt has been expressed here as to the truth of Rudyard Ripling's proposed visit to South Africa. There is absolutely no doubt about it, however, for by the time this letter is printed Mr. Kipling will be on the sea. I learn through one of his friends that in South Africa Mr. Kipling hopes to find material for new stories. Mr. Theodore Waters has resigned the editorship of the McClure Syndicate, and has been succeeded by Mr. James W. Clarke, recently of the New York World, and for many years the leading editorial writer of the Boston Globe. JOHN D. BARRY. First Edition. ley; " with the word "By" forming a single line before "G. P. Putnam, Broadway." Rhymed There are two copies rebound, in the Harris and plain gold lettering on the back. Second Edition. Announced in Literary World, December 2, 1848. Lowell in a letter to Sydney H. Gay, under date of December 20, 1848, says: "Briggs must give you a copy of the second edition, in which the atrocious misprints of the other will be corrected, and to which I have prefixed a new preface." I have seen three forms of this edition. They are typographically identical in the body of the book, with differences elsewhere as follows: No. 1. No half-title. Rubricated title, with the line, "A vocal and musical medley; ' without the word, "By" before the last line, on the reverse of the title the name and address of the printers, Leavitt, Trow & Co. Rhymed preface, page [iii]-v; text, pages [7] -80. No ruled headline. The lines of the poem are the same, page for page, as in the first edition, but the type is different, and the pagination is two pages ahead in the second edition, so that its page 7 corresponds to page 5 of the first edition. Some of the misprints of the first edition are corrected, such as cotilion on page 25, line 10, Goliah, on page 41, line 21, but "censer," page 52, line 18, is misprinted censor " in the second edition, thus spoiling both the meaning and the pun. This is a private copy, in original boards, and to all appearances never contained the extra pages of the following issue. No. 2. Same as the foregoing, except that "A preliminary note to the second edition " in rhyme, six pages, unpaged, is inserted after the title-leaf. At the end are eight pages of advertisements of Mr. Putnam's books, the last page bearing the date, "November, 1848." This copy belongs to the Harris collection, is in original muslin with elaborate blind stamp on the sides, with open center, and with elaborate gilt stamp on the back. No. 3. The same. No advertising pages. The address of Mr. Putnam on the title-page is 10 Park Place (to which he moved in 1849), but the date remains Oct. 21, 1848, and the rhyme is left imperfect. The printer's name is no longer on the back of the title. The "PreSome of the most attractive forms in which liminary note to the second edition" is still the lighter works of the late Alphonse Daudet unpaged, but appears after the earlier preface. have found their way to English readers, through This copy is in the Harris collection, is in the translations from the French, are those which original muslin, with elaborate blind stamp on they have received at the hands of publisher the sides, with an oval in the middle, gilt letter In the two-volume Blue and Gold edition of Lowell's poems published in Boston in 1858 the Fable for Critics forms the opening piece in the second volume. In this and in subse in the title is "October the 31st day," instead of "27st" as in the earliest editions. [We regret extremely that the name of the author of the above communication, not being attached to the manuscript, has been lost. We only remember that he is connected with a prominent public library. We shall be glad to hear from him again, and give him due credit! ED. L. W.] CORRESPONDENCE. PUBLIC LIBRARY, BROOKLINE, To the Editor of the Literary World. To keep us going- and so good-day! Sincerely yours, CHARLES K. BOLTON. THE JANUARY MAGAZINES. Harper's. The number opens with a glori ous British officer in full uniform at the Horse Guards, one of those plates in color which the sober black and white pages of the monthlies are beginning to introduce for lighting up. This is an accompaniment to Mr. Henry Seton Meriman's new novel, "Roden's Corner." Mr. Laurence Hutton's "A Group of Players" is an illustrated paper descriptive of Edwin Booth, Lawrence Barrett, Lester Wallack, and several other actors. The quaint "Frescoes of Runkelstein" is the subject of another illustrated paper by W. D. McCracken. Elise J. Allen begins what is to be apparently a continued illustrated account of the German city of Stuttgart. Fiction is especially strong in the number, perhaps its most conspicuous item being Octave Thanet's odd story of "The Blazing Hen Coop." Editor Warner has remarks in the "Easy Chair" on 'Tennyson as the Interpreting Genius of the Nineteenth Century." A contribution not to be overlooked by students of the material development of the country is "The New Northwest," by J. A. Wheelock. The Atlantic. The present thoughtful mood and political taste of the Atlantic are both marked in the January number, and give promise of much edifying discussion of topics of the front rank in a first-rank manner the present year. Mr. Henry G. Chapman continues if he does not complete his presentation of what he calls "Belated Feudalism in America," a piece of criticism of the temper of the times which commands attention if it does not always compel assent. ness, almost of enthusiasm, of the "Political proves to be a good story. [J. B. Lippincott the display of that quaint humor on which his Co. $1.25.] Elementary Jane. The author of this novel, Richard Pryce, has Mr. Godkin writes of "The Growth told the story of a simple-natured, innocent girl and Expression of Public Opinion;" Mr. John who was forced by circumstances to become a Muir of "The Wild Parks and Forest Reserva- singer at music halls, and to associate with tions of the West," a theme of first importance; questionable persons, and who yet retained her Mr. Edward M. Shepard in a spirit of hopeful-purity and the other qualities that made her loved and respected through all. She is the object of the deepest love of a noble man, poor and musical like herself, but after long silence on his part she yields to the persuasions of "Curley," an acrobat, and marries him. He forsakes her, but her wifely fidelity makes her still uphold him and bear with him to the last. The story ends with the intimation that the true lover whom she should have wed will come to his The characters of the Merino family and of the sweet Jane would have delighted the soul of Dickens. [G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.00.] Inauguration of the Greater New York;" Mr. Eugene Wambaugh of "The Present Scope of Government," also in an optimistic strain; while of a somewhat lighter texture are Mr. Higginson's sketch of "Literary Paris Twenty Years Ago," and Mr. J. Firman Coar's critical paper on Wildenbruck, Sudermann, and Hauptmann, "Three Contemporary German Dramatists." Scribner's. To us the most attractive article own. The King of the Broncos. reputation is builded. But for Sammy Block and Sarah his wife we should be unable to iden tify the work of the author of Rudder Grange. [Harper & Brothers. $1.50.] The Man Who was Good. We are led by the context to suppose that this "Man Who was Good" is the doctor whom Mary Brettan cannot love and will not marry. Certainly he is not the wretched cad of an actor on whom she lavishes her affections. The moral of Leonard Meyrick's tale would seem to be that once a woman gives her heart to a man, however mean and unworthy, she gives it for life irrespective of merit, and that love is as truly an irrational and outside affliction as measles, only not to be recovered from as measles may be. We dissent from the theory, but we find the story rather interesting for all that. [R. F. Fenno & Co. $1.25.] Diana Victrix. in the January magazines, letter-press and pic tures taken together, is Susan Carter Nichols's, here, on "The Chestnut Groves of Northern Italy," a delight to eye and to imagination. This magazine stakes its reputation, however, this The King of the Broncos and Other Stories of Florence Converse is a new Southern author, month on the beginnings of Senator Lodge's New Mexico are vigorous relations by Charles and a promising one if this novel may be taken "Story of the Revolution," and of Thomas Nel- F. Lummis. A sense of dramatic hurry per- as an indication. It is a story of New Orleans, son Page's "Red Rock," a story of the Recon-vades each tale, which is told in short, incisive the White Mountains, and Boston, and portrays struction period, the former illustrated with lib- sentences, with a dramatic treatment of sensa- both Southerners and Northerners. The writer erality and ambition. There are plenty of por- tional but actual incidents. Passionate admir- is naturally most at home in the Dumaris family traits accompanying Aline Gorren's article on ation for horses; an apprecation of a rattlesnake with its striking inmates, the refined and schol"A French Literary Circle," and many of them as the "manliest" viper, for it always gives arly Monsieur, his volatile but lovable second are striking. So are the two pictures accom warning of its approach; touches of tenderness wife, and the step-brothers and little sister— panying the account of the French sculptor for the true affection and high moral qualities Jacques all business and practical sense, Jocelin Rodin. Bret Harte contributes a poem, "The of cow-boys; lots of fun and "go;" all serve dreamy, impassioned, and unprincipled, and the to make this collection of tales a spirited one. exquisite child Jeanne. To this household, The Mexican terms, however, though interpreted proud but impoverished, come two Northern in foot-notes, occur too often, but this is little girls to board for a winter. Sylvia and Enid are criticism when not a trace of coarseness is found capital specimens of what is known as "the in the book and when broncos have such human bachelor girl," and their aversion to marriage qualities. The taming of the "King" and his is as unnatural as their absorbing love for each Jane H. Findlater, the author of A Daughter leap for freedom are superb. "My Friend Will" other. Of course the young Southerners fall in of Strife, has surrounded her new novel with is a powerful story of a paralytic, who recov- love with them, but being what they are, the a less continuous gloom than that which shad-ered through the outdoor life and work of damsels prefer each other, although Sylvia owed The Green Graves of Balgowrie, which Mexico and his own will power and common quite loses her head as well as her heart. appeared a year ago, but the sadness is there, sense; which we add is more effective than any Northern coldness is finely contrasted with though modified by a happy outcome for two form of Christian science. Charles Scribner's Southern fervor. The story has pathetic epi Birds of Cirencester." CURRENT FIOTION. A Daughter of Strife. of the characters at least. It is a story of suffering borne for the wrongdoing of another, of the inevitable punishment which sin works out in the character of him who yields to it, and of the eternal freshness and vigor of life, renewed from generation to generation. The book marks an advance over its predecessor. [Dodd, Mead & Co. $1.25.] Sons. $1.25.] sodes, tragic in poor Jeanne's case, and the end Baboo Hurry Bungsho Jabberjee, B.A. comes near being depressing, but turns out the It will require some perseverance to best for all concerned. comAltogether this is so plete Mr. F. Anstey's latest production. The fresh and good a story that it is to be hoped humor is carefully concealed, but if you continue the writer will follow it with more of the same to the end you will find it—in moderate quan- sort. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $1.25.] tities and much diluted. It is fun of the order found in studying the foreign phrase-book and 'English as She is Taught." The illustrations by "J. B. P." are excellent. [D. Appleton & Co. $1.50.] The Great Stone of Sardis. Job Hiliard. A sad story this of struggle and failure. Born of poor parents in an English village, the hero might have been fairly successful and supremely happy had he not come to the attention of Lady Elizabeth Hinton, who persuades him that his moderate genius for painting may be The General's Double. Obscurity has not been a fault in the novels of Charles King, but in the present case he has made his mystery hard to understand without careful reading. The book is the story of a In 1947 Roland Clewe constructs a submarine young Northern officer, Jack Lowndes, who was craft in which a party of explorers reach the developed. She provides him with money; unavoidably left behind by his regiment when North Pole; he likewise invents an automatic sends him to London; breaks off his engageretreating, supposed to be mortally wounded. shell, that accidentally bores a hole fourteen and ment to Sally Sylvester, the village beauty, and The experienced novel reader knows, however, an eighth miles deep. The latter performance finally endeavors to marry him to a singer. Then hat he will come to life, as he does. Presently was the occasion of the inventor's discovery that the sense of thralldom becomes too much to he figures under another name, in eluding and the center of the earth was a great diamond. bear, and Job leaves my lady, comes back to the baffling ways, and does heroic things to save To prove it he exhibits a fragment of said in- village, marries Sally, and- "lives happy ever Southerner whom he has erroneously terior, which is "The Great Stone of Sardis.'" after?" Unfortunately no. He has come to the young believed to be the beloved girl of his heart. Of As we read we cannot rid ourselves of the feel-love luxury and good living; he discovers that course everything turns out right in the end. ing that Mr. Stockton has infringed on the copy- the purchasers of his poor daubs were seekers After all the evasions and disappearances and right of M. Jules Verne. Nor, when the reading for the favor of Lady Elizabeth. For a time he mistakes, his adoring friends and his faithful is finished, can we express the hope that he struggles against poverty, but defeat overtakes sweetheart find that he is his very own self and will continue in this his latest field of effort. him, and with defeat comes the mad-house. no other; and so, by a logical inference, it There does not seem to be the opportunity for One solitary ray of light illumines this dismal |