Current Literature.

MACAULAY'S LIFE AND LETTERS.*

RETURNING from India in May, 1838,

66

society, and to the world at large, in his family
universe he was the sun itself, warming and
illuminating all about him. When rumors
came of the loss of the ship that bore him
home from India,

...

"You can have no conception," wrote one of his sisters, of the change that has come over this household. . . . The chasm Tom's He was so unlike any other being one ever departure has made can never be supplied. sees, and his visits among us were a sort of refreshment which served not a little to enliven and cheer our monotonous way of life; but now day after day rises and sets without object or interest, so that sometimes I almost feel aweary of this world."

66

may hope to match; him, never. He is the first of historians; what is good in him is better than any thing that can be found elsewhere." Chateaubriand was simply a great humbug." His opinions on art are ridiculously summary: "Pre-Raphaelitism," he says, "is spreading, I am glad to see, — glad, because it is by spreading that such affectations of Landseer's hunting pieces is worth all the perish." "One of Stanfield's landscapes or mystic daubs of all the Germans." "Uncle Tom's Cabin " he characterizes as "a mighty foolish, impertinent book . . . what blunders she makes!" Reading Prescott's "Philip the Second," he was struck by the fact that, A trait kindred to his domestic beneficence" though he has had new materials, and tells his was his hearty generosity. From the time story well, he does not put any thing in a light when his income barely exceeded two hundred very different from that in which I had before De Foe he denounces bitterly, pounds per year, to the close of his life amid seen it." affluence, he was a liberal giver. His bene- calling him an "unprincipled hack," and profactions were not always well-judged; but one nouncing some of his tracts "worse than imcannot but admire the nobility that prompted moral, quite beastly." Macaulay's hatred of them. His diary gives daily evidence of his Brougham ended only with his life. In 1857, good deeds. Here are some significant ex- he said of him: "Strange fellow! His powers gone. His spite immortal. A dead nettle." Too often he is foul-mouthed. Whitaker, a

tracts from it:

Macaulay found the family circle broken by the death of his father. One wonders that the son never portrayed the father's character, and told the story of his life; there must have been rich material in that sombre, yet energetic, personality. One of the first subjects that claimed Macaulay's attention after his return was the threatened vengeance of a writer named Wallace, whose review of Mackintosh's History of the Revolution of 1688" the historian had mercilessly criticised. Wallace sent him a challenge; but mutual friends adjusted the difficulty with truly Pickwickian diplomacy, and bloodshed was avoided. Many pages following this episode are filled with Macaulay's letters, and in these we can see the real man, - not the statesman or the author, but the man. One of the most prominent of his characteristics was profound self-confidence and esteem. "There are extensive classes of subjects," he writes to Napier, "which I think myself able to treat as few people [sic] can treat them." Again, he says: "My reviews are generally thought to be better written, and they certainly live longer, than the reviews of most other people." Not less complacent is the great man in reviewing his oratorical career: "Labouchere and Baring are at least as good men of business as Grey; and I may say without vanity that I have made speeches which were out of the reach of any of the three." A hardly less conspicuous trait in Macaulay's character is his arrogance, the genuine, insular selfexaltation that ensues on the approach of familiarity, as the sensitive plant shrinks at rude contact. In Italy, a custom-house officer asked for a place in his carriage, and was refused. He received, however, three crowns for abIn November, 1818, appeared the first volstaining from search of the traveller's bag- ume of his History; the state of the author's gage, "but looked very dark and sullen at mind being, according to his own report, this: my refusal to accept his company. Precious" When I compare my book with what I fellow, to think that a public functionary to whom a little silver is a bribe is fit society for an English gentleman!" Macaulay was unquestionably a great man; but we should not count this ridiculous tumescence a proof of his greatness.

He finds the Wizard "a bitter and

"I have been forced to refuse any further assistance to Mrs. Y, who has had thirty-critic of Gibbon, he calls "as dirty a cur as five pounds from me in the course of a few I remember." His judgment of Sir Walter months, and whose demands come thicker and Scott represents the depths of his heart's bitthicker. I suppose that she will resent my terness. refusal bitterly. That is all I ever got by conferring benefits on any but my own nearest unscrupulous partisan in politics," "agitated relations and friends. . . Hcalled. I by the hopes and fears of the gambler,” “pergave him three guineas for his library sub-petually sacrificing the perfection of his comscription. I lay out very little money with so position and the durability of his fame [how much satisfaction. For three guineas a year, I keep a very good, intelligent young fellow could he sacrifice the latter perpetually, or more than once?] to his eagerness for money. out of a great deal of harm, and do him a great deal of good." "I suppose,' he writes. . . I cannot think him a high-minded man, to one of his sisters, that you told Mrs. or a man of very strict principle." These 2- I was not angry with her, for to-day I have a letter from her begging for money sentiments would come with better grace from most vehemently, and saying that, if I am ob- a man who had not lounged on beds of ease, durate, her husband must go to prison. I who had ever felt the hard pressure of res anshe has had from me within a few months to have sent her twenty pounds; making up what gusta domi. one hundred and thirty pounds.'"

Scattered through these volumes, are literary hints and dicta which have more or less value. For magazine writing, he says, “a bold, dashing, scene-painting manner is that which succeeds best." Such a word as ' talented' it is proper to avoid; first, because it imagine history ought to be, I feel dejected is not wanted; secondly, because you never and ashamed; but when I compare it with hear it from those who speak very good Engsome histories which have a high repute, I feel lish." "The first rule of all writing is that reassured." The reception of this volume the words used by the writer shall be such as was flattering beyond even his expectations. The sales of the entire work, in Great Britain alone, within the generation next following its publication, reached one hundred and forty thousand copies. In the United States and on the Continent its success was proportionate. "I have," writes Macaulay, "a most intoxi- There would be no end to this notice if cating letter from Mr. Everett. He says that the writer yielded to the temptations which no book has ever had such a sale in the United beset him. Every page invites quotation. States except (note the exception) the Bible, But we must reluctantly turn away from this and one or two school-books of universal use." museum of memories, whose attractions, it is Some specimens of Macaulay's literary safe to say, have never been surpassed in a Nephew, G. Otto Trevelyan. Vol. II. 8vo. $2.50. New judgments will be interesting. Thucydides, similar repository. The presence of its preYork: Harper & Brothers; Lockwood, Brooks, & Co. he says, is the great historian; "the others one siding and inspiring genius, though not always

We have dwelt upon these weaknesses in his character not in malice, but simply to offset the editor's assumption, which he seems eager to impose upon an uncritical public, that his uncle was a model, social and moral. To the other side of the account large items must be carried. Arrogant, dictatorial, supercilious though Macaulay may have been in general

Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay. Edited by his

most fully and precisely convey his meaning to the great body of his readers." The great writer himself is not impeccable in his grammar: "I meant to have spoken" (p. 63) is not good English: it should be, "I meant to speak."

benign, is ever fascinating; and from the beauty of the treasures he displays his somewhat stern features catch a softening light. He was not a lovable man; he felt no strong sympathy with his kind; but he had a mighty and brilliant genius, and did a great work in the world. His "Life and Letters" furnishes a concise history of the political and literary life of England through an eventful half-century, and, delightful to the sensibilities of the reader, also instructs and disciplines his mind. Not to read this work is to turn away from pleasure and profit.

Three years after his return from India, Macaulay was again sent to Parliament from Edinburgh. In 1838, he had been invited to become Judge-Advocate, on which he said: "The Right Honorable before my name is a bauble which it would be far, very far, indeed, beneath me to care about." Nineteen years later, he changed his mind. In 1846, he was defeated in the Parliamentary election; in 1852, he was returned to Parliament; but presently retired from political life. In 1857, he was raised to the peerage, and took the title of Baron Macaulay of Rothley. He died at Holly Lodge, the home of his later years, December 28, 1859.

Some readers may have received the impression, from our notice of the first volume of this work, that the Wordsworth denounced so severely by Macaulay was the poet. He was, we believe, Christopher Wordsworth, a nephew of William, and for many years master of Trinity College.

THE

blunder of straddling the Chickahominy the tary and naval events on the Mississippi, and
author glides over with genuine Gallic agility; Dupont's naval expedition to South Carolina.
not dwelling on (the real subject, he wanders At this point, the author returns to the two
into theories as to a more prudent policy. great armies in Virginia, and traces their
But, aside from this bias, he makes a very courses through the memorable battles of Ce-
readable chapter of clear topographical de- dar Mountain, Manassas (as the second battle
scription, — graphic battle-pieces, interwoven of Bull Run is properly called), the race to
with just enough military arguments to give Harper's Ferry, and the battle of Antietam.
dignity and value to the narrative. He makes We are inclined to regard the account of this
it very clear, that McClellan was continually great tragedy as the best piece of writing in
hampered and deceived by the little clique at the book. It was impossible, of course, to
Washington, who undertook to carry on the place before the reader, as in a glass, the hos-
war safe in the fortifications of the capital. tile forces in their various conjunctures; the
In their policy, the security of Washington- movements of battle are too swift and con-
which was remote from all peril― was para- fused to permit the drawing of such a picture;
mount to the successful prosecution of the but the chief stages the crises of the
war; and the tissue of tricks, falsehoods, and contest are indicated with consummate skill.
frauds by which they compassed their ends is One reads the tumultuous records with a quick-
a sad page in our history. The clique sup-ening pulse, and seems to hear the crash of
pressed or garbled McClellan's despatches, artillery, the crack of the rifle, the groans of
putting him in a false position before the coun- the wounded, and to see the vast columns
try, even at the cost of wronging deserving of humanity now advancing, now retreating,
officers. In his despatches relating to the as if borne by a resistless tide. The effect of
battle of Fair Oaks, he bestowed warm praise timely and judicious reenforcements is strik-
on General Sumner; but the supervisors at ingly illustrated in the account of this battle.
Washington suppressed it, and for a long time The author's criticisms on the conduct of gen-
the true history of the battle was not known. eral officers at Antietam are often severe, but
We may add, in this connection, that the au- apparently just. Burnside's fatal inertness
thor handles Porter's offences very gently, stands out a spot of shame amid a galaxy of
though he cannot excuse his conduct at Ma- gallant deeds. We quote a brief statement of
nassas.
this lamentable error:-

66

The narrative of the Peninsular campaign McClellan, who, from must be called very satisfactory as to facts, point, overlooked the whole front of his army a commanding and in general effect. The accounts of Glen- on both sides of the Antietam, had as early as dale and Malvern and the retreat to Harrison eight o'clock, just as Hood had resumed the Landing are fine examples of clear and reaoffensive, despatched an order to Burnside directing him to commence the assault, carry sonably picturesque composition; and some the bridge, and attack Longstreet on the other episodes of the battle-field have the true sound side. Unfortunately, Burnside, instead of of martial tumult. More attractive, perhaps, conforming to this order by making a general THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.* in theme, though not in treatment, are the attack, contented himself with sending Crook's small brigade against the defenders of the HE author resumes his narrative in this chapters on the capture of New Orleans, and bridge. This movement was only supported volume at the first movements of McClel- the naval operations on the Mississippi, and on by two regiments of the division of Sturgis. lan's army in the spring of 1862, the first the Southern coast. The sketch of the taking Crook, received by a vigorous discharge of chapter comprising an account of the inglori- of New Orleans is so spirited that one wishes musketry, was promptly repulsed. . . . Two hours were thus wasted in successive efforts ous siege of Yorktown, the fights at Lee's it were longer. General Butler is dismissed on the part of detachments too feeble for the Mills and Williamsburg, the opening of James with short, almost contemptuous, notice; but work,efforts at once sanguinary and fruitRiver to the Union army, the arrival at the over his shoulders a hearty rebuke is adminis-less. In vain did McClellan send mesChickahominy, and McClellan's decision to tered to the government for giving him the senger after messenger to Burnside, with the move on Richmond from the north. The au- place that belonged to an accomplished sol- order, more and more urgent, to try a general attack. It was noon, and this general, with his thor brings out in a clear light the gross blun- dier. Next follows a report of military oper- four divisions, had as yet only brought three ders of the commander and his officers, though brigades into action, and had sent but two or he chooses to ignore the former's cardinal error three regiments at a time to attack the bridge, of misjudging Magruder's strength, and wastaround which all the enemy's means of defence ing time and lives in the unnecessary siege of Yorktown. Throughout the history of this campaign this apologetic disposition is apparent; and a reader not familiar, through contemporary accounts, with the facts of the enterprise, would regard McClellan as the victim of a cruel fate, - a commander who dared do all that might become a man, but was always thwarted by ill-fortune. The great

* History of the Civil War in America. By the Comte de Paris. Translated, with the approval of the author, by Louis F. Tasistro. With Maps. Vol. II. 8vo. $3.50. Philadelphia: J. H. Coates & Co.

were concentrated."

ations in Tennessee, the Corinth campaign,
the capture of Memphis, &c. The author
shows up Halleck's incapacity and malignity
very forcibly, and justly characterizes his out-
rage upon Grant by assigning him to the sine- This delay, caused by Burnside's ineffi-
cure office of second in command. Halleck's ciency, gave General A. P. Hill, with his large
treatment of Pope was even worse. With division, time to arrive and take part in the
The Count of Paris affirms that the
reference to the despatch sent to Washington battle.
by the former, announcing that Pope was at engagement of Antietam "was a defeat for
the gates of Corinth, having taken ten thou- the Confederates in the triple point of view of
sand prisoners, the author declares it as "a tactics, strategy, and politics." Book IV.
positive fact, this strange despatch was entirely gives the history of Buell's campaign in Ken-
fabricated by Halleck." Pope has no compli- tucky, in 1862; of military events on the Mis-
ments in this work; but the author acquitssissippi in the same year; of Curtis's and
him of fault in this matter of the despatch. Schofield's operations in Missouri and Arkan-
The final chapter of Book II. treats of mili-sas; of Sherman's disastrous attempt on Vicks-

burg; of partisan warfare in Kentucky and Tennessee; and the battle of Murfreesborough. In Chapter VI. are a good account of McClellan's short campaign against Lee in the autumn of 1862, and a minute narrative of the tragedy of Fredericksburg. Book VII. comprises a full account of the blockade and naval operations on the Southern coast; an intelligent summary of Congressional legislation on finance and recruiting; and a history of Emancipation. The latter is a compact and valuable statement of the processes by which the policy of " abolition," despised and deprecated at the beginning of the war by a large majority of Americans, became the inspiration and chief end of the defenders of the Union. Of the proclamation of Emancipation, the author says:

"This proclamation, sufficient to render the name of its author illustrious, marked the beginning of a year which was to witness still more sanguinary scenes than the year 1862. It also inaugurated a new epoch, and the conflict, freed from the remembrance of past concessions, assumed henceforth its real character. It could only be ended by the entire abolition of slavery upon the soil of the reconstructed republic, or by the triumph of this institution over the largest portion of the American continent, under the protection of the Confederacy, aggrandized, and all powerful."

Notes on the text, and lists of field and staff officers of the Army of the Potomac are included in an appendix.

It is to be regretted that the translation of

prominence being given to those of the East.
The author aims to show that some of the par-
allel phenomena are related to one another in
the order of historical succession. He dis-
cusses and measurably adopts the theories of
Von Maurer, a German writer, whose argu-
ments seem to justify the presumption that
the Mark was the political unit of society in
many nations. He then takes up the idea of
the formation of the Patriarchal Family, and
discusses in a very interesting manner the
objections which have been urged against it as
a primary fact in the history of society. The
objectors contend that human society passed
through at least two stages before reaching
organization in the Family Group. The Fam-
ily in India is generally found to be the unit
of the Village-Community, which is there the
source of a land-law which may be compared
with the real-property law of England. On
these and other topics of jurisprudence, the
observed phenomena in India are expected to
throw light. To the study of historical and
philosophical jurisprudence the author deems
a knowledge of India and of Roman law
indispensable. He lays stress] on English
ignorance of India, and gives an ingenious
explanation of it. One cause is in the fact
that knowledge of India is obtained by those
who go thither in youth and return in later
life. Little time remains for the study of In-
dian usage, for "
India itself is gradually
losing every thing which is characteristic of it.
. . in fifty years all knowledge of Sanscrit

...

the facts utilized in this chapter were mainly derived. Of the Supreme Courts of India, which have been in bad odor in England, the author has much to say; laying much stress on their indirect influence on the Sudder Courts, eight years ago combined with them. Under the Hindoo rule, whether the head of a household could dispose of his property by will was, prior to the English dominion, a doubtful question. The power soon became well settled, under the influence of English lawyers, and the courts were flooded with wills. The first judges of the Sudder Courts were greatly puzzled by the legal principles - a mixture of English and native law which they had to encounter. Some of the cases brought before them were queer:

66

Among the older records of their proceedings may be found injunctions, couched in the technical language of English Chancery pleadings, which forbid the priests of a certain temple to injure a rival fane by painting and decrees allowing the complaint of other the face of their idol red instead of yellow; priests that they were injured in property and repute because their neighbors rang a bell at a particular moment of their services. upon to decide in ultimate appeal on the The Privy Council in London was once called claims of rival hierophants to have their palanquins carried cross-wise instead of lengthwise."

The author dissipates the popular belief that Indian society is divided into castes :

this important work was not subjected to more will have departed from India; or, if kept caste upon caste was ever true, except of the

careful revision. It is now marked by errors which, though trifling singly, in the aggregate are offensive. The use of "only" in the extract just quoted, It could only be ended" (instead of " could be ended only "), is one of at least one hundred similar errors in this

volume.

66

VILLAGE-COMMUNITIES.*

THOSE
HOSE who have read the author's "An-
cient Law or "The Early History of
Institutions" will need no assurance as to the

value of the present work. Though addressed
to a limited class, it deals with a subject whose
interest is gaining ever wider recognition, and
which is an important element in ethnical and
political investigation. Of the full scope and
character of the book, it will be impossible in
our limits to convey a just idea; we can hope
only to excite our readers to seek for them-
selves in its pages the information which only
there is accessible to the average inquirer.
The first lecture treats of Comparative Ju-
risprudence, the examination and compari-
son of laws of various communities, special

alive, will be kept alive by the reactive influ-
ence of Germany and England." The disin-
tegration of Indian usage and thought, the
author confidently attributes to British domin-
ion. The purpose of the leading Indian ad-
ministrators of to-day he defines as "a fancy
for reconstructing native Indian society upon
a purely native model." This project, he af-
firms, is not practicable:

:

"It is by its indirect, and, for the most part,
unintended, influence that the British power
metamorphoses and dissolves the ideas and
social forms underneath it; nor is there any
expedient by which it can escape the duty of
it unwillingly destroys."
rebuilding upon its own principles that which

The

“This is an entire mistake. It is extremely doubtful whether the Brahminical theory of two highest castes; and it is even likely that more importance has been attached to it in modern than ever was in ancient times. real India contains one priestly caste, which, in a certain, though a very limited, sense, is the highest of all. . . But otherwise, caste is merely a name for trade or occupation, and the sole tangible effect of the Brahminical theory is, that it creates a religious sanction for what is really a primitive and natural distribution of classes. The true view of India number of independent, self-acting, organized is, that, as a whole, it is divided into a vast social groups, trading, manufacturing, cultivating."

Of the remaining lectures, that on the Early History of Price and Rent appeals most directly to the general reader. In it some novel The second lecture, on "The Sources of In- theories are broached, and much curious indian Law," abounds in curious information, of formation developed, concerning the transfer value to the student of jurisprudence, and of land and movable property in ancient times. entertaining to the general reader. It opens The author's discussion of Price, and of the with an account of the method adopted by the rule that a man may ask the highest available British government, on the acquisition of price for his goods, is very able and suggestIndian territory, to secure its share of the ive. Indeed, the student of political economy produce of the soil. The task of organizing will find this work a mine of facts and suggesa system to this end the author believes to tions, the fruit not only of personal observahave been the most arduous that a govern- tion and inquiry, but also of analysis and ment ever undertook. The officers appointed comparison. In this chapter, much attention for this work which involved the making of is bestowed on English tenure as connected Village-Communities in the East and West. Six Lect- a complete register of the population, their with the organization of village-communities. ures, Addresses, and Essays. By Sir Henry Sumner usages and rights under the lawwere Noteworthy among these lectures is that enMaine. 8vo. Cloth. $3.50. New York: Henry Holt & Co. | known as Settlement officers, and from them titled, "The Effects of Observation of India

ures delivered at Oxford. To which are added other Lect

on Modern European Thought;" and not less deserving of careful study are, "The Theory of Evidence," and Roman Law and Legal Education." To the few who can appreciate and enjoy the investigations recorded in and facilitated by this work, it will prove very welcome; and no reader of moderate intelligence can fail to relish its ample provision of knowledge which only indirectly attaches to purely scientific inquiry.

THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA.* ROM"Under the Greenwood Tree " which we esteem the author's best novel

FRO

to the present volume, there is a steep decline. In these pages, one seeks in vain for the novel and singularly fascinating peculiarities which distinguished the story just named, -the unique glimpses of rural English life, the inimitable rendering of a strange dialect, and the portraiture of strong but untrained natures. In abandoning his first field of effort, and joining the host of novelists who

haunt the scenes of active urban life, the au

thor seems to have left his spell behind him, and to have an equipment hardly better than

those of his fellows.

The first third of this novel seemed tedious.

dient. Transferring many of the brothers and
sisters to her London house, to act in the ca-
pacity of servants, she receives lodgers, and
contrives to keep the wolf from the door.
Meantime, her origin and her means of sub-
sistence being unknown to her fashionable
friends, she remains on the old terms with
them, but has little time for social gayety.
She finds more for the three lovers who haunt
her, — Julian, the musician, whom she thinks
she loves; Neigh, a man of no individuality,
except in his stern determination to win her;
and one Ladywell, a timid painter, who has as
little courage as genius.

ties. But the old lord was too cunning. In the carriage which is to bear her to freedom, she finds at her side, not Sol, but the Marquis. She is powerless; he takes her home; a long struggle ensues between them; but at last the woman triumphs, subdues her lord, and transforms him into a respectable man and a good husband. Of course Julian marries Picotee.

Only after the meeting of Lord Mountclere and Ethelberta does the reader's interest become intense. The earlier pages, though containing matter essential to the development of the story, are not exciting. The dialogues are too many and too long. The principal A chance meeting with Lord Mountclere, a male characters, except Joey, are very uninmild specimen of the Queensberry type, works teresting; and the same may be said of the a revolution in her fortunes. He falls in love women, except the heroine, and Menlove, a with her, knowing nothing of her antecedents. lady's maid, -a model of pertness and falseShe plays with him prudently, dazzled by his hood. The portraiture of the Chickerel fampreference, but powerless to provide against ily, as a whole, is very good, and for the the possibility of his discovering her low birth father, the butler, one feels genuine respect. and connections. Going to France to visit an There are many bright passages in the book, aunt, she is followed by three lovers, - My like these: Lord Mountclere's marriage license Lord, Ladywell, and Neigh; and all three is described as "a document in which robeing at once in her aunt's house - receives an mance, rashness, law, and gospel are so hapoffer from each in turn. My Lord is the fa- pily made to work together, that it may safely vorite, and persuades the lady into a condi- be regarded as the neatest compromise which tional engagement. She returns to England, has ever been invented since Adam sinned.” and is still beset by Mountclere, whose estate Whatever seems to be the most prominent is near her temporary home. She has a vice or the most prominent virtue in anybody's younger sister named Picotee, a girlish, tender writing is the one thing you are safest from in The dramatis personce are not winning; even little thing, who, having met Julian in her personal dealings with the writer." "For the heroine, Mrs. Petherwin, must be admired walks, but never spoken to him, learned to people always want what's kept from them, with a certain reserve; and as for her lovers, love him passionately. She never told her and don't value what's given. If penny or they are feeble folk. She is of low birth; love, not even to her sister, and long witnessed anges were a pound apiece, all the House of but being governess in a knight's family, mar-in unspoken agony the man she adored wor- Lords would sit sucking them." ries, at the age of eighteen, his only son. Very soon she is left a widow, and lives in handled her noble fish with rare skill, keeping shipping her more brilliant sister. Ethelberta good style with her mother-in-law. The latter, him always in subjection. They attended a dying, leaves the widow only a few personal concert together, at which Julian was a pertrifles and the fag-end of a lease of a London former. In the church, memories of her house. The widow is lovely in person, and tenderness for Julian- of whom My Lord was brilliant, in a certain sense, in mind. Her first adorer is Christopher Julian, a poor musician. A volume of poems remarkable for warmth of passion and daintiness of sentiment suddenly surprises the public, and in due time the secret of its authorship leaks out. It is the work of Ethelberta, and gives her a transient fame. But with it the poetic power leaves her: she can write no more. One and the most capable of a family of ten children and an invalid mother, her father being a butler in a London house, though the secret of her domestic relations has been carefully guarded during her society life, — she devises a scheme for helping herself, and her brothers and sisters too. Having long ago developed a De Foe-like knack of improvising stories and delivering them with dramatic effect, she utilizes it in public entertainments with good success. But her popularity was brief, and she was obliged to find a new expe

A CENTENNIAL COMMISSIONER IN

jealous — overwhelmed her; she trembled with DES

emotion, at sight of which her lover smiled
triumphantly. She saw through his scheme to
test her feelings toward Julian. Picotee for
tunately fainted, and Julian, saddened by the
rumor of Ethelberta's marriage, was the pict-
conjuncture, Ethelberta dramatically forces it
ure of despair. Seizing the suggestion of this

on her old lover: it is Picotee who loves Ju

lian, and she whom he loves. This coup is a
fine surprise, and one of the best things in
the book. On hearing of Ethelberta's inten-
tion to marry Lord Mountclere, the latter's
brother and heir, Mr. Chickerel, the butler,
and Sol, Ethelberta's brother, hasten to the
scene of the proposed sacrifice to interfere

and prevent. The incidents which follow we

cannot pause to report; the marriage is performed, and the ill-mated pair retire to Lychbride makes a terrible discovery, there is worth Court. Exploring its grounds, the another mistress of the estate. She resolves Thomas Hardy. 16mo. $1.25. New York: Henry Holt & to escape, lays her plans with Sol unwilling; Co.; Lockwood, Brooks, & Co. Julian, usurping Sol's part, performs its du

The Hand of Ethelberta. A Comedy in Chapters. By

EUROPE.

ESPITE its strong jou nalistic flavor, this volume is quite read. ble, though by no means entitled to high praise as a literary composition. Mr. Forney writes like a newspaper-man, putting a good deal of matter into small compass, and paying little regard to harmony or elegance. The Centennial, of course, figures frequently in his narrative; but he found opportunity amid his official duties to see much that was worth seeing in European life. Naturally enough, as his letters were written to a Philadelphia paper, he reverts often in a complimentary way to that city, and, with questionable taste, indulges in many personal references.

The voyage to Liverpool is a brief story. Mr. Forney says that as a ticket from Philadelphia to San Francisco costs one hundred and forty dollars, while a ticket from Philadelphia to Liverpool costs seventy-five to one hundred, "you can see how much cheaper it

A Centennial Commissioner in Europe. 1874-76. By John W. Forney. 12mo. pp. 412. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.