enemies, leaving the reader, it may be, with a confused sense of Jackson's proper place in the hearts of his countrymen, even while it stimulates him to form an opinion of his own upon the data abundantly brought forth. From Jackson to Eads is a long step, from whatever point of view; and Mr. How has found a congenial and pious task in extolling the virtues of his kinsman with considerable and pardonable enthusiasm and some little skill in seeking and disclosing the critical moments of his long and most useful life. The St. Louis Bridge and the New Orleans jetties have made Eads's fame secure, and are sufficiently well known; Mr. How rescues an account of his services to his country at the outbreak of the war between the States as well, though a more detailed history of his building of the Western flotilla of ironclads would have been welcome. A complete change of style is to be noted in Mr. More's account of Franklin, a certain lightness of touch and thorough appreciation of the real homely humor with which Goodman Richard's life is so fully seasoned pervading his pages. The books are small and the lives are correspondingly brief; but they are all worthy the men they celebrate. Portraits add to their value in each case.

The story of a Tramp

in England.

The name of Mr. J. H. Crawford is not much known in English letters, but his "Autobiography of a Tramp" (Longmans, Green, & Co.), with its delightful flavor of out-of-door life and freedom from town miseries, will serve to make subsequent works from his hand something to be looked for. The hero of the story is a little English boy, and his tramping is done in his native island. It is interesting to see how like the most conventional of human beings this wandering lad was bred. He learned his lessons with He learned his lessons with the same sorrow and forced perseverance which most of us are called upon to pay as the price of education; his father and mother loved him quite as much and expressed it quite as unsuccessfully as other parents, and his smiles and tears were no more common and no further apart than those of the most respectable urchin that ever hated the taste and feeling of soap. The pictures are quite as realistic as the text, but far less artistic, being reproduced from photographs derived from various and not always congruous sources. The book will be most pleasant to read in the season when snow has covered the ground and mist-gray clouds the sky.

In his volume of "Shadowings" Mr. Hearn's "Shadowings" (Little, Brown, & Co.), Mr. Lafof Japan. cadio Hearn has given us an interesting if not deeply significant study of Japanese thought and feeling. In the dedication (to Paymaster Mitchell McDonald of the U. S. Navy) he says, "Herein I have made some attempt to satisfy your wish for a few more queer stories from the Japanese""; and the purpose is one which the book fulfils. The stories are told with an effective direct

ness which gives the impression of artless simplicity, an impression serving to heighten the sense of reality in them. For those who love to have the grotesque and the fanciful made real, and who find a charm in credulous sincerity, the book will have a distinct fascination. There is in it no direct attempt to explain Japanese civilization; it is a volume to be read for pleasure rather than for information, yet the reader cannot help gaining from it a clearer notion of some of the elemental things in Japanese feeling and character. The long chapter on "Japanese Female Names" is full of suggestions of the fundamentally poetic nature of Japanese thought, and the chapter on and the chapter on "Old Japanese Songs" may well serve to give suggestions to English poets. The strange iterations, the naïve baldness, have an air of originality that is strikingly effective. The book ends with a group of studies and stories written by Mr. Hearn himself, having much of the same misty and dreamy character of those he merely reproduces. Mechanically the book is very attractive.

Tales of a Zoöphilist.

There was a time, not very remote, when the works of the Rev. J. G. Wood were the sources of popular information concerning all that was interesting and curious in the life of animals. In much the same vein and for the same purpose that this author wrote his "Man and Beast, Here and Hereafter," Dr. Thomas G. Gentry privately published his "Life and Immortality," which now appears in a new edition nnder the title "Intelligence in Plants and Animals" (Doubleday, Page & Co.). The book contains a very extensive assortment of instances of curious and remarkable activities in plants and animals, which in the author's opinion indicate a higher order of intelligence than that usually credited to them. This so-called intelligence is the basis upon which the author founds his arguments, scientific and scriptural, for the immortality of all forms of life. He details his own observations and those of others very freely, but withal not very critically. While in the main the facts reported will be accepted, the terminology employed in the argument and the conclusions reached will meet with objections. Notwithstanding the somewhat pronounced views of the author, the book is very interesting and will be a valuable addition to the literature of animal lore. Some excellent photographs from nature, by Mr. Dugmore, supplement the numerous illustrations.

66

psalms he finds "deep and genuine love of nature," "a passionate sense of the beauty of holiness," an intense joy in God." He seems not to have used the opportunity to emphasize the contrast, which many besides, Matthew Arnold have observed, between the poetic fervor of the King James Psalter and the utterly flat, stale, and wearisome monotony of our modern hymnology, which shows too little improvement over the Bay Psalm Book. We hope, too, the time will soon come when it will be deemed unnecessary to show that to study the Bible as literature does not injure it as "a rule of faith and conduct." There is no good reason for not indenting paragraphs, the failure to do so often causing obscurity. Otherwise the volume is typographically

beautiful.

"A Garden of Simples."

In the old days, Mrs. Martha Bockée Flint reminds us, it used to be the custom to administer tea made from

the burrs of the Virginia stickseed (echinospermum Virginicum) for otherwise incorrigible cases of forgetfulness. Her whole book serves the same purpose, for no one can fail to retain such impressions as he gains from even glancing at the oldfashioned binding and paper label of "A Garden of Simples" (Scribner). It is such a book as Jeffery taught us to love, filled with all the delicate spirituality which Nature wears when seen with loving eyes, and imbued throughout with the charm of an elder day. The interests are often confessedly literary, as in the chapters on "A Posy from Spenser," or the "Flowers of Chaucer's Poems." From that they wander to delicately material things, such as honey, most poetic of human aliments, or "The Secrets of a Salad," no light topic to those who know. The history of America is not to be neglected in so eclectic a work, as little essays on Liberty Tea" and "Indian Plant Names" attest. We can hardly imagine a pleasanter gift to a charming woman, nor a more charming woman than she to whom such a book makes its full appeal.

Hurley as a leader

in Science.

66

A recent volume in the "Leaders in Science series (Putnam) is Mr. P. Chalmers Mitchell's life of the great English evolutionist and agnostic, Thomas H. Huxley. The perspective in which the author views his subject enables him to present a comprehensive and well proportioned account of the life of this leader of the modern school of biologists. The author is himself an investigator of some note, and he renders a popular account of Huxley's most important contributions to the sciences of vertebrate and invertebrate anatomy, and of paleontology, as well as to the development hypothesis. With equal clearness and fulness he relates Huxley's public services, and defines his position as the opponent of materialism and the exponent of agnosticism. His attitude on theological questions, as well as his ethical ideals, are clearly stated. The book does not aim to be an intimate biography. It is a sym

pathetic but unbiased and just appreciation of Huxley's life and work, in concise form; and it is a worthy compeer of the other books of the series to which it belongs.

Retaliating on Mr. Kipling.

Recently the lines of Mr. Rudyard Kipling seem not to have fallen in pleasant places. Mr. W. J. Peddicord writes, and publishes at his own expense, "Rudyard Reviewed," seemingly actuated by Mr. At Kipling's dislike of America and Americans. least, the critic does not attack the poet and traveller on æsthetic grounds in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but rather because the AngloIndian did not see in America all that her more

devoted children would have him see. We think Mr. Peddicord has wasted both time and energy, and his residence in Oregon we take to be an encouraging sign that regions nearer the East are largely indifferent to the expressed prejudices of a young man however distinguished.—Miss Marie Corelli takes stronger ground in her "Patriotism or Self-Advertisement" (Lippincott), devoted to the excoriation, as a whole and in all of its parts, of that jingle so widely known as "An Absent-Minded Beggar." The punishment doubtless fits the crime; but it makes us feel a little sorry for the criminal, nevertheless.

A book of pleasant fancies.

The charm of a pleasing personality runs through the brief chapters of Mrs. Alice Dew-Smith's "Diary of a Dreamer" (Putnam), and gives a color of reality to what might otherwise be but "trifles light as air." With a bright abandon to the mood of the moment, the author tells us her experiences with tortoises and cats, with her husband's dictionaries and writing-desk, and with the problems that confront one in building a house and furnishing it. The themes are often inconsequential and the experiences not particularly dramatic, but they furnish occasion for much vivacious comment upon the every-day affairs of life. The book is to be read in moments of relaxation when the reader is willing to be entertained without any stirring appeal to the imagination. Any single chapter of the forty-five can be read in ten minutes, and each is interesting in itself apart from the others, and leaves its distinct impression. On the other hand, the dream atmosphere is not always compelling, and at times leaves breakfast-table a friend tells us a fantastic sleep one with the feeling that we have when over the experience of the night.

the electrical exploitation of Niagara Falls, reading like a fairy tale. Especially entertaining is the chapter on "Some Curiosities," devoted largely to the strange properties of selenium.

Views of the Grand Cañon.

Each recurring Holiday season has of late brought with it some unique specimen of book-manufacturing ingenuity from the press of Mr. Frank S. Thayer, of Denver. The series began, as we remember, with a collection of photographic views of stuffed wild animals in their native lairs, the negatives for which, we were given to understand, had been secured at great peril and through years of patient waiting by a mighty hunter of the region who had been persuaded or bribed to substitute a camera for his rifle in furtherance of the enterprise. This season Mr. Thayer's contribution is an album of fifteen photographic reproductions in color, collectively entitled "Glimpses of the Grand Cañon of the Colorado," which we have inspected with caution. The plates are showy and effective, and are neatly mounted on ash-colored paper, and encased in flexible decorated covers. The pictures selected are representative, and convey a good idea of the remarkable scenery of the region.

Love Letters of a musician.

A vein of delicate sentiment, a graceful and refined fancy, and the ability

to realize vividly for the reader bits of landscape with their proper atmosphere, make Miss Myrtle Reed's "Later Love Letters of a Musician" (Putnam) a book to be enjoyed for its artistic charm. The letters, of which there are nearly thirty, each preceded by an appropriate phrase of music set alone on the page, are largely the expression of artistic responsiveness to the moods of nature or to some of the suggestive experiences of a musician's life. The book is very artistically printed, and is one to be enjoyed for more than the first reading, a thing that cannot be said of many a more pretentious volume.

BRIEFER MENTION.

"The Transition Period" is a new volume in the "Periods of European Literature" (Scribner), edited by Professor Saintsbury. It is the work of Mr. G. Gregory Smith, and fills the gap between Mr. Snell's "Fourteenth Century" and the editor's forthcoming discussion of "The Earlier Renaissance." The author

has brought much learning and no little animation to his somewhat thankless task of dealing with the most barren period of modern literature, a period which includes Villon and Malory, the Scotch group of poets, the "Morgante Maggiore," the "Coplas " of Manrique, the "Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles," "Till Eulenspiegel," the "Imitation," the ballads, and the beginnings of the drama in France and England.

Miss Estelle M. Hurll's little book on Sir Joshua Reynolds forms a welcome and pictorially attractive number in the “Riverside Art Series" (Houghton). |

The volume is apparently meant to be in some sort a text-book, or an elementary manual for the teacher, and hence its style is simple and its information mainly rudimentary. There is an introductory outline of Reynolds's life, together with some general appreciation of his work; but the text is largely a running commentary on the pictures, of which there is about one to each chapter, making seventeen in all. These are well chosen and handsomely reproduced.

Fifty pages of introduction, a hundred pages of notes, and three hundred pages of extracts are, roughly speaking, the contents of the volume of "Selections from the Poetry of Lord Byron" which Dr. Frederick I. Carpenter has prepared for the series of "English Readings" published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. This is

one of the best books of the admirable series in which it appears, and was rather more needed than any of the others. No one to-day wants the whole of Byron, and a book which will help us to keep in mind the best of him does a real service to literature. The estimate made by the editor is sympathetic, yet carefully discriminating, and the judgments expressed are in the main temperate and sound.

With the appearance of Volume XVIII. (containing the remainder of the short stories) the "Shenandoah edition of the novels and stories of Mr. Frank R. Stockton which has been in course of publication by Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons during the past year, reaches temporary completion. Like all of Messrs. Scribner's well-known subscription sets, the mechanical form of the "Shenandoah" edition could hardly be improved upon. Mr. Stockton may well be envied the distinction conferred upon him by his publishers, for it is not often that an author has the satisfaction of seeing his work presented in so beautiful a form. The set should take a prominent place on the shelves of every admirer of Mr. Stockton's peculiar and inimitable genius.

"The Beginnings of English Literature," by Mr. Charlton M. Lewis, is a small volume published by Messrs. Ginn & Co. "Its purpose is to give to those who do not, for the present at least, require an intimate acquaintance with Old and Middle English authors, such a knowledge of their characteristics and historical relations as may serve for an introduction to the study of the Elizabethan and later periods." It offers a compromise between the very elementary books and those which are made unduly repellant by being crammed with minor names and facts. It includes many extracts, and is altogether a readable and useful little book.

Professor J. Scott Clark's "Study of English and American Poets" (Scribner) is a companion volume to the author's "Study of English Prose Writers," published over two years ago. The method is the same in both volumes. Each author treated is given a biography, a page or two of references to critical appreciations, and something like thirty or forty pages of classified excerpts from the best critics, together with illustrative passages from the poet himself. Twenty poets are considered altogether, six of them being Americans. We have great confidence in the value of this method of studying literature, and believe that teachers will find these volumes by Professor Clark a useful adjunct to their work.

Mr. Stopford Brooke's erstwhile "Primer," later known by the simpler title of " English Literature," has just made a third appearance, with an additional chap

ter by the author, and two supplementary chapters on American literature by Mr. George Rice Carpenter (Macmillan). Praise has long since been exhausted in dealing with this little book, which, considering its limited scope, is as good as could well be imagined. Speaking of Mr. Brooke's added chapter, however, we are bound to take exception to the statement that Morris and Rossetti and Mr. Swinburne have remained "out of sympathy with modern life." The poets of "Jenny" and "Poems by the Way" and "Songs before Sunrise " need no defence against such a charge, and it is surprising indeed that Mr. Brooke should have expressed such an opinion of them.

Having exhausted the bibliographical possibilities of the longer novels of Charles Dickens in a volume issued some two or three years ago, Mr. F. G. Kitton has turned his attention to the "minor writings," and the results of his work in this field are contained in the latest volume of the "Book-Lover's Library" (A. C. Armstrong & Son). The amount of labor necessary to identify the numerous periodical contributions and miscellaneous papers of the novelist cannot easily be estimated, but Mr. Kitton's unfailing enthusiasm for his subject has prevailed over all difficulties. Taken together, the two volumes form as complete and exact a bibliographical record of the literary productions of Charles Dickens as could be desired.

NOTES.

"The Book of Daniel," edited by Dr. S. R. Driver, is a volume of "The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges," published by the Macmillan Co.

"A Reader in Physical Geography for Beginners," by Professor Richard E. Dodge, is a recent educational publication of Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Co.

"Springtime Flowers," by Miss Mae Ruth Norcross, is a book of "easy lessons in botany" for very young children, published by Messrs. Silver, Burdett & Co. "The Civilization of the East," by Dr. Fritz Hommel, and "Plant Life and Structure," by Dr. E. Dennert, are the latest of the "Temple Primers," published by the Macmillan Co.

"A Hero and Some Other Folk,” being a volume of essays by Mr. William A. Quayle, has reached a third edition, and bears the imprint of Messrs. Jennings & Pye, Cincinnati.

Mr. Samuel Usher, of Boston, publishes a memorial address, by Dr. R. S. Storrs, upon the late Professor Edwards Amasa Park, of Andover. The book may be obtained from Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons.

The American Book Co. publish a " Higher Algebra," by Professor John F. Downey. They also send us an "Elementary Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene for Higher Grammar Grades," by Dr. Winfield V. Hall.

In addition to their collective edition of the writings of Count Tolstoy, the Messrs. Crowell publish, in a form of its own, a new volume of "Essays, Letters, and Miscellanies," the translations by Mr. Aylmer Maude and others.

"The Cocktail Book," further described as "A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen," is a recent publication of Messrs. L. C. Page & Co. It is a very small book indeed, but its dimensions are by no means proportioned to its usefulness.

Shakespeare's Life and Work," by Mr. Sidney Lee, as now published by the Macmillan Co., is an abridgment of the author's "Life" of the poet, prepared chiefly for the use of students. It retains all the essentials of the larger work, although reduced to something like half its compass.

"Kant's Cosmogony," as embodied chiefly in his "Natural History and Theory of the Heavens," is given us in an English version by Dr. W. Hastie, who has not only made the translation, but has also supplied it with an introduction and other editorial apparatus. The work is issued in this country by the Macmillan Co. "Famous Geometrical Theorems and Problems" is the subject which Mr. W. W. Rupert has undertaken to discuss, for the instruction and entertainment of mathematically-minded persons, in a series of four pamphlets, published by Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co. Other monographs in this series will follow, all under the general editorship of Mr. Webster Wells.

"Edwin Booth and his Contemporaries" (Page), edited by Brander Mathews and Lawrence Hutton, is a new edition of a work first published about fifteen years ago. It is a collection of chapters, by various hands, upon the English and American actors and actresses who have been prominent during the last half-century, and is furnished with an interesting series of portraits.

The Macmillan Co. announce that they have acquired the publication rights of Mr. James Ford Rhodes's "History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850," hitherto issued under the imprint of Messrs. Harper & Brothers. A new edition of the work, embodying a few minor changes and typographical corrections, will be issued at once.

Two interesting speeches shortly to be issued in printed form by Messrs. T. Y. Crowell & Co. are Lord Roseberry's "Questions of Empire" and Hon. Joseph H. Choate's “ Abraham Lincoln,” both of which were delivered in November last- the former before the students of the University of Glasgow and the latter before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution.

"The Story of American History for Elementary Schools," by Mr. Albert F. Blaisdell, is a first book of our national history published by Messrs. Ginn & Co. A still more elementary work is "America's Story for America's Children," by Miss Mara L. Pratt, published by Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co. There are to be five parts of this work, forming a series of graded reading-books.

Professor Moses Coit Tyler, of Cornell University, died on Dec. 28 at his home in Ithaca. Professor Tyler's career was a most active and distinguished one. He was born in Griswold, Conn., in 1835, was graduated from Yale in 1857, from 1867 to 1881 was Professor in the English department of the University of Michigan, and from 1881 to his death was Professor of American history at Cornell. He was author of many books, a frequent writer in the periodicals, and was a contributor to THE DIAL from the beginning of the paper.

"The Religion of Abraham Lincoln," a pamphlet published by the G. W. Dillingham Co., reproduces a correspondence that passed some years ago between Colonel R. G. Ingersoll and General C. H. T. Collis. The purport of it is to refute the charge that Lincoln was essentially a Voltairean in his religious attitude; but the documents prove little either way. Lincoln and Voltaire were about as far apart as possible in