Department against the protests of mere politicians; and the two great Anglo-Saxon powers are too desperately proud of proving that they can triumph over difficulties to stop to remove any of their own making. The author makes out the strongest possible case against official incompetents in places of power and so did Captain John Bigelow, U.S. A., in 1899, concerning the authorities at Washington.

Dr. A. Conan Doyle states the case against himself with entire fairness in the preface to his "The Great Boer War." He wrote the somewhat bulky volume partly in England and partly on the steamer in passage, finishing it in Bloemfontein while professionally engaged during the epidemic among the wounded soldiers there. "Often," he says, "the only documents which I had to consult were the wounded officers and men who were under our care." Elsewhere he speaks of the volume being "compiled with as much accuracy as is attainable at this date." But the history, such as it is, has commanded the highest praise in England, and it seems to be designed exclusively for British consumption. Dr. Doyle means to be impartial, and there are frequent evidences of his efforts to that end. He brings to the book, too, a personal knowledge of the South African landscape and general geography, in addition to his well known skill as a writer.

"The Rise and Fall of Krugerism" bears for its sub-title, "A Personal Record of Forty Years in South Africa," and Mr. Scoble may be regarded as its real author, the position of Mr. Abercrombie in the intelligence department of Cape Colony enabling him to eke out the facts which his colaborator's correspondency for the London "Times" at Pretoria put him in the way of acquiring. The book is written from the extreme imperialistic point of view, and nothing derogatory to the government of the Transvaal has been omitted, making it a treasure house for the opponents of the Republics. But even here the silence of the authors respecting the Orange Free State admits away a part of their contention.

Dr. M. J. Farrelly is an advocate of the supreme court of Cape Colony, and he is somewhat more frank than many of his countrymen in setting forth the nature of the struggle. "We are fighting," he says, "in order to place a small international oligarchy of mine owners and speculators in power at Pretoria [what Kruger was fighting to avoid]. Englishmen will surely do well to recognize that the economic and political destinies of South Africa are, and seem likely to remain, in the hands of men, most of whom are foreigners by origin, whose trade is finance, and whose trade interests are not chiefly British." Dr. Farrelly looks for a period of duress as a Crown colony for the Transvaal and, probably, the Free State, and regards time as the only solution of most of the existing difficulties.

WALLACE RICE.

O'Connell,

the Irish Liberator.

BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.

The Daniel O'Connell of Mr. Robert Dunlop's presentation, in the "Heroes of the Nations series (Putnam), is a genuine Irishman, somewhat unduly spiritualized it may be, yet typical of his race. Mercurial in temperament, quick to take offense and quick to forgive, easily quarrelsome over trivialities, he is still the foremost figure in the long list of the Irish agitators of the earlier part of the century. O'Connell was a leader of the Irish bar, an eloquent orator, and an effective member of Parliament, but it is upon his abilities as an organizer of political societies for the redress of Ireland's grievances that Mr. Dunlop justly places the greatest stress. He excelled his contemporaries in his ability legally to evade repressive laws, and he stood far above every other agitator of the period in his determination never to encourage violent methods for the repeal of obnoxious statutes. O'Connell always advocated "constitutional" agitation. Monster petitions, public meetings, and far-reaching political associations were the instruments he chose to express Ireland's sentiments, in the hope that incessant iteration would ensure fair treatment for his countrymen. Revolution was hateful to him. Neither personal persecution, nor discouragement at the seeming failure of wisely conceived projects, moved him, for an instant, from his horror of insurrectionary methods. Mr. Dunlop insists upon this again and again, for O'Connell has frequently been credited with the will, but not with the courage, to embroil Ireland in civil war, and during his lifetime was generally regarded in England as hypocritical in his denunciation of armed resistance. Yet Mr. Dunlop's estimate is sustained by numerous quotations from O'Connell's personal letters to intimate friends, at every stage of his career. O'Connell's character and acts were by no means above criticism, and the author does not attempt to conceal the defects. He was an egoist, yet perhaps purposely so in politics, recognizing the aptitude of his countrymen for submission to the political "boss." He made serious mistakes in policy, as when he favored the disfranchisement of the forty shilling freeholders. He was often vulgar and abusive in language toward his political opponents. These failings are noted explicitly, though usually with toleration, by Mr. Dunlop. Yet O'Connell's greatest mistake, in the author's opinion, was one of judgment and not of character or measure, briefly, that his whole scheme of operations, though successful in securing Catholic emancipation, was based upon ideals, thus rendering complete success impossible. O'Connell believed that when once England was educated to understand the wrongs of the existing government of Ireland, the English sense of justice would force the righting of these wrongs. He therefore educated England by agitation in Ireland. Mr. Dunlop asserts that England

has never acted toward Ireland upon principles of abstract justice, and that selfish interest alone has brought any alleviation of Irish distress. Mere agitation of principles of right are here, therefore, always useless unless England sees her own direct benefit in their realization. Mr. Dunlop is an Englishman.

Talk about Art and Life.

In "Sleeping Beauty and Other Prose Fancies" (John Lane) Mr. Richard Le Gallienne gives us a series of short essays written in the brilliant vein that holds attention if it does not always produce conviction. Mr. Le Gallienne is a devotee of the religion of beauty, and in the fervor of his devotion he says, "Why not disendow the Church, and endow Literature, which is really the coming Church?" His militant faith in the triumph of the finer instincts of the soul, love of beauty and desire for truth, and longing for the invisible things of the spirit, is abundantly in evidence, and especially so in the most important essay in the book, "The Second Coming of the Ideal." He insists upon the reality of dreams, and declares that realism has failed because it does not understand, as does idealism, the science of human nature. Eager and earnest as are Mr. Le Gallienne's convictions, he manages to give them publicity without too much parade of importance, dwelling upon them lovingly rather than strenuously, and even touching them lightly with a graceful fancy and a mild sort of wit. His treatment of Mr. Stephen Phillips has the charm of absolute sincerity of appreciation, and this paper more than any other makes us realize how much of our pleasure in the volume comes from the genuineness of his fresh delight in the aesthetic charm of books and men. But his enjoyment of Stevenson, and Theodore Watts-Dunton, and Miss Custance is balanced by the very positive irritation that comes to him from the great popular success of Rudyard Kipling. "Mr. Kipling has chosen to make the clay jig, instead of compelling the marble to sing; and he has his reward," he says, "A Propos The Absent-Minded Beggar," and, while we may not sympathize with his feeling of personal vexation, we must allow the criticism. On the whole, while there are some good things well said in the book, it is an entertaining rather than weighty or valuable contribution to the literary discussion of the problems of art and life. It might be suggested to Mr. Le Gallienne that his work is sufficiently pretentious to warrant his giving a little more attention to the writing of correct English. Especially is this desirable if he is to go forth to battle with Mr. Kipling as one who degrades the national literature by the use of slang.

psychological status of the memory-processes is certainly desirable; and on the whole such information has kept pace with the increasing knowledge in regard to the physiological and psychological basis and mode of development of mental functions. Professor Colegrove's inductive study of "Memory" (Holt) is a well-designed aid to the student of this topic, and will appeal to the interests of the general reader. The scope of the volume includes an introductory chapter giving the historical setting of opinions in regard to the nature of memory; a suggestive account of the fluctuations of the memoryfunctions in the biological world; some description of the diseases of memory, without which a conception of memory would be both misleading and inadequate; a brief statement of the connection of memory-processes with the functions of the brain; a discussion of the significant types, or classes of memory; a detailed study, on the basis of an extensively circulated question-sheet, of certain special problems in regard to the tenacity, accuracy, direction, unfoldment, relation to age, sex, race, etc., and other characteristics of individual memories; a discussion of the relations of the mere retentive functions to the assimilative ones, particularly to attention, apperception, and association; and a concluding chapter rehearsing the pedagogical applications of the main results of the previous studies. The volume is the outcome of a deep personal interest and of a special investigation of the subject. Its essential defect is the lack of a sustained hold upon the relations of the different parts of the subject to one another. We have a series of incidents, where we expect a continued story involving the same characters but in new situations. It is true of memory as of many problems psychological, that "what was a problem once is a problem still"; but an interesting sketch of the shape which the problem assumes in response to the activities of modern research may be profitably gained from Dr. Colegrove's handbook.

The Monitor

as an

epoch-marker.

"The history of our navy under steam divides itself into two parts, rather sharply separated by a peculiar war-vessel forced into the field of action in advance of its natural time by the demands of a great war, and destined suddenly to change by its example the naval armaments and methods of all nations." This sentence indicates the underlying thought in "The Monitor and the Navy under Steam" (Houghton), by Lieut. Frank M. Bennett, U.S. N. The story of the origin and progress of steam navigation is told in a very interesting way, a number of drawings helping materially in giving the reader a correct understanding of the successive advance steps. A second chapter recounts the famous duel between the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac," and this is followed by a description of other naval actions of the Civil War, the uppermost thought always being the evolution of the modern battle-ship. After the Civil War the United

States "practically dropped out of sight for twenty years as a naval or maritime power," and European nations made the experiments and perfected the machinery necessary to the building of the battleship of to-day. This naval indifference was trying to American officers, and yet had its compensations, since we were able, when our "new navy" was planned, to profit by the expensive experience of the rest of the world. What the new navy accomplished in the Spanish-American War of course is set forth in glowing words, nearly a hundred pages out of three hundred and fifty being given to the events of 1898. This may perhaps be criticised as an undue proportion, but it is true that the story is designed to approach such a climax, all the thought and inventions of the past being represented at their best in such a vessel as the "Oregon." The last chapter will be depended upon to sell the book, but it is likely that more real value attaches to the earlier pages, which show how naval inventors worked unceasingly at ideas tending to make the ships move faster than sails could carry them, and at the same time to make a more solid barrier for the flag at sea than was afforded by the "wooden walls" of the old navy.

The story of "Old Ironsides."

In his careful and engrossing work on "The Frigate Constitution, the Central Figure of the Navy under Sail" (Houghton), Mr. Ira N. Hollis follows the fortunes of "Old Ironsides" from her inception under the presidency of Washington to her present condition of honorable old age, in which she is soon to enjoy a pension adequate for her maintenance in ease and dignity. With the part in history played by the "Constitution" Americans have every reason to be satisfied. If she did not win her spurs a most terrestrial trope, in this connection- during the brief war with France, she did beat an English frigate sailing at that time, and Preble gave her plenty to do against the Tripolitans soon after. It was in 1812 that the gallant ship blossomed into her fulness of fame, and Mr. Hollis does not exaggerate when he says she was the single champion of a young and struggling nation" in a war which "terminated the period of our dependence upon England." Thrice escaping from British fleets by exhibitions of resourcefulness which still thrill the heart, and thrice victorious over British ships-of-war, the "Guerriére," the "Java," and the "Cyene" and "Levant," the career of the "Constitution" furnishes almost enough material for an epic. The book is always readable and frequently fascinating.

nearly as possible pure and simple, and in a form which presupposes a very moderate degree only of antecedent knowledge of the elements of Cromwell's story, will probably find more serviceable than any of its recent predecessors. Mr. Paterson's object is to give a detailed narrative of the personal life, aims, and motives of Cromwell, and he has hence abstained so far as may be from the usual historical and politico-philosophical excursions which his theme suggests. His book, in short, is a good plain narrative of Oliver's career, and a sensible, unexaggerated view of his character. Mr. Paterson inclines to take issue with writers who regard Cromwell's later usurpations as an apostasy from the cause of political liberty, and endeavors with some plausibility to show that his high-handed measures were largely forced on him by circumstances (which we believe to be in a measure true), and, moreover, that in taking such measures he really acted as the instrument or mandatary of his council (which we believe to be exceedingly doubtful). Mr. Paterson's book is very readable, and it sets forth concisely, in a compact, well-made volume, the essentials of Cromwell's history. There are two well-executed portraits, one of them a likeness of the Protector's mother after a rare original.

The Forward Policy in India.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa, the question that most interested political England was the so-called "Forward Policy" in India, and whether the Afridi war was a logical result of that policy. Under the guise of a personal memoir, Mr. Richard I. Bruce, a former political agent in Beluchistan, has written a book of comment upon English action in India. "The Forward Policy and Its Results" (Longmans) relates the chief activities of its author, and defends the system introduced by Sir Robert Sandemann, in bringing under English control some of the frontier tribes between Northwest India and Afghanistan. The question at issue is as to whether it is wiser to accustom the wild Pathans of this border to submit to English intervention in their disputes, and to permit the establishment of semi-military outposts, or to leave them absolutely independent in the hope that such a policy will assure their friendship in case of a Russian advance on India. Mr. Bruce is emphatically in favor of the Forward Policy as opposed to the Close Border Policy. Every new government in India, he says, has entered office with the determination to check further advance toward Afghanistan, but has been forced by the necessity of the situation to alter its purpose. He advocates a peaceable, friendly, nonmilitary advance, to be made on principle and not grudgingly, and cites his own and Sir Robert Sandemann's labors among the Marris and Bugtis in proof that such an advance is possible. He is not a forcible writer, and indeed makes no pretense at literary merit, but trusts to the reiteration of specific facts in Indian history to substantiate his argument. As a personal memoir the book is not

interesting, for the description of frontier incident and life has been sacrificed to the narrative of petty political events. It will be of value to those American readers who care to know tho conditions of government on this thousand-mile frontier of India. Many fine photographs of men and places accompany the text, and an excellent map is inserted at the end.

The Germans in Colonial times.

During the last ten years, a great deal of attention has been paid by special students of American history to what may be called the minor race elements of Colonial times, and long-delayed protests have been increasingly frequent against that method of historywriting which ascribes all the virtues of Colonial days to the English settlers and finds small place for mention of representatives of other blood who helped to build the United States. "The Germans in Colonial Times" (Lippincott), by Miss Lucy Forney Bittinger, is the latest of these protests, a compact little volume of three hundred pages, into which is crowded a vast amount of interesting information regarding the early German immigrants. The conditions in the homeland which led to the movement of population are shown, a religious condition and a social one, aud then, step by step and colony by colony, the author describes the various German bodies, many of them small religious sects, Mennonites, Dunkers, Salzburgers, Moravians and the like, who settled here and there from Maine to Georgia, called locally "Pennsylvania Dutch," and yet having many common characteristics wherever found. The trials and tribulations of these immigrants are clearly shown, one interesting chapter being on the "Redemptioners," in which it appears that the lot of an indented servant was often a hard one. A chronological

table shows that the German influence was manifested for exactly a century before the treaty of Paris of 1783, the first company, the one which located at Germantown, coming in 1683. A quite extensive bibliography indicates wide reading. The writer undoubtedly performed a labor of love in the preparation of her material, and her heart was full of desire to make the best case for her friends. Naturally there are some faults due to over-enthusiasm, and in some places the book lacks exact references and foot-notes, but it is none the less a welcome addition to the literature of Colonial times, and a valuable handbook regarding one important race-element in our cosmopolitan national character.

Not only

the author returns no uncertain answer. is the whole secret of the ancient manufacturers laid bare to the most casual reader, but such recondite matters as changes of coloring, and changes in dress and style, are made plain. To do this, it was needful to reproduce a number of typical figurines in both monotint and color, and these numerous illustrations add immensely to the value of the book. Many of the statuettes owe their birth to the period which gave us the immortal bits of the anthology, and the treasures of that work have been drawn upon by Miss Hutton for mutual comparison and elucidation, with the happiest results. Such a book has long been needed for general reference, and it is to be hoped that it may yet be re-issued in less expensive and more popular form.

The sudden and vigorous growth of A missionarystatesman of that young nation of the Pacific, young Japan. Japan, was due to many causes not popularly known. One of these was the presence in that land, at critical moments, of sturdy and level-headed foreigners. Dr. William Elliot Griffis in his "Verbeck of Japan: A Citizen of No Country" (Revell) has opened our eyes to see one of those characters. Dr. Guido F. Verbeck entered Japan in 1859 and gave nearly forty years of his life to the Japanese. He went out as a missionary, but his success as a teacher, his wisdom as a man of affairs, and his influence as an adviser, soon secured for him unwonted power with those in authority in the dawn of Japan's modern history. A number of the chief authorities of state in the young government had been his former pupils and wisely looked upon him as their best adviser; so that when the constitution of the country was finally cast, Dr. Verbeck was probably next to the dictator of its articles. Then, too, the educational policy of Japan, and its relation to foreign culture, to the arts and sciences, was largely shaped by the wisdom of this same Americanized Dutchman. Dr. Griffis has given us a noble portrait of this devoted missionary-statesman, who molded in a very definite manner the new empire of the Pacific.

The life of An auspicious and appropriate bean English anti-slavery ginning to a new biographical series agitator. of "Saintly Lives" (Dutton) is made in Mrs. Anna M. Stoddard's life of Elizabeth Pease Nichol. Mrs. Nichol was known to all antislavery agitators in the English-speaking world as one of that devoted few who swayed the voice and the heart of England away from mere interests of greed in the struggle between the North and the South, and turned the popular English derision of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation into mighty mass-meetings of praise to the Divine Providence which had rid the world of its greatest curse. Elizabeth Pease was born in 1807, was married to Professor John Pringle Nichol in 1853, and died soon after her ninetieth birthday, in 1897. She was of Quaker lineage, and consecrated almost from birth

to the cause of the hopeless and oppressed, an annointing which she never forgot. The story of her long and noble life, with its eager sympathy and deep devotion to immutable truths, is well-told in Mrs. Stoddard's volume.

Pleasant essays on familiar themes.

We are glad to be lectured gently

on our follies and vanities and on things having to do in general with the old subject of the conduct of life, when the teaching to which we must listen is as genial and kindly, as full of a simple and wholesome wisdom, as is that of Mr. Edward Sandford Martin's "Lucid Intervals" (Harper). The chapters on "Children," "Swains and Damsels," "Husbands and Wives," "Education," "Riches," and the five more that make up the book are devoted to the comfortable optimism of a man who has known how to accept things as they are and be happy. The subjects touched upon are old and the possibility of saying anything new upon them does not promise much, but the racy freshness of treatment, and the pleasantly pervasive quality of the author's personality, gives them new color and interest. The book has a goodly number of taking illustrations and is attractively bound.

Ten women of Colonial times.

The Colonial woman, as an object of interest to her bustling and ambitious descendants, is still having her innings, and therefore the pretty volume entitled "Dames and Daughters of Colonial Days" (Crowell), by Miss Geraldine Brooks, will doubtless find favor with readers of books of its class. It contains ten simply-written sketches of notable women, the list beginning with the "first of American club women," Anne Hutchinson, and closing with Sally Wister, of Pennsylvania, a charming Quakeress whose life, says Dr. Weir Mitchell, "must have been a joy to itself and others." The characters chosen for treatment collectively represent a wide territorial range, and the flavor of the short story imparted to the sketches will commend them to readers in quest of entertainment.

BRIEFER MENTION.

The finest craft of the bookmaker is exhibited in the latest volume by " E. V. B.," entitled "Sylvana's Letters to an Unknown Friend" (Macmillan). The paper is of the best, the print is large and enticing to the eye, and photographic illustrations are lavishly interspersed with the letter-press. The delights of gardening are the prolific theme of the writer, who has means and leisure to indulge to the utmost her taste for floriculture. A gentle sympathy follows her record of the flowers that pass in lovely procession through the fertile months of the year. A little more life and warmth in her descriptions would relieve them of a possible accusation of monotony.

The Oxford University Press have published an "Anthology of French Poetry," including examples all the way down from the tenth century to the last, trans

lated by Dean Henry Carrington. We need not in this connection discourse upon the necessary limitations of verse translation, for they are well understood. What is important to say is that the present translator is thoroughly familiar with his material, and that the deft poetical touch of his versions is often remarkable. His

range is wide, and almost every French lyrist of importance is represented by one or more examples.

"The Foundations of Botany," by Mr. Joseph Y. Bergen, is a text-book published by Messrs. Ginn & Co. It is written upon the general plan of the author's earlier "Elements of Botany," but gives greatly increased attention to laboratory work and the study of cryptogams. The text proper occupies upwards of four hundred pages, and to this is appended a " Key and Flora" of two hundred and fifty pages more. In the latter section about seven hundred species, wild and cultivated, are included, which makes such an appendix really worth while. The directions for experimental work are abundant and explicit, and the volume has hundreds of illustrations in the text, besides a dozen or so full-page plates. The book is thoroughly scientific in method, and presents the subject in the most attractive way.

Mr. W. H. Mallock has tried an interesting experiment, although one not brought to a particularly happy issue, in his little book entitled “Lucretius on Life and Death in the Metre of Omar Khayyam." The similarity of spirit between the Persian and the Roman poet is sufficient to justify this effort, but if there be some suggestions of the unsophisticated Omar in Mr. Mallock's quatrains, there is nothing of the peculiar quality that FitzGerald gave to his immortal paraphrase. Mr. Mallock has produced about a hundred quatrains, and has appended the original texts upon which they are based. Mr. John Lane publishes the volume.

Mr. John Kenyon Kilbourn has compiled a volume on the "Faiths of Famous Men in their Own Words " (Henry T. Coates & Co.), which shows vast industry but less judgment. Of its ten chapters, four are upon the Millenium, the Intermediate State, the Resurrection, and Heaven, although only about a third of the book itself is given to these subjects. The famous men who write upon such subjects are somewhat unknown. Grover Cleveland, it is true, is quoted under the Millenium, but his words have to do with the disarmament of nations. Indeed, the author has a most catholic estimate of fame and has admitted many men - mostly clergymen of whom the careless world has little heard. Yet, the volume is full of interest, and we doubt not will serve a useful purpose in furnishing preachers with apt quotations.

The admirable series of "Beacon Biographies" is being supplemented by a similar series of small volumes called the "Westminster Biographies" (Small, Maynard & Co.), dealing with prominent Englishmen. The two volumes upon John Wesley by Mr. Frank Banfield and Adam Duncan, Lord Camperdown, by Mr. H. L. Wilson, are good illustrations of what biographical sketches should be. The problems facing the two writers were precisely opposite. The material at hand for the biography of Wesley is voluminous, while in the case of Duncan it is strangely scanty. Each author, however, maintains the perspective of his subject's life and has incidentally given us a good many sidelights upon the England of their day. This historical treatment is especially prominent in Mr. Wilson's sketch of Duncan.