content with dreaming only of the individual as "to be, or not to be." We have some right to be dissatisfied when we find that 'The Hopes of the Human Race, Hereafter and Here,'-undoubtedly a taking title,-only introduces us to some rather rhetorical lucubrations on the immortality of the soul, varied by a few not particularly original speculations regarding the conditions of the possible life of the future, and followed by an essay on the natural history of the emotion of sympathy and the counter-emotion, for which Miss Cobbe has devised the term "Heteropathy." Miss Cobbe is satisfied that the last essay contains ideas which no one has ever suggested before. She has, "for the first time, brought to notice" a 'psychological fact," which she deems of great importance. This essay and 'The Life after Death,' in two parts, are reprinted from the Theological Review, the only new matter in the volume being the Preface, of some seventy pages, which derives | its interest from the fact of its "having special reference to Mr. Mill's Essay on Religion." It is doubtful if that interest will be maintained when the reader learns the use that is made of Mr. Mill and his posthumous Essays. He is held up as an example of the highest type of human nature lacking the religious instinct. His last work is the "self-revelation of a very noble mind, wherein (sic), owing to almost unique circumstances, the whole element"-namely, that which is the "origin and organ of Religion"" has been eliminated." That element, "it is transparently evident, Mr. Mill had not." When "he comes to deal with a subject on which the rude tinker of Bedford has instructed the world," he "writes like a blind man discoursing of colours, or a deaf man criticizing the contortions of a violinist wasted on the delusion of music." The " organ of Religion" having been extirpated by the elder Mill "from his child's heart," the self-revelations of Mr. John Stuart Mill stand as an awful warning of what such a "dreadful experiment" must come to even when tried "in the person of one of the ablest, and, in all things beside, one of the very noblest of men." The lesson to be drawn is, that "spiritual things must be spiritually discerned," or not at all. The lesson may be correct, but we fail to see that the premises support it even if they were true, which we may take leave to doubt. Mr. Mill may have performed an insufficient induction in dealing with the facts of human nature that necessitate religion he may have omitted to observe, or not given due force and weight to, religious phenomena; but, unless the religious instinct is a special organ, the gift of only the chosen few, in which case it is no longer a universal human sentiment,-its elements must have been in Mr. Mill as in other people. That an inveterate habit of scepticism may chill religious emotion is, of course, certain; but if Religion is to depend upon a special organ, wholly lacking in some men, only dimly present in the great mass, and articulate and distinct in a favoured few alone, then it is at once confounded with Mysticism. The history of Mysticism is an important chapter of human experience; but the champions of Religion are short-sighted when they identify the two. Some other use must be found for Mr. Mill. Certainly some better explanation is required of his Essays. Of what is called the "principal essay in the book" little need be said. It is an attempt to prove the immortality of the soul from the conceptions Miss Cobbe has of the nature of the Deity. In dealing with objections to the (assumed) Divine Attributes, she introduces a number of arguments, or statements, which used to do service in treating long ago the problem of the origin of evil. They come, in sum and substance, to the metaphysical deliverance that God must create under conditions if He creates at all. The argument for immortality from the assumed moral necessity for the fuller development of the individual in the future, does not meet the case, which may be supposed, of men's lower spiritual lives being steps in the progress towards a higher to be realized by others. Why may not the law of sacrifice hold in the moral as it does in the material world, and races be swept away to make room for higher ones? Such a speculation, at all events, may be opposed to the ordinary arguments for immortality; and Miss Cobbe, although she thinks otherwise, has not really got beyond these. Her observations on Heteropathy," in the last essay, possess interest, but scarcely sufficient to induce us to ask her to fulfil her threat that she "could readily double again and again the illustrations given of it in these brief pages." The History of Advertising, from the Earliest Times. By Henry Sampson. With Illustrations and Fac-similes. (Chatto & Windus.) MR. SAMPSON's book is one in which a good idea has been carried out tolerably well. If occasional disappointment is felt by the reader, the latter must remember that in the compilation of such a book the difficulties are many, and the superabundance of matter rather forms an obstruction than clears the way. Perhaps Mr. Sampson deals more with the history of the Press than is desirable, although this was a part of his subject. The History of Advertising connects itself naturally with a History of Newspapers; but Mr. Sampson might have been more brief with the latter history with advantage to that of advertising. With some drawbacks, however, we have here a book to be thankful for. We are taken back to early times, as the title-page promises. We read how tradesmen puffed their wares when Jupiter reigned in Olympus. We see what facetious or impudent boys chalked on the walls of Latin cities when Plancus was Consul. We find Greek individuals affixing little sheets of lead (inscribed with curses) to the statues of infernal deities, and devoting to the ill-keeping of those gods personages who had offended the individuals in question. The "verba ad summam caveam spectantia" meet us at every corner. On the other hand, by the figures of two snakes, painted on a temple wall, we know that that wall is to be respected. This, indeed, one learnt long ago, from the lines in Persius (I. 112):— Hic, inquis, veto quisquam faxit oletum? Mr. Sampson carries us pretty well over the world to show us how wit, audacity, craft, and cunning have been employed in advertising. But, after all, we find some of the most amusing illustrations at home and in comparatively modern times. Our author himself, however, has hardly got all the threads of his subject quite in hand. He is not aware, for instance, of some results of newspaper announcements. A birth advertised in the Times generally brings to the house where the event has happened countless prospectuses of schools "for little boys" or "girls," as the case may be. And a record in the column for "Deaths" often brings cards of terms from half the monument builders in and about the metropolis! As for marriages, consequences are provided for, and advertisement made of the provision long before the ceremony. "Wedding outfits and Layettes" is to be seen in every shop or "establishment" having especial regard to such matters. Among the many interesting illustrations. to this book is a photographed copy of the Times, for January 1, 1788, which may be easily read by means of a magnifying glass. And this reminds us of another incident connected with advertising which we do not remember seeing in Mr. Sampson's volume. In the early up hill days of the Times, announcements of births, deaths, and marriages were made gratis, and the senders were thanked for their communications. Whether woman's wit caused the change or not, we cannot say, but "woman" greatly profited by it. In course of years, a charge was made for the announcements in question, and the column was playfully made over to the then proprietor's wife as her source for "pocketmoney." The product of such a column would now suffice to maintain a middle-class household, dower the daughters, establish the sons, and secure a handsome "assurance" for a widow. Although Mr. Sampson's book is not without method, it is not so exactly classified as we could wish. We have looked for advertisements of schools, and have, indeed, found many; but these do not furnish, as a larger collection might have done, a complete idea, not of the qualities of the persons taught, but of the qualifications of the teachers. Mr. Sampson does not give the advertisement of Mrs. Makin, who had been "tutoress" to the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles the First, and who, in 1673, was at the head of a School for Gentlewomen at Tottenham High Cross. When we remember that Mrs. Makin's advertisement was in the form of an "essay," dedicated to the "Lady Mary, daughter of James, Duke of York," we are not surprised that Mr. Sampson has not furnished a copy of it. But we are surprised at his not referring to it, as it marks a period when an attempt was made to raise the womanly character in the social scale. barbarous custom to breed women low," says Mrs. Makin, "is grown general among us, and hath prevailed so far that it is verily believed that women are not endowed with such reason as men." Mrs. Makin names many ladies, of all countries and periods, who were distinguished for their learning, accomplishments, and other virtues. "The She is a reformer, as may be seen in the remark, "Were a competent number of schools erected to educate Ladies ingeniously, methinks I see how ashamed men would be of their ignorance, and how industrious the next generation would be to wipe off the reproach." Worthy of note is it that Mrs. Makin and her assistants included in the education of ladies not only "Arts and Tongues," music, &c., but also the "keeping of accounts," natural history, not from books, but from "Visibles," and "those who please may learn Limning, Preserving, Pastry, and Cookery." These last useful matters came to be reckoned among essentials. At a subsequent period, Mrs. Elizabeth Titchin, who was at the head of a fashionable ladies' school at Highgate, stated that “in the above house, young gentlewomen may be soberly educated and taught all sorts of learning fit for them, as also raising of Paste and all sorts of Housewifery." Sometimes not only were the double subjects taught, but the two sexes studied under the same roof. Here is a specimen of what was offered in this way in a contemporary advertisement: "About 40 miles from London is a Schoolmaster who has had such success with boys, as there are about 40 Ministers and Schoolmasters who were his scholars. His wife also teaches girls lace-making, plain work, raising Paste, sauces and cookery to the degree of exactness. price is 10 or 117. the year, with a pair of sheets and spoons, to be returned if desired. Coaches and other conveniences pass every day within half a mile of the house, and 'tis but an easy day's journey to or from London." The tariff seems low to modern experience; but from "10 or 117." at such schools as the above, to the 20%., and whatever more the parents chose to add, of the more fashionable school at Tottenham High Cross, were the average fees at the close of the seventeenth aud first part of the eighteenth centuries. About the same time an attempt to communicate refinement of manner was made by "E. Combe," who advertised a translation from the French of "The Art of being Easy at all Times and in all Places, written chiefly for the use of a Lady of Quality.' The becomes of them. They were often of doubtful Meanwhile, we recommend the present one, CHRISTMAS BOOKS. Tales of Adventure; or, Wild Work in Strange The Ocean and its Wonders. By R. M. Ballan- The Three Lieutenants; or, Naval Life in the As sure as the blackberry season, which all but and "a careful examination of the most inter the author to consider he was entitled or qualified Among the educational advertisements, which are not in worse English than many which show the incapacity of teachers at the present day, some offer the strange mixture of Greek, Latin, and High Dutch. The Girls of the Period were wonderfully impudent creatures. They advertised for loans of money, sometimes of considerable sums, on personal security, which, it was thought, would be very agreeable to a young gentleman who could under-esting and authentic records obtainable," induced stand it! Some women went beyond mere impudence; and female pugilists were refined (compared with the ladies) when they announced that a stand-up fight, half-naked, will come In off, on a certain day, "God willing"! 1811, the Rev. J. L. Chirol, Chaplain at H.M.'s French Royal Chapel, St. James's, advertised 'An Enquiry into the Best System of Female Education.' He says that he examined 500 boarding-schools minutely, and he pronounced the best "good for nothing." Chirol defines women as altogether inferior to men; as "subject to constant infirmities"; able to think (or to think she thinks), but not to meditate, and unable to create original ideas of her own, barely able to improve those of the other sex. He states that a lady told him she had seen forty boarding school girls fed for two days on one leg of mutton. Of the mistresses, he adds, that they shop all the morning, drink all the afternoon, write love poems and novels in the evening, leave the girls" to teachers, and care little what with a set of— As mildly mannered men As ever scuttled ship or cut a throat; -and the volume is sensational enough to please told tale of the battle of Algiers and the release The third work, ‘The Ocean and its Wonders,' is a compilation of scraps strung together without much thought or knowledge of the subject from many men's books, but chiefly from Capt. Maury's "Physical Geography of the Sea,' the object being, to impart a knowledge of the "causes and effects of those grand oceanic and atmospheric currents which modify the climates of the earth, and diver sify the face of Nature from the Equator to the Poles." Here Mr. Ballantyne has got out of his element. As long as he confined himself to fiction, and kept within the bounds of probability, we could approve; but this science and water is anything it should be. Had the date of the work been 1864, but interesting, and by no means so instructive as instead of ten years later, the volume might have been tolerated; but owing to the mighty advances that have been made in our knowledge of the physical condition of the sea, boys will require to unlearn on some subjects what they imbibe from this work, and even what is accurate is entirely vitiated by the plates intended to elucidate the subjects. We should like to see a man of Arctie experience guarantee the correctness of the "Formation of Icebergs," page 22, or of the glacial ice, the parent of the bergs, or the sailor of Tropical experience who ever saw the "Sargasso sea," as in page 60. 'The Great Wave off the Cape of Good Hope,' 'The Aurora Borealis,'' Morton Discover ing the Open Sea,' are neither fact nor fiction, and the water-spouts wonderful! and all ridiculous. Give the book, O Magister, but it will not prove much of a prize to the gainer. There is an old saying, that "There are more wonderful things in the sea than ever came out of it"; but there are more wonderful things in this 'Ocean and its Wonders' than were ever in the sea or on it. The last of our batch, 'The Three Lieutenants,' is the story of a sailor, and is well calculated interest boys, and send them, spite of parents and guardians, to sea,-but oh, the disappointment to the lad who is induced to take to the sea by the picture of life given in this volume! The nineteenth century is a long period in naval life, and the first three-quarters of it-nay, the last quarter-has wrought such changes in that life as virtually to separate Nelson's days from the present time by centuries. The slashing frigate Plantagenet, or the handsome corvette Tudor, are animals as obsolete as those of the pre-historic world; the slashing and handsome ships are now but iron cases of no form or beauty that can be admired, and one of the great inducements that has sent many a spirited boy to sea is also gone, viz., that he will be no more a school-boy; that happy result of going to sea has passed with the slashing frigates, and he must now look forward to being a school-boy until he is a captain, and after that--but when Mr. Kingston has gone through the different grades of the Navy, we may gain a better idea of naval life, of the present day, than in the work before us. The book is pleasantly written, as the generality of Mr. Kingston's works are. OUR LIBRARY TABLE. IN Historic and Monumental Rome, Mr. C. J. Hemans has given students a manual on a subject of which he is master. We can warmly recommend this handy volume, which Messrs Williams & Norgate have just published. No visitor to Rome should be without it. MESSRS. M. G. & E. T. MULHALL, the Proprietors and Editors of the Buenos Ayres Standard, have published through Mr. Stanford, A Handbook of the River Plate Republics, comprising Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Argentine Republic, and the Republics of Uraguay and Paraguay. Their work is a kind of hybrid be tween the two usual kinds of handbook, viz, that intended for tourists, telling what to see, and how to see it, and the one got up to induce, entrap, or beguile the working-man to enter on a new life in a new world. Still this handbook has decidedly the last named tendency, as the opening paragraph reveals:-"The River Plate offers a fine field for immigrants, as is proved by the thousands of Europeans here who have gained fortune and position for the last twenty years," "-and at page 45, "the Argentine Republic is the poor man's El Dorado"; but the poor man needs to come from an El Dorado, for, although in the Introduction it is stated that "No passport is required on landing in the River Plate," in another place we are told "Passengers are usually landed (at Buenos Ayres) in a little steamboat, but failing this, it will be necessary to take a whaleboat (M'Lean's are the best), and be sure to bargain with the boatman before leaving the ship; his charge will depend on the weather, say $20 to $50 a head." Messrs. Mulhall do not say whether the dollars are paper dollars, value 2d. each, or hard dollar notes of 50d. each; but as, in a paragraph occurring just before the one quoted, it is stated that the charges at the best hotels are $3 per day, we are warranted in concluding that the immigrant would have to pay 4 to 10 pounds sterling for landing, an expensive passport to our mind. The account of the country is fair, and does not altogether conceal the disagreeables, the "Biscachas," the deadly toad "escuerzo," and the snake "vivora de la Cruz," and we may add mosquitoes and sandflies; but no mention is made of the political state of the country and the continued condition of unrest. The free republic, where life and property are not safe, is a little too free and easy for the thoughtful hard-working man to entrust himself in. We see in the enumeration of Europeans that Englishmen are in a minority in the River Plate States, and we hope they may continue to be so; for we have colonies of our own where the hard-working man will gain as much of a fortune and position" as in the River Plate, and feel his head a trifle more secure on his shoulders; but should his thoughts turn that way, let him make up his mind to go when the Republic has been without a war or a revolution for five yearshe may then venture. The 'Handbook' bristles with statistics, the correctness of which we take for granted, and they might make the work valuable as a book of reference, but there being no index, it is for that purpose useless, and the table of contents gives no information. The only map given has but little or nothing on it. The book is carelessly put together, but well printed. Two big books were published in Paris on Monday, both of which are being talked about in France, but neither of which is likely to find many English readers. The one is the collection of the letters of Proudhon, published by Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.; the other, L'Esprit Nou veau, by M. Edgar Quinet, published by Dentu. This latter is a volume on every sort of subject, the only good chapters of which, to our thinking, are the last, in which the author is troubled with a metaphysical nightmare, and has explained to him (by a German) the three "stations of the illusions": the belief in personal happiness in this world; that in happiness in a future world; and, Pictures of Italian Masters, with Essay, &c., by W. B. Scott, 4to. 21/cl. Portfolio, edited by P. G. Hamerton, Vol. 5, folio, 35/ cl. Floral Poesy, a Book for all Seasons, 12mo. 3/6 cl. Oehlenschlager's Earl Hakon the Mighty, translated by F. C. Tennyson's Works, Vol. 6, Cabinet Edition, 12mo. 2/6 cl. Windus's (W. E) Broadstone Hall, and other Poems, cr. 8vo. 5/ Music. History. rate, Marcoy's Travels in South America, two handsome volumes, the illustrations of which are, as is usual with French work, excellent.-Messrs. Bell & Son send us an illustrated edition of Mr. Lewin's Life and Epistles of St. Paul. The most valuable of the woodcuts in Mr. Lewin's work are those of the coins, the selection of which is due to that skilled numismatist, Mr. B. V. Head.-Messrs. H. S. King & Co. have reprinted the Tales of the Zenana of the late Mr. Hockley, the author of 'Pandurang Hari.' These stories are a great deal more lively and interesting Songs of Our Youth, by Author of 'John Halifax,' 4to. 15/ cl. than the Christmas books that are now issuing from the press, and we trust the new edition may meet with the circulation it deserves.Sir Samuel Baker's clever volumes, The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon and Eight Years in Ceylon, have been republished by Messrs. Longmans & Co.-The Handy-Volume Edition of the Bible, issued by Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew & Co., deserves warm praise. The absurd custom of putting the whole Bible into one volume compels either the use of a painfully small type or the adoption of a large quarto page, the result of which is a large, clumsy Taylor's (B.) Egypt and Iceland in 1874, cr. 8vo. 7/6 cl. volume. The "family Bible" so much in vogue Countess Matilda's Von de Recke Volmerstein, by her Daughter, 2nd edit. cr. 8vo. 5/ cl. Gairdner's (J.) Houses of Lancaster and York, 18mo. 2/6 cl. Hall's (M.) Andrew Marvel and his Friends, cr. 8vo. 5/ cl. Higginbotham's (J. J.) Men Whom India has Known, 2nd edit. 8vo. 12/ cl. Lubbock's (Sir J.) Origin of Civilization, 3rd edit. 8vo. 18/ cl. Robertson's (J. C.) History of the Christian Church, Vols. 5 and 6, cr. 8vo. 6/ each, cl. Strauss's (G. L. M.) Men who have Made the New German Empire, 2 vols. 8vo. 25/ cl. Geography. Davis's (Rev. E. J.) Anatolica, or the Journal of a Visit to some of the Ancient Ruined Cities of Caria, &c., 8vo. 21/ cl. Thomson's (J.) Straits of Malacca, 8vo. 21/ cl. Philology. Maetzner's (Prof.) English Grammar, translated from the Ger- is a horrid monstrosity, usually made more hideous than it naturally is by a heavy leather binding and huge brass clasp. These eleven pretty little volumes, bound in cloth, and contained in a neat case, are a pleasant innovation on the old method; and we trust that this attempt to publish the Bible Buchanan's (A) Forces which Carry on the Circulation of the in a common-sense form may lead to other editions of a similar kind. We are only sorry Messrs. Bradbury have not abandoned the usual verses in favour of paragraphs. Blood, 2nd edit. 8vo. 5/ cl. Clinical Pocket-Book, cr. 8vo. 2/6 cl. swd. Collins's (J. H.) Principles of Metal Mining, 12mo. 1/ cl. Horton's (J. A. B.) Diseases of Tropical Climates, 12/6 cl. As You Like It, a Christmas Story, by Lyulph, 8vo. 1/ swd. THE second volume of Dr. Gustav Cohn's work lished at Leipzig by Messrs. Duncker & Humblot. on the English railway system has just been pubThe first volume on the History of English Railway Legislation, the publication of which we noticed last spring, has had a remarkable success in Germany, where the railway question engages much attention. And Dr. Cohn's second volume, Boy's Own Book, new edit. roy. 16mo 8/6 cl. which critically examines the whole English railway system, and discusses several great economic questions, may be said to possess considerably more interest and importance for both the railway and the economic worlds. The title of the second volume is Zur Beurtheilung der Englischen Dogs, their Points, &c., edited by H. Webb, cheap edit. 5/ cl. Eisenbahnpolitik. Brave Men's Footsteps, 3rd edit. 12mo. 3/6 cl. Edith Vernon's Life Work, 4th edit. cr. 8vo, 3/6 cl. Hooper's (M.) Little Dinners, 7th edit. cr. 8vo. 5/ cl. Hardy's (T.) Far from the Madding Crowd, 2 vols. 8vo. 21/ cl. King's (R. J.) Sketches and Studies, 8vo. 12/ cl. WE have on our table Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, by J. Fiske, M.A., LL.B., 2 vols. (Macmillan), Centrifugal Force and Gravitation, by Kuklos, 8 vols. (Montreal, Lovell),-A Review of Macaulay's Teaching on the Relationship of Theology to the Science of Government, by Kuklos, 2 vols. (Montreal, Lovell),-Ten Years of Gentleman Farming at Blennerhasset, by W. Lawson, Joiner and Model Maker, by E. A. Davidson C. D. Hunter, and others (Longmans),-The Boy (Cassell),-The Orphans of Malvern (Houlston),— The Twin Brothers of Elfvedale, by C. H. Eden (Ward), and The Onward Reciter, edited by W. Darrah, Vol. III. (Partridge). Among new Editions we have The Wild North Land, by Major Planché's (F. D.) Amusement without End, cr. 8vo. 5/ cl. W. F. Butler (Low),-and Valentin, by H. Kings that in the utility of the exercise of patriotism or philanthropy. In an earlier chapter M. Quinet lays the decline in the rate of increase of the population in France at the door of the Church, which, considering the notorious reasons for the decline, and the action of the Roman Catholic Church with regard to them, is, indeed, hardley (Routledge). measure! FROM Manchester we have received the Report of the Free Libraries Committee of that city. The success of these libraries continues to be great. -Mr. Pink, the Librarian of the Cambridge Free Library, has sent us a Catalogue of the excellent Reference Library in that town. MESSRS. DE LA RUE have sent us several pocketbooks and almanacs for the coming year, which, like their predecessors, are both elegant and useful. The same firm send us some Calendars for the wall, which are most ingeniously contrived and extremely pretty. Eason's Almanac for Ireland, which Messrs. W. H. Smith & Son publish, is one of the best shilling almanacs that we have seen. REPRINTS still continue to pour in upon us. Messrs. Blackie & Son have re-issued, at a cheaper LIST OF NEW BOOKS. Theology. Bible Class and Youth's Magazine, Vol. 14, cr. 8vo. 1/8 cl. Hope's (A. J. B. B.) Worship in the Church of England, 9/ cl. Malan's (C. H.) A Soldier's Experience of God's Love, 2nd edit. cr. 8vo. 3/6 cl. Martineau's (J.) Religion as Affected by Modern Materialism, 3rd edit. 8vo. 1/ swd. Mission Life, Vol. 5, Part 1, 8vo. 3/6 cl. MacDonald's (G.) Malcolm, 3 vols. cr. 8vo. 31/6 cl. Paul Haddon, by the Author of 'Somebody and Nobody,' 3/6 Philip's Series of Reading Books, edited by J. G. Cromwell, 5th edit. cr. 8vo. 1/9 cl. Rare and Choice Collection of Queens and Kings, and other Reading Teaching Itself, cr. 8vo. 1/ cl. swd, Roe's (Rev. E. P.) What Can She Do? cr. 8vo. 3/6 cl. Taylor (Rev. E. J.), Incidents and Anecdotes of, cheap edit. 1/6 NOTES FROM NAPLES. Naples, Nov. 18, 1874. A PALERMO journal has an article headed 'Discovery of a large Deposit of Fossil Elephants in Carini.' "For many years," it says, "scientific men have regarded the basin of Palermo as one of the spots most favoured by nature for the study of such pre-historic animals, and amongst the many localities explored in the neighbourhood of Palermo, no one has been so well preserved as that lately discovered close to Carini, in the 'Grotta dei Puntali.'" The discovery of the rare deposit of bones contained in this Grotta was first made by a 9 farmer, whilst forming a cistern. Some time later, Prof. Gemellaro, Director of the Geological and Mineralogical Museum in the University of Palermo, had his attention directed to it, some of the bones having been sent to him by Cav. Agostino Todaro, Professor of Botany, and by Signor Spallici, Scholastic Inspector of the Province. Prof. Gemellaro visited the Grotta, and, having made arrangements with the proprietor, commenced an excavation, assisted by Prof. Andrea di Blasio. The result was, that precious remains of elephants' bones were brought to light and carried off to Palermo. There they were put together, and, having been placed in the museum for a month, have been exhibited to a large concourse of visitors. As a literary curiosity may be noted a translation of the 'Paradise' of Dante into the Calabrese dialect. "The version," says a critic, "is very faithful and clear, so faithful, indeed, that on a comparison of it with the original, we find that the author follows word by word and verse by verse. The book, too, is full of notes displaying much learning. In addition, it contains a plan of the mundane system followed by Dante, which assists the reader in forming some idea of the journey described by the poet." The author, whose name is Francesco Limanzi, is a local Judge, and the wonder is that he should have found time amidst the occupations of his profession to undertake such a labour. It evidently was one of love, however, and though the necessity or utility of such a work may be doubted, it has considerable merit. Literary curiosity as it is, it has its pendant in 'Lo Tasso Napoletano' of Fasano, a translation into the Neapolitan dialect of the 'Jerusalem Delivered,' which was printed in Naples on the 15th of April, 1689, as I find recorded on the title-page of a folio copy which now lies before me. as an Large crowds have often assembled on the Mola of Naples, and elsewhere, to listen to recitations from this translation, who would never have understood a verse of the original, and their appreciation of the merits of the poem has been and is attested by their enthusiastic and devoted attention. Who knows but that Signor Limanzi has prepared similar delights for the wild nature of Calabria ? Amongst other works announced is one by Cesare Sterlich,_ already honourably known author. He writes from the Abruzzi, that his work is intended to fill a great "lacuna" in the literary History of Italy. It will be entitled 'Bibliografia degli Scrittori Abruzzesi dai tempi più remoti sin' oggi,' and will include notices of Ovid, Sallust, Silius Italicus, and, in later times, of Dragonetti, Delfico, Nicolini, Borrelli, Rancilli, Tommasi, and others. Those rugged wilds then which inundate this province with savage, however picturesque-looking, shepherds, who annually visit us with their bagpipes and their carols in honour of the Madonna and Bambino, have produced many illustrious men, and these Sterlich will frame and present to the world. What form his work will take, it would be premature to say; but the idea is one full of interest, and shows, too, that after years of political agitation, Italians are beginning to enjoy the blessings of repose. A CELTIC MSS. SOCIETY. H. W. MAY I be permitted, in reference to the remarks of Mr. Jeremiah, jun., last week, to suggest a wider field as likely to yield a larger crop? Instead of an Irish MSS. Society, would it not be better to attempt a Celtic MSS. Society? The separate branches of the Celtic race in London are too weak, each for itself, to establish a Society and a suitable journal. The recently formed "Celtic Society of London," which was substantially Irish, is, it seems, dying or dead. The Welsh are feebly attempting something under the somewhat cabalistic name of "Cymmrodorion." The Scotch Gaelic Society is, I believe, a social rather than a literary body. To many of the supporters of all these, Celtic literature has a common interest, and that common interest seems to me to THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN FONTAINE. November 20, 1874. I WROTE last night under the impression that St. John's Wood, Nov. 26, 1874. IT is but charitable to assume that Mr. S. (1838) he says, "Dr. Hawks found in the posses- in New York." No 2457, Nov. 28, '74 Fontaine and other Manuscripts, comprising an the Original Autobiography of the Rev. James &c., in 1715 and 1716, by ANN MAURY. With original Journal of Travels in Virginia, New York, of Nantes, the Edict of Revocation, and other an Appendix containing a translation of the Edict interesting historical documents. New York: George P. Putnam & Co., 10, Park Place, 1853." This volume contains authentic portraits of Jaques Fontaine and John Fontaine, from pictures in and the United States. possession of members of the family in this country I presume Mr. S. Manning can't have much to say to all this, but he winds up with a suggestion supposing him to be yet alive, had asked for a which is worth notice. He says, "If Dr. Hawk, recognition of his work in the matter, he might What right, either moral or legal, can Miss Maury have established a moral, though not a legal right. have?" Dr. Hawks's portion of the work was a Miss Maury translated the whole from the manushort "Introduction," not filling four small pages. script in her possession, which a Religious Society will mildly call a reprehensible way. are now making use of in what I think the world S. H. HARLOWE NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES. BUT recently London and New York have ture. corners," and of the disgraceful failure of an American banking-house in Europe. He hears Americans making night hideous as they "liquor up" at the American "bar" in Rue Scribe. He Paris. He observes a certain fastness of manner knows of the rowdyism of the New York Club in He does not stop to ask whether there is a reverse in the American girls, who are most talked about. Imperialist? If he denounces democracy at home to the medal. Why should he? Is he not an people? The most ardent American fails to bewhy should he spare a foreign and antipathetic come enamoured of many of his countrymen and many fools in America, or all the fools in America women travelling abroad; for either there are visit Europe. It is difficult to arrive at a definite conclusion on this subject. A large proportion of American idiots seek a Transatlantic asylum. Europe for sending us her adventurers, thieves, Perhaps this is the retort courteous we make to and burglars. possess a presentation copy, brought here by Dr. shortly after, "he is likely to be clever and a good fellow, but when he comes from Europe, he is a poor creature and generally a snob. He tries to pass for an Englishman, and one such was awfully cut up the other day when I told him that I knew him to be an American by his accent. He was trying to talk Cockney." M. Sardou's comedy of American manners is absolutely truthful in one important respect, and, therefore, ought to have been seen when produced here as it was not, owing to its short and sickly life-by every woman in New York. It tells Americans precisely what is thought of them by a large per-centage of Frenchmen. At least, Sardou understands French nature, and American girls need blame no one but themselves if hereafter they treat continental men with the same frankness that they treat their own, and are misinterpreted in consequence. 'L'Oncle Sam' ought to bid them beware of the wretched adventurers who come over here for the purpose of catching heiresses by fair means or foul; of the Italian Counts and French Marquises, who do not hesitate to boast that their titles will buy any woman in the country. It ought to convince them that men who most respect them are most likely to love them unselfishly, and that our society will soon become rotten, if by the introduction of such travellers as M. Sardou's hero, corrupt intent be added to freedom of manner. Liberty is only possible with integrity of character. If 'L'Oncle Sam' sickens American women of foreigners, distinguished or otherwise, our English cousins cannot be called foreigners,-if it makes them realize the tremendous difference between men reared with Old World and men reared with New World ideas, Sardou will not have slandered us in vain. The last burlesque upon the United States is Mr. Edmund Yates's novel, entitled 'A Dangerous Game.' As a work of art it has been repudiated by the author in a letter to the New York Tribune. Therein Mr. Yates gives the American public to understand that whatever he may have written his intentions were strictly honourable. Indeed, he infers that, being hurried, he hardly knew what he was writing about a statement no one is inclined to doubt; and, deprecating criticism, almost begs us to regard A Dangerous Game' in a Pickwickian sense. Now, A Dangerous Game' is hardly worth regarding in any sense, and I merely refer to it for the purpose of making a few extracts, in order to demonstrate how difficult it seems to be for European writers to tell the truth about this country. One of the most prominent characters in Mr. Yates's novel is a rich and distinguished New York merchant, who goes to England under an assumed name, for the purpose of preventing his rivals from getting a trade advantage. The rich and distinguished merchant keeps up the deception while abroad, and we are assured by the author that this sort of thing is "constantly done!" Mr. Yates's dramatis persona are taken largely from the theatre, and some of them are so near the shadow of likenesses as to be libellous. Of course American women do not escape the inevitable fling. Says Duval, a British subject, to Miss Montressor, another British subject, "You will find the first step very high, but woman is privileged in America, and you can seize the knee or the nose of the nearest gentleman and help yourself in by it, without giving him any offence." Although Mr. Yates may have had his nose pulled in an omnibus, it does not follow that any other man ever underwent the same infliction. One more extract, for the purpose of pointing a moral and adorning a tale, and I have done. "And his wife-he has a wife, I suppose-what is she like? Does she come from New England, and sing through her nose; or from out West, and drawl, like -?" Now it is true that many Americans are exceedingly careless in their speech. They do talk through their noses; but it is also true that this dreadful habit is an English inheritance, and is not due to climate. The native American's voice is guttural. Our Pilgrim Fathers brought over the whine known in England as "Suffolk singing," which, though banished from London salons, may be heard in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridge. If our ancestors, who named Massachusetts counties after their old homes, had had good ears for music, they would have left their noses behind them, and their descendants would not now be twanging through life. Nasality has so permeated the atmosphere of New England, that its people do not realize the affront they put upon their vocal organs. Yet, in spite of hereditary taint, the most musical English in the world is spoken by cultivated Bostonians. This fact alone upsets the theory of climate; so, too, does the other fact, that New England produces a singularly rich contralto singing voice, which no one has praised more warmly than Señor Manuele Garcia, the distinguished London maestro di canto, who has had many American pupils. Adelaide Phillipps, her sister, Matilda Phillipps, who is now winning laurels in Italy, and Annie Louise Cary, of Strakosch's troupe, are notable examples. The Puritans, however, are not alone to blame for our defects of speech. Africa has been our bane in more than one respect, and Southerners drawl and flatten their vowels because their sable nurses did so before them. Nevertheless, the cultured Southern planter will often speak English without the slightest accent. Puritan and negro have spread over the continent their vocal peculiarities, and until all parents appreciate that most excellent thing in man or woman, a sonorous voice, Americans will suffer under the imputation of being the worst toned of people. I In the Athenæum of September 12 there appeared a communication from Mr. William Black, entitled "American Curiosity," in which the clever novelist bewails the persecution of American admirers, asks whether all Americans are possessed by a wish to know minute details of the private affairs of any person whose name turns up occasionally in the public prints, and then pro ceeds to quote as follows from a letter addressed to him: "Another matter, of which I speak with diffidence, is Mr. -'s anxiety to secure a criticalbiographical sketch of your life and works. have reason to believe that you shrink from the sort of publicity entailed by a biographical notice, but you know American publishers and editors. They will have it some way-correctly if possible, incorrectly if not; and it would surely be better to have fact than fiction." Now there are always two sides to every story; and the editor referred to in this note, than whom there is not a more gentlemanly soul in the universe, tells me that the above note was written by a Scotchman temporarily in this country, who offered to be of assistance in England, and suggested a sketch of Mr. Black, which, he said, he could readily obtain. The American editor accepted the offer with thanks, thinking that Mr. Black "turned up" more than "occasionally in print," and that Americans would be interested in the personality of a man talented enough to write 'A Daughter of Heth.' He was, however, in no way responsible for his Scotch friend's note, nor did he thirst for Mr. Black's life. Mr. Black has made much ado about nothing in rushing into print, and, though he writes in no spirit of protest, exhibits naïf unconsciousness of English manners in calling attention to what he styles "a curious curiosity." If he will remember Mr. Tennyson's experience, if he will consult the Court Journal, if he will read reports concerning the movements of persons in high life, if he will recall the visit of the Shah, he will be forced to acknowledge that curiosity is a weed of home growth. The difference between English and American curiosity is this: that whereas John Bull concerns himself principally with the Court and its surroundings, Brother Johnathan has eyes and ears for every public person, especially for men and women of brains. How Browning and Tennyson look, where George Eliot lives, what Carlyle says, are matters as interesting to Johnathan as the dresses at a Drawing-Room, or the guests at a royal garden-party, are to Bull. That Mr. Black's novels should have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and given so much OWING to the time required for the preparation of the Index, Earl Russell's new book will certainly not be ready till the latter part of next month, and, perhaps, its publication may be postponed till January. A NEW and revised edition of Mr. W. B. Scott's Poems by a Painter' is in preparation, and will shortly be issued. It will be profusely illustrated with etchings by the author. These will be not so much scenes from the book as analogous designs, supplying a pictorial illustration of the motives of the poems. MESSRS. H. S. KING & Co. have in preparation a translation of the New Testament, from the latest Greek Text of Tischendorf, by Dr. Samuel Davidson. A MEETING of booksellers, convened by an anonymous circular, was held a few days ago at the National Chamber of Trade in the Strand, to take into consideration the question of discounts allowed by retailers from the Mr. Stanford published prices of books. occupied the chair, and amongst those present were Mr. John Bumpus, Mr. Bickers, Mr. Bosworth, and other retail booksellers. No definite decision was arrived at, but a Committee was formed to meet on a future day to discuss the subject. M. ODYSSE BAROT, the author of the excellent little manual of the History of English Contemporary Literature, which we noticed last week, is now engaged in translating into French verse Lord Lytton's 'Fables in Song.' The book will be issued in February. The new A REPRINT is now in the press, and will shortly be ready, of 'The Westminster Drollery.' It consisted originally of two parts, and was first published in 1671-72. issue will be a verbatim reprint of the first editions of the two parts, both of them now being included in one volume. The impression will be limited to 450 copies. The title-page declares the book to be "A choice collection of Songs and Poems sung at Court and Theatres, with additions made by a Person of Quality, edited, with an Introduction on the Literature of the Drolleries and a copious Appendix, by J. Woodfall Ebsworth, M.A." Mr. R. Roberts, of Boston, Lincolnshire, is the publisher. A NEW novel, called 'The Italians,' from the pen of Mrs. Frances Elliot, the authoress of The Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy,' &c., is in the press, and will be published by Messrs. Hurst & Blackett. The same firm have in the press 'Our Detachment,' a new story by Miss Katharine King, authoress of The Queen of the Regiment.' THERE is talk of the publication of a collected edition of the works of the late Mr. Oliver M. Brown. AT the commencement of the coming year, |