her faithlessness and leaves her. Maria Dmitrievna receives him cordially, and he becomes a frequent visitor to the house. Little by little he and Liza fall in love; and upon the complications that thus arise, the interest of the story is founded. The difficult situations are skillfully managed, and the reader cannot resent the sadness of the tale as needless, because it results inevitably from the conditions. Like all Turgeneff's books, the chief interest of Liza' lies in its study of character.

Fathers and Sons, a novel by Ivan

S. Turgenef, appeared first in 1861 in the Russian Messenger, a Moscow review. As the name implies, it is an embodiment in fiction of the conflicting old and new forces at work in modern society; forces peculiarly active and noticeable in Russia, where iron-bound authority exists side by side with intellectual license. This novel brought into general use the term "nihilist,» applied by the author to the chief character of the story, Bazarof, a young man of iconoclastic temperament, whose code of life was rebellion against all authority. His short, vivid career is depicted with remarkable strength and realism. Another "son" is his friend Arcadi Kirsanof, at whose paternal estate he is a guest. Kirsanof's father and uncle, representing the older generation, are brought into sharp contact and contrast with Bazarof. It is difficult to determine whether "fathers" or "sons» suffer most in the delineation of their peculiarities. The novel divided reading Russia into two camps,those who sided with the "fathers," and

those who sided with the "sons." The government seized on the word "nihilist» as a designation of political reproach,- -a sense in which it has ever since been employed. With its terrible sincerity, its atmosphere of menacing calm presaging a storm, the book remains one of the most noted in the category of Russian fiction.

Crime and Punishment, a Russian

realistic novel by Féodor M. Dostoevsky, 1866, is a subtle and powerful psychological study, revolving about one incident, the murder of an old woman, a money-lender, and her sister, by a student in St. Petersburg, Raskolnikoff. The circumstances leading to the murder are extreme poverty, and the resultant physical and mental depletion. Raskolnikoff

is by nature generous, warm-hearted, and high-spirited; but when his body is weakened and his mind depressed, the morbid desire takes possession of him to kill the greasy and repellent old woman, whose wealth seems as lawfully his as hers. From this desire he cannot escape. It terrifies yet fascinates him. His state of mind in this crisis is depicted with admirable skill. The murder accomplished, he gains nothing by it: in the sudden awful confusion of mind that immediately follows the committal of the deed, he can form no definite idea of robbery, and escapes with no booty but the memory of one terrific scene which throws him into a delirious fever. At this juncture his mother and sister come to the city. His excited state is perceptible, but they can make nothing of it. By a singular chain of incidents he makes the acquaintance of a girl, Sonia, who has been driven to an evil life that she may save her family from starvation. lieving that her nature is intrinsically noble, Raskolnikoff compels her to read aloud to him the story of the raising of Lazarus. This she does in a manner which confirms his belief in her. His

Be

regeneration then begins. As he was impelled to murder, he is now impelled to confess the murder. His sentence is seven years' exile to Siberia; but he accepts it with joy, for at its expiration he will begin with Sonia, the woman he loves, a life of purity and nobility. They will progress together, out of the old order into the new.

Her

ermann Agha, by William Gifford Palgrave, 1872, is a tale of life in Syria at the close of the eighteenth century. It is based upon historical research and personal knowledge of the land and people, and shows a poetic appreciation of the color and charm of the glowing Orient. Hermann Agha is a Saxon by birth, who, captured by the Turks in war, is sold to a Kurdish beg at the slave market of Constantinople. After he has recovered his freedom, and while sailing down the Nile with his friend and patron, the Arab Tantawee, he confides to him the exciting story of his adventures. There is much Eastern intrigue, fiery skirmishes of war, and bloody, treacherous massacres. Again and again Hermann encounters apparently inevitable dangers, but friends always spring up to rescue him. He

learns to understand Koord and Arab, Bagdadee and Circassian, better than his own people; and to love the land of his servitude. He meets a beautiful Arabian maiden in her father's shady garden, and the two love each other with an exalted passion eager for selfsacrifice. They are soon forced apart, and in all his subsequent difficulties his most absorbing interest is the hope of finding her. Hermann is a poet, and writes lyrics to his love; and his Saxon nature is shown as vitalized and strengthened by the intensity of the East.

Arabia, Central and Eastern: A Per

sonal Narrative of a Year's Journey through (1862-63), by William Gifford Palgrave: 2 vols., 1865. One of the best reports of travel ever made. The author

was a brilliant Englishman, who, after graduating at Oxford with great distinction, and a very short connection with military service in India, became a priest in the Society of Jesus, and was sent as a missionary to Syria. Here he perfectly mastered the Arabic language, and the Syrian and Arab customs. Napoleon III. called him to France in 1860 to report on the Syrian massacres; and upon this he undertook to make, at the Emperor's expense, an expedition through Arabia, where no Christian could safely risk his life. He assumed the guise of a Syrian physician and a Mohammedan, and succeeded in going through the kingdom under fanatical Wahabee rule, making observations of the greatest value.

Asia, by A. H. Keane. Vol. i., Northern

and Eastern Asia; Vol. ii., Southern and Western Asia. Fourteen maps and one hundred and eighty illustrations. These volumes deal with Japan, the Chinese Empire, India, Siberia, Persia, Arabia, and all the other parts of the vast Eastern continent, on the thorough plan of a full account of each country, its races, history to some extent, and political condition. The more conspicuous topics, such as India, China, and Japan, are extremely rich in interest, not only from the strangeness of the culture of these lands in the past, but from the changes which are rapidly taking place, and the still greater changes which are likely to occur in the near future. The problems of many of the lands of Asia are among the most important in which students and

readers can take an interest; and a handbook of full information, from an authority so high as Mr. Keane, contributes much to the knowledge necessary for dealing with them.

Africa, by A. H. Keane: Vol. i., North

Africa; Vol. ii., South Africa. With Maps and Illustrations. A thorough and comprehensive account of the Africa of recent discoveries, explorations, and occupation by different European powers; with sketch histories of every part, full information in regard to African races, and an exact account of the now almost complete partition of the whole continent among the great powers of Europe. Twenty excellent maps and one hundred and sixty-nine illustrations add greatly to the instructiveness and completeness of the work. It is altogether a masterpiece of geographical story, and extremely interesting. It reports all the famous explorations, and is the best available digest of African facts of every kind. In regard to the various races of Africa, the most important of which are not negro, Mr. Keane can speak with the highest ethnological authority. His judgment of the hopelessly inferior character of the full negro races is especially important.

Equatorial Africa, Explorations and

Adventures in, by Paul Belloni Du Chaillu. (1861; revised edition, 1871.) A story of African travels, 1855-59, from the coast of West Africa inland, over the region on the equator to two degrees on each side. The intrepid explorer traveled 8,000 miles on foot and with no white companion. The observations which he made are important contributions to geographical, ethnological, and zoological science. The game which he shot numbered 2,000 birds, (of which 60 were new to science,) and over 1,000 quadrupeds. The new knowledge of the gorilla and of other remarkable apes was a story savoring almost of invention, and the first impression of some critics was one of skepticism; but Murchison and Owen, and other authorities of eminence, upheld Du Chaillu's credit, and the substantial accu. racy of his statements was confirmed by a French expedition in 1862, and by Du Chaillu's second exploration of the same region, 1863-65, an account of which he gave in 'A Journey to Ashango-Land,' 1867. He was also the first to discover the "Pigmies," rediscovered by Stanley.

Fothen; OR, TRACES OF TRAVEL BROUGHT

HOME FROM THE EAST, by Alexander William Kinglake. (1844.) Eōthen-a title meaning From the Dawn'-is a lively and acute narrative of travel in the East, at a time when that region was comparatively new ground to English tourists. The author, starting from Constantinople, visits the Troad, Cyprus, the Holy Land, Cairo, the Pyramids, and the Sphinx; thence by the way of Suez he proceeds to Gaza, and returns by the way of Nablous and Damascus. He apologizes for his frankness of style, and gives his impressions with refreshing directness, modified as little as possible by conventional opinion. For this reason he provoked some criticism from conservative reviewers, who regarded his comments on the manners and morals of Mohammedan countries as too liberal to be encouraged in Christian circles. He confesses his inability to overcome a very worldly mood even in Jerusalem, and his failure to see things always in that light of romance that the reader might prefer; and he is unwilling that his own moral judgment shall stand in the way of a perfectly truthful narrative. Instances of his engaging style are the interview with the Pasha through the dragoman at the start, and his description of the Ottoman lady,-"a coffin-shaped bundle of white linen.» The incident of Mariam, a Christian bride converted to Islam, is full of humor, and contains a dash of that liberalism which roused the fears of the Christian critics.

from 6,000 to 20,000 feet high, over paths often almost impassable, and among a population who consider ferocity the chier qualification of "good form»; the arduous journey towards Kashmir, through the Western Himalayas, at a usual height of 12,000 feet, in an awful sublimity of scenery; the Shigri glaciers, the most vast, desolate, and beautiful in the world; Zanskar, with its primitive Tartar manners and eustoms, its sculptured tumuli, its Lama monuments and prayer-mills, its seclusion and unchangeableness; and finally, his stay in the remote, inaccessible, and most enchanting vale of Kashmir, after a journey of incredible hardship and danger. It is to be remembered that this expedition involved long months of tent life; the carrying of all necessary supplies; the command of a small army of servants, guides, guards, and packmen: and involved also an extraordinary equipment of good-nature, good sense, and force of will, on the part of the traveler — which, with an admirable literary gift, are devoted to the entertainment of the fortunate reader.

rctic Boat Journey, in the autumn of

A reti 1854, by Isaac Israel Hayes, M. D.:

1860. Enlarged edition, 1867. The record of a boat journey of nearly four months, amid perils of ice and storm and extreme cold, the object of which was to carry intelligence to Upernavik, in North Greenland, of the peril in which Dr. Kane's second Grinnell expedition found itself, with their vessel hopelessly fast in the ice. The simple story of adventures is a thrilling one, and with it Dr. Hayes gives, in his final edition, information in regard to the Open Polar Sea discovered in 1854; the great Mer de Glace of Northern Greenland, of which he was one of the discoverers in 1853; and Grinnell Land,

the most northern known land of the globe, his own discovery in 1854.

rctic Explorations, the Second Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853-55, by Elisha Kent Kane. 2 vols., 1856. Dr. Kane's first Grinnell Expedition voyage, which he made as a surgeon under E. J. DeHaven, 185051, was described in his U. S. Grinnell Expedition' (1854). It was by the second expedition, under his own command, that his fame as an Arctic explorer was made. The incidents of the voyage along the coast of Smith Sound to a latitude never before attained, 78° 43′ N.; the

winter spent in that far region; the discovery of the Humboldt glacier of Greenland, and the attempt the next spring to follow its course northward; and the series of adventures following, until the frozen-in ship had to be abandoned, and the party escaped perishing only through Kane's indefatigable exertions, supplied rich materials for the book in which Kane told the story of the more than two years' voyage. In the additions made to geographical knowledge also, and in many accurate and valuable scientific observa

tions, Kane's work was exceptionally interesting and valuable. It brought him both popular applause from delighted readers, and honors from societies, English and French, representing the scholars of

the time.

Ar

rctic Service, Three Years of. An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84, and the attainment of the Farthest North, by Adolphus W. Greely: 1886. A popular account, drawn from personal diaries and official reports, of one of the most remarkable of the Arctic expeditions, and one with scarcely a parallel in the terrible sufferings through many months from which the party were at last rescued. The primary object of the expedition was a scientific one; and the utmost care was given to physical observations, from July 1st, 1881, at St. John, Newfoundland, to June 21st, 1884, forty hours before the rescue of the survivors. The wealth of interest thus created, with that of the remarkable experiences of the party, and the range of travel achieved, make the work one of unique and lasting value.

Australasia. Vol. i.: Australia and

Zealand, by A. R. Wallace; with 14 Maps and 91 Illustrations. Vol. ii. Malaysia and the Pacific Archipelagoes, by F. H. H. Guillemard; with 16 Maps and 47 Illustrations. The first of

these volumes, by an eminent English naturalist and traveler, describes from full information the remote southern re

and accurate account extant of the tropical portion of the great eastern Archipelago, the northern part of which is really a portion of Asia.

Our Old Home, a series of English

sketches by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This volume of charming sketches was published in 1863, and (in the words of the author) presents "a few of the external aspects of English scenery and life, especially those that are touched with the antique charm to which our more susceptible than countrymen are are the people among whom it is of native growth." The opening sketch on 'Consular Experiences gives interesting glimpses of Hawthorne's own life as consul at Liverpool; and among other entertaining chapters are those designated 'About Warwick,' 'Pilgrimage to Old Boston,' (Some of the Haunts of Burns,' Up the Thames,' and 'Outside Glimpses of English Poverty.' In that entitled 'Recollections of a Gifted Woman,' he recounts his acquaintance with Miss Delia Bacon, who was then deep in her Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare'; an absurd book, for which Hawthorne wrote a humorous preface. These, and other English sketches inIcluded in Hawthorne's note-books, were at first intended by him to be used as a background for a work of fiction which he had partially planned; but what he calls "the Present, the Immediate, the Actual," proved too potent for him, and the project was given up and only the sketches were published. This volume holds its popularity, not simply because of the incomparable charm of the manner in which it is written, but because of its faithful delineation of nature, life, and manners in England. There are clues to English character to be gathered from Our Old Home,' which could not otherwise be obtained save by protracted association with the English people at home.

is going on upon a scale very inadequately understood in America. These regions, moreover, are of extreme interest, from their natural features, and from the part which they have played in the history of mankind. It would be difficult to have their story from a hand more competent than that of Mr. Wallace. The second volume supplies by far the most interesting

Laurence Hutton. The author has not attempted to make of this either a text-book or biographical dictionary. It is a work which appeals to those "who love and are familiar with Pepys and Johnson and Thackeray, and who wish to follow them to their homes and haunts in the metropolis,-not to those who need to be told who they were and what they have done.» The sketches

are arranged in alphabetical order, beginning with Addison and ending with Young; and the rank of the poet or writer is not determined by amount of space. For instance, Wordsworth and Herrick have assigned to them but a few lines, for they were not poets of brick and mortar; while whole pages are given to half-forgotten authors of one immortal song, who spent all their days in London. Full indices, local as well as personal, enable the reader to find what appeals to him most in whatever part of the town he may be. He can walk with Johnson and Boswell from the Club in Gerard Street, and call on the way on Dryden, Waller, Lamb, or Evelyn; stop for refreshments at "Will's» or "Tom's" with Steele, or, in the church of St. Paul, Covent Garden, pray for the repose of the souls of Butler, Wycherley and "Peter Pindar," who sleep within its gates. London has no associations more interesting than those connected with its literary men, and nothing of moment connected with their careers in the city has been omitted. It is plainly evident that the author's chief aim has been completeness and

exactness.

Ch

harles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, History of. By John Foster Kirk. (3 vols., 1863-68.) An excellent special book on a most interesting and significant figure in the history of France and of Europe (1433-77). He was the last in the long line of princes who for centuries, almost since Charlemagne's time, had endeavored to build up a "middle" or "buffer" kingdom along the Rhine and the Rhone, between the exclusively French and the exclusively German powers: the old kingdom of Lotharingia, later Lorraine, the mediæval kingdom of Arles, the ever-varying duchy of Burgundy, all represented this most promising, most determined, and most futile of political efforts. With the crushing defeat and death of Charles,-in his prime the most powerful potentate of the age, his dominion stretching like a gigantic bow almost from Savoy to the German Ocean, around the entire east and north of France, the unnatural ribbon-State of unrelated parts without common interests went to pieces, and with it the dream of a buffer kingdom perished for

ever.

The Burgundian duchy and Picardy were seized by Louis XI. of France,

the Netherlands went by marriage to Aus. tria and ultimately to Spain, Charles's daughter Mary being the ancestress of Charles V. and Philip II. The career of Charles the Bold is therefore one of the chief landmarks of European history, the direct precursor of the Franco-German War; Granson, Morat, and Nancy are the forerunners of Sedan. Charles is most familiarly known through Scott's 'Quentin Durward'; but Mr. Kirk's history gives the real man, as well as his great rival Louis XI., and much of great interest and instruction besides.

æsar's Commentaries. This great

work contains the narrative of Cæsar's military operations in Gaul, Germany, and Britain. It was given to the world in the year 51 B. C. Every victory won by Cæsar had only served to increase the alarm and hostility of his enemies at Rome, and doubt and suspicion were beginning to spread among the plebeians, on whom he chiefly relied for help in carrying out his designs. When public opinion was evidently taking the side of the Gauls and Germans, the time had come for Cæsar to act on public opinion. Hence the 'Commentaries,' a hasty compilation made from notes jotted down in his tent or during a journey. "They form," says Mommsen, "a sort of military memoir, addressed by a democratic general to the people from whom he derived his power.» To prove in an indirect way, he himself keeping in the background, that he has done his best for the honor and advantage of Rome, is his main object. He proceeds, then, to demonstrate the following propositions: A Germanic invasion threatened Gaul. With Gaul in the hands of the Germans, the Romans knew from experience that Italy herself was not safe from invasion. Cæsar's first achievement was to drive the Germans back across the Rhine. Every event that followed was the necessary consequence of this victory. The Belgæ, sympathizers with their Teutonic kinsmen, revolted after the defeat of Ariovistus. To convince them that west of the Rhine, Rome was supreme, was the reason of Cæsar's campaigns in the north and east. But how long would the Belgæ, Nervii, and other warlike tribes continue submissive, if the clans in the west remained independent? It must be plain, therefore, to any patriotic Roman, that the naval and military