present knowledge of statistics, to put this theory to the proof. Mr. Galton groups his facts with great skill, but his direct object is to arrive rather at a law of averages than a law of heredity. That is, his method is purely statistical, and cannot therefore be applied with finality to moral facts. "Number is an instrument at once too coarse to unravel the delicate texture of moral and social phenomena, and too fragile to penetrate

deeply into their complicated and multiple nature.» Yet Mr. Galton, in producing his extremely interesting and suggestive books, Hereditary Genius,' 'English Men of Science,' and Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Devel opment,' has helped to establish the truth of psychological heredity, and the objective reality of its still mysterious laws.

Body and Mind; by Henry Maudsley.

(1870.) A book of marked importance as an inquiry into the connection of body and mind, and their mutual influence, especially in reference to mental disorders. As considerably enlarged in 1873, the volume includes a chapter on Conscience and Organization, and essays on Hamlet, Swedenborg, the Theory of Vitality, and the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry. In his Body and Will,' Physiology of Mind, Pathology of Mind,' and 'Responsibility in Mental Disease,' Dr. Maudsley treats very fully and carefully special parts of the great study which he has made peculiarly his own.

tion of them and the use to which they are put. Some "confessions by a professional medium" are given in the second edition; and in every way the work is an aggressive survey of a class of facts and beliefs which persistently challenge attention, and which are matters of belief now, as in all past ages, to a very large part of the mass of mankind.

New England, A Compendious His

tory of, by the Rev. John Gorham Palfrey, D. D. This history is the chief and monumental work of its author, a distinguished scholar and divine. It embraces the time from the first discovery of New England by Europeans down to the first general Congress of the AngloAmerican colonies in 1765. But a supplementary chapter has been added, giv ing a summary of the events of the last ten years of colonial dependence down to the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. The four volumes were originally issued at intervals from 1865 to 1873. A revised and final edition was issued in 1883, after the author's death. Dr. Palfrey divides New England history into three cycles of eighty-six years each The first, dating from the Stuart ac. cession to the throne of England in the spring of 1603, ends on April 19, 1689, when the colonists, betrayed by Joseph Dudley, imprisoned the royal governor Andros, thus marking the First Revolution. The Second Revolution was inaugurated April 19, 1775, when, betrayed

Witchcraft. 1893. (A new edition, 1896, with chapters on The Eternal Gullible, and note on the hypnotism of Trilby.) By Ernest Hart. A volume of papers which originally appeared in the Nineteenth Century and the British Medical Journal. Its chief purpose is to show that "hypnotism, when it is not a pernicious fraud, is a mere futility, which should have no place in the life of those who have work to do in the world.» Dr. Hart looks upon spiritualism, mesmerism, faith cure, etc., as examples of false science, on a slender basis of physiological and pathological facts. He thinks that a prevalent system of imposture has imposed upon a good many journalists and men of literary culture. He does not deny the remarkable physical facts of hypnotism, spiritualism, etc., but only the explana

and fought the battle of Lexington and Concord. The Third began on April 19, 1861, when the first blood in the revolution against the domination of the slave power was shed in the streets of Baltimore. Palfrey's history embraces the first two of these periods, and covers the physical, social, and political conditions which have determined the growth and progress of the New England people. The author has treated this subject with wider scope and greater detail than any other writer. He has hanIdled it with a force and vivacity of style, and with a careful minuteness of investigation combined with a discriminating spirit of inquiry, which have elicited the admiration of every scholar who has entered the same field. Some of Dr. Palfrey's judgments have been disputed, but his great work as a whole remains

unchallenged as a valuable contribution to American history.

Looking Backward, and Equality, by Edward Bellamy. Mr. Bellamy's nationalistic romance, or vagary, 'Looking Backward,' has had a sale of nearly 400,000 copies in ten years, and is still in demand. It recounts the strange experiences of Julian West, a wealthy young Bostonian, born in 1857, a favorite in the highest social circles, engaged to a beautiful and accomplished lady, Miss Edith Bartlett. West has an elegantly furnished subterranean apartment, where he is accustomed to retire for privacy and rest. In 1887 he is put into a hypnotic sleep.

In the year 2000, Dr. Leete, a retired physician, is conducting excavations in his garden, when West's chamber is disclosed. The doctor, assisted by his daughter Edith, discovers and resuscitates the young man, who finds himself in a regenerated world.

The changed appearance of the city, the absence of buying and selling, the system of credits, the method of exchanges between nations, the regulation of employment by means of guilds, all overwhelm him with surprise.

He notes no distinctions of rich and poor, no poverty, no want, no crime. All the people are mustered into an industrial army at the age of 21, and mustered out at 45.

The national system of dining-rooms, the condition of literary men, the abolition of middlemen, the saving of waste through misdirected energy, matters of religion, of love, of marriage, all open up lines of thought and of action new and strange to him; and, falling in love with Edith, he finds he has fixed his affections upon the great-granddaughter of his old love, Edith Bartlett.

He falls asleep, and seems awake and finds himself back again in the old Boston, with its monopolies and trusts and

the new conditions; and here 'Equality' takes up the story, and through the explanations of Dr. Leete and Edith, and through his own experiences, he learns how the crude ideals of the nineteenth century were realized in the year 2000.

The first step is substituting democracy for monarchy. To establish public schools is next, since public education is policy for the public welfare. It is further urged that each citizen be intrusted with a share of the public wealth, in the interests of good government. He will then no longer be a champion of a part against the rest, but will become a guardian of the whole.

Life is recognized as the basis of the right of property, since inequality of wealth destroys liberty-private capital being stolen from the public fund. Equality of the sexes is permitted in all occupations; even the costumes are similar, fashion having been dethroned.

The profit system is denounced as "economic suicide," because it nullifies the benefits of common interests, is hostile to commerce, and largely diminishes the value of inventions.

There is a common religion (based upon the doctrine of love); the old sects are abolished. "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us," is the keynote of the new dispensation.

There are no more wars; "Old Glory » now betokens that nowhere in the land it floats over is there found a human being oppressed or suffering any want that human aid can relieve.

All questions concerning "killing competition," "discouraging independence and originality," "threatening liberty,» etc., as well as the Malthusian objection, seem to be satisfactorily settled in the wonderful success of this great cooperative commonwealth; which would be a less futile dream, if the author had taken the trouble to abolish "human nature" in the beginning.

tem, with its contrasts of living and its woe, with all its boundless squalor and wretchedness. He dines with his old tompanions, and endeavors to interest them in regenerating the world by wellplanned co-operative schemes. They denounce him as a pestilent fellow and an anarchist, and he is driven out by them. He awakes from this troubled dream to find himself in harmony with

lope. These are: Phineas Finn,' 'Phineas Redux,' 'The Prime Minister,' and The Duke's Children.> Trollope tells us in his autobiography that in 'Phineas Finn he began a series of semi-political tales, because, being debarred from expressing his opinions in the House of Commons, he could thus declare his convictions. He says: "I was conscious that I could not make a

tale pleasing chiefly by politics. If I wrote politics for my own sake, I must put in love, sport, and intrigue, for the benefit of my readers. In writing 'Phineas Finn' I had constantly before me the need of progression in character, of marking the changes naturally produced by the lapse of years. I got around me a circle of persons as to whom I knew not only their present characters, but how they would be affected by time and circumstance.» 'Phineas Finn' was completed in May 1867, and its sequel, Phineas Redux,' not until 1873. The former traces the career of an Irishman, young and attractive, who goes to London to enter Parliament, leaving behind his boyish sweetheart, Mary Flood-Jones. He is admired by many, especially by Lady Laura Standish, who is succeeded by another love, Violet Effingham, and she by a charming widow, Marie MaxGoesler. In time he gives up politics, goes home, and becomes Inspector of Poor-Houses in County Cork. Trollope says: "I was wrong to marry him to a girl who could only be an incumbrance on his return to the world, and I had no alternative but to kill her." Phineas Redux goes back to Parliament, has more sentimental experiences, and makes a still higher reputation. A political enemy of Phineas is murdered, and he is accused of the crime, but is acquitted, largely through the efforts of Marie Max-Goesler. "The Prime Minister' is chiefly devoted to the unhappy marriage of Emily Wharton and Ferdinand Lopez, a Portuguese adventurer, and to the affairs of the prime minister and his wife. The latter couple are known to readers of Trollope's earlier novels as Planty Paul and Lady Glencora, now Duke and Duchess of Omnium. The duke is sensitive, proud, and shy, and feels the burden of his responsibility, while his wife is forever working for his advancement. He goes gladly out of office at last. We hear little of Phineas Finn, save that his second marriage is happy, and that he is made Secretary for Ireland and then Lord of the Admiralty. Trollope tells us that the personages of these books are more or less portraits, not of living men, but of living political characters. 'The Prime Minister' is his ideal statesman. He says: "If my name be still known in the next century, my success

will probably rest on the characters of Plantagenet Palliser and Lady Glencora." This volume was published in 1876, and the series was finished in 1880 with The Duke's Children.' This opens with the death of the duchess, and relates the further history of her children. The duke's sons and daughter are a deep disappointment to him. His heir, Lord Silverbridge, is dismissed from college, and enters Parliament as a Conservative, whereas the family has always been Liberal. His daughter insists upon marrying a poor commoner, and his heir upon marrying an American girl, while his younger son is idle and extravagant. In the end, however, he accepts the choice of his children, and the book closes with his return to politics. Phineas Finn and his wife reappear in these pages, he still devoted to politics, and she the faithful friend of the duke and his daughter.

Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope.

'Doctor Thorne' is a story of quiet country life; and the interest of the book lies in the character studies rather than in the plot. The scene is laid in the west of England about 1854. The heroine, Mary Thorne, is a sweet, modest girl, living with her kind uncle, Doctor Thorne, in the village of Greshambury, where Frank Gresham, the young heir of Greshambury Park, falls in love with her. The estate is incumbered; and as it is necessary that Frank should marry for money, his mother, Lady Arabella, banishes Mary from the society of her daughters, and sends Frank to Courcy Castle, where he is expected to win the affections of Miss Dunstable, a wealthy heiress. He remains true to Mary, however; and after a year of enforced absence abroad, he returns and claims her for his wife in the face of every opposition. Roger Scatcherd, the brother of Mary's unfortunate mother, is creditor to Mr. Gresham for a sum of money amounting to the value of the entire estate. After his death his entire fortune falls to Mary Thorne; and the story concludes with the marriage of Frank and Mary, and a return of prosperity to Greshambury Park.

The character of Doctor Thorne stands out vividly in the book as an independent, honest Englishman, offering a pleas ing contrast to Lady Arabella with her conventionality and worldliness and the

coarse vulgarity of Roger Scatcherd and his son.

Claverings, The, by Anthony Trol

lope, is a novel of contemporary English life, as shown in the fortunes of a country family. The story treats of the inconstant affections of Harry Clavering, the rector's son and cousin of the head of the family. The fickle lover is so agreeable and kind-hearted a young fellow that the tale of his fickleness wins the reader to friendship. All the characters are so typical of the commonplace respectable life that Trollope describes, as to seem like personal acquaintances. The reader is certain of meeting again Lady Ongar, Florence Burton, Lady Clavering, and the rest, and is pleased with the prospect. The book was a great favorite.

Corleone, by F. Marion Crawford, pub

lished in 1897, is the fourth in the 'Saracinesca' series of modern Italian stories. The scene is mainly in Sicily. The leading character is Don Orsino, son of Giovanni Saracinesca and hero of 'Sant' Ilario.' The novel takes its title from the fact that Vittoria, the Sicilian hero, is of the Corleone race. The spirited scenes in which the Sicilian peasantry and bandits are leagued against the intruding Romans; the handling of the passions of love, hate, jealousy, and revenge; and the subsidiary scenes of Roman society life in which the Saracinesca move and have their being, afford Mr. Crawford opportunity for characteristic work. As a study of Sicilian character the book is also valuable.

John Ward, Preacher, a novel by

Margaret Deland, appeared in 1888. The Presbyterian minister whose name gives its title to the story has married Helen Jeffrey. Mr. Ward is a logical Calvinist, who is assured that belief in election and reprobation, eternal punishment, and kindred doctrines, is necessary to salvation; and so preaches them with force and conviction. While his congregation agrees with him, his wife, who is the niece of a liberal, easy-going Episcopal rector, entertains decidedly broad theological views in general. The couple love each other with that singleness of devotion without which the course of the story would be manifestly improbable; for it depends upon the question whether love will be able to hold

Clin

liff-Dwellers, The, by Henry B. Fuller, is a story of contemporary Chicago; a sober arraignment of the sin and greed of a purely material civilization. The protagonists of the drama take their title of "cliff-dwellers » from their occupation of various strata of an enormous office building, owned by the millionaire Ingles, whose beautiful wife is in reality the central character of the story, though she is not presented to the reader till the very last page. A young Easterner, George Ogden, a well-bred, average man of good intentions, is perhaps the hero; as the villain may be identified with Erastus Brainerd, a self made man, utterly selfish and hard, who has ridden rough-shod over every obstacle, to the goal of a large fortune. Into the life whose standards are set chiefly by the unscrupulous successes of Brainerd, and the æsthetic luxury of the beautiful Mrs. Ingles, all the characters of the story are brought. The motives of the play are envy, ambition, love of ostentation, a thorough worship of the material, as these characteristics manifest themselves in a commercial community. There is a distinct and well-ordered plot, and the characters develop consistently from within. This clever story is too sincere to be called a satire, and too artistic to be called a photograph; but it is executed with a merciless faithfulness that has often elicited both characterizations.

Delectable Duchy, The, by "Q" (A. T.

Quiller-Couch). A book of stories, studies, and sketches, some gay and some tragic, but all brief, concise, and dramatic. The scene of all is laid in Cornwall (the Delectable Duchy); they are full of folk-lore, local superstitions and expressions. Among the best are The Spinster's Maying, where the old maid induces the twin brother of her dead lover to court her every year on May Day; When the Sap Rose, full of the joy of springtime; The Plumpers); EggStealing); "The Regent's Wager,' a mistake which lost one man his life and another his reason; and The Conspiracy

aboard the Midas,' to make a dying child's last days happy. These stories were published in 1893, and are the high-water mark of the writer's work, though he has won reputation as a critic and journalist as well as a story-teller.

and more or less every-day people; notable for simplicity and honesty, excellent as character-studies, and without striking incident, while a sunny wholesome philosophy pervades them all.

Frank R. Stockton, appeared serially in 1879. It was the first of the author's books to establish for him a wide reputation. A slight thread of story suffices to connect a series of humorous episodes which result from the efforts of a young couple - Euphemia, and her husband who tells the story in the first person to establish themselves in a summer home at once desirable and inexpensive. They hit upon the plan of securing an old canal-boat, which they fit up and name Rudder Grange. The droll sayings and original doings of Pomona, the servant; the courting of Jonas, her lover; the unique experiences of the boarder; the distresses of Euphemia and her husband, are told in a manner which is irresistibly funny. The same characters reappear in several of Mr. Stockton's later stories, the longest of which is Pomona's Travels.

Princess Aline, The, a novelette by

Richard Harding Davis, was published in 1895. The hero, Morton Carlton, is a young artist with an international reputation, wealth, and high social position; altogether, a most fortunate young gentleman. At the time the story opens he takes passage for Europe, because he has fallen in love with

Maria Muloch Craik. (1856.) The hero of this story, John Halifax, is one of "nature's noblemen," who, beginning life as a poor boy, works his way up to prosperity and happiness, by means of his high principles, undaunted courage, and nobility of character. Orphaned at the age of eleven years, from that time he is dependent on his own resources. He willingly undertakes any kind of honest work, and for three years gains a livelihood by working for farmers, but at the end of that time is taken into the employ of a Mr. Fletcher, a wealthy tanner. This is the beginning of his better fortune; for Phineas Fletcher, his master's invalid son, takes a great fancy to him and aids him with his education. The heroine is Ursula March; and the simple domestic story includes few minor characters. The interest lies in the development of character: and the author's assertion is that true nobility is of the soul, and does not inhere in wealth, in learning, or in position; and that integrity and loftiness of purpose form the character of a true gentleman. The story is fresh, healthful, and full of interest, and gives an ideal picture of home life in England in the past century.

rather with a picture of her; and is determined to meet her, and by the help of the gods to woo her.

On the steamer New York, going over, are a Miss Morris and her aunt. Carlton finds them very pleasant people, desirable to know; he confides the object of his trip to the younger lady. She is at once in sympathy with the romantic, impossible project. The three float around Europe in the wake of the Princess. The book is written. in a clever, crisp style, and shows much worldly knowledge.

Hartwell Catherwood, appeared in 1888. It is a romance of New France in 1660, and breaks new historic ground for romantic treatment. Louis XIV. of France has sent out a shipload of stolid peasant girls, as wives for the settlers in New France. In the same ship goes Mademoiselle Claire de Laval-Montmorency, young and very beautiful. When she reaches Quebec, she is unable to explain her in coming out to purpose that wild new country quite to the satisfaction of her uncle, the Bishop of New France. Pending further examination by the bishop, she goes to the marriage market, where the shipload of girls is to be disposed of, to see the strange sight, and to encourage her own maid, who is to choose a husband. There she finds the Sieur des Ormeaux,