critic has a large view of literature, entire sincerity, a charming style, simple and direct as Thackeray's, fine scholarship, and absolute independence of judgment. His book, therefore, surrounds old subjects with a new atmosphere, and gives the reader the agreeable sense of being made a co-discoverer of profitable places in well-known territory; so that his essays have become almost as much liked as his stirring romances.

Dante, A Shadow of: BEING AN ESSAY

TOWARDS STUDYING HIMSELF, HIS WORLD, AND HIS PILGRIMAGE; by Maria Francesca Rossetti. (4th ed. 1884.) A volume of criticism and selections, designed to enable the reader to comprehend the poet and his great poem. The study begins with Dante's conception of the universe, and what autobiography and history show his life experience to have been. It then proceeds to expound the physical and moral theories on which the poet constructed his three worlds, and narrates the course of his pilgrimage through them. In this narration the main object is to read Dante's autobiography in the poem, to make out his character as self-revealed, and to enter into his inspiration or spiritual life. The extracts, of which there are many, are made with this view, many of the episodes being passed over.

Boccaccio, Giovanni, As MAN AND AU

THOR, by John Addington Symonds. (1895.) A monograph in a hundred pages of fine learning and rare criticism, on one of "the three founders of modern literature." Dante, first of the three, stood within the shadow of medieval theology; Petrarch, coming next, initiated the Revival of Learning,-humanism, scholarship, the modern intellectual ideal. Boccaccio was the founder of Greek studies, and Petrarch's ablest lieutenant in the pioneering work of the Revival of Learning. He created the novel; and though a second only to Petrarch, as Petrarch was a second only to Dante, in force of character and quality of genius, he ruled the course of Italian literature, and its farreaching influences, for three centuries. Such in outline is the story to which Mr. Symonds devotes his monograph.

Doctor Antonio, by Giovanni Ruffini,

is a novel of modern life, the scene of which is laid mainly in Italy, the

political troubles there being made the source of the story's action. The chief characters are Sir John Davenne, an Englishman traveling in Italy, his daughter Lucy, and Doctor Antonio, a Sicilian exile. The personality of the Doctor is one of singular charm, and holds interest throughout the book. When pub lished this novel became a universal favorite, and it is still read with pleasure

Agatha Page, by Isaac Henderson, give

an artistic picture of Italian life. The heroine, from whom the book take its name, is first seen as she stands upo the turf under the trees playing her v lin to an old priest; and here the Marqui Filippo Loreno catches his first glimpse of her. Charmed by the music and the beauty of the musician, he recognizes in Agatha his ideal woman. She returns his love, and they are happily united. Agatha's influence develops all that is best in Filippo; but an element of discord presently appears in the presence of Agatha's cousin Mercede, a beautiful, clever, but selfish young sculptor. She returns Agatha's kindness by exerting all her powers of fascination upon Filippo, who, admiring her vivacity and not insensible to her flatteries, drifts more and more into her society. Though neglected, Agatha's sweetness and faith never falter; her loving patience being at last rewarded by Filippo's reawakened devotion, when he is forced to contrast the real characters of the two women. Learning that while he is flirting with Mercede, his wife is exposing her life by nursing the cholera patients on his estates, he realizes, now that it may be lost to him, what Agatha's love has been. The book ends with Filippo's abrupt departure to join her. Among the other leading characters are Count Ricci, Mercede's father, who is a fine old soldier, proud and possessed of an iron will, coupled with much sweetness and gentleness; and Mr. Peter Dow, who is a practical and lively American. This novel, published in 1888, has since been successfully dramatized by Mr. Henderson.

Don John, a novel by Jean Ingelow,

was published in 1881. The story turns on the well-worn incident of the changing of two children in their cradles. The plot follows their development, the gradual manifestation through character of their true origin. Don John' is

admirably written, bearing about it the same atmosphere of simplicity and nobility that surrounds this author's poems. Though a mere mention of the chief incident implies a poverty of invention, the book is really one of unusual freshness of imagination. The delineation of character is delightfully delicate and exact; and the skill with which the puzzle of identity is treated leaves the reader in the desired mood of doubt to the end of the excellent story.

Du

uchess Emilia, The, is a romantic story of modern Italian life; the plot, which turns upon a love affair, being complicated with certain religious considerations, and with the problems of re-incarnation. All the actors are Italian except one New-Englander, of a mystical turn. The action is continuous, the characters are striking, and the interest of the reader is held.

Chaplain of the Fleet, The, by Wal

ter Besant and James Rice. (1881.) This story opens on the last day of the year 1750, and gives a detailed account of the famous Liberties or Rules of the old Fleet prison in London, and of the Fleet marriages. These "Rules" were houses in certain streets near the Fleet Market, where prisoners for debt were allowed to live, outside the prison, on payment of fees. Among these prisoners were clergymen, who performed clandestine marriages. A regular trade sprang up, touters were employed to bring clients, and every species of enormity was practiced. Gregory Shovel was one of these clergy, and so plumed himself on his success in this iniquitous traffic that he took the name of "Chaplain of the Fleet," which gives the book its title, -the whole plot turning upon one of these Fleet marriages. This novel is considered one of the best of those written under the firm-name of Besant and Rice.

observation and deep feeling, and the exciting history of the rebellion led by O'Brien, make it very interesting. The Irish nature is typified in the goldenhaired heroine, Ellen, daughter of Squire Daly; in Connor, her brother, who joins the "Young Irelanders"; and in Cousin Anne of "Good Peoples' Hollow," who, heedless of the precepts of political economy, rules her tenants with lavish kindness. On the other hand, the careful foresight of the Saxon race is well portrayed in John Thornely, and in Pelham, the eldest son of Squire Daly, who inherits English characteristics from his mother.

atharine Furze, "by Mark Ruther

Catha

ford; edited by his friend Reuben Shapcott. Published in 1893, this book opens with a description of Easthorpe, the market town of the English Eastern Midlands, in 1840. The two inns are patronized by landlords, farmers, tenants, and commercial travelers; especially on election days. The story centres about the life of Mr. and Mrs. Furze, and their daughter Catharine aged about nineteen. Mike Catchpole, by an accident in the factory of Mr. Furze, loses his eyesight. Catharine, with a sense of justice, insists that he shall be made an apprentice in the business. The girl is sent to school to the Misses Ponsonby, who are very strict in their religious habits and manner of instruction, and whose pupils are questioned upon the weekly sermon by the preacher, Mr. Cardew. He has not learned the art of being happy with his wife; and when he meets Catharine they discuss Milton, Satan, and the divine eternal plan. Cardew's presence is inspiriting to her. Tom Catchpole, a clerk in her father's store, worships Catharine from afar. At last he confesses his love, and she refuses him. After her return from school she finds life utterly uninteresting, having no scope for her powers. When she falls ill and fades away, Cardew is sent for: she tells him that he has saved her. "By their love for each other they were both saved." She takes up her life once more, and the book ends without a climaxalmost without incident. Written with an almost heartless impersonality, it is a striking portraiture of that English lower middle-class life which Matthew Arnold pronounced so deadly for mind and soul. It might be called a tragedy of the unfulfilled.

Day of Doom, 1 he, by Michael Wiggles

worth. When this poem was published in 1662, Michael Wigglesworth was only thirty-one,- young enough to have had greater compassion on the unbaptized infants and others whom he condemned to eternal punishment. The Day of Doom: or, A Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment, with a short Discourse about Eternity,' was the full title of this grim poem. The taste of our ancestors was strangely shown by their quickly buying up nine editions of this work in America, and two in England. Its narrow theology and severity of style gave it a charm for those inflexible Puritans, to find which, we of to-day look in vain. It is said to have been the most widely read book in America before the Revolution. The modern reader finds the verse mere sing-song, the metaphors forced, and the general tone decidedly unpleasant. Some of the passages meant to be most impressive have become merely ludicrous, and it seems incredible that it could ever have been taken seriously. It is merely a rhymed catalogue of the punishments to be visited on those whose ways of life, or whose theology, differed from the theology or ways of life of the bard.

Epistle to Posterity, An, by Mrs. M.

E. W. Sherwood, (1897,) is a series of pleasant reminiscences of one who has found life "an enjoyable experiment," and who has had unusual facilities for meeting interesting people. The author explains that she greeted with joy "the first green books which emanated from Boz and the yellow-colored Thackerays." When she had finished her studies at Mr. Emerson's private school in Boston, her father took her with him upon a business trip across the Wisconsin prairies, during which she met Martin Van Buren. Among the interesting homes which she visited were Marshfield, where she paid girlish homage to her great host, Daniel Webster; and the home in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she learned to love Maria White, the gracious first wife of James Russell Lowell. She saw much of Boston society in the days of its greatest literary fame, and had a glimpse of the Brook Farm Community. When her father was sent to Congress, she made her début in Washington society; and was a frequent attendant at the levees of President Polk and President Taylor. In

Washington she renewed her friendship with Webster, and met Henry Clay, and "many of the young heroes destined later on to be world-renowned," - Farragut, Lee, Zachary Taylor, "and a quiet little man who shrank out of sight," known later on as U. S. Grant. The conclusion of the volume, the narration of her wedding trip to the West Indies in the early fifties; of her different trips to Europe, including her presentation at the English and the Italian courts; and of contemporary New York society,-though animated and anecdotal, is less interesting than her pictures of social life in the Boston, Washington, and New York of forty years ago.

Friend Olivia, by Amelia E. Barr. Mrs.

Barr possesses the rare talent of producing in her stories that elusive quality called "atmosphere." Whether reading of Knickerbocker days, of the times of Border warfare, or, as in the present case, of Roundhead and Cavalier, of Charles Stuart in Paris and Cromwell at Hampton Court, one loses touch with the present, to become for the time thoroughly imbued with "the charm of ancient story.» (Friend Olivia' deals with the last months of the Protector's Commonwealth; with the oppression of the Quakers under the leadership of the eloquent George Fox; with the tragedies produced by unrest and suspicion when religious intolerance flourished, and political differences separated family and friend: a dark background for a charming love story-that of the modest Quakeress, Olivia Prideaux, and her chivalrous neighbor Nathaniel, only son of Baron and Lady Kelder, strong advocates of Cromwell and bitter enemies of the "canting" Quakers with their so-called affectations of dress and manner. The story is laid in the coast village of Kelderby. In those quiet streets pass the participants in tragic scenes: the pirate and outlaw John de Burg, his beautiful sister Anastatia, and her hated husband; Roger Prideaux on his way to prison, and others no less noteworthy; and there, finally, as on a miniature stage, are witnessed all the scenes of humiliation, of hopes crushed and expectations realized, when Cromwell dies and King Charles returns to his own.

Donovan, a novel of modern English

life, by Edna Lyall, has for its subject a man's spiritual struggles from doubt to faith. The hero, Donovan Farrant, is well drawn, if somewhat conventional

in character. The book obtained great popularity and still enjoys it, especially in England. (We Two' is a sequel to 'Donovan.'

Patronage, by Maria Edgeworth. (1814.)

This novel was written for a purpose; and the moral is apparent throughout, and amply illustrated in almost every character in the book.

Mr. Percy, a sensible English gentleman of the present time, brings up his

sons

and daughters to depend upon themselves for success in life, and not upon the patronage of influential persons. The result is most gratifying: the sons all succeed in their different professions by their own efforts, and the daughters marry well through no efforts of their own, but according to their merits. Mr. Falconer, Mr. Percy's ambitious cousin, also has a large family; but he seeks the patronage of Lord Oldborough to further the advancement of his sons, and uses various diplomatic means to establish his daughters well in the social world. In spite of the unceasing efforts of Mr. Falconer, and the decidedly questionable proceedings of his wife, none of their children do them credit; and patronage without earnestness of purpose and high ideals proves a failure.

The story is rather tedious, and there is no hero or heroine in whom the interest centres. Occasional incidents, and the love affairs of the young members of both families, enliven the narrative; but for the rest, the story is justly considered inferior to her other works.

Master of Ballantrae, The, by Robert

Louis Stevenson, published in 1889, is a Scotch romance of the eighteenth century, beginning with the Stuart uprising of 1745. It is a sombre tragedy of the enmity of two brothers, of whom the elder, James Durrie the Master, takes the side of King Charlie; the younger, Henry, that of King George. Alison Graeme, a kinswoman with a fortune, is intended for the wife of the Master; but en his going to join the Stuart and being believed dead, she is married to Henry, without loving him. The tale is narrated mostly by the steward of Ballantrae, John MacKellar, who is devoted to the house and to Henry Durrie, whose nobility, set beside the wickedness of his brother, he realizes to the full. After the marriage appears Chevalier Burke, a companion of

the Master, to say that he is not dead; Burke narrates their wanderings, which include an episode on a pirate ship and adventures among Indians in the wilds of New York. MacKellar then takes up the tale, describing the persecutions suffered by Mr. Henry, whose brother first writes to demand a large sum of money; then returns, impoverished and disgraced, to his paternal home, where he foments trouble between Henry and his wife. Finally, goaded by the Master's insults, Henry fights a duel with him and leaves him for dead; but he is carried off to sea by smugglers and recovers, remaining away for some time, and traveling in India, as is communicated by Burke. Then the Master reappears with Secundra Dass, an East-Indian, whom he has made his creature; whereupon Henry and his wife and children betake themselves secretly to New York, where Mrs. Durrie owns an estate, leaving the Master at Ballantrae in the charge of MacKellar. James soon finds out his brother's whereabouts and pursues him, keeping to his tactics of persecution. Arrived there, he does all he can to harm Henry, who is installed in a position befitting his rank. False news from Scotland to the effect that the Master, though a rebel, is to have his title restored, which will cut off Henry's son from the succession, leads the younger brother to concoct a plan whereby James, who intends going to the northern wilderness to regain pirate treasure he has buried there, shall be led to his death. The Master for a time outwits the party of adventurers who at tend him, with the purpose of first getting the treasure, then making away with their nominal leader. Finally, to escape them, he feigns death and is buried by Secundra Dass, who puts him in a state of suspended animation. When Henry and his party seek the grave, they find the Indian digging up the buried Master, who lives long enough to open his eyes, at which vital sign his brother falls dead. Thus the fraternal enemies lie at last in one grave in the western wilderness.

David Balfour; BEING MEMOIRS OF HIS

ADVENTURES AT HOME AND ABROAD, by Robert Louis Stevenson, was published in 1893. A sequel to Kidnapped,' this novel follows the further fortunes of David Balfour. When the story opens David is about to attempt the escape of his friend, Alan Breck Stewart, from

scotland; and to aid Stewart's brother, unjustly imprisoned on a charge of murder. At this critical juncture he falls in love with Catriona Drummond, whose father, James More Drummond, is a plausible scoundrel. David's efforts to help Alan and his brother bring about his own imprisonment, but not until he has seen Alan safely into France. After his release he goes to Holland, where he lives with Catriona without marriage. Her father interfering, the two are separated; but by the intervention of Alan Stewart they meet again in Paris, where they are married.

The novel throughout is in the romantic vein; written with Stevenson's simplicity and clearness, and artistic in construction.

Α'

lbion's England, by William Warner

(1586): a collection of poetical narratives or ballads, many of them legendary rather than authoritative, relating to the history of England "from the originals of the first inhabitants thereof unto the Raigne of Queen Elizabeth.» So runs the sub-title. In reality the narrative begins with the Deluge.

The poem

was promptly suppressed by the Star Chamber, presumably on the score of indelicacy; but it has been repeatedly reprinted, the last edition being Crawford's in 1854. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it enjoyed great popularity. Though Meres tells us that he has heard Warner termed "by ye best wits of both our universities our English Homer, his master work is tedious and turgid at best, and frequently lapses into doggerel. The episode of Argentile and Curan is the most famous in the book. The princess Argentile succeeds to the throne of Northumberland, on the death of her father Adelbright, under the wardship of Edel. The latter seeks to win her hand. But she has another lover in a servant of her household, who is in real-❘ ity the Danish Prince Curan. He has adopted this subterfuge to woo her. Edel, discovering the mutual love of the young people, forces Curan to quit her service; and he becomes a neatherd. Argentile, to escape her guardian's importunities, flees from the palace and becomes a neatherd's maid. Curan wooes and wins her, and leads a revolt against the wicked Edel, who is vanquished and put to death. Curan and Argentile then become king and queen of Northumberland.

Expansion of England, The, by J. R.

If

Seeley. (1883.) In this volume Professor Seeley attempts, in effect, to shift the point of view of his countrymen as to the boundaries of the history of England. It is not a single island that they should contemplate, but a world empire, which can be compared with, and measured by, only the two great powers of the future, Russia and the United States. Part first deals with the history of England with relation to its colonies and the United States. The writer complains that an arbitrary arrangement of reigns is apt to confuse our sense of the continuity of events. Let us, he says, get rid of such useless headings as Reign of Queen Anne, Reign of George III., and make divisions founded on some real stage of progress in the national life; looking onward, not from king to king, but from great event to great event. we study its causes, every event puts on the character of a development; and this development is a chapter in the national history. From 1688 to 1815, Mr. Seeley finds the formative events to have been foreign wars, beneath whose stormy surface he looks for the quiet current of progress. He finds the clue he wants in the fact that almost all these wars involved French interests; and that "The whole period stands out as an age of gigantic rivalry between England and France; the expansion of England in the New World and Asia is the formula which sums up for England the history of the eighteenth century,-the great decisive duel between the two nations for the possession of the New World.» Her colonies having been planted at a tremendous sacrifice of money, energy, and life, he would have them held as a vital part of the parent State, not as "possessions." "We must cease to think that emigrants, when they go to colonies, leave England, or are lost to England. When we have accustomed ourselves to contemplate the whole empire together, and call it all England, we shall see that here too is a United States; here too is a great homogeneous people but dispersed over a boundless space. If we are disposed to doubt whether any system can be devised capable of holding together communities so distant from each other, then is the time to recollect the history of the United States. They have solved this problem.»