though the more rigid and unbending stiffness of a mathematical subject does not admit of the same appeals to the warmer passions which naturally arise out of the sexual system of Linnæus, he hopes that his poem will ornament and enlighten the arid truths of Euclid and algebra, and will strew the Asses' Bridge with flowers.

This is of course a satire on the Botanic Garden of Dr. Darwin, to whom indeed the parody, The Loves of the Triangles,' ' is dedicated. Only about

three hundred verses in rhymed iambics were published of this poem, forming one canto; yet argument, notes, as well as the body of the poem itself, are the perfection of parody, and in the midst of it all are several lines assailing Jacobins.

A portion of the invocation may serve as a specimen of the style:

"But chief, thou nurse of the didactic Muse,
Divine Nonsensia, all thy sense infuse:
The charms of secants and of tangents tell,
How loves and graces in an angle dwell;
How slow progressive points protract the line,
As pendent spiders spin the filmy twine.
How lengthened lines, impetuous sweeping
round,

Spread the wide plane and mark its circling bound;

How planes, their substance with their motion

grown,

Form the huge cube, the cylinder, the cone."

The Soul of the Far East, by Perci

val Lowell. The Far East whose Soul is the subject-matter of this sympathetic study is principally Japan, but China and Korea are considered also. Among the traits of character and the peculiarities of usages distinguishing all Far Eastern peoples, the author classes the far less pronounced individualism of those races, as compared with Westerns: Peoples, he says, grow steadily more individual as we go westward. In the Far East the social unit is not the individual but the family: among the Easterns a normally constituted son knows not what it is to possess a spontaneity of his own. A Chinese son cannot properly be said to own anything. This state of things is curiously reflected in the language of Japan, which has no personal pronouns: one cannot say in Japanese, I, Thou, He. The Japanese are born artists: to call a Japanese cook an artist is to state a simple fact, for Japanese food is beautiful, though it may not be agreeable to the taste. Half of the teachings of the Buddhist religion are inculcations of

charity or fellow-feeling: not only is man enjoined to show kindliness to fellowmen, but to all animals as well. The people practice what their scriptures teach; and the effect indirectly on the condition of the brutes is almost as marked as its more direct effect on the character of mankind.

imbuctoo the Mysterious, by Felix

Timb

Dubois. Translated from the French by Diana White. The story of a long journey inland in French Africa: from Dakar, the port of Senegal, by rail above 170 miles to St. Louis, the capital of Senegal; thence by river steamer on the Senegal eight days to Kayes, the capital of French Sudan; then by rail part of the way, and by caravan ine remainder, to the Niger at Bammaku; and, last of all, on the vast sea-like breadth of the Niger to Timbuctoo. The story of French occupation; of improvements recently made; of the great river and the country through which it flows; and of the remarkable city, once a great seat of Mussulman culture, and in French hands not unlikely to become a centre of European civilization and science in the heart of Africa, -is one to reward the reader, and one also to form a valuable chapter in the history of European conversion of the Dark Continent into a land of light and of progress. A special interest in the book is the discovery in Jenne and Timbuctoo of ancient Egyptian architecture, leading to the belief that the ancient empire of Sangird was founded by emigrants from the Nile.

Troy

and its Remains, by Dr. Heinrich Schliemann. (1875.) A work offered to the reader as 'A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries made on the Site of Ilium and in the Trojan Plain.' It is a graphic story of most remarkable discoveries on the spot which tradition, from the earliest historic age of Greece, has marked as the site of Homer's Ilium. Through ruins piled to the height of fifty feet Schliemann dug down to the fire-scattered relics of Troy, and brought to light thousands of objects illustrating the race, language, and religion of her inhabitants, their wealth and civilization, their instruments and appliances for peaceful life and for war. The discoveries at the same time throw a new light upon the origins of the famous Greeks of history, and open somewhat the not before known history of the

primitive Greeks of Asia. The wealth of detail in the narrative, with the map, plans, views, and illustrative cuts, representing 500 objects discovered on the site, give the work an extraordinarily readable character.

Pheidias, Essays on the Art of, by

Charles Waldstein. (1885.) A volume of great importance, consisting of nine essays, of which the first and second are introductory; one on the province, aim, and methods of the study of classical archæology, and the other on the spirit of the art of Pheidias, in its relation to his age, life, and character. These two essays aim to bring into view the nature and causes of Greek genius for art, and the character of the art of the greatest of Greek sculptors, who ranks in the art of Greece as Eschylus does in its drama. The five essays which follow deal with the sculptures of the Parthenon in the order of time of their production, and of the growth of the artist's own development. Of the two remaining essays, the first deals with the gold and ivory statues; the Athene of the Parthenon, over forty feet in height, and the incarnation in ivory and gold of overpowering majesty and spiritual beauty; and the Zeus at Olympia, a seated or throned figure, forty-two feet in height, a marvel of construction and decoration, and beyond all comparison impressive, to give the idea of the King of the gods.

The last essay considers the influence of the work of Pheidias upon the Attic sculpture of the period immediately succeeding the age of Pericles. The sculpture of Pheidias was that of idealism, divine and religious sculpture, serving to portray forms worthy of indwelling divinity. Dr. Waldstein's discussion not only brings out the fact that Pheidias was the greatest creator of ideals or creative thinker of the Greek race,- the Greek Shakespeare, one might say,- but it touches as well upon Greek art generally; and with a view to this wider study some important papers are added in an appendix.

Rome, A General History of, from

the foundation of the City to the fall of Augustulus, 753 B. C.-476 A. D., by Charles Merivale. (1875.) A work specially designed for the general reader seeking to be informed of the most noted incidents, the most remarkable

characters, and the main course of events, together with their causes and consequences. The three principal stages separately noted are that of the antiquities; that of the marvelously rich "dramatic» period, crowded with the great figures of the best age of Rome; and that of the dissolution of ancient society and the changes wrought by the influence of Christianity. It is this third stage which Dr. Merivale considers of most vital interest, and his treatment of which gives to his work an exceptional value.

In his earlier and larger work, 'A History of the Romans under the Empire (8 vols., 1865). Dr. Merivale exactly filled, with a work of the highest authority and value, the gap between Mommsen and Gibbon, 60 B. C.-180 A. D.

Pagan and Christian Rome, by Ru

dolfo Lanciani.

(1893.) A most richly illustrated account of the changes at Rome, by which it was gradually transformed from a pagan to a Christian city. Discoveries recently made show that Christian teaching reached the higher classes at a very early date, and even penetrated to the palace of the Cæsars. Long before the time at which Rome is supposed to have favored Christianity, there had been built churches side by side with the temples of the old faith. Tombs also bear the same testimony to gains made by Christianity in important quarters. Great names in the annals of the empire are found to be those of members of the

Christian body. The change in fact which was brought to maturity under Constantine was not a sudden and unexpected event. It was not a revolution. It had been a foregone conclusion for several generations, the natural result of progress during nearly three centuries. It had come to be understood before the official recognition of it by Constantine. A great deal that was a continuance of things pagan in appearance had in fact received Christian recognition and been turned to Christian use. Institutions and customs which still exist originated under the old faith, and were brought into the service of the new. Far more than has been supposed, the change was due to tolerance between pagans and Christians. By comparing pagan shrines and temples with Christian churches, imperial tombs

with papal tombs, and pagan cemeteries with Christian, Lanciani at once discloses the wealth of art created in Rome, and proves that pagan and Christian were allied in its creation.

Visits to the Monasteries of the

Levant, by Hon. Robert Curzon, was published in 1851. Beginning in 1833, the author's travels covered a period of four years, in which time he visited many curious old monasteries, and secured a number of rare and valuable manuscripts. He gives his impressions of the countries through which he wandered, and devotes some space to the manners and customs of the people in each, brightening his narrative by occasional anecdotes and noteworthy facts gleaned by the way.

The volume is divided into four parts. Part i. deals with Egypt, where Mr. Curzon visited the famous Coptic monasteries near the Natron Lakes. These, he tells us, were' founded by St. Macarius of Alexandria, one of the earliest of Christian ascetics. The members of the Coptic orders still dwell in the old houses, situated amid fertile gardens on the crowns of almost inaccessible precipices. The ruined monastery of Thebes, the White Monastery, and the Island of Philæ, the burial-place of Osiris, were also visited.

Part ii. describes the visit to Jerusalem and the Monastery of St. Saba. This house was named for the founder of the "Laura,» the monastic rule which Charles Kingsley uses to such excellent effect in the opening chapters of 'Hypatia.' The "Laura» still exists where the rocky clefts and desert wastes of Asia and Africa offer suitable retreats for the ascetic monks.

Mr. Curzon devotes some time to the Jews of Jerusalem,-enough to show their prevailing characteristics; and he also notes the interesting fact of his rediscovery of the "Apple of Sodom,» long supposed to be a creation of fictitious character. It is, he says, a juicy-looking, plum-like fruit, which proves to be a gall-nut filled with dry, choking dust.

Part iii. opens with the writer's impressions of Corfu and his visit to Albania, whence he leaves for Meteora, a grassy plain surrounded by tall peaks of rock, where, in apertures like pigeonholes, the monks have had their dwellings. On top of the rocks are left some

of the buildings of St. Barlaam. To reach them the traveler was forced to climb some rickety ladders over a tremendously steep declivity, because he disliked the other mode of reaching the top,- being drawn up 230 feet in a net attached to a mended, weather-worn rope. Subsequently he visited Hagios Stephanos, Agio Triada, Hagia Roserea, and finally the great monastery of Me

teora.

Part iv. gives the trip from Constantinople to Mt. Athos; up the Sea of Marmora, through the Archipelago to Lemnos; thence to Mt. Athos and the monastery of St. Laura, full of rare old paintings. The other monastic houses of the neighborhood, from Vatopede to Caracalla, were also visited; and Mr. Curzon returned to Constantinople, having purchased a number of valuable manuscripts, including an Evangelistarium in gold letters, on white vellum, of which sort there is but one other known to exist.

Superstition and Force, by H. C.

Lea. (1866.) A volume of elaborate, learned, and very interesting essays on certain subjects of special importance in the history of the Middle Ages. They are: The Wager of Battle,' 'The Wager of Law,' (The Ordeal,' and 'Torture.> The writer treats of them as 'Methods of Administering Injustice'; and his account is not only much the best anywhere existing, but it makes a very readable book.

Voiage and Travaile of Sir John

Mandeville. This famous book of travels was published in French some time between 1357 and 1371. It was originally written in English, then translated into Latin, then retranslated into English, that every man of his nation might read it. It is said that the author claimed to be an English knight, living abroad because of a murder committed by him; but little or nothing is known of him. It is thought that it may have been written under a feigned name, by Jehan de Burgoigne, a physician of Liege. A few interpolated words in an English edition gained for Mandeville the credit of being "the father of English prose"; but it is evident from mistakes in translation that the English version, said to have been made by Mandeville, was made by some one who did not know the author's meaning.

The author claims to have traveled for thirty years in Palestine, Egypt, China, and other countries; but it is thought that if he traveled at all, it was not farther than Palestine, as the other matter is evidently taken from the works of other travelers. There are some marvelous tales, and it is from this fact that the book is chiefly interesting. He speaks of giants "sixty feet long," a griffin capable of flying away with a yoke of oxen in its talons. There are men with animal's heads, others with no heads, but with eyes and mouth in the breast, others with such large upper lips that they cover their whole face from the sun when they sleep. There are trees bearing wool; and there is a fruit like a gourd, which when ripe contains "a beste with flesch and blude and bane, and it is lyke to a lytill lambe withouten wolle." He visited the Garden of Transmigrated Souls, drank from the Fountain of Youth, and located Paradise; though he says, "Off Paradys can I not speke properly, for I hafe not bene thare; bot als mykill as I hafe herd of wyse men of thase cuntreez, I will tell yow." This book, because of the quaintness of the English version, and of the subject-matter, will always be read with delight; but the claim that Mandeville is the father of English prose is wholly untenable.

Wandering Jew, The, by Eugene

Sue. (1845.) This curious rambling episodic romance is written from an extreme Protestant point of view, and introduces the character of Ahasuerus, who, according to legend, was a shoemaker in Jerusalem. The Savior, bearing his cross past the house of the artisan, asks to be allowed to rest an instant on the stone bench at his door.

«Go

on!" replies Ahasuerus. « Thou shalt go on till the end of time,» answers the Savior and so the Wandering Jew may never find home, or rest, or even pause. The scene of this romance is laid chiefly in Paris, in 1832. One hundred and fifty years prior to this

150,000 francs, which he caused to be invested, principal and interest to be divided among such of his heirs as should present themselves at a certain rendezvous in Paris, after the lapse of a century and a half. Then comes an intensely dramatic description of the espionage to which the heirs have been subjected, and the successful machinations of the Jesuits in order to obtain this money. While they succeed by the most reckless acts of persecution and violence in preventing six of the seven heirs from presenting themselves to claim the vastly increased inheritance, they produce the seventh heir, Gabriel Rennepont-a virtuous young Jesuit priest, who has already made over his worldly goods to his order to claim the inheritance. A codicil to the will, found in a mysterious manner, postpones the day for delivering over the funds, and temporarily defeats these designs. But now, by adopting utterly conscienceless means, the heads of the Society of Jesus lead on the six heirs to their deaths before the arrival of the day which has been finally set for the parti tion of the millions. In the end, however, by an unforeseen catastrophe, the purposes of the Order are foiled. Rodin, a remarkable character, a little, cadaverous priest of marvelous energy and shrewdness, engineers the cause of the Jesuits; and by his diplomacy not alone lures the heirs to their ruin, but himself reaches the coveted post of General of the Order, though judgment finally overtakes him also. The story is very diffuse, and the episodes have only the slightest relation to each other. It is melodramatic in the extreme, and the style is often bombastic, while the personages have little resemblance to hu man beings in human conditions. when all abatement is made, The Wandering Jew' remains one of the famous books of the world, for its vigor, its illus ion, its endless interest of plot and counterplot, and its atmosphere of ro

mance.

But

This delightful story by the great German novelist, who has been called the Galician Turgeneff, was translated into English in 1893. As a frame for a charming tale, the author gives a vivid description of Hungarian life and customs. We are introduced to Seraph

now

One

Temkin, as he is about to shoot at a card held in his mother's hand. She tells him she has educated him with one object in view, the revenge of a wrong done her by a man whose name she gives-Emilian Theodorowitsch. Seraph journeys to the Castle Honoriec, and gives his name and his mother's to Emilian. To his surprise, Emilian says he has never heard of Madame Temkin, but insists on Seraph accepting his hospitality. He remains, and learns from everybody of the tenderness, generosity, and nobility of his host. Emilian tells Seraph the story of his life. He had married a woman accustomed to command and be obeyed. An estrangement sprang up between them, and when a son was born, a handsome nurse came into the house. His wife became jealous, but persisted in keeping the nurse. night the nurse began to coquet with Emilian. He upbraided her, whereupon she fell at his feet and began to weep. He raised her up, and his wife, entering, found the nurse in his arms. Taking the child, she escaped, and he had never been able to find a trace of her. other charm of the castle for Seraph is Magdalina, Emilian's adopted daughter, with whom Seraph is in love. Running after her one day, she flees into the chapel. He finds her hiding in the confessional, and kneeling down at the wicket, he tells her of his love. He is interrupted by his mother in disguise, who upbraids him for his delay; and when he asks her what relationship existed between her and Emilian, she answers "none," and escapes. Magdalina tells him this woman reminds her of a portrait in an abandoned part of the castle. She leads him there, and he is struck with the familiarity of the scenes. He rushes to a clock, pulls a string, and hears an old familiar tune; and in the next room finds his mother's

An

portrait. He thinks of but one way in which his mother could have been wronged, in spite of Emilian's very suggestive story; and going down stairs he insults Emilian and challenges him to a duel, in which Seraph is shot. When he recovers from his swoon, he finds himself again at the castle with Magdalina watching over him. He sends for Emilian, and tells him of the portrait; and the father clasps his long-lost son in his arms. The reconciliation of the husband and wife ends the story.

Zincali, The, by George Borrow. This

account of the gipsies of Spain appeared in England in 1842, and quickly ran through three editions. Borrow evinced in early life a roving disposition and linguistic ability. In 1835, at the age of thirty-two, he undertook to act as the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Spain, and accomplished his perilous mission with the devotion of an apostle and the audacity of a stage brigand. He was all things to all men, especially to gipsies; and in The Bible in Spain, his first book, he relates his amusing and interesting adventures. 'The Zincali grew out of this journey, and deals with the gipsies alone. The charm of the book, which is full of anecdote, lies in its graphic fidelity. The Spanish gipsy, as described by Mr. Borrow, differs in many respects from the gipsy of romance. His hardihood and wretched mode of life; his virtues, his faults; his devotion to family and kindred; and his inveterate dishonesty, are faithfully portrayed. The very same gipsy woman, who, being waylaid and robbed, is heroic and unconquerable in defense of her own virtue, and, stripped of her property, makes her weary journey 200 miles on foot with her poor children, is absolutely vile in leading others into infamy to recoup her finances. A chapter on gipsies in various lands depicts the universal gipsy, the product of the mysterious East. Mr. Borrow gives many illustrations of his popularity with the gipsies; one at Novgorod, where one sentence spoken by him in Romany brings out a joyful colony of gipsies in song and loving greeting. His love of adventure, of unconventional human life, and of philology, went hand in hand and reinforced each other.

Civilization, An Introduction to the

History of, in England and France, Spain, and Scotland, by Henry Thomas Buckle, appeared, the first volume in 1857, the second in 1861. The book, in the light of the author's original plan, is a Titanic fragment. In itself considered, it is complete, perfect; since the principle underlying the proposed vast scheme is clearly set forth, and illustrated in the general introduction.

This principle of Magnificent Proportions, as understood and treated by Buckle, is that there are laws governing