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tivism." In leaping the chasm which separates these two propositions, he leaves the firm ground of exact reasoning upon which he had previously stood, and takes avowedly to constructing “ideal pictures" of the functions of the Church in human society, which (also avowedly) do not correspond with the actual facts. His conclusions are not put dogmatically, and he adroitly evades or ignores the real obstacles which lie in the way of bridging the chasm; but, in spite of the discreet veil of tentative speculation which is thrown over the subject, the reader will hardly escape a feeling of resentment on finding that he has been reading a Romish tract, when he supposed himself to be reading an impartial discussion of some of the weightiest questions which the age offers anew for solution.

What we have written in the foregoing paragraphs refers only to what we may call the substance or pith of Mr. Mallock's book, but no estimate of its quality would be adequate which failed to take account of its manner. Without being elegant or even always correct, the style of Mr. Mallock is in a remarkable degree vigorous, lucid, and pleasing; and his firm and tenacious grasp of his argument is only surpassed by the copious appositeness of the knowledge with which he illustrates it. Apart from the intrinsic importance of the topics discussed, some of his chapters are well worth reading as mere specimens of trenchant dialectics; and in the closest and most intricate chain of reasoning he is never either dull or obscure. Perhaps the worst defect of the book on its literary side is the too frequent indulgence by the author of a very marked skill in spinning logical cobwebs-as in the case of the agnostic reductio ad absurdum spoken of above. When it comes to mere verbal fencing, the Berkeleian proposition that the so-called external world has no existence save as reflected in the human consciousness is absolutely unimpeachable, or at least has never been successfully impeached; but Dr. Johnson's practical commentary upon it, when he stamped his foot upon a stone and said that there was sufficient proof of the existence of a stone, commends itself to the common sense of mankind, and will always outweigh mere word-catching, however adroit. It is from failing to perceive this important truth that Mr. Mallock's work sometimes appears to be lacking in seriousness, when, in fact, his feelings and convictions are enlisted in the matter to an altogether exceptional extent.

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and effective way the general conclusions at which he has arrived. The reader will have perceived from it that Mr. Froude takes a more favorable view not only of Cæsar's abilities, but of his character and motives, than has usually been presented by historians of the Roman Republic. He holds that Cæsar, far from being the destroyer of the liberties of his countrymen, rescued them from that worst of all tyrannies, the despotism of a corrupt and selfish aristocracy; and that he preserved and vivified such fragments of the ancient constitution as had not been already wrecked or paralyzed by the violence and anarchy of the fifty years preceding his own accession to power. Had Cæsar been suffered to live a few years longer, he thinks that he would have so strengthened the fabric of government that without any serious impairment of its original form it might have maintained its vitality for several generations; but "the murder of Cæsar filled the measure of their crimes, and gave the last and necessary impulse to the closing act of the revolution."

Of course, this exaltation of Cæsar involves an equivalent depression of the reputation of his opponents, critics, and "murderers." Most of these were simply the basest remnants of the old profligate aristocracy whom Cæsar's clemency had spared. Cassius was a high-born ruffian; Trebonius and Decimus Brutus were favorite and favored officers, whose treachery had a peculiar element of ingratitude; Marcus Brutus was the only one of the conspirators who had a reputation for honesty, and could be conceived, without absurdity, to be animated by a disinterested purpose, and he was "a fanatical republican, a man of gloomy habits, given to dreams and omens, and liable to be easily influenced by appeals to visionary feelings." Even Cato, whom later opinion has consecrated as Ultimus Romanorum— the last of the Romans-was an egotistical fanatic, whose impracticableness worked far more harm to his countrymen than his virtue did them good. But the brunt of Mr. Froude's attack falls upon Cicero, whose name and fame are second only to Cæsar's in the annals of his time. It is Cicero's commanding literary power that has dictated nearly all the subsequent opinions about the respective character and conduct of Cæsar and his numerous antagonists; and, if Cicero is an entirely trustworthy and disinterested witness, then there is little more to be done by the historian than to register his judgments. Mr. Froude impeaches his credibility by showing that he was one of the most violent of political partisans in an age when party violence reached heights which have probably never been attained before or since; that he was utterly destitute of political principle; that he was a time-server and a trimmer; and that

he never allowed "the bauble of consistency" to interfere with any view of his own interests that might happen at the moment to be uppermost. The evidence is drawn from Cicero's own letters and published speeches, and the proof is so complete that the reader will be apt to consider Mr. Froude's final verdict too temperate when he describes Cicero "as a tragic combination of magnificent talents, high as

pirations, and a true desire to do right, with an infirmity of purpose and a latent insincerity of character which neutralized and could almost make us forget his nobler qualities."

Of the literary skill of Mr. Froude's narrative and its sustained continuity of interest, it would be difficult to speak too highly. He calls his work "a sketch," because “the materials do not exist for a portrait at once authentic and complete"; but there is no other from which the general reader will get so vivid an idea of the personality and performances of Cæsar, of the state of things into which he was born, and of the part which he played in the history of his country. Moreover, the record is not without a lesson for our own times. In his opening paragraph the author remarks that "to the student of political history, and to the English student above all others, the conversion of the Roman Republic into a military empire commands a peculiar interest," and many of his pages are evidently written with a special view to the present state of affairs in England and in Europe at large. His general implication seems to be that the government of a selfish aristocracy tends to find its natural reaction in an anarchical democracy, and that this in turn is sure to be followed by a military Cæsar, who is then, in a true and wholesome sense, the “savior of society."

An unmistakable indication of the growing popular interest in physical culture is afforded by the multiplication of such works as Mr. Blaikie's "How to Get Strong and How to Stay So."* From elaborate and systematic treatises like Mr. Maclaren's to small tracts and magazine articles, the literature of the subject has been constantly growing in copiousness; but, of all the books hitherto published, we know of none which can be more confidently commended to the average reader than Mr. Blaikie's. Its aim, as defined by the author, is not to furnish "a profound treatise on gymnastics, and point out how to eventually reach great performance in this art, but rather, in a way so plain and untechnical that even any intelligent boy or girl can readily un

derstand it, to first give the reader a nudge to take

better care of his body, and so of his health, and then to point out one way to do it." The distinctive value of the book lies in the extreme simplicity and practicality of its suggestions, and (what is per haps even more important) the small cost which they will involve. The entire apparatus mentioned by Mr. Blaikie can probably be purchased for twenty dollars, and the expenditure of five dollars, or even less, would provide all that is really indispensable for such exercises as are essential to the maintenance of health and bodily vigor. Indeed, a very large proportion of the exercises especially recommended by Mr. Blaikie require no apparatus of any kind, consisting simply of ". movements" for which

* How to Get Strong and How to Stay So. By William Blaikie. New York: Harper & Brothers. 16mo, pp. 296.

the muscles of the performer furnish the only requisites. Without being so multifarious or complex as to intimidate beginners, the exercises cover a wide range-suggesting special work for the fleshy, the thin, the old; for any given set of muscles; and what exercise to take daily-as (a) “ Daily Work for Children," (6) "Daily Exercise for Young Men," (c) "Daily Exercise for Women," (d) “Daily Exercise for Business Men," and (e) "Daily Exercise for Consumptives." Mr. Blaikie particularly urges the importance of introducing systematic physical training into all schools for children, devoting an entire chapter to this subject, and suggesting the methods by which the best results may be obtained.

Of the fifteen chapters or sketches composing Mr. H. M. Robinson's "Great Fur Land,"* much the larger number have hitherto appeared in the various magazines or newspapers-several of the best of them in this "Journal." It will be seen from this that the book is neither a systematic treatise nor a continuous narrative, but rather a series of detached sketches, each complete in itself, and connected with each other only as depicting different phases or aspects of the same general subject. The subject, it must be confessed, lends itself with peculiar facility to this method of treatment, and it is probably due quite as much to the method as the matter that the book is so extremely readable. A consecutive and detailed narrative of the travels on which the work is based could hardly have failed to be tedious at times; and, on the other hand, a syshave brought the author into competition with sevtematic description of the country and people would eral books which have already secured the public ear. By adopting the plan of independent sketches Mr. Robinson has been enabled not only to choose the more salient, picturesque, and attractive features of his subject, but to concentrate upon each sketch whatever pertinent material he had accumulated by personal observation or study. For this reason his work is entirely free from those dull and perfunctory pages which are inserted in most books of travel merely to maintain the continuity of the record; and the reader is freed from the usual necessity of piec

ing together bits from different portions in order

to find out what the volume contains on any given topic. As to the scope of the book, it may be said in general terms to deal with the more picturesque Hudson Bay Territory. In it the reader will find phases of life in what is commonly known as the the best brief account with which we are acquainted of the organization, rules of service, and mode of operations of the great Hudson's Bay Company; intensely vivid and realistic pictures of the life of the voyageurs, traders, hunters, trappers, and Indians of that vast Northwest which is the arena of the Company's exploits; and exceedingly animated descriptions of such special episodes and incidents as a

*The Great Fur Land, or Sketches of Life in the Hudson's Bay Territory. By H. M. Robinson. Illustrated. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 12m0, pp. 348.

journey by dog-sledge, canoe-life, a voyage with the voyageurs, the great fall hunts, life in a Hudson Bay Company's fort, a winter camp, a half-breed ball, and the like. The more general description is enlivened by the introduction of illustrative incidents from the author's personal experiences, while as a background to the whole there is a wonderful series of pictures of that "kingdom of desolation" over which the Frost-king has extended his seldom-disputed sway. Readers of the "Journal" are already acquainted with Mr. Robinson's remarkably vivid and animated style; but the sketches taken together are much more effective than any one or two of them taken separately, and after reading them all the reader will be apt to agree with the author as to "the supreme picturesqueness of the Fur Land."

....

.. We infer from "Maid, Wife, or Widow?"* that Mrs. Alexander has recently resided for a period more or less prolonged in Germany, and, like a thrifty toiler in the fields of literature, has determined to utilize the impressions there received. The scene of the story is laid in the little Saxon village of Bergfelde, and the local color, which would otherwise be rather vague, is intensified by connecting the incidents with the Prusso-Austrian war of 1866, in which Saxony played so inglorious a part. For so thoroughly English a mind as Mrs. Alexander's, the experiment of portraying foreigners in a foreign land was at best a very dubious one, and viewed from this standpoint the attempt is more successful than would naturally have been expected. Judged, however, by her previous stories, written under more congenial and familiar conditions, the result is not so satisfactory. The character of the heroine is very charmingly drawn, and the love-passages between her and the Rittmeister von Steinhausen are in a high degree graceful and touching; but the foundations of the story are too fragile for the superstructure, and short as it is—it is a novelette rather than a novel the effort on the part of the reader to maintain the proper interest in its development is like an attempt to stay the appetite with whipped syllabub. In fact there is just sufficient substance in the book for a magazine story of the customary length; and, in padding it out into a volume, the author conveys an impression of being engaged in the self-assumed task of making a tale of bricks without having accumulated the necessary quantity of straw. Nevertheless, portions of the story are very pretty and pleasing.

.... One of the most skillfully prepared and most useful of the excellent series of "Literature Primers" is the recently published "Primer of English Composition," by John Nichol, Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Glasgow. It deals in a brief but admirably luminous manner with all the principal requisites to

* Maid, Wife, or Widow ? By Mrs. Alexander. Leisure Hour Series. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 16m0, pp. 267.

+ Literature Primers. Edited by J. R. Green, M. A. English Composition. By John Nichol, M. A., LL. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 18mo, pp. 128.

good literary composition, defining and explaining the elements of what is called style, and pointing out the mistakes which are most commonly made. The teaching is mainly by illustrative examples-the only way in which such teaching can be rendered really practical and effective-and the few general rules laid down are such as every writer would do well to keep in mind. The chapter on "Punctuation" is particularly good, and the author's style is itself an excellent lesson in the art of composition.

. . . . For a bit of clever fooling, hovering often along the perilous edge of downright nonsense, but sometimes attaining the heights (or depths) of genuine humor, Mr. Stockton's “Rudder Grange"* is a very successful performance. The reader is half the time in doubt whether he is laughing at or with the author; but, unless he is a very serious-minded person indeed, he will be apt to be kept laughing

which is the essential thing. Moreover, he will hardly lay the book aside without having become convinced that the author is capable of much better work-that it is a waste of power to apply so keen a perception of character, so dramatic a faculty for portraying it, and such versatility of literary resource, to the construction of mere drollery. Good burlesque is, of course, a very good thing, and in itself implies a high degree of skill; but in order to satisfy it should not deal with subjects and characters in a way to make us half regret that they are burlesqued. This Mr. Stockton does, we think, and we should be glad to meet Euphemia and her spouse under such conditions that we shall not be compelled to laugh at them.

....

In his "Old Creole Days" + Mr. George W. Cable has discovered (or invented) an entirely new literary lode, so to speak, and moreover has shown a very decided capacity for extracting its treasures. The Louisiana creoles of the beginning of the century are less salient and picturesque in their personalities than Bret Harte's California Argonauts, and less humorously stimulating than Mr. Leland's Pennsylvania Dutch; but they had a certain foreign and romantic charm which still lingers about their memory, and which Mr. Cable has portrayed with a vividness that may possibly lift them permanently into literature. The seven short stories or sketches which he has collected in the present volume-and which, we trust, are but the forerunners of more carefully matured work-are of very unequal merit; but they possess one quality in common-that of achieving very striking effects with very slender and apparently commonplace means. Nothing could be more unpromising at first glance than the personalities whom he introduces upon the stage; but, before many pages are perused, the reader will find himself aroused to something more than curiosity about them-to a genuine interest and sympathy. It is a pity that this interest is in the end

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usually disappointed. The weak side of all the stories is the construction or plot, the author having an over-fondness for surprises and sensational dénouments, and not being willing to lead up to them by those gradual steps which can alone give them some semblance of naturalness and congruity. As a consequence, the story moves forward by jerks and jumps, and some of the transformations have the air of tricks of legerdemain. The details and incidents, however, are worked up with a realism which is very striking, and yet with a lightness and neatness of touch which mark the genuine artist. One would fain believe that the book is rather the promise of future achievement on the part of the author than the best of which he is capable; but, even as it is, it is no mere echo of other voices, but a contribution to American literature which has a distinct and native flavor. Of the stories comprised in the volume, one ("Posson Jone'") appeared in this JOURNAL, and the others in "Scribner's Magazine."

Mr. Green's "History of the English People"* grows more detailed and elaborate as it advances. The third volume is one of the largest of the series, but it only covers the years from 1603 to 1688. These years, however, were among the most eventful and important in English history, including the rise of Puritanism into a political force, the civil war between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, the overthrow and execution of Charles I., the protectorate of Cromwell, the Restoration, and the Revolution of 1688. Seldom has a period so short had events of such moment and interest crowded into it, and no one will wish that Mr. Green's picturesque, vivid, and luminous narrative were a page shorter than it is. The volume is very handsomely printed, and contains a map of America in 1640, a map of Marston Moor, another of Naseby Fight, and a map of Europe with France as it was under Louis XIV. Couture's "Conversations on Art Methods" is, as Mr. Swain Gifford remarks in his introduction to the American edition, essentially a painter's book; that is, it is not designed to entertain or enlighten connoisseurs or amateurs, but to afford practical help and encouragement to professional artists and art students. Of its value in this respect, Mr. Gifford's enthusiastic testimony is more trustworthy, of course, than any that could be offered by a lay critic; but the book becomes literature by rea

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son of the anecdotes, epigrams, and literary estimates interpolated by the author into his more technical expositions. The personal traits, oddities, and eccentricities of Couture are part of the gossip of Parisian ateliers, and the more picturesque and salient of these are very amusingly revealed in the "Conversations." Even for those who care nothing for art on its practical side, the book is quite worth reading for its half-unconscious disclosures of an original and piquant personality. It is perfectly certain that no one but a Frenchman could write exactly such a book; it is eminently probable that no Frenchman but Couture could have written it.

.... The Messrs. Harper & Brothers have issued their Standard Library Edition of Hume's "History of England "* in six handsome volumes, uniform in size and style with Macaulay's "England" (previously mentioned), but bound in a rich shade of red. The issue is from new stereotype plates, the printing is excellent, and nothing could be more tasteful and attractive than the general appearance of the volumes. The first volume is prefaced with Hume's quaint story of his own life, and the last contains a copious index of one hundred and seventyfive pages. This work has been followed by editions in similar style of Motley's "History of the United Netherlands" and "The Life and Death of John of Barneveld," the former in four the latter in two volumes, which are uniform with "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," published a few months ago. These editions are in every way admirable, the type is clear and large, the paper choice, the binding in that style of vellum cloth so much affected by book-collectors. Messrs. Appleton & Co. have also just issued, in form to match, an edition in six volumes of “ The Spectator, with Prefaces Historical and Biographical by Alexander Chalmers.' The issue of these éditions de luxe of standard authors is gratifying evidence that under all the prevailing mania for cheapness there is a taste for higher literature in artistic and worthy guise.

*The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution in 1688. By David Hume, Esq. A New Edition, with the Author's Latest Corrections and Improvements. New York: Harper & Brothers. In six vols. 8vo.

+ History of the United Netherlands, from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years' War-1609. By John Lothrop Motley, D. C. L., LL.D. In four volumes. 8vo. With Portraits. New York: Harper & Brothers.

The Life and Death of Jolin of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland, with a View of the Primary Causes and Movements of the Thirty Years' War. By John Lothrop Motley, D. C. L., LL.D. In two vols. 8vo. With Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers.

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posed for Wolfgang's benefit. She turns at the mention of her name, and gives him-not a straightforward look; Miss Vivash never opens any attack with the point-blank artillery of those

"HEAVEN bless and save us the mas- pale eyes of hers-she gives him a downward

ter!" exclaims Ange, in a disappointed aside. "Mr. Wolfgang, your humble servant. You are unaware, sir, doubtless, that you rang at the visitors' bell? But for the lateness of the hour, we should have believed it to be a message from the Residenz."

"I apologize for my own identity," says Wolfgang, with good humor, and giving a quick look at the faces round the table. "My business at Leipsic Fair having ended unexpectedly soon," he adds, "I took the liberty of visiting Schloss Egmont on my road home.-Fräulein Jeanne, I have brought you a new lesson-book."

He deposits a little paper-covered volume beside the girl's plate-Heine's "Love-Songs" (the hardest lesson of Jeanne's life may, perchance, be learned between the lines of those pages); then, uninvited, draws up one of the coroneted Schloss Egmont chairs, and seats himself at the opposite end of the table to Mamselle Ange.

"Quite a relief to one's eyes," cries Lady Pamela, in her hearty voice. "That empty ghosts' place has been calling out, loudly, for an occupant-but five is the most impracticable of numbers!"

She glances with kindly welcome at the master's handsome, high-bred face; and Ange, unthawing, goes through a tardy ceremony of introduction: "Our very worthy friend and instructor, Herr Wolfgang, from Freiburg. Lady Pamela Lawless-Miss Vivash."

Up to this instant, Beauty's sleek head, at its best three quarters angle, has been studiously VOL. VII.-19

bend of the white throat, a lowering of the lids, a smile furtive, momentary, but sweet, "luscious to the taste," as the dictionaries define the word, exceedingly. Mamselle Ange, with her most marked air of patronage, desires Hans to set another wineglass.

"Yes, indeed, Mr. Wolfgang, you shall taste our Affenthaler; I will take no refusal. You are looking warm after your journey-I know what third-class traveling must be-and of course the Affenthaler of Schloss Egmont is not tischwein, poor vinegar-stuff, such as they serve you in the Freiburg eating-houses."

She turns, with a Lord Burleigh signal to Hans, who discreetly fills the master's glass half full. Wolfgang, with the air of a connoisseur, holds the wine up to the light, then sets it down untasted. The Affenthaler has lost its color," he remarks, a little absently. "It should have been drunk years ago. These wines of the Margravinate have no old age."

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"Mr. Wolfgang-sir!" cries out Ange, her very cap-ribbons standing on end at this outspoken heresy, "I understand you to give an opinion that our Affenthaler-”

"Is no longer in its freshest bloom of maturity. Precisely so. If you will let me counsel you, Mamselle Ange, try rather the Johannisburg. Even in Freiburg," says Wolfgang, with unruffled bonhomie, "even at our poor tables in the Freiburg guest-houses, the Rhine wines laid in by the late Count von Egmont are renowned." Ange's soul is too shaken by such audacity

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