ed side by side with translations into English made by Mr. Taylor especially for this purpose. These translations-in which the rhythm, the movement, the rhyme, the very whimsicalities of the original verse are reproduced-are a most striking testimony to Mr. Taylor's technical mastery of the poetic art, and would alone suffice to give a distinctive value to his book as compared with other sketches of German literature.

Ir is a strange, unique, piquant, volcanic, and vociferous personality that is introduced to us by Mr. Apthorp in his book on "Hector Berlioz."* The book is composed of selections from the aesthetic, humorous, and satirical writings of Berlioz, these being preceded by a biographical sketch of the author compiled chiefly from his autobiography. The aim that has guided the translator in making his selection has been rather to depict Berlioz, the man, than to expound Berlioz, the musician. "I have tried," he says, "to show what the man was, rather than what he did. The intrinsic value to the world of his artistic doings is, as yet, problematical, although we see to-day ever-increasing signs of his having won an enduring place in the temple of fame. But if all his compositions were to sink into total oblivion, his personality, and the influence he exerted upon his surroundings, and the art of music in general, would still be interesting and worthy of serious note."

What that influence was and how seriously it is to be estimated is, we confess, not easily gathered from the writings of Berlioz as here presented to us. With all his intensity and fervor, there is always a latent element of humor or satire in what he writes which makes it difficult to take him quite au sérieux, or to attach much weight to his voluble outpourings. After reading them, one is tempted to think that if his influence has really been great it must be due far more to his musical compositions or his personality than to his writings; for these latter, while abundantly amusing, are valuable only in so far as they reflect their author's character. Apart from their autobiographical value, indeed, they are as trivial, flimsy, and frothy as were ever produced by a man whose genius is nevertheless unmistakable and whose literary faculty is very marked. They remind one of whipped syllabub or of the effervescence of champagne rather than of anything more substantial and enduring; but then, while the effervescence lasts, they are extremely agreeable and stimulating.

As to the man whose lineaments are so distinctly mirrored in the book, it is difficult for the reader to decide whether to admire, to pity, or to detest him. His heroic struggle against adverse circumstances, his serene faith in his own genius, and his enthusiasm for his art, compel our admiration, and his

* Hector Berlioz. Selections from his Letters, and Esthetic, Humorous, and Satirical Writings. Translated, and preceded by a Biographical Sketch of the Author, by William F. Apthorp. Amateur Series. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 12mo, pp. 427.

sufferings and misfortunes move our compassion; but his egotism, intensified as it is by a certain hardness and spitefulness, repels the sympathy which his other qualities have inspired. It will be conceded, however, that whether we admire or dislike him, there is no deception or illusion in the matter. Berlioz is not content with wearing his heart upon his sleeve that all may see who will: he illuminates it with an electric light, and calls on gods and men to contemplate its palpitations. He strips himself naked, body and soul, and seems to watch his emotions chiefly for the purpose of disclosing them. Probably no man that ever lived has taken the world more unreservedly into his confidence, and certainly no writer has ever manifested less of that reserve which in most men is instinctive and inviolable. He conceals or dissembles nothing; and the fact that we close the book with a genuine respect for him shows that, in spite of surface faults and eccentricities, his nature was intrinsically wholesome.

Mr. Apthorp's translation is an excellent piece of work, reproducing with greater success than could have been expected the whimsicalities, the raciness, the colloquialisms, and the snap, so to call it, of Berlioz's style. What little of his own writing the book contains is chiefly noteworthy for the fidelity with which it imitates the Carlylean dialect. So perfect is the imitation that several passages, if separated from the context, might easily be mistaken for Carlyle's own.

THE idea of making Charles Darwin the medium for furnishing literature to children is certainly daring enough to deserve success, and a success has unquestionably been achieved by the compiler of "What Darwin saw in his Voyage round the World in the Ship Beagle."* Using the great naturalist's admirable but too little read account of his voyage as material, the compiler has detached from the text all the most striking descriptive passages, welding together those which refer to the same subject, and grouping them under obvious natural divisions. The first division is entitled “Animals," and contains Darwin's observations on the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects which attracted his attention in South America and the Pacific islands. these are the horse, the mule, the dog, the guanaco, the puma, the jaguar, the seal, the tortoise, the cuttlefish, the cormorant, the condor, the penguin, the ostrich, the locust, the ant, and the spider. The second division is entitled "Man," and comprises descriptions of the Fuegians, the Patagonians, the Pampas Indians, the Gaucho, the La Platan, the Uruguayan, the Chileno, the Spaniard, the Tahitian, and the Australian negro. The third division, under the somewhat ambiguous heading of "Geography," contains descriptions of the various countries visited, and of the cities, towns, and other habitations of man. Finally, under "Nature" is given an account

Among

*What Mr. Darwin saw in his Voyage round the World in the Ship Beagle. With numerous Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. Square 8vo, pp. 228.

of the grander terrestrial processes and phenomena, such as earthquakes, rainfall, forests, the ocean, fossil trees, and the hibernation of animals. Many of the passages are unsatisfactory if one goes to them for a complete and systematic account of the thing described, but their charm is principally due to the very fact that they record only personal observations. At any rate, the book is of fascinating interest, and a better introduction for the young to the study of natural history could hardly be devised. Not less attractive, and perhaps not less instructive, than the text are the illustrations, which are very numerous and beautifully engraved; and to these are added maps and charts.

... Somewhat similar in aim, but more ambitious in design, is “Famous Travels and Travelers,”* the initial volume of a series in which M. Jules Verne has undertaken to give a complete account of the exploration of the world from the time of Hanno and Herodotus down to that of Livingstone and Stanley. This first volume contains a brief but sufficient narration of the achievements of the earlier explorers and travelers; more extended ones of the travels and discoveries of Marco Polo, Jean de Béthencourt, and Christopher Columbus, the latter having nearly a hundred pages assigned to him; summary accounts of the conquest of India and the Spice countries, and of Mexico and Peru; and chapters on the first voyage round the world under Magellan, on the earlier polar expeditions and the search for the Northwest Passage, on the privateering adventures of Drake, Cavendish, Sir Walter Raleigh, and others, on the great corsair William Dampier, and on the Pole and America, ending with the discoveries of Champlain and La Salle (whose name is wrongly given as "La Sale"). Every traveler, explorer, or adventurer whose name has been preserved to us, and whose achievements have added to our geographical knowledge, is treated of more or less fully; and, in the case of the more important of them, a detailed account is given of their careers and writings. In another volume it is proposed to summarize "all the new discoveries which have of late years so greatly interested the scientific world"; and, in order to insure accuracy, the author has secured the aid of the eminent geographer, M. Gabriel Marcel. As in all Verne's books, the illustrations are quite as important as the text-copious, fanciful, and somewhat crude, but striking and effective. A few are reproduced from ancient drawings, and there are several maps which would be more useful if the names of localities were printed in English instead of French.

. . The services rendered to students of the Greek literature and language by the great Oxford dictionary of Liddell and Scott is now performed for students of Latin by "Harper's Latin Dictionary."

More, indeed, for, though so recently pub

* The Exploration of the World. By Jules Verne. Famous Travels and Travelers. Translated by Dora Leigh. Copiously illustrated. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 8vo, pp. 432.

"

lished, the Greek lexicon is already, in some respects, behind the latest achievements of philological research, while if its Latin compeer is not fully abreast of the best and most recent scholarship, it is certainly not from any lack of effort on the part of the publishers to make it so. The basis of the new dictionary is Andrews's translation of Dr. Freund's great Latin-German Lexicon, which has been for many years the standard book of reference in its department. That work was published in 1850, and since that time very great advances have been made in all the sciences on which lexicography depends. As much as fifteen years ago a revision was seen to be necessary, and the work was submitted to its original author, Dr. Freund, who revised the whole, rewrote some of the less satisfactory articles, and supplied about two thousand additions. "The sheets," to quote the publishers' preface, 'were then placed in the hands of Professor Henry Drisler, LL. D., to be edited; but that eminent scholar soon advised us that a reconstruction of the work was desirable, such as he could not command the leisure to make. They were afterward delivered to the present editors to be used freely, and in combination with all other appropriate sources, in compiling a Latin Lexicon which should meet the advanced requirements of the times. The results of their unremitting labors for several years are now given to the public." The scholars by whom the labor of perfecting the work and putting it in its present shape has been performed are Mr. Charlton T. Lewis and Professor Charles Short, of Columbia College. These gentlemen were aided throughout by the advice and assistance of the most eminent linguistic scholars in the country, some of whom examined and corrected the proof-sheets, while others contributed valuable articles. In dimensions the book is slightly smaller than "Webster's Unabridged," but it contains considerably more matter (owing to smaller type and closer printing), and has a completeness and thoroughness which have not as yet been even attempted in any dictionary of the English language.

....

To their well-known series of Literature, Science, History, and Health Primers, the Messrs. Appleton have added a series of "Early Christian Literature Primers," edited by Professor George P. Fisher, D. D. The design of these primers is "to embody in a few small and inexpensive volumes the substance of the characteristic works of the great Fathers of the Church." The initial volume, just published, is entitled "The Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists," by Rev. George A. Jackson, and covers the period from A. D. 95 to 180. In it are given, as fully as space would allow, exact translations of the principal works of the writers named, preceded by introductions upon the literature of the period, and by sketches of the several authors.