ing the judiciousness of her advice about while the Elder Edda presents the Odinic faith captain had gotten the ship full he wanted to bringing up children, about books and dress:

in a series of lays or rhapsodies. . . The two stop the mill; but no matter how he worked

Eddas constitute, as it were, the Odinic Bible. and no matter how he handled it, the mill By all means curb her [her god-daughter] if The Elder Edda is the Old Testament, and the kept grinding as fast as ever, and the heap she is too forward in giving her opinions, a con- Younger Edda the New. Like the Old Testa- of salt kept growing larger and larger, and ceited man or woman is abominable, but a con- ment, the Elder Edda is in poetry. It is pro- at last the ship sank. The mill stands on the ceited girl is insupportable.

phetic and enigmatical. Like the New Testa- bottom of the sea grinding this very day, and so Mrs. Clayton and I had a furious argument and gives a clue to the obscure passages in the

ment, the Younger Edda is in prose ; it is lucid, it comes that the sea is salt. about reading books of a bad tendency; I stood Elder. ... In these Eddas our fathers have up for preserving a purity of mind, and discour. bequeathed unto us all their profoundest, all

CURRENT FICTION. aging works of that kind; she for trusting to her their sublimest, all their best thought. They are own strength and reason, and bidding defiance to the concentrated result of their greatest intel.lin.” [Henry Holt & Co. $1.00.]

Probation. By the author of “ The First Vio any injury such books can do her. lectual and spiritual effort. ... It was in the

Young Mrs. Jardine. By the author of “ John The vanity and impertinence of dress is always year 860 that Iceland was discovered. In 874

Halifax, Gentleman." [Harper & Brothers. to be avoided, but a decent compliance with the the Teutonic spirit Aed thither for refuge from fashion is less affected than any remarkable tyranny. Here a government based on the prin- $1.50 and 15c.) negligence of it.

ciples of old Teutonic liberty was established. Figs and Thistles. By Albion W. Tourgee.

From here went forth daring vikings, who dis- [Fords, Howard & Hulbert. $1.00.] For the entertainment of her sister and covered Greenland and Vinland, and showed The Twins of Table Mountain. By Bret friends, she often described the costumes

Columbus the way to America. . . Here was Harte. (Houghton, Osgood & Co. $1.25.]

preserved the Old Norse language, and in it a worn on great occasions, and as a sample of record of the customs, the institutions and the [D. Appleton & Co. 30c.]

Vivian the Beauty. By Mrs. Annie Edwardes. fashion, here is that of the celebrated Lady religion of our fathers. Its literature does not belong to that island alone – it belongs to the

Di Cary. By M. Jacqueline Thornton. [D. Huntingdon, at a royal "birthday :" whole Teutonic race.

Appleton & Co. 750.)

A Gentle Belle. By Christian Reid. [D. ApHer petticoat was black velvet embroidered with chenille, the pattern a large stone vase filled

Thus enthusiastically introduced, the work, pleton & Co. 5oc.] with ramping flowers. between each vase of which contains more than has ever before A Mysterious Disappearance. By Anna Cathflowers was a pattern of gold shells, and foliage appeared in English, and all that is of any

erine Greene. [G. P. Putnam's Sons. 50 cents.] embossed, and most heavily rich; the gown was

Through Winding Ways. By Ellen W. Olney. white satin embroidered also with chenille, no importance except to the Scandinavians, [J. B. Lippincott & Co. $1.25.) vases on the sleeve, but two or three on the tail ; 1 awaits the reader. A “Foreword” and Women's Husband's, it was a most labored piece of finery, the pattern “ Afterword ”

[J. B. Lippincott & Co. much properer for a stucco staircase than the

accompany “The Fooling of $1.00.) apparel of a lady – a mere shadow that tottered Gylfe,” which gives the history of the crea- It was a difficult task which the author of every step she took under the load.

tion, adventures of the gods and goddesses, The First Violin set for herself when she If any fault is to be found with these two and descriptions of the heaven and hell in undertook to satisfy her admirers with a volumes, it is that there are too many de- the northern mythology; and fragments of second novel ; and it is a pleasure to be able scriptions of clothes; one is oppressed with the poetic version accompany the text. Then to say she has thoroughly well accomplished them; and some of the letters which merely follow “ Brage's Talk” on the same sub- it. Probation is in many respects a better express sentiments of friendship might have jects and “ The Afterword,” “Extracts from book than its predecessor. Equaling The been left out without loss, and so might many the Poetical Diction,” explanatory notes to First Violin in sparkle and charm, its exeof the rather pedantic notes of the English the number of fifty pages, a glossary, and cution shows a ripened power which can editor, who repeats herself a great deal. an index, so that the book is very complete, only be the result of hard study and its

The index is provokingly incomplete ; for and as satisfactory in arrangement as it is resultant growth. The scene of the story example, the name of Lady Huntingdon in mechanical execution. The general reader is laid in a Lancashire manufacturing town, does not appear in it at all; and although will acquire from it a very good idea of “the during the cotton famine caused by our civil there is an anecdote about the Duchess of outlines of the Teutonic religion,” while be- war, an entourage not before attempted, so Marlborough, it is impossible to find it by coming acquainted with some of the old far as we know, by any other novelist. There any reference to the list. The portraits show Norse stories, and the idiom in which they is a capital mingling in the plot of the double two noble faces, that of Mrs. Delany, from are given. Of Thor's hall it is said, “There interests of employer and employed, one of an original by Opie; and one of her sister, in are five hundred and forty floors, and it is the two heroes being owner of a great cotton Ann Granville (Mrs. D'Ewes), from a draw- the largest house that men have made." of mill, the other a “cut-looker” in his service; ing in crayon by Mrs. Delany herself. Heimdal, “ He needs less sleep than a bird ; and it is hard to say which is the finer fellow.

sees an hundred miles around him, and as We are thankful to say that “dialect” is THE YOUNGER EDDA.* well by night as by day. He hears the grass very temperately employed.

To open a THIS

HIS English version of one of the grow and the wool on the backs of the book nominally written in English, and be

great mythological works of the Teu- sheep.” Here one finds what the Teutons forced to expend as much pains of translatons has been prepared with much care by

symbolized by Balder and Freyja and their tion on every other sentence as though it

many gods; where the Niblung Lay had its were Welsh or Choctaw, is to the average the Professor of Scandinavian Languages origin; and can trace the analogy which reader an exasperating thing. There are in the University of Wisconsin, who has

exists between the Scandinavian mythology crisp bits of scenery, a good deal of humor, already done so much for the literature of

and that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and not a few gracefully tender passages his people. It is appropriately dedicated to another scholar from the North-land, who

and the belief common to nearly all nations, like the following:

in powers of good and evil and a place of His gaze never left Adrienne, and the longer has made his home in this country, Hjalmar future reward and punishment. The last he looked the deeper became the charm... There Hjorth Boyesen; and in the able introduction it is earnestly commended to all who legend tells “ why the sea is salt,” giving the years of toil and striving, a latent, dormant ideal venerate the institutions of the past

account of a wonderful mill, which obeyed of loveliness, purity, and fitness for worship, and its master's commands, and which a sea- touched the keys, that the door of Heaven was

it was as though when Adrienne's fingers patriotic appeal being made to Prof. Anderson's own countrymen not to forget the captain bought, but unfortunately neglected opened, and

ray, falling on her fair head, proan important point in doing so:

claimed her his soul's dearest wish. religion of their ancestors. The Younger Edda contains the systematized He had no time to ask how to regulate it ;

Mrs. Craik's last story has a continental theogony and cosmogony of our forefathers, he went to his ship as fast as he could, and when episode, but is chiefly English in its scene,

he had gotten some distance out upon the sea, being occupied with the quiet history of an

he got his mill out. “Grind salt both fast and * The Younger Edda. By Rasmus B. Anderson. well,” said the captain. The mill began to grind ordinary family. “Young Mrs. Jardine” is Chicago : S. C. Griggs & Co. $2.00.

salt, and that with all its might. When the a very lovely person, strongly marked with

a

dignity and grace, and of pronounced reli- covered no special object in the book, be- but there is little of that reserve of power, that gious character, whose career becomes in- yond the pleasant, easy entertainment of the suppression of color, that artistic self-control, teresting because of the unreasonable oppo- reader, and this is accomplished without too which marks true work in this difficult line. sition shown to her by a worldly-minded and great a demand upon his faculties. The The author has tried to be intense, and she ambitious mother-in-law. Roderick Jardine story is short and soon read.

has too often narrowly escaped being absurd. had always lived the commonplace life of his In Di Cary we have a delineation of the We are confident that Miss Greene, if she family, until Silence Jardine crossed his fortunes, or misfortunes, of Southern life at will give herself time to plan with deliberapath, with her unconventionality. She was the close of the war, during the period of tion, and to elaborate with pains and care, the fulfillment of all his dreams, and for her reconstruction. The scenes are natural and reducing her outlines and toning down her he gave up everything, even the regard of lifelike, and the general effect is good. We colors, has the faculties which will enable his mother, who cast him off, and would not have said Southern life; we might better her to produce a work in her chosen field of be reconciled to him until the birth of a have said Virginian, for it is the Old Do- a very high order of merit. But she must grandchild awoke again the maternal sym- minion which mostly furnishes the material. subject the results of her imaginative and pathies and once more united all hearts. The tone of the author is enthusiastically constructive skill to tests which in the presThe story is one of this author's purest and loyal to the genius of Virginia, but the spirit ent instance she can hardly have stopped to best, and will deeply interest every lover of and temper of the work are excellent through- apply. her writings.

out, and we have observed none of those There is always a catastrophe in Miss Readers who have enjoyed Edward Eggle. lapses from good taste which are so common Olney's stories, so far as we remember, and ston's excursions into the land of Roxys and in such tales. Its literary merit is above the there is one in this, her last, Through Winaing Hoosier Schoolmasters will like Judge Tour- average, and leads us to hope that a long. Ways; but its ending is better than comgee's Figs and Thistles; which is a story of unworked field is not much longer to lack mon. The interest does not flag at all, life in the Western Reserve, told with quite the attention it deserves from those best though we have found ourselves giving a as much careful attention to realistic detail qualified to do it justice.

sigh of relief at its turning out so well. and faithful reflection of rough and rollicking A Gentle Belle opens in Florence, with There are some unbappy things in it, but character as works of this class are usually an English gentleman dying, leaving a pet the characters are generally noble, saving to be credited with, and with rather more daughter behind him. Her life the story the one exception of Georgie Lenox, who is literary ability. And we must confess that follows through the usual variety of joys and as heartless a girl as we remember ever to it has often made us laugh, in spite of our sorrows, to a happy termination. She has, have met with in fiction, and who grows into tastes and principles, which are steadily set in some respects, a marked personality, as heartless a woman. against slang and profaneness and coarse with a strong mind, and very cultivated Three stories are bound up in the volume dialect, however true such touches may be tastes, and the development of her character entitled Women's Husbands, all of them to the life. Such books have a function in under discipline is the author's leading having appeared in Lippincott's Magazine. preserving local traits that are fast disap-motive.

There is nothing remarkable about any one pearing with the changing landscape; and The author of The Leavenworth Case has of them. they are choice food, we very well know, for succumbed to the temptation which besets certain palates; though for our part we every author of a first successful novel,

CURRENT POETRY. prefer fiction of a different quality. namely, of producing a second too soon

To the readers of magazine verses, a Pretty much the same we feel disposed to after. It is reserved to the few great gen- new volume by Mrs. Piatt [Dramatic Persay of Mr. Bret Harte's last book, a “Little iuses of literature to write two or more great sons and Moods. Houghton, Osgood & Co. Classic” only outwardly, which takes its books in quick succession. In her first Miss $1.25] needs little introduction. One of title, The Twins of Table Mountain, from Greene did show a good deal of talent, of a the poems which it contains, “A Wall the first and most considerable of the five peculiar and uncommon kind, and gave prom- Between,” appeared in a late number of stories it contains. One of the five, indeed, ise of an even greater success in a second. the Atlantic Monthly; and another, “ De“Views from a German Spion,” is not a We do not like to consider her second, A nied,” in a late number of the Youth's story at all, but a little sketch of some things Mysterious Disappearance, now before us, Companion. The peculiar excellences and German as they struck the author at his as a fair specimen of what she can do. It defects of her verse are easily recognized in present point of observation. The other of is hardly worthy of her. It has interest, of all her work. Rarely does one find among the two Germanic contributions to the book, course; all mystery has interest, and that is contemporary poets an equal depth and in“A Legend of Sammstadt,” is a story prop- one great advantage which the writer of fic- tensity of feeling, or superior tact and delier with a farcical turn. As for the rest, Mr. tion of this class always enjoys. The atten- cacy in the choice of subjects. Her expressHarte chooses his scenes and figures from tion of the reader is secured at the out- ion, too, is often forcible and always terse. Pacific coast sources, and they are of the set. But it will not do to rest satisfied What could be better in this respect than same old sort; picturesque, striking, im- with simply stimulating curiosity by mys- these lines? pressive in what appeals to the eye, but low, terious manipulations of golden hair, bits

As the tree falls, one says,

So shall it lie. It falls, remembering often vulgar, and sometimes offensive to of calico, and creaking windows in old The sun and stillness of its leaf-green days, one's better sense. Still there are good tumble-down Vermont houses. Miss Greene

The moons it held, the nested birds' warm wing,

The promise of the buds it wore, hearts under rough skins, and Bret Harte has undeniable constructive power, but a

The fruit-it never bore. can help us to see them if anybody can. more unnatural and improbable situation, or Her dramatic power is also unusual, and

Mrs. Annie Edwardes's writings have series of situations, thian she lays before the compares not unfavorably with that of modnever left a very definite impression on our reader in this book, it would be difficult to ern English masters whom she seems to mind, but we remember nothing of hers imagine. Here is its defect. Truth is sac- have studied. To Robert Browning she apwhich has pleased us more than Vivian the rificed in the attempt to produce startling pears most deeply indebted, but she has copBeauty. It is the simply-told story of sim- effects. No real characters of the sort pre-ied him more closely than could be wished. ple life in a German castle, with little Jeanne, sented would talk as these talk, and one's Her verse betrays too much of that affected her tutor, and the housekeeper for chief reason revolts — at least ours has, over and obscurity which becomes more and more a figures. • Vivian the Beauty” is an Eng- over again, at the train of circumstances used marked characteristic of his writings, and in lish actress, one of a party subsequently in the development of the plot. The conditions certain cases her thought is completely introduced upon the scene. We have dis-of the melodrama are pretty much supplied; beclouded by a dexterous use of parentheses,

a

Romance and Travel here must end."

with a map.

dashes, and marks of interrogation. “A sometimes it is hard to follow her. Her young reader. The book is profusely illusPique at Parting" is as bad an example of diction, however, is affluent and mellifluous, trated and handsomely printed. [Charles this fault as any in the book, and utterly and she is always graceful and finished. Scribner's Sons. $2.50. ] – An apparent fails to repay the study which is needed to She ought, however, to have thought enough imitator of Jules Verne has presented himmake it intelligible. Among the most skills of the convenience of her readers to have self in the person of M. Lucien Biart, who ful and worthy of her longer poems we provided her book with an index, or, at least, has written in An Involuntary Voyage, the notice “ A Lesson in a Picture” and “After a table of contents.

story of the amusing and somewhat instructthe Quarrel.” Some of her “Double Quat- Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, now, has made ivc adventures of a pair of Frenchmen, and rains” are also worthy of note, but the her book [Along the way. Charles Scrib- a boy with the name of “Quicksilver," who verses with the children are generally infe- ner's Sons. $1.00] with a greater consider- went to sea under peculiar and trying circumrior to the rest of the volume, being too ation in this respect, and she does not soar stances. The style is vivacious, but the obscure for young readers, and too slight to so high as does her sister, or, if she soars, material is of rather slender interest. [Harinterest those that are older. Among the she keeps the world and common people in pers. $1.25.] — The fairy book is not our shorter pieces none are better than “ Life sight, and retains the language of the life highest ideal of a book for children, but its and Death,” and these two stanzas entitled she sings. She loves nature, honors charac- charm is irresistible. In Tales of Old Thule “ The Descent of the Angel :”

ter and truth, and has a kind and tender we have a collection of fairy tales, founded “This is the house. Come, take the keys. feeling for the varying experiences which on old lore, and effectively illustrated in Out of the clouds, not quite at ease,

make up the sum of human existence. She Moyr Smith's peculiar style. There are I saw the pretty bride descend;

drops many a pretty fancy along her way, some things in the book not quite to our With satin sandals, fit alone To glide in air, she touched the stone. like this, for example:

taste, but on the whole we make no objecA thing to fade through wedding lace,

Whenever a snowflake leaves the sky,

tion to it. [J. B. Lippincott & Co. $1.25.] From silk and scents, with priest and ring,

It turns and turns to say “Good-bye : " Floated across that earthly place

“Good-bye, dear cloud, so cool and gray,'

- A biography of Brant and Red Jacket Where life must be an earthly thing.

Then lightly travels on its way.

makes another volume in the Eggleston's An earthly voice was in her ears, Her eyes awoke to earthly tears.

And when a snowflake finds a tree,

series of “Lives of Famous American

"Good-day," it says, "Good-day to thee; As a grammatical curiosity we notice Mrs. Thou art so bare and lonely, dear,

Indians.” The more of such books as this

I'll rest, and call my conirades here." Piatt's comparison of the adjective golden,

to take the place of mere stories the better. goldener, goldest.

But when a snowflake, brave and meek,

We are glad to see this volume provided

Lights on a rosy maiden's cheek, Her Lover's Friend, the initial poem in It says, “ How warm and soft the day;

[Dodd, Mead & Co. $1.25.] 'Tis summer," and it melts away. Nora Perry's little volume [Houghton, Os

— Nimpo's Troubles, by Mrs. Olive Thorne good & Co. $1.50] is written in the form of

In The Street Singer, by a musician [F. Miller, is a capital book for girls, depicting a soliloquy. The speaker finds himself W. Helmick. $1.00], we have what the the character of a little girl who thought she struggling with an unconscious affection author calls “ a poem,” but what might more could get along without her mother, and which has sprung up between himself and a justly be called a story in verse. It has found out that she made a great mistake in betrothed maiden, and finally overcomes the more of sentiment than of true poetry. The so thịnking. It is especially good reading temptation to his honor by the strength and versification is often faulty, and there are no for any child who exhibits symptoms of too. purity of his love. The same sad tone of flashes of poetic light. The story is of an much independence and a restive temper, disappointed hope breathes through much of unfaithful husband, of his afterward peni- and is written in a charming style. [E. P. the book. “From a Convent” and “ Lady tent victim, and of a forbearing and forgiving Dutton & Co. $1.25. ]— Two companion Wentworth ” betray it in a large degree, wife; with the duty of charity to the erring books are Oliver Optic's Going South, and while it reaches a tragic climax in “ Barba- for its moral. The whole might have been Mr. Shillaber's Cruise with Captain Bob,

“ The Rebel Flower” first appeared told just as well in prose, if told at all, so the one an account of a yacht voyage from in A Masque of Poets, and was then accred- saving the labor of putting it into rhyme.

Detroit down through the Great Lakes and ited by the critics to various ors, includ- Poems by Henry Abbey. [D. Appleton the St. Lawrence River, and by the Atlantic ing Bayard Taylor, if we remember aright. & Co. $1.25.] This is apparently another of coast, to Florida.

And the other, an old of the shorter pieces, “In Extremis," " In the volumes, so common in this depart- salt's yarns to a company of boys gathered the Dark," and "* Prophecy” may be named ment of literature, which are published on about him, full of the romance of sea and as the best, though even these are little the author's account. Mr. Abbey is more shipwreck. [Each by Lee & Shepard. $1.25.] above the level of the average magazine ethical than poetical. He is didactic, and poetry. Miss Perry has a certain lightness what he writes is written to point a moral

MINOR NOTICES. and ease of style, but the subjects she rather than as an irrepressible expression of chooses are slight, and her treatment shal- thought and feeling which can find an out

The History and Poetry of Finger Rings. low and diffuse. The very smoothness of let in no other form.

By Charles Edwards. [A. C. Armstrong & her verse is a dangerous, almost a fatal, gift,

Co. $1.25.] Mr. Edwards rings many and she might well learn from Mrs. Piatt

CHILDREN'S BOOKS.

changes upon a subject which may be said to the art of terse and vigorous expression. A few Christmas books for children remain be endless. Starting off with a preface by

Idylls and Poems. By Anna Maria Fay. awaiting our attention. The Serpent Charm- R. H. Stoddard, the book is divided into [G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.25.] This little er, by Louis Rousselet, is a well-written, five chapters under various heads. These book of a hundred pages contains a variety subdued, but thrilling, tale of the famous are again subdivided into innumerable acof verse, ranging from snatches and refrains Sepoy Rebellion in India, the country which counts, historical, fabulous, and poetical, of addressed to “ Young Friends,” to the real this author knows so well, and of which he all noted rings; from the ring of Suphis, who idyll of truly Tennysonian dimensions and has already given us such brilliant and lived two thousand years before the time of shadowiness. The author, we should say, attractive descriptions. The " serpent charm- Christ, to the comparatively modern one has been a diligent reader of the best er," who is the hero of the volume, is instru- presented to our late President Pierce by poetry, and has not studied in vain ; but she mental in saving a young lad and his sister some citizens of California. The book is a needs a greater definiteness and precision from a cruel fate at the hands of the natives, very interesting one from the varied scraps of purpose. As it is, she takes us too much and their strange and exciting adventures of historical facts interwoven into the subinto that mystical region where it is the during a very trying experience are narrated ject, as well as the occasional gems of poesy fashion of some master poets to abide, and with great skill, and in a way to fascinate a one finds amongst the rings. In the first

a

ra."

6

go to

The diamond, topaz, amethyst,
The emerald mild, the ruby gav:

66

chapter we have, in connection with a ring never guesses the medicine he is taking. One leading characteristic of the book is its supposed to belong to Shakespeare, the Good sense, good feeling, and good plain grave and serious purpose. It will not whole of that pungent poem inscribed, “ To English, are the characteristics of Mr. please those who read only for entertainthe idol of mine eyes and the delight of my Hovey's thought and style, and we are glad ment. It will please those who heart, Anne Hathaway," of which this to think of such a man as these pages show books for counsel and comfort under the stanza is quoted in application to the sub- as being at the head of one of the great manifold trials and toils of life; who like a ject:

Boston dailies. A more quotable book book that shows up their own follies and Talk not of gems, the orient list,

seldom falls into the reviewer's hands, but weaknesses as well as those of other people,

we must be content with a single extract: and helps them to larger, truer, cheerier Talk of my gem Anne Haihaway!

views of the world. This is, in a word, one She hath-i-way with her bright eye,

“Yes," observed a friend, the other evening, Their various lustre to desy,

"she certainly is very highly cultivated, she is very of the few books which we shall lay aside The jewel she, and the foil they,

stylish, plays well, sings well, talks well, dances for our own private reading, to be kept at So sweet to look Anne huth-cz-way. She hath-1-way

well, and rides well, and succeeds admirably in hand as a trusty counselor and friend. Anne Hathanay,

private theatricals. In fact,” he added, “she is To shame bright gems Anne hath-a-way.

just one of the kind of girls you'd like one of An interesting feature to many will be the care to marry her?” “ By no means, my dear

your friends to marry." “Then you wouldn'ı Great Authors of All Ages. By S. Ausspace devoted to precious stones. The fellow. What I am looking for is a real nice tin Allibone. [J. B. Lippincott & Co. $5.00.)

Dr. Allibone, now assistant librarian, in author gives an alphabetical list of them, girl.” with their French names, and a sort of cal

charge of the catalogue, of the Lenox Li

The Egotist. Essays of Life. By Henry T. brary, New York, is best known to the endar with the stones, and their influences,

King. (Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. public by his useful series of works in Engcorresponding to each month of the year. $1.50.] Here is a very original book, rugged lish literature, comprising (1) A Critical Then, too, we have a full list of the super- with native power, unpolished like a block Dictionary of English Literature and Austitions connected with the various gems, of granite fresh from the hills, with many thors, in three volumes ; (2) Poetical Quotaand their influence upon the wearers. Alto

crudenesses of style and some grammatical tions from Chaucer to Tennyson ; (3) Prose gether the book is replete with information

errors, but thoughtful, serious, frank, uncon- Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay. To upon the subject, and full of gossipy stories

ventional, and suggestive, in a marked de- this series the volume before us is an addiof historical personages as well as of their

gree. The author, whom we judge to be a tion. It is an octavo of moderate thickness, rings.

Philadelphia lawyer, maintains no reserve made up of prose extracts from toward two Causerie. From the Boston Evening

with his readers, but takes them at once hundred authors, all of whom the compiler

into his fullest confidence. He tells them includes under the general description of Transcript. [Roberts Brothers. $1.00.) The French say causerie, but the reader must

how his book came to have its being in "great.” The “greatness ” is certainly relnot mind it. It's only a way they have. If the reflections which have occurred to him ative rather than absolute, and if some of they had had a good English education, they while sitting at his desk, which he wrote those included belong of right in the list, would say chit-chat. Causerie and lingerie down just as they occurred, without any we do not exactly understand the omission go together in the Boston young woman's attempt to make an orderly arrangement of of others. What constitutes the “great

them. vocabulary. And as the evening Transcript

“ Originality has been lost,” he re- ness” of an author ? The number of his is the Boston young woman's paper par marks, “ in bad imitations.” “The world books, their quality, or the acknowledged

does not need books made from books." He fame he has attained ? In the main the excellence, there seems a peculiar propriety in giving the title of Causerie to the dainty very truly says: “If the writer has no selections here are judicious, but there are little paragraphs on men, women, and things thoughts, no experience, no views of his some commonplace names for such a comwith which the columns of that estimable own to give, if he has nothing to tell of what pilation. The volume seems to differ from journal have been graced of late. A selec- he has seen and felt, let him be silent." the third in its series in giving much longer tion of them has now been gathered into a

This is good advice, and we think that extracts, and fewer of them, and in classitasteful booklet, quite worthy of a place judged by iťMr. King's book deserves to be. fying them not according to topics, but among the choice volumes of any well-regu- One always takes up a volume like it with a apparently according to their time. It lated family. The author of these editorial good deal of distrust, lest he should get his is therefore not so truly one of quotations, waifs is understood to be no less a person

mouth full of tasteless platitudes and stale in the ordinary sense of that word, as it is age than Mr. Wm. A. Hovey himself, the commonplaces. But this is distinctly not of samples, so to speak, capable of giving veritable editor of the Transcript, who has that kind of a book. We recognize its gen- the reader an idea of each author's style. A varied the onerous duties of his position by

uine quality at once. Its title does it injus- short biographical and bibliographical sketch throwing off from day to day these entertain-tice; it is not egotistical in an unpleasant precedes the extracts from each. The book ing paragraphs, which fall from his pen as

sense at all. The author admits us to the is very well made and is thoroughly indexed, airily and gracefully as the crisp and curling place he occupies, and asks us to look at life as of course it would be, coming from Dr. shavings from the turner's lathe. None of as he sees it. His opinions are pronounced, Allibone's hands. the topics touched — they are only touched and are colored with much of his per

SHAKESPEARIANA. - are very important, but then one does not sonality; but, as he says, “ to be of any use

(EDITED BY W. J. ROLFE, CAMBRIDGEPORT, MASS.) look for, nor even ask for, importance in in this world, you must be an egotist.” Some

Mutilated Quotations. We have received lightsome work of this sort. He wants to be of his sentences are worthy of being written

the following note from C. M. Ingleby, M. A., entertained a moment at a time, just as he on the heart. This for example: picks at a plate of nuts and raisins, and sips until he has measured the full capacity of a

Let no man complain of the shortness of life, Hermeneutics, or the Still Lion, and as the editor

LL.D., well known as the author of Shakespeare his sherry after dinner. And yet, Mr. Hovey day.

of Shakespeare's “Centurie of Prayse : is a truer preacher and a better moralist than Or this:

The protest (vol. x. No. 23. p. 362) is amply some of the theologians. He is full of an

justified by the lazy habit of slip-shod quotation. ecdote and reminiscence, but he makes of those you have, and brings no others.

Discontent with your gifts destroys the power But the protestor and corrector should himself

be accurate : for quomodo ipsas correctiones every item tell in pointing a duty or illustratAnd this:

corrigentur ? Unfortunately the beautiful lincs ing a truth. And it is all done with so much

from Burns's Tim O'Shanter are marred by one good nature, with so pleasant a smile, and vited to take a front seat will see the play from line as

In the theater of life, he who waits to be in blemish. He could not have written such a in such a merry tone of voice, that the taster the lobby it he sees it at all.

Or like the snow-falls in the river,

a

for his delicate ear and æsthetic judgment would miss the exact words of the passage, but he could Reports on the Paris Universal Exposition of have forbidden the plural ; and in point of fact hardly forget that the first clause, like the second, 1878. It is prepared by skilled workmen in the the line runs : is negative.

different branches of fine manufactures it repreOr like the snowfall in the river,

For the benefit of readers who may not be sents; among these are pottery, terra cotta, glass thus avoiding the cacophonous zin, and binding able to trace the last quotation from Milton, we in all its forms, ornamental iron work, plaster all the syllables in one graceful and harmonious would say that it is in Paradise Lost, iv. 297, and work, jewelry, watch and clockmaking, furniture, rhythm. I proceed to note a few of the more disastrous instances of misquotation which I reads :

iron and steel, woven fabrics, etc. Horticulture, have met with in modern literature. In Russell's

For contemplation he and valour form’d. printing, mechanical engineering, the making of Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti, 1858, p. 213, we read:

Mr. J. Crosby calls our attention to the fact machine tools, agricultural implements, and that Milton's

other branches of industry, are included in the The starving meal, and all the thousand aches

list.— The Hogarth and Rubens recently brought Which patient merit of the unworthy takes.

To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new

out in the series of “Illustrated Biographies of Was this meant as a quotation from Hamlet, or (Lycidas, 193) is almost invariably quoted : what? Again, in John Stuart Mill's Examina

Great Artists,” are among the most interesting

To-morrow to fresh fields, etc. tions of Sir W. Hamilton's Philosophy, 1865, p.

volumes yet issued, and are especially attractive 39, he quotes, as from Hamilton's Discussions, To the Shakespearian misquotations we may in their illustrations.— Sala's Paris was in such p. 13, a line from Paradise Lost, book iii, with add Lowell's (Among My Books, p. 185): demand that the importation was at once exan error into which Hamilton did not fall :

There is a willow grows athwart the flood, hausted and many orders left unfilled.-A pamall we know, is known as — for

phlet containing Notes by Mr. Ruskin on Samuel Won from the cold and formless infinite,"

There is a willow grows aslant a brook

Prout and William Hunt contains some of the “cold” being an error for “void.” Somewhat later in the same work Mill quotes again from (Hamlet, iv. 7. 167) ; and John Weiss's (Wit, latest and most striking art criticism by Ruskin, Paradise Losh, and also with an error : Humor, and Shakespeare, p. 81):

and is of great interest. It was called forth by Cycle on epicycle, orb on orb.

Dost thou not suspect my ears?

a loan collection of drawings on exhibition in

London, and contains some of his most telling In the Churchman's Family Magazine, July, for Dogberry's

utterances. 1865, p. 62, the line :

Dost thou not suspect my years?
To unwind all thy harmony,

– The Memoirs of Prince Metternich, if it ful(Much Ado, iv. 2. 79). There is no authority fills the expectations awakened, will be one of is said to remind one of Milton's

for such a reading, and Dogberry would not be the most important publications of the coming Untwisting all the hidden strings

likely to confound words so familiar as years year, and a valuable contribution to the history That tie the power of harmony:

and ears. Whereas the couplet in L'Allegro is :

of the time of the first Napoleon. The Prince The “moral” is, Be careful in your quotations, Metternich of that day, from his connection with Untwisting all the the chains that tie,

and beware of trusting to memory; and be The hidden power of harmony.

politics and his residence in London, Berlin, and particularly careful when you are correcting Dresden, had opportunity to know the inner In the Sunday at Home, September, 1865, p. 552, we have a curious misquotation from the other people's misquotations.

workings of diplomacy, and to view the quesTwo Gentlemen of Verona :

tions of the day from several sides, and thus is Making sweet music to each little sedge

NEWS AND NOTES.

able to cast considerable fresh light upon the As forth it hasted on its pilgrimage: Whereas the exquisite lines which (I much fear) – J. B. Lippincott & Co. will soon contribute career of Napoleon; so much, in fact, that his Shakespeare borrowed from The Seven Champ to pastoral theology a 12mo volume by the Rt. relatives were enjoined from making use of the ions of Christendom, Part III, are:

Rev. Gregory Thurston Bedell, D. D., Bishop of papers he left ready for publication until after Giving a gentle kiss to every sede

the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese the expiration of a certain time. This date being He overtaketh in his pilgrimage.

of Ohio. It is entitled The Pastor, and has for passed, the book is now being made ready. It In the Quarterly Review, Januiry, 1873, the

covers the important years of 1809-1815, and sapient reviewer quotes from Antony and Cleopa. a motto, “Experientia Docens, Docet, Docuit.”

contains an autobiography edited by a son of tra the amazing lines :

– M. & H. Burgheim, of Cincinnati, have the writer and prepared by a grandson, the Age can weary her, nor custom tire

recently brought out a number of new publicaHer infinite variety.

present Prince Metternich. It will be published tions; two of which are German almanacs for “ wither” and “stale” are, of course, the words 1880; two more are of local interest, one being and America; Charles Scribner's Sons having it

simultaneously in Germany, England, France, of Shakespeare. Once more, in the Times, November 4, 1873, an album of views of Cincinnati, the other a

here. in a report of Mr. Gladstone's speech at Edin: guide map of the city. -A work of fiction is

- Charles Scribner's Sons have in press two burgh, that great statesman is made to quote called Leisure Hours, and they also issue the from Paradise Lost the ridiculous line, the first Poems of Fred Hassaurek.

works by college presidents; a treatise on The man, remember, being the subject :

Emotions, by Dr. McCosh, and Dr. Woolsey's work - Sheldon & Co. are to bring out The First For contemplation and for valour born!

on Communism and Socialism. Dr. Robinson will Principles of Political Economy, by Aaron L. have a book for Bible classes, and Bible readers We print Dr. Ingleby's note precisely as he Chapin, D. D., President of Beloit College, and in general, called Studies in the New Testament ; has written it. The article that suggested it was author of Wayland's Elements of Political and Dr. Marvin R. Vincent a volume of sermons not ours, but we fully agree with him that “the Economy as Recast. The present work springs under the title Faith and Character. All these protestor and corrector should himself be accu- from the success of the former, and has been will probably be ready in January. rate.” And now shall “the enginer” be “hoist prepared especially for the use of high schools with his own petar and academies. Particular attention has been

- The Life of Alexander Duff will not be Whether our friend's Latin is a quotation or

paid to concise and simple statement, and the ready as soon as expected, as there has been not, he is too good a scholar to have written whole has been compressed within a 16mo vol- some delay in the preparation of the second vol"ipsas ” unless by a slip of the pen. He doubt. ume of 225 pages.

It will, however, appear early in the year, less meant to write ipsæ, or else to use an active

- Scribner & Welford have a very attractive brought out by A. C. Armstrong & Son. verb; but in a case like this he should write

pocket edition of Dickens in thirty 16mo vol- - Modern Thinkers, Principally Upon Social what he means to write. Again, he miscorrects the couplet from L'Alle- umes, printed in clear type. Each set comes in Science ; What They Think, and why, by Prof.

a tasteful little book-case in the form of a box V. B. Denslow, is the new volume Belfords, gro, the second line of which should be:

with two shelves and “chapel” doors, covered Clarke & Co. have in hand. It is illustrated harmony.

with cloth to match the binding of the volumes. with portraits, and has an introduction by IngerThe line from Paradise Lost, viii. 84, he only the price, $16, is reasonable, and a more accept

soll. half corrects:

able present could hardly be found. — They also -G, P. Putnam's Sons have made arrangeCycle and epicycle, orb in orb.

have complete in twelve volumes the new series ments to issue two new editions of Irving's We suspect that the quotation in the Quarterly of Tales from Blackwood, that are always in works, the “Spuyten Duyvil Edition," which will Review (we cannot look it up at this moment) demand.— A thick octavo volume that will ap-include his humorous and lighter writings, and reads, “Age cannot weary her,” etc, unless the peal to cultivated artisans and to lovers of fine the “Geoffiey Crayon Edition,” which will le omission of the not is a misprint. One might I work is called The Society of Arts; Artisan I complete, and will be brought out in handsvine

ume.

The hidden soul