suits their purpose,ving_undey both parties with reference to the dealin of each other. The scenery in the neighbourhood of Ningpo is renowned throughout the Empire for its loveliness, and some idea of its nature may be gathered from the photographs Mr. Thomson gives us of the district known to Europeans as the Snowy Valley. In the letter-press which accompanies them, he thus describes his impression of the scenes which his camera has depicted : "The azaleas, for which the place is celebrated, were in full bloom, mantling the hills and valleys with rosy hues, and throwing out their blossoms in clusters of surpassing brilliancy against the deep green foliage which binds the edges of the path. The mountains in many places were thickly wooded, while jagged rocks from amid the folds of the foliage shot up their bold cliffs in striking contrast. But it was just before reaching the richly-tilled lands of the monastery that we came across the finest scene. Here, as we looked back from the altitude of about 1,500 feet, the eye wandered over an endless multitude of hills. A single cloud rested on a distant summit as if to watch the windings of a stream which ran, wrapt in the glory of the evening sun, like a belt of bright gold, dividing the valleys and girdling the far-off mountain sides. As the sun declined, the bill-tops seemed to melt and merge into the fiery clouds, deep shadows shot across the path swallowing up the woody chasms and warning us that night was near at hand." From Ningpo Mr. Thomson passes to Shanghai, and from thence up that gigantic river, the Yang-tsze Kiang, which, taking its rise in the mountains of Thibet, traverses the breadth of the Empire through the gorges of Szechuan and Hoopeh, and the plains of Kiangsoo, until it empties itself in the Eastern Sea. Nanking, Hankow, and other cities which line its banks, make most interesting pictures, and some of the photographs of the natives, notably a street group at Kinkiang and some prisoners at Shanghai, are most happily chosen. By beginning in the betterknown parts of the Empire, and from thence taking his readers with him into those districts which are less generally frequented by Europeans, Mr. Thomson has been successful in heightening the interest attaching to each succeeding volume of his work. One more has yet to appear to complete the series, which together will form a most perfect and valuable pictorial account of the maritime provinces of China, extending northwards from Hongkong to Pekin, and westwards from Shanghai to the western province of Szechuan. NOVELS OF THE WEEK. 2 vols. (Chap A Life's Reward. By H. M. Lysons. (Tinsley Brothers.) Two Little Wooden Shoes. By Ouidà. man & Hall.) Trumped with the Deuce. By J. Panton Ham. 3 vols. (Newby.) Once and for Ever. By the Author of 'No Appeal.' 3 vols. (Tinsley Brothers.) Do novels get worse and worse? or is it that continued torture from bad novels makes us more and more sensitive? We can hardly say; but when we get a book in which clergymen and officers talk like ill-mannered schoolboys; in which officers' wives sit with their hair in curl-papers at ten o'clock, burst into fits of passionate tears, and bury their faces in their aprons, and receive boxes on the ears from their husbands, only "crying peevishly, 'Oh! John, you hurt me""; in which people born in India are called Asiatics, and credited with the physical peculiarities of such; in which, in short, everybody is disagreeable and vulgar, without being in the least like anything ever without being in the least like anything ever seen in real life; we think the exceeding badness cannot be wholly a figment of the critic's over-irritated brain. Such is the general imSuch is the general impression produced upon us by the earlier part of 'A Life's Reward'; and when a little later we find a trial for murder, in which the counsel for the defence practically taxes one of the witnesses with being, if not a principal, at least an accessory, and urges him to confess; while at the end of the book a person totally unconnected with the story, and never mentioned before, confesses himself to have been the criminal-we do not find our opinion of the book raised. Why is there not a good heavy ad valorem (with regard to the publishing price) tax on novels? The good ones could afford to pay it, and it would suppress the bad ones. We commend the suggestion to any future Chancellor of the Exchequer who wants a substitute for the Income Tax. The earlier portion of Ouida's new story is, in spite of the writer's mannerisms, pleasing and interesting; but the latter part of the volume is by no means equal to the opening. Evidently, the author took at first a good deal of trouble with the character of Bébée, and with success; but afterwards, she would seem to have tired of the task, and, neglecting to trace as carefully the later developments of her heroine's mind, she has attempted to conceal the defect, by introducing wild and improbable incidents. She has bestowed much pains on the descriptions of Brussels and the neighbouring country in the first chapters; but scenery is not her forte. Her descriptions are the result of reading, not of observation, and are redolent of the atmosphere of the theatre, not of the open air. There is the usual affectation of great knowledge-how proud Ouidà obviously is of knowing the Flemish name of Antwerp !—and the odd little slips which betray the hollowness of the pretension. A French artist would be amused at the high value Ouidà supposes painters to set upon the pictures of Ary Scheffer. Of course, the English is often dubious "patheticness," for instance, is an odd word. But these are minor faults; and the tale is so graceful, and the writer's power so considerable, that readers will forgive even the more serious defects we have mentioned. Upon the whole, Ouidà has, in this volume, maintained the reputation she acquired by 'Pescarèl,' and, like that charming novel, 'Two Little Wooden used to produce. Shoes,' is far superior to the monstrosities she With the exception of some Shakspearean quotations at the heads of the chapters, there is nothing to read in 'Trumped with the Deuce.' Mr. Ham's narrative records how some very vulgar people from London went to live in the country, and endeavoured to form an alliance with a baronet, who is merely an idiot. The idiot is supplanted by an elder brother who has been long supposed to be illegitimate, and the matrimonial alliance is made, not with the Barker family, but with a young relation of theirs, also of dubious birth, who was at one time in their household as a servant girl. Her sister at the same time marries the baronet's idiot brother, so that the exclusion of the pure Barkers is complete. This is supposed to be a great blow to "Mrs. Barker, sen.," an old woman who combines meanness, pride, and ill-temper, with those Evangelical principles which we are taught by novelists of this class to regard as inseparable from such qualities. This dull and vulgar book is absolutely unredeemed by a single particle of humour. The curate of Danbury, whose story is told in 'Once and for Ever,' certainly goes through some remarkable experiences of the eccentricities of womankind. tricities of womankind. He is a well-meaning clergyman of the ordinary type, and precisely of that colourless sort of character which is necessary to exhibit the full effect of external circumstances. He is eminently susceptible of female influence, and, accordingly, we find him deeply and unfortunately in love on two occasions. In the first case, the young widow, who has aroused his affectionate interest, partly in consequence of a romantic passage in their early life, partly because she has been the victim of a most miserable marriage, shocks him and repels his addresses by the confession that she allowed her first husband to die of an overdose of morphia, an incident which, however, makes no difference in the demand made upon our sympathies in her behalf. In the second, the charming young lady, to whom he is happily married, conceals from him the fact that she is uncertain whether her first husband, who has long deserted her, is living or dead; and when that gentleman re-appears, instantly leaves the curate and their child, and only presents herself again as a dying penitent in a High-Church Sisterhood of Mercy. One would have thought that such persistent ill-fortune would have deterred even a curate from venturing again upon a matrimonial experiment; but Mr. Norton endeavours to console himself with the hand of a lady of Scotch extraction, who is represented as passionately devoted to the bagpipes, and as possessing a commercial cousin, who habitually travels in the garb of old Gaul. This lady discovers that she does not possess his whole affection, and after sorely exercising his patience, sitting upon a garden roller in the rain to bewail her ill-requited love, and otherwise conducting herself in strange and improbable fashion, dies tragically in saving her husband's life, while they are crossing a swollen ford on horseback. This odd disjointed narrative is not without glimpses of ability, though its treatment is marred by too many rough colloquialisms, and many evidences of carelessness and ignorance. The Evangelicals, of whom we have one or two unfavourable specimens, are treated with true clerical scurrility; the pictures of schoollife are coarse and unpleasant; and, we may mention as a proof of how much general information the author possesses, that the Indian mutiny is made to precede the Crimean war. On the other hand, there are some Latin verses in the book which are just tolerable; there are some rather smart observations on Darwinism and kindred topics, and certainly some minor characters which are distinctly drawn. Gresley and his wife, Mrs. Richards, and the General, are better than the hero and his ladies. Indeed, in spite of a good deal of shallow dogmatizing, the book is so far good. as to lead us to regret it was not better. SCHOOL-BOOKS. LONG before Ollendorff published his method of learning languages, a system of learning by sentences was used in India. That was the system of Dosabhai Sorábjí, who, in the Preface to his volume of Idiomatical Sentences, published at Bombay in 1843, tells us that he taught as long back as 1803. It does not much matter whether these sentences be in the form of question and answer or not, provided they go on from the short and simple to the long and difficult, and that they be grouped under heads, in order that they may be the better recollected. Perhaps it is less wearisome, and certainly much less absurd, to follow the old Pársí Munshi's plain method than to be pestering the pupil with inquiries whether he has the ass which his friend has, and making him reply that he has not got that but the one that you have. There are hundreds of sentences in Ollendorff that never could be uttered out of Bedlam, where of course it is possible that you might be told that the Frenchman's boy has not your good umbrellas, but your good scissors, and might be asked how many noses has the man. But reasonable people care nothing about the Frenchman's boy, and are quite satisfied that neither he nor any one else has more than one nose. Capt. Holroyd has, in the Tas-hil ul Kalam or, Hindustani made Easy (H. S. King & Co.), supplied a series of most useful sentences; and we are certain that there is no better way of acquiring Hindústání than by learning them carefully; Having said that the book is a good one, we should wish to make one or two suggestions. In the first place, would it not be better to use the dotted K for the Arabic Káf, rather than q, which does not truly represent any letter in Hindústání? Next we strongly advise that the first word in the volume, Tas-hil, be written Tashil, without any hyphen. It is a single word, why make two of it? Again, we cannot approve of representing i, followed by a vowel, as iy rather than iy, because the Y is simply euphonic; and, if we adopt this plan, we can make no distinction between the short, clearly seen in dudhiya, 'milky,' when written in Hindi, and the long, in Kurtiyán, plural of Kurti. E and o are unknown sounds in Arabic; then why attempt to represent them by the Arabic system, as at page xii, where Káf ye zer=Ki and Káf ye zer-Ke. The ye, in the latter case, is no longer movable by zer alone, but by aber and zer combined, since ă+=e. So with the other diphthongs; and we think it would be easier for the pupil if K were spelled Káf ye zer, and Ke were spelled Káf, ye. At p. 12, for "three onions" it would be more correct to say bunches of onions." At p. 17, for "two few" read too few. At p. 39 we would suggest maktab as the word to translate "school," rather than madrisah. At p. 21, "His house is next to mine" is translated by Uská ghar mere ghar ke pás hi hai, for which we have generally heard Uská ghar, mere paros men hai. At p. 39, for aủa Azam Khán nó họ read aur Azam Khán na họ. We object to such barbarous expressions as "mattan ka gosht" for bher ka gosht, and to the use of g for ghain, though that may be according to the new system. The short grammar and exercises which follow the sentences seem to us very good. "three GRAMMARS for the use of beginners in any language differ, as far as we can see, only in their greater or less accuracy; the first care of every one who has attained a certain mastery over the language being to forget, as far as possible, the lists of rules and exceptions through which he once painfully struggled, and to go by his own experience. Still the scaffolding is doubtless necessary at first; and, viewed in this light, Mr. Armitage's French Grammar (Nutt) will probably be found as good as another. We do not suppose that beginners will trouble themselves to read the Preface; if they do, they will hardly be enlightened by such a statement as the following: "In the universal relatives we find the complement form quel que, distinct from the attributive quelque que" (the final que is, we take it, a misprint). But with the Preface obscurity ceases, and the Grammar itself of note have be sued by Mr. Ridgway. There are some ginteresting passages in these letters, but the greater number of them have no importance whatever, and should certainly not have been reprinted. Thomas Grant, First Bishop of Southwark, by of biographies which are ruined by a spirit of Miss Ramsay, must be added to the long, long list gushing idolatry. In Miss Ramsay's eyes the Bishop was simply perfection in everything he did and everything he said. Dr. Grant was certainly an excellent man; but his life was hardly important enough to demand a volume of nearly five hundred pages, even had they been written by some one capable of discrimination. Messrs. Smith & Elder publish the book. To the new edition of Sir T. E. Colebrooke's memoir of his father, which originally appeared in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Messrs. Trübner have now added a new edition of Cole brooke's MR. GASC has sent us a French and English SOME time ago we had occasion to speak favourably of Mr. Stewart's First Greek Course, published by Messrs. Oliver & Boyd. The same firm send us a First Latin Course, by Dr. Ogilvie, which is, however, quite behind the scholarship of the day. OUR LIBRARY TABLE. Miscellaneous Essays, superintended, with his usual care, by Prof. Cowell. Important errors are corrected, and notes added, which the progress of the knowledge of Oriental matters necessitated. To the essay on the Vedas, a comattached. The three volumes form a noble meplete commentary by Prof. Whitney, of Yale, is morial to the great scholar. WE have received from Messrs. Baillière, Tindal & Cox, Life on the Gold Coast, by Dr. Charles Alexander Gordon, C.B. Dr. Gordon's recollections take the form of a collection of notes on various subjects connected with the Gold Coast, and contain so much information that it is to be regretted that his book was not published sooner. Carefully exact and impartial the author evidently is, and by the simplicity of his style he succeeds in attaining what should be the aim of every writer of a work like this. He almost persuades the reader that he has been by the narrator's side, and that the experiences of the latter are those of the former. A few pages are devoted to a statement of all that is known or conjectured concerning the origin and history of the Ashantees and Fantees, and are well worth perusal. We are told also something of the animal and vegetable kingdoms on the coast of Guinea, of the customs, institutions, language, and useful portion of the book is that which deals with the life and habits of Europeans in that part of the world. In illustration, Dr. Gordon relates his own experiences while employed with the expedition against Appolonia in 1848. The question of health and climate is naturally discussed at length, and we confess we rise from a perusal of the book with considerable misgivings. It has been the fashion lately to promulgate the idea that the fears at first entertained regarding the health of the troops are exaggerated; that the coast, after all, was not so bad as it was supposed to be; that much of the mortality which occurred in former years was due to imprudence and excess; that, in short, Europeans, with due precautions, might very well preserve their health during the dry season. The optimists who take this view are only partially right. Dr. Gordon asserts that "the temperate and abstemious are by no means seldom the first to succumb." The mortality caused by neglect of the ordinary rules of prudence is, he declares, "but a very small item indeed." Fifty years ago, the deaths among the white troops amounted to an appalling number, and "the physical conditions, upon which much of the sickness really depends, are the same in 1873 as they were half a century ago." With regard to sanitariums and floating hospitals, he objects to our placing much reliance upon them. Nothing short of immediate removal to England will be sufficient. We are happy to be able to say that the authorities seem to have adopted this view. Intermingled with graver matter are several amusing stories, and two or three interesting sketches of social life on the coast. In fact, this book fulfils the promise of its title, and should be read by all those anxious to realize the difficulties and perils by which IN the pleasant' Memorials' which were given to the world shortly after his decease, Lord Cock-religion of the natives; but the most practically burn wrote:-"The Whig party in Scotland had, some time before this, gained a material accession of strength by Thomas Kennedy of Dunure getting into Parliament. With great judgment, high principle, and a love of work, he was thoroughly acquainted with Scotland, and had no ambition greater than that of doing it good. And his power was considerably increased by his marriage important English connexions. with Romilly's daughter, which introduced him to He and I had often conferred on the absurdity, and the flagrant injustice, of the power still left to the presiding judge to select the jury in criminal cases; and it was settled that the correction of this evil should be his first parliamentary effort. . . . In 1821 Kennedy moved for leave to bring in a bill for the introduction of ballot. On this, the Lord Advocate circulated an authoritative rescript to the lairds to oppose the democratic measure. He suggested the very grounds to them, which cannot now be read without amazement. The reform was no sooner effected, than it was almost unanimously applauded; and there is not a single sane man by whom the old system is now defended. . . . Kennedy persevered, and in the Commons was always successful. But he failed in the Lords. However, the existing system was seen to be indefensible, and in the session of 1822 Lord Melville, who was then Scotch manager, got a bill passed giving each prisoner a few peremptory challenges, but still leaving the judge to pick. This is sometimes called Lord Melville's Act; and he is certainly entitled to the praise due to him who first opposes a good measure, and then adopts it. It was Mr. Kennedy's Act in every true sense." A series of letters which were written to Mr. Kennedy by Lord Cockburn and other men gallant countrymen serving under Sir Garnet Wolseley are now surround FROM Mr. Stanford we have received two ex cellent Maps, one of the railways, tramways, &c., existing in London and its suburbs, and another of those projected, the schemes of which have been deposited in the Private Bill Office. The second map also gives other proposed changes in the metropolis. Both deserve high praise. MESSRS. SMITH & SON send us London Rail ways Simplified and Explained, a courageous but not altogether successful attempt to explain the mysteries of Clapham Junction and other puzzles which railway managers have put together of late years for the edification of the travelling public. Science. Abney's (Capt.) Instructions in Photography, cr. 8vo. 2/6 swd. Todhunter's Treatise on the Integral Calculus, 4th edit. 10/6 Bickelo's (D.) The Byzantines, an Essay (in Modern Greek), 5/ Chambers's Information for the People, 5th edit. Vol. 1, royal 8vo. 8/ cl. Church Bells, Vol. 3, 1873, 4to. 7/6 cl. Cockburn's (H.) Works, new edit. 2 vols. cr. 8vo. 10/ cl. 2 vols. cr. 8vo. 21/ cl. A MISTAKEN ALLUSION TO SHAKSPEARE. January 27, 1874. Vaccinations performed in France during the Year 1867, by G. S. Gibbs (Longmans),-Small-Pox and Vaccination: a Letter addressed to Major Perry's (J.) Elementary Treatise on Steam, 18mo. 4/6 cl. Graham, Registrar-General, by G. S. Gibbs (Darlington, Penney).-The Organization of the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers explained, by T. Brassey, M.P.(Longmans),-Military Education in relation to National Defence (Mitchell),-Notes on Field Artillery Projectiles, by Capt. J. R. Oliver (Mitchell), -Correspondence with the Universities Commission, addressed to the Right Hon. S. H. Walpole, M.P., and A. J. B. Beresford-Hope, M.P., by the Rev. R. Phelps, D.D. (Macmillan),-Earth Sculpture Timbs's (J.) Anecdote Lives of the later Wits and Humourists, and the Huttonian School of Geology, by A. Geikie (Macmillan),-Wages in 1873, Address read before the Social Science Association at Norwich, by T. Brassey, M.P. (Longmans),—Reform Club Papers, 1872-73 (Macmillan),-Jack Brass, Emperor of England, by R. Jefferies (Pettitt),-Chambers's Educational Course: Standard Geography of Scotland, by R. Anderson (Chambers),-Four Months in North America, by W. H. Charlton (Hexham, Courant' Office), Half-Hour Recreations in Natural History, Part I., by A. S. Packard (Boston, Estes & Lauriat),-Fors Clavigera, by John Ruskin, Letter 37 (Smith & Elder), -The Sutro Tunnel and Railway to the Comstock Lode in State of Nevada, by A. Sutro (Stanford), A Shadow of the Oresteia, by A. Towgood (Rivingtons),-An Introductory Lecture on Classical Archaeology, by B. Lewis, M.A. (Cambridge, University Press),Studies in Modern Problems, No. III. The Sanctity of Marriage,' edited by the Rev. O. Shipley, M.A. (King),-The Revelation of Saint John compared with other Apocalyptic Writings, by the Rev. J. C. Rust, M.A. (Cambridge, Deighton & Bell),-The Church of England: Reform or Disestablishment, which? by one of her Presbyters (Hardwicke),-Essay on Germs of Scepticism, by Mrs. L. Le Bailly (Town and Country Publishing Company),-Studies in Modern Problems, No. II. 'Abolition of the Thirty-Nine Articles,' edited by the Rev. O. Shipley, M.A. (King),-Peivash Parneh, translated by F. E. Weatherly, B.A.,-A Sermon, by E. W. Benson, D.D. (Macmillan),-On Missions, by F. Max Müller, M.A. (Longmans),The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment Vindicated, by the Rev. Prof. Watts, D.D. (Belfast, Mullan),— and Examen de Quelques Points de la Physiologic du Cerveau, by D. E. Dupuy (Paris, Delahaye). --- We have on our table The Prayer Book, with Scripture Proofs and Historical Notes, by A. T. Wirgman, M.A. (Bemrose),—Historical Course for Schools, History of Scotland, by M. Macarthur (Macmillan), Maud Vivian, a Drama, and Poems, by W. Rew (Moxon),-Adulterations of Food, by R. J. Atcherley, Ph.D. (Isbister),-The Belles of Botteville Tower, a Christmas Story in Verse, and other Poems, by F. G. Lee (Parker),-Out of the Depths, the Story of a Woman's Life (Ward & Lock), A Small Country House: a Brief Practical Discourse on the Planning of a Residence, by R. Kerr (Murray),-Saxe Holm's Stories (Low), The Secret Trials of the Christian Life, by G. E. Jelf, M.A. (Mozley),-Words of Hope from the Pulpit of the Temple Church, by C. J. Vaughan, D.D. (King),—The House that Baby Built, by the Author of The Fight at Dame Europa's School' (Simpkin), The Luminous Unity, by the Rev. M. R. Miller (Trübner),-Report on the Accidents to Horses on Carriageway Pavements, by W. Haywood (Skipper & East),-Mission Life, edited by the Rev. J. J. Halcombe, M.A., Vol. IV. Part II. (Gardner), Natur-Ethik, by H. J. A. Koerner, 2 vols. (Hamburg, Meissner),-Biblical Monuments, by W. H. Rule, D.D., and J. C. Anderson (Hamilton & Adams),-and Veritas, by H. Melville, edited by F. Tennyson and A. Tuder (Hall). Among New Editions we have National Standard Course, the New Fifth and Sixth "Standard" Readers, by J. S. Laurie (Marshall),-The Ocean, its Tides and Currents and their Causes, by W. L. Jordan (Longmans),-Heraldry: Ancient and Modern, edited and revised, with Additions, by S. T. Aveling (Warne),-Reminiscences of the late T. A. Smith, Esq., by Sir John E. E. Wilmot, Bart. (Chatto & Windus),-The Chained Bible: Scriptural Sketches, Esther, and other Poems, by the Author of 'Kimbolton Castle' (Christian Book Society),- Verses, by H. H. (Boston, Roberts),-Sketches of Modern Paris, translated from the German by F. Locock (Provost),-Some Elements of Religion, by H. P. Liddon, D.D. (Rivingtons),-Poems, by W. C. Bryant, collected and arranged by himself (King), -The Swiss Family Robinson (Warne), The Chandos Classics: The Poetical Works of Mrs. Hemans, Robinson Crusoe, and The Swiss Family Robinson, 3 vols. (Warne),—Best of Everything, by the Author of Enquire Within' (Warne),Jocko, the Brazilian Ape, adapted from the German by Madame de Chatelain (Myers),—The Power of the Priesthood in Absolution, by W. Cooke, M.A. (Parker), Confessions of a Thug, by M. Taylor (King),-Flowers and Festivals; or, Directions for the Floral Decorations of Churches, by W. A. Barrett (Rivingtons),-Yesterday, To-Day, and for Ever, a Poem, by E. H. Bickersteth, M.A. (Rivingtons),-A History of the Church, by the Rev. J. M. Lytton's (Lord) Fables in Song, cr. 8vo. 15/ cl. LIST OF NEW BOOKS. Davies's (J. L.) Warnings against Superstition, 12mo. 2/6 swd. FEW things in the history of our dramatic literature are better known to those familiar with it, or have been oftener quoted in relation to Shakespeare's earliest connexion with the stage, than the melancholy tale of Robert Greene's death, and his admonitory bequest to certain playwrights. Greene terminated a once-promising career under circumstances of the most pitiable destitution, at the house of a poor shoemaker, near Thames Street, on the 3rd of September, 1592. But for the charity of this man and his wife, the wretched poet would have perished in the streets. The last few days of his life he is said to have employed in writing a small pamphlet, entitled 'A Groat's Worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance,' which was published before the close of the same year by Henry Chettle. Towards the end of this pamphlet he addresses a long admonition to three of his fellow-dramatists, who, though he does not name them, are confidently asserted to be Marlowe, Lodge, and Peele. The exhortation is headed, "To those gentlemen his quondam acquaintance, that spend their wits in making playes, R. G. wisheth a better exercise, and wisedome to prevent his extremities," and contains the following interesting passages:-"... Wonder not (for with thee will I first beginne), thou famous gracer of tragedians [Marlowe is the person supposed to be addressed], that Greene, who hath said with thee like the foole in his heart, 'There is no God,' should now give glorie unto his greatnesse; for penetrating is his power; his hand lyes heavy upon me, he hath spoken unto me with a voyce of thunder, and I have felt he is a God that can punish enemies, &c." "With the Í joyne young Juvenal, that byting satyrist, that lastly with mee together writ a comedie. Sweet boy, might I advise thee, be St. Irenæus's Third Book against Heresies, with Notes, &c., by advised, and get not enemies by bitter words, H. Deane, cr. 8vo. 5/6 cl. Philosophy. Cunningham's (J.) New Theory of Knowing and Known, 5/ cl. Brickwood and Croft's Election Manual, cr. 8vo. 5/ cl. Leigh and Marchant's Guide to Election Law, 2nd edit. 12/ cl. Pulbrook's (A.) Ballot Act, 1872, cr. 8vo. 2/ cl. swd. Fine Art. Shakespeare's Home and Rural Life, by J. Walter, illus. 4to. 52/6 cl. Palæography. Utrecht Psalter (The), Reports on the Age of the MS., folio, 9/ History. Dixon's (W. H.) History of Two Queens, Vols. 3 and 4, 30/ cl. Geography. Butler's (Capt. W. F.) Wild North Land, 2nd edit. 8vo. 18/ cl. Neale, M.A. (Mozley),-The Treasury of Botany, Philology. Fowle's (Rev. E.) Short and Easy Greek Book, 12mo. 2/6 cl. &c." [I was formerly of opinion, with most writers on the subject, that the person here forewarned was Thomas Lodge. I am now in possession of evidence which disposes me to believe he could not have been.] "And thou [there is no question but George Peele is meant] no lesse deserving then the other two, in some things rarer, in no thing inferiour, driven (as myselfe) to extreame shifts, a little have I to say to thee; and were it not an idolatrous oath, I would sweare by sweet S. George [referring to Peele's Christian name] thou art unworthy better hap, sith thou dependeth on so mean a stay. Base-minded men all three of you, if by my misery yee bee not warned: for unto none of you (like me) sought those burs to cleave; those puppits, I meane, that speake from our mouths, those anticks garnisht in our colours. Is it not strange that I to whome they all have bin beholding, is it not like that you to whom they all have bin beholding, shall were yee in that case that I am now, be both of them at once forsaken? Yes, trust them not for there is an upstart_crow beautified with our feathers, that, with his Tygres heart wrapt in a players hyde, supposes hee is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you; and, beeing an absolute Johannes Fac-totum, is in his own conceyt, the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.... The words I have italicized, undoubtedly refer to Shakespeare, to whom they appear to impute the having remodelled pieces originally written by the dramatists in question, and brought them upon the stage. After more depreciation of the players, "these apes," "these painted monsters," Greene proceeds to conjure his three companions by his own miserable plight, not to indulge in irreligious oaths; to despise drunkenness; to fly lust, and to "abhore those epicures whose loose life hath made religion loathsome" to them. From Chettle's epistle 'To the Gentlemen Readers,' prefixed to his 'Kind-Harts Dreame,' we find that Greene's expostulation gave deep offence to two of those to whom it was addressed. "About three moneths since," remarks the writer, "died M. Robert Greene, leaving many papers in sundry bookesellers hands; among other, his 'Groatsworth of Wit,' in which a letter written to divers play-makers, is offensively by one or two of them taken; and because on the dead they cannot be avenged, they wilfully forge in their conceites a living author; and after tossing it two [to] and fro, no remedy but it must light on me." "With neither of them that take offence was I acquainted, and with one of them I care not if I never be the other, whome at that time I did not so much spare as since I wish I had.... I am as sory as if the originall fault had beene my fault, because myselfe have seene his demeanor no lesse civill than he exclent in the qualitie he professes; besides, divers of worship have reported his uprightnes of dealing which argues his honesty, and his facetious grace in writting that approoves his art." The " one of them" for whom this apology was intended has, by general consent, been set down as Marlowe; "the other," with equal unanimity, is supposed to have been Shakespeare. That Marlowe was one of the parties who felt indignant at Greene's address, admits of no doubt. He would naturally resent the public charge of atheism, whatever his religious opinions may have been. That Shakespeare was the other party, however, has, I think, been too hastily concluded. Chettle expressly says, that Greene's letter was "written to divers play-makers," and "by one or two of them" offensively taken. Now the letter was certainly not written to Shakespeare; for so far from being one of the play-makers to whom it is addressed, he is, if the "upstart crow" prefigures him, one of those very "puppits," against whom the playmakers are particularly warned. To my mind probabilities are much in favour of Nash being the individual designated as "young Juvenal." He took his Bachelor's Degree at Cambridge in 1585; in 1592 he was quite a young man. Dr. Farmer has noted that he was often called Juvenal by writers of the time; and we find Greene elsewhere addresses him as a "boy." To no man of the age could the term "biting satirist" be so applicable. Speaking of his intensely caustic language, Drayton says:— I surely think Those words shall hardly be set down with ink, It must be remembered, too, that Gabriel Harvey, who took a malicious delight in exhibiting Nash as the boon companion of Greene, describes him as his fellow-writer and a young man; for there can be no hesitation in believing he is speaking, with bitter sarcasm, of Nash in the following passage:- "Alas! even his fellow-writer, a proper young man, that was principal guest at that fatal banquet of pickle-herring (I spare his name, and in some respects wish him well), came never more at him; but either would not, or happily could not, perform the duty of an affectionate and faithful friend." I am well aware that Chettle's words-" And because on the dead they cannot be avenged, they willfully forge in their conceites a living author; I protest it was all Greenes, not mine, nor Maister Nashes, as some unjustly have affirmed," -have been thought to militate against this theory, but I believe they can easily be reconciled with it. If it once be established that Nash was the person indicated by "young Juvenal," there is a reasonable presumption that he was "the other" party who, with Marlowe, took offensively the allusions of Greene. We cannot but infer from his indignant denial of having any hand in that "scald trivial lying pamphlet, cald Green's 'Groatsworth of Wit," and of any but an ordinary acquaintance with Greene, that he was greatly annoyed at the idea of his friends believing him to have been on terms of close companionship with so depraved a character. What the profession was wherein the person in question had manifested excellence, it is impossible with our present evidence to say. But we have nothing to show why Nash, in 1592, might not have deserved the character, from "divers of worship," of a man upright in his dealings. He certainly was entitled to commendation for his "facetious grace in writing." My object at this time, however, is not to prove that Nash was denoted as "young Juvenal," or was one of the two who expressed offence at Greene's premonition. What I contend for is that Shakespeare evidently was not one of the latter. It is possible that the recent discoveries of Mr. J. O. Halliwell, who has done far more to illustrate the life of our great poet than all the rest of his biographers put together, may throw some light even on this incident in his career. H. STAUNTON. NOTES FROM THE UNITED STATES. Boston, January, 1874. APART from the usual activity attending the present-giving Christmas season, the dullness in the field of literature, which I have had to remark in several previous letters, continues to prevail. Our Christmas books become every year, if possible, more gorgeous in ornament and striking devices; but little comparatively of new distinctively Christmas literature is produced. Illustrated editions of the poets, either in complete works or single poems, or selections from various poets on some especial subject, form, as they have done for years, the staple resource of the publishers at Christmas time. It is evident that the demand and taste for richly-decorated volumes of this sort-which the perplexity in which people find themselves at Christmas as to what gifts they shall select, has, no doubt, greatly stimulated, as books are very easy things to buy-have been of good service in bringing about an active rivalry in the art of illustration; an art in which we have long been behind its English practisers. Our artists have betrayed the same deficiency which is apparent in our novelists and our painters-a want, lack of the cumulative culture which betrays itself that is to say, of breadth and universality, and a in the artistic descendants of Hogarth, Gilray, and other patriarchs of English caricature and illustration. It is becoming so evidently a paying profession to illustrate books, that probably in the course of twenty years we may be able to point to American equals of Cruikshank and Leech, with whom surely no one would think of comparing Mr. Thomas Nast, at present the most popular of American caricaturists. In other features of book decoration, too, there is a palpable improvement; and some volumes which have been issued within the past two years, in typography, paper, binding, and skilful workmanship, are not unworthy of rivalry with the best English and French productions. A favourable example of the excellence to which the American art of book-making has attained, is a work recently issued by Messrs. Hurd & Houghton, from their Riverside press, which stands high in public estimation. This is a translation of M. Charles Blanc's 'Grammar of Painting and Engraving.' It is a large volume, printed in fine large clear type, on tinted paper, and is in the main well illustrated by pertinent examples from the masters in both arts. Some of these pictures, indeed, are not good, and are the only external blemish of the volume, which as a whole, however, is certainly one of the most gratifying evidences of book-making progress which I can recall. The same firm publishes, in a scarcely less attractive style, Mrs. Clara Erskine Clement's 'Handbook of Painters, Sculptors,chitects, and Engravers,' a companion volume to her Handbook of Mythological Art.' This is profusely illustrated and beautifully printed, and is said to be a trustworthy art-dictionary, though the information given is necessarily brief. It supplies a void, however, and is one of many indications of a growing general love for the arts in the United States. The Mill's 'Autobiography' has been republished here by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., and has had a large sale, and created a great deal of comment and discussion. Much of Mill's popularity is personal, derived from the fact that he was politically a radical, and that he sympathized with, and uttered many effective words for, the Union during the civil war. same house have re-issued Strauss's 'Old Faith and the New,' which has attracted less attention, as religious controversies in Europe seem to excite comparatively but little interest here, where there are no collisions between ecclesiasticism and politics; and they publish, in a neat volume, the autobiographical fragments of the veteran Jew composer Moscheles, whose memories of Beethoven, Chopin, and others, are of much interest to the multitude of music-loving folk. The Harpers publish the political and personal reminiscences of Mr. Maunsell B. Field, long a resident of Washington, and an intimate of politicians, and for some time a diplomatic agent abroad; his sketches are slight, but in some parts entertaining. Another recent publication of the Harpers' is Gail Hamilton's Twelve Miles from a Lemon,' under which peculiar title the sprightly lady gathers a series of vivacious essays, mainly descriptive of rural life and character in New England. Under the imprint of Lee & Shepard is issued 'Stories of a Grandfather about American History,' an unusually genial and graphic series of historical pictures for young people, by Mr. N. S. Dodge, who has hitherto been exclusively known as one of the pleasantest and most skilful of our magazine writers. Messrs. Lee & Shepard also issue, in Mrs. Armington's Ward,' a novel which is pronounced, in some respects, a more artistic creation than is the average American work of fiction. Scribner & Co. have issued a collection of well-written stories by Saxe Holm, who has already appeared as a poet in whom some merit is recognized; and Osgood & Co. have published Mr. Blackburn's Artists and Arabs,' in a convenient duodecimo, with very prettily executed illustrations. This firm promises soon, a 'Life of Jefferson,' by Francis Parkman, whose historical works' can scarcely be unfamiliar to your readers; and a Life of Mrs. Barbauld,' by Mrs. Ellis, which is, than a volume, with a similar title, published in I believe, a different and somewhat fuller record England. Since I last wrote the Atlantic Monthly has passed out of the hands of the firm which has so long held it, into those of Hurd & Houghton; but contrary to rumours which have been extant, this famous monthly will continue to be published in Boston, and will be, as before, in some sort, an organ of Boston literary taste and culture. The Atlantic was started by Messrs. Phillips & Sampson fifteen or sixteen years ago, its first editor being Mr. J. R. Lowell, the poet; and it owed, to a considerable degree, its success to Mr. F. H. Underwood, the assistant editor, the author of the excellent Handbook of American Literature,' which is about to be introduced into the Boston public schools as a text-book. The magazine, after a few years, passed into the hands of Messrs. Ticknor & Fields, with which firm and its successors it has remained till its recent transferment. Mr. Lowell was succeeded in its editorship by Mr. James T. Fields, a member of the publishing firm; and under him, it reached high eminence and success, Messrs. Longfellow, Dickens, Holmes, Hawthorne, Emerson, Lowell, Whipple, Agassiz, Whittier, and, if I mistake not, Thackeray having been among its contributors. Mr. Field, two years ago, relinquished the editorship to Mr. W. D. Howells, the author of 'Venetian Days' and 'A Chance Acquaintance,' who remains in charge of the Atlantic under the new auspices. The North American Review remains with the Osgoods, and under the charge of Prof. Henry Adams of Harvard, a younger son of Mr. Charles Francis Adams; but Every Saturday, the eclectic weekly, published by Osgoods, passes to Hurd & Houghton, remaining under the editorship of Mr. T. Bailey Aldrich, the poet. Our Young Folks has been merged in Scribner's new magazine for youths, St. Nicholas, which has started off with a good prospect of popularity and success. G. M. T. 'PALMITOS.' St. Petersburg, Jan. 22-10, 1874. In your number of January 17, you did me the honour to take notice of my book, 'Palmitos,' and at the close of your remarks, you say that you would like very much to know what the mysterious creature was which appears at the end of the second volume. The only information I can furnish, besides that given in the text, is the fact of my having seen the creature once, during an excursion; it was a little before dusk, and near the Alto do Imperador, one of the summits belonging to the Petropolis chain of mountains. I was about ten minutes in advance of my companions, coming down the mountain, when suddenly this strange individual of the winged tribe swept by me towards a small untenanted house (although not as old as the ruin described in the novel) which stood a few steps from the path, in among the trees (for all this side of the mountain was forest), about which it hovered for a few minutes, and then disappeared. As I was only armed with a knife and a cane, I made no attempt to kill it, which otherwise would have been easy, as its motions were slow. My description in 'Palmitos' is as truthful as those drawn from memory can be; but as this occurred some nine or ten years ago, I shall not venture to maintain that the image, as to proportions, may not have been more or less altered by time, which is often wont to lessen or magnify impressions left upon the mind. A few days later, I gave an account of what I had seen to a man of science, well versed in several branches of Natural History, especially as regards Brazil; but, as far as I can remember, the creature was quite unknown to him. Pray permit me to avail myself of the opportunity to make an observation or two on other points. The errors to which you take exception are readily acknowledged, and I only wish to state that the improper formation dar'sn't was a slip of the pen for which I cannot account, as I do not use it in speaking; besides, unless I am mistaken, it only occurs once, viz., in chapter xiv. In order to remove a doubt expressed in your review, as to there being Grandees in Portugal, I may add that all Dukes, Marquises, and Counts are ipso facto Grandees by law (January 29, 1739, and June 16, 1786); whereas, the two lower titles, Viscount and Baron, do not give their possessors that rank, except by a special grant made by the sovereign, which neither was nor is often the case. may explain why the title of Grandee in Portugal is not so much in use as in Spain, where it is never attached to another title except by special grant; though, if I am not mistaken, all Dukes are Grandees in Spain; but I am not sure whether, in this instance, the grant is by virtue of custom or law. FIGANIÈRE. THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET. This M. LENORMANT has recently issued the first part of the second volume of his important work, 'Essai sur la Propagation de l'Alphabet Phénicien,' in which he deals with that Aramaic type commonly known as Estrangelo or Syriac, which was first used in Mesopotamia, the Palmyrene variety prevailing for some time longer in Syria Proper. Its earliest form is found in the coins of a certain Mannus, King of Edessa during the time of Hadrian; but, as some of these show Palmyrenian influence, it is probable that their legends ought to be considered as transitional. About the sixth century it obtained a wider expansion, being used as a vehicle for the writing of Persian and Armenian under the Sassanian princes; while it was, still later, during the seventh and eighth centuries, carried into China by the Nestorian missionaries, and adopted by the Uigurs, the first Tátar tribe who learned to write. This adoption is the more remarkable, as it is exactly what the Greeks had done two thousand years previously, in accepting their alphabetic system from a race with whom they had no ethnic affinity. Another people in northeast Asia, the Mantchus, in like manner derive their system of letters from the Syriac, though here Chinese influence greatly modified the characters, the result being several new ones of a quaint and grotesque form. Another alphabet more closely connected with Syria, is the Sabæan or Mendaite, long used by a semi-pagan population, who dwelt in southern Mesopotamia, and were for a while tolerated by the Mohammedans. Their language was unquestionably Aramæan, but, according to Renan, a wretched patois. Passing on, M. Lenormant describes the writing of Auranitis, the district of the Haurán, now so well known by the recent researches of Dr. Porter, Capt. Burton, Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake, M. Waddington, and M. De Vogué, and shows that the inscriptions found there belong to the first century B.C. and the first century A.D. From Auranitis he proceeds to the Nabathæan coins and monuments of Petra, and to the inscribed rocks of Wady Mokatteb and of other places near Mount Sinai. These last he shows to have been cut between the second and the fifth or sixth centuries, to have been the work of pagans as well as of Christians, and to be of little value, except as a catalogue of names. He concludes this portion of his work with a sketch of the history of Arabic writings, commencing with the Cufic. "THE NEW SHAKSPERE SOCIETY." THE Catholic spirit which breathes through every line of Shakspeare should animate all who desire to do honour to his genius. Is this spirit manifested in the Prospectus of the "New Shakspere Society"? I fear not. In 1840 a "Shakespeare Society" was established, which, during its existence, published some fifty volumes illustrative of the poet's life and writings. Of the many scholars and students of Shakspeare who took part in the management of that Society, some have passed away; but there are still many among us who participated more or less actively in that good work. As I write, the names of the following gentlemen occur to me, viz., Mr. Bayle Bernard, Mr. J. P. Collier, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Forster, Mr. Halliwell, Mr. Laing, Mr. Ouvry, Mr. Oxenford, Mr. Planché, Mr. Thoms, M. Van De Weyer, and Mr. Wright. Have any of these gentlemen been invited to give the new Society the benefit of their experience. If not, why not? A satisfactory answer to this inquiry would, I believe, induce many others, as it will me, to become to the new Society, as I was to the old, A SUBSCRIBER. NOTES FROM PARIS. Paris, Feb. 3, 1874. ALTHOUGH the French Academy possesses here only the relics of a reputation and a shadow of authority, the elections of Thursday last have caused a certain stir among men of letters and the reading public. The most revolutionary of peoples is at bottom the most wedded to routine, and the French petulance, which some envy and others decry, has long since been chilled. Nearly a century has passed away since the famous night of the 4th of August, 1789, and yet our titles of nobility, three-fourths of which are fictitious, have more prestige in the eyes of fools than they had in the reign of Louis the Fifteenth. Superstitions which Voltaire killed with ridicule, and which, to make assurance doubly sure, Robespierre drowned in blood, are more alive than ever. There is not a conquest of the modern spirit which is not again called in question among us, and we unlearn daily what we have taught the world. The Academy founded by Cardinal Richelieu is one of the vieilleries which the conservative temper of the nation protects, and will long protect, against a contempt, alas! but too well deserved. Although our honest bourgeois know as well as you or I that, eight or ten superior men excepted, our Immortals are nobodies or mediocrities, they none the less attach especial importance to the title of Immortal. They have kept on protesting for the last twenty years against elections in which intrigue, party spirit, commonplace, have more influence than merit or a sense of justice; yet on the morrow of the election, the Academician, be he what he may, enjoys in their eyes the privileges attaching to the fait accompli. And, what is still more sad to have to acknowledge, there is hardly, I may say, a French writer who has not, at one moment or other in his life, caught the academic fever, and gone and solicited the votes of twenty pedants who are his inferiors in ability. This strange malady is not spontaneous in its origin: it comes through inoculation. A writer who has been in the habit of working for his own amusement and that of others, without thinking evil,-I mean without wishing any other endorsement of his ability than the esteem of good judges and the applause of the public,-meets one fine evening, in a salon, somebody who is recruiting for the Academy, and who says to him, "My dear sir, why are you not one of us? My colleagues have the highest opinion of you. Only eight days ago, at the Duchess of Carabas's, M. Guizot spoke in the highest terms of you!" He who is thus accosted defends himself. He excuses himself, modestly or haughtily, according to his temper. Dumas fils, for example, repelled for a long time all advances with a very noble and very brilliant plea. "I do not see," he used to reply, "what the Academy can add to my name. Besides, it does not become a son to sit down in a chair while his father is standing." Others, who are not so proud, allege that they are overwhelmed with work; that the visits exacted are long and fatiguing; that the prospect of two, three, four successive defeats frightens them; and ask, "After all, what does the Academy do? Nothing. Not even work at the famous dictionary, which France has given up expecting."-"It is a mistake on your part," is the answer, "to feel afraid. To you the door will open. We have so many bad selections to atone for. Don't, through any fault of yours, allow a venerable, interesting, and even pleasant institution to degenerate. You do not know the Academy, nor is it possible to form an opinion about it from outside. Enter, and you will agree with us that the house is a good one." That is how a man is changed into a candidate, a free being into a machine for mounting staircases, a thoughtful writer into a dealer in empty phrases and wornout compliments. Woe to him who ventures to thrust a finger into the machinery of candidature! His whole body passes through, and he comes out pressed quite flat, if he has not the courage to hew off his hand after the first deception. If, as Dumas fils saw perfectly clearly, the Academy adds nothing to those it chooses, it, on the other hand, visibly dwarfs its victims. The honest men whom it allures, only to close the door in their faces, often grow bitter, because it is a trial to find oneself placed below an intriguing fool who has plenty of interest, but also because the experience gained at these elections is full of humiliating deceptions. One loses the habit of believing the word of others. There is an academic faith which borders closely on the Punic. Théophile Gautier was born happy, but he died soured by the mortification and disgust that a long candidature entailed. He said to me, a few months before his end, "I have swallowed a full bushel of adders." Now, the Academy had not, has not, and never will have, in its ranks a writer more pure, more severe, more deliciously perfect in style than he. Taine, whom you and all Europe value as a bold thinker and powerful writer, has just met with a defeat, all the more scandalous as he did not offer himself till things seemed certain, and he was I warned him guaranteed a majority of votes. of the snare, but he was loth to believe me; and how could it be otherwise, when eminent and |