she could only marry a royal personage, she married, in England we believe, but we are not sure, her cousin, H.R.H. Prince Demetrius Rhodocanakis, Emperor of Rhodes. From that time the Rhodocanakises went back to the commercial island of Scio, and propagated emperors, becoming Emperors not only of Rhodes, but also of Byzantium, and also Grand Masters of the Imperial, &c. Order of St. George. This part of the history, as to their being emperors, is clearer than the mode how they became so; for it is a stumblingblock to us that, in the Byzantine empire, any female should, "as a matter of course," inherit the empire, and become Empress and Grand Master, or Grand Mistress. This is a trifle, which can perhaps be explained. Meanwhile we leave it to the judgment of our readers to decide perhaps they may toss up; it seems that, as well as two empires, the Imperial Royal Rhodocanakis dynasty usually or occasionally had two emperors at once, and perhaps have now, as H.I.H. intimates, in accordance with history, to have been the practice of Byzantium.

We are not inclined to blame H.I.H. the Emperor of Rhodes and Byzantium for not making all matters clear to our imperfect con prehension, but we do complain much of our travellers and consuls in the East for keeping us without information as to these emperors, who have for centuries been living in their castle of Rhodocanakis, in the island of Scio, defying the Sultan and all his power; as they still do at least, so we make out. The pages of history are deficient, for we learn, "Between the jealousy of the Latin Church and the exterminating spirit of the Turkish Government, the survivors of the Imperial family have ever been subjected to peculiar disabilities." We own we never heard of this before; but we infer the Turks occasionally exterminated the Emperors in the Castle of Chio, or Scio, and particularly during the horrible massacre in the Isle of Chio, in 1822, "when the greater portion of them were slain, and the survivors scattered over the world." We gather there is a hope the Imperial family may yet succeed to its Imperial throne, at Byzantium or elsewhere; but that is dimly foreshadowed. In the mean time, while Joannes X. Ducas Angelus Comnenus Palæologus Rhodocanakis apparently remains in Chio, exposed to be massacred by the Turks, and defending his prerogative of distributing grand crosses of his Imperial Order, of which a very pretty picture decorates the brochure, under protection of the Imperial crown and cipher, the eldest son and heir apparent has taken shelter in England, and, by the help of our Government, has been naturalized as a prince; and here he may perpetuate his Empire and his Orders when Byzantium may be no more.

Elementary Lessons in Logic. By Stanley Jevons, M.A. (Macmillan & Co.) THE controversies of modern logic, however valuable and interesting they may be to the advanced student, are a very serious hindrance to the attainment of a thorough knowledge of the subject. The ardent partisan can seldom, if ever, avoid the temptation to enlarge unduly on the special tenets of his own school and to depreciate those of others, and the beginner meets with one-sided and unfair statements

from the very first, both in the lecture-room and in the pages of the text-book which is put into his hands. This is a very great misfortune, as its necessary consequence is the exclusion of logic from early education, and as a result of this, the growth of loose and incorrect habits of thought. At the same time, it is extremely difficult for the writer on logic, and particularly on elementary logic, to avoid either a narrow dogmatism which misleads the reader, or a continual tone of controversy which hopelessly perplexes him. The disputed points are so many and so various, they lie so completely at the root of the matter, entwining themselves with its first principles, that it is almost impossible to pass them over unnoticed, without ignoring very important results of modern research. And yet it is equally impossible to do justice to both sides of the question, and to present to the reader an impartial statement of the arguments which may be urged in support of one or the other of the two alternative hypotheses. Hence, most modern textbooks of logic are unsatisfactory, and none of them have succeeded in displacing at Our universities the barbarous Latin of the quasimediaval Aldrich.

In the manual whose unpretending title stands at the head of this article, Prof. Jevons has attempted with very considerable success to avoid these dangers, and to furnish our schools and colleges with a simple and trustworthy statement of all that it is necessary for the beginner to know. We cannot praise too highly the wisdom which has guided him safely through the pitfalls of controversy, or the clear judgment which has brought into prominence all that is most valuable in modern logic. He has held the balance with admirable skill between the respective claims of deductive and inductive systems, and the devoted adherent of either of them will find his own view of their relative importance very fairly represented. Instead of treating formal logic as merely subsidiary to induction, like Prof. Bain and Mr. Fowler, or neglecting the claims of modern induction altogether, like Prof. M'Cosh, he has given a clear and impartial account of each in its turn. The chapters on the inductive methods, on observation and experiment, &c., while they modestly profess to be nothing more than "an easy introduction to some of the more important parts of Mr. Mill's logic," really contain a great deal that is original in the way of remark and illustration, and are likely to prove far more useful and intelligible to the young learner than the more elaborate treatise upon which they are based. This is the case with almost every chapter of Prof. Jevons's little book; he gives at the end of each one or more authorities, to whom he refers the reader for a further explanation of the question of which the chapter has been treating: but we suspect that the student will generally find that Prof. Jevons has given so completely the pith of all that is valuable in the author whom he quotes, that he will gain but little fresh information from his further inquiries, and will turn back with a sense of relief to the clear and succinct account which sums up their contents so accurately.

Perhaps the most original trait of this excellent little book is the prominence which it gives throughout to the consideration of Language. The intimate connexion of the faculty of speech with the possession of reason is a

fact which modern psychology accounts to be of primary importance in the analysis of human intelligence. It is therefore satisfactory to find Prof. Jevons omitting the unreal and fanciful account of Conception which Sir William Hamilton thrusts to the front of his philosophy, and dwells upon with an almost tedious repetition, and substituting for it a most interesting and suggestive account of the growth of language by means of the processes of generalization and specialization. It is the insertion of such chapters as these which gives to his book an educational value beyond and beside the mere knowledge it imparts; for without ever departing from its subject, it supplies materials for fruitful reflection and hints for accurate research in fields of study altogether outside of its own special limits. If logic is the ars artium et scientia scientiarum, this ought always to be the case; and it is a defect in some modern writers that they exhibit a superfluous anxiety to confine the "logician as such" within a very narrow area.

Prof. Jevons has made it a special point to avoid the needless introduction of those technical terms with which so many sciences are overloaded. Here and there he brings in words and expressions which appear to us unnecessary: Amphibology, for instance, is for several reasons undesirable, and Exceptive, Ampliative and Truistic propositions might, perhaps, be dispensed with as a special classification; but we suppose that it is impossible to sweep the field clear of the cumbrous phraseology to which almost every author furnishes a contribution of his own. We may remark, by the way, in speaking of Truistic Propositions, that "What I have written, I have written," scarcely comes into the class. At all events, the persons to whom it was originally addressed regarded it as a very definite refusal of their request.

In one or two instances, in which the conclusions of modern logicians are set aside in the pages before us, the reasons given are not sufficient to justify the change. Mr. Mill's account of connotative and non-connotative nouns is far more satisfactory and thoughtful than the objections brought against it by Prof. Jevons, who wishes to make proper names connotative, on the ground that they connote their peculiar qualities and circumstances (page 42). This appears to involve a confusion between the immutable attributes which constitute the universal, and the ever-changing peculiarities of the individual. were true, it would be quite out of harmony with Mr. Mill's system. Similarly, the reduction of the inductive syllogism to the form of the disjunctive (page 215), which is advocated in opposition to Sir William Hamilton, ignores altogether the essential nature of disjunctive propositions,—at least, if we use the term in its ordinary and accepted meaning. While we are pointing out these minor defects, we must notice a statement actually incorrect. Prof. Jevons, like most modern logicians, misapprehends the doctrine of the mediæval Realists on the nature of Universals. theory which he attributes to them belongs rather to the Formalists, or Ultra-realists (as they are sometimes called). It was vigorously opposed, and finally driven from the field, by the Realists proper. At the same time, it must be allowed that the distinction between the two schools was a rather subtle one; and it is

The

to it.

(Second Notice.)

at this time :

"Talleyrand looked very grave, and said he thought his Government would not like to see Luxembourg united to Belgium. I asked why, inasmuch as it had been so united hitherto, and would not be more inconvenient to France when united to Belgium alone, than when united to Belgium joined with Holland. He said, the fact was that their frontier in that direction is very weak and exposed, and Luxembourg runs into an undefended part of France. He then said, Would there be no means of making an arrangement by which Luxembourg might be given to France? I confess I felt considerable surprise at a proposition so much at variance with all the language and professions which he and his Government have been holding. I said that such an arrangement appeared to me to be impossible, and that nobody could consent to it. I added that England had no selfish objects in view in the arrangements of Belgium, but that we wished Belgium to be really and substantially independent. That we were desirous

of living upon good terms with France, but that any territorial acquisitions of France such as this which he contemplated would alter the relations of the two countries, and make it impossible for us to continue on good terms. I found since this conversation that he had been making similar propositions to Prussia about her Rhenish provinces, in the event of the possibility of moving the King of Saxony to Belgium and giving Saxony to Prussia. To-day he proposed to me that France should get Philippeville and Marienburg, in consideration of France using her influence to procure the election of Leopold for Belgium. I do not like all this; it looks as if France

liances were not very popular in England; that he "I said that these offensive and defensive alcould not doubt our desire that France should remain as she was, neither conquering nor conquered; and that if she was unjustly attacked, England would beyond a doubt be found on her side; be that of impartial mediators between France on that our position at present ought, I conceive, to one hand, and the three other Powers on the other; that as long as both parties remain quiet we shall the peace, that side will find us against them; that be friends with both; but that whichever side breaks there does not at present seem any immediate danger threatening France, to guard against which such a treaty could be necessary; on the contrary, against France. I said, however, that we could if danger exists, it is more likely to come from than might rely upon this, that while France remains bear the idea in mind, and that at all events they quiet and does not revive the Buonaparte system wish and interest of England to cultivate the closest of aggression and aggrandizement, it will be the friendship and alliance with her."

No rebuff, however, could disconcert the French. Within a month of Flahault's return to Paris, Talleyrand proposed "that we should goad the Dutch on to break the armistice, cry out shame upon them, fly to the aid of the Belgians, cover Belgium with troops, and then settle everything as we chose." Palmerston's was a model answer, and one which, in forty years, has not ceased to be true :

"The French Government are perpetually telling us that certain things must, or must not, be done, in order to satisfy public opinion in France; but they must remember that there is a public feeling in England as well as in France; and that although that feeling is not as excitable upon small matters as the public mind in France, yet there are points (and Belgium is one) upon which it is keenly sensitive, and upon which, if once aroused, it would not easily be appeased."

There are others of Lord Palmerston's remarks about the events of 1831 and 1832 which are applicable to 1870, and which read like prophecy:

66

They miscalculate their chances, however, I think; and they will find that a war with all the redound to their honour.... The Chambers will rest of the world, brought upon them by a violation of their word, will not turn to their advantage, nor soon be sick of barren glory if they succeed, or of defeats brought needlessly upon them if they fail; the Ministry will be turned out, and the King may go with them."

Let us turn now from foreign to home matters, and we shall find that history repeats itself. The Coercion Bill of 1833 and that of

Gladstone would be willing to admit; and 1870 were more like one another than Mr.

there was a still closer resemblance in the declarations of their authors ::

"Domestic affairs go well. You see by what spanking majorities this reformed House of Com mons is passing the most violent Bill ever carried into a law; which combines in one Act the Insurrection Act, the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus, and Martial Law. It is a real tour de force, but then it is to be followed by remedial measures, nich or the Pope; we coerce as they do, but then and there is the difference between us and Metterwe redress grievances as they do not. It is also to be remarked that few absolute Governments could by their own authority establish such a system of coercion as that which the freely-chosen representatives of the people are placing at the command of the Government of this country."

The little side - cut at the Pope in this taken by Lord Palmerston with regard to the sentence is in keeping with the tone generally Mr. Temple, of about the same date as that to rulers of the Papal States. In a letter to Lord Granville, from which we have just now given a quotation, the Foreign Minister writes:

"The affairs of Italy seem to be in a miserable state, and the governors appear to be doing all they can to make themselves hated by the governed. Modena : as to the latter, the Grand Duke is mad, I speak more particularly of the Papal States and and that accounts for, though it cannot justify, his Vagaries. The cardinals are supposed to be in their sound senses, and it is lamentable to see what the sound sense of a cardinal amounts to."

The following passage, written in 1834, might almost have come from the pen of a member of the present Cabinet :

-:

our internal politics, invariably treats his correspondents to a dissertation upon their bearing on the European situation. For instance, he says of West Indian Emancipation:

"I really believe that the twenty millions which are to be voted are about the whole value of all the estates at the present market price; so that they will receive nearly the value of their estates, and keep those estates into the bargain. I must say it is a splendid instance of generosity and justice, unexampled in the history of the world." And immediately proceeds to comment as follows:

"Some persons on the Continent want to have it supposed that the English are so bent upon economy and retrenchment that no provocation or injury would rouse them to incur the expense of another war. This vote of so large a sum for the satisfaction of a principle ought to show those persons that it would not be safe to rely too much upon their calculation."

One passage in a letter to Mr. Temple, while it deals neither wholly with English nor wholly with foreign affairs, is not without interest at a moment when some of our contemporaries are tracing Lord Lorn's ancestry to a Scotch Adam, and when Punch is giving us a cartoon of "A (real) German defeat":

"We have a flight of German princes come over to us; but Princess Victoria is hardly old enough as yet to make it worth their while to come. The Duke of Brunswick, the Prince of Solms, two Dukes all been seized with a sudden desire to see England. of Würtemberg, Prince Reuss-Lebenstein-Gera, have

We shall see what will come of it all."

At the close of the volume we find Lord Palmerston struggling with the French over the affairs of Turkey and Egypt, as, at its beginning, we found him wrestling with them for the existence of Belgium. The view which he took of Turkey, and which he maintained in spite of French and Russian menaces, is best given in his own words :-

'People go on talking of the inevitable and progressive decay of the Turkish empire, which they say is crumbling to pieces. In the first place, no empire is likely to fall to pieces if left to itself, and if no kind neighbours forcibly tear it to pieces. In the next place, I much question that there is any process of decay going on in the Turkish empire; and I am inclined to suspect that those who say that the Turkish empire is rapidly going from bad to worse ought rather to say that the other countries of Europe are year by year becoming better acquainted with the manifest and manifold defects of the organization of Turkey. But I should be disposed to think that, for some years past, the .foundations at least of improvement have been laid; and it is certain that the daily increasing intercourse between Turkey and the other countries of Europe must in a few years, if peace can be preserved, throw much light upon the defects and weaknesses of the Turkish system, and lead to various improvements therein."

The fight which he had to carry on, almost unaided, against France for many years had probably some effect in warping Lord Palmerston's judgment as to the personal character of French statesmen; but whether this were the case, or whether he shared in the dislike which Englishmen too commonly feel for even the best forms of the expression of French thought, he seems to have seen nothing but trickery and deceit in Paris. Thus, he writes of the King:"The truth is, however reluctantly one may avow the conviction, that Louis Philippe is a man in whom no solid trust can be reposed. However, there he is, and we call him our ally; only we ought to be enlightened by experience and not to attach to his assertions or professions any greater value than really belongs to them; more especially when, as in the case of Egypt, his words are not

"What you say of the French in general is very true. There is no trusting them; and they are always acting a double part. I am afraid, however, that their double-dealing at present is not to be ascribed solely to weakness and timidity. The truth is, that Louis Philippe is the prime mover of the foreign relations of France, and one must admit in one's own mind that if he had been

a very straightforward, scrupulous, and highminded man, he would not have been sitting on the French throne."

The tone which Palmerston assumed towards France in all the Egyptian negotiations was one so strong as almost to amount to bluster. This, for instance, is a passage from his private instructions to Sir Henry Bulwer, then our Minister at Paris :

"The French Government should, if necessary, be reminded that it has been told over and over

again by us since last September, that if she would not go on with us we should go on without her; that we were ready and willing to go on with France, but not to stand still with France. Guizot said that the French Government would now feel it necessary to be in force, in great force, in the Levant. Be it so. We shall not be daunted by any superiority of naval force which she may choose or be able to send thither. We shall go to work quietly in our own way, in presence of a superior full well that if that superior force should dare to force, if such there be, just as undisturbed as if it was laid up in ordinary at Toulon. France knows

meddle with ours, it is war; and she would be made to pay dearly for war so brought on." At the tail of the letter he adds:

"Guizot has looked as cross as the devil for the last few days; and, indeed, on Sunday, when he dined here, he could scarcely keep up the outward appearances of civility."

The following passage is still more fierce :"Bullies seldom execute the threats they deal in; and men of trick and cunning are not always men

by concession. It is quite right to be courteous in words, but the only possible way of keeping such persons in check is to make them clearly understand that one is not going to yield an inch, and that one is quite strong enough to repel force by force."

The two volumes at present issued are too small a portion of the Life for us to pronounce a final judgment either upon Sir Henry Bulwer's execution of his task or upon Lord Palmerston's character as revealed by his letters and his diary. Of the former there is little at present to be said, inasmuch as Sir Henry Bulwer appears rather in the twofold capacity of editor and actor than as an author. We do not, however, know how we could bestow higher praise than this upon a biographer of such a man as Palmerston. As for his hero, we shall judge the politician better, perhaps, when we come to the later years of his life; but at the close of our examination of the earlier letters, the man remains fixed in our remembrance as full of a dashing Irish impulsiveness and an English frankness and good-nature which form a singularly happy whole.

Lorna Doone. By R. D. Blackmore. (Low & Co.)

It is difficult to say for what class of readers Mr. Ross's book is intended. Its style and price forbid the supposition that it has been written for that portion of the poorer classes who revel in the penny horrors of cheap periodical literature, yet it is sad to think that any who can afford more wholesome reading should waste their time in the perusal of such gloomy rubbish. The story turns upon a murder, that of a harsh and sordid father by his miserable child, which by a series of wretched complications is attributed to the only tolerably virtuous character in the book. Ruth Acre, the widow of the murdered usurer, is the object of this calumny, being in fact, though somewhat weak and unpronounced in disposition, a model of patient constancy and suffering. Circumstances have led her to suspect her own father's complicity in the tragic end of her late husband, and, to shield him from the consequences of the guilt which she attributes to him, she shrinks from an investigation which might prove her own innocence of the crime. She supplies her enemies, whose object it is to wring from her certain sums of money of which she is supposed to have possessed herself on her husband's death, with a fearful weapon against her, by inducing a scampish doctor, who afterwards plays her false, to give an improper certificate of the cause of Jabez Acre's end. The

of desperate resolves. But if Thiers should again hold to you the language of menace, however indistinctly and vaguely shadowed out, pray retort upon him to the full extent of what he may say to you, and with that skill of language which I know you to be the master of, convey to him in the most friendly and unoffensive manner possible, that if France throws down the gauntlet we shall not refuse to pick it up; and that if she begins a war, she will to a certainty lose her ships, colonies, and commerce before she sees the end of it; that her army of Algiers will cease to give her anxiety, and that Mehemet Ali will just be chucked into the Nile. I wish you had hinted at these topics when Thiers spoke to you; I invariably do so when either Guizot or Bourqueney begin to swagger; and I observe that it always acts as a sedative. I remind them that countries seldom engage in unprovoked war, unless they have something to gain by so doing; but that we should very soon have nearly three times the number of ships that France could put to sea, and must, therefore, have the command of all their interests beyond sea; and that even if we had not such a decided superiority upon our own bottom, Russia would be with us, and has a fleet equal to the fleet of France. These considera-hero, if hero he may be called, by whose agency tions perhaps might weigh more with Louis Philippe than with Thiers, but I am inclined to think that they will weigh with somebody or other at Paris." And the following enlarges the special directions given on earlier occasions into a general system :

"I can assure you that you would be most usefully supporting the interests of peace by holding a firm and stout language to the French Government and to Frenchmen. Nothing is more unsound than the notion that anything is to be gained by trying to conciliate those who are trying to intimidate us; by conciliate I mean to conciliate

she is at length rescued, is a converted thief and amateur detective, who becomes comparatively respectable through contemplation of the graces of the Iphigenia of Soho. Lady Lad, an old and parsimonious dowager, whose character is handled with a coarseness which we suppose we must accept as humour, Charity Stone, a hard-natured maid-servant, whose single interesting trait is her tenderness for a worthless son, various thieves and receivers of stolen goods, two stage policemen, Messrs. Hardstaff and Copper, form the rank and file of the story,

-altogether a goodly band with which to march through Coventry. Jane Acre, the precocious murderess, is strong in her utter fiendishness, and is the portrait upon which the author has expended his utmost skill. For the result we cannot say much; with her plain exterior and "wishy-washy" hair, her downright ferocity in love and hatred, and her extravagant adventures in the pursuit of either gratification, she is too repulsive to fascinate any one but the haunted reviewer, who reads with an effort, and struggles to forget her story.

The story of Bessy Rane' depends for its interest on the extreme complexity of the relations between the various characters. Marriage sheds its halo over the early chapters, as well as the conclusion; and by the simple expedient of marrying most of her dramatis persona twice in the first thirty pages, Mrs. Wood obtains a ramification of cousinhood sufficient to gratify the most exacting of British matrons. We all know the interest with which marriage and its results, phenomena ever fresh, though constantly recurring, are discussed round the tea-tables of the average wife or widow, not altogether because the female nature is dvoporodóyos, as Aristotle would say, but rather from a feeling of veteran satisfaction in the topic. To this large class of readers the author addresses herself, and we doubt not she will do so with success, though there is nothing very interesting, and nothing very elevating in her book. Indeed, there is a dash of strange principles pervading it, which is all the more invidious because the tone of the story is avowedly moral. The plot hinges upon three incidents, which have no apparent connexion with each other, always excepting the complicated relations of the parties. The first of these is the death of Bessy Rane's brother in a fit, which has been brought on by reading an anonymous letter to his discredit, a letter which turns out to have been written for a purpose unconnected with its victim by Oliver Rane, who afterwards marries Bessy. Excepting a great deal of suspicion and discomfort, no obvious results follow from this sordid action. The second is the conspiracy of Bessy Rane and her husband to defraud the trustees of a Tontine, in which they are the last survivors, by representing Bessy to be dead, in order that Oliver may obtain the money to which the last liver is entitled. This gross fraud does not seem to strike Mrs. Wood as otherwise than venial; and as Dr. Rane is suspected of having murdered his wife, and is shown to have only concealed her, with her own connivance, he comes out in the end as rather a hero than otherwise. The third element in the tale is the love of Ellen Adair and Arthur Bohun, in the course of which the gentleman, accepting without inquiry a scandalous story against the father of his betrothed, deserts her on the very day of their intended marriage, and the poor girl pines into consumption, of which she dies, after a final reconciliation with her weak and ungentlemanly lover. Of course there are some other subjects touched upon; amongst them the follies of trades' unions, which Mrs. Wood rebukes through the mouth of Mrs. Gass, a strong-minded and warm-hearted wo

man, of a type that only wants originality to be interesting. Jelly, a maid-servant, is intended for a humorous character, but the only thing odd about her is her name.

The autobiography of a Devonshire yeoman,

relating the growth of his love and the development of his nature amid the romantic surroundings of Exmoor in the olden time, affords Mr. Blackmore an opportunity for the display of powers already known to be of a high order. The task he has set himself in this book is a worthy one; and if the mantle of Defoe has not quite fallen on his shoulders, if the subjectiveness of the nineteenth century too often encumbers the simple diction of the seventeenth, giving a patchwork effect to the result, yet there is a not unsuccessful effort to revive the pregnant simplicity of the golden age of English prose, and amid too elaborate descriptions of the effect of the beauties of nature, the sturdy manhood of John Ridd stands out as the product of an influence he could never have described. The besetting sin of Mr. Blackmore's style is over-elaboration, and whenever he avoids this extreme, he can write nervous and powerful English, But the present story, excellent as it is where

John Ridd's own conversations and actions are concerned, is much marred by inconsistent digressions of the Wordsworth-and-water sort. Is it within the bounds of possibility that the honest yeoman, whose doings in London and elsewhere are so racily described, and who could tell a boyish adventure in the excellent manner of the chapter, 'Hard it is to climb,' should also maunder upon autumnal woods in the following style? "Then the woods arose in folds, like drapery of awakened mountains, in folds, like drapery of awakened mountains, stately with a depth of awe and memory of stately with a depth of awe and memory of the tempests. Autumn's mellow hand was on them, as they owned already, touched with gold and red and olive and their joy towards the sun was less to the bridegroom than a father." Or of a winding stream, "curving in its brightness like diverted hope"; or of dew on the grass, "that grey suffusion, which is the blush of green life, spread its damask chastity"? It will be seen from these specimens that there is many a pretty thought contained in Mr. Blackmore's descriptive passages, but even when they are quite free from bombast, they are couched in a language inconsistent with the character of the supposed narrator. We have dwelt somewhat at length upon what we regard as the faults of this book, because we gladly acknowledge its numerous merits. The giant of Plovas Barrows is the model of a kindly, modest Englishman, truthful, simple, brave and pure, yet with a shrewdness of observation and ready country wit which stand him in good stead in many a narrow strait. Furthermore, John is a poet, and his humour, which is everywhere apparent, is of that true stamp, which constantly borders upon pathos. It is refreshing, in this age of wellinformed mediocrity, to find an author capable of describing so large a nature. The characters among whom our hero moves are strong in their individuality. From the men of action like Mr. Taggus, the redoubted highwayman, and Jeremy Stickles, the kind-hearted officer of law, down to the rugged miner, Carfax, and John Fry, with his rustic mixture of cunning and simplicity, all have their own points of interest; while the women, from the high-born Lorna down to honest Betty Muxworthy, are still more capitally described. The political events of the time, the stirring days of Sedgemoor and the Bloody Assize, are touched upon, but never unduly prominent, while their influence on the story has always its

natural importance. The common faults of the historical novel are thus avoided, although the dignity of fiction is raised by an element of reality. We have neither space nor inclination to defraud the author or the reader by revealing the plot; suffice it to say, that there is a romantic tale involved in it, and that the deeds of John Ridd, and the might that he showed, and the war he waged with the Doones of Bagworthy, form the groundwork of a wellwritten story, which will be read with unusual interest.

OUR LIBRARY TABLE.

Honduras: Descriptive, Historical and Statistical. By E. G. Squier, M.A. (Trübner & Co.) THE Inter-Oceanic Railway through Honduras will be completed by the end of 1872. It will to a great extent supersede the Panama line as a connecting link between the Atlantic and Pacific. It is well, therefore, that we should learn from so good an authority as Mr. Squier its advantages and prospects. No one can tell us more about them than he can, for it was upon his report, drawn up after examining the country from February to December, 1853, that the line was adopted. He tells us, then, that the distance from Liverpool to San Francisco, via Panama, is 7,980 miles, and by Honduras only 7,320 miles; from New York to San Francisco, ria Panama, 5,224 miles, by Honduras 4,121 miles. Owing to the facilities of the Honduras route, the passenger from New York to California will save from eight to ten days by taking it, and he will escape the region of hurricanes. Not only the Panama route, but that also by Tehuantepec is shorter than by Honduras, as far as the interval between the oceans is concerned; but the arguments in favour of the Honduras route are irresistible, for on the Atlantic side is the good haven of Port Cortez, and on the Pacific side the unrivalled harbour of Amapala, which is, besides, a free port. The climate of Honduras is salubrious, and, except on the coast towards the Atlantic, yellow fever is unknown, and even there rare; and the mean temperature is but 70 degrees. The country is lovely, and rivals California in its mineral wealth; the vegetable world is grown in abundance and of surinhabitants are peaceful, and every product of the passing quality. Such are Mr. Squier's descriptive statements; and we accept them, and think Lord Clarendon justified in promoting the construction of the Honduras Railway by the Treaties of the 26th of August, 1856, and the 28th of November, 1859. We augur well of the line which will carry, we are told, 26,000,000 dollars' worth of merchandise for the Central American Republics alone. But when we come to some of the other statistics we are fairly puzzled. At pp. 10 and 11 there are tables of the area and population of the American State which are outrageously discordant with those of other authorities. On looking at the Statesman's lation of Chili, Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia, or Year-book we see, for example, the area and popuNorth Granada, as Mr. Squier continues to call it, set down at 249,952 square miles, 1,676,243 souls; 473,300 square miles, 1,742,352 souls; 4,891,394 square miles, 11,780,000 souls; 432,400 square miles, 2,954,000 souls: whereas, here we find them stated at 170,000 square miles, 1,300,000 souls; 380,000 square miles, 1,200,000 souls; 2,720,000 square miles, 4,430,000 souls; 380,000 square miles, 1,360,000 souls. Two millions of square miles and seven millions of human beings are not small items of account, and we find it as impossible to explain such differences as to understand the Indian Budget.

The Literature of the Lancashire Dialect: a Bibliographical Essay. By W. E. A. Axon. (TrübTHIS little pamphlet of twenty-three pages shows ner & Co.) how extensive the literature of Lancashire really is. The specimens of the dialect are not only very numerous, but frequently very good. Mr. Axon has himself contributed five of these, and now

promises a book on the Songs, Ballads and Folklore of the county, which can hardly fail to be useful. The principal contributors to the literature are the celebrated "Tim Bobbin" (J. Collier), Benjamin Brierley, M. R. Lahee, Samuel Laycock, J. W. Mellor, J. T. Staton, and Edwin Waugh. Mr. Axon seems to have forgotten that Furness is in Lancashire. We miss from his list the sketches named 'T' Siege o' Brou'ton,' 'T' Lebby Beck Dobby,' and 'T' Invasion o' U'ston,' all in the Furness dialect, as well as 'The Glossary of Words and Phrases of Furness,' by Mr. J. P. Morris, 1869. May not also the old Alliterative Poems,' edited by Dr. Morris for the Early English Text Society, be claimed for Lancashire?

WE have on our table The Oration of Demosthenes in Answer to Eschines upon the Crown, translated by W. Brandt, M.A. (Longmans),-Educational Legislation, by T. Turner (Simpkin),- The Ornithosauria, by H. G. Seeley (Bell & Daldy),-A Manual of Ethics, by H. Owgan, LL.D. (Hogg),—Elements of Mechanism, by T. M. Goodeve, M.A. (Longmans),-Solar Fictions, by A. Freeman (Seeley),— What we demand from France, by Heinrich von Treitschke (Macmillan),-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, by Max Ring (Berlin),—A Manual of Instruction for Attendants on Sick and Wounded in War, by Staff Assistant-Surgeon A. Moffitt (Griffin), -Book VI. of The Consecutive Narrative Series of Reading Books, by C. Morell (Murby),-Tales and Legends in Verse, by A. Buckler, Part I. (J. B. Day), -Lyra Resurrectionis, by I. T. Torr (Simpkin),and Night unto Night, a Selection of Bible Scenes, by the Rev. D. March, D.D. (Hamilton, Adams & Co.). Among new editions we have: England under the Tudors, by J. Birchall (Simpkin), England under the Stuarts, by J. Birchall (Simpkin),The Farm, Garden, Stable and Aviary, edited by "I. E. B. C.," Part II.' The Garden' (Horace Cox), -and The Poetical Works of William Cowper, Globe Edition, edited by W. Benham (Macmillan).

LIST OF NEW BOOKS. Theology.

Alford's Coming of the Bridegroom, 1/6 cl.
Blunt's Dictionary of Doctrinal and Historical Theology, Part 2,
imp. 8vo. 21/ swd.; complete, 1 vol. imp. 8vo 42 cl.
Cumming's Seventh Vial, or Time of Trouble Begun, cr. 8vo. 6/
Day's The Church, Sermons in Limerick Cathedral, cr. 8vo. 5/
Fragmenta Evangelica, Pt. 1, curante J. Crowfoot, 4to. 5/ swd.
Henry's First Scripture Lessons, 'New Testament,' 1/ cl.
Maurice's Lord's Prayer, The Creed and Commandments, 1/ cl.
Prayers and Meditations for Holy Communion, 32mo. 2/6 cl.
Soltau's The Tabernacle of Israel, illust. roy. 8vo. 16 cl.
Swainson's Athanasian Creed and its Usage, &c. cr. 8vo. 3, 6 cl.
Wedgwood's John Wesley, cr. Svo. 8 6 cl.

Wright's (E.) Life, Incidents in, by E. Leach, 12mo. 5/ cl.
Law.

Dicey's Rules for Selection of Parties to an Action, 8vo. 16/cl.
Statutes (Public General) passed in 1870, roy. 8vo. 13, bds.
Philosophy.

Owgan's Manual of Ethics for Universities, &c. 12mo. 3/6 cl.

Poetry.

Bell's Poets, Thomson's Poetical Works, Memoir by Bell, 2 vols.
26; Butler's Hudibras, Memoir by Bell, 2 6 cl.
Campbell's Poems, Memoir by Rev. C. Rogers, 12mo. 3, 6 cl.
Longfellow's Poetical Works, illust. by Edwards, 21/
Mackay's The Village Chimes, a Pastoral, &c. 5 cl.
Wordsworth's Poetical Works, illust. by Edwards, 21/ cl.
History.

Cassell's Illustrated History of England, new ed. Vol. 5, 9/
Froude's History of England, cheap ed. Vols. 9 and 10, 6/ each
Palmerston's (Viscount) Life, by Sir H. L. Bulwer, 2 vols. 30 cl.
Martineau's Biographical Sketches, new ed. cr. 8vo. 6/ cl.
Geography.

Low's (Lieut.) The Land of the Sun, Travels in the East, 12mo. 5/ Stewart & Co.'s Eleven Years in Western States of America, 2/6 Science.

Duncan's Mortality of Childbed and Maternity Hospitals, 7/6 Clarke's Manual of Surgery, Bandages and Splints, 32mo. 7/ cl. Flower's Introduction to the Osteology of the Mammalia, 7/6 cl. Knox's (R.) Life and Writings, by Lonsdale, cr. 8vo. 8,6 cl. Williams's Choice Ornamental-Leaved Plants, Vol. 2, cr. 8vo. 5/

General Literature.

Beeton's Modern Men and Women, 12mo. 1/ swd.
Brown's (Mrs. J. W.) Muriel's Dreamland, Photos. 6/ cl.
Adviser (The), Vol. 1870, 1/6 cl. limp.
Anderson's Model Women, 12mo. 5/ cl.
Auerbach's Country House on the Rhine, 3 vols. cr. 8vo. 31/6 cl.
Ballantyne's Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands, 12mo. 5/ cl.
Children's (The) Prize, Vol. 1870, 1-2 swd.
Chatterbox (The), Vol. 1870, 3 bds.

Countess (The) Gisela, from the German of Marlitt, cr. 8vo. 7/6
Day's Papers on the Great Pyramid, &c. 8vo. 4 cl.
Dasent's Annals of an Eventful Life, new edit. cr. Svo. 5/ cl.
Eiloart's (Mrs.) Cris Fairlie's Boyhood, 12mo. 5, cl.

Henty's Out on the Pampas, or Young Settlers, 12mo. 5/ cl.
Howell's True Theory of the Greek Aorist, 12mo. 1/ swd.
Hunt's (Leigh) Men, Women and Books, cheap edit. 12mo. 2'6
Lothrop's Glen Luna, or Dollars and Cents, new edit. 12mo. 3 6
Laurie's Technical Reading Books, Book 5, 12mo. 1/3 cl.
Martyrs omitted by Foxe, 12mo. 26 cl.

Mother's (The) Friend, Vol. 2, new series 1/6 bds.
Marion's Wonderful Balloon Ascents, 12mo. 5/ cl.
Mazzini's Life and Writings, Vol. 6, Critical and Literary, 9/
Nayler's Observations on Rules in English Language, 8vo. 5/ cl.
Old Stories of Animals, in Short and Easy Words, 26 cl.
Popular (The) Educator, new ed. Vol. 6, imp. Svo. 6/ cl.
Peacock's Ralph Skirlaugh, the Lincolnshire Squire, 3 vols. 31/6
Shaw's Gems and Pearls, Choice Readings, 12mo. 2/cl.
Tergolina's Faithful unto Death, 12mo. 2 6 cl.
Wood's (Lady) On Credit, 2 vols. 12mo. 16 cl.
Warne's Picture-Puzzle Album, col. 4to. 5/ cl.

OBEDIENCE.

(FROM THE FRENCH OF CATULLE MENDÈS.) [WE have received the following translation from M. Antoine d'Abbadie, of the French Institute. The illustrious savant has fled from Paris, and found a refuge at Hendaye (Basses Pyrénées).]

AHOD his hundred flocks in Bethel fed.

His wife, with pitcher reeking from the stream,
Beneath a tree one noontide laid her head,
Then slept and saw this woe-betiding dream :
At first it seemed that from her sleep she woke.
"Woman, arise! ('twas thus old Ahod spoke)
To Segor's traders ninety lambs I sold
Last year, and half the price they still withhold.
Such length of road my weight of years would rue:
Yet bold and trusty messengers are few.
Who can I send to Segor in my name?
Now haste thee, go, my twenty shekels claim."
She pleaded not the distance, not her fear,
Nor robbers prowling in the desert near,

But said, "Your handmaid hears her lord's command."
As to the road, he slowly waved his hand;
In devious paths the waning day she spent:
She took her woollen cloak and gaily went.

Now sand, now flints her feeble strides defeat;

tory of the British Diatomace,' by Arthur Scott Donkin, M.D., - 'The Natural History of the Azores,' by F. Du Cane Godman, F.L.S.,-"The Ornithology of Shakespeare,' by J. E. Harting,'Heads of Lectures on Geology and Mineralogy, delivered at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, by Prof. Rupert Jones,-A fourth edition, by Prof. Alfred Newton, of 'Yarrell's British Birds,'-Dr. Bevan 'On the Honey Bee,' a revised and enlarged edition, by W. Augustus Munn,-Prof. Frankland's 'Lecture Notes for Chemical Students.' Vol. 2. (Organic Chemistry),—and a fourth edition of Prof. Rymer Jones's Organization of the Animal Kingdom.'

PARIS AND THE WAR.

(Par Ballon Monté.)

Paris, Oct. 17. THE aspect of affairs is somewhat improved; several offensive reconnaissances have been made under the direction of General Trochu, Ducrot, Vinoy, Blanchard and others, and have been pushed to a considerable distance, as far as Argenteuil, Rueil, Chevilly, near Sceaux, Thiais, Neuilly-surMarne, Bondy, and beyond Saint-Denis; in fact, to points nearly all round Paris to the distance of six or seven miles from the fortifications. Some of these expeditions have been highly successful, and none have completely failed; many batteries and redoubts have been destroyed, and the strength and position of the enemy have been ascertained. Another important result has been achieved: the new corps have taken their share of the work with the regulars, and the Mobiles of the Seine, the Côte d'Or, the Aube and Brittany, Francs-tireurs, and Éclaireurs, and two battalions of the Gardiens, formed of the late Sergents-de-ville, all old soldiers, have exhibited undaunted courage and readiness, and won the honour of mention in General Trochu's orders of the day. These facts have naturally raised

tion; and now the National Guard, jealous of their standing, are to furnish corps for field duty, and will, doubtless, emulate the Mobiles and other

corps.

Tears in her eyes, and blood upon her feet.
Then darkness quelled the fading aid of light,
And fear came whispering through the shades of night. all these new levies greatly in the public estima-
Still on she sped in anguish. At the ford
A man came yelling with a naked sword,
And robbed her cloak, and with a fiendish start
He drove his weapon through her throbbing heart.
This height of woe her fitful slumbers broke.
Lo hoary Ahod, standing by her, spoke:
"Woman, arise! To Segor's men I sold
My lambs, and half the price they still withhold.
Such length of road my weight of years would rue :
Yet bold and trusty messengers are few.
Who can I send to Segor in my name?
Now haste thee, go, my twenty shekels claim."

The wife replied, "My master's will be done"; Then wrapt her children in her fond embrace, Invoked a blessing on her first-born son, And took her woollen cloak and went apace.

But not before her anxicus heart did seek, With upturned eyes, the heavenly abode Of Him who curbs the proud, who lifts the meek, And guards at will a solitary road.

NEW BOOKS,

AMONG Mr. Walton's announcements are Sir Edward Creasy's History of England; from the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Ages,' complete in 2 vols.,- The Student's Manual of Ancient History,' edited by Dr. William Smith, -Handbook of the Principles and Practice of Medicine,' by James Andrew, M.D.,-Dr. Eustace Smith 'On the Wasting Diseases of Children,' second edition, thoroughly revised and enlarged, with a new chapter on the Proper Diet for Children, Prof. De Morgan's 'Book of Almanacks for any Day preceding A.D. 2000.'

Among Mr. Stock's announcements are the following:Lights and Shadows from the Life of David, and their Lessons for our Own Time,' by the Rev. Charles Vince, Christ's Healing Touch,' by the Rev. A. Mackennal,-"The Biblical Museum,' a New Commentary, by the Rev. J. C. Gray, a new and cheaper edition of Dr. Cramp's History of the Baptists,' with an Introduction by Dr. Angus,—and 'A History of Wesleyan Missions, from their Commencement to the Present Time,' by the Rev. W. Moister.

Among Mr. Van Voorst's announcements are the following scientific works:- The Natural His

The death of the young Comte de Dampierre has created a deep impression: he was well known in Paris as one of the jeunesse dorée, or the "jeunesse qui ne fait rien," as M. Legouvé calls it in his sparkling comedy, the concluding lines of which are naturally now called to mind:

Le monde veut qu'on ait une profession,

Et le monde a raison; mais par exception,
N'êtes vous rien? Tachez que votre exemple enseigne
Qu'on peut faire du bien quoiqu'on n'ait pas d'enseigne;
Et pour que l'on pardonne à votre oisiveté,
Utilisez un peu votre inutilité.

When the Comte de Dampierre joined the Mobiles of his department he was unanimously elected commandant of his battalion, and on presenting it with its colours declared solemnly that he would do his duty as became one of an old and honourable family; and nobly did he keep his vow. The funeral service was performed the day before yesterday, at the Madeleine, which was densely crowded, every branch of the army being represented, and General Trochu with his staff being present as well as the staff of the National Guard. Two simple touching addresses were made over his remains, which are deposited in the vaults of the church until they can be conveyed to the resting-place of his family. It is a sign of the times that under a republic Figaro should say "Count the dead since the commencement of the campaign, sort the corpses, and you will see how many gentlemen are amongst them!" Such lines would have caused Figaro's house to have been burnt over his head in 1848.

The post-office balloons have, we believe, all reached their destination, to the great vexation of the enemy: that in which M. Rane left the other day had two shells fired at it while passing over Champigny; it escaped harm, but the shells killed one Mobile, and severely wounded two others who were practising at the target in a field near Adamville.

It is announced by the Government that all the pictures, tapestry, and other works of art, and