his choice; but, of course, she had her living to get. She had his bits of things locked up all right; he owed her a little rent. In her opinion, he'd never come out again. She was very sorry for him, too; he'd given her no trouble till he was took ill. Following up her information, we repaired with heavy hearts to the 'house which he had so often declared he would never enter. Having ascertained the number of his ward, we mounted the beautifully clean stairs. In the fifth of a row of beds our old friend was lying, apparently asleep. But, watching him carefully, we saw that his lips, deep sunk between his frosty moustache and beard, were continually moving. "He's not asleep," said the nurse; "he'll lie like that all the time. He frets." At the sound of his name he had opened his eyes, which, though paler and smaller and more rheumy, were still almost bright. He fixed them on us with a peculiar stare, as much as to say: "You've taken an advantage of me, finding me here." We could The Nation. hardly bear that look, and hurriedly asked him how he was. He tried to raise himself, and answered huskily that he was better than he had been. We begged him not to exert himself, and told him how it was that we had been away, and so forth. He seemed to pay no attention, but suddenly said: "I'm in here; I don't mean to stay. I'll be goin' out in a day or two." We tried to confirm that theory, but the expres sion of his eyes took away one's power of comfort, and made one ashamed of looking at him. He beckoned us closer. "If I'd a-had the use of my legs," he whispered, "they'd never have had me. I'd a gone in the river first. But I don't mean to stay-I'm goin' back home." The nurse told us, however, that this was out of the question; he was still very ill. Four days later we went again to see him. He was no longer there. He had gone home. They had buried him that morning. John Galsworthy. BOOKS AND AUTHORS Professor Max Müller's essay on "Comparative Mythology," in the edition which E. P. Dutton & Co. publish, is prefaced with an introduction on Solar Mythology by A. Smythe Palmer, D.D., and by a humorous and ironic contribution on "The Oxford Solar Myth" by the Rev. Dr. R. F. Littledale, in which Max Müller himself is treated as the development of a sun-myth. Professor Louis Hoffman's "Hoyle's Games Modernized," a handbook long popular, has been still further modernized in an edition published by E. P. Dutton & Co., by the addition of entirely new chapters on Roulette, Trente et Quarante, Auction Bridge, Five Hun dred, Quinto, and Poker Patience, and the revision of all the earlier material. How many novels C. N. and A. M. Williamson have published since that which now appears here with the title "Lord Loveland Discovers America” was published in England is doubtful, but in the nearly two years since it appeared serially in London, it has undergone little if any alteration. It took a fortune-hunting marquis of undeveloped character to the United States, and thanks to the unscrupulous devices of a very unreal American friend, plunged him into profound trouble, whence he issued, a real man, and a fortunate real lover. The au thors have shown remarkable skill in preserving the uncertainty of his escape from his embarrassments, and to the last, one is not quite certain that a lurking villain may not have another blow in reserve. The thrusts at the yellow newspapers are very good, and not too sharp and the talk is excellent. The story has sufficient merit to leave a fair portion for each author when it is divided between them. Doubleday, Page & Co. "Infinite riches in a little room" is the commonplace which suggests itself on examining Mr. E. H. Krehbiels "A Book of Operas," and comparing its modest size with the long period of time which it covers, nothing less than the interval between the first performance of Italian opera in New York in 1825, to the performance of "Hansel and Gretel" in 1893. The seventeen chapters include the stories of innum erable operas, sketches of composers; gossip of actors and actresses; accounts of memorable performances; curious bits of folk lore; the sources of effective scenes or songs; arguments as to the origin of certain phrases and strains; portraits of actors in costume and in every day dress; characteristic passages of music, portraits of countless actors, and everywhere criticism. The book is an amazingly full record of a most interesting period, and it is in dispensable to all lovers of music. Macmillan Company. The A book of unique interest to students of the classics is Professor Zielinski's "Our Debt to Antiquity," translated, with introduction and notes, by Professor H. A. Strong, LL.D. and Hugh Stewart, B.A., and published by E. P. Dutton & Co. The author is professor of what he describes as "the department of Antiquity" at St. Petersburg University; and in the eight lectures included in this compact little volume, he presents the advantages, not to say the necessity of classical studies, and the enduring place which they hold as the groundwork of education. The author's point of view is Russian, and some of the arguments which he uses are specially directed to the objections and opposition peculiar to Russian conditions; but in the main the reasoning is of broad application and the book is a keen, discriminating and well-balanced contribution to the literature of the subject. The Temple Dictionary of the Bible, published by E. P. Dutton & Co. in a single substantial and attractive volume of about 1,000 pages, derives its title, presumably, from the fact that the London publishers, J. M. Dent & Sons, originated the Temple Classics, the Temple Shakespeare and other editions of standard works, having a common quality in their typographical and mechanical features. That this is at least the third Bible Dictionary published within twelve or fifteen months indicates that Bible study has not yet gone out of fashion. Reverend W. Ewing, and the Reverend Dr. J. E. H. Thomson, who are jointly responsible for the writing and editing of the present work, have a special advantage in the fact that they have both seen long missionary service in Palestine and are therefore especially familiar with its topography and the customs of its people. With them are associated as contributors many well-known theolog ians, conservative in their views but broad and tolerant in their scholarship. Prominent among them are many eminent Scotch divines. Five hundred illustrations, more or less, are scattered through the volume; and the use throughout of a system of typographic condensation and abbreviation practically extends considerably the thousand pages, without involving the use of small type. To all but the favored few perfectly becomes all the more firmly convinced acquainted with China, Professor J. J. M. De Groot's "The Religion of the Chinese" will be an instructive work. for the ordinary popular theory of Chinese religion begins and ends with the name of Confucius, and the knowledge that one of his precepts is the Chinese equivalent of the Golden Rule. The reason probably lies in the comparatively slight change in the Chinese faith since its birth, and consequently its lack of such manifestations of itself as minds trained in a Christian atmosphere easily recognize as religious. Its core being universalistic animism, there is no marvel which those who hold it may not accept as truth, no measure for the terror or the ferocity to which they may be aroused by acts and aspects seeming perfectly innocent and harmless to a Buddhist or a Christian. Hence the innumerable tales of popular outbreaks, and governmental measures against missionaries, and against secular for eigners dwelling among them, and hence more than one war, and more than one occasion for foreign interference with matters in which the behavior of the Chinese appears to themselves not only natural but inevitable. The Caucasian calls them inscrutable, meaning only that they puzzle him, but the actuality of the quality will first appear to many a reader of Professor De Groot's pages. Briefly, there is nothing created either by God or by man in which the Chinese religion does not recognize at least two spirits, one good, and one evil, and both having power over man. The air, earth, and water teem with such spirits, and there is no end to the pranks within their conception and capacity, nor is there any limit to the respect rendered to them by all. from the emperor to the most ignorant peasant. The Confucianist, in exact proportion to the measure of his learning, rises superior to these beings, and and the more eager to teach that Buddhism and Christianity are mischievous and demoniacal. The worship not only of ancestors, but of the Emperor and of living men of influence and power naturally follows, and also sacrifice to the spirits animating everything from a rock to a star. A late development is Taoism which among a multitude of other things teaches a wholesome humility and unselfishness, but is so intimately blended with animism and Confucianism as to be less beneficial than might be supposed. Buddhism, always a solvent of any re ligion with which it comes in contact. has weakened both Confucianism and Taoism and by its establishment of monasteries and pagodas kept itself constantly before the popular mind. and by its theory that its religious buildings were centres of beneficent atmospheric influence has for 1500 years been a potent factor in Chinese life. Its high abstract ethics are beneficent in their influence, but are half neutralized by superstition, and the whole system is at war with Confucianism, which has for more than a millennium striven to expel it from the empire. The result of all this is as St. Hilaire showed some forty-five years ago, that every man more or less dissembles his actual belief, and that dissensions, quarrels. rebellions, which to an outsider seem entirely secular, are really religious in their origin. Many of the sectaries have developed ideas akin to Christianity and these men are the most offensive to the state and, in Professor De Groot's opinion, form the field to which missionaries may safely turn their attention with hope of success. This is the barest outline of the book, which is full of matter that one might call curious were it not so potent for good or evil in the duration of an empire and the spiritual existence of a race numbered by myriads. The Macmillan Co. Letters from America. By G. Lowes Dickinson (Conclusion.) ENGLISH REVIEW 651 III. IV. v. As It Happened. Book VI. Crisis. Chapter VII. "The Last In- 658 x. The Crooked Limb. By George A. B. Dewar SATURDAY REVIEW 699 VI. FOR SIX DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, THE Living Age will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage, to any part of the United States. To Canada the postage is 50 cents per annum. 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