are made of pies or pancakes, its benches of sians, come to light, such as their belief in "The Princess Helena the Fair had ordered a shrine to be built for her, with twelve columns, with twelve rows of beams. In that shrine she was sitting upon a high throne, and awaiting her bridegroom, the bold youth, who, with a single bound of his swift steed, should reach high enough to kiss her on the lips. A stir ran through the whole youth of the nation." Mr. Ralston, who has already published several works relating to Russia, half promises to supplement the "Folk-Lore" by a volume of poems, in which those "skazkas which are connected with them will find their fitting place." LANDOR'S IMAGINARY CONVER- WE E have hardly had time to read the third volume of Landor before the publishers are ready with the fourth. This introduces a good many persons living at the time the series was first issued. It is a somewhat mixed and anachronistic volume. The first two conversations are between Southey and Landor, concerning Milton, Keats, and some of the minor poets. These probably had a historic foundation. At all events they give us the pleasure of seeing what Landor can find to say about himself. In our days, when the whole world has grown so humble that few can bear the very least shadow of self-conceit, perhaps no one will says he never read without the heartache, seeing in them the first indication of love and blindness: "Ut mihi adhuc refugam quærebant lumina noctem Nec matutinum sustinuere jubar." Many of the conversations in this volume No one can are between eminent women. read the tender words of Roger Ascham to Lady Jane Grey without a feeling of tears, and no one has ever caught the spirit of King Harry and Anne Boleyn with a prettier dramatic grace than Landor. The notes to this last dialogue are both spirited and quaint. These conversations are not the less valu able because the reader must sometimes turn to the encyclopedia to find out who and what is speaking. The "Notes and Queries " sent not only to the Literary World, but to our daily papers, show what an incredible number of people live without maps, dictionaries, encyclopedias and gazetteers. The book which is at once entertaining and stimulating, which will rouse questions until it teaches the reader how to find the answers, is the book of all others most likely to put an end to this slovenly state of things. Of all authors Walter Savage Landor knows best how to do this. CAPT. BURNABY'S RIDE TO KHIVA.* IT The news reached three brothers, two of whom "did nothing but exercise their horses, and curl their hair, and dye their moustaches," but the youngest, who had been an obedient son, was inferior to the others, like a "halffledged duckling," and dared not hope even to get a sight of the Princess, till his dead father, saying, "Don't grieve, Vanya, I'll help you in your trouble," whistled. The reIsult shall be told in the words of the skazka: be found to care for this. There are two present inhabitants. Before that time lit "From goodness knows whence appeared a horse, the earth quaking beneath it, a flame rushand then stood still before the old man, as if ing from its ears and nostrils. To and fro it flew, rooted in the ground, and cried, "What are thy commands?' "Vanya crept into one of the horse's ears, and out of the other, and turned into such a hero as no skazka can tell of, no pen describe! He mounted the horse, set his arms a-kimbo, and flew, just like a falcon, straight to the home of with a bound aloft, he only failed by the breadth With a wave of his hand, the Princess Helena. of two rows of beams. Back again he turned, galloped up, leapt aloft, and got within one beam row's breadth. Once more he turned, once more he wheeled, then shot past the eye like a streak of fire, took an accurate aim, and kissed the fair Helena right on the lips!" The result, of course, is obvious: "And he good heavens how clever he turned out, and how brave, and what a handsome fellow! Only see him mount his flying steed, give his cap a cock, and stick his arms a-kimbo! why, you'd say he was a king, a born king!" says ways of judging the author, by what he furnishes both methods. It is interesting to learn that Landor had never felt himself inferior but once, and that once in the presence of Kosciuszco. For what reason he does not say, but he goes omitted or forgotten by most readers, though on to speak pertinent words which will be they apply to many people : "At the very moment when most beside yourself, catching up half my words, would call me self-sufficient, I bow my head before the humble with greatly more than their humiliation. There are half hours when, although in good humor and good spirits, I would not be disturbed by the necessity of talking to be the possessor of all the rich marshes that we see yonder." An historical lecturer said lately that it was almost impossible for a modern to use The subjects are grouped as Mythological, successfully the ancient Latin quantities and T is almost twenty years since Arminius Vámbéry, a Hungarian, visited the regions east of the Caspian Sea, to discover, if possible, whether there were anything in common between the Hungarians and the tle was known in regard to the country or the people, and from Vámbéry's visit till the annexation of Turkistan to the Czar's domains, very little has been known of what is there going on. Since that enlargement of Russian domain, we have had two notable books by Americans, Schuyler's "Turkistan and McGahan's "CampaignIts title fully describes it: A Ride to Khiva. ing on the Oxus;" and now we have a volume by an Englishman, Captain Burnaby. It was a ride in midwinter, with the mercury at times frozen in the bulb of the thermometer. He was in the Soudan, on the Blue Nile, when, happening to take up an old number of the Pall Mall Gazette, and his eye falling upon a paragraph in regard to Turkistan, the passion seized him to visit Khiva before his leave of absence expired. Leav ing the Nile he hastened to England to put so write a real-sounding Latin verse. Lan- his project in execution. The journey was dor, perhaps, might have done this, if any- wholly in Russian territory, from St. Petersbody, and so what he writes of Milton's Latin verse has special interest. The two following lines from his seventh sonnet, Landor burg by rail to the Volga, and thence by sleighs while the snow lasted; while the remainder of the distance was accomplished Stories of Magic, Ghost Stories, and Legends. The latter are a curious mingling of the pagan and the Christian element, and relate to the origin of evil, the creation of man and animals, and the traditions about Christ, the disciples and certain saints; and in the course of the narratives some interesting Fourth Series. Literary Men, Famous Women, and Mis- Asia. By Fred Burnaby, Captain Royal Horse Guards. bits of legendary lore, as held by the Rus-cellaneous. Imaginary Conversations. By Walter Savage Landor. Boston: Roberts Brothers. A Ride to Khiva. Travels and Adventures in Central New York: Harper & Brothers. on horseback with a camel train. The route was southeast to the Sea of Aral, thence along the country east of that sea, across the Syr Daria, the Jaxartes of the ancients, due south to the Oxus - -the track of Zeno of black-faced sheep scampering before her. At the poet, in a firm of professional house decolast she came to one, which, fatter than the rators; and is now carrying on that business others, could not keep up with the flock. Suddenly stooping, she seized the victim by one foot, with her cousin with marked success. The and with a rapid movement turned him over on so-called "Queen Anne" style, to the study his back. A clear, ringing laugh resounded from of which the Misses Garrett have devoted her lips. She turned round to us and pointed phon and the ten thousand- to the Turko- triumphantly at the sheep; then drawing her their attention, tends rather to the classical man's capital. hand across the neck went through in pantomime than to the Gothic forms, and sympathizes the operation of cutting its throat." more with Wren than with Wolsey; it avoids extraneous ornament, prefers red brick to stucco, and for internal decoration adopts both "Houses as Captain Burnaby is a keen observer, noticing all that is going on around him. He can speak several languages, among them the Arabic and Russian, but in his ride he was obliged to employ a servant who could speak both Russian and Tartar. He has traveled enough to be able to accommodate himself to every condition and circumstance of life. He understands the Orientals, and has enough of English pluck to carry him triumphantly through all troubles, and to enable him to surmount difficulties which would deter men of less self-assertion. His Tartar servant, Nazar, was small of stature but faithful to him. His Turkoman guide, on the other hand, was disposed to be master : wood paneling and wall paper. 66 Mr. Loftie, the author of the other volume, Captain Burnaby had an eye especially to the movements of Russia toward India. He is of the opinion that some day Russia intends to carry her frontier to Hindoostan. He does not think, however, that this is the policy so much of the Czar as of the military authorities in Central Asia. He represents the officers there as ever ready to avail themselves of any trouble with the Turkomans to get up a war, in order that is a well-known writer for the Saturday Rethey may distinguish themselves and so gain view and the Guardian. He is an enthusipromotion. He thinks that personal ambi-astic collector of articles of vertu, and we are tion had not a little to do with the late annex- not surprised that he devotes one chapter to ation, and anticipates other additions to Rus- "The Prudence of Collecting." In a numsian territory from similar causes. ber of interesting anecdotes he shows that The Appendix, with the maps in the two "a very small expenditure on worthy objects "pockets" of the volume, makes it a book of art is both good and pleasant in itself, and also a prudent piece of economy, . . . since, The information here given in re-except for people who are actually artists, gard to distances, routes, etc., so far as we much that goes to make home beautiful must know, can be found nowhere else, and is of of necessity be obtained by judicious collectespecial value to those who keep pace with ing." While he does not admire private geographical explorations. museums, and thinks that houses which are ugly, badly furnished and uncomfortable are none the better for being filled with curiosities; yet in the striking contrast between the houses of "Brown" and "Smith" he shows us very graphically how the possession of "a taste" helps one "to eat a cake and have it too!" In his chapter upon "Pictures" Mr. Loftie gives a number of excellent rules "by which a man who desires to have pictorial decorations for his rooms may manage to do "I found the guide lying at full length on an old piece of carpet which he had placed by the fire. He showed no readiness to resign it on my which admirably supplements Schuyler's arrival. The little Tartar, however, soon re-work. moved him, for, taking up a cooking pot, which was filled with ice and water, he poured a portion of the contents on the head of the delinquent. The latter started up, uttered some fearful lan guage at this summary proceeding, which he did not seem to relish, then rolling the folds of his sheep-skin tighter round his body, threw himself down a few yards farther off from the fire." To get the guide up in the morning the Tartar heaped hot ashes upon him. The Turkomans are Mohammedans and fatalists, throwing upon the Deity the responsibility for any mischance that may occur through their negligence. The camel driver of this expedition was careless and smashed several boxes. His excuse was that it was the will of God, whereupon Captain Burnaby gave him a thrashing: "Brother, it is the will of God: you must not complain. It was your destiny to break my property, and mine to beat you. We neither of us could help it, praise be to Allah." This put an end to all smashing of boxes. The book is replete with similarly lively and entertaining passages. Our traveler came one day to a Kirghiz kibitka or tent: COM HOUSEHOLD ART.* per "A pleasant and lovely home need not be expensive. To make a house beautiful we do not require gilding and carving, marble and bronze, but we do want a little taste, and perhaps a little trouble." "It evidently belonged to a wealthy Kirghiz. It was three times the size of an ordinary kibitka, and the walls were ornamented with straw plaiting of different colors. A girl who was carrying The simple, practical style in which both a large sheet of ice to the tent came up to the these books are written is delightful; there guide, who asked if there was a sheep for sale, are no Utopian flights of fancy, but all the The inquiry instantly produced a sensation in the kibitka, and the whole family came out to have a look at the Croesus who actually wanted to buy a whole sheep. . . . The ice-bearer would have held her own if pitted for good looks against any European belle, and her complexion, two or three Rhoda Garrett and her cousin Agnes, the shades darker than that of her companions, made joint authors of House Decoration, are practimy thoughts wander several thousand miles in another direction, and I bethought me of far-off cal, energetic, sensible women. Sevilla, for the girl might have been a gitna was at one time a partner of William Morris, from Triana, by the side of the Guadalquiver.. hints and suggestions relative to house fur- The former A Plea for Art in the House. By W. J. Loftie. Sug it, and to do it without loss." Mr. Gillott's mode of buying from rising young artists, and the judgment and taste evinced by Mr. Wynn Ellis and Mr. Sheepshanks in their selections, show how important it is to be able to recognize good contemporary work; and while the buying of genuine "old masters" is advised, the amateur is cautioned against purchasing a picture simply because it is old. great man's hand has been over it, and because, "A picture is not an autograph. Because a perhaps, it bears his signature, it is not necessarily valuable. . . A good name is a good thing for a picture to have, but it is a far better thing for the picture itself to be good." The purchase of fine engravings is especially recommended, and this chapter concludes with some excellent hints upon art in the nursery. Books and illuminated MSS., oriental and English porcelains, enamels, ivories, bronzes, plate and glass, are each sever ally discussed in their relation to household art; and in the closing chapter the author dwells at length upon the economical and The pretty girl hurried forward to the flock to catch a sheep for our inspection. She ran like a hare over the rough stump and brushwood which gestions for House Decoration, etc. By Rhoda and Agnes civilizing value of art training to the individstudded the snow-covered ground, a large number Garrett. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. ual, the family, and the nation at large. THE LITERARY WORLD. BOSTON, APRIL 1, 1877. Communications for the editorial department of the paper should be addressed to THE EDITOR OF THE LITERARY WORLD; for the business department to The Publisher of THE LITERARY WORLD; P. O. Box 1183, Boston, Mass. We should have little courage in undertaking to the charm with which the skilled writer is to do so, did we not feel hopeful of receiving able to invest his work, till they lose for the the generous consideration of the patrons of time both the power and the wish to discover the paper. For such kindly grant we here where truth ends and fiction begins. But we and now present our respectful appeal. have the authority of the greatest master of the art, Sir Walter Scott himself, in saying that such works may be of advantage, first, to those who are so stimulated by the narrative that they will study into the facts, and, second, to those who are too idle to investigate, but who may "acquire some acquaintance with history, which, however inaccurate, is better than none." For the future we have no promises to make. We prefer that the paper should continue to speak for itself. We make no important changes of plan or form, and we No communications will receive attention that are not ac- shall earnestly strive that there be no deteri companied by the name and address of the writer in full. The editor will welcome correspondence upon topics related to the paper and its work; and will endeavor to return oration of aim or spirit. Of course in the case of a journal so peculiarly personal as this has been, and must, for the present, at communications of which no use can be made, provided they least, continue to be, a change of editors involves some change of countenance and are accompanied (when sent) with a written request to that effect, and with the necessary postage. For terms of subscription, advertising rates, and other particulars relating to the business department of the paper, see the publisher's card upon the last page of reading manner. TO THE FRIENDLY READER. The new voice cannot sound like ONE thing has been made very apparent the old. We can only say that neither the CRITICS AND CRITICISM. doubt not, will its readers note the disap-THE doctrine has lately been advanced in tribute to him. It was in June, 1870, that the first number of The Literary World appeared. Its aim and character were quickly and favorably recognized. It was at once assigned an honorable place, and though it never commanded the resources or enjoyed the facilities which in these days are supposed to be essential to the success of such an enterprise, yet its growth has been steady and substantial. That it has succeeded as it has is one convincing credential of its mission. 66 influential quarters that a distinction of essence divides critics into two classes: 'newspaper critics" and "critics of pure literature." This sheep-and-goats sort of division critics as they actually are may really deserve, but when the distinction is carried so far as to make it apply to the art of literary criticism considered in the abstract, is not the truth a little strained? Between "newspaper criticism"- by which, of course, is to be understood criticism in, not of, the newspapers-and the "criticism of pure literature" there must needs be differences of form and method, but is not the critical spirit, in itself considered, one and the same in both cases-ought it not to be, at least - however variously it may be developed, and whatever the modifications of its direction? In proportion as what is called "newspaper criticism" approaches in character and quality the true ideal, does it not prove to be of the same essence with what is called "criticism of pure literature?" Nobody would think of claiming that "current literature" and "pure literature" are of one and the same piece, or that the crowded columns of a newspaper afford the critic equal scope for the exercise of his faculty with the ample pages of a volume; but we fail to see in this any reason why learning and judgment and conscience and expert skill should be excluded from the former and confined solely at the very beginning of our acquaintance with the constituency of the Literary World. That is, its readers are its friends. For a young journal we are convinced that it has made for itself a very wide and deep place in the hearts of those to whom it has been coming. And we wish, as we think we properly may, to ask whether this friendly interest, so far as it exists, may not be put to further practical service for the benefit of the paper. What we mean may be well illustrated by the following letter: CINCINNATI, O., March 6, '77. Editor Literary World. DEAR SIR:- Please find enclosed six dollars for subscriptions, as per accompanying list. Please send the March numbers on to the new subscribers at once. I hope to send you more subscribers from time to time. The writer of this letter is an entire stranger to us. Her interest obviously is purely in the paper. And we feel free to say that we think its past character justifies her evident hopefulness as to its future. We have now to raise the question with others of our subscribers whether they cannot go and do likewise? A very little effort on the part of those who have faith in the mission of the Literary World, and who are pleased with the promise of this its April number, would give a new impulse to our work. And under the spur of such substantial encouragement, our plans for the improvement of the paper and the increase of its value to its readers could be vigorously prosecuted. In the way of immediate preparation for the task which now devolves upon us, we have been at pains to examine with some care the contents of the several volumes into which the paper has grown, and we must be allowed to place on record here our sense of the genuine excellence which uniformly characterizes their contents. Every number, and almost every column of every number, bears the marks of skilled and conscientious labor. Errors, of course, Mr. Crocker has committed, and we find that he has been habitually ready to acknowledge them, too; but for diligent study of materials, for thoughtful and judicial use of them, for fullness, frankness and force of opinion, for prevailing correctness and to the latter. clearness of style, and for a generally agreeable flavor, we must consider that his critical THE historical novel belongs to a class of work takes a very high rank. As we have fictitious literature which will never lack for thus refreshed our recollections of his enter- readers. Though they are assured that it taining pages, and summed up the impressions has only a foundation in fact, and that all the of their varied merits, we almost despair of rest is of the unsubstantial stuff of which going on with the work as it has been begun. | dreams are made, they yet give themselves up an anniversary of such a man proclaims. IF Mr. Longfellow has ever had any doubts of the extent to which he is established in the hearts of the American people, those doubts must have been dispelled by the warmth of the notice which was taken of his recent seventieth birthday. The flocking of his personal friends of Cambridge and vicinity to his door that day, with their graceful offerings of flowers, gratifying as that may have been, was the least part of the testimonial called forth by the occasion. The whole country, by its mouthpiece the press, has responded to the call which such CUMMINGTON. AMID these haunts a poet's boyhood drew Which, linked and blended in some after time CORRESPONDENCE. . I HAVE from the first taken the liveliest interest in this paper, and, having two or three times met Mr. S. R. Crocker, I have some appreciation of his arduous labors, and the greater regret at his painful illness. . . I have found the March number most enjoyable; and I and other friends of the Literary World here send you our best wishes for its larger success. It has won its own place, and I trust that all changes will but call attention to its merits and make it stronger. Brooklyn, N. Y. P. SOME time ago I saw the Literary World regularly, and liked the plan of it. There is undoubtedly a place for such a paper. There is a vast number of busy men like myself who haven't time to read all the books, yet like to know something about them to get their flavor and drift. I don't like “condensed "— or elongated — classics, but I do like to know of what sort the litera gossip quite so delightful as literary gossip? ... Have you seen Mozley's Sermons? He is the most robust thinker that has looked down upon us from the pulpit for many a year. M. East Hartford, Conn. And the stores of information which he acquired by all these indefatigable measures are here disposed to public view with perfect method, and with a compactness, clearness and charm of manner which are simply admirable. Touches of humor enliven his descriptions at every point. Perhaps he is describing his reverend teacher, the village priest of Ivánofka: long as possible. Such books we do not Roxbury, Mass. BY WALLACE'S RUSSIA.* S. His pictures of real life are invariably full of curious interest, and convey a great deal in a few lines. Thus, speaking of the families composing a Russian village, he says: "The Heads of Households must often meet together and consult in the Village Assembly, and their daily avocations must be influenced to mow the hay or plow the fallow field until the by the communal decrees. They cannot begin Village Assembly has passed a resolution on the subject. . . . No peasant can permanently leave the village without the consent of the Commune, and this consent will not be granted until the applicant gives satisfactory security for the fuleco-fillment of all his actual and future liabilities. If a peasant wishes to go away for a short time in order to work elsewhere he must obtain a written permission, which serves him as a passport during by a communal decree.' his absence; and he may be recalled any moment Y common consent of those qualified to judge, this is the best book that has ever been written about Russia. Its appearance at the present critical juncture of Eastern affairs is therefore singularly opportune. We know not how better to describe it in a few words than by saying that it is the "main department" of an immense "exhibition," in the Philadelphia sense, of the empire of the Czar in its geographical, political, nomic and domestic aspects and relations. Its fullness, minuteness and accuracy as an interior view of the country and the people are not to be realized except by personal examination. Every topic included in his plan is treatMr. Wallace is not a mere traveler, and ed with a like utmost circumstantial fidelity. his work is far more than a book of travels. Whether exploring a squalid village in some He writes as having been a resident of Rus-out-of-the-way region, or calling upon a rich sia, and his pages embody the fruits of merchant in town; whether describing the patient and prolonged observation. Arriv-imperial administration and its officials, or ing in the country in 1870 with the purpose the church and its priesthood; whether wanof spending a few months, he remained six dering among the pastoral tribes of the years, and during all that time devoted him- steppes or analyzing the results of emancipaself to the closest investigation. In the pursuit of his purpose he showed the enthusiastic industry of the true scholar, adapted by novel methods to the peculiar intricacies of the subject. He chose unfrequented routes for such journeys as he made, that he might better come in contact with the real life of the people. At one time he penetrated tion; at every point we find in Mr. Wallace the same spirit of patient and resolute investigation, and receive from him the same particularity of information. In rareness and richness of materials as well as in their skillful employment, his work must be assigned a place at the very head of its class, and will be read with the intensest interest by all who Iture of the day is. And then is there any the vast forests of the north, and took up his desire a correct knowledge of the round abode in a remote village, where under the world in which they live. The American direction of the priest he made slow but sub-publishers have presented it to us in an imstantial progress in his studies. At another perial elegance of garb which well befits its character. time he fell ill and went through the round of curious experiences which wait on medical practice. He acquired the language that he ... UPON looking over the catalogues of might have access to facts at first hand. He our libraries, I have been surprised to find so familiarized himself with the homes and manmuch difference in the number of books forners of the peasantry, as well as with the boys and for girls. Certainly our boys need habits of aristocratic circles in the great not complain as to the quantity supplied. cities. He explored the libraries in search The quality is another matter. Far too of such literature as might serve his purpose. many are full of slang phrases and criminal anecdote, familiarizing their young minds * Russia. By D. Mackenzie Wallace. New York: with evil much better kept out of sight as Henry Holt & Co. MINOR BOOK NOTICES. -A Book of American Explorers. In this tasteful volume Mr. T. W. Higginson follows up the distinguished success of his "Young Folks' History of the United States" with a new and very effective stroke of literary genius. The plan of the book is as novel as its execution is apt. By means of an extended and nicely joined series of extracts, consideration at the house of the bruigh fer or at and Gold, and their Relation to the Problem of Resumption, is an Ohio gentleman, the son - Mr. S. Dana Horton, the author of Silver he allows the old contemporary letter-writers, Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, and a annalists and historians to tell in their own few others, and ending with the acceptance language the story of the discovery and set- of the act of incorporation in 1846. The tlement of America, beginning with the Norse Ecclesiastical History comes next, the origin legends of the year 1000 and thereabouts, and growth of each of the churches being and ending with various authentic narratives traced minutely; and then, in the order of the founding of the Colony of Massachu- named, Heresy and Witchcraft, Education, setts Bay. By the same method the voyages Indian History, Military History, and Statis-sive; his coyne and livery, risings out or compul"His cosherings might sometimes prove oppresof Columbus and the Cabots, the experiences tics; a Genealogical Register completing the sion to military service, bonaght or claim to quarof the French in Canada and Florida, the volume. We can testify from personal ters for his soldiers.” adventures of De Soto and Capt. John Smith, knowledge to the efforts which have been Such passages as these are by no means the discovery of the Hudson River, the set- made by the author to ensure fullness, fresh- infrequent, and are quite too much for the tlement of New Netherlands, and the landing ness, and accuracy, even upon comparatively capacity of the ordinary reader; nor do we of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, are all in turn unimportant points, and we believe that he find any glossary to which he can turn for related, thus substantially covering the entire has attained that result in a remarkable de- enlightenment. Neither is there any running period from 985 to 1630. The only work of gree. The work is strikingly one of solid title to the pages. In some such respects as Mr. Higginson's pen has been to introduce fact and figure; there being no superfluous these the work is seriously defective, and the original authorities, to amend their some-writing, and almost no attempt to employ might have been greatly improved by careful times unintelligible spelling, to insert now picturesque effects. We could wish that on literary and mechanical revision. Of the and then a helpful word in brackets, and to a subject so rich and inviting the stern and author's motive, however, we have nothing append a few foot-notes along the pages. impartial historian could have allowed him- to say but in praise. That motive is to But this, though apparently a slight service, self a little more liberty in that direction. render a patriotic service to Ireland in her is really an extremely valuable one. It is However, it is a satisfaction to have some struggles after political independence. His not every one who could be trusted to guide books which speak with authority and not as closing chapter rises into a truly eloquent us judiciously through the volumes of the the scribes. This history is printed from appeal in her behalf, and the volume, as a Hakluyt Society and the collections of the type and not from plates, so that copies can- whole, is not without many interesting and Historical Societies, and the almost count- not be multiplied above the number em- instructive passages. An intelligent Irishless records which relate to this period. Mr. braced in the original edition. It will be man would read it through from beginning Higginson seems to us to have performed his issued to subscribers at five dollars; but to end with intense delight. task with great success, and the result is a after they shall have been supplied, the price most novel and entertaining volume, the in- of the volume will be increased. Past exterest of which is not at all in proportion to perience warrants the confident expectation its size. Beautiful typography and numerous that it will soon become very scarce, and of Hon. V. B. Horton, a member of Congress pictures add to its attractions, and we do not grow more and more costly. from that State in 1862. To that father the see why all of the young, and the great maMr. Thomas C. Amory, a well-known volume is dedicated in a pleasant manner, jority of the old, should not find it as enter-citizen of Boston, a lawyer by profession, has advantage being taken to introduce in this taining as it is instructive. These passages written a history of the conquest of Ireland connection an extract from a speech made of history never fail to interest, no matter how by England, which he entitles Transfer of by him in the House of Representatives on often told, and when told in the quaint lan- Erin. The book, which is a large octavo of the Legal Tender Act in February of that guage of the actors they are invested with a more than six hundred pages, was printed in year. The author shows himself to be a fresh and indescribable charm. [Lee & this city, but bears the imprint of J. B. Lippin- diligent student of his subject, and his work Shepard.] cott & Co. of Philadelphia. It embodies un-is one of no small learning. It is not adapted - H. O. Houghton & Co., Riverside Press, mistakably the results of laborious research. to popular service, being scientific and techCambridge, have Paige's History of Cam- Much light is thrown upon the antiquities of bridge well along through the press, and it the Emerald Isle, and a great deal of curiwill soon be published. The author, Rev. L. ous family history and genealogical detail is R. Paige, D. D., is a retired clergyman, long given. An interesting feature of the work a resident of Cambridge. He has been en- is the account of the literary remains of the gaged upon the work for many years, and has ancient Irish people — manuscripts and other given to it, as we happen to know, a vast records now stored in the national libraries amount of industrious labor and patient care. and in private collections, over which Prof. Thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the lo- Eugene O'Curry has been working of late cality, and in the fullest sympathy with its pe- with results so gratifying for the fullness and liar institutions and rich associations, he has truth of history. A narrative of the course accomplished his grateful but responsible of political and military events from the betask with merited success. Of his qualifica-ginning of the fourteenth century to the end tions there could be no question, and the of the sixteenth forms a large part of the volvalue of the work produced is self-evident. ume. The author's success has been greater, The volume is a handsomely printed octavo, we think, in the collection of his materials extending through some seven hundred pages. than in the employment of them. The arThe arrangement of materials is first topical, rangement is not always orderly, and the and under that chronological; the general construction of sentences is often awkward history being divided into subjects, and each to the point of obscurity, a quality which is subject treated by itself. The Civil History not mended by the strange terms which conof the town is first taken up, beginning with stantly appear. Thus, on p. 85, we read: its settlement in 1631 by Thomas Dudley, "The freemen flaths and aires, after three days nical in its character. Only those who have acquired some familiarity with financial mysteries could either gather information from it or master its course of reasoning. As its title indicates, its main point of direction is not the contest between paper and specie, but the question whether there shall be a single and double standard — gold and silver only, or gold alone. The whole perplexing matter of the demonetization of silver, which has been begun abroad and is now under consideration here, is entered into with great thoroughness. The author is strongly in favor of the double standard, which was the tenor of the Silver Commission's report presented to Congress early in March, and his argument has weight and force. Whether it should prevail we do not feel competent to We think we see signs of some eccentricity in the author, or it may be only originality and independence of mind. He evidently thinks for himself, and calls no man master in the science he expounds. say. |