According to the views of the writer, which are shared, as we understand, by the majority of French artists, the existing system of administration has proved wholly ineffective and inadequate. At present, the fine arts are controlled by an Under-Secretary of State, who is attached to the Department of Public Instruction. M. Turquet, the occupant of this office, has earned general respect in the discharge of his duties; but he is unable, by the circumstances of his position, to exert sufficient influence or authority. M. Ferry, the nominal representative in the Cabinet of the interests of art, devotes himself altogether to matters relating to public instruction; and it is therefore urged that the time has arrived for giving to art a distinct and separate representation. It is thought that M. Gambetta might be disposed to view the proposal with favour, and it is possible that the change may be made on his accession to power.

THE Portfolio has for frontispiece this month a charming drawing by Mr. G. D. Leslie of a young girl reading a love-letter. This has been reproduced by M. Dujardin by a new and very effective process, which is thus described :"The drawing is done in black-lead pencil, not on paper, but on a piece of finely ground plate glass. No photograph is taken, as in ordinary methods of photogravure, but, by light transmitted through the drawing itself, the necessary action is produced on the sensitive etching-ground which covers the copper-plate. The plate, when bitten, can, of course, be printed in ink of any colour that may be preferred."

The present impression is printed in red ink, and has all the effect of a red-chalk drawing. Prof. Colvin discourses learnedly on the three types of Amazons found in Greek art; aesthetics by an examination of" spars," which he defines as including all kinds of masts, yards, gaffs, booms, bowsprits-" indeed, any kind of stick which carries or extends a sail." Yachting men will find much to interest them

and Mr. Hamerton continues his nautical

in Mr. Hamerton's observations.

THE Gazette des Beaux-Arts prints this month a hitherto unpublished memoir of the French sculptor Jean-Jacques Caffieri, written in 1815 by the chevalier Lenoir, at that time administrator of the Musée des Monuments français. It gives various details concerning the life and works of Caffieri, especially with regard to the artistic family to which he belonged. Both his father and his grandfather had been sculptors in the service of the French King, and he himself was "Sculpteur du Roi" to Louis Quinze. The other articles of the number are either concerned with administrative questions or give descriptions of art collections, with the exception of one by M. Paliard, in which he seeks to demonstrate that the grisaille painting of Abundance in the Louvre is to be attributed to Raphael, and was an emblematical design relating personally to the Cardinal de Boisy, whose six abbeys are signified by the six ears of wheat that Abundance carries in her cornucopia. This sounds a somewhat fanciful interpretation, but there seems little doubt that the grisaille served as cover to the small Holy Family by Raphael

in the Louvre.

ONE of Millet's beautiful landscapes, in which a flat prosaic scene is lifted by the magic of his genius into the realm of poetry and mystery, is etched by M. Gustave Greux, with his usual skill and true feeling, in L'Art of last week. It is called "Rentrée du Troupeau," and is from the picture in the collection of M. Georges Petit.

NOTES ON ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY.

MR. J. PARK HARRISON will publish imme-
diately, with Mr. Bernard Quaritch, a Descriptive
Account of the Incised Slate Tablet and other
will be illustrated with an autotype reproduction
Remains lately discovered at Towyn. The work
of the principal face of the tablet, and with several
other plates, showing both the engraved figures
objects in early Irish and other art with which
on a larger scale, and some of the corresponding
they may be identified.

A BIOGRAPHICAL catalogue of the portraits in
Lord Bath's collection at Longleat, by Miss
Boyle, is in the press, and will shortly be pub-
lished by Mr. Elliot Stock.

MR. DAVID LAW writes to us that his twenty
etchings of The Thames-Oxford to London,
about to be published by Messrs. George Bell
and Sons, are quite new and distinct from the
ten much larger plates already published by
Messrs. Dowdeswells.

THE Holbein Society, having just issued to its subscribers a facsimile of the editio princeps of the Block-Book Ars Moriendi (which we notice elsewhere), has now in hand The History of the Noble, Valiant, and Renowned Hero and Knight, the Lord Tewrdonnckh, from the Augsburg edition of 1519.

will assist him to carry out his researches in thorough and regular fashion.

a

of Rorke's Drift, exhibited for a long time in M. DE NEUVILLE's fine picture, The Defence formed museum at Sydney, New South Wales. Bond Street, has been bought for the newly

the "Find near Thebes," Mr. Spencer George WITH reference to the objects missing from exhibition of Egyptian antiquities in the Perceval writes to us suggesting that a loan principal countries of Europe, and also in America, might possibly lead to the identification of some that have got into private hands.

WE learn from the Etcher that Mr. W. W.
Burgess has just completed an etching of
Hughenden church, of which the first proof is
in the possession of the Queen.

of a forthcoming picture sale of extreme inter
WE are enabled to give some particulars
est. The Bierens collection is coming into the
market, and will fall under the hammer at
Amsterdam on November 15. It is of remark-
able attractiveness. Like the van Loon collec-
tion, which was bought en bloc about four years
ago by the Rothschild family, and was then
divided between them, the Bierens collection is
a small one; it contains only about thirty
pictures. But, again like the van Loon collec-
tion, it consists almost entirely of works brought
together during the lifetime of their painters,
and thus has acquired a particular character
for the authenticity of its attributions, and for
the immunity its canvases have enjoyed from
Amassed
the destructions of "restoration."
in the latter half of the seventeenth
tury, the Bierens collection, during its exist-
adventure-that was in the year 1747, when
ence of 200 years, has had one notable
the death of Antonie Bierens compelled a
sale, or

cen

at all events the formalities of

THE memorial of the late Sir E. Landseer for erection in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral by Mr. Woolner, R.A., is now finished in miniature, of which the larger statue will be a reproduction. The statue will be of white marble, seven feet six inches high by nearly four feet in length. The top is adorned with a design emblematical of his profession, in the the lower portion of the memorial is a relief centre is a medallion head of the painter, and in copy from his well-known picture, The Chief its head resting on the coffin of its dead master. Mourner, representing the shepherd's dog with a sale. The family, however, were minded COMPLAINTS are making themselves heard in to retain nearly all that was most interScotland that the National Gallery at Edin-esting in the ancestral treasures, and they were themselves the best purchasers at the burgh does not receive its due share of parliaauction. Thus, the collection, though nominally dispersed, was practically preserved. It contains two important shipping-pieces by Backhuysen, and, among landscape, two of the instance of the homelier art of Adrian van de suave mountain pastorals of Berghem, and an Velde. But its strength we take to be in its figure pieces, and among these especially the figure pieces of men of the second rank, or men little known.

mentary moneys. It appears from the votes for
the current year that the National Gallery in
Trafalgar Square has a credit of £19,273; the
£3,349; and the Dublin Gallery, £3,575. The
National Portrait Gallery at South Kensington,
Scotch National Gallery obtains only £1,170;
and even this sum is represented to be merely
the equivalent of a debt due from England to
Scotland under the Act of Union. It need hardly
be added that the provincial towns of the United
Kingdom get nothing at all.

THOSE Who know Bristol, and all who
are interested in old English domestic archi-
tecture, will be concerned to hear that "the
Canynge apartments" in Redcliffe Street have
been seriously (and it is feared irretrievably)
damaged by the great fire that took place on
the premises of Messrs. Jefferies on the night
of October 10. The timber roof of the old hall,
famous for its quaint corbels, is partially de-
stroyed; and "Canynge's parlour," with its
ornamental fireplace and its carved furniture,
has also suffered greatly.

ANYONE interested in archaeology who may happen to visit Cannes this winter will find it worth while to make an expedition to St.Vallier. M. Bottin, the postmaster there, has for some time been excavating prehistoric remains of much interest in the neighbourhood. We learn from Le Commerce, a local journal, that he has discovered a tomb in which cremated remains were found, with articles of the Neolithic period.he carbonised skeleton is that of a powerful man, and it is surrounded by weapons of bronze and of polished flint, with bits of pottery. M. Bottin has been quite unaided in his very meritorious enterprise, and it is to be hoped that the French Government

Of Van Slingelandt it possesses what, in the middle of the eighteenth century,

when Antonie Bierens died, and the collection was for sale, was accounted the capital example of this brilliant little master. This is the work entitled La Dentellière, and displaying three figures, a grave infant and two women who are merrily yet variously enamoured of it. One of them-she whose pursuit gives the name to the picture-sits apart, observant of the child, while not neglectful of her own delicate labour; the other, younger and more abandoned, bends delightedly over that juvenile member of society who is at once her charge and her toy. By Sorg there is a remarkable work, La Cuisine-an important example and an excellent illustration of the manners of the day. The kitchen seems also to be a living-room, and there is time for gossip as well as for plucking of birds. By B. Graat there is a picture prob ably not incorrectly chronicled as "pièce capitale du maître; "the main interest is in the painting of a group of luxurious women, attired finely, if slightly. The graver masters of genre painting are not wanting to the collection. There is a Metzu which shows that painter of the comfortable classes dealing with a model of more humble life than such as generally engaged his art. There is an Adrian van Ostade of much dignity, though it does but portray a solitary

drinker. And not to prolong the cataloguea

experiment; and it is only when the stage

there is a De Hooghe in treatment brilliant and itself is lighted by electricity that the novel W. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO.,

conditions of scene- and face-painting will be
understood. Of the theatre itself and of its
decoration a word may be said.
The place

PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

WORKS of ROBERT HEWETSON, BOY PAINTER
and POET. Containing numerous Phototype Drawings
and Paintings executed by Mr. E. Wormald.
royal 4to, antique boards, 428.

Thick

THE INFLUENCE of JOY upon

holds about 1,400 people, and is a little smaller HEWETSON (H. B.).—THE LIFE and
than the Gaiety. The architect, Mr. Phipps,
who has built all the best theatres of our day,
has succeeded in solving a problem really diffi-
fair view of the stage from every seat in the
cult in theatre-building-that of providing a
house. The decorations of the theatre are by
a firm of artists who, as far as we know, have
tion and upholstering of a playhouse-Messrs.
not previously been engaged in the ornamenta-
Collinson and Lock. These gentlemen are ex-

sober, and in theme calmly austere. We see
the interior of a plain-tinted chamber, its cool
patterned flooring, its square chairs set against
the walls, its black-framed pictures hung high,
and of mysterious effect, under the half-shadow
of the ceiling, its casements admitting a clear
but moderate light from a quiet afternoon sky.
THE School of Art Wood-Carving in the
Royal Albert Hall, South Kensington, has re-
opened after the summer holidays. There are
twelve free studentships in the school, six in
the day and six in the evening classes, main-
tained out of funds provided by the City and
Guilds of London Institute for the Advance-perts
ment of Technical Education. Some of these
are now vacant, and candidates should address
themselves to the secretary.

THE second annual exhibition of tapestry
paintings by lady amateurs and artists will be
held in Messrs. Howell and James's new art
galleries during the months of December and
January. Exhibitors are restricted to one
work; and even that one work will first be
submitted to the approval of the judges, Sir
Coutts Lindsay and Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A. A
numerous and valuable list of prizes is offered.
WE learn from the Scotsman that an interest-
ing object of ecclesiastical art, wrought
entirely by hand, has just been fiuished by an
This is a cross, over
Edinburgh jeweller. This is
three feet in height, to be placed on the reredos
of St. Mary's Cathedral. It is composed of four
distinct crosses, arranged in a single cruciform
design. The material is oxidised silver and
silver gilt. The details are elaborated from
old examples of Scottish ecclesiastical art; and
the centre is ornamented with bright Scotch
crystals.

AN important archaeological discovery has been made in excavating one of the kurdans, or old tombs, in the Sakubam district of Southern Russia. Several glass vessels were found, profusely ornamented with gold and precious inches a gold plate, six diameter, with a fine bas-relief. A local archaeologist is disposed to assign the objects to the third century B.C.

stones; and

in

THE second annual congress of German numismatists has just been held at Dresden, under the presidency of Dr. Erbstein. At the same time an exhibition was opened of coins

now in use throughout the world, which is said to have been the most complete collection of the kind ever seen.

THE archaeological collection of objects brought by the comte d'Hérisson from the sit of Utica, to which we have already referred, was opened to the public at the Louvre on October 1. A catalogue compiled by the Count will shortly be issued from the Imprimerie nationale.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the patriotic monument at St.-Quentin on October 8, the sculptor M. Barras was raised to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour M. Heuri Martin, historian and senator, delivered an address commemorating the heroic defence of the town not only against the Germans in 1870, but also against the Spaniards

in 1557.

THE STAGE.

THE chief interest thus far attaching to the Savoy Theatre, which Mr. D'Oyly Carte opened ou Monday, and had previously shown to "the press," is due to the novel scheme of decoration and to the lighting. But, as far as the lighting is concerned, only the auditorium, and not the stage, has yet been submitted to the new

the WORKMAN and his WORK. Illustrated with Autotype Facsimiles after William Blake and others. 4to, boards, 5s.

ORMEROD (E.A.).—MANUAL of INSECTS
INJURIOUS to AGRICULTURE; with Methods of
Prevention and Remedy for their Attacks to Food
Crops, Forest Trees, and Fruit. With numerous Illus-
trations. 361 pp., crown 8vo, 3s.

PHILOSOPHY of KANT'S "CRITIQUE of PURE
REASON." By A. WEIR, B.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

in chastened design, and their work in colour is remarkable for its combination of sobriety and glow. Accordingly, it is not to be wondered at that the interior of the Savoy KANT.-AN INTRODUCTION to the is one of the most picturesque of the public interiors of London." Modelled plaster-work of delicate draughtsmanship and of carefully PRANTL-VINES.-ELEMENTARY studied relief is adroitly employed. While the curtain is pale primrose or ivory, the fronts of the boxes are cream-coloured; gold is distributed only in large and important masses, its effect not frittered away; and there is a

TEXT-BOOK of BOTANY. By Prof. W. PRANTL. Edited by S. H. VINES, D.Sc., M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of Christ's College, Cambridge. Second Edition, Remodelled. With 275 Cuts. Demy 8vo, cloth, 9s. "It is with a safe conscience that we recommend it as the best book in the English language."-Nature.

NOTIONS of LOGIC. With Forty-one Cuts. 16mo, cloth, 1s.

"A very meritorious little work."-School Guardian. PILTER (Rev. W.T., B.A.).-FIRST PRIN

warm background of noble red. Amid these MILNES (A., M.A.).—ELEMENTARY
agreeable surroundings-the results of modern
taste and artistic advance-there was presented
on Monday night the comic opera which is a
good-humoured satire on this taste and this
be heard with genuine amusement; and the
advance. But Patience is so funny that it can
conversion of the spectator to the ugliness
brought before him in the last scene is not
likely to be so prompt as was that of the chorus.

THE Royalty Theatre in Dean Street-the "Miss Kelly's theatre" of Miss Kelly's Sohohas re-opened under the management of Mr. Alexander Henderson, Miss Lawler and her company being on a tour in the North. The farcical comedy presented is the work of Messrs. Reece and Thorpe; and, though Mr. Reece's skill has hitherto been displayed almost entirely

in comic scenes, there have been conceived for
the new piece one or two scenes in which the
interest of a mild pathos is roused, the part of
the neglected heroine being played most dis-
Cowell, who has a touch of Mrs. Bancroft's THE
creetly by that clever young actress, Miss Lydia
ability to be almost at the same moment
piquant and sentimental. Miss Lottie Venne
gives a brisk performance in the part of an
actress who is helping some amateurs; Mr. THE ARTIST, and Journal of Home Culture.
J. G. Taylor, in a part that would suit Mr.
Hare, and which does indeed inevitably remind
us a little of "Beau Farintosh," assumes the
airs of senile gallantry and the graces of
laborious juvenility. Mr. G. W. Anson is one
of the remaining actors of importance included
in the cast. The piece, not aiming to be con-
sistent, succeeds in being entertaining.

Monthly, 61.; by post, 6jd.-WILLIAM REEVES, 185, Fleet-street.
Just published, 8vo, cloth, price 5s.

KANTIAN ETHICS and the ETHICS of

EVOLUTION: a Critical Study. By 8, GOULD SCHURMAN, M.A.,
D.se, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in Acadia Co lege, Nova Scotia
Fublished by the Hibbert Trustees.
WILLIAMS & NORGATE, 14, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, London; and
20, South Irederick-street, Edinburgh.

THEOLOGICAL TRANSLATION FUND.

EWALD'S PROPHETS COMPLETE,
Just published, 8vo, cloth, price 10s. 6d.

MEWALD'S (Dr. H.) COMMENTARY on

the PROPHETS of the OLD TESTAMENT. Translated by the Kev. J. F. SMITH. Vol. V, ari tast, Haggai, Zakharya, Malaki, Joua, Baruc, Danie, Appendix and Index. Vols, I. to IV. at 108, 68. per volume.

Just published, svo, cloth, 10s. 6d.
EIM'S HISTORY of JESUS of NAZARA.

Considered in its connexion with the National Life of Israe', and
related in detail. Translated by ARTHUR RANSOM. In 6 vols. Vol. V.→
The Messianic Progress to Jerusalein-The Entry into Jerusalem-The
Decisive Struggle-The Farewell-The Last Supper.

AN important revival is promised us at the
Court Theatre, which will immediately re-open.
This is the revival of Home, one of the less-
known plays of the late T. W. Robertson.
and Mrs. Kendal will both appear in it.
Furthermore, there will be a new little piece-
the very latest adaptation of the touching
French piece, Jeanne qui pleure et Jeanne quirit. KE
We know the part that Mrs. Kendal will play
in this piece. By its absence of strong incident
-of what is generally known as "dramatic
action"-the part is a good deal removed from
those in which Mrs. Kendal has chiefly appeared,
and in which she is presumably most willing to
face the chances of hearty approval. But, as
Mrs. Kendal is one of the few actresses who
appear able to gauge accurately their own
powers, we are pretty confident in her success
in the old piece under its new name of The Cape
Mail.

Subscribers to the THEOLOGICAL TRANSLATION FUND LIBRARY receive these Volumes at 78. each. Prospectus, with Contents of the Series, postfree on application.

WILLIAMS & NORGATE, 14, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, London; and 20, South Frederick-street, Edinburgh.

Now ready, Vol. XII.-EGYPTIAN TEXTS,
RECORDS of the PAST:
Being English Translations of the Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments,
Published under the sanction of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.
Edited by S. BIRCH, LL.D.

With an Index to the Contents of the Series. Cloth, 3s. 6d.
London: S. BAGSTER & SONS 15 Paternoster-row.

T

It is a

always do-wrapped up in verse.
curious thing that poets, at least modern
poets, will persist in the inculcation of
morality by metre, as if it were not only
properly, but far better, taught by prose.
Those who elect to sermonise in song sooner
or later discover that they have mistaken
their avocation: poets, as Hafiz sang, should
"Take an example from the roses,

Who live direct on sun and dew;
They never question about Moses,

the English Government of India must inherited from the commercial days of the
now undertake that task. A department Company. The English nation, accustomed
which should deal with the agriculture to open relations with their Government, has
of the country as distinguished from its land not unnaturally held the presumption to be
revenue, and with its commerce as distin- against a system which gave no plain account
guished from its Customs duties, would have of its doings. The Queen's Government of
seemed to the East India Company to be India has now broken the old tradition of
purely chimerical. Mr. Cunningham believes silence. It offers the facts about itself to
that such a department has become an ad- public criticism in as convenient and accessible
ministrative necessity. As a matter of fact, forms as they are presented by any other
a Department of Agriculture and Commerce civilised Government. We welcome this book
has been established in India since he wrote as at once a type and a product of the new
And why, in heaven's name, should you?"
these pages.
state of things. Reform, to bear permanent
In "A Street Story " Dr. Cook gives yet
fruits in India, must be of no hasty growth. another version of the old, old story of
The constitution of the Indian Government, woman's faith and man's falsehood, but in
both in that country and at home, has been this instance the "one more unfortunate"
expressly framed with a view to prevent rash does not die self-slain, as "she scorned
and temporary changes. As we learn more luxurious suicide," and so clearly left her pre-
about India, we become more moderate in mature death chargeable to her fellow-
our aims. The reconstruction of our whole creatures. "Greeting" is very musical, and
Indian system is already ceasing to be an the refrain, although recurring so frequently,
easy feat within the compass of a magazine does not pall on the ear; but the influence of
article. Mr. Cunningham deals with the a famous contemporary is too palpable to be
difficult problem of Indian reform with a ignored. The source of the inspiration of such
calmer judgment, because with a fuller know-lines as the following cannot be mistaken:-
ledge.

But it is not only with regard to the acceptance of new duties that Mr. Cunningham advocates reform. He would redistribute the territorial divisions of India, and he would remodel the personnel of the Administration. The local governments, or presidencies and provinces, of India have grown up in a haphazard fashion; and they have outgrown the temporary, indeed often accidental, circumstances amid which they were formed. We now see the principal province in India, containing the commercial capital and the most important sea-board, under a LieutenantGovernor, who rules nearly 70,000,000 of people; while two provinces, which contain together only a little over 50,000,000, have each the costly historic mechanism of a Governor and Council. In another case, we see a province not far from the sea, yet without a sea-board; while the sea-board which by nature belongs to it-which is, in fact, made up of the delta of its own river-is attached to another province that does not require it, and from which it is practically shut off during many months of the year. These are some of the anomalies which Mr. Cunningham would like to see remedied in the territorial distribution of India.

As regards the personnel of the Government, we find almost all the higher posts still filled by foreigners; while the natives are every day becoming more able to do the staple work of administration for themselves. Great progress has, indeed, been made during the past twenty years in opening up the government of India to the natives of India. It requires an effort, not only of the memory, but of the imagination, to realise how circumscribed were the possibilities in official life to a native under the East India Company. But, although much has been done to enlist the people of the country in the task of administering it, more remains to be accomplished. We cannot stand still, but must for ever be moving forward; if so be that we can only find the right direction, and keep at a safe pace, the local administration of India must pass slowly, but surely, and piece by piece, into the hands of the natives of India. Under the Company, the natives were not qualified for the task; under the Crown, they have qualified themselves, and are still further qualifying themselves, for it.

We have only touched on a few of the subjects dealt with in this book. But we commend every chapter to the careful study of those who wish to understand India, and do their duty, as English citizens, by her. The Queen's rule in India has paid a bitter price for that traditional policy of reticence and that jealousy of outsiders which it

W. W. HUNTER.

The Guitar Player with Sundry Poems.
By Keningale Cook, LL.D. (Pickering
& Co.)

"Forsooth! 'tis another forlorn one
Floats nigh on the verge of our sphere;
O wherefore be born, O unborn one;
What boon dost thou think to find here?
"Dost thou dream life a flower, O forlorn one,
Set to bloom in a balm-nurtured air?
O stay being born, O unborn one,
Our rose-buds are bruised and lie bare.

would'st find the earth hard, O forlorn one
No bosom of heavenly heat,
Why seek to be born, O unborn one,
While thy folded-up petals lie sweet?

"If thou comest, O foolish forlorn one,
First lesson thou hast is to weep,
'Twere better to rest, O unborn one,
In the magical silence of sleep.

THE poem which gives this quaint little quarto
its title tells just the tale that Hawthorne"Thou
or Hoffmann would have liked to tell. The
story, it matters not whether invented by Dr.
Cook or found in some mouldering mediaeval
legend-book, is such as the present generation,
with all its scientific and utilitarian pro-
clivities, delights to discuss and ponder over.
The plot is almost too fragile for analysis,
and its exponent has displayed no slight
amount of good taste and self-denial in con-
fining it within the space of six short pages.
Indeed, Dr. Cook's treatment of the poem is
so unaffected that the reader quite loses sight
of the art with which it is constructed. The
diction is so simple, the narrative-what there
is of narrative-so straightforward, and the
whole tournure of the piece in such perfect
keeping with its theme that the weird
mystery of the tale is rather heightened than
weakened by the terseness.

66

"Thou shalt win, if thou comest, forlorn one,
A few foolish pulses of breath;
There awaits thee, O happy, unborn one,

Love haply, but surely comes death."
Although not free from obscurity, "In
Profunda" is a far finer poem than the
last; as is also "The Trampled Pearls."
But the merit of the latter will be depressed
by the awkward metre in which it is written;
the rhymes, instead of recurring at ordinary
intervals, occur at the end of alternate lines
of such length that the ear has given up
anticipating them, and the pleasing effect of
rhyme is entirely lost; indeed, for all pur-
poses of sound the quatrains are quite rhyme-
less. To prove that our objection to such
verses is not hypercritical, a stanza shall be

lost their spell in the crown,

Set up where none might reach, and shadow'd
by many a cheat:

To one that looks from above, earth's glories
show upside down,

"The Guitar Player" is decidedly the gem
of the collection. The Sundry Poems,"
which constitute the chief portion of the
booklet, vary greatly in merit, both with
respect to treatment and theme, several of
them being disfigured by obscurity of mean-
ing-at least for all those who have cited:-
not undergone a course of Transcendent-"But the world was left unsaved, and the pearls
alism; and yet obscurity is certainly
an avoidable fault for the author of such
a happy little specimen of condensation as
is The Guitar Player." Not quite free
from Dr. Cook's most salient sin are some
characteristic, albeit charming, châteaux en
Espagne, designated "In the Free Country."
The lines styled "Ayoob's Opportunity"
have nothing to do with contempo-
rary troubles in Affghanistan, but relate
a short, occidentalised tale of the usual
Talmudic type, as affected nowadays by
Leconte de Lisle and his followers. "The
Lawful Heir" is another fable of a similar
nature, containing a moral-these fables

So the pearls in the diadem are still trampled
under the feet."

The fact that some of our greatest poets
have essayed this form of metre, and have not
entirely failed in its use, is no defence for its
employment. A certain class of readers may
deem "A Field in Domesday Book "the finest
in the collection, and certainly, it must be
confessed, it is replete with beauty; but it
is an allegory, and, like most allegories, is not
always so clear as might be desired.

"The

"All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,

And feed his sacred flame."

The following lines, "For Heaven's Sake," may be quoted as a fair specimen of Dr. Cook's sarcastic powers, if not of his metrical qualifications:

"The sunlight's joy his face besours, His foot a flower is crushing;

No frank look links his soul with ours: 'Friend, whither art thou rushing?' "By the strait gate and narrow wayAnd few there be that find itTo heaven I mount, and cannot stay ; You mock?—I do not mind it!' "Nay, nay: and if thou'st found the way In some celestial Murray, On our account make no delayWe can forgive thy hurry.' "Stay then within thy narrow groove, Uncharitably holy!

• ..

before us is an essentially new one; it supplies Arnaudo's work, which, however, is not always
a want that has long been felt, and supplies reliable. She has devoted very little space
that want most satisfactorily. The interest indeed to literature; this is all the more
of English men and women in the powerful surprising, as the literature of Russia is com-
and, perhaps, dangerous neighbour of our paratively exceptionally rich. And here we
Indian empire has recently been growing at must notice a few slight inaccuracies that have
a rapid rate, and the result is that English been allowed to creep in. Lomonosoff com-
men and women have been looking round for menced to write in the reign of Empress
a standard handbook of reference descriptive Anne, not Elizabeth, and he studied at the
of the wealth, industrial and other resources, St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, not at
population, and moral importance of Russia. the "universities of Moscow and St. Peters-
This demand is supplied by Mrs. Chester's burg." Hermontoff is a misprint for Ler-
work, very tastefully got up by the Society montoff, and is one of the few printer's errors
for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It is, in the book. The portrait on p. 76,
as it professes to be, a compilation of facts however, is evidently intended for Alexander
from all the most reliable works that have I., not Alexander II.
recently been published on the subject,
notably Lankenau and Oelnitz's Das heutige
Russland. The author quotes largely from
Mr. Wallace's book; also from Mr. Herbert
Barry's works. Throughout, the book gives
many evidences of patient research and careful
study. Its principal characteristics are its
conciseness, clearness of style, and general

accuracy.

In a few sentences the author has given the key to that remarkable form of the doctrine root in Russia under the name of Slavoof democratic imperialism which has taken philism.

Yet, that thou hast some pity proveFor heaven's sake go more slowly!'" The somewhat caustic, somewhat plaintive, "Apologia of Marius Contrarius," that minor minstrel of the unheeding nineteenth century, is, apparently, addressed more to those who do not read poetry than to those who believe," with Victor Hugo, that

"Le poète, en ces jours impies,

Vient préparer des jours meilleurs,” and, therefore, may be as unsuccessful in reaching its address as was a certain French poet's "Ode to Immortality." Of the translations, that of Gautier's "L'Aveugle is, probably, the best, being, in some stanzas, but not all, as near the terse original as the structural difference in the two languages will permit.

Altogether, and putting on one side its occasional obscurity, The Guitar Player is a charming little volume of verse; and, although its production will not, in this era of great poets, elevate Dr. Keningale Cook into the circle of dii majorum gentium, it should obtain for him a respectful reading from all admirers of true poetry. The author's aims are always of a noble nature, while his workmanship, if of a somewhat fluent, is never that of a careless, conventional, or unconscientious, worker.

JOHN H. INGRAM.

a

Hegel's philosophy had made it clear that
new race, called to have dominion over the
world, must be the bearer of a new idea and of
a new principle; and the discovery of the
system of Russian Communism by Baron von
Haxthausen in 1842-43, and communicated by
him to his friends Kirićevski and Khomikof
[not Khomyskof, by-the-way], was hailed by
the Slavophil group as the revelation of the
new principle of the Pan-Sclavonic empire of
the future.... Hand in hand with the demo-
cratic tendency which led the Slavophil enthu-
siasts to look to the common people alone for
the regeneration of their country, went attach-
ment to the national Church and to Byzantine
theology, which had, so ran the phrase, saved
Protestant infidelity."
the country from both Papal tyranny and

It must be regretted that the author did not see her way towards giving a fuller account of the mineral resources of the country; but it is a known fact that accurate information on that subject is very difficult to obtain, and that Russians themselves are not yet fully conversant with the geology of their native land. The mineral wealth of Russia, though undeveloped, is enormous; the petroleum of the South is said to be far superior to that of America, as some experiments lately could, in some cases, advantageously compete made by Dr. Bil go to show; and Russia with Newcastle in the article of coal if her

commercial interests had not been made subservient to military considerations when her railways were being constructed.

A glance at the Table of Contents, and at the Index at the end of the volume, suggests many interesting questions for speculation; but our space is limited. On the whole, Mrs. Chester has given to the world a most interesting and valuable book of reference, and she may be congratulated on her perfect mastery of her subject, and the skill and ability with which she has treated it.

E. A. BRAYLEY HODGETTS.

Introduction to Mythology and Folk-Lore.
By the Rev. Sir G. W. Cox. (Kegan
Paul, Trench & Co.)
SIR GEORGE COX's new book repeats so
many of his old doctrines that it scarcely

Though the slow progress which machinery is making in Russia, and the, as yet, inefficient means of transport, are the principal reasons for the decline of Russian agriculture, yet demands a long notice. To deal with it the following will suggest other causes :— "The richest merchants and manufacturers thoroughly would require almost a whole and the poorest artisans are alike addicted to number of the ACADEMY for a single review. drunkenness in a frightful degree. . . . Among An opponent of the author's ideas would first the rural and the manufacturing population dissect and criticise his general theory of the alike the want of education results in the growth of mythology, and then would contest grossest superstitions. The belief in lucky and his explanation of each separate myth. This is unlucky days is universal. The time for sowing and reaping, for cutting hay, and other matter for a book rather than for a review. agricultural operations, is decided, not by the The objections to Sir George Cox's system, state of the weather, but with reference to or a few of them, may be briefly re-stated. certain days in the calendar. Practices, which But, first, the book is no introduction to folkin their origin may have been holy and instruct- lore at all, if by folk-lore we are to underive, have degenerated into meaningless and stand the märchen, the songs, the proverbs, lifeless forms. Nothing could, of course, be the customs, the magic, and the medicinemore edifying than the inauguration of harvesting operations by a religious service, but the all the lore, in fact, of natural peoples. That spiritual meaning has come to be wholly over-lore, especially the popular magic, is common looked, and the service has sunk into a to Scotch, Greeks, Negroes, Brazilians, Red superstitious form. . . . Idiots are very Indians, New Zealanders, and most other common in country districts; popular belief races. But Sir George Cox leaves this vast endows them with supernatural powers, with supernatural powers, topic almost untouched. He mentions one especially with the gift of second-sight, and or two savage myths, especially of the Deluge; much weight is attached to their irrational but his book is really occupied with the tales utterances."

Russia Past and Present. Adapted form
the German of Lankenau and Oelnitz. By
Henrietta M. Chester. (S. P. C. K.)
SINCE the publication of Mr. Mackenzie
Wallace's able work on Russia, the general
public have considered that country an
exhausted mine, and have believed all sub-
sequent works on the same subject to be but
repetitions and disguised versions of the
former. Indeed, there is a notion prevalent
in England among men who stand on a
higher intellectual level of criticism than even
that mysterious entity the "general public,"
to the effect that nothing new on Russia can
any more be said. However we may differ
from this opinion, Mrs. Chester's new book
on Russia Past and Present would seem to Of Nihilism Mrs. Chester gives a most
bear out the theory. And yet the work interesting account, taken chiefly from M.

* Vide Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. lx. (1880).