author of the work before us maintains that it is essentially rigid and incapable of change. No nation, he argues, can possibly progress whose legal and theocratic systems are based on a set of specific precepts which can neither be added to, nor taken from, nor modified to suit altered circumstances. For this view, we must say, we think Mr. Sells makes out a very strong case. His chapter on the Foundations of Islám gives a very clear idea of both the character and the force of the Qurán, the Traditions, the Ijmá and the Qiás, and this account, it seems to us, leaves no loop-hole of escape from the conclusion that what is the duty of the true Musulman in every possible case has been fixed in a way which makes innovation and heterodoxy synonymous. As regards the Qurán and Sunnat, their interpretation having been long since authoritatively settled, this is self-evident. It might, perhaps, have been thought that in the Ijmá, or decisions of the assembled leading theologians, there was an opening for the exercise of progressive judgment. But among the Sunnis at least, since the death of the four Imams, there have been no theologians of the rank of Mujtahid, and there can be none in the future, qualified to make Ijmá. Qíás, again, is regulated by fixed rules, "the most important of which is that in all cases it must be based on the Qurán, the Sunnat, and the Ijmá. In fact, the fundamental idea of Islám is that a perfect law has been given, even unto details, of social and political life. The teaching of Muhammad contains the solution of every difficulty that can arise. Every law not provided by the Prophet must be deduced analogically." Mr. Sell's remaining chapters are on the exegesis of the Qurán and the Traditions; the Sects of Islám; the Creed of Islám; the Practical Duties of Islám; and the Feasts and Fasts of Islám, under all which heads the information he gives is at once detailed and critical. The work contains the best examination of Islám, as a system, and apart from the life of its founder and its historic relations, that we know of; while at the same time it is free from prolixity and admirably clear and readable. The Aryan Village in India and Ceylon. By Sir John B. Phear. London: Macmillan & Co. 1880. O an intimate knowledge of his subject, gained from personal experience, Sir John Phear adds the special gift of describing places and scenes in language which is not only accurate and, on occasion, picturesque, but, what is of no less importance, enables ordinary imaginations to realise them without effort, The title he has chosen for his book might lead the reader to expect some dry dissertation on the rise and development of rural institutions in India and Ceylon. So far, however, from its being of this character, we know of no work better calculated, at least as regards Bengal, either to give English readers a correct idea of rural life and rural scenery as they are, or to interest them in the subject. Though the scientific aspects of the subject are not ignored, the matter of a large portion of the book is concerned with the concrete aspects of things as they are, and the language is popular. This is especially the case with the first part of the book, which was originally published in the pages of the Calcutta Review, and which deals with modern village life in Bengal. The second part is devoted to the agricultural community of Ceylon, and is the substance of notes made by the writer on the spot; and the third part, entitled "From the Joint Family to the Village," is an attempt to explain the growth ab initio of the Bengal institution, and the rise of the social grades and conceptions of property connected with it, by the application of the principles of evolution and differentiation. VERNACULAR LITERATURE. Ghorár Dim. Printed by Bholá Náth Chakrabarti at the Chikitsatattwa Press, No. 80, Muktárám Bábu's Street, Chorebagan, and published by Sarach Chandra Deb, at No. 39, Muktárám Bábu's Street, Calcutta. Aswin, 1287, B. S. THE HE author of these few pages of verse has followed the growing practice of giving a queer name to a worthless book, But we doubt whether he has acted wisely in doing so, for his book is really not a worthless one. The risk he runs is that the public may be misled by the name of his book into neglecting it as one of that despicable mass of street literature than which it is really so much higher and purer, The story he describes is as follows:-A poor shepherd boy, meeting with a fisherman on his way to the market, wants to purchase a fish, which is somewhat aristrocratic of its kind, and is taunted by the fisherman with the aristocratic desire of riding the high horse. The fisherman goes his way, but the shepherd boy spends restless days and nights in the vain search of a horse, for the purchase of which he is provided with the splendid sum of one rupee saved from the scanty earnings of many a weary day. For a rupee, however, no one consents to sell him even a colt, and his mortification at the thought of being unable to return the fisherman's compliment by actually keeping a stable becomes unbounded. A shrewd shopkeeper takes advantage of his stupidity to cheat him out of his pocket by selling him a large gourd which he takes away under the impression that it is a horse's egg, which in due time will yield him an animal of the kind he wants. In the course of his journey homeward he feels it necessary to give himself a few minutes' rest, and accordingly, at the dusky hour of nightfall, he relieves himself of his load by placing his precious egg on an old and fragile bamboo scaffolding under which a jackal is just then lurking. The scaffolding gives way; the gourd falls with a heavy sound and is cracked; the affrighted jackal runs away; and the poor shepherd boy pursues the flying animal in the belief that it is the colt which the egg has duly delivered to him for the rupee he has paid for it. The story, it is clear, is a trifle and would reflect little credit upon the author even if it were all his own, which, however, we have reason to doubt. Nor is the moral of the story so grand or profound as to constitute by itself a title to literary fame. That the fool who entertains aspirations too far above the legitimate aspirations of his class only makes himself ridiculous in the end, is a truth which every one but the fool has understood from the very beginning of human life. Neither invention nor moral depth therefore, constitutes the merit of this little work. Its merit lies in the descriptive power displayed in it. Of this we feel tempted to give a few samples. The following is the author's description of Day-break : নাইকো রাতি, নির্বিঘ্নে বাতী, ঊষা সতী এল । 1 তাড়াতাড়ি, ছড়া-হাঁড়ী, গিন্নী নিয়ে করে । ভূ কোয় দিয়ে, চোক বুজিয়ে, টানচে বুড়োর দল ॥ This reminds us very forcibly of the late Bábu Dinabandhu Mitra's description of morning in the Banga Darsana. It is less refined than the latter, but not less bold or graphic. The following is the description of a village pond : হাটের পাশে একটি পুকুর, কাক চক্ষু জল। A first-rate painter could not have given us a better picture than this. The reader remembers Goldsmith's description of the poor aged widow in the Deserted Village: "All but yon widow'd, solitary thing, That feebly bends beside the plashy spring; To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn.” Let the reader compare with this the following description of a poor old woman by the author of Ghorár Dim : এমন সময়, একটী বুড়ী, মাথায় ক'রে শাকের ঝুড়ী, ময়ল৷ মোট| কাপড় পরা, পাকা চুলে ইকুন ভর', হাড় জিল জিল, চামড়া সারণ, ভাত নাইক পেটে ৷ আস্তে বুড়ী নেবে জলে, হাত বাড়িয়ে কলমী তোলে, নফর তারে ডেকে বলে, “কার পুকুর গো এটা ? ” It would be unjust to say that the picture of the Bengali poet is less graphic or life-like than that of the author of the Deserted Village. Indeed, the realistic tone and appearance of Ghorár Dim is something like a novelty in Bengali poetry, which generally deals either with morbid sentimentalism or with a material world very different from that which we see around us. Poetry of the kind quoted above implies an appreciation of the every-day world which is seldom shown by Bengali authors, and a habit of observation which Bengalis as a nation do not possess, but the cultivation of which is absolutely necessary for the purposes of the new civilisation which they must now accept. Ghorár Dim, though a small thing, possesses great value. It is written in a spirit which we hope and trust will become more general among Bengali authors. Phula-bálá. (Lyric Poems). Part I. By Debendra Náth Sen. Printed by I. C. Bose & Co., at the Stanhope Press, 249, Bowbazar Street, Calcutta, and published by the Author at Gazipur. 1287 B. E. ábu Debendra Náth Sen's poetry is very different from that of the author of Ghorár Dim. The latter is realistic; the former is ideal and sentimental. But though belonging to the class which we so often condemn, we are glad to be able to say that Bábu Debendra Náth's poetry is free from many of the faults which characterise that class. Its beauties, indeed, are many. It displays excellent taste; it is full of the 'instinct of poesy'; it evinces a most delicate sympathy with objective beauty; it exhibits a fine appreciation of harmony between the moral and the material world. The poems contained in this part are lyrical addresses to flowers looked at as different types of female beauty and female sentiment. The following extract from the poem addressed to the Kámini may be taken as a specimen : প্রাঙ্গণে ফুটেছ তুমি কামিনী সুন্দরি, |