(4) EMILY SPender. "A Soldier for a Day." [312 pp.] (F. V. White.) 6s.-This "story of the Italian War of Independence" begins with the Austro-Sardinian campaign of 1859, and ends with the royal occupation of Rome in 1870. The writer is as enthusiastic a partisan of "the Whites" as Mr. Henry Harland is of "the Blacks"; but the book is much less finished than the "Cardinal's Snuff Box." It is a somewhat jerky and unconvincing performance; but the author has caught much of the hopeful spirit of Italian patriotism a generation ago, and her description of Perugia-where the greater part of the events take place-supplies the reader with an additional motive, if any were needed, to visit that city.

(5) IRVING BAcheller. "Eben Holden: a Tale of the North Country." [320 pp.] (Unwin.) 2s. 6d.—This book has had remarkably large sales in the States-well on to half a million, it is reported; but it must be confessed that the reason for this great success is not very apparent to mere Britishers. Still, the people are human enough; their happenings have the touch of nature; and there are many quaint stories and snatches of popular songs which remind one of Uncle Remus. The narrator, when quite a small boy, is taken out west from Vermont along the Paradise Road by Uncle Eb; later he comes into contact with Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, and takes part in the battle of Bull Run. The keynote of the book is the hard life of the early Yankee pioneers in the West

Saving and scrimping from day to day,

While its best it has squandered and flung away.

(6) WINSTON CHURCHILL. "The Crisis." [522 pp. ; 8 ill.] (Macmillan.) 6s.-Mr. Churchill's present heroine, Virginia Carvel, is the great-granddaughter of the eponymous hero of his earlier book, "Richard Carvel"; and not a little of the development of the story turns on the actions of the previous one. But whereas Richard Carvel" was an Anglo-American story-the scene of which shifted from Maryland to London during the earlier phases of the American Revolution-"The Crisis" is wholly American in scene and tone. The first half of the book deals with happenings at St. Louis during the sixties of the nineteenth century; and the rest takes us through certain aspects of the Civil War, including Grant's capture of Vicksburg, Sherman's march from the sea northwards, and Lincoln's entry into Richmond and subsequent assassination. Like "Richard Carvel," the book is somewhat lumbering and "scrawny" (to use one of the author's words) in structure, and suffers from a somewhat exaggerated and unconvincing heroworship (Mr. Churchill constantly applies to Abraham Lincoln expressions usually associated with Jesus of Nazareth); but on the whole it is interesting merely as a story, while it is highly suggestive in its historical lessons. The author tells us that he is a native of St. Louis, and his descriptions of different currents of feeling and different phases of social life in that city just before the outbreak of the Civil War impress one with a sense of verisimilitude and fairness. The two old friends, Judge Whipple, the worshipper of Lincoln and the devoted adherent of the Union, and Colonel Carvel, the Southern gentleman who despises Lincoln, believes slavery a divine institution, and ultimately dies for the South, are drawn with equal sympathy and power. The hero, the heroine, and the villain are more conventional and less satisfactory. Taken as a whole, however, the book gives one a clear and trustworthy picture both of the social conditions and the chief historical figures in what is in modern American history emphatically "the Crisis."

is mainly occupied with the westward migration "before the war. This book begins with a brief description of a typical fight in the war, and then plunges into a description of life "on the Plains" during the period of rapid expansion westwards which immediately followed the struggle. The book does not reach the standard or the length of another “after-the war" story which the same publisher sent us some months since—viz., Miss Glasgow's "Voice of the People"; but then the Plains are not so intrinsically interesting as "the Old Dominion." It is, however, a fair example of the "local" novel which is so common and so uncommonly well done in America. The four main divisions of the book aptly illustrate the progress of civilisation in the West-"The Day of War," "The Day of the Buffalo," "The Day of the Cattle," "The Day of the Plough ;" and "The Girl at the Halfway House" lives through all these phases. This book is also the opening volume of an attractivelooking "monthly series of American fiction" which is called "the Dollar Library," and in this case the dollar means four shillings-not the five shillings which is the usual publisher's equivalent. Mr. Heinemann holds out some expectations of introducing a few more writers like Harold Frederic to the English public-an expectation which we hope rather than believe he can fulfil. Still it must be confessed that the author of this book, though he has not yet reached the level of "Illumination,' ," has climbed considerably higher than "The Lawton Girl." Particularly remarkable are his vivid sketches of typical incidents in life on the Plains-e.g., the First Ball, the Trial, the Arrest, and the Blizzard.

(8) EDMUND MITCHELL. "The Lone Star Rush." [368 pp. ; 8 ill.] (Chatto & Windus.) 6s.-This novel does not deal, as the title suggests, with Texas half a century ago, but with the Westralian goldfields of to-day. It is the usual goldfield mixture, with no particular local colouring to distinguish it from its American analogues. The uncomfortable scarcity of water and an equally uncomfortable plenty of villany are the leading characteristics.

His

(9) SYDNEY C. GRIER. "The Warden of the Marches." [327 pp. ; 6 ill.] (Blackwood.) 6s.-Mr. Grier's writings form a particularly happy illustration of the Aristotelian dictum that fiction is truer than history, because it is more general. His three Thracian books, "An Uncrowned King,' "A Crowned Queen," and "Kings of the East,” give one a capital generalised idea of the essence of Balkan politics, to say nothing of one character, Lord Cyril Mortimer, who clings to one's memory much more tenaciously than most personages in fiction. stories of the Far East are no less out of the common-if we may judge by the only two known to us, namely, those which Ideal with the North-west Frontier of India. In "Peace with Honour " he gave us a thrilling account of a British mission into some "buffer-state" between British India and "Scythia." In the present volume he tells some of the later experiences of the hero and heroine of "Peace with Honour." It is a tine story of a region which lies somewhat outside the province of Mr. Kipling and Mrs. Steel; and the contrast between the British officer "on the spot," who knows the native mind and the conditions of the place, and the higher official sent down from Simla who wants to assimilate the Khemistan government to that in force along the rest of the frontier, is admirably drawn out. Mr. Burgrave," the Kumpsioner Sahib," whose fine qualities are deftly intermingled with his red-tapiness, and the shade of the dead General "Sinjaj Kilin Bahadur," are merely the two best portraits in an attractive gallery. Though a novel of the present day, it is truly "historical," for it shows-in a form which would interest many to whom the names of Sandeman and Jacob are unknown-some of the essential conditions of "The White Man's Burden."

BOOKS ON PSYCHOLOGY.

THE entitling of these two volumes of Prof. Titchener' as both Vol. I. is misleading, but no doubt it is intended to suggest that Vol. II. will take up Quantitative experiments. The work is a remarkable one. Indeed, it is hardly too much to say that it is likely to be era-making in its significance. For although Dr. Scripture and Prof. E. C. Sanford have written earlier books of acknowledged effectiveness of treatment, yet Prof. Titchener's volumes before us are more thoroughgoing and suggestive than any treatise in English; it is a book which has taken eight years in the making; it is the outcome of Prof. Titchener's directing insight and zeal, and embodies, as he himself states, "the work of a long roll of students." We venture to say that this book will be no less significant in the stimulus which it gives to the study of experimental psychology than it is comprehensive in its inclusion of the best of the experimental work already accessible. Prof. Titchener's main positions seem to us to be unassailable. (1) That experimental work in psychology is not done for any direct end of its own, but solely to render the student capable of observing introspectively. (2) That work in experimental psychology should not be a mere series of interesting experiments to be viewed as separate exercises without connection, but should be regarded as points of departure for systematic discussion. In other words, laboratory work is only useful in so far as it helps to the realisation of a more systematic introspection and a better organised psychology. The field of sensation is most comprehensively surveyed. Visual sensation, auditory sensation, cutaneous sensation, gustatory sensation, olfactory sensation, are dealt with in remarkable profusion of experimental investigation. Then follows the experimental psychology of the affective qualities, attention and action, perception, visual and auditory, tactual space perception, ideational types and the association of ideas. The book is an inclusive directory of the subject up to date. Besides, the full treatment and exposition of a vast number of illuminative experiments, the teacher's part contains examination questions, bibliography, together with selected references and readings in the various parts of the book, firms recommended for the supply of psychological instruments, list of materials, appliances, furniture, &c.

The subjects treated in Professor Jastrow's book are: The Modern Occult, the Problems of Psychical Reseach, the Logic of Mental Telegraphy, the Psychology of Deception, the Psychology of Spiritualism, Hypnotism and its Antecedents, the Natural History of Analogy, the Mind's Eye, Mental Prepos session and Inertia, a study of Involuntary Movements, the Dreams of the Blind. Professor Jastrow examines each of these questions, not with a view of establishing or overthrowing any particular opinions on the matters discussed, but rather so as to understand the psychological bases which bring about particular interest in those matters, and which lead to strong convictions on questions, at any rate, off the high road of scientific development. In speaking of the data of Astrology or Phrenology, or Palmistry, Professor Jastrow quotes Mr. Lang's dictum as to ghosts, rappings and bogies, the "interest in these notions is in how they come to be believed, rather than in how much or how little they chance to be true." This is precisely the attitude taken by Professor Jastrow with regard to the questions stated above. It only remains to be said that Professor Jastrow has invested his treatment of this attitude with great interest. His analysis of the various forms of extrascientific research is masterly, and is a most instructive and attractive study in the psychology of belief.

A SCHOOL HISTORY BY SIX OXFORD LECTURERS.1

ness.

THIS volume is the work of six Oxford lecturers, who have shared among them the seven "parts" into which it is divided. It contains ten maps, executed in a style which may be pleasing from its novelty, but which does not excel in clearThe first, which will excite the intelligent schoolboy with its as yet unfamiliar names, is not referred to in the text. There are also six plans of battles, three from the seventeenthcentury civil war and three of later times. These are helpful. Each " part" is furnished with a bibliography divided, on principles which we cannot understand, into "helps," "textbooks" and "sources." We remark with surprise Walter Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather" and 66 'Piers Plowman's Visions" (sic).

The story is told fairly well as a whole, but the book fails, in our judgment, as a book for schools because the authors do not seem to have taken enough pains to make it carefully correct. In days when it is increasingly important that our pupils should have as good a style as possible constantly presented to them, it is unfortunate that what will naturally be regarded by them as a standard work should contain so many instances of " got," "so," "and so," and so many misplaced "only." We have been several times puzzled with the order of events, which has been curiously inverted. Perhaps the most striking illustration of this occurs on p. 91, where we read, "The new King (Edward II.) buried the Hammer of the Scots with slight ceremony at Westminster, and soon turned back to the south" (i.e., from Scotland). One would imagine that Westminster was "on the border." The explanation of Wiclif's views on the Eucharist (p. 116) requires reading two or three times before it is understood. The reference to Normandy (p. 132) seems to imply that we lost that province for the first time in the fifteenth century. Among other examples we note as strange that Saracens were still pouring over Spain in 1000 (p. 23), that Richard sold Cyprus to the Templars (p. 57), that Parliament asked Richard of Gloucester to take the crown in 1483 (p. 139), that England had ceased in Elizabeth's reign to be a nation of farmers and wool-growers (p. 178). We fail to find any mention of William I.'s Doomsday, and we cannot tell from p. 181 whether the Tudors prepared for the " peace" or the "conflict" of Stuart times. The paragraph on the Model Parliament (p. 86) also puzzles us. Are the only changes in the composition of Parliament "legislative"? When did the clergy sit in the House of Commons, to which they have not yet returned? The following paragraph from pp. 220-1 perhaps illustrates in the shortest space some of the reasons for our disappointment in this book. We quote it at length:

"Charles II. dared not commit illegal acts as Charles I. had done, nor dared he rule without the advice of ministers whom (sic) he knew were answerable to Parliament for all they did. Parliament too had set up the new king, and Charles II. always felt that it could (as it said) send him on his travels again. He did not dare, therefore, to oppose it; although, as we shall see, he tried to get rid of it and rule without it. The Restoration was not really the giving up of all that had been done since 1640, but an attempt to make kingship and the new ideas that had grown up work together. These new ideas -of which the chief was the right of the people to be ruled as they wished-had first been brought forward by Eliot and Pym. They were now partly allowed, but only became fixed at the Revolution of 1688. Nor in religious affairs was the work of the Commonwealth undone. It is true that bishops and the Church were at once put back in their old

1" A School History of England." viii. + 380 pp. (Clarendon Press, Oxford.) 35. 6d.

On this paragraph we make the following comments. Others will suggest themselves. In any sense of the word "illegal," Charles II. committed as many illegalities as his father. The Cabal illustrates Charles II.'s choice of ministers as well as the "Chits." Charles II. can scarcely be said to have "tried" to get rid of Parliament. He dissolved two of them very successfully in 1679-81. Eliot and Pym would have been much astonished if they had been told they advocated the right of the people to be ruled as they wished. And the Whigs of 1688 were of much the same mind. The word "Church" is so much misused in this book that it would be a useful task for the authors to attempt to agree on a definition of it. What "bishops and the Church" means we are puzzled to imagine. The Clarendon Code, the specific work of the Restoration, is scarcely an example of the growth of toleration. Puritans did not "look on pleasure as evil." They objected to bear-baiting, to Sunday plays and to other abuses of pleasure. The penultimate sentence requires study. That Milton still lived after the Restoration seems to be irrelevant to the purpose of the paragraph.

CHARACTERISTIC LATIN EXTRACTS.1

THE word “Anthology” is properly used in the sense of the choice of the best things, and, seeing that this is not the principle of the present book, it is a pity Mr. Tyrrell did not hit upon another title. His object is to give characteristic extracts, and to include not only the best of the best writers, but specimens of all writers of importance, from the fragments of Saturnian verse to Boethius. The extracts, which fill 259 pages of small print, are certainly characteristic, and the book will be found a most useful aid to study by the aspiring undergraduate, or, indeed, the schoolmaster himself. The notes are generally good, particularly so on the dramatic pieces, and for less-known authors almost as full as would be thought necessary in a school edition. For old Latin we should wish them to be fuller. It is surprising, when we think of the fragmentary character of early Latin remains, how interesting many of them are. Now it is the description of a flirt (8, 5) or the New Woman (24, 2), now a good thing about war (28, 10), a famous proverbial saying (7, 4); epitaphs, like those on the Scipios, Naevius and Parevius; the oracle of Veii; traditional songs and chants. They bring home in a striking manner how rude the language was before the literary masters got hold of it. The book is very interesting, and may be used as Mr. Tyrrell suggests, as a companion to his lectures on "Latin Poetry." A few suggestions may be added. The sources of the old Latin fragments might have been indicated. The note on iv. 8 runs two comments into one, so that "topper" appears to be given as "the accepted reading for utrius fuerunt." In v. 2 procus and precor should be compared; the unwary will think procat is an old form of poscit. The rules for treating the Saturnian are faulty, we cannot but think. That Roman verse, which even with Plautus and under Greek influence followed closely the accent of spoken language, should have completely disregarded it

1 "Anthology of Latin Poetry." By R. Y. Tyrrell, Litt.D. (Macmillan.) 65.

before the Greek quantitative system was known is incredible. Like alliterative English verse, it doubtless disregarded quantity and the number of syllables, and it depended on stress-accent. Thus cume which was impossible in prose speech, unless before an enclitic, must surely be wrong in verse, but apúd vos is right; quoiús formá vírtutés (3, 1, 3) certainly wrong for quoius fórma virtútes. The accents even on Mr. Tyrrell's principle are erratic. Where is the first accent of filios (3, 2, 3)? Venti (21, 27) should be vénti or venti if alternative feet are marked; Trebea (21, 3) has no accents; créatum (3, 5, 3) ought to have none. In 2, 2 strupri is a misprint. Our criticisms, it will be seen, are due in the early part; for the rest we have only praise.

A DISTORTED VIEW OF EDUCATION.1

IF Mr. Harold Gorst intends his book to be taken seriously -which we are inclined to doubt-he would have us believe that the best thing possible for the future of the British Empire would be to close all schools, put all schoolmasters under restraint, and set all boys and girls, of six or seven years old, to educate themselves. Education, as it has hitherto been understood, is, he gravely assures us, responsible for every existing evil, whether positive or negative. It is an unkind fate which makes such statements come from a son of the vice-president of the Committee of Council on Education.

A few obiter dicta, culled at random, will fully justify this estimate.

"The foundations of all existing education systems are absolutely false in principle; and . . teaching itself .

is the greatest obstacle to human progress that social evolution has ever had to encounter."

The product of the public elementary school is useless." "Stupid boys are generally rendered more stupid by teaching."

"It should be the first object of the schoolmaster-if such a being ought to have any existence at all-to," &c.

"The more the idea spreads that girls must be given the same educational equipment as boys, the more rapid will be the degeneration of women."

"All the genius in the world cannot survive the hopeless imbecility of educational methods, except by successfully dodg ing them through stupidity and idleness."

'If every school and college throughout the country were closed to-morrow, it would probably effect some negative good within an appreciable measure of time, and it would certainly abolish much positive harm that is being unceasingly produced by the present methods of instruction."

"It is only by dodging the schoolmaster and the coach that youthful talent stands a chance of being brought to maturity." But why continue? The examples might be increased ad nauseam, and little good result. Mr. Gorst has become possessed of an idea-not a new one by any means, but still a fruitful one. After wading through a slough of invective, the courageous reader finds in a late chapter, intituled "Real Education," what our author desires in the way of education. When found the statement turns out to be a very familiar one. "Real education would consist in assisting every individual to develop the faculties with which Nature has endowed him, and to train to their highest capacity any special talents that might reveal themselves during the process -a definition which has been expressed before in almost identical words.

1 "The Curse of Education." By Harold E. Gorst. viii. +144 pp (Grant Richards.) 2s. 6d.

Of course all earnest teachers recognise fully the paramount importance of developing the individuality of their pupils, and probably recognised it before the author of "The Curse of Education" took the subject into consideration. There is a grave danger that official codes and departmental programmes may encourage a barren uniformity, and it is the business of every educator to do his part towards counteracting the tendency. But to argue from such possibilities that all State interference in education is bad, and that schoolmasters are all blundering incompetents, is possible only to the individualist whose individualism has distorted hopelessly his judgment.

RECENT SCHOOL BOOKS.

Modern Languages.

Erckmann-Chatrian, Waterloo. Edited by A. R. Ropes. xvi. + 318 pp. (Pitt Press.) 35.-Most of the novels written by these authors are well known to teachers, and recognised as suitable for schoolboys' reading. They are rather long, however, and a teacher might well hesitate to take such a novel in its entirety with his class. For private reading, on the other hand, nothing could be better. The editor has had much experience in annotating French texts for use in schools, and has consequently done his work well. His renderings are good; he gives all necessary information about the historical events connected with the story, and he has not overloaded his notes with disquisitions on grammar.

Erckmann-Chatrian, Le Blocus. Edited by A. R. Ropes. xv. + 271 pp. (Pitt Press.) 35.-What has been just said about "Waterloo' may be repeated in the case of this text. The events described are perhaps less interesting; but the idea conveyed of the sufferings of the inhabitants of the little town of Phalsbourg is very distinct. It is to be regretted, from the teacher's point of view, that the story is told by a Jew; anything calculated to accentuate religious animosity should be avoided in school.

J. Stahl, Un anniversaire à Londres, Les quatre cri-cris de la boulangère, and Il faut penser à tout. Edited by C. E. B. Hewitt. 80 pp. (Arnold.) 9d.-These three little stories will appeal only to very young pupils, on account of their sentimental tone. As the French is fluent and correct, they will be found quite suitable for elementary work. The notes are adequate; we observe that a number of sentences are given in connection with each page of the text for retranslation into French. There is also an appendix giving examples of various rules of syntax, and another containing a list of irregular verbs with their principal parts. The vocabulary is not quite full. There are not many mistakes in printing; we have noticed remplace for remplacé on p. 9, and the general retention of the hyphen after très, which is old-fashioned.

Les Français en voyage. By Jetta S. Wolff. iv. + 148 pp. (Arnold.) 1s. 6d.-The authoress of "Les Français en ménage" here gives us a number of brightly written scenes, in which we accompany the Tournelle family to Switzerland and Italy. There is the father, who is fond of discoursing on all kinds of subjects, his son Alfred, a lively young fellow, ever ready to chaff and joke, the mother and daughter, typical French ladies, and a young Englishman confided to the care of M. Tournelle. Miss Wolff has distinct dramatic power, a gift of humorous and kindly observation, and a mastery of French, which combine to make this a successful book. There are a number of notes which deal with grammar and with idiomatic expressions, from which much may be learnt. The book is carefully printed, but

not quite free from slips, e.g., ses for ces (p. 5, 1. 5), est for es (p. 9, 1. 19), fait-là (p. 19, l. 20), cette for cet (p. 19, l. 32), n-est (p. 22, l. 18), pointes for points (p. 38, 1. 6), on for ou (p. 71, l. 18), rève for rêve (p. 79, l. 8), ou for où (p. 106, 1. 34). It is more disturbing to find si vous changeriez (p. 20, l. 24), and les années qu'il a passées (p. 72, 1. 30). We congratulate the artist who has illustrated the book on his sense of humour rather than on his draughtsmanship.

A German Reader for Beginners. By H. C. O. Huss. xxv. + 208 pp. (Isbister.) 2s. 6d. There are 85 pages of prose extracts and 20 pages of poetry, the pieces being well chosen and well printed. A good vocabulary and notes are also supplied by the compiler, who attaches particular importance to cognate words in English and German. While there is much to be said for drawing the attention of learners to the similarity of words in the two languages and to some of the simpler sound changes due to the second sound shifting and other causes, there is a danger in dwelling on such matters with beginners; they are led to think of the English word in connection with the German, which it must be our object to counteract rather than to encourage at the beginning; and the pronunciation is likely to suffer. After the first year, on the other hand, such comparisons may be gradually introduced, and the learners can be led to discover the sound laws for themselves. Mr. Huss has given some of these in an introduction, which is not altogether satisfactory, and suggests that he is not sufficiently trained in Teutonic philology.

A. Elz, Er ist nicht eifersüchtig. Edited by B. W. Wells. iii.+57 pp. (Isbister.) Is. We have rarely come across a text less suitable for use in schools than this foolish farce. And yet we learn from the preface that it "has been a favourite in American schools for thirty years." It certainly deserves this distinction as little as the Roi des Montagnes, which has probably had an equally long and successful life in our own schools. The editor confesses that the "characters and situations are not natural, but they are not meant to be." If a teacher does not think this sufficient to condemn the book, he will find that this edition contains adequate notes and a good vocabulary.

Classics.

Livy. Book II. By R. S. Conway, Litt. D. xxiii. +208 pp. (Cambridge University Press.) 2s. 6d. This book is a really brilliant piece of editing, and is one of the best of the many excellent volumes of the "Pitt Press Series." While provision is made for the needs of beginners in Livy, there is ample store of good things for very much more advanced students. The notes, exegetic, historical, critical, and philological, are alike masterly and illuminating. On several points the reader has the advantage of the views, not only of the editor himself, but also of Professor Reid, whose knowledge of Latin usage is justly styled "encyclopaedic." An Appendix is devoted to the story of Coriolanus, and another to the "Variation of Sequence in Oratio Obliqua," on which Professor Conway, collecting all the examples in this book, formulates a theory, which he promises to work out more fully in the near future. We shall await this development with interest, but meanwhile, as set forth here, the explanation seems prima facie to promise a settlement of a hitherto apparently anomalous variation. This edition must be used in all classes where Livy is to be begun or continued.

The Rise of Hellas. By E. G. Wilkinson, M.A. viii. + 144 pp. (Black.) 2s. 6d. We regret to learn that the compiler of this "Historical Greek Reader" died just before its completion. Starting from the Greek myths, the learner is carried

on through the progress of the Hellenic states-chiefly Athens and Sparta,-to the final blows dealt to the Persian invasion at Plataea and Mycale. A short account of the matter of each chapter is prefixed to it, together with modern parallels to the circumstances treated. Classes will be likely to gain considerably in intelligent translation where the book is used.

Tales of the Roman Republic. Part II. By J. B. Allen, M.A. 112 pp. (Clarendon Press.) Is. 6d. This is a continuation of Part I., which appeared last year, and is of the same plan and standard of difficulty, or rather simplicity, for it is meant to be used by beginners in translation. But it is impossible to recommend the use of the book. Why, for instance, should beginners be started off with the false form quum, and in the later pages find that cum is the same word, under a different (and correct) form? Other faults from a teacher's point of view we noticed in reviewing Part I., and they are here repeated.

Edited Books.

In

Eschylos: Tragedies and Fragments. Translated by the late E. H. Plumtre, D.D., Dean of Wells. (Isbister.) In two volumes. 2s. 6d. net per volume.-These dainty and artistic volumes are good examples of an ideal pocket edition. They are bound in limp leather and printed on thin paper. preparing this re-issue the publishers have followed the revised text of the late Dean's excellent translation, and have included the numerous annotations with which readers of translations by this author are familiar. We can unreservedly recommend the volumes.

The Books of the Bible. (Rivingtons' Edition.) (i) Joshua. By the Rev. F. W. Spurling. 112 pp. Is. 6d. (ii) Ezra and Nehemiah. By the Rev. P. W. H. Kettlewell. 103 pp. Is. 6d. -This little series of little volumes distinctly improves upon acquaintance, and the present two examples are of a highly satisfactory character. In both cases the editors have achieved the distinction of presenting "much in a little," and for junior and middle forms these little books should be found of great service. Mr. Spurling's "Joshua" is of the highest value from the point of view of Scripture geography, a point upon which young people are often delightfully vague. His geographical introduction is a very fine piece of work, and is so supplemented by the notes that there is no excuse for anyone using this work to remain ignorant of the peculiar circumstances which form the subject-matter of the book. The four appendices are equally important, and equally brief, and equally condensed, but it may perhaps be doubted whether any explanation of the nature of a miracle, however well meant, is likely to prove serviceable to the type of mind for which this volume primarily caters. Kettlewell's edition of "Ezra and Nehemiah" is perhaps more remarkable for its historical than for its geographical notes, and the sketches of Persian history and of Jewish communal life are really masterly. The note also on the value of these books is worth great attention, for with all their importance, and in spite of the fact that they are frequently studied in school, perhaps no two books in the Canon are less known and less appreciated by those who have outgrown their schooldays than those of Ezra and Nehemiah. Indeed, it is by no means an unnaccustomed procedure, as the present writer only too well knows, to see people of mature years, surprised by a chance reference to these two books, dip into the New Testament to find them. Mr. Kettlewell's edition is certainly well adapted to make these books interesting, and his historical work to this end is exceptionally good. The notes, too, are all that can be desired.

Mr.

Supplement to King Henry V. By Stanley Wood. (Dinglewood Shakespeare Manuals.) 24 pp. 6d. This supplement consists of twenty-five questions fully, one might say very

fully, answered in the admirable manner to which this series of manuals has accustomed those who use it. Mr. Wood treats herein some of the less obvious points in the play, and rewards those who follow him carefully with much useful and attractively put matter.

Woodstock. School Edition of the Waverley Novels. 499 pp. (A. & C. Black.) Is. 6d. The plan of this volume is of the same slight texture as that of the previous volumes in this series. The introduction is a very trifling piece of editorial labour, though the notes are more careful than in some of the preceding cases. A world of trouble has evidently been spent upon the index, which is remarkably full. Not a noteworthy edition, though probably a serviceable one.

Scott's Old Mortality. [Continuous Readers.] 219 pp. (A. and C. Black.) Is.-This volume maintains those general characteristics of this series of Readers which we have previously noticed. There is a well-written introduction, the text is pleasantly diversified with woodcuts, and the notes are excellent. Admirably adapted to serve its purpose.

English.

Black's Literature Series. Poems of (1) R. and G. B. Browning; (2) Lord Byron; (3) Lord Tennyson; (4) Keats and Coleridge. By C. Linklater Thomson. About 65 pp. each. (A. & C. Black.) 6d. each.-These four little booklets are most unassuming in every way (save as to the colour of their covers), but they are put forward by Miss Thomson with a seriousness of aim upon which we desire heartily to congratulate her. Work on a much more ambitious scale would be heartily welcome, if Miss Thomson could be persuaded to undertake it with precisely the same general aims, her particular aptitudes being so clearly defined; 'for in every case the little booklet before us succeeds in being a thoroughly useful and admirably selected compilation. Taste in this latter matter and tact in adaptation are qualities which betray something more than mere practical capacity for teaching, and it would be hard to praise these very unambitious efforts to supply young children with

genuinely good poetry too highly. In a general introduction prefixed to each selection Miss Thomson explains that they are intended for children between the ages of eleven and sixteen years, which perhaps justifies their simplicity and brevity. It may, however, be feared that as selections their use will be mainly confined to the earlier period thus specified. "The tyranny of examinations and the temptations they offer to cram work," of which she feelingly speaks, are beginning to be felt long before the second limit is reached with average children, and especially in the case of boys. Miss Thomson eschews notes and explanations and etymologies also, for the reason that their use hitherto "has not resulted in any real appreciation of poetry by the student." Precisely; and to give children bare examples of construction and form is the only true way to awaken that dormant intelligence; but there still are two uncomfortable facts to take note of: the inevitable examination will come round, and also the proportion of children in whom it is possible to awake that same "appreciation of poetry" is very small. The healthy Philistine is unfortunately not a development at least in this country-he is an indigenous product As the twig is bent the tree's inclined, and children who are Philistines born and bred can scarcely enter into the generation of the children of light through much educational tribulation on their part, or on anybody else's. The teaching exercises appended to each selection are extremely valuable, and presuppose a good deal of explanatory matter supplied by master or mistress. To put this matter so successfully as to enlighten understandings between the ages of eleven and six