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Tennyson. The Isles of Greece was published but a short time ago, while Days and Hours is of a less recent date. Both of them are notable books. The latter has not attracted that attention which is due to its sterling merits, but either of them is sufficient to establish their author's claim to the title of poet. There is a freshness and nobility of thought and sentiment about them which mark the works of those alone who are in possession of the vision and faculty divine.' In the present volume of tender and beautiful idyls, Mr. Tennyson reverts again to the tales of classical Greece, and re-tells the stories of Daphne, Pygmalion, Ariadne, Hesperia, Atlantis, Psyche, Niobe, Æson, and King Athamas, in the same modern spirit, and after the same manner as adopted in the Isles of Greece. The method is one sanctioned by innumerable precedents, but it is questionable whether it is altogether judicious. It is something like putting new wine into old bottles. Beautifully told as the stories are, one has always a certain sense of incongruity. The thoughts and sentiments are not those of the individuals who are represented as uttering them. They belong to a different age and a vastly different civilisation. One has to imagine one's self transported across some twenty or thirty centuries, and listening in Pagan Delos, or Cyprus, long before Christianity was introduced into the world, to aspirations and searchings of heart and mind which are among the latest fruits of the Christian era. So violent a breach of the higher unities is not without its effect on the enjoyment of the volume as an artistic production, and all the more so when one remembers that examples for his purpose might have been found by the author at a later period of the world's history, when the thoughts to which he seeks to give expression were already dawning upon the minds of men. Of course this sense of incongruity may be the fault of the reader. All the same there is much to be said for it as against the method which Mr. Tennyson, along with others, has adopted of attempting to denude the old Greek stories of the Greek spirit, and to inform them with that of the modern Christian world. In other respects, however, we have little fault to find with Daphne and Other Poems. Now and then, but very rarely, we meet with a faulty verse. These, however, are so rare, and the versification is otherwise so perfect, that the wonder is that they are to be found at all, and argue nothing more than oversight, in most instances of the simplest kind. But, taken as a whole, the volume is deserving, notwithstanding what we have said, of great praise. There is an exquisiteness of thought and feeling, a fertility of imagination, and a rich luxuriance of fancy, about it which have been rarely excelled. Passages might be cited in support of this in abundance, but we must refer our readers to the volume itself. Lovers of poetry will receive it, as we do ourselves, with gratitude, and regard it as one of the most charming series of idyls which have seen the light for many a day.

Sports and Pastimes of Scotland, Historically Illustrated. By

ROBERT SCOTT FITTIS. Paisley and London: Alex.
Gardner. 1891.

Most peoples have their sports and pastimes, many of which are survivals of what were once serious struggles for existence. In the volume before us Mr. Fittis aims at giving some account of those which prevail or prevailed in Scotland. That his book is curious and entertaining need hardly be said. He carries us back to the remotest historical times, when the land was sparsely populated, the rivers teemed with salmon, and immense stretches of country were the home of bears, wolves, and boars, and the famous wild cattle. Coming down to more recent times he speaks of archery, fox-hunting, grouse-shooting, the royal game of golf, curling,

football, and cricket. From the earliest times Scotland seems to have been a favourite hunting ground. The Romans used to hunt the brown bear here, and transport it to Rome. Martial, in his Seventh Epigram, mentions how that Laureolus, a noted robber, was first crucified and then torn to pieces by a Caledonian bear. The jarls of Orkney were in the habit of coming over in the summer to Caithness, and there hunting in the wilds the red deer and the reindeer. Bishop Lesley tells us that the Caledonian Forest was once full of bears, while Camden writes that the same forest was dreadful for its dark intricate windings, for its dens of bears, and its huge, wild, thick-maned bulls. But long before either of these writers, and long before the Northern jarls and the civilised Roman, the ancient Pict and the more Southern Brython used to find food and sport in hunting the moose-deer or elk, the bear, and the wolf or wild cattle, while a still older race, at a still more distant period, had many a combat with the hyæna and leopard, the hippopotamus and grisly bear. In his chapter on the old Scottish wild cattle, Mr. Fittis has given an interesting account of the various herds of these animals still, or comparatively recently, in existence both in England and Scotland. In the latter country wolves were so numerous in the fifteenth century that Acts of Parliament were passed decreeing their extirpation, and, according to tradition, the last was not destroyed until the year 1743, when it was shot on the banks of the Findhorn by the famous hunter, Macqueen of Pall-a'-chrocain, not many hours after it had destroyed two children, the story of whose death is told by the brothers Stuart. Mr. Fittis has, of course, much to tell about deer forests and grouse moors, and has woven much interesting historical information into his account. Archery leads him, of course, to speak of the Royal Company of Archers, and there are chapters on the rural sports at Lammas and the revels of Fastren's E'en. Altogether the volume is full of entertaining and instructive matter, which serves to throw much light on the habits, manners, and customs of past generations of Scotsmen, and will well repay perusal.

Epidemic Influenza: Notes on its Origin and Method of Spread. By RICHARD SISLEY, M.D. London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co. 1891.

Dr. Sisley's notes on this widely spread and mysterious disease deserve to be read by lay as well as by professional readers. For the most part the work is controversial, but there is sufficient information in it to make it attractive, notwithstanding its somewhat repellent title, to all. From the notes here thrown together, it appears that this is by no means the first time the disease has visited the British Isles. It has a history, and has been quite as virulent in previous centuries as in this. Dr. Sisley's great contention is that the disease is spread by contagion and infection. His method of proving this is inductive, and the facts he brings forward are quite sufficient to establish his hypothesis That they demonstrate the thesis for which he contends we should not like to say. But, taking the facts he adduces, we have little hesitation in saying that they render it highly probable, notwithstanding the authorities to the contrary, that the old-fashioned opinion that the disease dealt with, and more especially that which is generally known as 'Russian influenza,' is spread by infection is true. Dr. Sisley has a number of very instructive notes as to the origin and history of the disease. Altogether the treatise is a valuable contribution to the study of a very obscure and much debated subject.

Oysters and all about them.

By JOHN R. PHILPOTS,
London: J. Richard-

L.R.C.P. & S., Edin., etc. 2 Vols.
2 Vols.
son & Co. 1890.

Whether Mr. Philpots has written all that can be written about oysters, he has certainly written a very great deal about them. His two volumes contain over 1350 pages. Here and there he may have repeated himself a little, but on the whole he has written a very instructive and entertaining book. Perhaps no book on the subject is so varied in its contents or so comprehensive in its character. There is in it a great deal of curious information, historical, zoological, and otherwise. And what is more, Mr. Philpots writes as if it were a pleasure to him. His work is in a large measure a compilation; but the selections he has made from other writers, whether ancient or modern, are always apposite and acknowledged. His aim, he tells us, has been to make his book a manual on the subject. In this respect, however, his zeal has probably outrun his discretion. A manual should be handy and condensed. The two volumes he has produced can scarcely be said to be either condensed or handy. They are bulky and, as already hinted, somewhat diffuse. Yet they contain an immense amount of information, not only on the history of oyster eating, but on its structure, habitat, and culture. Here, in fact, almost everything may be learned as to what has been done in this country and abroad in connection with the oyster, either for its increase or destruction. There is a chapter on the pearl oyster, another in which a large body of important statistics is given, and another on oyster fishing legislation; and here and there many curious pieces of information are given respecting the subject of the book. Altogether it is a full book, pleasantly written, and deserving the attention of all who are interested in the oyster, either as an article of food or as an article of commerce.

United States Pictures drawn with Pen and Pencil. By RICHARD LOVETT, M.A. Map and Illustrations. Religious Tract Society. 1891.

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This is another admirable addition to a very beautiful and attractive series. Mr. Lovett, its author, has already made himself a name as a contributor to the series, having prepared the Irish, Norwegian, Dutch and London Pictures.' In the present volume neither his pen nor his pencil has lost its cunning. The letterpress is as attractive as ever, and the illustrations as well chosen. It may be that this may turn out the favourite volume among the 'Pictures.' Mr. Lovett has had a country great in its extent, and wonderful both in its natural scenery and its material and social developments, to deal with, and some of the things he has had to portray are unsurpassed in any quarter of the globe. The volume is entirely different from Dr. Manning's American Pictures.' That volume, in fact, so far as it pertains to the United States, owing to the rapidity with which changes are effected there, has become almost antiquated, and is already gathering about it something of an antiquarian interest. Mr. Lovett's book, on the other hand, is quite fresh, and presents the great scenes of the United States, to which it is exclusively devoted, as they exist to-day. His information is on all the points he touches the latest, and very interesting it is. Next to seeing the United States, the best way of forming adequate conceptions of its life, buildings, historical memorials, and physical features, is to follow Mr. Lovett in his journeys from New York to Washington, Chicago, San Fransisco, the

Yosemite Valley, Niagara, and the Great Yellowstone Park, with its unrivalled wonders. He is an admirable cicerone, brimful of his subject, and never uninteresting.

A Biographical Catalogue of Macmillan & Co.'s Publications from 1843 to 1889. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. 1891.

A catalogue is scarcely literature, still the volume noted above has so much to do with literature, and contains so many notes on the publications of the past forty-five years, and illustrates so well the growth of a great publishing house, that its appearance deserves to be at least chronicled. For the future historian of modern literature it will prove invaluable. By turning to its pages he will see at a glance what books were popular, when they were printed, to what extent they were popular, how long their popularity lasted, and when they apparently vanished from the popular mind; for such is the plan of the volume that we have not only the title page of each book published by the Messrs. Macmillan & Co., from the foundation of the firm down to 1889, but also the date of every reprint, with other particulars as to size, number of pages, and whether stereotyped or electrotyped. Every pains has been taken to make the volume as handsome as possible, and for many it will have a larger interest than some volumes of a different sort. Besides the catalogue itself, the volume contains an informing preface and a couple of portraits, one of Alexander Macmillan, and the other of Daniel, the founder of the firm, whose biography was written some time ago by the author of Tom Brown's School Days.

SHORT NOTICES.

The volume of Sermons preached on Special Occasions, by the late Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, (Macmillan & Co.) is issued under the direction of the Trustees of the Lightfoot Fund. It contains in all eighteen sermons, each of which has a direct bearing upon the society, organisation, or occasion, in connection with which it was preached. They are all of them clear and vigorous productions, and some of them are admirable pieces of reasoning. Here and there they exhibit the greatness of the preacher's learning, and show how effectively he could use it without in the least parading it. Take for instance the sermon on the Father of Missionaries, or the next, All Things to All Men,' or the next again on 'the Whirlwind from the North.' They show a large acquaintance with the world's history and the world's ways, and yet all the while the learning and scholarship of the preacher is firmly held in hand, and chiefly comes out in the shape of brief allusions which, as a rule, are singularly sugges

tive.

Sermons Preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. By Frederick Denison Maurice (Macmillan). This is a handsome and cheap reprint of the Rev. F. D. Maurice's famous Lincoln's Inn Sermons. They contain some of the finest thoughts of that great thinker put in the plainest and simplest way. The reader of them is at a loss to tell how it ever came to pass that the author of them was supposed by some to be at all misty either in thought and speech. Here all is clear, intelligible, and eloquent. The present is a reprint of one of the two volumes which for a number of years have been exceedingly difficult to meet with. The fact that the whole six volumes are to be reprinted shows the increasing influence which their author is obtaining among the English reading public.

Les Chef-d'œuvre de la chaire belongs to the excellent series now issuing under the title' Bibliothèque littéraire de la famille' from the Librairie de l'Art, Paris, under the direction of M. M. F. Lhomme. In addition to an introduction, in which a sketch of the history of pulpit eloquence in France is given, the volume contains a series of well-chosen extracts from the great preachers of France. Bossuet, of course, comes first, and is represented by his famous sermons on Providence and Death and by numerous extracts chiefly from his funeral orations. Bourdaloue and Flechier follow, then Mascaron, Fenelon, and Massillon. Extracts are also given from Maury, Frayssinous, and Lacordaire. The selections are in each case preceded by a notice of the author, and a number of useful notes, illustrative of the text and intended to explain the allusions it contains, are added at the end. As with the rest of the series, the volume contains a number of illustrations.

The Book of Psalms, according to the Authorised Version, metrically arranged (Religious Tract Society) is in the main a reprint from the new and enlarged edition of the Annotated Paragraph Bible.' Fresh matter, however, has been added in the shape of notes, chiefly of an illustrative and practical character. The general introduction, which runs to about forty pages, will be found useful as containing a large amount of historical and critical information. A special introduction is prefixed to each psalm. for the notes, they may be commended for their brevity and suggestiveness. A good index renders their contents more available than is usually the case.

As

The Rev. R. C. Jenkins' Pre-Tridentine Doctrine (Nutt) is a striking review of the doctrines enunciated by Cardinal Cajetan in his Commentaries on the Holy Scriptures. The Cardinal's failure to heal the rupture in Germany has obscured his merits as a commentator and theologian. In this character, in fact, he is scarcely known, and Mr. Jenkins deserves to be commended for reviving a knowledge of his works. They show at least that the Protestant divines were not the only writers of the period who were endeavouring to arrive at a clear and reasonable interpretation of the Scriptures, and further that many of the doctrines taught by the Reformers were anticipated by some of the most notable among the Catholic divines. In the selection of his method, Mr. Jenkins has been exceedingly happy. Taking the Commentaries one by one, he shows, frequently in the Cardinal's own words, the principles by which he was guided and the results at which he arrived. Here and there, however, Mr. Jenkins mars the pleasure which the perusal of his volume affords by the introduction of a strongly polemical spirit.

M. E. Boutmy's Studies in Constitutional Law (Macmillan & Co.) have found a capable translator in Miss E. M. Dicey, and her father, Professor Dicey, has written a brief introduction to the volume. The essays are three in number, and are devoted to a comparative study of the essential differences between English and French constitutionalism. They are unquestionably brilliant, and though Englishmen as a rule imagine they know all about the institutions under which they live and have a sort of contempt for all others, there can be little doubt that a perusal of M. Boutmy's essays will contribute much to their information, not only about their own institutions, but also in respect to those of France and the United States.

Messrs. Macmillan's English Men of Action' series includes some excellent monographs, but we do not think it includes one which deserves to be more highly commended than Mr. Oman's Warwick the Kingmaker.

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