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on September 12, 1846, at St. Pancras Church.

'The engaged pair,' says

·

Mrs. Sutherland Orr, had not only not obtained Mr. Barrett's sanction to their marriage; they had not even invoked it; and the doubly clandestine character thus forced upon the union could not be otherwise than repugnant to Mr. Browning's pride; but it was dictated by the deepest filial affection on the part of his intended wife.' Mr. Barrett, it appears, was one of those men who will not part with their children. His daughter Elizabeth, too, he looked upon as a confirmed invalid who ought, as he afterwards said, to have been thinking of another world. The young couple knew the uselessness of any appeal to him and hence the course they adopted. After their marriage both of them returned for some days to their old life, but during these days, Browning who had hitherto been a daily visitor at the Barretts' did not call to see her; he recoiled from the hypocrisy of asking for her under her maiden name.' A week after her marriage she left the paternal house for good. In the late afternoon, or evening of September, 19,' says Mrs. Sutherland Orr, 'Mrs. Browning attended by her maid and her dog, stole away from her father's house. The family were at dinner, at which meal she was not in the habit of joining them; her sisters Henrietta and Arabel had been throughout in the secret of her attachment and in full sympathy with it; in the case of the servants, she was also sure of friendly connivance. There was no difficulty in her escape, but that created by the dog, which might be expected to bark its consciousness of the unusual situation. She took him into her confidence. She said: O Flush, if you make a sound, I am lost. And Flush understood, as what good dog would not?- and crept after his mistress in silence. I do not remember where her husband joined her ; we may be sure it was as near her home as possible. That night they took the boat to Havre, on their way to Paris.' Both the Browning and the Barrett family were as might be expected, greatly agitated by the occurrence. Mr. Browning forgave his son ; but Mr. Barrett did not forgive his daughter. Some of the most delightful letters in Mrs. Sutherland Orr's volume are from the hand of Mrs. Browning, and speak all through of the happiness of the union. Exceedingly interesting too, are those which are given of Mr. Browning's. Quite as much so likewise are many of his expressed opinions. But we must commend the reader to the volume itself. He will find it of exceptional interest as the biography of one of the first intellects, this century has produced.

Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher. By HENRY

JONES, M.A. Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons. 1891. The aim of this volume is to ascertain the philosophical and religious doctrines which are more or less distinctly taught in Mr. Browning's poetry. The poetic or artistic value of Mr. Browning's poems is not dwelt upon. Mr. Jones is particular to point this out and half apologises for venturing to distinguish between Mr. Browning the poet and Mr. Browning the philosophical and religious teacher. Of course the question arises whether Mr. Browning had the intention of giving utterance to any system of religious or philosophical thought. Mr. Jones is of opinion that he had. For our own part, we very much doubt it. The essentially dramatic character of his genius and of his poetry is altogether against it. All the same it is not at all improbable that such a system as Mr. Jones here seeks to find may be found imbedded in the sixteen or seventeen volumes of poetry Mr. Browning has written. However dramatic a man's genius may be, it is impossible for him to write much without revealing himself. As Emerson somewhere says, 'a man's nature teaches above his will,' and while engaged in putting others upon the stage, it is well nigh

impossible for him not to put himself upon it as well. Mr. Jones points out what he conceives to be two difficulties in the way of ascertaining the system of thought underlying Mr. Browning's poems. The first is the extent and variety of his work; and the second, what Mr. Browning has himself repeatedly insisted upon; viz., that his poetry is 'always dramatic in principle, and so many utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine.' The latter of these presents the main difficulty. What Mr. Jones gives as the first is rather an advantage. The more extended and varied a writer's works, notwithstanding their dramatic character, the more the chances are multiplied of his unconsciously violating the spirit of dramatic representation and revealing himself. At the same time, what Mr. Jones says is quite true, that ‘it is not easy anywhere to separate the elements, so that we can say with certainty, "Here I catch the poet, there lies his material." The identification of the work and worker is too intimate, and the realization of the imaginary personage is too complete.' Whether Mr. Jones has really made out the religious and philosophical principles which Mr. Browning intended to teach or rather which lie behind his writings, we should not like to undertake to say. But this we may say, he has presented us with the leading principles which appear to lie on the surface of Mr. Browning's poems, and which to all appearance they are intended, if we may so say, to inculcate. And for this not a few who have tried to master Browning will be grateful. The doubtful compliment paid to the poet during his lifetime of forming a society for the study and interpretation of his works would seem to argue the necessity for some such book as the one before us. But be that as it may, Mr. Jones has thrown light on many an obscure passage, and has pointed out truths and principles scattered here and there over the poems with the aid of which the words of an author who is confessedly difficult to understand, may be made to yield intelligible and often richly significant thoughts.

The English Constitution. By ÉMILE BOUTMY. Translated by Isabel M. Eaden. With an Introduction by Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., M.A. London: Macmillan & Co. 1891. Foreigners are in the habit of dealing with the English Constitution from a high philosophical point of view, and of entering into it with an elaboration of detail, often ponderous, which in this country is almost unknown. M. Boutmy's modest little volume forms quite a contrast to many such works; but it is none the less effective. Sir Frederick Pollock has written a brief Introduction to Miss Eaden's translation, but both the work itself and its translation are illustrations of the saying: 'Good wine needs no bush.' The translation is as good and idiomatic as it can well be; while the volume itself deserves to be welcomed, both as occupying a place peculiarly its own, and as the work of an enlightened foreigner well acquainted both with the history and the working of the Constitution. He is a follower of neither Freeman, Gneist, nor Green. If anything he leans more to Dr. Stubbs. His work, however, deals less with the formal history of the Constitution, and more with its construction from the social and economic points of view. And herein lies its chief value. As for the theory which would find the constitution existing in embryo in the remote past he has little belief. 'What we must look for in the distant past,' he says, 'are the original and deep-rooted tendencies, the primitive bearings of the national character; they are more easily traceable at a period when as yet the vicissitudes of history have not furrowed and broken up the ground: they explain the general direction, and measure the energy of those forces which are one day to set in motion a system of political machinery. As to the machinery itself, its beginnings and its modifications are nearly always

due to causes more specific and more practical, more recent and nearer to hand.' The constitutional and parliamentary system, ' of which England created for the world the original and great example,' had its origin, he holds, in historical rather than in purely ethnical sources. It was rather the outcome, he says, of the needs which circumstances, and especially one great and fortuitous event had created, than an inheritance handed down through successive generations from the period of the Saxon Conquest. The line which the whole history of political institution has since followed, was traced, he believes, in 1066, and it is here he finds his starting point. There can be no doubt that the Conquest of 1066 had an immense influence on the political institutions of the country; still it was not absolutely subversive of the existing institutions, and one would like to have seen M. Boutmy's opinion of what the Norman influence was. From this point onwards, however, M. Boutmy is an enlightened guide. Here and there, in fact frequently, the development of the constitution and the machinery of government are thrown into clear light by contrasting them with the constitutional history of other countries. The chief value of the volume, however, is, as already said, in its treatment of the subject from the social and economic standpoints. In this respect, so far as we know, it stands alone.

The Works of William Shakespeare. Edited by WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT. Vol. III. London: Macmillan & Co. 1891. This third volume of the new and handsome edition of the Cambridge Shakespeare,' which is now appearing under the editorship of Mr. Aldis Wright, contains four plays, viz. : The Taming of the Shrew, All's Well that Ends Well, Twelfth Night, and the Winter's Tale. The plays are given in the same order as they appear in the Folio of 1623, and are accompanied by a brief Preface and somewhat copious notes. As need hardly be said, the features of the edition are the text and the various and conjectural readings. The latter are given at the foot of each page. They are full and contain the latest suggestions of importance. For the Shakespeare student, a copy of this edition is indispensable, as he has here what is admittedly the best text, and when dissatisfied with it, has such materials to his hand as will enable him to form an independent judgment, or, at least, to show him what opinions others have arrived at, and what suggestions they have made. The footnotes in the present volume are, if anything, more copious than in either of the two which have preceded it. Of the notes at the end of each of the plays, it is needless to speak. They are not intended to be full, but deal chiefly with the text, and, so far as they go, are extremely useful. Altogether in its own way, the edition is as near perfection as is possible.

FICTION.

On Heather Hills, 2 vols., (Alex. Gardner), has its scene laid in Scotland, while May, its heroine, if such she may be called, is an Australian who believes, or did believe, that Scotland is the fairest of all lands upon the earth. Her introduction to it is not the happiest, being followed in a day or two by the death of her father and mother from exposure and starvation. Ultimately, after a stay in fact of five years, during which she passes through some very remarkable experiences, she leaves it, but whether she still looks upon it as the fairest of all countries is not said. Some incidents would leave the impression that her first ideas are considerably modified. There are exciting situations in the story, some smart conversations, here and there a few excellent reflections, and in the first volume a superfluity of writing. The author, whoever he or she may be,

has something to learn in the way of condensing. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the story is the plot. This is certainly out of the beaten track, and so far may be commended. Its probability, however, is questionable, admitting that truth is at times stranger than fiction, it is always true to nature. It is scarcely possible that a smart young lady like May, after a separation of only some four or five years, should be totally unable to detect in the person of Robson, though in daily contact with him, her own husband, or that Gerald should fail to recognize in him his step-brother. And further, for Robson to stand by and quietly see the wife whom he is said to love with an intense passion, beaten and ill-used in other ways without breaking through his disguise of dumbness or interfering to protect her, argues either a wonderful power of self-command or an indifference for her which, to say the least, is not reconcilable with affection. There are other improbabilities in the story. By most novel readers these however, will be regarded, we imagine, as excellences, and compared with many of the novels of the day, the story both in conception and execution will hold its own.

Eight Days, by R. E. Forrest, (Smith, Elder & Co.) is a tale of the Indian Mutiny, and records the events which happened to a party of English officers and ladies stationed at Khizrabad, in Northern India, during that eventful period. It is supposed to be a history, and probably is. The incidents follow each other in natural sequence and with startling rapidity. That they are exciting, we need hardly say. One peril leads to another, and how so many of the party managed to escape the fate of their companions is, all things considered, a marvel. As for the style the writer has adopted, here and there it is a little forced, and until the Mutiny actually breaks out, just a little tedious. Elsewhere, however, it is vigorous, picturesque, and sufficiently condensed. The characters are abundant and well drawn. The writer is to all appearance well acquainted with the country where the scene is laid, and tells the story in such a way as to convey the impression that he or she was an actor in it. The details are all so minutely given and the characters so distinctly placed before us, that we do not think that we shall be far wrong if we say that the author is writing either at firsthand, or from the records of one who shared in the vicissitudes and hair-breadth escapes of the Eight Days. The book is worth reading if only for the information it gives, and may be safely set down as one of the best novels of the season.

New Grub Street, by George Gissing, 3 vols. (Smith, Elder & Co.). Mr. Gissing is already well known as a writer of fiction. His Demos and The Nether World are works of sufficient ability to place him in the first rank of present-day novelists. New Grub Street has something of the character of The Nether World. These he took for his subject 'Darkest London,' and depicted its social life in some of its worst and best features. The picture was in many respects lurid and painful. All the same, it was powerfully depicted. Not less so is that of New Grub Street. Here he deals with the struggling class of writers. The book is intensely realistic, and one can scarcely divest one's self of the idea that it is written from the life. Alfred Yule and Jasper Milvain, though by no means loveable, are drawn with remarkable skill. So are Biffens and Reardon, who are men of a totally different type. Marian Yule is worthy of a better fate than that which is here assigned to her, but it serves to bring out the heartlessness of Jasper Milvain and to emphasize what we take to be the motive of the story. Like The Nether World, New Grub Street is not altogether pleasant reading, but, like that, it is in its own way a work of marked ability. It is a novelty in fiction, and furnishes much food for reflection for those who are contemplating literature as a profession.

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SCOTTISH REVIEW.

OCTOBER, 1891.

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T. I.-WITCHCRAFT IN SCOTLAND.

IT with no feeling of pleasure that a writer of the present

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can enter upon the task of sketching the sad history "ish witchcraft. Horrible as are the events attending elopment of the witch mania on the Continent, an into them yet brings us into the presence of such gigantic crimes that we seem to be dealing with beings of a different nature to ourselves. When we picture to ourselves a king of France levelling a false charge of sorcery, with all its awful consequences of torture and death, at thousands of the bravest defenders of Christendom, merely that he may obtain possession of their riches, or a great feudal lord sacrificing hundreds of children in a single year in the hope of prolonging for a short space his career of profusion, we seem to see before us the fallen angels of Milton rather than the sharers of our common humanity. But in the history of Scottish witchcraft there is nothing to excite the wonder which in some measure deadens the disgust with which we contemplate the deeds of a Philip the Fair or a Gilles de Retz. Here the victims are, with hardly a exception, such poor and wretched old women as are still to be found by scores in every parish in town or country; while the persecutors are the pious, zealous, and, on the whole, learned clergy, whom we have been accustomed to reverence as the very patterns and exemplars of the milder virtues of Christianity. Yet it is, perhaps, as well that

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