a book of quite the right compass to suit boys reading for the higher certificate and similar examinations." If this gap exists, Mr. Hett should succeed in filling it. It is simple and short, yet within its three hundred pages it deals quite adequately for the purpose with the classical period of Greek history. The mistake made by most school historians is to load their books with constitutional details and critical discussions which are quite useless for pupils who are not sure of the main facts of ancient history. It would be optimistic to assume that the great body of boys who enter for the higher certificate have already mastered those facts. The only fault, indeed, which could be found with this admirable little work is that here and there it might have been possible to suggest a simple geographical or strategical problem which would notbe beyond the powers of the higher-form schoolboy. The question of how Xerxes blocked the Straits of Salamis might have been asked; or, it might have been pointed out that there was a difficulty as to the presence or absence of Persian cavalry at Marathon. But, in general, the method adopted, of taking the line of some good authority and stating it clearly without alternative versions, is certainly the right one for pupils at this stage, and Mr. Hett generally mentions where he departs from Herodotus. An adequate space is devoted to the beginnings of Greece, including an interesting summary of the evidence provided by recent archæology; and the author most wisely refrains from wasting much time and space over the reforms of Cleisthenes or the history of the Areopagus, matters which are only the cause of needless boredom to boys and girls alike. The book may be strongly recommended to all teachers who are on the look-out for a sensible Greek history written by a competent and practical authority.

A Shakespeare Word-Book. By JOHN FOSter.
(7s. 6d. net. Routledge.)

We have been looking for this book for years and wondering why publishers showered upon us texts and school editions of the several plays, most of them superfluities and never supplied so obvious a desideratum. Schmidt's "Lexicon" has been on Liddell and Scott; but it was compiled some forty years ago, and its philology is out of date. It is in two volumes, and it costs a guinea and a half. The present "Word-Book," so the compiler tells us, has occupied the leisure of sixteen years, and it bears all the signs of ripeness— careful discrimination of meaning and apt illustration drawn from a wide range of literature. We have sampled it in various ways and not found it wanting. Thus, in running through the letter "M," we find two obvious blunders of the 'Globe Glossary " corrected. Malkin" is the diminutive of Matilda, not a familiar name for Mary," and "magot-pie" is "Margaret-pie," and has nothing to do with "magots." To assign to "motion" twenty different senses is to subtilize overmuch. "Fever of the mad" surely means febris insanorum, not "subst. delirium." In "To play with mammets and to tilt with lips," the sense of "dolls," "puppets" is inapplicable. "Mistress Mall's picture" needed a note. These are all the holes we can pick, and they are few and unimportant.

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Home Life in Italy. By LINA DUFF GORDON.
(10s. 6d. net. Methuen.)

The opening chapters of this book might make the reader challenge its title as misleading, for all seems to centre round the home life of English sojourners in an old Italian fortezza among the Carrara mountains. But these are a prelude to a series of delightful glimpses at the Italians themselves, their homes and habits in the villages and country round about. The marchese in his villa, the patriarchal household, well-to-do or come down in the world, the village schoolmistress, the village story-teller, the witch, the emigrant and his family, the children -these and others are pictured in words that have plenty of life in them. The book may be likened to a series of photographic snapshots, the points of view being chosen by an eye both sympathetic and artistic; and those who take it up to pass some pleasant hours will not complain if it has no deeper unity than such a series, taken in one neighbourhood, would have. Here are two little sketches chosen at random.

"After some useful Italian recipes comes a lesson of economy taught

'Padrone mia,' she

even by the Englishwoman to her Italian cook. said, there has been a positive miracle-the water from those chicken bones has turned into a jelly; one could stand on it. I begin to think the English people are more intelligent than we are.'

"Oh! Mariannina,' I exclaimed, overcome with modesty. "Ma si; and another reason has struck me-the habit you have of hanging meat. Here we eat it as hard as a leather boot.'" At the close of a country fair :

"One door of the trattoria gave out on to the crowded street of booths, the other opened exactly opposite on to a short flight of marble steps leading up to a vine arbour, where more tables were laid. For a moment the figure of a priest paused at the top of the stairs, and looked down upon the feasters. He was the owner of the wine barrels. As the evening closed in, the room became more crowded, and the wine flowed like a river.

"It has been a splendid day for Don Michele," remarked Dante the tinker, 'his wine is good.' The babble of voices, the sound of a hand organ, the lowing of cattle followed us far down the road on our way home, and then, at a turn, the silence of the mountains fell around us, and we watched the flush of sunset sweep across the Carrara peaks, while the villages in the valley grew dim and shadowless."

The photographs in the book are excellent, the illustrations vary in merit. Adelina looks in the picture so much dwarfed as to be deformed instead of graceful, but the emigrant's wife and the peasant are both striking pictures. There is a misprint on page 159 of "sowing for "sewing"; and Mr. Warde Fowler's name twice appears as "Warren."

Sex Equality: A Solution of the Woman Problem. By EMMET DUNSMORE, M.D. (Swan Sonnenschein.)

In the beginning there was neither male nor female; in the new millennium there will, it is true, still be distinction of sex, but the female will in every respect be the equal of the male-physically, intellectually, socially, and politically. Such is the thesis that an American doctor has undertaken to establish in a popular form. There are portraits of twenty-three famous women and two men - Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The present inferiority of women, as far as it exists, is wholly due to environment and heredity; there is no constitutional difference between maleness and femaleness. We must be content to state the thesis without arguing for or against it. The woman of the future will be a bread-winner equally with the man; when both are earning wages earlier marriages will result and the fear of race suicide will disappear. "The strong, healthy, and vigorous mother, skilled in some trade or profession by which she might earn as much or even more than her husband, has time to give her child an ample caressing, to look into the adequacy of its care, and then leave for the day to engage in lucrative employment . . . and return in the evening to take up domestic duties. . . to engage her husband with interesting or intellectual conversation and make hereself attractive." Among Dr. Dunsmore's antetypes of the ideal woman are Catherine II. of Russia and George Sand (though it is hinted that neither was a strict monogamist), and the Rev. Mary B. Eddy, who made a million dollars in seven years by faith healing. How the environment of maternity and its concomitant disabilities are to be disposed of we are not told. There are some interesting speculations, but the book is too much an affair of scissors and paste.

France of the French. By E. HARRISON BARKER.
(6s. net. Sir Isaac Pitman.)

Mr. Barker has been for some years a British Vice-Consul in France, and for thirty years he was on the staff of Galignani and the Paris correspondent of various London papers. He has thus enjoyed ample opportunities of studying the French people, and he writes of what he knows. The press, the theatre, the Salon, the Chamber, the bookstall-these, in the order given, are his chief topics. He sticks to the individual, and rarely attempts to generalize, never to philosophize. It is not with Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," but with Taine's "Notes on England," that the book must be compared. Many of the sketches of public men-politicians, publicists, artists, and writers-are excellent, but we miss the personal note that makes Taine's diaries and letters so delightful, or, to take a closer parallel, in Mr. Hamerton's Biographies and Studies of French Life." Education is only incidentally mentioned, and we miss a chapter corresponding to Desmolins or Max Leclerc. The book is illustrated by some excellent photographs of leading Frenchmen-MM. Fallières, Rostand, Anatole France, Rodin, &c. We cannot, at parting, forbear a mild protest against the obtrusive "journalese." Mr. Barker has to tell us that Pierre Curie was run over and killed by a wagon, and he takes thirteen lines to do it. "His mind being, doubtless, absorbed by the problems of the new science which he has presented in all the nakedness of its birth to the world, he overlooked the trivial daily need . . . annihilated by a little brute force."

66

Select Epigrams of Martial. Edited by EDWIN POST. (6s. 6d. Ginn.) This is a striking example of the painstaking thoroughness of American scholarship. There is not an epigram, not a word which

presents the least difficulty, that is not fully explained or commented on, The General Index occupies 47, and the Index of Passages Cited 13, pages. The only question that arises is cui bono? not as the phrase is vulgarly misused, for such an honest piece of work is well worth doing; but whether the critical appendix can be of any use to the pupil who needs to be told that the nightingale's song has many tones, and that Mantua owes its fame to the fact that Vergil was born in the neighbourhood.

"Historical Geography of the British Colonies."-Vol. V. : Canada. Part II. Historical. By H. E. EGERTON.

:

Mr. Egerton, in this volume, deals with the history of Canada from the time of the English Conquest, leaving the geography to be dealt with by another writer. The author has done his work in a painstaking and accurate manner, and his care to be scrupulously impartial is clear on every page. We cannot say, however, that he possesses an attractive style or that he has caught much of the romance of Canadian history. His book smacks too much of the midnight lamp. It may be described as an indoor book on an out-of-door subject. For the story of Canada ever since the Conquest is essentially an open-air story. its great features are the battle of men against Nature, the slow conquest of vast areas of forest and wilderness, and the building up and consolidation of a people spread over thousands of miles of wilderness. Of this Mr. Egerton gives us too little and of the somewhat parochial party politics of Canada too much. We would, for instance, gladly sacrifice a good deal of his account of the political difficulties which beset the making of the Canadian Pacific Railway for a fuller account of the engineering difficulties; but it is ever the vice of writers on modern history to think that it is on the politicians, who are as often as not merely the flies on the wheel, that the eyes of the universe are concentrated. The best chapters in the book are those deaung with the latest era in Canadian history. The account of the relations of Canada with the United States is lucid and instructive, and the author shows us very clearly how strong are the bonds of trade which have drawn and still are drawing the two countries together, and how pressing has been at times the temptation of the British colony to throw herself into the arms of the Republic. The chapter also on the relations between the central and provincial authorities will repay perusal by the student of constitutional history, but it would have been more informing if a clear summary of the contents of the British North America Act had been given. The Call of the Homeland. A Collection of English Verse. Selected and arranged by R. P. SCOTT and KATH. T. WALLAS. Book I., Book II. (Each is. 6d. net. Blackie.) This is a new Lyra Heroica"; but it differs both in classification and contents from the numerous collections of patriotic poems that have recently appeared. It seeks, in the words of the preface, to illustrate a larger conception of patriotism-" the beauty of life and death, the joy of service, the universal message of earth and sky," We begin with historical poems, arranged not by date of composition, but by order of events; but the longest section in Book I. is "The Changing Year," and in Book II. " English Countryside." We hail this reaction from Henley's "Heroics" (good as they were) and Mr. Rudyard Kipling's brass-band music. The editors are to be congratulated on surmounting the difficulties of copyright, and so giving us the best of living or recently deceased poets. Wordsworth, as is natural, heads the list with twelve poems; next come Tennyson, R. L. Stevenson, and Mr. Henry Newbolt (to whom the volumes are dedicated) with ten each; Browning, Kingsley, and Mr. William Watson have each seven; Herrick and Matthew Arnold six. great majority of the authors appear in single specimens. The getup of the volumes is most attractive and the price brings them well within the range of class books; but we wish that Dr. Scott had given some hints as to the classes for which they are intended and how they should be used. Contemplative poems can appeal only to the highest forms, and the love of scenery is a later growth. Notes there are none, and even grown-ups (some of them) will fail to recognize under "Ionicus" the late William Johnson or know the meaning of a "Wacht-a-bitje." But it is not a paradox to say that the worse an anthology is for schools the better it is for adults. We are grateful to the editors for introducing us to new poems, most of them deserving to be known. We could, indeed, well have forgone some of our colonists in favour of the best American poets, of whom Longfellow is not a representative-Walt Whitman, O. W. Holmes, Lowell, Percival Gibbon's answer, “Oh, to be in Africa!" in Book I., to Browning's "Oh, to be in England!" in Book II., is a feeble production, and so is "Chalvey -an obvious echo of Tennyson's "Brook." Under "Compatriots" we have Burbadge and George Odger; but we miss Scott's famous lines on Fox and Pitt and Tennyson's epitaphs on Franklin and Gordon. We have five lyrics on Sounds"; but Wordsworth's "Two Voices are there" is not amongst them.

Whittier.

The

"Sea

is almost a solitary instance of the smug patriotism and music-hall

melodies that the "Homeland the misses and not the hits. Wordsworth: an Introduction to his Life and Works. By CATHERINE PUNCH. (IS. net. Allman.) This little book attempts much in its 120 pages. It is not quite clear to what class of readers it is addressed amongst those "who have not yet attained to any great knowledge of, or admiration for" the poet, whether to young pupils or older teachers; to the latter, perhaps, it seems most suited, and should give some welcome help, both to their reading and teaching. The chapters, both on the Life and Works, are illustrated throughout by quotations of considerable length from the poems. Twenty-nine pages go to a detailed analysis of "Peter Bell." Lack of space may account for the somewhat dogmatic tone of some of the judgments passed, and for the scantiness of quotations showing the poet's relation to his sister. The side of Wordsworth's nature shown in the lines "Within our happy castle there dwelt one," and in the sonnet on the setting star, is untouched upon. A First Book in English Literature. Part IV., from Beaumont and Fletcher to Dryden. By C. L. THOMSON. (2s. 6d. H. Marshall.) Part IV. carries on successfully the excellent scheme of this series, to treat only of the great names in English literature and to give full illustrative extracts. As the stream descends and broadens the task of selection becomes harder, and it would be easy for any critic to point out what in his judgment are serious omissions. But it is at once pleasanter and fairer to recognize the full and satisfactory treatment of the writers chosen. Milton, Bunyan, and Dryden have each a chapter. Miss Thomson has lightened her craft by throwing overboard the philosophers Hobbes, Locke, &c., and for other intelligible reasons the dramatists of the Restoration are taboo. In treating of the post-Shakespearean damatists, she is perhaps too much inclined to accept Mr. Swinburne's extravagant estimate, and she hardly does justice to Milton's prose. There are others besides professed students of literature who read the "Defensio" and the letter to Hartlib. The illustrations, title-pages, and portraits are a new and pleasing feature. The King's English. Abridged for School Use. (Is. 6d. Clarendon Press.)

seeks to correct. We have marked

We are glad to see this admirable volume in a form and at a price which will ensure its use in schools. Every sixth-form boy should possess a copy, and if the master enforced its precepts by referring to it in the correction of essays, he would find at the end of the year a marked improvement in style and correctness of language. Shakespeare's Complete Sonnets. A new arrangement, with Introduction and Notes by C. M. WALSH. (5s. net. Fisher Unwin.) Yet another edition of the Sonnets! It differs from its forerunners in taking for its motto, "All that we know is, nothing can be known." The sonnets are grouped in eight sections, according to subject; but, even then, we are left in doubt whether several are addressed to a man or woman. We agree with Mr. Walsh that, except in the improbable event of fresh documentary evidence, the problem of "W. H." is insoluble. Not so the psychological puzzle. In this sense Shakespeare still abides our question.' We cannot say that the present edition throws any new light, nor do the notes help much in the elucidation of verbal difficulties, which are numerous. Far more help in this direction is to be gained from the recent translation of M. Charles Garnier, a work apparently unknown to the editor.

A Simple Story. By Mrs. INCHBALD. With an Introduction by G. L. STRACHEY. (2s. 6d. net. H. Frowde.)

"A Simple Story" is well worth reprinting, and we have been tempted to re-read in this pretty little volume, with mingled interest and amusement, a tragi-comedy which, we confess, had left but a faint impression. Mr. Strachey tells us all that can be known about the authoress. We must enter a protest against the obiter dictum that Thackeray's style is "mere ornament.

The Englishman's Yearbook and Directory, 1909.

(2s. 6d. net. A. & C. Black.)

The

This useful and singularly cheap annual continues to flourish. militant movement for women's suffrage is blessed without reserve. Miss Burstall contributes a useful article on the present condition of secondary education for girls. The address of the defunct Teachers' Registration Council should have been deleted. Miss Latham has ceased to be head of St. Mary's College, Paddington. Nom de plume for a racing lady is a double solecism. By an unlucky misprint the present salaries of mistresses are stated to be quite commensurate (read "incommensurate ") with their attainments.

Who's Who, 1909. (10s. net. A. & C. Black.) This living autobiographical dictionary has become a necessity of life; but, if it grows in bulk at its present rate, we shall have to transfer it from our writing-table to the bookshelf. This year there is an addition of 235 pages. The first page suggests one curtailment that might be effected without great loss. Prof. Abbe has over a column, giving titles of articles and papers contributed to learned societies. In a few cases the editor has used his blue pencil, and we miss the gems of former editions-"she recommenced her literary labours and in

fifteen months produced Boy." Among distinguished educationists, we miss the names of D. G. Dakyns, H. W. Eve, F. C. Kitchener.

Messrs. John Davis send us a specimen case of LAURIE'S Life Histories of injurious insects and butterflies and moths (6s.). Each case is 6 x 6 inches, glazed on both sides. In the one before us we have the lackey moth in all the stages from ovum to imago, with a twig of the tree on which the caterpillar is feeding. There are eightyfive cases, and any "Life History will be sent for inspection on application to 13 Paternoster Row.

Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome, & Co. send us their Photographic Exposure Record for 1909-a most convenient pocket diary for the photographer.

Messrs. Woolley, Manchester, send us their Scientist's Pocket Book and Diary for 1909 (1s.). The scientist is a strict Sabbatarian, and has no engagements on the Sunday. Has much useful information in a small compass.

Messrs. Hanfstaengl send us Nos. 3 and 4 of their Scholars' Cartoons King Arthur's Knights departing from Camelot for the Holy Grail" and "The Canterbury Pilgrims"-both by Walter Crane. The composition is pleasing, and the colours quiet and harmonious. In the second all Chaucer's characters are distinct and easily identified.

Messrs. George Philips' Nature Calendar for 1909 (6d. net) is contrived to hang on the wall of the classroom or study. Each month has a page-notes of animal life, plant life, and the garden, together with a brief essay on some point of natural history. It is the most useful hanging calendar we have seen.

McDougall's Housewifery Notebook (1s. 3d. net) is a stout volume with cut-through headings-Cookery, Laundry, Housewifery, Newspaper Recipes, and Needlework. It is intended for girls' schools and evening classes.

GIFT BOOKS.

A Fowl. By J. W. HURST. (6s. A. & C. Black.)-This year we have another delightful addition to "Animal Autobiographies -one of the best series of Nature books that have appeared in England. Mr. Hurst has succeeded in endowing his heroine with a great deal of individuality, while he has avoided giving her any unnatural amount of cleverness. Perhaps the best piece of work in the book is the description of a poultry show from a hen's point of view. We get quite attached to "Old Speshul," the Dorking hen, and are sorry to leave her when the book is done. Mr. Stewart and Maud Scrivener have both contributed some excellent illustrations; but, if comparison is made, we should say that Mr. Stewart's had been more successfully reproduced.

Peeps at Many Lands."-The World. By ASCOTT R. HOPE. (A. & C. Black.)-The thirty-seven full-page illustrations in colour are the point de repère of this volume, which concludes and summarizes the "Peeps at Many Lands Series." Many of them are by distinguished artists: Herbert Marshall, Norman Hardy, J. H. Bacon, and some to us unknown have done excellent work-e.g., Captain St. Leger's Crossing a Drift." To write the accompanying letterpress that children will read when they have looked at the pictures needs an uncommon combination of qualities: wide geographical knowledge and the power to tell a simple story. Ascott Hope is by profession a boys' novelist, and under "Amusements" we find (or ought to find in Who's Who) "globe-trotting." Boys and girls, we warrant, will read him. We have detected one vulnerable point in the polymath. Ascott Hope is no climber. He is ignorant of medial moraines and he repeats the legend of the chamois hunter, who glues himself to the slippery rocks by his bleeding toes.

The Unlucky Family. By Mrs. HENRY DE LA PASTURE. (6S. Smith, Elder. This is a delightful pantomime, full of rollicking fun which never flags. Mrs. de la Pasture's experiences as a playwright have stood her in good stead. Mr. E. T. Reed's illustrations are as good as the letterpress; but he has not quite caught the author's humour. Her Duke is mad enough in all conscience; but he does not walk abroad in ermine and coronet. That is the Duke of "Alice in Wonderland."

Echoes from the Oxford Magazine. (2s. 6d. net. H. Frowde.)This scholarly volume may seem misplaced among gift-books which are mostly for youth; but New Year presents are not all on one side, and the young person could find no more acceptable tribute for a reverend senior who has any tincture of letters. Here are the old favourites that we know by heart-" Caliban upon Rudiments," the "Belisarius Newdigate," Arthur Sidgwick's iambics on tobacco, the D.T. Fabula (the defunct Browning Society), and the unsigned "Aut A.D.G. aut diabolus)

"Sed subtilitas jocorum

Nunquam penetrat Scotorum
Cerebrum causidicorum."

Salvage. By OWEN SEAMAN. (3s. 6d. net. Constable.)-In an anthology of contemporary vers d'occasion there are two living humorists whom we should rank above Mr. Owen Seaman, but there is none, in our judgment, who could so well stand the test of a collected edition. None possesses in a like degree "The art of being funny, Funny once a week."

If we were asked to define in a word his special quality, we should answer, polish. His rhythm never halts, his rhymes are unhackneyed and pat. He is not above using slang, but his is the slang of the drawing room, not of the music hall. His satire is keen-Lord Rosebery, Mr. Birrell, Mr. Al red Austin, all are hit-but he is never spiteful. He poses as an elderly Tory who believes we are all going, or gone, to the dogs; but this is the true satiric vein, the temper of Aristophanes, Juvenal, and Swift. Unlike these, Mr. Seaman has not a line that could offend the most prudish of old maids.

The White Trail. By ALEX. MACDONALD. (6s. Blackie.)—This is a capital story of adventure, and the scene is laid in that never-failing centre of romance, Klondike. A Scotch lad and his mother have invented a new process which yields a good return from otherwise refractory ore. The machinery is stolen en route, but, after enduring

the rigours of two journeys in an Arctic winter, it is recovered, and used successfully. Mr. Macdonald's knowledge of the Klondike makes the whole story realistic and attractive. We do not know if Mr. Rainey also is a Klondiker, but the illustrations possess the rare merit of being true in detail to the scenes they represent.

The Jungle Book. By RUDYARD KIPLING. (5s. Macmillan.)— This is a new edition in large type, with sixteen illustrations in colour by Maurice and Edward Detmold. It is no easy task to illustrate "The Jungle Book," but these pictures are exactly in keeping with the stories, and many are quite excellent in drawing and effect. The most striking of all is "Kaa the Python," his gleaming coils and menacing head shown against a background of ruined wall and the night mists streaked with moonlight. Bagheera, too, is most impressive as he sits and talks with Mowgli, while the "Village Club makes a charming picture. The monkeys are less satisfactory, but there are many other successful pictures.

Sir Sleep Awake and his Brother. By GRACE I. WITHAM. (2s. 6d. Blackie.)-Boys will find plenty to interest them in this story. As a fact, we hear more of the doings of the two little pages than of their masters, and most of their adventures are the outcome of a misunderstanding between the brothers, which causes one to go off towards Spain and one to the Holy Land. Any way, there is no lack of incident, and they all return in time to hear of King John's death and assist at the crowning of his little son. One or two of the illustrations come out very well.

Rivals and Chums. By KENT CARR. (3s. 6d. W. & R. Cham bers.) A school story, in which the interest is well sustained. Chandos is rather too much of an Admirable Crichton, and one hardly sees why he should not have chosen to use his undoubted powers in many games at an earlier stage to gain influence and popularity. Amos is amusing, but his tackling of the Doctor is too wildly impossible. Buttercup and some of the other juniors are quite entertaining. Why, by the way, should the Doctor introduce his fiancée as Lady Stanford? A Boy and a Secret. By RAYMOND JACBERNS. (3s. 6d. W. & R. Chambers.)—The twin boy and girl who take the chief place in the story are distinctly what nurses would call "limbs," being as mischievous as any children could well be and, without doubt, too many for teachers and servants alike. The advent of a next-door neighbour who is involved in mystery gives them a fine opportunity for all sorts of imaginings which they turn to the best account. They are at least ready to suffer-to a considerable amount--for their convictions, and their piteous plight at the end of the story saves them from any unpleasant consequences of their latest performance. Some of the illustrations are good, though the style is mannered, and we should be glad to see Joy for once without such immaculate ribbon ties across her hair.

The Enchanted Egg. By HAROLD AVERY. (IS. 6d. Nelson.)— This makes an amusing little story, for the appearances and disappearances of the egg are quite unaccountable-till they are explained. The unnatural part lies rather with the ordering of the silver bowl on the strength of such an unknown quantity as the value of Angus's "find."

Holiday House and Ridges Row. By MARY BALDWIN. (6s. W. & R. Chambers.) This is a well meant effort to combine a great deal of information about Old London with a story, and we are not sure that we should not have preferred the ingredients separate instead of mixed. The story part is often amusing, though extremely improbable, but the amount of instruction imparted in the Sunny Walks is rather over whelming. At the same time, a great deal of the bygone history of London is most interesting, and many people may have their attention called by this book to vanishing places of note before it is too late. There are numerous illustrations in colour of the Charterhouse, Christ's Hospital, Grey Coat Hospital, &c., and also, in black and white, of curious monuments, ironwork, and other things.

The Girl's Realm. Annual Volume. (8s. Cassell.) The girl's realm is a vast one, and seems to be more comprehensively treated in each succeeding volume-work and play, manners and morals, your own business and every one else's, fact and fiction, all find a place in these pages. If you know little of "the Girl of the Period beginning, you certainly ought to be quite au fait with her and her occupations by the end. There are useful hints on many domestic matters and a large number of illustrations.

at the

The Five Macleods. By CHRISTINA GOWANS WHYTE. (6s. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)—This is not a wildly exciting story, dealing chiefly with the everyday actions, the likes and dislikes of the residents in a small Scotch village, varied by an accident or two. We get a fairly clear idea of the characters of the Macleods and of Polly Hodge. Madeline, the heiress presumptive of Donavon, is rather a shadowy person and not particularly pleasing, though she seems to have a great attraction for the other characters in the story. Miss Whyte writes easily and pleasantly, but some of the Americanisms sound oddly from the lips of Scotch girls. There are eight coloured illustrations.

The Peace of the Church. By MARY H. DEBENHAM. (National Society.) A volume of short stories illustrating different times in the Church's history and her influence on very different people. They are all well and simply written, and "The Beating of the Bounds," a story of George Herbert and his work, is specially attractive.

Blown out to Sea. By W. CHAS. METCALFE. (3s. 6d. S.P.C.K.) --We have here some exciting incidents in the lives of two schoolboys who, having broken rules and gone out in a sailing boat, get blown out 10 sea and pass through many adventures before they are restored to the parents who have given them up for lost. The narrator, Philip Ismay, is a bit of a prig, but plays his part manfully in various encounters with Chinese pirates, when he and his companions narrowly escape being wiped out altogether.

་

Lord of the Seas. By HERBERT STRANG. (2s. 6d. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-An excellent pendant to The King of the Air," which it so far resembles that there is a benevolent and slightly eccentric millionaire, with a rising engineering genius working for him; while the introduction of our former friend Herr Schwab, who clings and all dauger and difficulties to his copies of Schlagintwert's catalogues, makes us feel familiar with the personnel at once. The submarine, if not quite so dramatic as the airship, makes a fine centre for the story, which will be eagerly devoured by those who are fortunate enough to come across it. The anemone is as creepy as Victor Hugo's cuttlefish. There are four coloured illustrations. Bridget of all Work. By WINIFRED M. LETTS. (5s. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-This story is full of wild improbabilities, and the reader must just be content to accept things as they come and not trouble as to their being possible: taken in this way, the story is really interesting. Bridget is such a good soul, so simple and sincere, that no one can help liking her and rejoicing that in the end she finds herself in the haven where she would be--not a haven of rest by any means, but a life of exertion and anxiety shared by the man she loves. The illustrations do her scant justice, even though they give her bright red hair, which is so much prettier than sandy. There is an absurd misprint where Jeremy, in applauding his aunt's speech, says "Here, here!"

Rolf the Rebel, by BESSIE MARCHANT (25., S. P.C.K.), is the account of some startling passages in the life of a young Englishman who, being saved after shipwreck by a vessel bound for Havana, is landed on Cuban territory and involved in the insurrection headed by Ycado Baneza against the Spaniards. After many ups and downs of fortune, he escapes with his wounded and defeated chief to Jamaica. Rolf appears to join very willingly in the insurrection; but, finding that the remnants of the rebel army desire to appoint him their general and make a further bid for liberty, he hastily arranges to work his way home in a liner.

Mid Clash of Swords. By GEORGE SURREY. (5s. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-Wilfrid Salkeld was born and bred in troubled times. He came of a fighting stock and inherited to the full the strength and endurance which had made his forbears welcome allies in their own country and swordsmen well worth their pay in the incessant continental wars which were going on in the latter part of the fifteenth century. Strife of some sort was the breath of life to Wilfrid, and he was incessantly engaged in deadly encounters-now with German mercenaries, now with brigands, and now wresting the prize for dexterity in arms from scowling Italians who, if they were worsted, hired a bravo to stab their enemy in the back. Having made Florence too hot to hold him, he quits the service of Giuliano de' Medici and starts for Rome, reaching it just in time to take some part in the attempted defence of the city against Bourbon's army. It seems but a poor return for Benvenuto Cellini's help that Wilfrid should tell Marini that the priceless dagger Wilfrid took from him is in Cellini's charge. With this exception Wilfrid makes a fine hero, and boys will delight in this spirited account of his achievements. The book is well illustrated in colour.

In Texas with Davy Crockett. (5s. By EVERETT MCNEIL. W. & R. Chambers.)-To be anywhere with Davy Crockett would necessarily mean plenty of sport and excitement, but at this particular

point in his career it meant also taking part in the revolt of Texas against the cruelty and oppression of Mexico under the presidency of Santa Anna. The story covers three months or so in the lives of twoboys who share many adventures with Davy Crockett, and, narrowly escaping torture and death at the hands of a singularly objectionable greaser," they serve under Sam Houston in the final victory which. avenged the massacre at the Alamo and the treachery at Goliad.

66

Messrs. Macmillan are issuing a most attractive little edition of Thackeray's "The Rose and the Ring" at Is. Though the volume is small, the print is large and clear, and we are delighted to see again the old familiar illustrations. It was a happy thought to place Gruffanuff. in guise of a knocker on the outside.

Things Seen in China. By J. R. CHITTY. (2s. Seeley & Co.)— This is a dainty littie volume, with a large number of photographic illustrations. Most of these are excellent, showing picturesque scenes and buildings, beautiful carved work, and objects of interest-from temples to street-sellers of tea. The letterpress gives an account of many quaint Chinese manners and customs, some of which must be anything but pleasant to undergo. It deals with family, social, business, artistic, and religious life.

The Good Sword Belgarde. By A. C. CURTIS. (5s. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)-Arnold Gyffard, who is the hero of this story, succeeds in almost his first passage of arms in killing his opponent, and becomes owner of the good sword Belgarde, which,. having been fashioned by a holy hermit, blessed by a bishop, and first used in a Crusade, possesses almost magical virtue and brings good fortune to the wearer as long as he is honourable and true. Arnold is page to Sir Philip Daubeney, who, when the story opens, is on his way to join de Burgh in his defence of Dover Castle against Prince Lewis of France, who was invited over by the English barons to oppose King John. The siege is described with spirit, and Arnold has his fill of fighting on land before taking part in the great sea-fight with the French, when de Burgh and Daubeney inflict such a signal defeat on Courtenay and Eustace the Monk that Prince Lewis's chance for the crown of England is over for good. Some of the coloured illustrations are very effective.

Janie Christmas. By M. BRAMSTON. (Is. 6d. National Society.), -A prettily told story of the bringing up of a little motherless child,. who more than repays the kindness shown her by her foster parents. It is not quite apparent, except for the purposes of the story, why Mrs.. Simpson should have such a spite against the girl, since she did not wish her son to keep company with Janie, who obligingly preferred some one else..

Sonny Sahib. By SARA JEANNETTE DUNCAN. (3s. 6d. Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton.)- This is the story of a little English boy saved as a baby from the massacre of Cawnpore by his ayah and her husband and brought up by them till he is seven years old, when he is taken to a Maharajah's palace to be companion to his little son. The ayah follows him, and his life is happy enough, especially after an English medical missionary comes to live in the city and teaches him many things. Dr. Roberts's teaching bears good fruit when Sonny is at last restored to the father who believed him dead. The boy is described in a simple and natural way, and the story, slight as it is, gives quite a good picture of Indian life. It is prettily bound, and has several coloured illustrations-those of Tooni are the best.

by T. Rice Holmes. Macmillan, 4s. 6d. net.
[A natural and welcome sequel to Dr. Holmes's great work,
"Caesar's Conquest of Gaul."]

A. Scheindler's Lateinische Schulgrammatik.
Williams & Norgate, 2s. 8d.

Seventh Edition.

[Worth consulting by classical masters, though he would be a bold man who introduced it on a modern side.]

Selected Epigrams of Martial. Edited by Edwin Post. Ginn, 6s. 6d. [See Reviews.]

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[The editor of the two latest volumes of the Oxford Classical Texts has had the invaluable assistance of Wilamowitz-Möllendorff and Theodor Gomperz.]

The Sylvae of Statius. Translated by D. A. Slater. Oxford Uni versity Press, 3s. 6d. net.

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Plato Apology of Socrates and Crito. Edited by Louis Dyer. Revised by T. D. Seymour, with a Vocabulary. Ginn & Co.,

6s. 6d.

[The new edition contains, in addition, extracts from the Phaedo, Symposium, and Xenophon's Memorabilia. The editor's lamented death prevented him from adding the final touches.] Anthropology and the Classics. Six Lectures delivered before the

University of Oxford by A. J. Evans, A. Lang, Gilbert Murray,
F. N. Jevons, J. L. Myres, W. Warde Foster. Clarendon Press,

6s. net.

Trans

The Republic of Plato. Translated by B. Jowett.-Hesiod. lated by A. W. Mair. Clarendon Press, each vol. 3s 61. net. [The "Hesiod" is a new translation, with an Introduction and Addenda with full discussion of questions arising from "Works and Days."]

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[A clearly printed text without notes. There is a table of proper names, with brief explanations and references.] Elementary Latin: a First Year's Course. By F. J. Terry. Teacher's Edition, containing the necessary supplementary matter to Pupit's Edition. Methuen, 3s. 6d. net.

The Aeneid of Virgil. Translated into English by J. W. Mackail. Macmillan, 5s. net.

["A number of errors and inelegancies have been removed," and it has been brought into conformity with Hirtzel's text.] The Electra of Sophocles. Abridged, from the larger Edition of Sir Richard Jebb, by Gilbert A. Davies. Cambridge University Press, 4s.

Divinity.

(1) St. Luke, edited for the use of schools by C. West Watson. (2) The Acts of the Apostles. Edited by E. Wilton South. Each Is. 6d. net. Cambridge University Press.

[These complete this useful and up-to-date edition of the first five books of the New Testament. The text is the Revised Version.]

Bible Lessons for Schools.-The Acts of the Apostles. By E. M. Knox.
Macmillan, 3s. 6d.
Complete Hebrew-English Pocket Dictionary to the Old Testament.
Compiled by Prof. Karl Feyerabend. H. Grevel, 2s. net.

[Transliterations are given according to the Toussaint-Langenscheidt method, and there is an appendix of conjugation tables.] The Bible for Home and School. The Epistle to the Hebrews. By Edgar J. Goodspeed. Macmillan, 2s. 6d.

[The series is planned to meet the needs of intelligent Sunday. school teachers. The editor supports, with hesitation, the authorship of Barnabas.]

The Sermons of Henry Smith, the Silver-tongued Preacher. A Selection edited by John Brown, D.D. Cambridge University Press, Is. 6d. net.

English.

The New Hudson Shakespeare.—(1) Macbeth ; (2) Henry V. Each 2.
Ginn.
Edited by Martin W. Sampson. G. Bell,

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2s. 6d. Chaucer: The Clerkes Tale and the Squier's Tale. Edited by Lilian Winstanley. Cambridge University Press, 2s. 6d.

Tales from Spenser. By R. W. Grace. Fisher Unwin, 5s.

[A companion volume to Miss Zimmern's Old Tales from Rome. The black-and-white illustrations by Helen S. Kück are good.] Oxford Edition.—(1) Works in Prose and Verse of Charles and Mary Lamb. Edited by Thomas Hutchinson. 2 vols. (2) Poetical Works of James Thomson. Edited by J. Logie Robertson. 2s. net each volume. Oxford University Press.

Beaumont and Fletcher. Vol. VI. Edited by A. R. Waller. Cambridge University Press, 4s. 6d. net.

[This volume contains The Queen of Corinth, Boadicea, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Love's Pilgrimage, The Double Marriage.]

Specimens of Exposition and Argument. Compiled by Milton Percival and R. A. Jelliffe. Macmillan, 4s. net.

[Passages selected by two professors of Oberlin College, with brief notes on style and rhetoric.]

Representative English Poems. Selected and edited by G. S. Brett. Macmillan, 3s. 6d.

[Longer poems from "L'Allegro" to "Rabbi Ben Ezra," compiled originally for Indian students.]

4s. 6d.

By M. B. Synge. Hodder & Cambridge University Press,

[The Prince Consort Prize for 1908, forming Vol. XV. of "Cambridge Historical Essays." Historical sites were visited by the author and are illustrated by photographs.]

The Days of the Councils, A Sketch of the Life and Times of Baldassare Corsa. By Eustace J. Kitts. Constable, 10s. 6d. net. [The story of the schism up to the death of Alexander V.] Claudian as an Historical Authority. By J. H. E. Crees. The Thirlwall Prize, 1906. Cambridge University Press, 4s. 6d. William the Conqueror and the Rule of the Normans. By Frank Merry Stanton. G. P. Putnam, 5s.

[The forty-fifth volume of the "Heroes of the Nations" series. Nine chapters deal with the life, and the last three with constitutional and social history.]

Our Native Land. By Duncan Macgillivray. Blackie, 1s. 6d. net. [One of Blackie's "Scottish Histories," carrying down the story of Scotland to 1603. The "coloured history time charts" are a new feature, and there are numerous full-page illustrations.] "Makers of National History."-(1) Archbishop Parker. By W. M. Kennedy (2) Viscount Castlereagh. By Arthur Hassall. Each 3s. 6d. net. Sir Isaac Pitman.

[The first volumes of a new series of "Historical Biographies," edited by W. H. Hutton, B.D., with the object of commemorating important men whose share in the making of national history has not been adequately acknowledged.]

History of India, for High Schools and Colleges. By E. W. Thompson. Christian Literature Society, 2s. 6d. Sketch of the Tudor Period. By S. M. Toyne. Allman, Is. [Brief notes by a Haileybury Master; useful for essays.]

Magazines.

The Country Home. Vol. I. May to October, 1908. Constable, 5s. net.

[This new magazine is beautifully printed and well worth the binding, if only for the illustrations.]