side. But I think he would admit (for his love of ideas is sincere) that the minstrels would not have been the more democratic or humane, but somewhat like Bertrand de Born, who hated peasants: that in some hour of kingly wrath or feudal revenge, it may well have been the priests who pitied and the poets who scorned.

He does know the fairies; but the fairies only stand to reason-to cold, proud, pagan reason. They do not stand anyThe Eye-Witness.

how to the conscience, the affections, the inside of life. That is why this play is a tragedy; not for those forsaken at home, but for her who escapes to fairyland. She too by this time is "tired of winds and waters and pale lights" of the infinite beauty of the intellect. There is only one thing wanting, one little flaw in the Land of Heart's Desire. The heart does not desire it.

G. K. Chesterton.

Houghton Mifflin Company publish, in a small volume, a study of "Nietzsche" by Paul Elmer More, editor of The Nation. It is of modest proportions, scarcely longer than a magazine essay-but its keen and discriminating criticism, and its singular force and lucidity of style make it one of the most valuable of the numerous interpretations of the gloomiest of pessimistic philosophers.

Lovers of dogs can scarcely fail to enjoy the story of "Seegar and Cigareet," graphically told by Jack Hines in the patois of the plains, and published by George H. Doran Company with three spirited illustrations by Philip R. Goodwin. It is a story of two wolf-dogs on the Alaskan trail, and the way they stood by each other and cared for each other in peril and suffering. It is a latter-day "Rab and his Friends," with a difference.

"Flower of the North," by James Oliver Curwood, is a man's book, full of big adventure, improbabilities that seem perfectly real and all the accompaniments of life in the far northern woods. Big questions of capital and development of lake fishery in Canadian woods are combined with a thread

of romance and a conspiracy fairly mediæval in its ingenuity and malevolence. The story is a bit slow in getting under way but the later speed and suspense amply make up for the delays. The style is clear and terse and not at all beautiful, but it tells a good tale and that in the summertime is everything. Harper & Brothers.

Five novelettes of a nature quite unique form a book by Thomas A. Janvier called "From the South of France." For English stories they are as French as seems to be possible. They range from airy trifling to the broadest farce, all in the most amazingly idiomatic English. The idiom, however, is French, and the effect is delightful. The heroines are mostly middle-aged widows of Marseilles, mistresses of finesse and vituperation. The heroes have polish and a neat wit. Above all the author is a clever workman and enjoys his own little game, enough in one case, deliberately to caricature the one story in the book that has really serious moments. illustrations are more diverse in style than the stories. Harper & Brothers.

The

Three more volumes have been added to the Tudor Shakespeare, of which

Professor William Allan Neilson of Harvard, and Professor Ashley Horace Thorndike of Columbia are general editors. They are Love's Labor's Lost, edited by Professor James F. Royster of the University of North Carolina; The Tragedy of Richard the Third, edited by Professor George B. Churchill of Amherst College; and the Second Part of Henry the Fourth, edited by Professor Elizabeth Deering Hanscom of Smith College. The helps to the study of the play, furnished in each volume, include an Introduction, notes, a list of textual variants and a glossary. The plan of entrusting the separate plays to different editors, under one general direction, yields excellent results in the elucidation of the text, and the variety and scope of the comments. The little volumes are pleasing, typographically. The Macmillan Co.

nar

"The Fiction Factory" by John Milton Edwards, published by The Editor Company of Ridgewood, N. J., rates the experiences, the disappointments and successes, of a writer who, for twenty-two years, has, as he describes it, "kept a story-mill grinding successfully." There is, of course, no John Milton Edwards: the name is assumed for convenience and as a disguise. But the experiences seem to be genuine, and they are given with abundant detail, including a statement of the sources and amounts of the pecuniary returns. The narrative is diverting and throws light on the processes by which an immense amount of modern fiction is turned out with the regularity and precision of any factory product. Amateur writers, who are seeking a market for their wares, may find the author's "confessions," if they may be so described, suggestive and helpful.

Some of the popular Anne Shirley's friends and neighbors appear in "The

Chronicles of Avonlea" by L. M. Montgomery. Anne herself, although not a central figure in any of the stories, is a familiar presence in many of them. The peculiar freshness and charm of Avonlea, and its vicinity, which readers of the author's former books have always appreciated, is characteristic of these Chronicles in a marked degree. There is also here an added strength of conception and greater firmness of touch. Many of the incidents touchingly pathetic, others are humorous, and still others grimly realistic. Several of the stories suggest the work of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, but they have a distinct individuality, and a tone all their own. The book as a whole is more mature than its predecessors, and is not lacking in any of the qualities which have caused the others to be so widely read and enjoyed. L. C. Page & Co.

are

Maurice Leblanc in his latest work has turned from the field of detective stories, and has given us a novel in the manner of the realistic French The school, entitled, "The Frontier." entire story centers about a single incident, wherein a young man, who is an ardent follower of the peace movement and hater of war, is led to forget his ideals for a few hours, and is the means of starting war between France and Germany. All the action takes place in a little village in France on the frontier, and a neighboring country seat. The situations are highly dramatic and vivid. The way in which Philippe Morestal's convictions were found to yield to the pressure of the moment, and the reaction of his convictions upon other people, constitute the tragedy. The atmosphere of impending trouble and the significance of seemingly small events prepare the reader for the catastrophe. The narrative is rapid and the feeling intense. Geo. H. Doran Company.

With Yuan Shih-kai acknowledged as Provisional President by both the north and the south, by Peking and Nanking alike, "The Great Republic of China," as it is called by those who have been mainly instrumental in bringing it into being, appears to have established itself, or at least it enters upon the first definite stage of its existence; thus opens a fresh volume, of extraordinary interest as of incalculable importance, in the history of the Far East-it is easy to say that much, and, indeed, the remark is already almost trite. It is clear that the China of to-day is not quite the China of, say, even twenty years ago; but is the world face to face with a New China, practically a nation born in a day, to quote the Scriptural phrase, or with essentially the Old China, altered somewhat on the surface but unchanged underneath? The hopes of some, the fears of others, inspire an affirmative answer to the former question, while a considerable number of observers, to whom the East is always the Changeless East in spite of the crucial instance of Japan, reply in the negative, and maintain that to all intents and purposes China remains the same. The truth, as is so often the case in widely conflicting views, lies in the middle, taking something from both sides; it is a Changing rather than a Changed China the world is called on to envisage, and the change will continue in one way or another, no matter what the form of China's Government may be, for it is written in the nature of things, until it affects the whole mass of China, to the poorest and meanest of its "stupid people."

Even in the days of the great and autocratic Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, who had no love for "reform," but knew how to accept and adapt herself to the situation, it was evident that a

change, deeply influencing the political life and destinies of China, was in process of development. After her death, some four years ago, the force and sweep of this momentous movement were still more apparent-it took on the character of something irresistible and inevitable; the only question was whether the change would be accomplished by way of evolution— gradual, orderly, and conservative-or by revolution, or a series of revolutions, probably violent and sanguinary, and perhaps disastrous to the dynasty and the country. The events of the last few months have supplied the answerat any rate, to a certain extent. A successful revolution has taken place, in which, it is true, many thousands have been killed, but which on the whole has not been attended by the slaughter and carnage that might have been anticipated considering the vastness of the country and the enormous interests involved-actual warfare gave way to negotiations conducted in a spirit of moderation and of give-and-take on the part of all concerned; the Manchu dynasty has collapsed, though the "Emperor" still remains as a quasi-sacred, priestly personage, and the princes have been pensioned off; the Great Republic of China has come into being, albeit it is in large measure inchoate and, as it were, on trial. China has long been the land of rebellions and risings, and it is hardly to be expected that the novel Republican form of Government, however well constructed, intentioned, or conducted, will escape altogether from internal attacks. And nearly everything has yet to be done in organization.

General surprise has been expressed at the comparative ease and speed with which the revolutionary movement has attained success in driving the Man