Of the wealth of matter preserved, and, as the Professor says, "not infrequently concealed," in such publications all genuine students are aware. The difficulty has been to put one's hand on the piece of information or the special subject required. This is solved by the fine Subject Index provided, a piece of laborious work which has been admirably performed. Thus we find almost two pages on portraits, near half a page each on Gordons, and Mary, Queen of Scots, and several references to Mr. P. J. Anderson, to whom the book is dedicated. The first part of the book is very full in its details, with various notes added by the editor, whose standing as an expert renders such information particularly

valuable.

THE current issue of The Quarterly Review, which appeared late in July, has a specially interesting article on 'The Character of King Edward VII.,' in which private papers in the royal archives of Windsor Castle have been used. The young prince was confronted with a scheme of education which was most careful and praiseworthy, and also singularly oppressive, one thinks, to the human boy and young man. A striking letter from Sir Henry Bulwer supplies hints as to the late King's gifts in early days. Dr. A W. Verrall's article on The Prose of Walter Scott' is brilliant and attractive, like all his writing, and it fortifies the view long held by the writer of these notes that Scott was at his best a great, if unconscious, artist in style. Dr. Verrall analyzes the charm of that incomparable short story in 'Redgauntlet,' 'Wandering Willie's Tale,' which Stevenson could not rival. Mr. F. G. Aflalo's article on The Genius of the River' is commonplace. Mr. H. A. L. Fisher writes very well onThe Beginning and End of the Second Empire'; and Dr. Hans Gadow is lucid on the disputed subject of Birds and their Colours,' i.e., the reasons which have been alleged for special coloration. Mr. Edwyn Bevan has an excellent subject in The First Contact of Christianity and Paganism,' but his field of inquiry is more restricted than his title suggests. A second article on 'Socialism' is important; and there is also a capital study of John Stuart Mill' by Mr. Wilfrid Ward. He has a sound judgment of the "saint of rationalism," but hardly indicates Mill's perplexing changes of view during various periods of his life, which make it possible to quote his authority for opposed schools of thought.

6

The Cornhill opens with a facsimile of a translation by Thackeray of Béranger's poem 'Ma Vocation.' It is not so much a translation as another poem on the same subject, with touches of Thackeray's neat versification. Mrs. Woods's Pastel under the Southern Cross' is this month devoted to Cecil Rhodes and his tomb on the Matoppos, and is an excellent piece of writing. The Lost Voice,' by Sir George Scott, is an amusing story of the effect on savages of a phonograph. The Master of Peterhouse has an account of "The Oberammergau Passion Play in 1871,' which should be very useful to-day, not only from its knowledge, but also because it is likely to reduce the hysteria of sentimentalists concerning the actors. Mr. Guy Kendall's verse, The Whole Design,' is thoughtful and effective, though a little slack in form and phrasing. Miss Edith Sellers has an indictment against The Latter-Day Swiss, in which she proves an effective advocatus diaboli. We find no

6

Mr.

difficulty in believing much that she says. Kenneth Bell writes with candour on 'Goldwin Smith as a Canadian,' revealing well the paradox of the former Oxford Professor's position. The number is good reading throughout.

MISS ROSE BRADLEY, like Mrs. Woods, is an admirable writer of notes of travel, and her account in The Nineteenth Century of A Day in Provence, dealing mostly with the dead glories of the City of Les Baux, is easily the most interesting article in a number which contains little of literary interest, though the personal side of history is well represented by Lady Paget's account of 'A Royal Marriage,' i.e., that of King Edward, and Mr. W. S. Lilly's of Cardinal Vaughan,' mainly a summary of Mr. Snead-Cox's notable biography. The Cardinal was a wonderful worker for his Church, though he lacked the faculties which made Manning and Newman eminent above their fellows. The Rev. D. W. Duthie deals with familiar matter in The Women of the Paston Letters,' and adds little to our pleasure by his sentimental rhetoric on the subject of love. Besides political articles on Ireland, the Third French Republic, Protection in Germany, and the American Negro, there is one by Sir Edward Clayton on The Working of the Prevention of Crime Act,' which is well worth attention. Mr. W. G. Burn-Murdoch has some enthusiastic notes on Modern Whaling'; and Mr. G. Clarke Nuttall should interest students of science with his remarks on 'The Eyes of Plants.'

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GALLOWAY FRASER ("Barabbas a Publisher").The authority quoted by you was evidently in error. See MR. JOHN MURRAY'S reply, ante, p. 92.