every consul, and presumably to the Govern- even those in the cradle," to the slave-market
ment, that we might have on numberless in Algiers. "One of the fishermen," says
occasions deposed the Dey, abolished piracy Col. Playfair, "who piloted the corsairs was
and slavery at one blow, and occupied the a Dungarvan man named Flachet, who was
city. The power of the Odjeac, created by afterwards executed"—which is satisfactory
the brothers Barbaroussa, was felt and exer- to know. There is a spirited account (p. 186)
cised on the high seas, and subsisted on piracy, of the gallant defence of a detachment of the
the subsidies of European Governments, the Hibernian Regiment against an overwhelming
ransoms of slaves, deriving little profit from force of Algerines, one of whom shouted from
commerce; inland, its authority was con- his vessel, "You are no Spaniards; if you are
temned even so near as Blidah; its revenue not English, you are devils." The unhappy
from actual taxation was ridiculously small, Hibernians, forced to surrender, were carried
being estimated by Dr. Shaw, the celebrated off to Algiers with the women and children of
traveller, at only 300,000 dollars, and was their party. A story is told of the heroism
probably never greatly in excess of this of one of these women which for passionate
amount. The navy, excepting in the six-intensity and dramatic force is like a scene
teenth century, was utterly undeserving of from an Elizabethan drama. It is a pity that
the name; its chief efforts were directed Col. Playfair has not succeeded in revealing
against ill-armed or defenceless traders, and the fifth act.
one well-conceived, determined attack might

easily have destroyed it. It is curious that such a Power should prove to be, for more than three centuries, "the scourge of Christendom," that it should scour the seas as far north as Iceland, harry the coast of Ireland, and make prisoners, in 1631, of 237 inhabitants of the village of Baltimore, and successfully recruit for slaves in the same high-handed style in Italy and elsewhere. While, however, every maritime Power in Europe suffered equally from this odious tyranny, and possessed common ground for desiring its annihilation, mutual fear and jealousy seem to have prevented action. In support of this view Col. Playfair quotes the sinister remark attributed to Louis XIV., à propos of the farcical expedition of the Duc d'Estrées, "If there were no Algiers, I would myself make one."

While the wailing of the wretched slaves,

Hon. Augustus Keppel. His flagship was the Centurion, and Mr., afterwards Sir Joshua, Reynolds was a passenger on board. It is more than probable that he was the author of the sketches from which the engravings were made."

In his note

on pl. III. we have the further remark that this is" doubtless from the same hand." The indicative letters on the sketch prove this conclusively, as they agree with the index on pl. I.; thus the letter F. inscribed over the mountains in pl. III. refers to the index of I., where we read "F. Mount Atlas." The curious Italian map (1579), which Col. Playfair regards as "probably the oldest document in existence connected with Algiers," is singularly like that in Braun and Hohenberg's contemporane

ous work.

J. ARTHUR BLAIKIE.

A Dictionary of the English Language: Pro-
nouncing, Etymological, and Explanatory.
By the Rev. James Stormonth. Section I.
A-N. (Blackwood.)

together with the petitions of their unhappy kinsfolk in England, went up unceasingly to Parliament, little real benefit seems to have resulted from the sums of money voted for their relief. The individual ransoms paid were frequently enormous. So late as the THE success of the late Mr. Stormonth's year 1795 the Hon. F. North expended no English Dictionary for Schools and Colleges less than £100,000 during a special mission, induced him to undertake the preparation of and to little purpose. The efforts of one a dictionary on a larger scale, suited to the William Bowtell, a merchant, towards the library, and still further extending the ency end of the seventeenth century, and those of clopaedic character of the original work. We the Company of Ironmongers, seem to have learn from the publishers' advertisement that been far more effectual. The latter, through Mr. Stormonth before his death had completed the fortune of Thomas Betton, left in trust this larger dictionary, the first half of which to them in 1724 for the redemption of British has now been issued. The entire work will slaves, were enabled to free numbers of un- form one volume of 1,200 pages imperial fortunate captives. The custom of thus re- octavo. This is a very convenient size for deeming slaves only served to whet the library use, and the enormous mass of inforCol. Playfair's book is chiefly a compilation appetite of their masters; even as their unvary-mation which the author has managed to of official documents such as the Record Office ing practice of ignoring treaties on the first compress into so moderate a space is really provides, selections from consular correspond- opportunity made negotiations with the astonishing. We feel, however, bound to ence and the State papers comprised in the Algerines a mere farce. It is more satisfac- express our conviction that the publishers Rawlinson MSS. of the Bodleian Library. It tory to read the lively description Col. Play- have made a mistake in bringing out the work contains not a little historical matter that fair gives of the siege of Algiers by Lord without having first subjected it to a thorough merits publicity. The author, however, deals Exmouth, quoted from the journal of Mr. revision by some qualified scholar. only with such events as illustrate British Shaler, the American consul, who was a affairs, and does not attempt to speak with witness of that tremendous bombardment. the dignity and style of en historian or to The extracts, too, from the diary of Mr. St. attract by any literary exellence. Accounts John will be read with great interest, as they of fruitless expeditions, consular difficulties, throw some new light on the events immeand successive outrages would become some-diately preceding Gen. de Bourmont's conquest what monotonous if it were not that many in 1830. They show the obstinacy of the episodes of romance and peril and moving adventure pleasantly diversify the depressing story of diplomatic bungling. There is the testimony of the Rev. Devereux Sprat, whose vessel was seized within sight of Cork by "an Algire Piratt." Taken to Algiers, he remarks, "I had not stayed long there, but I was like to be freed by one Captain Wilde a pious Christian but on a sudden I was sould and delivered to a Mussleman dwelling with his family in y towne, upon which change and disappointment I was very sad; my patron asked me the reason, and withall uttered those comfortable words 'God

last Dey, Hussein, to have been fully as
remarkable as the dignity and philosophy
with which he accepted the inevitable.

From the press notices prefixed to this instalment of the book, we find that Mr. Stormonth's smaller dictionary received from several critics very high praise on account of the accuracy of its derivations. We have not examined the work which was thus commended, but nearly every page of the present dictionary affords conclusive proof of the author's incompetence to deal with questions of etymology. So severe a censure Interesting as this volume is to the general ought not to be pronounced without giving reader, it must prove particularly so to all some specimens of the evidence on which it is who know Algiers under French government. founded. In the first place, the arrangement In the picturesque villas of Mustapha, and of the etymological material is throughout the security of the city streets and bazaars, it unscholarly and misleading. In a popular is difficult to realise the thrilling story of the dictionary there is no real need to give any past, though even now the past is not quite thing beyond the proximate derivations of obliterated. A curious instance of this is the words; but if the dictionary-maker chooses given (p. 135) by Col. Playfair. In repairing to furnish information respecting their wider a house at Mustapha, purchased by Mr. Smith-philological relations, it should be done in Barry, some plaster falling from a wall dis-which phrase he seems to have accepted as played this inscription, scratched as if with a a rebuke for his want of faith, and not in the nail, "John Robson, [w]ith my hand this fatalistic sense in which it was uttered. 3th day of Jany. in the year 1692." This The said Devereux Sprat, when he was finally John Robson is mentioned in a list of slaves ransomed, nobly preferred to stay and comfort redeemed by William Bowtell. The curious the unhappy captives until he was forced by illustrative plates reproduced from the proclamation to depart. Then there is the originals in the British Museum are Baltimore business before alluded to, in which interesting feature of Col. Playfair's book. one Murad Reis, a Flemish renegade, “carried Nos. I. and III. were, as the author remarks, off 237 persons, men, women, and children," probably made during the mission of the

is great!'"

such a way as not to obscure the actual etymology. Mr. Stormonth, however, jumbles together parent forms and mere cognates without any attempt to distinguish between them. Under "Hot," for instance, the etymological information given is as follows: "Dutch heet; Icel. heitr; A.S. hát; from heat." an

This last statement is, like many others in the book, the exact reverse of the truth. It really looks as if Mr. Stormonth had imagined that the order of derivation was

Hon. Augustus Keppel. His

Centurion, and Mr., afterwar Reynolds was a passenger on he more than probable that he was tha ketches from which fe

made."

"heat, heet, heitr. hát, hot." In very many

ordinary reader consults his dictionary mainly | Pavia, the ancient Ticinum, celebrated from

cases the Anglo-Saxon forms of words are in order to ascertain the meaning of the rarer Roman times, for a long period rivalling that the reader is left to infer that fire, fox, papers, or to resolve a doubt as to the spelling position in the Gothic and Lombard days. omitted without any discoverable motive, so words which he meets with in books or news- Milan in importance, holding an eminent er bound, house, and many other similar words or the precise sense of some word which he its history and its monuments have often have been borrowed from one or other of the is about to use. For these purposes Mr. drawn to it the attention of the learned, and Continental languages. It need scarcely be Stormonth's dictionary will probably be found given rise to various notable works, among said that Mr. Stormonth does not seem to more useful than any other of the same size. which should be mentioned as peculiarly have had any notion whatever of "Grimm's We have, however, observed a good many praiseworthy those published a few years ago a law," and that the cognate forms which he instances of omission and of inaccurate defini- by Dr. Dall' Acqua on some monuments of agree with the index on padduces are often entirely erroneous. letter F. inscribed over the L

In his note on pl. III: further remark that this is the same hand." The india the sketch prove this on

fpl. III. refers to the index read "F. Mount Atlas." The map (1579), which Col. Far "probably the oldest doct connected with Algiers," is that in Braun and Hohenberg's ous work.

It would be easy to fill whole columns
with the enumeration of Mr. Stormonth's
blunders in the derivation of words. We will
confine ourselves to half-a-dozen instances
which were noted in the course of a few
"Abele ""
minutes' perusal of the work.
is derived from the Polish biało, white;
J. Aamuse is said to be from "Gr. a, with-
out, and muzō, I murmur or mutter to express
displeasure; "anthem" is explained as
Lagsimply anti-hymn, in the sense of a composi-
Ertion different in words and music from the
ordinary church hymn;"" cowslip" is said
to be a corruption of "cow's leek," although
the Anglo-Saxon cú-slyppe is duly quoted;
"Domesday Book", is derived from domus
Dei; and "eddish" is stated to be a corrup-
tion of eatage. The reader will imagine that
Mr. Stormonth has neglected to consult the

A Dictionary of the English
nouncing, Etymological, at
By the Rev. James Storman
A-N. (Blackwood.)
THE success of the late Mr
English Dictionary for Schis
induced him to undertake the
a dictionary on a larger scale,
library, and still further extend:

has now been issued. The et

tion. "Artiste" is explained as the feminine
of artist. "Cyclones" is given only in the
plural, and is defined as "rotatory hurricanes,"
the wider sense given to the word in modern
meteorology not being noticed; and "anti-
cyclone" does not appear at all. Other omis-
sions are "aitch-bone," 'ataxy" (a more
usual form than ataxia), and "collier" in
the sense of a vessel engaged in the coal trade.
An odd effect is produced by the use of the
familiar abbreviation "O.E." to designate
the English of Chaucer, Shakspere, and the
Authorized Version of the Bible. Many of the
so-called "Old-English" words would have
boen better omitted; the student can find
them in special glossaries, and their presence
in this dictionary raises expectations which
are not fulfilled. A dictionary which con-

tains such words as "hiren" and "garboil"
ought not to fail us when we refer to it for
Mr.

words used by Locke and Addison.
cerptible,"

nor

66

"drill" in the sense of an
ape or baboon, nor ingenuity" in its proper

meaning of ingenuousness or candour. The
modern use of this word as a synonym of
ingeniousness is, by-the-way, a pure blunder,
which seems to have originated about the

ancient Lombard architecture which did much towards encouraging and directing the beautiful restoration of the basilica of San Michele, so minutely scrupulous in all its details. Now we have this new work of Prof. Magenta, which, embracing a comparatively modern period, and taking for its text the buildings in Pavia belonging to the early Renaissance, introduces us to the study of that most important moment in history when the influence and dominion of the Viscontis and Sforzas extended over Lombardy. Under these two dynasties a great part of the historical life of the Milanese duchy centred in Pavia, and hence this book has a double importance both for the general political history of Italy, in which these families took so large a part, and also for the history of culture and more especially of art. It is not possible to give even a brief résumé here of the colossal work of Prof. Magenta, in richly illustrated, but we may mention one or two historical points which are modified or

clopaedic character of the originaltymological Dictionary of Prof. Skeat. This, learn from the publishers' advert however, is not the case; Prof. Skeat's etym- Stormonth, however, gives us neither "dis- two magnificent folios, splendidly printed and Mr. Stormonth before his death biologies are frequently quoted, though not this larger dictionary, the inst hands with in congenil approve in Dre autor finds a more congenial guide in Dr. Charles Mackay, whose Celtomaniac absurdities are form one volume of 1,200 given at full length. Under "Donkey" we pa This is a very convent are bidden to " octavo. compare the Gaelic donalibrary use, and the enormous when, however, this word means "a stupid person," the etymon is said to be the German compress into so moderate a dummkopf. As a general rule, Mr. Storastonishing. We feel, howeve month's etymologies are altogether worthless, express our conviction that the except in the case of words directly derived have made a mistake in bringing from Latin or Greek; and even here there are without having first subjected many inexcusable mistakes. "Cubicle" is revision by some qualified scholar notices derived from cubile, instead of cubiculum; in From the press the article "Adore," the Latin adoro is said instalment of the book, we

mation which the author hachan, from dona bad, eachan little horse;" beginning of the eighteenth century.

The pronunciations in this dictionary, as in Mr. Stormonth's former work, have been revised by the Rev. H. Phelp. The phonetic notation adopted is quite good enough for a popular work; but Mr. Phelp does not appear to be a very great authority on orthoepy. He instructs the reader to sound the final e in "abele," and the e in the plural name "Abbassides; "feu-de-joie " is were foo; "mitrailleuse" is made to rhyme "batman we are offered the curious alter

placed in a new light by the researches contained in it. Beginning with the fourteenth century and extending as far as the sixteenth, this work contains over five hundred documents, almost all inedited, and many of them very valuable, which are carefully published in the second volume; while in the first, which contains the result of Prof. Magenta's own labours, there are notes corroborated by many fragments of other documents also inedited. The book opens with a very lively picture of the last gleams of communal liberty in Pavia, and an account of the struggle in which it was extinguished and fell under From this the narrative passes on to Galeazzo colours from those generally used in representing him. Guided by new documents and his own acute observation, Prof. Magenta has been able to show that this personage was altogether less black than we have hitherto regarded him. There are other cases of rehabilitation to be discovered in this book; and some of them, especially in the time of though perhaps we may not be able to agree

Stormonth's smaller dictionary to be a compound of "ad, to, and os or orem [!] | marked to be pronounced as if the first syllable the irresistible despotism of the Viscontis. the accuracy of its derivats with gennaō, instead of with gignomai. Mr. with raise; and for the pronunciation of Visconti, who is depicted to us in different several critics very high prase the mouth;" and "genesis" is connected commended, but nearly every trouble of marking the quantity of most of native of bawman or bōrman.

of the etymological material be forgotten that he did not live to see the to be hoped that the publishers will make the Sforzas, have a distinct historical interest, unscholarly and misleading book through the press. Many of the ' dictionary there is no real which are here printed at full length have of their high reputation than it is at present. thing beyond the proximit the appearance of being rough memoranda | the words; but if the diction intended for the author's own guidance in

to furnish information respec philological relations, it sh such a way as not to obe etymology. Mr. Stormonth together parent forms and without any attempt to them.

Under "Hot" fr etymological information g "Dutch heet; Icel from heat." This last others in the book, the many the truth. It really look agined that the ori4

to

revising the text. It can scarcely be sup-
posed that he intended his latest corrections
appear in so many instances side by side
with the original statements which they
supersede.

We have thought proper to call attention
somewhat minutely to the etymological blun-
ders in this dictionary, because the accuracy
of the derivations has been claimed as one of
the specially meritorious features of the work.
In a dictionary for general use, however,
etymology is after all a minor matter. The

HENRY BRADLEY.

PAVIA AND ITS BUILDINGS.

I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia.
By Prof. C. Magenta. (Milan: Hoepli.)
THE history of Italy branches out through so
many channels, and is so vast and varied,
that it cannot be seriously studied without
the assistance of many works which aim
specially at following out the vicissitudes of
separate cities. Among these cities one of
the most remarkable in mediaeval history is

is the exculpation of Ludovico il Moro in the matter of the death of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza. History has thus one crime the less to record of that unscrupulous age, and we can think of this prince with less horror than heretofore, though he will always remain an unpleasing figure, whose wretched end cannot inspire us with a sense of even passing commiseration.

Of the very highest interest is the history of the celebrated Certosa of Pavia, related with such care and such documentary completeness that this artistic gem may now be said to have been historically described for

his art.

the first time. There is no doubt that the history of Lombard art has made a real step in advance by this account of one of its most exquisite monuments; nor is this saying little, if we consider the many able works which have appeared of late years in Lombardy, both from private initiative and from the impulse given by the highly meritorious Lombard Historical Society. But the author has devoted all the special erudition gained in many laborious years to the historical description of the castle of Pavia, which he may be said to love as would an architect endeavouring with the aid of history to restore a chef d'œuvre of And certainly the engravings which illustrate this work are such as to convince even those who have not had the advantage of seeing the castle how very easy a complete restoration would be, were there not obstacles of quite a different order, but insufficient, of course, to quench the fiery zeal of the learned Professor. Nevertheless, over and above the question of finding the necessary funds for such an undertaking, there is also the difficulty of a comparatively small town having a suitable use for so enormous a building when entirely consecrated to the worship of art. Perhaps some day the University of Pavia, whose glorious annals are related in these volumes and whose importance increases every day, may feel the need of enlarging the limits of the handsome building now containing it; and science, speaking in those halls which were the scene of so large a part of Italian history, might indirectly help to preserve this altogether

admirable monument.

NEW NOVELS.

UGO BALZANI.

The Heir of Aylmer's Court. In 3 vols.
By M. E. James. (Elliot Stock.)
Fair Helen. By William Graham. In 3 vols.
(White.)

Scarcely inferior to Kimberley, though by no Sir Crowsby Weyland. The love passages
means so agreeable, is William Amelia, the between the two form a piece of sunny comedy
pushing, self-assertive, unconscionably mean incomparably superior to what passes muster
and dishonourable newspaper reporter who as the humorous by-play of ordinary fiction.
acts as Kimberley's literary and political Here, however, it seems almost as much out
jackal, helps him in contesting Galloway, of place as would be the representation of a
and edits the Way of the World, the "society" comic opera in a country church. Surely the
journal, which he finds it advisable to keep. author does not still require to be told what
For a time Amelia and his devices for "getting are her weak and what her strong points.
on" at the expense of others, and for obtaining The Heir of Aylmer's Court bears a con-
a royal road to a knowledge of English litera-siderable resemblance to The Dailys of Soddes
ture, are rather amusing. But they pall and Fen. The author can draw character, and
even interfere with the action of the story; writes with much more than ordinary care,
and, in the end, the reader is certain to come but she seems to think that a plot to be
to the conclusion that Amelia is a hideous strong must have an element of tragedy in it.
caricature of someone for whom Mr. Murray So the head of her story has really no con-
has no particular affection. After Kimberley, nexion with the body. Claud Aylmer and
the Earl of Windgall, a pauper peer of mixed her cousin John would have come much more
motives and many temptations, is the best of easily and naturally together without the help
Mr. Murray's characters, much better, indeed, of her "intense" and vindictive sister Judith,
than either Lady Ella Santerre or the Hon. Jack who passes her off as a boy to keep John out
Clare, to bring about whose union and happi- of his rights to Aylmer's Court. When Cland
ness Kimberley shows himself a self-sacrificing has confessed this deception to John, and is
hero. Clare is, indeed, a failure; it is incon- found living contentedly among her artistic
ceivable that a man who is so sensitive about friends in Italy, and aiding her impulsive
his political convictions as he professes to be friend Sara Brand to out-manoeuvre her
should, at the same time, show himself nothing "match-making" mamma, one resents the
better than a passionate cad in the presence, deception as a ghastly and offensive night-
and for that matter behind the back, of a
mare. Claud's surroundings in Italy are well
rival of whom he knows nothing. The inci- presented, and a quiet humour is shown in
dental sketches of a modern election, and the sketches of Mrs. Aylmer, Jack's mother;
of Bohemian and journalistic interiors, dis- Mrs. Brady, an Irish lady, who is not too
play much of Mr. Murray's characteristic Irish; and "Mas," an American artist, who
humour. He obtains a good deal of fun, is not too American. Jack Aylmer also is a
and for Mr. Amelia not a little humiliation manly fellow; and the only approach to a
and terror, out of the meetings of a club of failure besides Judith is a dark Italian lover
"Retired Suvvants," the idea of which seems, of Claud, who becomes an almost melodramatic
however, to be taken from the "swarry" of villain in the leaning tower of Pisa.
the Bath footmen in Pickwick. The Reporters'
Gallery in the House of Commons, and the
marble-topped counters in the Strand and
Fleet Street before which fourth-rate writers
and actors both drink and talk on a large
scale, are so prominent in The Way of the
World that it may reasonably be hoped Mr.
Murray is now done with them. It is a good
omen for his future that the more fiction he
produces he writes more carefully, and his work
shows fewer examples of the peculiar diction
which he terms "reportese." His description,
however, of the late Mr. Isaac Butt as "a
gentleman suaviter in modo" is one of the
been sure to fall into at the beginning of his

blunders which his own Amelia would have

London career.

In point of craftsmanship Mr. Christie Murray's
new novel is decidedly superior to most of his
previous works. There is not a single chapter
in these three volumes that does not tell directly
on the development of the plot. The author
indulges in fewer digressions than usual; he
has his self-consciousness well under control; Though considerable literary power is dis-
and he does not give us—at least, in the first played in The Dailys of Sodden Fen, it is a
person-too much of that Thackeray-and-provoking compound of reality and unreality.
whiskey-and-water which would seem to be The wretched maniac, James Daily, with his
considered in Lower Bohemia as "the phi-fancied rights to Sodden Fen because he is a
losophy of life." Bolsover Kimberley, the descendant of Diggory Daily, one of the
hero, is as loveable a character as any Mr. victims of the historical crusade of the Fen-
Murray has drawn, and that is saying a good men against the Dutch reclaimers of their
deal. Neither he nor the leading incidents in land, is a grotesque impossibility. That he
his career can be said to be absolutely original. should have shot down his son Adam for
The illiterate clerk who suddenly finds him- declaring the property he had so long coveted
self a millionaire is at least as old as Tittlebat open to the public of Slumsby is tragic
Titmouse; and in every third novel one comes enough, no doubt, but it is preposterous to
across, money and vulgarity are found under- make out Adam a martyr in a popular
mining love, refinement, and poverty. Under cause. Then there is a Mrs. Apers-Smith,
Mr. Murray's hands, however, poor Kimberley, another martyr, who is not more satisfactory;
who has to study a book of "vulgar errors "indeed, the whole Smith connexion is an
that he may learn not to drop his h's, and who
in point of dress is "loudness" personified,
becomes a miracle of magnanimity; and yet
the transformation is not a violent one.

encumbrance to the book, if not to its plot.
In contrast to the martyrs and the maniacs
are the thoroughly real, amiable, and worldly
Aurea Chapel and her third and final "fate,"

The object of Mr. William Graham in pub lishing the three absurd volumes to which he has given the name of Fair Helen is evidently to let the world know his own views on a variety of subjects. He is not partial to early rising for, mind you, the late sleeper is by no means always a lazy man or a stupid man. Byron never got up till mid-day, often not till about three in the afternoon. Lord Beaconsfield loathed early rising." He is a firm believer in thorough-bred" and even "thorough bred looking

women. What such are and

how they look may, perhaps, be gathered from his description of "the two pretty Miss Vavagirls, neat and wholesome, and redolent of sours as "thoroughly fresh, healthy English lawn-tennis and soap-and-water," and of Lady Horton's health as "lady-like, always good, but never robust.' As for Mr. Graham's politics, they are summed up in "Give the people their due, by all means; allow them every opportunity of political advancement, but, for God's sake, let us stand fast to the grand old houses." In his Preface, Mr. Graham warns "kindly reviewers" that “ errors in English, French, or German which may occur" are not his. But even such mar venture to ask Mr. Graham if it is considered good taste, leaving good French out of consideration, even in that "naughty, naughty, but very nice little place, Monte Carlo," for a gentleman to say to the wife of another,

"any

What chic and lure there is among the demimonde." May a friendly reviewer" be permitted also to suggest to Mr. Graham that even "in London society as at present constituted " the name of God is not taken so often in vain as it is in his pages? WILLIAM WALLACE.

Sir Crowsby Weyland. Thl. between the two form a pho incomparably superior to what e as the humorous by-play de Here, however, it seems als of place as would be the re comic opera in a country author does not still require to are her weak and what her

The Heir of Aylmer's Court siderable resemblance to TI Fen. The author can driv writes with much more thin but she seems to think that strong must have an element d So the head of her story has nexion with the body. Cland her cousin John would have com easily and naturally together of her "intense" and vindictive

SOME SCOTCH BOOKS.
The Seven Sagas of Prehistoric Man. By James
H. Stoddart. (Chatto & Windus.) After the
publication of The Village Life, Mr. James
H. Stoddart took his place among the small,
but influential, band of poets who have a more
or less widespread reputation north of the
Tweed. Dr. Walter C. Smith, Prof, Nichol,
elsewhere than in Scotland; and when The
Mr. Alexander Anderson, and others are known
Village Life was published anonymously it met
with considerable recognition here, as well as
in its author's native country. In his second
volume Mr. Stoddart has taken a wide de-
parture. Instead of his admirable pictures of
humble Northern society, he has offered to his
readers a series of word-pictures in verse, de-
scriptive of sections of the human race in its
earliest stages. These "Sagas" deal with what
may be broadly considered seven consecutive
developments of
99.66
"The Drift Man,'
man-
The
Cave Man," "The Neolithic Farmer," "The
Early Man of Africa," "The Aryan Migration,'

that depends more upon its inevitable suggest-Burns, who styled himself " Aliquanto Latior,"
iveness than upon the fascination of metrical seems to have the best of the argument. Burns
accomplishment.
could not, at the age of eighteen, have pro-
Dr. Dalrymple in complimenting him on his
duced anything which would have justified

The Parish of Taxwood, and some of its Older Memories. By J. R. Macduff. (Edinburgh: David Douglas.) This is a republication from the Church of Scotland Parish Magazine of twelve papers by a Scotch minister describing the life minister of a Scotch parish, and the usual and surroundings some fifty years ago of the Scotch parish characters-the minister's man, the laird, the factor, and the cottagers. The papers have a bygone flavour already, and are somewhat thin and wordy. They have a genuine homely feeling, are written with an undisguised fondness for past days, and contain a few good stories; but surely Taxwood was not so dull as he describes it. The volume, which is finely printed, has a pleasant old-fashioned clerical flavour, and vague generalisings take the place of reality. There is too little of realism, in the best sense, in the book. The figures of the Taxwood folk, whom the author who passes her off as a boy to groups in old-fashioned phraseology underlay of his rights to Aylmer's Court and clerical, male and female, are described superficially from the outside only, and we are has confessed this deception not permitted to become intimate with them. found living contentedly Dr. Macduff should have taken Galt's Annals of friends in Italy, and aiding the Parish for his model. There are some illusfriend Sara Brand to out trations of no greater merit than the letterpress; match-making" mamma, the one meant for "The Laird" represents the deception as a ghastly and d: are tunerous words wrongly used, and phrases mare. Claud's surroundings in presented, and a quiet hua Stoddart has at times succumbed. It is evident which are out of tone. For instance, the east

66

"The Lake Dwellers," and "The Earliest Druidic
Races." Throughout, the author has endeav-
oured to exemplify the highest in human life in
each separate stage, wisely deciding that not

the lowest, or even the average, would be so
suitable for his purpose. His choice of verse
has been a modification of the ballad form a
form that allows great fluency, but, in this very
allowance, Protests as pe, and to which Mr.
modern balladists escape,

wind "is poisonous; "an atheist "owned to a
deflection from the path of integrity:" writing
of a brother minister, he wishes to be for-
given, adding the still greater privilege he
enjoyed of visiting him on his death-bed; "he
talks of the Scotch "little tiny stream purling,

that a more thorough revisal would have rethe sketches of Mrs. Ayler.sulted in the bettering of many passages. The an Irish lady author may be congratulated on having, what Mrs. Brady, and "Mas," an Ame apparently is rare among our later poets, a Irish; is not too American, Jack subject. That is, he has been able to throw is mly fellow; and the mir of something of general interest, and he manly besides Judith is of Claud, who becomes an almost doubly fortunate in the fact that his subject is whom he says must be respectable, refused to villain in the leaning tower cf practically a novel one. Hitherto, Science has

held somewhat aloof from her singing sister,

66

"extend to the pews "of the Episcopal laird
even his very superficial lustrations."' The

66

him to make any suggestion to the effect that
uncommon genius or which would have led
the young poet should steer clear of theology.
for some years after he is represented as
Then, as a matter of fact, Burns did nothing
going headlong
having been eulogised and advised by Dr.
Dalrymple. Finally, this explanation of the
with another explanation given by Burns
going headlong" is altogether at variance
there is no doubt whatever. These points are
himself, as to the authenticity of which
brought out in the correspondence and in certain
very, temperate "Remarks" which are
and the Appendices which follow are further of
published along with it. These "Remarks"
value for what they say about Burns's first
marriage to Jean Armour, and the petty perse-
cutions of his friend, Gavin Hamilton, by that
Kirk session of which "Holy Willie
29 was in
every respect the most notorious member. Had
having been removed, had he married “Clar-
Burns married" Highland Mary," or, obstacles
inda," he would undoubtedly have committed
position the Rev. W. Auld, of Mauchline, who,
bigamy. This fact places in a very peculiar
by publicly rebuking" Burns for an
"offence"
with Jean Armour, declared his marriage with

66

her to be no marriage.

The Black Calendar of Scotland. (Dundee: Leng.) Under this striking but not quite adequate title, Mr. A. H. Millar, of whose industry we have before had occasion to speak, in consequence of the fresh light he has

reproduces the details and antecedent history of reproducotch cadets del bnd antendent history of seven causes célèbres. Some of these, such as the trial of the Glasgow cotton-spinners for murders which anticipated the Sheffield rat

lishing the three absurd volume own path unaccompanied; but Poetry, though is that, to the laird, a yawn, "and especially duel between Sir Alexander Boswell and James has given the name of Fair Hthe elder and wiser, has not therefore despised in the middle of the sermon, was an offence not Stuart of Dunearn, are more or less known on

the other's discoveries, but would fain join
hands on that upward journey which is ever
growing more wonderful. The mystery of
, the late sleep man's hidden past appeals now to a much gem of the book, and is strangely placed in a

always a lazy man or a stupa wider circle than the purely scientific.
never got up till mid-day, of geologist discovers and demonstrates, the writer
loathed early rising." He fascination of the past is only excelled by the Dr. Macduff give us some more of the singular of Scotchmen.
three in the afternoon. Lillustrates, the poet or artist illumines.

sours as "thoroughly fresh girls, neat and wholesome. lawn-tennis and soap-and-wat

alluring aspect of future possibilities; and the
farther back that past, and the more indefinite
these possibilities, the more is there of the ele-
ments of wonder and mystery and of romance
Of these
"Sagas" the first is far from being the most
successful, naturally, perhaps, as the "Flint
or " Drift" man is the most shadowy of our
for impressive natural description such as Mr.
Stoddart cannot be said to have availed himself

this side of the Tweed. The stories of "the wife o' Denside," accused of "removing by poison a domestic servant who had loved her son, in Scotch rural fashion, well rather than wisely, and of Malcolm Gillespie, a forging Munchausen of an Aberdeen gauger, are probably known to few Englishmen, and even to a limited number Mr. Millar is a painstaking investigator and a picturesque writer. In connexion with the death of the unfortunate author of "Jenny dang the weaver," he prints some interesting letters, never before published; and he gives a very good picture of the romantic and romancing Gillespie. Occasionally, however, he is prolix; and the general reader will find the poetical quotations with which he leads

Robert Burns and the Ayrshire Moderates. (Privately Printed.) This brochure, which is in large part the reproduction of a correspondence that appeared in the Scotsman in the spring of 1872, is very interesting, both as a contribution to the rather abundant literature relating how legends about eminent men grow in every-ment. A word of commendation is due to the thing but grace. The points, not originally, sketches which illustrate the letterpress.

Horton's health as "la ancestral types; but the subject afforded scope to the character of Burns, and as evidence of off his chapters an obstruction rather an orna

a but never robust." As fir

- politics, they are summed of. The poetical merit of these poems is most but ultimately, in dispute between the corpeople their due, by all manifest in "The Cave Man" and "The Lake respondents (one of whom is now dead) were

S

WE had occasion to express an opinion not altogether favourable upon the Biography of

every opportunity of polit Dwellers," or, as Mr. Stoddart calls the latter, whether Dr. Dalrymple, minister of Ayr, and the late Dr. Hodgson edited by Prof. Meiklegrand old houses." In Neolithic Farmer" is a pastoral or love-idylleulogised his poetry to Burns when he was

The Burning of the Crannog," though "The that contrasts pleasantly with the suggestive Avagery of the others. The Last Sacrifie" has considerable dramatic intensity, the main incident being an attempted sacrificial slaying by a Celtic priest of his own daughter, who has willingly offered herself to appease the wrathful gods, and who is saved at the last moment, owing to the sudden incursion of the tribe's hereditary foes. Eminently suggestive, herein lies the chief value of Mr. Stoddart's latest volume. It is impossible to read these ges without feeling that quickening of the imaginative faculty which is one of the keenest pleasures to be derived from such work-work

ebut, for God's sake, let us r Graham warns "kindly revi Le errors in English, French or may occur" are not his. Bat dventure to ask Mr. Graham cgood taste, leaving good F Co sideration, even in that ar but very nice little plate, , gentleman to say to the "What chic and lure there monde." May a "friend mitted also to suggest to "in London society as a the name of God is not is in his pages?

all

t.

Cs

ly

T

poem,

the "Dalrymple Mild" of a well-known
about eighteen, but recommended him not to
allow his genius "to be cramped by the popular
theology of the day;" and whether, in con-
sequence of this advice, Burns "from that day,
threw off all restraint and went headlong.
The disputant who made this statement, which
was detrimental to the reputation of the
Moderate clergy, to which section of the Church
of Scotland Dr. Dalrymple belonged, on the
authority of some of their opponents of the
rival or Evangelical party, withdrew from the
arena, re-affirming, however, his belief in the
story he had retailed. We are bound to say
that the defender of the Moderates and of

john. A far less ambitious volume, Student Recollections of Professor Hodgson, by Ernest Woodhead (Edinburgh: Pentland), will be found to afford a more sympathetic, if, on the whole, a too indiscriminating, testimony to the ability of the Scotch teacher of economics. Whatever Mr. Woodhead describes in relation to his subject has come directly under his own observation; and thus his account is an interesting supplement to the larger work already mentioned.

MR. ANDREW ELLIOT, of Edinburgh, has sent us a copy of an Illustrated Catalogue to the exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy now open. The drawings have been supplied by the

artists themselves, according to the fashion now common; but we cannot praise the method that has been adopted for reproducing them.

NOTES AND NEWS.

It gives us much pleasure to state that Mr. Gladstone, recognising both the scholarship exhibited in the New English Dictionary and the national character of the work, has recom

mended the Queen to bestow an annual grant of £250 on Dr. Murray. This well-timed and gracious aid will be grateful to all friends of the enterprise.

WE may also record that the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society has unanimously voted a grant of £25 to the Rev. S. Beal, "in consideration of his eminent services to Oriental scholarship."

PROF. SKEAT has been paying his first visit to Manchester. On Monday last he presided in the morning at the annual meeting of the Eng lish Dialect Society, and in the evening attended a soirée given by the Manchester Literary Club, where he had an opportunity of hearing some Lancashire dialect from one of its best-known writers, Mr. Ben. Brierley, who will shortly leave England for a lecturing tour in the United States. Mr. George Milner, the president of the club, made an important suggestion, which we hope may bear fruit-that the Victoria University should have an endowed press after the fashion of the Clarendon Press at Oxford and the Pitt Press at Cambridge.

MR. JUSTIN MCCARTHY, going somewhat farther back in his historical studies, has written a History of the Four Georges. It will be in four volumes, of which the first is already in the press.

WE are promised shortly a new novel by "Quida," to be called Princess Napraxine.

DR. RUDOLF BUDDENSIEG, the editor of Wyclif's Latin Polemical Works, is writing a popular English "Life of Wyclif" for Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, with copious extracts from the Reformer's works. Mr. F. D. Matthew's short and cheap "Life of Wyclif" is in type for the Christian Knowledge Society, which will also publish Canon Pennington's longer "Life." The Tract Society has already issued its Wyclif broadsheet, and its Life of him.

four Inns of Court. The work will be called
Men-at-the-Bar, and will be published uni-
formly with Foss's Judges. Mr. Foster hopes
to have it out before the end of the present
year. Apart from the official records, the facts
wanted can, of course, only be obtained from
barristers themselves; and in the circular sent
out by Mr. Foster we find little to object to,
except the request for information about the
titles of causes célèbres.

MESSRS. W. H. ALLEN & Co. will issue

immediately a translation of Col. Hennebert's
work just published at Paris entitled The Eng-
lish in Egypt-England and the Mahdi-Arabi

and the Suez Canal.

A TRANSLATION of the first volume of Prof. von Ranke's Weltgeschichte, edited by Mr. G. Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co. Its subW. Prothero, will be published immediately by title is "The Oldest Historical Group of Nations and the Greeks."

MESSRS. TRÜBNER & Co. will publish immediately a second series of Miscellaneous Essays by the late W. R. Greg. Two of them will deal with the France of thirty years ago, one with the character of Sir Robert Peel, and another with the employment of Indian troops in European

wars.

MR. W. W. HUNTER'S Brief History of the Indian People, which was originally prepared for Indian schools, has just been revised by its author for a fourth edition.

MR. A. STEPHEN WILSON, whose scholarly little book on A Bushel of Corn was reviewed in the ACADEMY of March 8, has now in the press a volume of Songs and Poems. Like the other, it will be published by Mr. David Douglas, of Edinburgh.

66

MR. ELLIOT STOCK announces the following volumes of poems:-Throughout the Year, by Guy Roslyn;" Henry, and other Poems, by Mr. F. W. Leith Adams; and Songs of Sunset, by Mr. William Staniland.

THE Rev. C. H. Evelyn White, curate of St. Margaret's, Ipswich, purposes to publish by subscription a history and description of that church, together with an account of the priory of Christ Church. The work will contain six full-page reproductions and two steel engravings. The edition will be limited to 250 copies, at a subscription price of 10s. 6d.

UNDER the title of Things of India Made Plain, Mr. W. Martin Wood is publishing, with Mr. Elliot Stock, a series of reprints from his contributions to the Indian press between 1866 and 1880. The first part (out of four) is styled "Personal and Historical” and “ Public Works."

A NEW and enlarged edition of Mr. WaddingMR. W. F. TILLOTSON, who has done so much ton's English Sonnets by Living Writers is about to extend the practice of issuing novels through to be published. It will include additional the newspapers, both in England and in the sonnets by Mr. Theodore Watts, Miss Mathilde colonies, is about to pay a visit to the United Blind, and Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt ("Pro-States with the object of including American teus"), who were omitted from the first edition. newspapers in his system of publication. Mr. Andrew Lang's sonnet on 66 Natural Theology" has also been added to the selection. THE new volume by Mr. Andrew Lang that we have already announced will be entitled Custom and Myth: Studies of Early Usage and Belief. Some of the essays of which it consists have not been published before. It will be illustrated with wood-cuts. We may also expect before long a novel by Mrs. Andrew Lang, in two volumes, called Dissolving Views. Both books will be published by Messrs. Longmans. MESSRS. LONGMANS also announce two new books of American travel-Across the Pampas and the Andes, by Mr. Robert Crawford, Professor of Civil Engineering at Dublin; and Ranche Notes in Kansas, Colorado, the Indian Territory, and Northern Texas, by Mr. Reginald Aldridge.

MR. JOSEPH FOSTER, who has been for some time past engaged in transcribing the admissions of law students from the earliest times, purposes to anticipate the publication of these complete lists by the issue of a biographical "hand-list" of the present members of the

MESSRS. GRIFFITH & FARRAN will shortly
publish a set of test cards in arithmetic, printed

as duplex cards, with mental arithmetic exer-
cises on
one side and arithmetic for the
Standards on the other. They will be strictly
based on Schedule I. of the Code.

THE name of Thomas Robinson (or Robertson), a known grammarian and theologian, who Mary, has to be added to the roll of English poets. He wrote, about 1565, "The Life and Death of Mary Magdalene," which is extant in the Harleian MS. 6211 and the Rawlinson MS. 41 in the Bodleian Library; and the poem is now at press for the Early-English Text Society, edited by Mr. Oskar Sommer, of Berlin, who was the first man to establish Robinson's claim

was made Dean of Durham in 1557 by Queen

to the Legend. An Introduction, with a Life of the author and a sketch of the poem, &c., accompanies the text.

THE ratepayers of Aberdeen have resolved to adopt the Free Public Libraries Act by the large majority of 891 to 264. Edinburgh and Glasgow are thus becoming more and more isolated in their refusal. Both of them have several libraries, it is true, but no organisation for free lending.

sity Review Prof. Jebb contributes an article To the April number of the Glasgow Univer entitled "A Lesson from Berlin." The same number contains a paper on "Principal Caird as an Author," with an etching after the portrait by Mr. Millais.

THE next volume in the series of "

Englische Henninger), which was so excellently begun by Sprach- und Literatur-Denkmale" (Heilbronn: Miss L. Toulmin Smith's Gorboduc, will be a reprint of the first edition of Marlowe's Tamburlaine (1590), edited by Mr. A. Wagner, who contributed a paper on the sources of the play to the ACADEMY of October 22, 1883.

Mansi's Conciliorum Omnium Collectio, reproA REPRINT of the thirty-one folio volumes of duced in facsimile from the edition of 1759, is announced by Calvary, of Berlin.

We have been asked to enter a protest against an ignorant sciolism which is creeping into use too frequently to be attributed entirely to the printers. This is the confusing of "monogram" with "monograph.' But a week or two ago an enterprising evening newspaper (ploughing, we suspect, with our heifer) announced that Prof. Mommsen had contributed to Hermes an 'exhausting monogram on the Roman Legion. And in the Link for this month, in an article on Mr. John Morley that we will not stay to characterise, we are told that he has written s monogram on Burke. In the same article occurs the odd word " Coropheus."

A CORRESPONDENT writes:"My cook is a regular subscriber to Zadkiel's PreOn the death of the Duke of phetic Almanac.

Albany, she triumphantly produced that remark shows a coffin surmounted by a crown, Britannia able work, the 'hieroglyphic' in which certainly weeping, and the British and German flags halfmast high. I ventured to suggest that something of the kind probably appeared every year, but I was assured that I was mistaken, and that no similar hieroglyphic' had been published since the year in which the Princess Alice died.”

AMERICAN JOTTINGS. THE two last weeks' mails have brought nothing very novel in the discussion on the Dorsheimer Copyright Bill, except it be a short spmposium by some ten clergymen in the Christian Union. They all seem to be in favour of the Bill, though one makes a reservation of domestic manufacture. Perhaps Mr. Henry Ward Beecher's opinion is worth reprinting: "The want of an international copyright has justly been held as a moral delinquency, and wellnigh a crime against the noblest form of property detail, which recognises the principle of the rights -literary property. Any law, even if faulty in of property in the fruit of men's brains, here or abroad, will be a too-long-delayed equity; and the present attempt to establish it deserves the help of every honest man.”

THE Supreme Court at Washington has just decided, apparently for the first time, that photographs can claim the protection of copyright. The point at issue was whether the statute purporting to grant copyright to photographs was within the constitutional power of the Legislature. The judgment was carefully limited to such photographs as are 'representations of original intellectual con