WINTER SUNSHINE1 by Mr. John

Burroughs, which has recently been brought over from America and incorporated in Mr. David Douglas' dainty series of reprints, is a book of wonderful grace and charm. It seems almost out of character that a book like this should emanate from the hurrying, overwrought Western Continent, where, we are used to think, no one takes time to listen to the voice of nature and study its myriad and ever-changing forms and expression. The essays collected into this little book are mostly about nature: they are never botanical, or zoological, or in any way scientific, yet they show great knowledge. They are quietly philosophical, and often delicately humorous, unconsciously so, and the author has a way of looking at a landscape and pointing out curious and beautiful things in it that no one ever thought of before. But the essays are not confined to landscape, or even to land; one of the best is about the sea. There are also sketches of travel; and in the chapters on Mellow England, and English Characteristics, English readers-even the very thoughtful and observant-may learn something new about themselves on almost every page. After inspecting this country the author paid a visit to France. "Going from London to Paris," he says, "is like getting out of the chimney on to the housetop-the latter city is, by contrast, so light and airy, and so American in its roominess." Yet he preferred England after all. There is a chapter on the The Apple, that is simply a marvel in its way. To describe the style of Mr. Burroughs is hardly possible-he is not much like Thoreau, or Jefferies, or Emerson; yet he reminds one of them all.

Two exceedingly convenient and serviceable books for the library of the scholar, and admirably suited for reference volumes in public or school libraries, and on the editor's table, are an Illustrated Dictionary of Words used in Art and Archæology, and a

1 Winter Sunshine. By JOHN BURROUGHS. Author's Edition. 18mo. pp. 285. Edinburgh: David Douglas. 2 An Illustrated Dictionary of Words used in Art and Archaology. By J. W. MOLLETT, B.A., Officier de l'In

Glossary of Terms and Phrases. Both works

comprise much that is to be found in the more unwieldly dictionaries of Webster and Worcester, but each covers a large ground outside of the scope of any dictionary. This is especially true of technical words, and where more than one word is used to describe a thing, or where the conjuncture of two or more words into a term or phrase occurs. The first-named of these volumes is more exclusively confined to words and terms that are used in works on architecture, arms, bronzes, art, colour, costume, decorations, emblems, heraldry, lace, ornaments, pottery, and art generally, and its definitions and descriptions are largely assisted by copious and fine illustrations. The other volume is more popular in its character, although it embraces much that is to be found in the former, but without the aid of illustrations. Its intention is to bring together such words, expressions, phrases, quotations, etc., English or foreign, as are uncommon in current literature, and without which the meaning of a sentence or a paragraph, and even the drift of an argument, might be missed by the ordinary and unscientific reader. Both volumes may be consulted with the certainty of a material saving of time, and of full and accurate information conveyed clearly and concisely.

M. ALPHONSE DAUDET'S latest novel, L'Evangeliste, created a profound impression immediately upon its announcement in Paris last autumn, for more reasons than one. Any new work from the pen of that gifted writer is looked upon as a public event by his countrymen, for he is perhaps the most brilliant novelist France has possessed since Balzac's day. In the second place, the book deals with a subject entirely fresh and untouched by novelists; in fact, a more unpicturesque and forbidding topic for their

struction Publique (France). 4to. pp. 350. Sampson Low & Co.

London:

1 Glossary of Terms and Phrases. By Rev. H. PERCY SMITH, M.A., assisted by other English Scholars. svo. pp. 521. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.

2 Port Salvation; or, the Evangelist. By ALPHONSE DAUDET. Translated by C. HARRY MELTZER. · 2 vols. 8vo. London: Chatto & Windus.

purpose could hardly be found than the Salvation Army. Finally, the story was reported and believed to be almost literally true, the characters and many of the incidents being taken from real life, and the heroine said to be a member of M. Daudet's own household-the German governess of his children. Under such circumstances the intense interest awakened by the book in France is not to be wondered at, and though it is hardly to be expected that the English version will meet with equal success, the book is in itself so remarkable that it can hardly fail to be widely circulated, and to make a deep impression wherever it is read.

The story is written with all the vivacity and playful humour that is never absent from M. Daudet's work, yet it is one of the saddest stories that could be imagined. We are introduced first into a charming household, the modest home of the widowed Madame Ebsen and her daughter Eline, who support themselves by giving lessons. The intense affection of the mother and daughter for each other, and especially the earnest purpose and dutifulness of Eline, are beautifully portrayed in the opening chapters. The apartment beneath that of the Ebsens has been taken by a young widower with two children, to whom Eline becomes warmly attached, and in the course of the narrative she becomes engaged to the father, and the wedding preparations are made. But meantime, in one of the houses which she visits as daily governess, she has met certain emissaries of what M. Daudet calls L'Armée du Salut, and the effect of their doctrines upon her impressionable nature, and the steps by which she is brought completely under the influence of the "Evangelist," occupy the remainder of the first

volume.

The complete history of Madame Autheman, the "Evangelist," is given in the narrative, and a very curious one it is; but it is enough for us to mention that we find her at the age of thirty-five a clever and beautiful woman, the wife of a rich banker whom she has married for his money, destitute of all affection or womanly softness, and interested in nothing save her grand scheme for evangelising the world. In the zeal of Madame Autheman and her fanatical apostle, Anne de Breuil, there is something fierce and pitiless, and the crafty means they employ for securing proselytes and communicating their religious mania are painted in very strong colours. The steps are traced in detail by which Eline is persuaded to desert her poor affectionate mother and go forth to save the souls of the wicked. The frantic mother and broken-hearted fiancé try in vain to rescue her from the toils of the Evangelists, till all hope is crushed within them, and Madame Ebsen lives on alone and desolate. One day the girl returns VOL. LXVII-No. 401.-50.

unexpectedly, but instead of the tender, charming Eline of the early chapters, she is as cold and hard as her fellow-evangelists, and soon abandons her home a second time, never to return. The tenderness and pathos with which these painful scenes are pictured can be imagined by readers who know M. Daudet's gentle touch; but though the pages are so tinged with sadness, we are often tempted to smile by his dashes of quiet humour: the resistance offered by the Catholic priest and the energetic Sister Octavie at Port Salvation, the terror of the boy whose proud father designed him for the Navy, the harmless vanities of Loris, and the romance of the good Silvestre, are not to be soon forgotten.

THE heroine of Mr. W. D. Howells' latest novel, Dr. Breen's Practice, is Dr. Breen herself; a young woman of wealth and social distinction in Boston, who, after an unhappy love affair, had betaken herself to the study of medicine. Had she been a Roman Catholic, she would have sought refuge from the world in a convent; but being a Protestant the same spirit of renunciation led her into the adoption of a profession, and at the opening of the story we find her a full-fledged M.D., pausing on the threshold of her career to consider where and how she shall begin. The scene of the story is a seaside hotel in a secluded part of the New England coast, where a few city families are spending the scorching dog-days. It is a place given up to vapid small-talk and commonplace pursuits, and among these aimless people Dr. Breen, with her strong purpose and high sense of duty, stands out in powerful contrast. She is described as a handsome young woman, endowed with elegant accomplishments upon which the more solid and unfeminine attainments of her profession sit rather awkwardly. Dr. Breen and her extremely commonplace mother have as their guest at the seaside a very unpleasant character, Mrs. Maynard, a vain, weak, foolish invalid, who at the beginning of the story endeavours to set up a mild flirtation with a young man called Libby, who appears upon the scene. In an expedition in Libby's sail-boat Mrs. Maynard is nearly drowned, and an alarming illness follows. The patient loses confidence in the medical skill of her young friend, and insists on having the advice of a masculine physician, to which poor Dr. Breen consents, with deep mortification, humbly accepting the post of nurse. new physician, Dr. Mulbridge, assumes entire control of the case, and by degrees the patient recovers. Meanwhile Dr. Breen, with her naturally submissive temperament, has acquired the habit of yielding so implicitly, as nurse, to his superior commands, that when he ultimately makes up his mind

The

1 Dr. Breen's Practice. By W. D. HOWELLS. 8vo. pp. 328. Edinburgh: David Douglas.

to marry her there seems a very fair prospect of his doing so, from sheer inability on her part to resist. He is a man of masterful will, and in his hard, inflexible way has fallen in love with her, and resolved to make her his wife. In the meantime circumstances have made her very well acquainted with young Libby, who is cultivated, manly, well-to-do, and well-looking, and in every way a pleasing contrast to the rugged and unpolished country doctor. Yet when Libby proposes, he meets with a very decided and almost harsh refusal. Though it seems impossible that such a nature as that of Dr. Mulbridge could inspire anything like romance, or any sentiment stronger than respect in the heart of a fashionable young woman, the reader watches with a sort of fascination, page by page, the influence that the stronger will gains over the weaker. There is, of course, a denouement in the book, which we shall leave the reader to find out for himself, and it is preceded by some very pretty and graceful scenes, after Mr. Howells' best manner.

ONE always expects the second book of a suddenly successful novelist to fail, or at least to show a falling off, but in the case of Mr. F. Marion Crawford, the new American author, whose Mr. Isaacs created so strong an impression on both sides of the Atlantic last autumn, the second book is, if anything, superior to its predecessor. Dr. Claudius1 may perhaps lack in some degree the intensity and force of Mr. Isaacs, but it has a wonderful fascination of its own. Like many books written by unpractised hands, gifted by nature but not trained by experience, it displays a plot not thoroughly developed; as if the story had been begun at random and thought out afterwards, as the writing went on; but except for this easily forgiven defect, which the magnetism of the style makes us forget while we are reading, the story is one of the cleverest and most readable we can call to mind among the novels of recent years.

Dr. Claudius, the hero, is a mysterious Scandinavian of aristocratic family, whom we find at the opening of the story contentedly occupied with the duties of Doctor of Philosophy in the sleepy old University of Heidelberg. Here for ten years he has passed a calm unambitious life with his books and his pipe, and his placid German neighbours for company, and without any definite plan or needs beyond these. The sudden inheritance of a great fortune in America simply bewilders him, and almost simultaneously he meets and falls straight in love with a beautiful American, the Countess Margaret, widow of a Russian nobleman. It is the beginning of a new life

1 Doctor Claudius. A True Story. By F. MARION CRAWFORD. 8vo. pp. 353. London: Macmillan & Co.

to the broad-shouldered, simple-mannered philosopher, and the childlike abandon with which he throws himself into this new experiment of love-making is very engaging to read of, and eventually has its effect on the Countess Margaret. An English duke and his sister now come upon the scene, and also a wealthy young American named Barker, who persuades Dr. Claudius to pay a visit to New York, and the whole party are invited to cross the Atlantic in the Duke's yacht. Here comes some of the most ingenious and effective writing in the book. There is barely any description of the voyage, yet we are kept always conscious that it is one; there are charming tête-à-tête conversations; and before New York is reached Barker has begun to develop a new character, and a suspicion of plot and treachery is introduced. He hopes, by throwing doubt on Dr. Claudius's identity, to further his own ends and secure the Countess for himself. Dr. Claudius is obliged soon after to return to Europe on an important mission, but before he leaves there is a charming scene on the cliff at Newport, in which he and the Countess become affianced. Barker makes the most of his opportunity to make furious love to the beautiful widow and traduce his rival, and the question whether he will succeed in his treacherous purpose is complicated by the further question whether Claudius will ever return to claim the Countess. Mr. Crawford settles everything in the end, but the interest is sustained to the last page.

The

Marked" In Haste "1 is evidently the work of an American, and also of feminine origin: this last theory is, in fact, proved by a feminine pronoun in the dedication, but no other clue to the authorship is to be found. The book regarded from a literary point is strikingly defective, and yet the story is decidedly interesting; there is a method in the development of the plot, and a freshness in the description that lead one on, and the pages, however extravagant or lacking in taste they may be, are never dull. plot centres in the American colony at Paris, the leading characters being a Transatlantic heiress, with whom an English Earl is utterly infatuated, and a liberal sprinkling of French and Italian Princes, Counts, Countesses, and domestics. Certain famous French and Italian palaces are also brought into the story, and the descriptions of their interiors are drawn, the author is careful to assure us, from personal recollection. The characters are also drawn from life, and the "pen portraitist," as the author calls herself, has sketched them sufficiently well.

IN Miss Helena Gullifer's novel, entitled

1 Marked "In Haste." 8vo. pp. 362. London: Sampson Low & Co.

A Fool for his Pains, there are several characters who might be called fools for their pains, and in real life it would be rare indeed to find so eccentric a company. There is a beautiful young lady who, to benefit her brother, marries a man she does not care for; and a brother who goes uncomplainingly into penal servitude on a false charge of forgery, believing that he is thereby saving her reputation, though only a word of explanation from him was needed; and there is the real forger of the cheque, who has committed the crime and saddled his friend with it, in order to provide a settlement for the girl he loves; and there are two people, a married lady and an army officer, who are interrupted in a dangerous flirtation by the sudden appearance of a lion escaped from the Zoological Gardens. Something of the character of the story may be gathered from these representative figures, if we add that the book is crowded with lords, ladies, and gentlefolk, and that the incidents succeed each other with startling rapidity. Miss Gullifer has in fact provided material enough for the making of half-a-dozen good novels. A Fool for his Pains is not without merit, and as a vacation book at the seaside will find many appreciative readers.

ALTHOUGH Mr. W. Clark Russell's sea stories follow each other in quick succession, and are all largely spiced with mutiny and shipwreck, their attractiveness suffers no diminution. In no sense an inventor, Mr. Russell is yet a master of the art of combination, or of putting old things into new forms and subjecting them to new relations and associations; and while the principal incidents of his tales are mostly of that obviously leading kind which tends to a foregone conclusion, they are so ingeniously dovetailed, so full of stir and movement, and are described with such spirited and minute circumstantiality, as completely to disarm the critic, and convert him into an absorbed and amused reader. His latest tale A Sea Queen,2 embodies all his best characteristics as a story-teller, with some others that are new and engaging. Of course, like his other sea stories, it is seasoned with mutiny and shipwreck, the former manifesting itself at an unusually early stage, its seeds having been sown and taking root before the ship had even left port, and the incidents attending both are cleverly devised to bring into play the resources of the heroine, the wife of the disabled captain, who is made to navigate a ship successfully, with only an inexperienced boy for her crew, and like a true nautical Robinson Crusoe of the other sex, by her ingenious and ready devices

converts the most unpromising and unexpected materials into practical aids for its management. The story is sufficiently strong in exciting and perilous incident to gratify the taste of the most exacting lover of adventure, and it abounds in fine strokes of description and colouring; but its greatest charm is to be found in its exquisite pictures of the circumstances attending the birth of the future heroine, and of the surroundings of her life-as little maid, budding girl, and beautiful woman in the full bloom of early loveliness-in her home on the Tyne, amid the varieties of sailor life, with which she is there identified. Not even Mr. Blackmore greatly surpasses the descriptions of life and manners and the delineations of character with which Mr. Russell has graced the earlier portions of his well-told tale.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

THE following list of new books, compiled from official sources, includes the most important that have appeared within the past thirty days, or (in the case of foreign books) whose publication has been reported in London within that time. N. E. signifies New Edition, and the prices marked are those which would be paid in London:

ENGLISH.

Cole (A. C.). Studies in Microscopical Science. Svo. Vol. i. 25s.

Gardiner (S. R.). English History. Vol. iii. N. E. Cr. 8vo. 6s. Grove (G.). Cr. 8vo. 21s.

Dictionary of Music, Vol. iii.

Howard (Blanche). One Summer. (American novel.) 18mo. 1s. 6d.

novel.) 2 vols. 8vo. 21s.
Oliphant (Lawrence). Altiora Peto. (A
Sheridan,
Oliphant (Mrs.).
66 English
Men of Letters" Series. Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d.
vols. Cr. 8vo. 21s.
Payn (James). Thicker than Water. 3

Locks and Keys. 16s.
Rivers, on The Development of Primitive

Roscoe (E. S.). Rambles with a Fishingrod. Cr. 8vo. 4s. 6d. Republic of Uruguay, Geography. Cr. 8vo.

6s.
Symons. Distribution of Rain over the
British Isles during 1882. 10s.
Wordsworth's Poems.

Knight. 8vo. Vol. iv. 15s.

AMERICAN.

Edited by W.

Adams (G. B.). Mediaval Civilisation. (History primers.) 18mo. 4s. Althemus (J. T.). 12mo. 5s.

Life of Helena Modjesku.

Bucke (R.). Walt Whitman. (Biography, with portraits and illustrations.) Cr. 8vo. 10s. 6.

Irving (P. M.). Life and Letters of Washington Irving. (Memorial edition, with 50 portraits and views on steel.) 3 vols. 4to. £5 5s.

Sheridan (R. B.). Dramatic Works; with introduction by Richard Grant White. (Edition de luxe.) 3 vols. 12mo. £4 4s. Smalley (E. V.). History of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 1834 to 1883. (With maps and numerous full-page illustrations.) 8vo. 15s.

Sternberg (Major G. M.). Photo-micrographs, and How to Make Them. (With 47 heliotype illustrations of microscopic objects.) 8vo. 15s.

FRENCH.

Arène (J.). La Chine Familière. N. E. 18 jésus, pp. viii-294. 3s. 6d.

Capus (G.). Guide du Naturaliste Préparateur et du Voyageur Scientifique, ou Instructions pour la recherche, la préparation, le transport et la conservation des animaux, végétaux, minéraux fossiles et organismes vivants, et pour les études histologiques et anthropologiques. 18 jésus, pp. xii-324, avec 223 figures.

Claretie (J.). Lud. Halévy. ("Célébrités contemporaines" series.) 18 jésus, pp. 32.

1s.

Féré (0.). Les Mystères du Louvre. vrage illustré de nombreuses gravures. 8vo. pp. x-430. 6s.

Ou

Cr.

Gourdalt (J.). La Suisse Pittoresque. N. E. 8vo. pp. 320 (illustrated). 3s.

Inventaire Général des Richesses d'Art de la France. Archives du Musée de monuments français. Vol. i. 8vo. pp. 463. 9s. (It is intended to publish two new volumes each year.)

Livre (le) du Roi Dancus, texte français inédit du xII° siècle, suivi d'un traité de fauconnerie également inédit, d'après Albert le Grand. 12mo. pp. xiv-140. 8s.

Rothan (G.). Les Origines de la Guerre de 1870. La Politique française en 1866. Par G. Rothan, ancien Ministre plénipotentiaire, membre du Conseil Général du Bas-Rhin, etc. 18 jésus, pp. 486. N. E. 3s. 6d.

Rothan (G.). Souvenirs Diplomatiques. l'Af faire du Luxembourg. N. E. 18 jésus, pp. 532. 3s. 6d.

Regnault (A.). Revue Anecdotique des Champs-Elysées et de leurs Environs depuis 1730 jusqu'à nos jours. 18 jésus, pp. 171.

Sévigné (Mme. de). Lettres de Mme. de Sévigné, de sa famille et de ses amis. N. E. (With some hitherto unpublished letters, fresh notes, glossary, autographs, portraits, and illustrations.) 2 vols. 8vo. 7s. 6d.

Weill (A.). Souvenirs intimes de H. Heine. 18mo. pp. 144. 3s.

man.

König (Ew A.). Das goldene Kreuz. Ro2 Bde. 8. pp. 259, 211. 9s. König (Ew. A.). Ein moderner Vampyr. Socialer Roman aus der Gegenwart. 3 Bde. 8°. pp. 1039. 10s

Lewald (Fanny). Stella. Roman. 3 Bde. 8°. pp. iii-238, 236, 215. 12s.

Möller (Hm.). Das Boewulfepos. Mit den übrigen Bruchstücken des altenglischen Volksepos in der ursprünglichen Form herausgegeben. (Das altenglische Volksepos, 2 Tl.) 8°. pp. 78. 2s.

v. Ranke (Lp.). Weltgeschichte. III. Thl. in 2 Abthlgn. 8°. pp. viii-551, viii-356. 21s.

Rasch (Jul.). Aus dem Lande der Magyaren. 8°. pp. 446. 4s.

Thun (Alph.). Geschichte der Revolutionären Bewegungen in Russland. 8. pp. xii376. 7s.

Wagner (Hm.). Die Politik Friedrich Wilhelm IV. 8°. pp. 112. 4s. 6d.

THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

0 September 10.

Parliamentary Registration Bill for Ireland