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TWELFTH THOUSAND NOW READY OF The Jericho Road. By JOHN HABBERTON, Author of "Helen's Babies" and "The Barton Experiment." While ignorant of its authorship the best crities all over the land have been unanimous in its praise. We quote from extended reviews: "One of the strongest, most effective and most affecting tales-a satire on the good Samaritanism of the world-we have ever read. No one will deny the story's strength or force."-Boston Traveller. "A swiftly moving story, of singular pathos and humor. ... Poor Lem by himself is enough to prove the author a master of his craft.”—Springfield Republican. "It is doubtful if anything more telling has been written to reveal the true nature of religion than this rugged little volume."-Chicago Times. GINN & HEATH, Boston. to be issued MARCH 25TH, The Latest Scribner. SCRIBNER'S MONTHLY for April, which contains ten illustrated articles and nearly one hundred pictures, is of a somewhat light and breezy character, as befits the spring. It opens with "The Story of an Island of Ponies," and " A Trip to the Black Hills," and has a paper on "Some American Sporting Dogs," in which are discussed the comparative virtues of Pointers and Setters, training dogs, &c. It is full of pictures and full of incident. Out of My Window at Moscow," by Eugene Schuyler, and "Insectivorous Plants," by Mrs. Herrick, are specially valuable contributions. Besides the continued Serials, "Nicholas Minturn," by Dr. Holland, and "That Lass o' Lowrie's," by Mrs. Burnett, the Essays and Poems, shorter stories, and the Editorial discussions, papers on House-Furnishing and Housekeeping, &c., &c., the paper which will be likely to attract most attention relates to American Farmers and Farm Life, in which the writer says: "My purpose has been only to suggest a scheme which seems to me entirely, even though remotely, practicable, and in which I hope for the sympathy and help of the country-bound farmers' wives and daughters,-a scheme which promises what seems the easiest, if not the only, relief for the dullness and desolation of living which make American farming loathsome to so many who ought to glory in its pursuit, but who now are only bound to it by commanding necessity." New Subscribers to SCRIBNER, for 1877, or pur"A more powerful plea for charity than many an eloquent chasers of the January, February and March sermon.”—Philadelphia Inquirer. "That wonderful clever story of the West."-The Advance. numbers, will receive Part I of "Nicholas Minturn," in pamphlet form, free. To new Subscribers who wish to get the opening chapters of "That Lass o' Lowrie's" we will send 15 numbers for $4.00, beginning with the magnifiFor sale by all booksellers. Mailed, prepaid, on receipt of cent Midsummer Holiday number (August, 1876), and ending with October, 1877. $4.00 a year; price (one dollar) by the publishers, 35 cents a number. Postage prepaid. JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., 117 & 119 State St., Chicago. Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Decora- Entertaining and Instructive Books. The History of England from the Commencement of the THE TWO AMERICAS; XIXth Century to the Crimean War. By Harriet Martin SCRIBNER & CO., 743 Broadway, N. Y. Four Beautiful Pictures "Melancholy" and "Mirth," And a pair of finely finished CHROMOS, "Lake George" and "Lake of the Four Cantons, With Notes on Men and Manners in North and publishers of the Congregationalist. South America. Which were offered some years ago as PREMIUMS by the Bible Classes and the Home Circle. By Asa Hull. Small BY SIR ROSE L. PRICE, BART., F.R.G.S. balance on hand at the merely nominal price of Fifty Cents oblong. pp. 160. 35 cents. Hull's Temperance Glee Book, Containing a Choice Variety of Temperance Songs, Duets, and Choruses, etc., together with a Glee Department designed for Public Concerts and Musical Conventions. By Asa Hull. 16m0. pp. 104. 40 cents. J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. The Transfer of Erin: or the Acquisition of Ireland by England. By Thomas C. Amory. 8vo. pp. 654. The Two Americas; an Account of Sport and Travel, with W. H. BONER & CO., PHILADELPHIA. The Literary World. E. H. HAMES & CO., Boston. Congregational House, Beacon and Somerset Sts., Room 6. Published the first day of each month, at $1.50 per year, in advance. All papers are continued until there is a specific order to stop; but such an order can be given at any time, to take effect at the expiration of the subscription. ADVERTISING RATES: $20.00 per column, each insertion. All checks, drafts and money orders, should be made payable to E. H. HAMES & CO. P. O. Address, Box 1183. EDWARD ABBOTT, Editor. EDWARD H. HAMES, Publisher. Composition by Thos. Todd. Press work by A. Mudge & Son. Current Literature. a ANCIENT STREETS AND HOMESTEADS OF ENGLAND.** NOT OT archeologists only, but all travelers with a taste for the old and picturesque, owe Mr. Rimmer thanks for this pleasantly written and beautifully illustrated volume. It treats for the most part of a region of English country which lies away from the general line of travel, and so is comparatively unknown to the ordinary tourist, who, with natural desire to achieve much sight-seeing in short time, judges it safer to keep to mapped-out routes and "through" lines of railway. A great many such tourists, ever, would be glad to venture on digressions here and there if they could learn precisely where and how and wherefore to digress. This information Mr. Rimmer's book supplies, and we hope his hints will make it possible for a great many people to get glimpses of the quaint and beautiful nooks which he describes. Council in Dublin! The confusion which last volume is in preparation, which will To Professor Van Laun, as to M. Taine, “This man should have built two dormer- The first chapter he devotes to Chester, a town at which Americans are wont to make their first stay after landing at Liverpool, and which in many respects is conspicuously interesting. But almost no Americans visit Shrewsbury, only forty miles distant by rail; yet Shrewsbury is equally rich in old buildings, and, historically considered, is even better worth seeing than Chester. For those who land at Southampton, Sherborne Castle and Abbey in Dorset are close at hand. Lichfield and Coventry can easily be included in the excursion to Stratford-onAvon and Warwick. Ripon, Wakefield and other noteworthy spots in Yorkshire are accessible by a little divergence on the route to Scotland, and a study of Mr. Rimmer's sketches will easily suggest other feasible combinations. If he have occasion to On page 207 is another quaint instance of an old custom in some of the old farms in Cheshire, apropos of the movable outside staircases in use in many farm buildings: "I myself have seen the laborers go to their loft to sleep, and the farmer remove the staircase regularly every night." sprang, therefore, from the higher feudal society of France, and represent the reaction against the religious tyranny of the age. In the satires of Clément Marot and of Rabelais are expressed the derision and newly-found liberty of the early renaissance; and the purism of the classical renaissance manifests itself in the studied poems of Ronsard and Malherbe. So, likewise, from the Augustan age of French power sprang the Augustan age of French literature, with its Molière, its La Fontaine, and its Racine. From the point of view, therefore, of the social, religious and political history of France does Professor Van Laun study its literature. The wood-cuts which enrich the book are That this historical method of literary indrawn and engraved with a grace and pre-vestigation is the only method which is cision unusual even in these days of lavish illustration, and will interest and charm many readers who do not hope to visit the spots from which they are taken. But there is no index to the letter-press, which most certainly there ought to have been. VAN LAUN'S HISTORY OF FRENCH THE HE remark of Lord Bacon that a man often obtains a better view of his own field by going into the field of another, receives excellent illustration in the fact that the best history of English literature has been written by a Frenchman, and that an Edinburgh professor is writing what will prove to be the most complete history of French literature for English readers. exhaustive and worthy of perfect trust is, we believe, a firmly established canon. The literature of a nation is the result of that nation's life, of its experience and feeling, and to attempt to study it without studying the conditions under which it arose is quite as foolish as trying to estimate the character of Napoleon without surveying Europe in the first years of this century. Yet, in spite of the excellence of his method, Professor Van Laun's work seems to us, we are forced to acknowledge, more of a sketch of French literature than a history. The author has not, in fact, allowed himself Dealing as he does with an unhackneyed a sufficient number of pages to permit him region, Mr. Rimmer's text is naturally full of to give an exhaustive treatment of a subject records and anecdotes which will be new to which, in the volumes before us, covers sevhis readers. There is, for example, the deenteen hundred years, which displays the lightful tale of Mrs. Mottershed, landlady of most diverse characteristics, and is fundathe Blue Posts Inn in Chester, in the year Like the great work of M. Taine, this work mental in its various relations. Spanish lit1558. Hearing Dr. Henry Cole, Dean of St. of Professor Van Laun, whose first two vol- erature is a desert compared with French; Paul's, then a guest in her house, boast him- umes are before us, begins with the consid-yet Mr. Ticknor's incomparable work conself holder of a royal commission to "perse-eration of the origin and early historic condi- tains a far larger amount of matter than Van cute" the Irish Protestants, in testimony tion of the race with whose literature it is to Laun's; and M. Taine's history of English whereof he showed the leather box which deal. After a brief examination of the frag- literature is nearly twice the length of the held the warrant, she took advantage of his mentary literature that existed previous to work before us. (We speak, of course, on momentary absence to open the box, extract Charlemagne, it considers the literary char- the supposition that the last volume will not the warrant, and "place in lieu of it a pack of acteristics of the age of feudalism; and then, materially differ in its length from the first cards with the knave of clubs uppermost." under the obvious divisions of "The Renais- two.) The broad outlines of a broad subject This significant substitution was not discov-sance," "The Classical Renaissance," and Professor Van Laun has drawn, and, we are ered until the box containing the supposed "The Age of Louis XIV," examines French glad to say, he has drawn them well; but he commission was formally opened in the literature as it successively sprouted, budded has not, as we believe he tried to do, painted presence of the Lord Deputy and the Privy- and flowered in these epochs. A third and a complete and finished picture. The result is a sketch, clear, strong, graceful and usually *History of French Literature. By Henri Van Laun. truthful; but still a sketch. For this very reason, however, to one comparatively igno Ancient Streets and Homesteads of England. By Alfred Rimmer. Macmillan & Co. Vols. I. and II. G. P. Putnam's Sons. rant of French literature it may be of far greater service than a more complete work: but to the scholar it will prove rather a handbook than a history of the intellectual achievements of the French people. the headings of chapters, and allowing them tal "any product reserved to be employed in to stand only over books and sections. The further production." [Elements of Political division, moreover, between the character of Economy.] In the present volume it is conan author as an author and his character as sidered as "any valuable thing, outside of a man is not in every case made clear and man himself, from whose use springs a pecuThe parts of Professor Van Laun's work distinct. This is particularly true in regard niary increase or profit." It is not easy to most satisfactory to us are the analyses of to Malherbe and Pascal. We also notice a see what is gained by the change. If capital the great literary characters with which he tendency to use trite metaphors, and in sev- must yield a pecuniary increase, then there deals. These are carefully made, vivid, truth-eral instances the employment of such ex- can be no capital under a system of barter, ful. Of Molière, for instance, whose dra- pressions as "danced attendance," "egged and the tin pedlar who sells his wares for matic works he has translated, he writes: on," "sponged on," which are more fitted, as rags, and exchanges the latter at the country we believe will generally be confessed, to a store for provisions, is trading without capipolitical harangue than to the dignity of the tal. In the further discussion of the subject history of a nation's literature. In spite, he fails to correctly distinguish capital from however, of these faults of logic and of taste, labor. The former, we are told, brings inwe desire heartily to congratulate the author crease, profit; the latter only a return, a reupon the moral purity of his treatment of a placement of what was lost in the exercise of subject which in many parts is morally im- the natural powers. The laborer gets back, pure. In his abridgement of M. Taine's through wages, only what he gave; the capiEnglish Literature, it will be remembered, talist receives back his capital and a profit Mr. Fiske felt compelled to strike out nu- besides. Now this distinction seldom holds. merous "objectionable passages." No such What comes back to the laborer, in the shape excision would be either necessary or possi- of wages, over and above what is necessary ble in the work before us. to keep his powers unimpaired—that is, the necessaries of food, clothing, shelter, etc.— is, to our thinking, increase. As with the capitalist who puts his money at interest, what goes out is replaced, or kept intact, and "His claim to distinction is based only on a strong common sense, good manners, sound morality, real wit, true humor, a great, facile, and accurate command of language, and a photographic delineation of nature. It cannot be denied that there is little action in his plays, but there is a great deal of natural conversation; his personages show that he was a most attentive observer of men, even at court, where a certain varnish of over-refinement conceals nearly all individual features. He generally makes vice appear in its most ridiculous aspect, in order to let his audience laugh and despise it; his aim is to correct the follies of the age by exposing them to ridicule." A correct if not an accurate estimate is this of the power of the French Shakespeare. Of Molière's friend, La Fontaine, our author writes these strong and graceful sentences: teaches that man should not be a fool, should POLITICAL ECONOMY.* "La Fontaine is the French Homer, for he is as universal, idealistic and natural as the Greek. PROF. Perry's works on economic science something is added which may be expended He is easy to understand, for he does not fatigue, have this advantage over most of those in enlarged reproduction or in unproductive and skims everything, even sentiments. Some in the hands of the public: that they limit the consumption. Mr. Perry only hints at the times he is serious, sometimes ironical, sometimes field of Political Economy to exchanges, mak-real ground of distinction. It is the capacity innocent, or philosophical, but he is always making fun of some one or of some thing. As a mor- ing it the science, not of wealth, but of value. of transference which makes Barnum's woolly alist he is neither severe nor indignant, but This view, among European writers, has the horse capital, while the ligature which bound learn to know life, and become neither the dupe support of Macleod and Whately; and, in and made rich the Siamese twins is not such. of others nor of himself. As a writer, his accordance with it, the latter proposed chang- Even the human powers, which are expressly only creed appears to be 'Let us live and being the name of the science to Catallactics, a excepted in the above definition, are properly merry,' and this he preaches with a persistency word which Mr. Perry, in all his works that considered capital, where, under a system of worthy of a better cause, and in a style so natural and easy, that he was and is still more popular we have seen, persists in spelling Catalactics. slavery, a man has, in an economic view, with the French than any other writer." For such an orthography there is no author- the character of a machine which can be ity and no foundation in reason, as the de- passed from hand to hand at an estimated rivation [xarahúσow] shows. His definition of value, "a relation of mutual purchase established between two services by their exchange," is an improvement even on Bastiat, and a correct analysis of it leads the author to a better explanation of production than is to be found in the books. He defines money value. The chapter on Production concludes with an analysis of Cost of Production, which, it is to be regretted, repeats Mr. Mill's old error, now so clearly exposed by his able commentator, Cairnes. The chapter on Commerce contains an able argument in favor of Free Of Rabelais, "the centre of a new system in the literary heavens;" of Corneille, “the greatest classical poet of France;” of “the tender Racine," "the painter of love;" and of other great names of French literature, Professor Van Laun writes clearly, comprehensively and with judicial impartiality. His examination of the works of a single author is, to our mind, superior to his review production to be "effort with reference to a Trade; Money and Credit are excellently sale," an idea to which Macleod came near-treated, and the latest developments in Amerest when he said the producer is the person ican financial affairs are brought in. of the literature of an age or of a school. For in the latter case is often manifest a tendency to vagueness, especially in the first who places any required article on a given Few writers on Political Economy have volume, which suggests a suspicion that the spot. This view of production allows the had more readers and been more widely historian is walking through a country with which his acquaintance has been brief. Although the general division of the work into books is logical as well as chronological, the division into chapters and sections is, in certain cases, illogical and arbitrary, and tends to break up the continuity of thought. In the course of a single chapter (the eighth in Book IV) the reader is obliged to pass from the consideration of "Richelieu and his Work" to a review of the philosophy of Descartes. This fault is probably due, in part at least, to the negligence of omitting wages of the so-called "unproductive" opera translated than Bastiat. His happy way of putting whole arguments into simple illustrations has done great service in extending the influence of a science whose first principles present considerable difficulties, and, unless thoroughly grasped, are fruitful of fallacies. To the essays in this volume Mr. Wells has added notes of especial value to American readers. A note to the essay on Capital An Introduction to Political Economy. By Arthur gives a characteristic extract from Ruskin's In his elucidation of capital, Mr. Perry is not so successful. He formerly called capi Latham Perry. Scribner, Armstrong & Co. Revised with Notes by David A. Wells. G. P. Putnam's Essays on Political Economy. By Frederick Bastiat. Fors Clavigera, in which we are surprised to see that eminent writer declaiming against taking interest on capital as being "worse than theft." An analysis less careful than he usually bestows on a Gothic ornament would have shown him the disastrous results, to the interests of labor itself, of such a theory. But Ruskin views Political Economy from afar off, and thinks he sees in its favorite laissez-faire only Anglo-Saxon selfishness in French dress. He meant to make a sharp thrust at a popular hobby of writers on this science, when he wrote the eloquent passage in the "Stones of Venice" on the injurious effects to the mind and soul of the laborer, of minute division of labor. But economists, though not called upon to discuss the moral side of such questions, are no less awake to hotels frequented and chiefly patronized by Eng- them as "niggers." Instead of the expres- Sir Rose very sensibly omits to describe To these defects of style the printer has places which figure in all books of travel, superadded some execrable spelling. The little known. Those parts of Chili and Pata-nial when this book went through the press. and devotes a good deal of space to regions proof-reader must have been at the Centengonia which border on the Straits of Magel- Among other blunders we have "forceable" lan, where few tourists have been, are hon- for forcible (p. 117), "lead" for led (p. 130), ored with three chapters, in which much "jealously" for jealousy (p. 142), “leaed" information is comprised. Our author spent for leaped (p. 178), and Acapulco a dozen it than Ruskin. Prof. Perry, in his work considerable time there chasing guanaco and times spelled “Acupulco." The engravings noticed above, has a good presentation of the disadvantages of the division of labor; and Say, a half-century ago, said epigrammatically: "To have never done anything but make the eighteenth part of a pin, is a sorry account for a human being to give of his existence." "The inducements were considerable; including a trip through the Straits of Magellan, a look at the Patagonians and several places on the Pacific coast of America, possibly some good salmon fishing and shooting in British Columbia, and an undoubtedly interesting journey home by the Union Pacific Railway from San Francisco, visiting en route the celebrated Yo-Semite Valley, the Salt Lake City of Brigham Young and the Mormons, and the Falls of Niagara." His expectations with regard to British Columbia were not realized; for the Rocket proved to be such a slow craft, that with sails and steam together she occupied eight months in the journey from Plymouth to San Diego, Cal., at which point our baronet left her and pursued his journey by land, not going farther north than California. Wherever the ship touched, however, she seems to have stayed as long as there was anything to be seen or shot, the Captain having a glorious disregard of time, and being chiefly anxious that his sporting friend should enjoy himself and keep the larder of the ship in good condition. This fact, perhaps, as much as the unwieldiness of the Rocket, accounts for the singular circumstance that a steamer should occupy two-thirds of a year going from England to the Pacific without accident to detain her. The book is thoroughly British in flavor; for example: “Cleanliness out of England, or away from *The Two Americas. By Major Sir Rose Lambart Price, Bart., F. R. G. S. J. B. Lippincott & Co. other game, and his observations are natu- I "The birds thus cooked were superior to any have ever tasted dressed in the conventional vine leaf, and the receipt may prove a useful wrinkle (sic) to travelers who, like myself, may have enjoyed capital quail shooting in places where banana peel was plentiful, but vine leaves scarce.' also are distributed with wild disregard of the letter-press; in the midst of Chilian life related more than two hundred pages farther appears a cut of an alleged scene in Nevada on; and the plate that faces the 24th page should have been placed opposite the 223d. The type of the volume is refreshingly large and clear, and the paper good. THIS A BOOK FOR YOUNG MEN.* HIS book of Principal Tulloch's is addressed to young men who are willing to take advice from one who, through a long and honorable association with the young, is well qualified to give it. Religion, Business, Study, Recreation: the young man who has The baronet has a hearty contempt for not come to definite ideas on these subjects popular government, and finds many oppor- begins his course without compass and chart, tunities in South America to point out evils and if he ever comes to port it will be because inherent in republics. In the United States he has accidentally drifted there. It is to he admits that matters are somewhat better, these matters that the author has given a but in our Territories he notices a condition lively and sometimes eloquent pen. The of things bordering on anarchy. There is first and most interesting part of his book he no law, murder is as common as eating, and devotes to religion. To the proofs of Chrissome desperadoes cannot enjoy their break- tianity, from history, from the miracles, from fast till they have killed their man. Evi- the nature of things, he gives some excellent dently the "natives" told our traveler some chapters, drawing freely from Paley's excurious stories, all of which he religiously haustless mine, and also from the less quoted believes. One thing that particularly amazed Pascal, whose sublime Pensées contains a him was the small respect paid to high digni- masterly argument for the truth of Christaries of the government. He gives an tianity, founded on an analysis of the human amusing account of the reception of Pres- soul. He has some sharp strokes at Posiident Grant when he passed through Fort tivism and other forms of modern philosophy, Laramie: and does very good service in clearing away certain misty notions that have gathered "I never saw less enthusiasm at the reception here. For some moments the crowd seemed un-in such an event so difficult to so many minds. of any distinguished individual than was displayed about the idea of a miracle, and made a belief decided as to who was the President, and a man We do not know of any book for young peonear me shouted out, 'Which is Grant?' 'I guess he's that red-faced coon in a plug hat,' re-ple in which the Christian evidences are acplied another, in a by no means sotto voce tone; and this information seeming to be sufficient, the mob shortly afterwards raised a faint cheer." We are so accustomed to being reproved by our English cousins for our national fondness for slang, that we cannot but be struck with the style in which this educated English gentleman chooses to express himself in a book. Whenever he has occasion to mention colored people, he invariably describes corded so high an importance, or treated with more clearness. When putting the character and power of religion in their true light, he gives some thrusts at the conventionalities that have crept into it which remind one of Gates Ajar. Under "What to Do" and "How to Do it" there is more sensible *Beginning Life. A Book for Young Men. By John Tulloch, D. D. Lovell, Adam, Wesson & Co. advice than the majority of readers will be apt to take. On “Study" and "Reading," as pursued to a limited extent in the intervals of business, the author's ideas are a good way removed from the old-fashioned notion of laying out a plan of discouraging vastness and then carrying it through with tiresome punctuality. On the principle that the mind retains best that learning in which it takes the freshest interest, he argues that it should be allowed more freedom in following its natural bent, and that more regard should be paid to the tastes of the hour. There is much truth in this, but the author does not, we think, insist enough on the importance of cultivating new and better tastes as well as of improving old ones. On "Recreation" he is less scrupulous and more liberal than might be expected of a Scotchman. He deals with shooting, theatres, billiards and dancing in a way that makes short work of some old prejudices. On the whole the book is excellently adapted to those for whom it is written, and its readers can hardly avoid being better for its perusal. THACKERAY'S EARLY AND LATE PAPERS.* WE E are pleased to find in the convenient form and neat dress of Henry Holt & Co.'s "Leisure Hour Series" a new edition of Thackeray's Early and Late Papers, first collected for publication by that skillful purveyor of literary meats and drinks, Mr. James T. Fields, in 1867. When Mr. Fields suggested to Thackeray to bring together in such a volume his fugitive pieces, such as the three friends who accompanied him were tall men in pepper-and-salt undress jackets, with a duke's coronet on their buttons. "After tapping me on the back, and when he had finished his cheroot, the gentleman produced another wind-instrument which he called a 'kinopium,'-a sort of trumpet, on which he showed a great inclination to play. He began puffing out of the 'kinopium' a most abominable air, which he said was the 'Duke's March.' It was played by particular request of one of the pepperand-salt gentry. COMO IN MAY. From the May Harper's. THE snow has not yet faded from the crest "The noise was so abominable that even the coachman objected (although my friend's brother footmen were ravished with it) and said that it was not allowed to play toons on his bus. Very well,' said the valet, we're only of the Duke of B's establishment, THAT'S ALL.' The coachman could not resist that appeal to his fashionable feelings. The valet was allowed to play his infernal MOZLEY'S RULING IDEAS IN EARLY 'kinopium.'" ... What was more, says Thackeray, the discomfited coachman attempted now to restore the equilibrium of rank by relating "stories of his having been groom in Captain Hoskins's family, nephew of Governor Hoskins, which stories the footmen received with contempt." great All of which must have been real entertainment to our traveler. Among other appetizing titles included in the Table of Contents are these: "Memorials of Gor mandizing,” “Dickens in France," and "The Anonymous in Periodical Literature." Upon this latter topic we read: "To be a writer for a newspaper requires more knowledge, genius, readiness, scholarship, than you want in Saint Stephen's. Compare a good leading article and a speech in the House of Commons: compare a House of Commons orator with a writer, psha!" We trust the quality of parliamentary eloquence has improved since these words were written. What follows, more pertinent to AGES.* THIS book of Dr. Mozley's is a valuable contribution to the philosophy of both history and theology. The author's “Eight Lectures on the Miracles" form one of the ablest apologetic works lately published; and his "University Sermons" exhibit a comprehension of the great truths of human nature that deserves to be compared with the masterly analyses of Bishop Butler. In its field the present work is equally excellent. It is an examination of the relation which certain primitive ideas and beliefs bear to the leading events of Old Testament history. The book opens with a chapter or lecture upon Abraham, which represents him as the Bacon of the Christian Church, and his teachings as the Novum Organon that guides the religious development of mankind. It Isaac in the light of the patriarchal theory then proceeds to consider his sacrifice of of family ownership. According to this the had been contributed to Fraser and Punch, the topic he particularly has in hand, may be ory the head of the family was regarded as the latter replied: "Do it yourself, mon ami; write the preface, and I'll stand by you." The contents of this volume have become familiar to a large proportion of the public, but thus freshly presented will find new readers and make new friends. Here we have the genial author of "Vanity Fair" and "The Newcomes" with his coat off, as it were, and his wristbands unbuttoned-in his most unstudied moods, and disposed to the freest and most friendly utterance of the thoughts that lie nearest him. There are twenty-four of the papers. There is no connection between them, unless in the sunny temper which shines through all, except in the case of three, which constitute a series of travel and roadside sketches. These relate to a little trip into Belgium, and are brimful of amusing pictures—of what may be called fun in "assorted packages." Thus, soon after setting out in the coach from Richmond: "A gentleman sitting behind me tapped me on the back and asked for a light. He was a footman, or rather a valet. He had no livery, but Early and Late Papers Hitherto Uncollected. By William Makepeace Thackeray. Henry Holt & Co. outlined as follows: its owner, and therefore Abraham, owning his son, possessed the right of sacrificing "Would Jones or Smith, however, much profit him. The same theory explains both the by the publication of their names to their articles? The public does not care very much what indiscriminating cruelty of the exterminating Jones's opinions are. . . . It is the article, and wars waged by Israel, and the visitation of not the name and pedigree of the artificer, which a newspaper or any other dealer has a right to the father's sins upon the children. Each sell to the public. A newspaper is a com- member of the tribe or family shared the posite work, got up by many hireling hands, of guilt of its head, and, therefore, deserved whom it is necessary to know no other name than the printer's or proprietor's. It is not to be de- also to share the pain of the consequent punnied that men of signal ability will write for ishment. Jael's killing of Sisera, therefore, hard upon a man, with whose work the whole years in papers and perish unknown. . . . It is was not violation of hospitality, but obeditown is ringing, that not a soul should know or ence to fundamental rights of public justice. care who is the author who so delights the pub- To the principles held by that barbarous lic. But, on the other hand, if your article is excellent, would you have had any great renown age, God not only permitted but commanded from it, supposing the paper had not published obedience. He sanctioned the bloody law it? ... If to some men the want of publicity is of Goël, the lex talionis. But, although the an evil, to many others the privacy is most welcome. . . . Take away this modest mask,-force divine revelation was primarily adapted to every man upon the public stage to appear with the embryonic condition of society, it was books, some of the best articles, some of the his name placarded, and we lose some of the best progressive in its character and purpose. pleasantest wit that we have ever had." Rude penal laws and barbarous customs were only the scaffoldings by means of which the edifice of a perfect system of morals was gradually built. Dr. Mozley's These seem to us sound words, whose usefulness quite outlasts their immediate occasion, and which deserve to be repeated from time to time perpetually. The question style is nervous, forcible, eloquent. It is, between personal and impersonal journalism is, however, a broad one, and not to be settled in a few paragraphs. Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, and Their Relation to Old Testament Faith. By J. B. Mozley, D. D. E. P. Dutton & Co. |