henceforth a conflict between the opposing forces might be expected. It was this anticipation of conflict that led to preparation for it, developing an anti-slavery sentiment even bordering on abolitionism in the North, and a sectional pro-slaveryism in the South ever veering toward secession, and finally precipitated the nation into the throes of civil war. With the repeal of the Missouri Compromise came the purpose on both sides to test the right of slavery in the new Territories of the West. Kansas was the theater of the struggle, and as it enlarged the nation was drawn into it. Political parties, churches, unionists and disunionists, the press, the people-all were interested in the issue, for it was of a determinative and an epoch-making character. Kansas was saved to freedom and pro-slavery writhes over its defeat. The author is specific in statement, historic in style, and uses verified documents in proof of his positions. As a contribution to our common national history it is worth preserving, and will be quoted in years to come as an accurate account of the great struggle for freedom in a defenseless territory, menaced by the strong arm of the pro-slavery element of the country.

Portraits of Friends. By JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP, Author of Culture and Religion. With a sketch of Principal Shairp by WILLIAM YOUNG SELLARS, and an etched Portrait. 12mo, pp. 212. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price, cloth, $1 25.

The title of this work is slightly ambiguous, but the excellence of the contents cannot be disputed. Professor Shairp, a Scottish scholar, himself the subject of a critical biographical notice in these pages from the pen of a friend, wrote some very frank and judicious papers on certain prominent leaders and thinkers in Scotland, which have been collected since his death into the book here announced. Among them we observe the names of Thomas Erskine, Norman Macleod, John Mackintosh of Geddes, and Arthur Hugh Clough. In the attempt to represent his friends the author is not specially analytical, nor does he descend to such details as would give the reader an inner view of their characteristics; but, aiming at recording his total impression of their lives as he came in contact with them, he produced a series of very readable papers. For a larger view of his subjects, one must consult their biographies; but for a genial, companionable volume, suggestive of the riches of character in men who turned events on their hinges, and were courageous leaders of public opinion, this is to be commended. It is the vestibule to the temple of the lives of a few men who touched their age with their spirit of consecration, and contributed something to the sum of human achievements.

Captain Cook. By WALTER BESANT. 12mo, pp. 191. London: Macmillan & Co. Price, cloth, 60 cents.

By the eminence to which he attained James Cook reflected honor on the English village that gave him birth; and by the services he rendered to civilization as a navigator and discoverer, he showed the possibilities of genius and the advantages of leadership in the progressive movements of the nations. His youthful life was more remarkable for its vicissitudes

than its opportunities, but he early developed a preference for the sea, and ran away to give it expression. Mr. Besant traces his career in consecutive order and a well-conceived style, entertaining and instructing the reader with facts that charm even more than the unrealities of fiction. If Captain Cook was hot-tempered and impatient, he was also singleminded and self-reliant; if he was fearless and egotistic, he was also loyal to the best ideas and never murmured at the inevitable. The results of his voyages are recounted with the usual skill of his biographer, and make up a story as interesting as it is truthful. He discovered the Society Islands, the Sandwich Islands, divided New Zealand into two islands, and explored the coast of New Caledonia; besides which he ran along the North American coast for thirty-five hundred miles, describing what he saw, and locating the islands in his long voyages. He also made astronomical observations, studied the customs, arts, language, and religion of the various peoples whom he found, and gave an account of them on his return to civilization. The world is indebted to the great navigator as to but few others of his class; and it was a happy thought on the part of the publishers to include him in the series of biographies they are now publishing.

The

Two Years in the French West Indies. By EAFCADIO HEARN, Author of Chita, etc. 12mo, pp. 431. New York: Harper & Brothers. Price, cloth, $2. The merit of this book is that it takes the reader away from the usual routes of travel, into countries and among peoples with whom he is not supposed to be familiar. Its charm is the peculiar French style in which it is written. It is terse, elegant, acute, and altogether lively. author saw, and wrote as he saw. His reflections, too, upon customs, domestic habits, and civil life are as sensible and original as his observations are numerous and comprehensive. His descriptions of nature's beauties are as tender and poetic as his account of the religious condition of Martinique is sober and instructive. Creole life is depicted with rare skill and humor, and in its never-ending variety. The book is a delightful one, relieving the reader of ennui, and instructing him in a people of whom it is worth while to know something.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Taken Alive, and Other Stories. With an Autobiography. By EDWARD P. ROE, Author of Barriers Burned Away, Without a Home, etc. 12mo, pp. 375. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. Price, cloth, $1 50.

Mr. Roe's distinction as an author has puzzled the critics, who have a way of determining one's fate before the public has had the opportunity of pronouncing upon one's merits or achievements. As he continued to increase in popularity with the successive issue of new books, they charged him with all sorts of literary sins, and deprived him of the recognition he deserved. The public, however, did not long agree with the critics, but bought his books, spoke his name with evident appreciation, and conferred upon him the eulogy he had earned. We shall not discuss the

question of his literary merits, or whether the critics or the public were right, but shall call attention to this book as representative of his genius and power in narration and invention. The chief story is not wonderful in conception, nor brilliant in recital, but it casts a spell over the reader, and is, therefore, successful in its purpose. The other stories are even less remarkable, and cannot claim special excellence. No one will place the author on a level with Sir Walter Scott, or the great English novelists, or with many American writers; but in spite of his commonplace work he secured high rank and was useful by his writings. His autobiography, as given in these pages, is very interesting and instructive, because it reveals his characteristics, the difficulties he had to overcome, and the triumphs he won at last.

Between Times. By WALTER LEARNED. 16mo, pp. 134. New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Brother. Price, half cloth, $1.

The poetical author here gathers the fugitive poems of his leisure, and hopes that they will prove as entertaining to his readers in their odd moments as they have been of service to him while he was writing them. The poems are not of a high order, nor yet are they purely mechanical in structure; but they are pleasant outbursts of a soul calm or emotional, thoughtful or thoughtless, just as circumstances seemed to suggest. He wrote in various meters, on various subjects, and in a style that shows more mental ease than earnestness and more commonplace idiomatic thought than the lofty conceptions of genius or the broad scenic view of outstretching truth. It is a little book, to be read, as it was written, "between times."

Summer Holidays. Traveling Notes in Europe. By THEODORE CHILD. 12mo, pp. 304. New York: Harper & Brothers. Price, cloth, $1 25.

This is neither a connected story of travel nor mere leaflets from a traveler's note-book, but rather a collection of essays on cities, such as Constantinople, Munich, Venice, Naples, and Ravenna, and on the country viewed from rivers, as the Danube, the Seine, and the Marne. These essays were first printed in English and American magazines. The book is one of commonplaces, but in description artistic, in style dignified, and, on the whole, an entertaining résumé of the results and impressions of an intelligent sight-seer.

Lucile. By OWEN MEREDITH, Vignette edition. With One Hundred New Illustrations by Frank M. Gregory. 12mo, pp. 420. New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Brother. Price, paper cover, $1 50.

Lucile does not lose its charm. It grows in value on lovers of poetry, and has given permanent renown to its composer. Not that the poetic genius of the author ranks him with the master poets of the race, or that the story he tells is superior either in arrangement or finale; but that his conceptions, so pure, so true to nature, so life-like in their representations, are set forth in agreeable meters and reveal a background of thought which shows a master mind and a tender and beautiful nature. The publishers present the book in a most attractive style, and the reader,

assisted by expressive illustrations, is carried along from page to page, almost forgetful of the burdens of life and the vexations they usually bring. Still Lucile does not introduce us to an idealistic realm, nor does it awaken the mere fancy, or the dreamy spirit; its power is in the delineation of a practical experience of the highest and noblest passion of the soul. It therefore elevates thought, purifies affection, and refines our view of life.

By Canoe and Dog-Train Among the Cree and Salteaux Indians. By EGERTON RYERSON YOUNG (Missionary). With an Introduction by Mark Guy Pearse. 8vo, pp. 267. New York: Hunt & Eaton. Price, cloth, $1 25.

This book is as refreshing as the breezes of the North Land which it describes. Without attempt at elaboration, the Rev. Mr. Young has culled some incidents from his far-frontier experience, and the artlessness of his story is its special charm. As a description of the primitive customs about Lake Winnipeg, the severity of its winter climate, and the receptivity of the Indian nature, the book is vigorous and enlightening. As a narrative of extreme sufferings in pioneer work, of quenchless love for lost souls, and the power of Christianity to work its marvelous transformations, it is a voice of encouragement to the Church. The reader is par ticularly impressed by the modesty with which Mr. Young describes those sufferings and successes, in which he had so large a share. Altogether the work is a reminder that the apostles and martyrs live in their heroic successors, and is an earnest of those greater missionary successes which are every-where to ensue.

Maggie Bradford's Club. The First of a Series of Sequels to The Bessie Books. By JOANNA H. MATHEWS, Author of Uncle Rutherford's Attic. Illustrated. 12mo, pp. 250. New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Brother. Price, cloth, $1. Several school-girls resolve to form a club, keep secrets, and do some things that only frolicsome girls can do. They have a good time, many experiences, some of sorrow, others of delight. The book is a history of this club, and is as refreshing as it is novel. It begins a proposed series of books for girls that doubtless will be worth reading.

Must the Chinese Go? An Examination of the Chinese Question. By Mrs. S. L. BALDWIN, Eighteen Years a Missionary in China. 12mo, pamphlet, pp. 70. Third edition. New York: H. B. Elkins. Price, paper, 20 cents. The Chinese question is peculiar and important. Mrs. Baldwin, from her long missionary service, writes with a large understanding of the subject. Her pamphlet is a vigorous arraignment of Congressional action, and an eloquent appeal to the Christian sentiment of America for justice toward the Chinese. Her brochure, which now reaches its third edition, should effect further enlightenment upon our national responsibilities in the case.

Chatterbox. For 1889-90. J. ERSKINE CLARK, Editor. 1 Vol., Quarto. Lithographed Cover. Pp. 412. Boston: Estes & Lauriat. Price, $1 25. Of juvenile publications this is one of the best, both in contents and mechanical appearance. The volume before us is as adapted to 1890 as to 1889; it does not outgrow its value with a single year.

METHODIST REVIEW.

NOVEMBER, 1890.

ART. I.-EZRA THE SCRIBE.*

"Ir the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!" The student of Greek literature finds in the sixth century before our era a stir arising in human thought, and its origin seems beyond the Greek horizon. Thales of Miletus appears to rise from the earth to head that long procession in which walk the familiar forms of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. What roused Thales to his march? His family had come from Phenicia to Miletus. The son, born in this Greek community, early showed a restlessness of restraint within the domain of sense, a longing to grasp that unseen system of order and energy which material things overlie and obscure and yet obey. In this unrest he went back to study in the old Phenician home of his fathers. What was there in the air of the century and of the region that moved the thoughts of this pioneer in the world's philosophy? The fresh morning of philosophic inquiry follows, by an interval none too long for the conveying of influence in times like those, the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. The destruction of their visible worship and material wealth, and the forcing of their thought back upon the unseen and spiritual, this touched the heathen world, and in the atmosphere. thus affected Thales felt his calling to the work of philosophy;

*This article completes the series on Old Testament books. A study of the six articles published during the current year will convince our readers of their value, and aid them in placing the Old Testament on its true historical basis. Negative criticism is challenged to overthrow the positions of the several writers of the series.-EDITOR.

51-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. VI.