musical form and history. W. S. B. Mathews's" How to Understand Music," is a still wider and more precise survey of the entire field, but with particular reference to the aesthetic and formal development of the art. For the pianoforte student it is a valuable aid, with its careful analysis, its grouping of living examples, and its unpedantic classifications. One hears in Mr. Mathews the voice of the practical teacher. He has contributed a popular history of the "Art of Music," which is crammed with information-biographical, didactic and historical. It is written in a readable manner. For a smaller history one may select H. G. Bonavia Hunt's "A Concise History of Music," from the commencement of the Christian era to the present, which does. exactly what it proposes. Like Mr. Mathews's history, it is abundantly illustrated.

Perhaps you wish to unravel an operatic plot-a difficult and sometimes daring thing to do? Upton in his "Standard Operas" covers the ground from Auber to Weber, giving the story of the play of the music and of the composer. Companion volumes are "The Standard Oratorios and "The Standard Cantatas," the latter interesting for its historical information alone. "Music; How it Came to be What it is," is an excellent volume by Hannah Smith, describing widely removed periods. Miss Smith begins with acoustics, ancient music, mediæval music, reaches the Belgian School, ranges over to Italy, touches on the modern scale, treats of the opera, oratorio, instrumental music, precursors of the pianoforte, development of pianoforte-playing, and finally reaches the orchestra, to which she devotes a chapter. As a specimen of concision and simplicity of style the book may be highly recommended. It is stuffed with illustrations, some of them rare.

It is now an easy modulation to "How Music Developed" by W. J. Henderson.

Both Mr. Henderson and Mr. Krehbiel are so well known critically, that any special inquiry as to their various attitudes would be wholly superfluous. They teach but they do not preach; they are æstheticians who expound the musical gospel, but in terms of literature, not of dogma. As may be surmised then, Mr. Henderson's volume is as he describes ita critical, an explanatory account of the growth of modern music. It is an enlargement of his "Story of Music" and its range is very large, so large indeed, that the purely historical is paramountas it should be in a study of this sort. Herein the student may dip or dive, make cursory reference or unroll before his imagination period after period of dead and living musical pasts and presents. There are its beginnings and its endings-up to the present era; Wagner so far is our explorer furthest North in the art. The author grapples with, and disposes of, in his clear, omniscient style, the birth of counterpoint, various evolutions of pianoforte, orchestra, oratorio, symphony and opera, and there are careful critical considerations of all the chief composers. I once pronounced the book multum in parvo, and I have not changed my mind. Then in the sphere of the purely special Mr. Henderson's "The Orchestra and Orchestral Music" is the best work of its style and scope ever written. The broad generalizer here becomes the patient lecturer on the various instruments that make up the greatest of all modern instruments the orchestra. Each instrument is described, its range set forth and its place assigned it. The conductor, too, is discussed, and the historical side of the question is given its due; and, as the author declares of the book "This is not a text-book." It is designed for the general reader, and it is written in a direct style. This work is deservedly popular. In "What is Good.

Music?" Mr. Henderson returns to the earlier manner of his "Preludes and Studies," a book for which I have an especial predilection. Of course the newer is the broader, the bigger book, for it is the product of wider experience, coupled with genuine learning; a learning, however, that is bravely worn and without a suggestion of the pedagogue's ferule. In this volume the writer makes "suggestions to persons desiring to cultivate a taste in the musical art, and he makes these suggestions without map or chart, for the subject-matter is handled with that force, logic and clarity of diction peculiarly Mr. Henderson's own. He considers -after a short prelude-the qualities of good music, the content of music and the performance of music, and under these heads groups with admirable simplicity a treasure-house of information. This book must have been hard writing to its author, for it is such easy reading to the amateur. I can recommend it unreservedly.

I have just finished re-reading Henry Edward Krehbiel's "Studies in the Wagnerian Drama” and find myself as enthusiastic over its polyphonic handling of difficult themes as I was nearly a decade ago. Doubtless the same author's "How to Listen to Music" is more popular, but my fancy inclines to the more æsthetic and philosophical divigations of the earlier work. Here is marrow for you! The Wagnerian drama with its foundations reared on the Greek, the ethical, æsthetical, technical and historical aspects of the music drama are finely thought out, but in no such forbidding sequence as I have just indicated. And the chapters on "Tristan and Isolde," "Die Meistersinger," "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and "Parsifal," have become classic commentaries for the younger generation of critics and music lovers. And it is now rather late in the day to dilate upon Mr. Krehbiel's authority, learning and literary skill.

All are appropriately mirrored in this book, a book written when the heat of the conflict was at its height, when all the world was Wagner or anti-Wagner. Yet I fancy that "How to Listen to Music" is the more popular volume of the two. Judging from its numerous editions it is the most sought-for work ever written in English about music. The reason is not far to seek; the subject, complex and dangerous as it seems to be, is treated with absolute clearness and frankness, and in the way of simplicity is a model. The various sections-musical elements, content and kinds of music, modern orchestra, at an orchestral concert, at a pianoforte recital, at the opera, choirs and choral music, musician, critic and public, are for the non-professional-though the professional musician might greatly profit therefrom for the amateur, above all for the men and women who wish to know the æsthetic and technical whys and wherefores of the art. "How to Listen to Music" is a distinct contribution to musical psychology, though devoid of all that is barren, scholastic and of mere idle speculating.

A more elaborate, almost scenic work is "The Music Dramas of Richard Wagner by Albert Lavignac, Englished by Esther Singleton. It contains analyses of plots, music and descriptions of Bayreuth, its casts, its conductors. Most interesting of all is the very complete set of diagrams in which are indicated the characters of the music dramas in the order of their first entrance; this, with the synthetic table of the motives from the Ring, makes the work of real value to Wagner students. Moreover, the Young Person-a factor in these progressive days-has not been forgotten by the musical writers. And William Henry Frost's "The Wagner Story Book " is of a singular charm of style and may be placed in the hands of youth without the slightest arrière pensée.

James Iluneker.

N author is apt to think that a critic

is slow if he lets a month go by before reviewing his book. Imagine, then, what the author of "The Looking-Glass for the Mind" must think of me if he reads this notice, for it was published by D. Appleton & Co. at 443 and 445 Broadway in 1863. I cannot plead lack of time or pressure of other work, but must let the omission go without apology. Still I was too young at the time to have done it justice; indeed I doubt if anything but the reading of the entire book can do justice to it.

In the preface the translator for the book is translated from the French of M. Berquin-says, "The stories here collected are of the most interesting kind, since virtue is constantly represented as the fountain of happiness and vice as the source of every evil. Nothing extravagant or romantic will be found in these tales, neither enchanted castles nor supernatural agents, but such scenes are exhibited as come within the reach of the observation of young people in common life; the whole being made familiar by an innocent turn of thought and expression, and applied to describe their amusements, their pursuits and their necessities.

"As a useful and instructive Pocket Looking-Glass, we recommend it for the

instruction of every youth, whether miss or master; it is a mirror that will not flatter them nor lead them into error; it displays the follies and improper pursuits of youthful breasts, points out the dangerous paths they sometimes tread, and clears the way to the Temple of Honor and Fame."

There is no form of literature so wholly innocuous and so mawkishly insipid as the French goody-goody tale for the young, and we can well believe that these tales are all from the French. There is not a page that is not brimful of unconscious humor, but it would be hard to find a single whimsical expression by intent in the whole book.

In "Anabella's Journey to Market" the very first thing that we learn is that "Nothing can be more natural and pleasing than to see young children fond of their parents. The birds of the air and even the wild inhabitants of the forest, love, and are beloved by their young progeny."

Then we begin to follow the fortunes of the little Anabella, who goes to market with, her mother, but on the way there stops for a moment to look at "a little chaise drawn by six dogs," and thus loses sight of her mother.

"Here my little readers," says the vir

When little Anabella realized that she was lost, the "afflictions of her little heart began." She called aloud: "Mamma! Mamma!" but no mamma answered.

Now we are treated to a picture of the apathy of the crowd, some of whom emulated the example of the priest and Levite of Holy Writ, while some actually laughed at the disconsolate Anabella. Here the "Happy Child's Mentor and Guide" says: "Such, my little pupils, is the conduct of most people," which is pessimistic in the extreme.

says:

However, a poor old woman who happens to be carrying eggs to market, undertakes to find the child's mother, and

THE FOUR SWEET YOUNG LADIES

Anabella walks along with the friendly soul who tells her pretty stories, and inquires concerning her literary tastes, hoping that the child is not fond of fairy stories. "But when Anabella told her that her books were all bought at the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, she seemed perfectly satisfied."

THE COVETOUS BOY

Glass for the Mind" was eventually to be found on sale there.

In due time Anabella found her mother, who bought all of the old woman's eggs at a price that considerably bettered current quotations in the egg market, nor did Anabella ever forget her kind though poor benefactress, but often visited her.

I wish that the limitations of space did not prevent my giving excerpts from several of the stories. For instance, attend to the simple story of the sin of vanity:

"A plain white frock had hitherto been the only dress of Caroline; silver buckles in her red morocco shoes; and her ebon hair, which had never felt the torturing iron, flowed upon her shoulders in graceful ringlets, now and then disturbed by the gentle wind.

"Being one day in company with some little girls, who, though no older than herself, were dressed in all the empty parade of fashion, the glare and glitter of those fine clothes raised in her heart a desire she had never before felt.

"As soon as she got home, 'My dear mamma,' said she, 'I have this afternoon seen Miss Flippant and her two sisters, whom you very well know. The eldest is not older than myself, and yet they were all dressed in the most elegant manner. Their parents must certainly have great pleasure in seeing them so finely dressed;

my dear mamma, let me have a fine silk slip, embroidered shoes like theirs, and let my hair be dressed by Mr. Frizzle, who is said to be a very capital man in his profession!" "

Subsequent paragraphs detail the miserable plight in which this youthful slave of fashion found herself. And there is so much more that is good to quote, but I must content myself with adding one of the shortest, which is entitled "The History of Jonathan the Gardener."

This Jonathan, an honest and industrious man with a faculty for forcing large fruits, is early in the tale married to Bella, "who was both prudent and handsome."

After his marriage things prospered more than ever with him, and all would have gone well if a gardener with the unpleasant name of Guzzle, had not settled near them. This man, instead of gardening, "spent his time from morning to night in an ale house."

Jonathan was so taken by the merry and thoughtless humor of Guzzle," that he "fell into the same ruinous error." We are not told whether the author regards humor as a ruinous error or not, but, from his steady abstinence himself, he probably frowned upon it.

"At first Jonathan only went now and then to drink with him, and to talk about gardening; but he very soon began to drop the subject of plants, and

delight only in the praises of malt."

Bella is naturally pained, and, when he commits depredations upon his trees with his pruning-knife, owing to his muddled head, she foresees the end.

He went from bad to worse, until at last he sold all his tools, and spent the money with Guzzle.

That settled it as far as Bella was concerned. She happened to have a six months' infant in the house-one" which received its nourishment from her breast."

That evening, when Jonathan came home "drunk and swearing at his wife," he asked her for something to eat. Bella handed him a knife and put before him a large basket covered with her apron ; Jonathan in a pet pulled away the apron; and beheld his sleeping babe!

"Eat that," said Bella, with withering sarcasm, "for I have nothing else to give you. If you do not devour it, famine and misery will in a short time."

Needless to say that Jonathan went without his supper, swore off, and soon started a new orchard, where he used his pruning-knife with a gardener's discretion, and the end of that family was happiness. "Thus was an innocent infant the cause of reformation in a deluded father."

The cuts, some of which are here reproduced, are of a piece with the text, and are more decorous than decorative.

Charles Battell Loomis.