its way, is an achievement by no means small, and Mr. Baskett's book must therefore be ranked well above the average of its class. The belated skepticism hinted above is due, perhaps, to a failure always to realize that variants from type, and especially from the type which is that of convention rather than of actuality, are as frequent in communities like those which he describes as in parts of the country called more advanced. Mr. Baskett, by implication, insists that in his rustics there are all the possibilities of humanity, and its numerous impossibilities, as well, and doubtless he is right.

A pretty little story in pretty red covers is rather overweighted with Oh, What A Plague Is Love! for title. Six words with a comma and exclamation point really form more of a burden than the pretty little story in the pretty red covers should have been forced to carry, and it is only

OH, WHAT A PLAGUE IS LOVE! By Katharine Tynan. A. C. McClurg & Co.

charitable to prophesy that they will not be carried far. After all, however, there is no particularly good reason for begrudging the pomp and pride of permanencymeaning pasteboard and cloth-to Mrs. Tynan's latest production. It has interest and grace, humor and sympathy, and in at least one of the characters introduced there is the charm of comparative novelty. An elderly widower who keeps his three grown daughters in a constant state of alarm by oft-repeated efforts to give them a step-mother, and who does it without losing the respect of the reader or the affection of the daughters, is certainly not a common figure in æstival literature. They are distinctly nice people, these whom love plagued-not too severely or too long-and very human. An odd forty-five minutes is not wasted in making their acquaintance. More time is often employed less profitably and less pleasantly without causing any notable amount of regret. F. C. Mortimer.

THE chief value, and a very actual one,

of Dr. William E. Griffis's American in Holland will be found in the identification of the original names of men and of places and of the peculiarities and customs of Holland with the Dutch life of New York City and State. The author, although not himself of Dutch descent, seems to have taken for years a warm interest in the life and men of a time when our part of the world was more Dutch than anything else. Scratch a New Yorker and you will find a Dutchman, seems to have been one of his mottoes. Also, conversely, scratch a Dutchman or a Dutch. town and you will find something to remind you of the New York of 1650. Dr.

Griffis went through Holland from end to end, not only once but several times, visiting the most remote of her provinces and finding in the most out-of-the-way places things of interest to an American and especially to a New Yorker. The book closes with an account of the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina.

Dr. Griffis believes that there is a bright future for the little country on the North Sea. He admires her people immensely. They are slow but earnest workers, women as well as men. He mentions, by the way, the fact that of the 727 apothecaries in Holland 313 are women, which is one custom that we have not adopted. As oysterdredgers, brickmakers, embroiderers, en

gravers, authors and artists the Dutch women do well. Along the railway lines may be seen the women guards, flag in hand, dressed in a neat uniform. The Netherland railway companies find them more trustworthy than men. [Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 12mo, $1.50.]

In As Seen by Me, a frankly personal book, Miss Lillian Bell tells the thousand and one little incidents and impressions that fall to the lot of a susceptible person on a first trip abroad. In this case the traveler has a livelier sense of adventure and a smarter manner of expression than the average, and has consequently recorded many rather amusing events and opinions. The book is written in short sentences, and has a vivacious and feminine flavor. It has the merit of not burdening the mind with anything one need remember. It is quickly digested, refreshing and light. In the midst of foreign things the " American point of view" is religiously maintained. All the written impressions spring from qualities which we all fundamentally admire, and yet the narrative is so very "smart" that one can hardly follow it comfortably. "The very leather of her purse fairly squeaks with ecstasy when she thinks of Paris"; and "If a kiss explodes with unusual violence in a cab near mine it no longer disturbs me in the least. My nervousness over that sort of thing has entirely worn off"; are examples of the style. [Harper & Brothers, 12mo, $1.25.]

Hilda Wade, by the late Grant Allen, is the last book of its author and fairly deserves the sub-title-" A Woman With Tenacity of Purpose." The woman with the purpose of redeeming some kinsman's good name from unmerited obloquy is not unfamiliar in fiction; but few heroines have had the chance to show as much tenacity as Hilda Wade. The story of her long duel with "the Master," Professor Sebastian, an eminent physiologist, whose pure love for science has caused Hilda's father to

be accused of murdering his uncle and brought on his death from heart disease, is the situation about which the plot is formed. Hilda, under an assumed name, becomes a nurse in Professor Sebastian's hospital; he discovers her identity, and in course of an operation at which she is assisting, tries to poison her with a needle carrying bacilli of pyæmia. Hilda foils this design and takes ship for Africa, whither she is pursued by the young doctor who is in love with her, and also by Sebastian, who forthwith incites the Matabele to rise and massacre all the white settlers. Hilda and the doctor escape and depart for India, where Sebastian bribes a guide to get them across the frontier and betray them into the hands of Tibetan lamas. Dr. Conan Doyle wrote the last chapter from the sketch made by Mr. Allen just before his death. [G. P. Putnam's Sons, 12mo, $1.50.]

The Romance of Gilbert Holmes, by Marshall Monroe Kirkman, the author of "The Science of Railways," is a book in twelve volumes, and, like many other books of its kind, is much better in substance than in form. It is a long, rambling tale, with historical elements and rather faded efforts at local color, bringing in the Mississippi Valley, wolves, highwaymen, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, the Indians, etc. The hero is a remarkably good man who has a great many adventures, is a constant philosopher, moralist and sentimentalist. The style is of the ambulatory or garden variety, and lends itself rather to contemplation than to action. Safe and admirable sentiments are sandwiched in between the incidents, which occur in a very genial way, are edifying rather than exciting. There is one drawback, however, that might weigh with the pedantic reader; although to the more robust reader it will seem superficial and unimportant; the author does not seem thoroughly to have

mastered the principles of English grammar. The present participle in particular is subjected to great abuse. [The World Railway Publishing Co.]

A Diplomatic Woman, by Huan Mee, is another book of the "smart" species. It is a series of stories which never chanced, and many of which never could have chanced, on sea or land. They are frankly unreal tales, suggestive at once of Jules Verne and Sherlock Holmes, written with some vivacity and some effort, the interest lying entirely, however, in the strange situations. They are told in the first person. The heroine relates how clever she is, and the other personages agree with her without demanding proof, though the things she does are not so obviously clever. But she has evidently a turn for adventure. One of the most remarkable of the stories is "Le Diable." She undertakes to obtain for her friend, the Minister of Marine, a submarine boat that goes sixty miles an hour. She visits the owner and inventor of the boat, a madman, with whom she is alone for a couple of days, although he intermittently fancies that Madame de Staël, Voltaire, Sardou, Alfred de Musset and Napoleon are also there, with design to steal his invention. The diplomatic woman finally persuades him to take her on the boat, which he has hitherto zealously guarded from everybody in order to preserve it for his coffin. In the course of a cruise he falls into a frenzy, and almost kills the lady, who is rescued by a French cruiser just in the nick of time, for "Le Diable" sinks beneath her feet. [Harper & Brothers, 12mo, $1.50.]

Made after the proper romantic recipe, De la Salle is a fine French name, and noble, moreover; and Mr. Van Zile's Sword and Crucifix is a tale of La Salle's last voyage on the Mississippi-a historical incident sufficiently remote for color and not too remote to interest American

sympathies. The picturesque Indian is present, and the Spanish beauty, who is a captive among the sun-worshippers. There are gay, cynical French cavaliers, who still feel the charm of nature in woods and women; and priests with mysterious power. The language of the book, too, points as indubitably to the romantic novel of legitimate brand as do the characters and incidents. Some of the sentences are almost like blank verse. [Harper & Brothers, 12mo, $1.25.]

A new abridgment of Webster's "International Dictionary" is called Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and seems to be, as the publishers say they have tried to make it, the fullest abridgment of the "International," containing the most essential parts of the work in a form as compact as possible, with special reference to the needs of the college student. Even so, the book is bulky, but not inconveniently so. The vocabulary is made smaller by the omission of certain technical terms and most of the obsolete or very rare literary words. The words in the Bible and in Shakespeare are all retained. The etymologies have the essential qualities of those in the larger dictionary, and the pronunciation is indicated by the same simple means as in the "International." The original language is retained in the definitions so far as possible, and more than eleven hundred pictorial illustrations are retained.

This dictionary is intended to replace the old "National Pictorial," and contains some entirely new matter, while the whole appendix of the earlier book, revised and improved, is taken over. There are many lists of proper names, a vocabulary of rhymes, a collection of foreign words and phrases, and there is a Scottish glossary.

The book has nearly eleven hundred pages, and is a most useful and desirable issue in the series of good dictionaries in which the last few years have been so rich. [G. & C. Merriam Co., Svo, $3.00.]

FICTION

A Second Coming. Richard March. John Lane, 12mo, 305 pp., $1.50.

The Cardinal's Snuff-Box. Henry Harland. Lane, 12mo, 319 pp., $1.50.

John

Stanford Stories. Charles K. Field and W. H. Irwin. Doubleday, Page & Co., illustrated, 12mo, 281 pp., $1.25. The Boarder of Argyle Place. George Toile. R. F. Fenno & Co., 12mo, 241 pp., $1.25.

The Things That Count. Elizabeth Knight Tompkins. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 12mo, 383 pp., $1 00.

The Elusive Hildegrade. H. R. Martin. R. F. Fenno & Co., 12mo, 328 pp., $1 25.

From Door to Door. Bernard Capes. F. A. Stokes Co., 12mo, 318 pp., $1.50.

An Opera and Lady Grasmere. Albert Kinross. F. A. Stokes Co., 12mo, 290 pp., $1.25.

The Knight of the Grip. David Williams Co., 12mo, 179 pp., $1.00.

Memory Street. Martha Baker Dunn. L. C. Page & Co., 12mo, 312 pp., $1.50.

The Black Terror. John K. Leys. L. C. Page & Co., 12mo. 340 pp., $1.50.

As the Light Led. James Newton Baskett. Macmillan Co., 16mo, 392 pp., $1.50.

Ezra Hardman and Other Stories. Sara B.Rogers. Dodge Publication Co., illustrated, 12mo, 209 pp., $1.25. The Transgressors. Francis A. Adams. Independence Pub. Co., 12mo, 345 pp., $1.25.

Voices in the Night. Mrs. F. A. Steele. Macmillan Co., 12mo, 418 pp., $1.50.

Babes in the Bush, Rolf Bolderwood. Macmillan Co., 12mo, 420 pp, $1.50.

The Baron's Sons. Maurus Jokai. L. C. Page & Co., 12mo, 343 pp., $1.50.

Four Years Nine. Bart Mynderse. F. A. Stokes Co., 12mo, 344 pp., $1.25.

The Knights of the Cross. Henryk Sienkiewicz. Translated by Jeremíah Curtin. Little, Brown & Co., Part II, 8vo, 352 pp., $2.00.

The Minister's Guest. Isabel Smith. D. Appleton & Co., 12mo, 400 pp., $1.00.

To the Healing of the Sea. Francis Hardy. Drexel, Biddle, 12mo, 302 pp., $1.25.

The Wings of Silence. George Cossins. Drexel Biddle, 12mo, 293 pp., $1 25.

The West End. Percy White. Harpers, 12mo, 405 pp., $1.50.

The Passing of Thomas. T. A. Janvier. Harpers, illustrated, 12mo, 181 pp., $1 25.

Cap and Gown in Prose. Edited by R. L. Paget. L. C. Page & Co., 16mo, 298 pp., $1.25.

Oh, What a Plague is Love! Katharine Tynan. A. C. McClurg & Co., 12mo, 151 pp., 75 cents.

The Dread and Fear of Kings. J. Breckenridge Ellis. A. C. McClurg & Co., 12mo, 360 pp., $1.25.

The Isle of the Winds. S. R. Crockett. Doubleday & McClure Co., illustrated, 8vo, 446 pp., $1.50. All He Knew. John Habberton. pp., $1.00.

197

E. S. Gorham, 12mo,

Hilda Wade. Grant Allen. G. P. Putnam's Sons, illustrated, 12mo, 383 pp., $1.50.

Talks with Barbara. Elizabeth Knight Tompkins. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 12mo, 279 pp., $1.50.

Bishop Pendle. Fergus Hume. Rand, McNally & Co., 12mo, 324 pp., $1.25.

A Rise in the World. Adeline Sergeant. F. M. Buckles & Co., 12mo, 377 pp., $1.25.

The Sword of the King. Ronald Macdonald. Century Co., 12mo, 349 pp., $1.00.

Boy (A Sketch). Marie Correlli. J. B. Lippincott Co., 12mo, 348 pp., $1.50.

What a Woman Did. Ch. Catchell. Era Pub. Co., 12mo, 337 pp., $1.00.

The Story of Grettir the Strong. Wm. Morris. Longmans, Green & Co., 12mo, 280 pp., $1.00.

A Diplomatic Woman. Huan Mee. Harper Bros., 16mo, 174 pp., $1.25.1

The Banker and The Bear. H. K. Webster. Macmillan Co., 16mo, 351 pp., $1.50. An American Colonel. Pub. Co., 8vo, 315 pp., $1.00.

Hon. Jere Clemens. Wolfe

The Last Sentence. Maxwell Gray. D. Appleton & Co., 12mo, 491 pp., $1.00.

A Millionaire of Yesterday. E. Phillips Oppenheim. J. B. Lippincott Co., 12mo, 315 pp., $1.00.

Bequeathed. Beatrice Whitby. Harper Bros., 12mo, 335 pp., $1.50.

Helbeck of Bannisdale. Mrs. Humphry Ward. Macmillan Co., 12mo, 336 pp.. $1.50.

The Golden Fleece. From the French of Amédée Achard. L. C. Page & Co., 12mo, 435 pp.

The Meloon Farm. Maria Louise Pool. 12mo, 401 pp., $1.50.

Harper Bros.,

Lady Blanche's Salon. Lloyd Bryce. Harper Bros., 229 pp., $1.25.

The Woman That's Good. Harold Richard Vynne. Rand, McNally & Co., 12mo, 473 pp., $1.25.

Pine Knot. William E. Barton. D. Appleton & Co., 12mo, 360 pp., $1.50.

Brown of Lost River. Mary E. Stickney. D. Appleton & Co., 12mo, 309 pp., $1.00.

Tales from Tokio. Clarence L. Brownell. Warner & Brownell, 16mo, 244 pp., $1.25.

Tom Jones. Henry Fielding. Macmillan Co., 2 vols., 8vo, each, $1.75.

Comrades True. Annie Thomas. F. M. Buckles & Co., 12mo, 854 pp., $1.25.

A Royal Enchantress. Leo Charles Dessar. Continental Pub. Co., illustrated, 12mo, 350 pp., $1.50.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden. Macmillan Co., New Edition, 12mo, 225 pp., $1.75.

Kings in Exile. Alphonse Daudet. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. Little, Brown & Co., 16mo, 412 pp., $1.50.

Little Parish Church. Alphonse Daudet. Translated by George Burnham Ives. Little, Brown & Co., 16mo, 360 pp., $1.50.

Numa Roumestan. Translated by Charles De Kay, Little, Brown & Co., 16mo, 396 pp., $1.50.

Odd Tales. Walter Beverley Crane. M. Witmark & Sons, illustrated, square 12mo, 106 pp., $1.00.

Travels in England. Richard Le Gallienne. John Lane, illustrated, 12mo, 291 pp., $1.50.

Highways and Byways in Normandy. Percy Dearmer. Macmillan Co., illustrated, 12mo, 368 pp., $2.00.

The Anglo-American Guide to the Paris Exposition of 1900. F. A. Stokes Co., paper, illustrated, 12mo, 431 pp., 50 cents.

European Travel for Women. Mary Cadwalader Jones. Macmillan Co, 12mo, 301 pp., $1.00.

Greater Canada. E. B. Osborn. A. Wessels Co, 12mo, 236 pp., $1.25.

The Rockies of Canada. W. D. Wilcox G. P. Putnam's Sons, illustrated, 8vo, 309 pp., $3.50.

Oriental Pen Sketches. Finley Acker. Illustrated, 12mo, limp cloth, 109 pp., $1.00.

POEMS AND PLAYS

America and Other Poems. Bertrand Shadwell. R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 12mo, 82 pp., $1.00. Room Forty-Five -- Bride Roses. W. D. Howells. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 2 vols., 18mo, each 50 cents. The Path of Dreams. Leigh Gordon Giltner. F. H. Revell Co., 16mo, 96 pp., $1.25.

Advent of Empire. Morrison I. Swift. Ronbrook Press, 18mo, 143 pp., $1.00.

Up in Maine. Holman F. Day. Small, Maynard & Co., illustrated, 16mo, 209 pp., $1.00.

The Works of Shakespeare. The Larger Temple Edition, Vol. II. Macmillan Co., 12mo, $1.50.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM iii. 1.

499. (1) What prisoner in the Bastile was let loose after forty years, and was the original of a character in Dickens's "Tale of Two Cities"? (2) Who said: "Lidless dragon eyes "? (3) Who wrote:

"Secret shades

Of woody Ida's inmost grove,

While yet there was no fear of Jove "?

E. D.

(1) When the mob broke into the Bastile, in July, 1789, they found there only seven prisoners, four of whom had been imprisoned for forgery. Of the other three, one was the Count de Solage, who had been there since he was ten years old; another was Tavernier, who had been in another prison ten years and in the Bastile thirty years; and Carlyle quotes from a letter written by a prisoner there in 1752, who signed himself Quéret Démery, and appears to imply that he was there till the end. Probably Tavernier was the one that Dickens had in mind.