us from a more distant one. But to all, I am sure, the incoming and outgoing of love has been more and more manifest as related to his inner life. It was my privilege to see him during eight years of this quiet, peaceful evening-time, as he turned his thoughts and studies towards the writings which tell of the Divine Master's life and love. The joy of the calm evening seemed to grow deeper as the time passed on. The light seemed to grow brighter. The Christian scholar and teacher and preacher seemed to rejoice with a gentle and sweet satisfaction in the interchange of love between himself and the world-in the kindly and reverential feeling which all men had towards himself, and in the answering kindliness which he felt for all. The eveningtime moved forward, and the light faded peacefully and gradually towards the time for sleep.

And now the Father's appointed hour has come. The man of many years, and many virtues, and many gifts, and many sorrowing, yet rejoicing friends, has fallen asleep.

Our farewell word for him, and concerning him, as we lay his body in its resting-place and go to our life's work once more, is a beautiful word-is it not?

"What manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God and such he was. Beloved, it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. But we know that if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is."

PRAYER BY PROFESSOR FISHER.

O Lord, our God, Fill us with a sense of thy power, thy compassion, thy willingness to protect and comfort us; so that, with thy Servant of old, we shall be moved to say: "Whom have we in Heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that we desire beside Thee." It is Thou, O God, who hast made us, and not we ourselves. By Thee our days are determined: Thou hast appointed our bounds that we cannot pass. Yet are we permitted by thy mercy to cherish the hope which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. We pray Thee to help all afflicted souls here, in this House of Prayer, to look to Him who hath overcome

death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life. Help them to trust in Him who, when He left the earth, went to prepare mansions for His followers, that where He is, they might be, also. May we be assured, with the Apostle, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, seeing that it hath pleased Thee to bring to an end the mortal life of thine aged servant, and to release him from his infirmities and sufferings, we give thanks to Thee for all those qualities of mind and character which called forth our veneration and love, and for all the good which, during this long succession of years, Thou hast enabled him to do in the world. For the way in which Thou hast led him from the beginning; for the guiding hand of thy Providence, and the precious gifts of thy Grace; for the opportunities afforded him to acquire knowledge; for his early consecration to Thee and his life-long devotion to thy service; that he was called to teach in this Institution, and then to preside over it and to conduct its affairs; for his earnest fidelity to every trust, his righteous abhorrence of evil-doing, his fearless performance of duty, his manifold labors in the cause of learning and religion, we render to Thee our humble and hearty thanks,— most of all rejoicing that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had his conversation in the world, and more abundantly to us-ward. We bless Thee that this day of mourning is a day of gratitude and of praise. And now that he is gone from among us, may the Holy Spirit be present with all who are nearly affected by this act of thy Providence, to teach and to console, and to impress on the heart the lessons to be learned from it. Enter, we pray Thee, the household of which he was the head. Bless with all grace and consolation the wife and daughter who have ministered to him in the weakness of his declining years. We beseech Thee to comfort and strengthen them, and to grant unto them peace from above. Regard in mercy all his children, whether present or absent, and all others who were bound to him by ties of kindred or family connection. May they receive in abundant measure the blessing pronounced upon those that mourn, even the Lord's promise of comfort. remember in our prayers the sons of the College, far and near, who in times past have sat at his feet,-whose thoughts will

We

come back to this place and to him whose voice and example have been a guide and an inspiration in all their subsequent life. May the recollection of their revered Teacher ever continue to inspirit them to conscientious and noble conduct, and to unselfish Christian exertions in behalf of their fellow-men. The Lord be near to the immediate successor of our departed friend in the office of President in this Institution, and help him to bear every burden of sorrow and affliction. We beseech Thee to sanctify this event to the spiritual good of all who hold offices of government and instruction in this University. May we keep in mind the supplication which was offered here so often and so fervently by him who has left us, that all instruction may be leavened with the spirit of religion,—the spirit of reverence and faith, and the sense of responsibility to God. Here, in all departments of this ancient seat of learning, among teachers and pupils, may the elevating effect of his teaching and his life forever abide. May we be admonished that we are sojourners on the earth, even as our fathers were. Help us, O God, to live as strangers and pilgrims, looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker Thou art.

Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity, we give thee hearty thanks for the good examples of all those thy servants, who, having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labors. And we beseech Thee, that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

CURRENT

LITERATURE.

BROWNELL'S "FRENCH TRAITS."*-In the charming preface to "The Marble Faun," as characteristic and perfect an example of the author's style and spirit as can anywhere be found-Hawthorne says of himself: "He has lived too long abroad not to be aware that a foreigner seldom acquires that knowledge of a country at once flexible and profound, which may justify him in endeavoring to idealize its traits." Though this was said in connection with his disavowal of an attempt in that work at "a portraiture of Italian manners and character," the remark is equally true of the difficulty of catching and truly presenting, by analysis and description, the traits of a foreign people. Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt. In writing history or in painting contemporaneous foreign manners and character, nothing is rarer than the capacity for pure objectivity. But objectivity alone will not secure the best result. A sympathetic spirit a spirit which finds interest in all things human, not the spirit which comes of prepossessions of education or prejudices of habit is indispensable.

The book before us is a fine example of what these qualities can produce when united with admirable literary skill. It is within our knowledge that Mr. Brownell has observed and studied what he here writes of, with prolonged and conscientious fidelity, and we think he has also brought to his task the faculty of seeing things as they are, and of judging them by the just measure of impartial sympathy. Insight, clear and penetrative vision, are the qualities which distinguish this piece of work.

It is not comparatively important that one should agree with the conclusions or generalizations of such an observer. His facts. -his record and report of what he sees-cannot but be valuable. When to this is added, as here, the charm of a sound and adequate literary style, we have a result which adds a substantial

*French Traits. An Essay in Comparative Criticism, by W. C. BROWNELL. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1889.

contribution to our knowledge as well as enjoyment. We do not mean that Mr. Brownell's facts or report may not be impeached or contradicted by other observers of equal intelligence and impartiality. The things of which he treats are moral, not physical. Logical or physical demonstration is not possible in such matters. Different eyes see different sights and each may see truly. Illusions too are possible to the most honest observers. Coleridge had no doubt Dr. Johnson saw the Cock-Lane ghost, and no doubt that there was no ghost there to be seen. No one can doubt Mr. Brownell has seen what he reports or that he saw what was well worth reporting.

The book has ten chapters, and each is well differentiated from the others. The chapters on "The Social Instinct," "Morality," "Women," and "Democracy," seem to us the most valuable and distinctive. The former chapter is the true pièce de resistance of the volume. Noting the contrast, unexampled elsewhere, between the achievements, manners and life of France in the centuries before Louis XIV. and those of to-day, "the contrast between her actual self and her monuments," Mr. Brownell finds that this contrast is explained by the constant presence and power of one characteristic French trait,-what he well calls "the social instinct." "French history," he observes, "is the history of this instinct." He finds a close spiritual identity between the successive periods of French history which bear so great apparent dissimilarities. Quoting Gambetta's remark : "There are no questions but social questions ;" he concludes, "The apothegm formulates the spiritual instinct of France since the days of her national beginnings. It formulates also, I think, the instinct of the future. That is why France is so inexhaustibly interesting, because in one way or another she, far more than any other nation, has represented the aspirations of civilization, because she has always sought development in common, and because in this respect the ideal she has always followed is the ideal of the future." Such observations are fundamental, and if correct, are an explanation which explains.

The average American, who has been in the habit of regarding French character and manners through the media of ordinary reporters, will find much in Mr. Brownell's chapters on "Morality" and "Women" to give him pause and to teach him that swift or sweeping judgments on such questions are not wise. "Morality," says our author, "is indeed a fundamental matter,