The maximum is 182. The highest vote is 175, reached by Miss Alice W. Atkinson, Pataskala, Ohio, who is ruled out, having taken prize in August. The next count, 172, is reached by Mrs. Laura H. Bassett Lovell, Me., who is ruled out, having also taken prize in August. The first prize is taken by George Spafford, Cavendish, Vt., with a count of 171. The second and third prizes are divided between Miss Josie C. Buck, Schuylerville, N. Y., and Miss Julia M. Watson, Schuylerville, N. Y., who both reach a count of 170. The next count is 167, reached by Miss Jessie Newlands, Muscatine, Iowa, who is ruled, out having taken prize in October. The next count, 165, is reached by Miss Nora Canby, Philadelphia, Pa., and A. H. Votaw, Westtown, Pa., who divide the fourth and fifth prizes. The lowest count is 63.

Prize Questions Nos. 153 and 155. Subject: BOOKS OF THE MONTH.

Select books of our monthly list in accordance with the rules on Book Prize Questions printed in this issue. Selections from October issue due November 20th; from this issue December 20th.

The object of these questions is more particularly to elicit answers as to which of the new books can be safely recommended for reading or study.

The answers shall consist of six titles, selected from the classified list of the "SURVEY OF CURRENT LITERATURE" (found in each issue of the LITERARY NEWS), given under two sections, viz.: three titles under A, restricted to Fiction, Humor and Satire, Poetry and the Drama; three under B, selected from the other departments. New editions of books and books mentioned for reference only (usually indicated in list by brackets) are excluded.

The titles should be arranged and numbered under each section, in the order of their estimation by the competitor.

The vote on each book is determined by the number of lists which contain it. Thus if a book is found on ten lists, it counts ten. As a full account is given of all the books that receive more than one vote (that is, appear on more than one list), every one can readily estimate the standing of his list by ascertaining the number of votes each of his books received, and adding them up for the total vote.

TOPICS IN THE NOVEMBER MAGAZINES. *Articles marked with an asterisk are illustrated. Confined to the more popular American magazines that are received in time for classification. For a full survey of periodical literature, see Fletcher's quarterly Co-operative Index to leading periodicals (supplementing Poole's Index).

ARTISTIC, MUSICAL, AND DRAMATIC.-Century, "The Temple of the Ephesian Artemis and the Ancient Silver Patera from Bernay," by Charles Waldstein; "The Architectural League of New York," by Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer (Open Letters).— Harper's, "Hints on Speech-Making," by Thos. W. Higginson.

BIOGRAPHICAL.-Atlantic, "Henry Hobson Richardson, Architect," by Henry Van Brunt.-Catholic World, "A Man of his Time" (De Rancé), by Jean M. Stone.-Century, "Abraham Lincoln," I., by John G. Nicolay and John Hay.*-Lippincott's, "Ludwig of Bavaria," by Len Vanderpool.-Magazine of American History, "Gov. Thomas Pownall," by Robt. L. Fowler.*-Popular Science, Chevreul at a Hundred," by W. H. Larrabee; "Edward S. Holden," by W. C. Winlock (with portrait).

DESCRIPTIVE.-Catholic World, "Along the Green Bienne," by M. P. Thompson; "Provincial Life in England," by Lucy C. Lillie.-Century," Old Chelsea," by Benj. E. Martin.*-Eclectic, "Visit to Some Austrian Monasteries," by St. George Mivart; "Rural Tuscany," by Leopold Katscher.-Magazine of American History, "Historical Homes," by Jas. G. Burr.North American Review, "The Cities of Italy," by "Ouida."

EDUCATIONAL.-Catholic World, "Religion in Education," by Thos. J. Conaty.-Forum, "How I Was Educated," by Pres. Timothy Dwight.

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HISTORICAL.-Atlantic, "A Korean Coup D'État," by Percival Lowell; Germs of National Sovereignty in the U. S.," by John Fiske.-Century, "Hooker's Appointment and Removal," by Z.;* Battle of the First Day at Gettysburg," by Gen. Henry J. Hunt.*— Harper's, "Tragedy of the Mouffetich," by Edwin De Leon.-Magazine of American History, "Braddock's Defeat," by T. J. Chapman; "Virginia's Conquest," by J. C. Wells; "The Split at Charleston in 1860," by A. W. Clason.-North American Review, "Six Unpublished Letters," by Geo. Washington; "Some Unpublished War Letters," addressed to Gen. W. T. Sherman.

HYGIENIC AND SANITARY.-Popular Science, " Hygienic Treatment of Consumption," by Benj. W. Richardson.

France

INDUSTRIAL. Century, "The Need of Trade Schools," by Richard T. Auchmuty.*-Forum, "Industrial Necessities," by Carroll D. Wright.-Harper's, "The American Cow-Boy," by Jos. Nimmo, Jr. LITERARY.-Atlantic, "Epic Russia;" under Mazarin."-Catholic World, "Chat about New Books," by Maurice F. Egan.—Forum, Hundred Authors," by F. H. Hedge.-Harper's, "The Literary Movement in New York," by Geo. P. Lathrop.* -Lippincott's, "Reflections and Recollections," by Geo. A. Townsend; "My Journalistic Experiences," by Jeanette L. Gilder; "How I Became a Funny Man," by J. H. Williams.-North American Review, "Robert Burns as Poet and Person," by Walt Whitman. NEW SERIALS.-Century, "The Hundredth Man,” I., by Frank R. Stockton.

Theodore Roosevelt.-Forum, "Our Political Methods," by David Dudley Field; Recent Naval Progress," by Woods Pasha; "Prohibition, So-called," by Leonard W. Bacon, D.D.; "State and the Criminal," by Z. R. Brockway; English and American Fire Services," by H. D. Purroy.-Harper's, "How I Formed my Salon," by Mme. Edmond Adam;* "Our CoastGuard," by Lieut. W. G. Ross;* "Co-operation among English Working-Men," by A. H. D. Ackland.-Lippincott's, "Newspaperism," by Condé Benoist Pallen. -North American Review, "How Shall the Negro be Educated?" by Edmund Kirke; "Indian Policy of the U. S.," by Jefferson Davis; "A Slave-Trader's Letter-Book;" by Frank S. Bond.-Popular Science, "Origin and Results of Sunday Legislation," by A. H. Lewis; "Inebriate Maniacs," by T. D. Crothers.

RELIGIOUS AND SPECULATIVE.-Catholic World, "Christian_Unity vs. Unity of Christians," by H. H. Wyman; "Present State of the Chinese Missions," by Hugh P. McElrone.-North American Review, “Why Am I a Churchman?" by the Bishop of Kentucky. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL.-Forum, “Oil on the Waters," by R. H. Thurston.— Lippincott's, "Our Earthquakes," by Felix L. Oswald.-Popular Science, "North America in the Ice Period," by J. S. Newberry; "Recent Advances in Solar Astronomy,” by C. A. Young.

SHORT STORIES.-Atlantic, "The Peckster Professorship," by J. P. Quincy; "The Blindman's World," by Edward Bellamy.-Catholic World, At Last, Though Long," by Agnes Power.-Century, "The Fate of a Voice," by Mary Hallock Foote.-Eclectic, "Coincidences."-Harper's, "Tragic Story of Binns," by Harriet P. Spofford ; “ Halloween," by William Sharp.*- Lippincott's, " Brueton's Bayou," by John Habberton; "A Newspaper Affair," by Edwin F. Bishop.

WOMAN.-Eclectic, "Future Supremacy of Women," by E. Lynn Linton.

MORE BOOKS FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. NEW BLOOMFIELD, PA., Oct. 16, 1886.

Mrs. F. Leypoldt, New York.

DEAR MADAM: I am deeply interested in the subject of Prize Question No. 140. Since my two children, now six and eight years of age, have needed books their father and I have been on the watch for suitable reading-matter for them, and as we have often been disappointed in books that were highly recommended, I venture to offer you some of the fruits of our experience.

or

Under Bible Stories I would highly recommend "Stories of Long Ago" (Am. Tract Soc., 4 vols., 25 c.). Concerning One-Syllable Books my opinion may differ from that of many others, but I think all teachers of young children will agree that it is the idea conveyed by a word and not its length which makes it "hard 'easy." Let any one who cares to prove this teach any bright child the words the and hippopotamus: I believe the latter will be more easily acquired every time. If this is true, is it not a mistake to mutilate such venerable classics "" as Pilgrim's Progress," Æsop's Fables," "Robinson Crusoe," Swiss Family Robinson," and "Sandford and Merton"?

It is not only that the change is unnecessary, but often the object is defeated through using a word that is less familiar to the child. I have none of the above at hand, but will give a few illustrations from Mrs. Pierson's "History of the United States," a book which I should admire very much if it were not "in words of one syllable." When words of more than one syllable are unavoidable, the syllables are set apart by hyphens, thus giving them a strange appearance to a child who has learned them elsewhere, while the use of in for into, coin for money, oft for often, folk for people, chief for president, can hardly be thought an improve

46

ment. Then the effort to use small words often produces a quaint style that has a certain charm but is not intelligible to small children; as "said the word" for gave the order," and "full of fear" for "fearful" or 'afraid." In Higginson's History of the United States," pp. 197, 198, we read: "We must be unanimous; there must be no pulling different ways; we must all hang together." "Yes," said Franklin, "we must all hang together, or else we shall all hang separately." In our One-Syllable History," p. 66, we find: "We must be one; we must all pull the same way; we must hang side by side." "Or we shall hang with none at our side," said Franklin. Instead of "Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof," we have, "Let all the land be free." For "No bread no soldier," we have, "No food no man." These historical sayings should be among a child's earliest memories, and, even if the language is unchildlike, I think there is something in their ring that appeals even to a child's heart.

I would suggest the addition to the books on Natural History of "Elmridge Talks," by Ella Rodman Church: "Flyers and Crawlers," "Birds and Their Ways," 'Flower Talks at Elmridge," Among the Trees at Elmridge" (Presb. Board of Publication), each $1.25 (I think there is another volume the title of which I have forgotten); also, "Beasts and Birds" (Am. Tract Soc).

Shall we give the babies such books as "Goody Gracious"? I know nothing of the book except the title, but it seems to me that the line between such expressions and profanity would be hard to draw.

The Abbott stories were the delight of my childhood, and my children are much interested in them, but, as my little girl said this evening, "Mamma, why do they use such big words when small ones are better?"

My disapproval of short words when a longer one would make the meaning clearer is only equalled by my preference for them when they will do the work as well. So I would not speak of a squirrel as “endeavoring to rescue her little ones from the impending confla gration," or a child's tea-party as a collation. I would have Wallace begin his story rather than commence his narrative; I would have Caroline see rather than perceive, and show ill-humor instead of evincing it. These examples are taken from one of the Franconia books and quite as striking ones are plentiful in the Rollo books. We also find in all these books frequent slips in the use of language, as: "Let Thanny and I," "Advance slow," "Look beautifully," "See it plain,” “It does not rain but little," etc., etc. Would not a revised edition of these truly admirable books be welcomed at this time? In this connection I am reminded that in one of Mrs. Prentiss's pretty stories" Henry and Lucy" I think-we find the strange combination: "You was."

I think Douglas's "History of China" (Lothrop, $1.50), Higginson's "Young Folks' History of the United States" (Lee and Shepard, $1.50), and Dickens's "Child's History of England," would be valuable additions to the histories.

Mrs F. Leypoldt.

MRS. W. H. SCHUYLER.

NEW YORK, October, 1886. DEAR MADAM: It is of the utmost importance that we should place in the hands of our little ones only what is poetic and pure, for first impressions are lasting. There is no better book for a child than Hans Andersen's fairy tales. They were given me before I could read. I loved them then for the charm of the story. I reread them now for the beauty of the style. Be careful to obtain a good translation. Mary Howitt's is the best. In one very poor translation, the title of that most poetic of fairy tales, "The Marsh King's Daughter," is rendered "The Mud King's Daughter," and so on in the same style. Remember that every book your child reads helps to form his taste.

GEORGIANNA MENDUM.

FRESHEST NEWS.

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & Co. have published a full report of the great debate on the Andover theory of a possible future probation, at the recent meeting of the American Board at Des Moines.

THE CENTURY Co. has published in book form Frank R. Stockton's latest story, "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine," which has been running through recent numbers of The Century and has been most enthusiastically received.

THE BALTIMORE PUBLISHING Co. will publish immediately a remarkable work by the Rev. Dr. Bernard O'Reilly, called "Novissima; or, where do our departed go?" It is said to be the only work on this subject ever written by a Roman Catholic, and it is thought it will prove of interest to all denominations.

CUPPLES, UPHAM & Co. have published the longawaited "Harvard University in the War of 18611865," by Francis H. Brown. Dr. Brown was selected as editor, it will be remembered, by the " Committee of Five," consisting of President Eliot, Dr. R. W. Hooper, Mr. Waldo Higginson, Professor Childs, and Mr. C. E. Guild.

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS have just published "Our Arctic Province: Alaska and the Seal Islands," by Henry W. Elliott; "The Messianic Prophecy," by Dr. C. A. Briggs, who gives in this book a critical study of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament in the order of their development, and "The Buchholz Family," sketches of Berlin life, by Julius Stinde, translated by L. Dora Schmitz.

WM. R. JENKINS has just ready a new revised and enlarged edition of Liautard's "Vade Mecum of Equine Anatomy;" and "Equine Hospital Prescriber," by Dr. James B. and Albert Gresswell. Three little books appropriate for Christmas are also ready: "Glad Tidings," "A Happy Christmas," and " Glad Sounds," all consisting of verses from different poets, touching upon the religious joyousness of the day, very neatly printed with red-line borders and gotten up in illuminated covers.

HENRY S. ALLEN, N. Y., will publish directly the book upon which Rev. Dr. A. Stewart Walsh, of New York City, has been engaged for two years, and which he calls "Mary, the Queen of the House of David and Mother of Jesus." Dr. Walsh resigned the pulpit of an influential church for the purpose of devoting himself wholly to this book. Dr. Walsh is a Baptist, but a liberal man, and he carefully avoids sectarianism and controversy. The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage will furnish the book with a preface. The work will be sold by subscription only.

TICKNOR & Co. have published "Persia and the 'Persians," by Hon. S. G. W. Benjamin, late U. S. Minister to Persia, which combines adventure and description with political information of great value; "Recollections of Eminent Men, and Other Papers," by Edwin Percy Whipple, containing characteristic papers on Sumner, Motley, Agassiz, Choate, George Eliot, etc.; "Confessions and Criticism," by Julian Hawthorne, including a variety of valuable miscellany by this skilful writer; and "The Evolution of the Snob,' a brilliant social study, by Thomas Sargeant Perry.

T. Y. CROWELL & Co. will publish at once "Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century," by Dr. Georg Brandes, translated by the Hon. R. B. Anderson, U. S. Minister to Denmark. The book will be illustrated by portraits of Hans Christian Andersen, Paul Heyse, Esaias Tegner, Henrik Ibsen, Paludan-Müller, Björnstjerne Björnson, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, and

Gustave Flaubert. Dr. Brandes has revised the proofsheets of the volume, and the work, which is published with his sanction, contains much of value respecting the leading authors of Europe and their works.

SCRIBNER & WELFORD have just ready a fine volume of interest to Americans, in "Memorials of Washington and of Mary his Mother, and Martha his Wife, from letters and papers of Robert Cary and James Sharples," by Major James Walter. The volume is illustrated with portraits in autotype of Washington and his wife, of seven prominent American women of the period, and of Priestly, from paintings by Sharples, the originals of which are now on exhibition at the rooms of the American Art Association, 6 E. Twenty-third Street, New York City; also a portrait of Mary Washington by Middleton.

FORDS, HOWARD & HULBERT have just ready "The Volcano Under the City," by a volunteer special, which is said to be a detailed and exceedingly graphic history of the great draft riot in New York in July, 1863. The author was in close relations with the authorities at Washington, and a personal friend to Acton, the head of the metropolitan police, who did more than any other man to suppress the riot. He claims to have had free access to all the records and telegraph reports, a multitude of which he gives, which kept the authorities posted throughout the riot, the records of the police department, the military, and all other official sources of information.

ROBERTS BROS. have published "Le Cousin Pons," by Balzac, the fifth issue in their translations of this author's works; "Familiar Talks on Some of Shakespeare's Comedies," by Mrs. E. W. Latimer, a series of talks to parlor audiences of ladies in Baltimore; " John Jerome: his thoughts and ways," a new story by Jean Ingelow; "Rhoda Fleming," by George Meredith, the fifth volume of their issue of this author's novels; and a new and cheaper issue of "Madame Mohl: her salon and friends," by Kathleen O'Meara. They have in preparation "Riding for Ladies," with hints on the stable, by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, author of “Ladies on Horseback," fully illustrated by Chantrey Corbould; "In the Time of Roses," a tale of two summers, told and illustrated by Florence and Edith Scannell, a charming book for girls; and "Gordon Browne's Series of Old Fairy Tales," comprising "Hop o' My Thumb" and "Beauty and the Beast," retold in a very happy manner, by Laura E. Richards, daughter of Julia Ward Howe, and author of The Joyous Story of Toto," finely illustrated by Gordon Browne. These stories were written expressly for Mr. Browne to illus trate, by request of the English publishers.

D. APPLETON & Co. have just ready a national romance by Geo. Alfred Townsend, called "Katy of Catoctin," beginning with the raid of John Brown at Harper's Ferry, and bringing in picturesque, romantic, historical, domestic, and dramatic incidents of the eventful years between that raid and the death of Lincoln; also an exquisite edition of the best-known "Essays of Elia," with over one hundred wood-cut illustrations, the work of Mr. Charles O. Murray, who did such clever work in illustrating Addison's "Sir Roger de Coverley," some two years since. They will publish shortly, simultaneously with its appearance in London, Sketches from My Life," by the late Admiral Hobart Pasha, edited by Mrs. Hobart. The volume contains, in addition to numerous adventures of a general character, descriptions of slaver-hunting on the coast of Africa, blockade-running in the South during the civil war, and experiences in the Turkish navy during the war with Russia. They will also publish immediately, by arrangement with the English publishers, Sir Francis Doyle's "Reminiscences and Opinions." Sir Francis Hastings Doyle was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and the reminiscences extend from 1813 to 1885.

A—Fiction, Poetry, and the Drama.

FICTION.

ARGLES, Mrs. MARG., [" The Duchess," pseud.] Lady Valworth's diamonds; [also,] The haunted chamber. Lippincott. 12° 75 c.

"Lady Valworth's diamonds" are stolen under peculiar circumstances. A young girl is found wearing them at a party; she reports having received them from a lover. Investigation proves the lover to be Lady Valworth's son under an assumed name. There are two heroines, to both of whom this young nobleman is engaged. The "agony" is rather " piled on," but all ends well for the young ladies, the lover ending his life in despair. 'The haunted chamber," the second story, has already appeared in other editions in this country.

BARING-GOULD, S. Little Tu'penny a tale. Appleton. 12° pap., 25 c.

"Little Tu'penny,' by S. Baring-Gould, is an agreeable novelette which Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. have just added to their twenty-five cent series of reprints. As far as we have observed it is one of the best of the number-a little book over which an hour or two may be spent with pleasure, even with profit, a thing surely not to be said of all novels, nor of any considerable proportion of them. Mr. Baring-Gould is a person of thought, and he has an entertaining style. He is not unlike Mr. Andrew Lang in his vivacity and his view of life, and anything with his name to it may be taken up with a reasonable assurance of proving good reading. 'Little Tu'penny' is a simple but interesting tale of life near London. heroine is a spoiled child who comes painfully near to social shipwreck, but whose native strength of character preserves her in the crisis, enabling the story to end happily. Both the narrative and the dialogue are maintained with much art."-The American.

The

BISHOP, PUTNAM P. The psychologist. Putnam. 12° $1.50.

"Mr. Bishop has written a novel of considerable strength and interest in 'The psychologist,' although the general reader will be apt to find his opening chapter rather discouraging. The person after whom the story is named is a well-conceived character, with a great deal more individuality and originality than usual. He is a keen observer, an analyst of character, and takes pleasure in studying and puzzling out the people about him, wherever he goes. Much of Jorman's talk is far above the ordinary conversation of fiction, and the superiority is not always or altogether an advantage, for there is danger that this too intelligent person may be regarded as a prig and a bore. He really is neither one nor the other. He talks often very well indeed. But he is prone to didacticism, and that is a tendency the novel-reader resents, and not without reason, remembering the pious frauds of which he was the victim in childhood, when the succulent preserve was made to conceal the nauseous medicine. The story grows much livelier as it proceeds, and the episode of Orrin Barleck is skilfully worked out. If the story is, as we conjecture, the author's first essay in fiction, it is a very good beginning."N. Y. Tribune.

BRYDGES, HAROLD. A fortnight in heaven: an unconventional romance. Holt. 12° $1.25.

"Who is Harold Brydges? Any one who reads the decidedly unconventional romance with the striking title, 'A fortnight in heaven' (Henry Holt), will ask this question again and again. But Harold Brydges is, at any rate, an unusually clever Englishman, with a notable style, flashing forth on every page of his fantastic story brilliants on brilliants of the keenest sarcasm, the sanest wisdom, the most bewitching humor. The heaven of his tale is America in the millennium of the 20th century. Captain Grizzle, who has a spiritual double, visits, for a bewildering fortnight of astonishing revelation, this glorious realm, and from his sublimated vantage-ground in the giantinhabited planet Jupiter, he gazes during this period upon the diminutive mannikin-haunted ball of earth; learning at last that all things are relative, that the long-resounding cry of the anarchist and the socialist for equality is after all futile, and, though pathetic enough, indeed, the expression of a certain truth on the whole utterly ridiculous and unreasonable. The book is one long, brilliantly sarcastic reductio ad absurdum of the argument for government interference in all the relations of life, and a consequent piea in this novel fashion for certain things which would undoubtedly tend towards the long-sought golden age of peace-such as repeated extensions of the franchise, just limitations of ministerial and official power à la the spirit of the editor of Truth, a rational system of education and the actual carrying out in practical life of the Christian gospel of peace. For swelling and tumultuous, yet restrained, expression of sarcasm and irony, there is nothing in recent literature that excels the speech on 'Earth as seen from heaven,' and the sermon on Humanity's golden age,' in this volume. Here are jewels strung on golden cords and waving under the sunlight in a Grecian wind. To be sure, there is more head than heart in the book. It must be read in a critical spirit and with alertness of intellect. But it is alive with suggestions and rich with illustration, and is one of those rare volumes that will be perused at a single sitting. And then will arise the question, Who is Harold Brydges?"-Boston Advertiser. [DEMING, P. Adirondack stories. Houghton, M. (Riverside pocket ser.) 12° bds., 50 c.]

DREWRY, EDITH STEWART. Baptized with a curse: a romance. Harper. 16° (Harper's handy ser.) pap., 25 c.

The story is supposed to have been given in manuscript to the man who gives it to the public and fills out the breaks to make it a connected whole. There is much detective work and all the chief characters are more or less given to making mysteries. The plot is complicated. The hero is "the slave of his atheism and his pleasures." At the last he becomes afraid of his scoffing infidelity and turns to the Christian faith on the eve of meeting his terrible fate. The two heroines and three heroes get but little peace and pleasure. FAWCETT, EDGAR. A gentleman of leisure: a novel. Houghton, M. 16° (The Riverside pocket ser.) bds., 50 c.

FORREST, R. E. The touchstone of peril: a novel of Anglo-Indian life, with scenes during the mutiny. Harper. 4° (Harper's Franklin sq. lib.) pap., 20 c. "Of 'The touchstone of peril' there is little that

needs to be said, but that little is, on the whole, favorable. I dare say I may be disposed to overrate the book, for the simple reason that it turned out to be so much better than could have been expected. When a novel begins with such a sentence as 'Place thyself, kind reader, in imagination by my side,' the muchexperienced and much-enduring critic pulls himself together to brave the weary hours that he sees ahead of him, for he knows that the literary amateur is again on the war-path. Mr. Thomas, however, soon gets rid of his aggressive amateurishness; and, though people are possibly a little tired of stories about the Indian Mutiny, it must be admitted that this particular story is by no means badly told. It drags a little at first, but when we once get into the thick of events the interest is sustained without any lapses; and Mr. Thomas has the advantage-a very great one for a beginner-of personal familiarity with the materials of which his novel is built up. The characters are natural and life-like, though there is surely something incredible in the caddishness revealed by Percy Dacres when tested by 'the touchstone of peril.' All meannesses are possible, even to an officer and a gentleman; but all things possible are not believable."London Athenæum.

GIBBON, C. Clare of Claresmede. Harper. 4° pap.,

20 C.

A story of the days of Charles II. and Cromwell; opens with the battle of Naseby and the flight of Charles, his life, for the moment, being saved by the presence of mind of Sir Aubrey Clare of Claresmede. The remainder of the story is full of historical incidents and exciting episodes.

GOGOL, NIKOLAI VASILIEVITCH. St. John's eve and other stories; from the Russian by Isabel F. Hapgood. Crowell. 12° $1.25.

Noticed elsewhere in this issue.

GRAHAM, J. W. Neæra a tale of ancient Rome. Macmillan. 12° $1.

"In Neæra' we have a rehabilitation of ancient Rome which in human interest far surpasses the ordinary treatment of that inviting topic. The time is that of the Emperor Tiberius's seclusion at Capreæ, and the period is reproduced by an abundance of descriptive details. The emperor's palace and the mode of life are represented with care and study. The characters who figure in the story are interesting in themselves, and the theme is pursued with a warmth and passion rarely attained in reconstructions of a long past age. The attempt results usually in an exaggeration of the cold and dignified attitudes that may be the suggestion of antique statuary. Here, however, the human being unbends, condescends even to shake hands in very modern fashion, but yet without dissipating the atmosphere of the epoch. The style is graceful and fluent, and at times eloquent and impassioned."-Commercial Advertiser.

GRANT, ROB. A romantic young lady. Ticknor $1.50.

'Virginia Harlan, the 'Romantic young lady' of this novel, possesses personal charms and traits of character that invest with unusual interest the scenes in which she played her part. Our heroine's mother died at her birth; her father, a rich railway magnate, was absorbed in business. She was brought up under the care of two maiden aunts, with the help of a governess to superintend her education.

At the proper

age she is introduced into society. Her father then informs her that she will be a great heiress, and presents her with securities for a hundred thousand to use as she thinks best. She is an heiress, and a belle, and soon finds a lover, whom she invests with every desirable quality, and promises to marry. The stern parent disapproves, and threatens disinheritance. She trusts so entirely to the disinterested devotion of her lover, that she impulsively throws the certificates constituting her father's gift into the sea,

which is conveniently near. Whereupon the lover's ardor cools, and the bond is fortunately broken. This experience forms the first part of the story and is called 'Innocence.' The pleasures of the world weary her, and she enters upon a new sphere. She renounces fashionable life and devotes herself to the study of the philosophy of moderation, taking lessons of one of the adepts, and adopting the tenets of the school. Two love affairs relieve the monotony of this episode of life. The dissipated artist she rejects. The head philosopher of the coterie makes it a condition if she accepts his offer that she shall dispose elsewhere of her worldly goods. The sensible parent again interferes, and exacts a promise that she shall refuse the visionary lover. This second portion of her life is called Sophistication.' Her father dies, Virginia inherits a fortune of four millions, and, at last, under most romantic circumstances, wins a lover, who loves her for herself, and not for her wealth, and whom she loves with all her heart. She throws away two hundred thousand in the process, but that is easily done on paper. This is the heroine's period of ‘(Un) Common Sense.' There are many features to commend this romance, wild and improbable as are many portions of it. The plot is entertaining, and skilfully unravelled; the descriptive portions are boldly sketched; the hits at the culture and progressiveisms of the day are keen and to the point; the style is fluent and bright; and the prevailing spirit and vivacity are refreshing."-Providence Journal.

JAMES, H, jr. Watch and ward. Houghton, M. 16° (Riverside pocket ser.) bds., 50 c.

"Watch and ward" first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, in 1871. It has now been minutely revised, and has received many verbal alterations.

LINDAU, PAUL. Klaus Bewer's wife; from the German by Clara S. Fleishman. Holt. 16° (Leisure hour ser.) $1. Same, (Leisure moment ser.) pap.,

50 c.

Klaus Bewer is the son of a rich Lubeck ship-owner. At twenty-five he tires of life in his father's counting-house and goes off to Sumatra. Here all he touches turns to money. At thirty-three he becomes homesick, winds up his business, and returns to Lubeck. On the evening of his return he visits a variety theatre and falls in love with a second-rate ballad singer, invites her to supper, and within a week marries her. The little details of their married life are brightly told. The author's point is that the wife of a cultured man must have developed in the same social atmos phere or one similar to his own. Men do not require learned women, but all that is beautiful and good. faith, morality, love, friendship, truth, etc. Klaus Bewer's brother's wife and her sister form the con trasting picture to his Bohemian love. The book is well translated.

Re

MACQUOID, KATHARINE S. Joan Wentworth: a nov el. Harper. 16° (Harper's Handy ser.) pap., 25 c. Joan Wentworth appears, at the age of twelve, a healthy, studious, passionate child. Her school-life, her admiration for her French teacher, and her longing to be praised by him, are admirably told. verses of fortune break up her comfortable home-life. Joan goes to a boarding-school in France. The friendships made there, the glimpses of French country life, the final reunion or the family, and the development of Joan into a talented author make a story true to nature and full of the author's knowledge of young girls' trials and longings.

MONTGOMERY, FLORENCE. Transformed; or, three weeks in a lifetime. Lippincott. 16° $1.25.

John Ramsey, an eminent lawyer, who has lived to be fifty-nine with no thought beyond making and keeping money, is ordered by his physician to go to his old family mansion in some pretty English borough and do nothing for some weeks. On his arrival he is informed by the housekeeper that his brother,