The European Congress. Was it to advise only? What the result of that would be we may see in the effect of the appeal made to Russia by the Congress of England, France, and Austria. Was

it to do more than advise? Then a few Olympiads, we fear, must pass before Europe will be ripe for that. It is indeed time that the 'bloated armaments of nations' should be reduced. Let France challenge the reduction, and it will come.

The sad event in our history during the last year is the burning of Kagosima. We have no sympathy with men who rarely make mention of their country but to denounce it as a burglar and a cutthroat. It may have been also that the conflagration of the town on the first day of the conflict was an accident. But what was done on the second day was no accident; and that all that was done, the sending of more than a hundred thousand innocent souls, including the sick, the aged, and the young, into homelessness and want, should be described by our authorities, naval and civil, as fitting and satisfactory-that was no accident. Well might an eminent preacher say, when denouncing this deed from the pulpit, The 'name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.'

ON BOOKS.

1. From Matter to Spirit. By C. D.; with a Preface by A. B. Longmans.

This volume consists of reports of spirit manifestations by C. D., extending over ten years, and which are fully credited by the relator. The author of the Preface, said to be Mr. De Morgan, deposes to the character of C. D., and states that he has himself witnessed things that cannot be explained from known natural causes; but that concerning the unknown causes which have produced such phenomena he has no communication to make. We need not say more to show the kind of interest which attaches to the publication.

Exploration of the Interior of the Labrador Peninsula, the Country of the Montagnais and Nasquapee Indians. By HENRY YOULE HIND, M.A. Two Vols. Longmans. These volumes give a description of an excursion party up the Moisie, one of the largest rivers in Labrador. The publication is not all it might have been, but it is interesting, and gives geographical information not to be found elsewhere.

3. Their Majesties' Servants; or, Annals of the English Stage, from Thomas Betterton to Edmund Kean. By Dr. DORAN. Allen & Co.

The public need not be apprised that the subject which Dr. Doran has hero taken up is one on which he is competent to write with accuracy and in a manner which is sure to interest the reader.

4. Social Life in Munich. By EDWARD WILBERFORCE. Allen & Co.

An attractive and instructive book, on a city full of attraction, and full of instruction too, for those who are willing to learn.

5. History of Newfoundland from the Earliest Times to the Year 1860. By the Rev. CHARLES PEDLEY. Longmans. Mr. Pedley's book would have been more pleasant reading had his style been more simple and natural. But those who wish information on the political and social condition of Newfoundland may find a large amount of it in his pages. 6. Life of William Blake, Pictor Ignotus;' with Selections from his Poems and other Writings. By the late ALEXANDER GILCHRIST. Two Vols. Macmillan & Co. The life of an eccentric man of genius, poet and artist, full of anecdotes concerning artists and literary people, and written in the spirit of hero-worship..

7. Art and Fashion; with other Sketches, Songs, and Poems. By CHARLES SWAIN.

Mr. Swain has been chanting poetry within sight and sound of the cottonmill for a lifetime-and that not a short one. This volume shows that his pathos, and his sense of beauty, have not forsaken him.

8. Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Captain KNIGHT, 48th Regiment. Bentley.

9. A Mining Journey across the Great Andes. IGNACIO RICARD. Smith, Elder, & Co.

Thibet. By (See Art. V.)

By Major F.

There are points on which the writer might have given fuller and more satisfactory information concerning the mineral wealth of the Argentine Republic, but he has reported more on that matter than any of his precursors.

10. Father Mathew, a Biography.

MAGUIRE, M.P.

By JOHN FRANCIS

The impartial life of a man who did much to mend others, but who, with his real excellence, was not beyond the need of mending himself.

11. A Personal Narrative of Thirteen Years' Service among the Wild Tribes of Khondistan, for the Suppression of Human Sacrifice. By Major-General JOHN CAMPBELL, C.B. Hurst & Blackett.

It has become known that the Khonds not only practise infanticide, but have been long accustomed to propitiate the earth-god by human sacrifices. General Campbell's account of the country and people, and of the manner in which their cruelties have been suppressed, is full of interest.

12. The Works of William Shakespeare.

Vol. I. Edited by WILLIAM GEORGE CLARKE, M.A., and JOHN GLOVER, M.A. Vol. II. Edited by WILLIAM GEORGE CLARKE, M.A., and WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A. Macmillan & Co.

The aim of the editors of this edition of Shakespeare is to give the reader, as far as possible, the pure text of the poet, giving the real or supposed variations from it in the foot-notes. Comment, except in relation to this object, is not attempted. The whole will be included in eight octavo volumes. The paper is good, the type is clear, and the binding is elegant.

13. Shakespeare Characters, chiefly those Subordinate. By CHARLES COWDEN CLARKE. Smith, Elder, & Co.

Mr. Clarke is an old student of Shakespeare, and brings a geniality of his own to the geniality of the great bard. It is a charming book.

14. Our Old Home. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. Smith, Elder, & Co.

These volumes contain passages which, in literary skill and power, are worthy of the reputation of the writer; but they are disfigured by such outbursts of Yankee spleen and coarseness, that the author is no longer the Nathaniel Hawthorne we once knew. From his hands, at least, the Old Home' has deserved another kind of treatment.

15. A Winter in Upper and Lower Egypt. By J. A. HOSKINS. Hurst & Blackett.

An intelligent, if not a highly instructive or vivacious account of Upper and Lower Egypt in winter. One fact is especially observable from Mr. Hoskins's pages; viz., that the injury done to Egyptian antiquities by the fury of invaders through centuries was small, compared with what can be traced of late years to the curiosity of explorers.

16. The Ionian Isles in the Year 1863. By Professor D. T. ANSTED. Allen & Co.

Persons who wish to have a veritable account of the Ionian Islands as they have been, but more especially as they are, should read Professor Ansted's volume. It is a very readable book, and instructive on its subject.

17. Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity. By SAMUEL SHARPE.

Mr. Sharpe has not gone to Egypt on a Christian pilgrimage. He would have us believe that Christianity is little else than a new version of the old Egyptian faith. Dr. Mackey has tried his hand at a game of this sort in his 'Progress of 'Intellect.' Both writers have made their way into darkness in place of giving their readers light.

18. English Botany; or, Coloured Figures of British Plants. Edited by John T. BOSWELL SYME. The popular portion by Mrs. LANCASTER. Third Edition. Vol. I. Hardwicke. A work which promises, when the other volumes are issued, to be the most complete on its subject in our language. It is rich in figures furnished by J. W. Salter and the Sowerbys. The present is the third edition.

19. St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland: a Memoir of his Life and Mission. By JAMES HENTHON TODD, D.D. Hodges, Smith, & Co.

Dr. Todd is a divine of decided antiquarian tastes. A book from his pen on the subject he has here chosen is sure to be worth reading. But his judgment does not keep pace with his erudition. He is great upon small matters, but lacks masculine sagacity. The present is the ablest volume we have seen from his pen.

20. Chronicles of the Schönberg-cotta Family. By the Author of the Voice of Christian Life in Song,' &c. Nelson & Sons.

The story of the German Reformation, in which imaginary scenes from domestic life are mixed up with the known events of history. The conception of the book is good, and the execution is good.

21. Quiet Resting-places, and other Sermons. By ALEXANDER RALEIGH. Adam & Charles Black.

Sermons of great beauty and power, such as rarely issue from the press. We can only wish them the widest possible circulation.

22. Progress of a Working Life during Half a Century; with a Prelude of early Reminiscences. By CHARLES KNIGHT. Vol. I. Bradbury & Evans.

The extent to which Mr. Charles Knight's name is interwoven with the history of English literature, during a space extending over a past generation to the present, is extraordinary. The works he wrote were more than enough for half a dozen ordinary labourers. The works he has compiled or edited form a huge library, and in nothing can he be said to have failed. The volume before us is full of interesting anecdotes.

23. Forty Days After our Lord's Resurrection. By the Rev. WILLIAM HANNA, LL.D. Edmonston & Douglas.

The popularity of Dr. Hanna's recent volume, the precursor of the present, has gratified us much, not only from our great respect for the author, but as it indicates a prevalence of good sense and good taste among the readers of religious books. The present volume is a fitting companion to its predecessor, and will, we hope, be as extensively read.

24. My Beautiful Lady.

& Co.

By THOMAS WOOLNER. Macmillan

We here have poetry by an artist. Mr. Woolner has made poetry to breathe upon us from marble. He has here given it to us in verse. There is the essence of poetry in all art, but it is not often possible to realize so much excellence in more than one department.

25. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. By JOHN HANNING SPEKE. Blackwood & Sons.

This portly volume, with its ample illustrations, will be read by all persons interested in geographical discovery with great interest. Captain Speke shows that the Nile has, as we have long supposed, more than one source; but that the real source will be found in the White River, which issues from the Nyanza Lake. The volume abounds in information concerning the land and people of interior Africa. The author, however, has done but scant notice to his precursors.

26. History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. By JOHN FOSTER KIRK. Two Vols. Murray.

These two volumes are to be followed by a third. The work is the result of considerable learning and investigation, and is pleasantly written. It gives a picture of France as it was when her nobles were not unfrequently greater than her kings.

27. Travelling Notes in France, Italy, and Switzerland, of an Invalid in Search of Health. Longmans.

The Invalid in this case is a man of intelligence and taste, and has written a book which it is pleasant, and in some respects instructive, to read.

Two Vols.

28. The History of the British Navy, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. By C. D. YONGE. Bentley.

Mr. Yonge has chosen a stirring theme, and he has treated it in a manner proper to it. It is a book likely to be much read, and deserves to be so.

29. English Sacred Poetry of the Olden Time. Arranged by the Rev. L. B. WHITE. Society.

Collected and Religious Tract

In all respects a beautiful 'present' volume. The type and paper could not be better. The vignettes are excellent. The selection is in the main good. No writer later than Milton or Ken is introduced.