ST. DUNSTAN'S HOUSE, E.C.:
December 31, 1888.

AMONG the questions which ought to occupy the attention of publishers there are few that are more important than the selection of commendatory quotations from the press. Nicety in the art of selection does not seem to be fully appreciated. Though there is hardly a department in practical publishing that requires a greater amount of discrimination, the public is perpetually confronted by commonplace commendations. It may be that the words are inspired by the authors themselves, or rather selected by them, but this cannot be an excuse for the perennial 'very interesting,' 'remarkably entertaining,' 'particularly instructive' words which serve to fill so many lines in the advertisements in daily or weekly newspapers.

Let us have a change in this respect. Let these 'very interesting,'' remarkably entertaining,' 'particularly instructive' words have a well-earned holiday. Without their aid there is matter enough in good reviews to show the drift and sense of good books. We would suggest that those whose business it is to quote, on behalf of themselves or their employers, should read more diligently and with more perspicacity than is 'evidenced' to use a Yankee word-in newspaper columns. Otherwise the paid praise of books will continue to be as useless as it is expensive.

A COPYRIGHT QUESTION.-Speaking of the reports of a probability of Messrs. Macmillan's edition of Mr. Bryce's work on America being reproduced in the States without authorisation, the Evening Post (N. Y.) says: We trust, for the sake of the national good name, that they are unfounded. There would be no moral difference between doing this and knocking Mr. Bryce down in Broadway and taking his watch and money. Whatever may be said in defence of robbing an author for the purpose of procuring for yourself cheap mental, improvement, there is not a word to be said in

defence of robbing him for the purpose of selling his property for your own pecuniary gain. If Mr. Bryce should be the victim of spent two years' hard labour in producing a an operation of this sort owing to his having noble book on American institutions and manners, a book which does honour to the American people no less than to the author, it will be a truly horrible illustration of the would be barbarous and ungrateful as well need of an international copyright law. It as dishonest to cheat Mr. Bryce. We must, therefore, trust that our leading printers will respect his property even if they care nothing for his interests. If they pillage him he will have to revise numerous passages in the

second edition.'

The

BOOKSELLERS' PROVIDENT INSTITUTION. The usual monthly meeting of this Institution was held on Thursday, the 16th inst., at 56 Old Bailey, E. C., when there were twenty-one C. J. Longman, Esq., and Frederick Miles, directors present including C. Awdry, Esq., Esq.; C. J. Longman, Esq., presiding. sum of £105. 9s. 2d. was granted in temporary and permanent relief to sixty-five members and widows of members; and, in accordance with the usual custom at this season of the year, an additional grant was made to the temporary recipients, which was increased by further Christmas gifts generously given by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co., Henry Hill Hodgson, Esq., and Joseph Whitaker, Esq.

Obituary for the Year.

The literary obituary for the year 1888 includes: in January: Bonamy Price, Professor of Political Economy, Oxon.; M. Raynaud, French electrician; the Rev. Wm. Denton; G. R. Waterhouse, geologist; Henri de Pène, editor of the Gaulois; Mary Howitt; J. T. J. Boswell, botanist ; Asa Gray, botanist; !! Edward Lear. In February: Sir Henry Maine; J. H. Walsh, editor of the Field; Lady Marion Alford; James Cotter Morison : Mrs. Anna Kingsford, M.D.; Rev. W. H. Hoare; Dr. John Hewitt Jellett; W. Davy Watson; Rev. G. P. Badger; John Coleman; Horace Stebbing Roscoe St. John; Harry

TRUTH ABOUT RUSSIA.* In the spring and early summer of the year that has just closed, Mr. Stead, the energetic and accomplished editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, undertook a political pilgrimage to Petersburg in order to discover, if possible, the real views of the Tzar and his advisers on the question of peace or war. Mr. Stead believes that Russia, for good or evil, holds in her hands the balance of power, and is able at will to prevent the outbreak of hostilities, or to plunge Europe into a lavish expenditure of blood and treasure. The results of his visit, and, indeed, the views which he holds in general on international politics, form the subject of the book in which he attempts to tell us the Truth about Russia.' The value to be placed upon the political and social verdicts of a man who is frank enough to confess that he only spent two months in Russia, and does not know six words of the language is, to say the least, not glaringly apparent at a first glance; on the other hand, it must not be forgotten that Mr. Stead brought to the discussion of the problem not merely a keen and trained intelligence, but that he has for years made a special study of England's political relationships with the great northern empire. Moreover, his position in journalism opened to him many channels of information; and, indeed, it is not too much for him to claim that he has had 'opportunities which few Englishmen have enjoyed of ascertaining the actual aspirations of the men whose ideas and resolutions are the governing forces in Russian policy.' Mr. Stead puts the pith of his book in a nutshell when he asks: In the New Europe upon which we are entering, must we regard the Tzar as peace-keeper or peace-breaker of the Continent? That is what I went to St. Petersburg to ascertain, and the results of my inquiries are chronicled in these pages.' Mr. Stead not merely gives a vivid description of Alexander III. and his difficulties and aspirations, but adds a summary of the ideas with which the Russian Mr. Gladstone'--General Ignatieff-favoured him. The book likewise throws considerable light on the internal government of the empire, and on the position which the Eastern Church holds within it; but to many people the most fascinating portion of the book will unquestionably be the chapters which Mr. Stead devotes to Count Tolstoi, a man whose personality,' he justly declares, excites greater interest both in the old world and the new than that of any other subject of the Tzar. The famous novelist, social reformer, and mystic entertained Mr. Stead at Yasnaia Poliana, and under his roof, in fact, part of the present narrative was written last June. I put the question to Count Tolstoi, "Suppose the Emperor were to ask you what he should do, what would you say?" He was silent for a time, then said, "I am praying to God to give me wisdom to make the right

answer.

If you ask me to imagine such an incredible thing, then I would say, 'Nationalise the land; declare absolute liberty of

Truth about Russia, by W. T. Stead. Cassell & Co., Limited, London and New York.

conscience; establish the freedom of the press.' If these things are done, all the rest would come right." According to Mr. Stead, the Tzar is a resolute, simple-minded man who takes short views. There is nothing rash or flighty about him; he possesses an iron will which fortunately is linked to a keen sense of public duty. As Alexander III. is his own Foreign Minister, the immense importance of his personal character in the direction of public affairs will be at once apparent. Both the Tzar and his great minister, General Ignatieff, are wishful to preserve the peace of Europe. Nothing, we are assured despite the words of M. Vambéry and others, is more absolutely opposed to the truth than that Russia contemplates the invasion of India. The Russians, in Mr. Stead's opinion, no more dream of such a step than our Jingoes contemplate the conquest of Poland.' This quotation, of course, verges upon absurdity. At the same time, the moment that they discover that we are worrying them unnecessarily in Europe, they will find out ways and means to worry us in Asia. If England and Russia are to be enemies, then the first move in the game of each is to lure the other into the defiles of the Afghan mountains. The Russians understand that perfectly well, and will act upon it. If they advance they will not go further than Herat and the watershed of the Heri-Rud. Unfortunately the English have no idea as to Afghanistan than that of keeping the Russians out, the very thing that suits them best and ourselves least.' Mr. Stead sums up by exhorting English statesmen not to be too fidgety about infractions, real or imaginary, of the Afghan frontier, and to cultivate friendly relations with Russia for the sake of the peace and commerce of the world. We are inclined to think that he lays too great a stress on the polite assurances which were made to him as an interesting stranger at Petersburg, and though we are glad to accept the flattering portrait of the Tzar which he draws as being in the main true, we think that the book exaggerates the personal ascendency of Alexander III. as well as his power to shape the destinies of his unwieldy empire according to his own pacific policy. Mr. Stead's volume is vividly written, though the style is marked by a good deal of superfluous rhetoric, and we must add that we should be inclined to place greater reliance on the conclusions of the author if he betrayed a little more clearly the notion that it was just possible that some important factors in the problem require to be added to his study of the subject before we are in possession of all the Truth about Russia.' Nevertheless the book is able and opportune, and is calculated to increase international concord and goodwill.

SWEDEN IN HEATHEN TIMES.* Archaeology is distinctly one of the most progressive of studies. The petty disputes which in the early years of the present century

* The Civilisation of Sweden in Heathen times, by Oscar Nontelius, Ph.D. Translated from the second Swedish edition, by the Rev. F. H. Woods, B.D. London: Macmillan & Co.