matic relations between the Vatican and the Brazilian Government. The Pope, according to Felix II., intends uttering a protest against the abolition of the French Concordat, a contract to which the Vatican is a party, without consulting the Vatican. It is said that the Supreme Pontiff maintains his serenity and hopefulness, especially toward those who are most discouraged, and who persistently publish at Rome their opinion that there is some prospect of a civil war in France on account of what they style the spoliation of the Church.-Translation made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

THE

WHO ARE GERMANY'S "UNJUST FOES"? `HE Emperor William's speech from the throne at the opening of the Reichstag is being discussed and puzzled over by the whole European press, and is reported in full by all papers of importance. After congratulating himself that he was able to help President Roosevelt as a pacificator, he puts himself forth as one to whom "the peace of the German people is a sacred thing." He proceeds to imply that it is by no means a sacred thing with other men, who are not as he is, but falsely interpret the German character, and threaten "unjust attacks" on Germany. Against such foes Germany must fortify herself in advance. According to the press the speech was an appeal to German fears and German patriotism in favor of the new naval program, which will involve a financial reform," i.e., increased taxation. The Liberal Vossische Zeitung (Berlin) says:

It is very remarkable that the speech from the throne consists of a naive avowal on the part of the Emperor that Germany is constantly exposed to be misunderstood and envied. By whom? The speech from the throne gives no answer to this question.. Rarely has a sovereign been known, in time of peace, to utter words of such grave significance. Some perhaps will think that the speaker was influenced by a desire to promote the passing of the new Navy Bill. We can not adopt such an interpretation."

The Social Democratic organ Vorwärts (Berlin) points out that England is intended in the dark hints of the Kaiser. It remarks in the course of a sneering article:

"The multiplication of ships of war and the increase of tonnage in the new vessels is necessary, we are told, in order that the fighting strength of the German fleet may not be inferior to that of other Powers. It is not stated what Powers are referred to. Yet

it is an open secret that the speaker was thinking of England. It is not intended that the German fleet shall be so far inferior to the English fleet in 1917 as it is at present, and we are forced to conclude that many new and varied 'Fleet Programs' will in the interim be proposed and carried out."

The Socialist weekly Neue Zeit (Stuttgart) confirms this inter. pretation and complains that "there still survives among us a desire to emulate John Bull; hence this 'Financial Reform. Another billion will be spent in the next ten years in still larger ships such as John Bull possesses." The Aurore (Paris) declares that William II. knows the causes of the disquietude he describes better than any one else, because he, not those he hints at, is the cause of them. France "is sincerely anxious for peace and England has too many valuable interests at stake to plunge deliberately into risks of war." The Eclair (Paris) thinks that there exists merely a provisional truce between England and Germany; that the Kaiser referred to England and that England was quite willing to admit "the soft impeachment." An ultimate conflict between these two Powers is predicted in the following terms:

"While the collision may be long delayed, the two irreconcilable adversaries who stand fencing in such a furious manner before our eyes have never before more plainly indicated the ultimate object of their warlike preparations. Germany clearly shows that in her warlike activities she is thinking of England, and England admits that she is the Power intended. The speech from the German

throne is therefore more and more instructive the more we ponder it after the first reading."

In the opinion of the Patrie (Paris), however, William II. was uttering a veiled threat against France. After remarking that the situation, without being tragic, is serious," the writer urges Frenchmen not to allow party dissentions to blind them to the German peril, and proceeds:

"The Emperor William seems determined to dispel any illusions we may still cherish. If the catastrophe comes we can not blame him for not having warned us, and no one will be surprised excepting those who have systematically shut their eyes to the truth, and would prefer to see and understand nothing that is actually taking place."

The Temps (Paris) takes a calmer view and declares that Frenchmen in general put the best interpretation on the Emperor's words. Thus:

"French opinion, which for some months has been gaining in ripeness and unanimity, will accept the imperial address with perfect serenity. If we consider the budget whose support inspired it, and the national idiosyncrasies which are traceable in its language, we shall be little inclined to exaggerate the importance which William II. attaches to the common-sense axiom, Be strong, if you would be at peace '-an axiom whose wisdom France will never lose an opportunity of illustrating."

In the Berliner Tageblatt the Powers against whom the innuendoes of the imperial orator are directed, while they are left in their ambiguity, are solemnly advised to take heed and govern themselves accordingly. To quote :

"The declaration that peace is a sacred thing to the Emperor, but that the difficulties that occur in Franco-German relations are caused by the tendency of certain Powers to settle questions that concern Germany without consulting her, constitutes a serious charge against nations whose relations with Germany are 'correct but 'not friendly.' It rests with these nations to extricate themselves from the awkward position in which the Emperor's' words have placed them."

The Liberté (Paris) has a very plain interpretation for the Emperor's contrast between "correct" and "friendly" relations, as follows:

"He classes the Powers under two categories: those with whom he maintains 'good and friendly relations' and those toward whom he exhibits 'correctness,' a mere mask of supreme hostility. Never has a sovereign, however despotic or Oriental, ventured to propound so cool an ultimatum. He offers either the friendship which you may buy, or the correctness' which is a standing menEnemies or vassals, the Powers must chose which they prefer to be."

ace.

46

The National Zeitung (Berlin), the official organ of the Government, naturally declares that while the Emperor has pointed out envy as the cause of universal hostility against Germany," this is not intended to produce irritation, but to put the nation upon its mettle in the preservation of peace. The organ of the German army, the Kreuz-Zeitung (Berlin) remarks:

66

Germany wishes to make herself understood in every quarter where she has interests to defend. France has proved that she comprehends the legitimacy of this demand, and has, on her side, done all in her power to maintain the peace of the world."

The Times (London) bluntly accuses the Emperor of Pecksniffian whimpering, in order to get the bill for taxing beer and tobacco and the Navy Program Bill passed by the Reichstag. Referring to the phrase "unjust attacks," the English Government organ observes:

"Who can be the enemies thus darkly indicated, who are reasonably suspected of contemplating an 'unjust attack,' not only upon Germany, but upon Germany and her allies? The Emperor wants money for his new Navy Bill, and, altho the Navy Bill itself is exceedingly popular, the very heavy additional taxation which it entails is not. That is the meaning of all this dismal

England, and the United States, were circulated throughout the Baltic provinces, where the revolution has been instigated on the

whining about perfidious attempts to 'leave Germany out of account and to set her back.' So construed, it need not disturb the nerves even of the most timorous."-Translations made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

THE

THE FIRST RUSSIAN REPUBLIC.

HE revolution in Russia has reached its first great climax in Livonia, the Baltic province, according to the Lokal Anzeiger (Berlin), and this has been attended by spreading strikes in other parts of Russia. At Riga, we are told, the Republic which has been proclaimed is merely the outcome of a long and patient propaganda, the exertions of a tireless press, and the expanding influence of German ideas-phenomena whose development is traced at some length in two articles on the Lettic Labor movement by von R. Kleinberg in Die Neue Zeit (Stuttgart). The attempt of Count Witte to found a constitutional government and rule without repression has, according to the news despatches, either failed or reached the brink of failure. According to one paper, General Ignatieff is struggling hard for the dismissal of Witte. It is said in the St. Petersburg Official Gazette that the time has come for aggressive action, that the patience of the Government is exhausted, and the revolution must be stopped by active

measures.

Meanwhile Livonia has risen in revolt. In the Deenas Lapa (Riga) we read:

"While the Government at St. Petersburg is nearing its end, the very army is rising, and a republican Government has been proclaimed at Riga. Some regiments remain faithful to the Czar, but the majority are for us. The Government desires a conflict and it shall have it."

According to the Lokal Anzeiger (Berlin) cited above, "during the barricade fights in Mitau 300 were killed. In Lennewarden the revolutionists have opened the jail doors, freed the prisoners, killed Lieutenant-Governor Petersen, along with his private Secretary Maximovitsk, and flung their bodies in the river." The Matin (Paris) publishes the manifesto of the St. Petersburg Council of Workingmen's delegates, which says:

"The Government thus drives the revolutionary movement further along the fatal path. Its continuance in power is a danger to the country, entailing innumerable calamities and bloodshed."

vio

According to the Molva (St. Petersburg), a new newspaper, the Lawyers' Union, which supports the strike movement, is preparing to indict Mr. Durnovo, Minister of the Interior, for many lations of the law. The most significant of all these events is the slaughter of the Cossacks by the populace in Tukum, in the Baltic provinces. According to the Kolnische Zeitung, the Germans, who have long lorded it over the Lettic population of Livonia, have suffered with the Cossacks, and the Government at Berlin is sending war-ships to their relief.

The uprising in Livonia, whose center is the great manufacturing town of Riga, has long been awaited, according to von R. Kleinberg, in the articles alluded to above. This writer tells us that the manifesto of Alexander I., releasing the peasants of Livonia from serfdom, did little for them in reality until they came into the cities as toilers in the various industries. This nearness to Germany made easy the introduction of German socialistic writings. The pamphlets in which the economic theories of Marx and Engels were popularized were translated, and disseminated in labor circles. The step was easy from instilling the Livonians with the ideas of Socialism to organizing them into bodies prepared for open warfare." The next advance was to claim the support of the press. The daily paper Deemas Lapa was enlisted in their cause. Next came the organization of the Riga Lettic Social-Democratic Committee. This was in 1901. Between 1901 and 1903 more than twenty mass-meetings were held, without knowledge of the police, and in 1903 as many as 250,000 political tracts, printed in Germany,

...

ΤΗ

VICTORIES.

HE massacre of missionaries at Lienchou, in Kuangtung, a province notorious for turbulence, where the boycott of American products is stronger than elsewhere in China, says The North China Daily News (Shanghai), a leading English paper in China, is due largely to the fact that the Anglo-Japanese Treaty brings China into a condition of comparative security from foreign interference. Young China believes therefore that it can in a few years become a second Japan, and can defy foreigners. But " China has a very weak and ignorant Government,” adds this paper, and if the authorities do not keep to the treaties which guarantee protection to missionaires and grant certain trade rights, "the Powers must resume the gunboat policy, which is rough, but is effective."

These are strong and plain words to proceed from an editor writing in China. To quote:

"The rise of Japan, and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which undoubtedly has the tacit support of the United States, have practically guaranteed China against outside interference; but an understood condition of that guaranty must be that China shall faithfully observe the existing treaties with foreign Powers and make all her people observe them. Unfortunately, the first result of the security that China has obtained has been a recrudescence of anti-foreign feeling and obstruction at Peking which is being imitated at the treaty ports."

If local authorities can not keep the channels of trade open, and protect the lives of missionaries, says this Shanghai journal, the Powers will be justified in employing armed force to compel the observation of treaties. Thus:

"If Peking pleads inability the Powers must resume the gunboat policy, which may be rough, but is effective. The establishment of missionary stations in the interior is in accordance with

He proceeds to show that it is merely the vegue to call the Kaiser by this title, while the fact is those who so honor him are actuated by a desire to have his protection as the policeman of Europe. He further remarks:

"Of course we must add that this policeman writes verses, knows how to arrange a bar of music, models in clay, daubs on canvas. He is, moreover, a very hospitable gentleman, and never refuses a place on his yacht, at his palace dinner-table, nor in his shooting-parties to any one who has spoken well of him. What more is needed to change admiration into worship, and a future protector into a demigod?"

He charges William II. with trying to mount the throne before his father's death; with fickleness of opinion; with making a public statement one day and contradicting it the next-"a crowned Proteus who changes his opinion as easily as he does his uniform." "His recent cruise in the seas of the North was a genuine threat to England, exactly as his brutal landing in Morocco was an insolent affront to France."

Coming to the serious point of his theme he observes:

The industrial and commercial predominance of Germany would in a short time bring about the ruin of the French and English trade and working classes. Germany's predominance and territorial expansion would result in the subjection of all Europe. Are England and France going to allow this? and if they are unwilling to allow it, can they not and ought they not to oppose the

desolating and now approaching arrival of the German jugger. naut?"

He proposes, first of all, the winning back for France of AlsaceLorraine and quotes the words of Gambetta, " Alsace-Lorraine's recovery is the only thing worth living for." After Gambetta's death, he says, " the policy of national recovery was supplanted by the policy of colonial compensation." He continues:

The success of our troops and the semi-incorporation with France of fair and rich territory brought a kind of patriotic consolation; .. but our successes, while they created a diversion, involved a scattering of our resources. In proportion as they received the congratulations of the Germans, they caused anxiety to Frenchmen. The Patriotic League, while it felt that it shared the glory of the flag which it honored, could not help thinking that these small and partial victories were just as exhausting to France as a holy war and a victory that brought back liberty would have been."

Referring to the English entente with France he speaks as fol

lows:

"Our navy would be incapable of facing the German navy, we are told, and Admiral William II. would confiscate it. For our own part, we have strong doubts about this summary sweeping of our fleet from the seas; but those Frenchmen who fear it ought to see all the more reason for leaning upon England. At no hour of contemporary history, at no moment, indeed, since loss of two provinces which naturally involved the loss of our independence, have the attitude of men toward us and the disposition of events offered us better opportunities, better hopes, and a better right to assert ourselves.

But suppose for a moment that England, disheartened by our doubts and hesitancies, withdraws and renounces us, what will prevent Pangermanism from annexing triumphantly, and without recourse to battle, the Germans of Austria on the very next morning; and from invading Holland the next day following; from descending on Belgium? What will turn the point of the Prussian sword from reaching out as far as the port of Trieste?"

If France wavers, if she hangs back, he adds, she will bring upon herself the fulfilment of the Arabian proverb, "If you refuse to march to battle, God will visit it upon you; He will give your place to another people." What a disaster it will be for justice, for progress, for liberty, he exclaims, if this people should be the Prussianized German people !-Translations made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

"WE adhere to the standpoint" says Vorwaerts (Berlin) "that Germany does not require a fleet for the protection of her commerce. England, with her gigantic colonial empire, is in a totally different position."

-Ulk (Berlin).

NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE DAY.

CAPTAIN MAHAN'S NEW BOOK.

SEA POWER IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE WAR OF 1812. By Capt. A. T. Mahan, D.C.L., LL.D., United States Navy. Illustrated. Two volumes. Cloth, pp., 423, 456. Price, $7.00 net. Little, Brown & Co.

THE mere a un un power is sufficient to excite a high anticipatory

HE mere announcement of a new book by Captain Mahan on the

interest in all-and they should be many-acquainted with that officer's skill in the delineation of naval warfare, his erudition as a historian, and his trenchant literary style. In the case of his latest work he has chosen a theme of peculiar significance to his fellow-countrymen-the War of 1812. Here, as in his earlier writings, to which this is complementary, his aim is primarily to propound and establish the doctrine that a strong navy is not merely an excellent guaranty of peace but is essential to a country which would play any considerable part in the family of nations. But he does not, as might be imagined, confine his discussion to the purely naval aspects of our second war with Great Britain-the second war for independence, as some one has called it. Nor, indeed, is his book concerned solely with the war itself, for the necessity of explaining the origin of the conflict carries the writer so far back as 1651 and involves an exposition of the conditions under which Great Britain secured command of the sea, found that command endangered, and to save herself-and incidentally, the liberties of Europe menaced by Napoleon-hurried into the policy of impressment and commerce restriction which finally led to war with the harassed and justly angered American nation.

CAPT. A. T. MAHAN.

This exposition is by itself a noteworthy contribution to historical literature, tho it is open to criticism in at least one important respect. As is his custom, Captain Mahan has gone directly to the original sources for his material, and has largely ignored the conclusions of other writers. Both sides of the case are presented with a studied impartiality. There is definite recognition of the fact that Great Britain was struggling for her very existence, and that harsh as were the measures taken in regard to American shipping and American sailors, they were born of sheer necessity. But the historian does not appear to have perceived with equal readiness the element of necessity in the policy pursued by Jefferson and Madison in their efforts to adjust matters without resort to arms, and his censure, justifiable enough from the point of view of the naval officer and in the light of chronological distance, would undoubtedly have been less severe had he taken more fully into account the circumstances of contemporary conditions. Turning to the war, Captain Mahan has some surprises in store for his readers. A hint of these is conveyed in the preface, where he says: "The interest of the War of 1812, to Americans, has commonly been felt to lie in the brilliant evidence of high professional tone and efficiency reached by their navy, as shown by the single-ship actions, and by the two decisive victories achieved by little squadrons upon the lakes. Without in the least overlooking the permanent value of such examples and such traditions, to the nation and to the military service which they illustrate, it nevertheless appears to the writer that the effect may be even harmful to the people at large, if it be permitted to conceal the deeply mortifying condition to which the country was reduced by parsimony in preparation, or to obscure the lessons thence to be drawn for practical application now."

Not on the brilliant naval duels and the battle of New Orleans is stress laid, but on the exploits of the lake fleets of Perry and Macdonough and on the blockade established by the British along the Atlantic seaboard. By the former, "rectification of the frontier" was, in Captain Mahan's opinion, averted without further fighting; by the latter, widespread misery and destitution caused. His chief effort seems to be to impress upon his readers what he calls the "forgotten bitter truth" of the War of 1812 and to disabuse their minds of the idea that "a future emergency could be confronted with the same supposed facility, and as little preparation, as the odds of 1812 are believed to have been encountered and overcome." As to the single-ship actions-"They had no effect upon the issue, except so far as they inspired moral enthusiasm and confidence."

It is thus apparent that this work is an original as well as vigorous brief in support of the views Captain Mahan has so long and so ably advocated. It has been warmly commended both by American and by British critics. The London Times declares that "it is in all respects worthy to rank on the same level as its predecessors." The Outlook (New

York), while averring that "there is ample ground for believing that in his intense devotion to his main thesis he has unduly, however unconsciously, intensified the shadows which, as he justly observes, the tendency has been to ignore in retrospect," believes that the book "must be rated, like its distinguished predecessors, a substantial contribution to the history of naval warfare." The Outlook (London) applauds its impartiality and regards it as a valuable agent in enlightening American opinion as to the conditions leading to the war. The Army and Navy Journal finds that "the author has again disclosed his broad knowledge of the art and history of naval warfare, his fine sense of military values, and his acute faculty for tracing effects to causes." "It is one of the most noteworthy achievements in a prolific age of historical writing," declares the Philadelphia North American, while The. Boston Transcript's opinion is that the work "deserves to become a standard authority on the War of 1812."

AMERICA THROUGH FRENCH EYES. THE UNITED STATES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. By Pierre LeroyBeaulieu. Authorized translation by H. Addington Bruce. Cloth, 396 pp. Price, $2.00 net. The Funk & Wagnalls Company.

HE author of this exhaustive examination of the resources and possi

THE author of this exhaustives as the son of the clientes ad ponch

publicist, Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, and is a nephew of the still more widely known Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, whose work on Russia may fairly be called one of the literary masterpieces of the nineteenth century. Pierre Leroy-Beaulieu thus comes of a family of thinkers and writers, and in "The United States in the Twentieth Century" he makes very evident his ability to uphold the family traditions. Quite naturally-he having been for some years associated with his father in editing "L'Economiste Français"-he largely devotes himself in this volume to exhibiting the material factors underlying the rapid growth of the United States to a leading position among the nations. But he by no means neglects the moral factors, and the result is a social and economic study which for lucidity, thoroughness and the accumulation of a vast mass of significant facts is, as The Independent remarked in commenting on the original, as valuable to American readers as to the Frenchmen for whom it was written. Nothing quite like it has been done for the United States either by a native or by a foreigner. It not only surveys the characteristics of the American race-stock, but it takes up in turn and discusses in detail each of the principal agricultural and manufacturing industries and the most important problems now confronting the American people, the purpose being to make clear the secret of the progress of the past and the conditions contributing to accelerate or retard progress in the future.

What gives his book its greatest worth, besides making it extremely easy reading, is the deftness with which Mr. Leroy-Beaulieu has combined the proverbial Gallican weakness for generalization with an unGallican appreciation of the value of facts and figures. Not a few of his conclusions are surprisingly novel, but in every instance they rest on a substantial statistical foundation. For his statistics Mr. Leroy-Beaulieu has invariably gone to the best and most recent authorities, and has supplemented his study of documents by wide reading and close personal observation. Nor does he show himself other than most impartial. Indeed, the most enthusiastic of Americans could hardly predict a more roseate future for his native land than does this visitor from the sister republic. "The centenary of that great event [the Louisiana Purchase] finds the United States expanding beyond the confines of America. Before the second century be far advanced, the United States will unquestionably dominate economically all the Asiatic and American countries bordering on the Pacific, and will be playing in the world the part played until these latter days by England. This is its destiny, a destiny resting in large part, to be sure, on the magnificent gifts bestowed by nature; but resting, too, on moral foundations." Sweeping the horizon with a searching gaze, Mr Leroy-Beaulieu can discern but few clouds. One he finds in the presence of the colored race, another in the increasing scarcity of good farming lands, another in our entrance into the Caribbean and the Pacific. But these are practically all, and for every problem, with the exception of the so-called race problem, he appears to feel certain we shall work out adequate solutions. The immigration problem is to him far less serious than to many of us. If, his argument runs, the recent arrivals from the South and East of Europe are in several respects defective, they are not without good qualities. Nor is it at all likely that they will modify racial traits to any extent, so solid is the native "substratum" which can indefinitely continue to inspire the newcomers with its traditions and ideals. As to the "trust problem"-"I believe, to put it briefly, that the attempt to monopolize a great industry and control prices is certain to fail unless it receive direct or indirect governmental aid. And I am convinced that an unduly high opinion has been entertained of the dangers as well as of the strength of the trusts." Here, as always, the statements made are reinforced by concrete data, carefully sifted and marshalled in a convincing way.

It is impossible here to follow Mr. Leroy-Beaulieu in his masterly exposition of the forces that have cooperated to place the United States

first both among manufacturing and among agricultural countries. We can only say that he has invested ordinarily arid subjects with a freshness that should make a strong appeal to the general educated reading public; and at the same time has treated his themes so fully and cogently that his work should win immediate acceptance as a text-book in the economics of agriculture and manufacture. The value of the book to American readers is increased by the fact that the translator, who gives a complete version, has reduced the statistics and tables from the metric to the system in vogue in this country.

LIFE AND LITERATURE.

PART OF A MAN'S LIFE. By. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Illustrated. Cloth, 311 pp. Price, $2.50 net. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

OLONEL HIGGINSON, who has long been recognized as a man

that will command attention, has seldom written to better purpose than in this semi-biographical volume of reminiscences and impressions, which cover a wide range of experience and a great variety of themes. "Part of a Man's Life" is easily one of the most important of the season's pub

lications and one of the most entertaining. Turn to whatever page, from the opening chapter on the Transcendentalists and Brook Farm to the closing and characteristic essay on "The Cowardice of Culture," there is always something to divert and instruct, even when assent may be denied. So varied is the subject matter it might almost seem that the book is composed of random recollections brought together without any .definite aim. But, as The Nation points out, "there is a very s y substantial unity in the work." The nature of this unity is clearly stated by The Outlook in these words: "Tho it may at first sight appear that chapters carrying such titles as 'The Sunny Side of the Transcendental Period,' 'English and American Cousins,' 'American Audiences,' 'The Aristocracy of the Dollar,' and 'Wordsworthshire' must be remote from one another in thought and treatment, they possess a subtle oneness born of the fact that, whatever his theme, Colonel Higginson is attempting to estimate influences that have gone to the making of American life and character."

THOMAS W. HIGGINSON.

From this point of view, which, in our opinion, is the correct one, probably the most significant chapters are those dealing with the origin and development of the Transcendental movement; the old Lyceum lecture system which was such a boon to the scattered communities of forty and fifty years ago; the relations between the people of England and those of the United States; the changes involved in the transition from an aristocracy of birth to an aristocracy based on wealth; and the race problem. This last theme is approached from a standpoint well indicated in the chapter title "Intensely Human," and is discussed with an intensity of feeling unequaled elsewhere in this book. Colonel Higginson, as is well known, was in command of a negro regiment during the war, and here reinforces his plea for the negro by citing a number of anecdotes of his war-time experiences illustrative of the character and characteristics of the colored race.

Anecdote, indeed, is one of the book's several strong features. In his long and useful career Colonel Higginson has come into intimate contact with many men and women prominent in different walks of life; and in putting on paper his views of his numerous friends and acquaintances he gives point to his remarks by a wealth of good stories, the personal note being further emphasized by the portrait illustrations in which the volume abounds and by the reproduction of facsimiles of letters from such notables as Thoreau, Edward Everett, Matthew Arnold, Browning, Froude, Whittier, Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Edward Fitzgerald, SaintBeuve, Stepniak, Darwin, Parkman and Lowell.

A HINDOO BOCCACCIO.

A DIGIT OF THE MOON, By F. W. Bain. 416 pp. Price, $1.50. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

HIS book purports to be a translation of an ancient Sanskrit manulanguage, by an aged Brahman dying of the plague. It is but the sixteenth part of a Hindu work, "The Churning of the Ocean of Time." There are four stories, which, tho Hindu in form and spirit, are strangely reminiscent to us of mythologies and religions appearing in Europe in Pythagoras, Plato, and Milton, and suggest vast and misty vistas reaching back to a common past on the Aryan plain.

As stories of an ancient civilization, these flowery, unhurried tales have a charm of movement and meaning.

As love stories the tales are pure and ardent, mixing earthly and heavenly motive and passion in the intimate way of the early world. There is in them a childlike openness of approach, a simple, unstayed advance, an absence of shading and surprise very different from the sophistication and subtlety of modern fiction.

"As a work of the writer's art it is wonderful," declares the Philadel phia Public Ledger; and the New York Times finds that "the stories have an undeniable charm." Says the Chicago Tribune: "The book is like a beaker of red romance, brought reverently to the light after long lying in those deep, cool cellars of ancient Oriental fancy."

"THE GARDEN OF DEATH."

LE JARDIN DE LA MORT. Par Louis Bertrand. Société d'Editions Litteraires et Artistiques. Paul Ollendoff, Paris. Imported by Brentano, New York.

LE

E Jardin de la Mort" is a charmingly related journey into French Africa. The author, Mr. Louis Bertrand, is always the Frenchman, always the artist, with a rather un-Parisian capability for travel. It is not a simple caprice of the imagination, he asserts, which carried the author into the arid regions of South Algeria, among the débris of ancient Roman cities. This French Africa, which he had formerly narrated with the fervor of an adopted son, he endeavors at present to show in its native rudeness, and at the same time to reinstate it in its titles to nobility, in renewing across the ages the Latin tradition and descent. He speaks of the similarity which exists between North Africa and the Mediterranean regions, with the same flora and fauna, the same climate, and same configuration of landscape. Politically, the formula that Algeria is only a continuation of France is absurd; geographically, it is rigorously exact. It is the France of the Midi, but it is, even more, meridional Spain and Italy, which are to be rediscovered in Algerian and Tunisian Sahel and Tell. Here the Languedocs, the Provencales, the Spanish, Italians, Mahonnais and Corsicans, Sicilians and Maltese are established as if at home. This little book proposes to relate and to celebrate the renaissance of the Latin races in French Africa.

In an exquisite flowing style, replete with poetic, realistic, and pictorial detail, the story of the journey is told. The exaltation of light, in the words of Mr. Bertrand, is a perpetual consciousness in this atmosphere. The whole book vibrates with light, the entire desert undulates, rocks become volatile in the torrid vibration. Allusions to architecture, archeology, mythos, and literature mingle with poetic description and are woven about the human episodes, the actual details of journeying. The whole of the book is intensely interesting; it is graphic yet delicate, realistic yet, tender.

SHORT NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Jerome Hart's "A Levantine Log-Book" (Longmans, $2.00), is the record of a recent visit to Greece, Palestine and Egypt, and has all the ease, breeziness and entertaining information that won such popularity for its author's earlier travel sketches.

Students of astronomy will find the latest results of sidereal research admirably stated in the new edition of Agnes Clerke's "The System of the Stars" (Black, $6.50), a work which for fifteen years has been a recognized authority. This is its first revision, and the changes made are extensive and exact. An appreciable gain is secured in the new illustrations, which are well chosen and well executed.

"The Homes of Tennyson" (Macmillian, $2.00) is a typical representative of that class of holiday book-now, unhappily, numerouswhich wholly depends for success on its binding and illustrations. In the present instance the latter are dainty reproductions in color of paintings by that gifted artist, Mrs. Helen Allingham, depicting scenes roundabout the homes of the late laureate. The responsibility for the text rests with Mr. Arthur Patterson, F.R. Hist. S., who, as he pleasantly puts it, writes "from a personal rather than a biographical standpoint"-meaning thereby that we see comparatively little of Tennyson, but a great deal of Mr. Arthur Patterson, F.R. Hist. S.

The eight short stories composing Dr. Henry C. Rowland's "The. Mountain of Fears" (Barnes, $1.50) are tales of the sea in the sense that they are told on shipboard. Dr. Rowland would not be Dr. Rowland did he fail to give his yarns a nautical setting. But the adventures recorded occur mainly on land, in Borneo, Sulu, and other regions out of the beaten path, and center about a Dr. Leyden, a curious old German savant who finds lucrative employment in collecting specimens for museums. Readers of "Sea Scamps," "To Windward" and "The Wanderers" need not be assured that there is plenty of go to the stories, which afford a pleasant couple of hours' entertainment.