A NEW TEXT-BOOK ON ENGLISH LITERATURE.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. A Study of the Development of English Thought from Beowulf to Milton. By Fred Lewis Pattee, Professor of English and Rhetoric in the Pennsylvania State College. Silver, Burdett & Co., New York.

The title of this book is not accurate save when the long sub-title is added, for a treatise which includes Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton can hardly be described as dealing with the foundations-what there is in English besides the works of these men is not the main structure, but the additions. "The Foundations of English Literature" is frankly a text-book, but it is an excellent text-book. It is just the sort of book which the overworked instructor in a small college can profitably use as a text-book, or which the specialist can recommend as a competent guide to the whole field of English literature down to Milton. "The object of this book is to present a careful study of the origins of English literature, and to trace its development up to the time when it assumed its permanent form." The book is not "a storehouse of facts;" a prefatory bibliographical note names the common standard reference books, which the student will consult often. There is with each chapter a short, sufficiently comprehensive book list; at the top of each page there are printed the two topics discussed on that page; at frequent intervals there are tables of dates and events in English and continental history—all of which are indications of how carefully Prof. Pattee has remembered that he is writing a book for students, and not for critics, who might prefer a page full and without indentations made by dates.

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English literature is treated as a development, which it surely is, and before beginning the discussions of the writings themselves four brief chapters are given up to the setting in which the literature was to appear—the geography of Britain and the life and society of the primitive Englishman. Prof. Pattee knows clearly that literature is the expression of a nation's life, and that an understanding of the latter is presupposed in a knowledge of the former. The political

and social conditions are mentioned continually as showing the reasonableness of the literary forms which the writers of each period adopted. This wholesome and digested historical knowledge will be valuable to students in helping them to realize the ignorance and barbarity of the ages which could nevertheless produce literary geniuses of the first rank. It serves also to prevent the author's attempting to induce us to think that a man who does not read AngloSaxon has lost a priceless literary heritage in the literature before Chaucer-a mistake which those whose work is too exclusively with "the foundations of English literature," as seen in philology, are prone to make.

In the use of this book, however, one should always keep in mind how superior a genius can show himself to his environment. A critic with a theory of literary evolution to prove, or even a development to show, is liable to do as Prof. Pattee has done in some instances, to put the power of genius too low. Shakespeare is most emphatically not a mere Elizabethan dramatist writ large, and it is rash to say of Milton that had he failed to pass through just the training which he did "Paradise Lost" would have been impossible. The treatment of Milton is in several points unsatisfactory to us, for we cannot think that Milton's prose work served only to add fuel to controversy, that he ruined his eyes to no practical good, or that "Paradise Lost" has been of little influence because impossible of imitation. Milton's prose did not affect the masses, but it affected and still affects thinkers, and the sublime passages are more frequent than "here and there," as in the "Areopagitica." We cannot lament the loss of Milton's eyes in his political cause unless we lament the character of the man, for a man could not be of Milton's character and fail to be blind to all else save duty. It is almost fatuous to speak of Milton's poetry as seen in "Paradise Lost" as not having influenced Gray, Wordsworth, and Tennyson, to name no more than these three men. G. C. E.

NOTES.

In his new volume, "Democracy and Empire" (Macmillan), Prof. Franklin H. Giddings continues his psychological and economic studies which have already been published in his two works on sociology; but his latest production is far more readable than anything else that has come from his pen. There is also a timeliness about the present book which ought to insure its success and usefulness in spite of the fact that much of the material has once before seen the light in various scientific journals. Prof. Giddings seems inclined to believe that in the present international "struggle for existence" there is an irresistible tendency toward the consolidation of small states into larger political aggregations, and that such a political crystallization, so to speak, will probably continue until the less advanced peoples are brought under the influence of the greater civilized nations. He might have instituted a comparison here, we think, between this natural evolution and the destruction of the petty feudal states by the rise of national power; for doubtless the growth of cosmopolitanism will witness many of the scenes which accompanied the transition period between the barony and the monarchy. Prof. Giddings takes a rather optimistic view of the situation, however, and detects no serious. conflict between empire-building and the growth of democracy. To quote his own words: "When a nation makes itself the nucleus of an empire, step by step extending its sway over distant lands and peoples successively annexed, it can continue to be democratic; it can become, decade after decade, more democratic; it can even permit its colonies or dependencies to be democratic, while at the same time maintaining a strong imperial government for purposes of common defense-all on the inviolable condition that, as it lengthens the reach of government, it must curtail the functions of government." In other words, the imperial constitution must foster the growth of local government-a fact that finds striking proof in the history of the British Empire.

"The Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America" comes to us from Baltimore (Johns Hopkins University Press), and embodies a course of lectures delivered by Dr. John H. Latané, as provided for by the Albert Shaw Foundation. The author of the present volume does not claim to do more than introduce the reader to the subject of our Spanish relations; but his work is highly creditable, and condenses briefly the whole question that has played so important a rôle in our diplomatic history. Dr. Latané lays special stress, of course, on the services rendered the Spanish-American states by England and the United States, and discusses at length the Monroe doctrine. Notwithstanding his industry in this direction, however, he can scarcely be said to reach a definite conclusion; but this, of course, is not the fault of Dr. Latané. His style is somewhat tedious, and his apparent ignorance of the Spanish language has caused him to rely too much on secondary authorities, from whom he quotes very liberally. But his volume is a timely and a valuable one, and should be read carefully by all who wish light on the subject of our foreign policy. There is a good index; but the paper and binding of the book have that cheap appearance which too often characterizes the Johns Hopkins publications.

In retiring from the editorship of this REVIEW I desire to thank most warmly the kind friends without whose coöperation the undertaking would have died in its inception, nearly eight years ago. I wish also to bespeak for my successors, Profs. J. B. Henneman and B. J. Ramage, the encouragement and sympathy that have been so abundantly bestowed upon me. W. P. TRENT.

Sewanee, Tenn., July 15, 1900.

It is almost needless for me to say how deeply I appreciate the invitation to address you to-night extended me by your honored President, and how much I regret that the occasion should be one marked by the severance of ties both intimate and tender. During the twelve years of my connection with Sewanee, my relations with your body have been, to me, a source both of profit and of the most genuine pleasure. I simply cannot imagine pleasanter relations, and it is because they mean so much to me that I am at once going to talk about something else. What that something else should be is clear enough to my own mind, but I have some difficulty in finding a title that will name or describe it with sufficient brevity. Perhaps if it were not for the sake of avoiding the appearance of an even partial competition with that unique and unapproachable genius, Carlyle, I might be tempted to entitle my remarks: "A Sign of the Times." I should, indeed, like to take a broader sweep, and deal with the "Signs of the Times" generally; but a topic of such scope would seem out of place to-night, and there are special advantages in a concentration of attention and interest.

The special Sign of the Times that I propose to speak about is, however, one of such broad import that when I name it you will perhaps think that I might have spared my

1 An address delivered at the invitation of the Alumni Association of the University of the South, on the occasion of their annual meeting and banquet at Sewanee, Tenn., August 1, 1900.