the front a fac-simile charcoal sketch of a farmhouse and barn on a distant knoll, with water and trees, and a loaded hay-cart in the foreground." (Roberts. $4; $5.)

A Selection of Wordsworth's Sonnets.-Eightyeight of Wordsworth's familiar "Sonnets" have been selected with rare discrimination as regards their pictorial possibilities, and these have been illustrated by Alfred Parsons, whose name at

Sonnets," with Alfred Parsons' bewitching illustrations, makes a sumptuous appearance in holiday dress. The publishers have been generous, and the book shows the thought and money spent upon it. Holiday books of true literary and artistic merit are not so numerous that this book, combining a classic text, artistic illustrations and the best effects of modern bookmaking, can fail to be instantly recognized and much sought after. Harper. $5.)

46

History of Greek Literature. - Thomas Sergeant Perry has recounted the history of Greek literature, not so much for classical students as for those who have no exhaustive knowledge of his subject. He covers it with care and shows diligent research and a practised power of selection in his vast field. In an introductory chapter he dwells upon the originality of Greek literature as one of its most striking qualities, and points out that in studying the literature of Greece we are studying the foundations of nearly all the. work that has been done since in every civilized country. The lines that the Greeks drew without rule or precedent have acquired an authority that has given them the force of literary canons, to inspire and direct the subsequent work of the world." The shape in which Mr. Perry puts his final work is most attractive, and the publishers have been generous in making a handsome book of his excellent material, which traces Greek literature from its magnificent beginning, through its greatness and its combined brilliancy and conventionality, until it became a mechanical art, and so perished. The volume is fully illustrated with reproductions of classic pictures of the heroes

and heroines of classic Greek literature and art. (Holt.)

By Leafy Ways and Idyls of the Field. "The book of nature," says the Boston Literary World, "is like the treasures of art and the stores of written wisdom in this, at least, that what we find there depends greatly upon what we carry with us. When we are privileged to take a country walk with Burroughs or Thoreau, we are aroused to the consciousness of a thousand sources of interest which we might not have discovered for ourselves. Moreover, they give us not mere nature, but nature with human companionship. The writer on natural history must be rarely gifted in a double capacity-he must possess a broad human sympathy, as well as a sympathy that might be called un-human. We ask his pages to reflect man to himself as well as that physical nature which lies outside of man. Many writers have busied themselves with its phenomena, and have given us more or less

persuasive echoes of its mystic voices. Among recent delicaté observers, Mr. Francis A. Knight, in two dainty volumes, makes record of what he has seen and heard in many walks a-field. His papers are largely concerned with bird life, and it is English bird life, and therefore interesting and suggestive to us by way of contrast and comparison. It is not the nightingale or the lark alone of which we hear, but the starling and the jackdaw, the black cock and the lapwing. A graceful diction and a nice appreciation of the atmospheric tone which makes a new picture of a familiar landscape with each varying hour, give finish to these brief essays. Photogravures of pretty bits of landscape supply suitable and pleasing illustrations." (Roberts. ea. $1.50.)

chosen and arranged a volume of extracts from The Day's Message. -Susan Coolidge has authors of sermons selected for every day of the

year. Glancing through its pages at random we

find the names of Annie Fields, Christina Ros

setti, W. D. Howells, Francis de Sales, Jean Ingelow, John Ruskin, Tennyson, Horace Bushnell, George Eliot, Bishop Ken, James Russell Lowell, Henry Ward Beecher, Dean Gouldburn, Robert Browning, Phillips Brooks, Jeremy Taylor, George Macdonald, and Henry Vaughn among those most often quoted. Each day commences with a verse from the Bible, the leading topic of the Scriptural verse being developed by additional selections in poetry and prose, harmonious in adaptation and felicitous in expression. "Susan Coolidge's refinement, poetic taste, and excellent judgment," says the Providence Sunday Journal, "find expression in the presentation of her work. The book will be warmly welcomed by those who desire ennobling influences, and who willingly turn aside for a few moments each day from the trivialities of life to find material to strengthen their Christian faith, afford themes for uplifting meditation and incentives to moral and intellectual growth. The Day's Message' is one of the most attractive books of its class," and among so many good things this is praise indeed. (Roberts. $1.

Summerland.-Margaret MacDonald Pullman's "Summerland" is a poem without words. True, it has a prelude and an occasional couplet, but the plctures tell of the sunshine, the fragrant air, and the happy lives in cottage and farm-house, in flowery meadows, ripe harvest fields, and shady woods. Very many of the pictures are a study wonderfully suggestive, and some of them of marked excellence. As the artist opens her gallery of pictures she says: "I want them to tell you of hills in the sunshine, meadows with perfumed air; the brook fringed with flowering grasses, and cool and quiet reflections; the winding path that suggests the cottage life just over the hills, with its warm, blue breathings of the hidden hearth; the healing breath of the pine woods; music of quiet waters; white sands washed by the waves of the sea, blue with heaven's own reflection; lengthening shadows; day done, and quiet over all." The artist's hope, so poetically expressed, is amply fulfilled. She touches the heart and brings it into full sympathy with the landscapes she has so exquisitely portrayed. With each picture there is an apt quotation expressive of the design. The well-known publishing house which issues this volume has long been noted for its holiday art publications. The present book is in all respects equal to any that has yet been given to the public, both for its artistic excellence and typographical merits. The artist is the well-known Chicago lady whose "Days Serene" proved one of the great successes of last year's holiday season. In the sixty-three illustrations confined within the handsome cover Mrs. Pullman reminds one very forcibly of Birket Foster, there is such a calm, peaceful serenity about them, such as one finds in the English landscapes, and in them Mrs. Pullman demonstrates anew that she possesses not only talent of a high order, but a true conception of the beautiful in nature. Summerland" breathes through all its pages, and each full-page illustra

tion is ushered in by a gem from the artist's pencil, giving the title, each of which is a poem in itself. The high quality of Lee & Shepard's art-books, including paper, printing and binding, is maintained throughout the present work. Mr. George T. Andrew has rendered his usual excellent service in making the engravings and printing them. ($3.75; turkey mor., $9; English seal style, $7; tree calf, $10.)

London Street Arabs.-" Mrs. Henry M. Stanley's graceful little book, consisting of a dozen pages of introduction and about two-score of wood-engravings from her drawings, all preceded by a portrait of herself, falls in very happily," says The Nation, "with the spirit of her husband's more extensive work. It proves that Mrs. Stanley also is in her own way an adventurous and persistent explorer of places of life almost as unknown and as dark as those in darkest Africa itself. Mrs. Stanley, under her maiden name o Dorothy Tennant, has long been well known to many circles of society on account of her several gifts and graces. She was at once recognized as the original of one of Sir John Millais' most popular pictures, called Yes or No?' with which almost every one is familiar through engravings. Her beauty was also celebrated on canvas by the eminent painter of so many of England's famous men, Mr. G. F. Watts. But her best title to lasting reputation Miss Tennant earned for herself by her faithful and touching delineations in oil of the manners and habits of the little waifs and strays of stony London deserts. Hitherto, however, only the fortunate few who frequent the London picture exhibitions have been able to make acquaintance with Mrs. Stanley's portrayal of street arab life. It is pleasant, therefore, to welcome this first venture of hers in book form, and doubly pleasant to be let by her into the method and secret of her work." (Cassell. $2.)

From "Lalla Rookh."

Some American Painters in Water-Colors."Water-colors can be so closely imitated by mechanical means," says the N. Y. Herald, "that a book like this cannot fail to please a great many persons Vignette Series. (Copyright, who detest the average 1890, by F. A. Stokes Co.) 'chromo. The story still is told of a noted English water-colorist who one day purchased what he supposed was one of his own sketches and was indignant at the low price set upon it until he discovered that it was a print. The volume containing eight fac-similes which the Stokes Company published last year was received with great favor, and many people with more taste than money are said to have cut it to pieces that they might frame and hang some of its contents. The new volume also contains fac-similes of eight sketches, all of which should please persons who do not insist that imitations should be entirely as good as the original pictures. The list is as follows: 'A Late Arrival,' by W. T. Smedley; 'Girl with Flowers,' by Rosina Emmet Sherwood;

Newly-Fallen Snow,' by Walter L. Palmer; 'Margaret,' by Leon Moran; A Truant on the Beach,' by Mrs. J. Pauline Sunter; A YaleHarvard Race,' by James Macdonald Barnsley; 'The Pet Gazelle," by J. L. Gerome Ferris, and 'Wide Awake,' by Maud Humphrey. Evidently the originals were selected with a view to reproduction, for there are some wash' effects which printers cannot yet imitate successfully. Mr. Hitchcock's introduction is a fair and interesting plea for prints of this character, and the short sketches of the artists, with portraits and specimens of black-and-white work, enhance the value of the volume. The size of the fac-similes, exclusive of margins, is about 10 x 14 inches, and the cover, which is quite handsome, measures 15 x 21 inches. The book is a good one to hold in

mind against the time when presents for wedding. birthday or Christmas must be purchased." (Stokes. Regular ed., $12.50 to $15; Ed. de luxe, $35.)

"The Good Things of Life"" is the seventh series of a collection of the clever pen-and-ink sketches that appear in the weekly publication Life. The illustrations are on heavy paper, the cover is cleverly and artistically designed, and the book opens with the appropriate sentiment:

"'Tis trifles such as these

That make a happy life."

(Stokes. $2.)

The Vignette Series. The success won by "Lucile," the initial volume of this series, will not be forfeited by the additions to the series. Tennyson's "Princess," Goethe's "Faust" (in Anster's translation), and Moore's "Lalla Rookh" offer quite a latitude of choice. Any one of the beautiful little volumes ought to please the most fastidious taste, either from a literary or an artistic standpoint. The half-tone engravings which adorn them are after designs made by McIlvaine, Charles Howard Johnson and others. (Stokes. ea. $1-$5.) D. Lothrop Co.'s Art Books. Among the choicest gift-books brought out by this enterprising house this year are "The Poets' Year," edited by Oscar Fay Adams, a beautiful volume, in both gold cloth and morocco bindings, of selected poetry of the seasons, embracing not only the finest poems of modern and contemporaneous writers, many of which were especially contributed for this collection, but also the classic and familiar lines of the other poets, beautifully illustrated with one hundred and fifty engravings, twenty five being full-page drawings by Chaloner ($6; full mor., $10); and "Out-of-Doors with Tennyson" comprising selections from the Laureate's poems of pastoral life, which have been carefully made by E. S. Brooks, who also furnishes a happy introduction to the volume, which is illustrated by scenes made famous by Tennyson's musical verse, and many other appropriate engravings ($2.50).

The Song of Hiawatha.--The general purpose to make use of Indian material had been in Longfellow's mind for some time before he, in 1854, hit upon a plan for a poem on the American Indians, which was finally wrought into Hiawatha," first published in the autumn of 1855. The poet aimed to weave together the beautiful traditions of the Indians, and, after much study, struck upon a measure which he himself pronounced "the right and only measure for such a theme." Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his remarks at the meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, April 13. 1882, explained, on physiological principles, the fatal facility of the eight-svllable trochaic verse of "Hiawatha," which led to its imitation by school-boys, also to its serving as a model for metrical advertisements, and to its being made fun of, sneered and abused, but also greatly admired, by many for

Schoolcraft's great work on Indians for the legends woven into the story of the mythical "Hiawatha." The book immediately had an unexampled sale, and the poet received letters from Emerson, Hawthorne, Parsons, Bayard Taylor and many others on whose poetic perceptions he could rely, telling him his work was good. Before its publication Longfellow had written in his diary, "I am growing idiotic about this song. and no longer know whether it is good or bad." This bewitching story of the loves of Hiawatha and Minnehaha has been reissued as the leading holiday publication of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. It contains twenty-two full-page illustrations and about four hundred text illustrations by Frederic Remington, who knows Indians and all about them, and can portray them as skilfully and more truthfully than any other living artist. The larger pictures are reproduced from the artists

eign critics of recognized authority. "The recital of each line uses up the air of one natural respiration, so that we read, as we naturally do, eighteen or twenty lines in a minute, without disturbing the natural rhythm of breathing, which is also eighteen or twenty breaths to the minute. The standing objection to this is that it makes the octo-syllabic verse too easy writing and too slipshod reading. Yet, in this most frequently criticised composition, the poet has shown a subtle sense of the requirements of his simple story of a primitive race, in choosing the most fluid of measures, and lets the thought run through in easy sing-song, such as oral tradition would be sure to find on the lips of the story-tellers of the wigwam." The elemental nature of the poetry led to vehement charges of plagiarism. The poet made no secret of the suggestion of the metre-he had used an acknowledged form which was not exclusively Finnish, but used in the Finnish epic "Kalevala." He openly confessed his indebtedness to Henry R.

paintings, in photogravures. The pen-and-ink drawings which decorate the margin of the text are faithful representations of a large number of actual objects in use among Indian tribes or associated with their life. Most of these objects are mentioned in the poem, but many are not. for the artist was desirous of making this collection of drawings a museum of Indian curiosities, and in pursuit of his object he has drawn both from his own large accumulation of material obtained in observations made during frequent intercourse with Indian tribes, and from a diligent study of objects stored in museums or pictured by trustworthy artists. These sketches are in themselves a storehouse of information regarding Indian life in its varied details, and make of this edition of the "Song of Hiawatha" a very valuable addition to American archæology. The binding, in order that it may correspond with the character of the work, is of buckskin stamped with an appropriate design by Mrs. Whitman. (Houghton, M. $6.)