cott, Halleck, Bancroft, and all the other literary celebrities who were his contemporaries. These portraits were for the most part taken from life and may be relied upon as accurate.

"Cardinal Wolsey and the Duke of Buckingham" is from the celebrated historic picture by John Gilbert now in the gallery of the British Institution. It illustrates the bitter feud between "the great Cardinal" and the Duke of Buck ingham, which readers of the history of England of the time of Henry the Eighth will no doubt call to mind. The scene of the picture is supposed to be Wolsey Hall in Hampton Court, and is based on that passage in the first act of Shake

speare's Henry VIII., in which the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham are interrupted in the midst of discontented discourse by the appearance of Cardinal Wolsey preceded and surrounded by his state. This was at the time when the Cardinal was in the zenith of his power, before his " ' high-blown pride had at length brake under him," and he frowns haughtily on Buckingham,-who retorts with scorn and defiance. The scene is a very impressive one, and both these pictures will, we think, be an acceptable addition to the long gallery of engravings with which the ECLECTIC furnishes its subscribers from month to month.

Morton House. By the author of "Valerie Aylmer." New York: D. Appleton & Co.

THE author of "Valerie Aylmer," or "Christian Reid," as she announced herself on the titlepage of that volume, has very many reasons to feel encouraged at the success which she has met in entering the field of literature. Her first work was hailed by the press at the South as "the best Southern novel yet written," the Northern critics suspended the "traditional hostility" which they are supposed to feel toward Southern writers, and spoke many cordial words, and it elicited highly complimentary letters from men like Alexander H. Stephens, who, it may be presumed, do not usually read novels. "Morton House," too, has been greeted with almost equal favor as it appeared from week to week in Appleton's Journal, and will not on the whole detract from her reputation; SO "Christian Reid," although her earliest work is scarcely a year old, has fairly taken rank among those promising writers who so often awaken public expectation only to disappoint it.

For ourself we heartily hope that she may do something that shall not prove wholly ephemeral. She is young yet, so we understand; she exhibits a practical good sense which is not likely to let her degenerate into sloppy sentimentalism; she has the genuine dramatic perceptions which are indispensable to whoever would depict human character; and she is possessed of a literary style which is rarely found except in conjunction with other and higher mental qualities. In natural, easy, and graceful dialogue, we do not know a single living writer who surpasses her, and this faculty alone will impart a certain pleasant flavor to anything she may have to say. She has also fine artistic intuitions, and a genuine love of nature and natural beauty of all kinds.

These are admirable gifts, and very favorable ones for a young writer whose experience and discipline are all to come; yet along with these there are radical faults which we regret to say have been characteristic of every Southern novel writer. We do not mean to rank the "author of Valerie Aylmer" in the same category with Miss Evans,

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we think, in fact, that the most hopeful feature of her books is the reaction which they indicate in the South itself against the unspeakable stupidity and silliness of the Evans school; but in both her stories, and in Morton House more than in Valerie Aylmer, she displays the same faults that would have made Miss Evans's novels worthless without the ignorance and crudeness and bombast which are peculiar to Miss Evans herself. among these, -for it seems in the nature of things for the average young ladies' hero to be an irritating prig, is the incapacity or deliberate refusal to depict life as it is. No novel of the slightest valuwas ever written which was not a more or less accurate picture of actual life,- -none ever will be written; yet there is not a single novelist among the many able writers of the South who has not erected a purely ideal state of society and offered it to the world as a reflex of Southern life and character. This ideal, moreover, has fairly become traditional with them, and whether the scenes are laid "under the shadow of Lookout Mountain," or in a North Carolina village, and whether the character to be depicted is a "little girl who chants the grandest of David's psalms" as she comes up from the spring with a pail of water on her head, or the "last scion of the house of Morton," there is the same preposterous posturing, the same purely imaginary atmosphere of romance, and the same persistent effort to surround "Southern chivalry," in its most tawdry aspect, with such social and physical circumstances as the writer may happen to consider in keeping with the "fitness of things."

To those, for instance, who are acquainted with Baltimore, it must have been very amusing to read of the brilliant round of gayeties and dissipations which constituted the life of Valerie Aylmer in that pleasant and respectable but rather dull city. But after all, Baltimore is a city, and it is only when the same artificial conditions and flaring scenery are conveyed to the narrow stage of a village like Lagrange that their absurd unreality and fictitiousness become palpable. It is not difficult even for those who have never experienced

to conceive what life must be in a small country village, and what are likely to be the characteristics of its society. It is still less difficult for one who has been familiar with it, to pronounce the gorgeous pageantry and display which Miss Reid gathers around Morton House and Lagrange as a specimen of Southern life twenty years ago, as hollow a sham as was ever evolved from an imagina. tion undisciplined by experience and observation.

The truth is, that life at the South among the wealthy classes, in the days before the late convulsion, was a solid and substantial life; it was genuinely luxurious to a degree never equalled probably elsewhere in America; and it was refined in a certain severe and rigid way. But, though abounding in the kindly virtues of hospitality and friendship, it was a cold, self-contained, and quiet life,- -as far removed as possible from the flimsy, showy, pinchbeck Paradise which Southern novel writers are fond of portraying.

Of course, no natural men and women could be looked for in the midst of such artificial social conditions, and it is hard to say whether the male or female personages of Miss Reid's books are farthest removed from actual life. "Katherine Tresham" is but a reproduction of the impression which Jane Eyre on the stage under the glare of gaslights would make upon a young lady's imagination; and Morton Annesley, the hero of "Morton House," whom Miss Reid evidently believes to be, like Hamlet, "the glass of fashion and the mould of form, the rose and expectancy of the fair state," is a' priggish, conceited, and bathetic young fellow who in real life would have been sneered or kicked out of Lagrange,--for Southern gentlemen, whatever else they may have been, were not sentimental and effeminate. All the other characters in "Morton House" are equally flimsy and unreal. Everybody is on exhibition, and is conscious of it. All that was genuinely characteristic of Southern society, all that made it unique and picturesque, romantic even, to the outside world, is entirely absent, or appears only in masquerade. The nearest we come to plantation life in either of her books is when, on the night of a Christmas ball, in one of the pauses of a theatrical outburst of sentiment, we are made to hear the distant trombones and banjo of a negro entertainment. Nature herself partakes of the general artificiality, and though, as we have said, the author describes natural scenery with the perception and enthusiasm of an artist, one can scarcely help feeling that the sun goes to his setting and the "purple gloaming" steals over the landscape for the special purpose of serving as a background for the figure of young Annesley-"another Paladin," as Miss Reid calls him-galloping picturesquely along a picturesque road.

We will not find further fault with our author by insisting upon the mild sectarianism which she sometimes introduces into her stories, nor the neat remarks which she indulges in occasionally about "the new school of moralists," she herself belonging evidently to the old school, the very old one, dating from the time probably when average people first acquired language enough to express "smart," but crude and unconsidered opinions. We desire to be just to Miss Reid, and notwithstanding the criticisms we have made, we regard her as a very talented and promising writer. Vol

taire said once, that no literary style was hopeless except the dull, and it is due the "author of Valerie Aylmer" to say that her books are interesting from beginning to end, that there are few pages which the most inveterate novel-reader will feel disposed to "skip."

HIGGINSON.

Atlantic Essays. By THOMAS WENTWORTH Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. Castilian Days. By JOHN HAY. (The Same.) THE title of Mr. Higginson's volume, "Atlantic Essays," was suggested, doubtless, by the fact of the essays having appeared originally in the Atlantic Monthly; but independent of that it is specially appropriate, for there is no other of its contributors who so completely as Mr. Higginson represents the literary character and flavor peculiar to the famous Boston periodical. There is an ease and finish about all his compositions, a certain polished and scholarly air, which makes it very pleasant to read whatever he writes, and those who have enjoyed his papers as they appeared at long interval in the pages of the Atlantic will doubtless be glad to read them again in their present collected and somewhat consecutive shape,-the more especially as his present relations to a great social and political movement are not likely to leave him leisure, even if they leave him the disposition, for the production of many more of the same kind.

The volume contains a round dozen papers which have appeared at various times, from 1858 down to the present year. They are chiefly on literary topics, with a mild mixture of the historical; and several of them, like "The Greek Goddesses," " Sappho," and the fine essay "On an Old Latin Text-Book," have been published so recently that they are familiar probably to the minds of most readers. It is an excellent quality of Mr. Higginson's writings however, that they improve on a second perusal, and we have derived more pleasure from reading over again "A Plea for Culture," "Literature as An Art," and "Americanism in Literature," than we experienced on reading them originally several years ago. A's to the "Letter to a Young Contributor," which never before came under our notice, it contains the concentrated wisdom of all the good advice that has ever been given to aspirants for literary honors, and this wisdom is communicated in a manner which is itself a lesson in the art of composition.

Reading over these Essays, enjoying their scholarly fragrance, and calling to mind how nearly we had forgotten their contents, it is difficult to think without regret of the vast mass of fine literature which is consigned to oblivion, or to the most ephemeral of lives, in the pages of any really good magazine.

That the best survives, however, is proved by these Essays themselves, and by this other volume of "Castilian Days," which also appeared originally in the Atlantic Monthly, and were among the most entertaining and valuable of its contents during the past year. Mr. Hay was connected with our embassy at Madrid until its personnel was changed by the appointment of General Sickles, and he has shown himself to have been a keen and impartial observer of Spanish politics and society during all the eventful period of his stay in that

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country. We are not acquainted with any book which gives us so clear a conception of the character, customs, amusements, and inner life of the Spaniards as Mr. Hay's, and he is possessed of a singularly clear and effective literary style. might search a long while before finding a more vivid and forcible piece of writing than his chapter on "Tauromachy,' or bull-fighting, and this is certainly not the best portion of his book.

The Earth. A Descriptive History of the Phenomena of the Life of the Globe. By ELISÉE RECLUS. Translated by the late B. B. WOODWARD, M. A. New York: Harper & Bros. 1871.

IT is not easy to write without enthusiasm of a work like M. Reclus's, nor are we sure that in the present case enthusiasm would be misplaced. No work so comprehensive in design has ever been undertaken by any other scientific writer,--it is nothing less, in fact, than an attempt to give a complete history of our Earth in its astronomical, planetary, geological, and historical aspects, and to concentrate in one book the physical knowledge of the whole world and of every age. Failure in such a scheme might be predicted with almost perfect assurance; but though faults have been pointed out here and there, and objections made to this point and to that, yet it is conceded on all hands that M. Reclus has succeeded astonishingly well, and that he has made a contribution of immeasurable value to the literature of popular science. We say to popular science, for the book is not written for savants and scholars only, but is designed to be read by the people. Its expositions are clear and simple and untechnical, there are few portions that cannot be readily understood, and while nothing essential is omitted, there is none of that elaboration of details which so wearies the patience.

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In its mechanical features, too, the book is a model of beauty and good taste. There are no less than twenty-three full-page maps printed in colors, and besides these there are two hundred and thirty smaller ones inserted in the text. of these are of a quality and artistic finish seldom found except in the most expensive works, and the text itself is in a type which makes it a pleasure to read. Whoever does read it, we may add, will be likely to learn something unknown to him before about the world we live on.

The History of English Literature. By H. A. TAINE. Translated by H. VAN LAUN. New York: Holt & Williams. 1871.

IN the next number of the ECLECTIC there will

be an extended review which will do something like justice to this remarkable work, so we shall confine ourself here to calling attention to the fact that the first volume has just been published in this country. We may add our own, however, to the general testimony that the "History of English Literature" is one of the most valuable contributions that have been made to that litera

ture for many years. It seems strange that the task of writing the standard account of the origin, growth, and characteristics of English literature should be performed by a Frenchman, but there is certainly no book in the language on the same subject which can compare in research, com

prehensiveness, and critical insight with that of M. Taine. In it the author proves himself not less able a commentator on literature than he had previously proved himself to be on art, and he does much to vindicate the soundness of the philosophical theories which he applies to Art, by showing that they are equally lucid, equally efficient, and equally satisfactory when applied to the kindred subject, Literature.

The style in which Messrs. Holt & Williams have published the work is worthy of the author and highly creditable to their house. There are two thick 8vo volumes, printed in clear large type on the choicest of paper.

Cues from All Quarters. Boston: Roberts Bros. 1871.

THE alternative title of this entertaining little volume is "The Literary Musings of a Clerical Recluse," and its author is understood in England to be the Rev. Francis Jacox, whose name is not unfamiliar perhaps to readers of our past volumes of a year or two ago. Mr. Jacox is one of those men who is a student by nature as well as habit, whose whole life has evidently been spent in a library or among books, and whose memory, or common-place book, or perhaps both together, is comprehensive enough to retain everything that has once passed under his reading. His method is to collect together all the poetical quotations he can find on any particular "cue or topic, and link them to each other with such a running commentary as will give them something like consecutiveness and harmony, and best serve to bring out their meaning. These quotations alone would prove not uninteresting nor unprofitable reading, but we think that justice has hardly been done to the good taste and skill with which the author connects them together and weaves them as it were into the web of his dominant fancy. It is not creative work, nor work of any very high order, but it is more difficult and much more rarely performed than some other kinds of writing which win frequent applause. It is very pleasing moreover, in our day, when everybody reads not to enjoy but to criticise, to come now and then upon a man of scholarship and culture who is content to admire the beauties of all kinds which he finds along the pathway of his readings, and who has the art to gather them for us into the pleasantest of bouquets without thereby despoiling them of their fascination.

There is a choice variety of "cues" in the present volume, and to all who read it we can promise entertainment of a suggestive and purely literary character.

HOLIDAY BOOKS.

THE books for the Holidays are so tardy in making their appearance this year that we can only speak of most of them from the publishers' announcements, and are compelled to omit the extended notice which we usually bestow upon them. They are also very few, so few that it would seem as if that were really true which has been suspected for several years: namely, that the practice of using books for presents is on the decline. This explanation, however, we are loath to accept. A handsome book is in our opinion the very choicest of gifts the most suggestive and the most convenient. Like the "quality of mercy"

(to paraphrase Portia) it is twice a compliment, a compliment to the good taste and intelligence alike of the giver and receiver.

Of the Holiday books issued this season in New York, Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. publish "The Story of the Fountain," by Wm. Cullen Bryant which will take rank among the handsomest illustrated books issued in America. It is publish ed as a companion volume to "The Song of the Sower," by the same poet, which appeared last year, has a finely-engraved woodcut on every page, from drawings by Harry Fenn, Winslow Homer, Fredericks, Hows, and others, and is superbly printed and tastefully bound.

The same house publishes a "Red-Line Edition of Bryant," containing all his poems, collected and arranged by the author, together with twenty-four illustrations and a portrait of Bryant

on steel.

Messrs. Scribner & Co. (New York) publish "Songs of the Heart,” containing poems selected from many sources, and uniform with "Songs of Home," and " Songs of Life," previously published. It is a choice volume, copiously and elegantly illustrated.

Messrs. Harper & Bros. (New York) contribute their share to the amusement of the young folks in the shape of a delightful volume entitled "Dogs and Their Doings," by the Rev. F. O. Morris. It contains all the anecdotes about dogs, old and new, and is beautifully illustrated with engravings taken chiefly from the paintings of Sir Edwin Landseer, and Harrison Weir.

The list of Messrs. James R. Osgood & Co. (Boston) is the longest and the most attractive, we think, announced by any publishers. We have seen none of the books except the beautiful little volume "Child Life," being a collection of poetry for the young, selected and arranged by Whittier, with an introductory essay. Sixty engravings embellish this volume, and there can be little doubt that it will become the standard in its special field.

The other books yet to come, are a new edition of "Longfellow's Poems," illustrated with upwards of 250 engravings; "Edwin Booth in Twelve Dramatic Characters," containing thirteen pictorial iliustrations of his characters in tragedy and comedy, drawn in costume by Hennessy and engraved by Linton, with a biographical and critical sketch of the actor by William Winter; a sumptuously illustrated edition of "The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches," by Bret Harte; a Red-Line edition of the same author's

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Poems," complete, with numerous illustrations; "My Summer in a Garden," by Charles Dudley Warner; Mrs. Stowe's "Oldtown Fireside Stories;" and the charming story, "Their Wedding Journey," by W. D. Howells.

Messrs. Roberts Bros. (Boston) publish Falstaff and His Companions, containing twenty designs in silhouette by Paul Konewka. This is the third volume illustrated in this way that Roberts Bros. have issued, and they are all very attractive and thoroughly unique. They also publish The Unknown River: An Etcher's Voyage of Discovery, by P. G. Hamerton, the well-known writer on art; Miss Christina Rossetti's nursery rhymebook, Sing-Song; The New Year's Bargain;

Mother's Book of Poetry; World, or Play and Farnest; Arabesques, by Mrs. Greenough, and several others for children.

Besides these they import elegant editions of Outlines of Shakespeare, designed and engraved by Moritz Retzsch; The Sermon on the Mount, illuminated by chromo-lithography from designs by Charles Rolf; Lord Houghton's poem, Good Night and Good Morning; The Coast of Norway; and Carl Werner's Nile-Sketches.

SCIENCE.

Sericulture. The general adoption this past year throughout the silk-growing districts of France, Italy, and Austria, of the "selection" system introduced by M. Pasteur has been attended with the most marked success. The quantity of cocoons produced from one ounce of the silkmoths' eggs has been raised from thirty to as many as fifty, or in some cases even sixty kilogrammes; the total number produced this year by M. Pasteur's method reaching no less a number than three million kilogrammes, represented in currency by eighteen or twenty million francs during the present low price of the raw cocoons, or from twenty-five to twenty-six millions under ordinary conditions. The great saving effected by the selection system is likely shortly to render the European silk-growers entirely independent of the accustomed supply of eggs from Japan and China.— Comptes rendus, Sept. 25, 1871.

Change in the Habits of a Bird.—A writer in Nature for October 19 records a remarkable instance of the entire change of habits in one of the native birds of New Zealand since the colonization of the island by Europeans. The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is a member of the family of Trichoglossinæ, or brush-tongued parrots, feeding naturally on the nectar of various indigenous flowers, or occasionally on insects found in the crevices of rocks or beneath the bark of trees. For several years past the sheep in the Otago district have been afflicted with what was thought to be a new kind of disease, first manifesting itself in a patch of raw flesh on the loin, the wool gradually coming completely off the side, and death being often the result. It was discovered that this was caused by the attacks of the Kea, or mountain-parrot, which threatens to become exceedingly destructive to the flocks. It is supposed that the taste for this kind of food was first developed from the parrots being induced in the winter season, when their proper food was scarce, to attack the "meat-gallows" on which the carcases of sheep were hung to dry the skins.

The Origin of Insects.-Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., read a paper before the Linnean Society, on November 2, on this subject, which has always presented one of the most difficult problems to the Darwinian theory. There is great difficulty in conceiving by what natural process an insect with a suctorial mouth like that of a gnat or butterfly (Diptera or Lepidoptera) could be developed from a powerful mandibulate type like the Orthoptera, or even the Neuroptera. M. Brauer has recently suggested that the interesting genus Cambodea is, of all known existing forms, that which most nearly resembles the parent insectstock, from which are descended not only the most