This includes all that part of the work edited and experience has a re-assuring effect upon by Dr. Gieseler himself, on the plan of present- the judgment of those who have a modest opining a documentary history in extracts from ion of their powers of discrimination; nor is it the original sources. The second and third entirely without influence even upon those divisions embrace Dr. Gieseler's lectures on who are less diffident of themselves. Such a modern church history, from 1648 to 1854, good office has been performed with generous published in Germany after his death. These effusiveness and nice critical discernment by include the history of philosophy in relation Mr. Edmund C. Stedman in the introduction to Christianity, the history of the ecclesias- he has supplied for an American edition of Mr. tical controversies in France, and historical Austin Dobson's Vignettes in Rhyme, and Other sketches of the Order of Jesus, of ecclesiastical | Verses-compositions which, indeed, are not reforms in Germany under Joseph II., of theological sciences from the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) to the Treaty of Paris (1854), of the Lutheran Church from 1614 to 1814, of the Reformed Churches in England, France, Holland, and Switzerland, and of the Modern Church from 1814 to 1854. The work is a model of conciseness and candor; and its erudite author's faculty for philosophical analysis and close and accurate historical investigation is conspicuous throughout. of the highest rank, but are among the most perfect of their charming and piquant kind. As a writer of society verse, Mr. Dobson is without a living rival; and for general and sustained excellence, has had, we think, few superiors in any age. His style is brilliant, sparkling, and elegantly finished, yet unaffectedly chaste and simple, and his art has an indefinable graceful airiness and lightness of touch. So subtle and exquisite is his art that, although he rarely crosses the border line of that "strong imagination," under the spell of which, as Shakspeare teaches, "the poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to earth, from AMONG thoughtful Christian people there are many who are not curious about subtleties of Biblical interpretation, who decline to puz-earth to heaven," yet, as Mr. Stedman remarks, zle themselves with philological or grammatical niceties, and who are weary of polemic bickerings, but who extend a grateful welcome to a commentary, at once practical and expository, that gives them the plain sense of Scripture, and throws light on historical and other questions which lie outside the range of their moderate learning. Faithful and earnest believers in the inspired canon, they are not harassed by legions of disturbing doubts which will not be driven away; but their great desire and need is to learn the mind and the will of God, so that they may themselves live, and may be enabled understandingly to train up their children to live, in conformity therewith. For Christians of this mind and stamp Pool's Annotations Upon the Holy Bible, just published in popular form, is a work of inestimable value. Profoundly learned, and yet without any ostentation of learning, clear and succinct in style, glowing with fervent piety, and combining great wisdom with great simplicity and gentle-phases of style and distinctive literary methness, these annotations are a complete encyclopedia of Biblical knowledge," accommodated," to use Mr. Pool's own quaint phrase, "to the use of vulgar capacities." The most eminent scholars as well as the most simple-minded Christians have drawn upon this commentary for nearly two centuries without exhausting the treasures of its learning or the riches of its experience. with nice discrimination, he often "elevates taste and feeling to the pitch of imagination." This is especially true of some of his more serious pieces, which have touches of tenderness and pathos, and glimpses of quaint or picturesque loveliness, that would not discredit the hand of a master. OCCASIONALLY a book appears that has been prepared with a definite aim as an educational manual, which deserves attention not only for its value as such, but also for its substantial literary merit. Such a book is Mr. Swinton's Masterpieces of English Literature,1o which our readers will find to be very different in character from the heterogeneous collections of haphazard selections that are so commonly met with in our schools and academies. Mr. Swinton's selections are from authors of acknowledged merit, who are, as far as possible, representative of epochs of English literature, their ods. Under this plan a judicious choice has been made of examples from forty of the most eminent writers in our tongue, each of which has a claim to recognition founded on some intrinsic and peculiar quality-either its pathos, its beauty, its grandeur, its eloquence, or its exhibition of imaginative power. This is the literary side of the book; and it supplies a series of readings of the first quality, in rather than about literature, from Shakspeare's day 9 Vignettes in Rhyme, and Other Verses. By AUSTIN IF it be true that good verse, like good wine, "needs no bush," still in both cases the approv-DOBSON. Sq. 12mo, pp. 278. New York: Henry Holt ing nod of a connoisseur of recognized taste Annotations Upon the Holy Bible. Wherein the Sacred Text is Inserted, and Various Readings Annexed, together with the Parallel Scriptures, etc. By MATTHEW Poor In Three Volumes. Royal 8vo, pp. 3077. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers. and Co. 10 Masterpieces of English Literature. Being Typical Selections of British and American Authorship, from Shakspeare to the Present Time. Together with Definitious, Notes, Analyses, and Glossary, as an Aid to Systematic Literary Study. For Use in High and Normal Schools, etc. By WILLIAM SWINTON. With Portraits. Crown Svo, pp. 638. New York: Harper and Brothers. till our own. As, however, the volume is de- | clear, correct, and complete statement rather signed to occupy a place at the meeting-point | than at any modification of it. Distinguishof literature and rhetoric, and to bring them into their natural relationship, each selection is furnished with what Mr. Swinton aptly styles "a working outfit" of definitions and principles, and of directions for the application of the canons of literary art to the analysis of the texts presented. This analysis comprises a great variety of exercises, grammatical and rhetorical, logical and etymological, and a large body of explanatory notes interpreting the several writers, and making clear their references and allusions. The great merit of the compilation, aside from the direct instruction it affords, is its influence to incite the scholar to further reading, and to create tastes that will make it impossible for him to remain in ignorance of the other works of the great writers to whom he is now first introduced. A SERIES of small volumes upon some of the principal writers of classical antiquity is now issuing from the press, under the editorial supervision of Mr. John Richard Green, which deserves more than the passing notice we are able to give it. These books are equally intended for youthful students and for the general public who are interested in classical literature, and they are executed upon a uniform but not inflexible plan. Each of them gives a concise life of the author in hand, a brief abstract of antecedent and contemporaneous history, a general survey of his works, and a succession of brief special studies of his greatest productions, with estimates and synopses of them. The volumes in the series that have been published are Euripides," by Professor Mahaffy, of Dublin University; Vergil, by Professor Nettleship, of Oxford; and Sophocles,13 by Professor Campbell, of the University of St. Andrews. 14 12 The Theory of Thought, a Treatise on Deductive Logic, is in the main a reproduction of the old logic, or, as its author styles it, a restatement of the theory of Aristotle as colored by filtration through the medieval mind. The treatise is not elementary in the sense of bringing the recondite subject of which it treats within the grasp of the immature and ignorant, but is so in the sense that it begins at the beginning, and assumes that the reader has no previous knowledge of the subject. An adherent, but not a blind follower, of Aristotle, Professor Davis does not hesitate to offer new views where they seem preferable to the old logic, although generally he aims at a | ing between science and art, that the one teaches us to know, and the other to do; that the one is a body of principles and deductions to explain some object-matter, and the other a body of precepts, with practical skill, for the completion of some work; the one deducing that something exists, with the laws and causes which belong to that existence, and the other merely teaching how something must be produced-Mr. Davis assumes that logic is not primarily nor even secondarily an art, but strictly a science, the object of which is to teach us how we do think, and how we must think if we would think correctly. Logic does not concern itself with what things thought considers, but treats of thought regardless of its content; and therefore it is properly an abstract science-a science which abstracts from each and all the sciences, considers only what is common to all, is in similar and equal relation to all, and is fundamental to all. Mr. Davis draws freely from the works of standard modern philosophers, but while profiting by their researches, and frankly pointing out his obligations to them, still pursues distinct lines of statement, illustration, and exposition. It would be as unprofitable as unnecessary to give a summary of the treatise. It will be enough to say that Mr. Davis does not belong to the verbal nor to the phenomenal school of logic, but adopts and enforces the view of the Kantian or conceptional school. His treatise is written in terse and idiomatic English, its arrangement is so lucid that each of its steps seems to lead naturally to the one that follows, and it is as easy of comprehension as is compatible with the severity of its subject and the difficulties that are inseparable from close abstract thinking. THE more closely one studies Miss Woolson's "Southern Sketches,"15 the more perfect they seem: like a fine poem or painting, they improve upon acquaintance. Nor is the reason for this far to seek. She is a conscientious and true artist. Thoroughly loyal to art, she carefully elaborates the minor accessories, without sacrificing vigor or originality to mere finish; and the general effect of her stories is enhanced by her skillful blending of color and her admirably balanced arrangement of actors and scenery. Intensely realistic, she is never a literal copyist, but her pictures of real scenes and characters are invariably invested with an added beauty and picturesqueness through the agency of a fertile and trained imagination. This union of realism and idealism insures variety as well as grace to her compositions, since nature constantly suggests new and varying types and phases, and fancy as constantly gilds them with what Shakspeare calls its "heaven 15 Rodman the Keeper. "Southern Sketches." By CoNSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON. 18mo, pp. 339. New York: D. Appleton and Co. ly alchymy." And thus it results that there is no monotony or repetition of herself in her numerous descriptions and portraitures, but each of the characters to whom she introduces us has a distinct individuality, and each of the scenes she reproduces its own peculiar details of outline, coloring, and atmosphere. The sketches -for so Miss Woolson modestly styles them collected in this volume place their author in the first rank of writers in this line; nay, we know of no writer, English or American, whose short stories are so rich in description, so strong in their delineations of character, so opulent in narrative or dramatic interest, and so truly poetic in their settings and surroundings. Indeed, each of them is a genuine poem, noteworthy for the subtle delicacy of its fancy and for the weird and artistic indefiniteness of its dénouement. study and honest effort, aided by a passionate. and loving devotion to his sole mistress, art, he wins renown as a sculptor. But if he is an artist, so is he also a man-strong in manliness and individuality, unselfish, generous, kindly, able to bear and forbear, quick to sympathize with the weak, stanch to his friendships, and under his rugged nature hiding depths of unexpected love and tenderness. The careers and the love romances of these two opposites, fledgelings, as it were, from one nest, are depicted with ingenuity and skill; and as the tale proceeds the author introduces us behind the scenes of Florentine art and society, opening the studio of the modern artist, describing with appreciative eloquence the medieval architectural and pictorial glories of the "City of Flowers," lingering with pleasant garrulity on characteristic Florentine sights and scenes, and lifting the veil from the manifold phases of its social life. 17 ALTHOUGH we surely recognize the hand of the anonymous author of A Foreign Marriage,1 we resist the temptation to impart the secret to our readers, lest we should rob them of whatever gratification there may be derived from guessing the writer for themselves. It is a clever and unconventional tale, whose interest turns upon the contrasted fortunes of two of its characters who are psychological opposites. Both are Americans, both make their first appearance on the scene in the same New England village, and both taste the bitter waters of penury-with widely different effects on each-in their early years. One of them is a girl of surpassing loveliness, with a native yearning, even in her penury, for whatever is rich, luxurious, graceful, and beautiful, and whose character and feelings, chameleonlike, take their hue from her immediate surroundings. Without strength or individuality of character, save a latent selfishness that betrays itself even in her kindliest actions, she is played upon by the impressions in accord with drama is a highly attractive creation, interesther temperament that are made upon her by ing us at first by her arch naïveté, irrepressible the world around her, as an Æolian harp is brightness, and sweet willfulness, and as the played upon by the shifting currents of the story unfolds, impressing us profoundly by her atmosphere. True to her nature, alike in pov- self-devotion, her fortitude under cruel comerty and in affluence, she lives only in the plications, her loyalty to those she loves, and present, without the desire or the capacity for her inflexible tenacity of purpose. Of course, anything higher than luxurious enjoyment. when such a woman loves, she loves with all Even her love romance is only another mani- her soul, and in the present instance it is pleasfestation of her dream life of sybaritic enjoying to know that she loves worthily, and is ment, animal but not sensual in its kind, and which is only slightly rippled by ambitious suggestions when she loves and is beloved by and weds an Italian Antinous. The other principal character is a lad who, even when he was a shoe-maker's apprentice, had the instincts of an artist, loving beauty for its own sake, ever dreaming of it, and ever eagerly striving to reproduce it. Bursting the fetters of circumstance that bind the pinions of his genius, he makes his way to Florence, and by patient Few words are needed for the remaining novels of the month. Of these the most meritorious is Mary Cecil Hay's genial tale For Her Dear Sake, which, if less intense and passionate than the romances of Charlotte Brontë, and less graphic in its portraiture of character than the earlier novels of Mrs. Oliphant, surpasses all of them in story-telling power, in effective grouping of the dramatis personæ, and in the sustained sweetness and equal development of the plot. No modern writer rivals her in the faculty of portraying young and beautiful girlhood and budding womanhood. Her creations in this line are nearly perfect as works of art, and in the novel before us she excels herself in portraitures of this charming kind. The group of school-girls to whom she introduces us at the opening of the story is painted with rare grace and spirit, and the one of them who becomes the heroine of the A Foreign Marriage; or, Buying a Title. A Novel. "Harper's Library of American Novels." Svo, pp. 197. New York: Harper and Brothers. passionately loved in return.-Although Théophile Gautier's Captain Fracasse18 19 has been thought worthy of translation by two different translators, and of publication by as many publishers, it is an exceedingly meretricious and ultra-French performance. Its staple attractions are of a highly melodramatic char 17 For Her Dear Sake. A Novel. By MARY CECIL HAY "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 96. New York: Harper and Brothers. 18 Captain Fracasse. By THÉOPHILE GAUTIER. Translated by M. M. RIPLEY. 16mo, pp. 411. New York: Henry Holt and Co. 19 The Same. Translated by ELLEN MURRAY BEAM. Sq. 12mo, pp. 532. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. -acter-duels, fights, assassination plots, wanderings with strolling players, abductions, and love intrigues, slightly relieved by the vicissitudes of honorable love.-There is a certain crude power in Mr. William Osborn Stoddard's The Heart of It,20 but, unfortunately for the reader, this power is exhibited spasmodically, and too often lapses into the melodramatic and sensational. Mr. Stoddard's style is too much in the vein of that affected by the enterprising reporter for the local column of a city newspaper, who is solicitous that his matter should be spicy rather than elegant or refined. Several of his descriptions of life and adventure in the Western mining wilds and of phases of St. Louis life are very spirited, but as a work of romantic art his book lacks unity, many of its incidents have no special relation to the course of the story, and would be as appropriate in any other setting or companionship, and the narrative excites only the 0% mildest sort of interest.--Two small collections of sketches, Tales of the Chesapeake," by George Alfred Townsend, and Camp and Cabin,22 by Rossiter W. Raymond, deserve commendation. Mr. Townsend's sketches have an exceptional interest for the pictures of local life, manners, and character which they reproduce, and of local legendary or historic incident which they preserve. Mr. Raymond's brief tales are all of them spirited, and some of them elaborate stud│ies of Western incident, characters, and scenery. More carefully finished than Mr. Townsend's, they have less crisp originality than his. Both are creditable contributions to our provincial dialect literature.-Two Women's and DaireenTM are quiet but very pleasing variations on the old and inexhaustible theme "Love never did run smooth." The narrative of neither is embellished with any violent exaltations or depressions of passion, and both are gracefully written and pure in sentiment. Editor's Bistorical Record. POLITICAL. 7 resulted in no choice for Governor and Lientenant-Governor. The Republicans elected the other officers. reported, have a majority over the combined opposition (including Home Rulers) of about sixty members. The old Ministry resigned, and Mr. Gladstone was summoned by the Queen to form a new cabinet. The German Reichstag has passed that part of the Army Bill fixing the strength of the army until March 31, 1888, at 427,270. UR Record is closed on the 26th of April.The following bills were passed in Congress during the month: Consular and Dip- The elections for members of a new British lomatic Appropriations, House, March 30, Parliament resulted in the downfall of the Bea$1,138,235; Senate, April 14, $1,146,135. Provid-consfield government. The Liberals, as far as ing for a World's Fair to be held in New York in 1883, Senate, March 31; House, April 19; signed by the President, April 23. Immediate Deficiency Bill, Senate, April 1; House, April 23. Census Bill, conference reports adopted by Senate, April 12; House, April 13. Ratifying the agreement with the Utes, Senate, April 12. Army Bill, $26,425,800, House, April 13; Senate, April 22, with a rider forbidding the use of troops as a police force at the polls. Naval Construction Fund Bill, House, April 15. Authorizing the Howgate Arctic Expedition, House, April 15. Indian Appropriation Bill, House, April 17, with the amendment transferring the bureau to the War Department stricken out. Naval Appropriation Bill, $14,405,797 70, House, April 22. Post Route Bill, Senate, April 23. The Senate, April 21, indefinitely postponed the Geneva Award Bill, by a vote of 32 to 28. A commission, composed of Dr. James B. Angell (who is to be Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in place of Mr. Seward), John F. Swift, and William H. Trescott, was appointed by the President to secure a revision of the treaty with China. State Conventions to nominate delegates to the National Conventions were held in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Connecticut, Iowa, Oregon, Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Vermont, and Georgia. The Rhode Island State election held April 20 The Heart of It. A Romance of East and West. By WILLIAM OSBORN STODDARD. 12mo, pp. 438. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. The British forces under General Stewart defeated the Afghans near Ghuznee, April 20, and killed more than a thousand of them. The Chilian army suffered defeat at the hands of the Peruvians near Moquegua, losing over 1300 killed, besides wounded and prisoners. The King of Burmah is reported to have sacrificed 700 men, women, and children by burying them alive under the palace walls. DISASTERS. March 9.-The entire business portion of April 9.-News of sinking of British steam 21 Tales of the Chesapeake. By GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND ("Gath"). 16mo, pp. 285. New York: American News Company. 22 Camp and Cabin. Sketches of Life and Travel in the West. By ROSSITER W. RAYMOND. 24m0, pp. 243. New York: Ford, Howard, and Hulbert. 23 Tiro Women. A Novel. By GEORGIANA M. CRAIK. "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 64. New York: Harper and Brothers. 24 Daireen. A Novel. By FRANK FRANKFORT MOORE "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 52. New York: Harper and Brothers. er Darita by a collision on the river Danube. Sixteen lives lost. April 13.-Eleven persons killed and several wounded by the explosion of a still in a creosote works, London, England. April 17.-Giant-powder mill explosion near San Francisco, California. Between twenty and thirty men killed. OBITUARY. April 2.-In New York city, George A. Baker, artist, in his sixtieth year.-In Boston, Rev. George Punchard, author, and founder of the Evening Traveller, aged seventy-four years. April 5.-In Boston, Massachusetts, RearAdmiral Thatcher, aged seventy-four years. April 6.-News of the death, in Moscow, April 18.-Tornado swept over parts of West- Russia, of Henri Wieniawski, the famous vioern and Southern States, destroying much prop-linist, aged forty-five years. erty and killing many people. The town of Marshfield, Missouri, was totally destroyed. One hundred killed and one hundred and fifty wounded. The town of El Paso, Arkansas, was also destroyed. April 21.-Part of the roof and wall of Madison Square Garden, New York, fell while Hahnemann Hospital Fair was in progress. Four persons killed and several injured. April 8.-At St. Marc, General Nicolas Nissage-Saget, ex-President of Hayti, aged seventy-two years. April 14.-In New York city, Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.D., LL.D., aged sixty-eight years.— Robert Fortune, the Scotch botanist, aged sixty-seven years. April 16.-In London, England, Dr. Edward V. H. Kenealy, M.P., aged sixty-one years. ACT I.-SCENE I. A parlor in old Highflyer's house. Enter Angelina and stare, then embrace. They separate again, and stand Ange. Oh, joy! oh, bliss! my Montmorency's here! Ange. I'd shed a thousand if it pleases thee. Mont. Ah, c-r-u-el fate, to blight such constancy! Mont. (agitated). Received my suit with scorn- And when I would have pleaded- Dear, enough- Ange. (shrieks; covers her face). Not that! not that! those fatal words unsay. My sweet Augustus! kicked! oh, direful day! Take from my bleeding heart its anguished sting. Mont. Your lightest wish, my angel, I obey: I'll warble for you this impromptu lay. [Takes paper out of his pocket, reads, and sings. Solo. Doomed from infancy to feel This cold world's callosity, Fashion may this hat deride, Call this coat an article; [Points to his hat. [Points to his coat. True the heart that beats inside True in every particle. Chorus. True the heart that, etc. Solo. Dark the sky that lowers above, |