five principal colonies that compose Australia proper, but also of islands in juxtaposition, was a desideratum, and so prepared the handsome volume on our desk. As a companion volume of the many books of travel he has issued, this, if not the best, is at least equal to any of them. Concerning a people whom Americans scarcely regard as foreigners in the offensive sense, because English-speaking and enlightened in Christianity, and aspiring toward a republican form of government, it is all the more interesting, and being trustworthy in details is all the more valuable. In his representations of missionary work in the islands the author is judiciously honest and safely eulogistic, showing its great success and answering the ill-timed criticisms of unbelievers in that phase of evangelization with a firm denial of evil charges and reports. It is pre-eminently a book for the family, parents and children alike finding in it most entertaining reading, and a revenue of instruction not easily obtainable elsewhere.

The National Hand-Book of American Progress. A Non-Partisan Reference Manual of Facts and Figures, from the Discovery of America to the Present Time, Historical, Biographical, Statistical, Documentary, Financial, Political. Edited by E. O. HAVEN, D.D., LL.D., late Chancellor of Syracuse University, N. Y., formerly President of the North-Western University, Illinois, and President of Michigan State University. Eularged and Revised by Hon. T. E. WILLSON, Editorial Staff New York World. and J. SANDERSON, D.D., Editor Pulpit Treasury. Illustrated. 12mo, pp. 575. New York: E. B. Treat. Price, cloth, $2. Three gifted editors here unite in producing a statistical panorama of the progress of the New World for four hundred years. The facts are marvelous; the figures are astounding; and the historic evolution is as traceable as the development of the animal kingdom from the days of Noah. The compressed style of presentation is a necessity, so multitudinous are the materials in their hands, and yet it is not without its fascination, because of the lessons involved and the suggestions that follow. To the American student the book will be as useful as a dictionary.

etc.

The Poetry of the Future. By JAS. WOOD DAVIDSON, A.M., Author of "The Living Writers of the South," "A School History of South Carolina," "The Correspondent," 12mo, pp. 182. New York: John B. Alden. Price, 60 cents. This monograph is a criticism of the poetry of the present, furnishing a basis, as the author believes, for a correct forecasting of the poetry of the future. In pointing out the imperfections, not to say absurdities, of the poetic art, he certainly is skillful and ingenious, but it is a question if the new poetry will exactly conform to the rules he prescribes for it. He makes his own definitions of the poetical and the beautiful, and indicates the subtle relation that subsists between poetry and the poetical, which is well enough if he is as correct as he is bold. We must refuse assent to his statement that in this life we must deal, not with absolutes, but with relatives. This dictum is the bane of philosophy, poetry, and all forms of fancy and speculation. Science deals with lower absolutes, religion with higher absolutes; and that philosophy that will anchor in the absolute, and that poetry that will court

realities instead of relatives, will have an abiding place in the future thought of the world. Without doubt poetry is an improvable art; the Spondee and the Pyrrhic, as non-existent forms, should be excommunicated; the Iambic, Anapestic, Dactylic, and Trochaic should be reformed; and future poets should excel Longfellow, Tennyson, Bryant, Pope, and Byron. But a poetic reformer, we modestly suggest, should be a reformed poet, if he expects to secure observance of his new canons of poetic composition. Whether this author meets the condition that would give weight to his suggestions is not exactly clear to his reviewer.

Sevastopol. By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOÏ. Translated from the Russian by ISABEL F. HAPGOOD. Authorized edition. 12mo, pp. 262. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Price, cloth, $1.

In 1854-55 Sevastopol was the center of European interest, for France, England, and Turkey were besieging it, and its defenders were replying from bastions with cannon-balls and a persistence of spirit that proved them to be heroes. Within the walls Captain Obzhogoff, Staff-Captain Mikhaïloff, and Adjutant Kolugin, representative military, but vain and quarrelsome aristocrats, walked to and fro, displaying mutual hostility on the brink of the city's destruction. The people all were soldiers, but the defense was inadequate. We read of terrible slaughter, but of no compromise. Regiments of Cossacks hurrying to repel the enemy; bombs flying mid-air, with malicious intent; stretcher-bearers at the corners of the streets; the boulevards filled with processions of the dead; trenches here, bayonet charges there, field hospitals every-where. Such items enter into this record of the experiences of that city from December, 1854, to September, 1855. Sevastopol in these few months was a pandemonium; at the close it was a ruin. This is its chief history; though recovered, it has made none since. The count is brilliant in description, salient in detail, transcribing actual scenes to the printed page, showing the horrors of war in its grouped calamities, and yet leaving the impression that, diabolical in itself, war is sometimes the mightiest instrument of civilization. The siege and fall of Sevastopol are nowhere better narrated than here.

Old Songs. With Drawings by EDWIN A. ABBEY and ALFRED PARSONS. 4to, pp. 122. New York: Harper & Brothers. Price, ornamental leather, $7 50. This book addresses the taste, and is suited to the study or drawingroom. The publishers have excelled themselves in its production. The calendered paper, the wood-engravings, the exquisite binding, and the general appearance win the eye and gratify the most cultivated love of the elegant and the beautiful. The " songs" will excite emotion in the youthful and revive memory in the aged. Love, both in its disappointments and successes, breathes in these old ballads, while the ingenuity and by-play of souls mutually attracted find expression in the poets of these pages. It is a book not for holidays, but for the whole year: a gift-book, but also one to be appreciated by the purchaser.