The Aryan Race. Its Origin and its Achievements. By CHARLES MORRIS, Author of A Manual of Classical Literature. 12mo, pp. 347. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Price, cloth, $1 50.

The existence, geographical locality, and subsequent history of the Aryan race has hitherto been held as a speculation, though the grounds for an affirmative faith in the people here described are unanswerable, and therefore conclusive. The kinship of Asiatic and European nations is easily established not by the aid of philology alone, but by archæology, mythology, social institutions, political antiquities, and the marvelous literatures of the separated continents. A striking characteristic of Mr. Morris's interesting work is that while, without doubt, the temptation to fanciful and ingenious constructions was ever present he courageously resisted the pleasurable inclination, and rigidly held himself to properly accredited facts; unfolding the beliefs and institutions of that race, following its migrations and civilizing tendencies, and indicating the sources of its growth and power in the world. As to the home of the Aryans, he records (p. 51) his conclusion that during their nomadic era they resided in south-eastern Russia, and that in the Caucasian mountain region they perfected their language, learned the art of agriculture, and developed their political and religious ideas and organizations. From this center they spread throughout southern Russia and over Europe, being finally identified by miscegeneration with the numerous races of central and western Europe. This settlement of nativity may be accepted without dispute.

But other questions, such as the literary impulse and achievements of the Aryans, and the difference in moral development between Aryan and non-Aryan races, excite investigation, and cannot be considered as determined without further evidence. As the Semitic races were probably never fertile in literature, not even excepting the Hebrews, it remains to be shown that the original Aryans or their immediate descendants were superior to non-Aryan populations around them.

It is allowed that, skipping over many generations and inspecting the literary results of distant posterity, the claim of literary superiority is defensible; but as applied to the progenitors of the race it is more than questionable. The same is true respecting moral culture, the Hebrew race constituting a providential exception. The unsettled problems, however, of this book do not detract from its worth, but rather add to it, since they spread the whole subject before us. As it is more than a primary treatment of a difficult problem, it is commended to those in search of a pretty accurate solution, or of an investigation that is fundamental to any intelligent opinion of that earliest of blood-related races.

The Critical Period of American History, 1783-1789. By JOHN FISKE. Crown 8vo, pp. 368. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Cloth, $2. Noting the crises through which the American republic has passed, and from which it has emerged stronger, purer, and intenser, with a progressive purpose, the period of five or six years preceding the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1788 is generally emphasized by historians as per

haps the most critical because it was creative of national life. Little does the present generation appreciate the dangers, possibilities, and uncertainties of the formative struggles of those days; hence the opportuneness of a book that brings to light the events, tendencies, probabilities, and finalities of the nation-making epoch. Professor Fiske rightly characterizes such events as "germinal," because they determined that the continent of North America should be dominated by a single powerful and pacific federal nation, instead of preparing for the multiplication of small, self-supporting, and antagonistic republics, soon finally to decay without fulfilling a great idea in the world. Whatever was involved in the creation of a national sentiment, as opposed to the petty sovereignty of colonies; whatever the erection of a nation required, such as governmental policies, the right of suffrage, treaty-making and money-making powers, and harmony with interstate attitudes and prerogratives; what really belonged to the federal principle, and how it should be established and enforced, were the constituencies of the great problem whose solution required statesmanship of more than ordinary virtue. With some misgivings the fathers entered upon the task and accomplished it definitely, though somewhat imperfectly, leaving to posterity the legacy of good government, to be improved and harmonized from generation to generation. This is the trend and tone of Professor Fiske's book, in which the partisanship of the historian does not appear, but rather the unbiased spirit of a surveyor of human events. The description of British influence at that time in American politics; of colonial aspirations to independence rather than unity; of jealousies among the colonies; of the institution of slavery as a factor in the Constitution; and, finally, of pre-constitutional tendencies in certain statesmen and colonies, is ample in substance, elegant in form, sincere in spirit, and wholesomely attractive from beginning to end. The American citizen who would not be unacquainted with the history of the ante-Constitution period of the country should hasten to possess himself of this book, and thoroughly read and digest it. Four Years With the Army of the Potomac. By REGIS DE TROBRIAND, Brevet Major-General United States Volunteers. Translated by GEORGE K. DAUCHY, late Lieutenant Commanding Twelfth New York Battery Light Artillery, United States Volunteers. With portrait and maps. 8vo, pp. 757. Boston: Ticknor & Co. Price, cloth, $3.

Army literature will not cease to be interesting and valuable to American citizens so long as patriotism exists or the republic endures. At present a revival of inquiry into the internecine strife of 1861-1865 is quite manifest from the war serials in magazines, the large space given in newspapers to war reminiscences, and the many books published on various phases of the conflict. General De Trobriand, a Frenchman by birth, an American by adoption, and a Potomac Union soldier in our contest, relates in this book most vividly, most accurately, and somewhat minutely, the operations of the Eastern Army against the rebel hosts under the distinguished leadership of General Lee and his intrepid, if not brilliant, colleagues. He writes both as an historian and a military officer, whose keenness of ob

servation and disposition to verify what came to him merely by report qualify him for chronicler of the most eventful period, and, in some respects, of the most important army, of the struggle for self-preservation. Soldier-readers of these pages will live over the war again; all others will live in the war, as they trace its history, progress, and denouement. It is a book of blood, heroism, death, and victory. The roar of cannon is heard from Williamsburgh, Fredericksburgh, Chancellorsville, Gettysburgh, Spottsylvania, Petersburgh, and Richmond; the plans of commanding generals, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Meade, Hooker, and the unconquerable Grant, are exposed in military movements that range from Pennsylvania to North Carolina; and the life of the soldier, on the march, in camp, on the field of battle, in the hospital for repairs, and in death's solemn grasp, is recorded with a fullness and a pathos that excite admiration for heroism, and tears of sympathy with suffering and bereave

ment.

This book is read in France in the people's tongue, and is correcting many errors which France had received respecting the origin of the war, the purpose of the South in precipitating it, the strength and valor of the Union armies, and the permanent results of the success of the North to the whole country and the world. It is read in this country as a translation which is so perfect that the vivacity of the author and the integrity of the history are fully preserved.

Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts perhaps Worthy of Mention in my Past Life. By JOHN RUSKIN, LL. D., Honorary Student of Christ Church, and Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Vol. I, with engraving. 12mo, pp. 432. Second Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Price, cloth, $1 50.

Ruskin's autobiography is a warehouse of rich and well-preserved treasures, the examination of which will be profitable to old and young alike. The author confesses to no special restraint in the preparation of his history, being garrulous, anecdotal, domestic, political, social, and all else that has constituted his life in private and public. In this free and easy, yet withal sincere and elegant way, he best describes himself, providing the obituary-maker, when that time shall arrive, with nothing to do but to quote from Præterita. Ruskin ascribes his mental discipline to Homer, Sir Walter Scott, and the Bible, which he was compelled to master in his youth; a hint of some importance to parents and educators in these days. Space is given to tutorships, travel and its educational impressions, affectionate remembrances of parents, inclinations to artstudies, some conceptions of the Church and church music, and incidents, both rare and common, that enter into the every-day life of youth and manhood. The volume improves the taste for biographical literature, and excites the curiosity to know more of Mr. Ruskin, who still further discloses his life in succeeding volumes. One book of this character and contents is worth a score of trivial biographies of average men, and its purchase is therefore advised.

Montesquieu. By ALBERT SOREL.
EDWARD PLAYFAIR ANDERSON.
Co. Price, cloth, $1.

Translated by MELVILLE B. ANDERSON and 16mo, pp. 218. Chicago: A. C. McClurg &

Montesquieu was both a philosopher and a politician, exercising while living a potential influence in administration circles and among the academic thinkers, and a broader and more contagious influence in the world after his death. He had the reserve of scholarship, the courage of a reformer, the independence of a seer, and the humility of self-depreciation. In personal qualities he was magnetic, in the power to think he was clear and resolute, and in metaphysical analysis he was as original as he was profound. Two books made him famous. The first, Lettres Persanes, was partially a caustic and remorseless criticism of the Academy, but in the larger grasp it was a philosophic diagnosis of the age, and of France in particular, having much to do with the democratic revolution that swept the monarchy from its foundations. His chief work, the Esprit des Lois, cost him twenty years of toil, but the product is almost as valuable as when it was written. In its pages he discusses the nature and prerogatives of citizenship, encouraging patriotism and philanthropy by the highest considerations, and bases the stability of government upon equity and the well-developed ethical sense in humanity. This translated volume is biographical, historical, critical, and analytical, setting forth the transient and permanent influence of one of France's great writers, and discovering to the reader those ethical balances in society that work for peace, order, and progress.

POETRY AND ART.

Essays Chiefly on Poetry. By AUBREY DE VERE, LL.D. In two volumes. Volume I: Criticism on Certain Poets. 12mo, pp. 314. Volume II: Essays, Literary and Ethical. 12mo, pp. 295. London and New York: MacMillan & Co. Price per vol., $2.

It is a mental relief to pass from the rhetorical and vivacious characterizations of English poets and poetry by the noted French writer, M. Taine, to the calm and almost passionless analysis of the same poets by Aubrey De Vere. The French writer is exuberant in description, excessive in adoration of merit, or hypercritical in discovered blemishes, or in the uncovering of his national and literary prejudices. The present author, limiting his study to a few examples, is in honest search of poetic genius, passing over obstructions and infirmities in the lives of his favorites as facts inseparable from every life, and pointing out their secretive virtues and talents both perspicaciously and with a just sense of honorable appreciation. Spenser, Wordsworth, and Sir Henry Taylor, poets similar and dissimilar, claim his attention in the first volume. Acknowledging that Spenser is a poet for poets he undertakes the difficult task of showing that he is also a poet of the humanities; but, as it was an ideal humanity that he ever kept in mind, he never acquired a popular hold on the human race. Though not metaphysical in expression, he was philo

sophic in thought; and could not descend to the simplicities of poetic speech and form. Finding it difficult to locate Wordsworth in the gallery of poets, the author is at ease in representing his affinities and mental qualities; but, complete as is this monograph, one wonders at the close if Wordsworth was only the poet of nature, or a philosophic poet, or the poet of the domestic spirit. In fact, he was the embodiment of a triune idea, composed of nature, philosophy, and humanity, and in its expression advertised a largeness of soul and a comprehensiveness of perception that identify him with poetic oracles. Sir Henry Taylor has no audience in America; but the author's sketch will have readers in this country.

It is questionable if the nineteenth century may be regarded as a poetic century (p. 265), unexcelled by any other except the sixteenth or Elizabethan. England should exalt her poets, but no poet is really great who does not grip the future. We doubt if one of these except Wordsworth has any hold upon the present day, and their oblivion is probable.

In the second volume the author concludes his dissertation on poets and poetry, characterizing with equal luminousness and versatility Shelley, Keats, and Landor, and developing the latent poetic instincts of the reader, for every man more or less is poetic. The introduction of other articles, as "The Subjective Difficulties in Religion," "A Saint," and "The Human Affections in the Early Christian Time," is incongruous because outside of the main subject. However, these volumes will be prized as models of subjective studies, as decisive of the spirit of English poetry, and of the true place certain poets occupy in English estimation.

etc.

Wit and Humor. Their Use and Abuse. By WILLIAM MATHEWS, LL.D., Author of Words. Their Use and Abuse; Oratory and Orators; Men, Places, and Things, 12mo, pp. 397. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Price, cloth, $1 50. Every brain-oppressed thinker will be grateful for this vindication of the comic tendency in humanity, and to be assured that under limitations and a guiding education it may be made potential for good. Wit and sobriety, humor and religion are set down in some catalogues as antithetical, whereas, understood and harmonized, they may be co-operative and productive of advanced results. Dr. Mathews is clear in thought, strong in diction, and instructive in purpose. In his discussion of the theories, uses, and abuses of wit and humor; in his definitions of epigram, parody, pun, repartee; in his delineation of the antiquity of wit, and in his description of men who lack the sense of humor, he is definite in statement, ample in resources, and withal suggestive of the proper appropriation of this maltreated and suppressed force in individual life. The practice of applying passages from the Scriptures (p. 123) to trivial or ludicrous events he justly condemns, but allows ridicule, sarcasm, wit in argument and for controversial ends. While he acknowledges that "punning" is vehemently denounced by the atrabilious jesticide, he inclines to this form of wit, but not in terms of sufficient virility to overcome our prejudices against it. As an authority on the general subject, we are safe in following his instructions.