THE LITERARY WORLD.

BOSTON, JUNE 1, 1877.

These thoughts are almost too trite to re- intellectual workmen in these crowded, exactpeat, but they may make some of our readersing, stimulating times of ours. The mass of feel better. And at the remembrance of work undertaken to be carried is greater than them we deplore afresh that we speak but strength allows. And there is one point, we twelve times a year, and then to the extent believe, where the temptation to weaken the Communications for the editorial department of the paper of only three short columns to a page. foundations of activity is most pressing. That is the point of sleep. Mr. Seymour did his day's work, and then went home to a night's work in addition. No man can do that once without subjecting his mechanism to a strain; no man can do it habitually without inviting a catastrophe.

should be addressed to THE EDITOR OF THE LITERARY WORLD; for the business department to THE PUBLISHER OF THE LITERARY WORLD; P. O. Box 1183, Boston, Mass. Communications, to secure attention, must be accompanied by the name and address of the writer in full.

For terms of subscription and advertising rates see the publishers' card upon the last page of reading matter. We are glad to send a specimen copy of the LITERARY WORLD free to any address. Our subscribers will confer a favor by furnishing us with the names of such of their friends and acquaintances as would be likely to be interested in the paper, and whose attention we may properly call to it by this means.

THE FIELD IS THE WORLD.

M EASURED hastily and thoughtlessly the field of such a journal as this seems limited and narrow. It has to do nominally with books and authors only, and books and authors may seem to hold but a small place in the sum of human activities. Who are authors, it is asked, by the side of capitalists, statesmen, great captains and rulers; and what are books in comparison

with discoveries, commerce, public works and the achievements of arms? A journal of literature, we might be told, may well content itself with being a monthly, and confine its space to twenty diminutive pages or so! This is a very superficial view to take, and a thoughtful mind will quickly abandon it. Printing, it has been said, "is the art preservative of arts." Literature is more, even as the spirit is always finer, grander than the form. Literature is the great and wide sea

BREAKING DOWN.

N Monday of last week he was still at his
"office, and he died on Saturday. He had
even bought tickets for a vacation trip South, but
before he could start he was thrown down with
brain fever, and the end came. As one of the
-a position suf-
partners in the Scribner house
stantly and faithfully at his desk, but much of his
ficiently engrossing in itself-he worked con-
additional literary work for the journals to which
he usefully contributed without parade of his
name, was done after the day was over, and well
into the hours of the morning."

This is the short story of the sad death of
a good and useful man. We never shall for-
get Mr. Seymour's sunny face, his genial
manner, and his pure and purifying person-
ality, as we knew him nearly twenty years
ago. His position of late years had been
much beneath the surface; just where so
many of the best and bravest and most be-
neficent of men are stationed; but his influ-
ence was a commanding one. How much
his hand had to do with filling the fountain

from whose streams so many of us have
been glad to drink, few probably have ever
known.

The sad thing about such a death as his is
that it seems as if it needed not to have
been. He was still comparatively young, and
had only fairly entered on his career. His
best and most fruitful years were, to all ар-
pearance, before him. No insidious disease
carried him off. No sudden crash by land
or wreck by sea overwhelmed him. We

The late Prof. Henry B. Smith was once of New York for overworking. remonstrated with by an eminent physician

“Oh, I'm an exception," said the theologian.

"There are no exceptions," replied the physician.

We have unlimited confidence in the ca

pacity of a healthy man for intellectual work
storatives provided by nature: sleep and the
so long as he avails himself of the two re-
Sabbath. We place the Sabbath here upon
precisely the same grounds with sleep: that
of constitutional necessity. We believe that
with a religious regard of these two periodic
seasons of
repose a man may carry pretty
much all he can "pile on;" that disregarding
them no man is safe. We might name other

instances, which would, perhaps, be peculiarly
impressive to the readers of the Literary
World, of the deplorable consequences of
violating the laws of nature in these respects.

And we warn all whose work is brain-work to resist temptation. A little self-denial here may prolong one's years.

A CHART OF LITERATURE.

in which floats all thought; it is the one speak in a figure, and in no spirit of harsh- WITHIN the past few years the art of

representing pictorially certain classes open and free main which no power controls; ness or censure, when we say that he died of truths has been carried to a high state of the element in which intellectual commerce by his own hand. The words we have itali- perfection. By the aid of delicately shaded must be carried on between the past, the cized in the above extract point our meaning: present and the future, and between all the "he worked constantly and faithfully at his ends of the earth. Arts and sciences, knowl- desk, but much of his additional literary edges and the trades- these are the conti- work . . . was done after the day was over, nents and islands, fixed and circumscribed; and well into the hours of the morning." literature envelops them, and makes them Here, we do not doubt, was the secret of his known and serviceable one to another. break-down.

or colored maps it is possible to obtain, almost at a glance, a comprehensive and correct idea of the relative density of the population of a country, the distribution of nationalities, the ignorance or intelligence, the prevalence of certain diseases, the character of the soil, the products and manufacTo those, therefore, who tread the paths A few weeks since a portion of the roof of tures, or indeed almost any fact capable of of literature the field is most truly the world. the New York Post Office proved too heavy generalization. In like manner it would not A journal of literature is in reality the broad- for the supports beneath it, and fell in. A be very difficult to construct a chart which est of journals. Who will mark the confines few days after the lofty dome of the new should show the progress and direction of of the literary world? Who will assign its Court House at Rockford, Illinois, gave way age, or circumscribe its present, or predict from a similar cause, just as the workmen its future? News papers, religious papers, were raising a last massive stone to its restpapers for the sciences and the professions ing place; and that shapely edifice was inthese are local, special, territorial; the jour- volved in ruin. Architects did not estimate nal of literature alone covers the whole field aright, and contractors did not fully realize, of human thought and enterprise, and takes the strength of materials imperatively necesboth the new and old into its view. History, sary to sustain the majestic but enormously philosophy, science, the arts, travel, biogra- heavy fabric they were rearing. The point phy — all these, no less than fiction, poetry and letters, are the ingredients of literature, which is the sum and substance of them all.

was reached when the strain became too
great, and the result was inevitable.

Just here, we fear, is the danger of most

the thought of the present day as it finds expression in literature. The attempt has not been made, so far as our knowledge goes, but the means are at hand in the tables published annually by the various English and foreign bibliographical journals. These tables are classified lists of the publications of the year, and by a comparison of those of several years certain general facts in regard to the prevailing tendency of the mind become evident.

For instance, it was to be expected that

the study of theology, which has ever held the supremacy in human thought, would be affected by the sudden growth of interest in the study of natural science incident on the great discoveries of the past half century. The extent of this influence, which without these tables it would be difficult to detect, is most clearly and accurately mirrored in the simple fact that within seven years the production of theological literature in Great Britain has fallen from over one thousand works to less than seven hundred, whilst works on science have more than doubled in the same time. No less clearly is shown the effect in literature of the interest in the study of art awakened by the schools of design in this country and England, and the impulse given to the writing of works upon political economy and social science by the long continued and wide spread stagnation of

business.

We have little doubt that, when a sufficient number of years have passed to permit of a comprehensive comparison of the tables of literary statistics, important laws affecting and governing our intellectual growth will be brought to light.

WITH the present number the Literary World enters upon its Eighth Volume. We do not intend that the paper shall speak often or freely of itself in its own columns, and we have nothing in particular to say here of our plans and arrangements for the new year. Our readers have now received three numbers under the new management, and can form their own opinions as to the probable future character and course of the paper. Outwardly, it was never in so prosperous a condition as at present, and we hope that improvements which the coming twelvemonth are likely to witness will give it stronger claims than ever on the confidence and support of the public.

It commonly has been supposed that a young author reaches the fullness of his earthly reward when he first sees his first work in print, his name perhaps in full upon its title-page, and a review

lady, whether she be "Miss" or "Mrs." We Ill., for the preparation of its annual Index.
receive a letter, we will suppose (though we never With this and the title page accompanying the
actually did), signed L. F. Brooker. It requires present number, the Seventh Volume is com-
an answer. We should be glad to be able to ad-pleted ready for binding. To Mr. Woods we
dress the answer more precisely than that signa- | publicly tender thanks in behalf of our readers,
ture allows us to do, simply to "L. F. Brooker." as well as for ourselves, for his labor of love.
Should it be Mr. Brooker? Or, as we will sup- The labor is no slight one.
pose again, our letter is signed "Laurelia F. Brook-
er." Shall we now address our reply to "Miss'
or "Mrs." Brooker? This is a quandary in which
no editor of ordinary capacity ought to be left.

COMPANIONS.

By R. H. Stoddard in the June Atlantic.
A French writer (whom I love well) speaks of three kinds
SIR JOHN DAVYS.

of companions: men, women and books.

WE have companions, comrade mine :
Jolly good fellows, tried and true,
Are filling their cups with the Rhenish wine,
And pledging each other, as I do you.
Never a man in all the land

But has, in his hour of need, a friend,
Who stretches to him a helping hand,

And stands by him to the bitter end.
If not before, there is comfort then,

In the strong companionship of men.
But better than that, old friend of mine,
Is the love of woman, the life of life,
Whether in maiden's eyes it shine,

Or melts in the tender kiss of wife;
A heart contented to feel, not know,
That finds in the other its sole delight;
White hands that are loth to let us go,
The tenderness that is more than might!
On earth below, in heaven above,
Is there anything better than woman's love?
I do not say so, companion mine,

It

lightens my troubles, like this good wine,

For what, without it, would I be here?

And, if I must weep, sheds tear for tear!
But books, old friends that are always new,
Of all good things that we know are best;
They never forsake us, as others do,

Here is truth in a world of lies,
And all that in man is great and wise!
Better than men and women, friend,
That are dust, though dear in our joy and pain,
Are the books their cunning hands have penned,
For they depart, but the books remain;
Through these they speak to us what was best
In the loving heart and the noble mind:
All their royal souls possessed

And never disturb our inward rest.

When others fail him, the wise man looks
Belongs forever to all mankind!
To the sure companionship of books.

to

A LETTER FROM GERMANY. PERIODICAL LITERATURE.-A FRENCH STANDARD OF ExCELLENCE.-The GurtenlauBE, SALON, AND NORD UND SUD. POPULAR AMERICAN BOOKS. -BRET HARTE, T. B. Aldrich, and MARK TWAIN.-ETC.

W

E are accustomed to consider America the land, par excellence, of newspapers and periodicals, but no one can dwell long in Germany without perceiving that this view is a mistake. The number of weekly and monthly publications devoted to science, literature, and special branches of learning is almost countless, and is rapidly growing. Many of these journals, however, are only partially dependent on the public for support, and others disappear after a brief flight. The subject has recently given occasion to much discussion in the press, and some of the points raised have interest for other countries than Germany.

It should be said, in advance, that in this country the standard of comparison in all matters is not England but France. The parliamentary and administrative machinery is French, and when a German writer wishes to express an idea for which he has no word in his own language, he takes, not the far more German sounding English word, but the absolutely unfamiliar French one. So in literature, the standard of a high class literary periodical is not the Edinburgh or Fortnightly, but the Revue des Deux Mondes. It is generally admitted that even the English language, with its dozen good novelists, and hundreds of famous statesmen, lawyers and men of science who figure as essayists, has nothing to offer equal to this granary of French research and wit; how much less, therefore, could such a periodical be expected in Germany, where men of literary culture-men, that is, who not only have something to say but who know how to say it, are almost as rare as white blackbirds, and where, too, the general, as it were the family, standard of intelligence is by no means high. In no country of the world, probably, is the difference in general information and mental training between men and women so great as here, and an excellent German writer,

Prof. Carl Hillebrand, of Florence, has well summed up the difference between the two coun

tries in this respect, in the statement that the famthe Revue, in Germany the Gurtenlaube. The

of it in the papers. But there is reason to believe WE are sorry to learn that the Sprague Colthat the bliss of even this ecstatic period is sur-lection of Manuscripts still waits for a purchaser, passed when, as a consequent of such achieve- and that the prospect of its finding its way ment, he receives a first request for his autograph. England, or even being broken up here under It is then for the first time that the full possibili- the hammer, is, therefore, rather increasing than ties of fame dawn upon him. With what restraint otherwise. Any such disposition of this incom-ily journal of the educated classes in France is of emotion does he comply with the request. With what unaccustomed solicitude does he henceforth write the most trivial of notes, mindful of the high purpose to which it may in the future be applied. And what matter of surprise does it become to him, that they who are far on in advance of him should ever treat with contemptuous indifference the similar requests with which they may be honored!

MORE care should be taken in the signatures of letters addressed to strangers, especially to editors, to indicate the sex of the writer, and, if a

parable treasure would be a national calamity.
Since the New York State Library at Albany
has failed to secure it, is there not public spirit
and generosity enough among our Boston citizens
to purchase it for our Public Library? It would
be a most valuable acquisition, the like of which
is probably never to be seen again this side of the
sea.
We earnestly hope that it may be saved in-
tact to the country where it belongs.

THE friends of the Literary World are stead fast friends. The paper is again indebted to Mr. J. H. Woods of the Public Library, Jacksonville,

paterfamilias here reads the Revue in a café, and looks at the pictures in the Gurtenlaube at home, whose whole contents is devoured by the female portion of the family. In spite of this state of things, however, a publisher in Leipzig resolved, some eight years ago, to start a first-class magazine of the lighter order, an enterprise which had no precedent. It was called the Salon, was edited by Dr. Rodenberg, and soon attained the (for Germany) enormous circulation of 30,000 copies. But after the last war, in literature as in everything else, the public began to make higher claims, and a Berlin firm brought out the first number of

a periodical which in external form, character of the contributors and their authors, was as close an imitation of the Revue des Deux Mondes as the circumstances permitted. Dr. Rodenberg, having proved his capacity in the management of the

schau became known in all parts of the world, having now, after three years' existence, an increasing circulation of 10,000 copies, the Salon having meanwhile sunk to 5,000. This prosperity, however, has encouraged Mr. Paul Lindau, the best known of living German playwrights and litterateurs, and conductor of a politico-critical weekly, the Gegenwart, to try his hand, the first number of the new monthly, Nord und Süd, appearing three weeks since.

eminent scholars and writers. The range of war. We do not know where the reader, who topics is wide, including biographies of edu- has only fifteen or twenty minutes in which to cationists, histories of institutions, discus- inform himself with regard to the subject, sions of principles and methods, statistical can find an exposition of it better suited to accounts of educational work in all the coun- his purpose. Some supplementary pages Salon, was secured as editor, and the new Rund-tries of the world, bibliographical informa- give statistics of the Russian and Turkish tion, etc., etc. The plan is excellent and the empires, and a few incidental particulars. execution of corresponding quality. We do The two maps inserted, though large, are not mean to say that there is nothing in the not satisfactory. That of the Black Sea and volume to find fault with. On the contrary, its surroundings, showing the seat of war, is there are omissions which lessen its useful- inadequate; being barely more than an outness; there are errors of perspective; there line, and leaving Turkey in Asia almost an are, we think, some mistakes of statement entire blank. That of Europe, which might and a few typographical blemishes. But the well have been an outline merely, is densely merits of the work far outweigh its defects. | filled, so much so as to be indistinct. For As the first cyclopedia upon its subject in the their purpose in this case the two fields English language, it is a notable success, should have been treated in just the opposite and is an honest and capable piece of work way. Moreover, in our copy of the book, all through, even to the binding, which has a the map of Europe is mounted upside down. remarkably substantial and enduring look. Purchasers should inspect their copies with There is nothing "cheap" in or about it. care to see that this blemish is not repeated. We unhesitatingly give it a place among A Brief History of Russia, etc. By Frances A. reference-books of the first class; though we Shaw. [James R. Osgood & Co.] should expect to annotate a copy of our own, as indeed one may well do with all such books, so as to correct errors and supply

Nothing of a literary nature has happened in the century more remarkable than the avidity

with which the heavy German public takes to the current light American literature, and nothing

more comical than the criticism which they bestow upon it. For they are not content with being amused by Harte and Aldrich and Mark Twain; they see an ethical or æsthetical purpose in everything, without which they would regard the perusal of such works as a waste of time. They assume, too, that these writers, the first-named, perhaps, with trifling exaggeration, depict the every-day state of society and family fife, not alone in California and Montana, but throughout America.

As to the comparative æsthetic merit, the critics do not all agree, the most considering Harte the greatest American genius, while others award this

glory to Aldrich. I myself am among those who

have read Mr. Aldrich's tales with the greatest pleasure, but I imagine that gentleman himself would be somewhat astonished by a criticism which I read yesterday in a well-known critical journal. The writer had first spoken of Harte, then continuing: "But while Harte is merely a painter of externals, of manners, Aldrich reminds one continually of Richter; he depicts the depths

of the soul."

The excellent English work on German Home Life has begun to attract a good deal of attention here, through the long and complimentary criticism of Carl Hillebrand in the National Zeitung. Mr. T. S. Fay, now living in Dresden, but for many years U. S. Chargé d'Affaires in Berlin, and Minister to Switzerland, will shortly issue in New York a history of Prussia, on which he has la

bored for many years. Berlin, April 21.

MINOR BOOK NOTICES.

A. V.

omissions.

It is something of a literary achievement to tell the story of Russia in less than one hundred and twenty-five pages, and to tell it well.

This book does it. The divisions of

The Science of Language, Linguistics, Philology the subject are made to correspond to the
and Etymology. By Abel Hovelacque. J. reigns of the successive sovereigns from
B. Lippincott & Co.]
Oleg (879-912) to the present Czar, Alex-
This is a very interesting and valuable ander II; making thirty-one periods in all.
contribution to the science of linguistics or Multiplicity of dates, names and details is
comparative philology. Its investigations carefully avoided, and the essential facts are
sweep over all the continents and islands of cleverly wrought into a really interesting as
human tongues, written and spoken; numbers well as instructive narrative. Very properly
and maps them over the globe, giving to the author dwells a little more at length on
each its local habitation. It is more and the more striking passages of Russian his-
better for the student than Adelung's great tory, such as the careers of Ivan the Terri-
work, for it not only classifies these lan-ble, Peter the Great and Catherine, and the
guages into families, but gives us the com- romances of Dimitri the Impostor and the
mon and distinctive peculiarities of their Princess Tarrakanoff. There are two maps
structure, their mutual affinities and lineage, in heliotype, one of Russia exclusively, the
their phonetic elements and grammatical other of Asia; but though an improvement
principles. Indeed, what Linnæus did for upon those accompanying the book last men-
botany, this comparatively new, writer on tioned, they do not impress us with the ex-
philology has done for the cognate or affined cellence of this method of map production.
science of language. The research that There is a blurred appearance to the names,
marks this exhaustive work, the sources and a general indistinctness of outline and
from which its materials are drawn, the boundaries which disappoints and perplexes
authors cited, the historical, ethnological the eye. The book itself will be found very
and geographical facts adduced, must give useful, conducting as it does an approach
its author a place in the very front rank from one quarter to the existing war.

The Cyclopedia of Education. Edited by Hen-/of philological writers. It is a work which The Northern and Asiatic Defences of Turkey, etc.

ry Kiddle and Alexander J. Schem. [E. may be read with great profit and interest Steiger.]

Our notice of this really valuable work must be confined to limits which are not adequate to do it justice. It deserves a page; we must put it off with less than a column. As a dictionary of information for teachers, officers of schools, and all persons related to educational work in its various aspects, it is fitted to be extremely serviceable. The editors are well known as wholly competent for the task they have performed. The contributors include a large number of

by any one who has any taste for even a
superficial study of language, or who would
merely take a bird's-eye view, as it were, of
the families in which they are grouped, and
of the principles of such a classification.
The Eastern Question. By James M. Bugbee.
[James R. Osgood & Co.]

[D. Appleton & Co.]

In this "tall" pamphlet Mr. Charles H. Woodman and Mr. Geo. M. Towle combine forces to give us a survey of the field of the present war in the East. No historical approach to the subject is attempted, but as with a powerful field-glass from a commanding position the reader is shown the "lay of Mr. Bugbee's part in this little book is ex- the land," with closeness and care, both in cellent and serviceable. In something like Europe and Asia; is acquainted with its fifty pages he gives a rapid account of the general conformation and leading features, train of public events upon the European the situation of its cities and towns, the stage which have culminated in the present course and character of its rivers, and all

the various points which go to determine the conduct of a great military campaign. Two maps, one of Turkey in Europe, the other of Turkey in Asia, are borrowed from Appleton's Cyclopedia for illustration. This pamphlet is the best guide we have yet seen for going over the actual ground.

He Will Come. By Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., D. D.
[Mucklow & Simon.]

given him such an undesirable sobriquet. promptness to the pleadings of Prof. Munro To its young American readers the book on the subject in his introduction to Lucrewill be attractive for its picture of that which tius. Among the eminent scholars of Geris peculiar in the ancient schools of England, many who have made the matter a subject such as the intense esprit de corps, kept alive of special study, Brambach stands confessin each school by a long roll of graduates run-edly the first. His large work published in ning back into the centuries, and the annual 1868 made him the recognized authority on How to Camp Out. By John M. Gould. [Scrib- cricket matches, with institutions of equal the subject. In the volume before us the ner, Armstrong & Co.] name and fame. The method of discipline, student will find embodied the results of that Such a book as this of Mr. Gould's will too, under which a number of older boys, more elaborate treatise. With a view to suggest the possibility of a healthful, life- called "prefects," are endowed with unlim- distinguish the usage of Latin writers in the giving vacation to many whose lean pocket-ited authority to preserve order, by caning matter of pronunciation and orthography, books debar them from Saratoga and New- the rest for swearing or other disobedience they are divided into three groups; to the port; for all of the author's hints are based to the rules, would strike an Andover or first or oldest group belong Cicero, Cæsar on an economical policy. His directions are Exeter student, full of the "I'm as good as and Sallust; to the second Livy, Virgil, very minute and simple, and "such as the you be," which Emerson says is the leading Horace and Ovid; and to the third Quinyoungest here present can understand," as Yankee trait - as quite un-American. A tilian, Curtius and Tacitus. The texts of the Sunday School superintendents say. displeasing feature of the book is the pres- these authors may be so dealt with that the But in endeavoring to be very circumstantial ence of a great deal of schoolboy slang in first two groups shall conform to the prache goes to an extreme which, to "old camp- the dialogue, into which the author is also tice of the older Latin in pronunciation and ers," will be sometimes amusing. There careless enough to drop even when speak- spelling, which prevailed down to the time may be profit in the method for others. For ing in propria persona. of Nero, while the third group belongs to instance: in enumerating articles which may the Silver Latinity in its highest developbe taken on a camping expedition, he gives ment. The orthography which obtained in a list of one hundred and fourteen, among We do not ask our religious writers to put the Silver Age (from Nero to Hadrian) is which are ammoniated opodeldoc, chalk, themselves on a footing of pure thought; regarded as the best model both for modern dates, Dutch oven and shingles! The book but some subjects require a drier light for Latinity and for grammatical purposes. In evidently contemplates juvenile, not to say their proper treatment than often falls to their presenting the general rules for Latin orinfantile, readers, since it exhorts them not lot. Questions which are yet undetermined thography the author takes as his basis the to "carry off keys which others must have." by competent scholarship may well ask to be model period of the language. The greater "Whoever leads [the horse] must be careful exempted from the forcing process of emo- part of the work consists of an index of not to fall under the horse or wagon, nor to tional sensibility and passional impulse, and words, in alphabetical order, illustrating the fall under the horse's feet should he stum-to be left to the cooler and clearer intellectu- rules of orthography. The rules themselves ble." Here is a rule of camp etiquette which ality which, while none the less devout and occupy twenty-four pages of the book. Here our own readers may like to know: "If there loyal to one's ideal, insists on studying such we have a few remarks on the nature of Latin is no separate knife for the butter, cheese topics with a judicial understanding rather spelling and the Latin alphabet. The spelland meat, you can use your own by wiping than with a longing, however spiritual, heart. ing of the Romans was phonetic. If single it on a piece of bread." The closing chapter An example of what we thus indicate as ob- sounds were varied or lost, the spelling upon keeping a diary, and Mr. Coues's hy-jectionable reaches us in this book by the changed in conformity with such variation, gienic notes, are exceptionally good. In the younger Dr. Tyng; a series of "Medita- while lost sounds were no longer indicated. latter it is easy to recognize the hand of the tions upon the Return of the Lord Jesus Etymological spelling, which is opposed to well-known author of Field Ornithology and Christ to Reign over the Earth;" endorsed phonetic spelling, arises when those sounds Key to North American Birds; and this by an Introduction from his father. The which were originally present in a word are chapter is worthy of careful study. book would be more forcible if it were less still written in full after they have undergone fervid. It is too positive for conviction. It change, or are only faintly heard in the living forestalls the investigation of its assumptions pronunciation. Of this sort is the French This story of life at an English board-at the very start. The author throughout is spelling. Consequently the rules of orthoging school derives its charm mainly from rhetorical to a fault in handling a theme raphy in the work are divided into two the simplicity and naturalness with which its which demands some careful exegesis. We classes; those deducible from phonetics, and incidents are described. There is no strain- are happy, however, to find that he distinct- those deducible from inflection and derivaing after dramatic effect; the rosy coloring ly repudiates the dismal notion of the sleep tion. At the close of the book is a ready which the healthiness and buoyancy of his of the soul held by so many Second-Ad- reference table, such as every boy in the nature give to a schoolboy's life, especially ventists. The souls of the righteous are German gymnasia is required to keep conwhen spent away from home among the nov- immediately "wafted to be with Christ in stantly at his elbow. elties of a great school, revives again in the paradise. Wherever Christ is this day, there reader's memory and lends the romance are all those who have outrun us in the race which might otherwise be sought in thrilling and are entered into rest." adventures and strange situations. The prominent characters are three boys, who go among their schoolmates by the nicknames of Dormouse, Angelina and Bear. The last is older than the other two, and to his influence they are led to develop much of latent good in their own natures, while he finds in them a friendship which softens in a great degree the good-hearted surliness which has

Three Years at Wolverton. By a Wolvertonian. [J. B. Lippincott & Co.]

Aids to Latin Orthography. By Wilhelm Bram-
bach. Translated by W. Gordon M'Cabe.
[Harper & Brothers.]

The subject presented in this little book is
one of great practical value to classical stu-
dents, though it has been very much neg-
lected in this country. In Germany it has
long been accorded that attention which it
fully merits. England has responded with

Class List for English Prose Fiction. Boston

Public Library. Sixth edition. April, 1877. The governing idea in the management of the Boston Public Library from its start, twenty-five years ago, has been to make it a link in the educational system of the city. With this aim constantly in view, every means which could be devised has been used to encourage instructive and elevating reading in the youth who throng its rooms and draw from its shelves. The agents most relied on have been, of course, the Cat

nal would be just to the learned author whose worlds eight years ago this spring, when
name appears on the title page.
the author stood near the center of each, as
Nomisma; or Legal Tender. By Henri Cer-
nuschi. [D. Appleton & Co.]

Misunderstood. [A. D. F. Randolph & Co.]

far as Boston is concerned. There are the same attractive pictures and the same marvelous tales of woodland life and adventure. And the line between fact and fiction is as delightfully mysterious as ever.

MONTENEGRO.

They rose to where their sovran eagle sails,

They kept their faith, their freedom, on the height,
Chaste, frugal, savage, arm'd day and night
Against the Turk; whose inroad nowhere scales
Their headlong passes, but his footstep fails,

And red with blood the Crescent reels from fight
Before their dauntless hundreds, in prone flight
By thousands down the crags and thro' the vales.
O smallest among peoples! rough rock throne
Of Freedom! warriors beating back the swarm
Of Turkish Islam for five hundred years,
Great Tsernogora! never since thine own
Black ridges drew the cloud and brake the storm
Has breathed a race of mightier mountaineers.

NEW SHEET MUSIC.

The publishers of sheet music have either great confidence in the musical judgment of the Literary World, or great appreciation of the musical taste of its readers, or both; for since our last issue their contributions to our portfolio have more than doubled its original contents. We have received sheet music from the following: Oliver Ditson & Co., Boston; G. Schirmer, Boosey & Co., and S. T. Gordon & Son, New York; Louis Meyer, Philadelphia; Geo. Willig & Co., Baltimore; John Church & Co., Cincinnati; S. Brainard's Sons, Cleveland, O., and Balmer & Weber, St. Louis.

alogues, and the attempt has been made to combine in them, in some degree, the offices of an ordinary catalogue and a manual of literature. This last publication of the Library, the Class List for English Prose Mr. Cernuschi is an Italian by birth and a Fiction, well illustrates the system, origi- Paris banker by profession. During a recent nated, we believe, by Mr. Winsor, the pres-visit to this country he was called before the ent Superintendent. The plan is simple, Congressional Monetary Commission, and and consists in interspersing notes with the his evidence on that occasion is now given ordinary entries of books under authors and to the public in this small but suggestive subjects. Well-known writers are character- volume. Mr. Cernuschi is directing his ef- By Alfred Tennyson in the Nineteenth Century for May. ized with more or less brevity, and their best forts in the field of finance to the restoration works designated. Under the various coun- of the double standard, and it must be said tries, nations and historical events, such as that he makes out a plausible case against Crusades, Reformation, etc., are lists of the the mono-metallists. He thinks the evils novels and stories having reference to them. usually attributed to the double standard are Some of these notes are very brief, that on due solely to the fact that the standard has About being six lines, whilst those on the been different in different countries; in his United States and England are six and nine view, if all the great powers will unite in pages respectively. Opinions will differ in making silver and gold legal tender at an regard to the completeness of these notes agreed ratio of relative value, we need not and the justice of their characterizations. fear such an over valuation of either metal We miss, for example, one of the most fa- in any part of the world as will cause a drain mous of the novels depicting the ancient life of the same metal from other parts. On the of Greece, the Agathon of Wieland. Nor contrary, if the demonetization of silver conare we able to find any note upon India, tinues, we shall find ourselves without par of which has furnished many writers, both in exchange with China and other silver monoFrance and England, with themes for nov- metallic nations, the fluctuations in prices els and historical tales. Twenty-two lines, will be more violent, and resumption of again, are devoted to a notice of E. E. Hale, specie payments by the United States an while Hawthorne has but eight. An ex- impossibility. tended note is given upon Miss Edgeworth, but scarcely a word is said of Harriet Martineau, and very little upon Miss Austen or Mrs. Stowe. Still, considering the vast range of subjects contained in the literature of fiction, the excellence, fullness and general accuracy of the notes is remarkable, and reflects great credit upon the compilers of the Catalogue. There is no doubt that it will stimulate historical reading and study among the children and workful classes of our city, and, indirectly, of others. If it do this it will have accomplished a great work. The Roman Triumvirates. By Charles Merivale, D. D. [Scribner, Armstrong & Co.] This is the fourth volume in the popular series of "Epochs of Ancient History," being a condensation of the first part of Dean Merivale's History of the Romans Under the Empire. The period covered is that from the rise of Pompey to the battle of Actium, and the editors, one of whom is himself the author of two volumes in the series, have made a satisfactory abridgment. We wish they had been careful to preserve in all instances the style of the original. In describing Cicero's desire to throw on the Senate the responsibility for the murder of the conspirators, the author wrote: "He restored to the assembly the sword it had thrust into his hand," which the editors change to "The Senate had thrust the sword into his hands, but he was careful to slip it back." These are small matters; but nothing less than a close adherence to the origi

This little and unpretending story is about children rather than for them, being written evidently with the intent of warning parents against the danger of partiality, and of illustrating the painful sense of isolation which may come upon a tender-hearted child, who feels that upon another is lavished the whole affection in which he would only too gladly have a share, but for which he is too proud to ask. The story is well written, and has some very touching passages. It is neither long nor elaborate.

Six Little Cooks. [Jansen, McClurg & Co.]

This is a capital book in both design and
execution. An "Aunt Jane" and half a
dozen little girls are its characters, and its
object is to awaken in the girl-mind an appre-
ciation of domestic cookery as a fine and
useful art, and to convey suitable instruction
in the same. The pudding part of the dish
is a well mixed and agreeable story, tooth-
some in itself; and the plums are so many
receipts, all of which have been tested in
real life. Any good housekeeper will be in-
terested in the latter, among which she will
find many that are new and excellent; and
the children will be delighted with the book
all through. Its purpose, too, is admirable.
Adventures in the Wilderness, etc. By William

H. H. Murray: [Lee & Shepard.ĺ
We have in this volume a new edition
of the book which made such a commotion
in the ecclesiastical, literary and sporting

From the mass before us we select the

following as worthy of special notice :

FOR THE PIANO. Swing Song. Lullaby. C. A. Garratt. Pp. 4. 50 cents. [Balmer & Weber.]

This is a really meritorious composition. The harmony is rich, the movement rythmical, the color soft and soothing. There are some difficulties in it, but they need not disconcert the fairly competent player.

Calme et Solitude. Caprice pour le Piano. Par J. Leybach. Pp. 4. 40 cents. [Boosey & Co.]

A difficult piece, but embodying a very pretty melody, which delights the ear as soon as it catches it. This author's work is almost always good, and we recommend it with

confidence.

Angel of Midnight. Charles de Frees. Pp. 7. 40 cents.

[S. T. Gordon & Son.]

The first phrases of this waltz give a promise which is not fulfilled by what follows; still, as a whole, the piece has good quality, without being over strong or solid.

Le Baisir d' Amour. [Love's Kiss.] Georges Lamothe.

Pp. 11. 75 cents. [S. T. Gordon & Son.]

A capital waltz; simple and easy, but original and fresh and musical above the common. It is richer in harmony than ordinary compositions of its class. We are com