astonishing, production for a young lady of that age. We turn its pages with amusement, for we stumble over the wit that comes of miscellaneous reading and marvelous memory in the first paragraph of her preface, which is flavored with Bottom, and Snug the Joiner, and the exquisite foolery of the "Midsummer Night's Dream." Tacitus is quoted on the next page, and Plato and Newton referred to on the third page; Locke, Boileau, Lucretius, Dante, Quintilian and Gibbon follow. Byron (who had been dead two years) is mentioned as "that immortal writer we have just lost," and his dictum that "ethical poetry is the highest of all poetry, as the highest of all earthly objects must be moral truth," is re-asserted and made the text of a lecture, which this fair girl-graduate in her golden hair (but was her hair golden ?) straightway proceeds to deliver. We shall not quote any of Miss Elizabeth Barrett Barrett's prose, which is smart and jaunty, but turn to her "Essay on Mind," which is divided into two books, and which, as might have been expected, is superimposed upon Byron's basis of ethical poetry. Milton wrote arguments for each of the twelve books of " Paradise Lost," so of course Miss Barrett Barrett wrote analyses for the two books of her "Essay on Mind." The "Essay on Mind" is a singular performance, -pert, flippant and pretentious. The models which Miss Barrett Barrett set up before herself in writing it were Pope, in his "Essay on Man," Byron, in his heroic narrative poems, and, possibly, Campbell, in his "Pleasures of Hope,❞—a trinity of interblending strength and weakness. The versification is hasty and careless, "cares rhyming to "hexameters " very early in the poem. Byron is complimented two pages further on as "the Mont Blanc of intellect,"- -a phrase which would have tickled his lordship if he could have heard it when alive, quite as much as Lamartine's lurid "Chanteur d'Enfer." The cleverness of such a couplet as this is undeniable, and the clap-trap character of it likewise: "The scale of life is link'd by close degrees; Jeffrey comes in for six lines of eulogy, in which he figures as "The letter'd critic of a letter'd age," who judges justly, discerns rightfully, teaches wisely, and learns candidly! (What do you think, Miss Barrett Barrett, of his "This wont do," when he reviewed "The Excursion "?) Here is a good couplet in regard to the opulence of Mind, who "Gives the dank wreath and dusty urn to fame, And lends its ashes-all she can-a name." Here are four lines which are better still: "Go! let the tomb its silent lesson give, Here are three couplets which are terse and striking: "Important trust! the awful dead to scan, "The hallowed page of fleeting Time prophane, The eight lines which follow are perhaps the most brilliant in the whole poem, and were certainly inspired by intense admiration of Byron : "Man! Man! thou poor antithesis of power! The more than mighty, or the worse than base! Between the all of glory and decay !" And so on, for ten or twelve more clever, but cloying, lines of smart antithesis. The young female philosopher (whose system we don't pretend to understand) demolishes Buffon in four savage lines, Leibnitz in four more, and the Cynics and Cato, each in a couplet: "E'en Cato, had he own'd the senate's will, And washed his toga, had been Cato still." (Poor Cato!) We turn next to the notes that illustrate and elucidate, and consecrate this unique contribution to English poetry, and obtain several clews to the reading of the youthful writer. Among the authors quoted from, or mentioned by her, are the elder Disraeli, Cowley, Alfieri,Thucydides, Virgil, Mitford, Voltaire,,Archimedes, Cicero, Gray, Buffon, Leibnitz, Southey, Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Plutarch, Berkley, Condillac, Strabo, Plato, Longinus, Milton, Dugald Stewart, Herodotus, Moschus and Bion, and Calmet. "What, will the line stretch out to the crack o' doom?" And what adds to our wonderment is, that they appear to have been read at first hand, and in their original languages! The little volume in which the "Essay on Mind" was published, contained fourteen minor poems of a marked character and of varying excellence. They are, first, a tender, pleasant address "To my Father on his Birthday; two Spenserean stanzas (which are too Spenserean in their archaic spelling), "On a Boy of three Years old"; a loving copy of "Verses to my Brother," which show genius; four Spenserean "Stanzas on the Death of Lord Byron," a charming octo-syllabic poem on "Memory," and eight stanzas "To," in a favorite measure of Mrs. Hemans. The manner of Mrs. Browning is fixed in the last: "Hast not thou look'd upon The flowerets of the field in lowly dress! Think only of my love! my song is gone." This is followed by eleven stanzas in a ringing ballad measure, celebrating the memory of Captain Demetrius, an old Roumelian, who burst into tears at the mention of Byron's name; one of them is worthy of Wolfe. "Ye left his HEART, when ye took away The dust in funeral state; And we dumbly placed in a little urn "The Past" fills out eight grimly rollicking of its popularity, if of nothing else. stanzas, of which we give the second: "The winds beat not their drum to the waves, Some of their dark conspiracies." Next come three Spenserean stanzas, "The Prayer" (which is poor but pious); ten ballad stanzas "On a Picture of Riego's Widow," and a wonderful “Song," which seems to have wandered down from the age of Elizabeth: "Weep, as if you thought of laughter! And think life's green well worth its rose ! No sorrow will your heart betide, Without a comfort by its side; The sun may sleep in his sea-bed, But you have starlight overhead. Trust not to joy! the rose of June, Joy, most changeful of all things, Flits away on rainbow. wings; And when they look the gayest, know We have not left ourselves room to speak of the rest of the poems in this volume, the last of which, "The Vision of Fame," is a very remarkable piece of imaginative writing. Seven years later, Miss Barrett Barrett published her first version of "Prometheus Bound," and with it other smaller poems, in which her future greatness was as unmistakably shadowed forth as the future greatness of Keats in "Endymion." They are for the most part large in conception and utterance; not very musical in structure, but filled with creative energy, and a latent force of tremendousness. "The Tempest, a Fragment," reads like a discarded section of "Hyperion." The American publisher of Mrs. Browning has announced that he will reprint this volume at once. The American Edition of Lübke.* THE publication of a specifically American edition of a book like Lübke's "Outlines of the History of Art" gives pleasant assurance of the fact that the interest in art in our country is not only spreading, but also deepening. In view of the great amount of dilettanteism in matters of art with us, this deepening of interest is one of the most hopeful signs of healthy progress. Το comment on the character of Professor Lübke's book itself would seem to be superfluous. The fact that it has gone through seven editions in its German garb, and through two editions in Miss Bunnett's English translation, is evidence sufficient That the author shows a marked partiality for German art, especially in its modern phases, as Mr. Cook points out, certainly cannot be denied. But even in spite of this limitation, it must be conceded that there are probably but few persons, if any, better qualified to undertake so stupendous a task as the writing of a general history of art than Professor Lübke. In proof of his qualifications, it is only necessary to point to the many works from his pen which embody the results of his diligent research in various departments of art. There is, however, another part of the work under review which demands a somewhat fuller discussion at our hands, i. e., the work of the translator and of the editor. But before speaking of this translation in particular, we are tempted to say a few words on translations in general. There is evidently a curious misapprehension in the mind of the public in regard to work of this kind. It seems to be almost taken for granted that no, or at best but very little, literary talent is needed by the translator, that his work is purely mechanical, and that almost any one can make a translation who can write his own language grammatically and has a smattering of the language from which he translates. Not very long ago, a popular author gave shape to this erroneous idea in an article which was widely circulated in the papers. This author recommended those who have a taste for literary work, but lack the power of original composition, and yet are too good to be mere translators, to make indices of books already published. The custom, which is constantly growing, of omitting the name of the translator on the titlepages of translated books, is likewise a result of this curious misapprehension. And yet a moment's reflection ought to be sufficient to show that a good translator needs very many qualities which entitle him to a tolerably advanced position on the literary ladder. He must have a good command of language; he must be able to analyze and thoroughly to penetrate into the innermost peculiarities of his author, and this it will be utterly impossible for him to do unless he has not only a good grammatical, but also a perfect idiomatic knowledge of the languages with which he has to deal. To this must be added, in the case of technical books more especially, a pretty full understanding of the subjectmatter of the work to be translated, or, in default of this, a painstaking conscientiousness which will shun no trouble in endeavoring to arrive at the meaning and the correct rendering of the technical terms employed. We are sorry to say that, measured by this standard, the American translation of Professor Lübke's "Outlines" is not quite satisfactory. There is little fault to be found, indeed, in the matter of style; but occasionally the meaning of the author has been missed, and the technical terms, especially in that part of the work which relates to the architecture of antiquity, are very frequently incorrectly rendered. That, of course, is a grievous fault in a work of this nature. The editor was perfectly justified in rejecting Miss Bunnètt's trans lation, but it is a pity that he did not exercise a more vigilant control over his own translators. The following examples may serve to verify our assertion: Volume I., page 6, "of which that of Teocalli” should be, "of which the Teocalli," as Teocalli is not a place, but means "the house of God." Page 26: "A ribbon-like astragal" is a contradiction equal to saying a flat round; for a ribbon is flat, and an astragal is a half-round. Professor Lübke speaks of "a round molding ornamented with a sort of ribbon wound around it." On the same page the "abacus" of a cornice is spoken of, but the term "abacus" applies only to the upper member of a capital. Page 38: "Imperious bearing" should be the very reverse,-" attitude assumed at command." Page 135: "Substructure " (as Miss Bunnètt correctly has it) is rendered "stylobate," while, if a Greek word was necessary at all, it should have been "stereobate." Page 154: "Temple of Ilissus" should be "temple on the banks of the Ilissus," the Ilissus being, not a god, but a river. Page 157: "Modillions should be "coffers." Modillions are a sort of brackets, while Professor Lübke speaks of the sunken panels (Kassetten) in the ceiling. Volume II., page 10: the German "Dienste" (bowtells or shafts) is translated "servants." This is neither an English technical term, nor is it a correct literal translation, as "Dienste" signifies "services." Other examples might be given, but lack of space prevents. Mr. Cook's notes will prove very valuable to American students, especially through their continual reference to American collections and to English books not mentioned by the author. These notes show that Mr. Cook has followed the literature of art in the main very carefully, and it is, therefore, all the more to be wondered at that he nowhere informs his readers of the existence of an English edition of the "Denkmäler der Kunst" (Monuments of Art), although this work is, in fact, an atlas to Professor Lübke's book, and is mentioned on almost every page. Only in a very few instances, as far as we are able to judge, has Mr. Cook allowed himself to be betrayed into error. Thus, in a note on page 155, volume I., the "string of beads above the triglyph frieze" of the Parthenon is questioned, while it is plainly indicated in the cut on the same page, and also (perhaps somewhat more plainly) in cut 129, page 227 of the first volume of Fergusson. On page 176, Dædalus is made the inventor of the fish-hook, although the Greek word, "ichthyocolla," signifying fish-glue, is added in brackets. A third mistake, finally, and rendered all the more apparent because Professor Lübke is severely taken to task for it, is to be found in the note, volume II., page 466. Mr. Cook has evidently allowed the last developments of the Holbein controversy to escape his notice. If he will look up the second edition of Woltmann's "Holbein" (mentioned by Lübke on page 490), he will find that all the facts heretofore held to be established have been upset by the discovery of the astounding forgery of which Eigner made himself guilty, and that even Grandpapa Hans Holbein, to whom reference is made in a note on page 468, has again been ousted from the history of art, into which he had been introduced by fraud, and simply for the purpose of upholding the theories of an infatuated man. The position which Mr. Cook assumes in reference to German art is, to say the least, as extravagant on the one side as Professor Lübke's is on the other. A person of Mr. Cook's information must know that the exhibition of German pictures at Philadelphia consisted mainly of sweepings, and that hardly one of the names of which Germany is proud was represented in it. But if he knows this, his assertion is unfair, while, if he does not know it, he must give up his claims to be consid ered an authority. Desiring to be counted among the "faithful critics" to whom Mr. Cook appeals in his preface, we have been reluctantly compelled to make these remarks. Mr. Cook undoubtedly deserves well of art in America. He has for years been the best, if not the only representative of courageous and outspoken criticism in matters of art among us; for while the general run of so-called criticism was really nothing but indiscriminate praise, born out of ignorance, and degrading alike to those who lavished it and to those upon whom it was lavished, his writings always carried with them the force of conviction, and therefore commanded the respect even of those who radically differed with him. To maintain this honorable position, however, scrupu lous exactness in statements of fact and incorruptible justice toward all are the most necessary requisites, without which even indomitable courage will avail nothing. But in spite of the short-comings which we have felt it our duty to point out, Mr. Cook's edition of Lübke still has our most cordial wishes for success, as there is no other book in American, or even English, literature, so far as we know, which might take its place. In a second edition, which we trust the book may soon reach, most of the defects al luded to can easily be repaired. It will then, also, be time to rid the book of the many typographical errors in which, unfortunately, it abounds, and to add the index of technical terms, with which the German edition is provided, but which, in the American edition, has been omitted. He traces next the "modern antagonism between science and religion," and treats severally of the conflict in astronomy, geology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, theology and philosophy, and the results in civilization. This conflict represents the Extremists, whom he describes on the one hand as infidels, on the other as apologists. Next he treats of the Indifferentists, divided into sciolists and dogmatists, and portrays their conflicts as resulting in the schism in the sciences before mentioned, and of the breach in civilization consequent on this rupture in philosophy. Then follows a criticism on the Eclectics, or Impatients as he defines them, who seek to blend hypothesis and dogma prematurely; and he carries this criticism through the same cycle of sciences and philosophies. He ends this Part First by a statement of modern skepticism, the skeptics being the Despondents who would abandon science and religion as contradictory and irreconcilable; following with them the same course as with the other three classes. ticipate such lucid arrangement of material, or subjugated philosophy; and the reforming age of such brilliancy of style, as shall render the subject | Christian science when theology and philosophy attractive and clear to what we may call the lay read- were torn asunder." er. The book is indebted for its charm to several particulars. It is characterized by a well-digested method, by a thorough survey of the field of thought it discusses, and at times by an epigrammatic force of expression which fixes the thought with the incisiveness of a proverb. As an instance of this last quality, what could be happier than the description of the Act of Uniformity in Great Britain under Elizabeth, as "that political massacre of dissent whose ghost now comes back in the shape of disestablishment; " or what more terse than, when speaking of Mr. Mansel and Mr. Spencer as the extreme right wing and left wing of the same philosophical tendency, he says, "Thus the very cant of divines is becoming the creed of thinkers, at the same time that the speculations of thinkers are made the dogmas of divines." Again, "Mr. Mansel's school professed at least to know what they worshiped; Mr. Spencer's, that they worshiped they knew not what." Sometimes the style sparkles too much; and the rhetoric seems caught from the atmosphere of the classes to whom it was originally addressed, as e.g., page 750: Terrene, solar and stellar influences, wielded by human prowess and prayer, may unfold the commerce of heaven, the telegraph of the skies, and the worship of the one universal Father, until the ripe scient earth echoes back the anthem that erst hailed her novitiate." | But though there are occasional blemishes of style, no one can say that this is a dull book. Final Philosophy" is readable. "The It is time, however, to turn our attention to the subject-matter of the book. It does not give us the constructed system of the final philosophy. It simply indicates its need, and its task. Its history of what has been done in science, philosophy and theology is intended to show the necessity of a thorough reconciliation, and to point out the line in which it is to be brought about. The author insists, in the introduction, that science and religion are related logically, historically and practically, and that these relations are very extensive, complicated and vital; that they are not what they should be, might be, or will be; and that it is important that philosophy, as the friend of both science and religion, should recognize and pursue their harmony. Hence this book. So far the criticism is destructive. In Part II., which treats of "The Philosophical Theory of the Harmony of Science and Religion," we gain the nearest approach to the constructive portion of the work. Without giving so complete an analysis of this as of the first part, suffice it to say that, after maintaining philosophy as the umpire between science and religion, and reviewing the unsolved problems of both the physical and psychical sciences, our author proceeds to give a searching criticism of the positive philosophy or theory of Nescience, and the absolute philosophy or theory of omniscience; as he concludes that neither science nor religion can furnish the adequate solution, but philosophy only, so he decides that neither the positive nor absolute philosophy of themselves will suffice. Not the former, for it would ignore that whole metaphysical region which is largely occupied by revelation; not the latter, because it would supersede religion throughout that region. Neither can we, he thinks, remain satisfied with the "Prudent Nescience" of Sir William Hamilton; he requires a final philosophy which shall furnish the logical conciliation of both absolutism and positivism; for, while the positivist becomes atheistical in religion, the absolutist becomes mystical in science. Both, he claims, are essential elements in the reconciliation, because both are deeply rooted in the human mind; and because they have always acted and reacted on each other; logically adjusted and combined, they check and complete each other. This combination is the task of the final philosophy. This must prescribe a method of perfect knowledge and furnish the ultimatum organum; it must provide a theory of perfect It is divided into two parts. The first treats of the philosophical parties as to the relations between science and religion; the second, of the philosophical theory of the harmony of science and religion. In the first part he discusses, first. "The early conflicts and alliances between science and religion, as in the pre-Christian age of Pagan science, when religion and science dwelt apart in a state of local seclusion; the post-Christian age of Pagan science, | knowledge, the omne scibilo; and organize a sys when religion and science met as strangers, mistaking each other for foes; the Patristic age of Christian science, when under the Greek Fathers, philosophy had subjugated theology; the scholastic age when, under the Latin schoolmen, theology had tem of perfect knowledge, the scientia scientiarum. And this is possible, because positive science is indefinitely extensible toward absolute science, and absolute science is only perfectible through positive science. The final philosophy has thus before it 66 three tasks. It must furnish an expurgation of the sciences, a survey of the sciences, and a theory of the sciences. This would mark the utmost limit of human cognition, and would unite an ultimate system of the sciences, an ultimate system of arts or applied sciences, and an ultimate system of society, of which the arts and sciences are but functions. The present age and the western hemisphere offer the proper time and place for this achievement. He closes as follows: Behold then at one glance the issue to which we are come. The summary want of the age is that last philosophy into which shall have been sifted all other philosophy, which shall be at once catholic and eclectic, which shall be the joint growth and fruit of reason and faith, and which shall shed forth, through every walk of research the blended light of discovery and revelation, a philosophy which shall be the means of subjecting the earth to man and man to God." In making this rapid survey of the volume before us, we have left no room for criticism, which would require a larger spare than we can give to it. One great defect, it strikes us, is the haziness in which the doctrine of revelation is involved. The fact is accepted, but no criticism is offered by which to test it. The author frequently speaks of revealed geology, revealed astronomy, etc. What is this, or is there such a thing? He speaks in one place of "sacred cosmogonies, one after another, like children's bubbles, living their little hours of applause," but we are left in doubt as to the true cosmogony. It would seem that the problem he seeks to solve would be greatly simplified if revelation were confined to spiritual truth, and its scientific illustration received as a vehicle of expression, and not as a rigid definition of a subject which may be presumed to lie without the boundary or purpose of a revelation. But we have no room to do more than state the objection, and we leave the subject, with thanks to the author for having done so much so well. The literature of archæology, so well exemplified in the splendid books recording the achievements of Dr. Schliemann and General Cesnola, continues to receive a large share of the public attention. There is a promise of some startling news from Captain Richard Burton, the cosmopolitan trav eler, who is now engaged in exploring the ancient land of Midian on the eastern side of the Gulf of Akaba and the Red Sea. Besides antiquities, and the sites of ancient cities, something more tangible is looked for by the paymaster of the expedition, the ruler of Egypt, who has a keen eye for the precious metals and hopes to discover in these solitary and unexplored regions the mines and mineral riches whence the wealth of King Solomon was in a large measure derived. In another direction, the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, the immense mass of information now at the command of the learned, from the continued deciphering of the early Babylonian monuments and inscribed records, is really astonishing. A small volume of "Lectures on Babylonian Literature," delivered at the Royal Institution by Rev. A. H. Sayce, the Oxford Professor of Comparative Philology and one of the pioneers of the study, will give an idea of-its extent, and furnishes an excellent outline of the subject. Ten years ago the very title of the book would have been an absurdity as Babylonian literature was as non-existent as the lost books of the Sibyl. Now it engages the attention of learned men, especially in England and France; though the death of Mr. George Smith, who seemed to possess a peculiar aptitude for the study, has left a void that has scarcely yet been filled. It will be long before the results arrived at filter down into our manuals and school histories, though they are of the utmost importance toward the promotion of the true history of the early progress of mankind. In the meantime they can be followed in the series of "The Records of the Past: English Translations of Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments," now advanced to its ninth volume; "The Journal of the Victoria Institute," and the "Archaic Classics, Assyrian and Egyptian," now in course of publication. A work also by M. Lenormant, the distinguished The chief thing in the way of a sensation caused French Oriental scholar, "Chaldean Magic, its by any recent publication has been derived from the Origin and Development," has just appeared in an new volume of "The Memoirs of the Prince Con- English dress, with many additions by the author. sort" (Albert), written by Theodore Martin from It yields to the reader much more than the title materials furnished by the queen. As it includes promises, being a perfect store of information on the period of the Crimean war, and consequently the religious superstitions, etc., of the ancient Chalshows the decided anti-Russian feeling of the court daic or Accadian people, all derived, at first hand, and the people at that time, it is supposed by many, from the ancient records themselves. Egypt can in the present uncertainty that prevails as to the never lose its charm, and the translation of M. Maintention of the government, to have been issued riette Bey's work on "The Monuments of Upper now with the object of exciting a similar state of the Egypt," is a welcome present both to the actual public mind under the pressure of the stirring mili- and the stay-at-home traveler. M. Mariette Bey tary news daily received from the east of Europe, has been strangely reticent of the information he but apparently with little effect. Considered as possesses on Egyptian antiquities, probably in a materials for an important period of European his-higher degree than any of his contemporaries, and tory, the work is very valuable, and all that can be made known of Prince Albert only serves to exalt his character as one of the best men, and wisest, noblest, and most far-seeing statesmen of his age. New English Books. LONDON, January 7. on them he speaks as one having authority that none can question. As Mr. Stanley has not yet reached England, but is enjoying richly deserved welcome from the con |