Whetham made a short stay there, and then turned his face northwards, passing through the fertile plains of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, on his way to Mount Shasta. These rich grain fields of California, we are told, are being rapidly impoverished by the reckless practice of the farmers. The soil receives neither rest nor tillage; even the straw is burnt; so that land which once yielded eighty or one hundred bushels to the acre, gives now but twenty.

Mount Shasta, although surpassed in mere height by Mount Whitney, another peak of the Sierra Nevada, and by several of the loftiest of the Rocky Mountain chain in British territory, is essentially the grandest of all the western mountains.

Its altitude is 14,500 feet, nearly equal to that of Mont Blanc, but the latter is broken into a succession of peaks, while Mount Shasta is one mighty cone of snow and lava rising up out of the plain, stupendous and alone. The varied tints of this mountain are described as of extraordinary splendour, and add beauty of colour to its supreme majesty of size and form. The Indians of that region regard it with superstitious reverence, as the abode of the presiding spirit of their race, from whom, as their legend teaches, they themselves have sprung. Some hundred and thirty miles north of Mount Shasta, in a desert of sage brush and alkali near the Klamath Lake, are situated the curious Lava Beds, the stronghold where the Modocs made their last and, for a long time, successful stand against the United States troops. The defence of the small band of Modocs against overpowering odds was heroic, and would have commanded general admiration, had it not been sullied by the treacherous massacre of General Canby and his companions. It must be remembered, however, that the Indians had received terrible provocation. Forty of their number had been foully murdered by some white settlers a few years before. They had been driven from their favourite homes on to hated "reservations," and were regularly plundered by the Indian agents of the American Government, who, as our author in forms us, take for their motto, "Cheat the Indians while the contract lasts."

The Lava Beds are about three miles long by a mile broad, and are bounded on one side by the Tule lake, on the others by rugged hills and mountains. The principal camp of the Modocs was in a bowl-like depression about an acre in extent, with sloping walls rising to a height of a hundred feet. Behind this basin, and on a level with its rim, there stretches, for the distance of about a mile, a flat surface of lava, apparently level and unbroken, but in reality full of small openings, which widen downwards into extensive

caves.

These caves communicate with one another and with the basin. This series of volcanic caverns formed an almost impregnable stronghold. The American troops were surrounded and shot down by enemies they could not see, although they could hear them seemingly beneath their feet greeting them with curses and derisive words. Large bodies of soldiers were defeated with heavy loss again and again by the mere handful of Indians. At length some small guns were brought up, the

lava beds shelled, and the troops, advancing slowly and with the utmost caution, encamped on the ground they won step by step. Eventually, Captain Jack, the Modoc chief, and his companions were driven to surrender, and were tried and hanged at surrender, and were tried and hanged at Fort Klamath for the murder of General Canby's party.

The scene which seems to have made the deepest impression upon Mr. Boddam-Whetham is the view of the Mystic Lake in the Cascade mountains, a vast crater filled with water of unknown depth, the walls of this huge basin being vertical cliffs of from fifteen hundred to three thousand feet high. From Fort Klamath the author proceeded to Vancouver Island and British Columbia, by way of the Columbia river. He speaks in the highest terms of the beauty of the scenery on that magnificent and picturesque stream swarming with salmon, and of the extensive forests of valuable timber met with in Oregon and Washington. More fascinating still was the impression produced by the lovely Gulf of Georgia, with its transparent waters studded by an archipelago of beautiful islands, shaped by the elements into curious and fantastic forms, and clothed with luxuriant vegetation.

Mr. Boddam-Whetham did not penetrate very far into British Columbia, but he visited the great cañons of the Fraser, the huge chasms in the mountain ranges through which the mighty torrent has forced its way to the sea. He saw, moreover, enough to convince him of the great wealth of the colony in its unequalled timber, its teeming fisheries, and inexhaustible mineral resources of every kind. Time, and the construction of the railway from Canada to the Pacific, will render British Columbia one of the most valuable of the English possessions.

W. B. CHEAdle.

of this ship there is a Persian lady possessing remarkable personal attractions, and, moreover, that the Arab shipmaster is willing for a consideration to part with his lovely charge. The vizir is quickly informed of these circumstances, and the Kotwal, whose myrmidons have been equally vigilant, is also apprised of the new arrival. Both are aware that the Nawab could not be better pleased than by the accession to his harem of this transcendant beauty. Each, therefore, becomes desirous of purchasing the fair Persian from the Arab ship captain for the purpose of presenting her to their master the Nawab. The plots and counterplots of the vizir and Kotwal are related with considerable skill and gusto. Eventually the Persian lady becomes the property of the vizir, who in due course presents her to the Nawab. The Nawab, poor man, finds to his cost and disappointment that he has entered into the domain of feminine caprice, and he is obliged reluctantly to yield to the desire of his fair enslaver, who declines his proffered hand for a time until a favourable conjunction of certain stars takes place. This brings in the astrologers Hindú and Mahomedan, and the interview between the Nawab and the Gurú and his rival Ibn-ul-Ajib is capitally told. The marriage between the Nawab and the fair Persian is put off for a year in accordance with the lady's wishes, for reasons which, however, the reader does not learn until the end of the second volume. She was loved by and betrothed to a Persian noble named Humza (who is absurdly represented as acting like a sun-worshipper, and this in the time of Nadir Shah!); but Humza's brother Zeki Khan, who is also enamoured of Máhtab (the Persian lady's name, which Mr. Hockley strangely spells "Mheitab"), very unkindly interferes and runs off with her, and ships her off to Cambay, intending soon. to follow her. Zeki Khan gets rid of his brother and rival in the orthodox Persian fashion, and appears at the Nawab's court towards the close of the second volume. Máhtab, in the hope, vain as it proves, that Humza might "turn up" and claim her, for she is ignorant of his being killed, makes use of various pretences to put off her marriage with Jilal-ud-din, one of these being that for the space of one whole year she is not to behold the face of living man, except the Nawab, who is courteously excepted from the incidence of this sentence. This condition is, unfortunately for the Nawab, broken; for the lady, when out in her palankin in the cool of the evening, is one day rudely attacked by a band of robbers. The lady is greatly incensed at this insult, and the Nawab's fury and rage is great. We think the dénouement of the plot here is weak, for the Nawab, who is about to execute every thousandth man in the city, unless the offenders are discovered, eventually contents himself with the less sanguinary idea of compelling the heads of the different trades and callings each to relate a story for the amusement of himself and for the delectation of the inmates of the Zenana, including the fair Mahtab herself: and thus the tales are introduced. Had the title chosen been "Tales in a Zenana," the reader would, perhaps, have been less apt to imagine he was about to hear some sensa

tional scandals about the private life of the "Anderan." These tales, forming the main portion of the book before us, consist of seven stories more or less long, somewhat after the style of the Arabian Nights, of which, indeed, they might be termed a diluted imitation. Mr. Hockley, we dare say, faithfully constructed from the materials he gathered during his apparently not protracted nor over-successful career in India the stories as now presented to the public. The faults of the stories, as stories, are therefore more attributable to the want of skill of the original Indian story-tellers from whom he received the ideas, than to their English editor. But as serious and faithful representations of Oriental thought and taste, they are very incomplete. Probably the original stories Mr. Hockley heard differ as much from the ones under review as an expurgated edition of Lemprière, suitable for young ladies' schools, is unlike the standard edition. We never heard a "kisehgú," or professional story-teller, in Shiraz or Ispahan, relate any story wherein at least one or two situations did not occur which it would be utterly impossible to reproduce in civilised society, but which, nevertheless, were de rigueur. No blame can therefore be attached to Mr. Hockley if the present stories in their English dress do not completely represent what doubtless the originals were.

But we now have to notice what we consider unpardonable. It is a fault that occurs more than once in these volumes. The author has fallen into the very egregious mistake of perpetrating jokes which he must. have known would be unmeaning in the original, and at best are very poor in English. As an example we will quote the following, where a play on words is attempted which, in English, is not only deficient in wit, but as the work professes, as it were, to be a reproduction of tales originally related in an eastern tongue, is simply absurd. Buxoo, the barber, is summoned into Moye-ud-din's presence, who thus addresses him (page 140):

"Who is the head of your trade, pray? I desire you will repeat to me if he has summoned your understrappers for the purpose of making the necessary explanation.'

"My lord,' replied Buxoo, you are pleased to be facetious. Understrappers, indeed. And who is the head of my trade? Surely, my lord, your own barber must be considered the king of strappers.'

"Ay, Buxoo, I dare say your wife thought so when you chastised her for presenting your petition.'

Lord Stanley writes an introductory preface to these volumes, for what reason is not very clear. From him we learn that Mr. Hockley died in 1860, and we cannot, therefore, hold him responsible for the orthography of Oriental names which we find in these tales. Mr. Hockley, or rather his present editor, whoever he may be, retains such old forms of spelling as "Bahauder," "hakeem," "Cotwall," etc. But then we meet occasionally with an orthography which is as appalling as is old Purchas' rendering of "Murtaza Ali," by "Mortis Haly," or that which we find in the Gentleman's Magazine, in the account of the tragedy of the Black Hole at Calcutta, where "Suraj-ud-dowleh"

extracted the money, which having twirled about between his finger and thumb for at least a minute, he gave to his very extravagant child, repeating his admonition of caution and frugality." It is chiefly on the merits of such delineations of character that this work is of any value. BERESFORD Lovett.

is anglicised into Sir Roger Dowley! What in the name of transliteration does Mr. Hockley mean by the form "Mhamud-abaugh"? It looks prima facie more like Irish than either Arabic or Persian. When the present editor has been careful to give us Oriental words according to the modern spelling, such as "Hindús, Tehran," especially also as he has taken the trouble to give foot-notes of the meanings of Documents relating to the Times of the some of the words and phrases, besides notices on manners and customs-it is surely not extravagant to complain of such gross blunders on the part either of printer or editor as evinced by the spelling of such words, for instance, as "Ead-gar" for "eedgah," or, better, "Idgah."

Mr. Hockley has with doubtful propriety copied Morier in giving to some of his characters names which in the original would be comic. Thus we have Hakeem Nahil Hakeem Nahil and Hakeem Jehil, also Casee Ahmak, in imitation of Haji Baba's protector, Mirza Ahmak, in that worthy's very admirable biography. Why Mr. Hockley should name one of his ladies "Fareebkhash," and give the same appellation to the master of the good ship Futteh Mubarak, we cannot pretend to say, unless, indeed, men made shipwreck with the one as much as under the guidance of the other.

Regarding the stories themselves, the best of the seven is, we think, that related by the head of the butchers. The portraiture of Adeeb Khan, the schoolmaster, surrounded by his scholars, is capitally drawn :

"The school, which was held in the wide

zur

Interim. und Akten ["Briefe Geschichte des Sechzehnten Jahrhunderts, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Bayerns Fürstenhaus." Erster Band: "Beiträge zur Reichsgeschichte 1546-1551." Bearbeitet von August von Druffel. (München: Riegersche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1873.)]

THIS book belongs to that very important series of works which has been called into existence by the Historical Committee connected with the Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich. Strong motives have induced its members to undertake the publication of documents relating to German history from 1550 to 1650, chiefly taken from the correspondence of the House of Wittelsbach. It was resolved to divide the unwieldy mass of material, and to take it in hand in detail. After publication of the valuable standard works of Kluckhohn, the Briefe Friedrichs des Frommen, Curfürsten von der Pfalz (2 Bände, Braunschweig, 1868-72); and Ritter, Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des Dreissigjährigen Krieges, &c., Band I., "Die Gründung der Union, 1598-1608" (München, 1870),* Herr von Druffel is now commencing the first section of the work.

verandah of the preceptor's house, was well filled His task is not an easy one. The mere of sentences, given out by the master, almost with boys, whose loud and boisterous repetition collection of materials so widely scattered is a wearisome task, and a rare knowledge and stunned the mother of Ashuk. At the upper end sagacity is needed to sift them, that is, to of the verandah, on the ground covered with a separate what is useless from what is really square mat, squatted Adeeb Khan, wearing a important, and to exclude everything which small keemcab skull-cap, with his coat open in is already accessible in print. front and trousers not over clean, holding in his hand a rattan, without which, I believe, no school

was ever known to flourish. The heat of the day, together with the assembly of little urchins around their teacher, apparently much oppressed the indefatigable man, who from time to time fanned himself with the leaves of a book, repeatedly applying the tail of his coat (alkolak) to his perspiring brow."

Again we have the miserly father of "Khair Nyat," the heroine in the same story, drawn with much truth. "Hurrees-al-Alghar" is a character frequently met with in the East.

"At this moment a voice from without the gate cried, Tél, Tél!' (oil).

"Ah! cried Hurrees-al-Alghar, there comes another fellow to add to my ruin.' He was about to send him away when his daughter Khair Nyat came from the house saying, 'Father, there is the oilman; we want a fresh supply.'

"Oil again. Why, had you not three piceworth yesterday?"

"Yes, father, but it is consumed.' "Consumed! How?'

"I was unwell last night and kept my lamp burning.'

666

"Was there ever such waste and extravagance! Burned a light because you were sick! Could you not be ill in the dark. However,' said he, buy don't waste it.' Saying which, he reluctantly as much as one pice will fetch, and mind and pulled from his girdle a small bag, from which he

Herr von Druffel has executed both parts of his task singularly well, and no one who

has read with attention this volume of little

less than 900 pages will hesitate to congratulate him on his diligence, his accuracy, and the extent of his knowledge. In his collection of materials, in which he has been assisted by Von Löher and Cornelius, be has been chiefly dependent on the contents of the Archives at Munich, with respect to which there are some very instructive remarks in the preface (p. vi.-ix.). Of German archives that of Dresden is especially valuable on account of the explanation it affords of the policy of the Elector Maurice of Saxony. The invaluable records in Vienna, consisting of the correspondence of royal personages, accounts of embassies, &c., threw new light upon the policy of the emperors, records which have been liberally thrown open to students ever since the superintendence of the records has passed into the hands of Herr von Arneth. To complete these collections we have the documents existing at Stuttgart, Cassel (Marburg), Innspruck and Brus. sels, and, above all, those volumes of the Simancas archives which were taken to Paris by Napoleon I., and which still remain in that city. In Paris the editor had excellent op

* Band ii., 1874.

portunities of gathering information concerning the German affairs of his period out of French documents; and he was so fortunate as to be able amply to avail himself of the despatches of the French ambassadors to the Imperial court, and those of French cardinals and ambassadors from Rome (Guise, Ferrara, Du Bellay). It was so much the more provoking that the treasures of the Vatican archives remained withholden from this as from other historical works, though something was to be gleaned from the collection of the Vettori MSS. in the State Library of Munich, and from three volumes in the Munich State Archives, consisting of instructions and reports of the Papal nuncios.

Somewhat more rigour might, perhaps, here and there have been exercised in the work of selection, though it may be hard to the learned to omit notice of any new discovery. Altogether apart from the records which this volume contains, a special value is imparted to it by the commentary with which the editor has accompanied the greater portion of it. Whether the subject treated of be the choice of a bishop at Chur, or the plundering of a cloister at Brunswick, or the explanation of the territorial circumstances of Italy, or the ramifications of French politics, the excellent elucidations of the editor never fail the reader. Only here and there do a few corrections apply to the author of the Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation. Much more room for sharp criticism presented itself in the work of Maurenbrecher, entitled Charles V. and the German Protestants, 15451555, while additions and improvements are added to the Briefe aus Paris of Raumer, and to Der Fürstenbund und Carl V. of Voigt, &c.

Concerning the charge made by Herr Druffel (p. 677) against an essay of mine ("Heinrich VIII. und der Schmalkaldische Bund," in Forschungen z. Deutsch. Gesch. x.), I will add only a few words. I had no intention of founding upon the document printed in Döllinger's Beiträge, &c., i. 22 et seq., and extracted by Ranke (Englische Geschichte, i. 203), the assertion, that at the beginning of 1540 the politics of France and the Emperor were momentarily approaching one another, with the object of combating heretics, so as to include England in the impending danger. But I may cite Ranke (Geschichte Deutschlands im Zeitalter der Reformation, iv. p. 126), where the words "the apostates from our holy creed" comprise Henry VIII., as well as Ranke's own words loc. cit., p. 130, with which I entirely agree. What then are the principal points illustrated by this rich collection? Herr von Druffel has done well in taking as his starting point the year 1546, which marks so important a crisis in German history. The personality of Charles V. and the preparations for the Smalkaldic war thus come into the foreground in the beginning of this volume. His circumspection towards Maurice of Saxony in the year 1546 appears conspicuously in No. 57, October 13, 1546. He will not make him an elector until he has proved his fidelity in war, and "et veoir comme ledit duc Mauris se conduyra en l'emprinse contre le dit Saxen." The preliminaries of the

Smalkaldic war, and the military plans of the Duke William of Bavaria, who for a long time contrived to maintain a neutral position between the contending powers, occupy an important place in the story. On the Protestant side is remarkable simultaneously the trouble of bringing about a marriage between the Crown Prince of Saxony and a Princess of Ferrara, compliIcated with the endeavours of Prince Christopher of Würtemberg to associate the Dauphin with the Smalkaldic League, of which Stälin formerly gave a short account (Wirtembergische Geschichte, vol. iv. 431). Hardly any question arising from the history of the Smalkaldic war has been so much discussed as that of the imprisonment of Philip of Hesse. We know in how much darkness this question is involved, and how often the judgments of historians have varied in imputing blame in this matter. In the present work much is said about it. Specially noteworthy is the letter of Charles to Ferdinand (No. 106, formerly printed by Buchholtz in an incomplete form), as well as Nos. 474, 657, 683. No one can doubt that the Elector Maurice at least must have plainly perceived how little security there was for the Landgrave in the words of the Emperor. The Bishop of Arras evaded every enquiry whether the Emperor would give his hand to the Landgrave after he had demanded pardon, and the fact of his causing this enquiry to be made shows what weight he attached to this formality. On the other hand, it appears to me also certain that the Emperor, while he evaded any distinct explanation as to the duration of the imprisonment, wished to avoid binding himself, and desired to lull the interceding princes into a false security by vague declarations of his gracious intentions for the future.

In the period immediately following the war of Smalkald, nothing in the present volume is of such interest as the transactions in the Diet of Augsburg, which were of equal importance in a religious and a political point of view. All the political projects which at that time stirred the mind of the Emperor were discussed, in particular the project to procure the succession to the imperial dignity for his son Philip, which led to a whole series of negotiations among the members of the Imperial house. No. 678 is especially noteworthy in this connexion, as it abounds in interesting historical and political reflections. Among religious matters, as we might have expected, the “ Augsburg Interim" is conspicuous. We know what ill success attended the experiment of provisionally ordering matters connected with religion absolutely by the Emperor's authority. The Catholics did not hold themselves bound by the "Interim," and it met with much opposition among Protestants. Accounts came in from many quarters, telling how little the "Interim" was observed, and what contempt and animosity it encountered among the people (p. 229: “ Quotidie novi libelli provolant contra ordinationem, quibus non minus seditio incenditur quam secta defenditur," etc.; pp. 187, 205, 708, 734, &c.). At the same time the complaints of Spanish pride, haughtiness and outrages increased (p. 477). Above all, the stand made by the town of

Magdeburg against the Emperor, the progress of the siege of this "citadel of God," and the military and still more weighty political consequences which this event entailed, are heard of again and again almost from one end of the volume to the other. But simultaneously the great questions of foreign policy exerted their influence. The relaxation of the bond between the Emperor and Pope Paul III. comes out with constantly increasing clearness. It was caused by the efforts of the Pope to extend his domestic power in Italy, and to remove the Council from Trent to Bologna. The intrigues of French policy, and especially the history of the conclave which was opened after the death of Paul III., as well as the election and beginning of the reign of Julius III., are clearly discernible in the records themselves. And while we linger for a moment over the history of the conflict between the Pope and the Farnesi, who were protected by France, our attention is at once arrested by the reopening of the Council at Trent, of which many accounts are communicated. the weightiest questions was how Maurice would comport himself towards the Council. Maurice meanwhile tried to gain time, and took as a pretext the question of the "safe conduct." Even on this groundas Druffel (p. 844) shows, in opposition to Ranke-he was able to prevent the theologians of Saxony, Würtemberg, and Strassburg from composing a universal confession of faith such as they might have offered to the Council.

One of

For Maurice had already so far prospered in the secret planning of his ambitious schemes, that the moment of breaking with the Emperor and laying aside the mask drew

near.

The newly-disclosed records enable us to gain a deeper insight into the perplexed game of political intrigues of those days, which Cornelius has lately endeavoured to sketch in several valuable works, confirmed by the documents which are printed here in extenso. Presently the charge of carrying out the ban against Magdeburg gave Maurice the best opportunity of bringing about a decisive struggle, and at the same time of keeping the Emperor in the delusion that he might continue to reckon on his fidelity. Vain were the warnings which came to the Emperor from the Queen Maria, from his brother Ferdinand, from the faithful Lazarus Schwendi, who anxiously tracked the steps of Maurice (Nos. 643, 801, etc.). He persisted in his incredible blindness, and, notwithstanding the advice of Granvella, who had at last become suspicious, went to Innspruck, where ruin overtook him. Meanwhile Maurice, while he went to work on all sides with diplomatic cunning, had leagued himself with the German princes, among whom an alliance against Charles V. already existed, and at the same time further advanced his negotiations with France. ALFRED STERN.

The Maid of Killeena and other Stories. By William Black. (London: Macmillan & Co., 1874.)

It is doubtful whether there be at the present time any greater proof of courage and self-denial than the writing of a good novel.

For, in the first place, any person who commits this deed must be well aware that, as a rule, the people who are able to appreciate his work will not read it, and that the people who do read it will not be at all grateful to him for his trouble, being usually incapable of discerning good work from bad. And, in the second place, the chance which even a good novel has of living, of being read more than once, and, in short, of taking rank as literature, and not journey-work, is infinitesimally small. The mass of published novels is so enormous, and the axiom that novels are to be read and thrown aside is so generally accepted, that even really good and distinguished works are apt to be swamped in the torrent of contemporary trash, without reaching their natural home, the bookshelves of persons who really read. A poet or an historian will probably not be read, but he will be remembered; the novelist has the much more ignoble and unsatisfactory fate of being probably read and certainly forgotten.

Nevertheless there are still people here and there (a faithful, or it may be foolish, few, among whom we are content to rank ourselves), who think of the novel as of a possible and legitimate form of literature, and who are grateful to the rare artist who, now and then, has intelligence and selfrespect enough to take the same view of his profession. It is unnecessary to say that Mr. Black is such an artist, and that he is probably the most considerable of the class now living and writing. If we were asked to specify his merits, we should say that he has, of all novel writers of the present day, the clearest and justest conception of what a novel should be, and that his hand is surer than that of any other writer in combining the four constituent elements of plot, character, description, and dialogue. Many novelists of great special power ruin the general effect of their work by giving that power too much rein, and Mr. Black himself has been charged, we think unjustly, with committing. this fault in regard to description. But in other points he is singularly irreproachable. He has, we perceive with thankful gladness,

no

moral purpose whatever; indeed, we should doubt his having any principles at all. He never shoots sententious generalities at us in the manner of some writers, whose works one feels inclined to print with blank spaces, filled in with "Here applaud," or "This is a fine thing," in italics. He does not mistake a novel for a sermon, or a piece of polemic, or a drama, or a poem. And if it be true that he has never yet produced what can properly be called a masterpiece, it is equally true that there is no one from whom a masterpiece, some time or other, can be so confidently expected.

The present volume, however, does not contain-and indeed has no pretensions to contain -any such masterpiece, though it illustrates very well the merits we have mentioned. It is simply a collection of studies and sketches, generally graceful, but always slight. Of these sketches, "A Fight for a Wife" is amusing and pleasantly written, but rather burlesque, and even improbably burlesque. "Queen Tita's Wager " has not this drawback, and is very perfect in its quiet kind. But the "True Legend of a Billiard Club" is very much the

best of the three, and could scarcely have been better. Perhaps the only fault to be found with these is the echo not only of the manner, but also of the mannerisms, of Thackeray. Mr. Black could hardly have chosen a better model, but he might have imitated more wisely. "This young person," "this small and gentle creature," and so forth, are dangerous phrases if used too freely, and even from the master we had them, if it were possible, a little too often. The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton were not improved by this sort of thing, and it would be a great pity if the mannerism became stereotyped.

But the Maid of Killeena is quite Mr. Black's own. The hero is something like the hero of the finest of the tales in the Earthly Paradise

"A loiterer in the spring-tide sun,
A do-nought by the fireside
From end to end of winter-tide,
And wont in summer heats to go
About the garden to and fro,
Plucking the flowers from bough and stalk,
And muttering oft amid his walk

Old rhymes that few men understood."

Being as he is a Hebridean Scot, the natural end of this sort of thing is that he should be sent by his good-natured, if less gifted brethren to Glasgow, that so he may obtain the position of dominie. The attainment of this eminence, the consequent success of his love for the Maid of Killeena, and what thereafter befell, Mr. Black has drawn as few but he can draw. There is very little, hardly any, parade of scenery, but the surroundings are indicated with excellent skill, and Ailasa Macdonald, the heroine, is at least as charming as Mr. Black's heroines always are, perhaps more charming than any of them since Coquette. In short, the stories are, with hardly an exception, very excellent parerga for a man of genius. Let us hope that Mr. Black will give us the ergon at his next appearance.

GEORGE SAINTSBURY.

MINOR HISTORICAL BOOKS.

King and Commonwealth; A History of the Great Rebellion, by B. Meriton Cordery and J. Surtees Phillpotts (Seeley, Jackson, & Halliday), is a useful and readable account of the period from the calling of the Long Parliament to the Restoration of Charles II., with preliminary chapters on the preceding history of the times of the first two Stuart kings. The view taken of political questions is in the main that taken by Mr. Forster, and those who think that Mr. Forster's views must be subjected to considerable modifications can hardly expect to see those modifications as yet adopted in a book prepared for popular or scholastic use. Though the references given are often too vague, the accessible materials appear to have been diligently consulted, and the maps of the battle-fields considerably enhance the value of the book. Mr.

Phillpotts states that he hopes that allowance may be made for errors, on the ground that "the fact that the Stuart period has been set for the Oxford and Cambridge certificate examinations of this year, has made it necessary to print off the book for immediate use." Those who are preparing for these examinations may be fairly conBut it may be pointed out for their benefit that gratulated on the assistance thus offered to them. the omission to state in the account given of the New Impositions at p. 15, that the original duty on currants had been imposed by Elizabeth without consent of Parliament, throws the onus of the

charge of illegality unduly on James, an unfairness which is increased by the subsequent omission to state that his action was sustained by the Court of Exchequer. Further on we have in a note to P: 30 an ingenious explanation of the difficulty of the light incidence of a subsidy which was nominally an income tax of four shillings in the pound. The subsidy, say the authors, was levied, not on a valuation made in the reign of Charles I., but on a valuation made in the reign of Edward III. Are they not thinking of fifteenths? For their explanation seems to be overthrown by the clause in the Subsidy Acts which directs the Commissioners to "enquire of the value of the substance after the usual manner. . . . without respect of any former taxation."

The key to Charles's later constitutional position is to be found in a better understanding of the events of the session of 1629 than the writers of this book can be expected to arrive at. But there is one document not even mentioned in their work which is indispensable to a fair historical conception of these events. Let them open the Book of Common Prayer and, reading the Declaration prefixed to the Articles, remember that it contains the policy, as opposed to the Commons' policy of pure suppression of unpopular opinion, upon which Charles met his Parliament. It is easy to find objections to the policy thus shadowed forth, but it at least should have enabled the authors to understand, better than they seem to have done (p. 387), how it was that Wentworth came to throw himself unreservedly on the King's side; though even this would perhaps be of little avail until the old, and, it must be acknowledged, universally believed absurdities about the Petition of Right being treated as a dead letter in the spring of 1629, are satisfactorily exploded.

MR. A. CUTBILL's pamphlet, Petition of Right: an Inquiry into its History and Nature, is an historical investigation into the modes in which the subject obtained redress under the Plantagenet Kings, when wronged by the Sovereign or his ministers. Holding it to be advisable that the State of the present day should be liable to a greater extent than is now the case to make recompense for damages done to individuals, he argues that to proceed in this course would be in accordance with the spirit of the earlier law. For the greater part of the reign of Henry III., he contends, the King was liable to be summoned to submit his case to his own courts, the practice of approaching him by a petition of right being introduced either by Edward I., or by his father at the close of his reign when he was acting under Edward's influence. But even then "the word petitio did not mean, and was not understood by the ancient lawyers to mean, a prayer." It was rather a demand that right might be done to which the King was bound-quasi a lege compulsus, according to Bracton-to listen, and to do justice to the person wronged.

The Life of Otto von Guericke (Magdeburg: Baensch), the inventor of the air-pump, written by the late Herr Hoffmann, has been edited by Dr. J. O. Opel. As a citizen of Magdeburg who took a leading part in the politics of the place from the days preceding the sack by Tilly's army to the days when the city was incorporated with the dominions of the Elector of Brandenburg, Guericke lived to take part both in the events which led to the dissolution of the

political union of his fatherland, and in that union with the House of Brandenburg which was afterwards to lay the foundation of the modern unity of Germany.

THE author of The House of Stuart (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) resembles those artists who try to paint before they learn to draw. He contrives to make himself interesting enough to satisfy the young people for whom the book is intended. But a writer who thinks that

James I. sent volunteers to Holland "to assist Prince Maurice, the son of the Elector and of

DR. LEONARD SCHMITZ's History of Greece for Junior Classes, in Collins' School Series (Collins, 1875), gives little boys the whole history, from the mythical period to the accession of the present king, in 193 small pages. The work of compression is effected by the abandonment of any attempt to interest the youthful reader. If boys can be induced to study it, they will doubtless know a good deal about the skeleton of Greek history. But we suspect that if Dr. Schmitz attempts to bring them up to their work, he will have to use the means which Xerxes employed to induce his Asiatics to fight the Spartans at Thermopylae. Another book of the same series, Mr. Dawe's Landmarks of General History in the Christian Era, attempts a still more difficult task. But the result is hardly sufficiently satisfactory to give the writer a claim to challenge the possession of a field which has recently been occupied by Mr. Freeman's General Sketch of European History.

Alfred Dove, die Doppelchronik von Reggio und die Quellen Salimbenes. 8vo. (Leipzig) Of all the Italian chroniclers of the thirteenth century, Fra Salimbene de Adamo, a citizen of Parma, who in 1238 entered the Franciscan or Minorite order, and lived at Reggio after 1281, is perhaps the most important, and certainly the most interesting. His chronicle, which bears throughout a subjective character, and of which so much as has been preserved relates to the years 1167-1287, is important not only on account of the facts which it recounts, but still more from the peculiar manner in which the author relates them. Possessed of a rich experience of the world and knowledge of mankind, and casting his eyes freely upon the manifold phenomena of life-we have, for example, no better source of information for the fashions and costumes of the thirteenth century-this monk, in his quiet cloister, follows with

a lively interest and a quick understanding the changes and chances of that important historical drama which has been enacted during his lifetime, and accompanies his account of them with most valuable expressions of opinion, which allow us to see clearly into the spirit of the writer, and of the order to which he belongs.

Important as Salimbene's work is, nothing has hitherto been done for its critical elucidation; nor have we hitherto had any satisfactory information on the relation between Salimbene's work and the other chronicles of Reggio. This investigation has at last been made by Herr Dove, and a satisfactory solution of most of the existing difficulties has been arrived at, although there may still remain some doubts on points of minor consequence. His work is one of the greatest interest and merit. At its close he intimates the possibility that he may proceed to a critical edition of Salimbene, of which there is great need, after the defective edition of the Parmesan Affo. So it is to be hoped that the learned and clear-sighted author of the present work will keep his promise as soon as possible.

Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kreuzzüge. Von Reinhold Röhricht. 1. Band. (Berlin.) Dr. Röhricht's book, which we announced some time ago in these pages, has now appeared. The first volume is divided into three different parts. The first part contains a revised and improved edition of a treatise formerly published by Dr. Röhricht, on the Crusade during the reign of Frederick II., in 1228; the second gives an ac

count of the battles between Saladin and the Christians in 1187 and 1188. In both is to be recognised a diligent and careful study of the Arabian sources of information, which in the earlier accounts of these battles were not

sufficiently made use of. The third part is particularly important for students of the Oriental languages. It contains the fragments of a translation of the work of Kamal-ad-dên, Die Sahne der Geschichte Halebs, “The Cream of the History of Haleb," which until now have remained unprinted. The translation is said to have been done by Silvestre de Sacy, the greatest Oriental scholar of France, and indeed of his time. It is to be found in manuscript in the library at Berlin. De Sacy's extracts from the work extend from the year 1095 to 1174, and are of the greatest value for the history of the Crusades during that period, and therefore we are assured that everyone will feel that all thanks are due to Dr. Röhricht for opening up such a source of information to us. EDITOR.

NOTES AND NEWS.

MR. ROBERT BROWNING's new poem, entitled Aristophanes' Apology, is now in the printer's hands, and will very soon be issued by his publishers, Smith, Elder and Co.

Under the title of The Royal North Gloucester, Mr. W. J. Cripps, a captain in that regiment of the Militia, has just published an account of the regiment from the date of its formation down to the year 1872. In the introductory chapters some interesting notes are given on the early history of the establishment of the English Militia derived from the public records and other authentic sources; beside these notes, Mr. Cripps's remarks on the relation of the Militia to the regular army, as contained in the concluding chapter, make an otherwise local subject of interest to the general reader. Two curious woodcuts from the British Museum Library, representing Militia-men in the time of George II., are added as illustrations.

WE understand that Mr. J. A. Symonds is engaged in printing the first part of a book to be called The Renaissance in Italy, and that this volume will shortly be published by Messrs. Smith and Elder. His object is to set forth some conditions, social and political, of the Italian states in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This section of the work will in course of time be followed by a review of Italian art, scholarship, and litera

ture during the Renaissance.

THE second volume of Mr. Macleod's Principles of Economical Philosophy will be published next week.

BESIDE the primers of literature and history in Mr. J. R. Green's series that we mentioned last week, there is to be a primer of Greek literature by R. C. Jebb.

THE Palaeographical Society has decided on issuing an Extra Series, consisting of facsimiles from Oriental MSS., the terms of subscription to be half-a-guinea for members of the society and fifteen shillings for non-members. Professor W. Wright, of Cambridge, has consented to undertake the selection of the specimens, and to superintend the printing of the plates; and as soon as one hundred names of subscribers have been se

cured the preparation of the first part will be proceeded with. The series is intended to include Hebrew, Samaritan, Syriac, Mandaitic, Aethiopic, Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Zend, and Sanskrit MSS.; and perhaps, ultimately, for the sake of greater completeness, Phoenician, Himyaritic, and Indian inscriptions. Subscribers' names will be received by Mr. E. Maunde Thompson, British Museum.

THE Clio of December 21 (Old Style) contains a Greek translation by J. N. Valetta of Professor Max Müller's article on Wolf-Children, published in the ACADEMY for November 7, 1874. Like all that M. Valetta writes-for instance, his translation of

Otfried Müller's History of Greek Literature—this translation is written in a Greek entirely free from modern corruptions, and, but for certain constructions, not unworthy of Plutarch.

PROFESSOR SCHRADER, of Jena, the well-known German Assyriologist, has been elected member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Saxony.

ON the 8th of November last the British Minister was received by the Shah for the purpose

of

delivering a letter of the Prince of Wales, in which His Royal Highness expresses his thanks, and the great delight he felt at receiving it, for the present of the Shah's Diary of his journey to Europe. The Gazette says that His Royal Highness writes in his letter "that English translators have translated the book into English." Another para

graph in this Gazette (it is of November 16 last)

mentions that the French Minister had an audience and presented to the Shah the thanks of Marshal MacMahon for the Diary, which the Shah had sent as a souvenir. For some time past the last article of the Gazette has always been a chapter or so of the wonderful adventures of "the Swiss Robinson," translated from the French by the editor of the paper, the Sániä-ud-dowleh.

IN our last number (p. 53 col. b) a misprint occurred in reference to the "Foreign Enlistment Act" of 1819, for which 1829 was accidentally printed.

THE following Parliamentary papers have lately been published:-Appendix to Reports on Vienna Exhibition, Maps and Plans (price 68.); South Australia: Report of Commission on Intestacy, Real Property and Testamentary Causes Acts (price 18. 10d.); Report of H.M. Consul-General in Siam (price 1d.); Commercial Reports of H.M. Consuls in Japan, 1873 (price 8d.); Statistical Abstract relating to British India, from 1864 to 1873 (price 5d.), &c.

THE German papers announce that the distinguished African explorer, Dr. Georg Schweinfurth, has been appointed by the Khedive General Director of all the large collections, museums, and other scientific institutions of Cairo. He is to leave Berlin in

February to enter upon his new duties in the Egyptian capital, where another eminent German, Professor Brugsch of Heidelberg, has for more than two years occupied the honourable position of State Historiographer to the Viceroy.

THE Rivista Europea for this month notices the discovery of some interesting papers in the criminal archives at Rome, lately opened up by the Italian government. Among others there is Angelo at his death, containing a list of his unan inventory of the personal possessions of Michel finished statues and cartoons. It is hoped that the publication of this will be a feature in the approaching centenary of Michel Angelo. There are also mentioned as discovered the process, against the Caraffas and the enquiry into the poisoning of Cardinal Ippolito de Medici. These records were found in great disorder, many of them lying on the pavement and almost ruined by the damp. This neglect has probably saved them from being made away with by the Papal Government.

IN the same journal Signor Attilio Hortis, by a new reading of a passage in Petrarch, clears him from the imputation of jealousy towards Dante, and a desire to depreciate his character. Petrarch authority for the story about Dante's surliness at (Rerum Memorandarum lib. ii. cap. 3) is the the court of Can Grande. The passage as printed in all the editions of Petrarch runs: "Dantes vir vulgari eloquio clarissimus fuit, sed moribus parum per contumaciam, et oratione liberior quam delicatis ac studiosis aetatis nostrae principum auribus atque oculis acceptum foret." From an examination of the MSS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence, especially of one which is supposed to be by the hand of Candido Decembrio, Signor Hortis establishes the true reading of the words italicised to be, "sed moribus parumper contumacior," and also "fastidiosis " for " studiosis." In this way the passage is a reflection on