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BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

A Dictionary of English Literature, by M. Croben, is published in the pretty little Miniature Reference Library (E. P. Dutton & Co.). The work of selection and compression in preparing this tiny handbook is surprisingly well done.

Two volumes of Mark Pattison's Essays appear in the New Universal Library (E. P. Dutton & Co.). They are upon historical, literary and religious subjects, and are thoughtful and somewhat recondite. It is a pity that the exigencies of space made it necessary to present them, in this edition, with a page which exacts so much of the reader's eyesight.

"The Millers and Their New Home," by Mrs. Clara Dillingham Pierson, is the fourth volume of the series in which the adventures and experiences of the three little Miller children are described. The author has learned the way to the hearts of children through the best possible school, the care of children in her own home; and she writes accordingly with a naturalness, simplicity and interest which appeal The little strongly to young readers. book is prettily illustrated. E. P. Dutton & Co.

Mr. Arthur J. Eddy's "Ganton & Co." is a study of Chicago morals and manners of such a temper as would have infuriated the Windy City in the days when "The Cliff Dwellers" was written, although when compared with a certain recent notorious composition it seems moderate. The king of the packers and his sons; the entire subordination of the men constituting the machinery of a modern industry; the behavior of women intent upon being conspicuous in public places and at private entertainments, the inevita

ble ruin of the speculator, and the corrupt practices of those labor leaders who originate and terminate strikes at the convenience of employers are the principal subjects as to which the author desires to disturb the prevailing American self-complacency. He writes with sufficient force to effect his object as far as ordinary readers are concerned, and produces an interesting book. A. C. McClurg & Co.

The last Victorian war and the contemplation of English society in the reign of the first of the Coburgs seem to have changed Miss Marie Corelli's early ambition to blend the literary traits of Ouida and the author of "The Prince of the House of David" into a genuine desire to correct evil practices and to neutralize or destroy evil influences, and her later novels are missionary efforts. Her newest book, "Holy Orders," although by far too despondent in tone, inasmuch as it entirely overlooks the great improvement in the drinking habits of Englishmen since King George's glorious days, is a powerful ally for the leaders of the total abstinence movement, and as such will doubtless be duly valued. The hero is an Anglican clergyman, and it is through his sermons, given at length, that Miss Corelli sends her message to her readers. They alternate with melodramatic incidents, one of which, an evil woman's fatal balloon voyage, is undeniably original and well imagined. As a story, the novel has merit, although it is often verbose; and the social and political lessons of which it is the vehicle will not be in. effectual although destructive of its artistic value. To this any reader of insight will perceive that the author is profoundly indifferent, and he will lay the book aside trusting that it will in

some measure accomplish her purpose. Frederick A. Stokes Company.

Although Rev. M. R. J. Campbell's religious opinions, or rather his denials of religious opinion have not yet greatly disturbed Americans, still, as every English aberration of thought, scientific, literary or religious, invariably finds a reflection, less or more distorted, in American thought, it is hardly to be supposed that the present subject of popular discussion in England will be an exception. As a Congregationalist, Mr. Campbell occupies a position of less importance in his own country than might be his in the United States; but the secular newspapers have given him so much notoriety that any reader dependent entirely upon them for knowledge might well suppose that both the English church and the English creed were in danger of destruction and extinction. Those who find this prospect disagreeable may discover its fallaciousness by reading Mr. Hakling Egerton's two papers "Liberal Theology" and "The Ground of Faith," now brought together in one volume, to which the former paper gives the title. To summarize either Mr. Campbell's body of unbelief or Mr. Egerton's learned technical essays, is to risk adding one more element of error to a conflict already abounding in misconception, but from the latter one may drag the suggestion of meeting those intent on discussing “Campbellism" with a lofty "Don't you think it is slightly tainted with Hegelian ideas?" That will disperse their battalions into thin air. Persons really pained and disturbed by Mr. Campbell will find relief in Mr. Egerton's confident, and argued argument. The Macmillan Co.

John Hill Burton's "The Book Hunter" was written for all those friends of books whose names he enumerates, following Disraeli, who followed Rives, and Peignot, who accepted

Rives's "bibliognoste, bibliographe, bibliomane, bibliophile, and bibliotaphe," and added bibliologue, and bibliotacte, and also bibliolyte, a destroyer of books. For himself, Burton preferred the name of book-hunter, and divided his class into private prowlers and auction-haunters, and in the four sections. of his book he described the book-hunter's "Nature" and "Functions," "His Club," and "Book Club Literature."

Now the man to whom books aremore than his fellow creatures necessarily stands somewhat apart from them, is in their eyes, eccentric, odd, "queer," he manifests his peculiar taste, and a book about him must abound in matter amusing to the average commonplace mind. He may be learned, wise, a master of style, or a man of the world, or a miracle of political wisdom, but stories of his relation to books bring a smile to all faces. Even to himself he is matter for mirth when he reflects upon his extravagances, although shrewdly conscious that true literature and the diffusion of literature are deeply indebted to him for producing those financial conditions. in which money circulates freely in the trade. He sees himself much as others see him, but respects himself thoroughly. Burton wrote the delightful English of that last century period preceding the days in which critics innocent of classical learning corrupted the popular mind with theories as to the superiority of twenty-nine successive monosyllables to the most melodious and rhythmical array of polysyllables and declared themselves to be the prophets of simplicity. No word is too good for him and no care in arrangement is too trivial, and, not only his anecdotes but their wording remains long in the mind, and this book which now appears in the "London Library" at an agreeably reduced price is a treasure to thelover of good words and good stories E. P. Dutton & Co.

SEVENTH SERIES
VOLUME XLI.

No. 3354 October 17, 1908.

FROM BEGINNING
Vol. CCLIX.

CONTENTS

1. Women and the Suffrage: A Reply. By Eva Gore-Booth

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NINETEENTth CenturY AND AFTER 131

Salomon_Gessner and the Alps. By J. H. Yoxall, M.P.

CORNHILL MAGAZINE 140

149

TIMES

Hardy-on-the-Hill. Chapter III. By M. E. Francis (Mrs. Francis
Blundell) (To be continued)
The Turkish Revolution. By Alfred de Bilinski (late Turkish
Chargé d'Affaires in Washington.) (Concluded.)

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER 154
A Difference of Fifteen Years. By Rosamund Langbridge
LONDON MAGAZINE
Sixty Years in the Wilderness: Some Passages by the Way.
By Henry W. Lucy. (To be continued.) CORNHILL MAGAZINE 165
Fair Play for Japan. By W. T. R. Preston NATIONAL REVIEW 178
The Pleasures of Re-Reading.
SPECTATOR 185

161

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XII.

A Welsh Lyric After "Ceiriog." By Alfred Perceval Graves

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FOR SIX DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, THE LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage, to any part of the United States. To Canada the postage is 50 cents per annum.

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Single Copies of THE LIVING AGE. 15 cents.

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WOMEN AND THE SUFFRAGE: A REPLY.

In the July number of this Review, Lady Lovat quotes various writers, ancient and modern, in support of her skilful defence of what she calls the old-fashioned side of the Women's Suffrage question. And indeed she has a wide range of choice, for probably there have been more theories advanced on this and kindred subjects than on any other in the world. To judge from folklore sayings and proverbs alone, women seem to have been the victims from the earliest times of the first crude efforts of the savage intelligence to make a large generalization out of a small and very narrow experience, and of the fatal facility that first enabled people to conceive of a great multitude of various human beings as one simple abstract personaiity, governed by easily attainable mechanical laws and called "Woman." "Woman" in the abstract has indeed been the "Aunt Sally" of the world's childhood, pelted by many missiles.

And age does not seem to stale the infinite variety of this exercise of the imagination. Since the days of Solomon's Proverbs to those of Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies these generalizations have been and still are the stock in trade of imaginative writers. Time has brought one change, however. In old days the subject was considered a simple one, and certain well-worn maxims were thought sufficient to meet all needs. Now everybody who is any body is bound to have a different interpretation of "Woman" and her place in the scheme of things. Thus to those who take such speculation and theorizing seriously, the world is full of confusion and contradiction on this subject. But to anyone who is interested in the growth of thought and understanding among individuals or nations, the interest is mainly a psychological

one, for it may be safely presumed that these theories reveal more of the mental calibre and nature of the theorist than of the unfortunate human beings who, since the world began, have been ceaselessly vivisected, with varying degrees of success, by everybody who is trying to be intellectual. Thus, when Solomon says that women's value is above rubies, whilst the Kaffirs decree a wife is worth ten cows, we are not so much struck with the truth or wisdom of either pronouncement as with the difference of the point of view between Solomon and the Kaffirs. And when we hear that some Eastern nations believe women to have no souls, whilst a council of the Church decided by a small majority that they may really hope for a humble share of man's privilege of immortality, a woman may perhaps be pardoned if she thinks less of her own no doubt remote chances of salvation, than of that precious and enlightening sense of humor that seems to have been denied to so many learned and law-making assemblies of men. Souls are not thought so important in this generation, and we are allowed to possess them in peace; but when some men say women have inferior brain capacity, we can always comfort ourselves with the thought that so little do they believe this that they find it necessary to protect themselves legally and artificially from women's competition. As Mill said long ago, you do not have to make laws to prevent people without muscles being blacksmiths. The people who want to restrict women because they are inferior mentally are really those who believe no such comfortable doctrine, but are, in simple English, afraid of their competition. Just in the same way the men

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