Problems of

HIRAM M. STANLEY.

BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.

modern Judaism.

Mr. Joseph Jacobs's "Jewish Ideals, and Other Essays" (Macmillan) is a collection of thoughtful and scholarly papers, mainly reprints, ranging over many problems which the peculiar position of modern Judaism has brought into prominence. This position Mr. Jacobs regards and elucidates from the standpoint of modern thought and culture, yet with due fidelity to Jewish history and the higher and worthier Jewish ideals and aspirations. Some of the titles are: "The God of Israel, a history"; "Jehuda Halévi, Poet and Pilgrim"; "The London Jewry, 1290"; "Little St. Hugh of Lincoln "; "Jewish History: Its Aims and Methods"; etc. The so-called Jewish Question is touched upon briefly in a semi-humorous paper in which the writer endeavors to show that the current ill-will against Jews is largely due to the "over-intellectuality" of their early education. We may infer from what Mr. Jacobs says on this point that the young Jew is virtually trained for life as for a wit-combat à outrance-no "gentle and joyous" passage-at-arms in which magnanimity, courtesy, and forbearance play their parts, but a keen struggle in which the great point is to win. Consequently we find, he thinks, that "the absence of charm is as distinct a characteristic of Jews as the presence of capacity"

a proposition which may at least be excepted to as inapplicable to the fairer half of the race: the hardiest Anti-Semite will scarcely deny charm to the daughters of Judah. Following out his argument, Mr. Jacobs hits upon what he cheerfully believes to be a complete and feasible "solution" of the Jewish Question; and this he embodies in the paradoxical advice to Jewish parents, "Make fools of your children "— that is, we take it, make them foolish enough, or, if you will, Quixotic enough, to

think that there are other and even better ends in life than material ones; other virtues than "sharpness"; other ways of regarding one's neighbor than as primarily a competitor to be striven with. Mr. Jacobs's "solution" seems to us to be of much wider applicability and efficacy than he claims for it; and we commend it to the notice of Gentile parents not excepting Anglo-American ones.

Reminiscences

of Napoleon III.

"Napoleon III." (imported by Scribners) is still another book of personal chat and reminiscence from the pen of that cheery raconteur, Sir William Fraser. Sir William's capital volumes, "Disraeli and his Day," "Hic et Ubique," etc., are known as among the best of their kind; and his latest venture shows no sign of flagging spirits or a depleted repertory. He knew Napoleon personally (if, indeed, anyone can fairly

be said to have known that inscrutable character), and saw a good deal of him during the main phases of his career down to the closing days at Chiselhurst. The portrait he draws of Napoleon is a favorable one, and he takes occasion more than once to contrast him with his uncle, not at all to the latter's advantage. Sir William has no doubt whatever that Napoleon III., after his downfall, intended to return to France, and to execute a coup d'état remotely similar to his great uncle's after the return from Elba. The details had been arranged. A private yacht was engaged to land the Emperor secretly on the coast of France, the plan being that he should proceed to the camp at Châlons, where a large army was assembled for the Autumn manœuvres. Declaring himself, he was to head this force, and march at once upon Paris. These facts the author had from the owner of the yacht which had been selected, the late James Ashbury, who, adds the author, "more than once mentioned the circumstance to me; and he repeated it the evening before his death." The book is full of good stories and pen-portraits, and these are interlarded with the shrewd worldly-wise comments on notable men and events of one who has known both at first-hand.

"Hedonistic Theories."

The term Hedonism is frequently used to designate a class of moralists who agree in holding that all human action is determined by the agent's desire for his own pleasure, and that conduct is approved or disapproved solely according to the relation in which it stands to the happiness of the person judging. This is not the only significance of the term, but certainly it may be used in this sense if desired. It is of these moralists that Professor Watson writes in his little work, “ Hedonistic Theories from Aristippus to Herbert Spencer" (Macmillan). The descriptive portions are for the most part very well done. The exposition is always clear, logical, and, considering the limited space devoted to any one author, remarkably complete. The most serious errors are those by which Hume and Herbert Spencer are brought into the list of Hedonists as here

defined. Both of these writers affirm the reality of purely unselfish action in the strictest sense of that term. Accordingly Professor Watson should either have omitted them entirely in his study, or else have broadened his definition of Hedonism. But unfortunately he has his own notions of what a man must believe who attributes value to pleasure for its own sake, as do both Hume and Spencer, and it is therefore perhaps no matter of surprise that in the presence of such an a priori theory the mere facts of history should be handled rather rudely. Apart from this, the presentation of Mr. Spencer's ethical views is one of the best that has ever been written. In the critical remarks to which the exposition always leads up, the specialist who is well read in the subject will find little that is new. Throughout they display that union of exceptional power of insight with a mania for discovering contradictions and scoring the maximum number of points from the enemy, which is coming to be characteristic of the school of T. H. Green. The beginner for whom the book is evidently intended will probably be rather repelled than attracted by these tactics, while his patience will be sorely tried in attempting to follow intelligently certain portions of the reasoning. Professor Watson is not as uniformly successful in making a popular presentation of his own views as he is in the case of his opponents. But the merits of the work in this latter respect are so exceptional that it may be cordially recommended to all those interested in the problems of ethics.

Cavalry in the Waterloo campaign.

General Sir Evelyn Wood's "Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign " (Roberts) forms a capital complementary volume to the previously issued works in this series, "The Decline and Fall of Napoleon " and "The Rise of Wellington," by Viscount Wolseley and General Lord Roberts, respectively. The three volumes together are a desirable addition to the critical literature of the Waterloo campaign. General Wood's book has a certain advantage in freshness of theme, or rather of standpoint-no author heretofore having applied himself specially to bringing out clearly and consecutively the cavalry operations during the four days' fighting. It is to this point, and to brief sketches of the cavalry leaders on both sides, that the writer confines himself, telling only enough of the general story of the battle to render his recital intelligible. The work is prefaced by a chapter on the organization of the French army, in which General Wood shows the falsity of the common statement that Napoleon had at Waterloo "the finest army he ever commanded." About fifty per cent of the Line of the Emperor's forces were recruits, mainly young and immature men; and of the Imperial Guard, 18,500 strong, some 5000 were untrained men, and the balance were largely worn veterans of previous campaigns. Organization was imperfect, and discipline was lacking. The "Iron Duke" seems to have owed a very

considerable share of his renown to the capricious Goddess of Chance. Had Napoleon been Napoleon on the day of Waterloo; and had he on that day commanded, instead of the somewhat Falstaffian array of recruits that made up half his army, the battalions organized by the iron genius of the great Carnot, it had undoubtedly gone hard with Wellington and Blücher. General Wood scouts the notion, not uncommon among English infantry soldiers, that, now that "we possess a rifle which, when fired horizontally on level ground, propels a bullet through the air for five hundred yards without its rising more than five feet," the days of cavalry are practically passed away. The lament over the fancied evanishment of the horse-soldier is an old one; and many changes have been rung on it since Hotspur's "popinjay lord" bewailed the advent of "villainous saltpetre"; but the author notes that cavalry, so far from disappearing, is, since the war of 1870-71, even growing somewhat in favor-all the great Continental Powers increasing the number of their mounted troops, and training them with greater care. The volume contains a number of maps and portraits.

American literature for young students.

Professor Brander Matthews has written "An Introduction to American Literature" (American Book Co.) which is easily the best book for the use of the lower schools that has yet been produced upon this subject. It has the twofold virtue of not saying too much, and of putting in simple and forceful language the things that it does say. It offers easy reading for young students, yet is free from the vice of being obtrusively "written down" to the level of their intellectual appreciation. A baker's dozen of writers are discussed in as many chapters, the selection being Franklin, Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Poe, Holmes, Thoreau, Lowell, and Parkman. Another chapter treats of Halleck and Drake, still another of the Colonial period, while two closing chapters make brief mention of "Other Writers " and discuss "The End of the Nineteenth Century." The apparatus consists of suggestive questions and bibliographical notes appended to the several chapters, and a brief chronology. The illustrations are portraits, homes, and autographs. The judgments expressed are usually sound, and the book is remarkably free from those critical crochets that the best of men sometimes put into school manuals. The note of Americanism is often struck, but not sounded over-harshly, and youthful American readers are led to feel that the literature of their own country should be deeply interesting to them, without being given the impression that a Longfellow is a Tennyson. Our only quarrel with the author is for sanctioning the irritating pedantry that spells Vergil for Virgil; but we suspect that if Dr. W. F. Poole were living, he would have something to say about the statement that Cotton Mather "was one of the most active in the persecution of the alleged witches of Salem."

Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria.

Miss Louise McLaughlin's "The Second Madame" (Putnam) is an entertaining little book, based on the correspondence of Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria, second wife of Monsieur the brother of Louis XIV., and mother of the Regent Orleans of unsavory memory. Madame's marriage was a purely political one. Adrift, as it were, in a strange land and an uncongenial society, proud, blunt of speech and plain of feature, a faithful wife and a devoted mother at a court where such bourgeois virtues were scouted, she solaced herself by writing long and frequent letters (forty to fifty pages a day was no unusual amount for her) to her friends in Germany. The extracts from these missives, culled by the author and woven into her narrative, present some piquant and lively pictures of men and manners at the court of the Grand Monarch. Die allmächtige Dame, Mme. de Maintenon, appears (to no great advantage) in Madame's pages under epithets of varying degrees of depreciation, from the mildly and femininely spiteful "old thing," down to a term most offensive to ears polite. There is a note of Heimweh in the letters throughout. Remaining intensely and thoroughly German in all things, Madame never ceased to despise French morals, French etiquette, and French cookery. She lived to a great age (corresponding actively to the last), her son the Regent surviving her but a year. The book is prettily and daintily made, the tasteful cover-design calling for special mention.

A concise

A concise and clear account of "The account of the China-Japan War" (imported by China-Japan war. Scribners) may be found in the neatly appointed volume compiled from Japanese, Chinese, and foreign sources by "Vladimir," lately of the Diplomatic Mission to Corea. The author has "boiled down" his multifarious materials into an impartial, intelligible, and coherent narrative, to which is prefixed a preliminary chapter on the historical and political antecedents of the war, an account of the forces of the combatants, etc. The Appendix contains some interesting documentary matter, diplomatic correspondence preceding the war, correspondence between Admirals Ito and Ting, peace negotiations and text of treaty, etc.; and there are some good maps and diagrams. There

are a number of illustrations from photographs, together with several curious prints presumably from Japanese pictorial papers. For the reader who wants to arrive as shortly and conveniently as possible at a comprehensive view of the Chino-Japanese war we have seen no better book than this by "Vladimir."

fessor Ferri seeks to show that psychological, social, and physical elements are regarded by those whom he represents. The main contention of the writer is that prisons and penalties do not reform and are not deterrent; that to increase severity would brutalize society and would have no effect on confirmed criminals, because these lack moral sense and foresight; and therefore social defense can be secured only by preventive measures. He shows how legal definitions of crime and judicial procedure are influenced by traditions from a time when superstition and revenge, rather than science, determined methods of punishment. Radical changes are demanded in the present state of knowledge. Treatment must be adapted to the actual nature of the criminal, and not to a theoretical classification of offenses. The essential differences among law-breakers must be the basis of penal systems. Some of the reforms suggested are regarded from an Italian point of view, and some are of speculative interest; but the essential principles are worthy of careful attention.

Sketches out-of-doors.

"In New England Fields and Woods" (Houghton), by Rowland E. Robinson, is a volume of short sketches, fifty-seven in all, dealing with the out-ofdoor life of man and beast. The papers, many of which were originally published in "Forest and Stream," are written by a man who is by instinct both sportsman and lover of nature. His delineations of the small denizens of the woods, fields, and river-sides show long and close familiarity with their traits and habits, as well as a real affection for those who are so often the victims of the sportsman's gun.

Throughout the book, love of sport and love of animals are at war, but in "A Plea for the Unprotected" the latter comes uppermost. Some of the best work in the book is contained in the twelve essays describing the months of the year. The picture in each one is complete and distinct, showing keen discrimination and discernment of the typical qualities of the passing seasons. The language for the most part is well chosen. The chief fault is one that might have been remedied by omitting a few of the papers,-in other words, there is at times an impression of monotony; but no lover of nature can fail to enjoy these simple and untechnical sketches. by the fact that the author is now blind. An added touch of interest is given to the volume

An incomplete handbook of German literature.

German literature in one hundred and thirty-six pages is a desperate undertaking, but Dr. Weiss, who introduces Miss Phillips and her "Handbook of German Literature" (Macmillan) to the public, assures us that this is a "distinct desideratum." The secret of its desirability is to be found in a casual reference to "Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations." A student endeavoring to fatten himself on these parings must be a melancholy spectacle. It were no great praise to say that the task had been done as well as the conditions permit; and

even this would scarcely be true. Mixed phrases, as "the epische Stoff'"; italic catch-words, standing now for authors, now for works; unpardonable details, as the cause of Konrad von Würzburg's death; ill-judged proportion, as more space to Gryphius than to Walther von der Vogelweide,— these are some of the defects in detail.

A good book on the Renaissance.

Mr. B. O. Flower's "The Century of Sir Thomas More" (Arena Co.) represents an attempt to condense into a small volume suited to the requirements of the busy reader a fairly comprehensive account of the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation (1450-1550) and its representative worthies. The author has evidently been at some pains to "get up" his subject, and he treats it intelligently and with due enthusiasm. The text is divided under such chapter-headings as: "Western Europe during the Century"; "The Reformation and Some of its leading Spirits"; "Some Fatal Figures of the Italian Renaissance"; "The France of the Period"; "The England of Sir Thomas More"; etc. There are a number of portraits, and altogether the book is a good one for popular reading.

BRIEFER MENTION.

The new edition of Poe published by the J. B. Lippincott Co. at once challenges comparison with the edition recently edited by Messrs. Stedman and Woodberry. It is very neat in appearance, and it is offered at about half the price of the rival edition. There are eight volumes, each with three illustrations. But it has no critical apparatus whatever, and does not present so trustworthy and definitive a text as has been provided for the other edition. It aims, in fact, to present the works alone, which it does in a fairly satisfactory manner. The critical student will not be likely to view it with favor, although its cheapness and mechanical excellence will recommend it to a circle of readers that the Stedman-Woodberry edition would not be likely to reach

at all.

The editor of the "Columbian Knowledge" series (Roberts) has been singularly happy in the selection of subjects for the volumes that have thus far appeared. "Total Eclipses of the Sun," "Public Libraries in America," and "Arctic Discoveries" are all subjects of timely interest, and each is, in a sense, complete in itself

-that is, deserving of special treatment, although really but a part of some larger subject. General A. W. Greely's "Handbook of Arctic Discoveries" is essentially a manual of facts, concisely stated and wellarranged, condensed from the 50,000 pages of narrative that have grown up about the subject, mostly during the past half-century. The book is well supplied with maps, and will be found in every way helpful to those interested in Arctic exploration.

"The Statesman's Year-Book" for 1896, edited by Mr. J. Scott Keltie and Mr. I. P. A. Renwick, is the thirty-third annual publication of that invaluable compendium of (usually) accurate information. It reproduces all the familiar features of earlier editions, and has been carefully corrected to date. The most note

worthy change is made in connection with the several sections relating to the navies of the world. These have all been thoroughly revised by Mr. S. W. Barnaby. A new feature is offered by the four maps that precede the text. These have for their subjects the frontier question on the Pamirs, the Indo-Chinese frontier question, the Venezuela-Guiana boundary question, and the recent Bechuanaland arrangements. Messrs. Macmillan & Co. are the publishers.

The "Classics for Children" published by Messrs. Ginn & Co. have been enriched by the addition of the "Adventures of Hatim Taï." This work, translated from the Persian sixty-five years ago, and first published in English under the auspices of the Oriental Translation Fund, has remained practically inaccessible until the present time, being now rescued by Mr. W. R. Alger, and brought within easy reach of the public. It is a series of tales not unlike the "Arabian Nights," and Mr. Alger is justified in declaring it "not one whit inferior to the very best of those world-renowned masterpieces." In its present popular form it will doubtless find many readers, not alone among the young, for it has a charm that appeals to all ages.

The thirteenth series of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science" has recently been completed by publication of the following monographs: "White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia," by Mr. James C. Ballagh; "The Genesis of California's First Constitution," by Mr. R. D. Hunt; "Benjamin Franklin as an Economist," by Mr. W. A. Wetzel; "The Provisional Government of Maryland," by Mr. J. A. Silver; and "Government and Religion of the Virginia | Indians,” by Mr. S. R. Hendren. Of the fourteenth series (1896), the following three numbers have been issued: "Constitutional History of Hawaii," by Mr. Henry E. Chambers; "The City Government of Baltimore," by Mr. Thaddeus P. Thomas; and "Colonial Origins of New England Senates," by Mr. F. L. Riley. These special historical studies are of great value and highly creditable to the institution that puts them forth.

Mr. Lorenzo Sears is the author of a work entitled "The History of Oratory from the Age of Pericles to the Present Time" (Griggs). The author discusses the history, science, and philosophy of public discourse, with illustrations drawn from the literature of twenty-four centuries. Noting the place of each typical orator in the long history of the art, Mr. Sears has also sought to point out the rhetorical principles exemplified by him, and "to observe the trend of eloquence" in the period to which he belongs. Such men as Aristotle, Cicero, Savonarola, Webster, Sumner, Phillips, and Curtis, are made the subjects of separate chapters while other chapters deal with such themes as "Attic Orators," ," "Medieval Preachers," "Eccentric Eloquence," and "Oratory of the French Revolution." The whole work has been carefully done, and fills a place that has been vacant up to the present time.

"Word Formation in the Roman Sermo Plebeius" is the title of a bulky dissertation by Mr. Frederic Taber Cooper, of Columbia College. It is "an historical study of the development of vocabulary in vulgar and late Latin, with special reference to the Romance languages." The author's original plan contemplated nothing less than a historical grammar of the subject; but, as the material grew upon his hands, he found that he had collected under the head of word-formation alone enough matter to make up a substantial treatise. He hopes, however, to follow up the present work with a

volume of equal size upon plebeian syntax. The industry required for the preparation of this work must have been very great, and it speaks well for our universities that such dissertations should be put forth in their name. Messrs. Ginn & Co. publish the books.

"The Individual and the State: An Essay on Justice" (Ginn) is a Cornell thesis, presented for the doctorate by Mr. Thomas W. Taylor, Jr. It presents a careful study of the literature of the subject, but reaches the somewhat unsatisfactory conclusion that "the ideal of Justice is purely subjective, binding only upon the individual holding it, and not applicable as a test of the rightness or wrongness of any existing conditions." Those who have attempted to formulate a principle of justice notably Mr. Spencer-come in for much sharp criticism before this negative conclusion is reached. Mr. Taylor is entitled to his opinion, but he has not said the last word upon this great subject.

The Pegasus Club is a Philadelphia organization having for its purpose "the writing and study of poetry.' Its members write poems and submit them anonymously to the Club "for criticism and acceptance or rejection.' "The Year Book of the Pegasus" (Lippincott), a pamphlet volume now published, reproduces the best work submitted under the Club rules, and divulges the authorship of each piece. We note the familiar names of Mr. Owen Wister, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Mr. C. L. Moore, Mr. H. S. Morris, and Mr. F. H. Williams among the score or so unknown to us. A sonnet by Mr. Stedman also figures in this collection. A similar selection will be published annually.

LITERARY NOTES.

"A Laodicean" is added by Messrs. Harper and Brothers to their library edition of Mr. Hardy's novels.

"The Auk" for April has a colored plate of the Florida burrowing owl, and the usual collection of ornithological papers and notes.

"La Grande Bretêche and Other Stories," translated by Mrs. Hamilton Bell, is the latest volume in the DentMacmillan edition of Balzac.

Mr. Augustine Birrell provides the introduction for the popular edition of Borrow's "Lavengro," just published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co.

Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. will publish immediately "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," by the Hon. Andrew D. White.

Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co. announce as in press a new book by Mr. James Schouler, entitled "Historical Briefs." The volume will contain a biography of the author.

The section for April of "The Oxford English Dictionary" is at hand, and continues the letter F from Field to Fish. This section is the work of Mr. Henry Bradley.

Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Co. publish a translation of "The Cid Campeador," a historical romance by D. Antonio de Trueba y la Quintana. The work has been done by Mr. Henry J. Gill.

"Ecclesiastes" and "The Wisdom of Solomon " are brought together in a single volume of "The Modern Reader's Bible," edited by Mr. R. G. Moulton, and published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co.

Messrs. George H. Richmond & Co. will issue shortly

a volume of poems by Misses Caroline and Alice Duer, and a volume entitled "Songs from the Greek," being translations by Miss Jane Minot Sedgwick.

"Gryll Grange," by Thomas Love Peacock, is the latest novel added to Messrs. Macmillan & Co.'s series of reprints. The illustrations are by Mr. F. H. Townsend and the introduction by Mr. Saintsbury.

“An Examination of Weismannism,” by the late G. J. Romanes, is added to the "Religion of Science" library, issued by the Open Court Publishing Co. A fine portrait of Romanes appears as a frontispiece.

A monograph upon the "Flora of West Virginia," by Mr. C. F. Millspaugh and Mr. L. W. Nuttall, has just been added to the growing list of publications bearing the imprint of the Field Columbian Museum of Chicago.

Messrs. Frederick Warne & Co., of New York, will issue immediately "Robert Urquhart," a new novel by Gabriel Setoun, author of "Barncraig" and "Sunshine and Haar." This is described as the Scotch novel of the

season.

Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. announce for early publication a one-volume edition of Fyffe's "History of Modern Europe." The same firm will issue shortly "In India," by Andre Chevrillon, translated by Mr. William Marchant.

Professor F. H. Giddings, of Columbia, recently stated to his classes in sociology that he had just learned through private correspondence of the completion by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the final volume of his synthetic philosophy.

A pretty pamphlet from the press of Messrs. Little, Brown, & Co. reproduces the "Lines Read at the Centennial Celebration of the Hasty Pudding Club of Harvard College." The poem is by Mr. John T. Wheelwright, and is illustrated.

Mr. Leslie Stephen's "Pope," Professor Jebb's "Porson,” and Mr. P. J. Hartog's "Priestley” are the most noteworthy articles in Volume XLVI. of the "Dictionary of National Biography" (Macmillan), which extends from Pocock to Puckering.

The first volume of William Carleton's "Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry," in a new edition with the Dent-Macmillan imprint, has just been received by us. It is edited by Mr. D. J. O'Donoghue, and the illustrations are by “Phiz.”

By the publication of Part VIII., the first volume is completed of Dr. M. Jastrow's "Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature." Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons are the American publishers.

The "Golden Treasury" series (Macmillan) has long included the "Religio Medici," and it was fitting to provide a companion volume for the "Hydrotaphia' and "Garden of Cyrus." The work, edited by the late W. A. Greenhill, has just appeared.

The London correspondent of the New York "Critic" states that Mr. John Murray is to publish a new edition of Byron, and that he has, of hitherto unprinted material, a number of poems, many letters which were not shown to Moore, and a continuation of "Don Juan.”

Mr. S. S. McClure has reprinted from the magazine that bears his name the chapters on "The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln," written by Miss Ida M. Tarbell. The work makes an octavo volume of 240 pages with 160 illustrations. It covers the first 26 years of Lincoln's life.

Professor M. B. Anderson has published a syllabus of