Story of the Crusades.

THE latest addition to the Story of the Nation series is a scholarly history of "The Crusades," by F. A. Archer and Charles L. Kingsford. This volume limits its survey of that vast and strange expression of the religious sentiment in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The authors have not embraced within the limits of their work an account of the Fourth Crusade, the Latin Empire of Constantinople, or those developments and perversions of the crusading idea which led to the so-called crusades against the Albigensians and the Emperor Frederick. It cannot be denied that the glamour and romance of crusading expeditions has often caused the practical achievements of crusaders in the East to be overlooked and underrated. Yet it is through the history of the Kingdom

From "Story of the Crusades."

of Jerusalem that the true character and importance of the crusades can alone be discerned. The story of that religious struggle, rich in its romance and its influence upon the history of the world, is related most instructively and elaborately in the valuable study before us. (Putnam. $1.50.)-Philadelphia Press.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.

THE author of these volumes is well known as the acute and sympathetic student of the varied races of the countries bordering the Mexican Gulf. His collection of "Gumbo," or mixed - dialect proverbs and descriptive sketches of the people of Louisiana and the West Indies, showed him to be the possessor of an exuberant, almost rank, vocabulary, and a literary style that suggested rather what burst forth from the wine-press than wine mellowed by time. His excursions into distant regions of thought resulted in interesting, but, on the whole, unsatisfactory booklets, such as "Stray Leaves from Strange Literature, ' "Some Chinese Ghosts," etc. Fascinated by the comparatively new field of what may be called ShintoJapan, he entered the country about four years ago, resolved to see those phases of Japanese life which are fast vanish

ing away. Living among a people so simple in their tastes and habits as the rural Japanese, Mr. Hearn, who suggests the literary chameleon, has absorbed the form and color of his environment. One who has read his former writings cannot but be struck at once with the subdued coloring, the refined simplicity, which have now become his habit. The former rankness is no more.

In one respect these volumes, by their contribution of knowledge and philosophy, mark a distinct point of progress in our acquaintance through books, with the Japanese. While the Americans - Brown and Hepburn-first, by grammar and lexicon, blazed the way through the Japanese language, and that splendid trio of English students-Satow, Aston, and Chamberlain-with the helpful reinforcement of

Lowder, McClatchie, Mounsey. Hawes, Gubbins, and Bramson-opened Japanese chronology, history, archæology and literature to our view, and Miss Bird-a typical name amid a host of travellers-spied out the land and brought back reports, it may be said that the psychological study of the Japanese has been chiefly the work of the Americans Lyman and Lowell, and, last and best of all, Mr. Hearn.

One will find in these volumes descriptions of travel, wonderful accounts of famous temples and neighborhoods, charming stories of personal experience, and not a few pictures which, by their marvellous accuracy and sympathetic touch, recall the natural wonders of the sea-girt Islands of the Sun; but, beyond and above those things which the skilled traveller and literary artist transfers to his pages, Mr. Hearn has succeeded in photographing, as it were, the Japanese soul. There seems to be something in his own physical and intellectual make-up that renders him sensitive on all sides to what is peculiar in the Japanese character. In studying the paintings of Wirgman, La Farge, Wores, Parsons, and other artists who have seen or dreamed in Japan, one sees faithful transcripts or ideal conceptions of Japanese life. But no other artist, paint he in words or in pigments, has so thoroughly succeeded in catching and fixing those Japanese traits which are so elusive, yet so ingrained and innate. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 2 v., $4.)-New York Tribune.

Copyright, 1894, by Harper & Brothers.

The Borderland of Czar and Kaiser. THE chapters which compose this volume have already won their way to public recognition in the pages of Harper's Monthly, where they have brought a new and different indictment against Russia and her methods of government. The work was intended to be a happy combination of Poultney Bigelow's pen and Frederic Remington's pencil, genial and graphic, which might leave a lasting impression of the more attractive and picturesque side of Russia. Russia, however, gave them a reception which put all this quite out of the question, and left on this written and pictured record the stamp of her decision that the world shall neither see nor know her as she is. The book is no such probing of the deep sores that afflict the State as we had from Mr. Kennan. It is a simpler chronicle of events, but no less impressive in its way, and always given in bright, lively, and rather merry style, which relieves the book of the wear and drone of solemn complaint. Russian impenetrability proved too much for the carrying out of our American explorers' plans on the lines marked out by them in advance; but the lines they were forced into furnished matter in abundance for a highly entertaining book. In the Prussian borderlands their experiences were, of course, very different. There Mr. Bigelow was quite at home, especially among military people, The volume abounds in military sketches. In fact, the impression it

gives rather confirms the impression which has gotten abroad, that all Prussia, like Berlin, is getting militarized. Remington's illustrations are copious, good and spirited. The publishers have given the book a very attractive cover, printed and manufactured in the best manner. (Harper. $2.)-The Independent.

The Golden House.

MR. WARNER'S new novel bears a close relationship to the studies of New York social life in fiction that other contemporary writers, including Mr. Howells, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Brander Matthews, Mrs. Burton Harrison, and the lady who reserves, but does not conceal, her identity under the pseudonym of Julien Gordon, have given us. The same society, the same clubs and clubmen, the same odorous and forlorn "east side," the same general tone is observed in all these works. Mr. Warner even harks back to the dance of the variety hall "artist," called Carmencita, in John Sargent's studio, which was supposed to have set "society" agog, and to have given it a new kind of thrill, some years ago. Mr. Matthews has already celebrated this event in a story. The body of fiction which Mr. Warner has thus enriched derives a large measure of dignity, quite apart from its merit, which

From "The Golden House."

is not to be lightly dismissed, from its uniformity of tone and thought and the likeness of its scenes and characters. This is not the result of collaboration, or, in any case, so far as we may judge, of deliberate imitation. And each New York novel of the authors named may, therefore, be taken as corroborative proof of the essential truth to the subject of all the others. Therefore, we have already at hand a body of fictitious literature that will be of priceless value to the future historian for the pictures it provides of social customs, and the idea it gives of social spirit and commercial ways, in the metropolis of this republic in the last years of the nineteenth century.

The value of "The Golden House," as a 'document" thus having been disposed of, it remains only to briefly consider it as a work of literary art. As such it is more than respectable. Mr. Warner is an able writer, with a command of wit and the power of graphic description. His plot is slight, but serviceable, and his personages are many and of varied traits. His scene encompasses all of New York that comes under the eye of fashionable folks, and some of it that is not often mentioned at dinnertables. We refer, of course, to the crowded tenement districts of the east side, a portion of this town which one small set of writers for the periodicals is constantly holding up as its most picturesque part, and that most neglected in fiction, while another set is diligently at work all the time translating all its grimy facts and all its odors into an endless supply of reading-matter for the polite.

Mr. Warner treats of the misery of the New York poor with gentle sympathy and no trace of mock sentimentality. Of the poetic charm of his episodic romance among the helpers of the poor, in which an ascetic Anglican priest and a female physician are involved, we cannot speak too highly, though we should not care to commit ourselves to an opinion of its truth to nature, because of a lack of familiarity with the sentimental qualities of ascetic Anglicans and ladies who practice medicine.

CARMEN.

But the main drift of the story is all in familiar channels, and no one

can doubt its truth. The "swell" husband, who is forced to battle along with a cold and heartless world on a beggarly yearly income of $20,000; the sweet, patient, charitable wife whom he neglects; the questionable wife of the great financier, who uses this couple to get into "society," and in return opens a way to profitable speculation for the "swell," which leaves him penniless in the dénouement; the financier, himself, who is wonderfully impressive figure, and no more to be understood than financiers usually are; the beautiful, discontented spinster, and all the other personages at the afternoon teas and evening "functions," that Mr. Warner describes, are interesting and recognizable.

Mr. Smedley's pictures add much to the interest of the story. They are charming pictures and apt illustrations, and each provides an excellent object lesson in deportment for people about to go into New York "society." (Harper. -N. Y. Times.

$2.)

The People of the Mist.

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THE best possible criticism on Mr. Rider Haggard's last story is in the dedication. He says: "I dedicate this effort of 'primeval and troglodyte imagination,' this record of barefaced and flagrant adventure, to my godsons, in the hope that therein they may find some store of healthy amusement." Not one of his previous novels, not even "She," is so fraught with "troglodyte imagination" and flagrant adventure" as "The People of the Mist." Miraculous escapes, wonderful snake-worshipping tribes, and rubies and sapphires by the eight-pound sack are the "store of healthy amusement" provided. Nothing but the unexpected happens in Mr. Haggard's stories, but we cannot harden our hearts to carp at this book on the score of unreality, in gratitude for the thrilling hours of suspense caused us by the endless perils of the hero and the heroine. Whether this is really "healthy amusement" for boys we cannot decide, but all rules are relaxed in the holiday season. So writes the Boston Literary World. Rider Haggard's charm is hard to define, but very real to the vast army of readers who hail his every word as a personal treat. Straight-laced pedagogues may reason about the dangers of his fascinations, but no amount of reasoning impairs the fascination. All healthy, natural spirits are refreshed by Rider Haggard's absurdities. It is good to keep an interest in just such startling adventures as he furnishes at all times. (Longmans, Green & Co. $1.25.)

My Lady.

"MY LADY" is a delightful story for adults, by Miss Marguerite Bouvet, who has already charmed the thousands who have read her

Copyright, 1894, by A. C. McClurg & Co. CONSULTING MÈRE TOINEtte.

64

favorite children's stories, "Sweet William," Prince Tip Top," etc. It is a fine example of the power to tell a tale of tender love in pure Saxon English. Recounting the fortunes of French refugees to England in the days of the Revolution of '93 and of Bonaparte, it affords glimpses of life both in England and France. The English nurse, who devotes her whole heart and life to the young heroine, and the young French marquis, whose love for the latter is so great and unselfish that he hides it on discovering that she loves his friend, are finely portrayed. The book is sure to increase its author's fame, both by its fascination as a story and by its simple, unaffected style. The illustrations, by Miss Helen M. Armstrong, are very dainty and appropriate, and admirably preserve the spirit of the story. Miss Marguerite Bouvet has shown talent that is an earnest of better things to come. (A. C. McClurg & Co. $1.25.)

Philip and His Wife.

THE story of Philip and his wife Cecil and their sprite-like child has been so much discussed during its appearance in the Atlantic Monthly that it has become difficult to say any thing that has not been said and thought by many. And still the ever-recurring questions remain unanswered owing to the consummate art of the author of "John Ward, Preacher" and The Story of a Child." What does Mrs. Deland herself think would have been the right thing for Philip and his wife to do? Does she approve of Philip? Does she think all matrimonial unhappiness should be borne without murmuring? What did happen? What does she intend her readers to think of her latest work? Did she work successfully from her premises to an intended end, or did she herself become conscious of the ramification of her subject and finish abruptly because she had no helpful solution to offer to the problem which is as old as man? The history of Philip and his wife is primarily a study of the marriage relation. A morbidly conscientious, somewhat narrow-minded man and a superficial, selfish, pleasure- and excitement-craving woman are married in their first youth. They have one child, beloved by both. By the father with an outlook to the child's future good, with plans of education, systematic training, pride of fatherhood and realization of responsibility; by the mother with the brute affection of the dam, the unreasonableness of exhausted or excited nerves, the vanity of motherhood, the desire for a plaything. This child becomes the constant source of disunion—the only link of union. Superficial readers will readily think that the ethical significance of Mrs. Deland's book lies in the study of divorce and the attitude towards this question of Philip Shore, his wife and their friend Roger Carey. Philip asks after estrangement from his wife: "Is not marriage without love as spiritually illegal as love without marriage is civilly illegal?" Philip's wife asserts to Philip's friend Carey: "I believe the world would be much better off if divorce were easier. In fact, I think it's a pity people have to wait until they actually come to blows before they can separate."

est self according to his highest ideal; Cecil Shore is a beautiful animal, keenly alive to sensuous impressions, longing for ease and repose. While pondering separation, after a terrible scene with his wife, Philip sends for his friend, Roger Carey, a brilliant lawyer whom he wishes to consult. Then comes Mrs. Deland's cleverest work. The end is unsatisfactory from a reader's standpoint. It does not seem natural that Cecil should let Philip have his child, it does not seem a finished piece of work that Mrs. Deland has left with us. But experienced thought, knowledge of life, of love, of marriage and its duties, temptations, responsibilities and quicksands, of man's and woman's natures and special points of view, fail to suggest an ending that will solve the many problems suggested. The minor characters are very well drawn. Mrs. Deland's work is original, strong, and full of suggestions. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $1.25.)

But read more carefully the large purpose of Mrs. Deland's story is not a question of divorce or separation. It is a study in human selfishness, shown as tellingly in the uncompromis. ing, conventional virtues of the husband as in the littleness, indulgence, lack of sympathy, unrest and indifference of the wife. Philip Shore holds the most selfish opinion of the duty he owes himself to develop his high

Children of Circumstance.

A NOVEL of totally different kind from the average is "Children of Circumstance." Although the writer cannot resist the feminine temptation to introduce as the principal male figure a rather invertebrate specimen of the sex, though the book ends without settling the final fortunes of the principal characters, and though the only important love-scene that occurs in its pages is conducted on both sides with the easy pleasantry of a dispassionate flirtation, there is plenty of powerful writing throughout. The story is mainly connected with some of the darker sides of London life, and the quixotic efforts of Margaret Dering, a girl of twenty, to reclaim the fallen women of the West End. The fact that neither the methods nor the results of her process could, under any circumstances, be capable of realization in actual life, need not be counted as any disparagement of the author's sincere and spirited effort to inspire a tenderer feeling towards the erring humanity whose lot she describes. The theme is, of course, by no means a new one, and Wilkie Collins' "New Magdalene" will at once occur as a novel written with similar purpose; but it may be doubted whether the trenchant satire of the latter work is to be compared for real effectiveness with the dignified pathos of “Iota's" handiwork. A word must be said for the characters of the story: they are drawn with a masterly hand, and the analysis of motives and actions is conducted with an appreciative humor which stamps the book as a worthy successor to "A Yellow Aster," the novel which first brought this author into notice. (Appleton. 50 c.; $1.)-London Academy.