well por a delicate and well-managed character. The Cowgills are trayed. Miss Crommelin is an artist in her own kind, and has been, on the whole, successful in a new and somewhat bold experiment; but we like her best in other moods, and when she is urging other machinery. All But. A Chronicle of Laxenford Life. By PEN OLIVER, F.R.C.S., Author of Charley Kingston's Aunt,' &c., With twenty Illustrations by the Author. (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.) This volume contains some admirable writing, simple, clear and dignified, without trace of affectation or assumption; it presents a series of characters and scenes done to the life. It professes to be no more than a chronicle of sayings and doings in an old Suffolk village; and in form and manner, in faithful vraisemblance and consistency, it might well pass for this; but the touch of art is felt in the pathos and the quiet relief that is found in graduated contrast of situation and incident. The doctor, Mr. Hamilton, is well conceived and most truthfully delineated; so is the Squire, and so are some of the minor characters. Of course it is an open secret who really conceals (?) himself under the name of Pen Oliver'—Sir Henry Thompson; and the All But' relates to a crime which was all but accomplished, of which a medical man could best treat. 'At Pottle's' is simply exquisite for truth and character. The love stories, too, are well touched, though subdued and involved iu the train of events and changes. Above everything, the whole is natural and set in a true key, which it is so hard to keep to in fiction. The varied illustrations are quiet and effective, in keeping with the tone of the story. as tenant A Tale of a Lonely Parish. By F. MARION CRAWFORD, Author of Mr. Isaacs,' Dr. Claudius,' 'A Roman Singer,' Zoroaster,' &c. Two Vols. (Macmillan and Co.) Any one who fancies from the title of this novel that he is to have a quiet, unsensational story, will be pleasantly or unpleasantly disappointed, as the case may be. Mr. Marion Crawford opens new ground here. He takes us to a remote corner of Essex, which he calls Billingfield. There he introduces us to the Rectory, where there is one John Short, who has the rector for tutor. A Mrs. Goddard, presumably a widow, comes of a cottage not far off; and Billingfield Hall, which has been long in Chancery, after forty years finds a new proprietor, and a new tenant, in a Mr. Juxon. Mr. Juxon and John Short both fall in love with the 'widow; and Mr. Juxon declares his passion, to meet with the revelation that her husband is alive-a convict. He escapes and brings misery to all concerned, takes umbrage at Mr. Juxon and seeks revenge, and nearly accomplishes his purpose, before he is injured, and finally dies. Mr. Juxon at last has his reward, and so has John Short, though the reader must find out for himself how this came about, and how John Short, who learned that he was first in the Tripos without a stirring of joy, in the end was a happy man. Mr. Crawford shows great art in dealing with the sentiments and motives of his characters. Mr. Juxon is well painted; and so are Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose and Mrs. Goddard. There is no haste, no undue press in the action. Events quietly bring their own children in their train-the seed long sown springs up and bears seed. Motives are mixed; things are complicated; and all finally become tests of character. These are the feelings that are stirred in reading this powerful bit of work, in which the dignity and reticence of Mrs. Goddard, her patience and sweet dignity, are declared unconsciously in midst of her great misery, while Mr. Juxon's faithfulness and constancy are refreshing. Green Pleasures and Grey Grief. By the Author of Molly Bawn.' Three Vols. (Smith, Elder, and Co.) The author of Molly Bawn' and Mrs. Geoffry' has given us good ground to look for a lively and entertaining work. She is an adept in pictures of fashionable society, with its small talk, light banter, and sometimes bitter scandal, under a mask of lightest playfulness. We have here the smart young man who jokes incessantly, at times somewhat flippantly; indeed he seems to have become an almost necessary figure on our author's canvas. Many of the other characters also seem to us old friends with new faces and new names; and though some of them are fresher, yet, on the whole, there is a feeling of sameness and a want of spontaneity arising from a natural flow of interest. It may be that the rapid succession of one story after another precludes entire freshness, as there is scarcely necessary time for the gaining of new scenes and figures, and thus our author becomes a simple reproduction of herself. The plot-if it can be called such-is simple enough. Dolores, the heroine, is supposed to be under the disgrace of illegitimacy, which is kept a close secret by her aunt, Miss Marturin (one of the best characters in the book). Dick Bouverie, the hero, falls in love with Dolores while ignorant of this; and on its discovery, Lady Bouverie, his mother, comes out in most odious colours and casts him off for keeping faith with Dolores, who flies to prevent his inflicting disgrace upon himself by keeping faith with her. She is sheltered in her wanderings by a kind old gentleman and his housekeeper, and her discovery here leads to still further unveiling of mysteries. The old gentleman turns out to be no less than Sir Richard Bouverie, Dick's uncle and real owner of the large property where Lady Bouverie lives, and Dolores the only child of a private marriage with Miss Marturin's sister. So that, of course, all comes right ultimately, and Lady Bouverie is relegated to her fitting position. This novel certainly cannot be called uninteresting, but the plot is rather a threadbare one. At the same time, if our author would but make a bold attempt to sketch out a newer and higher line than this, we are sure that her efforts would be crowned with success. Aunt Rachel: A Rustic Sentimental Comedy. By D. CHRISTIE MURRAY, Author of First Person Singular,' Joseph's Coat,' &c. Two Vols. (Macmillan and Co.) This story is exactly what the author defines it in the sub-title-a rustic sentimental comedy. But amid the extravagance and the fun there is a vein of seriousness; and certainly, though the author would make no claim for complete portraiture, the silhouettes, if we may name them so, of that queer old bough-lopping nobleman, the Earl of Barfield, of Sennacherib Eld, of Ezra Good, and Reuben, are exceedingly true in certain respects, not to speak of Snac, who turns his misfortunes into such sources of wealth and joy that he has a vested interest in sustaining the quarrels of his parents, and accordingly resents reconciliation, however unconscious. Aunt Rachel, and her love-story, and Ruth's wooing and marriage, with their results, are all well told; and certainly the touch about Ezra's retirement from the amateur music practisings at Heydon Hay, just about the time when Aunt Rachel, who had been named as his sweetheart, had left it, and who, when she has returned and settled, sends the newspaper to her with the account of a marriage in circumstances not unlike their own, and would fain renew the intimacy, is masterly. On the whole, the work furnishes a vigorous picture of a midland village, with all its character and drollery, and it is not overdone in so many points as to the passing reader it will seem. MISCELLANEOUS. Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. have published six volumes of a reprint of their Parchment pocket edition of Shakespeare, which demand very strong commendation; first for the neatness, readableness, convenience, and cheapness of the volume-next for the unobtrusive critical excellence of the text, which, as we intimated in our notice of the Parchment volumes, is mainly that of Delius, with some variant readings adapted upon some good Shakespearian authority. There are no notes. We can read the plays, therefore, undistracted by disputed matters. We know no pocket edition of Shakespeare that can be put in comparison with this. It is to be completed in twelve volumes.The Life of a Prig. By ONE. (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.) A satire similar in character but more limited in range. The hero tells his own story. The son of a clergyman, he is destined for the Church, and possesses ability enough to become an ecclesiastical and theological prig. Beginning with high Anglicanism, and ever aspiring higher, he passes through various phases of sympathy with Romanism, the Eastern Church, Brahminism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Materialism, and ends in Agnosti cism and agnostic matrimony. The cleverness that there is, is in the subtle satire with which the various opinions are described, discussed in dialogue, and illustrated by quotation. It is a trifle, but a trifle with an important moral. THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, AND PHILOLOGY, The Bible an Outgrowth of Theocratic Life. By D. W. Dr. Simon's work scarcely admits of any short notice, beyond a general characterization. The problems with which he deals are so difficult and The interdependent that passing criticism could scarcely be just. general position is that the Bible is to be approached not from the a priori assumption of a Divine revelation, but from an ordinary historical standpoint that the peculiarity of the history is to be found in the peculiarities of the national life recorded. Substantially the same standpoint as that assumed by Dr. John Young in his Christ of History.' Establish the history, and you have demonstrated the supernaturalism. Dr. Simon rests his acceptance of both the revelation of Divine things and the inspiration of their historians upon the intrinsic characteristics of the history. This is the method of true philosophy, and it establishes the surest conclusions. Dr. Simon brings out, therefore, in great detail, the factors and phenomena of Jewish history, proving that if the Israelites were not God's chosen people in the sense which religion assumes, their history as recorded in the Bible is utterly inexplicable, and they themselves were for some seventeen centuries the victims of a perfectly unique delusion. Nothing can explain Jewish history but the admission of the supernatural. Dr. Simon is careful in his positions; his book is marked by reasonableness and reverence, and in this contrasts very favourably with many German and with some American and English authorities. He has read extensively, and uses his reading for the suggestion of much and for the support of more. A more valuable and suggestive book has not recently come into our hands. The Pentateuch: Its Origin and Structure. An Examination of Recent Theories. By EDWIN CONE BISSELL, D.D., Professor of the Hebrew Language and Literature in the Hartford Thelogical Seminary. Hodder and Stoughton. This book deserves to stand in the first rank of Biblical criticism for its searching examination of the controversy of the Pentateuch, especially in regard to the Graffian hypothesis, which it attacks in elaborate and detailed criticism. It is by far the most thorough reply to Wellhausen and Robertson Smith that has yet appeared in the English language. Dr. Bissell's Historical Sketch of the Criticism' is a good introduction to the succeeding argument. The marches and countermarches of opponents of the integrity of the Pentateuch are there shown to be so mutually obstructive that more conservative readers may almost stand aside and watch the internecine strife, sure that if every man's sword is against his fellow' the camp must break up, like that of the Midianites before Gideon's three hundred had struck a blow. In Germany Wellhausen is sweeping all before him; but, after we have had so many different pictures shaken out at every turn of the kaleidoscope, he must be a sanguine disciple who believes that the latest pattern will stand like a mosaic set in cement. Ewald was a giant, but Wellhausen claims to have slain him. Surely the duration of the new reign is only a question of time. But this is only a superficial conclusion. Dr. Bissell carries us into the heart of the controversy by submitting the arguments of Wellhausen to a keen analysis. Wellhausen divides the Hexateuch (taking the Book of Joshua with the five preceding books) into three main parts. The earliest is the Jehovist element; next comes the Deuteronomist, about the time of Jeremiah; the priestly code, with the elaborate system of Levitical laws and sacrifices, is represented as not having been produced till after the captivity, and about the time of Ezra. Dr. Bissell exposes the weakness of the leading principles of this theory in moving adverse witnessess out of the way by the simple process of post-dating them. Thus Joel, regarded hitherto as about the earliest of the prophets, is flung headlong down some centuries to a late age, simply because statements of his agree with parts of the law that are assigned by the new theory to this later date. The dissection of the Books of the Law is shown to follow the same process. A whole limb is torn off from one part, a mere scrap is pinched out of another part, and these bleeding fragments are tossed aside as intruders from another age, simply because they are inconsistent with the supposed character of the times to which the body of writing from which they are taken is said to belong. Coming to positive evidence, Dr. Bissell brings forward points of disagreement between the priestly code and the circumstances succeeding the exile. He next examines the position of Deuteronomy, and shows reasons for placing that book later than Leviticus; e.g., while in Leviticus the stranger is to be treated kindly because the Israelites had been strangers in the land of Egypt,' in Deuteronomy this motive is dropped, and we read for he is poor,' &c. (p. 182). Turning to the other side of the question, Dr. Bissell remarks on the reticence of Deuteronomy in regard to the circumstances of the times to which it is assigned by Wellhausen. Thus, although it is said to have been written after the rise of the Assyrian influence, it is saturated with Egyptian references, and silent in regard to all relations with the great Oriental monarchy. Dr. Bissell exposes the extravagances of Wellhausen in his denial of early Hebrew monotheism and of the whole theocratic system of Israel before the priestly government of Ezra's time. In his glowing portrait of Moses Dr. Bissell makes the reader feel the extreme improbability that such a character should have been the creation of the imagination of scribes and priests to serve as a buttress of a newly invented ritual. Nevertheless, this book will not end the controversy. Dr. Bissell is shrewd enough in detecting his enemies' weak points, but he does not sufficiently appreciate their strong ones. Some of the chief are scarcely faced, others are quite eluded: one of the most important is certainly not disposed of by a blank negative which is contradicted by facts known to every schoolboy, though conveniently ignored by Dr. Bissell. Readers of Wellhausen will recollect that that critic's first point was the late appearance of one obligatory centre of worship in the history of Israel, and the permission of the worship of Jehovah at numerous shrines without rebuke from the earlier prophets. In reply to this view Dr. Bissell makes the following astounding statement: There is no sign in the Biblical books that, subsequent to the dedications of the |