A hopeful view of the future of English drama.

Mr. Arthur Henry Jones is not only the author of successful plays, such as "The Middleman," "The Tempter," etc., but he is also an agreeable writer on subjects pertaining to the dramatic art. His lectures and essays of the last ten years have covered nearly every phase of the dramatic situation in England; and these he has now published in a volume called "The Renascence of the English Drama " (Macmillan). At a time when so much is said and written of the hopelessness of the dramatic outlook, it is pleasing to find one well-informed writer taking a cheerful view of the case. Mr. Jones pronounces the present a very critical period in the history of the English drama, the two most recent schools having perished because they failed to furnish any satisfaction to the artistic sense, and supplied only amusement. But in the last few years an improvement in public taste begins to be manifested; audiences have become educated at least up to the point where they can detect artificiality and insincerity in plays. He has hopes for the foundation of a school of modern English drama, for a school of plays of serious intention, plays that implicitly assert the value and dignity of human life, that deal with its great passions and great aims, and show that it is full of meaning and of moment. Another interesting feature of the book is Mr. Jones's contention that the chief tests of a good play are erature and character-painting." The test of a good play, we are usually told, is, "How will it act?" Our author grants only that this is the test of a popular play; that the test of a really good play is, "Can it be read as well as acted?" Mere ingenuity of situation, dramatic surprises, and complications of a story, are at bottom worthless unless they illustrate and develop human character; and every dramatic work of lasting value will stand the test as literature and as character-painting, though it may not stand any other test. The author has a great admiration for Matthew Arnold, as is apparent not only by his direct tributes occasionally, but by his imitations, probably unconscious, of Arnold's literary style. There is, in both, the same fondness for reiteration of a happy phrase (for example, the "billy-cock-hat criticism "), the same tendency to humor of a somewhat frisky order, the same type of allusions, as well as the same high qualities of directness, simplicity, and insight.

Some very

"lit

The second volume of " Moods " ("a childish "Moods." Journal Intime, wherein the Artist and the Author pleaseth himself ") is upon us before we have noticed the first. We hasten, therefore, with a slight remark on the second, in order that the third may not find us still among those who are unimpressed by this manifesto of the youth of the day. Certain things about this publication will be remarked by everyone: we need merely note that such an artistic publication is always, in a general way, a good thing, as showing some movement of ideas; that this particular one

is an imitation of the "Yellow Book "; that it is quite amateurish, especially in its pictures; that the Jenson Press ("Makers of Unique Volumes ") is kept rather too prominently before the reader; and that it must be pleasant for the young artists of this country to have some city of refuge from those cold encouragers of youthful genius, the "Century Magazine" et aliis. Having said so much, the whole contents of Moods " may well enough pass without special comment, and one or two general remarks on the publication will be sufficient for practical purposes. The first is that, while there are several things that one may easily acknowledge to be quite clever, there is nothing from cover to cover (in Volume Two) that absolutely compels admiration. This is a pity; a few such things give sufficient reason for a publication of this kind. One would think that in such a movement of generoushearted young men and women, there would surely be something which would make one say, "That's the real thing; that fellow has the right stuff in him; there's a lot of rubbish about it, but it's a thing you have to acknowledge, whether you like it or not." But no such genuine feeling has disturbed the mind of any reader of "Moods." There's not a spark of real life. The second thing to observe is that there is a tone of indelicacy and immodesty in the book which is unbecoming. We use these mild words, because stronger ones would seem to indicate a certain virility or manliness which is absent. The publication is by no means wholly improper; but about half of the young men of the day have written things which their mothers will be pained to read. Mr. Owen Wister and Mr. Walter Blackburn Harte give rather slight assistance in counterbalancing the childishness of the rest, but they have much to contend with. We have then, on the whole, a book without anything of commanding excellence, and with a great deal that really demands the contempt that such ventures as "Moods" are too apt to receive.

A new life of the Chinese Viceroy.

Volume II. of a useful series of studies of "Public Men of To-day" (Warne) is a "Life of Li Hungchang," by Professor Robert K. Douglas. Considering the obvious difficulties in the way of the biographer of a Chinese statesman, the author has done his work remarkably well, tracing intelligibly the military and diplomatic career of the Viceroy from his first active services at the time of the T'aip'ing Rebellion, down to the late ruffianly assault upon him in the streets of Shimonoseki. With many admirable qualities, and even a certain sense of the superiority of Western nations in point of practical science and the mechanical arts, Li has never been able to shake off the chains of the fatal conservatism which have bound his countrymen for ages. The evidence of his senses has forced upon him the unwelcome fact that in the appliances of industry and warfare the "barbarians" of the West and their facile imitators in Japan have far outstripped his countrymen; but never for an instant has been shaken his implicit

belief in "the ineffable wisdom of the founders of Chinese polity, or in the superiority of the civilization of China over that possessed by any other nation on the face of the earth." Nevertheless, Li Hungchang has rendered his country signal services. It is a pity that his long and heretofore relatively useful career should close with a series of national disasters due to his fatal inability to read aright the drift of Japanese policy in Korea. With China and Japan in accord, and Korea strengthened and developed into an effective "buffer" state, Russian advance to the southward would receive a serious check; and it is plainly the Russian Drang nach Süden that furnishes the key to Japan's activity in the "Hermit State." Heinrich Heine once predicted that the time would come when all Europe would "smell of Russian leather." The spirit of the prediction, or the thought that inspired it, has long pervaded the diplomacy of the Orient; and that so astute a man as Li, filled moreover with a wholesome dread of the "grasping policy of Russia," should have failed to join hands with Japan in the Korean matter, is surprising enough. The volume contains portraits of Li Hungchang and of Vice-Admiral Ito.

A collection of Alpine sketches.

Dr. G. F. Browne's "Off the Mill" (Macmillan) is chiefly made up of papers on Alpine subjects, which first appeared some thirty years ago in various periodicals. These productions will be of some interest to the present generation of Alpine climbers as reflecting

the conditions that faced the amateur mountaineer before Einspänners and the like valetudinary helps had made the ascent of Mont Blanc comparatively a rather commonplace, not to say cockney, affair. Your genuine mountaineer nowadays, men like Messrs. Conway and Whymper, are content with nothing short of the Andes and the Himalayas. Dr. Browne's Alpine sketches, we learn, were originally printed with illustrations, "the earliest, or almost the earliest, of Mr. Du Maurier's work "; and these chefs-d'œuvre have, we regret to say, been omitted from the reprint on the singular plea that "the great change which has taken place in the ladies' dress would cause the illustrations to seem unreal.” The creator of "Trilby " is not just the man, perhaps, to do justice to the Alps; but we should very much like to see what he would make of them. Other papers in the volume are: "A Night with a Salmon," The Engadine," "Collecting Ancestors," “Archæological Frauds in Palestine" (a very good one), "Pontresina," etc.

of study derived from Rohde's "History of the Greek Novel." After an introductory chapter, which aims chiefly at distinguishing between the terms "story," "romance,” and “novel," the author discusses in successive chapters the Greek novel, the romance of chivalry, the Italian and Spanish pastoral, and the Spanish picaresque novel. Lengthy analyses are given of such works as the "Amadis of Gaul," the "Palmerin of England," the "Arcadia" of Sannazaro, the " Diana" of Montemayor, and the "Lazarillo de Tormes." The author deserves much credit for the patience with which he has read and summarized these wearisome productions, and for the measure of success with which he has traced the ancestry of the typical forms of modern fiction. For a large part of the ground covered by this work, we had, previous to its appearance, nothing better than Dunlop in English; and Dunlop, viewed in the light of modern criticism, leaves much to be desired.

Readings from old English dramatists.

Two volumes of "Readings from the Old English Dramatists" (Lee & Shepard) have been compiled by Mrs. Erving Winslow, the selections being connected and introduced by some discussion of the successive dramatic periods thus represented. Beginning with a chapter called "Miracle to Masque," the subject is carried through the "Comedy of the Eighteenth Century." The compiler has shown much skill and taste, together with occasional originality. The chapter on "Minor Elizabethan Dramatists" is noteworthy because it is an appreciative tribute to a class of men that commonly have scant justice done them. The readings here are from Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humour," from Dekker's "Shoemaker's Holiday," and Heywood's "A Woman Killed with Kindness." Speaking of the first appearance on the stage of women actors, in place of the boys who had previously played the women's parts, the author makes this striking observation: "Here is a mystery, with all the advantages offered to the modern dramatist by the greatest actresses, it is but rarely that he moulds a perfect woman for the stage; while the ancient poets were inspired by these beardless youths to some of their most delicate productions, and sex seems never to have been forgotten."

BRIEFER MENTION.

We take pleasure in calling attention to the exceptionally neat and well-edited German texts that have recently been published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. They include Schiller's “ Jungfrau von Orleans," edited by Mr. A. B. Nichols; Scheffel's "Trompeter von Säkkingen," edited by Miss Mary A. Frost; a volume of "German Prose and Poetry for Early Reading," edited by Mr. T. B. Bronson; and a selection of "Deutsche Gedichte," edited by Dr. Camillo von Klenze. Mr. Bronson's volume includes Hauff's "Karawane" and many shorter pieces; Dr. von Klenze's book is devoted

to "characteristic German literary ballads and lyrics since the dawn of the classical period."

Professor B. A. Hinsdale's work on "The American Government, National and State" (Werner) was first published four years ago, and now reappears in a revised edition, printed entirely from new plates, and embodying many alterations and improvements. The work must be regarded as one of the best of our college text-books, and as an invaluable aid to teachers of the subject in our lower schools. Compactness, careful arrangement of matter, and a plain forcible style, all commend the book to both teacher and student. The treatment is throughout historical, and the State governments get their due share of attention.

The constant and increasing demand for Dr. Maspero's "Manual of Egyptian Archæology" has caused the publishers (Putnam) to issue a new edition " in as light and portable a form as possible." This new edition has been revised and enlarged by the author himself, and made more useful than ever to the traveller in Egypt, or to the student at home, as a work of reference. The text of the translation is that made by the late Amelia B. Edwards, subject, of course, to the modifications that have been found necessary to bring the work to date. There are over three hundred illustrations.

The excellent new English edition of Balzac (DentMacmillan), the initial volume of which was noticed in our last issue, has been extended by two more volumes -"The Chouans," translated by Miss Ellen Marriage, and "At the Sign of the Cat and Racket," translated by Miss Clara Bell, and supplied with a preface by Mr. George Saintsbury. The new edition of Defoe, edited by Mr. George A. Aitken and illustrated by Mr. J. B. Yeats, and bearing also the Dent-Macmillan imprint, reaches its ninth volume in "A Journal of the Plague Year." It is a pleasure to commend such beautiful books as are contained in both these sets.

Mr. A. P. Gage's "Elements of Physics" has been for the past dozen years the best American book of its kind accessible for high school use. It is now supplemented (we can hardly say replaced) by the more comprehensive and up-to-date "Principles of Physics" (Ginn), which exemplifies the same admirable methods of presentation as the earlier work, and offers material enough for both high school and college courses. It is a book of between six and seven hundred pages, with all sorts of helpful illustrations in abundance.

LITERARY NOTES.

"A Pair of Blue Eyes" has just been added by Messrs. Harper & Brothers to their handsome library edition of the novels of Mr. Thomas Hardy.

The Dent-Lippincott imprint is borne by the titlepage of a new and revised edition of Mrs. Alfred Baldwin's "The Story of a Marriage."

A pleasant surprise for the Fall Season is announced by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.- a new volume of poems by Lowell, with a new portrait as frontispiece.

Notwithstanding the almost innumerable editions of De Amicis' "Cuore," a new one, illustrated, is nearly ready for publication by Messrs. T. Y. Crowell & Co.

The International Literary and Artistic Association will hold its seventeenth congress at Dresden from Sep

tember 21 to 28, under the patronage of the King of Saxony.

Mrs. Humphry Ward's new novel, "Sir George Tressady," upon which she has been at work for the past two years, will appear as a serial in "The Century," beginning with November.

66

The first story by Michael Field to appear in an American periodical is begun in the September “ Atlantic" with the title of "Tiger Lilies." Is not this, by the way, the title of Sidney Lanier's earliest novel?

A new edition of Shakespeare's plays, intended especially for high school and college classes, will be begun at once by Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co. There are several editors, and the text is based on that of the Globe edition.

It is reported, from London, that Li Hung Chang, the Chinese Viceroy, desires to spend next winter in the United States. A book of "impressions" by him during his sojourn here would be an interesting literary

announcement.

The "Literary World" of Boston has changed editors, Mr. N. P. Gilman retiring to become a professor of sociology in the Meadville Theological School, and the Rev. Edward Abbott, who was editor of the paper for about twelve years previous to 1889, resuming his old position.

The committee of the Incorporated Society of Authors (London) have adopted a resolution conveying to Mr. G. H. Putnam "their recognition and appreciation of the services he has rendered to the cause of international copyright, in conjunction with Mr. R. Underwood Johnson and the American committee."

The recent death of the artist Hovenden, in Philadelphia, has inspired a movement, on the part of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, for a memorial exhibition of his works, together with those of two other Philadelphia artists also lately deceased, P. F. Rothermel and I. L. Williams. The Academy would be glad to hear from owners of pictures by these artists, as it is desired to make the exhibit a full and representative The address is Philadelphia.

one.

The following monographs have just appeared in the "Science Series" of the "Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin": "On the Quartz Keratophyre and Associated Rocks of the North Range of the Baraboo Bluffs," by Mr. Samuel Weidman; "Studies in Spherical and Practical Astronomy," by Mr. George C. Comstock; "A Contribution to the Mineralogy of Wisconsin," by Mr. W. H. Hobbs; and "An Experimental Study of Field Methods Which Will Insure to Stadia Measurements Greater Accuracy," by Mr. Leonard S. Smith.

A gap is left in the ranks of the publishing fraternity of America by the death of H. O. Houghton, head of the house of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., which occurred suddenly at his home in North Andover, Mass., August 25, at the age of seventy years. Mr. Houghton began life as a printer, and after building up one of the foremost printing houses of America, the "Riverside Press," he entered the publishing field as a member of the firm of Hurd & Houghton. A few years later he acquired an interest, with J. R. Osgood, in the firm which succeeded the historic houses of Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood & Co., and which afterwards, on Mr. Osgood's retirement, became the house of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. It is a house which possesses the highest traditions and associations in American literature; and these were worthily maintained under Mr. Houghton's régime.

66

TOPICS IN LEADING PERIODICALS.

September, 1895 (First List).

America's" Cup, The, and Its Contests. McClure.
Arabia-Islam, and the Eastern Question. Harper.
Child Study. Annie Howes Barus. Forum.
Clay, Recollections of. Madeleine McDowell. Century.
Clubs. Lawrence Irwell. Lippincott.
Constantinople. J. P. Mahaffy. Chautauquan.
Country Clubs in America. E. S. Martin. Scribner.
Cow-Puncher, Evolution of the. Owen Wister. Harper.
Crabbing. Calvin D. Wilson. Lippincott.
Criminal Anthropology. C. Lombroso. Forum.
Cuba, The Freeing of. Clarence King. Forum.
Education, A Few Words about. Dial.

Evolution and Education. Joseph Le Conte. Educational Rev.
Faith, The Irrepressible Nature of. John Bascom. Dial.
Gardening, Aquatic. J. H. Connelly. Century.
German Schools. Mrs. M. A. W. Rodger. Chautauquan.
Grady, Henry W. Clark Howell. Chautauquan.
Hard Times, Benefits of. Edward Atkinson. Forum.
History, The Writing of. Woodrow Wilson. Century.
Huxley, Professor. Richard H. Hutton. Forum.
Indian Art. Edwin Lord Weeks. Harper.

Inns around London, Notable. Nettie L. Beal. Chautauquan.
Law, Enforcement of. Theodore Roosevelt. Forum.
Low, Will H. Cleveland Moffett. McClure.
Matterhorn, Climbing the. Garrett P. Serviss. McClure.
Mental Telegraphy. Mark Twain. Harper.
Military Park, The National. H. V. Boynton. Century.
Mississippi Basin, The, 1697-1763. B. A. Hinsdale. Dial.
Molière. Ellen Duvall. Lippincott.

Poetry, Recent. William Morton Payne. Dial.
Rural School Problem, The. Henry Sabin. Educational Rev.
Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames, The Life of. Dial.
Superstition, Survival of. Elizabeth F. Seat. Lippincott.

LIST OF NEW BOOKS.

[The following list, containing 34 titles, includes books received by THE DIAL since its last issue.]

HISTORY.

The History of Greece from its Commencement to the Close of the Independence of the Greek Nation. By Adolf Holm. In 4 vols. Vol. II., The Fifth Century, B. C.; 12mo, gilt top, pp. 535. Macmillan & Co. $2.50.

GENERAL LITERATURE.

Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Sidney Lee. Vol. XLIII., Owens-Passelewe. Large 8vo, pp. 451, gilt top. Macmillan & Co. $3.75.

Spenser's Faerie Queene, Book III., Cantos I.-IV. Edited by Thomas J. Wise, illus. by Walter Crane. 4to, pp. 525 to 630, uncut. Macmillan & Co. Paper, $3. Robert Louis Stevenson: A Study by A. B. With a Prelude and a Postlude by L. I. G. 8vo, pp. 46, uncut. Copeland & Day. Boards, $2.50.

The Child in the House: An Imaginary Portrait. By Walter Pater. 24mo, pp. 48, uncut. Copeland & Day. Paper, $1.50.

The Choice of Books. By Charles F. Richardson. 12mo, pp. 208. Lovell, Coryell & Co. 75 cts.

Legends of Fire Island Beach and the South Side. By Edward Richard Shaw. Illus., 12mo, pp. 212. Lovell, Coryell & Co. 75 cts.

Lively Plays for Live People. By Thomas Stewart Denison, author of " An Iron Crown." 12mo. Chicago: The Author.

Irving's Tales of a Traveller. With Introduction by Brander Matthews, A.M.; with Notes, etc., by George_Rice Carpenter, A.B. With portrait, 12mo, pp. 408. Longmans' English Classics." $1.

POETRY.

Robert Louis Stevenson: An Elegy. And Other Poems, chiefly Personal. By Richard Le Gallienne. 8vo, pp. 36, uncut. Copeland & Day. Boards, $1.25.

FICTION.

The Heart of Life. By W. H. Mallock, author of "Is Life Worth Living?" 12mo, pp. 397. G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.25.

Lyre and Lancet: A Story in Scenes. By F. Anstey, author of "Vice Versâ." 18mo, pp. 256. Macmillan & Co. $1.25.

Queenshithe. By Henrietta G. Rowe, author of "Re-Told
Tales of the Hills of Maine."
16mo, pp. 184. Buffalo:
Charles Wells Moulton. $1.25.

Doty Dontcare: A Story of the Garden of the Antilles. By
Mary Farrington Foster. 16mo, gilt top, uncut, pp. 187.
Estes & Lauriat. $1.

When Love Is Done. By Ethel Davis, 12mo, gilt top, pp. 301. Estes & Lauriat. $1.25.

Mrs. Musgrave and her Husband. By Richard Marsh. 16mo, pp. 208. D. Appleton & Co. $1.

The Honour of the Flag. By W. Clark Russell. 18mo, pp. 196. Putnam's "Autonym Library." 50 cts.

NEW EDITIONS OF STANDARD FICTION.

At the Sign of the Cat and Racket. By H. de Balzac ; trans. by Clara Bell; with preface by George Saintsbury. Illus., 12mo, gilt top, uncut, pp. 277. Macmillan & Co. $1.50.

A Journal of the Plague by George A. Aitken.

Year. By Daniel Defoe; edited Illus., 16mo, gilt top, uncut, pp.

303. Macmillan & Co. $1.

NEW VOLUMES IN THE PAPER LIBRARIES.

Macmillan's Novelists' Library: Grania, by the Hon. Emily Lawless; 12mo, pp. 355, 50 cts.

Putnam's Hudson Library: An Island Princess, by Theo. Gift; 16mo, pp. 270, 50 cts.

Fenno's Select Series: A Soldier of Fortune, by L. T. Meade; 12mo, pp. 283, 50 cts.

Routledge's Lafayette Library: Only a Commoner, by Nat Gould; 16mo, pp. 283, 50 cts.

TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION.

From a New England Hillside. By William Potts. 32mo, pp. 305. Macmillan's "Miniature Series." 25 cts.

RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. The Religions of India. By Edward Washburn Hopkins, Ph.D. 8vo, pp. 612. Ginn & Co. $2.20.

The Gospel of Buddha According to Old Records. Told by Paul Carus. Third revised edition, 12mo, gilt top, pp. 275. Open Court Pub'g Co. $1.

BOOKS FOR SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. The First Six Books of the Æneid. Edited, with vocabulary, by J. B. Greenough and G. L. Kittredge. Illus., 12mo, pp. 703. Ginn & Co. $1.65.

Le Voyage de M. Perrichon: Comédie en Quatre Actes. par Labiche et Martin. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Benj. W. Wells, Ph.D. 16mo, pp. 100. Heath's Modern Language Series." 25 cts.

FINANCE.

The Money We Need: A Short Primer on Money and Currency. By Henry Loomis Nelson. Illus., 18mo, pp. 124. Harper & Bros. 50 cts.

NATURAL HISTORY.

The Royal Natural History. Edited by Richard Lydekker, B.A. Part 4; illus., 8vo. F. Warne & Co. 50 cts.

BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.

Boris the Bear-Hunter: A Tale of Peter the Great and His Times. By Fred. Whishaw. Illus., 12mo, pp. 376. T. Nelson & Sons. $1.25.

My Strange Rescue, and Other Stories of Sport and Adventure in Canada. By J. Macdonald Oxley, author of " Diamond Rock." Illus., 12mo, pp. 368. T. Nelson & Sons. $1.25.

In Old New England: The Romance of a Colonial Fireside. By Hezekiah Butterworth, author of "Zigzag Journeys." 16mo, pp. 281. D. Appleton & Co. $1.

A Ringby Lass, and Other Stories. By Mary Beaumont. Illus., 18mo, pp. 221. Macmillan & Co. 75 cts.