By the Author

cum of love and romance."-Illustrated London News.

"The merits of the work are the writer's own-an easy style, a natural vein of humour, a considerable power of exhibiting character, and unusual aptitude for distinguishing and apportioning her dialogue."-Saturday Review.

"Nothing more charming than this simple story has appeared for a long time. The style is singularly easy, fluent and buoyant, and the tone is as fresh and wholesome as a breeze from the sea. There is scarcely one unpleasant character, and there is not one bad piece of portraiture throughout the book. There is, moreover, a pervading influence of delicacy which tempers the vivacity and restrains the humour, abundant as it is, within limits which may satisfy the strictest precision."

St. James's Gazette.

"A Western Wildflower' is a lively story, and in it also there is a good deal of quiet drollery. Is humorously clever. The characters are excellent."-Times.

ROBIN.

By Mrs. PARR,

Author of Adam and Eve,' 'Dorothy Fox,' &c.

DAISIES AND BUTTERCUPS. By Mrs. RIDDELL,

Author of The Mystery in Palace Gardens,' &c.

"The characters are as true to nature as the speaking likenesses we meet with in old family galleries, which we know and feel must be the almost living presentments of persons who have breathed and moved, and yet which impress us as effigies of folks out of the common. As studies of character the two men who live together so much, and who hate and despise each other so thoroughly, are most admirable. We doubt if the gifted author has written a book which evinces a greater knowledge of human nature, or one which is fuller of shrewd wit, than this tale.' Standard.

"Altogether the work may be recommended as one of great interest, perfectly true to human nature, and enlivened with frequent touches of a quiet humour.'

Daily Telegraph.

TALES. By the AUTHOR of JOHN HALIFAX.'

THE NEW NOVELS.

MR. BERESFORD HOPE'S NEW NOVEL.
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.

THE BRANDRETHS.

By the Right Hon. A. J. B. BERESFORD HOPE, M.P.,
Author of 'Strictly Tied Up.'

"The Brandreths' is a pleasant book to read. It is an unusual treat to the reader of novels to find himself in the company of a man of the world who is also a man of wide knowledge and culture, and one who possesses the power of writing with ease and with point. Mr. Hope's pictures of society and his analyses of character are all excellent. The political sketches and allusions are made with a good deal of humour." Athenæum.

"In "The Brandreths' we have a sequel to Mr. Beresford Hope's clever novel of Strictly Tied Up,' and we may add that it is a decided improvement on his maiden effort. He has not only laid a firmer grasp on some of those characters which in his earlier work were rather wanting in outline and individuality, but he has secured the interest of his readers by simplifying his story. The Brandreths,' although it abounds in the study of personal character, investigating the innermost life and analyzing the feelings of the hero, is, nevertheless, in great measure a political novel. Mr. Hope writes of political life and the vicissitudes of parties with the knowledge and experience of a veteran politician. Not a few of the casual pictures of society are exceedingly faithful and lively. We repeat, in conclusion, that the novel is one which will repay careful reading."-Times, September 26.

There are many sayings in these volumes-many wise, many witty, many tender, many noble sayings-that we should wish to cite to our readers, but doubtless their pleasure will be greater in finding them out for themselves. It is a well-planned and ably-written story. The book is full of clever epigrams."-Standard.

"The Brandreths' has all the charm of its predecessor. The author handles his materials with greater skill, and he is on terms of perfect familiarity with his people. The great attraction of the novel is the easy, conversational, knowledgeable tone of it; the sketching from the life, and yet not so close to the life as to be malicious, men, women, periods, and events, to all of which intelligent readers can fit a name. The political and social sketches will naturally excite the chief interest among readers who will be attracted by the author's name and experience in the political and social worlds."-Spectator.

The Brandreths' is an improvement on its predecessor-no less clever, but more probable; and it may be described as a comedy of life and character rather than a novel of incident. There are some vigorous sketches of character, and there is also a good deal of truthful portraiture."-John Bull.

GABRIELLE DE BOURDAINE.

By Mrs. JOHN KENT SPENDER, Author of Godwyn's Ordeal,' Both in the Wrong,' &c. 3 vols.

"Gabrielle de Bourdaine' is a pleasant story in its quiet and simple way. It is readable and attractive."-Athenæum.

Like every work of Mrs. Spender's, this novel bears many traces of cultivated power and deep thought."-John Bull.

"This novel is deeply interesting....There are many passages which would make the reputation of a novelist. Gabrielle is drawn with a powerful pen and is a delightful study."-Scotsman.

ing."-Academy.

ALASNAM'S LADY.

By LESLIE KEITH,

Author of 'Surrender,' &c.

"Mr. Keith's scene is for the most part pitched in Madrid, and the picture of the little English colony there is very good."-Academy.

and W. HOWELL POOLE. 3 vols.

"This story is clever and amusing. Vivid and graphic scenes follow in changeful succession."-Daily Telegraph.

"New Babylon' will attract attention at the libraries, where an exciting story is always welcome. The tale hurries along from one stirring incident to another, and compels the reader to admire the inventive power of the writers and their ingenuity in weaving a complicated series of incidents."-Era.

SAINT and SIBYL. By C. L. Pirkis,

Author of 'A Very Opal,'' Wanted, an Heir,' &c. 3 vols. "In 'Saint and Sibyl' there are some excellent pieces of writing, some touches of poetical art, some highly dramatic scenes, some pretty and pathetic pictures."-St James's Gazette.

"A new and very pleasant romance, full of talent, good feeling, and true description of modern life. The characters are remarkably well drawn."-Morning Post.

"The book has a really charming heroine, and the setting of Spanish life and scenery is fresh and picturesque." Pall Mall Gazette.

RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, 8, New Burlington-street, Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.

JOHN BERWICK HARWOOD, Author of Lady Flavia,'' The Tenth Earl,' &c. 3 vols. "This story is pleasantly told."-Athenæum.

DAISY BERESFORD. By Catharine

CHILDAR, Author of The Future Marquis.' 3 vols.

FORTUNE'S MARRIAGE.

GEORGIANA M. CRAIK, Author of 'Dorcas,' &c. 3 vols.

By

RED RYVINGTON. By William

WESTALL, Author of Larry Lohengrin,' &c. 3 vols. [Next week,

HURST & BLACKETT, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

The PRINCIPLES of GOTHIC ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE, with an Explanation of Technical Terms, and a Centenary of Ancient Terms. By M. H. BLOXAM, Author of A Glimpse at the Monumental Architecture and Sculpture of Great Britain. With numerous Illustrations on Wood, mostly by the late T. Orlando Jewitt. Eleventh Edition. 3 vols. crown 8vo. 22s. 6d. [Ready.

Vol. III. (which is sold separately) contains an Account of the Vestments in Use in the Church to the end of the Reign of Edward VI.

Rev. G. J. DAVIES, Rector of Eldon, Hants. Secon Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Wide fcap. 8vo. [Immediately.

The GOSPEL of ST. MATTHEW.
With Notes, Critical and Practical, by the Rev. M. F.
SADLER, Author of Church Doctrine-Bible Truth.'
Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.
[Ready.

A handy Commentary on the Authorized Version, with Marginal References and Critical Notes, in which all im

portant suggestions of modern editors, including the Revisers of 1881, are fully treated. There are also Appendices on the Genealogies, the Primacy of the Roman See, &c. The Author's aim has been, both in respect to completeness and to price, to adapt the book for Bible Classes as well as for the private use of the Clergy and Students amongst the Laity.

4, York-street, Covent-garden.

Helen of Troy. By A. Lang. (Bell & Sons.) THE studies Mr. Lang is pursuing in connexion with his translations of Homer have

resulted in the publication of an original poem on the subject of Helen of Troy. English poets from the days of Marlowe to those of Landor have constituted themselves apologists for the wife of Menelaus. Of all, however, who have come forward in her

behalf Mr. Lang is the doughtiest champion and most uncompromising advocate. On the strength of a disputed line in the Iliad he has presented Helen as blameless in conduct, an unsullied and a reluctant victim of Aphrodite. The line in question occurs in the second book, in the speech of Nestor to the assembled leaders :

τίσασθαι δ ̓ Ἑλένης ὁρμήματά τε στοναχάς τε, and is rendered by Mr. Gladstone "Avenged the longings and sorrows of Helen." Pope's opinion is, of course, of little value. He, however, translates the line in a similar spirit:

Till Helen's woes at full revenged appear; and Cowper gives it :

Take sweet revenge for Helen's pangs of heart. Chapman, on the contrary, accepts the more current rendering of the passage, that the woes to be avenged are those to be endured by Greeks for Helen's sake, and speaks of

The rape Of Helen wreaking, and our sighs enforc'd for her escape.

Without going further into the question or taking into account the views founded upon this line by the "separatists," it may be conceded that sufficient divergence of opinion exists to justify a modern writer in accepting whatever rendering commends itself to his convenience or his taste. That the line, however translated, warrants so complete a vindication of Helen as Mr. Lang has attempted, or that any other passages in the Iliad or the Odyssey present her in a light so favourable as that in which her latest apologist chooses to regard her, we hesitate to concede. The abstract right of a poet to exhibit his heroine in any light whatever it is not worth while to contest. Helen, however, is so essentially a Homeric creation that it is scarcely expedient to show her other than she appears in the

Unhappy Deity!

Why lov'st thou still in these deceits to wrap my phantasy?

Or whither yet, of all the towns given to their lust

beside,

In Phrygia, or Mæonia, com'st thou to be my guide, If there (of divers languag'd men) thou hast, as here in Troy,

Some other friend to be my shame, since here thy

latest joy

By Menelaus now subdu'd, by him shall I be borne Home to his court, and end my life in triumphs of

his scorn?

This outbreak may, perhaps, be ascribed to contempt for the lover disgraced in combat and the feeling of home sickness begotten of the sight of the Greeks. Mr. Lang, however, represents Helen, while still in the house of Menelaus, as using to Aphrodite language of even stronger condemnation, and as only yielding to the suit

The cloud roll'd back from Helen's memory:

She

saw the city of the rifted hill,

No more than sullen spoils of destiny,
And slaves of an adulteress like thee?"
"What wilt thou with me, mistress of all woe?
Say, wilt thou bear me to another land
Where thou hast other lovers? Rise and go
Where dark the pine trees upon Ida stand,
For there did one unloose thy girdle band;
Or seek the forest where Adonis bled,

Or wander, wander on the yellow sand,
Where thy first lover strew'd thy bridal bed.
"Ah, thy first lover! who is first or last
Of men and gods, unnumber'd and unnamed?
Lover by lover in the race is pass'd,

Lover by lover, outcast and ashamed.
Oh, thou of many names, and evil famed !
What wilt thou with me ? What must I endure
Whose soul, for all thy craft, is never tamed?
Whose heart, for all thy wiles, is ever pure ?
"Behold, my heart is purer than the plume

Upon the stainless pinions of the swan,
And thou wilt smirch and stain it with the fume
Of all thy hateful lusts Idalian.

My name shall be a hissing that a man Shall smile to speak, and women curse and hate, And on my little child shall come a ban, And all my lofty home be desolate." All the beauty and melody of these stanzas fails to reconcile us to the change of motive involved in presenting Helen as wholly innocent. So far, moreover, as regards the moral responsibility of Helen, it should be remarked that it is only in the Odyssey that any attempt is made to shift the moral blame from Helen on to some god. In this fact is, of course, supplied a chief argument of those who regard the Iliad and the Odyssey those who regard the Iliad and the Odyssey as of different date. In the Iliad Helen is neither moral nor immoral. No question of

Fair Lacedaemon, 'neath her mountain high;
She knew the swift Eurotas running by
To mix his sacred waters with the sea,
And from the garden close she heard the cry
Of her beloved child, Hermione.

Then instantly the horror of her shame

Fell on her, and she saw the coming years; Famine, and fire, and plague, and all men's blame, The wounds of warriors and the women's fears; And through her heart her sorrow smote like spears, And in her soul she knew the utmost smart

Of wives left lonely, sires bereaved, the tears
Of maidens desolate, of loves that part.
She drain'd the dregs out of the cup of hate;
The bitterness of sorrow, shame, and scorn;
Where'er the tongues of mortals curse their fate,
She saw herself an outcast and forlorn;
And hating sore the day that she was born,
Down in the dust she cast her golden head,

There with rent raiment and fair tresses torn, At feet of Corythus she lay for dead. What caprice induced Aphrodite to undo all she had before done in thus restoring consciousness to Helen is not clear. The whole conception of the character of Helen fails, indeed, to commend itself to us. This question apart, the treatment of the subject is all that can be desired. The melody and grace of the versification may be judged from the extracts supplied.

The poem opens with the arrival of Paris in Lacedæmon. So much of his early life as is given Paris himself narrates to Menelaus and to Helen. The adventures that befall the fugitives during their homeward journey, the courteous reception of Helen by Priam, and the festivities that attend their arrival in Troy are briefly told. Then follows a short and stirring record of the siege of Troy and the death of Sarpedon, Patroclus, Hector, Memnon, and Achilles, and lastly of Paris himself, narrated in musical and delightful verse. In the sixth book the sack of Troy is presented. Helen, who once more forgets her past life, is conveyed by Aphrodite to the bed of Menelaus.

mendation of meditating in the Law day and night (verse 2) can scarcely be Solomonic, as in that early age the Law was not yet accessible in general for meditation, even if it were already written. The word Thorah, "Law," is certainly of a much later date than that of Solomon. On the other hand, Dr. Graetz's argument that the words "ungodly" and " "sinners correspond with the expressions doeßeis and avoμor of the first book of the Maccabees is not of a character to convince us at once, for, as Dr. Perowne remarks, the same expressions occur frequently in the book of Proverbs, which is scarcely of so late a date. Dr. Graetz is in general more cautious in determining the dates of the various Psalms than in his emendations; in many cases he leaves the question open with the word "unbestimmbar." The great merits of his commentary, besides those already mentioned, are its briefness and the way in which it comes as soon as possible to the question at issue, without theological discussions or attacks on other commentators. In his preface he states that he has made use of nearly a hundred emendations proposed by M. Charles Bruston and of about two hundred and fifty more proposed by M. Dyserinek. It would have been advisable to indicate them in the places where use was made of them in order to avoid accusations of plagiarism, to which critics are in our days only too much inclined.

From Benguella to the Territory of Yacca: Description of a Journey into Central and Description of a Journey into Central and West Africa. By H. Capello and R. Ivens. 2 vols. Maps and Illustrations. (Sampson Low & Co.)

STUNG into action by the taunts of other nations, Portugal has of late made praiseworthy efforts to enlarge our knowledge and to develope the resources of her African possessions. Most prominent among the various enterprises started for that purpose is the expedition of which Capello, Ivens, and Serpa Pinto were members. The last named of this triad of explorers has already furnished the public with an account of his adventurous journey across the continent, the first of the kind ever performed by a native of Portugal, and now we are placed in possession of the narrative of the other members of the expedition. Their work is a joint one, in the strictest sense of the word, and the reader is left completely in the dark as to the share to be allotted to each of the explorers respectively. Even differences of opinion on such matters as the capacity of the black man for civilization are carefully kept in the background, and the authors have realized, at least outwardly, the aspiration of the German poet

who dreamed of

Zwei Seelen und ein Gedanke,

Zwei Herzen und ein Schlag!

In September, 1877, the members of the expedition landed at Benguella, and they proceeded thence by a southern route to Bihe, where Serpa Pinto finally separated from them under circumstances fully set forth in the introduction to these volumes. His companions felt bound to carry out, as far as lay in their power, the instructions which had been given them by the home authorities, and they accordingly devoted the whole of their energies to the explora

tion of the river Cuango. In doing this they were fortunately able to make far larger additions to our geographical knowledge than did their late companion in his more sensational but far less fruitful journey across the continent. Before leaving Bihe for the north they visited a spot on the Upper Cuanzo, about twenty-five miles below the swamps in which the river rises; but once beyond the basin of the Cuanzo, and notwithstanding the rugged nature of the country and the pestilential climate of the lower grounds, they kept as near the Cuango as possible, and actually succeeded in tracing that river for a distance of 500 miles from its source to about lat. 6° 30' S. In the course of this journey they visited Chiboko or Kioko, justly famed for its pottery; they spent a considerable time among the enterprising Ban - gala, and finally pushed through the territory of the Jinga into that of the Yakka. Their route throughout abounded in features of interest. It presented far more variety than a journey of similar extent across the great central plateaux would have afforded, and consequently greater scope for animated descriptions, of which the authors have not failed to avail themselves.

More especially interesting are their accounts of the native tribes. Almost at the very outset they were enabled to shed light upon the history of the Jagga, who ever since Battel came across these reputed maneaters on the coast of the Atlantic have figured prominently in books on Africa. If we accept Ndumbo Tembo of Chiboko as an authority on a subject concerning his own ancestors, the word "jagga" is a title which was assumed by three daring hunters, the sons of Lukokesa of Lunda, who left their native country towards the close of the sixteenth century in consequence of some dispute, and founded three kingdoms on the banks of the Cuango, whence they extended their predatory excursions to the Portuguese settlements on the coast. These three kingdoms were Chiboko, Songo, and Kasanje, and they still exist. Of the bloody rites usual on the investiture of a Jagga the authors give us a harrowing account; but although human sacrifices take place on these occasions, and the incoming chief is required to eat of a horrid mess containing human flesh, anthropophagy, as usually understood, is not practised. It therefore needed no "secret association" to put down this habit, as alleged by Laszlo Magyar, whose "Pakasera are simple hunters of the buffalo or mpakasa, known to the Portuguese as empacaceiros, and universally respected for their boldness.

next to them, are, however, of a mahogany colour, and they cut away two of their front teeth-a practice not observed to the south, though very frequent along the Congo and elsewhere. Of the Yakka the authors saw but little, for their exhausted resources made a journey to the king's residence impossible. The outlying tribe with whom they came into contact principally subsisted by fishing and hunting, as the keeping of cattle is a monopoly of the king. It was in this region that the authors discovered quite a congeries of small lakes embedded amongst the mountains; but they inquired in vain for a Lake Aquilunda, which De Barros was the first to introduce into the geography of Africa, and of which very detailed descriptions have been published by Cavazzi and others.

To the north of these lakes the authors came upon a region the physical difficulties of which they bravely faced, but which even energy and perseverance such as theirs were incapable of surmounting. They found themselves in a vast tract of uninhabited country, "shunned by man for more than one reason, whereof the absolute want of water is the chief."

"What frightful solitudes they were! What sadness, which sunk into the soul, weighed upon the entire territory! The silence of the tomb reigned supreme upon those rocks and hollows, whose gloomy and naked aspect, made more terrible by the blinding light of the equatorial sun, seemed to bar all relief to the many ills under which we were sinking! No occasional scraps of green, no clouds to temper the intensity of the sky, offered any relief in the midst of that awful desert, where the silence was appalling, the immovability of every blade of burnt grass was insufferable, where the heat was suffocating, and where the valleys but echoed to the groans and laments of our exhausted crew!"

Broadly speaking, these explorations, so perseveringly carried on in the face of physical obstacles, show that the Cuango can never become a navigable highway, for it is cumbered with rocks and falls, the most considerable among which have been named by its discoverers in honour of Queen Louisa; and that, owing to the pestilential climate, its immediate vicinity is quite unsuited for the establishment of European factories. On the other hand, there exist on the highlands numerous localities where European colonies might reasonably be expected to flourish, and which, owing to their superior fertility, hold out great inducements to settlers. The rapidity with which vegetation springs up in these favoured regions the following story is intended to illustrate :

"One of the aborigines assured us with the utmost seriousness that he had one day, during the rainy season, stuck his freshly cut staff into the mud in front of his hut, and stood at the door, spinning a long yarn to his relations, who sat round, and that before he had finished, lo! he found himself under the shade of a mighty tree, whose existence was totally unknown to him, but which he found on examination to be his staff, that had taken root, shot out branches, had become covered with leaves, and showed evidence of bursting into flower! That marvellous tree cost us a glass of aguardente, which we could not help bestowing on the story-teller for invention."

If the undoubted resources of the country have not hitherto been rendered more productive, this is owing partly to the blighting influence of the slave trade in days now