main they are automatic, and convey a strong impression of their artificiality. Poetical justice is dealt out at the end of the story in a fairly original manner. When it is mentioned that "the house of Rimmon" in one of its forms consisted of bricks and mortar, and that certain parts of South Staffordshire are honeycombed with mines, the discerning reader may imagine what scope is here for the ingenuity of a novelist. The author has not missed her chance. The collapse of "the house," or rather the simultaneous collapse of two unconnected buildings which had been raised by, and to the honour and glory of, Joshua Rimmon, is a fair instance of what may be called the mechanical drama in modern fiction.

Mr. Cleland's Canadian novel is very full of character, and from the excellence of the descriptive passages one is enabled to realize the summer and winter scenery which surrounds the actors. The "rich man " of the tale is a certain Gerald Herkimer, who has returned from Louisiana, where he has large plantations and numerous slaves, to Lower Canada, the home of his family. His two elder maiden sisters bore him very much, his own wife and child are dead, his nephew is in all ways so objectionable that his succession cannot be thought of, so Herkimer decides that his wealth shall go to his youngest sister Mary, if she marries according to his wishes. Unfortunately Mary has a will of her own, and declines to give up a handsome and excellent young organist for the sake of her brother's wealth, coupled with the sallow face and lanky person of "Major" Considine from Natchez. So the rich man ties up his wealth, as rich men will, for his sister's children, to the exclusion of their mother, or in default for those of the ill-conditioned nephew Ralph. This worthy has long left the South, and on his uncle's death is anxious to secure the inheritance for his own son, not from any affection for him, but because the control of it will in that case be his own. So poor Mary Selby loses her infant child, and she and her husband are desolate for many a year. It is unnecessary to detail the process by which Ralph's schemes are defeated in the end and Mary Selby again made happy. There is some good illustration of Indian character involved in these transactions, the glimmer of conscience in the poor squaw Fidéle being the cause that all ends happily. The French habitante who so furiously suspects her husband in regard to the little waif unceremoniously introduced to her is very well drawn, as, indeed, are most of the dramatis persone, from the excellent Miss Stanleys and their honest American friend Martha Jordan down to Betsy Bunce and Cato the negro. "Fie! Cato," says philanthropic Miss Judy, teaching him to read;

"Cat is cat. That is rat! Begins with an r. You see?' "Cep' de cat hab done gone eaten the rat Den whaar will he be, Miss Judy? All cat after dat! I reckon.'

If Russian stories, or stories based on Russian characteristics and politics, go on increasing at the present geometrical ratio of progression, a curious man may calculate how many miles of library shelves will suffice to hold them all by the end of the century. Only a few weeks ago appeared a fairly striking narrative of escape from Siberia,

Mr. de Havilland's style may be taken random :

"'I-I am taking up your time, am I not, sir i 'Yes, indeed, and very agreeably, too!' was the gallant answer, for which he was rewarded wit a look as hot and sweet as rum punch." This occurs at the first meeting of two pe❗ll sons who are married within a month. Th reader must judge whether The Forke Tongue' is likely to contain matter to h mind.

and now Messrs. Remington publish a tale of love and Nihilism, quite as striking in its way, and all the more prepossessing because the publishers have had the leaves cut beforehand. 'Love the Reward' is both well written and attractive. The two things do not always go together; but Mr. May combines with a generally unexceptionable style the faculty of carrying his reader along with him, and impressing the imagination with a sense of the reality of his characters. It can scarcely have been pos- Dr. Grattan, a general practitioner livin sible to write such a story as this without in the village of Plato and state of Ne personal knowledge of Russian life and York, is much admired not only by th manners, for the persons, the scenes, and lady who becomes his second wife, but b the incidents bear the stamp of fidelity, and his daughter, who has had much longe convince the reader that he is in the hands experience of his merit. His patient an of a safe guide. The plot is interesting son-in-law, not to be behind the rest in th throughout, whilst the heroines, and in a expression of his admiration, declares the less degree the heroes, enlist our sympathies "he is almost divine when extraordinar in their fate. But these are not the prin- events occur. He appears then to rise ft cipal charms of the book, which comprises above the plane of humanity. He a survey of the social condition of Russia magnificent, phenomenal." Mr. Frazi very dexterously interspersed between the is stated to be a gentleman of much honou pages of pure and simple fiction, and by no so it is not probable that Dr. Grattan means obtruding itself in a pedantic form. honesty would strike him as phenomena In short, 'Love: the Reward' is one of the yet apart from that there is little that best stories which have attempted to paint remarkable in the doctor. He is, th the vices and redeeming virtues of the rule reader is told, a vigorous hale man of forty of the Czars under the guise of a romance. five, and naturally falls in love with a beat 'Esther' is, like many another American tiful woman twenty years his junior. Th novel, clever and inconclusive. It gives the fact that her father dies insane does n reader the impression that the writer's chief seem to occur to him as an objection object is to show that she is up to the mark matrimony, though he very properly de in art, science, religion, agnosticism, and clines to profit by a will made in his favou society. The reader is, therefore, more by a testator in that state of mind. Th ready to compliment Miss Compton than to doctor also feels much delicacy in marry thank her; she has proved her ability, but ing a wealthy woman, his own she has not interested him. Self-conscious- being limited, but herein the good docto ness is the story-teller's bane, and no new seems to be partly moved by somethin theory of the novelist's art can displace the not unlike vanity. Of course these ol essential rule that the author must think stacles break down directly Louise an first and think always of the reader. The he are brought to a discovery of thei study (for it can hardly be called a story) mutual feelings. The process of enlighter is wanting in human interest. Though the ment is somewhat unusual. Grattan an rather theatrical young clergyman who plays his lady-love are compelled by a snowstori the chief male part is not a very attractive to pass a night together in the mountains character, one may feel little sympathy for and Louise discovers the state of his min the heroine, whose love for him can find from his conduct in giving her the whol no middle way between her advanced ideas of the solitary sandwich he possesses. H and his beliefs. Both of them are intended refuses to take a bit of it, in his accustome to be terribly in earnest, but their earnest-positive strain: "If I were racked to deat ness closely resembles obstinacy, and the worst of it is that the reader cares nothing for what may happen to either of them.

There is no external evidence to show the ordinary reader whether Madame Naudet' is a translation or the work of a Frenchman writing in English. Internal evidence proclaims it as a fair rendering of a simple and moderately interesting story, in the purer style of contemporary French romance, with few subtleties, but many pruderies and ménagements. The weak-minded English hero is terribly priggish, and fares better than he deserves, whilst the ill-used heroine is absurdly patient and proper. The reader's pulses will scarcely be fluttered as he works his way through the volume, but he will not altogether waste his time.

"The Forked Tongue' is a story of wild, unscrupulous, ill-regulated, immoral people, and the author has not contrived to turn them to any useful or artistic purpose. As the book is dedicated to a princess he must be credited with the conviction that the ways of wicked people are specially attractive to gently nurtured souls. A sample of

mear

He take

with all the pains that man or devil coul inflict, I would not eat one mouthful o this sandwich!" The doctor, it will b noted, is of Irish extraction. However, hi vehemence delights Louise as much as hi courtesy seems to surprise her. good care of her comfort during their ad venture, and breaks down in his purpos of crushing his attachment. His daughte Cynthia, a lively maiden in her teens, ver opportunely marries the gentleman who shares in her exalted opinion of her father Some minor characters are well drawn, and the strange delusions of poor Mr. Lamar are not without interest. To the English reade the merit of the book is somewhat enhanced by curious American idioms. The "decedent" for the "deceased," "to punch the fire," strange Latinisms like "occlusion," &c., give a distinct aroma of quaintness to what is otherwise a readable story.

PHILOLOGICAL BOOKS.

Brief Sketch of Scenic Prakrit.
A Compendious Sanskrit Grammar, with a
By Hjalmar
Edgren, Ph.D. (Trübner & Co.)-Dr. Edgren

is a pupil of Prof. Whitney, and it is very fortunate that the task of preparing the Sanskrit grammar for Trübner's series has been entrusted one who was sure to follow the lines marked out in Mr. Whitney's work. It cannot be too clearly understood that our previous Sanskrit grammars are entirely superseded by Mr. Whitney's, and that future improvements will probably consist merely in the gradual introduction of more results won by investigations into the early history of the Sanskrit language and the parent Aryan speech. The all-pervading influence of the original accent on the language can never be neglected henceforth, and time to come seems likely only to show us more fully its importance as a means of explanation. The practical difficulty lies in the determination of the proper mean between the entire neglect of comparative methods and terminology on the one hand, and on the other such a complete devotion to them as would endanger the character of a special grammar. Prof. Whitney has certainly not sinned in the latter direction, and Prof. Edgren has not ventured on further innovations to any noticeable degree. The new theory of original vocalization in the parent speech, with its many corollaries-"guna is dead," the sonant nasals, the origin of Sanskrit palatals, &c.— is mentioned, but so briefly that the learner could not grasp its bearings without further aid. This brevity is, indeed, the fault that attaches to the book; it is inevitable in a Sanskrit grammar of this size that aims at and attains such fulness in its mass of matter. It must constantly have required careful thought to compress into one short paragraph so much as we find Dr. Edgren's paragraphs imply; but such compression is apt to produce a book less useful to the learner than one that adds both to its ease and to its interest by a little expansion. No harm would have been done by a little more freedom in pointing out such things as the fact that the verbs of the "sixth class" tever show a radical a, and the important bearing this has on the general effect of accent. Dr. Edgren has recently been appointed Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Nebraska, but his preface is dated from Lund, and his English is not always perfect. It seems to improve as the bock advances, but such things as "shall" for "will" and "argued " for "suggested" (p. vi), "flown on" for "flowed on" (p. 2), for affects" (§ 28, 2), "enters in" for "enters into" (34), "throw on" for "throw it cn (§ 36, 1), occur often enough to create an treasy feeling of insecurity. But the faults of ecmpression and of inaccurate English are small when compared to the general excellence of plan and execution shown throughout the book. Though this excellence is largely due to the wise imitation of Prof. Whitney's grammar, we find two or three features of value that are missing in the model. Fifteen pages are occupied by a list of the common Sanskrit verbs with their parts in actual use; and a sketch of the more ordinary Sanskrit metres supplies a welcome addition to all the knowledge derivable from Mr. Whitney. The book concludes with a short but most serviceable account of scenic Prakrit. The price is too nearly the same as that of Mr. Whitney's grammar not to arouse some discontent. Com

66 effects

of the raison d'être of such a work as this.

Five cheapness should be an important part

had come out two years ago, may yet prove very useful to the numerous class of our countrymen who are brought into close contact with the Arabic-speaking natives of Egypt and the Levant generally. Throughout the work the Arabic character has been used together with an English transliteration. There is a grammatical part of 119 pages, intended to convey to those not acquainted with the literary language the most necessary information as to the mode of adapting Western expression of thought to Arabic phraseology. This part is an attempt which should not be judged too critically. By far the most useful portion of the book consists of the dialogues, the idiomatic exercises, the vocabulary, and other additions of practical usefulness, such as lists of official titles, of tribal names, and information on the divisions of time, on weights and measures, currency, and commercial, legal, and political terms. As it is probable that this first edition may soon be sold, we would sug gest that in a new issue the transliteration of the examples be uniformly given in the spoken language and not promiscuously either in the literary or the vernacular language, and that one uniform system of transliteration should be scrupulously adhered to. As it is, a learner cannot fail to become confused and bewildered when he sees the Arabic equivalent for "I saw" rendered râyet in modern Arabic, and ra’eytu, ra'itu, ra’ytu, ra’etu, and ra’yetu in the literary language.

WE have received A Catalogue of Pali, Sinhalese, and Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Temple Libraries of Ceylon, which has recently been printed at the Government Press, Colombo. The Mahá Mudaliyár Louis de Zoysa, Government translator, who had for a number of years been engaged on its compilation, unfortunately died last year before the completion of his work. He was a Sinhalese gentleman of high linguistic attainments, and well versed in the literature of those three languages, as may be seen by his various contributions to the Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Colombo. As early as the autumn of 1875 he reported to the Government of the island on the results of his inspection of the temple libraries. In the present publication those results are classified in all their details under the several heads of sacred scriptures, commentaries thereon, scholia on the commentaries, general religious works, historical works, grammatical and philological works, and poetical works. A last section, which was to have contained a description of miscellaneous works, was not prepared for the press at the author's death, and the Catalogue is so far incomplete. But even as it is, it is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Pali and Sinhalese literature. In sections iv. to vii. the names of the various works are given in alphabetical order, with details as to authorship, extent, age, and place of deposit; and in many cases longer notes in reference to chronology, &c., enhance the permanent value of the Catalogue. Of manuscripts treating of grammar and philology no fewer than seventy-one in Pali are specified, while those in Sanskrit are only fourteen, and thirty-one in Sinhalese. We have no doubt that the Journal of the Pali Text Society, which, under the able editorship of Dr. Rhys Davids, is doing so much to make the materials for the study of Pali both known and accessible,

Minnal of Colloquial Arabic. By Rev. Anton Tien. (Allen & Co.)-While the French possess a number of handbooks for the acquisition of modern Arabic, from the excellent Guide Frans-Arabe' of the Swedish professor Berg logical Society for 18727-3-24 (ions of the bo), professor Bel Kassem ben Sedira, and even the down to the useful manuals by the Algerian which is somewhat late in making its appear: Germans, without any political inducement to ance, the article of most general interest is Dr. staly that language, have their Ph. Wolff and 16th, 1884, which includes a spirited and readMurray's presidential address, delivered May Wahrmund as trustworthy guides, there has been in this country a lamentable lack of practi- English Dictionary.' able reply to the critics of part i. of the New el introductions to colloquial Arabic. We may, appended reports by several scholars on recent therefore, express a contident hope that the manual just published by Messrs. Allen & Co., progress in different branches of philological though it would have done better service if it Welsh, the resweet's paper on pervations in Mr. 'Spoken North

will incorporate in it all the good which this new catalogue contains.

IN Part III. of the Transactions Philo

research.

To the address are

the Vale of Gwynant, is a careful and valuable study, disfigured by one ludicrous piece of eccentricity. The paper consists of a minute analysis of the sounds of the language, illustrated by a well-chosen collection of colloquial phrases and short stories in phonetic spelling, with a transcription into ordinary Welsh orthography. Mr. Sweet has accompanied these examples with what he is pleased to call an English translation, of which the following is a specimen: "There was two old youth living in Coetmor Dolwyddelan, and came to wood Hafod Rhisgl to cut pole cow-stall. And towards to them going with him (=taking it) home, was too long, and came with him in his track (=back) to wood Hafod Rhisgl to cut piece from him. And is old saying after that: not was ever too long of wood but once in Dolwyddelan.' Mr. Sweet must surely have been trying to rival the ingenious author of English as She is Spoke.' Prince L. L. Bonaparte is, as usual, a large contributor to the Transactions. His paper on 'Albanian in Terra d'Otranto' is a real addition to our knowledge respecting that interesting language. The two papers on Basque are marked by the unpleasant tone which the writer too commonly adopts towards the philologists with whom he disagrees. In the articles on 'Portuguese Vowels,' 'Italian and Uralic Possessive Suffixes Compared,' and 'Neo-Latin Names for the Artichoke,' the Prince displays admirable industry in the collection of facts, but it is not always easy to accept, or even to understand, the inferences which he wishes to deduce. Miss B. M. Skeat contributes A Word-List illustrating the Correspondence of Modern English with Anglo-French Vowel Sounds.' This paper is based upon Prof. Skeat's English Words found in Anglo-French' (published in an earlier part of the Transactions), which would, by the way, have been more appropriately entitled Anglo French Words which have become English.' Miss Skeat explains that her object 18 to show that the modern pronunciation of the vowels in English words borrowed from the French has a certain correspondence with that of Norman French, and, with few exceptions, follows regular laws." For this purpose she has placed in parallel columns the Norman French words, their forms in Middle and in Modern English, and the modern English pronunciation in phonetic spelling. The words are arranged in groups according to the vowels contained in their original forms, and the various sounds which those vowels have assumed in Modern English; and a summary of results is prefixed to the list. The paper has been carefully prepared, but its plan is based on a misconception. Most

of the French words in Miss Skeat's list were adopted into Middle English in their original spelling, and were pronounced according to what were then the English values of the letters. The history of these words, therefore, merely illustrates the phonetic development of the English language; on the relation between French and English sounds it throws no light whatever. To illustrate the latter problem we must confine our attention to the exceptional cases in which French words were adopted into Middle English in their spoken, not their written form, so that either the spelling was altered or the pronunciation was influenced by a recollection of the original sound. The remaining con

tents of the part are a good paper by Mr. Thomas Powell on 'The Treatment of English Borrowed Words in Colloquial Welsh'; a discussion of

The Oscan Inscription found at Capua in 1876,' by Mr. G. A. Schrumpf, giving a comparative view of the readings and interpretations proposed by Buecheler, Huschke, and Bugge; and a paper on the etymology of wéλwp, in which Dr. Weymouth argues learnedly on behalf of a hopeless paradox. We wish the Society would reforın its inconvenient practice of printing some of its papers in the form of appendices, separate article. with a fresh paging (in most cases) for each

THE English Dialect Society sends us its two latest publications Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases, by Canon Lawson, being a reprint of the well executed, but meagre glossary appended to Mrs. Lawson's little book entitled 'The Nation in the Parish,' and a separate impression of Miss Skeats paper on Anglo French and English Vowel Souids, to which we have referred in our notice of the Transactions of the Philological Society. Why the latter should find a place in the Dialect Society's series we do not understand, as its contents relate to the phenomena of standard English, and not to those of the provincial forms of the language.

Sprache und Dialcht der mittelenglischen Homilien in der Handschrift B. 14. 52 Trinity College, Cambridge. Von Dr. August Krüger. (Erlangen, Deichert; London, Nutt.)- The homilies contained in the Trinity College MS. were edited in 1873 by Dr. Richard Morris for the Early English Text Society. Dr. Krüger has not made any new collation of the MS., but has given a painstaking and useful analysis of the dialectal phenomena of the homilies as they ap pear in the printed edition. The general result of his inquiries is to confirm Dr. Morris's conclusion with regard to the explanation of the mixture of dialectal forms occurring in the text, viz, that the MS. is a transcript by a native of the south east midland district (probably of Essex) from an earlier MS. written in the south-western dialect. Dr. Krüger, however, seems, somewhat inconsistently, to regard it as probable that the few Kentish forms may belong to the earlier text, and not to the copyist of the Trinity MS. His further conclusion, that the homilies are ultimately derived from an Anglo Saxon original, is intrinsically very probable, but the linguistic evidence which he adduces is not of great weight.

Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Subdialects of the Bihart Language. By G. A. Grierson. Parts I-IV. The enthusiastic Prof. Garcin do Tassy close upon sixty years ago laid down a broad distinction between Hindí

and Hinduí, comprising under the latter

denomination the more archaic literary forms of the Hindi language in which the poems of Chand, Súrdás, Tulsídás, and others, and the hymns of the medieval reformers were composed. It is only within the last fifteen years that, upon a better acquaintance with the numerous varieties of Hindi speech, that distinction has been abandoned, and the various languages, dialects, and subdialects spoken within the Hindi area have gradually been classed according to a more scientific arrangement. The investigations of Dr. Trumpp (Sindhi Grammar,' 1872), Dr. Hoernle (Essays on the Gaudian Languages,' 1872-4), and the Rev. S. H. Kellogg (Hindi Grammar,' 1876), and his own continued labours in this field, enabled Mr. Beames to work up in the latter part of his Comparative Grammar (1872 79) a mass of fresh material, while Dr. Hoornlo's Gaudian Grammar' (1880) laid a solid foundation for all subsequent researches on the dialects of Eastern Hindi, and pointed out the wide gulf which separates them from those of the Western Hindi group, Mr. G. A. Grierson, aided by Dr. Hoernle, has since devoted his studies exclusively to the Eastern Hindi dialects, which are spoken by some fifty to sixty millions over an area extending west to east from Benares to Purniya, and north to south from the Himalayas to Jabalpur. These dialects are comprised by him under the general name of Bihari, and embrace the Maithili, Bhojpúrí, and Magadhi, each again with various local subdialects. The Asiatic Society of Bengal a few years ago published his grammar, chrestomathy, and vocabulary of Northern Maithili; and the Government of Bengal subsequently commissioned him to compile for the use of the Bihar officials a series of grammatical manuals of the other local dialects spoken throughout those parts, which ditter from one another

far more in grammar than in vocabulary. The first half of this series, consisting of an introduction and grammars of the Bhojpúrí, Mágadhí, and South Maithili dialects, is now before us. Of these the first-named covers the largest extent of country, running from the Himalayas down to Jabalpur in the Central Provinces; it has few local varieties, and possesses no literature; neither does Mágadhi, which is spoken throughout the south of the Patna district, the whole of Gayâ, and the north of Chutiá Nágpúr. None of its peculiarities appears to point to its descent from the Mágadhi of the Southern Buddhists or the scenic Prakrit of that name. Maithili, spoken in its greatest purity in the northern half of the Darbhangá district and in the Supaul subdivision of North Bhagalpur, is the least developed of the Bihárí dialects, and as "it still retains many old forms which have been lost by the two other more advanced diaphilologists, as offering a key to a number lects," it is specially worthy of the attention of of grammatical puzzles which would otherwise remain unsolved." We may well say that these valuable monographs mark altogether a new departure in modern Indian philology, and we are glad to have received within the last week or two the first instalment of the great Bihárí dictionary which Mr. Grierson and Dr. Hoernle have had in hand for some years.

RECENT VERSE.

By

Louise de la Vallière, and other Poems. Katharine Tynan. (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.)

Poems (1840 to 1878). By John William Burgon, B.D. (Macmillan & Co.)

Bramble Cloisters. By John Watkins Pitchford. (Stock.)

Plays and Poems. By Albert E. Drinkwater. (Griffith, Farran & Co.)

A Sheaf of Ballads (mainly from
Sources). To which are added
Love Story,' and other Poems.
Britton. (Stock.)

Old World Carrélla: a By J. J.

Thought and Remembrance: Verses. By Emily Leith. (Glasgow, Bryce & Son.)

A Dream of the Adirondacks, and other Poems. By Helen Hinsdale Rich. (Putnam's Sons.) A Vision of Souls, with other Ballads and Poems. By W. J. Dawson. (Stock.)

Poems. By A. E. D. (Griffith, Farran & Co.) MISS TYNAN'S verses, though amateurish and extravagant, show a little fancy, but so undisciplined and crude that often such forced lines as these are to be met with:

Like the radiant drops of His fair Blood Streaming adown the arms of Holy Rood. In spite of its many defects, the book is not without some amount of promise.

In a modest preface the Dean of Chichester states that he publishes his volume only for the purpose of giving pleasure to his friends. The verses it contains are mostly religious, and very harmless and feeble.

Mr. Pitchford's poems, chiefly descriptions of natural scenery, are written in indifferent blank verse, and appear to be singularly monotonous. That the author has a good sense of detail, and conscientiously strives to reproduce various aspects of nature, is not to be doubted; but much more than accurate observation is requisite for the writing of nature poetry. Most people know that swallows fly in circles and that larks soar high; but it took a Shelley to interpret the lark's song.

It is difficult to say whether the plays or poems published by Mr. Drinkwater are the poorer. Perhaps, on the whole, the plays are the worse, because to feebleness of expression they add absurdity of construction, and are more foolish because more ambitious.

How far removed Mr. Britton's ballads are from the true spirit of ballad poetry a brief extract will demonstrate :

**Now thanks, Sir Knight, for courtesy,
For grace and gift of sight of thee.
Lo, now, oke shoe of gold is on,
Wat grace my foot with its fellow anon?
He kneels full low.
Then on his knee the princess placed
Her foam-light foot, and from her waist
Stole up the gint of his brown eyes;
And ere the golden shoe he tries,
With quick delight
He stooped and touched with hasty kiss
The foot, and ankle eke, I wis,
And gazed where round the dainty limb
A tiny band of red gold slim

Was shining bright. It may also be inferred from the lines quoted that, beyond the fact of being rhymed composi tions, these compositions cannot be considered as poetry at all. It is to be hoped, on the author's account and that of his reviewers, that this Sheaf of Ballads' will comprise the whole of his harvest of verse, and that there will be no gleanings.

There is nothing to distinguish Miss Leith's racter which are constantly appearing. rhymes from other effusions of a similar cha

That some of Mrs. Rich's poems possess fancy and colour may be seen from the following

extract :

MY OLD HOME.

It stands upon a sunny slope,

And fronts the beechy hollow
Where glossy vines have ample scope
The wanton brook to follow;
Witch-hazels drop their magic wands
In search of golden treasure;
And, lying in the silent ponds,
The trout find quiet pleasure.
The oxen turn their patient eyes
Upon me; the bay filly
Neighs softly in her glad surprise;
The tender lambs are chilly,
And nestle in my apron wide;
The apple blooms are sifting
In eddies on the laughing tide,
To yonder river drifting.

The snowy dogwood stars the copse,
Ferns nod in fronded beauty,
The violet has modest hopes

To pay her fragrant duty.

The arum darts a mottled tongue

To Indian-pipe, and vying

With every flower the muse has sung
Arbutus pale is sighing.

On the other hand, it must be alleged that not a few lines are obscure, while many are extrathor's benefit, that "home" rhymes no more vagant. It may also be remarked, for their

to "throne" than "wine" does to "clime." With much that is crude and commonplace Mr. Dawson's poems display some amount of fancy, which, however, strives to compass more than it can accomplish, as will be seen by the following sonnet :

EVENING.

Oft have I seen set in the glowing west
One fair bold star of mild eternal beam,
Fast anchored in the sunset's purple stream,
A shining splendour lapped in perfect rest.
And when behind the hill the burning crest
Has waned, and darkened, till all light was gone,
Fairer and fairer still that lone star shone,
Like a new sun in pallid glory drest.

High in the drifting clouds I saw it gleam
Like a deserted prophet, near God's throne,
Who cries, "Of all thy prophets I alone

Remain to serve Thee!" And I dreamed a dream That thus our Milton stood amid the night, Faithful, alone, Hope's bright and shining light. It cannot be said that Mr. Dawson's sonnets

show much knowledge of form. His composition entitled Guidance, which is placed amongst them, violates the order of rhymes in the octave, and consists moreover of only thirteen lines.

A. E. D.'s verses are so unusually foolish as to disarm serious criticism. Here is, to say the least of it, a singular love song :—

Coral lips and azure eyes,
These are not of thine, love!
Cheek that with the blush-rose vies,
This is neither thine, love!
Tangled tress of twining gold
That the queenly hea i enrold,
Lithe-limbed grace of perfect mould.
Not in thee combine, love,
Not in thee combine!
Thou art fresh as morning flower,
Opening to the dew, love!
Fragrant as a violet bower
Carpeted with blue, love!
Sweetness mingles with thy sighs,
And thy smiles are mysteries
To enjoy, not analyze;

Though they are but few, love,
Though they are but few!

Science. Charteris's Health Resorts at Home and Abroad, cr. 8vo. 4/6 Clarke's (Major H. W.) The Sextant, 2/ cl.

Farquharson's (R.) School Hygiene, and Diseases incidental to School Life, cr. 8vo. 75 cl.

Ralfe's (C. H.) Diseases of the Kidneys and Urinary Derangements, cr. 810. 10,6 cl.

General Literature.

Brietzcke's (H. K.) Manual of Collective Lessons in Plain
Needlework and Knitting, er. Svo, 3/6 el.
Cleveland's (R. E) George Eliot's Poetry, and other Studies,
sm. 4to. 6 6 cl.

Colomb's (Capt. P. H.) Dangers of the Modern Rule of the
Road at Sea, 8vo. 7/6 cl.

De Havilland's (R. L.) The Forked Tongue, er. 8vo. 6/ cl. Discourse on the Shedding of Blood and the Laws of War, 8vo. 2/6 cl.

Dowling's (R.) Under St. Paul's, cr. 8vo. 2/ bds.
Fenn's Woven in Darkness, a Medley of Stories, Essays,
and Dreamwork, 2 vols. 8vo. 24, cl.
Grey's (Mrs.) Opera-Singer's Wife, 12mo. 2/ bds.
Grey's (R.) Lindenblumen, and other Stories, cr. 8vo. 5/ el.
Hemvng's (B.) The Stockbroker's Wife, and other Sensational
Tales of the Stock Exchange, cr. 8vo. 2/ bds.
John Herring, by Author of Mehalah,' 12mo. 2/ bds.
Lytton's (Lord) What Will He do with It? Vol. 1, roy. 8vo.
5/ cl. (Caxton Edition.)

Meredith's (G.) Diana of the Crossways, cr. 8vo. 6/ cl.
Murray's (D. C.) Hearts, 12mo, 2/ bds.

My Holiday, a Record in Pen and Pencil, 8vo. 3/6 cl.
Obbard's (C. M) Burley Bells, 12mo. 3/6 cl.

Powell's (Capt. R. 8. S. Baden) Cavalry Instruction, Course of Lectures, 4/6 cl.

Trollopes (F. E) Mabel's Progress, 12mo. 2/ bds.
Whist Developments, American Leads and the Plain Suit
Echo, by Cavendish, 12mo 5/ cl.

Wylde's (K.) An Ill-Regulated Mind, cr. 8vo. 7/6 cl.

Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Mazarine, 12fr. Philology.

Beer (R): Spicilegium Juvenalianum, 2m. 80. Collitz (H.): Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der Griechischen Dialekte, Om, 60.

Drachman (B.): Die Bedeutung d. Jeliuda Hajjug in der Hebräischen Grammatik, 3m.

Lehmann (H.): Brünne u. Helm im Beowulfliede, 2m. 50. Lewy (H.): Stadtrecht v. Gortyn auf Kreta, 2m. 50. Marlowe's Werke, hrsg. v. H. Breymann u. A. Wagner, Vol. 2, 4m.

Rajaçekhara, Pracandapandava, hrsg. v. C. Cappeller, 3m. 50.
Therianos (Dionys.): Philologische Aufzeichnungen, 5m.
Tironische Psalterium (Das), hrsg. v. O. Lehmann, 10m.
Science.

Fol (H.): Les Microbes, 5fr.
Schwartze (II.): Lehrbuch der Chirurgischen Krankheiten
d. Ohres, 11m.
Zopf (W.): Morphologie der Niederen Pilzthiere, 9m.

CHARLES DICKENS AND THE GARRICK CLUB. 11, Savile Row, July 15, 1885. IT is well known that Charles Dickens fell out with the committee of the Garrick Club when, in 1858, they erased Mr. Edmund Yates's name from the list of members in consequence of his paper in Town Talk on W. M. Thackeray. It is also well known that on this occasion Dickens, to mark his sense of the injustice of their action, resigned his seat on the committee. I have, however, lately come into the possession of the following letter from Charles Dickens to the secretary of the Garrick Club, which opens out a new phase of his connexion with it :

48, Doughty Street, 28th November, 1838. DR. SIR,-May I beg you to inform the Committee that with their permission I wish, at the close of the present year, to withdraw my name from the list of members of the Garrick Club?

Dr. Sir, yours very truly,
CHARLES DICKENS.

Winston, Esquire, &c., &c.

From this it appears that in 1838 he resigned

arises, Why should he have done so He was then in the full sunshine of the popularity gained by The Pickwick Papers,' and was not only engaged in writing 'Oliver Twist,' but was inundated with commissions and offers of work of every kind. He must, too, have had "troops of friends" in the club.

Can anybody now living explain why Dickens wrote this curt, official announcement of his intended retirement? Had there been some literary or personal dispute, or what was the trouble? Of the genuineness of the letter I have no doubt, as, apart from the intrinsic evidence in its favour, it came from the Garrick Club with a mass of most uninteresting correspondence turned out for destruction. I suppose that the books of the club would show whether the proposed resignation was carried into effect, and, if so, when and in what circumstances Dickens was re-elected. CHAS. P. JOHNSON.

THE BISHOP OF BUGDEN.

Lincoln, July 16, 1885.

I CAME upon the accompanying letter of Dr. Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, when looking over our cathedral muniments with a view to the biography of that prelate for Mr. Leslie Stephen's new dictionary. The letter has never yet been printed, and it presents too characteristic a picture of the trimming ecclesiastic to remain unpublished.

Notwithstanding Barlow's sugary words, and his professions of love for his cathedral city, and of desire for the society of the Dean (Dr. Michael Honywood, a contemporary of Milton's at Christ's College, Cambridge) and his brethren of the cathedral clergy, there is no record of the bishop's having ever visited Lincoln, or having once entered his cathedral church. The reasons which compelled him to "reside awhile" at the episcopal manor of Buckden (near Huntingdon) continued in full force to the day of his death, sixteen years after the date of this letter. From his constant residence there, and his unfrequent appearance in any other part of his vast diocese, then extending over six counties, and reaching from the Humber to the Thames, Barlow was contemptuously called "the Bishop of Bugden." With all his vast and multifarious learning, there is hardly any bishop of whom the see of Lincoln has less reason to be proud than time-serving, trimming Barlow. EDMUND VENABLES.

Good Mr Deane,-I receaued yours, and am very glad to heare of your health, by any hand, especially your owne. As to the buisines (you mention) concerneinge the Prebendaries, as I did referre it to your prudence, soe I doe approue your resolution ; that y most opportune time to doe it, will be at my Visitation; we though I intend, and shall (God willinge) effect this yeare, yet y necessity of my affaires is such, yt I cannot begin it till after July next. I thanke you for your friendly advise for my liveinge at Lincolne; I have seene, and loue yt place, and like it, as ye fittest place of my abode; as for other reasons, soe principally for y happines I should injoy in the society of your selfe, and yours and my bretheren: but for some reasons (which I shall hereafter, when I have ye happines to see you, com'unicate) I must a while reside at Bugden, till I can make better accomodation at Lincolne, for my abode there. My love and respects to your selfe, and (yours and my Bretheren) the Prebendaries with you remember'd, I shall onely add, that I am (Good Mr Deane) Your affectionate friend and Brother, THOMAS LINCOLNE.

Q. Coll'. Ox'on, Jan.
XXX. M.DC. LXXV.

For y reverend Dr Michaell
Honywood Deane of Lincolne
at his House there
these
forward

Post p'd to London.
Rec. Feb. 5, 75.

Lincolne.

TROJAN, KHITA, AND CYPRIOTE.

32, St. George's Square, S.W., July, 1885. Ar p. 367 of Troy and its Remains,' by Dr.

1875), there are engravings of two whorls found at Hissarlik, Nos. 292, 293 :—

In this appendix on the inscriptions by the editor, Mr. P. Smith, reference is made at pp. 365-6 to the labours of Mr. George Smith, Dr. Samuel Birch, Dr. Johannes Brandis, and Dr. Martin Haug in the decipherment of Cypriote and in the determination of its syllabary.

To Dr. Martin Haug Mr. Smith assigns the merit of having first traced the connexion between the Hissarlik inscriptions and Cypriote. Dr. Haug read "Ta i o si i go," which he interpreted as a dedication Oei Ziy, considering it to be Greek and a dedication "to the divine Sigo." Dr. Haug supposes Sigo to have given name to Sigeon, Scamander, and Sicyon, a theory which is inapplicable, as philology and numis matics show.

Mr. Smith relates that afterwards Prof. Theodore Gomperz, of Vienna, as early as May 6th and June 16th, 1874, gave an account of his own labours in the Vienna Evening Post. Dr. Gomperz, by reading from right to left, instead of from left to right, as Dr. Haug had done, got a transliteration thus :

Like his predecessor, Dr. Gomperz treated this as Greek, making Toy Sig. "To the divine genera or prince," which Prof. Max Müller pronounced to be "almost beyond reasonable doubt."

The transliteration of Dr. Gomperz was much contested by Dr. Deecke, Moritz Schmidt, and Siegesmund; but this was in some degree owing to doubts which arose as to the connexion sug gested by Dr. Gomperz between the Cypriotes and the Greeks of Troy. Dr. Deecke has traced a con nexion between cuneiform and Cypriote, which I have supported as a general proposition illustrating the common origin, although differing as to phonetic values.

On the 9th of December, 1874, Dr. Gompers wrote to Mr. Philip Smith practically abandoning the details of his interpretation, but maintaining the principles on which it was based. There remained a sufficient resemblance to Cypriote to induce Mr. Smith fortunately to preserve the record of what Dr. Gomperz ha done. Prof. Max Müller kindly informs me that Dr. Gomperz has much modified his opinions Dr. Gomperz, however, writes to me: "I hold fast to the identity of the Hissarlik with the Cypriote characters-a fact which has been vexatiously rejected by many scholars."

My own attention was drawn to the inscrip tions and to the Cypriote controversy, but although I recognized resemblances of characters, I was not satisfied with the interpretation, and did not seek a further investigation, which was in the hands of competent Cypriote authorities. As was natural, I looked at the Hissarlik inscriptions for resemblances in my own line of Khita, which I saw were parallel with many we now have in that class. My reading was Tar kon demos," as I have stated at the British Association and elsewhere.

On sending my last communication to the Athenæum, I went over again the reading of Dr. Gomperz. This gives :

Ta

go i di o i (Gomperz). Tar ku timme (cuneiform).

Tar kon demos (Khita and Greek).