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of the course of study on which he is en
gaged, and to survey all its departments
with their scope, limits, and mutual rela-
tions. To one who teaches this is even
but to others it is of less import-
necessary,
ance because few care to enter upon the
systematic investigation of a field so wide
and tangled. The subject has been treated
in two ways, which are usually called the
formal and the material. In the former the
arrangement and distribution of the theolo-
gical branches are given with an indication
of their mutual relations, scope, and range.
In the latter the contents of the several
divisions of theology and the methods of
treatment to be followed in each are ex-
pounded. Describing at some length the
scope and limits of the theological branches,
it is fuller and more scientific than the
formal method. The range of it is compre-
hensive, exhibiting not only the relations
existing between the main divisions of the
whole subject, but also those between the
various subdivisions. The one is a brief
conspectus, the other a succession of little

treatises on all topics included in theological

science. The material treatment is now the more popular; and Räbiger has followed

Hagenbach in adopting it, after stating many objections, not all valid, to the formal treatment. It is difficult, however, to manage it within moderate limits, or to maintain the divisions in proper proportion. It is equally difficult to escape the charge of tedious and needless splittings. The field is too wide to be adequately surveyed and described even by a ripe theologian.

The first volume of the present translation is chiefly introductory, no fewer than 184 pages being devoted to a history of theological encyclopædias, with a statement of their idea, object, and distribution. The remainder of the volume describes the nature of theology, with three appendices upon the encyclopedias of Hofmann and Rothe, a criticism of W. Grimm, and an essay by the editor upon apologetics. The second volume discusses the four divisions of theology, exegetical, historical, systematic, and practil The subject proper is not handled

tical.

till the second volume.

Prof. Räbiger has proved himself an able the bagian not only by the present treatise, but by his discussions of the leading questions in St. Paul's epistles to the Corinthians. Familiar with theology in almost all its branches, his views are those of a mature scholar and acute thinker. Without going into the extremes of orthodoxy or rationalism he exercises a sound judgment, inclining to the former much more than the latter, and allowing fair limits to reason in its apprehensan of revelation. He is candid, tolerant, the His encyclopædia is a book deserving

pædias. The three appendices to the first
volume could have been spared.

The volume is increased in size by notes from the translator, which are chiefly extracts from other books, and by the insertion of the names of English books as an addition to the German literature belonging to the different divisions. The notes are of little value, and the literature is not fully supplemented. English books of importance are omitted. Such additions from translators swell the bulk of books without corresponding benefit. The translation of Hagenbach's Encyclopædia' is is an analogous example, in which the English literature is not given fully, and the German volume is magnified into three octavos in our tongue. Mr. Macpherson would have done better if he had simply reproduced Räbiger's work. But he is ready to dissent from his author at times, and expresses his opinion accordtheo-ingly, even when it is less correct than the professor's.

The author appears at his best in that part
of the first volume which is called "First
or General Division of Theologies," reaching
from p. 187 to p. 296, where the orthodox,
supernaturalist, and rationalistic theologies
are described and estimated. Here the views
of Schleiermacher, Kant, Schelling, Hegel,
Strauss, and Feuerbach come under review,
as well as the opinions of Lipsius and Bie-
dermann. Most space is devoted to Schleier-
macher, because he was an epoch-making
man. Although this first division of the
book is adapted to the author's countrymen,
dealing as it does with writers among them-
selves, it may be studied with profit by
scholarly theologians in Great Britain.
Mysticism and pietism are described
clearly and excellently; but orthodox
logy is thus obscurely defined :—

"It has pre-eminently assigned it the task
of adducing the proof, that it is not a mere indi-
vidual intellectual activity which theology as
well as faith has to exercise upon the object
of faith, in order that the subjective con-
viction of the truth of that object of faith
may first be won and its intellectual appro-
priation effected, but that rather the con-

The work may be recommended to the attention of all who study theology and agree with the author in thinking it a science. It is at once instructive and suggestive. In its English dress they will find the reading of it rugged and unattractive, but still profitable. The spirit of the tents of faith are absolutely authenticated by writer is tolerant, as a learned professor's

means of the facts of revelation, and that, as
thus authenticated, they demand an uncon-
ditional acknowledgment."
The translation is answerable for some of
the obscurity in this definition. In the same
way supernaturalism suffers from the awk-
ward way in which the definition of it is

rendered :

"Just then for this reason, because against its
opponents it pre-eminently engaged on the de-
fence of this proposition, that religious truth not
only is not derived from reason, but as revealed
truth lies beyond the reach of natural knowledge,
it has become historically known as a theological
system by the name of Supernaturalism.”

The English translation is not good. It
is stiff and awkward, sometimes even un-
intelligible.
work too literally, making Germanized
The translator has gone to
sentences, not English ones.
overcoming the difficulties attaching to the
Instead of
rendering of all German books into English,
made obscurer than he really is. Two
he has succumbed to them. Hence Räbiger
examples will show the character of the
version:-

"Both of these tendencies, mysticism and
pietism, come into collision with the positive
the attitude altogether peculiar to it which, in
faith by pressing the claims of subjectivity; but
the form of immediate intuition, of the inner
word, of spiritual illumination, of the fantasy, of
feeling, of immediate experience, it assumes in
reference to the positive faith, not only exposes
it to the falling into such errors as have historic-
ally sprung from it, but also prevents it from

the attentive perusal of every divine. Whether arriving at any scientific configuration."
it be superior to Hagenbach's is doubtful. giving a didactic form and logical connexion to
The objections which Räbiger makes to the
latter are neither forcible nor sufficient to and, by means of this formal treatment, lead-
dethrone it from the place which it has so
Jong
ing to is octavte home the fact that what it
high rank among modern books of the same
ligi sor has a value of its own, and claims expounds is Christian, but rather from this, that
from an empirical manifoldness, in which faith

"It does not win its systematic character by

the utterances of the believing consciousness,

subjective knowledge; nor yet does it

kind. It must be set above those of Doedes, appears as a doctrinal system, it rises to the Hofmann, and Rothe. But its length is expounds the whole content of that idea accord

consideration of the Christian idea as such, and

should be. To such as differ widely from his views he is just and generous. Nothing shows this better than his account of Semler,

which is much superior to Tholuck's; and

with it we conclude:-
:-

"With a stedfast piety, not untouched by

pietism, with clear decision on behalf of Christian

freedom of faith and conscience, with unwearied
diligence and many-sided scholarship, Semler
fought a long theological battle against the
dominion of orthodoxy. It must always be
admitted that his conception of religion and
Christianity was superficial, one-sided, and
individualistic in
position which he assigned to religion in respect
an undue degree, that the
of dogma and in respect of theology, rested upon
an abstraction to which there was no correspond-
ing reality, and that the relation assumed by
him between private religion and the publicly
valid Church doctrine is not reconcilable with
the practice of the evangelical Church; yet,
by means of his investigation of Holy Scrip-
just as little can it be denied, that Semler,
ture on historical grounds, and by means of
tianity and dogmatic Church doctrine, not only
that separation of religion and theology, of Chris-
shook violently the foundations of orthodox
theology, but also, in spite of the faultiness of
his own definition of theology, contributed the
building stones which theology, in its wider de-
velopment, had to adopt and to employ in its

new scientific structure.

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NOVELS OF THE WEEK.

Commonplace Sinners. By the Author of 'My
Heart and I.' 2 vols. (Remington & Co.)
The Wine of Life. By J. Newcome. (Same
publishers.)

The Rise of Silas Lapham. By W. D. Howells.
(Edinburgh, Douglas.)

Hors du Monde. Par Jack Frank. (Paris,
Calmann Lévy.)

THE witchery of Margaret Standish is
enough to account for Somerset Leigh's
unfaithfulness to the recollection of his
Maud (supposed to be dead), and for Vernon
Lawson's madness of adoration, which he

Leaks to a rush by getting engaged to plain,

manner and in its objective truth, that is, rough "John" Alphonse. Margaret is wonderfully described:

conveniently omitted, especially the introduc-
tory part reviewing all preceding encyclo- systematically."

66

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Irene Lapham is delicious. Going over
her father's half-finished house, she con-
sults a young man about the library.
"I presume with nice bindings it will look
very well......I presume we shall have to
have Gibbon...... We had a great deal about
him at school. I believe we had one of his
books...... Is it Gibbon or Gibbons ?......I
presume we shall have to have Scott's works.
him mixed up with Cooper." At another
He isn't American, though ?......I always
place the father points out the advantages
of a certain bay window, and tells the young
man that the room is to be his girl's room.
"It seemed terribly intimate. Irene blushed
deeply and turned her head away." Beside
such delicacy as this Paul et Virginie'
itself would seem coarse. But Mr. Howells
may be trusted not to exaggerate. The
book opens admirably with a quite original
device for getting over the standing difficulty
of giving the necessary preliminary account
of the chief character. Silas Lapham is
interviewed by a lively reporter, who effec-
tually prevents his victim from being dull.

Lovely, is what the world calls her. She has not a good feature in her face,' say her detractors with truth. Her perfect skin makes them beautiful, her eyes light up its snow; and her full red mouth sympathizes with their every gleam and glint. Her dark hair is kept short.' She is " a white woman," and "bought " by her husband, the elderly major, for her skin," we are informed. This skin, which makes even detractors beautiful, has much to answer for: it seems to be plead-get able in excuse for treachery to a husband, rivalry with a daughter, and neglect of the memory of an only child. Yet the book is cleverly written. One is led to sympathize with Margaret's passion, and wish it had been directed to the man who dies for a love as great and unreciprocated. As a mere love story the book abounds with strong situations, described with more precision than the text we have quoted would indicate; and the scene in which Lawson restores the lost Maud to her lover and thwarts for ever the almost completed plans of the unhappy Margaret is a graphic bit of writing. All the characters are well marked, but to none does one turn with fresher interest than to "fat foolish Carl Siemens," the German Musiker, who is the veritable good angel of the plot. He is always as quaint and uncouth as he is tender and honourable.

Friendship is said by Dr. Young to be the wine of life, but those who find it the most exciting sentiment in their career are abnormally prudent, not to say passionless persons. Arthur Yonge and James Farquhar are people of this kidney. They are excellent fellows and fine gentlemen, but dull as ditch-water. We learn how James fell in love with the fair sister of a clergyman, who is all a clergyman should be; and that certain passages between Hester and the curate cause James to experience grinding torment, until it is explained that they are mere inventions of a scandalous gossip-also that Arthur subdues for James's benefit certain aspirations of his own in the same direction, and declines with thanks the ridiculous position of third person in the matrimonial dovecote which James offers him in the simplicity of his soul. One is thankful to think the world contains a few people as good and quiet as the personages of the novel; but they are not the most exciting possible material for descriptive purposes. In defiance of his own dictum, Mr. Howells has contrived to tell a very good story in The Rise of Silas Lapham. Obviously he has found some difficulty in making the most of it. He seems to have a want of perception as to climax, and consequently he is rather wrong (to use a favourite expression of his) as to the point where he should conclude. The reader shuts the book with a sense of diluted interest, but he cannot

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say that the character of Silas Lapham is not fully developed. The book is characteristically American. English readers have. been made sufficiently familiar with Boston life to appreciate Mr. Howells's picture; but they cannot fail to be amused by the naïveté of his hit at what he calls Daisy-Millerism while he is drawing a type which one might imagine to be no less irritating to Americans than the famous Daisy herself. It is, however, impossible to differentiate American sensibilities, and English people must be content to be amused.

Mr. Howells's careful attention to details
and to the machinery of his story is observ-
able throughout. Every character is perfect
in its way, and only on a few occasions does
the writer slip into the American habit of
overdoing the study of a person's state
of mind. Once or twice, however, he has
seemed to forget the clever little bit of
criticism on George Eliot put into the mouth
of one of his girls: "I wish she would let
you find out a little about the people for
yourself."

It has always seemed to us that the
author of 'L'Impératrice Wanda,' and of
the sillily named books 'Chut!' and 'Shock-
ing!' was capable of much better things.
'Hors du Monde' exhibits the same powers
and a not very superior faculty of using them.
The story is not a nice one by any means,
and it is sufficient in describing it to say
that it turns on the devotion of the heroine,
who has been twice married. She, having

lived during her widowhood on something
like the principles of free love, becomes irre-
proachable after her second marriage, but
voluntarily incurs suspicion and misery to
protect her sister-in-law, who has in reality
made the more unpardonable slip of the two.
The self-sacrifice of the déclassée is painted
in no unwholesome fashion. But the con-
duct of the villain of the book, like that of
a certain hero of M. Paul Bourget's, is best
described by the significant word ugly. It
is some comfort to think that Britannic
manners, even in rather loose circles, would
make such conduct nearly impossible.

BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.

The Mistress of Tayne Court. By Emma Mar-
shall. (Seeley & Co.)

Mary Roper's Story; or, What She told her Girls
(Society for Pro-

over the Class-room Fire.

moting Christian Knowledge.)
After Five Years. By the Author of 'Clary's
Confirmation.' (Same publishers.)
My Lass. By Margaret E. Hayes. (Same pub-
lishers.)

Two Friends. By S. M. Sitwell. (Same pub-
lishers.)

Elf Island: a Fairy Tale. By Capt. E. Preston
Battersby, R.A. (Griffith, Farran & Co.)
Tales of the Village Children. By the Rev. F. E.
Paget, M. A. First and Second Series.
(Masters & Co.)

Linda's Misfortunes, and Little Brian's Trip to
Dublin. By Clara Mulholland. (Dublin,
Gill & Son.)

Harry Adair and his Blind Mother. By the
Countess of Seafield. (Hatchards.)
The Cabman's Daughter. (Maxwell.)
MRS. MARSHALL'S stories for girls are too well
known to need much comment. Gwendoline
Lloyd, the mistress of Tayne Court, is a very
daughter of an unscrupulous speculator, and to
nice girl, but one grows a little tired of her per
become the heiress of Tayne Court through the
caprice of the late owner, who left it away from
his next of kin. Mr. Lloyd spends the most of
his time in promoting_bubble companies, and
Gwendoline is left at Tayne Court to struggle
against a bustling, interfering aunt and a dis
agreeable, intriguing cousin, and to meditate
over the wrongs of the disinherited Alan Kars
general sense of relief when Mr. Lloyd abscondi
lake. This is uncomfortable, and there is a
with all the money he can lay hold on. After a
reasonable time has elapsed Gwendoline naturally
marries Alan Karslake, and all is well.

fections. She has the misfortune to be the

The Society for Promoting Christian Know ledge does excellent work in providing healthy stories for young people of all classes. Fou little books are before us, all to be commended.

'Mary Roper's Story' is the autobiography a a domestic servant of the old type. Mary's view teresting and instructive, and they will be wel on men, women, and things in general are in comed both upstairs and downstairs.

'After Five Years' is the love story of pawnbroker. Robert Blake is not the traditiona pawnbroker; he is the friend and benefactor o his customers, he is a model pawnbroker, and he deserves the good luck which comes to hin

in the end.

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'My lass" is a factory girl and a heroine; he her; but she is one of the strong ones, she i life is hard, and much trouble comes upo steadfast in doing right, and at the last she win her happiness.

Mrs. Sitwell's stories for children are admi able, and the Two Friends' is one of her bes We feel keenly for the chivalrous little Reginal and his friend the waif; we cannot endure th prim and precise Miss Everson, their evil geniu and we are immensely relieved when she di appears from the story and the boys' luck reviv

again.

it cannot claim any great originality. We kn Capt. Battersby's 'Elf Island' is amusing, b Hilda very well; at least we have known h elder brothers and sisters; in fact, we have hea a good deal of late years of the bold little mor who ventures into wonderland. Hilda is qui one of the nicest of the family; but the fair among whom she falls are, perhaps, a triflet

didactic.

Paget's Tales of the Village Children.' The Messrs. Masters publish a new edition of M tales are probably not so well known now as th were some years ago. They are scarcely tale the story in each is very slight, and serves on to introduce long conversations in which t doctrines and customs of the Church of Engla are set forth in great detail.

'Linda's Misfortunes' is one of those tireso dencies of one child are set forth in great deta stories in which the delinquencies and faulty te and the praiseworthy efforts of the child reform, and of her relatives and friends to a her, are minutely chronicled. We cannot that this kind of story does any good, and it not amusing. Little Brian's Trip to Dubli a rather pretty Irish tale, is bound up in t

same volume.

·

Harry Adair and his Blind Mother' is wildly improbable tale, which has not even merit of being exciting. It is fortunately sho

The Cabman's Daughter,' one of Mess Maxwell's popular shilling books, is rather amusing little story. It is about a poeti

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young pickle-dealer who is oppressed by a stern father and is succoured by a virtuous and upright Cabman and his charming daughter. There is a favour of Dickens about the book: the Rev. Jabez Judge must surely be related to our old friend Mr. Chadband.

OUR LIBRARY TABLE.

Les Chers Voisins! (Calmann Lévy) is superior to 'Les Filles de John Bull,' but it is not equal to Mr. Max O'Rell's first venture. It is rather a series of jottings copied from the author's note-book than a book in the proper sense of the term.

The author has not taken

the trouble to mould his materials into shape, but has placed them under various headings, and printed them without much regard to their intrinsic importance. There are some amusing things in the volume, and some just observations, but to produce a really satisfactory book would have required a great deal more pains than the author has thought fit to bestow.

volume amusing reading. The book has evidently been put together in a great hurry, and it would hardly be fair to criticize it in detail.

Walks in Epping Forest, by Mr. Percy Lindley, is a pretty guide-book to Epping Forest, containing much information useful to pedestrian and the "cyclist."

the

MR. MACKENZIE, of Inverness, who has done much good service to the Highlands by his various publications, has reprinted a portion of the valuable work of General Stewart of Garth, Sketches of the Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland. It is the standard work on the subject.

THE Insurance Railway Guide-Book (Kegan Paul & Co.) is an attempt to produce a simpler guide than Bradshaw,' by relegating the least important stations to what is styled the "Village Index." As the Village Index is not yet ready, it would be premature to pronounce on the success of the scheme.

We have received A Supplementary Catalogue of the Twickenham Free Public Library, comMESSRS. BELL & SON continue with vigour piled by Mr. Rabbitt, the librarian; the Rethe publication of the useful edition of Cole-port of the Handsworth Public Library; that ridge's works which Mr. Ashe superintends. of Stirling's and Glasgow Public Library, which The new volume of "Miscellanies, Esthetic and seems prosperous, though in lack of ready money; Literary," contains, besides fragments from the and the Fourteenth Report of the Free Public lectures of 1818, marginalia, &c., the Essays Library at Rochdale. on the Fine Arts,' which Cottle reprinted from Feliz Farley's Journal, and 'The Theory of Life, which was published in 1848 by Dr. Watson, and reviewed by us (Athenæum, No. 1111), a review Sara Coleridge highly approved of.

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We have received the Bibliotheca Dorsetiensis, printed for subscribers, by the Rev. C. H. Mayo. The book fairly carries out the promise on the title-page-that it is " a carefully compiled account of printed books and pamphlets relating to the history and topography of the county of Dorset." The compiler assures us that he has personally examined, "with hardly an exception," every book or pamphlet named, and adds, what is not for a moment to be doubted, 66 that this has been a matter of much patient labour, extending over a number of years. Mr. Mayo may be congratulated on the result of his labour, and his book is a very acceptable "contribution to Dorset bibliography." Besides larger books and local histories, whether of parishes such as Lyme Regis, or of the whole county by Hutchins, public and private Acts of Parliament are referred to, lists of Dorset printers given, and “ many particulars of the sale of estates. With regard to this last, the object was scarcely worth the trouble; the " many cases included" are, after all, but few in comparison to the numbers omitted, and necessarily so, because impossible almost to trace. Even where noticed the name

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WE have also received Mr. Quaritch's list of the books he bought at the sale of the Fuller Russell Library; Part II. of Mr. Daniell's Catalogue of Selected Books; Messrs. Wesley's Book Circular, No. 67; and catalogues of books and autographs from Mr. Bennett, of Birmingham.

We have on our table Popular History of Egypt, by Capt. J. W. Watkins (Hagger),—The French Law of Marriage, by E. Kelly (Stevens & Sons),-The Revised Series Third Geographical Reader for Standard III., by T. Morrison (Gall & Inglis),-Page's Fractional Calculator and Interest Tables (Gall & Inglis),-Home Lesson Book to the Fourth Reader (Heywood),-Corneille's Le Cid, edited by L. Delbos (Williams & Norgate), Shakspeare's Coriolanus, edited by J. W. Allen (Longmans),-Ingglish az She iz Spelt, by F. F. (New York, Carleton),-Histoire de Charles XII. Roi de Suède, edited, with Grammatical Notes, by G. E. Fasnacht (Macmillan),-Orchids, by L. Castle ('Journal of Horticulture' Office),British Dairy Farming, by J. Long (Chapman & Hall)-Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the River Tweed, by W. Scrope (Hamilton, Adams & Co.),-The Chinese painted by Themselves, by Col. Tcheng-Ki-Tong, translated by J. Millington (Field & Tuer),-Quest, by T. Sinclair (Trübner),—The Science of Change of Air, by D. S. Kinner (Tinsley),—The Phainomena or Heavenly Display' of Aratos, done into English Verse by R. Brown, jun. (Longmans),-Annual of the estate (as, for example, at Nether Compton Reports of the Aeronautical Society of Great or South Perrott) is not given; and the name is an important part. There is another omission, Britain, 1883 and 1884 (Hamilton, Adams & Co.), not easily to be accounted for, under “ Maps.' -Second Annual Report of the Bureau of EthnoSaxton's logy, 1880-81, by J. W. Powell (Washington, map of Elizabeth's time is not named, U.S., Government Printing Office),—Report on nor, except incidentally, Speed's of some thirty Canadian Archives, 1884, by D. Brymner years later. Mr. Mayo has arranged his materials usefully under various heads. Beginning with Patentees, Vols. XIII. and XIV., by R. Gibbs (Ottawa, Maclean, Roger & Co.),--Patents and books relating to the county generally, tours, and directories, he passes on to antiquarian and (Melbourne, Ferres), Transactions of the historical literature, poll books, sermons, eccleNational Association for the Promotion of Social siastical subjects, newspapers, Acts of Parlia-Royal Colonial Institute, Vol. XVII. (Low), Science, 1884 (Longmans),-Proceedings of the ment, and maps, and ends with works relating to particular parishes, to which division naturally the greatest part of his volume is given up. "The printers of Dorset" follow by way of appendix.

MR. J. JACOBS has compiled, and Messrs. Tribner have published, a capital bibliography of the Jewish Question, 1875-1884, recording even such jokes as the railway ticket inscribed "Nach Jerusalem, kein Retour-Billet."

I was probably inevitable that having written

of the 'Poets' Birds,' Mr. Robinson should write

of

the Poets' Beasts (Chatto & Windus). It is

no possible to call this clever author's new

Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Vol. IX., edited by Capt. F. Day (Stanford),Railway Management at Stations, by E. B. Ivatts (McCorquodale), Roll of the Officers of the York and Lancaster Regiment, by Major G. A. Raikes (Bentley),—and India's Danger and England's Duty, by R. Russell (Ward & Lock).

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Jones's (C. A.) Saints of the Prayer Book, 2/6 cl.
Liddon's (H. P.) Easter in St. Paul's, Sermons bearing chiefly
on the Resurrection of our Lord, 2 vols. cr. 8vo. 5/ each.
Moore's (T.) The Case for "Establishment" Stated, 2/ cl.

Law.

Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, with Introduction, Commentary, &c., by R. W. Burnie, 8vo. 2/6 bds. Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, with Introduction, Notes, &c., by F. Mead and A. H. Bodkin, cr. 8vo. 2/6 cl. History and Biography.

Evans's (E. T.) Records of the 3rd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers, &c., 8vo. 20/ cl. Philology.

Ciceronis ad M. Brutum Orator, a Revised Text, with Introduction, Essay, &c., by J. E. Sandys, 8vo. 16/ cl. Sophocles' Edipus Tyrannus, edited by R. C. Jebb, 12mo. 4/6 cl. (Pitt Press Series.)

Science.

Bancroft's (R. M. and F. J.) Tall Chimney Construction, 6/3
Cole's (W. H.) Notes on Plate-Laving, cr. 8vo. 3/6 el.
Cutler (H. A.) and Edge's (F. J.) Tables for setting out
Curves, 16mo. 2/6 cl.

Phillips's (J.) Manual of Geology, Theoretical and Practical, edited by J. Etheridge and H. G. Seeley, Part 2, 8vo. 34/ Reeves's (R. H.) Bad Drains and How to Test Them, 3/6 cl. Thompson's (D'A. W.) Bibliography of Protozoa, Sponges, &c., for 1861-1883, 8vo. 12/6 cl.

Tuke's (D. H.) The Insane in United States and Canada, 7/6
General Literature.

Dell's (J. H.) The Dawning Grey, cheap edition, 8vo. 2/ cl.
Fragoletta, a Novel, by Rita, 12mo. 2/ bds.
Greville's (Lady V.) Creatures of Clay, cr. 8vo. 2/ bds.
Howard's (B. W.) Aulnay Tower, cr. 8vo. 6/ cl.
Madoc's (F.) Thereby, 2 vols. cr. 8vo. 17/ cl.
Punch and Judy and some of their Friends, described by
F. E. Weatherly, illustrated by Townsend, sm. 4to. 5/
Rae's (E.) A Limb of the Law, cr. 8vo. 6/ cl.

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THE CHICHESTER REGISTERS.

I HAD read Canon Swainson's attack on my veracity in the Standard a few days ago, but I came to the conclusion at the time that he had written somewhat petulantly, and that it was not necessary for me to reply. He now reminds me of somebody one reads of who was judge, plaintiff, jury, and executioner all in one, for he makes accusations, assumes without proofs, and, having proved and found me guilty, to his own satisfaction, in the Standard, proceeds to gibbet

me in the Athenæum.

The answer is as simple as it is obvious, and if the canon had condescended to the courtesy of corresponding with me on the subject of the registers being temporarily not to hand he would have been spared the refutation which he courts.

Canon Swainson knows (for he admits it) as well as I that Kemble printed certain_charters which he found in the Chichester Registers A xviii. and B xviii. (see 'Codex Diplomaticus,' vol. V.,

"List of Documents," No. 992, and vol. vi., preface, p. xxv). Probably, also, he knows (but I will not assume it) that my visit to Chichester was to collate the texts of those very charters. I only knew the registers under their correct numeration (as above), and I took the sheets of my 'Cartularium,' in which those references are mentioned, with me in order to be The canon quite accurate in what I asked for. may turn, if he will, to the 'Cartularium,' vol. i., p. 100, No. 64, for verification of this. These two registers were repeatedly asked for, and search made for nearly two hours (2-3.55 P.M.) on Wednesday, August 19th, in two small cupboards by no means full of books. How then can the absurd conclusion be arrived at, "from the statements made to me [the canon], that he [Mr. Birch] had not asked for these registers by the titles by which they were known to Kemble and every one else who has interested himself in them"? Is it likely that after making a purpose journey to Chichester, at considerable inconvenience, and succeeding in having the very MS. I wanted (as he says) put into my hands, I

should "throw it down," &c.? Such an imputation I return to the canon with disdain, if by it he suggests any depreciation on my part of the MSS. or their custodians.

I rejoice with your correspondent and with every one that the two MSS. which were not forthcoming during a special and protracted search on the 19th of August, were produced "without the slightest delay" on the canon's casual inquiry for them on the 27th of August. The nine days covered by these two dates may have some bearing on this part of the matter, but I will not assume anything, lest I appear to be as impulsive as the canon is. To relate his experiences on one occasion as a proof of what happened on another is truly specious, but argues little for the value of the canon's testimony. Had he been ingenuous in his self-imposed inquiries as to my doings, he need have asked but one question, viz., Were the two Chichester MSS. A xviii. and B xviii. put before Mr. Birch as such, after his repeated inquiry for them under these identical designations (which is proved by the proper references in the printed sheets from which he quoted at the time) on the 19th of August?

I have, I think, now sufficiently disposed of the first, and personal, paragraph of Canon Swainson's communication. To the second, which is purely literary, I do not propose to say a word. WALTER DE GRAY BIRCH.

EAST FRISIAN.

32, St. George's Square, S.W., Sept. 7, 1885.

In your interesting notice of the East Frisian dictionary, which may induce students here to apply themselves to this kindred language, although you have well described the special features, your allusion to its relationship with Low Dutch speech may lead to misapprehension. When through the efforts of the Willems Fond and other authorities, as has been related in your pages, the dialects of Netherlandish in Holland and Flanders were combined by a spelling, available to millions of readers, West Frisian was not included, being looked upon

as apart.

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In the greater operation now under consideration for the union of Netherlandish and the Low Dutch dialects in spelling, all forms of Frisian are again excluded, as not being Low Dutch, but constituting a separate branch of the Germanic languages.

To those who may be prompted by you to look at Frisian, the Bible Society has now given the opportunity of obtaining a gospel for about fourpence. Mr. Adley H. Cummins, of San Francisco, the author of the Frisian grammar (Trübner), writes me that he has nearly completed his larger work, which will embrace all the Frisian dialects.

In reference to the new Netherlandish literature, it has had a curious influence in our own empire. Cape Dutch would not be put forward by its votaries as a pattern language, nor would it be so accepted in Holland. Hitherto it has been supposed to be under the influence of Holland; but with the new spelling our Cape friends have got access to the Flemish novels, and they prefer the Flemish style to that of Holland. They look upon it as purer and less French, and yet the Cape people themselves include the descendants of large tribes of French Huguenots. HYDE CLARKE,

THE LATE MR. DILKE. British Museum, Sept. 9, 1885. REFERRING to the notice of the late Mr. William Dilke in your last week's issue, in which my name is mentioned, may I be allowed to say that it is not an edition of Keats's works which I am preparing, but his life for Mr. Morley's series of "English Men of Letters "? The morning that I had the advantage of spending in Mr. Dilke's company at Hampstead was both interesting and profitable. With a perfect clear

(Manasseh) set a (the) graven image of the grove (Asherah) that he had made in the house"; the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles xxxiii. 7 reading, And he set a carved (graven) image of the Semel (A. V. the idol), which he made "; in v. 15 the A. V. reads, "And he took away the strange gods, and the idol," which is again a tautology it we do not translate, "And he took away the strange god, and the Semel" (Semel would thus be a god familiar to the Israelites). We come now to Ezekiel viii. The prophet speaks here of four idol worships: (1) ver. 3, p "the image of jealousy, which provoketh jealousy,” and in ver. 5, sapn boo,

ness of recollection Mr. Dilke was able to point out to me the original arrangements of the block of two contiguous houses built and inhabited by his brother Charles Wentworth Dilke and Charles Brown, to which they gave the name of Wentworth Place; and to trace the alterations and additions which have since been made to it. These arrangements, and even the identity of the site (the present Lawn Bank), have given so much trouble to students of Keats, and especially to his indefatigable editor, Mr. Buxton Forman, that I propose to make them clear by means of a plan. For the rest, it was striking enough to hear this veteran tell how he had joined the Duke's army as a boy just before Vittoria; had served in the American war and been with the allies in Paris; and how he had seen much of his brother's literary circle, including particularly Brown and Keats, in the years immediately afterwards. Several biographical points, relating especially to the former, which had remained obscure in the printed authorities, he was able easily to clear up. Among other things he mentioned how he had himself (as well as his brother and Brown) bought a little land adjoining John (ver. 5) I do not venture to suggest Street, and built houses on it, which after a time he had let on sixty years' leases; "and a few years ago the leases fell in, and I sold the property." SIDNEY COLVIN.

THE ORIGIN OF Σεμέλη.

Oxford, August, 1885. SOME time ago Prof. Sayce was talking to me about the origin of the wine goddess Semele, which he believed to be Phoenician. I thought at once of the Hebrew word D, usually translated by "image,' ""likeness"; but as will be seen this can scarcely be the right translation (of

course it is nonsense to connect

or

משל with סמל

, and perfect insanity to compare it with simul). But so many hazardous conjectures are now at times made on Biblical words that I was plausible grounds. afraid to offer another conjecture without more A newly discovered Phoenician inscription, I think, will justify the conjecture I am going to make. Prof. Euting in his 'Epigraphische Miscellen' (Sitzungsberichte, &c., Berlin, xxxv., 1885) reproduces the following inscription, discovered in April, 1884, in the small bay called Κρεμμυδαροῦ, in the western part of the Piraeus. The inscription is now in

published it without a commentary in the the possession of M. Alex. Meletopulos, who Enuepis apxacoλoyiký, 1884, p. 68 (see also Inscriptions, 1884, p. 192 seqq.). The inscription M. Renan, Comptes Rendus of the Acad. des runs in Hebrew transcription thus :

אנך מחדש בן פנסמלת אש כתי

Νουμήνιος : Κιτιεύς. Translation: "I Mahdash, son of Pen-Semlat,

a man of Kition."

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Now, where we have a god in Phoenician we have also a goddess. Baal has Baalat, Semelat ought to have her Semel, and this last form I venture to find in the Biblical D. Let us take first the passage in Deut. iv. 16, "Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female." The tautology here is evident, unless we translate "make you a graven image, the likeness of any Semel, in the shape of male or female." We shall, indeed, find later on that Semel was represented in various likenesses. In 2 Kings xxi. 7 we read, "And he

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the image of the altar in the entry." Here in order to give a sense, and to harmonize the text with the rest of the passage, we must take the "image of jealousy as some well-known idol, for the second worship gives the anima idols (ver. 10), the third is the worship of Tammu (ver. 14, the Adonis), and the fourth is that o the sun. Now, if we render DD by Semel, th passage becomes clearer. What worship ther

ver. 3) an) קנאה המקנה is meant by the words

it must be of some abject kind. The old version do not help much to the understanding of thes words. Anyhow, the Masoretic reading N is peculiar. Should have here the mean ing which it has in the Mishnah, and b some unknown term with the same sense?

I may mention also an ingenious suggestion of Prof. Sayce. He believes we find a trace o Semele in the name of the Edomite kin Samlah (Gen. xxxvi. 37) of Masrekah. In fact verses 31 to 39 of this chapter seem to con tain some account of Edomite mythology. Sam lah, coming from Masrekah, which means wineland (from p), suits well with Semele.

Semel as well as Tammuz were introduce from Babylonia, they are, indeed, not men tioned before Jeremiah; Ezekiel knew thei worship from the place of his captivity. Thu it is possible that the wine legend of Noah wi be found in another form in an Assyrian table as was the case with the history of the Delug Then, perhaps, we may find what the wor (Gen. x. 23) really means, in which th seems strange. A. NEUBAUER

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THE NEW PUBLISHING SEASON.

THE Religious Tract Society has in the pre and will shortly publish the following works 'Norwegian Pictures,' drawn with pen an Canal, by Mr. R. Lovett, M.A.,-The King pencil, with a glance at Sweden and the Goth Windows; or, Glimpses of the Wonderful Worl of God,' by the late Rev. E. P. Hood,-'T Life of Lives; or, the Story of Jesus of Nazare M.A., The Life of Jesus Christ the Saviour in its Earliest Form,' by the Rev. W. S. Lewi by Mrs. Watson,-'The Life and Times F.R.G.S., Anselm's Cur Deus Homo,' tran Chrysostom,' by Rev. R. Wheler Bush, M.A lated into English by the Rev. E. S. Prout, M.A

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"By-paths of Bible Knowledge": "Assyria Sayce; and 'The Dwellers on the Nile: Chapter its Princes, Priests, and People,' by Prof. A. B on the Life, Literature, History, and Custom of Ancient Egypt,' by Mr. E. A. W. Budge, M. The Society has in preparation the followin books relating to missions: In Souther India a Visit to some of the Chief Missio Stations in the Madras Presidency,' by Mr Murray Mitchell,—'Jottings from the Pacific 'Outline by the Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, of Hinduism,' by Dr. J. Murray Mitchell,'Every-day Life in China; or, Scenes alon River and Road in the Celestial Empire,' by Mi E. J. Dukes, with illustrations from the author sketches,-and 'Every-day Life in South India or,the Story of Coopoos wamey: an Autobiography by E. Whymper. It also announces the under mentioned story books: 'The King's Service :

Story of the Thirty Years' War,'—'The Mistress of Lydgate Priory; or, the Story of a Long Life, by Miss E. Everett Green,—' One Day at a Time,' by E. Whymper,- Maddalena, the Waldensian Maiden, and her People,' rendered into English from the German by Julie Sutter, -Uncle Roger; or, a Summer of Surprises,' by Miss E. Everett Green,-' Berthold the Goatherd,' by Mary Anne Filleul,- Fresh Diggings from an Old Mine,' by Mary E. Beck, The Slippery Ford,' by M. C. Clarke, Phil's Mother,' by Eglanton Thorne, Dorothy Northbrooke,' by Miss E. S. Pratt, and 'Caroline Street,' by M. E. Ropes.

For the Christmas season Messrs. Marcus Ward & Co. will issue three picture books, printed in colour. Mr. Walter Crane has deoted his energies to the "decyphering" of a ad's adventures on first finding himself in the new world of slate and pencil-hence the title Slate and Pencil-Vania. Mr. F. E. Weatherly as rewritten the story of 'Punch and Judy,' which Miss Patty Townsend has illustrated. Iss Eliza Keary gives new versions, in a volume ntitled Three Fairy Princesses,' of the hisries of Snow White, the Sleeping Beauty, Ed Cinderella, for which Miss Caroline Paterson has prepared sketches in colour and utline. Another volume to be issued by the me publishers is 'The Golden Gospel,' being e Gospel of St. John printed in letters of old and enriched with medieval borders, with frontispiece after Thorwaldsen. The introuction is from the pen of the Rev. J. R. Macff, D.D. A series of four miniature textoks is in preparation, the texts and verses of hich were prepared by the late Frances Ridley avergal, while the pages of each volume are ecorated in colour with reproductions of some wer or grass. A birthday book is also being repared," The Primrose Birthday Book.'

THE SITE OF THE BATTLE OF BRUNNANBURH. South Petherton, Somerset. I WOULD venture to ask your correspondents ho are striving to settle the above vexed estion whether they have ever read pp. 598 in Pulman's 'Book of the Axe' (Longans, royal 8vo., 1875). The writer therein ves full reasons for believing that Athelstan's mous victory was gained near the town of xminster, close to the estuary of the Devontre Axe, and he quotes various authorities in pport of such reasons, amongst them :I. Leland, who, in his 'Collectanea,' vol. i. 202-3, gives the following passage from a orman-French chronicle relative to the battle: Ceste bataille commensa a Brunedune pres de liton et durai usques a Axeminstre que adon

ies fust appellez Bronebyri et la fust le grand rision et le ior devint a donques auoir noit." his battle began at Brunedune near Colyton, d extended as far as Axminster, which was en called Bronebyri, and there was the great aughter, and the day became night.)

2. A cartulary of Newenham Abbey (near Axinster) in the British Museum, written about 1340, which says: "King Athelstan gave e church of Axminster to seven priests, who uld there for ever serve God for the souls of ven earls and many others put to death in ttle with him against foreign invaders, which ght began at Calixdown, in the parish of Coly, and extended to Colecroft (now Colemead), low Axminster, on which spot they were slain 937." It is well known that in the parish Colyton there was formerly a chapel dedicated St. Calixtus, and in a charter of King Henry II., dated January 6th, 1546, to the Colyton fees, express mention is made of pel called Calesdoun Chapel." 3. Camden, who, in his 'Britannia' (Gibson's tion), records of " Axanminster that it is town famous only in ancient histories for tombs of those Saxon princes who were

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slain in the bloody battle at Brunenberg, and brought hither."

4. A chart or plan, in the British Museum (temp. Henry VIII.), of the line of coast from Seaton, in Devonshire, at the mouth of the river Axe, to the Land's End, extending several miles inland. Opposite the mouth of the Axe is the following memorandum: "The entrie of Otterford and Seton ryvers, good londyng, and in the tyme of King Athelstan there entrid at Seton dywse (divers) strange nacions, who were slayne at Axmyster to the number of v kings, viii erles, a busshope, and ix score thousand in the hole, as a boke old-written doth testyfye" (Cotton MSS., Augustus, I., vol. i. fol. 25-28).

The same writer (Mr. Pulman) goes on to say that it is recorded of the Saxons who fell in the battle that they were buried in the cemetery at Axminster, where a church existed; also that King Athelstan granted out of the royal demesne in that neighbourhood certain lands to the intent that seven priests might pray continually for the souls of the slain. Some glebe land called "Prestaller," presumably that given by Athelstan, remained attached to the church at Axminster when Mr. Pulman's book was written (A.D. 1875).

I must apologize for taking so much of your space, but although more might be added, I hope I have written enough to show that it still remains to be proved that the battle of Brunanburgh was not fought on the Devonshire coast. HUGH NORRIS.

Literary Gossip.

PROF. THOROLD ROGERS, M.P., has made a very important discovery while pursuing his investigations at Cambridge for additional volumes of his work on the History of Prices.' This is a set of accounts kept at King's College during 120 years, with the exception of one year, beginning with the year 1583. There is information accessible with regard to the missing year, so that the series of accounts is practically complete for the entire period. In addition to the facts furnished as to prices, these accounts contain many curious details illustrative of social life in olden days.

DEAN PLUMPTRE's translation of Dante's 'Commedia' in triple rhyme, on which he has been engaged for some years past, and of which some samples were printed in 1883, is now completed, and will appear in the work will also include the Canzoniere, in course of next year, in 2 vols. 8vo. will be illustrated by critical and historical metres corresponding to the original, and notes. It will be published by Messrs.

Isbister.

The

A ONE-VOLUME novel called 'The Last Meeting,' by Mr. Brander Matthews, author Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century,' will of 'The Theatres of Paris' and 'French be published shortly by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin. Mr. Brander Matthews has been spending the summer in London, and his new story will have copyright in England.

VISCOUNT WOLSELEY has just finished a complete revision of his well-known 'Soldier's Pocket-Book.' The new edition, which will be the fifth, is in the press, and will be published immediately by Messrs. Macmillan & Co.

THE work of Mr. Edwin Pears, now about to be produced by Messrs. Longman, though called 'The Fall of Constantinople,' is more properly designated by its second title, The Story of the Fourth

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Crusade.' treachery of Venice in consulting her own interests instead of those of the Christian powers of the West. Mr. Pears considers that the efficient cause of the fall of the Byzantine empire was really the conquest of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. Of late years this controversy as to Venice has engaged the attention of Mr. Freeman and others here, of writers in France, and more particularly of those of Germany. Mr. Pears has gone in detail into all the existing publications and records, but he brings further to the consideration the local knowledge cultivated by him during the learned leisure of a long sojourn in Constantinople. As to the later capture of the city, it is understood that the Servian historian Mr. Mijatovich is engaged in printing his own researches.

Its main motif is the alleged

returned from a visit to the Cape Colony, MR. G. BADEN-POWELL, who has lately Bechuanaland, the Free State, Basutoland, and Natal, has written an article on the South African question for one of the monthly reviews.

BODLEY'S LIBRARIAN telegraphs to us :"The first four papyrus fragments transcribed in Mr. Lindsay's letter of last week are parts of a Greek version of the alleged correspondence of Abgaras and Jesus. I shall write further particulars."

WE hear that the Harsnett Library at Colchester, of which an account first appeared in these columns, is at length to be taken in hand, and that the Corporation have entrusted to Mr. Gordon Goodwin the compilation of a catalogue. It is to be hoped that when completed it may be rendered accessible to bibliographers and students of Elizabethan literature.

A NEW work, entitled 'Humanities,' by Mr. Thomas Sinclair, M.A., author of 'Quest,' 'Goddess Fortune,' The Messenger,' 'The Mount,' 'Love's Trilogy,' &c., is in the press, and will shortly be published by Messrs. Trübner & Co. It consists of six

essays, mostly on Latin subjects of discussion. The closing paper is a vindication of humanism from the unnecessary detraction of teachers of popular religions.

PROF. CHURCH has just completed a new work entitled 'Two Thousand Years Ago; interesting period, the last days of the which he has sought to revivify that most or, the Adventures of a Roman Boy,' in Roman Republic. The work will be illustrated by Adrian Marie, of Paris, and will be issued shortly by Messrs. Blackie & Son.

DR. ANNANDALE, editor of the new edition pleted a new dictionary on the basis of the of Ogilvie's 'Imperial Dictionary,' has comImperial,' which will be published in October by Messrs. Blackie & Son under the title of A Concise Dictionary of the English Language, Literary, Scientific, Etymological, and Pronouncing.'

A NEW novel by Lady Duffus Hardy, entitled 'In Sight of Land,' will be published by Messrs. Ward & Downey.

THE eighth annual meeting of the Library Association will be held at the Western Law Courts, Plymouth, on Tuesday next and three following days. The Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. James, will preside. It is proposed to pay special attention to the subject of classification and to the administration

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