the treatment of his disease by the Abbot of Abingdon, which induced him to beseech his father on his death-bed to allow him to reward the services of the abbot by a gift of land. With the consent of the next heir a portion of the manor was cut off and given with the advowson of the church to the Abbot of Abingdon. Hence the new manor, which was driven like a wedge into the original manor and divided the southern from the northern portion of the parish, came to be known as St. Mary Abbot's. Subsequently the great estate was divided into four manors: (1) Earl's Court, so named from the Veres who became Earls of Oxford; (2) the Abbot's Manor; (3) the West Town; and (4) Notting Hill. Still later these were again reduced to two, viz., the manors of St. Mary Abbot's and Earl's Court. Some of the particulars relating to these changes are confusing, but Mr. Loftie has set them out with admirable clearness. His description of the boundaries is specially good; but the chapter in which he has placed the result of the most original research is that devoted to Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens. Topographers have been in the habit of attributing the enlargement of Kensington Gardens to two queens. Queen Anne is supposed to have added thirty acres and Queen Caroline three❘ hundred acres from Hyde Park; but Mr. Loftie shows that this is altogether a mistake, caused by a misreading of Bowack, and a confusion between the terms "park and "gardens." What are now Kensington Gardens were formerly the gardens and park attached to Nottingham House (afterwards Kensington Palace), and the thirty acres which Queen Anne added to the gardens were taken from Nottingham Park and not from Hyde Park. A plan in the Crace collection, dated 1725 (twelve years before Queen Caroline died), shows the boundary between Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to be the same as it is now. For setting right a matter in which all previous topographers have gone wrong Mr. Loftie deserves great credit.

Kensington is full of interesting associations, and Mr. Loftie has done justice to those which cluster around the palace and the church, and the many old houses, such as Holland House, Campden House, &c. The names of distinguished inhabitants are too numerous to catalogue; but Kensington may be justly proud of counting among them those of Addison, Swift, and Newton, Talleyrand and Wilberforce, Macaulay and Thackeray. The famous artists also who now inhabit this district must not be forgotten.

It is not with any wish to detract from the accuracy of the book that we point out a slight mistake, but rather to draw attention to the great changes which have taken place within the last few years in Notting Hill Road. General Fox did not live at Little Holland House, and the house he did live in was not pulled down at his death, but still stands, although in a somewhat dilapidated condition. This house was numbered 1, Addison Road, and attached to it were some beautiful gardens which joined Holland Park. About 1847 General Fox built along the Notting Hill Road a new brick wall to his grounds, which extended from Addison Road to Holland

Park. Now the wall is replaced by houses, and the clearance of General Fox's grounds after his death accounts for the curious circumstance that there are two entrances to Addison Road from Notting Hill.

We cannot praise the index, which seems to have been made by some one who did not know his business, for we notice such anomalies as Grinling Gibbons under Grinling, and Prince George of Denmark under P. The volume is beautifully got up, and the illustrations are So numerous as to run over into the index. These illustrations are so agreeable to the eye that they make even such commonplace houses as those in Silver Street look picturesque.

It is not often that a suburb which has fallen in social position is able to reinstate itself; but Chelsea has done this, chiefly owing to its convenient position on the banks of the Thames. Although fallen, it always remained an interesting place; and when the embankment of the river was completed in 1874 fashion again deigned to inhabit the district which had once been called the village of palaces. It is not only by the river that this change has taken place, for Belgravia has found its borders too confined, and the barrier of Sloane Street has now been overpassed. Tite Street and Cadogan Square, however, have no great charms for the lover of Chelsea; he turns his eye with pleasure to Cheyne Walk, a pleasure which, unfortunately, is mingled with regret that the fine old houses and their beautiful iron gates are so fast disappearing.

Mr. Martin has produced an interesting account of old Chelsea, and he has been well seconded by his coadjutor, who brings before us some of the picturesque bits which still abound in the place. The author does not trouble himself with documents, but, throwing over dry topographical details, he gives us a lively description of a summer's stroll. There is plenty of material without dealing with antiquarian research, and there are many great men and women to talk about.

The history of Chelsea begins with Sir Thomas More, and from his time to this the parish has been the favoured home of authors and artists. The Hospital, looking like a bit of the old world which has lost its way in the nineteenth century, forms the chief feature of the present Chelsea. Nell Gwynne has the credit in popular esteem of being the founder of this institution, but the honour ought more justly to be divided between John Evelyn and Sir Stephen Fox. The Botanic Gardens and the old church retain their antique character, and it is to be hoped that they will long remain. The existence of these places helps to reconcile us to the replacement of the Old Swan tavern (which served as a goal for the London watermen who rowed from London Bridge for Dogget's coat and badge, and as a place of jovial enjoyment for Samuel Pepys) by a modern antique mansion. All vestiges of Ranelagh have passed away, and in this connexion may be noticed a curious mistake which the author falls into. He affirms that Sir Robert Walpole was proud "to parade his lovely mistress, Miss Chudleigh," at Ranelagh. The character of the Duchess of Kingston is bad enough without having this additional slur cast upon it.

The historian of Chelsea has many changes to record, and the visitor or inhabitant of to-day finds it difficult to realize that fifty years ago this place was a retired village, and that at the end of the last century it was by no means an infrequent occurrence for the stage coach to London to be stopped by highwaymen in the King's Road. It is pleasant to find our American cousins coming over to this country and describing our oldworld districts, and we cordially welcome

this work of one of them.

Mental Evolution in Man: Origin of Human Faculty. By G. J. Romanes, F.R.S. (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.) UNDER this somewhat grandiloquent title Mr. Romanes has written an interesting and ingenious book on the origin of language treated as a part of the Darwinian controversy. Taking the ordinary_objections to the continuous development of organic life. culminating in man, Mr. Romanes finds the only one of any plausibility to consist in the power of articulate speech, which seems to make a specific difference between man and brute which no amount of development can bridge over. It is accordingly Mr. Romanes's object in the present treatise to prove that the difference is only one of degree, not of kind. He does this by applying Mr. Galton's metaphor of the origin of "generic images" to obtain a middle term between the percept and the concept. The idea was originally Mr. Galton's, and the application of it to bridge over the gap between perception and judgment was made by M. Binet in an ingenious little essay on the principles of reasoning. But Mr. Romanes has the credit of seeing the applicability of M. Binet's reasoning to the problem of the origin of language, and his present book is less disjointed and shows firmer grip of his subject than his previous works would lead one to expect.

Not that we think that M. Binet or Mr. Romanes has really succeeded in bridging over the gap between percept and concept. Mr. Galton's metaphor of generic images is ingenious, but, after all, it is only a metaphor. You see a number of elephants differing in colour, height, shape, &c.; these differences blur out, and you thus obtain a "generic image" of the elephant, just as you obtain a composite portrait by Mr. Galton's ingenious photographic arrangement. Now in the case of visual objects there is possibly something in the psychophysical process corresponding to the behaviour of the photographic plate, and so far Mr. Galton's metaphor is helpful. But there is nothing analogous with the other senses, and especially in the important set of notions we get from the motor sense the metaphor entirely fails. Yet Mr. Romanes takes this metaphor as expressing the literal truth in psychogony, and developes an elaborate system of nomenclature to answer to it. He calls " generic images recepts, distinguishing them from percepts and concepts, and he carries this distinction throughout his exposition of the logic and psychology of naming. He finds in these recepts the missing link between percepts and concepts, which opponents of evolution like the Duke of Argyll, Mr. St. George Mivart, or Prof. Max Müller have urged

CLASSICAL SCHOOL BOOKS.

The Eton Horace: Part I. Text.-The Eton Horace: Part I. Notes. By F. W. Cornish, M.A. (Murray.)-The Eton Horace,' it may be presumed, is designed to satisfy the needs of the Eton of to-day, but outside the precincts of that ancient foundation the excellence of the type and the arrangement of the edition with the notes in a separate volume will probably be more appreciated than the quality of text and commentary. Far more attention is paid to little niceties of translation than to questions of grammar and usage, as if it were intended to enable the student to prepare rapidly for a class lesson conducted with more haste than thoroughness. The rendering of scortum, Od. II. xi. 21, by "minstrel" is facetious, as also by an odd coincidence is Mr. Page's "maiden." In the same ode we observe two instances of unnecessary halting between two opinions, while there is no comment on "trepides in usum ævi." As the notes are intended for the lower and middle forms of a public school it especially behoved the editor to show decision, and to call attention to peculiarities of construction.

Latin Exercises in the Oratio Obliqua. By the Rev. J. H. Raven. (Rivingtons.)-Mr. Raven has bestowed great pains on the production of a useful book of Exercises in the Oratio Obliqua.' If he succeed in encouraging the plan of translating into Latin viva voce, he will have done good service. The analysis of the construction of the accusative and infinitive is thoughtful and suggestive; but Mr. Raven's own view of the matter is incorrect, as he takes the infinitive for an accusative case, which it certainly is not, though opinions may differ as to whether it is instrumental or locative or dative. The passages from Caesar, Cicero, and the poets are very neatly translated. It would be well if in a future edition Mr. Raven gave an exhaustive scheme of all possible sequences of tenses in oratio recta, and their corresponding forms in the different varieties of oratio obliqua, with examples.

Cornelii Taciti Ab Excessu Divi Augusti Annalium, Liber I. Edited, with Notes, by Rev. Edward Maguire. (Dublin, Browne & Nolan.)-Students who are asked to distinguish between decōră, děcără, and decorā cannot read Tacitus to much profit, and the edition before us may be better adapted for the cramming process which their case would require than a superior work. Mr. Maguire aims at assisting boys who, under the Intermediate Education system, have to encounter Tacitus on the very threshold of their Senior Grade year. It would require a more intimate acquaintance with the system in question than we possess to determine whether this not very exalted object has or has not been satisfactorily obtained. We confess to being ignorant whether correct spelling of Latin, such as ceteri, is to be preferred under the circumstances, or whether Mr. Maguire is wise in writing cæteri. It would not be easy to find a commentary burdened with fewer references to the author treated or other classical authorities. M. Tullii Ciceronis Pro A. Cluentio Oratio. With Explanatory and Critical Notes by W. Yorke Fausset, M. A. (Rivingtons.) Mr. Fausset has made out a very good case in justification of this tillage of a field already tilled so skilfully by Prof. Ramsay. The text of

the earlier edition does not find favour with so

many scholars as does that of Classen, which is the basis of the text before us, while a great deal of fresh work bearing on this speech has been done during the interval between the two

great pity that the excellent commentary is pleteness of the edition, which reaches the point placed at the end of the book. For the comde luxe, we refer our readers to the book itself, which all classical scholars will do well to study.

Livy, Book XXII. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, and Maps, by the Rev. Launcelot Downing Dowdall. (Cambridge, Deighton, Bell & Co.; London, Bell & Sons.)-Mr. Dowdall provides a good text, chiefly based on that of Madvig, but with a few judicious deviations. The commentary given in foot notes is copious, and affords abundant evidence of learning, industry, and good scholarship. We do not invariably approve our editor's readings, renderings, and annotation. For instance, in chap. xiii, we find "sed Punicum abhorrens ab Latinorum nominum pronuntiatione os, Casilinum pro Casino dux ut acciperet, fecit." The use of os in the sense required, namely accent, is at any rate sufficiently rare in prose to demand illustration, which is not given. We prefer to read "P. a. ab Latino nomine, Casilinum p. C.," When the ending of Casilinum got fixed on to nomin- by a slip of the eye, the change into Latinorum would be inevitable. On p. 70 occupatus is rendered "engrossed," which is a curious word to apply to the effect of a sudden resolution.

&c.

On p. 71, chap. xv., we are told that the assertion that Mancinus was "omni parte virium impar "" is incorrect, as Mancinus has no infantry"; but "omni parte" does not mean "in every arm" so much as it implies that the Romans and their horses were more fatigued than was the case with the enemy, while again the Roman position would no doubt be comparatively weak and their numbers inferior. From the note on bina, p. 73, chap. xvi., it might be inferred that Virg., Ec. iii. 30, was the only instance in Latin poetry of the use of the distributive numeral for a cardinal. A few such instances of dormitandi detract little from

the high value and great usefulness of Mr. Dowdall's work. It is a pity that there is no interesting points of criticism into focus, and separate essay on the text to bring the most that such excellent notes should not be thought worthy of an index.

THEOLOGICAL BOOKS.

Life of St. Jerome. By Mrs. Charles Martin. (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.)-This is a life of St. Jerome written by a sentimental woman for sentimental women. She has an unbounded admiration for the saint, and she is specially taken with him because he associated much with pious and cultivated women of exalted aspiraIn the writer's conception St. Jerome and his lady friends were noble, generous, selfdenying, tender, sublime in their aims, and marvellous in the self-abnegation with which they executed them; in fact, they were nearly

tions.

immaculate. St. Jerome's life is described in tant," and similar high-flown descriptions abound. one passage as "strange, original, devoted, miliHis opponents, on the other hand, were malicious, malevolent, jealous, spiteful, mean, vile, and contemptible. No epithets are black enough for them. Even if something like a fault in St. Jerome should force itself on the observation of Mrs. Martin, it is transformed into a virtue, and is the result of righteous indignation or a deep sense of justice and of sound doctrine. She sometimes endows him with qualities which it is difficult to realize. Thus she says that he had "the keen true scent of perfect orthodoxy to keep him always in the straight path." The

author mentions two French works, "from both of which," she says, "I have derived the most invaluable assistance." One of these is M. Amédée Thierry's 'Saint Jérôme.' If Mrs. Martin's book is compared with that of Thierry, it will be found that large portions of it are paraphrases of the French work, and that the author has borrowed not only facts, but opinions wholesale. The translations from St. Jerome seem to be made from the French. There is no proof that the author has studied the works of the saint in

Siècle.'

the original, and there are some curious transferences from the French to the English. Thus Thierry's Paul-Emile becomes Paulus Æmilia. The work is singularly inaccurate. Indifference to exactness makes its appearance in the preface The title of Thierry's and continues to the end. work is “Saint Jérôme, la Société Chrétienne à Rome et l'Emigration Romaine en Terre Sainte, par M. Amédée Thierry." This is how Mrs. Martin gives it: "The scholarly and delightful work of M. Amadée [sic] Thierry, 'Life of St. Jerome: Récits de l'Histoire Romaine au Ve The last part of the title is applied by Thierry to a series of works, and for his account of St. Jerome the form adopted in the first edition, not on the title, but as an advertisement, is more appropriate, Récits de l'Histoire Romaine aux IV et Ve Siècles,' for a large portion of St. Jerome's life falls within the fourth century. The style of the book is marked by grace and fervour. The author writes with intense faith and a great glow of enthusiasm. She is enchanted with her subject, and the work abounds in beautiful passages that appeal to the imagination and the heart. There is no table of contents and there is no index.

Christian Classics Series.-St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Casarea in Cappadocia, on the Holy Spirit. Translated, with Analysis and Notes, by the Rev. George Lewis, M. A. (Religious Tract Society.)-Mr. Lewis has produced a good translation. Á minute critic might, indeed, find many points on which to make remarks. Thus a single case is mentioned by St. Basil of a man who, by simply nodding with his head in the course of his testimony for Christ, was judged to be a fulfiller of all piety. Mr. Lewis, following the Latin translation, generalizes this statement, and translates, "When at the present day, if a judged to have fulfilled all piety." The alteration martyr for Christ does but nod his head, he is here, however, is so slight, and the apprehension of the meaning is so completely in the line of St. Basil's thought, that it is somewhat captious to find fault with the rendering; only any reader who should wish to quote St. Basil's opinion on any point would do well to appeal to the original and not to the translation. Indeed, the translation, appearing as it does as one of a series of "Christian Classics," may be regarded as specially intended for the edification of general readers, and for this purpose it is admirably adapted. The translation reads like straight home to the mind, and the student is an English work. St. Basil's thoughts come not perplexed by strange combinations of words arising from a too literal transference of the hand, there are too many purely modern exGreek idiom to English. Perhaps, on the other pressions, such as "connotation," "microscopic," conservative"; but this can be said in their favour that they give a correct notion of the with a short biographical notice, which is ideas of the original. The book is furnished accurate and supplies the requisite information, and with an appendix, containing notes which explain clearly the dogmas alluded to in the

work of St. Basil and similar matters.

The Fathers for English Readers.—St. Athanasius: his Life and Times. By the Rev. R. Wheler Bush, M. A. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)-This work deserves high praise. St. Athanasius himself is the principal authority for his own actions as well as opinions, and therefore the first duty of his biographer

is to study and master his writings. Mr. Bush has done this. He has perused all his treatises with the utmost diligence, and he has taken pains to get at his meaning. Mr. Bush has also weighed the trustworthiness of the various notices of him that are scattered over the writ

ings of the fourth and fifth centuries. Nor has he neglected to consult the modern works on St. Athanasius, and to note and quote any striking remark that has been made in regard to him. Mr. Bush admires St. Athanasius intensely, and accordingly he takes the most favourable view of his character, and regards as trustworthy nearly every statement which the saint makes about himself. But he endeavours to be fair, he is not altogether blind to his faults, and he does greater justice to the saint's adversaries than the saint himself was inclined to do. Mr. Bush has arranged his materials well. His book is pleasant reading. It details in an interesting manner the phases of the saint's chequered career; it expounds clearly his opinions, and furnishes a brief but accurate account of his writings. It is well adapted to give an ordinary reader a good idea of the life and works of St. Athanasius.

Euthymii Zigabeni Commentarius in XIV. Epistolas Sancti Pauli et VII. Catholicas. Nunc primum ad fidem Codicis Antiqui cum Prologo et Animadversionibus edidit Nicephorus Calogeras. Tomus Secundus. (Nutt.)-The first volume of this ancient commentary on the New Testament epistles was noticed in the Athenæum eighteen months ago. The second volume contains an interpretation of the epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Hebrews, and the seven Catholic ones. The prologue states that the editor came to the knowledge of Cramer's catence after more than half the present volume had been printed; that he compared the catenc on the Catholic epistles in the eighth volume of that work with the text of the MS. from which he was himself printing Euthymius's exposition, and found them nearly alike. But he gives seven reasons-not cogent ones, it must be admitted-for continuing the publication from his own manuscript. The volume is of the same character with its predecessor. Each epistle is preceded by a short summary, uncritical and commonplace. In regard to the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is assumed that Paul wrote it to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Palestine, and that he withheld his name lest he should give offence. The opinion that it was written in Hebrew, and put into Greek by "Clement, Pope of Rome," is merely mentioned. The sacred text in Euthymius is the common

The

one; but in 1 John v. 8 the three heavenly witnesses are omitted. In 1 Timothy iii. 16 the reading is Oeós épavepwon, which pleases the editor greatly. The interpretation shows no critical perception and elucidates little. reader will consult it in vain for the exposition of difficult passages, such as Philippians ii. 6-8, where μορφὴ is simply said to be φύσις ; and the σχῆμα of a man is what is outside his οὐσία, that is, his ἰδέα and μορφὴ and ἐπιφάνεια and φαινόμενον. The editor's notes, though few, have among them very properly the various readings of Cramer's catena on the Catholic epistles. We cannot pronounce a more favourable opinion on the value of Euthymius's commentary than we did before.

An Explanatory Commentary on Esther, with Four Appendices. By Prof. Paulus Cassel, D.D. Translated by A. Bernstein, B.D. (Edinburgh, Clark)-Prof. Cassel's commentary is eminently readable.

The author, who appears familiar with Rabbinical literature-the Targums, Midrashim, and Jewish commentators-does not neglect opinions opposite to his own, but does not give sufficient attention to them. And it is obvious that he is conversant with the history of the Jewish people, as also with that of other Oriental peoples so far as they came into

contact with them. His volume presents readable matter in a diffuse style, with constant digressions, so that others than scholars may be pleased as well as instructed. But it cannot stand rigid examination. As a literary production it is inferior; as a good commentary, perfunctory. The difficulties that present themselves in the way of the strictly historical view of Esther, the improbabilities, the marvels, require another handling than that which they receive from this conservative expositor. The close of the introduction prepares us for what follows:

"It is much to be deplored that Jews distinguished themselves prominently in introducing rationalistic and unscientific doubts against the book of Esther, and that these were not obscure men. It was Spinoza (see Keil, Introd.,' p. 473) whom Gesenius, Bertheau, Ewald, Meier, &c., followed, who placed the date of the book of Esther in the time of the Ptolemies and Seleucian kings, for which there is no ground, and against which everything speaks. The criticism of Zunz was not so great as his diligent compilation of the fragments of post-biblical literature. What Fürst observes on the book of Esther (Der Kanon des alten Testaments,' Leipzig, 1868, p. 105) is a thoroughly unscientific conception of the Talmudical passages about the Megilla. To the followers of the rationalism of Spinoza and his disciples belonged also Herzfeld in his History of the Jews' (ii. 358). Incomprehensible are the insinuations of Grätz (in the Monatschrift für Wissenschaft des Judenthums, 1886, p. 425). Jewish authors particularly should take the trouble to dig deeply into the history of ancient Israel. To catch the spirit of universal history is a conditional qualification for true exegesis, which qualification even Spinoza and Zunz did not possess. Hasty formulas were found for hasty assertions of unauthenticity and interpolation. AntiSemitism needed only to appropriate the exegetical the people, amongst whom some so carelessly

arts of rationalism in order to break the stave over

handled their own canon of the Scripture." The main point in the book of Esther is the institution of the feast of Purim, held by the Jews on the 14th and 15th of the month Adar, which is said to have arisen out of the inci

dents related of Mordecai and Esther. Here, too, is the chief difficulty, for the word pur, interpreted lot, is not a Persian word. Prof. Cassel throws no light on this peculiar term, but merely assumes what is stated in the text. Among the things thought to be improbable are the slaughter of 75,000 Persians by the Jews, who proved conquerors, the fact of a Jew being made grand vizier, the omission of Queen Esther and Mordecai to help their countrymen in Judea and Jerusalem, the revengeful spirit ascribed to both, the lack of a theocratic spirit in the book, and the absence of the name of God, who wrought so great a deliverance for His ancient people. The Persian king is mentioned by name 187 times; Jehovah never. How the professor can say that "the little book

To the

nothing to the clearing of the sense. first verse of the fourth chapter, which needs no exegesis, upwards of six pages are devoted. Fond as the author is of exhibiting his Hebrew and Rabbinical lore, his critical acquaintance with the former is not quite what it should be, else he would not connect, in chap. ii. 6, with

the last-mentioned name instead of with Mordecai. Again, his attempts to improve the text by altering it and to explain it in a new way are arbitrary, as is shown by the suggested D' for D in viii. 17; and by his new explanation of 123, iii. 15, which must be rejected. The appendices add nothing to the elucidation of Esther, though they occupy 140 pages. The first, which gives a translation of the second Targum, may interest scholars unacquainted with Aramæan; the others merely increase the bulk of the volume. On the whole, this commentary is far inferior to Bertheau's in the Exegetisches Handbuch,' and was scarcely worthy of an English dress.

OUR LIBRARY TABLE.

BIOGRAPHIES are growing more and more numerous. Among them are two volumes of The Life and Work of Duncan McLaren (Nelson & Sons), by Mr. J. B. Mackie. Mr. McLaren was a draper in Edinburgh who made his way by his own unremitting exertions, and, after taking an active part in local politics, finally obtained the object of his ambition, and was, in 1865, sent to Parliament as one of the members for Edinburgh. He retained his seat till old age compelled his retirement. The book is mainly taken up with Edinburgh politics, and will be perused with interest in Scotland. There are some letters of Cobden, but those of Macaulay are the most attractive things in the book. Mr. McLaren was active in forming the coalition by which Macaulay was ousted from his seat in 1847, a step of which Edinburgh speedily repented; and Mr. Mackie endeavours to prove, by printing letters of Macaulay's, and extracts from letters of Mr. Bright (whose brother in law Mr. McLaren became in 1848), that Macaulay was lukewarm in his support of the movement for repealing the Corn Laws. The charge was made at the time of the election of 1847, and as Sir G. Trevelyan has denied it in his well-known biography, he will probably notice this endeavour to substantiate it. The book is too purely political to be suitable for review in this journal.— The late Mr. William Ellis deserves honourable remembrance for his efforts to improve education and benefit the masses of the people; and it is somewhat a pity that the Memoir of William

Ellis

"In Persia the enemy of the king was regarded as the enemy of everything good, and even of the Deity, because he was their personified idea of God. Hence the memoir proves that the king derived only good from Mordecai and Esther. There is therefore no greater evidence of the genuineness, contemporariness, and prudence of the Megilla (scroll) Esther, than the very fact that it does not mention the name of God (17). Haman accuses the Jews that they do not keep the 'n, laws, of the king. is the product of the mind of his royal majesty, who is the representative of the Deity. Beside him no other god must be acknowledged or tolerated. If the Jews observe the П of their God, they do it in opposition to the king. The book cannot and must not mention the name of the eternal God under the circumstances, when every thing depends upon the king. The author is very careful to show that he is the friend of the king, and that his book was not written against him, but against Haman."

Of the same nature are his explanations of other improbabilities in the book. The commentary might have been improved by a close adherence to the text, and should not have been overloaded with numerous observations that contribute

been made distinctly impressive. William Ellis's father, Ellis de Vezian, was of Huguenot extraction, and his mother was half Italian. He had the Italian genius for finance together with French frugality and love of method, and as a teacher he was admirably effective, although his power of writing was small and his books by no means revealed the capacity of the author. this and much more may be gathered from Miss Ellis's volume, but unfortunately she has not put her matter into an attractive shape.

All

A PRETTY little memorial of the dinner given to celebrate the completion of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica' has been issued in the shape of a report of the proceedings, daintily printed by Messrs. Clark, of Edinburgh. Mr. A. Black's speech reads exceedingly well, and M. Yriarte's graceful remarks, which the reporters "burked,” are given in their integrity.

DIARIES and annuals continue to accumulate on our table. The Perennial Diary (Heywood) will be found of advantage by those who care not to keep a diary regularly, yet wish to note important matters.-We have frequently praised