Books of the Month

Literature and Criticism. In the English Men of Letters Series, the volume Gray, by Edmund W. Gosse (Harpers), is one where the fitness of the critical biographer for his task is singularly demonstrated. The refinement, the honesty, and the thoroughness of Mr. Gosse are well expended upon his charming theme. In point of fact, Mr. Gosse has added to our actual knowledge of Gray, besides doing the expected work of presenting him anew to modern readers. The book is delightfully written and contains subtle and just criticism. How admirably the author sets forth Gray, when he says, “There never was a professional poet whose mode was so thoroughly that of the amateur ” !

Politics and Political Economy. The melancholy death of W. Stanley Jevons renders his latest work one of special interest. It is either the first or one of the first of a series projected by Macmillan, entitled The English Citizen, a series of short books on his rights and responsibilities. Professor Jevons’a contribution is The State in Relation to Labor, and is a nervous, concise examination of the questions which have a frequent and practical interest for Englishmen. The principles discussed and some of the illustrations used have a bearing upon American questions, but no book could be written of equal applicability to both countries. — Of a somewhat different order is The Land Catechism, with the sub-title Is Rent Just ? What Political Economy Teaches Regarding It, by William Brown. (John Lovell and Son, Montreal.) Mr. Brown writes as a zealous prophet, and anticipates the day when “that triumvirate of curses, Rent, Taxation, and Usury, shall no longer blight the world and scourge our race.” The author is in earnest with his ideas. Practically, if rent were to be purchase by installments, we fear there would be none to act as landlords; and while the doctrine of every man his own landlord is an agreeable one, we do not quite see how it is to be accomplished except through the operation of the Jewish law of jubilee.

Fiction. In the Leisure Hour Series (Holt) another American novel has been issued, Kinley Hollow, by G. HHollister, which deals with country life in Connecticut, and bases its interest largely upon the presentation of character as affected by local religions and social influences. — Pantaletta, a romance of Shehe land (American News Company), is intended for a satire upon the supremacy of woman, but he must be a bold student of satire who would venture to extract either wit or wisdom from it. —The Annals of a Baby is a new edition of an anonymous book (Petersons), now claimed by the author, Sarah Bridges Stebbins. It is a somewhat effusive tribute to the domestic virtues. — The Slaves of Paris, by Emile Gaborian (Estes & Lauriat), is an exciting novel, by the author of File 113 and other works. The world in which it revels is one scarcely to be seen out of one’s windows, and it is fearfully and wonderfully constructed, with epigrams for cornerstones.— A Fair Philosopher, by Henri Daugé (Geo. W. Harlan & Co., New York), is in many ways an interesting book, but the audacity of the fair philosopher needs to be measured by an uncommon degree of timidity and conservatism; in some quarters, the philosophy would seem itself somewhat lagging. — In Lovell’s Library (John W. Lovell Company, New York), a weekly publication, devoted chiefly to fiction, have been published The Abbe Constantin, by Ludovic Halevy, translated by Katharine Sullivan, which had already been translated by another hand, and published by the Putnams; Freckles, by Rebecca Fergus Redeliff, a curious mixture of naturalness and romance, but with more vitality than most Southern novels; So They Were Married, by Walter Besant and James Rice. — In the Franklin Square Library (Harpers) the latest issues are the same novel of Besant and Rice, adorned by a frontispiece, displaying those gentlemen and what they had for dinner; A Model Father, by David Christie Murray; My Watch Below, or Yarns Spun when off Duty, by W. Clark Russell, a collection of short sea stories; Unknown to History, a Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland, by Charlotte M. Yonge; Fortune’s Marriage, by Georgiana M. Craik.—More distinctively for boys and girls is a pleasing volume entitled Summer Stories, by the good-natured and entertaining Mrs. Molesworth. (Macmillan.)

History and Biography. The History of Louisiana from the Earliest Period, by Francis Xavier Martin, has been reprinted (James A. Gresham, New Orleans), with the addition of a biographical sketch of Judge Martin by W. W. Howe, and a continuation of the history, in the form of aunals, down to 1861, by John F. Condon. Judge Martin’s history closes with 1815, and has a value in its later chapters from the familiarity of the author with events. His summary of the earlier history is formal and dry, with slight reference to authorities and with a judicial severity of tone. — The Battle of Cliancellorsville, by Samuel P. Bates (Edward T. Bates, Meadville, Pa.), is a contribution to history and rhetoric.

Guide-Books. King’s Hand-Book of Boston Harbor, by M. F. Sweetser (Moses King, Cambridge, Mass.), is a full and interesting disclosure of the charms of the district to which it introduces one. Mr. Sweetser has pursued a different policy from that which held in his previous books. When dealing with larger fields he was brief and business-like; now that he has a smaller area, he indulges in more history and anecdote. The book ought to become a favorite with visitors to Boston. We wish he had given a good map of the harbor and coast lines. — Hubbard’s Guide to Moosehead Lake (Williams) is the model of a guide-book, practical, sensible, telling one just what he needs to know, and presenting the results of sound experience.