the remarks upon the manufactures of the ancients (p. 356). Whether the original author or the editor should have the credit of these we do not know: it must be admitted that the substantial unity of the work is so perfect, that its best features might be easily attributed to either. W. F. A. THE class of religious biography to which Mr. Fox has just added the life of one who was making an era in the history of our Sundayschools, is exceedingly small: not that many things of this sort have not been attempted, but that the work has been badly done, false in its spirit, and evil in its influence. Many of these biographies hide all that is most valuable in their subject, his or her failures, weaknesses, and indiscretions; many others are written with the purpose of glorifying a particular creed, of course exaggerating its influence over an individual life, and denying its contracting, sometimes paralyzing, power over other minds: sometimes, the idol-worship is so excessive that one catches hardly a glimpse of a well-known friend; as, in the Sundayschool libraries, religious children are always beautiful as angels. The worst perversion of the opportunity of doing good by cheering the Christian with an inspiring example, is when a covert assault is made on some obnoxious sect, and facts are misstated, and insinuations are made to prejudice the public against those who cannot be heard in selfdefence. It need not be said that the memoir of the secretary of our Sunday-school Society is tainted with none of these faults, is generous in spirit, honest in statement, and free from man-worship; that the labor of love is performed with wise reference to the thousands of children who reverence Mr. Walker as a spiritual father; that, therefore, it will take its place alongside of the memoir of Henry Ware and his wife, as a silent builder-up of Christ's kingdom. One of the best things about it is, that, except in his year's labor for the Sunday-school Society, his life would pass for a failure, and had more than an average of 'disappointment, being baffled in the attempt to establish a bureau for our religious literature. But, in the spiritual sense, there was no failure at all; there was constant discipline, marked growth, a beautiful unfolding of character, and a conscious ripening for that home into which he entered too soon for us, but not for himself. Many are the excellent words he has spoken, like those to one reduced from affluence, * Memoir of James P. Walker, with Selections from his Writings. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1869. "I know it is unpleasant, but a man can never be quite sure of his manliness until he is stripped of the moral support of respectable belongings, and obliged to make shifts to get along. If he can do that with self-respecting dignity he may thank God for putting good stuff into him." But the best word of all was his life, so contented, loving, hopeful, diligent, prayerful, brave, that it quickens in every sympathizing breast the consciousness of immortality. F. W. H. THE prolixity of Coleridge's biography of Keble ; * his constant apologies for the introduction of personalities; his frequent diversions to side-topics; the occasional use of unmeaning letters, make one desire, for the author of the "Christian Year," such a biographer as George Herbert found in Isaac Walton. Still, through all imaginable imperfections, the beautiful spirit of that English Greenwood makes itself felt, consecrating every chapter; blessing every event; making the whole impression like rich cathedral music heard from afar. Not only satisfied to live away from the homage his talents, learning, piety, might have readily found, Keble devoted himself to the poor. When unable to preach, he gave all his strength to pastoral visiting. When absent from his parish with his sick wife, he cared not to preach in others' pulpits so much as to minister in the humblest homes; especially caring for the children of the flock. His preaching was not eloquent, learned, popular; but, in almost tearful humility, in childlike simplicity, and motherly tenderness. He undervalued his pulpit efforts, so that it was hard to persuade him to print. He shrank from all display; and never liked to be hunted out as the great Christian poet. Still, upon the occasion of an American gentleman's desiring, at the close of the church service, a bit of ivy cut by his own hands from his churchwall, Keble was amused, and answered the request with a liberality that must have cheered many distant homes. Coleridge speaks almost judicially of the holy influence of Keble's famous book, representing it, truly enough, as putting the tasteful reader into that state of feeling in regard to himself which his conscience approves, and, towards his fellow-beings and his Maker, that in which he would desire to be; soberly hopeful as to himself; loving, grateful, and reverential to his Maker. But, a vast deal more ought to have been said of some of the most beautiful lyrics in the language; of hymns which are peculiar * Memoir of the Rev. John Keble. By Right Hon. Sir J. T. COLERIDGE. Oxford: Parker & Co., 1869. favorites wherever known, and spiritual musings which kindle a flame of cheerful devotion in unnumbered hearts. There was wanting, however, something of musical taste, something of large acquaintance with mankind, something of the vigor of a progressive faith, to save his hymns from being, at times, wearisome and monotonous. Keble's death came on as he was reading the scripture-lessons to his sick wife. Coleridge, speaking of Keble's repeating the Psalms after his sister was dead, at her bedside, intimates that she might still hear the words, with enlarged apprehension and more unmixed delight. Besides the "Christian Year," in several editions, and the "Lyra Innocentium," Keble published the "Psalms of David," in English verse; "Ecclesiastical Adoration;" "Argument against Divorce;" Argument against Divorce;" two "Tracts of the Times;" "Letter to a Member of Convocation; "Catholic Subscription to the XXXIX Articles ;' "Life of Thomas Wilson;" "Academical Sermons; ""Prælectiones Academicæ;"" Sequel of the Argument against Divorce;" "Women Laboring in the Lord;" "Pentecostal Fear;" "Litany of our Lord's Warnings;" and "Selections from Hooker on the Sacraments." F. W. H. GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS. MAJORCA has not come within the circle of ordinary European travel, nor found a place in Bradshaw; yet has the attractions of a contented, courteous, unsophisticated, patriarchal population; of a delicious climate, exceedingly varied scenery, a superb cathedral, and the magnificent cave of Arta.* Captain Clayton was charmed by the courtesy to strangers, the moderation of hotel charges, the actual absence of suffering and crime. Madrid pleased him far less, with its scorching heat or biting cold, its miserable misgovernment and stagnation of business, its forlorn position, and general poverty. But its gallery full of real gems, such as sixty-four pictures by Velasquez, fortysix Murillos, forty-three Titians, ten Claudes, sixty-two Rubens, and ten Raphaels, collected from the Escorial, La Granga, and El Pardo, charmed him beyond measure. And yet, with all this inspiration at its capital, art is dead in Spain; the English are the chief admirers in the royal museums; silence broods over these wonders of art; the instinctive reflection is, regret that so peerless a collection lies not within reach of most of those whom it would quicken and cheer. *The Sunny South. An Autumn in Spain and Majorca. CLAYTON. London: 1869. By Capt. J. W. The Escorial was too gloomy for this lively officer; decay confronted him everywhere; the grim statues and fading frescos harmonize too well with the burial purpose of the vast pile. Gerona, however, capped the climax of desolation, every thing crumbling and passing away, without any hope of change, any desire to resist the process of dissolution. But every part of Spain is forlorn as can be: an exceedingly fertile country produces very little to-day; a once enterprising people lie as if palsy-stricken; the mightiest of monarchies can hardly cope with a rebellion in one of its islands; an intelligent race presents hardly a specimen of living literature. Captain Clayton doubts about the resurrection of this buried glory; he magnifies the tyranny of the Jesuits, the craft of the priests, the superstition of the people. In evidence of the brutality of the people, he tells of a seven-years-old girl whom the yells of the audience drove, against her will, up the tightrope of a theatre, and then jeered and hissed when she succeeded. He did not witness the provincial juntas governing themselves after the queen's flight, showing their capacity for independent jurisdiction; he has not faith enough in republican principles to see this impoverished government working its way, through repeated disappointment, not at once to the stand-point of a prosperous republic, but to some constitutional form of monarchy, which will certainly educate the nation for something better in the future. F. W. H. IN the Yo Semite Book,* the most thoroughly American and most interesting work of the kind, Professor Whitney furnishes a minute guide to that wonderful scenery which he has spent several years in studying and making known. In 1864, Congress granted this gorge to California, to be held for ever for the recreation of the nation. Its true name, Alwahnee, is now merged for ever in that of an Indian chief, Yo Semite, or Grizzly Bear. Its distance from San Francisco, in a direct line, is one hundred and fifty-five miles, nearly half of which can be travelled on wheels. Ten days are necessary for the trip, including three days for the survey of the valley. The distinguishing features of the place are, the gigantic cliffs on either side; the vast height of the vertical walls compared with the width of the opening; the small amount of debris at the bases of the mountains; and the magnificence * The Yo Semite Book: a Description of the Yo Semite Valley and the adjacent Region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the Big Trees of California. J. D. WHITNEY, State Geologist. New York: 1868. of the waterfalls. Gavarnie, in the Pyrenees, the highest European cataract, has a vertical descent of one thousand two hundred and sixtysix feet. Voring Foss, the grandest, falls eight hundred and fifty feet, but can only be seen from above. The Bridal Veil, in the Yo Semite, has a descent of nine hundred feet. The Virgin's Tears, on the other side, about one thousand; and the Yo Semite Fall, two thousand six hundred feet in all. In fact, there are five grand cataracts in this limited space, the highest far surpassing any other in the world; and each of the others, in the water-season, abundantly repaying a visit. The big trees lie in eight groups; one of them numbering three hundred and sixty-five, and another six hundred. One set has four trees over three hundred feet in height; the "Mother of the Forest" is sixty-one feet in circumference, without its bark, at six feet above the ground; and several trees in the Mariposa Grove are nearly ninety feet at the ground. A hunter stumbled upon them first in the year 1852. His story was not believed. At last, the reality was found to exceed his description; and now the travel of the world is slowly turning towards what has lain hid until modern facilities of locomotion bring the prize within reach. It is well that some one is charged with the business of watching over these precious memorials of the past. It is well that they are no nearer to the great mart of Pacific commerce. It is well that so young a State as California has entrusted to a thoroughly competent person (the head of the Mining School at Cambridge) the business of revealing its natural treasures to the world at large. The twenty-eight photographs, the great charms of the book, are perfectly beautiful: indeed, the book exists for their sake. F. W. H. ALTHOUGH his "Last Rambles "* are not a recent experience, it is one which Catlin has a peculiar right to tell, having devoted his life, talent, and fortune to an expiring race. Some pleasant stories of hunting rattlesnakes, ostriches, and kangaroos, are given as a sauce to the banquet; then Catlin enters a stout protest against the idea of the Indians having come from any other continent to this, - insisting that they were created here, and at the time other races were created. One hundred and twenty tribes have given him their distinct traditions of the deluge, and their peculiar theory of creation; the Maerdans believing they were created under ground; the Choctaws that they were created crawfish; the Sioux that they * Last Rambles among the Indians of the Rocky Mountains. By GEORGE CATLIN. London: Sampson Low, 1868. |