But it must be said that the wider audience will hardly be so interested as would have been the case had he hit upon a happier arrangement of his material. As it is, his book lends itself to desultory rather than consecutive reading. Its author wanders too rapidly and disconnectedly from theme to theme, indulges over-freely in allusion, and demands too great a previous knowledge of Irish history, legendary as well as authentic. Nevertheless, the book will be found well worth the pains necessary to read it, and should meet an especial welcome from prospective travelers in Ireland, who, we observe, Mr. Gwynn is quick to differentiate from "tourists." (The Fair Hills of Ireland. By Stephen Gwynn. The Macmillan Company, New York. $2.)

The Flight of Marie Antoinette

With an incredible minuteness of detail the story of three tragic days in the life of the French Queen is told in a large illustrated volume translated by Mrs. Rodolph Stanell. A heroic figure surrounded by weak dependents, her children, and the slow-witted, foolish King, it is no wonder that she inspired romantic devotion in the hearts of a few brave men. Among these, Count de Fersen, a Swedish nobleman, takes the first place as the Queen's deliverer. On the 20th of June, 1791, the royal party left Paris at night, and, aided by a few faithful friends, escaped as far as Varennes. There they were overtaken and brought back prisoners. This brief tragedy, the opening scene to be followed by increasing dangers and tumults, is described, with each actor concerned in it. The volume may have a useful place among historical documents, but it will be found tedious and almost trivial in its exhaustiveness. It contains a large number of prints of places and people concerned in the affair. (The Flight of Marie Antoinette. From the French of G. Lenotre, by Mrs. Rodolph Stanell. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. $1.50.)

We would commend this

The Fortune of little volume of essays and the Republic addresses to the careful consideration of all who, by reason of the revelations of the past two or three years, are beginning to despair of the future of the United States. Rather, as Dr. Hillis in his sturdy optimism declares, should they rejoice in that these revelations bear witness to a public sentiment determined to rid the body politic of the germs of corruption and death. Searching further, as Dr. Hillis has searched in several years of travel through every State and Territory in the Union, the pessimists will find a wealth of evidence to dissi

pate their fears and convert them to his belief that "any darkness there is on the horizon is morning twilight and not evening twilight." This evidence is summed up in the growth of the religious spirit, the increasing popularization of education and culture, and the passing of sectionalism. Specifically, Dr. Hillis believes that everything points to a still greater America, greater in religion, in morals, in politics, in art, and, last though not least, in National unity. It may be objected that some of his generalizations are incapable of positive proof and are open to dispute, but nevertheless the candid reader must carry conviction from his pages, and with conviction the determination to play his part in realizing the ideals Dr. Hillis has set forth. word, his book makes for religious and intellectual betterment and for a whole-hearted, robust patriotism that must be up and doing. Dwight Hillis. The Fleming H. Revell (The Fortune of the Republic. By Newell Company. $1.20, net.)

Guide to Preachers

In a

Laymen who would qualify themselves to preach acceptably and effectively-and there is need of many such-will find this an eminently helpful book. It covers the whole subject-the Biblical, doctrinal, homiletical, rhetorical conditions of preaching and reasoning suitably to the needs of the modern world. Such subsidiary matters as language, literary style, elocution, and delivery receive proportionate treatment, and the important requisite of furnishing the layman with points helpful in his conflict with popular skepticism is not overlooked. There is no other book that so wellmeets the present want. The lists of books recommended are, with two exceptions, all British. Some excellent American substitutes should have had mention for the convenience of American students. (A Guide to Preachers. By Alfred E. Garvie, M.A., D.D. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. $1.50, net.)

The Imitation

of Christ"

Every lover of this immor. tal book, the radiant product of a dark age, will be glad that it has found here a sympathetic and competent interpreter. A common misinterpretation of it is current; viz., that it is solely self-interested, concerned only for the good of the individual apart from his fellows. Though the distinguished name of Dean Milman is subscribed to this opinion, it is a strange misjudgment of one who wrote, "If you would be carried, carry another." That à Kempis was a thoroughgoing altru ist, "in fact a socialist rather than an indi vidualist," his commentator easily shows,

His aim must still be our aim-the Christianization of Christendom. Then atheism and lust defiled the Church. To-day selfinterest in more refined forms of materialism has enervated it. Now, as then, great changes are impending. It was the wide upwelling of the mystic religious spirit, which has left its greatest memorial in "The Imitation of Christ," that produced a reformed Church, and so "made modern Europe possible." The same antagonistic principles, now as then, confront each other; the spirit of à Kempis has still further victories to win, and his book is a book for all time, until "The City of God," the dream alike of the Stoic philosopher and the Christian theologian, is realized on earth. The mooted question of its authorship is here critically discussed, and its authenticity fairly demonstrated; its structure is analyzed, and the various sources shown from which its author drew; lists and accounts of its manuscripts and printed editions are given; many fine illustrations, including some facsimile pages, are added; full recognition is shown to the work of Thomas's fellow-mystics. In short, it is a timely and helpful commentary upon a great recreative and reconstructive movement, the soul of which, in Thomas's little book, is still "marching on." (Thomas à Kempis. By J. E. G. De Montmorency, B.A., LL.B. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $2.25, net.) An unpretentious but valuable little book is this, born out of an

Joyous Religion experience of hard trials. It invites to the way out of darkness and storm into light and peace. Its fundamental positions are true psychologically and ethically, as well as in the mystical religious life. It may be heartily commended to all who would reach the high levels of "the life that is life indeed," where no cloud or storm is that the sun does not quickly dissipate. (Rejoice Always. By Frank S. Van Eps and Marion B. Van Eps. Published by the Authors, New York.)

Lord Acton's Lectures

Hitherto the general public has had scant opportunity to avail itself of the erudition of the late Lord Acton, celebrated as the most learned man in Europe; but now, it seems, some rich gleanings from his scholarship are at last to be given to the world. Of these the first installment is just to hand in a volume of lectures edited by Mr. John Neville Figgis and Mr. Reginald Vere Laurence. The lectures are those on modern history delivered by Lord Acton as Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, and are doubly interesting as revealing the spirit in which he approached the study of history

and the idea underlying the monumental "Cambridge Modern History" which he planned, but in the execution of which he was able to take small part. To Lord Acton, it is very evident, history is the study of studies, and it is equally evident that he regarded as of most moment the history of the centuries intervening since the Renais sance and the Reformation. To him, too, the great thing was historical thinking rather than historical learning, "solidity of criticism" rather than "plenitude of erudition." For this he found all-sufficient reason in his view of history as the interpreter of the present. In this view, too, may perhaps be found the secret of the caution that so long kept him a student instead of a teacher of history. But, as these lectures amply demonstrate, once he began to teach he did not hesitate to formulate conclusions and pass verdicts. Modern history, as he presents it to us, is a vindication of general ideas, and for him, in his maturity at least, general ideas held no terrors. Take this pregnant sentence, expressing in a few words his conception of the salient feature, the central fact, of the historic cycles since the Reformation: Beginning with the strongest religious movement and the most refined despotism ever known, it [the subversion of established forms of political life by the development of religious thought] has led to the superiority of politics over divinity in the life of nations, and terminates in the equal claim of every man to be unhindered

แ

by man in the fulfillment of duty to God—a

doctrine laden with storm and havoc, which is the secret essence of the Rights of Man and the indestructible soul of Revolution." Sometimes, indeed, his generalizations must be held suspect, even in positive error. Thus, in the lecture on the American Revolution we must query his assertion that the colonists"were not roused by the sense of intolerable wrong," and that the Declaration of Independence was too rhetorical to be scientific." But in the main there can be little question of the soundness of his views, the correctness of his attitude. And, what is not unimportant, the lectures show that, "scientific" historian though he was, he was keenly alive to the human element in history. Whether he is speaking of the discovery and exploration of the New World, of the Reformation, of the counter-Reformation, or of the Thirty Years' War, his thoughts center about some commanding figure, and through this figure reveal alike movements and forces and principles. (Lectures on Modern History. By the late Right Hon. John Edward Emerich, First Baron Acton. Edited by John Neville Figgis,

M.A., and Reginald Vere Laurence, M.A. The Macmillan Company, New York. $3.25.) "This book," says its author, The Master the Dean of Faribault, "attempts to interpret Jesus Christ in the light of modern scholarship." It does this in the form of characterization, as Dr. Bushnell did long ago, rather than of narrative. The record of the Master's deeds may be called in question by critics; but after scholarship has given all the light it can, and all documents and institutions have borne their testimony, the personal traits that are beyond controversy shine forth. The net result is that in Jesus Christ humanity is seen divinized and God humanized. Written from a conservative standpoint, the volume is free from dogmatism, while leading up to the teaching of the Nicene Creed. Its framers, as we know, did not believe with Dean Slattery that God and man are essentially of the same nature. But this view opens the question, In what sense was Christ " more than man"? as the Dean concludes. He is content to accept it as a fact, and to leave it as a mystery. (The Master of the World. By Charles Lewis Slattery. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50, net.)

A Modern Knight

The effect of municipal right eousness is demonstrated by Mr. George in this most modern of romances. The Knight rides forth to overthrow the giant called Graft, and he wears his lady's favor on his helmet. But the mystery and the misery appear in the train of the harmless double life of the ladyat home the devoted daughter of a railway king, and in the working world a young artist in stained-glass window designing. The Knight knows her only in the second character, until the forces of evil in a misgoverned city combine against him, and he almost loses both prize of honor and love of lady. While there are parts of the story that too thinly for artistic effect disguise the especial message that Mr. George feels himself commissioned to utter, the tale is well told and worth telling. The mixture of Scotch and Irish used by the district boss could be improved, and some unnecessary bad spelling might be eliminated to the advantage of the tale. (The Romance of John Bainbridge. By Henry George, Jr. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50.)

This is a new volume in the Lang

Oxford ham Series of Art Monographs.

Any one who expects to visit Oxford could do no better than to slip into his pocket this neat and handsome small volume. In many ways it would be vastly superior to the ordinary guide-book, and has also the advantage

of presenting the beautiful university town and its colleges through photographs and drawings that are truly admirable. (Oxford. By H. J. L. J. Masse, M.A. The Langham Series. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1, net.)

Pardner of Blossom Range

A Western novel of average merit. (Pardner of Blossom Range. By Frances Charles. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $1.50.) Sermons by a widely popular

Paths to the

City of God preacher meet a wide welcome. In the present volume the Chicago pastor impresses one with a sense of asymmetry. He seems to give disproportionate attention to the "fall" of Adam with its alleged consequences, and the fall of Chicago, with its palpable consequences, from the moral ideals of all good citizens. He is at his best in "The Lessons of the Rainbow," "The Treasures of the Snow," "Religion and Art," "The Angel in the Sun." But in "Action and the Religious Life" he gives an essay in general terms, instead of a drum-beat to specific and neglected duties. Dr. Gunsaulus is gifted with a rhetorical power such as a successor of the Biblical prophets needs, and it is not exempt from he need of a chastening curb. The con dons which in our great cities call for prophets of the Biblical type present a field for the exercise of such a power in opening "paths to the city of God" which these sermons, except in a half-page, do not seem to recognize. (Paths to the City of God. By Frank W. Gunsaulus. The Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. $1.25, net.)

Pauline Studies

A welcome greets this volume by the distinguished geographer and historian who published, a dozen years ago, the widely known work, "St. Paul, Traveller and Roman Citizen." Of the fif teen essays it contains nearly half are new or substantially new. The remainder, originally appearing in various magazines, have been thoroughly revised and improved. The critical study of early Christian history is not yet, as Professor Ramsay holds, duly influenced by the new learning of Roman Imperial history-a remark especially pertinent to critics of the Acts of the Apostles. Among the most interesting of these essays are two upon the Acts, whose Lucan authorship is vigorously maintained against Professor McGiffert. Another, the "Statesmanship of Paul," develops a view favored by many scholars, that Paul cherished the design of making the Roman Empire Christian: "Had it not been for Paul-if one may guess at what might have been—no man would now remember Roman and Greek

civilization." That Paul fills so much of the New Testament is "because of his personal qualities and historical importance." A striking paper shows that the worship of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus took place at "a critical, epoch-making date in the development of Byzantine government and religion,” as a substitute for the pagan cult of the virgin goddess Diana. Other important articles might be mentioned did space permit. Not only does Professor Ramsay bring fresh and valuable instruction from the field of his special study, but he renders good service as a judicious moderator of the schools of critics. (Pauline and Other Studies in Early Christian History. By W. M. Ramsay, Hon. D.C.L. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. $3, net.)

"A Romance of Old Wars"

A Romance of has something of the quality Old Wars of a fine old tapestry. The action takes place in the fourteenth century in France, during the reign of Charles VI. The story is well written-in the self-conscious, elaborate manner which is supposed to give historical perspective—and the plot is brought to an artistic close. But the writer, in common with all narrators but the very greatest, sees the past pictorially, romantically, showing the superficial-pageant and leaving unexpressed that absolute humanity which makes it as real and living as the present. (A Romance of Old Wars. By Valentina Hawtrey. Henry Holt & Co., New York. $1.50.)

This is an elaborately “historically Romola illustrated” edition in two volumes. The effort has been, in the words of the Introduction," to apply the Röntgen rays of criticism to the fair form of 'Romola' in order to behold the historical skeleton divested of all clothing of romance." So we have facsimiles of the library slips by which George Eliot and Mr. Lewes drew books relating to Florence, every conceivable view of the historical monuments and architecture

of Florence, and much else collected arduously, not to say painfully. And still Romola remains, a noble and beautiful romance. (Romola. By George Eliot. In 2 vols. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. $3, net.)

"Salvage" belongs to the class of

Salvage light-weight novels, but it captures

the interest at once and sustains it without lapse—a successful story of its kind, with no underlying philosophy or special motive, but good in plot and style. After an opening scene in London, which provides an element of mystery, the action continues in New York, where the various interests are subordinated to a well-managed love story. The

characters are well conceived and ingeniously related. (Salvage. By J. Aquila Kempster. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50.)

Scotch Sermons

The author of these discourses, the Principal of the United Free Church College at Aberdeen, is better known among American scholars and theologians than in our churches. In these, however, this volume of sermons on the Christian life will find a deserved welcome. Thoroughly evangelical, they are concerned with inward culture rather than with outward activities. They are not of the sort that in of the kind that touch thoughtful hearers our country attract popular audiences, but or readers in the meditative moments when, to understand ourselves, we must be by ourselves. (The Other Side of Greatness, and Other Sermons. By James Iverach, M.A., D.D. A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. $1.50, net.)

Some Irish Yesterdays

A series of wordy and frag

mentary attempts to depict Irish life and character. The book is seldom interesting, often dull, and sometimes almost unintelligible-and therefore not to be compared with the genuinely entertaining books of Irish sketches by these writers which have had great popularity. (Some Irish Yesterdays. By E. O. E. Somerville and Martin Ross. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50.)

In noting a fresh issue of Dr. Soteriology Du Bose's well-known work it suffices to recall The Outlook's comment upon its appearance in a new edition in 1899: "It has been recognized as one of the strongest contributions that recent years have brought to the Catholic-orthodox teaching on the Scriptural doctrine of salvation." (The Soteriology of the New Testament. By William Porcher Du Bose, M.A., S.T.D. Reissue. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.50, net.)

Something more than anTwenty Years of nals and something less

the Republic

than history-such is Professor Harry Thurston Peck's "Twenty Years of the Republic," which perhaps may be best described as an entertaining and in some respects illuminating account of the most significant events in the recent political, economic, and intellectual life of the United States. In these pages Professor Peck shows himself an acute observer and intelligent student of conditions obtaining in the world of affairs. A trained journalist, he appreciates the necessity of sustaining the interest and appealing to the imagination of his readers, and not once does the action lag in