"The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock,' by Thomas Nelson Page, is published by Charles Scribner's Sons. One may be confident of finding in a story by Mr. Page refinement, simplicity, tenderness, and a light play of humor and pathos revealed in a pleasant clarity of atmosphere. The novelette, just published, is characterized by the usual traits, though pathos predominates.

Notwithstanding a cosmopolitan experience, Mr. Page seems to prefer working in but one vein,-unless we except a romance of his in which a mountain-hut of Norway is the scene of action. His fancy is very susceptible to the pensive charm of old Southern cities and plantations; and he is able to transfer this charm to his narratives with no loss of its delicate essence. The life that he chooses to depict, and his own manner of writing, are equally devoid of latterday "smartness."

"The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock' is an idyl of the once aristocratic quarter, now become antiquated, of a Southern city. The union of good breeding and naïveté in the social life of the town is exquisitely shown. And to those who are penetrable to the sentiment of places, to the eloquence of old houses, old gardens, old streets, and who love a dewy-eyed heroine with what Victor Hugo calls a "sweet, dear, flowery bonnet," this summer-story of a city will give a refreshing hour.

The Old Gentleman, its central figure, is a bit of protraiture which could be done only by another gentleman of the same school, though living some generations later.

Mr. Page, in his aversion to fine writing, sometimes lets the colloquial style lapse into useless repetition. Such a sentence as the following, on the occasion of an old servant's admitting visitors for his master, is careless: "He said that he would see whether he could see us. ." Others equally careless could be quoted. These trifles would not be worth remark, except that it is a pity to find anything in common between so nice a piece of art and the many slip-shod books of the day.

The book appears in the Ivory Series, a set of small volumes, each containing one story running from a hundred to two hundred pages.

We have received from Putnam's an attractive volume containing two Essays on French History,' by James Eugene Farmer. In the first is traced 'The Rise of the Reformation in France,' and in the second the author gives a good description of The Club of the Jacobins.' Based chiefly on secondary sources, the work should do useful service in furnishing a foundation for more extensive study, at the same time correcting false impressions among non-professional readers. If, for example, Mr. Farmer succeeds in overthrowing the popular idea that a Jacobin was at all times an extreme and bloodthirsty republican, his work will be amply justified.

Bury's edition of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall,' is an admirable guide for historical students. We have Gibbon's matchless style, and Bury's critical editing, which corrects mistakes and adds the results ob

tained by modern scholarship. The third volume which has recently appeared covers the period from 363 to 455 A. D. in chapter XXV to XXXV inclusive. It is supplied with a map of Europe about 450 A. D.

As in the preceding volumes there are many addi tions and corrections in the notes, but the part to which the scholar turns with the greatest pleasure is the appendix. Again we have, in ten pages, a masterly discussion of the authorities. The informa. tion furnished here can not be obtained elsewhere in English, and nowhere else in as concise and exact a form. In the remaining eighteen pages of the appendix, Bury discusses twenty-seven topics on which modern research has thrown additional light. Some of the questions are not yet decided, but the editor gives us in a nut-shell the present status of opinion. In number 21 we have a probable explanation of one of the very few obscure sentences in Gibbon.

We have from Bellwood & Joly 'Invincible Charme' by Daniel Lesueur. It has so long been a practice to sprinkle English with commonplace French

chic,' 'svelte,' 'charmante,' 'ravissante,' 'chère,' have helped us out so often-that when the old order changes, and we find French besprinkled with English, we hardly know what to think. It is more of a surprise because of French linguistic pride and exclusiveness. What does it mean? Anglomania?

There is in 'Invincible Charme' an effect so intentional that it is almost a swagger of familiarity with English life, English habits, and the English tongue, though the action all takes place in France and Madagascar. The setting is very modern and up-to-date, as smart as it can be, in short, the latest thing.

The book opens with a 'meet' on the hunting-field; and we learn that in the midst of this concourse of hounds, horses, and scarlet coats, "un break et un boghei promettaient leurs confortables banquettes aux gens agés ou paresseux." "Un break," of course, we recognize, and "un boghei" we are pleased to believe is a buggy. At first sight the word "Taïant, taiant" is a problem, but upon second thought,-Tallyho, tally-ho. Later we hear of five o'clocks and other British fads as part of Paris life, the words for them occurring in French sentences without any italics, as though quite at home. Have these words been Gallicized? Sleeping cars are comparatively rare on continental trains, but they are spoken of familiarly. "On dormait ou ne dormait pas dans le sleeping." remarks some one off-hand. "Le sleeping!"-it sounds like the French of Killyloo. How many Saxon heroes have we seen driven by untoward circumstances, and the presence of gossips to murmur "Je vous aime" at a crisis! See the tables now completely turned when Gallic lovers murmur in English: "You are mine?" "Yours forever."

A trace of Anglomania in M. Lesueur may be forgiven, however, as he is sufficiently fond of our literature to have translated Byron and Sterne into his native tongue. Perhaps his choice of writers for translation somewhat indicates his own bent, which is sentimental.

The young hero, of 'Invincible Charme' whose beauty, bravery, honor,-Honor in the capitalized sense,never fail, whose tendency is on to the field of glory at every turn, is essentially a first-tenor part. Called from the hunt by an agitating message, he flings himself into the train for Paris; but we know, because we are told, that he has changed his garments, and now wears "un pantalon gris, et une jaquette noire." O excellent young man, always costumed for his part! The heroine, determined to write a letter of the firmest resolution, is seated before "son petit bureau laqué de clair, a tablette de maroquin vieux rose, la plume à la main."

These details are very nice, but do not give the book high emotional rank. Its sincerest interest lies in a love-story of the past, not disclosed until late in the immediate romance, though affecting it all. The problem of relationship to a benefactor,-the same problem that disturbed Daniel Deronda in his youth,furnishes the motive of the book, and is the question that the hero has to cope with. His career, his love, his life, depend upon its answer. But soft, brown eyes and a martial spirit, delicacy of sentiment and invincible charm, bring everything to the happiest of conclusions. Not important emotionally: no. But why not permit ourselves now and then a volume where we find again the modest, faithful hero of our youth, even if he were as sentimental as Claude Melnotte? And, after all, good writing is not so easy that one need carp at a writer who is able to keep up sustained interest, and deftly handle a story of several hundred pages to its conclusion. Also, there is in this book, one point of unusual merit. Few men can touch upon the regret of a woman because she is past her youth, without being either jocose, too tragic, or, in the case of a Frenchman,-sardonic. George Meredith is, perhaps, the only Englishman who here achieved in the portrayal of Pauline, Marquise of does it well. And he could do nothing better than is Ribeyran. One scene between her and her husband is charmingly sympathetic and gracefully phrased; we should like to quote it in full.

There are some very good descriptions of Hyères, in southern France, a resort where the breath from violet-fields mingles with salt-breezes from a sapphire sca, under a tropical sun.

A few final chapters descriptive of French military life and of exploits in Madagascar recall Ouida, and the African campaign in 'Under Two Flags.'

The style is smooth, musically cadenced, and very felicitous in description. M. Lesueur seems to have been known first, and perhaps best in Paris by his verse. One poem 'Pour les Pauvres' was much used six or seven years ago, and may be still,-for dramatic recitation.

In a letter from Paris, signed 'Roland Strong,' and published in the New York Times of Saturday, July 17, there is mention among other things of a new school of French novel writers. M. Pierre Louys is named as one of the most successful members of that school, and we are told that "in his extraordinary successful novel 'Aphrodite' he has applied the method of the modern novel to a study of manners in ancient Greece, transporting Athens in her decay into decadent Paris, as it were." This is not an accurate statement. The 'Aphrodite' of M. Louys has nothing to do with Athens or her decay. The opportunity seized by M. Louys is the putrescence of Alexandria in the time of the Ptolemys. The correction may not be worth making, but it may be worth while to say that if 'Aphrodite' is a fair representative of the new school, and has run into more than a hundred edi.tions, as is stated, there is no mistake about the decadence of Paris.

University Extension News

and Announcements.

The syllabus of Professor E. P. Cheyney's course of six lectures on 'Great Britain in the Nineteenth Century' may be had at the office of the American Society. The first two lectures outline the course of Eng lish political and constitutional history from 1812 to the present time. The first lecture, 'England Under the Ruling Classes,' shows how essentially the gov ernment of England was in the hands of the aristoc racy. It discusses the uneven plan of representation. with the parasitic growth of "rotten boroughs," property qualifications, and the system of electoral patronage, which practically excluded the lower and middle classes, and points out that the Church, the Army, and the Judiciary were regulated on corre sponding principles, that dissatisfaction found expression in the birth of a liberal party in the upper classes themselves, and in the development of a radical party with no share in the control of govern ment. In the second lecture, 'Political Reform, 18321894,' it is shown that the direct outcome of this dissatisfaction was the first reform bill of 1832, with its rearrangement of representation and the passing of control to the middle classes, that this failing to give complete satisfaction, there came the second reform bill of 1867, introducing further changes and granting the franchise to the working classes; and then, the need of better representation becoming manifest, the third reform bill of 1894-95, which gave practically universal suffrage. The third and fourth lectures on Social and Economic History' deal respectively with 'Individualism' and 'Social Reforms and Movements Involving Combination.' The introduction of machinery and the improvements in agriculture brought about great changes in social and economic life. From these changes sprang up the theory of Individualism. or "absolute freedom of action for each person in all industrial relations." In its practical workings, however, it failed to satisfy, and was abandoned in favor of combination, as shown in state supervision and the extension of state functions. The last two lectures are on The British Empire,' 'Ireland' being the subject of one and 'Greater Britain' of the other. The discontent of the Irish and the legislative efforts of successive Parliaments are reviewed-from Grattan's Parliament, 1782-1800, to the last home-rule bill, and the question of taxation now before the present gov ernment. The lecture on 'Greater Britain' sketches the recent history of the Indian Empire and the colo nies, and closes with a consideration of international relations and imperial freedom.

A Students' Association, in connection with University Extension lectures, was formed in Moores town, November 19, 1896, in the Friends' High School. There were twenty people present. The secretary furnishes the following account of their work:

"There being no one both willing and qualified to act as leader, an executive committee of three was elected. This committee assigned papers, appointed a presiding officer, and had a general supervision over the work. It was decided to follow the syllabus as nearly as possible, by having short papers prepared on each of the problems assigned by the lecturer. By devoting two evenings to each lecture, this gave two or three papers every evening. De Tocqueville's Ancien Regime' was one of the most useful books in our course, but extremely difficult to secure. One of our students had a copy from the Mercantile Library, which was read aloud each evening for fifteen or twenty minutes. The discussion following the papers was not learned, nor often to the point, but was very general.

Vol. III.

September, 1897.

Entered, Philadelphia Post-office, as second-class matter.

Contents.

LIFE AND EDUCATION

ARTICLES

Francis Thompson's New Poems '-R. Harding Davis's 'Soldiers of Fortune'-George Brydges Rodney's 'The Buff and Blue”—F. Marion Crawford's 'A Rose of Yesterday'Oscar Kuhns's 'Nature in Dante's Divina Commedia-Zola's Nouvelle Campagne'William John Courthope's 'History of English Poetry,' II.-C. H. Herford's The Age of Wordsworth'-Bonnal de Ganges's 'Le Génie de Napoléon '-Albert Bushnell Hart's 'American History Told by Contemporaries,' I-John W. Burgess's 'The Middle Period,' -Lindley Miller Keasbey's 'Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe Doctrine '-A. H. Sayce's 'Origin and Growth of Religion '-Edwin Hatch's 'Influence of Greek Ideas upon the Christian Church'-James Martineau's 'Faith and Self-Surrender '-Thomas G. Gentry's 'Life and Immortality' NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Life and Education.

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160

161

163

164

166

171

THE question of the resignation of Dr. Andrews from the presidency of Brown University is complicated at so many points that a

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

sound judgment is not easy to pronounce. The question is complicated by a university ideal, liberty of teaching. It is further complicated by the success that has attended the presidency of Dr. Andrews, a success, as attested by the trustees, to be seen in the growth and diversifying of the facilities and efficiency of the university and in the increase in the number of students. As the trustees regard the matter the main issue in their difference with the president is that his views have diverted important benefactions, and would continue to divert pecuniary support, from the university. It is not our duty to reconcile the trustees' own statements of the increasing efficiency of Brown under President Andrews and the prospective inefficiency of Brown under the same direction; it may be said, however, that the faculty of Brown does not share the gloomy view of the future affected by the trustees. They seem, rather, to believe, as appears by their letter, that his resignation, even though they regard his views on the silver question as erroneous, will be seriously detrimental to the interests of the university, and to the freedom of teaching which the university professor by his profession and office is in duty bound to maintain. It is this last aspect of the question that Dr. Andrews himself makes the precise issue of the case, possibly accepting as indisputable the view of the trustees relating to the revenues of the university. In response to the wish of the committee of conference that he should forbear to promulgate his views on the silver question "out of regard for the interests of the university, especially when to promulgate them will appeal most strongly to the passions and prejudices of the public," Dr. Andrews replies that that would mean "surrendering that reasonable liberty of utterance which my predecessors, my college colleagues, and myself have hitherto enjoyed, and in the absence of which the most ample endowment for an educational institution would have little worth." To our mind. freedom of teaching in America is at present an impossible ideal. Our universities are either state institutions, and as such immediately exposed to political influences and current public opinion, which is not always clearly recognizable as the voice of God; or, if not state institutions, they are private foundations the benefactors of which are often still living and tenderly sensitive to any criticisms of the social conditions that enabled them to accumulate their prodigious wealth. It is futile, moreover, to endeavor to introduce the intel