It would be difficult for a biography of Sydney Smith, that man who always took short views of life, hoped for the best, and put his trust in God, to be other than interesting. Mr. Reid’s biography[L] is so interesting that the reader quite forgets to criticise. It is a many-sided sketch of the brave hearted dominie. It tells his history, to be sure, but one gets a very good idea of many of his associates as well; it tells his route through life, and as a happy idea adds descriptions and illustrations of the various localities in which he lived, as they are to-day. There is just enough quotation from the reverend Sydney to give pith to the sober, clear narrative of the writer, and just enough of the “Times” to keep one in sympathy with his age. Several letters and essays never before printed appear in the volume. Mr. Reid, we are pleased to see, presents the courage, the unfailing hope, and the abundant common sense of his subject as characteristics of more importance than his wit.

It is moderate praise of the book[M] produced by Mrs. Mitchell to say that all lovers of art and its history will find it a valuable acquisition to their libraries. The author has chosen the historical method of presenting her subject, and begins with Egyptian sculpture, passes on to Chaldean, Assyrian, and Persian; then to that of Phoenicia, Asia Minor, and Greece, and ends with works of the Italian masters. Feeling that “description can not by any possibility supersede the sight of the artistic creations,” she has freely illustrated the book with accurate representations of many of the great masterpieces. There can be no work better suited for the use of those who desire to acquire a knowledge of this branch of art.

M. Gaillard has added one more to the many books already issued for the purpose of teaching “French Conversation.”[N] The system he has adopted differs from all the others in this respect: questions alone are given, to which the scholar is to frame his own answers. A clue to the words needed in the replies, and to the construction of the sentences and idioms will be found in the questions. Thus the memorizing of set sentences which never will fit in anywhere save in the recitation room, is avoided, and the pupil is obliged to think for himself instead of merely observing how the words are used by others. Theoretically the plan is a good one. As a text-book for common use in schools and elsewhere, we doubt, somewhat, its feasibility.

No tourist to the White Mountains can afford to do without Mr. Drake’s book.[O] The last edition of it is prepared expressly for their use, and contains in the form of an appendix a complete guide-book. One of the covers is provided with a pocket, within which is placed a map of the White Mountains, and one of Vermont and New Hampshire. This pocket will also prove convenient for carrying memoranda. The book contains many fine illustrations, is printed from large, clear type, and is handsomely bound. And as one sees in word pictures the scenery of the mountains, and is delighted with racy little incidents of travel, and with anecdote, or is thrilled with some perilous adventure, he can not help saying that author, artist, and publisher have all done their part toward making an attractive book.

It was a good idea to publish a dictionary of the “Women of the Day.”[P] Miss Hays has undoubtedly put an immense amount of labor into the neat little volume which she has just sent out to the world. However, the publication has been too soon. More labor is needed to make the book as useful as it ought to be. More than once her biographies of the best known women are incorrect, as when she located Marion (which name, by the way, she spelled Marian) Harland’s present home at Newark, N. J., a place she left years ago. Again, in some of the sketches the work is poorly arranged. Why should Miss Willard’s whereabouts in 1878 be tacked on at the end of the article, after it had been brought up to 1882, instead of being inserted in its proper order? For all that, it is a very useful work. It will be of great help to the general reader interested in eminent women.

A valuable series of “Outlines” of the Philosophy of Hermann Lotze has been undertaken by Prof. Ladd, of Yale College. A leading philosopher of Germany, Lotze’s works have been sealed to all English readers, save those who were able to overcome philosophical German. This series will furnish an opportunity long desired by those interested in German thought to make themselves familiar with Lotze’s ideas. “Outlines of Metaphysics”[Q] is the first work issued.

Mrs. Jackson’s “Ramona”[R] takes rank at once in the highest class of fiction. The fascination in its pages holds one from beginning to end, and he closes the book with much the same impression as if he had just returned from a day’s exquisite enjoyment of wild and rugged mountain scenery. The characters possess an individuality such as is found in those drawn by Dickens, and the fine shaping of plot and incident recalls George Eliot’s “Romola.” The story of “Ramona” has to do with Indian life in Southern California and Mexico, and is of historical interest. As one reads of the wrongs cruelly inflicted upon the noble Alessandro and the heroic Christian spirit with which he endured them all to the bitter end, there comes a sense of shame that under American laws, base, unprincipled men could commit such deeds of plunder and violence with impunity. The character of Ramona is unique. Her devoted love for Alessandro, the gladness with which she accepted the life of deprivation and danger at his side, and the development, through heavy sorrows, of her deep, true, womanly nature, give the book a richness of color and a depth of pathos seldom met.

In “Dorcas,”[S] a story of anti-Christ, the lives and sufferings of the early Christians in Rome are depicted. Dorcas and her friends hid themselves away for many long months in the Catacombs, to escape persecution. In two instances while there, the miracle of bringing the dead back to life occurred, one of those restored being Marcellus, the affianced husband of Dorcas, a young Roman nobleman who was put to death for accepting the Christian religion. The accession of Constantine gave them their freedom. The book affords a good study in the high style of its diction and the purity of its language. It is valuable, too, for its record of the customs of those days, and for its historical incidents.

Students of English who enjoy theories about words and expressions will find in “Elements of English Speech”[T] a full measure of them, most ingeniously supported. The book is in no way suitable for readers who are unacquainted with Latin, Greek, French, and German, but for those who have dabbled a little in each it will furnish interesting reading, and some ideas of real value.

The house of D. Appleton & Co. is publishing some excellent text-books. Among these is “Elements of Geometry,”[U] a work on plane and solid geometry. The arrangement of the book, its admirable fitness to the needs of the pupils just beginning the sciences, and its abundant exercises make it a very satisfactory work for teachers.——In their series of “Science Text-Books,” “Elements of ZoÖlogy,”[V] by C. F. & J. B. Holder, is one of the most entertaining, practical, and, beside, thorough, elementary works on animal biology we have ever seen. The illustrations are excellent.——A capital “Second Reader” is “Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors.”[W] We like the idea of giving the young folks good, clear type.——But best of all is “Appleton’s Chart Primer,”[X] a pretty little book with numbers of beautifully colored pictures for color lessons, and a cover so brilliant that it will make it a pleasure for little ones to learn their lessons.

A new edition of “The Water Babies,”[Y] abridged by J. H. Stickney has been issued. It is a delightful fairy story for land babies. Little Tom, a poor chimney sweep who belonged to a very cruel master, went one day to work in a grand house. Coming down the wrong chimney, he found himself standing opposite a large mirror in a very beautiful room in which a little, sick girl was lying. The sight of himself in the glass, black and impish, and the screams of the little girl frightened him so that he jumped from the window, caught the branches of a tree, slid to the ground and ran for his life, pursued by different members of the family, who supposed him to be a thief. They could not catch him, however, and soon gave up the attempt. Two or three days after his body was found in a stream of water, and all the people thought him dead. But they were mistaken; that body was only the old covering of Tom; he had been changed into a beautiful water baby, whose life in that fairy land is told in a very fascinating manner, showing that there, also, little folks ought to work for the good of others.

The “Water Babies” is one of a series of “Classics for Children,” a series arranged on the sensible idea that children can be taught to enjoy good literature, as they are taught to read. Among the other works which have appeared in this course are a “Primer and First Reader,”[Z] Scott’s “Lady of the Lake,”[AA] and Kingsley’s “Greek Heroes.”[AB] Others are in preparation.

“Which: Right or Wrong?”[AC] is an interesting story centering about the Framingham Assembly. It gives some bright pictures of life there, and teaches some excellent lessons.

“The Mentor”[AD] is a very neat little book written for the use of men and boys who wish to appear to good advantage in cultivated society. It treats of personal appearance, manners at the dinner table and in public, conversation, odds and ends, calls and cards, and closes with a chapter answering the question, “What is a Gentleman?” It contains a number of quotations from eminent authors.

A beautiful device is that of “The Guest Book,”[AE] in which the hostess may record the coming and the going of her guests. It contains short, beautifully illustrated selections concerning hospitality, from prominent writers, with blank pages left between for autographs, incidents, and sketches relating to pleasant calls and visits. In the hands of every woman who loves to entertain her friends it will prove a treasure-house of pleasant memories.

Not often are our social foibles “taken off” more pointedly than in “The Buntling Ball.”[AF] It is a really clever, and withal sprightly, satire on some of the vulnerable points of New York society. Mrs. Buntling, wife of a “potentate in pork,” returning from Europe, issues invitations for a ball. She has obtained a list of “all the names considered of decisive note,” and, regardless of the fact that she knows none of them issues a general invitation. The fact that everybody comes is one of the sharpest points in the play. Choruses are introduced in true Greek drama style, and the “Knickerbocker young men,” “maneuvering mammas,” “wall-flowers,” “gossips,” “Anglo-maniacs,” etc., carry on dialogues with the principal characters, in which they give the whole philosophy of New York society, in the frankest manner and in all sorts of happy, sprightly verse. The mystery of its authorship has been turned to good account by the publishers, who offer a prize of $1,000 to the successful guesser.

Marion Harland, in writing “Eve’s Daughters,”[AG] has done a noble work for women. The book must exert a good influence wherever it goes, and do much toward breaking down the barrier of false modesty and ignorance in regard to herself, that woman, too often, has taken pride in rearing. It begins with the life of the baby girl and follows her as the representative of her sex, through all the years down to old age. Strong, plain, helpful things are said, and said only as a brave, womanly woman can say them, in regard to the physical life of women. Every mother ought to read the book, and read it with her daughters.

“Memories of the Manse”[AH] is a quiet little picture of the life, home, family, and parish of a Scotch minister who lived, a number of years ago, in Glenarran. The rugged outlines of the stern character belonging to that northern people are well drawn, and dashes of color, showing the tender and loving side of human nature, appear here and there, brightening up the scene. The experience of the eldest son, who was “a clever lad, and had just returned after working his way through college, wearing a wonderfully clerical dress and air, an eye-glass, and a highly comfortable opinion of himself,” only to find that he was ridiculed instead of admired by his former associates, and his honest surprise at his unpopularity furnish a touch of humor to the whole work.

The books which Samuel Smiles has put upon the market are eminently valuable to boys and men who are in trades. He has done much to dignify labor and to show how essential is brain and thrift and education to manual labor. In his late volume, “Men of Invention and Industry,”[AI] the material is particularly good. It is fresh, and the stories of successful men give a grip to the book which is very effective. The lack of literary finish of which some complain in Mr. Smiles’s work is but a minor matter when we think of the serious purpose, the earnest desire to show how handicrafts may be developed, and how great opportunities lie in the way of mechanics to benefit society and to attain distinction. Among his men of invention and industry are Phineas Pett, the English ship builder; John Harrison, the inventor of the marine chronometer, and Frederick Koenig, inventor of the steam printing machine. A digression from the main object of the book is the chapter on “Industry in Ireland,” but it is a pleasing digression. The abundant resources which Mr. Smiles shows to exist in Ireland, will be surprising to many readers. Her fisheries, her iron, coal and clay beds, her linen industries, and her ship building are well described. The development of these resources he justly concludes to be the solution of the “Irish trouble.”

Mr. Harrison, in giving to the public the life and literary works[AJ] of the author of “Home Sweet Home,” has met a want that many persons have felt, to know something more of this author. No trouble has been spared in gathering the data for the biography, and much valuable information has been given to the world which, but for his efforts, might have been lost. He has, however, entered so fully into details as frequently to detract from the interest of the work. The circumstances under which “Home Sweet Home” was written, are given.

[L] A Sketch of the Life and Times of the Rev. Sydney Smith. By Stuart J. Reid. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1885.