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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



telligible account of the aristocratic side of 

 English life by explaining the parts and 

 general working of the scheme, lie desired 

 to make the American reader understand 

 the facts in such a way as to avoid injuri- 

 ous prejudice and favor an intelligent judg- 

 ment. His subject is by no means a trivial 

 or frivolous one. Aristocracy is a phase of 

 society in some of its forms universal ; and 

 the English aristocracy is the best -pre- 

 served and most perfect and powerful in 

 the world. 



The author of this volume is a thorough- 

 going democrat in the sense that he is no 

 believer in aristocracy, and condemns it 

 of course unsparingly ; but he is unbiased 

 enough to give a trustworthy account of 

 its mechanism and workings. For this he 

 seems to have very well prepared himself. 

 Besides wide reading and special study of 

 its various elements, he has had a dozen 

 years' direct observation and experience of 

 it in the diplomatic service. 



It is the care with which he has availed 

 himself of these opportunities that gives, 

 perhaps, the most attractive feature to his 

 book ; he is full of anecdotes, incidents, 

 brief personal sketches, and vivid delinea- 

 tions of the working of the various social 

 parts in the aristocratic life. General Ba- 

 deau has not attempted a philosophical 

 book. While his volume is full of instruct- 

 ive lessons, he runs into no deep disquisi- 

 tion, and has struck the happy medium that 

 will make it entertaining to all readers. The 

 subject is not only a fascinating one, but a 

 most important one, and, if we may venture 

 to say so, a good deal more important than 

 would appear from General Badeau's treat- 

 ment of it. The author confines himself, 

 in accordance with his plan, to descriptive 

 details of the social operations that English 

 aristocracy involves, and this probably pre- 

 vented him from dealing with some of the 

 remoter influences of the aristocratic policy. 

 But the problem of the influence of aristo- 

 cratical organizations in England on the 

 whole subject of education for several cent- 

 uries, and at the present time, is one of the 

 most pregnant that the student of modern 

 mental development has to deal with. Gen- 

 eral Badeau's book is an excellent intro- 

 duction to this subject, but the author does 

 not enter upon it. 



The Jugurthine War op C. Sallustius 

 Crispus. Edited, etc., by Charles 

 George Herbermann. New York : D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 272. Price, $1.12. 

 The editor has aimed, in preparing this 

 volume, to assist the student, as far as pos- 

 sible, with all the resources of modern schol- 

 arship ; and, in compiling the notes, he has 

 endeavored to omit nothing in the way of 

 historical illustration that can aid the learn- 

 er to obtain a fuller and clearer insight into 

 the meaning and spirit of the author. The 

 text of Jordan, which is in the best repute in 

 German and English schools, has been adopt- 

 ed, while archaisms and variations in spell- 

 ing are avoided, as only likely to perplex 

 students. Besides the notes, an introduc- 

 tion giving the life of Sallust, observations 

 on his style and syntax, and historical infor- 

 mation respecting the kingdom of Numidia 

 and the Jugurthine war, has been added ; 

 and a convenient vocabulary saves the ne- 

 cessity of encumbering one's self with a 

 separate dictionary. 



A History of Education. By F. V. N. 



Painter. New York : D. Appleton & 



Co. Pp. 335. Price, $1.50. 



This is the second volume of the " In- 

 ternational Education Series," which D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. have projected, to be prepared 

 under the editorial supervision of W. T. 

 Harris, to provide works of a useful and prac- 

 tical character for the libraries of teachers 

 and school managers, and text-books in nor- 

 mal classes. The author is Professor of 

 Modern Languages and Literature in Roan- 

 oke College, Virginia ; and the preparation 

 of this history was suggested by him while 

 examining the German works on the sub- 

 ject in the library of the University of Bonn, 

 in view of the poverty of our literature in 

 educational history. In it he views the 

 history of education from the point of the 

 philosophy of history, or history of civiliza- 

 tion, and traces it in its relations with the 

 social, political, and religious conditions of 

 each country. The system of education in 

 each nation is regarded as conformed to its 

 religion, art, social customs, and form of 

 government, but most of all, generally, to 

 its religion. Hence, a new phase of civiliza- 

 tion, giving new ideals in these domains, de- 

 mands a new system of education. The sys- 

 tems that have prevailed from the remotest 



