LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1879. 



549 



of travel. " Tyrol and the Skirt of the Alps," 

 by (ioorge E. Waring, Jr. (Harper & Brothers), 

 is a pleasant and instructive work of travel, 

 km. homely illustrated. One of the finest sub- 

 scription books produced in recent times is the 

 great geographical work of Elisee Reclus, " The 

 Earth and its Inhabitants," issued in parts by 

 I). Apploton & Co. The Rev. Dr. S. 0. Bart- 

 lett's "From Egypt to Palestine" (Harper & 

 Brothers) is a historical study of the exodus of 

 the Hebrews from Egypt, as well as a narrative 

 of travels through the scenes of their wander- 

 ings ; the theories of rationalistic commentators 

 are critically examined, and the supernatural 

 character of the recorded miracles is strenu- 

 ously maintained. The book is most valuable 

 as a collated digest of hypotheses and discov- 

 eries of Biblical antiquities ; but the Biblical 

 learning of which it is full is animated and 

 brought much nearer to the reader by the 

 graphic descriptions of the scenes and objects 

 from actual observation, and by the narrative 

 of personal experiences in the Wilderness, writ- 

 ten with the sympathy and feeling of an ardent 

 student of the Bible and believer in its liter- 

 al interpretation. II. Ballantine's "Midnight 

 Marches through Persia" (Lee & Shepard) is 

 an account of a horseback journey full of ad- 

 ventures, containing interesting information on 

 the life and manners of the people and the 

 commercial resources of the country. " Pro- 

 gressive Japan," by General Le Gendre (San 

 Francisco, A. L. Bancroft & Co.), contains 

 well-considered opinions on social and political 

 reforms in Japan. The author writes with a 

 knowlege of and a sympathy for Japanese tra- 

 ditions and culture, and protests against vio- 

 lent innovations foreign to the national spirit. 

 "The Sunrise Kingdom," by Mrs. Julia D. 

 Carrothers (Philadelphia, Presbyterian Board 

 of Publication), is a record of missionary life in 

 Japan. " China and Japan," by the Rev. J. D. 

 Wiley (Cincinnati, Hitchcock & Walden), is an 

 account of travels and residence in those coun- 

 tries. 



Although no special impulse toward histori- 

 cal studies has manifested itself, several works 

 of History of unusual ability and scholarship, 

 and of enduring value, have first seen the light 

 during the past year. An account of the pre- 

 historic remains in the burial mounds and 

 oaves of Kentucky, Missouri, and Mississippi, 

 with speculations as to the aboriginal Ameri- 

 can people, is given by A. J. Conant in " Foot- 

 prints of Vanished Races in the Mississippi 

 Valley " (St. Louis, 0. R. Barnes). John T. 

 Short's " The North Americans of Antiquity " 

 (Harper & Brothers) is a popular manual of 

 the discoveries and theories of antiquarian re- 

 search on the early inhabitants of America. 

 J. A. Farrer, in " Primitive Manners and Cus- 

 toms " (Henry Holt & Co.), discusses the prob- 

 lems connected with the savage stage of de- 

 velopment. M. D. Conway, in " Demonology 

 and Devil-Lore" (Henry Holt & Co.), gives 

 the fruits of many years' study of a subject 



which, notwithstanding its historical impor- 

 tance, might be soon lost and hidden in the 

 lumber-room of antiquarianism had not the 

 present author allowed his mind to become fas- 

 cinated and so thoroughly saturated with this 

 theme that he bestowed upon it the thought 

 and research which many historians devote to 

 a much wider field of investigation. A series 

 of " Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law," by Henry 

 Adams, II. Cabot Lodge, Ernest Young, and 

 J. Laurence Laughlin (Little, Brown & Co.), 

 is a work of comparative jurisprudence in 

 which the authors have expended on their dif- 

 ferent subjects the long and deep research, en- 

 lightened by the newer school of historical ju- 

 risprudence, which the originals of our legal 

 institutions demand. As one of the first prod- 

 ucts of American study in a field of investiga- 

 tion that has only been cultivated in countries 

 which afford literary leisure or support a liter- 

 ary class, it is a hopeful and gratifying phe- 

 nomenon. " A Popular History of the United 

 States " (Charles Scribner's Sons), commenced 

 under the nominal editorship of the late Wil- 

 liam Cullen Bryant, is a hasty compilation by 

 several hands, bearing few marks of serious re- 

 search, and carelessly edited, but popular in its 

 literary form and choice of materials, and ren- 

 dered still more attractive by numerous wood- 

 cuts. The " History of New York during the 

 Revolutionary War," by Judge Thomas Jones, 

 is a document of great historical value, contain- 

 ing a record of the events of the Revolution and 

 trenchant reflections on men and politics by an 

 ardent Tory ; having been kept until now out 

 of the reach of historians even, its publication 

 in full by the New York Historical Society is 

 well justified by the graphic and lively style in 

 which it is written, as well as by the historical 

 materials which it contains. " The Constitu- 

 tional and Political History of the United 

 States " (Chicago, Oallaghan & Co.), translated 

 from the German of H. von Hoist, is the most 

 studious analytical work which has appeared on 

 the political development of the American Re- 

 public. Written by a foreigner after a search- 

 ing critical examination, it gives a more com- 

 plete, objective, and judicial criticism of Amer- 

 ican political institutions than a native histo- 

 rian could present, but not without a bias, de- 

 rived from his own nationality, in favor of a 

 strong and supreme centralized government. 

 Alexander Johnston's "History of American 

 Politics " is a record of parties and political 

 questions conveniently summarized, and a use- 

 ful book for American students. General 

 George W. Cullum has ably recounted the 

 military history of the second war of the Uni- 

 ted States with England in "Campaigns of the 

 War of 1812-'15 " (New York, James Miller), 

 in which many valuable historical facts have 

 been gleaned and admirably digested from in- 

 accessible and scattered documents. 



The republication of the classics of American 

 oratory serves the double purpose of preserv- 

 ing models of the grand, impressive, and full- 



