LITERATURE, BRITISH, Iff 1879. 



learned work of a sagacious historian, embrac- 

 ing tho history of the whole Hellenic race and 

 extending down to tho most recent times: the 

 present edition is almost a new work, every 

 paragraph showing the marks of revision, and 

 a large amount of now matter having been 

 I. " New Greece," by Lewis Sergeant 

 (Oassoll, Fetter & Galpin), records the remark- 

 able material and political progress of the 

 Greeks during tho present century, and do- 

 fends their aims ana claims in relation to the 

 Eastern question. A contribution of consider- 

 able value to tho history of the last century is 

 the Duo do Broglie's "The King's Secret" 

 (Cassell, Potter & Galpin), containing the se- 

 cret correspondence of Louis XV. " Selection 

 from the Correspondence of the late Macvey 

 Napier, Esq." (Maomillan & Go.), is a book 

 which initiates the reader into the secret coun- 

 cils of the " Edinburgh Review," and reveals 

 the literary privacy, the jealousies and ambi- 

 tions of the leaders of the great Whig party. 

 "The Letters of Charles Dickens" (Charles 

 Scribaer's Sons) is a book which acquaints the 

 reader more thoroughly with the character of 

 the great novelist than any of the lives and 

 reminiscences of him which have appeared. 

 Philip Gilbert Hamerton, in " The Life of J. 

 M. W. Turner, R. A." (Roberts Brothers), res- 

 cues the memory of the great English painter 

 from the cloudy regions to which the extrava- 

 gant panegyrics of Ruskin had consigned it, 

 dealing with the artist and his work with ju- 

 dicial calmness, and with the subtle discrimi- 

 natiou which has given the author note as an 

 appreciative and well-balanced art-critic. A 

 biographical dictionary of " Artists of the 

 Nineteenth Century" (Houghton, Osgood & 

 Co.) contains the name of every recent artist 

 of the least note, and is made up of original in- 

 formation obtained by extensive correspon- 

 dence and painstaking inquiry by Mrs. Clem- 

 ent and Lawrence Hutton. James Anthony 

 Froude's "Caosar" is a historical sketch, writ- 

 ten in the author's brilliant and elegant style, 

 in which the action of history is presented 

 with vivid picturesqueness (Charles Scribner's 

 Sons). Two books of biography by Professor 

 J. R. Seeley, "The Life and Adventures of 

 Ernst Moritz Arndt," and "The Life and 

 Times of Stein " (Roberts Brothers), illustrate 

 the condition of Germany in tho Napole- 

 onic era. Dr. Samuel Smiles never took up 

 a subject for biographical preaching better 

 adapted to awaken the sympathies of his read- 

 ers than the modest and enthusiastic student 

 of nature, " Robert Dick, Baker, of Thurso, 

 Geologist and Botanist " (Harper & Brothers). 

 The biographical monographs on " English 

 Men of Letters" (Harper & Brothers) are short 

 studies on the representative men of English 

 literature by representative English critics of 

 the most modern stamp and tendencies Leslie 

 Stephen writing on the character and works 

 of Samuel Johnson, Richard H. Hutton on 

 Walter Scott, James H. Morrison on Gibbon, 



John A. Symonds on Percy Bysshe Shelley, 

 William Black on Oliver Goldsmith, Mark I'ut- 

 tison on Milton, Dean Church on Spenser, 

 William Minto on Daniel Defoe, and Profes- 

 sor Shairp on Robert Burns. The most im- 

 portant of the series from its philosophical 

 and tendential character is Professor Huxley's 

 study of Hume; another of the volumes, 

 which must have considerable influence on 

 political thought, is the study of Burke, by 

 the editor of the series, John Morley. The 

 series contains a sketch of Thackeray by his 

 brother-novelist Anthony Trollope, which, if it 

 does not give a thoroughly adequate estimate 

 of the subject, is a frank discussion of the 

 scope and mission of the English novel from 

 the point of view of one who has won dis- 

 tinction in composing them. 



Among the recently published collections of 

 Essays, the first volume of the series '' Glean- 

 ings of Past Years, 1844-'78," of William E. 

 Gladstone (Charles Scribner's Sons), is a book 

 as replete with thought and scholarship as the 

 former productions of the literary statesman ; 

 the first of the seven contains the essay on 

 America, " Kin beyond Sea," which aroused 

 considerable feeling against the author on its 

 first publication. In Matthew Arnold's new 

 volume of " Mixed Essays " (Macmillan & Co.) 

 the philosophical critic makes a strenuous ap- 

 peal, notably in the lecture on " Equality " 

 here reproduced, in favor of a more invigorat- 

 ing and humaner culture for the middle ranks 

 of society. A volume of " Essays Historical 

 and Theological " has been published (London, 

 Rivingtons), written by the thoughtful and 

 learned late Canon Mozley, and showing great 

 intellectual grasp, acute historical criticism, 

 originality of thought, and unusual powers of 

 literary expression. " Essays in Romance, and 

 Studies from Life," by John Skelton (Edin- 

 burgh, W. Blackwood & Sons), is a new vol- 

 ume by the essayist whose graceful and poetic 

 thoughts and observations have been hitherto 

 published under the pseudonym ShirUy. A. 

 Hay ward's " Selected Essays " (Scribner & 

 Wei ford) are most entertaining sketches on 

 historical and social subjects, filled with point- 

 ed illustrations and anecdotes. " The Game- 

 keeper at Home," " The Amateur Poacher," 

 and " Wild Life in a Southern County " (Rob- 

 erts Brothers), are three pleasant books on na- 

 ture and rural scenes in England. " Literary 

 Studies" (Longmans, Green & Co.) is a volume 

 of essays by the late Walter Bagehot, in which 

 the same ripe judgment and sagacious insight 

 that rendered him pre&minent among finan- 

 cial writers is brought to bear on various sub- 

 jects of literary criticism which a broad cul- 

 ture and fine aesthetic sensibilities made his 

 own. Two books have been published on the 

 father of modern German literature, "Lessing," 

 by James Sime (London, Trubner & Co.), and 

 " Gotthold Ephraim Lessing," by Helen Zim- 

 mern (Longmans, Green & Co.). Of the three 

 great masters in German literature Lessing, tho 



