LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1887. 



433 



" Arcady; for Better, for Worse," was a work 

 issued by Augustus Jessop, D. D. ; " Paradise 

 Almost Lost " was a contribution from D. B. 

 Shaw ; " Wild Flowers of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains " were described by Emma Homan 

 Thayer; the " Seybert" Commission on " Spir- 

 itualism " reported ; and a " Biographical Rec- 

 ord of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 

 from 1824 to 1886" was edited by Henry B. 

 Nason, M. D., LL. D. The second and third 

 volumes of " Appletons' Cyclopaedia of Ameri- 

 can Biography," edited by Gen. James Grant 

 Wilson and Prof. John Fiske, were issued, 

 bringing the work down to " Lockwood." 

 These are illustrated with ten steel portraits 

 in each volume, besides over two hundred en- 

 gravings in the text, mainly portraits. 



LITERATURE, BRITISH, IX 188T. The list of 

 British publications in 1887, while more than 

 usually rich in certain departments, shows a 

 distinct falling off in certain others, notably in 

 fiction and in poetry. The list of publications 

 in theology is also less full than usual, and so 

 is that in science, so far as the number of 

 works is concerned, though the importance of 

 the publications in this department is quite up 

 to recent years ; but the celebration of the 

 Victorian half-century has naturally resulted 

 in a very large number of publications in his- 

 tory and biography, which two departments, 

 with that of voyages and travels, will be found 

 the fullest of any. 



Fine Arts. Upon the subject of ornamental 

 art we note first " The Castellated and Domes- 

 tic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth 

 to the Eighteenth Century," by MacGibben 

 and Ross, edited by Boyd, being " Impressions 

 from Copper-Plates and Wood-Blocks En- 

 graved in the Bewick Work-Shop " ; an illus- 

 trated discussion of " Ornamental Things, An- 

 cient and Modern," by Smith ; and a striking 

 and interesting "History of Miniature Art," 

 by Propert, are the principal works in this 

 department. In music we have " History of 

 Musical Instruments," by Hipkins, and Ban- 

 nister's " Lectures on Musical Analysis." Two 

 works on Greek coins, one being Head's 

 " Manual," and the other, Percy Gardner's 

 " Catalogue," are the only important publica- 

 tions in numismatics. Dr. Doran's "Annals of 

 the Stage " appears in a new edition, and may 

 properly be included here. 



History. The long list of works on the sub- 

 ject of history offers a large number of valuable 

 books from which to make a selection. Mr. 

 Thomas Humphrey's work, " The Reign of 

 Queen Victoria," Capt. Trotter's " History of 

 England under Queen Victoria," the "Third 

 Part of the Greville Memoirs " in two volumes, 

 "A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria 

 from 1852 to 1860," Mr. Loftie's " Windsor Cas- 

 tle," Rev. Sir J. W. Cox's " A Concise History 

 of England," Cyril Ransome's " A Short His- 

 tory of England," and Arabella B. Buckley's 

 " A History of England for Beginners," arc the 

 more general works on the subject. In its 

 VOL. xxvii. 28 A 



subdivisions we have " Society in the Eliza- 

 bethan Age," by Hubert Hall, *Dr. S. R. Gar- 

 diner's " History of the Great Civil War," and 

 " Court and Private Life in the Time of Mrs. 

 Papendiek, Assistant Keeper of Queen Char- 

 lotte's Wardrobe and Reader to Her Majesty," 

 by Mrs. Brown Delves Broughton, her grand- 

 daughter. The Duke of Argyle published 

 " Scotland as it was and is," and James Taylor 

 " Great Historic Families of Scotland," each 

 work being in two volumes. Mr. Lecky has 

 finished the fifth and sixth volumes of his 

 " History of England in the Eighteenth Cent- 

 ury," Dr. E. A. Freeman has printed his Ox- 

 ford (1885) lectures on "The Chief Periods of 

 European History," and Dr. William Stubbs his 

 eighteen regius professorship " Lectures on the 

 Study of Medireval and Modern History." The 

 third and fourth volumes have appeared of Mr. 

 Creighton's " History of the Papacy during 

 the Period of the Reformation," and Mr. J. A. 

 Doyle has issued Volume II of his " English 

 Colonies in America," and Mr. George Hopper 

 " The Campaign of Sedan." Mr. C. A. Fyffe 

 presents a second installment of his " History 

 of Modern Europe," in which he traces the 

 European movement from Waterloo to the 

 Paris barricades of 1848. Mr. C. J. Abbey's 

 " English Church and its Bishops " presents a 

 full history of the English Church from the 

 accession of Anne to the close of the last cent- 

 ury. The " Rise of British Power in the 

 East," being the continuation of the late Hon. 

 Mountstuart Elphinstone's "History of India," 

 has been edited by Sir Edward Colebrook. 

 " St. Petersburg and London in the Years 

 1852-'64" contains the reminiscences of the 

 Saxon minister Count Charles Frederick Vitz- 

 thum von Eckstoedt. 



Essays. The number of essays proper, though 

 limited in volumes, is strong in the interest of 

 the works, including Sir John Lubbock's 

 " Pleasures of Life," a charming work, which 

 has had already a large popularity; a second 

 series of Mr. Augustine Birrell's " Obiter Dic- 

 ta," which, while on the same lines as his first 

 pleasing volume and certainly most original, 

 is not quite up to that in acuteness of criticism 

 or interest of subject ; and Mr. Ruskin's " Hor- 

 tus Inclusus," a decidedly Ruskinesqne volume, 

 and which can as well be included here as 

 elsewhere. For want of other suitable classi- 

 fication we may note here also Max Miiller's 

 " Science of Thought," Andrew Lang's " Myth, 

 Regalia, and Religion," and C. A. Clouston's 

 " Popular Tales and Fictions." Here also may 

 be mentioned Dr. Gaster's " Lectures on 

 Grseco-Slavonian Literature and its Relation 

 to the Folk-Lore of Europe during the Middle 

 Ages," and Dr. Augustus Jessop's "Arcady," 

 a charming study of rural life in England. The 

 late Lord Iddesleigh's "Lectures and Essays " 

 are of rather a comprehensive character, in- 

 cluding "The Closing of the Exchequer of 

 Charles the Second in 1672," a discourse on 

 "Political Economy," an address on "Des- 



