The Reviews Reviewed. 



579 



OCCULT MAGAZINES. 



The Theosophist starts its new year with a 

 greeting to all its readers, and contains much 

 interesting reading. Mrs. Besant explains her 

 mode of teaching in India in answer to the Rev. 

 Banares' complaint that "whatever she might 

 say in England, in India she was always hostile 

 to Christian Missions." The number opens 

 with Mrs. Besant's lecture, Giordano Bruno, 

 delivered at the Sorbonne at Paris in June, and 

 it was in the Sorbonne of Paris that Giordano 

 Bruno, in the sixteenth century, set forth his 

 theories. Captain Arthur St. John, in a paper 

 read by him at the Conference of the Ladies' 

 National Association, sets forth his views as to 

 an ideal reformatory for girls and young 

 women. His ideas are very Utopian, and the 

 name jars, but the paper gives much matter for 

 thought and is well worth reading. Miss C. S. 

 Bremner writes a very interesting sketch of Mr. 

 A. O. Hume's life and work. Writing on the 

 " Spiritual Secret of Ireland," Mr. J. H. 

 Cousins says : " The ever-present sense of 

 destiny — divine, loving destiny — fills the mind 

 and utterance of the people of Ireland down to 

 apparently trifling details. If it is a fine dav it 

 is ' Thanks to God.' If it is a bad it is ' the 

 Will of God.' . . In times of calamity the genius 

 of Ireland has bent like the pine to the storms; 

 but as soon as the stress has passed the natural 

 resilience of faith has raised her again towards 

 the sky." 



The Theosopliical Path this month contains 

 many interesting articles. Kenneth Morris con- 

 tributes a paper on " Hidden Lessons in 

 Shakespeare." Shakespeare, he says, rose 

 above creed, and proclaimed the truth that lies 

 at the root of all religions. He proclaims one 

 thing with no shadow of uncertainty — that is, 

 that man's destiny is made by himself. Lydia 

 Ross, M.D., writes a strong paper against 

 vivisection. Writing against capital punish- 

 ment, H. T. Edge says : " Surely more could be 

 done by efforts to stop the manufacture of crimi- 

 nals than by rough-and-ready ways of getting 

 rid of them while creating more . . . the best 

 way to destroy criminals is to destroy their 

 criminality, not their bodies." 



In the Theosopliical Chronicle Kenneth Morris 

 \yrites on the late Emperor of Japan. In ancient 

 times a king was believed to represent the 

 gods— the national soul. " Out of such a 

 conception," the writer says, " was born the 

 heroic spirit of antiquity. Alone among the 

 monarchs of the modern world Mutsuhito was 

 accorded such a position by his people." E. A. 

 Coryn continues his paper on " Thoughts on the 

 Law of Cvcles. " 



THE DUTCH REVIEWS. 



" The Tragedy of the Mediterranean " is a 

 contribution to De Tijdspiegel that affords much 

 food for reflection on the part of Christian 

 people ; it is the story of the aggression of the 

 Great Powers since the French commenced with 

 Algeria about 1830. The precept of the Christian 

 religion to do unto others as they would have 

 those others do unto them has been forgotten 

 by the Powers ; Algeria, Tunis, Cyprus, Egypt, 

 Tripoli — the story of all is swiftly sketched, and 

 the writer thinks that it deserves to be called a 

 tragedy. Among the other articles is one on 

 Elisabeth von Arnim, the authoress of " Elisa- 

 beth and her German Garden " and other books, 

 whose play, " Priscilla Runs Away," is fresh 

 in the minds of playgoers. 



Vraf^en des Tijds opens with an article on 

 the Bill for old-age pensions, sickness and dis- 

 ability. Some people object that the law will 

 be unduly favourable to the working classes, 

 and that il: should not be confined to them. 

 Another article deals with tariffs ; it is con- 

 tended that they are not so helpful to nations 

 as some suppose, and that a tariff in favour of 

 one branch of industry leads to a duty in favour 

 of another; then the round begins again by the 

 first one demanding a higher tariff because the 

 conditions are changed. So it is likely to go on. 

 Whether that idea Is correct or not is just where 

 the argument comes in. The third contribution 

 is also on the labour question, and deals with 

 the position of certain workers, the necessity 

 for co-operation among them, the regulations 

 affecting learners, and other matters. 



Elsevier has a large number of illustrar-ons. 

 one series showing examples of the work of 

 Cordonnier, the architect, and the next giving 

 reproductions of pictures by the artist, Bogaye- 

 viski, mainly Crimean. Among Cordonnier's 

 works are projects for the facade of the Palace 

 of Peace. The holy places to which Buddhists 

 make pilgrimage is the subject of another 

 article of an interesting character, illustrated 

 with pictures of temples and places ; one shows 

 a pillar erected by King Asoka more than 2,000 

 years ago. 



De Gids deals lengthily with the revision of 

 the Constitution, the way to do it, the advis- 

 ability or otherwise of further limiting the power 

 of the monarch, the suffrage and kindred 

 matters in its first article. There is a review of 

 the first portion of a Dutch translation, in verse, 

 of " Faust " ; an article on the Futurists, In 

 which it is stated that they are rather to be 

 regarded as Past-ists ; a fragment of a novel, 

 verses, and various customarv monthly features. 



