Thi-: Reviews Reviewed. 



301 



I 



A Dickens Number. 

 Thl February issue ot the Bookman is a Dickons 

 number. Mr. B. W. Matz contributes " Some Desultory 

 Notes," in which he points out. among other things, 

 the most notable instances of autobiography in 

 Dickens's novels, the pictures of the troubles of his 

 father, and the whole struggle (or existence of his family. 

 Then follows an article on Dickens and London, with 

 illustrations of the many houses in which Dickens 

 li\ed, and, finally, there is a s\mposium to which a 

 number of writers contribute personal recollections and 

 opinions. .Mr. Harry Furniss is the onl\- artist who has 

 illustrated all Dii kens's novels ; Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, 

 the only surviving member of Dickens's statT on 

 Household Words and All llie Year Round, writes of 

 his connection with those journals ; Jlr. William 

 De .Morgan believes he owes everything to Dickens ; 

 Mr. G. K. Chesterton echoes this sentiment ; Mr. Percy 

 White describes a Dickens reading ; and other writers 

 say which of Dickens's stories the\- consider his greatest 

 work. 



Nordland. 

 I.N January a new (ierman illustrated fortnightly 

 magazine, called \ordland, made its appearance. As 

 its name implies, it is to be devoted to the interests of 

 Northern Germany and Northern or Scandinavian 

 interests in Germany ; in other words, the relations. 

 commercial and other, between Germany and the 

 countries of Northern Europe. Commerce, shipping. 

 sport, travel, literature, art, and science are all to be 

 represented. The first three numbers contain articles 

 on Spitzbergen, Dr. Nansen, the Swedish Concert 

 Union, the Position of Danish Women, Hans Christian 

 .\ndersen in Weimar, Georg Hrandes. August Slrind- 

 bcrg, Gerhard .Muntlie (Norwegian artist), .\nders 

 Zorn and Nils Kreuger (Swedish artists), etc. The sub- 

 scription for Germany is three marks per qu.irler (si.x 

 numbers), and the address, Koi hstr. 14. Berlm. 

 S.W. u>i. 



The Forum. 



The February l-onun contams sevcr.d articles that 

 have claimed sep.irate notice elsewhere. The " Pil- 

 grims of Eternity," by Ferdinand Farly, are a scries 

 of verses illustrating the new poetry of connubial 

 pas.sion which is becoming a, feature in .American 

 literature. F.dwm Hjorkmann sktiches the unhappy life 

 of August Strmdberg, whom he describes as the greatest 

 living writer in the Scandinavian North, and one of 

 the gre.itesl in the whole world. He traces his spiritual 

 growth Irom Hartmann's " FhiloMiphy of the Un- 

 conscious," till he found rest in Swedenborg. He 

 touches lii;litly on his three matrimonial ventures, but 

 insists that he was essentially a lone soul, though much 

 attached to his children. Edwin I'ligh " in search of 

 London," declare- that the true London is elusive, can 

 Ije found neither in City, west, east, south, or suburbs. 



Blackwood. 



To readers in quest of psychic novelty the paper 

 on the Norwegian Vardogr, noticed elsewhere, will \k 

 the chief feature of the March number. The political 

 article denounces Ministers as victims of their own 

 vanity, demented as the first stage to their doom. 

 " Musings without Method " inveigh against Sir George 

 Trevelyan's "George III. and Charles Fox" — as 

 expressing " the views of the desperate Whigs." Sir 

 George Scott gives a vivid account of census-taking in 

 Upper Burma, in a town where no census was even- 

 tually taken ! '" Linesman " tells a grim story of a 

 private shot, on his own confession, for murdering his 

 officer, who was proved after the private's death to 

 have been killed by the enemy 1 A graphic account 

 is given of the Coronation Durbar at Zaria in Northern 

 Nigeria. .Mr. .\ndrew Lang reveals from a pamphlet, 

 " The Tobermory Galleon Salvage," the mystery of 

 that galleon — a vessel of the Spanish Armada, sunk 

 off Tobermory Pier. 



Hispania. 



The third number of this new political and literary 

 Spanish-.\merican periodical maintains the high 

 standard of its two predecessors. Mr. Sanin Cdno 

 contributes a well-thought-out article upon the failure 

 of Parliamentary rule. Mr. Enrique Perez writes 

 upon the military influence of Chili throughout South 

 .\nierica. The Chilian army is the finest in Latin 

 .\merica, its officers are highly trained, and many of 

 them are now acting as instructors in the armies of 

 neighbouring Republics. A humorously sarca.stic 

 editorial deals with the aspirations of Italy, as set forth 

 in Italian newspapers, to annex Constantinople and 

 generally to imitate Scipio's conquests on the borders 

 of the .Mediterranean. In an appreciative sketch of 

 Dickens, Mr. S. Perez Triana compares him with 

 Shakespeare as a great master of literature, and points 

 out that whilst the latter drew upon the whole world 

 for his writings, Dickens confined himself almost 

 exclusively to the upper and lower middle classes. 

 Dickens is regarded in Spanish countries, where his 

 works enjoy great popularity, as a master of laughter, 

 a genius who can make a poem out of an\lhing. Mr. 

 Triana points out, however, that Dickens respected 

 the puritanical hypocrisy in his treatment of love. 

 Instead ol depicting passion as the great furnace it 

 actually is, he showed it in his novels as a feeble flame 

 hardly warm enough to heal a cup of tea. 



The Hinduslan finiru' has begun a study of Indian 

 women. The writer says : — 



I'.iisce women are far more advanced than any other coin- 

 munily. The Brahmo .Samaj preaches the idc.il of women 

 leaviiif; ihe furiiali and cmiiiti); into the world. Certain 

 .Mahuniedan Indict also, nutaldy the members of the Tyabji 

 Luiiily, have cost aside (he furJah ; but apart from a few such 

 instances women seem to \x .15 nnich liehiiul the /■itrJah as ever. 



She warns Indian men that if they want freedom 

 they must -eil; it f. r tin Ir sisters as well as for them 

 selves. 



