412 



The Review of Reviews, 



A Winter Holiday in Portugal, by Captain Granville 

 Baker (Stanley Paul. 12s. 6d. net). The " Holiday- 

 maker " rontinues his rambles with pen and pencil 

 nearer home, and is equally successful in finding 

 beauty where some would only see drabness. His 

 good humour is infectious, and he is edified by every- 

 thing he encounters in his wanderings ; even when 

 his critical faculty is challenged, he remembers that 

 he is holida5'-making, and does not forget that he is 

 a guest. Captain Baker does full justice to the people 

 and scenes of the new republic, and although a Briton, 

 he recognises that he is only a foreigner when sheltering 

 under a neighbour's flag. The incidents are breezily 

 told, the rechaufje of history delicately obtruded, and 

 the many illustrations give full pleasure to the 

 reader. 



RELIGIOUS. 



I he fourth \-olume of Pflciderer's Primitive Chris- 

 tianily, translated b)- W. Montgomery, has been issued 

 by Williams and Norgate (pp. 540. 10s. 6d. net). In 

 this volume Pfleiderer deals with the Johannine writings. 

 He pronounces the Gospel of John to be a doctrinal 

 work, using historical material as a frame for the 

 symbolic pictures in which it embodies the ideas of a 

 Hellcnised Paulinism. In place of the one Apostle John 

 of tradition, said to be the author of the whole of the 

 Johannine writings about the end of the first century, 

 he posits four different authors, none of whom was the 

 Apostle : the Apocalypse by John the Prophet, about 

 100 ; the two short Letters by an anonymous presbyter 

 about 125 ; the Gospel to Chapter XX. about 135 ; the 

 Appendi.\ to the Gospel, and the first Epistle about 150. 

 Johannine theology he pronounces to be " the ripest 

 fruit of that Christian Hellenism which was partly 

 founded by Paul, further developed by deutero- 

 Paulir-sm, and essentially contributed to by the 

 syncretistic mystery religion and gnosticism of Western 

 Asia." First Peter, Pfleiderer attributes to another 

 writer in the second decade of the second century, and 

 puts the Epistle of Jude with the Epistle of James at 

 the middle of the second century. ^He also deals with 

 the " Shepherd " of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, 

 the Clementine writings, and the early Apologies. The 

 book will he of value to those who regard faith in the 

 Incarnation a.s — to quote the author — " a poetic repre- 

 sentation of the profound thought that the Divine 

 power of Reason in humanity in general reveals itself 

 as the principle of all that is true and good, and as the 

 power which delivers men and educates them to higher 

 thing.s." 



Mountain Patinvays. A Study in the Ethics of the 

 Sermon of the Mount, by Hector Waylen. (Kegan 

 Paul. 3s. 6d. net.) The obscurities of even the 

 plain passages in the Bible are many, and Mr. 

 Waylen has cleared many of the outstanding difli- 

 culties to a proper understanding of the fifth 

 chapter of Matthew. 



GENERAL. 



My Idealled John Biillesses, by Yoshio Markino 

 (Constable and Co. 6s. net). " A Japanese Artist in 

 London " is by way of becoming acclimatised to the 

 country of his adoption, and Englishwomen will be 

 interested in and grateful for the friendly criticisms 

 which are given with a complete air of detachment. 

 Mr. Markino sees things that we only notice, and 

 observes details which have escaped our too familiar 

 eyes. His remarks are as truthful as his thumb-nail 

 sketches of " Bullesses " at work and play, and the 

 reproductions in colour are most faithful to Nature, or 

 may we say fashion ? 



Gem-Stones, by G. F. Herbert Smith (Methuen. 

 6s. net). A popular presentation of the " optics " and 

 " physics " of precious stones.' The chief feature of the 

 book is a series of coloured reproductions enabling the 

 average man and woman to \ isualise the various forms 

 in which carbon and other elements crystallise in 

 Nature's crucible, together with the geometrical 

 elegancies with which the lapidary contrives to fit the 

 " raw material " for the decoration of crowns and 

 sceptres and the more personal uses of these long- 

 prized ornaments. 



Tree Love, by Francis George Heath (Charles H. 

 Kelly. 3s. 6d. net). A gossipy chat giving familiar and 

 unfamiliar particulars of our best known trees and 

 shrubs. The book may be specially commended to 

 those who have an instinctive dislike to mixing dog- 

 Latin with their favourite hobby. 



The Ox and its Kindred, by R. Lydekker (Methuen 

 and Co. 6s.). The author has achieved a creditable 

 task in selecting the \ital essentials of " ancient report," 

 and presenting them with the same precision as the 

 more recent facts and scientific data of his subject. 

 The recorded history of the ox is co-eval with that of 

 man. and the book, which discusses the world-wide 

 distribution of the species, is worthy of a permanent 

 place on the book-shelves. 



London Stories, by John o' London. (T. C. Jack. 

 6s.) Mr. Whittcn, the North Countryman who has 

 made London his own peculiar province, here presents 

 us a most interesting collection of London characters 

 and scenes. An enumeration of the items would be 

 quite impossible ; the difficulty would be to find what 

 has been left out, for old treasures of every kind must 

 have been ransacked to present this very clear picture 

 of London hfe. 



The Fen Dogs, by Stephen Foreman (John Long. 

 6s.). A story of more than usual merit. The plot 

 turns on the passion of two men for the same woman, 

 and is worked out with considerable ingenuity and 

 strength. 



One of the most extraordinary mechanical marvels 

 of the eighteenth century w.-.s the " automaton " chess- 

 player invented by a Hungarian mechanician. On 

 this invention Sheila E. Braine has constructed a 

 highly ingenious romance, // Po/is/i Hero (Hlackic. 

 3s.). 



