taken the place of the old. There is one doubtful parallel in the book. It is that drawn between the estimation in which Christians of the nineteenth Century hold physical science, and the attitude which the Hebrews and early Christians adopted in regard to astrology. Mr. Collingwood looks upon St. John as making use of the Chaldæan system very much in the same way as a modern religious writer might express his views in terms of biology, turning all to the account of Christianity. The Meditations and Maxims of Koheleth: A Practical Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes. By T. CAMPBELL FINLAYSON. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887. During recent years the Book of Ecclesiastes has attracted a more than ordinary amount of attention, and not a few books have been written about it. Perhaps the most considerable effect of these has been the unsettling of the views of many as to the authorship, time and origin of the Book. At the same time it must probably be admitted that the criticism to which the Book has been subjected, has not been without another and more profitable effect. Two things would seem to be clear. One is that the Book is being more carefully studied; the other is that instead of suffering from the attacks which have been made upon the views hitherto held respecting it, it has actually risen in the esteem of what would appear to be a gradually increasing circle of readers. The volume now published respecting it by the Rev. Mr. Finlayson consists of a series of practical discourses, which, as he tells us, were originally delivered to his own congregation some three winters ago. They make no pretensions to scholarship, nor to being the result of an independent study of the Sacred Writing. For scholarship Mr. Finlayson has depended upon such writers as Ginsburg, Zöckler, Delitzsch, Dean Plumptre, and Dr. C. H. H. Wright. Where these are in agreement he has followed them, and on one or two points of comparatively minor importance where they differ, he has adopted such opinions or interpretations as commended themselves to his own judgment. For the origin of the Book he names the period either of the Persian or of the Greek domination, and accordingly rejects the idea of its Solomonic authorship. It was written, he believes, mainly for young men, and contains, he assumes, an autobiographical element. The view advocated by Drs. Ginsburg and Cox that it is an attempt to solve the problem of the summum bonum he rejects, but it is difficult to see how his own theory of the purpose of the author is different; for according to Mr. Finlayson the author has put down his own observations, meditations, and experiences for the purpose of commending to his readers the conclusion he has arrived at respecting the wisest mode of living. A correct conclusion on this point is, we should say, the true solution to the problem of the summum bonum. With the deeper questions suggested by the words of the Preacher Mr. Finlayson does not much concern himself; his aim is to bring out the lessons which the book suggests for practical life. The Problem of Evil. An Introduction to the Practical Sciences. By DANIEL GREENLEAF THOMPSON. London: Longmans Green and Co. 1887, Evil is taken by Mr. Thomson in this work as comprehending all forms of pain-moral evil and all the other ills that flesh is heir to.' The object he has set before himself is to show the sources from which evil springs, and to indicate how the curative process should be set about, and along what lines it should be pursued. 'Physical evil, or pain, springs from our sentient, moral evil from our social environment.' The struggle of life is to minimize both as much as possible, and the problem to be solved is, How can this best be done? The various answers of thinkers and teachers -the various nostrums of ancient and modern philosophers and reformers are subjected by Mr. Thomson to a careful exposition and scrutiny, their defects pointed out, and what value they had, or have, exhibited. Criticism, in fact, of the schemes of others occupies the greatest part of this volume, but it is so searching, so just, and so wise, that it can hardly fail, if paid heed to, to guide others in dealing with this old, yet ever new, problem. Theological, political, socialistic, and other reformers will all find valuable warnings and counsels here, to which it will do them good to pay careful heed. Our author has no short cut to universal happiness to recommend, but endeavours rather to show how only by patient discipline of all the passions of our nature, and by wise cultivation of the altruistic sentiments and judicious subordination of the egoistic, men may become the fellowhelpers of each other and minister together to promote the general weal. His book is a very able and instructive contribution to political as well as ethical science, and cannot fail to be helpful to all who are engaged in efforts to solve the pressing questions which these present to us from day to day. The Cosmology of the Rigveda. An Essay. By H. W. WALLIS, M.A. London: Williams & Norgate, 1887. This essay is by a Hibbert Trust Scholar, and is published by the Trustees. Mr. Wallis endeavours in it to set forth the ideas entertained by the writers of those ancient hymns regarding the formation of the Universe. These are shown chiefly by extracts from the hymns themselves, but these extracts are accompanied with explanatory comments, and valuable dissertations on ancient Indian life and thought, which help the reader to understand and appreciate better the quotations given. The extracts are culled from the hymns in no chronological order, for Sanskrit scholars are still at variance as to the respective ages of these hymns. The principle of selection is therefore simply the uniformity of the references to the particular phase of the world's formation which is being illustrated. To the thought of the Rishis the idea of creation out of nothing was altogether foreign. The one question for them was consequently as to the mode in which the cosmos was produced. Mr. Wallis shows that in some hymns the process is compared to the building of an Indian house, while in others it is likened to, and spoken of as, that of generation. He has an interesting chapter on the place assigned to sacrifice in the formation of things, and another on the Rishis' opinions as to the fixity of law-their doctrine of rita. A short appendix follows marshalling the results of his study of the Rigveda, with an index for the verification of his texts. essay is the result of a careful study of the Rigveda, and gives promise of much valuable work in the future from this talented and painstaking Sanskrit student. The Dalmatia, the Quarnero, and Istria with Cettinge in Montenegro and the Island of Grado. By T. G. JACKSON, M.A., F.S.A., &c. 3 Vols. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1887. This is a book to be admired both for the beauty of its appearance and the quality of its contents. In typography, illustrations, and binding, it is excellent; few more handsome volumes have been issued even from the Clarendon Press. Their contents are made up for the most part of history, travel, and architecture, though students of the other arts will also find much in them to engage their attention. Both the country and people who appear on Mr. Jackson's pages are worth studying, while the architectural monuments in which the districts abound are of the greatest interest. For Englishmen, Dalmatia, the Kingdom' of Dalmatia as it is called, though since its conquest by the Romans it has never been entitled to rank as independent, has long had a singular attraction. They were the first to make it known to western Europeans, and to call their attention to its monuments. As far back as 1675 Wheeler visited Spalato, and described the ruins of Diocletian's palace. Nearly a century later he was followed by Robert Adams, whose description of that remarkable building is perhaps still the best. In more recent years others of the Slavonic countries along the Eastern shores of the Adriatic have been visited and written about by Englishmen ; and as showing the interest taken in them by his countrymen, Mr. Jackson reminds us of the fact that the first edition of Professor Eitelberger's book on the Medieval Art of Dalmatia was almost entirely bought up in England. Mr. Jackson's book, while for the most part scientific, has much in it to attract those who are neither students nor architects, but who look upon books as companions, and read them for instruction and entertainment. While pursuing his severer studies, he has had an observant eye for the country and people, and here and there in his volumes one comes across a charming bit of descriptive writing in which the natural features of the country, or the habits and appearance of its inhabitants are drawn with remarkable skill. Not the least interesting of these is a passage, too long for quotation, describing the costumes of the men and women about Zara. Here, however, is a passage referring to Ragusa whose ancient duomo, now destroyed, is said to have been built by Richard Coeur de Lion when on his way home from the Crusades. There is no newness to disappoint the visitor. Even the Seventeenth Century houses of the Corso or Stradone are now grey, and, being built in the traditional way with arches on the ground floor open to the street, and stone counters half-way across the opening, they are quite picturesque enough, and the general view of this fine street is dignified and interesting. In the open shops on either hand the tradesmen are to be seen busy at their various crafts. Here is a silversmith making the beautiful buttons of silver filagree with which the peasants cover their jackets, or long hairpins like rapiers with a little bird perched on the crosshilt, or earrings with pendant pearls, all of antique and traditional designs, often quite Byzantine in character, and possibly actually derived from Byzantine patterns. Here cross-legged on the raised counter sit two or three tailors in loose black Turkish trousers. Albanians probably-engaged in embroidering with silver and gold braid the jackets and caps of the men and women of the Canali, or of Montenegro, the patterns being all worked by eye without any traced lines, and no two being quite alike, though all conforming to a common scheme of ornament. Other shops are all ablaze with brilliant scarfs and gay handkerchiefs, the speciality of the women of Ragusa, who dress like the Italians in printed cottons and plain gowns, and not after the fashions of the Slavs of the neighbourhood. Of the latter the town is full, and the splendour of their dress surpassed anything we had seen before. There were Canalesi women with brilliantly white coifs stiffly starched and pleated, and Herzegovinian women with red beretta and flowing white handkerchief like a bridal veil. Both men and women wear waistcoats and jackets covered with rich embroidery in gold and silver braid, and hung with buttons of silver gilt filagree, the matron being further distinguished by an edging of gold braid added at marriage to the gorgeous waistcoat, which was the lover's gift. The men wear full Turkish breeches of dark blue, girdled with rich sashes supporting the leather pouch, and various knives and pistols. Their headdress varies from the turban of the Bosnian to the ordinary red cap of Dalmatia, or the pork-pie' beretta of Herzegovina, black-edged and red-crowned, with a half-eclipsed circle of gold braiding, amid which sometimes is seen the cypher N. I.' proclaiming the wearer a subject of the free highland principality of Nicolas I. of Montenegro.' (Vol. II. 321-2). Passages such as this, and there are many of them, give a living interest to the volumes and make the reading of them a pleasure. To the history of the provinces, for the materials of which he has frequently gone to the writings of native historians, Mr. Jackson has devoted a considerable, though by no means disproportioned or unnecessary, amount of space. Half of the first volume is well spent in narrating the history of Dalmatia. The story is one of intense interest, full of movement and change from the first war with Rome in 229 B.C. down to the present day. After the fall of the Western Empire it was governed from Byzantium. Subsequently it was fought for by Franks, Huns, Normans, Hungarians, Turks, and Venice. One of the most singular features in its history is the survival along the seaboard of a number of ancient Roman municipalities, which all through the Middle Ages jealously maintained the civic liberties they inherited from the Empire, and still cling to their 'coltura Latina' with passionate affection, in spite of the efforts made by the Croats backed by the Austrian Government, to Slavonise them. 'The survival of these waifs and strays of the Roman Empire is,' as Mr. Jackson observes, unique,' 'an historical phænomenon of almost unparalleled interest.' But the main purpose of Mr. Jackson's volumes is architectural. In respect to this the centre of interest is of course Spalato whither Diocletian retired at the vigorous age of fifty-nine, and 'grew the famous cabbages whose cultivation he preferred to cares of Empire,' and spent the remaining years of his life. The palace which he caused to be prepared for him here, is not only a monument of the splendour he took with him into his retirement, it is also unrivalled as the most perfect example of Roman domestic architecture which has survived to the present. In his description of it Mr. Jackson has made use of the folio published in 1764 by Adams, who was the first to reconstruct the building on paper, and the general correctness of whose work, notwithstanding the few inaccuracies which recent explorations have discovered in it, is still admitted. During his visits Mr. Jackson had the misfortune to find both the temple and campanile in process of restoration-a process through which they have not passed without injury. So far as the Dalmatian style of architecture is concerned, however, Zara is for historical purposes of greater interest even than Spalato. It possesses a tolerably complete series of examples of every period from the Eighth Century downwards, and is particularly rich in buildings of the earlier styles, though with the exception of the Church of the Holy Trinity, now known as S. Donato, they have to be hunted for and discovered under various disguises as magazines, hay-lofts, and cellars.' Mr. Jackson's chapter upon them is particularly interesting, both on account of its architectural and its historical details. The same may be said about the chapters on the monuments of Ragusa, Trau, and Trieste. In the chapter on Grado new ground is broken. Mr. Jackson is the first Englishman who has described what his own eyes have seen of its quaint and not unimpressive, though badly kept cathedral, with its ancient mosaic pavements, its inscriptions and pulpit. But to indicate the wealth of information which Mr. Jackson's volumes contain is here impossible. The reader must turn to the book itself. He will find it a rich treasury of information on all that concerns the architee ture and art, as well as the history of the Slavonic cities and provinces bordering on the Adriatic, written in clear crisp English, and admirably illustrated. The Reign of Queen Victoria: A Survey of Fifty Years of Progress. Edited by THOMAS HUMPHREY WARD, M.A 2 Vols. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1887. This is unquestionably the most important and valuable of the many books which the celebration of Her Majesty's Jubilee has called forth. The idea of the book is excellent, and the editor may be congratulated on having succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of so many capable and distinguished writers. Their names alone are a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of their respective contributions. The task which some of them have had to perform was difficult, owing to the necessity for compression; and many will doubtless wish that one or two of them had treated the subjects assigned to them in greater detail; but be that as it may, there can be but one opinion as to the ability and care with which each has done his allotted part. As in duty bound Mr. Humphrey Ward, the editor of the volumes, contributes the Introduction in which in a few pages he indicates with remarkable clearness some of the main lines of growth and expansion, of development and transformation, on which the United Kingdom and the Empire have proceeded during the half century under review. With the assistance of Mr. Gonner he has also prepared the chapters on ‘Legislation,' Foreign Policy,' 'Colonial Policy and Progress,' and 'Locomotion,' Mr. Gonner being responsible, however, for the greater part of the two chapters last named. As might have been expected Mr. Ward also writes the chapter onArt.' The chapter on Constitutional Development,' is from the hand of Sir William Anson, and the one on the Administration of Law' from that of Lord Justice Bowen. Lord Wolseley, of course, writes on the Army, and Lord Brassey on the Navy. India has been dealt with by Sir Henry S. Maine, the Growth and Distribution of Wealth by Mr. Giffen, the Iron Trade by Sir Lowthian Bell, Agriculture by Sir James Caird, Schools by Mr. Matthew Arnold, and the Universities by Mr. C. A. Fyffe. Science has been entrusted to the veteran hand of Mr. Huxley, and Mr. Garnett has contributed the paper on Literature. Ireland has a chapter all to itself, but we look in vain for one on Scotland. Education in Scotland is deemed of sufficient importance to be dealt with in a note, and exactly five paragraphs, or about as many pages, certainly not more, out of a chapter covering thirty-three, are given to the Scottish Universities. But a map of the country, showing the parts where the population has increased or decreased, is put in to make up for this! Boswell's Life of Johnson, including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of a Journey into North Dr. Birkbeck is, as is well known, a sound Boswellian, and has spent the greater part of his life in studying the literature of the Johnsonian era, and in accumulating materials for the illustration of Boswell's great masterpiece in biography. In his long but very far from uninteresting preface he says, 'Johnson, I fondly believe, would have been pleased, perhaps would have been proud, could he have foreseen this edition.' This is a good deal for an editor to say about his own work, but we are bound to |