them. This last discovery was made at Creffield Road, and though not singular is certainly of importance. Speaking of it Mr. Brown says-'I obtained nearly 500 implements, worked flakes and waste fragments, at the depth of six feet from the surface. They were (as many of them still are) covered with the sandy loam of which the lowest part of the brick earths is here composed; many of them are white, while many of them are more or less discoloured, and a few are entirely so. Most of them appear to have been white, and subsequently mottled and stained of an ochreous tint, from contact with the loamy sand and gravel; some of the specimens have suffered no change, so that the flint is still black. I have seen one or two of the black ones and others taken from the floor while the men have been at work, and I regard the discolouration of the surface of worked flints as an accident of position rather than as a test of age.' Some forty pages are taken up with a recapitulation of the arguments previously advanced for the extreme antiquity of man, but the remainder of the volume is occupied with an account of Mr. Brown's own researches and discoveries, and a not unsuccessful attempt to reproduce the scenery of the Thames valley, and the conditions of its inhabitants during the Palæolithic period. The volume is accompanied by a number of plates representing many of the tools and weapons discovered by Mr. Brown, all of which are clearly and succinctly described. As the work of a local observer the volume has considerable value.

Les Du Cerceau, leur vie et leur œuvre. Par Le Baron Henry de Geymüller. Paris: Jules Rouam; London: Gilbert

Wood, & Co., 1887.

The Du Cerceau have been singularly unfortunate. Hitherto very little has been known about them; the father and son have been confounded; the son has been made the father of his own father; and their title to be called architects has been altogether denied. With the assistance of a considerable number of inedited documents, the author of the present volume of the Bibliothèque Internationale de l' Art has set himself to lift both Jacques Andronet dict Cerceau and his son Baptiste out of the obscurity into which they have unmeritedly fallen, and to vindicate both their claim to be called architects and their just position in the French Renaissance movement of the Sixteenth Century. Of his success it is hardly necessary to speak. Among the most helpful and valuable of the documents he has employed is a series of sixty-one sketches, covering the two sides of fourteen sheets of paper belonging to the Royal Library at Munich, where they long lay without their authorship being recognised. M. de Geymüller's attention was first called to them towards the close of the year 1884 by Dr. Meyer, the Secretary of the Munich Library, and when they were subsequently forwarded to him, he was able after a careful examination of them, to show that they were beyond doubt the work of Jacques Androuet père, and must have been executed by him in Italy previous to his return to France about the end of 1533. Besides showing the nature of Du Cerceau's studies, these designs, or sketches rather, are valuable as containing a number of hints not to be met with elsewhere respecting some of the principal architectural monuments of Rome. To St. Peter's, then in process of reconstruction he seems to have paid particular attention, and to have had access to some of the original designs for that masterpiece of Christian architecture. The drawings relating to it are in all eleven. Those relating to the Palace of the Roman Chancellor, another of Bramante's great works, number no fewer than twenty-nine. Among the other buildings to which Jacques Androuet was attracted, and to which he

appears to have devoted considerable study, were the Baths of Diocletian, the Farnese Palace, and the Palace built by Raphael for Giovan Battista dell' Aquila. The drawings are often accompanied by notes, sometimes in the hand of Jacques Androuet himself and sometimes in the hand of another, and though consisting of but a few words, are frequently of considerable value. How long Jacques Androuet remained in Italy it is impossible to say, but it was long enough to exercise a marked influence upon his style. He seems in fact to have taken Bramante for his master, and though not a master of the highest order, seems to have been by no means destitute of talent. This is amply borne out by his various publications, though the buildings which were actually erected according to his designs, and under his personal supervision appear to have been comparatively few, a fact for which it is extremely difficult to give anything like a satisfactory account. It would seem indeed, notwithstanding M. de Geymüller's arguments to the contrary, that M. Berty is not far astray in asserting that Jacques Androuet's life was absorbed mainly in the execution of his designs on paper, which as his various publications show were extremely numerous. It may said, however, that all that can be said in his favour is here said by M. de Geymüller, who has gathered together what little is known of Jacques Androuet and his descendants, and in his amply illustrated pages, has given an elaborate account both of him and his works.

James Hepburn, Free Church Minister. By SOPHIE F. F. VEITCH. Author of Angus Graeme, Gamekeeper, &c. London and Paisley Alexander Gardner, 1887.

This novel bears on its title page the name of Miss Veitch, who thus acknowledges Angus Graeme, A Lonely Life, Wife or Slave, and several other works of no mean order in the ranks of imaginative literature. The present novel has all those qualities which distinctly marked its predecessors; the same deep insight into character, and artistic treatment of situation, combined with graphic descriptions of scenery and details which go to form, and are necessary for, the setting of a novel of life and manners in the country. But however varied in character and situation Angus Graeme was, we are of opinion that James Hepburn is a decided advance upon it. Not only are the characters more varied and sketched with a deeper insight and finer touch, but the writing thoughout is better, and the author displays a more complete mastery over her materials, and a keener eye for the ludicrous side of things as seen in the affairs of a small provincial town. James Hepburn, the hero, gets translated from a quiet parish to Mossgiel. Hitherto his life has been very uneventful, but when he assumes the pastorate of the Free Church at Mossgiel his trials begin. First, he is nearly murdered on his way home one night from Strathellon by James Blackwood, a half rascal and half hero, who mistakes him for another whom he suspects of paying addresses to his sweetheart, Mary Warrender, a light coquettish girl, who in the end is drowned by Blackwood, and as she was Mr. Hepburn's servant, his congregation strangely enough begin to spread the report that their minister is not entirely free from the imputation, till Blackwood, whom he had saved by keeping an attempted murder a profound secret, comes forward and confesses to his drowning, in a fit of madness, his sweetheart, Mary Warrender. We need not go into all details, but leave the reader to get the book for himself. The characters of General Farquharson and his wife, Lady Ellinor, are splendidly drawn--he with his stiff, formal, military habit, yet with a

warm, loving heart beneath it all, and she, yearning for her husband's love, yet repelled by his cold exterior. But the main character, as it ought to be, is Mr. Hepburn. We love him from the very first, and sympathize with him. Strong and manly amidst the scandal and gossip of a small town, he shines the very model of what a clergyman should be. He saves Blackwood, a strange, half-mad character, and yet we feel that with all his inconsistences he is not overdrawn. He steps in and turns Lady Ellinor Farquharson from a shameful fate even at the risk of his own life. This is but a hasty sketch of some points in the novel whose main purpose, if we have rightly divined the author's intention, is to show that a minister by sterling, upright, manly, conduct, and full of the silent preaching of action, can do more, and extend in a greater degree the sublime precept of only love ean save,' than by preaching in and out of season; in short, the author has written a novel to point out in the words of its motto that 'The essence of sin is selfishness; the essence of selfishness is individualism.'

The Touchstone of Peril. A Tale of the Indian Mutiny. By DUDLEY H. THOMAS. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887. Mr. Thomas fully merits the award of a 'second edition' which his title page shows that he has received. The Touchstone of Peril, nominally a story, would seem to be a narrative, in that form, of actual experiences of the Indian Mutiny, with, presumably, fictitious names and characters introduced. The book is written in a manly, straighforward style, entirely free from that peculiarly vicious form of sensationalism to which such a subject readily lends itself, and, apart from the tragic circumstances of the time, gives a very vivid and interesting-unfortunately we cannot from personal knowledge authoritatively pronounce it correct-sketch of Indian life. The characters alone of Steele and Dacres would make the book well worth reading, as illustrative of the subtle irony of truth--the brilliant favourite relapsing into meanness, and the somewhat ungainly, unprepossing soldier standing out a born leader of men, and capable of any amount of heroic unselfishness, when the moment of fierce trial comes. Mr. Thomas is a keen and accurate observer. He may, however, mend his literary style. The use of the present tense has always a tendency to vulgarize a story, but when a writer oscillates perpetually between past and present the result is very irritating. A story of so much force, vigour, and interest, as The Touchstone of Peril can bear a defect of this sort, though somewhat injured by it; but with a weaker subject it would be a very serious drawback to a book.

Social Aspects of Christianity, by Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., &c. (Macmillan). In the sermons contained in this volume, Dr. Westcott follows up the line of thought he drew out in his recently published Christus Consummator. In that volume his aim was to show, as we pointed out in a previous number, that the great fact of the Incarnation of our Lord, under various aspects, satisfies and transcends the loftiest aspirations and the largest hopes of men. Here he attempts to show how faith in the historic Gospel, in Christ, born, crucified, ascended, guides, supports, and encourages us in dealing with the problem of social life. Human life, he points out, is essentially spiritual with relations passing beyond the visible into the eternal, and having for its sole foundation that one foundation which is already laid, Christ Jesus, the righteous, in Whose Person and earthly history we have a final revelation of the true relations of man to

man,

The sermons divide themselves into two parts-one dealing with the

Christian aspects of the elements of social life, and the other with the Christian aspects of its organisation. In the former man's relations in connection with the family, nation, race, and Church are discussed, and in the second, some mediæval and modern attempts to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth in a visible form. The treatment of these great topics is, as we need hardly say, thoughtful and suggestive, and in some respects the book deserves to be regarded as important. It is impossible to read it carefully without profit.

To the student of the book of Genesis, and even to the reader, if he is able to use the Hebrew Dictionary, Mr. G. J. Spurrell's Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Book of Genesis (Clarendon Press), will prove extremely useful. The notes are for the most part grammatical and but rarely theological. They are brief and pithy, and contain abundant references both for similar uses and constructions, and to other works for further information. Continual reference is made to the LXX. and other Greek versions, to the Targums of Onquelos, Jerusalem and Pseudo-Jonathan, to the Peshitta, and to the two English versions. Special attention has been paid to the syntax, and two appendices have been added, the one on the structure of the book of Genesis, and the other on the names of God.

In this connection we may mention another work issued by the same Publishers-Dr. Wicke's Treatise on the Accentuation of the Twenty-one socalled Prose Books of the Old Testament. Among specialists this work will be received with the same favour as the author's previous treatise on The Three Poetical Books of the Old Testament, and esteemed as a further sign of the revival of Hebrew studies.

The Pleasures of Life, by Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P. (Macmillan), contains the substance of a number of addresses delivered by the author to the members of various educational institutions. The subjects are such as The Duty of Happiness,' 'The Happiness of Duty,' 'The Choice of Books,' The Pleasures of Travel,' 'The Blessedness of Friends,' 'Science,' The Value of Time,' on all of which Sir John Lubbock discourses with great freshness and sagacity. His pages abound in excellent advice and must have been extremely helpful to those to whom he discoursed. One feature of the little volume is its abundance of quotations. Some of them are probably well known, but containing, as they do, some of the ripest thoughts both of the past and the present, one is glad to get them in so handy a form, and more especially in the excellent setting with which Sir John Lubbock has here provided them. As a companion for the country or for a lonely half-hour, this volume will be extremely acceptable.

The last volume we have received of 'The Story of the Nations' Series' is Hungary in Ancient, Mediaval, and Modern Times, by Arminius Vambery with the collaboration of Louis Heilprin (Fisher Unwin); and a delightful book it is. The authors claim for it that it is The first story of Hungary written in English ;' but whether that be the case or not, as a piece of literary work it is admirable. M. Vambery and his collaborateur have been fortunate in their subject; for the history of few countries records so many striking and romantic episodes; and on these they have mainly dwelt, giving a series of pictures at once minute and graphic. From beginning to end there is not a dull page in the volume. It is an excellent introduction to the history of the country. The authors deserve to be complimented on their knowledge of the English language. It is not often that one sees it used as effectively as it is here by two foreigners. Their mastery over it, in fact, is one of the features of the book.

Messrs. Macmillan & Co., have issued a new edition of Dr. Geikie's charmingly instructive volume on The Scenery of Scotland viewed in connection with its Physical Geology. Excellent as the original edition was, in its new form the work has undergone very considerable improvement, large parts of it having been re-written, and much new matter having been added. The impression which the work made some quarter of a century ago is still fresh. We have renewed our acquaintance with it with pleasure, and know few books of its kind possessing so profound an interest or so delightfully instructive.

Three Years in Shetland, by the Rev. John Russell, M. A. (Alexander Gardner). Some time ago Mr. Russell spent three years in Shetland as minister of the parish of Whalsay, and has here written down many of the things he observed in that far away corner of the Kingdom. That his book is faultless we cannot say. Most of the faults, though amusing, are scarcely excusable, and are due we suppose either to inexperience or carelessness. But this must be said of them, they are chiefly grammatical, and scarcely affect the value and interest of the book. Mr. Russell was in Whalsay just when the transition period was setting in, and the inhabitants were beginning to give up their primitive habits and to adopt the habits of thought and living imported from the South; his notes are about all things he saw and experienced, his own duties and difficulties, his elders and congregation, schools and schoolmasters, the food, clothing, manners, occupations and condition of the people, the scenery, fauna and flora of the islands, their antiquities and climate, and the consequence is his pages, which are written with the greatest simplicity and the best of feeling, are singularly attractive and induce one to overlook the literary faults we have referred to entirely. We hope that Mr. Russell may have the opportunity of correcting them in further editions.

According to Cocker (Alex. Gardner), is a very handsome volume by Mr. Anderson Smith of Benderloch, on the progress of the art of penmanship, and is illustrated by the reproduction of Cocker's Penna Volans and Multum in Parvo, and examples from other works on caligraphy. The plates have been executed with great care. In the essay Mr. Smith developes his ideas respecting the origin and development of handwriting. This subject deserves even a larger treatment than he has here ventured to give it. What he has written only awakens the desire to know more. In France, M. Lecoy de la Marche has recently dealt with the subject at greater length. It is to be hoped that Mr Smith will turn his attention to it yet more, and give us what may really be called a history of the art of writing, as practised in the Three Kingdoms.

A Second School Poetry Book (Macmillan), is a sequel to Mrs. M. A. Wood's previous volume entitled A First School Poetry Book. Here as in its predecessor, the selection has been made with taste and judgment. The pieces chosen are just such, we should say, as children, whether boys or girls, of from eleven to fourteen years of age, will have pleasure in reading, if not in committing to memory. The best writers of all schools of poetry have been selected from. We are glad to see that several poems in Lowland Scotch have been included.

The latest addition to the Clarendon Press Series' of School-books is The Poems of Laurence Minot, edited with introduction and notes by Mr. Joseph Hall, M.A., a work of sound scholarship and deserving the highest praise. Text, introduction, notes and glossary, are all excellent. We have some doubt whether the work is not too elaborate for a school-book ;