crime and flavor him with a ruined abbey, nothing a year, a palace on the Bosphorus and turquoise hair brushes. Take also several Duchesses to whom he makes love very languidly, or he will not do a Dalmatian gitana with a thirst for r-e-e-venge, and one vivandiere. After these become thoroughly mixed, introduce – carefully a chapter on Ariadne at Naxos, one little wooden shoe, a gifted dog, and a plain mister to give a piquant flavor. Season with a bouquet of choice misquotations and serve with a supreme expiation." One essential ingredient, we see, has been omitted in the list, and that is "hemotion" take gusts and gusts of it to

raise.

This little review prides itself as being "the very first among the heralds of the reaction against picture-book magazines;" we suppose the Chap-Book and The Philistine are not in it.-[Toronto, Canada, Daily Globe.

THE HESPERIAN raised its voice in no uncertain tone against the picture-book magazines before the Chap-Book and The Philistine were born. Nor has it been noted for repressing its opinion of the fadazines, either.

The picture book magazines with the circus-poster covers, and their pictures of semi-nude actresses and other savorsome females in deshabille are sensual, carnal, —they appeal to the baser passions, to the animal man; the fadazines, poor little dears, have not enough brains or anything else to appeal to anything or anybody outside of the insane people in the county asylums.

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As to Ouida—she is practically dead. Her nasty novels are not selling since two or three years possibly, because the average reader of to-day prefers something still more filthy. The generation which knew her and cared for her filth has gone by; even Edgar Fawcett and Lippincott's Magazine have ceased praising her. To smoke a cigarette is no longer a delightful crime to be perpetrated behind locked doors. It is only a too common and vulgar incident, and the girl who does it is not admired, but simply tolerated. The dreadful wickedness of Ouid is out of fashion; her extravagance has left her poor, notwithstanding the enormous sums she at one time received for her books. She was always very eccent.ic. In the past few years she has become simply a frumpy old woman with cloth gaiters and draggled skirts.

Of late years she has written only an occasional article for magagines and reviews that point to their circulation among the ignorant

as an apology for their loss of literary respectability. She has degenerated into a common scold without an audience.

Certainly the most cheerful" sign of the times" that we know of, is that the fadazines, the posters, the erotic novels, and other emanations from a diseased corner in men's and women's brains, are rapidly dying out. From present indications, it would seem that the American people will pass into the 20th century in a cheerful state of social, political, artistic, and literary sanity.

AUTHORS AND MAGAZINES.

We

The Midland Monthly has absorbed The New Bohemian. trust that none of the odor of foul pipes and stale beer that was a notable feature of The New Bohemian, will cling to the fragrant garments of The Midland.

JEROME K. JEROME of Idler fame, says that "the average Britisher will never regard literature as a serious profession." Assuredly not as long as specimens of Mr. Jerome's work are under consideration. But since when have English writers begun to use the word "Britisher?" It belongs exclusively to a certain class of ignorant Americans.

The International Magazine is bright, instructive, and handsomely printed and illustrated. It contains articles on travel, biographical sketches, stories and literary miscellany, translated from the best current foreign periodicals, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, German, Norwegian, etc. The International is published monthly at Chicago, at 10 cents per copy, and was begun last July.

Dr. Prudden, one of the leading authorities on the subject, says in the Popular Science Monthly what many laymen have suspected all along, that the vast majority of bacteria are harmless. Otherwise, considering the millions of them that are taken in by the average person in eating, drinking and breathing, there would not be enough funeral directors to bury the undertakers.

The Book Buyer says that, "F. Marion Crawford is a broadshouldered, six-foot man, with azure eyes, though why he parted company with his blond Vandyke beard is still a matter of conjecture among connoisseurs of manly beauty. He is married to an equally handsome wife, who has inherited the wonderful gray eyes and superb

physique of her father, General Berden. He is 43, and is a prodigious linguist, a marvelous musician, and an expert fencer." is also a poor novelist and a worse critic. Furthermore, he is the best modern instance of how very little literary ability it requires to become famous in these namby-pamby fin-de-siécle days.

MARK TWAIN's hands, according to an Eastern paper, were photographed recently and copies sent to each of four experts in palmistry. One discovered "a strain of Southern blood dating back two hundred and forty years Of the four, only one discovered any sense of humor in which respect he differs from the majority of Mark Twain's readers

GERTRUDE ATHERTON, who, after her quarrel with Ella Wheeler Wilcox, relapsed quietly into oblivion, is making a second bid for cheap notoriety. She says she is surprised that American men can expect to have a soul. "By 'soul' I mean,' ," she says, "simply a quality of the brain in its highest stage of development, which presupposes serious depths in homogeneous natures - the result of a long line of ancestors who have laid the structure bit by bit progressing with the slowness which alone leads to admirable results." Ah, Mrs. Atherton, it is only soulless men who are reading your nasty, glowing, immoral" Hermia Suydam!"

Among

The Bookman says someone should start a school for the instruction of authors and editors in the proper use of the auxiliaries "shall" and "will," "for the knowledge of the distinction between them seems to be vanishing from the American people. authors, Mr. Richard Harding Davis, is the worst offender in this respect. Mr. Davis is not an "author," he is a reporter. But what- The Bookman turned grammarian? See your own prospectus, Mr. Schoolmaster: "The Bookman: A Literary Monthly Magazine;" is it monthly that is literary, or the magazine, Professors Dodd, Mead & Co.? An' pray you, why not "A Monthly Literary Magazine?" But, really, is it a magazine? or is it a literary newspaper?

The three articles on Dr. Johnson in THE HESPERIAN two years ago, are the best addition to Johnsonian literature that has appeared in either England or the United States since a quarter of a century. · London Dramatic Journal.

A good popular-priced publication.- Denver, Colo., Rocky Mountain Sentinel. . . Issued an interesting number for Aug.-Oct., in which Ina Coolbrith's work as a poet is cheerfully and appreciatively reviewed. San Francisco Town Talk.

An extremely bright magazine. One of its reviewers has called it "iconoclastic," and its editor certainly attacks some of the fin-de-siècle writers who have been imagin. ing themselves the idols of the great reading public.- Montreal, Canad, Educational Record.

The leading feature of number 11 is" Forgetting," an illustrated poem which is full of merit. There is also, besides other contributions, an interesting sketch of “ Heraclitus of Ephesus," with translations from the French and German.-Galveston, Tex., Daily News.

It is not "profusely illustrated," but in it there is a lay out of brains. It has the culture of the east, even eastward of Boston, and the peculiar dash of the west.Milford, N. H., Daily Pointer. No. 11 devotes a large share of its space to Hera

clitus. Portland, Me., Transcript.

There are two illustrated contributions in the last Hesperian -"O Dead Past, Bury Thy Dead!" (by Mrs. Holbrook), and a sketch of Ina D. Coolbrith (by the editor). The titles of the other articles are: Joking With Death," "What of the Future?" "On Some Books and Authors," and "The Literary Wayside."- Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin.

The Aug.-Oct number presents as its initial feature a poem called " O Dead Past, Bury Thy Dead." Ina D. Coolbrith, the California poet, is the subject of a graceful essay, illustrated with a portrait. "Joking With Death," tells about the jests uttered at the guillotine during the French Terror. "What of the Future?" is an editorial consideration of the present situation in the United States. The number is of unusual attractiveness.- New Orleans Daily Picayune.

No. 8 has as one of its leading articles the biography of William Wetmore Story, the poet-sculptor, who departed this life at Vallambrosa in October, 1895. He was a native American. One glance at Mr. Story's face told you that you were looking at no ordinary man; the broad and powerful brow had the vigor of a strong intellect; the vivacious eyes had a clear light of genius; the whole expression had that mingled delicacy and mastery which are only to be seen on the countenance of those whose lives are spent in great thoughts and great endeavors. Toronto, Canada, Daily Globe

No. 9 of that able Western Quarterly Magazine, The Hesperian, devotes a good deal of space to a critical estimate of the comparative merits of Ibsen and Tolstoi, a portrait of the latter author being given as a frontispiece. An appreciative estimate of the critical work of George Saintsbury follows, and is succeeded by a caustic review of the erotic school of poetry of Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox and the idiotic school of Mr. Stephen Crane. The Hesperian is an excellent and scholarly magazine and we are always glad to receive its too unfrequent visits.- Charleston, S. C., Daily News and Courier.

The Aug. Oct. HESPERIAN is a bright and entertaining little magazine of essays and criticism. A pleasing poem by Mrs. J. E. Holbrook opens the number. This is followed by a portait and sketch of Ina D. Coolbrith, of whom Mary J. Reid has said that she represents idealism, and it would not be difficult to broaden the metaphor of " the sweetest singer of California" and call her the sweetest songstress of America. Jok ing with Death gives some historical information of a curious kind, and an essay on What of the Future? is full of thought. Books and authors are discussed freely, and the editor always has something worth reading in this department.- Sioux City, Io., Daily Journal.

Postage or Express Charges are not included. When ordering, send 15c for each 12mo and 25c for each 8vo book. Any excess after paying charges will be returned to the sender.

AMERICANA AND SCARCE.