allusions speak of a rather large, if not omnivorous, amount of reading.

No. II. has for its second title one that not inaptly describes it as "a dish of rice and curry and other indigestible ingredients." It contains, among other things, a tale of mutiny from the Hindu point of view; there are many pages of this volume that have their teaching e.g., that called "The Republic of Orissa, a page from the annals of the twentieth century," which supposes it passed out of the dominion of the British Crown. We may just indicate the miscellaneous character of the volume by naming the paper called "Jupiter's Daughters." It begins, "We

Clergyman's Sore Throat, or Follicular Disease of the Pharynx. By E. B. Shuldham, M.D., Trin. Coll., Dublin, M.R.C.S., M.A. Oxon. London: E. Gould and Son, 59, Moorgate-street, E.C., and 20, Bishop's-road, W. 1878.

This little book contains a modicum of medical advice, pleasantly wrapped in a good deal of interesting general information about the voice and its right management. The scientific cultivation of the voice by the study of elocution, and the daily exercise of it by reading aloud or musical practice, would, the author considers, constitute the best preventive of follicular disease of the throat in public speakers. In his opinion the reason why the clergy are more prone to suffer from this form of sore throat than barristers, actors, and others, is that "clergymen will persist in giving the voice rest six days, and making it work hard on the seventh." He recommends the

experiment of daily services; and, to show the value of musical training for the speaking voice, instances the fact that "the minor canons of our cathedrals, on whom devolve all the cares of an intoned service, are singularly exempt from clergyman's sore throat." But probably this is due in part to the fact that at a cathedral there are a sufficient number of officiating clergy to prevent the duty from falling too heavily on any one voice. We could instance other clergymen who, in spite of musical training from boyhood, and in spite of daily or even more frequent services, have fallen victims to the clergyman's sore throat in an aggravated form. Even where there are not daily services, it frequently happens that daily exercise is provided for the voice in schools, district visiting, penny readings, and innumerable other parochial speechifyings. The worst case of clerical sore throat we ever met with was in a little village deep in a hollow in Devonshire. steep as a precipice rose behind the village; a forest of most luxuriant vegetation lay in front, and more hills beyond. On either side, the road led gently upwards with many windings, and two tall hedges, doubling again and again, effectually shut out every breath of air. When, a few miles off, a brisk east wind was blowing almost a gale at sea, it barely stirred the treetops here. The village sweltered in its hollow, and the exhalation from the abundant vegetation brooded over it. On Sunday a cadaverous clergyman mounted the pulpit. We listened. There came a hoarse whisper, which rose at the end of the sentence into a deep sepulchral groan. That was the text, and the sermon was like unto it. The words were mostly undistinguishable.

A hill

It is singular what a prejudice

exists against the study of elocution as part of the training of the clergy. They ought, it is said, to be natural, and not artificial, in their delivery. True; but even speech itself is an acquired habit, and not a natural gift. Once acquired, the exercise of it becomes perfectly natural. Similarly with the artistic management of the voice: when once the art is mastered, it is as natural for the speaker to husband his breath wisely, to pitch his voice easily and pleasantly,and to place the emphasis correctly, as it is now for him to fall into the irritating faults of utterance which deface most public discourses. The chief causes of follicular disease of the throat are enumerated as faulty voice production; undue strain of voice; action of cold air on the pharynx when the body is heated and the vocal apparatus fatigued; the action of irritating vapours on the throat; and constitutional weakness. The crouching position in which so many clergymen perform the services stooping over their book instead of reading with the chest expanded and the head erect-is another fertile source of follicular disease of the throat. Dr. Shuldham enters a strong protest against the apathy which exists at the Universities with regard to all elocutionary progress:

"The result is, that the education of speech begins after a man has left the University, at the very time when he most needs it, and feels the lack of it. The would-be pleader at the bar can write, but not deliver, a brilliant defence; the future preacher at Westminster Abbey may have the enthusiasm of St. Paul, and the elocution of a school-boy; the budding politician may be full of great ideas that shall move the nations, but, though brain and heart are ready to fulfil their mission, yet the voice refuses to utter the harmonies of inspired

thought; and until elocution ranks as a fine art, so long will the intellectual manhood of England tremble when it first dares to be heard speaking aloud to the people, and would fain pathetically echo Tennyson's words

"I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me."

The medical advice given in the present treatise is in accordance with the system "Similia similibus curantur. Some may be unwilling to grant their favour to this homœopathic axiom; but even to these the chapter on lozenges, we think, cannot fail to be acceptable. The doctor condemns all lozenges of stinging cayenne and other nastinesses, and, after examining into the merits of various confections, comes to the conclusion that few preparations can be more harmless and efficacious for voice fatigue than the simple glycerine jujube. He has also had prepared under his own direction a lozenge specially adapted to the clerical sore throat.

In the concluding chapter, climate, respirators, stimulants, diet, coverings of the neck, and smoking, as bearing on the hygiene of the voice, are respectively passed in review. Public speakers, whether clergymen or laymen, can hardly fail to gather some useful hints from Dr. Shuldham's little book.

Milton's "Comus," with Glossary and Three Essays. By D. F. Ranking, M.A., and B. M. Ranking. London: H. West, 381, Marestreet, Hackney, E. 1878.

This little book, which is designed for the use of students, contains the text of Milton's "Comus," preceded by three introductory essays, and followed by some explanatory notes on the obscure passages and the allusions of the poem, and a glossary of the obsolete or unusual words.

The first essay is, "Of the Masque Proper: its Origin and Progress," which the authors trace from the miracle plays and moralities of earlier days. These gradually were relegated to the humbler classes, while among the more wealthy the masque arose in their place. It was at first, in all probability, merely "a stately dance in habits, splendid or grotesque, preliminary to a banquet."

By

degrees it assumed the dramatic form, and a regular plot, with distinctive characters, became attached to it, and suitable stage machinery and appointments. It was by no means uncommon for Royalty to take part in these entertainments. Anne of Denmark and Henrietta Maria frequently acted in those presented at court. During the Commonwealth there was a cessation of masques as well as of almost all other forms of amusement. After the Restoration an effort was made to revive them, but with little success. The last masque of any note was Crowne's "Calisto, a Pastoral," which was written for Katharine of Braganza, the queen of Charles II., who herself took part in the performance, with her nieces the ladies Mary and Anne, both afterwards queens of England.

The second essay is "Comus, considered as a Masque." The title cannot, our authors are of opinion, strictly speaking, be applied to "Comus," which partakes more of the character of a pastoral drama. The third essay is devoted to "The History and Structure of the Poem." The notes and parallels are tolerably copious, and the little book is printed in type which is more easily legible than we have sometimes seen employed in similar small handbooks for students.

This is a novel quite innocent of plot, devoid of literary style, and with but a very slight attempt now and then at character drawing. We are introduced to a man of great latent talents, who seems to have been intended for the hero of the book, but he scarcely makes any appearance in its pages, except in his early youth to make a few foolish remarks, supposed to be witty, and to undergo the loss of his fortune: he then disappears until the end, when he marries the heroine, and rewards her patience in waiting for him by obtaining a bishopric and making her "Mrs. Bishop." The heroine's adventures fill the book, and, notwithstanding that she is an eminently proper heroine, beautiful, good, and virtuous, some of these are amusing, as they take place in India, with which country the author is apparently intimate. It is impossible to read any book touching upon Anglo-Indian society without a sense of gentle melancholy. The picture is always a forlorn one, even if it be at the same time amusing. The familiarity of a few families, who are bound together only by isolation, and the fact of having always a common enemy, the Government, appears to breed more or less of contempt. The redeeming feature seems to be the real kindliness and helpfulness one to another which is discovered when there is misfortune.

The adventures of a handsome young lady, with money, and no desire to marry, in the course of a stay in India, are evidently innately funny, and greatly relieve the sombre effect produced by a straightforward description of the ordinary dullness, monotony, and discomfort of the life. It is impossible to help being amused with

the gallant officer who proposes to our heroine as soon as she sets foot on shore, and suggests as an effective argument, that if she makes up her mind to stay with him, she will avoid the labour of taking herself and her luggage inland. The lady lives in a shower of offers of marriage thenceforward.

This part of the novel is amusing, as affording a peep into the lives and grievances of the members of this far-removed society. But, beyond that, the book can scarcely be said to have any very evident merits.

Seen in an Old Mirror: A Novel in 1 vol., by Mary Deane. London: Charing Cross Publishing Company. 1878.

This is a clever little bit of portraiture; a scarcely agreeable, though amusing reproduction of byegone fashionable life. An attempt to depict the vapid frivolity of a season at Bath must almost necessarily result in many pages of worthless writing; but there are passages here and there in the course of the story which show that Miss Deane can write if she will. The scene in the gambling room is vigorously described, in which, as the villain of the story is hiding a card beneath his hand, that hand is pinned to the table by his opponent's knife. The moral hero is perhaps rather too soberly and openly moral; but when he pleases he can make a sensible remark, as, for instance, when he says: "Men will not regard themselves as undeveloped beings; they will want all at once, like children; they will wait for nothing.

The Royal Edition of the Rubinstein Duet Album, and The Royal Edition of Rubinstein's Songs, with English and German words. London: Boosey and Co.

In construction these songs are

so simple that, judging of them after a careless and hasty rendering, they might almost seem to merit the epithet "commonplace." The melodies contain few intervals difficult to sing at sight; the harmonies are, for the most part, such as are in ordinary use; and only here and there do we meet with a progression which modulates abruptly. Nevertheless, it could scarcely be denied that many of the songs are unquestionably original, and, moreover, might easily be recognised as belonging to the Modern School of Music. This effect is apparently due to extreme originality in the form of the accompaniments. We may instance that of the beautiful duet, "The Angel," constructed entirely on a motivo of three notes.

"The Angel," "The Tear," "Oh fair, and sweet, and holy," and "Good Night," are general favourites.

In this edition the duties of editor, translator, and publisher have been satisfactorily performed.

Ocean and her Rulers. By Alfred Elwes. Griffith and Farran. 1878.

Mr. Alfred Elwes' book, "Ocean and her Rulers," has deservedly reached a new edition. A popular account of navigation from the earliest times is to be had in it, and its stories of merchant enterprise are as entertaining as its stories of sea fights. It is no more than a compilation, but the compiler has done his work intelligently. Where he ventures on original disquisition he is not always so happy or so convincing as might be. In regard to the Navigation Act, these are his words: "Whatever might have been the views of those who framed the Act, it must be estimated as the foundation of the commercial greatness of our country." There are many of another opinion. While dealing with the results of this law, Mr. Elwes might

have stated what was so glaring a fault in its system-the fact that, after the United States had followed our example in their Navigation Act, the outward-bound traders between the two countries had to make the voyage in ballast.

The Crimean Campaign with the Connaught Rangers. By Lieut.Colonel Steevens. Griffith and Farran. 1878.

Lieut.-Colonel Steevens's book reads like what in great part it is -the work of a very young man. Though appearing at this date, it is compiled from journals kept in the Crimean War. No very startling piece of history is to be found in its pages, yet it is most readable as the plain account of an eye-witness. Many stories are told in it of the notorious commissariat mismanagement; and interesting scraps like the following are pretty numerous. The heroic Captain Butler is spoken of: "It was said that at his funeral Omar Pasha stood at the head of the grave and said, "There lies the defender of Silistria!' At the same time he drew his sword, and, kissing the blade, swore to maintain the friendship of Christians, and never to speak ill of them-an example

which was followed by all his staff."

While we commend this book to readers, we would hint that as a precedent in literature it is to be looked upon with suspicion. Fancy the result, were every regiment engaged in a campaign to find its historian!

Chums: a Tale for Youngsters, by Harleigh Severne; Great and Small: being Scenes in the Life of Children, from the French of Madame Madeleine Laroque, by Harriet Poole; Animals and their Social Powers, by Mary Turner Andrewes. London: Griffith and Farran.

Three capital books, adapted to young folks of various ages. The first is a long story of over three hundred pages, full of movement and fun, suited for boys of fifteen or sixteen. The second is also a long story, for young girls, full of bright pictures, though rather worn, and decidedly French. The third is a delightful book for younger people; it contains over thirty pretty stories about the "social powers of animals. It should be a great help to mothers and nurses who find it difficult to keep the little people "good."