a strain of lucid English, well-suited to a narrative of Elizabethan England, never sinking below the dignity of its theme and yet with something of the homely directness of a story told to a child. All that history tells us of Judith Shakespeare is that she was the twin sister of that Hamlet Shakespeare-the poet's only son-who died at twelve years old, and the wife of a vintner whose father wrote the only letter addressed to Shakespeare in existence. From these meagre materials Mr. Black has worked out a charming character, consistent, original, probable; he has represented in this daughter of Shakespeare's, a nature endowed with the dramatic temperament as distinguished from the dramatic genius, and we are made to feel that Shakespeare's intellect might have translated itself into just this wide-reaching many-sided sympathy, this rich motherly care for weakness and misfortune, this freakish waywardness of mood, this imaginative view of all relations, this recoil from all austerity of moral claim. We are shown pretty little glimpses of the fanciful way in which this daughter of Shakespeare weaves her own small adventures into an inchoate drama, and are made to feel how strongly the dramatic opposes itself to the moral nature, how abhorrent to the keen appreciation of varying mood and picturesque characteristic is any Puritan austerity, while yet Puritanism appears in a portrait so lovely and delicate that the relation of the two maidens-the Puritan and the player's daughter-seems but to symbolize the relation of a true art to a true moral life. Its harsher form, expressed in the Puritan pastor, who seeks to make Judith his wife, is less happy, though there is a certain originality in his relation to the impetuous girl swayed by the vehement impulses of which he can take no cognizance. But what is powerful in the story is the sense kept up everywhere through it of the neighbourhood of a great genius. It would have been still more powerful if Mr. Black had never brought Shakespeare on the scene; but he appears so seldom, and his utterances are almost all so slight, that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that his personality affects the whole as the hidden sun affects the landscape that glows with sunset radiance. A rich, mighty, tolerant character is felt near at hand in all the moral colouring of the picture, and there is something impressive in the very fact that it is never described or allowed any characteristic expression: the one scene which is an exception to this seems to us a failure. Part of the interest of the story lies in an idea which we hope is more and more dawning on the writers of fiction-that the love which ends in marriage is not the only, nor always even the strongest, emotion that exercises the heart of man or woman. Of course, no writer can introduce Shakespeare into fiction and make his influence subordinate; and all the interest of the volume lies in Judith's love for her father. She wants no lover, all the romance and enthusiasm of love is wrought up in the fervour of her devotion to the kindred but larger soul who surrounds her life with an atmosphere of magical influence. There is some satisfaction in knowing that the letter already alluded to-a sadly disappointing document as the only bit of manuscript on which we are sure that Shakespeare's eyes have glanced and his fingers touched-was an application for a loan of thirty pounds which seems to have been granted, and that we may think of Shakespeare's daughter as united to the son of Shakespeare's grateful old friend. If Judith Shakespeare were

such as she is represented here, her relation to her father was always the keynote of her life, and all the sorrow and agitation of the story are wrought up with her love and fear of him. It must be confessed that in proportion as the story grows emotional we lose the refreshing sense of escape from our own atmosphere. Judith's remorse for the rash exhibition of the sheets of "The Tempest" to a wild youth in hiding from his creditors, which results in their independent publication, and the illness which it brings on, are pure nineteenth century, and we feel the antique dialect almost an affectation in the utterance of sentiments so purely modern. One wonders why any attempt to paint emotions which have nothing essentially modern about them in the experience of the past should bring in a sense of incongruity, a feeling as of a wrong colour in a painting, but so it is. Most readers must have felt this in George Eliot's "Romola," and all readers must have felt that the satisfying harmony of any of the Waverley Novels is due to their consistent avoidance of any but the broadest and simplest emotions of which our nature is capable. It is not that we know how a fifteenth-century Italian or sixteenth-century English girl would have felt, and decide that it is not well described, we are willing enough to take our author's word for that. It is that we must not hear the dialect of our own day, and that no genius is strong enough to recover the emotional dialect of the past when once we desert those emotions and relations which belong to all humanity and even extend beyond it. Mr. Black does not sin in this respect as George Eliot does; he never analyzes, he only describes. But still, the situation he describes, or rather the emotion it gives rise to, is somehow wanting in the simplicity that lends itself to a translation into the dialect of the past. This criticism only applies to the third volume, and does not prevent our closing the volume with the sense of a changed atmosphere which is the peculiar charm of fiction, and which Mr. Black has never bestowed on his readers more graciously. JULIA WEDGWOOD.

III.-GENERAL LITERATURE.

BIOGRAPHY.-Mr. Froude has profited so far by the criticism provoked by his previous contributions to the biography of Carlyle, that in the two concluding volumes, which have just appeared, he has prudently suppressed the proper names in passages that might give reasonable offence to living people; but he observes no more measure than before in his exposure of his friend's infirmities of temper and the troubles of his domestic life. Absolute concealment on some at least of these matters may not have been required, but they are all here obtruded on us ad nauseam, and out of proportion to their real significance in Carlyle's history. Mr. Froude shelters himself under inconsistent excuses, for he first argues that justice forbade him from

"Thomas Carlyle: a History of his Life in London, 1834-1881." By James Anthony Froude, M.A. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

He

withholding damaging disclosures, and then in the same breath alleges that the disclosures are less damaging than a reticence, which, in his curious judgment, would only have led people to suspect that there was something still more damaging to hide. People who would suspect that may suspect it yet, if they like; but the world generally would willingly have a decent veil over the transitory quarrels of what was at bottom a deeply affectionate domestic life. Still, Mr. Froude must be credited with a profound and honest admiration for the great and noble qualities of Carlyle's nature, and he has not forgotten to unfold these to us with his whole unrivalled literary skill. With all the faults attributed to him in Mr. Froude's pages, the Carlyle there portrayed will remain one of the most impressive figures in our literature; and with all Mr. Froude's own faults as a biographer, the work he has now finished will live as one of the most important and greatest biographies in our language.--Lord Malmesbury, who had dropped out of public sight for some time, comes before the world again with a work that will probably increase the world's interest in him. His "Memoirs of an ExMinister" is one of the most entertaining books of the season. saw much of the men and affairs of his generation, and has many a good story and many a bit of interesting gossip to tell us about them. He is an excellent raconteur, and sketches off people and incidents in a lively and easy way. One of his main objects in writing the book was to give his reminiscences of Napoleon III., whom he knew well long before he had to deal with him as Foreign Secretary; and of the late Lord Derby, in whose two Administrations he served, and for whom he shows all through a devoted admiration. He often throws out valuable lights on the party politics of the time, and his work will be sought by the historian for the sake of that kind of information; but whether he speaks of political personages or of his experiences in travel or sport, he is always eminently readable and amusing.-Mr. James Payn,† who also favours us this month with some autobiographic sketches, is an author of whom it is superfluous to make a similar remark. He is nothing if not readable and amusing, and the recollections which he has now reprinted, with some improvements, from the Cornhill, are no exception to his ordinary agreeable rule. The stories are all well told, and the spirit is throughout sweet and genial. Not a trace of literary jealousy infects these reminiscences of literary people. -Anything written about the brilliant band of Byron's "Scotch Reviewers," of whom Sydney Smith, Jeffrey, Macaulay, and Carlyle were the prominent figures, must have a certain amount of literary and general attraction. It does not follow that authors have a right to shelter their insufficiency under such prestige. The worshipper of heroes is often weak of hand if strong of heart. That Mr. Stuart J. Reid, in his addition to the biographic literature connected with the name of Sydney Smith, clerical wit and political writer, has produced a readable volume in spite of a prosy and turgid style, must with some quite reasonable demur be granted. As gleaner in a field that had

"Memoirs of an Ex-Minister: An autobiography." By the Right Hon. the Earl of Malmesbury, G.C.B. London: Longmans & Co.

+ "Some Literary Recollections." By James Payn. London: Smith, Elder & Co. "A Sketch of the Life and Times of the Rev. Sydney Smith, Rector of CombeFlorey, and Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's. Based on Family Documents and the Recollections of Personal Friends." By Stuart J. Reid. London: Sampson Low & Co.

already been reaped, in the memoir by Lady Holland, Sydney's daughter, in Lord Houghton's monograph, and in dozens of related books, Mr. Reid has laboured with considerable success. But it has to be questioned whether what little of new he has found entitled him to write a Life of 400 rather badly printed pages, padded with loose discussion, from his own point of view, of the general politics of the time. Literary purpose would have been better served by a booklet containing the few not very important or characteristic letters and writings hitherto unknown to the public. The patient devotion which induced him to visit the scenes of his hero's pilgrimage, to get hearsay details and really valuable pictorial illustrations, deserves all sympathy. But why should he write to notable men in 1883 for certificates as to the character of the Rev. Sydney Smith? Let no one assume, however, that the book is without interest. On the contrary, with all its faults, it entraps and holds the attention to the last page.-Bersier's monograph on the earlier life of Coligny has just been translated into English. It is not a work of original investigation, but an endeavour to present certain sides of Coligny's life, especially its religious side, in a clearer and more adequate light than they have hitherto received. The admiral's work as a pioneer of French colonization, which also had a religious side, gets prominent attention. The author writes a lucid and vigorous style, and the book is a useful addition to our available literature on the subject.-Among the many books that have been evoked by the Wycliffe quincentenary, none deserves a better welcome than the revised edition Professor Montagu Burrows has just issued of his Oxford Lectures on the Reformer's place in history.† Mr. Burrows differs from current views on some points, but hitherto so little had been accurately known about much of Wycliffe's life, that current views were often little better than traditional assumptions. Mr. Burrows has sought by honest inquiry to get as far as possible at the bottom of things, and he has a sound judgment and always a reason for the faith that is in him. His clear and instructive little volume may be commended to any one who wishes to understand the nature and effects of the work of Wycliffe. Mr. Austin Dobson's "Thomas Bewick and his Pupils" is written with all the author's delicacy and finish of style. It gives us some simple and interesting accounts of the Bewicks, Nesbit, Clennell, and others of our earlier wood-engravers, and it is embellished by excellent illustrations of their

work.

MISCELLANEOUS.-Sir Spenser St. John gives a very dark account of the republic of Hayti.§ His information is unusually full and exact, for he lived long in Hayti as H.M. Minister-Resident, and he evidently studied the country and its people very closely. He goes over its history, the character of its people, its government, education, law, police, agriculture, commerce, and sees signs of rapid decadence everywhere. With the forms of a modern republic and the presence of a

"Coligny: the Earlier Life of the Great Huguenot." By Eugene Bersier, D.D. Translated by Annie Harwood Holmden. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

"Wiclif's Place in History." By Montagu Burrows, M.A., Chichele Professor of Modern History. London: William Isbister.

London: Chatto & Wind us.

Hayti, or the Black Republic." By Sir Spenser St. John, K.C.M.G. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Christian hierarchy, the country is lapsing into anarchy and barbarism. Especially startling is the growing prevalence of human sacrifice and cannibalism, of which the author produces many only too plain proofs. Though saddening, the book is uncommonly full of interest, and of valuable and well-tested knowledge.-The season has as yet produced no more charming book than Mr. Hamerton's "Human Intercourse."* It is a series of social essays of the old Spectator sort, abounding in thoughtful and wise observation of life and all its ways, and breathing a spirit of genial but thoroughly manly reflection. The style is quiet, graceful, often felicitous, every way suiting the matter. The subjects dealt with are various and attractive; among others, Independence, the Rights of the Guest; Companionship in Marriage; Genteel Ignorance; Noble Bohemianism; Why we are Apparently becoming less Religious; Why we are Really becoming less Religious; and so on. And whatever the subject, his remarks are always interesting and suggestive. Mr. Charles Bird's "Higher Education in Germany and England," is a brief practical account of the organization and curriculum of the German higher schools, with critical remarks and suggestions with reference to those of England, and it will be found very useful by those who are interested in the increasingly important question of secondary education in this country. The book is written by a schoolmaster who knows his business, and his descriptions of things as his practised eye saw them naturally contain observations and hints worthy of attention.Mr. Wingfield, to whose knowledge of the history of costume we are indebted for that reproduction of English costumes since the Conquest which forms so effective and popular a feature in the Health Exhibition at South Kensington, has now published an attractive essay on the changes and development of civil costume in this country, together with a number of coloured illustrations of its various phases at different epochs, and explanatory notes upon the same.‡ The handsome volume will be of especial interest to the numerous visitors to the Exhibition; but will have a permanent value besides, as a careful and painstaking record of the varying forms of English attire. Mr. Wingfield's authorities have been the illuminators of carly MSS. and books, the ladies who worked the old tapestry, the sculptors of old monumental effigies in churches, all of whom arrayed their figures very carefully in contemporary costumes, and the portrait-painters of later times, who, however, are less trustworthy for the purpose, as they had a habit of often clothing their sitters in a purely fancy dress. From these sources Mr. Wingfield has been able to give us a very good idea of the types of dress that prevailed at each successive epoch, when fashions changed more slowly than they do now, and to produce a work at once interesting to the general reader and useful for the more exact student.-Schoolcraft's life-long researches into the Indian tribes of America have supplied us with one of the most valuable bodies of anthropological data ever collected, but they have not hitherto been placed before the public in so convenient and accessible a form

"Human Intercourse." By Philip Gilbert Hamerton. London: Macmillan & Co. + London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.

"Notes on Civil Costume in England from the Conquest to the Regency." By the Hon. Lewis Wingfield. London: William Clowes & Sons.