Is there, then, more than poetic basis for the famous poetic utterance of Shakespeare: own in "Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, As You Like It, act ii. sc. 1. W. H. DALLINGER. IV. GENERAL LITERATURE. TRAVEL.-In "The Cruise of the Bacchante," the two sons of the Prince of Wales have published probably the biggest book that has ever been written by young men of their age. It has been revised by Canon Dalton, who was governor of the authors during their three years' voyage, and who has inserted occasionally additional matter of his square brackets. But the bulk of it is drawn from the diaries kept by the princes themselves, in which they faithfully noted down the impressions made on them by what they saw, and the information they gathered from their reading, or from the specialist guides whom they were naturally able to secure at every different place. The bock will naturally be widely read, and this hardworking nation will like to know that her princes have not been eating the bread of idleness, but found time in the intervals of their relief from watch duty (for they had to do their midshipman duties in all weathers, like their gun-room messmates) to produce such a piece of honest and serious labour as this. But apart from all interest in the authors, the book itself is one of much value; for they had special opportunities of acquiring the best information regarding the places they visited, and the book contains much that cannot be got elsewhere.— M. de Laveleye's works of travel are of that very instructive sort of which Arthur Young's Tours in France are the most celebrated specimen ; he is as acute an observer as Young, he is better up in economic knowledge, and better acquainted with other countries, that can furnish instructive analogies, and he is a much more charming and cultivated writer. His present work on the Balkan Peninsula, although merely a record of a passing visit, gives us really the most instructive and interesting account of the various nationalities and the whole contemporary politics of the Balkans that we know of, and no one can read it without understanding more clearly the situation as it is in Bosnia, in Servia, in Roumania, and in Bulgaria. He enters at considerable length into the circumstances of Bulgaria, and expresses a decided opinion in favour of its extension to the San Stephano limits. He met most of the eminent persons of the several countries he visited, and his descriptions of such men as Bishop Strossmayer, Professor Noiré, and Count Taaffe, are among the most interesting parts of his book. — Mr. Edwin Arnold reprints, with additions and pictorial illustrations, under the title "India Revisited," the interesting letters which he wrote to the Daily Telegraph newspaper during his recent visit to "The Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante, 1879-1882." Compiled from the private Note-books of Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales, with additions by John M. Dalton. In 2 vols. London: Macmillan & Co. + "La Péninsule du Balkans." Brussels: C. Muquardt. London : Trübner & Co. India. Many changes-generally, and especially in important matters, for the better-struck him after his twenty years' absence, and he describes what he saw with a singularly graphic pen. The book is both readable and well worth reading.-"England as Seen by an American Banker" will be found to be very pleasant reading. The American banker is at once a shrewd and a sympathetic observer, and is naturally from his professional leanings led to examine the business side of our life and to make interesting comparative remarks upon it, as upon other things. We feel that we have been with a man who judges us fairly and kindly, and gives us occasionally something to think upon. MISCELLANEOUS.-To those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with what has been going on in the dramatic world during the last four years, Mr. Archer's "About the Theatre "t will be a great aid. He is of the realist school, and has good words to say even of melodrama. His mind is not quite made up as to Shakespeare being the fittest dramatic food for these Darwinian days. There is the caution of a practised dramatic critic as to committing himself, but there can be no doubt of his sympathy with the school of playwrights who are not afraid to put on the stage "a real pump such as you can see every day in your own back yard." His meaning is that it is good to represent the form and pressure of the time, and that enough of ideality will always attach to the work of genius in this as in every other direction. His discussion of the past star, and the present company period, is full of interest, the theatrical unity of all English-speaking countries being now the hopeful problem for the acting community. An analysis of Hugo and Wagner's efforts upon the drama is vigorous, and the findings are original, Hugo being considerably discredited as a dramatist. Theatrical subjects, from the censorship of the stage to the most recent phenomena of first nights, have thoroughly able and informed discussion in Mr. Archer's handsome book." Baldwin" is not unknown to our readers. Some of the dialogues in which Vernon Lee makes him the leading interlocutor, first appeared in these pages, and they are now republished along with others under the title of "Baldwin." They deal with moral and religious subjects mainly, such as the responsibilities of unbelief, the consolations of belief, the value of the ideal, doubts and pessimism, and in all the author shows herself a most vigorous dialectician, working from an unusually wide range of reading, and of eager intellectual interest, and stimulating us constantly with thoughtful remarks and happy illustrations." Man and his Handiwork "§ is a very interesting and well-arranged account of the tools, weapons and ornaments of primitive tribes, by the Rev. J. G. Wood. Mr. Wood has command of extensive knowledge in this field, and has the pen of a practised and skilful writer.-Mr. Charles Roberts has struck upon a useful and novel idea in his "Naturalist's Diary." It is a record based on twenty years' observations for every day of the year, of the average temperature, rainfall, and appearances of animals and plants upon that day, and half Boston: Lothrop & Son. About the Theatre Essays and Studies." By William Archer, Author of "English Dramatists of To-day," &c. London: T. Fisher Unwin. Baldwin: being Dialogues on Views and Aspirations." By Vernon Lee. London: T Fisher Unwin. By the Rev. J. G. Wood. London: Religious Tract Society. The Naturalist's Diary: a Day-Book of Meteorology, Phenology, and Rural Biology." By Charles Roberts, F.R. Č.S. of each page has been left for the reader to enter his own observations for the current year. It is proposed, moreover, to issue the Diary annually, and to incorporate the fruits of this systematic collective investigation in future issues.-The list by Sir John Lubbock, of one hundred books to read, seems to have suggested the writing of "How to Form a Library; "* and as the author is an expert in bibliography, indexing, and antiquarianism, his book carries an ample burden of useful and curious information. Absence of method, ignoring of chronological guidance, and indifference to literary form, are noticeable in this first volume of the book-lover's library; but Mr. Wheatley's knowledge is so wide and accurate that he cannot fail to gain the attention and sympathy of those who wish to know what is best in and for libraries. Titles of reference works, general and special bibliographies, as well as lists of the favourite books of great writers, make the handbook valuable for students. The chapter on publishing societies is particularly readable, because the subject is fresh and the author has been personally conversant with their mode of creating a special class of books.— Mr. David MacRitchie's "Accounts of the Gypsies of India" + contains a translation of a paper read in 1875 before a Dutch learned society by Professor Du Goeje, with many critical and supplementary notes by Mr. MacRitchie himself, and one or two other papers on subjects connected with the gypsies. Some of his conclusions rest, as will readily be believed, on very conjectural evidence, but the discussion is attractive and informing." Hazell's Annual Cyclopædia," edited by E. D. Price, F.G.S. is a new dictionary of current topics, "a companion to the newspaper," as the editor describes it, in which you are asked to inquire for any information it may occur to you to want regarding anybody or anything that comes up or is likely to come up in the newspapers. To do this task exhaustively in a small octavo volume is of course impossible, and the sins of omission are naturally very numerous in the book, but what is less pardonable is that the sins of commission are also numerous. We have discovered a good many inaccuracies in looking over its pages, and more than one bit of exposition, that is far from justifying the motto chosen by the editor, "Avaunt, perplexity." Still it undoubtedly contains a great deal of most miscellaneous contemporary information, and the errors may with care be expunged from next year's issue.-In "A Seapainter's Log," § Mr. R. C. Leslie gives us some fresh and delightful sketches of sea-life in the English Channel, which he contributed at intervals to the St. James's Gazette, and now republishes with excellent illustrations from his own pencil. We are glad to welcome a new edition of the late Professor Taswell-Langmead's useful handbook on English Constitutional History, || which has been revised and supplemented with many excellent and judicious notes and appendices, including a valuable bibliography, by Mr. C. H. E. Carmichael. With these additions and improvements, the work will continue to hold the field as the best class-book on the subject. "How to Form a Library." By H. B. Wheatley, F.S.A. London: Elliot Stock. + London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. London: Hazell, Watson & Viney. London: Chapman & Hall. "English Constitutional History from the Teutonic Conquest to the Present Time. By Thomas Pitt Taswell-Langmead, B.C. L. Third edition. Revised throughout, with Notes and Appendices. By C. H. E. Carmichael, M. A. London: Stevens & Haynes. AFTER THE BATTLE. LE ET us admit that we have had an unequivocal answer from the polling-booths in both islands. The constituencies of England declare, with a plainness not to be misunderstood, that for their part they will not concede Home Rule to Ireland, neither by the Bill of last session, nor, 'presumably, by any Bill whatever. They were summoned by a voice which to wondering nations sounded like the exhortations of a prophet, and to remote posterity, when time has crowned and glorified the statesman's work, will sound like the trump of an archangel, to break with the cruel past, and do an injured people that justice which heals and rejuvenates, which blesses the giver and the receiver; and they have answered, No, we will not do justice. They were invited to choose between stripes and manumission for their captive, and a decisive majority have chosen as the Jews of old who clamoured for Barabbas. This is the verdict of England, and we are quite at one with our triumphant adversaries in recognising it. On these premisses we are exhorted to prepare for immediate surrender. Home Rule is dead. The final Court of Appeal has spoken, and what remains is to submit to its judgment decorously. Only fools refuse to accept the inevitable, or strive for what manifestly cannot be attained. Party prophets begin to calculate in how many months, or years, the turbulent stream of Irish nationality, which was a trouble to discreet statesmen for a time, will run itself out and be forgotten. The stream of Irish nationality will run itself out when Niagara runs dry, and not a day earlier. The judgment of the final Court of Appeal will be received with humble submission by Irishmen (as it needs must, indeed) when it has spoken; but it has not yet spoken, for the final Court of Appeal is next encounter. God's justice and the Divine government of the universe. We have suffered a reverse-or rather we have lost a skirmish-in the great battle of centuries for the right to possess our own country; and the duty which that accident imposes is to be better prepared for the Had submission to injustice, because it was strong and resolute, been the rule of struggling nations, what gaps there would be in the roll of free States. Italy, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, and all the Turkish provinces which broke their chains, would still be whipped slaves. How many noble enterprises since the dawn of history would have to be blotted out. England would not have escaped from the scourge of Pagan Rome, or Rome herself have risen against the ravisher; even the Apostles must have hidden their heads in the hills of Galilee, to escape the wrath of the master of the world. We are reminded with cynical frankness, as a motive for submission, that our population has diminished far below its natural standard. It is quite true; but it is still large enough for prosperity and liberty. It is larger than it was when Grattan won parliamentary independence, larger than Portugal's was when she ruled the seas, or Venice's when she held the "gorgeous East in fee," or Prussia's when Frederick faced half Europe in arms, or thau that of Switzerland or Belgium to-day. And large or small, we have as clear a right as Englishmen, Frenchmen, or any other branch of the human family, to possess and enjoy our native country; and we mean to do so. For my part I do not see any serious ground for dismay in the result of the elections. Is this temporary repulse not in fact exactly what many of us believed in our secret souls was sure to happen, as strictly conformable to experience in similar cases? The English nation has many great qualities, else it would not have won and maintained its position in the world; but has it ever once in its whole history surrendered a prejudice or an interest at the first summons? When Chatham warned his countrymen that their fellow-subjects in the American plantations were striving for rights which it would be base to relinquish, and which it was base to withhold, how was his counsel received by Parliament and the nation? When Wilberforce rebuked the British bourgeoisie for fattening upon the blood and sweat of their slaves in the tropical islands, and besought them in the name of human and divine justice to relinquish this abominable commerce, did they hearken to his appeal? When the young O'Connell stood up against the cohorts of Protestant ascendancy alone, like the shepherd-boy before the army of Saul, and demanded that an ancient, brave, God-fearing people might be restored to the common rights of humanity, denied them for generations, how long did he appeal in vain? When Cobden asked that the English artizan might have the price of his scanty bread relieved |