man in the history of the race had reached a comparatively advanced stage of progress that he learned to smelt and work iron, and the use of this most valuable of all metals contributed largely to advance him in that civilization. The knowledge of that peculiar modification of iron called steel existed almost contemporaneously with the other, but for many thousand years the world advanced not beyond the very threshold of knowledge as to what the capacity of steel was. It may, in fact, be said that as much was known about methods and processes of working and tempering steel at the time of the Christian era as in the year 1800 A.D. The age of steel had not yet begun. The dawn of modern physical science was in the middle of the fifteenth century. For a hundred years progress was slow. From the middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century it became universally recognized that observation and experiment were indispensable to the extension of physical knowledge. This was the period of Galileo. During the next hundred years the world witnessed the application of mathematics to mechanics and physics. This was the age of Newton and Leibnitz. From 1750 to 1850 there existed no distinctive characteristic except the enormous and widespread application of these principles of physical and industrial knowledge. It has been reserved for the latter half of this century to witness the marvellous discoveries in the properties of steel, processes of making it, and varieties of application which have revolutionized the conditions of the age in so many particulars. The little book before us is an interesting sketch of the great inventors and scientists who have contributed most largely to making this the age of steel-Sir Henry Bessemer, Sir William Siemens, Sir Joseph Whitworth, Sir Thomas Brown, and others. Of course, it is only an outline sketch, but it gives an admirable résumé of the field and a sufficiently graphic idea of what the world owes to some half dozen men. To illustrate, for example, the value of the invention of Bessemer in steel-making: It is stated by M. Chevalier, the French economist, that the whole gold yield of California up to 1882 amounted to about $1,200,000,000. Yet he claims that the Bessemer steel process has saved the world much more than that enormous sum, though it was only discovered or at least made known to the public in 1856. Sir William Siemens supplemented the discoveries of Bessemer in processes of cheap steelmaking, and so these two men have revolution

ized the industrial conditions of the century. for all other industries depend on iron and steel. It would be interesting to collate various facts and statements from the book of Mr. Jeans, and thus give a more vivid notion of the value of these brief biographies, but this we cannot do. Sir William Siemens, it need hardly be said, was not only intimately associated with the greatest operations in steel metallurgy, but a scientist of most versatile attainments, who seemed indefatigable in the more abstract branches as well as in the practical field. It is to him, too, that we owe some of the most important steps in modern electrical engineering. Sir Joseph Whitworth is specially known as the inventor and manufacturer of the heaviest rifled ordnance and Sir Henry Brown as the iron-master who has carried the art of rolling armor plates of vast size to a higher perfection than any other manufacturer in the world. Of the other two men whose biographies are sketched in this book we can only say that they are worthily grouped with the others. The author has done his work with good taste and sufficient skill, and succeeded in making a very interesting book, and one not less instructive than interesting.

THE PAGANS. Arlo Bates.

(American Novel Series.) By New York: Henry Holt & Co. This is the second issue in the American Novel Series, A Latter-Day Saint" having been the first. Though essentially different from the other story in motive and the fact that it is the product of a riper and more experienced mind, it has certain points of resemblance that come of a common flippancy of method and an audacious misstatement by implication, at least, of social facts and tendencies. If the publishers have the same luck with the succeeding authors of the series, it will be unique of its kind. By the title, "The Pagans,"

is meant no allusion whatsoever to those worthy forefathers of us all who worshipped idols. It is supposed to be the name of a little society of artists and litterateurs in Boston, who meet periodically in a very informal way to drink beer, smoke pipes, rail at the established order of things, make long speeches against what is known as Philistinism, condemn everything which does not square with their notions of art and society, and otherwise aeport themselves as harmless lunatics. It is with the sayings and doings of these people and their connection with the outer world that "The Pagans'' concerns itself. The story is not much, but it

serves as a sufficient framework for the delineation of certain queer and amusing characters, and to give opportunity to not a little witty, epigrammatic, sometimes suggestive, and oftentimes absurd, dialogue, which, however, always fits well with the people who utter it. The leading motive of the story is found in the relations of two of the Pagans, a young woman who is studying modelling, supposed to be a widow, but really only separated from her husband, and her master, a sculptor. course these two fall in love with each other. The husband of madame turns up and declares that he has at last become really enamored of his wife, proposing that they shall then and there rectify their strained relations, which suggestion is promptly vetoed. The husband,

Of

who is a doctor, consoles himself by a little prussic acid. There is then no obstacle between the lovers. But the lady discovers that a certain ignorant Italian model-girl, who has the talent of a very shapely figure, had been in the old days in Rome the fiancée of her suitor, and had come to America to find him out and prove to him that he had parted from her under a gross misconception. She, rising immediately to the height of a sublime self-denial, compels her lover, after the exchange of certain preternaturally long and adhesive kisses, which she permits as a last concession to their mutual weakness, to marry the aforesaid Italian damsel, whereupon she herself departs for Italy to study art. Another minor element in the story and to our mind the brightest and most interesting is the defection of one of the Pagans, who had been the most brilliant and uncompromising of the railers against Philistinism, to the world again. This backsliding and the causes which lead to it are related with a good deal of unconscious humor and considerable subtlety of analysis. On the whole, the reader does not half blame him for returning to the flesh pots of Egypt, and cannot help suspecting that this descent from the high æsthetic pedestal into what may be metaphorically called the pig-sties of social order and established usage is about the most sensible thing done by any personage in the book. It is impossible to deny this novel the possession of a very distinct kind of cleverness, but we are afraid (though we shall be called Philistines for saying so) that the laxest of critics would never charge the story with being moral or having the slightest sympathy with that consensus of the world's best conclusions which we call social decorum and decency. But, to be sure, the modern canons of criticism forbid us to

TREASURE ISLAND. By Robert Louis Stevenson, Author of "Travels with a Donkey," "An Inland Voyage," etc. With Illustrations. Boston Roberts Brothers.

Mr. Stevenson has given the world within a year or two several charming books, and in "Treasure Island "" he has contributed for the pleasure of young people and even of children of an older growth a very fascinating story, told with a freshness, a quaintness, and a "go," which are simply irresistible. We would not give much for the lad who, once he settles down to read this narrative of buried treasure and ranting pirates of the true-blue school, and of stirring adventures by field and flood, which fairly make the hair stand on end, would permit himself to be torn from it till he had seen the business through. Of course we have all read the "Pirate's Own Book" and innumerable other blood-curdling tales of buccaneering in boyhood.

The motive of the story in the beginning is furnished by the discovery, on the part of a boy, the son of an innkeeper in England, in the last century, of the whereabouts of a wonderful buried treasure, the revelation being made through a paper found in the chest of an old hard-drinking sailor man, who had died at the tavern. It is made known to the squire of the district, who proceeds to organize an expedition in search of the treasure. But the brotherpirates of the old wretch who had died got wind of the matter, and shipped on board. The imaginative reader, with this background for the romance, can now forecast a long series of the most thrilling adventures. We will not lessen his enjoyment by further describing the story of the book. The author has shown himself a great adept in character creation by his description of some of the pirates, particularly of Silver, the suave but bloodthirsty ringleader of the pirate gang, who hops about on his one leg with as much agility as the youngest of the crew. The author has shown his art by making us fascinated with his brutal buccaneers, desperately wicked as they are. Of course,

the

story ends prosperously after a most exciting series of adventures.

PILGRIM SORROW. A CYCLE OF TALES. By (Carmen Sylva) Queen Elizabeth of Roumania. Translated by Helen Zimmern. New York: Henry Holt & Company.

The royal author of these allegorical stories, which, however, may properly be regarded as one and the same, is the daughter of a German princeling, who carried with her to her wild and romantic little kingdom in Eastern Europe a passionate love of poetry and nature, and a tender sympathy with distress and suffering, which speedily endeared her to her half-barbarian subjects. We find in this cycle of tales a warm love of nature and a tendency to idealize and embody it, a mental bias common to the German race, which has found vent in some of the most delightful and quaint features of their folk-lore. Carmen Sylva, as we will continue to call the author, aims in her congeries of stories to illustrate the mission of sorrow in purifying and redeeming the world, observing much the same method which Bunyan has immortalized in the "Pilgrim's Progress." The tender vein of melancholy, as of one who had had much disappointment and trouble in life and who feels irresistibly impelled to find expression for it in writing, is so far from displeasing that it quite makes one of the dominant charms of the book. Without it the atmosphere of the stories would lose its characteristic flavor. The translation appears to have been well done by Miss Zimmern.

OLD LADY MARY. A STORY OF THE SEEN AND UNSEEN. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

This remarkable ghost story, which our readers will remember as having appeared in the March number of THE ECLECTIC, is said to have been written by Mrs. Oliphant, and was originally published in Blackwood's Magazine. It may certainly be considered as one of the most unique and fascinating stories of its kind which has appeared, we were about to say, since Bulwer's The House and the Brain." But, unlike the latter most ingenious produc tion, it does not excite, in the least, any sentiment of terror. On the other hand, it is full of gentle pathos, which touches the heart. The story is of an old lady of rank who, dying suddenly, entails on an orphan child, whom she had adopted, poverty and dependence, because she had, in a careless, freak, put her will where no one thought of looking for it. The spirit,

when it finds its place in the other world, suffers the deepest remorse for this neglect, and after much solicitation gains permission from the guardian of Hades to return to the earth that she might, if possible, communicate with the orphan and rectify the wrong. The interest is painfully aroused in the desperate but unavailing attempts of the gentle spirit to perform her mission, her misery, and the vague consciousness of the living inmates of the house where she lingers of the presence of some mysterious being. The author has treated the matter with great art, and is certainly unique in her conception of a ghost story which revolves about the ghost as the central figure of interest, instead of human beings. We can most cordially praise this little book as one of the most noticeable efforts of its kind for many a long year.

ENGLISH POETESSES. A SERIES OF CRITICAL BIOGRAPHIES WITH ILLUSTRATIVE ExTRACTS. By Eric S. Robertson, M.D. New York: Cassell & Company.

Among her galaxy of poets, certainly no small or inglorious company, for no country, modern or ancient, can equal it, England numbers not a few woman-poets, who shine with a bright lustre. It is then well worthy the am

bition of the appreciative critic to make a study of them, and collect such estimates where they may be read consecutively. Mr. Robertson has done this, and to make the work more thorough he has accompanied his text with such extracts as fairly illustrate the genius and characteristics of each poet. (En passant we may wonder that so clever and capable a man as the author shows himself to be uses such a vulgarism as poetesses'' instead of womanpoets.) To cover the ground fully Mr. Robertson includes many women who are best known as prose writers, and only wrote occasional verses. This is, perhaps, as it should be, but it is, after all, a little misleading. For instance, we have Aphra Behn, Lady Mary Montagu, Mrs. Piozzi, Mrs. Opie, Mary Lamb, and others ranked in the poetic category, though the world knows them not in this way at all. The review is certainly thoroughly done, and we do not discover any woman, who has done even respectable occasional work in poetry, who has been omitted. The most space and attention, of course, are given to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Then come in relative importance George Eliot, Felicia Hemans, Joanna Baillie, L. E. L., and Adelaide Procter. Mr. Robertson shows considerable critical acumen in his studies, and

the extracts given are very judiciously selected.

CREMATION AND OTHER Modes of Sepulture. By R. E. Williams, A.M. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Company.

Though the burning of the dead does not now arouse the interest in the public mind which was displayed some years ago, it seems to be certain that a belief in the desirability of such a method is slowly and surely gaining ground. The most bigoted opponents of cremation cannot very well dispute the fact that many strong arguments-religious, historical, and sanitary—can be adduced for this method of disposing of the dead. Certainly, on the latter side of the argument the argument is almost overwhelming. The main objection appears to be in custom and tradition, which have great force on the human mind. Mr. Williams has summed up the case in favor of incineration or cremation ably and fully, and it seems to us his conclusions are irresistible.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

THE Sultan, "in testimony of high satisfaction" with Mr. Edwin Arnold's "Pearls of the Faith" as a poetical exposition of the religion of Islam, has conferred on him the Order of the Osmaniè of the third class.

THE Volume of essays by George Eliot which Messrs. Blackwood announce for immediate publication was left by her ready corrected for the press. It will contain all her contributions to periodical literature that she was willing to have republished, together with some short essays and pages from her note-book that have not hitherto been printed. Among the reprinted articles will be "Worldliness and Otherworldliness,'

'German Wit," "Evangelical Teaching," ""The Influence of Rationalism," and "Felix Holt's Address to Working Men."

A COMMITTEE has been formed to place a marble bust of the poet Gray in the hall of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and a bronze replica in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Among the members are Lord Tennyson, Lord Houghton, Prof. Sidney Colvin, Mr. Gosse, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Alma Tadema, and Mr. Boughton, with a branch committee in America, where Gray's popularity has recently been shown by three illustrated editions of the 'Elegy." Mr. Hamo Thornycroft has been

selected as sculptor, and the total cost of the two busts is put at £300.

THE "Saturday Review" begins a review of Ouida's "Frescoes" with the following: Gent wants a thinner and drier vintage, does he? We'll see how he likes this," says the waiter, in Leech's sketch, as he pumps water into a sherry decanter. Critics have always been telling Ouida that they liked a thinner and drier tap than she was in the habit of supplying. The Falernian vintages of Ouida's genius have been found too sweet and rich, though undoubtedly very curious." "Strathmore" and " Under Two Flags," with many of Ouida's other samples, really seemed as if no amount of keeping would ever tone them down, and correct their luscious flavor and superabundant alcohol. In deference, perhaps, to numerous requests, Ouida, now presents us, in “ 'Frescoes, etc.," with a beverage which is distinctly thinner and drier then Chandos" and Strathmore." But we fear reviewers will say that the dryness and thinness are only got by the waiter's expedient. The tap is not a new tap; it is only the old tap watered down.

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THE catalogue of the books and manuscripts belonging to the Bibliothèque Nationale, or State Library of France, has been completed. The Bibliothèque Nationale is said to be the richest, as it is the most ancient library in the world. It was founded in the reign of Charles V., "the Sage" (1364-80), whose valet Gilles Mallet, drew up a list of the books in 1367. This catalogue is preserved under a glass cover as a priceless relic. It refers to a collection of 973 articles.

"IT was shown in this column a short time since," says the Pall Mall Gazette," that a celebrated line in one of Lord Tennyson's poems has undergone more than one change. The other evening at the dinner of the "Odd Volumes," where several Oriental authorities were assembled to hear Mr. Quaritch's lecture, it was mentioned by a Chinese scholar that when Lord Tennyson wrote Locksley Hall" he could not have been aware of the exact nature of a Chinese cycle. "Better," he exclaimed, "fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Catbay." It being granted that Cathay is poetical English for China, it was stated, with the complete concurrence of an eminent mandarin who was present, that a Chinese cycle consists, and has for some centuries consisted, of sixty years. By these cycles the lapse of time has been computed in