The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-20

RE VIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

From Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfnger
we have received the following recent publ
cations of Harper & Brothers.
''Free Russia" by William Hepworth
Dixon, is a rapid resume of the past and pre-
sent condition of the Russian empire, with
various moro less erudite speculations as
to the future. This work is the result of
three visits to Russia, in which the greater
part of the country has been traversed, and
if open to the charge of being superficial, it
is at least bright, vigorous, and interesting.
Mr. Dixon sees, as the majority of the Ame-
rican people have long seen, beneath the
autocratic system of Russia the germ of a
great free government; and although some of
his facts have been impugned by reviewers
on the other side of the Atlantic, it cannot
be denied that his work really gives great
deal of just the kind of information about
the Russian people that is needed at this
juncture, and that, whatever other faults the
writer may have, he is never dull or unenter
tanning. We therefore recommend the work
as one that may be read with profit, and as
containing much information that American
readers especially will be glad to obtain about
a nation that is noted for being the warmest
admirer and the most steadfast friend we have
in the Old World.
The canoe Rob Roy is already favorite
with the public, and those who have been in
terested in the story of its adventures in
European waters will read with pleasure the
narrative of ''Rob Roy on the Jordan, Nile,
Red Sea, and Gennesareth, etc., as told by
]. Macgregor, M. A., who combines in him.
self the functions of commander and crew.
This work, like those which have preceded it,
is very much given to the individual glorifi-
cation of Macgregor. certain amount of
egotism, however, is allowable in an indvi-
dual who has padded his own canoe over the
rivers and seas of Europe, ASIA and Africa;
and leaving out of the question an undoubted
charm that personal narrative of this kind
has, the writer possessed unusual opportuni-
ties for exploring some almost unfrequented
regions, and for studying some little known
phases of oriental life, and on these accounts
alone the record of his cruise is exceedingly
entertaining. The book is profusely Illus
trated, and we recommend it as exceedingly
pleasant reading.
Charles Dickens may be considered as the
| founder of the school of romance of which
| OudIloS poduo anu are uOW
undoubtedly the greatest living exemplars-
a sort of combination of the attIe with the
dulce that, however open to criticism on
purely artistic principles, certainly does some
good in its day and generation. In the spe-
cial field of attacking social, political, legal,
and other abuses, Dickens has almost been
surpassed by his two disciples above named
in vigorous inyective at least. If Mr.
Charles Reade's last novel, ''Put Yourself in
His Place" does not crush out trades
unionism in England, Mr.. Wilkie Collins
story of 'Man and Wife" will go very
far towards exciting public opinion in
favor of reforming the marriage laws of
England, Ireland, and Scotland so that such
outrages as the Yelverton case disclosed will
be impossible in the future. "Man and Wife, "
which was perused with much interest by
multitude of readers while it was being pub
lished serially in Harper's Weekly, is a very
powerful novel, one of the very best that Mr..
Collins has yet produced, although it is less
mysterious and involved in its plot than most
of his previous works. The author started
out with the object of making thorough ex-
position of the gross injustice of the present
marriage laws of Great Britain, and he has