The herald., 1894-02-18
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N E7]EllfE!55

gelicalism has gone out OF
fashion, we no longer hear denuncia-
tion Of stage plays" and many like
words, which seem, sometimes, to prove
almost too much. In his consideration
OF John Gay, Mr.. Birrell Gums
/ him mp thus He is buried
at Westminster abbey, over against
Chsucer. When all the rubbish
is carted away from the abbey to make
room for the great men and women of
the twentieth century, Gay will prob
ably be accounted just good enough to
stsy whore he is. He always was a
lucky fellow, though he had not the
grace to think So" There are many
other good words in the book--about
DR.. Johnson and Roger North, book
binding, poets laureate, parliamentary
candidates, Americanisms and Brit
icisms, wherein he stands up for
Mr.. Brander Matthews and cries in
effect: 80. my lord. il spell honour
with ~ and you don't, must one Of
rs surely dief"
Messrs. Appleton & Co. have pub
lished. under the title OF The Romance
of an Empress, an English translation
of the life of Catherine ii. of Russia,
originally written in the French by R.
! Waliszewski. The circulation of this
book is, it seems, prohibited in Russia,
but ii is not easy to see why, for it Is
not only an apprecistive, but even q
sympathetic, biography. 1t is undoubt-
eddy the most exhaustive and authentic
study of a remarkable personality which
has ever appeared. Materials, indeed,
| for trustworthy account of Catherine
we're only recently accessible; now, on
the contrary, out OF ~ volumes of doc
uments already published bv the Rus.
sian Imperial Historical society, all but
20 are directly concerned with the his-
tory of her reign. There are sources
of information scattered in obscure Rus
sian periodicals, or buried in the arch
ives of Russia and France, which have
never before been consulted but to
which recourse has here been made.
The book is well called romance. for,
although no legends are admitted in it.
and the author has been at pains
to present nothing but verified
facts, the actual career of the subject
was 30 abnormal and sensational es to
seem to belong to fiction. Whether we
consider the extraordinary contradic-
tions in GATHERINGS character, or the
bewildering vicissitudes in her expert
ence, we may we'll feel that she pertains
rather to mythology than to history /;
yet, when we read her correspondence,
we cannot but see that this woman
was, in truth, intensely modern and
would probably understand our own
time better than we do the environment
in which she lived. 1t is remarkable
that an obscure little German girl should
L.. A..k g..
more remarkable that she should have
been the motive power of much progress
at the time when Frederick the Great
and Voltaire were enlightening their
nations.
"a
Robert Bonuer's Sons have a new
novel by Nataly Won Eschstruth, author
OF A Priestess of Comedy entitled Count
ess Dynar or Polish Blood. The illus
-trations are by James Pagan. The read
ers OF Nataly Won Eschstrnth's novels
will find than fnll of romsntic sentiment
that takes one completely out of the
ordinary atmosphere and situations OF
common life. There is swing to her
style, a contagious enthusiasm and ex-
travagance in her descriptions and q
freshness in the emotions and passions
of her characters, which command the
attention, excite the feelings and alb
sorb the interest of every reader. All
who have read The Priestess of Comedy
will appreciate the truth of what we
say. Countess OF Dynar is a book of
most unusual beauty. The illustrations
are admirably illustrative of the scenes
and characters.
=<4
nf
York city are to be commended for pub
fishing Reality Versus Romance in
South Central Africa, by James john
ston. M. d. This is one OF the most orr
ginal contributions to the literature
OF African travel. The author ia an
American physician who spent 20 years
in the island of Jamaica. Being
Christian and philanthropist, also a
thinker, as we'll az a close student of the
physical side of human nature, 1t oc-
Cured to him that perhaps the Chris
tianized and intelligent blacks OF jana
cia would be good material from
which to select missionaries
for work in the dark continent. He
therefore organized an expedition at his
own expense. taking with him six
Jamacians, and he crossed South Cen
trail Africa by route nearly 5000 miles
long. He makes the highly honorable
boast that although be went through
many savage tribes and nations, some
of whom had never before seen white
man. he did no Staying of human beings.
nor did he lose a single member Of his
own party through violence or death.
One result Of his wisdom and forbear-
ance is that his book lacks the adventure
and excitement of some records OF
African travel. The most interesting
portions of the text are the authors
criticisms OF existing mission methods
in Africa. He has little faith in the
Contamination of the blacks by the
usual course Of preaching and teaching,
and urges that civilizing agencies should
be used first, long, and in spite OF the
many discoursgements that are newt
able. Missionary societies will not like
the tone of the book, yet the writer's
Christian spirit is earnest. and his ex-
psrience among the natives backs his
opinions strongly. The illustrations de-
serve high commsndation. There are 80
of them. all of full-page size, and made
directly from photographs taken by the
author. They are not mere half
tones" either, but good photographers,
and almost all the subjects are natives,