The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-10

| real to him than ever before.
The view which Prof Goodyear takes of
this period is outlined in the following ex-
| tract from one of the earlier chapters.
| 1t Will be seen that, as here described, the
| Renaissance was not deliberate move
| ment but fashion, or craze, Ike that
| diminuuve Renaissance of continental cos
| TUNES and furniture which swept over our
own country not many years ago:
For Italian conception the Middle Age was
| "othc, that Is to say Gcrmanc, in origin AMI
character When the period OF barbarisn, or OF
| depressed civilization. in Italy had been lived
down; when refinement, culture and prosperity
| mad returned, two results natural-a revived
interest IN that national past, of the time OF the
Roman Empire when refinement. culture, and
| prosperity had also prevailed and conscious
ness OF national superiority to the ruder and
rougher traits of contemporary northern Europe
with wealth and leisure came the cultivation OF
/ literary tastes and habits; the language OF the
! Italian was itself modified Latin. and TO him
| the study of the ancient Latin offered no great
difhcutles. The learning which had 50 far SUM
| bered IN the nonasteries or which had been con-
fined TO superior preates of the church, was open
| ed TO the laity and the nation at large.
Italian poets and authors like Dante, Petrarch'
and Boccaccio had already in the fourteenth cen.
| fury awakened a taste for reading. but they did
| not suffice to meet the popular demand me
| Latin authors were at hand to meet IT. Ma
tional patriotism. the revived memory of ancient
glories when Rome and Italy had led the world.
combined with that appreciation for the rehhe-
| ment, simplicity. and vigor of the ancient Latin
literature which has always since been felt by me
cultivated man of letters and which the ltailan
felt most warmly because he felt it first.
| 1t is difficult. when the study of Latin has be,
come the bugbear of the schoolboy, the ungrateiui
| task of most college students and the rapidly
abandoned burden of the college graduate, to
realize the enthusiasm OF the time when people
studied Latin because they liked it and not be-
cause they were forced to it. Notwithstanding
a lat GfNndT
leges, inheritance from the Italian henais-
sance.
1t might be added that If the student
of the Renaissance had studied Italian be-
cause he had to, and not because II was
pleasure, that movement would have hao
very little effect, and this suggests pos
sible advantageous change in the average
college curriculum.
The book is particularly interesting from
the fact that the author takes up not only
examples of the art of this period, but the
philosophy of 1t, the causes which MADE
it what 1t was He discusses, first, the
history of Italy as 1t Influenced art, then
the various periods and styles OF Rem
aissance, in architecture, paintings, and
sculpture. and finally the art of subse-
quent centuries which has been influenced
by that of this period of frutfulness.
chosen and numerous. leave much to be
desired in their appearance, and careless
printing of half-tones has injured the
beauty of what might otherwise have been
most attractive book. (New York: The
Macmillan Company. S1.e0)
Through the Yukon Gold Dlggings, by
Josiah Edward Spur, is one of the nu-
merous books which haze sprung up like
mushrooms or mosquitoes since the discov-
cry of gold in Alaska. This particular one
is interesting as record of actual expert
ence, which 1t evidently is, and from
certain breezy informality of style. (Bos-
ton: Eastern Publishing Co. S.25)
The days when an almanac was an in
dispensable part Of the library of every
househod-if it was not 80 per cent of
that library-are past, but there are some
almanacs nowadays that are interesting
as the old ones never were. One of these
is "Moore's Meteorological Almanac and
Weather Guide" which is the work of
Willis l.. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bu-
reau.
Among the subjects dealt with IN this
book are the temperatures which are in
furious to food products, the average loss
of life and property by lightning, the
proper climate for the health-seeker who
suffers from this, that or the other COM
plant, and the changes of climate which
are said to have taken place within the
memory of the oldest inhabitant," and in
which Mr.. Moore has very little faith He
also discusses the influence which the sun
spots have on terrestrial conditions. Alto
gether, the book is both interesting and
aIt,a hi Ork NJ rafa
cago: Rand. MeNally & Co. $1,000
1.-The Art of Writing English by ]. NJ.
D. MeikIejohn, NJ A, is one of a numer-
Gus collection of books on the same SUBJ
iect which have appeared in recent years,
and most of which are not worth the
trouble of cutting the leaves. AS the
author of this particular work states in
the title he regards the writing of English
as an art and not a science, a trade or a
pastime and that may be the reason why
his book is the rare jewel in the midst of
all the rubbish that has been printed on
the subject. It is evident In the first Few
pages, and throughout the book as well.
that this man knows what he is writing
about, and also how to write. His book is
neither diffuse nor dogmatic: he is not in
accurate, neither does he lay down cast
iron rules. 1t is not the kind OF book to
put into the hands of grammar school
pupil or of anyone who Is unable to I'M
derstand most of the subtleties of express
sion of which the English lang uage * full.
1t will be especially useful to those who
wish to learn TO write correct English for
publication. or for some other purpose de-
handing a thorough understanding of the
qualities of style. 1t ought to be in col
lege libraries, and in n great many private
ones Two pitfalls against which the stu
dent is warned which are extremely dan
gerous TO the unwary, are the use of trite
colIoouial phrases and the repetition of
phraseology which, while correctly used
by Shakespeare and other classic writers,
is not suited to modern literature. CNew
York: D. Appleton & Co. $500
THE American Negro" by William
hannibal Thomas. is book of consider
able volume, all of whose arguments
could be put into about ter pages and
those ten pages would not be worth writ
ing. The author is, as ne states in the
preface. a colored man; he is also, as he
carefully explains, the son of parents and
grandparents who never we're slaves,
though 1t is difficult TO see what particu-
lar interest that can have for the reader
The fact certainly has nothing to do with
the quality of the book or the man, since
Of two men who have done much the same
work In this field of literature, Booker T.
Washington was born Of slaye parents
while Burghardt Dubois was not.
Mr. Thomas has evidently been strug-
Cling TO take what he believes to be an