Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-12
TURKEY AND THE TURKS. An A

TURKEY AND THE TURKS. An Ac-
count of the Lands. the Peoples and
| the Institutions of the Ottoman En-
| pire. BY w. s. Monroe. Illustrated
Boston: L. C. Page & Co. Washing
| ton: Woodward Il Lothrop.
| To give a unified conception OF anything
| as chaotic the Ottoman empire is an
| evident impossibility. Mr.. Monroe has
done the next best thing, and has given
characterizations of each of the elements
These. taken together, present forcible
representation OF the most troubled and
suffering nationality under the sun. The
author deVotes chapter to geographic
study of the Balkan peninsula which has
had so strong an influence on the racial
divisions and characteristics of Turkey.
The history of the spectacular rise of the
ottoman power and its equally sudden
fall forms a necessary Introduction to a
study of its incoherent civilization. But
the lions share of the book is given to
matters OF purely human interest-the
numerous races, with their varied GUS
toms and activities. Much space is given
to Constantinople-its monuments, charac-
Ieristic quarters. street scenes, baZaars,
baths khans, fountains, mosques and
derviSheS. Mr.. Monroe's observation has
been keen and has been supplemented with
careful Investigation, that his book is
valuable stOrehouse of information to
the student who wishes to understand
this alien nation, or to the intending
traveller The illustrations are interesting
and informing.
VANCOUVER'S DISCOVERY OFPUGET
SOUND. BY Edmond s. Meany. New
York: The Macmillan Company.
Washington: Woodward & Lothrop.
With the diary of Capt George Vancou-
yer, the discoverer. as basis. Mr.. Meany
has filed out the outlines by an exhaus-
tive study of topics connected with the
subject.
The portraits and biographies of the
men for whom Vancouver named river or
promontOry or mountain in the new world
have been gathered together from many
quarters of the globe. This results in a
vivid representation of English life run
ming parallel to the main subject of the
book. Since the voyages of Vancouver
took place in comparatively recent times |
the author has an advantage in the fact |
that the events are associated with Eng
l:sh statesmen whose names have become |
household words. 1t is an interesting
fact that, following close upon George |
IT'S loss of the American colonies came
this effort to develop colonization on the |
Pacific coast. In view of the great i'm
petus given within recent years to the
whole Puget sound region the present vol
une is of timely interest
EP1STOLAE = HO = ELIANAE; Or The
Familiar Letters of James Howell
With an Introduction by Agnes Rep
plier. Volumes l and II. Boston:
Houghton Mifilin & Co.
James Howell, who lived from about
1895 to 1866, was one of the greatest trav-
elers of his day, a friend of Ben Jonson, |
an accomplished linguist, and an outspo- |
ken loyalist. For his devotion to Charles
l. he spent some years in the Fleet pris- |
on, but was rev arled by Charles II by |
being made historiographer royal of Eng
land, a position created for him and re-
tained until his death. He has long en- |
joyed the reputation of being one of the |
most delightful, as we'll as one of the ear |
Hest, of the succession of great English |
letter priters. comprising Walpoe, Gray |
Cowper Fitzgerald and Stevenson.
Howells letters are not only store |
house of quaint anecdote, curious infor- |
nation and racy phrase; they are like |
wise a repository of the intimate history
of a most romantic age in England and
they present invaluable lights upon the
social conditions of many countries of Eu-
rope during the middle seventeenth GEN.
fury. They are, in short. in the best sense
of the old phrase "a book which should be
in every gentleman's library" and in the
present handsome library edition they will
make new friends fof themselves and