New-York tribune., 1910-01-15

and as the unofficial poet laureate OF
Utrecht she wrote verses for the greet
ing of distinguished visitors to the town.
She etched, engraved. modelled in wax
and cut flowers and other things out OF
paper and painted in water colors. She
read Greek and Latin with ease and
could write I'm either language. She
studied the Oriental languages. too, and
prepared an Ethiopian grammar. She
was student of philosophy and in later
days Il mystic. In some of these intel
lectual exercises she was mediocre, and
it is impossible to avoid conviction that
the rarity OF the learned woman was at
the bottom Of much of the admiration
bestowed upon her. However that may
be. Miss Birch's book is amusing and
well worth reading.
The finest private library in existence
of works dealing with Celtic literature
was left to his daughters by the late
Professor Whitley Stokes. These ladies
have presented the library to London
University, where it will be available to
students of the subject. Many of the
books, while comparatively modern, are
out of print and hard to obtain Among
these are the publications of the Ossianlc
Society, of the Irish Archaeological So
ciety and the Annals of the Four Mas
ters, published in Dublin In 1S4S. Other
interesting books in the collection. it is
stated by "The London Daily Mall" ARE
the .Acta Sanctorium Hibernise' Uou-
vain, 1645), the "Trias Thaumaturgea'
Gouvain, 164I and a, Martyrology. pub
lished in Venice in 170S, which belonged
to Bgot, a famous book collector, and
has his autograph. In the library the
student will find ample material for the
study of Welsh, Irish, Anglo Saxon, Cor
nish and Manx. and the latest works
published on the subject of Celtic iitera-
ture in Germany and France"
Mr.. James Lane Aliens new novel, "a
Brood of the Eagle will be brought
from the Macmillan press in the spring.
The scene is laid in Kentucky, and the
hero is a country doctor
Three German monographs on aspects
Of primitive Christianity are now made
accessible TO English readers ~ Harp
er's Library of Living Thought: The
Origin Of the New Testament" by the
late DIR. William Wrede. Of Breslau;
Paul and Jesus" by Professor Johannes
Weiss, of the University Of Heidelberg;
and 'Jesus or PauI?" by DR.. Arnold
Meyer. professor of theology in the Uni
Versity of Zurich. The thesis of the last
named writer is that inasmuch as our
religion in its essence is derived from
Christ the teaching and ministry OF
Jesus, the earthly human personality,
should have precedence over the Pauline
and ecclesiastical doctrine OF the saving
work Of the supernatural Christ. In so
far as ST. Paul released US from bondage
to those accidental limitations Of the
personality OF Jesus which held Him fast
under the yoke Of the law and confined
His ministry TO the chosen nation and
within the boundaries Of the Land OF
Israel, the Apostle did ths Church an
enduring service. The aim of Professor
Johannes Weiss's book is to combat the
opinion that, in comparison with Jesus,
the Apostle Paul is a. new phenomenon,
as new as possible in view OF the wide
standpoint common to both and that the
picture of Jesuss life and work did not
determine the character of the Pauline
theology. The real problem for the mod
ern Church, the question of destiny as
DR.. Weiss sees it, is the question wheth-
er the Church can for all time maintain
the Pauline form of Christianity, ac-
cording to which Jesus is not merely a
mediator, guide and example, but also
the object of religious veneration. The
theory however, that PauPs faith was
not connected by any living tie with the
historical f1gure of Jesus and that the
coincidence OF the methods employed by
Paul and Jesus for the solution in prac-
tice of the problem Of life was merely
to disturb theology.