Ladd, George Trumbull.Philosophy of religion: critical and speculative treatise of man’s religious experience and development in the light of modern science and reflective thinking. 2v. **$7. Scribner.
“The present work presents at considerable length the facts of man’s religious experience, the origin and development of religion in various races, and the relation of religion to other departments of human life, and this treatment of phenomenology of religion is followed by a criticism of the conceptions and tenets of spiritual experience from the point of view of modern science and philosophy. It aims to be a quite free and scientific treatise of the total religious life and religious development of humanity, but its chief interest is to prove philosophically that theism is entirely tenable and also demonstrable by the instruments in the hands of philosophy.”—Ind.
“The work is erudite and encyclopaedic, even heavily so at times; but the vital dialectic of his discussions, and the living search for truth that dominates the whole work, will make it of intense interest to the student of the subject. We regard it as an enriching contribution to the developing science of religion.” Herbert Alden Youtz.
“He writes in an irenic spirit, and always with constructive aim, but he is sometimes more abstruse than is needful and more than a trifle prolix.”
“What impresses the thoughtful reader of Professor Ladd’s volumes is the thoroughness with which they canvass practically the whole field of discussion. It is difficult to decide on what ground he is strongest, whether in history, anthropology, psychology or general philosophy. In each field he treads familiar ground and pronounces sane and rational judgments.” A. T. Ormond.
“The description of the religious phenomena is, with a few exceptions, accurate. Throughout the book there are suggestive remarks. The great extent of the field traversed, and the author’s anxiety to make his positions clear, lead to a good deal of repetition. An undue amount of space seems to be given to the review of early religious phenomena.”
“A massive work admirable both in analysis and synthesis, candid in its recognition of difficulties remaining to be solved.”
“The total impression is that of a great drama which the author is opening to our vision rather than that of a chain or web of speculative notions. This concreteness, which is pervasive of the entire work, is perhaps its greatest merit. One can only wish that the evidential logic of it had been wrought out rather more systematically.” George A. Coe.
Reviewed by E. S. Ames.
Laking, Guy Francis.Furniture of Windsor castle, by Guy Francis Laking, Keeper of the king’s armory; published by command of His Majesty King Edward VII. 35c. Dutton.
“In preparing this deeply interesting and richly illustrated account of the most beautiful and typical examples of the furniture in Windsor castle—a worthy companion of that on the armours from the same pen—the scholarly editor has wisely adopted the historical method.”
“Although it claims no great learning and displays no great acumen in the description of the pieces, it still gives information that is worth having.”
Lamb, Charles.Essays of Elia, 1st series; selected and edited with an introduction and notes by George A. Wauchope. *40c. Ginn.
A selection containing about thirty of the most popular essays well annotated.
Lamb, Charles and Mary.Works and letters.v. 6 and 7. *$2.25. Putnam.
Reviewed by Sidney T. Irwin.
Lamb, Mrs. Edith M.What the baby needs. $1. Nunn & co.
Complete instruction and suggestions for the care of a baby.
Lancaster, G. B.Sons o’ men. †$1.50. Doubleday.
“Another collection of curious, faraway, exotic tales with a touch of real distinction both in theme and treatment.” Frederic Taber Cooper.
“Of the faults the most noticeable are in the form of grammatical errors. But the author’s ability is unquestionable and the stories are good.”
Lancaster, G. B.The spur. †$1.50. Doubleday.
“Any one who knows aught of Australian or Island life, of sheep farms, or copra gatherers and traders, will respond to this vivid writing, as those who know India used to respond to Kipling.” (Outlook.) “The spur to smite was a cool, calculating man of the world named Haddington, and the spurred smiter an Australian youth who had it in him to be something of a Kipling. Detecting merit in the boy’s literary beginnings, Haddington induced him to sell himself to him for seven years.... The book is the story of Kin’s struggle as an honest, clean, impulsive, brave fellow under this contract and his futile efforts to free himself from it.” (Lond. Times.)
“The author unfortunately falls into a certain exasperating preciosity of style which interferes seriously with the reader’s enjoyment.”
“A strong novel, and holds the reader until the grewsome end.”
“Is impaired also by some confusion and want of order in its episodes, and an excess of that virile, almost brutal, kind of writing. But it is a striking book, having much force and directness of phrase, and in the earlier parts some vivid effects of atmosphere.”
“A story which grows more moving and more intense as it builds toward its climax.” H. I. Brock.
“The words sting, the people live, and the story is a story.”
“A unique story, marked by much strength, but somewhat marred by the unrelieved wickedness of one man.”
“A story of intense action.”
Lane, Anna Eichberg Ring (Mrs. John Lane).Champagne standard. **$1.50. Lane.
“‘The champagne standard’ is the title of the first seventeen essays in which Mrs. John Lane describes, satirises, and, perhaps it should be added, counsels what we may call the ‘upper middle class.’... Mrs. Lane, who describes herself as ‘an exiled American sister,’ fills her pages with wisdom and wit. She writes from an American—or, rather from a transplanted American—standpoint, and this gives a fresh force and meaning to her words.... A cook who disdains to be spoken to through a tube, and a housemaid who will not take notice after noon, but promptly gives it herself next morning.... The conductor who bids you hurry up, the host, the ‘saleslady’ who makes you wait while she discusses things in general with a colleague, the verger in a fashionable church—this last is peculiarly American—are specimens.”—Spec.
“Mrs. Lane may congratulate herself on having that blessed sense of humour which is one of the most valuable possessions in life. In any case English-women should be grateful to her for writing them this delightful, candid book, which is full of original and bright ideas.”
“Mrs. Lane’s style is admirably suited to the racy and ephemeral matter which these paperscontain, and she treats each topic with such freshness and originality that the book is as entertaining as it is suggestive.”
“Spontaneous wit united with keen judgment makes this volume a delightful one.”
“In ‘The champagne standard’ Mrs. John Lane has carried the art of prattle (on paper) to a point of rare perfection.”
“The volume is delightful and contains many things to laugh over—and afterwards to think over seriously.”
“Mrs. Lane’s papers are light, agreeable fare for those who want to know about certain sections of society, their follies and trifles, and her book was made to be read.”
“The whole book is thoroughly worth reading.”
Lane, Elinor Macartney.All for the love of a lady; 6 full-page il. by Arthur Becher. †$1.25. Appleton.
“A tale of chivalrous love and dastardly conspiracy told with the grace that we should expect from the author of ‘Nancy Stair.’” (Ind.) Lady Iseult of Castle Carfrae has a quartette of lovers—two of whom are little Scotch lads of nine who swear fealty to their lady and defend her in the absence of her favored lover. “Incidentally the story is furnished with a villain, and a faithful old retainer in the person of a Scotch lawyer, who, by the help of the two dauntless midgets, rescues the maid from her danger and restores her to her true love.” (Outlook.)
“The sketch is one of the best things the author has written.”
“Every one of the six characters is marvelously well defined, there is much humor, much delightful talk, and a reality and naturalness about it all that speaks much for the writer’s skill—even genius.”
“There is much wit and many clever scenes in the story.”
Lang, Andrew.John Knox and the reformation.*$3.50. Longmans.
“Its ‘saeva indignatio’ may not always be earnest, but the work is a painful contribution to the literature of exposure.” Francis A. Christie.
“The book is rather a criticism of other biographies than a biography itself, and herein lie at once its value and its limitations. Yet the book has many merits, though it is not free from casual errors. It should always be read with the ordinary lives of Knox, and should not be read without one or the other of them.” A. F. Pollard.
“In a life of Knox his blunders as an historian and his vagaries as a politician must have a place, but that must be at least a little lower than the place set apart for his work as a reformer and his policy as an ecclesiastical statesman. And, when his words and actions are subjected to criticism, the toleration of history demands that these should be seen in light of the sixteenth century.” John Herkless.
“He has let rather too much cleverness and subtlety creep into his book.”
Lang, Andrew.New collected rhymes.*$1.25. Longmans.
“Mr. Lang’s “New collected rhymes” are an epitome of his work in verse. The volume contains ballads and folk-songs and parodies, topical rhymes on life and literature, and lyrics on angling, on cricket, and on Prince Charlie.” (Spec.)
Reviewed by Wm. M. Payne.
“His ‘New collected rhymes’ have the metrical facility and grace, the urbane humor, that make his ‘Ballads of books’ of such pleasant memory.”
Reviewed by Florence Wilkinson.
Lang, Andrew.Oxford.*$1.50. Lippincott.
“If ever a topic would have appealed to him, surely it would be this. Yet the impression left after perusal is of put-together chapters.”
Lang, Andrew, ed.Red romance book.**$1.60. Longmans.
Lang, Andrew.Secret of the totem.$3. Longmans.
This present work is a sequel to Mr. Lang’s “Social origins and primal law” published three years ago. It “deals with the obscure beginnings of society so far as these can be traced in the organization—or want of organization—found in the lowest savage tribes, those of Australia. These, as is well known, are organized on the totem system, by which a certain number of individuals are bound together by belief in their common descent from a common ancestor, generally of an animal nature, and known as the totem.” (N. Y. Times.)
“Mr. Lang has given us in this work a skilful exposition of a complicated subject. Totemism is more often talked about than understood, and Mr. Lang’s accuracy in the use of terms may, incidentally, serve as a corrective to the wilder spirits who see totemism everywhere.”
“He has made a distinct advance towards the solution of many difficult problems. Mr. Lang’s method of dealing with his argument is altogether admirable. It is clear, consistent, and logical.”
“The somewhat arrogant claim of the title is not modified by what Mr. Lang says in the course of this rather dull volume.”
“Truth to tell, he is wandering somewhat out of his sphere in dealing with the subject at all. One gets the impression that he has simply manipulated the materials and theories of others instead of producing a new one out of the materials himself.” Joseph Jacobs.
Reviewed by Franklin H. Giddings.
“For the first time we have a consecutive presentation of his views concerning the origin and early evolution of totemism.”
“The treatment is detailed, technical, and except to the specialist, very dry.”
Lang, Andrew.Sir Walter Scott. **$1. Scribner.
Thoro familiarity with Scott’s life and surroundings, with all the Abbotsford Mss., and with the details of Scottish life and history, has equipped Mr. Lang for an undertaking that does not claim to rival Lockhart’s, only to compress “the essence of Lockhart’s great book into small space, with a few additions from other sources.”
“We venture to think that Scott’s admirers will find much that is new and more that is freshly put in this biography, which is permeated by a sympathy and understanding of which praise would be an impertinence. There is only one aspect of the book to which we would draw attention, and that in the way of homologating rather than criticising what is said.”
“We have one complaint to make: it is really too bad of experts like Mr. Lang and his publishers to produce a book without an index.”
Reviewed by H. W. Boynton.
“Mr. Lang is capable of being irritating, but he is never prosy. This book is probably all the better for its purpose because it has not the property of high finish.” H. W. Boynton.
“Lang’s biography, for a brief one, is very full of details without being encyclopaedically dry.”
“Mr. Lang’s chief contribution in this volume is to our collection of epigrams, and to our stock of somewhat buoyant common sense. Except in the matter of condensing Lockhart, it is a bit difficult to see what addition the book makes to our convenience.” William T. Brewster.
“It is altogether too conscious of the authorities that have preceded it to be as satisfactory a substitute, as it pretends, to a reader who knows nothing about them.”
“Mr. Lang’s book is pre-eminently, if not exclusively, for advanced readers—those who know their Lockhart and are fairly familiar with what has been written on the subject since 1837. In this present book ... in spite of all its fine qualities, there is some oddity or other upon almost every other page.”
Reviewed by Florence Wilkinson.
“Thanks to his study of the history of Scotland he has turned new and true lights on many contested points, and he enlivens with anecdote and personal reminiscence the romance of the Borders he knows so well.”
“Mr. Lang’s criticisms are invariably interesting, partly because they are invariably characteristic, and are what are known in the loose journalese of the day as ‘sidelights.’”
Lankester, Edwin Ray.Extinct animals. *$1.75. Holt.
“The work is authoritative, quite up to date, and on the whole one of the best popular accounts of the life of the ancient world in print.”
“The book will be interesting and perfectly intelligible to children of high-school age, but even the general reader of mature years will find much to claim the interest.”
Lansdale, Maria Horner.Châteaux of Touraine; il. with pictures by Jules Guérin, and by photographs. **$6. Century.
In text, illustrations, and workmanship this volume furnishes the same excellencies that characterized Mrs. Wharton’s “Italian villas” with the Parrish pictures, to which it is a companion volume. Accuracy and authority stamp the sketches of these twelve Touraine chateaux. The charm which casts a spell over pilgrims from every quarter of the globe, says the author, is born of a variety of causes, their captivating beauty, their architectural interest, the loveliness of the surrounding country and the halo of historical associations in which each is wrapped. There are sixteen wash drawings by Jules Guérin besides over forty reproductions in black and tint of photographs.
“Her facts are accurate and authoritative, and at the same time picturesquely presented.”
“The subjects are well suited to a hand trained in architectural rendering. And the artist has here as elsewhere found himself at ease in restriction to flat tones of a few low-keyed colours. He shows imagination in these sketches and a cleverness in atmospheric feeling.”
“M. Guérin’s fine water-colour drawings, with their extreme simplicity, absence of realism and touch of conventionalism, are full of delicate suggestion and decorative feeling—excellent examples of what book illustration should be.”
“Is surely one of the best of all the handsome gift books of this season.”
“Is one of the most elaborate travel books appearing this season.”
“If the text serves as an admirable guidebook, the illustrations render it worthy to be called a glorified one.”
“Miss Lansdale’s touch is easy and interesting.”
“Miss Lansdale describes their features and tells their story with a freshness which saves her chapters from falling into the rut of a guide-book.”
“The book is agreeably written, and full of historical and antiquarian information.”
Larned, Josephus Nelson.Books, culture and character. **$1. Houghton.
Seven addresses delivered at various times since the year 1883 are connected here, and offer the sound advice of one interested in the active problems of education. They are as follows; A familiar talk about books, The test of quality in books, Hints as to reading, The mission and the missionaries of the book, Good and evil from the printing press, Public libraries and public education, School reading versus school training of history.
“With his wonted clearness and force, and in English that it is a delight to read, Mr.Larned ... emphasizes the urgent necessity of spreading the culture of good literature among the people at large.”
“It is the kind of book about books that cannot be accused of dilettantism, a book informed with wholesome and fine feeling which also has much merit of the kind as literary—which is also informed; that is with taste.” H. W. Boynton.
Larned, Josephus Nelson.Seventy centuries of the life of mankind, 2v. $4.50. C. A. Nichols co., Springfield, Mass.
“He may be right, but his is not the judicial tone of Ranke or Stubbs. Nor does his list of authorities show very extensive reading even in the secondary sources, and it is confined to works in English. Yet his book is to be praised: it is an accurate and lucid summary of the chief events in world-history put forth in an attractive form.” George M. Wrong.
Latham, Charles.Gardens of Italy: a series of over 300 illustrations from photographs of the most famous examples of Italian gardens, with descriptive text by E. March Phillipps. 2v. $18. Scribner.
“It would be difficult to better the photographs, and the letterpress is interesting and readable.”
Lathbury, Clarence.Balanced life. $1. Nunc Licet press.
“This is one of the best recent works which seeks to strengthen and round out character by stimulating the inner life and impressing on the mind in a realizing sense the omnipotence and omnipresence of Good.” (Arena.) The contents include: The return to nature; Rhythm of the universe; In the stream of power; The white line of the dawn; Built without hands; The highway of the spirit; The central melody; The great amens; Oil in our lamps; Vision and patience; Thoughts that find us young.
“The author’s style is clear. He makes his thought easily understood, though he is somewhat redundant at times. Barring this defect the style is, on the whole, excellent and the thought well calculated to strengthen, purify and upbuild the character of the reader.”
Lathrop, Elise.Where Shakespeare set his stage; decorations by G. W. Hood. **$2. Pott.
Twelve Shakespeare plays are described with respect to scene, appearance of characters and periods in which they lived, and the sources of the plots. The author bases her study upon visits to the localities which are reproduced in text and illustrations.
“No harm will be done to readers who confine themselves to the illustrations, but the letter press is capable of conveying many misleading ideas to uninformed youth.”
Lathrop, John R. T.How a man grows. $1.25. Meth. bk.
The development of man is traced thru a series of stages indicated by the following chapter headings: The problem stated, The data of philosophy, Cosmic ethics, Christian ethics, Cosmic regeneration, Christian regeneration, Forces in man’s becoming, Certainties in religion, Religion, The religion of the future, The coronation of man.
Latrobe, Benjamin Henry.Journal of Latrobe. *$3.50. Appleton.
The notes and sketches of an architect, naturalist and traveler in the United States from 1796 to 1820. Following a biographical introduction by J. H. B. Latrobe are chapters on Virginia and its people; a visit to Washington at Mt. Vernon; Philadelphia, and the construction of the water works in the Schuylkill for the city’s water supply; the building of the national capitol and the designing of the navy yard, St. John’s church, and Christ church; and New Orleans and its people.
“Should find an honored place in every library.”
“This journal is now a valuable source-book of American history, particularly on the social side. His observations are also highly entertaining, for he had a keen sense of the interesting.”
“The most interesting passages in his journal are the shrewd characterizations of men and manners.”
Laut, Agnes Christina.Vikings of the Pacific.**$2. Macmillan.
Volume 1, of “The pathfinders of the West” series. The adventures of the explorers who came from the West, eastward; Bering, the Dane; the outlaw hunters of Russia; Benyowsky, the Polish pirate; Cook and Vancouver, the English navigators; Gray of Boston, discoverer of the Columbia; Drake, Ledyard and other soldiers of fortune on the west coast of America are presented in an interesting fashion, and the volume is freely and well illustrated.
“In matters of detail the author is fairly accurate; though there are a few errors which argue a lack of familiarity with the best secondary authorities within her field. After making all necessary deductions, it may still be said that the book will furnish to the discriminating student a considerable fund of information not so conveniently accessible elsewhere.” Joseph Schafer.
“The attractive title of the volume is scarcely justified by its contents.”
“Miss Laut possesses the happy faculty of seizing upon the element of human interest that lie buried in even the dryest of historical documents, enfolding them in a glamour of romance without destroying their historical value, and presenting them to the reader with the combined fidelity and skill of historian and novelist.”
“A splendid piece of work.”
“Leaving petty incongruities of style, one may inquire into the accuracy of the facts of historic origin which the author has woven into her text. In the main her narrative is fairly correct, after one rejects its imaginary setting and presumptuous epithets.”
“It is an interesting story that Miss Laut tells, and it should open the history of the Northwest to Eastern readers.”
“She writes ... always in a way that clearly visualizes for the reader the exciting events and notable deeds described, the text being based on first sources.”
“In Miss Laut’s hands the narrative has all the fascination of a daring story of adventure with the added and novel merit of being absolutely true.”
“It is remarkable that the details of these early attempts at settlement and trade have remained so long unknown to the mass of American readers.”
“A most interesting book.”
Lawrence, Albert Lathrop.Wolverine. 75c. Little.
A new popular edition of “The Wolverine.” The scene of this romance is laid in Michigan territory just before it becomes the Wolverine state. Perry North, a young man of New England blood, and pale orange colored hair, comes to Detroit from his home state, Massachusetts, as a government surveyor. He meets Marie Beaucoeur, and loves her in spite of the fact that her free French Catholic views of life are a constant shock to his Puritanical upbringing. It is only after many thrilling scenes such as naturally belong to that time and place where the Ohio boundary line was a constant source of trouble, and negroes and Indians added an unruly element, that young North comes to reconcile his conscience and his love.
Laycock, Craven and Scales, Robert Leighton.Argumentation and debate. 60c. Macmillan.
The book “systematizes and makes a unified art of the principles which should be followed in preparing for the presentation of a given subject in the form of reasoned argument.”
“A statement of the traditional arguments from antecedent probability, sign and example is in itself of little use to the ordinary debater. Nor does the part of the book on debate, though interesting and well written, seem to us to offer sufficient ground for exercise and practise to those who may use it.” E. E. H., jr.
“There is not a little sensible advice and acute suggestion to be found in this book, and it is likely to be useful, not only in the classroom, but to all persons preparing for public discussion.”
“Parts of the book are excellently done. The chapter on brief-drawing is the best to be found anywhere; the advice in the appendix is practical and helpful. But the book, on the whole, is diffuse. Yet with all its faults the book is perhaps the most practical of the compilations that have thus far treated the subject.” Fred Lewis Pattee.
Lea, Henry Charles.History of the Inquisition of Spain.4v. v. 1 and 2 ea. **$2.50. Macmillan.
A work built up from a vast amount of material drawn from Spanish archives. Volume one is chiefly devoted to tracing the rise of the Inquisition in Spain; volume two discusses the disastrous influence of the institution upon the rulers who supported it, the people who suffered under it and the nation that survived it.
“In style and treatment the book shows to the full the qualities so long familiar in Mr. Lea’s work—the same wealth of detail, the same direct dependence on the sources, the same avoidance of polemics and all rhetorical amplification. It is everywhere the work of one who still believes that the history of jurisprudence is the history of civilization.” George L. Burr.
“An accurate and complete survey of the subject.” Franklin Johnson.
“The book of the year which touches the high-water mark of scholarship in the flood of European histories is H. C. Lea’s ‘Inquisition in Spain.’ Once again this man, who is the pride of American scholars, outdoes the European historians in their own field.”
“It is refreshing to have at hand a substantial amount of definite fact in a field where previous writers have given us so much passionate and unsupported generalization.”
“This severely analytical method of dealing with the subject is somewhat repellent even to the trained reader.”
“His narrative is not dramatic in form. It never even suggests the theatrical. But it is thoroughly human.”
“Tells the story with an almost legal dryness of detail, and with an absence of all appearance of indignation, which he leaves unexpressed if not suppressed, and which for this reason his readers feel all the more forcibly.”
“Prodigious industry, careful discrimination of material, and a trained historical faculty have combined to make Mr. Lea’s book entirely worthy of the high reputation of the author.”
“This is the first thorough work in English on the Inquisition.”
Leacock, Stephen.Elements of political science. *$1.75. Houghton.
This volume “contains chapters on the recent colonial expansion of the European states, the dependencies of the United States, the origin and growth of political parties in the United States, the organization of American political parties, government interference on behalf of the working class, and municipal control, and devotes to each of these subjects more attention than is usually accorded them in elementary works of this class.” (R. of Rs.)
“The book is accurate and well-informed, but the opinions conventional, and mostly inclining towards the ‘oligarchic’ principles ridiculed by Disraeli in his early days.”
“Mr. Leacock is broad in his grasp and suggestive in his criticism.”
“His work as a whole is clear-cut, well written, logically arranged, and convincing.”
“A useful textbook of the subject, brought well up-to-date.”
“On the whole a fair and impartial spirit pervades the book. The most serious defect of the book is due, not to the author, but to the nature of the subject. The task of condensinginto a single small book an amount of material that would make several quarto volumes look respectably corpulent is not an easy one. The result, of necessity, is of the condensed-food variety. It is almost too strong to be taken clear by the young student of political science, but will make an excellent diet when properly diluted with class-room discussion.” Edward E. Hill.
Learned, Ellin Craven (Mrs. Frank Learned) (Priscilla Wakefield, pseud.).Etiquette of New York to-day. **$1.25. Stokes.
Mrs. Learned writes with authority from experience gained thru connection with the best society and from an instinctive sense of courtesy inherited from generations of culture. Invitations, and answers, formal and informal dinners, luncheons, teas and parties, cotillions, dinner dances, theatre parties, the table and its appointments, visiting and the use of cards and wedding preparations, are among the topics discussed.
Reviewed by Hildegarde Hawthorne.
Le Braz, Anatole.Land of pardons; tr. by Francis M. Gostling. *$2. Macmillan.
A translation of the 1900 edition of this work. “The book was a collection of hitherto unprinted legends of the early Breton saints supplemented by sympathetic descriptions of the modern ceremonies in their honor (known as ‘pardons’) which are the last vestiges of the ancient ‘Feasts of the dead.’” (Nation.)
“We can well sympathize with the translator’s desire to linger over its pages as a labour of love, and we hope that a speedy call for a second edition will give her an opportunity of careful revision.”
“Into its dreamy heart we are taken by the author of this charming book and by his sympathetic translator, whose labour has been one of love, and therefore of success.”
“The translator has performed her task well, but no translation could hope to render the strange, melancholy charm of M. Le Braz’s lyric prose.”
“Only a journalist could put his reader so immediately into the inner heart of things, only a seasoned traveler would so unconsciously leave out all the mere husks, and only a poet could write about it all with such fascination.”
“His style has that delicacy and dramatic point which are a source of pleasure in the best French writers.”
“Apart from its interest as a full revelation of the religious life of France, it is of great sociological value.”
Lee, Jennette Barbour (Perry) (Mrs. Gerald Stanley Lee).Uncle William.†$1. Century.
“Shif’less” Uncle William, sailor and lover of the sea, desired only that he might possess his stretch of shore and his cliff cottage undisturbed. One day to his island off Nova Scotia came an artist to paint his clouds, his sea and even his rude abode. Uncle William houses him, steams his clams, fathers him; and a half year later when word comes from New York that fever has stricken the young painter, Uncle William goes to him and nurses him back to health. There is a sweet Russian girl in the tale, and there is Andy, Uncle William’s crony who maintained that a “a thing o’t to cost more’n the picter of it.” Uncle William sums up his philosophy of faith in mortals in this sentiment; “I’d a heap rather trust ’em and get fooled, than not to trust ’em and hev ’em all right.”
“To my mind, as an antidote for nervous prostration and a general bracer, Uncle William throws the popular Mrs. Wiggs completely in the shade.”
“It is good to know Uncle William, especially as he, like the book he is in, is short, sweet, and to the point.”
“There is a grace in the making of the story that owes its effect to an unstudied simplicity of style.”
“The little book with its cheery optimism and with a cameo character-like delineation is a positive joy.”
Lee, Vernon, pseud. (Violet Paget).Enchanted woods, and other essays on the genius of places. *$1.50. Lane.
“This is a delightfully restful book.”
Lee, Vernon, pseud. (Violet Paget).Hauntings: fantastic stories.**$1.50. Lane.
A new edition of these four subtly devised ghost stories:Amour dure, Dionea, Oke of Okehurst, and A wicked voice. The first tale is in diary form and tells of the tragic adventures of a German professor in Umbria, the second is the story of a beautiful sea waif who brings ruin to all who cross her path, the third has an English setting but it also has a phantom lover and a family superstition, while the fourth is the story of a musician who hears a voice from the past with disastrous results.
“These four curiously interesting stories have a weird fascination quite unlike any others of their order.”
“We recommend these tales of mystery and romance to those who are a little weary of the analytical and impressionist method, and who crave for a beginning and an end and some happenings in a story.”
“The ideas upon which they are constructed are fertile and original, and they are, on the whole, artistic productions of uncommon distinction.”
“Above all, they are picturesque, drawn with delicate and brilliant touches, and rich in colour and design.”
Lee, Vernon, pseud. (Violet Paget).Spirit of Rome: leaves from a diary. **$1.50. Lane.
The work of a literary impressionist. These “leaves from a diary” are “the merest shorthand notes of things felt rather than seen in Rome and its ‘dintorni,’ during the transient spring visits of many successive years, by an Englishwoman of keen and rarely cultivated perceptions, who has passed almost her whole life in some part of Italy.” (Atlan.)
“The author has done wisely to give these impressions in their unpolished freshness—unsetjewels, but masterpieces in little, pictures which for beauty and magic may be likened to Rembrandt etchings.”
“Most of the book does not go much beyond what the average sharp journalist has now learned to write, grammar and all.”
“Contain some of her subtlest and most suggestive word-painting.”
“As a matter of fact, a surer grasp of the ‘spirit’ of Rome can be obtained from any guide-book.”
“Admirers of her work, so sumptuous and exquisite in its texture, must resent being offered a meagre scrap-book of this kind.”
“It is a pity that the book has been given to the public without eliminating all that is purposeless and inadequate.”
“The book is not confined to facts. It is the interpretation thereof which we find and which counts.”
“Valuable little volume.”
“Hangers-on of the pre-Raphaelites in the ’seventies might have pretended to care for such stuff: it will interest no human being now alive.”
Leech, John.Pictures of life and character. $1.50. Putnam.
“It is a book full of enjoyment.”
Lees, Rev. G. Robinson.Village life in Palestine, $1.25. Longmans.
A new edition of a book that “endeavors, by means of a series of simple but intimate studies of the peasants or Fellaheen of the villages of Palestine, to put a little life and reality into people’s conceptions of the scenes and incidents of Old and New Testament story.” (Spec.)
“Dr. Lees’ book is one of more than common interest, and should appeal to Bible students in general.”
“The book is full of information and instruction.”
Le Gallienne, Richard.Painted shadows. †$1.50. Little.
Legg, Leopold George Wickham, ed. Select documents illustrative of the history of the French revolution and the constituent assembly. 2v. *$4. Oxford.
“His work, full of interest and research, must rank among standard books of reference. The arrangement of material, the index, and the notes are all that can be desired.”
“Mr. Wickham Legge has done good service in editing with conspicuous care this collection of documents.” J. Holland Rose.
Legge, Arthur E. J.The ford. †$1.50. Lane.
“In execution, if not perhaps in conception, this novel is decidedly above the average.”
“The book is simple and genuine, and its style has the touch of poetic distinction.” Wm. M. Payne.
Leigh, Oliver.Edgar Allan Poe: the man, the master, the martyr. $1.25. Morris.
This minute study of the various portraits of Poe, as illustrated by Mr. Leigh’s own drawings, brings out the various phases of his character. A transposable face forms the frontispiece, then follow the wedding year portrait, the profile study, the widower year portrait and his monument. There are also besides a discussion of his troubles and his triumphs, critical notes upon his poetical work and methods.
“As a self-constituted authority on the subject he is naturally very severe with every one else who has ever written about it.”
Lepicier, Fr. Alexius M.Unseen world: an exposition of Catholic theology in its relation to modern spiritism. *$1.60. Benziger.
To answer the claims of spiritism that profess ability to communicate with the outer world, Father Lépicier “sets forth, besides the teaching of the Church on the existence and nature of the angels, all the scholastic speculative conclusions concerning the nature of the angelic mind, the manner in which it acquires knowledge, the extent of that knowledge, the limitations of the angels’ power over things of the material cosmos, etc., etc. He then proceeds to unfold a quantity of similar information concerning the conditions in which the human soul finds itself with regard to the exercise of its facilities after death.” (Cath. World.)
Le Roy, James A.Philippine life in town, and country. **$1.20. Putnam.
“A very sympathetic account of the life of the natives which is singularly free from prejudice.”
“Differs in style from other volumes of the series, and has many advantages over the vast number of books upon the Philippines which have appeared in the English language since 1898.”
“The index is most unworthy a volume like this and is not in any way indicative of the nuggets contained therein.”
“This sinking of the speculative beneath the objective has peculiar value for readers with all shades of preconceptions, the more as almost, if not quite, without exception the observations are accurately made and always temperately expressed.”
“We may give our testimony to the interest of the book, and to the large and tolerant spirit in which it is written.”
“To those who are planning to go to the Philippines to engage in some branch of the public service, this little book should be indispensable.”
Leroy-Beaulieu, Pierre Paul.United States in the twentieth century. **$2. Funk.
The author of this work comes of a family of thinkers and writers, being the son of Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, and nephew of Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu. The work is a review from the study of American documents of the economic resources of the United States at the beginning ofthe twentieth century. The work is treated under four heads: pt. I. The country and the people; pt. II, Rural America; pt. III, Industrial America; pt. IV. Commercial America.
“It is not too much to say that this is one of the three or four most important books yet written by Europeans to give to fellow-citizens an idea of the United States and its possibilities.”
“That he is a foreigner who sees us at a peculiar angle and from a view-point different from our own, only augments the interest with which he invests his volume.” Winthrop More Daniels.
“When he ventures, as he occasionally does, a criticism, he offers it in so friendly a spirit, and gives so many solid reasons for his opinion, that not even prejudice itself could find cause for resentment. Exceedingly able and instructive work.”
“M. Leroy-Beaulieu does not go behind the figures of the last census and his analysis is no more profound than that heard in a smoking-room after dinner.”
“The translation seems to have been well made, and though essentially statistical, the book as a whole may prove interesting to many who are not statistically inclined.”
“It is not written in so interesting a style as Bryce’s ‘American commonwealth,’ and is more exclusively devoted to the commercial and industrial development of the United States, but is valuable as a competent and thoro discussion of our progress and problems from the impartial standpoint of a foreign statistician.”
“Exhaustive examination of the resources and possibilities of the United States. What gives his book its greatest worth, besides making it extremely easy reading, is the deftness with which Mr. Leroy-Beaulieu has combined the proverbial Gallican weakness for generalization with an un-Gallican appreciation of the value of facts and figures.”
“He writes less as a critic than as an expositor.”
“Carefully and admirably translated.”
“Is valuable not only in itself, but as a basis for other studies. Great credit is due Mr. Bruce, for the care with which he has made the translation and for his excellent rendering of French idioms into good English.”
“What is perhaps the most noteworthy work on the United States since the publication of Bryce’s ‘American commonwealth.’”
Lessons of the King made plain to His little ones by a religious of the society of the Holy Child Jesus. Benziger.