Chapter 73

“A book which is unusually vigorous and suggestive.”

“The stories are full of strength and vigor and the atmosphere of the woods.”

“No one has so pictured the life of the trappers and traders of that country since Gilbert Parker wrote of ‘Pretty Pierre’ and his people.”

White, Andrew Dickson.Autobiography of Andrew D. White.**$7.50. Century.

A record of diplomatic service which began in 1854 when Mr. White went to St. Petersburg as attaché of the American legation, and ended when on his seventieth birthday, 1902, he resigned his duties as ambassador to Germany. The two volumes contain an account of his work as state senator, as a college professor, and finally, president of Cornell, as a commissioner to Santo Domingo, and the Paris exposition (1878), as minister to Germany and Russia, as a member of the Venezuelan boundary commission, and president of the American delegation at the peace conference of the Hague (1899). There are descriptions of the emperor of Germany and Czar Nicholas II, and their courts, and many anecdotes and crisp comments. The man, his life, his many fields of labor, and the great men and events with which he came in contact, are all set forth in detail.

“The value of the volumes seems chiefly to arise from the charmingly simple tale of personal experience told by a man of wisdom and insight, a tale told with considerable literary skill.”

“In ‘The autobiography of Andrew D. White’ we have one of the most brilliant, interesting, instructive and in many ways important works of recent decades. These examples will be sufficient to illustrate the reckless character of our author’s statements whenever the facts run counter to his prejudices and views which in later years he has imbibed from the privileged interestsand reactionary influences that have environed him.”

“The volumes are full of interest for the general reader, but so ill arranged that those may be repelled who by better construction would have been attracted.”

“Its interest is due not to any novelty of fact, for the entire book is an open page of history, but to an instinct or habit of truthfulness that pervades its pages like an atmosphere.” Theodore T. Munger.

Reviewed by John W. Russell.

“I have found this a most readable book from cover to cover, the story of a strenuous life told with simple directness.” Jeanette L. Gilder.

“In arrangement the work is a model. By his skill in the selection of material, and by his admirably lucid and even style, the author has made every page intensely interesting.” Clark S. Northrup.

“To the student of the problems of higher education in America, Dr. White’s ‘Autobiography,’ full as it is of matters of general interest, should prove especially interesting and important.” Clark S. Northup.

“Altogether this is a full book, with something for everybody, putting one in touch on many sides with modern times; an adequate narrative of an exceptional career.”

“A better account of the founding of Cornell, of which he was so long the honored and successful head, has never been given, and perhaps in no other of his pages do we see so clearly the practical idealism, which, running throughout his life story like a golden thread, makes it so well worth the telling.”

“Viewed as a narrative the book is excellent, and only needs more continuity; viewed as a collection of essays, it is naturally inadequate.”

“By the side of the recent contributions of Hoar, Stillman, Newcomb, Dwight, Le Conte, Villard, and Conway, the autobiography of White will hold an honored place.”

“Nor does it possess that intimate charm which has made a literary classic of more than one ingenuous personal narrative. There is little in these two volumes which can fail to interest the serious reader in one way or another.” H. W. Boynton.

“If he is not entirely without prejudice of egotism, he displays those qualities after the manner of great men.”

“These volumes ... have a value for all his countrymen not surpassed by any American autobiography within our knowledge.” James M. Whiton.

“Mr. White is an octogenarian, with a full life behind him, but two hundred pages would have been ample space for it.”

“It is eminently characteristic of its country of origin.”

“There is a want of continuity. Repetitions occur, and sometimes when they were unintended. He has written a book to interest all who are interested in the modern world.” Simeon E. Baldwin.

White, C. V.Peace conference: poem. $1. Badger, R: G.

This poem is dedicated to the American delegates of the International peace conference, which met at the Hague, May 18, 1899. It sets forth the harm which war has done thruout history, and declares that the time for universal peace is here. It closes with the prayer,

“Lord God endowUs with thy blessings now,And plenteous peace the whole world o’erEstablish thou forevermore.”

“Lord God endowUs with thy blessings now,And plenteous peace the whole world o’erEstablish thou forevermore.”

“Lord God endowUs with thy blessings now,And plenteous peace the whole world o’erEstablish thou forevermore.”

“Lord God endow

Us with thy blessings now,

And plenteous peace the whole world o’er

Establish thou forevermore.”

White, Fred M.Crimson blind.$1.50. Fenno.

The strands of this story are marvelously twisted. A villain, a fiend in human shape, has plunged his family into dishonor to gain his ends, but by the aid of a clever doctor, whose future had also been involved in the general ruin, a young novelist who applies fiction methods to the case, and a girl cousin who feigns death in order to be free to solve the mystery, the whole is ferreted out, bit by bit. It is an ingenious plot with manifold complications.

“This is a really fine sensational novel.”

White, George.Practical course of instruction in personal magnetism, telepathy, and hypnotism. $1.25. Dutton.

A practical course of instruction setting forth the manner in which any student may acquire powers over himself, over his fellow men, and even over time and space.

Reviewed by Pendennis.

White, T. Hyler.Petrol motor and motor cars: a handbook for engineers, designers, and draughtsmen.*$1.40. Longmans.

A book which the author feels is needed, because recent automobile literature has not been written for the benefit of designers. Practical rules for the design of the essential parts of motors and motor cars are given, accompanied by figures. There are tables of various kinds to facilitate calculations and to convert English units into metric measures. The illustrations are good, but are not drawn to a given scale.

“The formulas which are given seem to be of a rational nature; but to the reviewer it seems a fault that the derivation of the same are never given. The author discusses at various places the several alternatives for the many parts of a modern automobile; he gives his reason for his choice very clearly and never uses superfluous words, for which fact he deserves praise. Of course it ought not to be necessary to state that it is not always possible to agree with his conclusions. As a book for the special purpose of helping the designers of these engines it appears to the reviewer that it is the best existing book in the English language, notwithstanding the criticisms which have been made above.” Storm Bull.

White, W. Hale.John Bunyan.**$1. Scribner.

This is the third volume in the Literary lives series which aims to furnish biographical and critical estimates. It treats of Bunyan’s life and characteristics. “Bunyan is not altogether the representation of Puritanism ... the qualification necessary in order to understand and properly value him is not theological learning, nor in fact any kind of learning or literary skill, but the experience of life, with its hopes and fears, bright day and black night.” “Pilgrim’s progress” is fully treated and there are lesser studies of “Grace abounding,” the “Life and death of Mr. Badman,” and “The holy war.”

“If the reader would spend the amount of time required to read this book in the careful perusal of any one of Bunyan’s great pieces, hewould probably catch more of the spirit of the Bedford dreamer, and gain a clearer and higher conception of his genius, than these pages by Mr. White are able to furnish.”

*“The writer does with success what he has to do, and imagines very well the personality of the great John.”

“The final chapter is a very unsatisfactory treatment of ‘Bunyan and Puritanism.’”

“A very interesting study. Mr. White has so many admirable things to say of the man and the spirit of his writings that one regrets that he should have devoted so much of his space to a detailed summary of Bunyan’s principal works.”

“The book proves to be a sympathetic, even a devout, study of its interesting theme.”

“An interesting and well written biography. But it lacks background. The picture of the times is inadequate.”

“Mr. White has made us see Bunyan the man, and through him the great, sober, deadly earnest English folk, of whom he was the interpreter.”

Whitefield, George.Selected sermons; ed. with introd. and notes, by Rev. A. R. Buckland.**50c. Union press.

The text of this volume is with some slight changes that of the “Sermons on important subjects” published in 1828. The six sermons are entitled—The necessity and benefits of religious society, Regeneration, A penitent heart the best New Year’s gift, The almost Christian, Glorifying God in the fire, and Jacob’s ladder.

Whiting, Lilian.Florence of Landor.**$2.50. Little.

Lilian Whiting weaves a charm into the living drama that was set in the scenic enchantment of Florence during the period of Walter Savage Landor. She draws the Florence still vital with color, the romance, the tragedy and passionate exaltation and despair of the fifteenth century, and shows the sympathetic common interests of the English and American colony including permanently the Brownings and the Trollopes, and welcoming as visitors from time to time, George Eliot, Frances Power Cobbe, Frederick Tennyson and a number of the Brook farm men and women. The book creates the author’s usual ideal atmosphere, and is handsomely illustrated from photographs.

*“There are so many good things in Miss Whiting’s book, that the pity is all the greater that the writer has never acquired the literary virtues of restraint and selection.”

*“Uses a great mass of material with fine discretion. At times her pen seems to flag, and she repeats from mere weariness; but far oftener she shows the nice discrimination of the true critic and the grace of the trained writer.”

Whiting, Lilian.Joy that no man taketh from you.**50c. Little.

The realization of the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts of men right now and here through the great power of love is the problem which Lilian Whiting meets. This joy may be achieved by the soul “so that neither death nor privation nor loss nor disappointment, not trial in any of its innumerable forms, shall dim its radiance or diminish its energy.”

Whiting, Lilian.Outlook beautiful.*$1.25. Little.

In chapters entitled The delusion of death, Realizing the ideal, Friendship as a divine relation, The ethereal world, The supreme purpose of Jesus, An inward stillness. The miracle moment may dawn on any hour, Miss Whiting sets forth her convictions regarding the relation of this life to the life eternal.

“It is unusually rich in helpful thought for those who enjoy transcendental and broadly religious discussions.”

“The book is entirely characteristic of the author, and as such will recommend itself to her considerable public.”

“It is a rhapsody, a carnival of spiritual joy.” David Saville Muzzey.

“She weaves a fabric not overstrong, but light, and firm enough for every-day uses.”

“Her philosophy and style are very stimulating and suggestive.”

*Whitney, Caspar.Jungle trails and jungle people; travel, adventure and observation in the Far East.**$3. Scribner.

“Recent travels in the Far East, in India, Sumatra, Malay, and Siam.... The record of a trip prompted by the lust of adventure, and by the desire to see strange lands and strange peoples, and to hunt strange animals. Mr. Whitney has caught the trick of making a little human interest enhance the vivid story of some thrilling or stirring hunting adventure.... Hunters or servants, enlighten us as to the mental and moral habits of the natives of the countries described.”—Dial.

*“Mr. Whitney has written a volume of travel and adventure that will make his name conspicuous among American hunters.” H. E. Coblentz.

*“If he had been less journalistic in style and the printer more careful, the reader’s pleasure would have been increased. Mr. Whitney has given us a pleasing account of a region little known to the white man.”

*“Is a most interesting and informing volume.”

*“His descriptions of some of his guides and hunters are intensely diverting. He makes very real the life in the jungle.”

Whitney, Helen Hay.Sonnets and songs.**$1.20. Harper.

“All the sonnets and most of the songs give evidence both of temperament and of the study of the older poets, and frequently attain a richness of tone that neither could have accomplished without the other.” (Nation.) “Their mood is chiefly that of quiet wistfulness, touched by the fears and sorrows of uncertain human fate, but open also to the influences of wholesome joy and unaffected sentiment.” (N. Y. Times.)

“Every one of which is a finished bit of art. The work is of so even an excellence that it offers little room for choice.” Wm. M. Payne.

“Love poems, of a passion and sincere subtlety that are none too common.”

Whitney, Mrs. Helen Hay.Verses for Jock and Joan.†$1.50. Fox.

The marginal drawings and the many full page pictures in color by Charlotte Harding, with which this volume of little-folk’s verses is illustrated make it an unusually attractive giftbook.

*“A pretty book with graceful verses and dainty illustrations.”

*“Challenges comparison with Betty Sage’s ‘Rhymes of real children’ of a year ago. The verse is correspondingly humorous, perhaps a trifle more sophisticated.”

*“The verses are not without point, but are entirely lacking in that ‘turn of the phrase’ which makes the verses of Stevenson or Lewis Carroll dwell in the memory of a child.”

Whitson, John Harvey.Barbara, a woman of the West. 75c. Little.

A new popular edition of a story which follows the fortunes of a young woman in search of her ne’er-do-well husband. He has some claim to literary attainments, starts off on a tour of fortune hunting, and becomes mentally deranged. The scenes shift from Kansas plains to Cripple Creek, thence to San Diego, and the story ends happily despite the fact that Barbara’s Enoch Arden reappears after her second marriage.

Whitson, John H.Justin Wingate, ranchman.†$1.50. Little.

Life in the West, where the interests of the ranchman and the farmer are at war is shown thru the medium of story characters. The hero who enters the fight in the Colorado legislature, the doctor who sacrifices all for the unworthy woman who was once his wife, the rancher, choleric but honest, and the son who disgraces him, stand out clearly in the scenes of love, political strife and danger.

Reviewed by Frederic Taber Cooper.

“Is a wonderfully vivid presentation of the largeness of Western horizons. Mr. Whitson is not so happy in his love stories as in his politics and adventure.”

Who’s who, 1905; an annual biographical dictionary.*$2. Macmillan.

A book of biographic data about living Englishmen. This edition contains over seventeen thousand biographies, each of which has been submitted for personal revision.

“Improved in arrangement.”

Whyte, Rev. Alexander.Apostle Paul.*$1. Jennings.

Sixteen lectures upon the apostle Paul, which follow his life and form a comprehensive study of him as preacher, pastor, man of prayer, and chief of sinners, from the first lecture, Paul as a student, to the last, Paul the aged. Five sermons, and an appreciation of Walter Marshall are also included in the volume.

Whyte, Rev. Alexander.Walk, conversation and character of Jesus Christ our Lord. $1.50. Revell.

Addresses offered to the multitude which are “innocent of criticism, but beautifully devout and sweet.” (Outlook.)

“Is composed of original, somewhat visionary, studies of the life of Christ.”

“Is a simple in thought, not obtrusively original, and expressive of a genuine personal religion.”

Wiborg, Frank.Commercial traveller in South America; being the experiences and impressions of an American business man on a trip through Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the Argentine and Brazil.**$1. McClure.

“Mr. Wiborg’s business trip around the coast and across the continent of South America is ... an individual view of a business proposition, and is made readable by descriptions—a business man’s descriptions—of the beauty of the country, and enlivened by some travelling ‘anecdotes.’ A well-drawn map elucidates the whole considerably and makes a very unified piece of work.”—Pub. Opin.

“Its descriptions of the country where conditions have changed rapidly have some value because of their freshness and of the writer’s candid expression of an alert business man’s ideas.”

“Principally as a plea for more intimate business relations between the north and south continents of this hemisphere the work is of value.”

Wiggin, Kate Douglas (Smith) (Mrs. G. C. Riggs).Rose o’ the river.†$1.25. Houghton.

The simple story of Rose, a country girl, “a fragile pink rose blossoming on the river’s brink,” and Stephen Waterman, a sturdy young farmer who lives on the other side of the Saco, is prettily told in this volume. Rose’s fancy for a city man interrupts their love for a time, but in the end she returns happily to Stephen. As a background for the slight plot, Mrs. Wiggin gives us the dangerous trade of the lumberman, and the river, a thing of beauty, strength and passion.

“Mrs. Wiggin has contributed a charming picture to the ever-increasing gallery that shows us American country life.”

*“This is a rather slight and mildly interesting story.”

“With a slight plot and commonplace incident, the author, through her clever delineation of Maine manners and peculiarities, makes up an amusing story that may be read in a couple of hours.”

*“The originality and humor that belong to Mrs. Wiggin’s best work are altogether lacking. In spite of a certain rather specious charm, ‘Rose o’ the river’ must be classed with the pot-boilers.”

“A pretty story, pleasantly told by Mrs. Wiggin in her usual limpid style.”

*“It is ‘manufactured’ from the start, and the attempt to bestow ‘color’ and stir emotion are cruelly patent, tho perfectly null.”

“Rose is a pretty girl, and her story is a pretty story with a pretty moral.”

*“‘Rose o’ the river’ is as slender a tale as ever walked into print on the merits of an author’s name.”

“The story is written with a graceful sprightliness which is always part of Mrs. Wiggin’s stories, but beside those other two [Rebecca and Penelope] Rose simply cannot live.”

“The author, as is usual with her, keeps well on the right side of the line that divides sentiment from sentimentality.”

*“It is certainly inferior to the author’s usual excellent work.”

“Her shrewdness and humour act as antiseptics to her strong vein of sentiment. She is tender without being effusive, reticent without any taint of priggishness, entertaining without resort to extravagance of facetiousness.”

Wight, Emily Carter.Denim elephant; il. in colours.†50c. Stokes.

This little volume in the “Christmas stocking” series presents in a succession of colored pictures and their accompanying text an episode in the life of the denim elephant which belonged to the baby and interfered with the rest of the farmyard, the woolen rabbit, tin cat, china pig, rubber dog, cotton goose, and wooden cow, which belonged to Edith and Philip.

Wilbrandt, Adolf.New humanity; or, The Easter island; tr. by Dr. A. S Rappoport. $1.50. Lippincott.

Helmut Adler, an enthusiast and the hero of this story, is modeled after Nietzsche. He has a plan for improving the human race by taking a few chosen followers to a secluded isle where they may rear a perfect race. He loses his reason and dies, and his daughter and her lover decide that the island of perfection can exist only in their own souls.

“But we have seldom seen a worse piece of work as translation than the volume before us.”

“The story is told with a certain morbid power, but drags heavily in the telling, and is only moderately successful in the delineation of the several types of character which people its pages.” Wm. M. Payne.

“If the book is doctrinal and the doctrines heavy, it is not therefore a heavy book. On the contrary, there is so much sincerity in each point of view, combined with so much lightness of pen, that it is even absorbing reading; the way is tortuous, indeed, but not slimy.”

“The translation is sufficiently clear to carry the meaning of the German writer to the English reader. It is certainly not a work of literary art, but that does not matter.”

Wilde, Oscar Fingall O’Flahertie Wills.De profundis.**$1.25. Putnam.

A masterpiece of literary expression penned by Oscar Wilde during his detention in Reading jail, and the last prose he ever wrote. Into it he has put his bitterness in his downfall, his misery in the first two months of prison discipline, and the final triumph of a chastened spirit, a conviction that “there is not a single degradation of the body which I must not try to make into a spiritualizing of the soul.”

“He has added to our literature a work which from its intrinsic value is sure to command the attention of thinking men, from its style the admiration of literary artists, from the tragedy of which it records a part the pity of human hearts.”

“The essay has ... great literary charm, and possesses unquestioned authenticity as a contribution toward the comprehension of the abnormal and in many ways inexplicable psychology of its author.”

“‘De profundis’ is one of the orchids of literature. As a self-revelation, for it is sincere even in its manifestation of his fundamental insincerity, this little book ranks with the ‘Confessions of Rousseau’ and the ‘Journal of Amiel.’ Both from its style and as a study in abnormal psychology ‘De profundis’ is one of the most noteworthy and interesting books that have appeared for a long time.”

*“Is one of the saddest, most terrible, yet most fascinating books of recent times.”

“It is one of the most sincere, of all self-revelations, and will go far towards setting Oscar Wilde’s memory right with the world for which he affected to care so little.”

“The analysis of sorrow, which occupies a considerable part of the volume, is without question, worthy of living and doubtless will live. Least of all its qualities should this book be commended for its literary style and yet for its style alone it is worthy of reading.”

Wilde, Oscar.Intentions.*$1.50. Brentano’s.

Four essays which gayly and ruthlessly assail what we have thought were truths, and give us others in their place. The decay of lying, defends lying as a fine art; Pen, pencil and poison, is an artistic appreciation of that prince of poisoners, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright; The critic as artist, in dialogue form, is divided into two parts containing some remarks upon the importance of doing nothing, and upon the importance of discussing every thing. The concluding essay, The truth of masks, is styled A note on illusion.

*“Disciple-wise, the editor of the present reprint is rather zealous than judicious in his manner of introducing the text.” H. W. Boynton.

*“‘Intentions’ is an interesting book to the student of literature; it contains much that is well put; but even its virtues are vitiated by a false conception of the real meaning of life.” Edward Fuller.

Wilder, Marshall Pinckney.Sunny side of the street.**$1.20. Funk.

Recollections of some 300 more or less well known people with whom the jester-author has come in contact. Three presidents, a king, and various great preachers, actors, politicians and soldiers contribute to the “garland of blossoms” plucked from “the gardens of humor and pathos” in the weaving of which the author modestly claims as his own merely “the string that binds them together.”

“Cannot fail to interest the many friends of the author. Mr. Wilder’s writing is on a par with his speaking.”

“The loquacity of the author, his well-known success in ‘getting around,’ his chatty tone, make a very cheerful book.”

“He tells many good stories. He nearly always lives up to his doctrine of amiability. We can recommend his book as cheerful reading.”

“The dense personal fog that surrounds this work casts diminutive shadows on the sunnyside, and many of the anecdotes of which the book is composed savor of spice and antiquity.”

Wiley, Harley Rupert.Treatise on pharmacal jurisprudence, with a thesis on the law in general. $2.50. Hicks-Judd.

This text-book is “A pioneer in its peculiar field” and aims to give “a presentation of the principles, with a collection of the leading cases, which define the legal aspects” of the profession of pharmacy. Over 200 cases are cited and the ground defined is fully covered.

*Wiley, Sara King.Alcestis and other poems.**75c. Macmillan.

“A priestess of classic song comes with two-fold, precious offering, in this presentation of Iphegeneia, that flower of Argos ... and in the retold story of Alcestis, whom Hercules brings back from the gates of death.”—Critic.

*“A beautiful and welcome work, shone upon as by the white light of Greek art, has been contributed in this volume to the poetry of the year.” Edith M. Thomas.

*“Mrs. Drummond’s treatment of the fables has no very novel features, but she has realized its mood very vividly, and made of it a compact and moving little drama.”

*Wilkins, Augustus Samuel.Roman education.*60c. Macmillan.

“In ninety-two pages the whole system of Roman education is presented.... Dr. Wilkins divides the story of Roman education into two periods: the ‘purely national stage, when as yet there was no outside influence,’ and the effects of Greek influence from the middle of the third century, B.C. onwards on ‘the distinct departments of literary—or what we might call now secondary—education,’ and in the higher training of rhetoric and philosophy.... In four chapters, ‘Education in the ‘early republic,’ Education under Greek influence,’ ‘Elementary schools and studies,’ and ‘Higher studies—rhetoric and philosophy,’ he gives all the information that can be possibly discovered on record and the natural inferences from it.... The final chapter deals with the Endowment of education in ancient Rome.”—Acad.

*“There are few teachers who will not benefit by it; few interested in any way in education who will not read it with pleasure and profit.”

*“We know no other work to which one could go for so complete and accurate an exposition of what is known about Roman education.”

*“It contains in six chapters and a hundred pages all that is really known upon this subject, and it is the best compendium which we have seen. Its style is pleasant, and the method of treatment makes the book easy to read.”

*“The present volume offers a singularly clear, accurate, and trustworthy statement of the somewhat scanty information that is to be found in Roman writers on the subject of education.”

Wilkins, Philip A.History of the Victoria cross.*$6. Dutton.

This volume contains an account of “the 520 conspicuous acts of bravery which have called for as many bestowals of the decoration, instituted in 1856 and made retroactive for the Crimean war. These plain tales are accompanied by a remarkably large number (392) of portraits of the recipients; by statutory and narrative appendices; by a table of awards of the cross by branches of the service; and by a personal index.” (Nation.)

“The scheme has been very carefully and soberly carried out.”

“A very interesting account of the 520 men who have won the cross.”

“Though we must confess that some of the narratives are somewhat bald, and that the author has neglected many excellent opportunities, Mr. Wilkins’s records are interesting.”

*Wilkins, William Henry.Mrs. Fitzherbert and George IV.**$5. Longmans.

“For more than a century there has been no moral doubt of the marriage of Maria Fitzherbert and George IV. of Great Britain. For the last seventy years it has been practically certain that the proof of that marriage was deposited in Coutts’s bank, in London ... [these papers] ... King Edward placed at the disposal of the author of this volume, and thus enabled him to prove conclusively that Mrs. Fitzherbert was the wife of George, Prince of Wales, later George IV.... Although he writes as a partisan of Mrs. Fitzherbert, he is fair-minded enough to write of the king: ... ‘His faults were many and grave, but ... there must have been some good in him or a good woman would not have loved him.”—N. Y. Times.

*“In his Life of Mrs. Fitzherbert he has reached a higher level, both as regards literary excellence and in the interest attaching to his subject.”

*“Mr. Wilkins displays his usual lucidity in narrative and firm grasp of his subject. These things [errors] do not detract materially from the merit of Mr. Wilkins’s well-written and historically important work.”

*“If Mr. Wilkins’s ideas are not remarkable, nor his style brilliant, he may be congratulated upon having accomplished the task he set himself by clearing the memory of an injured woman.”

*“Mr. Wilkins has handled his material ably, making a book at once interesting and valuable.”

*“Mr. Wilkins has made a very complete biography of Mrs. Fitzherbert.”

*“The book is fustian from beginning to end, and is not at all below Mr. Wilkins’ form.”

*“It is easy in such a work to fall into the role of mere purveyor of scandal, but Mr. Wilkins never loses sight of his main theme, and the book is primarily a study of character. If now and then he seems to speak from a brief, on the whole he sticks soberly to facts, and his comments are generally fair and convincing. He has performed a delicate task with good taste and good sense, and has produced what is not only a volume of entertaining gossip, but a solid contribution to the history of the epoch.”

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