were long since forgotten. . . . In Great Britain she was the first occupant of the throne who could be called a genuinely constitutional monarch; to the British Empire she was the embodiment of that sense of racial pride and national greatness of which she was herself serenely conscious. Lord Salisbury was not wrong when he spoke of her "passionate patriotism" and her "incomparable incomparable judgment." The book ends with an admirable chapter on "Literature and Social Development," in which, among other things, full justice is done to Darwin and his influence: Darwin's Origin of Species was issued in 1859. Its publication was one of the great events-in some respects perhaps the greatest event-of Queen Victoria's reign. On English thought and its expression in literature the effect was almost revolutionary. This last chapter displays an insight uncommon in histories of "Our Own Times," and is one of the most valuable pieces of work in the book. Minor Notices C. H. S. An Easy Poetry Book. By W. Williamson, B.A. (Methuen pp. 116. Is.) "The This collection is intended for those whose age does not exceed twelve years or thereabouts. While inserting some well-established favourites like "John Gilpin," Inchcape Rock," and "The Charge of the Light Brigade," Mr. Williamson has added others not so usual in similar anthologies, including "The Year," by Coventry Patmore, and several extracts from Shakespeare. The poems are sixty-six in number by some thirty or forty different authors, thus affording considerable variety and scope. In No. 63 there is a misprint-caps for cups; in 59 the stanza in Gray's Elegy" beginning Forgive, ye Proud, has a different reading from the usual one, while part of "The Deserted Village," No. 50, is given by oversight a second time in " No. 55. Milton: Early Poems, Comus, Lycidas. By S. E. Goggin, B.A., and A. F. Watt, M.A. (University Tutorial Press. Pp. 184. 2s. 6d.) Sophocles' Antigone. Translated by R. Whitelaw. (Clarendon Press. pp. 1 + 56. 1s. nett.) Euripides' Alcestis. Translated by H. Kynaston. (Clarendon Press. pp. xxxii + 44. Is. nett.) The Clarendon Press have conceived the happy idea of publishing in a neat and cheap form standard translations in poetry of some of the masterpieces of Greek tragedy. The two volumes before us are the first of the series. The object is to introduce to the ordinary reader and into schools where Greek is not taught a knowledge of these works as essential to a sound understanding of our own and foreign literature. Dr. Churton Collins, who has written the introduction and preface of both books, asks why they should not be admitted side by side with the dramas of Shakespeare as text-books in our courses of school study. The introductions and notes are adapted to this end. The headings in the introduction of the Antigone are: Life of Sophocles, The Place of Sophocles among Poets, Introduction to the Antigone, Structure and Plot of the Play, and The Philosophy of the Play. Those of the Alcestis are similar, consisting of a Life of Euripides, Circumstances under which the Alcestis was produced, The Story of the Play, and The Structure of the Play. On p. xii of the Alcestis the date of Euripides' death is given as B.C. 416 instead of B.C. 406. In the Antigone, p. xxii, his birth is given in B.C. 490 instead of B.C. 480. There is also a mistake in the quotation on page viii. The object of the editors has been "to introduce only so much explanatory matter as is necessary for the elucidation of the text in the case of readers who are for the first time taking Milton up for serious study." This object seems to us to have been successfully achieved. There is a general introduction, special introductions to the separate poems and short notes, well to the point. The first paragraph of the introduction should contain some reference to the "Areopagitica," but we are glad to see an account of the Trinity College MSS., and a defence of the form "Penseroso." Lines 97-99 of "Lycidas" seem to show clearly that King was not wrecked in a storm as p. 103 suggests may have been the case; and it is amusing to see that while warning us (p. 184) not to misquote the last line as "fresh fields " for "fresh woods "the editors have themselves done so on P. 173. Paralipomena Sophoclea. By Lewis Campbell, M.A. (Rivingtons. pp. xv + 287. 6s. nett.) Professor Campbell's work on Sophocles was in the field before Jebb's magnum opus, and now he has reviewed the ground with his own and Jebb's commentaries before him and has published his latest views. In this book he tells us he has gone over all the plays again, has collected supplementary notes on the text and explanation of Sophocles, and has given us his "matured opinion on disputed points." On many he finds himself in agreement with Jebb, in othershe adheres to his former view, and in others again he differs from both judgments. Apart from the soundness of the scholarship, which does not need to be emphasised, the interest of such a book as this lies in the comparison of the views of the two protagonists of Sophoclean interpretation, and it is from the differences as much as from the agreements that students may deepen their own knowledge of Greek, and penetrating into the higher regions of criticism may realise how much in the end depends upon criteria of taste and style. We have worked through from this standpoint two of the plays-the Antigone and the Philoctetes to our profit. We may refer, as instances of interesting comment, to Professor Campbell's notes on Antigone, vv. 126, 601-3, 613-4, and his defence of the well-known passage, vv. 904-920. The notes are not few, many of them being quite short, but they are full of suggestiveness. All who care for scholarship or who love Sophocles will be attracted by this work. Damon: A Manual of Greek Iambic Composition. By J. H. Williams, M.A., and W. H. D. Rouse, Litt. D. (Blackie and Son. pp. 107. 2s. 6d. nett.) This is the third edition of a book which is intended to initiate beginners into the mysteries of Greek verse composition. It claims to be more systematic than other similar manuals and to be based upon the way in which a Lucretius: A Selection from Book V. By W. D. Lowe, M.A. (Clarendon Press. 67 pp. 25.) Mr. Lowe's selection consists of vv. 783-1457, which, as he rightly says, contain " some of the finest and most vivid Latin poetry," and he hopes that it may be read in "lower forms than has hitherto been usual." The introduction is slight, but might have dealt in more detail with the Lucretian hexameter. The notes are for the most part sound, being based mainly on Munro, but we have observed one or two mistakes. In v. 1266 the subject of parent is certainly ipsi not haec metalla, which is the subject of a v.l. darent; possent is a misprint for possint. In v. 1315, why is it not the actual manes and crests ? In v. 1008 rerum copia mersat is of course metaphorical. It cannot mean that men dig their graves with their teeth." The primitive form of nihil is nihilum, but hilum does not by itself mean nothing (v. 1409). In v. 1049 the final syllable of sciret retains its original long quantity. In v. 829 excipere is to succeed, take on, rather than overtake; in v. 990 unusquisque means only a single one at a time, not one or other; in v. 1032 the subjunctive sint may be due to the influence of monstrent; and in v. 1045 the tenses of possent and putentur should be explained. If a boy doesn't learn Greek the note on v. 1257, "videbant the optative of indefinite frequency, a Græcism frequently imitated by Livy," will convey no meaning to him, and if he does it will not convey much, videbant being indicative and the point of the Græcism far from obvious. = Youth, its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene. By G. Stanley Hall, Ph.D., LL.D. (Appleton. 1907. 6s. nett.) Dr. Stanley Hall's great book on Adolescence has for some time been recognised as the most important contribution yet made by any writer to our knowledge of the psychology of boys and girls during the secondary school age. But his two large volumes are enough to daunt any save the true enthusiast, not only on account of their portentous length, but also because the immense amount of material they contain is presented in a somewhat incoherent form. Hence it is with real pleasure that we welcome this handy volume, which "selects and epitomises the practical and especially the pedagogical conclusions " of the larger work. It is rich in that suggestiveness which was so marked a feature of Adolescence, while the less diffuse form of the argument renders it easier to follow. With all the writer's doctrines few readers will agree, some may even find his whole attitude towards educational problems distasteful, but we make bold to say, what is true of few books on education, that any man or woman who has read the book with care will feel that the way has been opened out to a new world of educational thought and effort. Stanley Hall has not given us a science of education, but he has shown us some of the peaks which such a science will help us to climb. The book is one which all teachers who take their profession seriously ought to read. A Brief Course in the History of Education. By Paul Monroe, Ph.D. (The Macmillan Company, New York. 5s. nett.) We are glad to welcome this abridgment of Professor Monroe's text-book on The History of Education, which is already favourably known in this country. The smaller book retains most of the merits of the larger work. It is readable, clear in its arrangement, and gives a connected view of the development of educational theory and practice, showing the relation between educational changes and the progress of general culture. Perhaps the least satisfactory sections of the book, at any rate from an English point of view, are those devoted to the nineteenth century. They are interesting as far as they go, but fail to give an adequate account of the great advances which have taken place in the school systems of England, Germany and France. Individual Training in our Colleges. By C. F. Birdseye. (The Macmillan Company, New York.) This volume may be cordially recommended to readers interested in American university education. It contains a vigorous plea for the better training of the individual undergraduate, and especially for the more careful training of his character. It advocates much closer personal relations between the tutors and the undergraduates, and in particular a great development of "fraternity" life, which is to a large extent the counterpart of the college life at our older universities. The book is based upon intimate personal knowledge of existing conditions and a careful study of the history of the college system, and its discussion of the practical working of institutions like and yet differing from our own is full of suggestion for those who have to face the problems of English university and public school administration. A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. (Abridged from Dr. Oscar Seyffert's Larger Dictionary.) By Dr. Emil Reich. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 316 pp. 3s. 6d. nett.) An exhaustive and complete classical dictionary is always a rather expensive luxury, not attainable by everybody; but in this handy volume we find much useful and valuable information in a concise and interesting form and in small compass. To us it seems sufficient for all ordinary purposes and its very moderate price brings it within the reach of all students. History of England for Use in Schools. By Arthur D. Innes, M.A. (Cambridge University Press. xvi + 605 pp. 4s. 6d.) We have here an exceedingly useful book for middle and upper forms. It quite carries out the aim of the writer as stated in the preface-to set before students not only the constitutional history of England, but also the history of social, religious and international development; while a due place is given to the biographies of those men who have made the history of our country. The work is divided into chapters recording important events or series of events, each of which is thus given in what may be called complete form. We can imagine no more interesting way of presenting history to an uninterested pupil; and with this volume as an aid, good results are bound to follow. One cannot do without facts, dates, genealogies, &c., as a groundwork on which to build up the complicated structure of the history of any nation; and in this volume these are supplied at the end of the book, as well as concise outlines of events which will be most useful in preparing for examinations. The book can be had in three separate parts, which is a great advantage to those who wish to study only a special period. All teachers of history would do well to see this manual, which will doubtless become very popular with both teachers and pupils as it is better known and more used. He was Le Conscrit de 1813. Par Erckmann-Chatrian. Abridged and Edited, with Notes and Vocabulary, by O. B. Super, Ph.D. vi+210 pp. (London: D. C. Heath and Co. Is. 6d.) Leopold von Ranke was a historian of whom the German people have reason to be proud. He exhibited an indomitable energy in an exceptionally lengthened student's career. He published his history of the Papacy when he was forty--but he wrote for another half-century afterwards. At the age of eighty-five, the vigorous old professor planned a universal history, which, not unnaturally, remained unfinished. But the volumes in his collected works are no less than fifty-four. Like all of his race, his reading was abnormal; but unlike the generality among them, he was gifted with a luminous style, great picturesqueness and historic imagination. He is an eminently attractive writer, never overweighted by the vast mass of his teaching. He is of course not without his limitations. vigorously protestant with, as he admits, the drawbacks as well as the advantages of a strongly controversial disposition. He certainly did not say the last word on the Society of Ignatius Loyola, nor on the doctrinal significance of the Council of Trent. But if he requires to be supplemented, this is after all the common lot even of the greatest historians. His work on the Papacy has been often translated into English. Of the three translations known to us, the present reprint is certainly the best; and we think the publishers have been well advised in its selection, for it possesses an excellent literary style, much more readable than others with which we are acquainted. This edition also is, what many others are not, really complete; containing Ranke's latest additions on Pius IX. and the Vatican Council of 1870, which ended sixteen years before the historian's death. A word of commendation must be added on the form of the present issue. The large library edition has been too costly for most readers. The single-volume double-column edition is a most unattractive-looking work. But this new reprint in three pocket volumes is admirably printed and quite within reach of most book-buyers. La Cagnolle. Par Labiche et Delacour. Edited, with PP. La Petite Fadette. Par George Sand. Edited, with Notes Le Tartuffe. Par Molière. Edited, with Introduction and Waterloo. Episode tiré de la Chartreuse de Parme. Par Henri Beyle-Stendhal. Edited by W. G. Hartog, B.A. With Illustrations. 67 pp. (London: Rivingtons. Is.) A soldier's experiences upon the field of Waterloo has long been regarded as one of the most remarkable parts of Stendhal's novel, which for the rest deals with Italy in the nineteenth century. As a soldier and an administrator with an ardent admiration of Napoleon, whom he accompanied upon his unsuccessful Russian campaign in 1812, he was well qualified to make this one of the outstanding episodes in French fiction. This little volume has been prepared for a place in Rivington's New Intermediate French Texts and contains effective illustrations by Mary Williams, notes and oral and written exercises. Trésor des Fèves et Fleur des Pois (Conte de Fées). Par Charles Nodier. Edited by W. G. Hartog, B.A. With Illustrations. 80 pp. (London: Rivingtons. Is.) In a neat little volume these fairy-tales by a charming writer have been made available for junior French pupils, who will find the stories absorbing, the illustrations by Mary Williams attractive, and the notes, exercises and vocabulary useful. A First Book of Oral French Prose Composition. By W. G. Nicomède. Par Pierre Corneille. Edited by G. H. Clarke, The student who desires to read and to understand Corneille at his best obtains ample assistance in the elaborate and numerous editorial sections to accompany the tragedy in this new volume of Siepmann's Classical French Texts. Select Translations from Old English Prose. Edited by Albert S. Cook and C. B. Tinker. viii+296 pages. Ginn. 5s. 6d. Browning's Strafford. Edited by H. B. George. xx + 90 pages. Clarendon Press. 25. The Development of Modern Europe. By J. H. Robinson and C. A. Beard. Vol. II. x + 448 pages. Maps and Illustrations. Ginn. 6s. 6d. 3s. 6d. nett. Lays of Hellas. By C. A. Kelly, M.A. x + 174 pages. Kegan Paul and Co. Test Questions. McDougall's Practical Arithmetical Class III., Id. Class IV., id. An Elementary Course of Practical Zoology. By the late T. J. Parker, D.Sc., and W. N. Parker, Ph.D. x + 624 pages. Second edition. 167 Illustrations. Macmillan. 10s. 6d. Epic and Romance. Essays on Mediæval Literature. By M. P. Ker. xxiv + 398 pages. Macmillan. 4s. nett. The Story of Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp. 64 pages. Macmillan's Supplementary Readers. (Senior.) 4d. Elementary Graphs. By V. M. Turnbull, M.A. x + 54 pages. Answers. Cassell. 9d. The Elements of Geography. By J. H. N. Stephenson, M.A. Part I. General Geography. xiv + 160 pages. Illustrations and Maps. Edward Stanford. 3s. 6d. The Roman Empire, B.C. 29-A.D. 476. By H. Stuart Jones, M.A. xxiv + 476 pages. Illustrations and Maps. (The Story of the Nations.) Unwin. 5s. Nouvelles et Anecdotes. Adapted from the English by A. Delacourt, B.-ès-L. Edited by W. G. Hartog, B.A. 86 pages. Illustrations. Rivingtons. IS. Hansel et Grétel et les Trois Corbeaux. Edited by W. G. Hartog, B.A. 42 pages. Rivingtons. IS. History of Italy. By W. Hunt, M.A., D.Litt. xii + 296 pages. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. The Citizen and the State. Part II. Industrial and Soical Life and the Empire. By J. S. E. Loe Strachey. xii+224 pages. Numerous Illustrations. Macmillan. Is. 6d. A Handbook of Employments. By Mrs. O. Gordon, D.Sc. vi + 444 pages. The Rosemount Press. IS. nett. Select English Classics. Edited by A. T. Quiller-Couch. Clarendon Press. Cloth, 4d. Paper, 3d. : John Bunyan. George Crabbe. William Cowper. Plant Study in School, Field and Garden. By J. S. Bridges, B.Sc., and A. J. Dicks, B.Sc. xvi + 372 pages. Numerous Illustrations. Ralph, Holland and Co. 35. -6d. nett. A History of Great Britain. By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton. xii +336 pages. 20 Maps. Methuen. 3s. 6d. Teachers' Handbook to Mackay and Curtis' First and Second French Book. 102 pages. Whittaker. Is. nett. Easy Shorthand. By Sir Edward Clarke, K.C. 36 pages. Third edition. Simpkin, Marshall. IS. Memories of Men and Books. By the Rev. A. J. Church. viii + 288 pages. Smith, Elder. 8s. 6d. nett. The Diary of John Evelyn. Edited by Austin Dobson, LL.D. xl+ 540 pages. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. Solutions to the Examples in a Sequel to Elementary Geometry. By J. W. Russell, M.A. 112 pages. Clarendon Press. 3s. 6d. nett. Eschylus: The Suppliant Maidens; The Persians, &c. Translated into English verse by E. D. A. Morshead, M.A. xx+216 pages. (Golden Treasury Series.) Macmillan. 2s. 6d. nett. The Writing of English. By P. J. Hartog, with the assistance of Mrs. A. H. Langdon. xii + 164 pages. Clarendon Press. The Children's Fairy Book. Parts I. and II., 3d. each. Jack. Louey Chisholm's Fairy Book. Parts I. and II., 3d. each. Jack. A History of Scotland for Schools. By P. Hume Brown, LL.D. xiv +592 pages. Numerous Illustrations. Oliver and Boyd. 38. The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. By E. B. Huey, M.A. xviii + 470 pages. Macmillan. 6s. nett. The Demonstration Schools Record. By the Department of Education in the University of Manchester. No. I. Edited by J. J. Findlay. 126 pages. Sherratt and Hughes. Is. 6d. nett. H. M. I. Some Passages in the Life of one of H.M. Inspectors of Schools. By E. M. Sneyd-Kynnersley. viii +358 pages. Macmillan. 8s. 6d. nett. St. George for Merrie England. By Margaret H. Bulley. 40 pages and 56 full-page Illustrations. George Allen, 5s. nett. Time Table of Modern History. A.D. 400-1870. Compiled by M. Morrison. Second Edition. Constable. 8s. 6d. nett. of Educational Thought and Progress "To prepare us for complete living is the function which Education has to discharge."-Herbert Spencer. 50a Albemarle Street, W. THE English Association continues to do excellent the standard of perfection (or what passes for such) is fixed at the right level. AMONG the children in the elementary schools there is a large number who cannot adequately appreciate the instruction, yet cannot be classed as "mentally deficient." If attention is given to them by the teacher, then they retard the progress of children of normal intellect. But the easier course, owing to the size of the classes and the attention which is paid to statistical results, is to allow them to pick up what knowledge they can. from the teaching in class. It is recognised, however, that the present position is not satisfactory, and the Education Committee of the London County Council have been considering a remedy. They propose to try an experiment, of which the chief points are increased attention to manual and industrial training and fewer children in each class. The school selected for the purpose is at Saffron Hill. That the committee appreciate the desirability of conducting an inquiry of this character suggests the larger question whether there is not too much book-learning in the ordinary elementary school. The reply of a great many parents would be in the affirmative. It is a pity that the school chosen is among an alien population, as, however anxious we may be to improve their condition, our first duty is to English |