to deteriorate. The process occurs once a year; and this period of plucking, preparing, sorting, and packing for the market is the busiest time of the ostrich farmer. The owner of ostriches expects to lose fully ten per cent of his birds each year through their own incorrigible pugnacity and stupidity. Yet, on the whole, it is a very profitable branch of farming, and there seems to be no good reason why the business could not be acclimatized in the United States-perhaps in southwestern Texas and Arizona and southern California. It might be an experiment worth the trying, if indeed it has not already been tried in the latter named section. There is much in Mrs. Martin's book besides that which relates to ostriches vivid sketches of South African life and scenery; of the characteristic pleasures and hardships of the region, and of its various birds and animals. The author is enthusiastic about the value of the climate as a consumption cure, and does much to awaken a keen interest in a region the conditions of which vary so widely from our own. A NEW NOVEL. A MERCIFUL DIVORCE. A Story of Society. Town and Country Library. By F. W. Maude. New York: D. Appleton & Co. The Appleton series of novels entitled the "Town and Country Library" sustains its standard of excellence. The latest issue, "A Merciful Divorce," offers a bright and sharp picture of English life, with mingled currents of noble aspiration and sordid materialism running side by side. The burden of the author's criticism of society, standing out clearly from the body of the story, though it is not precisely protruded as a moral, is the growing plutocracy and Philistinism of life; the hard, selfish devotion to money and what money brings; the disposition to measure everything by a financial test. This necessarily carries in its train the whole vile crew of sensual passions and vices, for money can only buy gratification of these-never one single boon of pure happiness, except so far as it can relieve the possessor from those sordid cares and worries which are only less degrading than exces. sive indulgence. The writer, in a strain bit. terly just, says in the opening chapter: "You give life service to the beautiful Christian code of ethics; you profess yourself scandalized that those who do not acquiesce in the dogmas of your religion should be allowed to legislate for you; and yet if he be rich enough, and knows how to spend his wealth for the gratification of your senses, a man may break the Christian decalogue—ay, and even the eleventh commandment, Thou shalt not be found out,' and command your company and approval. The fault is not in the code of morality you profess. That is austerely beau. tiful enough in all conscience. The fault is not even in your own lives. Many of you are better in a dual conduct than you profess to be. The fact is, that you will not enforce against the rich and fashionable even the lowest of moral codes; that you fathers will introduce your sons to men whom you know to be dishonest and immoral; that you mothers throw your daughters into the society of women as shameless and mercenary (and with less excuse) as the wretched outcasts who earn a precarious livelihood on the streets of our great towns. And yet you wonder at the cynical, pessimistic sentiments which fall from the lips of your son, who not long since was a frank, enthusiastic schoolboy; and your daughter, who till she came out was as pureminded and optimistic as a young girl should be." All this is anent the career of a vile, crawling Hebrew, who had risen by unsavory practices to great wealth, and was received and caressed by people of the "smart set,' because he lavished his ill-won guineas in catering to their needs and their pleasures. Why is it, by the way, that the novelist always selects a Jew to represent persons of this type? There are disreputable parvenues who are not descendants of Jacob. This is a question not to be discussed now, however, for it sounds the key-note of a very intricate problem, with a Rothschild at one end of it and the filthy outcast of Russian tyranny at the other. The novel before us deals with the fates of Sir Arthur Gerrardine and Lady Edith Carthage. The two had loved each other with devoted tenderness; but Edith sacrifices her love to marry a rich and kind nonentity, that she might save her wretched father from the consequences of his own criminal folly; and Arthur in turn weds a frivolous and heartless. woman, who finally betrays him. How the old love springs into powerful flame after these ill-assorted marriages have made both their victims wretchedly unhappy, and how nearly they are betrayed into gratifying this irresistible feeling, at the expense of honor and duty, are narrated in the story with a freshness and grace of treatment which redeem a very threadbare motive. The host of subordinate people in this social drama are sketched with a skilful touch, and the pictures of contemporaneous English society are excellent. Altogether it is an English novel of the better class and a clever though by no means a great book. It fills one of the necessary conditions of a good modern novel. The characters seem to be drawn naturally and truthfully from life; and the impression is that of a genuine picture, without being hampered with the unnecessary details of the so-called realistic fiction. A GOOD BOY'S BOOK. .. FOUR AND FIVE. A Story of a Lend-a-Hand Club. By Edward E. Hale, author of Ten Times One is Ten,' Mrs. Merriam's Schol"How to Do It,' "In His Name," ars, and other stories. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Mr. Hale's new story is a charming contribution to the pleasures of boys, and is of a piece with those which have already made him so well known to the young people of America. The lessons taught are of the most bracing and stimulating sort-lessons of courage, helpfulness, self-reliance, and self forgetfulness, but all set in a narrative of much interest, told with great raciness. A club of four boys, who Lad spent a summer camping in the Catskills, are joined by four others the next summer, and they elect a quaint and delightful old Indian half-breed woman, living in the mountains, the ninth member. Gradually, as the lads return year after year to the camp for their summer vacation, they bring others, till at last the club numbers forty. It is the doings and sayings of these lads, ranging from those almost men to little boys, which, treated in Dr. Hale's delightful manner, constitute the interest of the book. They hunt, fish, build bridges, reservoirs, and irrigating canals, tell stories, and do all sorts of things dear to the hearts of healthy and hearty youngsters. It is thoroughly a boy's book, charmingly written, and stimulating to all that is best in boy's nature. Such books as these make a refreshing contrast to the goody-goody artificialities which were the current pabulum of lads a quarter of a century since. Dr. Hale's genius shines not less brightly in books of this kind than in the more pretentious works bearing his name. FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES. THE unexpected death of Mr. Raikes lends a melancholy interest to the account of the celebration of the jubilee of uniform inland penny postage, which has just been published by the Jubilee Celebration Committee, in whose proceedings the late Postmaster-General took so active and kindly an interest. Amid much that is merely formal and ephem. eral, the volume contains not a little matter of permanent interest in connection with the recent history of the Post-Office and its present organization, and these sources of interest are enhanced by the portraits and sketches with which it is illustrated. DR. FURNIVALL is spending his holidays at Norwich and copying the earliest English wills, those of the Consistory Court, for a volume in the Early English Text Society. He hoped to find many instances of dialect and local trade and custom, but very few occur. As against the earliest English will at Somerset House, 1397, Norwich can show only a short English proviso, in a Latin will of 1427, shifting the testator's estate from one nephew to another, in case the first is not the word, and marie hym self bi the avys of "of good gouernaunce and lycly persone to the feoffees, the executors the forn seyd." The first complete English will was made in 1429, that of Sir Andrew Botiller, knight, and after this others came slowly till 1464. The first two registers have no English wills. Surflete," the third register (1427-35), has the proviso mentioned above, and five English wills; "Doke," the fourth register (1436-42), thirteen such wills; "6 Wylbey," the fifth register (1444-48), only one English will; Aleyn," the sixth register (1448-55), only four, though a Latin will of Robert Martham recites word for word a marriage settlement of 22 Henry VI., made by the testator on the wedding of one of his two daughters. The seventh register, "Brosiard" (1454-64), contains eight English wills, some of Norwich citizens, and among them one of John Goos, no doubt the ancestor of A. Goose, the publisher lately retired who issued Mr. Walter Rye's "Book of Nonsense." A pretty "qwethe-word " for "devise or bequest" occurs in 1457; be ingate and outegate into ye gardine" in 1458. In 1452 John Bulston bequeathed to the Church of Hempstede "j pyxte, to putte owre lord god in ;" and there are several gifts of altarcloths, vestments, etc. For "shall'' or ་་ should,' ""xal" and "xulde" occasionally occur; 'qwceh" is sometimes found for "which," and wh for qu: "ye whech xul be seld to a-whylt (acquit, pay) my dettis” (1437). A few words seem special to the Eastern counties "iij cadys of heryng, and xx orgeys'' ་་ ་་ 46 (1437), "fyve Rasers barly" (1434). Gifts of a combe of barly, etc., to the "plowlot" (1435) were probably to the plowlight." A farindell of elys” (1435), “xij last of trufys, ij Sahures and a dydale” (1438) are puzzles at present. When enough material is got together for a volume, it will be edited by Mr. Walter Rye and Dr. Furnivall. MISS AMELIA B. EDWARDS has, we are glad to learn, so far recovered her health as to be enabled to return to England after her length. ened sojourn in Italy. Her new volume, entitled " Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers," will be published in this country by Messrs. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., and in America by Messrs. Harper Brothers early in November. THE Dumfries Standard describes a manuscript volume, purchased at an auction sale, which contains some unpublished poems by Burns. It is said to comprise a very remarkable and most valuable collection." The effusions are mostly of a satirical character, some of them being couched in coarse language. The then Duke of Queensberry is somewhat severely handled in some of the poems. THE expected edition of a 'Patrologia Syriaca," under the direction of the Abbé R. Graffin, of the Catholic Institute, Paris, seems likely to become a reality. The first and second volumes of Aphrates's works will soon leave the press. They will contain the homilies, according to the lamented Dr. W. Wright's edition, but collated with all the known мss, which furnish good variations. A Latin translation will be added by Dom J. Parisot, of Solesmes. The size of the Syriac collection will be the same as that of Migne's Patrology," and each volume will contain a vocabulary of special words used by the different authors. WE learn from German sources that the publication of a new Latin dictionary, at the expense of the Prussian state, is in contemplation. The work, which is designed to surpass in magnitude and completeness all Latin lexicons hitherto published, is to be carried out under the direction of that distinguished classical scholar Professor Martin Hertz, of Breslau, with the assistance of a host of philologists, and will comprise not only classical, but also low and late Latin. The Academy of Sciences of Berlin is said to have approved of the plan, the execution of which will occupy full eighteen years and cost between 500,000 and 1,000,000 marks. THE death is announced of M. J. Nerudo, the Czech journalist and poet, at the age of fifty-three. WITH regard to the investigations contemplated by the India Office authorities among the archives at Lisbon for documents and records throwing light on the period of the Portuguese ascendancy in India, "A Portuguese" points out in a letter to The Times that a very complete and interesting collection of official documents has been published for some years at Lisbon, which embraces from the period of the conquest of India by the Portuguese in 1498 until the end of the eighteenth century, under the title Collecçao de Tratados e Concertos de pazes que o Estado da India Portugueza fez com os Reis e Senhores com quem teve relações nas partes da Asia e Africa Oriental," por J. F. Judice Biker, Lisbon. The MESSRS, HENRY & Co. have in preparation a new series, entitled "The Victoria Library for Gentlewomen," which will be written and illustrated exclusively by gentlewomen. Queen has ordered two copies of each volume for the royal library, and the Princess of Wales is also a subscriber. The first volume of the series, which will be ready in September, will be by Lady Violet Greville on 'The Gentlewoman in Society," and she will be followed by Dr. Kate Mitchell, who will write on Hygiene for Gentlewomen." The claims of fiction will not be disregarded, arrangements having been made for new novels by, among others, Mrs. E. Lynn-Linton, Mrs. Alexander, Miss M. Betham-Edwards, Miss Iza Duffus-Hardy, and the author of the " Anglo-Maniacs.'' Besides writing the first volume, Lady Greville will also edit two volumes devoted to 'Gentlewomen's Sports," the contributors to which will comprise, among THE monument to Christopher Marlowe, the first of the great dramatic line of English poets in priority of time, and only second in genius to Shakespeare, which was executed by Mr. E. Onslow Ford, A.R.A., was unveiled at Canterbury, on September 16th, by Mr. Henry Irving. By arrangement with the American publishers, Messrs. Macmillan & Co. will issue in the course of the autumn an edition of Mr. Lowell's poems complete in one volume, uniform with their one volume editions of Tenny. son, Wordsworth and Shelley. Mr. Thomas Hughes will contribute an introduction to the volume, which should be welcome to many admirers of the poet who have not cared to provide themselves with the recently completed library edition of his works. ONE of our English contemporaries, remark ing upon the growing difficulty in finding new subjects of interest for the exhibitions that are becoming an annual institution among us-now that fishermen, inventors, health conservators and restorers, Colonials, Americans, Spaniards, French, Italians, Daues, and Germans, together with our own army and navy, have all had their innings-urges the claims of literature to have an exhibition in its turn. It is pointed out, no doubt with considerable truth, that the vast stores of the British Museum are practically closed to the casual sight seer, "Nor," it is naïvely added, "would our national storehouses stand any chance of rivalry with a vastly inferior show that was accompanied by the more sensuous delights of the exhibition à la mode." Of course such a scheme would include graphic illustrations of the entire process of book and newspaper production, the details of typography, the entire processes of printing and binding, the manufacture of paper, with other kindred and subsidiary industries. writer of the article will, no doubt, have the publisher and printer on his side; if he can show any benefit likely to result to the author, he may perhaps secure Mr. Walter Besant, and other literary champions, for his scheme. The THE Athenæum prints the following communication: "I have found the following sonnet in a note-book of S. T. Coleridge kindly lent to me by its present possessor, his grandson, Mr. Ernest Hartley Coleridge. The verses are in the poet's handwriting, and the composition is certainly his, for the Ms. has many corrections; indeed, I have had no little difficulty in piecing out the text as finally settled. The style, however, is so unlike that of any original composition known to be Coleridge's that I am much disposed to believe this sonnet to be a translation, probably from the Italian or Spanish. If you will be good enough to print it, some reader of the Athenæum may recognize the original." Thou, that in me thou kindled'st such fierce I, that my Heart did of a Sun so sweet Hear then our doom in Hell as just as stern, MISCELLANY. MODERN WAR.-If, in their general character, the nature of battles and the circumstances under which battles have to be fought change very materially, that in itself involves a further change in the combinations which are open for manoeuvres in the field of which the ultimate object is to lead up to battle. The size of the armies which will enter into the next great campaign in Europe will be so vastly different from those which fought out the great wars of the past, that their manoeuvring in campaigns must necessarily be very different from anything that Napoleon undertook. Now, even during the later wars of Napoleon, Jomini was obliged to admit that many of the experiences of the past must be materially modified as armies increased in campaign of 1813, when Napoleon, holding a central position on the Elbe, endeavored to strike from thence against the masses of allies formed in a great circle around him at Berlin, in Silesia, and in Bohemia, experience showed that it was by no means easy to crush with sufficient rapidity armies of 120,000 men so as to prevent them from being supported in time by others. As the allies gradually closed in on him, and the distances between their different forces diminished, this became continually more and more apparent. In fact, it became clear, if it had been doubtful beforehand, that the question was altogether a matter of proportion between time, distance, and the resisting-power of the several armies concerned. On the other hand, in 1814, when the nature of the country invaded caused a reduction in the size of the armies moving forward separately, Napoleon was able as of old to strike his blows right and left with tell. ing effect. Now, if it were possible for an army of our day, supplied with all the implements with which modern science has provided it, to meet any army of equal numbers equipped as Napoleon's armies were equipped, the difference in power of the modern army would be such that it would almost be able to deal with its enemy as civilized armies provided with fire-arms were at first able to deal with savages possessed only of bows and arrows. The artillery of the days of Napoleon would not be able to act at all, for our modern infantry can fire with effect at a distance greater than could Napoleon's big guns. Our artillery would be able to destroy Napoleon's army before either his artillery or infantry could act against us. Thus an army of 50,000 men of our own time must be reckoned as possessing, at least, the resisting power of 100,000 of the days of Napoleon. It is obvious, therefore, that the relationship between time, distance, and the resisting power of armies has been greatly affected by the change in the character of weapons, and that calculations as to what a superior army can do in a given time to break up the force of an army opposing it, and to be free to deal with another army, are greatly modified. In modern war the effort of the general is directed to maintaining in its full efficiency "the vast and complicated machine" which he handles, and to breaking up and destroying the efficiency of that to which he is op. posed. This is the central fact to be kept in mind. Generals and soldiers, long accustomed to look at war from this point of view, frequently embody their whole conception of strategy in a phrase which to a reader, taking it in its simple form, is apt to seem like a mere truism-that the great principle of strategy is to concentrate the largest possible force at the right moment at the decisive point. So stated, strategy may seem to have nothing exceptional in its nature, and to involve no study of the nature of the great organizations of men with which it is concerned, But, in fact, this study and this knowledge are presupposed by those who thus explain their art. It is because armies are not mere gatherings of armed men, but have a vitality of their own, that some very heavy blows may be struck against them without affecting a vital point, while a more skilfully directed stroke may destroy their whole future power of action. An army then, as it stands in the field, is of this character, that while the fighting force directly opposed to the enemy is an organism which depends for its vitality upon the trained spirit of order, discipline, and enthusiasm or devotion which holds it together, and on the trained capacity for mutual and effective fighting co-operation which makes it act like one man, it has also, reaching far behind it, a long and weak tail, on the safety of which its very existence depends.From War," by Colonel Maurice. TOBACCO FERMENTATION.-A very essential process is brought about by firmly packing ripe tobacco in large quantities. It had been generally supposed that the fermentation is of purely chemical nature, but Herr Suchsland, of the German Botanical Society, finds that a fungus is concerned in it. In all the tobaccos he examined, he found large quantities of fungi, though of only two or three species. Bacteriacea were predominant, but Coccacem also occurred. When they were taken and increased by pure cultivation, and added to other kinds of tobacco, they produced changes of taste and smell which recalled those of their original nutritive base. In cultivation of tobacco in Germany it has been sought to get a good quality, chiefly by ground cultivation, and introduction of the best kinds of tobacco. But it is pointed out that failure of the best success may be due to the fact that the more active fermenting fungi of the original country are not brought with the seeds, and the ferments here cannot give such good results. Experiments made with a view to improvement on the lines suggested have apparently proved successful.—Nature. |