A NOVEL WITH A TAG TO IT.

AN UTTER FAILURE. A Novel. By Miriam Coles Harris, Author of "Rutledge," etc. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The author of "Rutledge" has not been as prolific in literary production as one might wish, but her last book, now before us, proves that her pen has not lost its cunning. The story is a pathetic one, and its melancholy is but slightly relieved by any sunshiny pictures of life. We do not quite see any sufficient motive for Rachel's marriage to Count Paolo Buonamici on her Italian visit, except that the American girl was blinded and dazzled by the general fascination of Italy, for she does not love the man-an empty-headed, cold hearted, sterile-natured man, who conquers her by the brief passion of temperament and a certain clinging persistence like that of the jelly-fish. The Italian count wins the girl and her fortune, and finally comes to America to enter the banking business, fully developed in the most mean and despicable of all passions avarice. The upshot is that he makes his wife exquisitely miserable, alienates her two children, and when the separation finally occurs, takes them away from her forever, and she dies of a broken heart. Whether or not the author intends to emphasize in this vividly sad picture of a ruined life the great danger the American girl runs in marrying a foreigner, specially if in so doing she puts all her property in his hands, we do not know. Certainly this thought is powerfully impressed

on the mind, and it seems to stand ont in letters of fire between the lines. An added element of tragedy gives its touch of interest in the discovery, too late, by Rachel that she has a heart, and that it beats for a man whom she might have married but for one of those trivial accidents which seem nothing at the time, but which are weapons more effective in the hands of that stern and veiled Anangke, who was fabled to stand behind the thrones of even the gods, than the thunderbolts of Jove himself. The true-hearted man and the no less true hearted woman go apart from each other to lives of accumulated misery that not even the shadow of shame may come to them.

Mrs. Harris has given the public a touching and significant book, worked out with a nice sense of spiritual portraiture, and made artistically effective by an incisive and agreeable style.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

MM. A. CARRIÈRE and S. Berger have reprinted, from the Revue de Theologie et de Philosophie, an article upon the third or apocryphal Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (Paris: Fischbacher). This epistle, together with the letter from the Corinthians to St. Paul to which it is an answer, has hitherto been known only in an Armenian version, which has recently been discussed by Prof. Vetter of Tübingen, and Prof. Zahn of Leipzig. The general opinion has been that it comes from a Syriac original. But M. Berger was fortunate enough to discover last October, while studying in the Ambrosian library at Milan, a Latin version of both letters, in a Latin Bible of the tenth century. This Latin version is here printed, based upon a careful collation of the MS., which is not very legible, and also somewhat mutilated. The importance of the discovery arises from the fact that this Latin version is evidently derived from a Greek original, which profoundly alters the conditions of the problem.

THE death of Dr. F. H. A. Scrivener in his world. His fame as a biblical critic was acseventy-ninth year is a loss to the scholastic quired in early years, during which he was successively an assistant master at Sherborne, curate of Sandford Orcas, Somersetshire, headmaster of Falmouth School, and incumbent of Penwerris. He was then Rector of Gerrans for fourteen years, when he became Prebendary of Exeter and Vicar of Hendon. Notwithstanding a paralytic attack in 1884, he continued to the last to labor in the promotion of New Testament learning. His "Notes on the Authorized Version of the New Testament," and the collation by him of twenty MSS. of the Gospels, first brought him into notice; and his "Introduction to New Testament Criticism' and his "Greek Testament" are standard works. He was a leading member of the New Testament Company of Revisers.

THREE caravels are being constructed, it is said—one at the expense of the Spanish Government, two at that of the United Stateswhich are to be, as far as possible, exact reproductions of those which sailed under Co

lumbus on his memorable voyage. They are to be manned by Spanish sailors and commanded by Spanish officers, and starting from Sandy Hook are to proceed up the Hudson and by the Lakes to Chicago, where they will form one of the attractions of the exhibition.

MESSRS. PERCIVAL, of London, have in preparation a series of " Periods of European History," which will be under the general editorship of Mr. Arthur Hassall. The object of the publication is to present in separate volumes an account of the general development of European history. Messrs. Oman, Tout, Lodge, Armstrong, Wakeman, Morse Stephens, and the editor will be responsible for the several volumes. "Summer Rambles round Rugby," by Mr. Alfred Rimmer, to be issued in December by the same firm, will be interest ing to old members of the Midland school.

ONE of the most distinguished Germanists of our time has just passed away in the person of Prof. Zarncke, of Leipzig. Born in 1825 in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he graduated in 1847 at Rostock. In 1850 he founded at Leipzig one of the best-edited critical organs in Germany, the Litterarisches Centralblatt für Deutschland. Eight years later he was appointed Professor of the German Language and Literature at the University of Leipzig, where his lectures were very well attended. Zarncke's literary activity was many sided, but he will, perhaps, be best remembered by his contributions to a critical study of the "Nibelungenlied" and by his edition of Seb. Brant's" Narrenschiff."

THE new Russian regulations restricting the rights of the Finnish press have already made themselves felt. Two of the principal papers in Finland have received warnings for having dared to discuss the state of the country. On the other hand, we learn that the Polish press is extending in Prussia, three new Polish papers having made their appearance there since the beginning of this month.

THE printers of Vienna, long renowned for excellence in their craft, have resolved to form an exhibition there next summer to illustrate the origin, development, and characteristics of typography, from the date of its discovery to the present time.

A TRANSLATION, by Mr. George Saintsbury, of Edmond Scherer's "Essays on English Literature," will be soon published by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. The essays range in point of time between the years 1861 and

1885, and they deal with the literary claims and characteristics of Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Laurence Sterne, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle, George Eliot, and Lord Beaconsfield as represented by Endymion." Mr. Saintsbury has written a critical introduc tion and added a few notes. The book will contain a photogravure portrait, and a facsimile of M. Scherer's signature.

WE understand that the Rev. George McArthur, M.A.-who was engaged for seventeen years on the "Encyclopædia Britannica," principally in the work of revision, and who during the last two years has had charge of the final revision of the " Century Dictionary," now completed - is to enter on similar employment with the firm of Daniel Appleton & Co., New York.

MR. C. A. WARD's book, entitled "The Oracles of Nostradamus,' the result of about eight years' study, is on the point of appearing. It purports to exhibit a long series of presages that have received startling verification in European history, and closes with a distinct forecast of the surrender at Sedan.

This event is here for the first time clearly identified as having been foreseen and recorded by Nostradamus, even to the very spot, Le Torcy, given by him in anagram. No English work has been devoted to the great French seer since 1672, when Garencières, of our College of Physicians, published his annotated translation, a book now extremely rare.

DURING the present month the first complete Italian translation of Edgar Poe's poems will be published in Rome. The work will be accompanied by a critical biographical essay and a general bibliography. It will be dedicated by the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele to Mr. John H. Ingram, in recognition of his efforts to extend and clear Poe's fame.

THE first number of a new sixpenny monthly, to be called The Victorian Magazine, has just been issued. The magazine will be illustrated, but its special purpose will be to supply high-class literature. The first number will include the opening chapters of new serial stories by Mrs. Oliphant and Sarah Doudney ; contributions by Prof. Church, Sir Noel Paton, Ernst Pauer, Charles G. Leland, H. A. Page, Isabella Fyvie Mayo, C. F. Gordon Cumming, Mary Brotherton, and others; and an essay (now first published) on the French Revolution, by Thomas De Quincey. An engraving

of an early portrait of the Queen will be presented with the first number,

AT Westminster Abbey on Saturday last a memorial bust of Matthew Arnold, executed by Mr. Bruce Joy, was unveiled in the presence of a great gathering of distinguished people. Lord Coleridge, who performed the ceremony, eloquently eulogized the deceased author, referring to his qualifications as a philosopher, critic, and poet.

THE death of Prince Louis Lucien Bona. parte, which occurred recently at Fano, on the Adriatic coast, in the house of his niece, the Countess Bracci, will cause regret to all those who knew him. Though for a time after the Revolution of 1848 he took part in political life, and became a Senator of France under the Empire, the son of Lucien Bonaparte and nephew of Napoleon I. preferred literature, philology, and chemistry to politics, and enjoyed a Civil List pension from the English Government for his linguistic researches. A Basque grammar and a polyglot version of the parable of the sower in seventy-two languages and dialects are among his achievements. He was a keen student of English provincial tongues. Born in England in 1813, he was in his seventy-ninth year.

PROF. PELHAM has been elected a vice-president, and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice and the Hon. G. C. Brodrick, Warden of Merton, have been elected members of the council, of the Royal Historical Society.

Ir appears that Mr. Hall Caine's story, "The Prophet," will not be published next year. Commenced before "The Scapegoat," it was laid on one side, partly in consequence of ill health, but more because of Mr. Caine's determination-formed many months ago, before

he received Dr. Adler's invitation to visit Russia in the interests of the story, which deals with the Russian Jewish question. Meanwhile Mr. Caine is completing a story entitled "St. Bridget's Eve" for Messrs. Tillotson & Son, of Bolton, and it is arranged to appear serially in January next. Prophet" will be published by the same firm in 1893.

"The

PROF. ISOLA, of Genoa, has just brought out the third part, fasc. 1, of his "Storia delle Lingue e Letterature Romanze," the first two parts of which are included in the third volume of the "Storie Narbonesi," published in the "Collezione d'Opere Inedite e Rare" of Signor Romagnoli at Bologna,

THE most practical result of the recent "Körner-feier in Germany is the publication of a complete Körner bibliography, compiled by Dr. Emil Peschel, the zealous admirer of the hero-poet.

ACCORDING to the Tägliche Rundschau of Berlin, "Lorle," the charming heroine of Auerbach's once highly popular novel Die Frau Professorin," had a prototype in real life. She was a beautiful young nurse named Elise Egloff, whose acquaintance the distinguished anatomist Prof. Friedr. Henle, who died some six years ago, had made at Zurich in the house of a friend, and whom he subsequently married.

M. CLARETIE is writing on a little known battle, that commonly known as of "Versailles" or "6 Roquencourt"-the battle near Paris at the close of the Hundred Days, after Waterloo, which honorably ended the campaign.

M. PAUL FAVRE has found at Poppi, in the upper valley of the Arno, a MS. of the chronicler Ricobaldo of Ferrara, containing in compendium a history of the world from the beginning down to A.D. 1318.

MISCELLANY.

LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL ON THE DESCENT OF WOMAN." Whatever may be the origin of man," wrote Lord Randolph Churchill in his article on the diamond industry, woman is descended from an ape." This statement, which appeared in the Daily Graphic, is criticised by the Spectator as follows:

"Like Childe Harold before the ruins of the

Colosseum, Lord Randolph stood before the desolation of a diamond-mine and deeply considered. What are diamonds, he argued, but the glittering rubbish with which a woman adorns herself. What are the women who thus adorn themselves at the cost of man's life and labor? Are they not often neither young, nor beautiful, nor virtuous? That also is true. Therefore women are descended from monkeys. What a conclusion to have come to so coldly! A lesser mind might have been baulked of it by the consideration that monkeys, although very often neither young, nor beautiful, nor virtuous, do not, as a rule, wear diamonds; but the keen eye of the philosopher, in its unerring pursuit of truth, was not to be blinded by such trivial and fallacious reasoning. Nothing that we have yet read in our Pilgrim's Progress has filled us with so much pleasure

and wonder as this, his latest discovery. The departure from England, the passage across the Bay of Biscay, the exploration of the un. known city of Lisbon, and the adventurous lunch that he ate there, even the hardships of ship life and the terrible tale of the privations that have to be endured therein, left us comparatively unmoved and unadmiring. Nor did the pictures with which the Daily Graphic adorned its correspondent's story stir us to any like enthusiasm; not even when we were shown a picture of the ship, with Lord Randolph himself on the quarter-deck; a picture of the coast of Africa, with Lord Randolph in the foreground; a mountain, with Lord Randolph on the top of it; a mine, with Lord Randolph at the bottom of it; or a railwayengine, with the same gentleman on the cow catcher and a constituent from Paddington in the background. Admirable and astonishing as these productions were, they pale into utter insignificance before this last picture that he himself presents before our mental vision the descent of woman, with Lord Randolph Churchill as its discoverer.

Diamonds, according to Mr. Grant Allen, exercise a most demoralizing effect upon democracy; but it would appear that upon an aristocrat, even when that aristocrat is possessed of democratic tendencies, they exert a quickening influence. Surely some of his Lordship's brilliance upon this occasion must have been borrowed from the stones upon which he moralized. It was a happy accident that caused him to meet with one of his Paddington constituents upon a cow-catcher in South Africa--a sign of the far-reaching influence that is attached to his personality even in the uttermost parts of the world--but do not let him accept it as an omen that sum. mons him back to political life in England. Let him rather think that this discovery of his in the diamond-fields, a discovery more precious than any of the precious stones by which he was surrounded, is likely to be but one of many, but the threshold to a glorious career of scientific inquiry. As a statesman we have done very well without him, and shall probably continue to do very well-absence has not made our hearts any fonder of him in that capacity. As a man of the world, he does not seem to have succeeded in endearing himself to his fellow-travellers-popularity is but a fickle chase, and unworthy of his seeking. As a writer of letters, he leaves much to be desired, and we cannot heartily congratulate the Daily Graphic upon its last special correspond

ent. But as a man of science and a philosopher he seems to us to be beyond all praise. Above all others is the life of contemplation held in honor; let him lead it. Nothing is required for it but seclusion and silence and his fellow-countrymen, who have so readily forgiven him his silence, will gladly give him also all the seclusion that he needs."

MANX HUMOR.-In the Isle of Man, as in Scotland, much of the humor depends upon odd turns of expression. "If aver I get to Heaven, pass'n (parson)," said an old parish clerk, "it'll be under your patronage." The notion here is funny enough, giving a vivid glimpse of the future state as depicted by a man who had seldom been outside his own parish. Or, the humor may consist merely in the unexpected use of some particular word. A queer old character who had been given a new muffler and kept it carefully wrapt up in paper instead of using it, replied to all remonstrances, "I'm not goin' fur to make a hack of it at all." Upon another occasion he remarked to a visitor who had been much benefited in health by residence in the Island, "You iss a much batter gentleman now till you wass when you came;" with which may be compared the courtly minister's ' who putteth her Ladyship's trust in Thee." To those who took his words literally, another expression of his would sound amusing. Describing a former mistress, he said, "We wass fallin' out reg'lar the first two years, but after that I could manage her." Yet all he meant by the last phrase was that matters had run more smoothly.

64

Even narrow-mindedness has its humorous side. 'He's nice enough," said an old farmer, a stanch churchman, speaking of an acquaintance, "but he's a Methodist. Not that he's on the plan' at all, but he's next door to it." The degrees of comparison sug. gested here are delicious. The old fellow had no intention of being amusing, yet was not by any means destitute of humor, as the following advice, full of worldly wisdom, which he gave to a peddlar and local preacher will testify. "I wass tellin' him," said he, with a twinkle in his gray eyes," people would be thinkin' far more of him and his things if he joined the Church, and maybe the bishop himself would buy somethin'." His sectarianism was apt to show itself in a very pronounced form; but, nevertheless, he was almost a freethinker compared with a neighbor who had been in the habit of reading Spur.

geon's sermons, and who gave it up because he was told that Spurgeon was suffering from the gout, an ailment which he had heard was caused by drinking port. Few Manxmen would go to this extreme.

Some funny stories are told about the marriage service. One of them relates how an old man brought rather unwillingly to the altar could not be induced to repeat the responses. "My good man," at length exclaimed the clergyman, "I really cannot marry you unless you do as you are told." But the man still remained silent. At this unexpected hitch the bride lost all patience with her future spouse, and burst out with, "Go on, you old toot! Say it after him just the same as if you wass mockin' him." The same difficulty occurred in another case. The clergyman, after explaining what was necessary and going over the responses several times without the smallest effect, stopped in dismay, whereupon the bridegroom encour. aged him with, "Go ahead, pass'n, go ahead! thou'rt doin' bravely." Upon another occasion it was, strangely enough, the woman who could not be prevailed upon to speak. When the clergyman remonstrated with her, she indignantly replied, "Your father married me twice befoor, and he wasn't axin' me any of them imperent questions at all."

But

Sometimes, as here, this unconscious humor is apt to be a little disquieting to the person to whom it is addressed. A certain author, having explained the nature of his occupation to an old Manx woman, was hardly prepared for the comment, Well, well, what does it matter so long as a body makes his livin' honestly" the words being evidently meant to put him on better terms with himself. worse still fared an English clergyman, for some time vicar of a Manx parish, and, from ignorance of the people and their ways, not a very popular one. Having received preferment elsewhere, he started on a round of farewell visits, but without hearing a single regret that he was going. At last one old woman told him she was "mortal sorry." In his delight the vicar let curiosity outrun discretion, and he asked for her reason. Well," said she with touching candor, "we've had a lot o' pass'ns over here from England, and each one has been worse than the last, and after you're gone I'm afeard they'll be sen'in' us the Devil himself." The vicar left hurriedly.

Still, he may not have been quite as black

as he was painted-at least, if any weight be attached to the opinion of an old Manxman who stoutly maintained there was some good in everybody. A clergyman, taking, in fun, the opposite view, asked," Then what do you say to Satan?" Quick as lightning, the old fellow tapped him on the shoulder, and replied, "Hush, hush, pass'n, it isn't for you to speak agen him at all. Doesn't he give you the very coat on your back?' Equally smart was the retort of a Mr. Teare to Bishop Hill, who had told him there were no tears in Heaven. The Plains of Heaven I know, my Lord," said he, alluding to Martin's famous picture so called, and painted from Manx scenery, "but I have never heard of a hill there." This readiness of tongue is found at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected places. A local preacher, who was dividing his sermon into an interminable number of heads, was interrupted by a shout from one of the congregation, impatient for the more solid matter of the sermon itself: "Mate (meat), man; give us mate! It's mate we've come here to get." Without a moment's hesitation the preacher replied, "Then houl' on till I've done carvin'." Then who would look for humor in an advertisement? Yet, take the following announcement from the proprietor of a certain new road who had reason to feel hurt because a lawsuit about a right of way had gone against him: 'In order to prevent, if possible, the said road from being hereafter stolen by the public, I also give notice to Jurymen, Setting Quests, and others whom it may concern, there was no footpath where the said road now runs up which a man, drunk or sober, could have driven a cart and pair of horses; and no old woman has been known to ride, or has been heard to boast that she has ridden, on a cow, horse, pig, donkey, or other animal, or on a broomstick, over the said road." Many other instances could be quoted; but enough surely have been given to show that, in spite of Board schools, Manx humor still exists with a rich full-bodied flavor of its own.-Saturday Review.

RAILWAYS, LABOR, AND MACHINERY.-Without expressing any opinion on the evidence that has been given before the Parliamentary in. quiry into the hours of labor on railways, there are some obvious conclusions to be drawn from some of the statements that are admitted. There are instances of what may be called ex