Warkworth Castle and the other a view of Westminster Abbey. Miss Charlotte Porter, who is now the sole editor, furnishes notes, an excellent introduction, a glossary, lists of variorum readings and bits of selected criticism. All the editorial work is painstakingly done, and in typography and all mechanical details the volumes leave nothing to be desired. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.

Certainly an enticing anthology is "The Book of Love," edited with an introduction by Madison Cawein, and presenting twelve groups of selections in prose and verse, expressing all phases and aspects of the great passion,-its tenderness, its unreason, its caprices, its tragedies. Writers ancient and modern, from Theocritus and Sophocles to Tennyson and Swinburne are drawn upon and there is almost as wide a range in sentiment as in source. There are several illustrations from drawings by W. T. Benda, and in form the book is a dainty companion to Mabie's Book of Christmas and Lucas's The Gentlest Art. The Macmillan Co.

"The Sovereign Power," by Mark Lee Luther, is almost as up-to-date as a daily paper, and rather more exciting. A young and charming American girl, travelling abroad with her aunt and uncle, becomes interested suddenly and simultaneously in aeroplanes, a Servian prince and a penniless American inventor whom she has met and liked before. The story is a rather simple tale of her struggles to keep her love-affairs straight and at the same time to help the Servian prince outwit his diabolically clever diplomatic enemies. The book is entertaining and the superficial characterization telling, particularly in the case of the heroine's shrewd American uncle. The Macmillan Company.

A pleasant style, a discriminating selection of facts, and an impartial historical spirit are combined in Dr. William Elliot Griffis' latest book, "China's Story." The rise of the Tartars, the slow evolution of a national spirit, the feudal system, and the great Mongol invasions of China and Europe are vividly described The chapter on Chinese socialism is full of curious interest for the student of modern economics. The more recent developments, the influence of missions and the problems of the future are effectively treated. Numerous illustrations and an excellent outline of chronology add to the value of this compact and interesting volume. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Etta Anthony Baker, already pleasantly known as a writer of books for girls, opens a series for boys with a book called "The Captain of the S. I. G.'s" These mystic initials stand for a boys' club, the Staten Island Giants, formed chiefly for base ball but having other uses besides. The captain of the club differs from most boyheroes in being quite human and endowed with some faults. He and his most intimate friend, Sidney Armstrong, have various exciting experiences not only at base ball, but in racing, swimming, and off shore in a tug; and an element of older interest is supplied in the vicissitudes of young Armstrong's parents. The story is brightly told and well illustrated. Little Brown & Co.

In "The Case of Paul Breen" by Anthony Tudor, are involved a forsaken woman, a deceived husband, a child bearing a name not rightly his, a runaway girl whose corpse is found after a railway accident in a trunk in a burning freight-car, a brother suspected of having shipped it in a trunk to conceal murder, an aberration of memory,

following injuries received in a laboratory, a villainous rival, an unjust verdict, a blind court-crier with an infallible instinct for truth in the voice, an ambitious politician, a jealous wife, two beautiful girls, a young professor of chemistry, a return of memory with a repetition of the original experiment, and an explosion which kills the villain at the same time that it clears the hero and ends the book. L. C. Page & Co.

A volume of so great and obvious value that it is amazing that it has not been presented before is "The Holy Gospel," edited by Frank J. Firth, and published by the Fleming H. Revell Company. In this volume the editor has placed side by side in four parallel columns the King James version of the four Gospels, the English Revised version, the American Revised version, and the Roman Catholic or Douay version.

This arrangement makes it possible to compare at a glance, verse by verse, the different versions. A brief history of the several versions and a subject-index add to the value of the volume. Attractively printed and bound in an octavo volume of nearly 500 pages, the book,-in furtherance of the editor's purpose to promote a more careful study of the gospels-is sold at the low price of one dollar.

The "Miss Billy" of Eleanor H. Porter's readable novel, is a bright, generous-hearted girl of eighteen, orphaned, though not penniless, and quite alone in the world. The natural misunderstanding which leads her father's old college chum-a widower of many years, living with his two bachelor brothers, their butler and their Chinese cook-to welcome her to the old Beacon Street house which

they have named the "Strata" on account of the different fads represented on its different floors, the confusion which follows the appearance of an attractive girl instead of the expected boy, the hasty introduction of a chaperone, and the prompt transformation of the household routine make a lively opening for a plot which gradually develops a love interest involving all three brothers and keeping the reader in agreeable uncertainty to the last chapter. Amateur gardening and philanthropy diversify a story of a light, wholesome type not too common nowadays. L. C. Page & Co.

In describing his studies and observations as "A Philadelphia Lawyer in the London Courts" Mr. Thomas Leaming has produced a noteworthy and illuminating record of English legal procedure which American readers, whether lawyers or laymen, will find extremely interesting. It pictures accurately the London courts, and the habits and activities of those who practise in them. It throws light upon the different functions of barristers and solicitors, a matter which will be new to many Americans, even those of the legal fraternity. It describes in detail the traditions, processes and involved etiquette of the English courts and outlines the methods which make possible a speedy settlement of all sorts of cases. Constantly the English and American courts are compared,-fairly but with no disparagement of American methods; and both civil and criminal proceedings are carefully analyzed. A scintillating humor and bits of piquant description make the book the easiest reading even for a layman. There are a half dozen photographic illustrations reproducing oil sketches by the author. Henry Holt & Co.

The place which the family occupies as a social unit has, in the last fifty years, distinctly narrowed. The lessened worth of the family, as a social unit, may be interpreted by reference to the current doubt regarding the happiness which the family creates and conserves. For much doubt is expressed regarding the happiness of the American home. Ask, even at a wedding, the ordinary guest whether there are more happy than unhappy marriages, and the answer will likely be that the unhappy marriages exceed the happy ones. Whatever might prove to be the truth,-if the truth it were possible to learn, the simple fact that the belief is as it is, is significant. The belief or doubt of one individual regarding the happiness or unhappiness of the American home may be only a reflection of the personal conjugal condition of the one speaking. An answer, too, that might be based more upon observation than upon experience. But I believe that the supposition is quite rife that the marriage which is distinctly happy is exceptional. I, for one, do not believe that the distinctly happy marriage is exceptional, but the supposition is so common as to awaken serious foreboding. It is commonly thought that the number of marriages which are disappointing in that they give more misery than was anticipated is greater than the number of those which give more blessedness.

The interpreter of social and domestic phenomena may justly comment upon this condition by saying that such a conclusion belongs to the progress of all affairs human. Such a conclusion marks the movement from youth to age, from a noble and hopeful promise to imperfect fulfilment. The condition is not unique. What merchant gets the wealth he anticipated? What law

yer secures the practice which he be lieved was assured? What doctor is as useful to the community as he thought he would be? What minister serves the people as nobly as he anticipated? The promise of the dawn of life and of career is not usually made good in the afternoon. The condition, therefore, of marital unhappiness should not be charged up as a debt against the family, but rather should be interpreted as a condition of human character and service.

The moralist may also be permitted to say that happiness is no more the supreme purpose of the family than it is the supreme purpose of the individual. Epicureanism, however highly refined or broadly conceived, does not represent the final cause of the building of domestic altars. The enlargement and enrichment of personality, the proper training of children, the performance of the duty owed to general society in making contributions for its betterment, represent the causes of the foundation and of the continuance of the family far more important than is the happiness of the family. Therefore, even if the family has failed to secure happiness, it has not necessarily failed to secure advantages of far greater worth.

But the philosopher might be allowed to say that the home which is not happy is seldom able to make any worthy contribution to the social wealth of the community. It is not able, usually, to give a proper training to children. It also commonly serves to narrow and to deplete, to render acrid or bitter the personality of its older members. Happiness may be an unworthy purpose for the foundation and continuance of the home, but happiness seems to be a necessary condition for the home to secure results which are