lightful manner for any cool gathering together the links of their plan. And whatever opinion is held of the theories on which they proceed, heartiest praise may be given to what we must hold as the crown of their work, the claim they make for a moral power and spiritual significance in art, and their demand, to this end, from the artist, of dutiful culture of the fine faculties of his soul and the pure feelings of his heart.

There is a book called "Beauties of Ruskin." There might be one as valuable, if not so pleasing, called "Truths of Ruskin." Would not justice to his great theory require that this title precede the other? To both of them this present small volume might contribute in a measure quite disproportioned to its size. We would, however, place its true things before its pleasing,- Vera pro gratis. We might spare the charming description of the part which iron plays in nature, from the clod or stone to the blush on the flower or the cheek; the profuse and splendid grace of the passage which tells to what a school of design Florence invited her artists; the vivid setting forth, to the architect's love and enthusiasm, of the bountiful suggestion which the outward world offers, that he may stand the interpreter of its strength and loveliness; we might spare the noble language, so satisfying for its clearness and vigor, so persuasive in its graceful phrase or majestic flow, into which seem to have passed, as if to reward so true a love and reverence of Nature, her own large exuberance, and ever-changing, yet constant beauty. But we could not spare the truth which lies side by side with, and is more than, the beauty. The spiritual and moral wisdom in these lectures, which is, as remarked before, not for designers, pattern-drawers, and artists only, but for all workers in this working world, is the one eminent thing about them. This the reader will not be likely to let go, though he forget the ample magnificence in the style. That appeal, quoted above, to students of art to choose the right path, may stand as the type of the presentation of just and high views of labor in life, which appears all through the book, in set maxims, but more, by the way and not with intention, in its noble and religious spirit. It is the appearance of this spirit which gives to "The Two Paths" a memorable interest and worth. For it is this which changes work, done by hand, by brain and hand, by heart, brain, and hand together, into service done, like Milton's, "as ever in the great Taskmaster's eye." It is this spirit, so excellently and handsomely set forth in the criticism, counsels, and teaching of this book, which gives a real and beautiful meaning in the lives and works of mechanics and manufacturers, doctors of law and of medicine, artists and decorators, theologians and preachers, to all the estates of the commonwealth of work. For it gives to "work" its dignity, and makes it eternally different from "labor." Labor, indeed, is work without this spirit, and because it wants it, it cannot have the dignity which a canting optimism has sought for it. This spirit will lift "labor"—always wearing and debasing, as the very etymology of the word shows-into "work," such as follows the faithful when he ceases from his labor, even to the throne of God.

VOL. LXVII. - 5TH S. VOL. V. NO. III.

39

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.

BAYARD TAYLOR cannot write a dull book, nor one which is not sure of eager readers by the thousand. Greece and Russia have found in him the same adventurous spirit, cheerful endurance, comprehensive good-sense, and hearty preference of home, as Norway, China, or Egypt.* If there is less that is remarkable in the new volume, if one sometimes wearies in mere narrative of ordinary steamboat experience, it is because the ground is so familiar that even his graphic pen seems to repeat a thrice-told tale. Crete, however, which he thoroughly explored, with no little suffering and exposure, has been less visited, and attracts one not a little in his vivid picture of Turkish improvement. The Modern Greek does not inspire his enthusiasm. The absence of tolerable roads, the proverbial untruthfulness, the conspicuous vanity, frivolity, laziness, and superstition in all parts of Otho's dominions, make him look doubtingly on the future of emancipated Hellas. He thinks that the Greek Church, by its perpetual holidays, its severe fasts, and stupid clergy, is greatly chargeable with the degradation of the people. Not one fifth of the present population, he thinks, can be called Greeks the rest being Slavonians, Albanians, and Turks, with a mixture of Venetians, whom he especially despises. He says that a few deeds of splendid heroism have thrown a deceitful halo over the darker features of the Greek war; that most of those who bend in reverence to the name of Bozzaris do not know that his uncle stole supplies from his own troops to sell to the Turks; that, while Canaris and Miaulis were brave and incorruptible, Colocotroni filled his purse and made cowards of his men, while Karaiskakis was honorable, others broke the most solemn vows of their religion, and murdered the captives they had sworn to spare.

He finds intelligent natives, in public life and positions of influence, justifying the neglect of every rational measure of national development, excusing the waste of finances, the servility to the court, the immensely disproportioned army, and the absurd palace which sunk so much of the revenue wrung from an impoverished people. He laments that, while the real patriots are kept in the shade of neglect, court popinjays are rewarded for fawning with immense salaries and accumulating honors. The king's personal charge for governing only a million of people is one hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars per annum; in the navy there is one officer to every two and a half men; in the army of only nine thousand men, there are seventy generals! Of course, with such a foolish waste of the three millions of revenue, it is in vain to expect even a decent police, far less a proper development of almost unknown

resources.

And yet immense progress has been made in commerce, for which the Greek has a natural aptitude. The blue cross now floats in nearly every European port. Greek commercial houses are respected in America, as well as in England, France, and Austria. But this alone

Travels in Greece and Russia, with an Excursion to Crete. By BAYARD TAYLOR.

does not seem a sufficient pledge that the race will regenerate the Orient. Agriculture is in the rudest possible state. The old Homeric plough merely scratches over the soil. Wood sells at Athens for a cent a pound, while the grand oaks of Doris are rotting idly away. The country is poorer now than under the Turkish sway, and Bavarian stupidity looks down in satisfaction from its marble halls.

WE are glad to welcome an American edition of Miss Crawford's excellent book about Tuscany,* and only have to regret that careless proof-reading has admitted so frequent typographical errors, and that such a tasteless illustration deforms the page at the heading and end of the chapters. A ten months' residence in Tuscany, with ample facilities of intercourse with all classes, high and low, and in various villages and cities, enables Miss Crawford to speak intelligently about the customs, temper, and tastes of the Tuscan people. Her judgment is, in our opinion, just, though it is too moderate to suit those who believe that Italy is fit for a republic, ready for unity, hostile to the Church, and full of intellectual life. She believes that the masses of the people have a sincere faith in the traditions and superstitions of the Roman Church, and a sincere reverence for its services. The experiment of a republican government seems to her to prove that monarchy is the rule under which most contentment, order, and security will be realized by the Tuscans. Recognizing their native courtesy, she is not inclined to consider them a superior race, either by force of talent or of industry. She testifies emphatically to their hatred of the Grand Duke, yet does not seem to think that this is all deserved. And her general views concerning the condition and prospects of that part of Italy seem to us reasonable.

With a little superfluous effort at fine writing, Miss Crawford's descriptions of scenes in Tuscany - at the Baths of Monte Catini, Lucca, and Viareggio, the ordinary death-stillness and the carnival rioting in the streets of Pisa, the outdoor and indoor life of Florence, the habits of the peasantry, the state of the convents, and the fraternity of the Misericordia- are admirably drawn and colored. We are spared all the usual narratives of sight-seers. Not one word is said about the great picture-galleries, very little about churches and palaces, nor are we treated to fragments of history. But a hearty tribute is paid to Galileo, and Michel Angelo is fitly remembered. The spirit of the book is equally free from querulousness and rapture; from glorification over beauties and complaint at discomforts. Yet it is evident that Miss Crawford enjoyed the Tuscan sunsets and abominated the Tuscan cookery as much as her countrymen generally. Without pretension, she tells a good many facts which are new, while she corrects some false impressions. Her observations on the condition of women in Tuscany are well worth reading, and sadly confirm the common notion about their unfortunate moral state. The reasons which Miss Crawford gives for this are worth considering.

*Life in Tuscany. By MABEL SHARMAN CRAWFORD. New York: Sheldon and Blakeman.

”*

during

IF Rogers's Italy could, without treason or irreverence, be called "a rhymed guide-book," certainly Mrs. Sweat's "Highways of Travel "* can, with justice, come into the same category, except that it is not in rhyme, for which let us be duly thankful. Its prose is pure, unmixed, generally excellent, and as Saxon as falls to the lot of mortals in these latter days. There could scarcely be a stronger contrast than that between "Ethel's Love-Life and this new venture of Mrs. Sweat. We do not remember a book of travels which so entirely confines itself to the facts of every-day life as this. Without going into too minute detail, it gives us a clear and distinct impression of all that one would be likely to see in a summer's absence from home, which, to use her own expression, it was incumbent to "do" France, England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Alps, Northern Italy, and the "Exposition Universelle." There are in it no raptures, no overpowering emotions, no rhapsodies, no gushes of feeling. On the contrary, we are frequently reminded that the author is a fellow-mortal by the information that at such or such a place, while wandering through the galleries of the Tuileries, or driving about the picturesque city of Antwerp, at Arnheim, on board the steamer, everywhere, in fact, she was hungry, or dined with zest, or had a nice supper. Indeed, one of the chief pleasures which seems to await us, on these "Highways of Travel," is the constant succession of breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, and generally pretty good ones. It is worth while to travel for the pleasures of foreign cookery, as well as to enjoy the famous sights and stirring associations of the Old World. Yet one finds on almost every page some shrewd observation, or practical suggestion, or genial witticism, which lingers long in the memory, and often compels a second reading.

One is impressed, also, with the quantity of things seen and described by Mrs. Sweat. Nothing seems to have escaped her observant eyes. And, withal, it is a thoroughly good-natured book,- not the amiability of laziness or indifference, but the active cheerfulness of a cultivated and appreciative mind, which takes a sober and serious inside view of things, instead of a merely flippant glance at the exterior. We have not seen a better statement of the feelings caused by Sunday in Paris than she has given, without any cant, pietism, or appeal to false sentiment. The description of the ascent of Mount Rhigi, and of the sunrise from its summit, of Lago Maggiore, of the crossing of the Simplon, - in fact, all the descriptions of scenery,- show a lively appreciation of natural beauty, a quick observation, and excellent taste. Mrs. Sweat has certainly fulfilled the hope which she expresses in the Preface, that her book " may be of some value to those who, having visited the scenes of which it treats, have yet neglected to set down their impressions, and that for those who have not seen them, it may help to make more distinct the mental pictures they possess of foreign countries.”

*Highways of Travel: or, A Summer in Europe. By MARGARET J. M. SWEAT, Author of "Ethel's Love-Life." Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. 1859. pp. 364.

We cannot omit a word of decided praise of the manner in which the publishers have done their part of the work. It is really a treat to turn over the tinted pages, and see the fair and elegant type. The index at the end is a valuable addition, and contributes much to the usefulness of the volume.

THOUGH Mr. Masson has been a frequent contributor to the North British Review and other periodical publications, he is best known on this side of the Atlantic by an elaborate Life of Milton, of which only the first volume has yet been given to the public. He has also published some other works which have had a limited sale in this country, and he may be fairly regarded as one of the more prominent of the rising men of letters in England. Born in Scotland in 1823, he began his literary career at the early age of nineteen, and since that time he has been almost constantly engaged in literary pursuits. The volume now before us is, we believe, the latest production of his pen, and comprises four lectures delivered before the Edinburgh Philosophical Society in the early part of the year 1858, and now printed with large additions. The first lecture is introductory in its character, and is devoted to some general considerations on the relative value of prose and verse as vehicles of expression, and on the nature and history of the novel, with some critical remarks on the Morte d'Arthur, Sidney's Arcadia, and other early works of fiction. From this general view of his subject, Mr. Masson passes, in his second lecture, to an examination of the British Novelists of the eighteenth century, including in his view Swift, De Foe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, and some others. The third lecture offers a very Scotch estimate of Scott and his Influence, in reference to which Mr. Masson in his Preface, with characteristic shrewdness, asks his readers "to remember specially that it was prepared for an Edinburgh audience." The last lecture brings under notice the Novelists since Scott, and discusses the characteristics of Bulwer Lytton, Dickens, Thackeray, Miss Bronté, Kingsley, Thomas Hughes, and others, closing with some general observations suggested by the ground over which he has travelled. It must be conceded that Mr. Masson's rejudgment of the popular favorites offers little that is striking. Still his book is a suggestive contribution to an interesting department of letters, and is not unworthy of his reputation. Doubtless it would have been more elaborate and less rhetorical if it had been originally designed for publication, and not for delivery before a popular audience.

THE fatal influence of monastic life, its depressing effect upon the soul, the wrong which it does at once to the intellect and the heart, have

*British Novelists and their Styles: being a Critical Sketch of the History of British Prose Fiction. By DAVID MASSON, M. A., Professor of English Literature, University College, London, Author of "The Life and Times of John Milton," etc. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 1859. 16mo. pp. 312.