accordingly, and was allowed, as it would seem, any amount of evidence he chose to require to corroborate in his own mind the things disclosed to him. In one instance, the whole corps of the twelve apostles were sent down to confirm to him the truth of what he was writing.

If we are satisfied with his claims as a seer, we must accept his system; but if his credentials for the seership are discarded, his system falls to the ground.

4. It will never have a wide sway. Some will be drawn to it by a respect for the varied learning of its author; some, by sympathy with it in its vigorous assaults upon orthodoxy; and some, by curiosity to be told ever so much about the spiritual world. But these classes, put together, are not likely ever to become a large aggregate. The system does not generate and perpetuate a succession and swarm of seers, like modern spiritism, but centers in the great seer who originated it. Its followers lack the enthusiasm and self-denial necessary for its wide extension. In this respect it is in marked contrast with Methodism, which arose about the same time. The mass of men will prefer the Bible as we have it to Swedenborg's expurgation of it; will pronounce many of his so-called disclosures absurd, and will reject his claims as an authoritative revealer of things in the unseen world.

PHILOSOPHICAL.

PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSICS.*-Dr. Krauth's edition of Bishop Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge comes to hand just as we are going to press, but we cannot forego the pleasure of calling the attention of our readers to this completely illustrated edition of the most important work of the great and good philosopher. It constitutes the first volume of a series, which, if it is continued on the same scale as it begins, will be an honor to the country and a most important stimulus and director to philosophical study. The Prolegomena comprehend one hundred and fifty pages, devoted to Berkeley's life and writings; The Precursors of Berkeley;

*Philosophical Classics. A Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. By GEORGE BERKELEY, D.D., formerly Bishop of Cloyne. With Prolegomena and with Annotations, select, translated and original. By CHARLES P. KRAUTH, D.D., Norton Professor of Systematic Theology and Church Polity in the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia; Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, and Vice-Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874.

Summaries of Berkeley's System; Berkeleyanism, its Friends, Affinities and Influence; Opponents and Objections; Estimates of Berkeley, his Character, Writings and Influence; Idealism Defined; Sceptical Idealism in the Development of Idealism from Berkeley to the present; Hume, Critical Idealism; Kant, Subjective Idealism; Fichte, Objective Idealism; Schelling, Jacobi, Absolute Idealism; Hegel, Theoretical Idealism; Schopenhauer; the Strength and Weakness of Idealism; Characteristics of the present edition, its objects and uses. Then follows Berkeley's Treatise, which is introduced by the Preface of Professor Fraser, the editor of Berkeley's complete works, and Berkeley's own Preface and Introduction. To this are given in the Appendixes Berkeley's rough draft of his Introduction, a Notice of Arthur Collier, and a Vindication of the Theory of Vision. To this is added the valuable critical notes of Prof. F. Ueberweg, comprehending, with additions, some eighty pages. A copious and accurate Index follows. The editor says very justly that he is not aware that there is in our language, nor even in the German, incomparably rich as it is in literature of this class, any body of annotations of the same relative extent as this on a modern philosophical classic." To the learned writer and the liberal publisher the American public and the world of scholars are under special obligations for this valuable and handsome volume.

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BELLES LETTRES.

SONGS OF THE SUN LANDS.*—The surprise and admiration awakened in a large circle of readers, and even more in England than in his own country, by the "Songs of the Sierras," made a second volume from the same new poet somewhat hazardous. The novelty of his themes and the originality of their treatment, his picturesque and sensuous descriptions, and the freedom and melody of his verse, had given a new sensation among surfeited readers, and suggested a new school of poetry from an unexpected quarter. It was feared by some of his eulogists that in "toning down" his exuberance under more critical influences he might sacrifice too much of his peculiar effectiveness. In the present work, however, the negligences and redundances that were pardoned in the other, if moderated, have not so far disappeared as to impair the author's

* Songs of the Sun Lands. By JOAQUIN MILLER. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1873. 16mo, pp. 212.

personality. He invests other themes with the same undeniable attractions. The principal poem, the "Isles of the Amazon," we suppose may fairly represent his merits and blemishes. The group of smaller pieces, entitled "Olive Leaves," on incidents of Scripture, adds pleasing tokens of the reverence of the poet if not of the piety of the man. We have not the assurance expressed by some foreign critics of his permanent popularity. And the worst to be feared from the impression already made by his unquestionable genius is the inevitable brood of imitators.

CROOKED PLACES.*-All who have read "Occupations of a Retired Life," from the same authoress-for Mrs. Mayo is no longer concealed under the assumed name-will need no other inducement to take up this work, which is marked by the same simplicity of style, fidelity to nature, sympathy with humanity in all conditions, felicity of delineation, and profound yet not obtrusive sense of spiritual truth. The charm of her descriptions is the more wonderful if it is true, as we have heard, that she is yet young, and her life has been confined to the city,-another instance of the truth of Sir Walter Scott's saying, in effect, that the knowledge of human nature is instinctive or intuitional, though the knowledge of manners may depend on intercourse with the world. The matter of the book answers to the title, portraying "struggles and hopes" in the hard lots or "crooked places" of common life, with discriminating recognitions of a divine Providence and of Christian truth. The lessons are not only moral but evangelical, yet in no wise forced or conventional. We cordially recommend the work both for interest and profit. It is fitly dedicated "to the memory of Thomas Guthrie, D.D., whose friendship was a treasure on earth, and is now laid up a treasure in heaven."

PICTURESQUE NORMANDY.t-This dainty little volume-which may be slipped with ease into one's coat-pocket-bears about the same relation to Mr. Freeman's elaborate description of Normandy in his History of the Norman Conquest, that an artist's sketchbook does to a gallery of paintings. But it will not be at all the

* Crooked Places, a Story of Struggles and Hopes. By EDWARD GARRETT. New York: Dodd & Mead, Publishers, 1873. 12mo, pp. 469.

Normandy Picturesque. BY HENRY BLACKBURN. First American, from second London edition. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1873. 16mo, pp. 291.

less interesting for this in the eyes of anyone who knows what a charm there is in turning over the full portfolio of an artist who is fresh from his summer work. But there is an additional charm about "Picturesque Normandy." It is not only the sketch-book of an artist, but of one who is as ready with his pen as with his pencil. Besides little "bits" from the exterior carvings of quaint old thirteenth century houses, and "studies" of Norman costumes, and more elaborate pictures of such churches as the cathedral at Bayeux, and of such places of historic interest as La Rue de la Grosse Horloge in Rouen, the volume contains sprightly descriptions of some of the most noted of the Norman towns and villages, and is full of suggestions respecting Art, and its relations to all that makes up our modern life, which are well deserving of a thoughtful reading.

ARTISTS AND ARABS.*-This is a second book by the author of "Picturesque Normandy," and is of somewhat the same character. It gives the results of a winter's sketching in Algiers, in the form of pictures of Mohammedan mosques, of Moorish houses, and of the rich semi-tropical vegetation of Northern Africa. The book is intended more particularly for the benefit of the author's professional brethren, whom he seeks to entice to spend the winter months in Algiers, sketching there under the bright sun in the open air; but the non-professional reader will be as likely to be carried away by the author's enthusiasm, and to long for the experience of a winter's life in the climate whose praises he sings.

MISCELLANEOUS.

HARVEY'S "CHRISTIAN RHETORIC."-This work is claimed in the brief preface to be "a system" and "composed according to a new method and on a new basis," correcting "some errors that have been misleading authors and readers ever since the days of Cicero." The Introduction, in twenty-eight pages, is principally occupied with maintaining, as against several objections, that the true models of the Christian preacher are, not the classic or secular orators, but the Hebrew prophets, our Lord in his discourses,

*Artists and Arabs; or Sketching in Sunshine. BY HENRY BLACKBURN. With numerous illustrations. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1873. 16mo, pp. 291.

A System of Christian Rhetoric, for the use of Preachers and other speakers. By GEORGE WINFRED HARVEY, M.A., author of "Rhetoric of Conversation," &c. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1873. 8vo, pp. 632.

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and the apostles in their spoken addresses as far as reported to us, in distinction from their epistolary compositions. The matter is distributed in four Books: I. Inspiration in preaching. II. Of Invention, including "the matter of sermons as determined by their objects," and their "Forms as determined by method." III. "Style;" and IV. Elocution; followed by an Index of Figures, with definitions and examples," comprising fifty-two pages, which is really remarkable, and in its way interesting, if not obviously as useful, in attempting to name and define all known rhetorical figures." This index, and indeed the book in general, shows a wide range of reading, and the many excellent citations from ancient and modern authors, on most of the particular topics, will repay the student's attention. The chief distinction of the treatise lies not so much in the prominence given to the rhetorical examples found in the Bible (as might be expected from the Introduction), as in the large place assigned to the topic of the first book (a hundred pages), the divine inspiration necessary and available for the preacher, of which it treats fully and emphatically, as to its effects on the will and on the intellect, and as affecting invention, style, and delivery, with its appropriate means and conditions, while taking pains to distinguish it from the "plenary" inspiration of the prophets and apostles. As a whole, the work cannot be expected to displace others already well known, nor radically to advance the science of sacred rhetoric as far as the author seems to imagine, and yet it deserves to be read by theological students, and ministers already at their work, particularly for the stress laid on divine help. The discussion of this and other topics is too discursive and diffuse, and the style, while generally clear and animated, might be improved in moderation and dignity. We take exception to some of his words, especially in a treatise on rhetoric, as either unauthorized, or now obsolete, and needless; such as "foundational" (why not fundamental?), and "condensated" (why not condensed?), and "pilgrimize," which is not warranted by Ben Johnson's phrase, "pilgrimize it," as given in Worcester, these all occurring in the short preface. Then afterward we note "well-willed," "legitimably," "exertional," and "prophetry." To say of an objection that "if allowed to prevail it will advance to fight up against," etc., is at least uncouth or whimsical (p. 27). In several places we observe the Scotch rather than the English use of "will" and "would" for "shall "should." He speaks of "harmony" as well as "melody" in "the early music of the Hebrews and the Greeks" (p. 123), when

and