Clara Morris, who has but recently made her debut in literature after for so many years occupying an exalted position on the American stage, has taken a place among the foremost of our realistic story-tellers. Only one of her sketches has as yet been published, but a second, The Gentleman Who Was Going to Die, will be printed in the August Ladies' Home Journal. It is said to be a

veritable triumph of realism, being a page from the actress' own experiences, and in many ways a remarkable story.

It is reported that John Morley is to be Gladstone's literary executor, and in connection therewith will write an exhaustive biography of the "grand old man." Among other prominent writers also reported to be preparing an authentic Life of Gladstone is Mrs. Craigie, who was a personal friend and protégé of Gladstone.

A new enlarged edition of Justin H. McCarthy's excellent Life of Gladstone,(*) completing it up to the day of his death and containing an account of his funeral in Westmin

best known as the author of those charming poems entitled Love Letters of a Violinist;(*) but had written a number of books besides, mostly filled with lyrical and love poems. He was the son of Charles Mackay, also a poet, and Marie Corelli was his adopted sister.

Laurence Hutton has retired from the editorial staff of Harper's Magazine, and John Kendrick Bangs has taken his place in the Literary News department.

F. Juven, of Paris, has published a series of chatty monographs of celebrities of our times, which, written by able writers in a clever, entertaining style, based on authentic facts and very fully illustrated, are attracting much attention. The volumes so far published, are, Guillaume II. Intime par Maurice Leudet, which on account of its cover design, representing the German emperor crucified upon a sword, has been

Henry George, the son of the great political economist, is at present in San Francisco collecting material for a biography of his father.

Eric Mackay, the poet, died in London on the first of June. He was

(*) Life of Gladstone. By Justin McCarthy. Svo. cloth. Illustrated. Price $4.50. By mail $4.75.

The latter volume, of special actuality and interest at the present moment, contains in the concluding chapter a résume of the latest political events by Count Casa Miranda, deputy of the Cortes and last confident of Canovas.

We learn that the volume on "Bismarck' will shortly be brought out in

(*) Love Letters of a Violinist. By Erie Mackay. 8vo. cloth. Illustrated. Price $1.75. By mail $2.00.

an authorized English translation by R. F. Fenno & Co., of New York, with all the original illustrations, including many interesting photographs of Bismarck and his surroundings which are not to be found elsewhere. The illustrative part forms quite a particular attraction for this volume; also the text, although written from a French standpoint yet admirably just and in an exceedingly entertaining style, will prove of great interest to American readers as it contains much new personal and anecdotical matter which shows this

great man en famille or we might say en déshabille. The volume forms an interesting and characteristic personal memoir and a supplement to the many works on Bismarck which treat of him more as a statesman. As it has attracted a great deal of attention in France and Germany, so it will, in the English translation, surely be appreciated and widely read by friend and foe also in this country, where Bismarck has, even by those who diverge from him in their political views, been admired for his undoubtedly great qualities as a statesman, which place him foremost in the history of our times.

Westens and Mr. Schurz is the president of the new company. Mr. Schurz, by the way, is also reported to be engaged in writing his memoirs, which bid fair to be a valuable and interesting contribution to contemporary historical literature and political life in the United States during the last 40 years.

A paragraph or two with special meaning for Americans at this time. occurs in Conan Doyle's last book, A Desert Drama.(*) Apropos of England's occupation of Egypt, says Colonel Cochrane, a character who apparently represents the author's own sentiments: "I think that behind national interests and diplomacy and all that, there lies a great guiding force, a Providence, in fact, which is forever getting the best out of each nation and using it for the good of the whole. nation ceases to respond, it is time. that she went into hospital for a few centuries, like Spain or Greece -the virtue has gone out of her."

When a

The Musical Courier makes the

following strong but not unfounded promulgation in a recent number:

66 Matthew Arnold once wrote that the Goddess of Lubricity was worshiped in Paris. At least she is worshiped in the market place and not secretly, as in this country, giving rise to the indescribable hypocrisy of our national life, the insincerity of our culture, religious and æsthetic, and to the depressing morale of village life from New England to California. Little hope for broad, generous and ennobling culture, musical or literary, when masses are ruled by the bigots, prigs and prudes. Pfui Teufel!"

the

Lillian Bell, the clever author of The Love affairs of an Old Maid(1) and A Little Sister to the Wilderness(2) is traveling in Europe for the Ladies' Home Journal. We may doubtless expect from her pen, after her return, a very interesting book, giving her experiences and impressions. Her traveling sketches are now being published in that paper.

(1) Love Aflairs of an Old Maid. By Lillian Bell. 12mo cloth. Price 90 cents. By mail $1.02.

(2) A Little Sister to the Wilderness. By Lillian Bell. 12mo. cloth. Price 90 cents. By mail $1.02.

The Lippincotts come to the front with the timeliest of volumes on the whole history of native warfare by sea, down to the victory of Dewey. The book is entitled The Nation's Navy, (1)and is written with engaging directness and careful research by Charles Morris, author of HalfHours of History and other widelyknown books. The illustrations form in themselves an excellent pictorial history of American sea-power.

The original of Du Maurier's character of Sandy, Laird of Cockpen, in his famous book Trilby, (*) Mr. T. R. Lamont, has recently died in London.

The Chap Book of June 1 gives the following biographical sketch of this immortalized man :

"Mr. Lamont was the son of a manager of a bank at Greenock, and, having shown an ardent interest in art, went to Paris, where he entered the studio of M. Gleyre, the famous teacher. This is Du Maurier's introduction of his friend: 'Another inmate of this this blissful abodeSandy, the Laird of Cock pen, as he was called-sat in similarly simple attire at his easel, painting at a lifelike little picture of a Spanish toreador serenading a lady of high degree (in broad daylight). He had never been to Spain, but he had a complete toreador's kit-a bargain, which he had picked up for a mere song in the boulevard du Templeand he had hired his guitar. His pipe was in his mouth-reversed;

(1) The Nation's Navy. By Charles Morris. 8vo. cloth Illustrated. Price $1.10. By mail $1.25.

(2) Trilby. By George Du Maurier. 8vo. cloth. Illustrated. Price $1.25 By mail $1.40.

for it had gone out, and ashes were spilled all over his trousers, where holes were often burned in this way.'

"Mr. Lamont was about the same age as Mr. Du Maurier. He had attained a fair amount of success as an artist in water-colors, and as an illustrator. He was an Associate of the Royal Water Color Society, and was an intimate friend of another North Country artist, Mr. Frederick Shields. Mr. Lamont was well described in Trilby as possessed of 'a face so blithe and merry, and well pleased that it did one good to look at him.'”

That great Italian statesman, Crispi, now an old man, broken in fortune and public favor, has finished his memoirs which are to be published shortly in England. If he tells only half the truth, they will certainly make very extraordinary reading; at any rate his book will be a valuable addition to the literature of contemporary history.

Mr. George W. Cable, who is visiting with Mr. J. M. Barrie, is much in evidence at present in London literary circles, although only three of his works are familiar to English readers. On the strength of his reception new editions are being issued of John March, Southerner(1) and Bonaventure, (2) in Messrs. Sampson Low's half-crown library of standard novels. Messrs. Hodder

(1) John March, Southerner. By George W. Cable. 12mo. cloth. Price $1.08. By mail $1.23. (2) Bonaventure. By George W. Cable. 12mo. cloth. Price 90 cents. By mail $1.02.

are also bringing out in fresh guise Mr. Cable's story of Creole life, The Grandissimes, (1) which has an introduction by Mr. J. M. Barrie.

Bishop Le Nordez of Verdun is at present agitating in France the establishment of a national annual holiday in memory of Joan of Arc. It is a curious fact that the memory of this heroine, fighting for political freedom and religious belief at the same time, the personification of unrestrained and pure patriotism had been much neglected and almost entirely forgotten.

Maria Louise Pool, the author of Mrs. Gerald, (*) In Buncoombe Coun try,(3) Against Human Nature, (*) In a Dike Shanty(5) and other novels, which have been widely read, died suddenly on May 19, at Rockland, near Boston. She was born in 1845

at Rockland, then called Abingdon, Mass., and was for many years a writer for the New York Tribune. Her name is also familiar to magazine readers, as a frequent contributor to Harper's, Lippincott's and others. Her last story, entitled Mere Folly has been published in the June number be brought out shortly in book form of Lippincott's Magazine, and will by L. C. Page & Co. of Boston.

Mlle. de Bury says in her charming book of essays on "French Literature of To-Day,"(*) that "in order to be interested in critics and criticism one must know the writers who are discussed." This applies pre-eminently to her own book. Her style is fluent and clear, her ideas and criticisms are put forth in an exceedingly intelligible manner; yet she is so thoroughly well versed in the whole wide range of French modern literature, that she often forgets that not all of her readers are equally well acquainted with the writers, which she frequently quotes by way of comparing their style and sentiment with those under discussion. To make critical essays useful and enjoyable to everybody, even to those unacquainted with the subject, to awaken the interest of the uninitiated and to induce them to acquaint themselves with the writers and their works, as a result of such essays, the critic will either have to place intimate details of the writer's individuality of general humane interest in the foreground, or will have to speak abstractly of the purposes and qualities of the works, without bringing other equally unfamiliar points by way of comparison into play. This Mlle. de Bury fails to do. Hence her book will perhaps not have the desired effect upon readers in search of information about modern

(*) French Literature of To-day. By Yetta Blaze de Bury. 8vo. cloth. Price $1.10. By mail $1.25.

French writers and their works with which they are not familiar. On the other hand, this book will prove of great value and interest to teachers. and students of French literature and to all persons who have already read more or less of the works of Loti, Maupassant, Zola, Edmond de Goncourt, Jean Martin Charcot, Bourget, de Vogué, Brunetière, Lemaitre, Anatole France, Madame Blanc Bentzon and Paul Verlaine. To those the book will have a great charm, bringing out certain qualities which, while reading, they may have overlooked, and making them more intimately acquainted with their characteristics and beauties. The enthusiasm with which Mlle. de Bury writes cannot fail to affect and influence the reader, and no such reader will lay the book aside without having greatly enjoyed it and been benefited by it. Her essay on Verlaine for instance, will show this great writer with all his eccentricities, and frequently apparent coarseness to many, in an entirely new and more amiable light. Perhaps the most charming of her essays is the one on de Vogué, where with all her careful impartiality she speaks with such unrestrained delight, that it shows her unpremeditated sympathy with and innermost appreciation of his works as her favorites. Even in the articles on Zola and Brunetière, which are not exactly in harmony with our