Imperial tasks, i.e., defence, means of communication and general taxation -in other words, a reduction of the Civil Service. For New Zealand, and for the complete social and political revolution created by the Progressive party during its term of power--Land Acts, Female Suffrage, State Life Insurance, Public Trust Office, Compulsory Industrial Arbitration, etc.-Sir Charles Dilke has nothing but praise; and certainly there is no colony of which England has more reason to be proud. But Sir Charles Dilke's speciality is the grievance of the Newfoundlanders, which he expounds most convincingly. Nothing can be more disgraceful than the way in which successive Governments have, in order to save themselves the trouble of a serious discussion with France, bartered away the rights and liberties of British subjects in Newfoundland. The Newfoundland Act of 1891 calls for Sir Charles Dilke's special animadversion. If the book succeeds in drawing attention to this question alone, it will amply have fulfilled its object. It is time we came to an understanding with France, and made the French Government realize that it cannot with dog-in-themanger "cussedness" turn 700 miles of British coast into a no-man's land for no profit of its own, but singly and solely pour embêter les Anglais. L.

DUCKWORTH AND Co.; LONDON.

6. Feudal and Modern Japan, by ARTHUR MAY KNAPP. The author shows that modern Japan is not simply a thin veneer of civilization superimposed on barbarism, but a natural outcome of the native feudal system worked out during a long period of isolation on lines often parallel with those of Western progress. Hence, when once Japan opened her doors to foreign influence, she could readily assimilate ideas and methods which were not really foreign to her. The author depicts the Japanese character, its unswerving loyalty to the Emperor and its undying patriotism, which aided Japanese development throughout. He also describes in an interesting manner the religion, social conditions, and other features of family life in Japan. The work is tastefully got up in two neat small volumes, with numerous well-executed illustrations. G.

LUZAC AND Co.; LONDON.

7. The Travels and Adventures of the Turkish Admiral, Sidi Ali Reis, in India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Persia, in the Years 1553-56, translated from the Turkish, with Notes, by A. VAMBÉRY. This renowned Admiral was commissioned to oppose the Infidels (ie., the Portuguese). He was obliged, from adverse circumstances, to leave his ships, and travel by land. In his pilgrimages, he visited Basrah, Ormuz, Gujarat, Sind, Hindustan, Kabulistan, Turan, and other places. He details, in a very simple manner, his various vicissitudes, what he saw, the manners and customs of the people, the birds and other animals, the manner of hunting, and the social customs in those times. Mr. Vambéry's object in publishing this old work, in English, is explained by himself. Notwithstanding a German and French translation of the work, the knowledge of the Turkish language has considerably increased since the German Edition in 1815, and many of the discrepancies and inaccuracies of that

translation are now avoided, and the geography and history of the countries traversed have assumed a different aspect. Mr. Vambéry, from his experience and travels in these countries, has been enabled to supply many valuable notes, and has completed this interesting work with a copious index of proper names and places. The old Admiral concludes his story in the following patriotic strain: "If in God's providence he should be driven from home, and forced to wander forth on the unknown, and perhaps be caught on the turbulent waves of the sea of adversity, let him still always keep in mind that love for one's native land is next to one's faith. Let him never cease to long for the day that he shall see his native shores again, and always, whatever befall, cling loyally to his Padishah."

MACMILLAN AND Co.; LONDON.

8. Gordon in Central Africa, 1874-79, with a portrait and map of the country prepared under Colonel Gordon's supervision; from original letters. and documents. Edited by GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL, D.C.L., LL.D., Hon. Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. Third edition. The editor gives a short but admirable memoir of one of England's heroes and a history of his career, from letters written by Gordon himself. The letters were written without the slightest idea that they should ever be published, and consequently they give a simple, fresh, and direct statement of events as they happened at the time, and they, moreover, indicate the high religious principles which guided Gordon in all his arduous achievements. Sir Henry, his brother, writes to Dr. Hill with regard to how he has executed his task, "it reads delightfully," and he expresses the admirable manner in which he has executed his difficult task. "Of all the books written about my brother, none can approach yours. . . I have often quoted it over and over again to the Government." The result of the hero's death is seen in the action of Lord Kitchener and the unanimous appreciation of the nation in assisting in establishing those educational and other efforts which will yet bear beneficent fruits in advancing civilization and promoting prosperity and happiness to the inhabitants of the Soudan.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY; NEW YORK.

9. Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran, by A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON, Professor of Indo-Iranian languages in Columbia University. Although much has been written about Zoroaster and his religion both in England, on the Continent, and in India, no work has yet appeared which places. before the reader in one view all that has hitherto been discovered regarding this somewhat obscure question. For lucidity, methodical arrangement, and comprehensiveness, Professor Jackson's book is unrivalled, and will probably remain for a long time to come the standard work on the subject. From the earliest mythical and poetical accounts in ancient writers down to the latest results of modern research, including even fragmentary and uncertain allusions in the literature of widely-sundered nations, all that can in any way throw light on the subject has been carefully collected. To the ordinary reader the book, in its masterly clearness of style, will present (to use the author's own words) "in bold relief historically the figure of

this religious leader," while to the student it will be invaluable from its exhaustive collection of references to all that has hitherto been written about Zoroaster. The importance of the work, indeed, is such that we propose to review it more fully in an early issue. Meanwhile, it may be cordially recommended to all who desire to obtain full and satisfactory information concerning the great religious movement connected with the name of the ancient Prophet of Iran.

G. A. NATESAN; MADRAS.

J. B.

10. Indian Politics. The present volume, which is headed by an introduction by Mr. W. C. Bonnerjee, is composed of a series of articles by various English and Indian writers (among which we may note one by Mr. Romesh C. Dutt, which incorporates an article which has appeared already in the January number of this review), and a complete series of the presidential addresses delivered before the Indian National Congress. The whole work is, in a sense, a manifesto of the National Congress. As such it well deserves careful reading by every Englishman, and still more by every Anglo-Indian, whether a sympathizer with the National Congress or not. Space in the present number will not permit of as exhaustive a review as the articles and speeches merit. A dispassionate study of them ought to convince most readers that the Indian National Congress, as a body, though impatient with the scruples and prejudices of a bureaucratic Government, is not disloyal to the British supremacy, and does not deserve the epithet of "seditious" any more than the Anti-Corn-Law League, or other agitating associations to whom the title was so freely applied in the past.

DAVID NUTT; LONDON.

11. Quatrains of Omar (Umr) Khayyam in English Prose, by J. H. MCCARTHY. This is a translation of some (about 350) of the reputed Quatrains of Omar (we adopt the usual wrong transliteration of the name in order to be intelligible to English readers) Khayyám, arranged by Mr. McCarthy in some order best known to himself, but one really hopeless for a reviewer to cope with, as the translator gives no clue whatever to it. He, moreover, does not state which of the original Persian texts he has followed, so that the reviewer has to rely, when he desires to compare them, on discovering some chance quatrain with which he happens to be familiar, and can thus manage to trace, in Whinfield's, Heron Allen's, or other editions. If our comments on any particular stanza should prove to be at fault, in consequence of not comparing it with the proper original, the translator will have himself alone to thank for them. In the first we come across (at page 66), which we can compare with No. 1 at page 119 of Heron Allen, the first lines in both are nearly identical, and the third as well, with the exception that the present translator gives az karmat" () as "the throne of Thy mercy," in place of simply "Thy mercy but lines 2 and 4 differ entirely, the former in the present version is translated, "I have never swept the dust from thy steps," whereas it should be, according to the original in Heron Allen, "I have never swept the dust of

sin from my face." Line 4 here reads: "I have never importuned Thee with prayers," but should be, according to Heron Allen, "I have never said that One was Two," that is, that he has never denied the Unity of God.

At page 44 occurs the well-known quatrain as to Khayyam's sewing the tents of wisdom or learning. In the present translation tanáb (❤lib) is given in the third line as "thread," the point of its being really a "tentrope" being missed; and in the fourth, what should be the "broker of hope" as "the impatient world."

It is somewhat more than a poetical license to translate (a Húri), a golden girl, as the translator does in the second quatrain at page 7. In the fourth line of the same, moreover, "mentioning the name" of Paradise is given as "dreaming" of Paradise.

In the second quatrain, at page 34, this version says: "I know not if He who created me belongs to Paradise or hell." It is impossible that Umr Khayyam should have uttered such a sentiment; the original has it “said I was of," or "appointed me to," heaven or hell. The chief point of the quatrain, moreover, is missed when sensual pleasures are not brought for ward as the cash of present enjoyment, and contrasted with the anticipation of a glorious future as a heaven on credit, as they are in the original.

In the fourth quatrain (on page 86), lastly, the translation is by no means accurate. It should read: "From the stage of infidelity to faith is but one breath and from the world of doubt to certainty is but one breath. Enjoy this one precious breath, for of the gain of our lives there is but this one breath."

It is strange that a man of the literary ability of Mr. J. H. McCarthy should have allowed such slipshod English to remain in a second edition of his translation, as in the fifth quatrain on page 24, "Daff them-aside"; "thridded" for "threaded," in the first quatrain on page 50; and addressing the Deity both as "Thou" and "you" in the fourth on page 59, and in the first on page 41.

To wind up with, the translator ends the book with what, from its position and all want of explanation, would appear to be a translation from the Persian poet, Nizámi, in some lines of very inferior blank verse supposed to have been written on the occasion of a visit to Umr Khayyam's grave, both the visit and the verse having been evolved from Mr. McCarthy's own inner consciousness.

A. R.

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER AND Co., LTD.; LONDON. 12. Eur-Aryan Roots, by J. BALY, M.A., Worcester Coll., Oxon., sometime Archdeacon of Calcutta. Vol. I. The object of this work is, the compiler informs us, to present to English readers in as popular a form as the subject admits of, and with especial reference to the English language, the results recently obtained by German philologists in the department of learning of which it treats. He then proceeds to give the history of philological enterprise in this particular field, connecting therewith the names of students in Germany, America, and England whose published works have from time to time helped forward the study; and then (expand

ing the idea) he proceeds-" This attempt to make English readers better acquainted with German scholarship will I hope help them to a better understanding of the origin, formation, and history of by far the larger proportion of English words, and of their relation not only to words in other languages, but also to other English words which often differ widely in sound and sense, and yet have a common origin and a proved etymological connexion." From this it will appear that the most fruitful labour in this department has been achieved by the Germans. The author then proceeds to explain his new coinage "Eur-Aryan," pointing out (with his reasons) the inappropriateness of the hitherto current expressions "Aryan," "Indo-Germanic," and "Indo-European," and shows that, though not so simple as the term "Aryan," it has the advantage of being truer to the facts, and that it is, besides, both less cumbrous and more exact than either of the other terms mentioned. He acknowledges that to Mr. Whitley Stokes belongs the credit of having first suggested such a designation to him. With the view of putting the student in a better position to use the Dictionary, the author proceeds to give a full example of his mode of treatment of a given root, and then goes on to explain the principle on which he evolves his results. He says, with great truth, respecting the steps and processes through which roots pass in the numerous languages of the Euro-Aryan family-"These changes must not be regarded as either accidental or arbitrary. They are regulated by general laws, ascertained and attested by induction from a large number of instances in conformity with them. Any variation from these, incapable of explanation, throws a doubt upon the correctness of the etymology in which it is found; although there may be cases where, notwithstanding a variation from the law, the evidence in favour of the etymology is so strong that it may be accepted as highly probable, though perhaps not absolutely proved." He brings his Introduction to a close by giving a long list of works from which he has derived much of his material and assistance, including the standard works in philological studies in most of the languages of Europe and Western Asia, which are acknowledged by all scholars as up-to-date and authoritative. The list, however, is not complete: there are some workers (such as Shakespear, Gilchrist, and others) of whose researches in Oriental philology Mr. Baly can hardly be ignorant, and to whom all students of Indian languages are deeply indebted, whose works are not alluded to in the list. Upon the whole, however, it is a model of what a good "Introduction" to a work of this nature ought to be. It is a thick quarto volume, and is followed by three good Indexes (not "Indices" as the compiler elects to call them—a term sacred to the mathematician), and contains upwards of 800 pages all told. As the work marks a distinct advance-stage in philological science we have deemed it important to leave the author to speak pretty much for himself as to the description and raison d'être of his own work.

The author describes it as a work exhibiting "the Eur-Aryan roots with their English derivations and the corresponding words in the cognate Languages compared and systematically arranged." To the English student it might be described as being for all intents and purposes an