apparatus necessary for the undertaking had been provided. The meetings began, each on Friday morning at half-past nine o'clock, and ended on Saturday at 1 P. M. There were two or three sessions on Friday, and one on Saturday. In June and August no meeting was held, but in July there was a long meeting of four days at Andover, New Haven, New York, or Princeton. Some of the members came from a distance of about four hundred miles, and many had to make a journey of one and two hundred miles to attend the meetings, and yet these distant members were almost always in their seats at the appointed times.

Speaking as a member of the New Testament company, I may characterize each meeting as a spiritual and intellectual symposium. A more genial brotherhood never met. Episcopalian, Unitarian, Methodist, Baptist, Friend, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian, knew no differences, and held one another in respect and affection. Not a sectarian note was ever heard. Not a harsh word was ever uttered. The revered President Woolsey guided our deliberations with wisdom and urbanity. He read the verse, and then called for comment and suggestion. Every one was patiently heard, and then the decision was recorded by our Secretary, Professor Short or Professor Thayer. Sometimes a long discussion would enliven us, and hosts of references were made to support either side, and (if I may let out the secret) there were times when the solemnity that became the dignity of our work was tempered by a humorous hit or an irresistible pleasantry. At such moments, perhaps, any one who might suddenly have entered our "Jerusalem chamber" would have scarcely divined our work.

The portion on which we were to confer was always appointed at the previous meeting, so that there might be a month's preliminary study before the comparison of notes and the record of the result. In this way a vast amount of critical examination was given to every sentence in the New Testament, and we may be sure that not even a word of any importance escaped a searching investigation.

The influence of such a cultured and genial mind as that of President Woolsey was felt throughout the circle from the beginning. His erudition, his judgment, and his clear statement, on one side, and his courtesy, gentleness, and modesty on the other, fitted him peculiarly for his position, and formed the crowning charm of our coterie. Next to President Woolsey sat the encyclopedic Schaff, of indefatigable energy, church historian, commentator,

promoter of Christian union, and the efficient author of the American coöperation in this revision. To his systematic and ready mind, bold and strong to assume responsibility, the American committee was indebted for its existence and for its financial support. On him especially fell all the foreign correspondence, and the arrangement of details between the English and American committees. Next to Dr. Schaff sat Professor Short, whose "Essay on the Order of Words in Attic Greek Prose" is a monument of his patient research, and who acted both as Treasurer and Recording Secretary for the company. Then came Professor Riddle, who mingles German learning with Anglo-American clearness, on whose record of similar passages we all leaned. Then followed in order President Chase, of Haverford, thoughtful and solid, a man of wise caution, not apt to be led astray by any delusion. Next was Dr. Burr, who represented Drew Seminary in the New Testament company, as Dr. Strong did in the Old Testament company. Next to him sat the polished master of English, the eloquent preacher, Dr. Washburn, whose taste was always pure enough to guide his judgment. At his side was Dr. Crosby, and next one of Yale's noted instructors, a man of decided convictions, based on very solid foundation, who never spoke without commanding the attention of all— Professor Timothy Dwight, whose arguments were shot out of an armory of learning and common sense. Next to him sat Professor Kendrick, whose name as a Greek scholar has been so long held in esteem, who brought to the work a mind richly stored with varied knowledge, and whose keen criticisms and earnest comments were the delight of the circle. Then came Professor Abbot, of Cambridge, facile princeps among us in the criticism of the Greek text, the peer of Scrivener and Westcott, whose sound, discriminating judgment was only equaled by a charm of disposition and manner that won all our hearts. By his side sat Professor Thayer, of Andover, a most laborious member of the company, who took down the notes of changes proposed, and prepared all the papers for the company's use, and who was second to none in thorough fitness for the work in hand. His admirable scholarship is accompanied by practical elements of character which make him a man of mark. Last in the circle, and by the side of the President, sat the venerable and beloved Bishop Lee, of Delaware, whose presence and voice were a benison to us all.

Such was the personnel of the American New Testament company, who for eight years met in devout and studious zeal to pre

pare (in conjunction with their British brethren) a new version of the New Testament for the English-speaking peoples. It was no mean privilege to sit in that circle and enjoy the edifying conversations and discussions of these years. Those who sat there will certainly count those days of conference among the happiest of their lives. May we not hope that the work now to be given to the public (for which these revisers have labored so long without the slightest pecuniary remuneration, but with the hope of meeting the wants of the age) will be appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic, and, after a brief flutter of prejudice, will take the place of our present version in pulpit and pew, in school and in home, as presenting in clearer and truer form the meaning of the evangelists and apostles, as they uttered the Word of God?

HOWARD CROSBY.

RECENT EUROPEAN PUBLICATIONS.

1. Manzoni's Correspondence with Fauriel. (Il Manzoni ed il Fauriel studiati nel loro carteggio inedito da Angelo de Gubernatis. Rome. 1880.) 2. An Essay on the Life and Genius of Calderon. By the Archbishop of Dublin. Second edition, revised and improved. London: Macmillan & Co. 1880.

3. Miracle Plays and Sacred Dramas. A Historical Survey by Dr. Karl Hase. Translated from the German by A. W. Jackson, and edited by the Rev. W. W. Jackson. London, Trübner; and Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1880.

4. The Purgatory of Dante Alighieri. Edited with Translations and Notes by Arthur John Butler. London: Macmillan & Co. 1880.

In a sympathetic article on Manzoni published in this REVIEW forty years ago, the writer regretted that he could not present to his readers a detailed biographical sketch of "the brightest ornament of historical romance in Italy." Such a sketch has become possible only since Manzoni's death in 1873, and anything like a complete biography is still wanting, so that, of all great names in literature, Manzoni's remains but little more than a name. Some important contributions, however, to Manzoni's biography have recently seen the light, the latest of which it is proposed to examine here briefly.

In 1805, when Manzoni was twenty, he accompanied his mother, the daughter of the distinguished jurisconsult Cesare Beccaria, to Paris, and there made the acquaintance of Claude Fauriel, now chiefly remembered for his history of southern Gaul under the German conquerors, and for his works on Provençal and EarlyItalian literature. This acquaintance soon ripened into friendship and led to a correspondence, which, extending from 1807 to 1828, covered the most important of the two periods into which Manzoni's life may be divided. The first closes with the publication of the Promessi Sposi in 1827, and contains all the creations of Manzoni's imagination; the second, ending with his death, in

1873, may be termed the period of critical study. The former is the more interesting, not only from a literary standpoint, but also from a biographical one, as during this time occurred Manzoni's first visit to Paris, his marriage, and conversion.* After Fauriel's death in 1844 his papers passed into the possession of his devoted friend Madame Mohl, the wife of the distinguished Orientalist. It was her intention to publish a biography of Fauriel, and to that end she visited Manzoni in 1847 and requested his coöperation. This Manzoni, with his morbid shrinking from publicity, declined, as he would have been obliged necessarily to speak much of himself in speaking of his friend, and he was equally unwilling to accede to the publication of his own letters. Madame Mohl retained them then, permitting only Sainte-Beuve to use them for his sketch of Fauriel, which was for a long time the only source of information concerning Manzoni's stay at Paris-an event of great importance for his future. After this, the letters remained in obscurity until the possessor permitted Professor De Gubernatis to publish them in the work before us, and deposited the originals in the Ambrosian Library at Milan.

The letters, written in French, are fifty-four in number, and, as we have already said, are scattered over twenty-one years, during which Manzoni paid two visits to Paris, where he saw his friend constantly, and had the joy of welcoming him afterward to his home at Milan. Deeply as the friends loved each other, they were at best slothful correspondents, frequently allowing several years to pass in silence, and the correspondence closed for ever after Fauriel's incredible neglect to write to Manzoni on the occasion of his wife's death. The editor has filled the frequent lacuna with extracts from letters directed to Fauriel by others of Manzoni's family, and thus has presented a tolerably complete picture of his domestic and literary life. It is, however, for the pleasant glimpses they afford of the former that these letters are especially valuable. From one of the earlier ones we learn that Manzoni had cherished a deep and pure passion for a young girl whom he afterward met as a married woman at Genoa, and also that there had been some talk of a match at Paris. These affairs were soon for

* This period, from this twofold point of view, is the subject of Professor De Gubernatis's Taylorian lectures, delivered at Oxford in 1878, and published under the title Alessandro Manzoni, Studio biografico. Florence. 1879.

+ This sketch was first published in the Revue des Deux Mondes, May 15 and June 1, 1845, and afterward reprinted in Portraits Contemporains.