BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9010, 15 October 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

The English Illustrated Magazine:. Macmillan and Co., London.—The initial article of the September number is on Mr. Gladstone, by H. W. Lucy, and is of a eulogistic character. To Mr. Gladstone has fallen the lot of being almost literally born again. When in 1874 he wrote the historic letter to " My dear Granville," there is no doubt he had convinced himself that his political career was closed, and thab whatever years of life might remain to him would be dedicated to literature. Again ordinary expectation was falsified. The following passage explains the power of the " Grand Old Man" among the masses:— m It'is amongst the masses that the fascination of Mr. Gladstone's personality works its way with fullest witchery. In th 6 front rank of statesmen, a great orator, a ripe scholar, he is, they are glad to think, actually one of them. His homely domestic life is worth untold votes at a general election. The people like to think of him with his plain prefix of "Mr.," his daughters who marry curates or work in schools, his sons who are "something in the City," and do not marry duchesses. They like his stripping to the shirt to fell a tree, his going to church on Sundays and to the theatre or concert on Wednesdays or Saturdays. It is what they do themselves, or would do if they had the chance. He is one of them, to be. trusted, fought for if need be, always esteemed with a sort of family affection. People who live at home in Loudon have no opportunity of seeing and realising the intensity of this feeling. It is, perhaps, vulgar, certainly provincial. In Scotland it exists with an intensity unequalled since the days of Prince Charlie, a citation which shows how wide and varied is the capacity of the populace to take a particular man to its heart. In addition to a phenomenal constitution Mature has been lavish to Mr. Gladstone in other ways. Mr. Gladstone remains to this day what he was even in Mr. Brighb's prime, the fines orator in the House of Commons. It is on great occasions that the House of Commons sees through the haze of .party conflict, how noble are tho proportions of the figure thab has dwelt amongsb ib for raoro than fifty years, and how wide will be the space created when it finally withdraws from the scone. "The Work of Canadian Lumbermen," by Lee J. Vance, depicts the various phases of life in the backwoods of the Dominion, in the timber industry, felling, driving, rafting, and sawmilling. There is a chatty article on " Doncaster and The St. Leger," with a portrait of Tattersall, which will be interestine to sportsmen. Within the recollection of most people the St. Leger fell to a filly owned by a clergyman. Many years ago before a corresponding case occurred, an assumed name hiding in each instance from some of the general public that which after all was an open secret. " Jottings in Syria," by Sir George Thomas, gives a graphic view of life in that ancient historic land. A. Shad well contributes a paper on the " Parisian Police." "Mo body of men is subjected," says the writer, to so much unreasoning abuse as the police, and this is even truer in France than in England. When wo want them they are our best friends, to whom we turn with the utmost confidence ; when we do not, we join in treating them as a common enemy. One day the press will loudly demand, amid public applause, some utterly illegal proceeding from the police, the next will severely condemn them for doing that which is their bounden duty." This is occasionally done even in this colony. Mr. Shadwell sums up his conclusions thus:—"The Parisian police have many merits and some prominent defects— (1) the force is too small; (2) underpaid ; (3) it works under the disadvantage of a cumbrous and complicated system ; (4) ib is really governed, like our own, by the press. Some reform has recently been effected on the first two points ; the third is too big to touch, and the fourth is beyond the,reach of any remedy." The number closes with a sketch of the Great Thunderer —the London Times—" the great brain that never sleeps, the ambassadors of which are in every quarter of the world, its couriers upon every road, its officers marching with armies, and its envoys finding entrance to statesmen's Cabinets."

Macmuj-an's Magazine.—The September number is up to the usual high standard. " Chapters from Some Unwritten Memoirs," by Mrs. Ritchie, is continued. They relate to Thackeray and Carlyle. " Faizullah" is a capital story of Indian frontier life among the Beloocheos. There is a well-written article on "The Metropolitan Hospitals, their History and Management." The writer points out the growing pauperisation through free admission to the hospitals, and gratuitous treatment. "Anyone," he says, " who has worked intelligently among the poor of London cannot have failed to notice how the receipt of free medical treatment has led promptly to the demand for free admission to the convalescent home, and how the latter is thought to carry with ib the right to have the rent paid during the patient's absence, with perhaps an allowance on his return until he gets to work again." History repeats itself in the colonies in this respect. " The Stranger in the House " is a story of Parliamentary life, and of the closing hours of the Salisbury Ministry. We give a passage : — As Mr. Gladstone owes his return to power to his Irish allies, it was only natural that the Irishmen should get up what is called a "demonstration" after the division which sent him back to Downing-street. I have seen several of these performances, but none of them seemed to me so artificial and so forced as that of the 11th of August. On the night when the famous Home Rule Bill was thrown out, no one really knew what the result was to be, for at the last moment it was thought that some of the dissentients might be "got at" by Mr. Gladstone, who has many springes wherewithal to catch woodcocks, and the crisis might be tided over. There was an element of uncertainty in the event, and therefore there was some ground for excitement. But there was no uncertainty as to the fate of Lord Salisbury's Ministry. Still, it would not do to let it be buried without holding a sort of wake over it. The Irishmen were all in readiness. I think _ I never saw so many priests in the galleries and the lobbies as on this particular night. They were everywhere, rubicund, smiling, delighted with the success of their schemes so far as they had yet gone. The supplice of Mr. Chaplin being over, there was nothing more to stand between them and their triumph. For the third time only in six years, the clerk did not handover the fatal figures to the Government Tellers. The first occasion upon which the Government was beaten was concerning the " Cass case," the second was also on the motion of a private member, relating to abuses in the Admiralty Office. But these defeats wore of no political moment. The third and last was decisive. Then the Irishmen went in for sport. When once the Speaker had read out the numbers, j not another intelligible sound could be heard. The House was packed; everybody had come in from the division everybody but one. For that one the Home Rulers were waiting impatiently. Presently the right moment arrived. Mr. Gladstone made a thoroughly good and well-conceived dramatic entry, alone, with the entiir' length of the House to traverse, walking slowly, and acknowledging with a slight inclination of his head the uproarious cheers and shouts which saluted him. His entire party stood up in a body, and the only thing wanted to complete the scene was a brass band and a little blue and red fire! The sketch " How Phoebe Came Home" is a powerful portraiture of English fishing village life. The other articles are also well written. Chambers's Journal.— Tho September number is an excellent; one. " A Glimpse of Cyprus," gives some interesting information concerning that island which through Earl Beaconsfield's action was brought under British protectorate. " In a Silenb Sea" is a story of a ship becalmed in the Sargasso Sea for seven weeks. "Infanticide in India" brings up the question of early marriages in that country and the degraded position of women. " A Tourist's Holiday in Venice" takes us back to the former glories of "the bride of tho Adriatic." " Some Curious Marriage Customs in Scotland" gives some singular information on an ever-engrossing subject. "Australian Snake Yarns" are as tough as they make them. The serial stories are good, and the Science and Art notes as useful as ever. > The Engineering Magazine.—The September number (Australian) is to hand, and contains an article- on " The Right Railway Policy," by Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton, Governor of Tasmania, which is well worth perusal ab the present time. There is also a useful paper on " The Lay- ; ing o«t) of Towns," by Mjc, John Sulman,

F.R.1.8.A., an architect, practising in Sydney.which gives some wrinkles relating to this subject, and of service to Corporations and other local bodies. The general edition contains a great variety of useful information. Ayont the Seas: Fourteen Months Abroad. By a Young New Zealander. Mills, Dick, and Co., Dunedin.—This is a chatty accounnt of a trip to the old country by a young colonial, and especially to Scotland where his forefathers had lived for three centuries. He describes Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and other Scottish cities and places of interest, and the great shipbuilding and other industries on the Clyde. A good deal of useful information about the old land as it is to-day is given in " Ayont the Seas."