Review.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 423, 20 March 1880, Page 6

Review.

" The Victorian Review " for March fully maintains its reputation as an ambitious literary enterprise, solid and elevated in tone, and in all respects meritorious. The present number contains fifteen essays, all showing a commendable uniformity in literary merit. "The Doctrine of Metempsychosis," by Henri Gustave Duvergier, is a well worked out attempt to prove that this doctrine does not rest upon" such an unsubstantial basis of unverifiable hypothesis as to disentitle it to admission into the serious discussion of any question of theology, biology, or psychology." The author strengthens his argument by excerpts from Holy Writ, to show that "the notion of another life in another world derives no countenance whatever from the Old Testament, and none at all from the New, where a future life is spoken of, but not as one which is to be passed elsewhere." The concluding paragraph of his essay gives the gist of his reasoning. It runs thus -.—" Louis Agassiz has said that « every time a new and striking fact is brought to light by science people exclaim at first 'it is not true ;' then they say, 'it is contrary to religion ;' and ultimately, ' everybody knew that long ago.' I fancy the doctrine of metempsychosis is passing through the first of these three stages, but that in an epoch of enquiry and dissatisfaction like the present, it will not be very long before it passes through the second into the third. " Miss Augusta L. Dargon gives an essay on " The Actor's Art," and Wybert Reeve on "The Growth of Dramatic Art," Part I. The former, in a chatty anecdotal fashion, .shows that in the histrionic profession, as in all others, there is no short cut to real and lasting eminence, and that besides the possession of natural intelligence and special bias, the aspirant to histrionic fame must combine babits of patient application with great industry and continuous study, and even when distinction has been achieved, it resembles the fire latent in the flint — Which much enforced shows a hasty spark, And straight is cold again. Mr. Reeve gives the preliminary chapter ot what promises to be a scholarly resume of the history of the drama from its earliest stages. "A Proposal for the Extension of the Franchise," by E.Percy Field (Sydney, N.S.W.) is a plea in favor of female franchise, the author expressing opinion that "by granting the suffrage to female freeholders, the New Zealand House of Representatives has carved for itself in the temple of the world's history a name that no lapse of time or natural decay can ever remove." He apparently overlooks the circumstance that subsequently to the introduction of the Bill the House in its wisdom considerably curbed the proposals of its chivalrous but too effusive promoter. "Dand Monopoly, Ancient and Modern," by TJrquhart Macpherson, is an attempt to show how history repeats itself, and that the "dummyism" of to-day, and the persistent efforts of the wealthy to monopolise the greater part of the public estate finds a counterpart in the history of land monopoly in ancient records. " The Tendency of Popular Taste in Music, and how to elevate it," by Henry Keiley, is brimful of sound advice to musical amateurs and the conductors of popular musical entertainments. (We hope to find room for extended extracts from this paper in a future issue.) , " The Australian Abroad : Through the New Forest," by James Hingston, is in this well known traveller's best style. Among other incidents mentioned is his inspection of the stone marking the site of the oak on which an arrow of Sir Walter Tyrrell's glanced, striking Rufus on the breast, of which he instantly died on 2nd August, 1100. He afterwards called on some members of the Purkess family, descendants of the charcoal-burner who carted the dead body of the King to Winchester. He says : "I talked with the patrician family, who should, it seemed, have been prouder than they appeared, but I had not talked long before the true aristocrat showed plainly out. I said, f Did you never think of to Parliament for a money grant or pension in consideration of your past services to royalty and your singularly blameless life and long lineage ?' ' No, we have always earned our living—that's enough !' I felt sat upon for a second, but came up to time by saying, 'Yes, certainly, that should satisfy everyone, but it seldom does. Do you carry on the wood and charcoal business still'?' 'Some of the family do.' 'None of them, I suppose, ever went out to my part of the world Australia ?' 'None of the Purkess family have been emigrants !'—was the crushing reply, the truth of which was quite likely. I doubted whether any of the family had ever, in fact, been out of the Forest, but , liked not to ask the question. To sum up, I 1 said, ' Well, as you wont petition for a peerage, as you ought, nor emigrate in search of wealth, as you might, you will have still to stay on here and cart charcoal.' ' Yes, cart charcoal—and Kings !' said the old lady. These splendid samples of pure thoroughbreds could hold their own well in such poor converse as I could engage them in

Perpetuity and Purkess have now to me one and the same meaning. I shall say henceforth, '•as perpetual as the Purkesses.'" 1 The other papers are—" The future of N F Australia," "Johann Heinrich Pestaloz'zi,"' "An "The freshwater Aquarium of the Trocadero Palace," "The decay of individuality," " The commercial future of Australia," " Australia as a vine yard," and " A new phase in the dead meat question."