Essays from " Good Words." By Henry Rogers. (Strahan.)—The papers
in this volume are unequal, and while some are worthy of the ability of The Eclipse of Faith, others will not add to the author's reputa- tion. The dream on which the second essay is founded reminds us that Mr. Rogers has once before made use of such a vehicle for reducing other men's arguments ad absurdum, and throws some little doubt on the fairness of the process. The dialogue on strikes and lock-outs is open to the same kind of objection. Some of the other essays, however, are able and convincing. The article on M. Renan'a Les Ap6tres, which appeared in the Fortnightly Review, cannot have shocked the readers of that periodical by any display of prejudice, and is therefore all the more conclusive as a criticism. Similarly the paper on "Christianity Vindi- cated from Persecuting Tendencies " ends with a very sound piece of reasoning. On " Public Executions " and on " Railway Accidents " Mr. Rogers writes with some power, though what he says is not new in itself, and the sketches which reinforce his argument are not wholly his own. Altogether the Essays from Good Words must have done service in the pages of the magazine, and deserved to be reprinted.
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