12 NOVEMBER 1892, Page 25

Constantine : the Last Emperor of the Greeks. By C.

Mijatoviteh. (Sampson Low, Marston, and Co.)—There is abundance of material for a story of the siege and capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Three journals, those of the Venetian Niccolo Barbaro and the Greek Phrantzes, with what is called the " Slavonic Diary," exist, while there is a document drawn up for the information of the Pope by the Archbishop of Chios, who was in the city. Other accounts of the event were written (not long afterwards) by the Turkish historian, Sa'ad-ud-din, among others. The subject has not been neglected by modern writers. Still, there was room for Mons. Mijatovitch's work, which will be found remarkably interesting. Nor is it without a political significance. The author believes that it is the manifest destiny of Constanti- nople to be the capital, if not of an universal, then at least of a great empire, stretching over Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and, it should be observed, he dedicates his book not to the Czar, who believes himself to be the destined possessor of the city, but to the heir of the Greek throne.