THBOLOGY.—The Hebrew Tragedy. By Colonel C. R. Conder. (Blackwood and
Sons. 3s.)—Colonel Conder has done so much to make the Jewish people, as it really was, better known to the English people, that his book finds us prepossessed in its favour. And it does not disappoint expectations. He treats the traditional view, as it may be called, with respect, but he is very far from being slavishly bound by it. The history of the Hebrews assumes in his hand a reality which it often lacks. At the same time we never lose the sense of the separation between it and all other national histories. It is, indeed, idle, in view of the past and the present, to deny the great part which this race has played in the evolution of the world. To say that it has been guided by a divine purpose is to adopt an explanation which is at least as satisfactory as any other. This is the impression which Colonel Conder's remarkably eloquent chapters leave upon us. They begin with Abraham crossing the Euphrates and they end with the Christianity of the early ages. We could wish the last few pages away, though it is not easy to deny their truth. Such Christians as the Borgias have "crucified Christ" far more wickedly than those of whom St. Peter said that "in ignorance they did it, as did also their rulers."-- The Special Characteristics of the Four Gospels. By Herbert Mortimer Luckock, D.D. (Longmans and Co. 6s.)—Dean Luckock's book may be read with advantage, but we should say that he has too many "notions" to be a quite trustworthy guide. No fault need be found with what he says when be is on familiar ground ; when he leaves it we do not feel so much con- fidence. A significant example may be found in his treatment of the words Toipro voleire in the institution of the Eucharist. "The special significance," he writes, "is lost in the English version. Perhaps its fullness of meaning might be expressed thus : 'offer, or celebrate, this as my memorial:" He takes it for granted that woisly is used in its sacrificial sense. But surely he was bound to take into account the very strong argument on the otherside. The sacrificial use of weals, is with a cognate accusative, voleir EKCC70110CR for instance. But the probability—we might use a stronger word—is that roielTe Taro has no sacrificial meaning. —The Crown of Christ, by Rev. E. Hutton, Vol. I. Advent to
Easter (Rivingtons, 6s. net), is the first portion of " Spiritual Readings for the Liturgical Year."
Miscrmurrous.—We notice with pleasure the sixth half-yearly volume (July-December, 1899) of Country Life (Hudson and Kearns, 21s.), a very good, if not the very best (as the title-page will have us think)," Journal for all interested in Country Life and Pursuits." Horticulture, agriculture, sport_ of every kind,—in short, all the things that one does in the country, and thinks about in town, figure in these pages. And besides being other things, it is a book of beauty, the front page of each number presenting the likeness of some titled fair.
The newest addition to "The Library of English Classics" (Macmillan and Co.) is Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, 2 vols. (7s. net).—Mr. A. W. Pollard tells us all that is to be known of the authorship of the book. There was a Sir Thomas Malorie who fought on the losing side in the Wars of the Roses, being excluded from the pardon issued in 1468, and there was a Thomas Malory, of Papworth, who made, on September 16, 1469, a will that was proved on the 27th of the same month. Either would do for the writer, whose manuscript was brought to Caxton, prepared by him for the press, not very carefully, and printed in 1485. The writer's epilogue states that the book was " ended the ninth year of King Edward the Fourth." The spelling has been modernised, but the obsolete words have been restored, and a fuller glossary added.—In the " Temple Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens " (J. M. Dent and Co.), we have the second volume of Christmas Books (1s. 6d. net), with some Bibliographical Notes.—Chart of the Boer War, 1899-1900. By Lieutenant- Colonel H. M. G. Bruncker. (W. Clowes and Sons. 2s. 6d.)— This is the third edition, giving a full account of the distribution of the British forces, lists of officers in the various regiments (with the gloomy initials of k, to, m, d, to indicate casualties), with map, &c. ; all, in short, that the reader at home wants to keep himself abreast of facts.—The History of the Life of Thomas Elwood. Edited by C. G. Crumb. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Thomas Elwood's pamphlets and books are forgotten, and he is remembered chiefly as having suggested the subject of "Paradise Regained" to Milton,—the story is told under date of 1665 when the poet was at Chalfont. His autobiography, carried down to 1683, was published after his death in 1713. It is certainly worth disinterring, for it gives a vivid picture of the inner life of Quakerism during what may be called its militant period. The editor's introduction is a good piece of work, a fair and well-considered estimate of the Friends as an element in the religious and spiritual life of the time.— Frithjof and Roland. By Zenaide de Ragozin. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1 50e.)—The volume is divided pretty equally between the Paladin of Norway and the Paladin of France. There is,. it is true, a much greater stock of materials for the latter subject. There is a great Roland cycle, as there was a great Trojan cycle in Greece. The Frithjof Saga, on the other hand, stands by itself, " unconnected," as Madame Ragozin tells us, "with the mythical cycle of the Edda." The stories are told in clear and harmonious prose, free from affectation of the archaic, with per- haps just a shade more ornamentation than is necessary. " I must look once more on the silken fold of her hair, listen once again to the witching music of her voice," has a little of the modern about it.
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