1 DECEMBER 1906, Page 14

In the "Wisdom of the East" Series, Edited by L.

Cranmer- Byng and Dr. S. A. Kapadia (John Murray, is. net), we have Sa`cli's Scroll of Wisdom, with Introduction by Arthur N. Wollaston. It does not seem quite certain that the Scroll of Wisdom is a genuine work of Secli's. As the poet died in 1291, and the work, according to Mr. Wollaston, was first ascribed to him in 1438 and is not found in the earlier MSS., the author- ship is, to say the least, doubtful. That it contains precepts "which would do no discredit to the philosophy of this, the twentieth century of the Christian era," may be conceded. There is nothing, however, very striking about them. We hope it is not irreverent to say that the Scroll sometimes reminds us of Tupper's "Proverbial Philosophy "; but then Tupper has been somewhat unjustly depreciated.