In Praise of Music. An Anthology prepared by Charles Sayle.
(Elliot Stock.)—Mr. Sayle begins with various passages from the Bible, on the episode of Saul and David, passes to Confucius, and thence to Plato (Rep. 111. 399-407), a passage given both in Greek and in English, and, after various minor passages, to Aristotle's discourse on the subject in the Politics. So we are taken down from age to age through a most varied and interesting series.
In the series of "Books for the Heart," edited by Alexander Smedlie, M.A. (A. Melrose), we have a volume which eminently justifies that title, Quiet Hours, by John Pulsford, D.D. It is now more than fifty years since this book was first published, its author, who has passed away within the last few months, being then a Congregational minister at Hull. He was "a mystic of the nineteenth century," as Mr. Smedlie says, but this quality of thought is not conspicuously manifest in Quiet Hours.— With this may be mentioned The Silver Cross, compiled and arranged by Helen Douglas (G. Bell and Sons). The Bishop of St. Andrews has furnished an introduction, in which he commends this volume, "a collection of poems and hymns for the sick and suffering," to the reader.
Readers interested in the subject of ecclesiastical ritual will find much that is curious, and something, it is probable, that is ataange to them, in Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial, by Henry John Feasey (Thomas Baker). Much has keen drawn from the inventories, parish accounts, &c.
(For Publications of the Week, see next page.)
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