SUN-DIALS AND ROSES OF YESTERDAY.
Bun-Dials and Roses of Yesterday. By Alice Morse Earle. (Mac- millan and Co. 10s. 6d.)—Mrs. Earle explains that, having in- cluded a chapter on " Sun-Dials " in her book entitled " Old-Time Gardens," she received a great many letters on the subject, and that this book is the outcome of her desire to satisfy inquirers and of her increased personal interest in the subject. A better subject, indeed, there could hardly be, so many are the places to which it takes us, so various the sentiments which it inspires and the associations with which it is connected. Though this is not an easy book to review, it lends itself to quotation. We might fill columns with the facts and fancies which Mrs. Earle has put together here with the skill and grace which are characteristic of her work. We can, however, find space for one single specimen only. In France, and doubtless elsewhere, they have dials on which the hour is marked, not by the shadow of the gnomon, but by a ray of light. These are called Cadrans a la Capucine. On one of them, in a Franciscan convent, is to be found this inscription :— "Pourquoi sur ce cadran solaire
Ne voit-on point l'ombre ordinaire ? C'est que consacrant dans ce lien Tons notre temps it loner Dieu,
11 tent pour le marquer du plus noble manure
C'est d'emprunter an del un rayon de lumiere."
The volume is a treasury of good things.
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