MINOR MAGAZINES.
The distinguishing feature of the October number of Macmillan's Magazine is variety. We have very ancient history in "The Nine Days of Orleans," and comparatively ancient politics in "The First English Radicals." The latter article repeats the story of these political agitators, taking as a type John Horne Tooke, of whom it is said that "a stoic and a buffoon, born for a popular showman and gifted with moral indignation, a man who seemed to serve good causes out of an endowment of sheer devilry, clever, daring, with a steady saturnine self-possession, he lived at fisti- cuffs with the world all his days through, and liked it." "Our Insignificance" is a gentle hint to us as a nation that at the present moment we are too much inclined to worship ourselves. "The Paradox of the English Business Man" drives home some truths, such as: "Education is not our forte ; in every branch of it we are behind most civilised countries. But in commercial educa- tion we have attained a pre-eminent position." Of the three excellent short stories in this number, "A Woman Wag-Tongue," telling of an eccentric Welshman and his still more eccentric wife, is distinctly the most original—There are nowadays in Temple Bar fewer vivaciously informing papers than there used to be. The change is hardly for the better, for the short stories which have been substituted for the articles are only of average excellence. An old ghost story is, however, pleasantly retold by Mr. L. W. Vernon Harcourt under the title of "A Piece of Spectral Evidence "; and "The Old Chorister" and "The Legion of Strangers" undoubtedly remind us of the past days of Temple Bar. Mr. Lewis Melville has little that is really fresh to say in his paper on Thackeray and Dickens. Of the short stories, such as "A Change for Amanda" and "The Straying of Penelope," the best that can be said is that they are suited to while away agreeably enough an idle half- hour during a railway journey.—Good Words shows no falling off in the quality of letterpress or of illustrations. The October number contains at least three "miscellaneous" articles which are eminently readable. "Ruskin's Music," by Mr. W. G. Collingwood, Scotch "Letters and Reminiscences from Last Century," and Sir Charles Warren's "Laying the Boundary Line from the Orange to Vaal Rivers," are valuable in different ways. The idea in "The Two Pessimists "—a ruined gentleman and a poor child meeting in misery together on a seat upon the Thames Embankment—is a tolerably old one, but it is well worked out. —The new number of the Economic Review contains an excep- tionally large number of articles dealing with the economic questions of the hour. Thus Mr. Macrosty gives a large amount of valuable statistical and other information in "Business Aspects of British Trusts "; Mr. W. P. Reeves discusses Mr. Wise's Industrial Arbitration Act, which is of interest to others than the inhabitants of New Zealand ; and Mr. L. L. Price seeks to hold the balance evenly in "Free Trade and Protection." Mr. Everard Hesketh also argues in "Public-House Trust Companies" that the experi- ments of which he writes may prepare the way for useful legislation. The reviews of books and "Notes and Memo- randa" are admirable. Altogether, the Economic Review has attained a high position.—The Treasury is a new sixpenny monthly magazine, edited by Mr. Anthony Deane, and published by G. J. Palmer and Sons. Confessedly it is an experiment, the object of its promoters being to ascertain if the Church of Eng- land will support a Sunday magazine written by Churchmen for Churchmen. It would be unfair to judge a venture of this kind by a first number, which contains a number of interesting papers of various kinds, but cannot be said to be very "distinguished" in any way. The best article is the chatty "Reminiscences of Mr. Gladstone" by the Dean of Lincoln. Among the other con- tributors to this number are Mr. Francis Gribble, whose paper on "The Bodleian" is well worth reading; Mr. S. Baring-Gould and "Katharine Tynan," who contributes what promises to be a very good serial story. This number also contains an admirable Portrait of the Bishop of London.—The contents of Leisure Hours are very varied, but at the same time it is to be hoped that "Personal Forces in Religious Journalism" is not to be taken as evidence that what are teimed per- sonalia are to be a prominent feature of the magazine. Among the miscellaneous articles, " Vallombrosa " and "An Experience on the Yukon River" may be singled out for special commenda- tion- The stories are rather below, but the illustrations are decidedly above, the average.—The October number of the Sunday Strand is so lively and varied that but a very thin parti- tion divides it from an ordinary secular magazine. In the list of Great Preachers" Mr. Rudolph de Cordova includes the Bishop of London ; under the rather alarming title of "The Great European Drinking Contest" we have statistics illustrative of the drinking habits of different countries. The best of the short stories is "In the Married Quarters," by an American authoress. —The County Monthly, which is devoted to the interests of the North of England, contains a very large amount of able letter- press admirably illustrated. Sir George Douglas has an article on the Roman Wall ; and the city of Leeds and the castle of New- castle both have justice done to them. This little periodical deserves every encouragement, but it must be allowed that many of the articles and the stories alike are very slight. —The Critical Review and the Expositor are two " professionally " theological magazines which always maintain a high level of excellence. Of the contents of the new numbers, " Recent Work in Egyptology and Assyriology," by Professor Sayce, and "The Idea of the Fourth Gospel and the Theology of Nature," by Principal Fairbairn, are likely to be especially enjoyed by the lay reader. — The Delineator-Designer is a magazine devoted to the fashions and amusements of women, and is conducted with spirit. The October number contains, among other thing, a literary article by Mr. Stephen Gwynn. The type of the magazine might be improved ; it is distressingly small.—The Play-Pictorial Magazine is a periodical devoted exclusively to the illustration of plays actually running at the theatres. The new number deals with The Toreador at the Gaiety Theatre. The illustrations are numerous and photo- graphically accurate.
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