CURRENT LITERATURE.
Twa MINOR Miessairms.—Of the numerous additions which have recently been made to the periodical literature of the ,country, none looks more promising than a new quarterly, The .Critical Review of Theological and Philosophical Literature, which is .edited by the well-known Scotch scholar, Professor Salmond, of Aberdeen, and published at the reasonable price of eighteenpence by Messrs. T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh. Two numbers have now been published, and it is evident that Professor Salmond will be able to fulfil the purpose with which ho started his Review. He has gathered round him most Scotch and not a few English specialists in the field which he seeks to cover. Thus, among the contributors to the February number are Dr. Sayce and Prin- cipal Fairbairn, of Oxford, Professor Ryle, of Cambridge, Pro- fessor Marcus Dods, of Edinburgh, Professor Bruce, of Glasgow, Professor Roberts, of St. Andrews, and Professor Iverach, of Aber- deen. The contents of this Review include articles on specially selected books, and minor notices ; both are notable for concise- ness. Among the more readable papers in the February number are Professor Ryle's on Mr. George Adam Smith's " The Book of Isaiah," and Professor Roberts's on the admirable biography of George Bachanan recently published by Mr. P. Hume Brown. There is something perilously approaching to an air of " superiority " in Principal Fairbairn's article on Newman, and it is not so sym- pathetic as it might have been ; but it is clever and readable. Altogether, the Critical Review deserves, and will to all ap- pearance attain, success as an organ of the higher scholarship. —Walt Whitman predominates in the March number of Lippincott's Magazine. Ho himself gives "Old Ago Echoes" and " Some Personal and Old Ago Memoranda," and Mr. Horace L. Traubel contributes an article entitled " Walt Whitman, Poet and Philosopher and Man." The complete novel which is the leading feature of Lippincott, is entitled "The Sound of a Voice." It is powerful but fragmentary ; and the tragedy of the poor singing girl in it is French and repellent. There is more than a suspicion of literary log-rolling in Mr. J. M. Stoddart's " Round-Robin Talks," chiefly among Now York men of letters, smart though they aro, especially in repartee. Altogether, this is only an average number of Lippiitoott.—The March number of the Century is not specially attractive, in spite of the specimen that is given of the Talleyrand Memoirs, which is characteristic but not otherwise notable. How Talley- randish, for instance, is : " With a true balance of power, Napoleon might have given Europe an organisation in accordance with the moral law !" The best of the contents of this month's Centiol apart from the continued stories, are a collection of papers on "The Fr4mont Explorations," and Captain Bourke's "General Crook in the Indian Country."—The letterpress in the March number of the Art Journal is rather dull, but the illustrations are, if possible, better than usual. Mr. Dobie's etching of Mr. Walter Hunt's "The Dog in the Manger" is admirable; and nothing could be more delightful in their way than the illustra- tions of the work of Francois Flameng. The late Charles Keene deserved such a notice as is given him here. But some better specimens of his work than the two which accompany the notice might have been reproduced. " The Progress of the Industrial Arts," by C. Lewis Hind, is a good series of papers,— The Month, which has now reached its thirty-seventh year, maintains its reputation as a high-class organ of Roman Catholic scholarship and criticism. Mr. Robert Beauclerk's "Story of the Vatican Council" is rather rambling, but in spite of the now formidable character of the Newman literature, the editor's " The Early Life of Cardinal Newman " will be found fresh and readable. Ireland has two articles devoted to it in this month's Month, " Lace-Making in Ireland," by Mr. Montagu Griffin, and " Father Henry Fitzsimon," who very properly figures among Irish worthies in the sixteenth century, by the Rev, Mr, Hogan. Some, but not all, of the short reviews, which form an important feature of the Month, are above the average of magazine criticisms. —The Quiver is an excellent magazine of its kind, and its conductors certainly supply their constituency with a great amount and variety of wholesome fiction. But it seems, in regard to its general articles, to need, if not new blood, certainly new ideas. Of the miscellaneous papers in the March number, only one— Professor W. G. Blaikie's, on Mackay of Uganda—is at all readable, and even it is rather commonplace.—The March number of Sunday at Home is an excellent one, whether regard be had to the variety or to the high literary quality of its contents. Instalments are given of two excellent series of papers,—Pro- fessor Sayco's, on " Social Life among the Assyrians and Baby- lonians," and the Rev. George Cousins's, on " Travancore and Christian Missions." Mr. John Dennis contributes a careful paper on " Sacred Poetry," in which he asks most pertinently how it comes about that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Browning has a place in Mr. Palgrave's anthology. —There are no indications of falling off in the Girl's Own Paper. Its conductors are evidently of the opinion that girls nowadays have an increasing number of interests outside of fiction, dress, food, and amusements. For they aro adding obviously, and not inconsiderably, to the number of their miscellaneous articles. Thus, the March number includes "The Violin its Pains and Pleasures," " The Largest Churches of Europe," and the first of a series of essays on " The Spirit of Fan in Literature and Art." It is to be hoped that the writer of the last, Mr. James Mason, will soon get off the beaten track. In his present paper, Charles Lamb, Sydney Smith, and Charles Dickens have been trotted out once more ; surely we have had enough of thom.—Harper's Young People continues to hold its own against its almost innumerable rivals, and gives a very good medley of
day into night may be supposed to bring exclusively to residents in the country." " The Eleanor Crosses " is interesting if only for its reminding us that Northampton can be associated with
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