Ivan Ityitch, and other Stories. By Count Tolstoi. Translated from
the Russian by Nathan Haskell Dole. (Walter Scott.)— Anything more dismal than the principal story in this volume it would be difficult to imagine. Tragical, one can hardly call it, if tragedy must have something of the " gorgeous " about it. The characters are of the meanest,—a selfish voluptuary who screams with terror for three days when he finds that death is inevitable, a widow whose sole thought is how to get as much pension as possible out of the Government, and friends whose only regret for the loss of their colleague is that his death may rob them of an evening's card-playing,—these are the dramatis persona. This is a picture of official life ; when Count Tolstoi comes to deal with the peasant or artisan class, he can find a kindlier tone in which to speak. Much of the volume is occupied with "Popular Legends." In these, as in the " Texts for Woodcuts," the writer shows himself to more advantage.
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